7. Alabama lawmakers are seeking a legislative solution to the embarrassing situation with Maori Davenport’s situation with the Alabama High School Athletic Association
— The AHSAA suspended the star player over an errant payment from USA Basketball and has, up to this point, refused to revisit the case stating the current rules don’t allow it.
— Rep. Kyle South (R-Fayette) has proposed legislation that would address the suspension and the current make-up of the AHSAA board by forcing all eligibility issues to be addressed by the State Board of Education and require 25 percent of those on the board to be appointed by the same board.
6. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) calls President Trump racist; Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) calls her “somewhat nutty“
— Ocasio-Cortez originally hinted that the president was a racist and talking about dog whistles. She has now doubled-down with some factually inaccurate claims about the president defending Neo-Nazis who murdered a woman in Charlottesville, calling Mexicans “rapists,” banning Muslims and ending her tweet with calling the president is a “racist.”
— Rep. Brooks stated he believes that she is held in low regard in DC, even if she is a darling of the far left and the media. Brooks said, “She is somewhat nutty. She has a low respect in Washington, DC by both parties, I might add. However, she does have influence with a significant segment of the American public.”
5. Former State Representative Ed Henry changes plea to guilty on charges of Medicaid fraud
— Henry has given notice that he plans to change his plea from not guilty to guilty in a federal case, which indicates that a plea deal has been brokered.
— The original charges surrounded allegations of kickbacks and a conspiracy to defraud Medicaid. It alleged a company owned by Henry that provided chronic care management to patients charged the doctor substantially less than the previous firm that had the chronic care services contract but they would get a bigger reimbursement from Medicaid.
4. While the government is shut down over $5 billion dollars, the Center for Immigration Studies says illegal immigration will cost the United States $164 billion over a decade
— Their analysis indicates that the average cost of an illegal immigrant for taxpayers is $82,191 over the course of their lifetime. Another analysis by the Institute for Defense Analyses says there are 1.95 to 2.28 interactions between illegal immigrants and law enforcement for every successful illegal crossing, which means there were 170,000 to 200,000 successful illegal crossings in 2018.
— CIS argues that the U.S. would be able to pay for the border wall if it was able to stop three to four percent of would-be illegal immigrants on the U.S./Mexico border. It is currently estimated that 60,000 come in a month and 2 million will enter over the next decade.
3. Alabama congressmen support President Donald Trump and his position on the government shutdown and border issues
— Rep. Bradley Byrne wrote Trump a letter voicing support for his border speech telling the president, “[T]hank you for standing up for our communities and for the American people. Please know that this Member of Congress will stand with you to see your proposals enacted into law.”
— Rep. Mo Brooks laid out the dangers of illegal immigration in a speech on the floor of the United State House of Representatives where he stated, “[O]ver the past two years, illegal aliens have averaged 50,000 physical assaults, 15,000 sex crimes, and 2,000 killings per year . . . all in America!”
2. Democrat “false flag” operations did not end in Alabama’s U.S. Senate special election — they went on in 2018 as well
— Tech billionaire Reid Hoffman, who funded the efforts to mislead voters and suppress Republican turnout in Alabama, also created misleading Facebook pages appearing to be disgruntled conservatives, going as far as to purchase ads to perpetuate their fraud.
— The pages were managed by American Engagement Technologies, founded by Obama operatives and used the “The Daily Real” and “Today’s Nation” to buy ads that deceptively encouraged GOP voters to skip the midterm elections.
1. President Trump walks out on negotiations declaring it “a total waste of time“; Trump heads to the border today
— After dueling speeches on the status of the border and the government shutdown, the principal players met in a White House meeting that ended with the resident saying “Bye bye” and walking out.
— President Trump reportedly asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi if she would give him funds for his border wall if he would end the government shutdown. When she said she would not, he walked out.
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.