7 Things: Trump continues peace efforts for Ukraine despite pushback from media and their Democrats; Senate candidates want Trump endorsement; and more …

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August 18, 2025

7. Multiple teachers across Alabama have reported that students are more focused, engaged, and more disciplined in the first weeks of the 2025 school year after Alabama banned cell phones in classrooms, but students are whining about the policy.

6. A Montgomery mother praised Alabama’s CHOOSE Act, signed in 2024, for providing up to $7,000 per student for homeschool, private school, or switching school districts. She is urging parents to utilize the program, saying that applying was easy, as it is “only paperwork.”

5. A Court of Criminal Appeals refused to dismiss the murder charge against former Decatur police officer Mac Marquette for the 2023 shooting of Steve Perkins during a vehicle repossession confrontation, meaning that the trial is still on schedule for Sept. 15.

4. Former U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) seems to be inching close to a 2026 U.S. Senate run but continues to call another run for U.S. Senate as “possible but improbable,” expressing doubts about whether current candidates will prioritize preventing national insolvency and call out President Donald Trump when he makes errors.

3. President Donald Trump’s endorsement is poised to heavily influence Alabama’s 2026 U.S. Senate race, with candidates Attorney General Steve Marshall, U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise), and Jared Hudson seeking his support in a contest where a poll shows Marshall leading with 24%, but 51.4% of voters are undecided so a Trump endorsement could swing the race.

2. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet at the White House today after Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for hours, with both Trump and Putin signaling a peace deal may be in the offing with land concessions and an agreement not to join NATO, and a peacekeeping force as part of the deal.

1. Media bias is on full display as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended President Donald Trump’s Ukraine policy, accusing the CBS Margaret Brennan of pushing a “stupid media narrative” over European leaders being invited by the U.S. to join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a White House meeting, and they are not coming to keep Zelensky from being bullied.

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