7 Things: Ukraine publicly seeking talks with Putin, Shelby ready to put millions into Britt’s campaign and more …

7. Alabama company is working to evacuate employees from Ukraine

• Discovery Life Sciences in Huntsville has a location in Ukraine, but CEO Glenn Bilawsky has been working to evacuate employees during the country’s war with Russia. The company had 64 employees in Ukraine and has been able to evacuate 20 so far.
• It’s been reported that the remaining 44 employees chose to remain in the country or joined the military forces. Discovery Life Sciences also has locations in Bulgaria and Germany. The evacuation of employees from Ukraine started after the initial invasion from Russia on February 24.

6. Mike Rogers won’t agree to deals with Iran

• A new nuclear deal with Iran is possible through the Biden administration, and U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-Saks) has made it clear that he will not vote for or agree with any deals made with Iran.
• Rogers said, “I don’t trust Iran any more than I trust Pakistan or Turkey. Iran will never agree to any deal that allows international inspectors to come in and if we can’t inspect I’m never going to trust them.” Rogers went on to say, “The fact is Iran is going to continue to enrich uranium, so they can get away, no matter what the deal says.”

5. Arguments have been heard on transgender license policy in Alabama

• The state of Alabama requires a transgender person to go through the complete gender reassignment surgery before the listed sex on their driver’s license can be changed, and while federal judges have heard arguments in an ongoing challenge on the issue, some advocates are claiming it puts people’s lives at risk.
• The 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals received arguments in the case brought by three transgender women in Alabama, who have been told the sex on their license would still be listed as male. Edmund LaCour, an attorney representing Alabama, said, “These are law enforcement identification documents. That is why they have identifying information on them including date of birth, height, weight, hair, eye color, someone’s signature and someone’s sex.” He argued that the policy is not discriminatory.

4. Let Alabama decide if they want a lottery

• State Representative Chip Brown (R-Hollinger’s Island) recently appeared on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal” where he discussed the lottery bill that he’s introduced in the legislature, describing it as a “clean lottery bill.”
• Brown has advocated for passing the bill, which would then be on the ballot of citizens of Alabama to have final say on creating a lottery. He said, “[G]et that to the people of Alabama and let them vote on it…it’s just time.”

3. Durant’s recent focus on 2020 election fraud is awfully convenient

• During an interview with Yellowhammer News’ Michael Yaffee, U.S. Senate candidate Mike Durant said that the United States should be sending Ukraine what it needed without escalating the conflict. During that interview, former General Michael Flynn and Durant declared that the 2020 elections are very important for them and called back to U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) and his comments about focusing on the 2022 and 2024 elections.
• Durant further stated on Twitter, “We need strong Republicans who will fight for election integrity, not weak-kneed Republicans who will waffle like Mo Brooks.” This comes after former President Donald Trump complained, errantly, about Brooks being weak on the 2020 election, despite leading the charge and speaking on January 6. The Brooks campaign highlighted Durant’s comments from December in which he declared, “Well, if you’ll notice when I talked about what my priorities were, I didn’t list that. The timing is right for us to focus on really important things. Let’s focus on things that really matter.”

2. Shelby is sending more millions to the Britt campaign

• U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa) had previously sent campaign funds to U.S. Senate candidate Katie Britt and is now planning to send more. This comes as she is in a close second place with U.S. Senate candidate Mike Durant as the frontrunner.
• Shelby said recently that in his campaign account and leadership PAC, there are about $15 million in funds available, and he will be sending $6 million to a PAC for Britt. He added, “I’m going to give it all away sooner or later. I’m going to help her, transfer it to a super PAC.” Shelby went on to say Britt will “need the help” but is “doing well right now. Mo Brooks is dropping, you see that.”

1. Zelensky ready for negotiations with Russia, part 36

• Talks of possible negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have been rumored for several days, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he’s “ready for negotiations” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding that he “was ready for the last two years.”
• Zelensky did say “without negotiations, we cannot end this war.” Zelensky added “I think that we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, the possibility of talking to Putin. But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War.”