7. Police department quarantined
- In Shelby County, a lot of the Harpersville Police Department is quarantining after Chief Jimmy Macon tested positive for the coronavirus. Macon has been asymptomatic and working from home.
- Mayor Don Greene has said that those who have been in close contact with Macon are quarantined while their coronavirus test results are processed. So far, two tests have come back negative but they’re waiting on the rest.
6. Alabama losing hotel tax revenue
- With the coronavirus pandemic essentially shutting down business for a time and then slowing business overall, Alabama could lose about $105.2 million in tax revenue from hotels.
- Oxford Economics and the American Hotel & Lodging Association conducted the study that delivered these estimates. The study also showed that the United States could see a loss of $16.8 billion in state and local taxes due to the pandemic.
5. Shelby, Byrne and Roby sponsoring JUSTICE Act
- U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) has put together a police reform bill, Just and Unifying Solutions to Invigorate Communities Everywhere (JUSTICE) Act, and U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) and U.S. Representatives Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) and Martha Roby (R-Montgomery) have announced they’ll be co-sponsoring the bill.
- Scott has said that this bill “takes smart, common sense steps to address these issues, from ending the use of chokeholds and increasing the use of body worn cameras to providing more resources for police departments to better train officers and make stronger hiring decisions.” The bill is also being co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
4. Biden voters are only excited about beating Trump, but they are very excited
- In a new Fox News poll, former Vice President Joe Biden is still leading President Donald Trump in the campaign for the White House, but the reason why most voters have chosen each candidate shows that Democrats just don’t want another Trump term.
- In a replay of polling and coverage from 2016, a Fox News poll shows Biden has 50% and Trump has 38%. But 63% of those voting for Biden are doing so because they don’t want Trump. Only 31% of voters are enthusiastic for Biden, compared to 62% of voters that are enthusiastic about Trump, while 33% are voting for Trump out of concern of a Biden presidency.
3. Alabama added to Kansas quarantine list
- Due to a rise in coronavirus cases throughout the state, Alabama has been added to the travel quarantine list in Kansas with Arkansas, Maryland and Arizona. The Kansas Department of Public Health and Environment will now require those who travel to Alabama or live in Alabama to quarantine for two weeks after entering Kansas.
- During a town hall meeting, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) floated the idea of 14-day quarantines from states with a high number of coronavirus cases, when New York is far and away the nation’s number one coronavirus problem.
2. Football might not be possible this year, but no new large-scale lockdowns
- While on CNN, Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci discussed the possibility of having football back this fall, and said that if there’s a second wave of the coronavirus during the next flu season, it would likely complicate things. He plainly stated that “football may not happen this year.”
- But Fauci also offered up some good news: As the United States begins to reopen, he said flare-ups might happen but issues like school reopenings and sports will be local decisions. He also doesn’t see the nation going back into lockdown.
1. Supreme Court upholds DACA
- The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to uphold the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which was created through an executive order during President Barack Obama’s time in office. This comes after the President Donald Trump administration has tried to do away with the program.
- The Trump administration has argued that DACA is unconstitutional since immigration laws are only supposed to be created by Congress. In response to the news, U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-Saks) said he’s “shocked” and that SCOTUS has set a precedent by upholding the programs that “was created by a single memo in the Obama Administration and exempted nearly 700,000 people from our immigration laws.” He added, “President Obama created a mess, and President Trump has attempted to clean it up.”
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