7. Curbside alcohol sales extended
- The emergency order that authorizes to-go and curbside alcohol sales throughout Alabama has been extended by the Alabama ABC Board until September 15; the original order was supposed to expire Wednesday.
- The order was originally put in place when bars and restaurants were forced to close at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, but even with bars reopened, the curbside and to-go sales still benefit businesses.
6. Trump will no longer deport international students
- President Donald Trump had previously announced that any international college students whose school stays online for the fall semester would be deported back to their home country, but now he’s received pushback from universities, in addition to eight federal lawsuits filed about the issue.
- The Trump administration has now walked back the decision, which was announced during a hearing with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said that they will “return to the status quo” with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
5. Montgomery schools could see a name change
- The three public high schools in Montgomery named after Confederate leaders, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Sidney Lanier, could see a name change as the Montgomery County Board of Education considers a motion to do so.
- Currently, more than 29,000 people have signed a petition to rename the schools, but there is a counter-petition to keep Sidney Lanier High School’s name the same that’s been signed by over 1,300 people. The petition argues that Lanier’s name is on the high school “because of his literary talent for which he was known all over the world.”
4. Trump intends to do away with DACA
- Through an executive order, President Donald Trump has said that he’ll “be taking care” of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), specifying that he’ll “be signing immigration action, very big merit-based immigration action.”
- During his announcement, Trump took a shot at former Vice President Joe Biden saying that he would “vastly expand” non-merit-based immigration. Trump didn’t say when the executive order would be signed, just that it would be “very soon.”
3. First coronavirus vaccine showing promising results
- The first coronavirus vaccine, one developed at the National Institute of Health and Moderna Inc., is likely to begin final testing as it’s done well in testing to build up people’s immunity. Dr. Anthony Fauci has said, “No matter how you slice this, this is good news.”
- Around July 27, the vaccine will enter a new stage of testing where 30,000 people will be used to test the vaccine to see if it’s actually effective enough to protect against the virus on a wide scale, and there is hope that the vaccine could be ready by the end of 2020.
2. Record day for coronavirus deaths
- In Alabama, we’ve seen a record high day for deaths from coronavirus, having 40 in a single day, which is the most the state has seen since the beginning of the pandemic. There were also 1,673 new cases.
- Overall, there have been 1,136 coronavirus deaths in Alabama, and we’ve had 56,441 cases in the state. There are currently 1,335 people hospitalized, and within the last two weeks, 18,092 tests have come back positive, making the positive test rate just over 12%.
1. Tuberville is going up against Jones in November
- The long-awaited U.S. Senate runoff vote has finally happened, and it was a 20 point blowout in favor of the former head coach from Auburn who had the backing of President Donald Trump. Tuberville defeated Trump’s former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who the president still hasn’t forgiven for recusing himself, as he should have, from the Russia investigation.
- In November, Tuberville will be up against U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) in the general election, after winning 64 of Alabama’s 67 counties with Sessions’ home of Mobile County, his birthplace of Wilcox County and Madison County going to the Sessions column. The evening ended with Sessions tossing his support to Tuberville.
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