Radio talk show host Dale Jackson and Dr. Waymon Burke take you through this week’s biggest political stories including:

— What do the recent polls done on Alabama’s statewide races tell us?

— Is Sue Bell Cobb wise to advocating for the raising of taxes while running for the Democrat Gubernatorial nomination?

Radio talk show host Dale Jackson and Dr. Waymon Burke take you through this week’s biggest political stories including:

— If Gov. Kay Ivey has a 67 percent approval rating, can she be beat?

— Do members of Congress have any idea what Facebook actually does and do they have any business regulating it?

— How is Democrat Sen. Doug Jones more popular than Sen. Richard Shelby and can this last until Jones’ re-election?

J. Pepper Bryars, editor of Yellowhammer News, joins Jackson and Burke to discuss the role of new media in 2018 and what role it will play in the midterm elections.

Jackson closes the show with a “Parting Shot” directed at folks on the right who are thrilled about Speaker Paul Ryan leaving Congress and he explains what they can expect next.

The countdown is on! What’s happening as the session winds down? Read below to find out!

1. Gun bills might be finished for this session . . .  

With time quickly winding down in the legislative session, the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee had a meeting scheduled on Tuesday to consider several things: a bill that raises the age to by an AR-15 from 18 to 21, a bill that would allow judges to take firearms away from individuals who might use them for self-harm or harm to others, and a bill that would ban the sale of AR-15s and other similar guns. The meeting was canceled due to lack of participation—only 4 of the 11 representatives on the committee showed up for the meeting. Additionally, the house, on Tuesday, left without debating Representative Will Ainsworth’s (R-Guntersville) bill to arm teachers. With the session expected to end next week and with no action on the bills this week, it appears that time has run out for these bills this session. Speaker Mac McCutcheon (R-Monrovia) has said that Ainsworth’s bill will come up again next session, while Ainsworth has called on Governor Ivey to call a special session to consider school safety proposals.

2. But school safety still looks to be a priority of the legislature.

The Alabama Senate moved one step closer to requiring police officers to get a criminal conviction before taking a citizen’s property, but states that have already implemented such limits have run into loophole: the federal government.

Alabama lawmakers passed their ban through a state Senate committee last week under the impression they had the authority to ban civil forfeiture in their state. New Hampshire passed a bill similar to Alabama’s in 2016, but state and local police are still managing to take property without a criminal conviction.

The federal equitable sharing program, which allows state and local police to partner with federal authorities when making forfeitures, effectively ignores state-level limitations.

“The government ought to be required to prove that criminal conviction before being able to seize stuff,” Republican state Sen. Arthur Orr told the Heartland Institute. “The idea that the government can take a citizen’s property without a criminal conviction does not sit well with most people that I discussed this issue with.”

From Lincoln to William McKinley to Theodore Roosevelt, and from Warren Harding through Calvin Coolidge, the Republican Party erected the most awesome manufacturing machine the world had ever seen.

And, as the party of high tariffs through those seven decades, the GOP was rewarded by becoming America’s Party.

Thirteen Republican presidents served from 1860 to 1930, and only two Democrats. And Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson were elected only because the Republicans had split.

Why, then, this terror of tariffs that grips the GOP?

Consider. On hearing that President Trump might impose tariffs on aluminum and steel, Sen. Lindsey Graham was beside himself: “Please reconsider,” he implored the president, “you’re making a huge mistake.”

Twenty-four hours earlier, Graham had confidently assured us that war with a nuclear-armed North Korea is “worth it.”

“All the damage that would come from a war would be worth it in terms of long-term stability and national security,” said Graham.

A steel tariff terrifies Graham. A new Korean war does not?

“Trade wars are not won, only lost,” warns Sen. Jeff Flake.

But this is ahistorical nonsense.

The U.S. relied on tariffs to convert from an agricultural economy in 1800 to the mightiest manufacturing power on earth by 1900.

Bismarck’s Germany, born in 1871, followed the U.S. example, and swept past free trade Britain before World War I.

Does Senator Flake think Japan rose to post-war preeminence through free trade, as Tokyo kept U.S. products out, while dumping cars, radios, TVs and motorcycles here to kill the industries of the nation that was defending them. Both Nixon and Reagan had to devalue the dollar to counter the predatory trade policies of Japan.

Since Bush I, we have run $12 trillion in trade deficits, and, in the first decade in this century, we lost 55,000 factories and 6,000,000 manufacturing jobs.

Does Flake see no correlation between America’s decline, China’s rise, and the $4 trillion in trade surpluses Beijing has run up at the expense of his own country?

The hysteria that greeted Trump’s idea of a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum suggest that restoring this nation’s economic independence is going to be a rocky road.

In 2017, the U.S. ran a trade deficit in goods of almost $800 billion, $375 billion of that with China, a trade surplus that easily covered Xi Jinping’s entire defense budget.

If we are to turn our $800 billion trade deficit in goods into an $800 billion surplus, and stop the looting of America’s industrial base and the gutting of our cities and towns, sacrifices will have to be made.

But if we are not up to it, we will lose our independence, as the countries of the EU have lost theirs.

Specifically, we need to shift taxes off goods produced in the USA, and impose taxes on goods imported into the USA.

As we import nearly $2.5 trillion in goods, a tariff on imported goods, rising gradually to 20 percent, would initially produce $500 billion in revenue.

All that tariff revenue could be used to eliminate and replace all taxes on production inside the USA.

As the price of foreign goods rose, U.S. products would replace foreign-made products. There’s nothing in the world that we cannot produce here. And if it can be made in America, it should be made in America.

Consider. Assume a Lexus cost $50,000 in the U.S., and a 20 percent tariff were imposed, raising the price to $60,000.

What would the Japanese producers of Lexus do?

They could accept the loss in sales in the world’s greatest market, the USA. They could cut their prices to hold their U.S. market share. Or they could shift production to the United States, building their cars here and keeping their market.

How have EU nations run up endless trade surpluses with America? By imposing a value-added tax, or VAT, on imports from the U.S., while rebating the VAT on exports to the USA. Works just like a tariff.

The principles behind a policy of economic nationalism, to turn our trade deficits, which subtract from GDP, into trade surpluses, which add to GDP, are these:

Production comes before consumption. Who consumes the apples is less important than who owns the orchard. We should depend more upon each other and less upon foreign lands.

We should tax foreign-made goods and use the revenue, dollar for dollar, to cut taxes on domestic production.

The idea is not to keep foreign goods out, but to induce foreign companies to move production here.

We have a strategic asset no one else can match. We control access to the largest richest market on earth, the USA.

And just as states charge higher tuition on out-of state students at their top universities, we should charge a price of admission for foreign producers to get into America’s markets.

And — someone get a hold of Sen. Graham — it’s called a tariff.

Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of a new book, “Nixon’s White House Wars: The Battles That Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever.”

COPYRIGHT 2018 CREATORS.COM

The House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill on Thursday to protect children from cyberbullying in honor of a 10-year-old boy who committed suicide last year.

Fifth grader Jamari Terrell Williams took his own life after he was bullied online last October. Rep. John Knight, a Democrat from Montgomery, sponsored the bill to add cyberbullying and harassment off school grounds to the current law protecting students from bullying at school.

Bipartisan House members expressed support for the bill because of similar situations of cyberbullying and student suicides in their own districts.

Williams’ mother Monique Davis was present in the statehouse for the bill’s passage. The bill had 88 co-sponsors in the 105-member House and now moves to the Senate.

(Image: Pixabay)

(Associated Press, copyright 2018)

 
 
In today’s world of texting and instant messaging, soft skills are still important. High school students will need to have a firm grasp of these concepts to ensure their future career success in the highly competitive job market.

The young people will be America’s future workforce. By the year 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the number of employees the U.S. economy needs will grow to 161 million – a 10.8 percent increase since 2012.

Employers need motivated and highly skilled employees to lead their organizations. Successful employers today often focus on maximizing profit margins and meeting the bottom line. They develop strong workplace cultures and recruit the best talent available.

Many top business experts believe the most important skills that employees must have today include time management, motivation and communication skills. These skills are essential to effectively planning and organizing projects with supervisors and co-workers.

Equipping high school students with essential skills (what soft skills are often called today) is a top priority for Alabama’s Career and Technical Education programs and student organizations – the National Future Farmers of America Organization; JROTC; SkillsUSA; Health Occupations Students Of America-Future Health Professionals; DECA; Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda; Jobs for Alabama’s Graduates; Family, Career and Community Leaders of America; and the Technology Student Association.

Alabama’s CTE program offers middle and high school students the chance to participate in more than 300 career-related courses and programs statewide. Students can earn college credit (while still in high school) through dual-enrollment classes. They can also earn nationally recognized credentials, such as Adobe Certified Associate, Microsoft Office Specialist, and Certified Nursing Assistant. Hundreds of other credentialing opportunities are available for students.

Essential skills are emphasized in our state’s CTE programs and classrooms. Students often work in “project teams” to complete class assignments. Some teachers and classes even require students to officially “clock in” to simulate a real-world work experience.

Students also engage in hands-on learning. They apply the core math and science concepts they have learned in the traditional classroom to real-world scenarios and class projects. They begin to build good problem-solving skills and techniques.

Some classes even have designated team leaders and managers to simulate an actual work environment. Students learn responsibility and practice good communication with peers.

The average graduation rate nationally for high school students concentrating in CTE programs is 93 percent, while the national graduation rate for students not participating is 86 percent.

AlabamaWorks, a new and highly respected state initiative that unites the many components of workforce development, is also providing students, parents and even experienced professionals with helpful tips and information on workplace requirements, expectations and credentials. This initiative has excellent resources for students, prospective employees and employers.

AlabamaWorks also focuses on dual-enrollment opportunities for students and promotes essential skills development. AlabamaWorks is bridging divides between employer and employee expectations.

Soft skills are still relevant, important and needed today. This term has been re-branded, but it continues to serve the same great purpose – preparing our young people for a lifetime of success!

To learn more about AlabamaWorks’ partner programs, visit www.alabamaworks.com.

(Collie Wells is the interim deputy state superintendent of education, career and technical education at the Alabama Department of Education.)

Birmingham Interim Police Chief Orlando Wilson said investigators are seeking to piece together the exact circumstances surrounding Wednesday afternoon’s shooting at dismissal time at Huffman High School, one of the city’s largest. He added that the probe will involve scouring school surveillance video for clues and completing interviews among students and staff at the large magnet school.

“At this particular time, we are considering this accidental,” the police chief said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon just hours after the shooting. “Right now, we have a lot of unanswered questions.”

The shooting prompted a brief lockdown though students were subsequently released late Wednesday and authorities said they had subsequently determined that the shooting was not perpetrated by “someone from the outside” the school.

Wilson declined to say who fired the gun or to identify what firearm, adding it had been recovered by authorities.

No arrests were immediately reported, and the two students weren’t identified.

“We are asking questions from the staff, the students, anyone who was in that area,” Wilson said. “This should not happen in schools.”

He said police have already questioned students but declined to say how many. Wilson did confirm metal detectors were in place and functioning in the school.

Huffman High in northeast Birmingham is one of the largest high schools in the city. The Birmingham City School system said in a statement that the shooting prompted a brief lockdown and added two students were involved as school was letting out. It later said the schools would be open Thursday even as civic leaders and others were mourning the loss of life.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said the deceased student would have turned 18 in about 30 days and was a senior “who had aspirations and dreams to be a nurse.”

“We are not just talking about some person, (we’re) talking about losing a part of our future. Our hearts are heavy,” Woodfin said.

Birmingham City Schools Superintendent Lisa Herring said her goal was to support the family of the teen who died and to reassure parents about the safety of their children.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey released a statement Wednesday evening that she was saddened by the student’s death.

“I am praying for the family of this young lady who has tragically lost her life way too early … it reaffirms that there is no place for students to have firearms or other weapons on campus.”

The shooting took place just a day after Ivey created a school safety council in Alabama to make recommendations on security. The security plan would ensure schools have an updated security response plan for sharing information about potential threats. It also would require schools to train students and school employees on how to respond to an emergency situation.

Multiple bills also have been proposed in the Alabama legislature after 17 people were killed last month in a shooting rampage at a Parkland, Florida, high school. Varying proposals by Republicans would arm either teachers or volunteer security forces in schools. Meanwhile, measures sought by Democrats would seek to limit or ban the sale of assault weapons. The proposals face a tight deadline before the end of Alabama’s legislative session this election year.

(Associated Press, copyright 2018)

If you only read U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell’s resume, it might be tempting to assume she grew up with connections and privilege.

She went to Princeton University for her undergraduate degree.

She went to Oxford University for her master’s degree.

She went to Harvard Law School for her doctorate in law and began her legal career at a Wall Street firm.

But the lifelong Democrat who represents Alabama’s 7^th Congressional District, and who will be honored this month as a Yellowhammer Woman of Impact, said in an interview with Roll Call that she considers herself a “little girl from Selma” whose remarkable path began when she got to go to Princeton.

“That was the ticket that sent me on my way,” Sewell said.

She also grew up in a strong family that emphasized academics, said Sewell spokesman Chris MacKenzie in an interview with Yellowhammer News.

“Her parents were very inspirational figures in her life,” MacKenzie said, adding that Sewell’s father was “a very driven person” and coach of the Selma High School basketball team. Her mother was a librarian.

“Together, they gave me a hunger for learning,” Sewell recently wrote of her parents in an op-ed for the Huffington Post.  “I remember spending countless hours in the library reading through books that brought to life all of the places I wanted to travel someday.”

Sewell became the first black valedictorian of her high school in 1982. A Perkins student loan then helped her get to Princeton because her family did not have the resources to send her to college on their own, she wrote.

At Princeton, Sewell was matched up with a student mentor named Michelle Robinson, she told Roll Call. The two became friends and Sewell said it was like “two worlds colliding” when her “Big Sis” went on to marry another of Sewell’s future friends she’d meet at Harvard:  Barack Obama.

After school, Sewell worked as a lawyer in New York for a decade until her dad had a series of strokes that left him disabled. She came back to Alabama to support him and began working as a public finance lawyer, helping secure funding for local construction of major properties such as the Children’s Hospital in Birmingham and the new stadium at Alabama State University.

She also became the first black female partner in the Birmingham law office Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C.

“That was part of her beginning to work more with members of the local community and helping to develop Alabama’s 7^th district,” MacKenzie said.

Fast forward: Rep. Sewell is now in her fourth term and not only is she one of the first women from Alabama to serve in Congress — she is the first black woman elected to the state’s Congressional delegation.

In addition to serving on key committees such as the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, Sewell’s office said the following are just a few of her most notable accomplishments:

• Sewell’s first piece of successful legislation recognized with Congressional Gold Medals the four little girls who died in the 16^th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963.
• She advocated for the Air Force to successfully bring the F-35A basing location to the 187^th Air National Guard Fighter Wing unit in Montgomery.
• Sewell fought to keep rural Alabama hospitals open, including John Paul Jones Hospital in Camden, by working with rural hospitals, local public officials, stakeholders and constituents.
• She successfully helped Selma’s historic federal courthouse where Martin Luther King, Jr. was jailed, get off the list of endangered federal buildings and worked with the Southern District Court of Alabama to resume federal trials there.
• She successfully introduced and passed bipartisan legislation to incorporate Birmingham’s civil rights sites into the National Park Service system.
• Sewell each year hosts an annual job fair in her district that last year hosted more than 60 employers and 600 job seekers.
• She designed a workforce development initiative called Project R.E.A.D.Y to promote employment through public/private partnerships, job readiness, skills training and career development.

The congresswoman and Governor Kay Ivey will be among 20 Alabama women honored in a March 29 awards event in Birmingham. Event details and registration may be found here.

Rachel Blackmon Bryars is managing editor of Yellowhammer News.

If selling construction tools is not the kind of thing you would expect female entrepreneurs to do, you don’t know the Head family of Birmingham.

Maryam “Mimi” Head bought the Ram Tool Construction Supply Co. in 1984 with no prior distribution experience and methodically built the small company into a major force in the Southeast, adding product lines and acquiring competitors, according to a history on the company’s website.

Daughter Hillery Head, one of the Yellowhammer 2018 Women of Impact, joined the firm in 1993 and became CEO in 2009 when her mother retired.

Under the younger Head’s leadership, Ram Tool’s growth has accelerated. It acquired Marco Supply in 2012, expanding into three cities in South Carolina, Charlotte, N.C., Washington, three Virginia cities and Charleston, West Virginia. Ram Tool also opened a new store in San Antonio.

Ram Tool has bought new companies or expanded into new locations every year since. Last year, it celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Today Ram Tool operates in 36 cities. According to the company website, on one project, it made 1,740 deliveries, with orders arriving every day for more than six months.

“So needless to say, going the extra mile is just the beginning for us,” the company says.

In 2016, Head told BHM BIZ that the toughest challenge she faced as CEO was working through the Great Recession, which crushed the construction industry.

“We were forced to tighten our belt quickly and dramatically,” she wrote.

Head, a Yale University graduate, told Business Alabama that her mother picked Ram Tool despite a lack of experience in the field because she wanted “a legitimate, real business” that offered growth opportunity. She said her mother taught her never to settle for easy answers.

“Another thing she taught us was to not have ‘analysis paralysis,’” she told the publication. “Better to go ahead and make a decision quickly and move on with that. If it’s the wrong decision, it’s easier to back up and to reverse than to just sit around and not do anything. So it’s important to make decisions quickly and then move to execute them quickly.”

Head also told the publication that her company’s sales team tries to stay a cut above the competition by saying “yes” to customers even when they want tools not in stock. She recounted one time when the firm found an aerial drone for a client in Dallas.

“We always try to say, ‘Yes, we can’ and to do it quickly,” she told Business Alabama. “A lot of times the customer just needs to know that we’re working on it and that we’re on it.”

Brendan Kirby is senior political reporter at LifeZette.com and a Yellowhammer contributor. He also is the author of “Wicked Mobile.” Follow him on Twitter.

 
 
Manufacture Alabama announced Monday that it has endorsed Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall in his campaign to retain his office, according to a news release from the group.

“Steve Marshall has proven himself as a champion for manufacturers and has a distinguished track record of advocating for our members,” said George Clark, president of Manufacture Alabama.

Marshall is running for the GOP nomination against Alice Martin, Chess Bedsole and Troy Kong.

Manufacture Alabama is “focused on the competitive, legislative, regulatory and operational interests and needs of manufacturers and their partner industries and businesses” in the state, the release said.

“Manufacturing is incredibly important to our state’s economy, and I am honored to have received the endorsement of our state’s only manufacturing association,” Marshall added.

The Republican primary is June 5.

(@jpepperbryars is the editor of Yellowhammer News and the author of American Warfighter)

Jan Hess is a 2018 Yellowhammer Woman of Impact who is making history in a company known for making history.

In 2000, the Huntsville-native became the first female executive of Teledyne Brown Engineering, the first high-tech company established in Huntsville to help Wernher von Braun build the Redstone Rocket, according to the company website.

Teledyne Brown will this year celebrate its 65^th anniversary.

Hess steadily moved up in leadership and became the engineered systems and advanced manufacturing company’s first female president in 2014.

She is also president of the Engineered Systems segment of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated, which includes Teledyne Brown Engineering and three other Teledyne companies, and employs 1,200 people to serve the aerospace, defense, maritime and energy markets.

Hess is responsible for the “growth, profitability and long-range strategic positioning of her segment,” which has grown organically by double digits under her leadership both in revenue and profit in an industry where the average is low single digit.

“I find that she has integrity, which is important not only in business, but in relationships outside of business,” said friend and colleague, Dorothy Davidson who is CEO of Davidson Technologies in Huntsville.

Davidson told Yellowhammer News that Hess is a “good person for the community” and is well known not just in Alabama, but also nationally and internationally.

“I think that’s a tribute to her for several reasons,” Davidson said. “One is her being a woman in the position that she’s in and being able to carry that forth and to have people respect that. In this day and time, to be able to get the respect of other people, other nations, is a very important thing, especially when you can do it successfully and with the integrity that is required.”

Hess said she believes there are three key elements to success: hard work, persistence and a positive attitude, which she says she learned as one of eight siblings whose father passed away when she was 10 years old.

She and her siblings “worked as a team” to help her mother keep the family afloat.

“As we went off to college, those at home sent whatever money possible to help those in college,” said Hess, adding that she began working at the age of 12. “As we graduated, we helped those still in college and at home.”

Hess graduated from Auburn University with a degree in accounting and holds a certificate in management from the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, as well as a professional designation in Advanced Government Contracting. She is an active business leader and volunteer who advocates for children with learning challenges and sits on multiple Huntsville boards and councils. She is a certified public accountant in Alabama (inactive) and frequent public speaker who has won multiple honors and awards, including being named a “Woman of Distinction” by the Girl Scouts of the USA.

“I have been fortunate to have many mentors in my career,” Hess said. “Mentoring need not be a formal process. Mentoring opportunities are everywhere – airplanes, events and most recently while walking in D.C. to a conference. It is an honor and very rewarding to be able to ‘pay it forward’ and watch others grow.”

Hess is married to Grantt Childress, whom Hess calls her “greatest cheerleader.” The two have an adult son.

Hess will be honored with Governor Kay Ivey in a March 29 awards event in Birmingham that will recognize 20 Yellowhammer Women of Impact whose powerful contributions advance Alabama.

Details and registration may be found here.

(Image: Teledyne Brown Engineering/Johnny Miller)

Rachel Blackmon Bryars is managing editor of Yellowhammer News.

Dr. Nancy Dunlap may not be a household name, but her impact in the field of medicine has extended far beyond Alabama’s borders.

Dunlap, an emeritus professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is among the women to be honored this month at the Yellowhammer Women of Impact event.

Dunlap was special adviser to the Alabama Medicaid Advisory Commission and served on the National Health Policy Conference Advisory Board. Also a member of America’s Top Doctors, she served under former Alabama Gov. Bob Riley as secretary of the Emergency Response Commission to Address the Health Care Crisis.

In 2013, the National Governors Association tapped her to serve as physician-in-residence at the organization’s Center for Best Practices Health Division, where she helped develop recommendations for states to contain health care costs, manage diseases and improve technology.

“Her expertise and long-standing dedication will be very beneficial to our work for the nation’s governors,” National Governors Association Executive Director Dan Crippen said in a statement announcing her appointment at the time.

Later in 2013, Dunlap left Alabama to take a job as interim dean of the University of Virginia School of Medicine while the school searched for a permanent replacement. She served in that capacity for 18 months and then returned home to Alabama.

It is not just in medicine where Dunlap has made her mark, however. She has served the broader community in a number of ways. Most recently, she participated on a search committee that selected Melanie R. Bridgeforth to take over as president and CEO at the Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin also tapped her after his election last year to co-chair an advisory committee on social justice issues to help the incoming administration set priorities for the first 100 days.

Dunlap in 2016 joined the board of Southern Research, a nonprofit that works on drug discovery and development, advanced engineering research, and energy and environmental research.

Dunlap participated in a Women in Pulmonary Symposium at UAB and talked about the need to nurture women in science fields.

“I do believe that there is a tendency in every professional field to believe that women, particularly when they have families, would have balance issues. As a result, women aren’t put in leadership positions and fall behind their male peers,” Dunlap said, according to a report on UAB’s website. “If you haven’t held those leadership positions at a certain point, you fall behind professionally and can’t catch up. That’s why it is very important to nominate young faculty members to professional organizations.”

Those young female faculty members looking for a role model could find few better than Dunlap.

Join Women of Impact honoree Gov. Kay Ivey and special guests from across the state for a Birmingham awards event March 29 honoring the 20 Yellowhammer Women of Impact whose powerful contributions advance Alabama. Details and registration may be found here.

Brendan Kirby is senior political reporter at LifeZette.com and a Yellowhammer contributor. He also is the author of “Wicked Mobile.” Follow him on Twitter.

The most important duty of a lieutenant governor is to be ready to become governor.

Judging by the significant accomplishments in Kay Ivey’s nearly 11 months as Alabama’s 54^th governor, she has proven herself ready by successfully steadying what she called “the ship of state” and then steering Alabama into strong economic waters.

Yellowhammer News is proud to announce that Gov. Ivey is a 2018 Woman of Impact because as Alabama’s second female governor, she is a trailblazer who restored our state government’s image when we needed strong, dignified, unifying leadership the most.

Gov. Ivey has presided over accomplishments that should make all Alabamians proud, including:

• Record low unemployment (3.5 percent in December).
• Record exports of Alabama goods and services in 2017.
• More than $6 billion in new direct investments committed in the state that will create 13,000 jobs.
• A conservative, fiscally responsible state budget.
• Launch of the “Strong Start, Strong Finish” education initiative that prioritizes early childhood education, computer science in middle and high school, and workforce preparedness.
• Attraction of major businesses to Alabama, including the coming Toyota-Mazda plant in Huntsville that will provide an estimated 4,000 jobs.

Ivey enjoys the 3^rd highest approval rating of governors nationwide, according to a recent Morning Consult poll, and her political history includes several interesting firsts:

• First female student government vice president at Auburn University.
• First Alabama Girls State alumna elected to a statewide office.
• First Republican to be elected state treasurer since Reconstruction.
• First Republican woman to hold the office of lieutenant governor.
• First Republican lieutenant governor re-elected to the office.
• First Republican female governor.

Gov. Ivey grew up an only child in small-town Camden, Alabama, in Wilcox County and worked on the family farm where the Iveys raised horses, grew timber and farmed cattle. Her father served in World War II as an army major in the field artillery and her mother’s work included time as vice president at Camden Bank.

Gov. Ivey has worked as a high school teacher and a banker and has long advocated for women in government through her work with Alabama Girls State — beginning her own career in public service when then-Governor Fob James appointed her to the state cabinet in 1979.

War Eagle, Madam Governor, and thank you for rising to an unexpected challenge … and for knocking it out of the park.

Join Governor Ivey and special guests from across the state for a Birmingham awards event March 29 honoring the 20 Yellowhammer Women of Impact whose powerful contributions advance Alabama. Details and registration may be found here.

(Image: Governor’s Office, Hal Yeager)

Rachel Blackmon Bryars is managing editor of Yellowhammer News.

The national association for Republican state attorneys general recently endorsed Steve Marshall is his campaign to remain Alabama’s top law enforcement officer.

Marshall, a former district attorney in north Alabama, was appointed attorney general last year when Luther Strange left for the U.S. Senate.

He is now running in the Republican Primary against former U.S. Attorney Alice Martin, former Attorney General Troy King, and Mobile lawyer Chess Bedsole.

Key quotes from the Republican Attorneys General Association:

— “The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) is proud to stand with Attorney General Steve Marshall and offer him our association’s full endorsement. Like President Donald J. Trump, he values our law enforcement, is strong on crime and is dedicated to keeping Alabamians safe.

— “Marshall has been serving Alabama – protecting their communities and fighting crime – for years. First, as the District Attorney of Marshall County, and now as attorney general. Marshall has been a tireless advocate for a safer Alabama, working directly with local law enforcement to combat violent crime and collaborating with Governor Kay Ivey’s and President Donald J. Trump’s administrations to tackle the opioid epidemic.”

— “Marshall has been an impressive new addition to the RAGA community, joining his colleagues from his very first day in office to fight federal overreach and restore state sovereignty. In his first year, Marshall has emerged as a dynamic leader and an ardent defender of the Constitution and the rule of law.”

The Republican Primary is June 5.

(Sign-up for our daily newsletter here and never miss another article from Yellowhammer News.)

CHICKASAW — After meeting with constituents at his 106^th town hall this week, U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) spoke with Yellowhammer News about a number of issues facing Congress, beginning with health care.

“I don’t think we’re done with health care,” Byrne said. “We repealed the individual mandate and we passed tax reform, but I think we’ve got a lot of other things we need to do.”

The congressman fielded at least one question from a constituent about the recent budget deal, which he voted for. Conservatives criticized Republicans in Congress for passing the deal because it significantly increased the deficit and debt, something they voted firmly against under President Barrack Obama.

Only two Republican members of Alabama’s Congressional delegation voted against the budget — U.S. Reps. Gary Palmer of the Birmingham area and Mo Brooks of Huntsville.

“I had great concerns,” Byrne said. “Gary Palmer and I had the same concerns, and he fell one way, I fell the other.”

The problem, he explained, was the U.S. Senate.

“Essentially when you have a Republican Senate that requires 60 votes and you’ve got to get a deal with the Democrats, you’re going to end up with bad deals,” he said. “In order for us to get the money we needed to adequately fund our military, we had to agree with a bad deal with the Democrats.”

Pressed on whether he voted for a bad deal, Byrne made a distinction.

“It’s a good deal for defense. It’s a bad deal for domestic discretionary,” he said.

Ultimately, Byrne said it was appeals from the administration that quelled his deficit concerns.

“Yes, talking to (White House Chief of Staff) Kelly and talking to Secretary Mattis convinced me that on balance, the better decision was to make sure that we protected America first,” he said.

Asked what he thinks is the most important piece of legislation passed during this session, Byrne didn’t equivocate — the National Defense Authorization Act.

“It was in that act that we turned America back around to making the appropriate choices to defend the country,” he said. “And we did it in such a way to where we actually went beyond what the president wanted us to do, but we knew it was the right thing to do.”

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When a member of the Lee County Democrats reached out to her on New Year’s Day, Mallory Hagan thought it was the same old thing.

“I genuinely thought that they were going to ask me to endorse a candidate because I’ve been asked to do that before,” Hagan, former Miss America, said in an interview today with Yellowhammer News.

“She said ‘no no no, we want you to run.’”

Hagan launched her campaign for Alabama’s 3rd congressional district on February 6.

Unseating popular Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Saks), who was first elected in 2002, will be a long shot.

Rogers has been reelected every term since then by winning more than 60 percent of votes cast in most campaigns.

Hagan also committed a cardinal sin in Alabama politics last week: she was critical of the National Rifle Association.

In the shooting in Parkland, Florida, she called Rogers out for accepting money from the NRA.

The gun issue has been the subject of much of Hagan’s campaigning in the last week. She held a gun safety discussion yesterday in Auburn, where she toed that line of respecting her potential constituents’ conservative sensibilities on guns and freedom, while advocating a solution to mass violence.

“The problem that we’re having is nuanced,” she said. “It involves several different aspects of our society and of what’s available in our society. The most common thing that came up in last night’s discussion was access. We had licensed psychologists there, we had school counselors there, and the concept of mental health is a huge part of the conversation when it comes to access to guns. But all of it boils down to that, that we can too easily access firearms. We want to make sure that access to a firearm is a process that requires thought and is very deliberate.”

“If you ban a certain type of firearm, there’s only going to become a way to make something into something that it’s not already,” she said. (Think bump stocks.)

“That’s not the answer here. The answer is, if you want to own a firearm, an extensive background check and a waiting period. Those things are proven, a majority of Americans agree with that, and it’s something that needs to be across the board. That ease of access is, to me, the problem. It’s not the firearm itself.”

But Hagan is not relying upon her position on guns to propel her towards victory.

“I think my path to victory is being authentic. I stepped into this fire, if you will – the fire of politics – but I genuinely care about the people who live here and I genuinely care about hearing their concerns and as I said, all of us collectively coming together.”

Hagan also stressed what she did as Miss America among her qualifications.

“During my time with the Miss America organization, I really honed in my advocacy skills and really honed in the ability to understand how much it takes in order to get a law passed or a budget restored. I was on Capitol Hill quite a bit with the National Children’s Alliance. I lobbied there several times and ultimately was able to be a part of restoring the 2014 budget for our child advocacy centers across the country. Those are the types of things that I was most proud of during my time as Miss America, but also the types of things that have prepared me. Those are the skills that I’m bringing into this, as someone who cares about our kids, the type of world that we’re creating for them.”

For Hagan, it’s about the children.

“Every single policy issue that we have, and everything that comes up as a concern, ultimately is a concern of our kids.”

Regardless of her seemingly moderate positions, Hagan will have a tough time convincing conservatives in her east Alabama district to vote for a Democrat.

(Do you think Hagan has a chance? Take this article over to social media and start a conversation)

The 7 Things You Should Be Talking About Today

1. Media is obsessing over Donald Trump’s response to the latest Mueller investigation news, not the news

— President Trump acknowledged that Russians meddled in the election but the media wants him to admit that there still might be collusion.

— The reality is that there has not been one piece of evidence or decision made by the special prosecutor that alleges any knowledge from anyone in Trump’s campaign or administration was involved.

2. Russian investigation has new developments, still no allegations of collusion

— 13 Russians were indicted for meddling in the election of 2016, starting in 2014, nor do they mention that most of the spending was done post-election.

— Rick Gates reportedly is close to a deal and testifying against Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort

3. Pretty much everyone missed the signs that the shooter in Parkland, Florida was a troubled soul

— The FBI missed warnings that Nikolas Cruz might attack, they failed to act on a call just weeks before Cruz attacked the school.

— The Florida Department of Children and Families investigated Cruz in 2016 after Snapchat posts showed him cutting his arms and saying he wanted to buy a gun. They still deemed him low risk.

4. Schools in a district in Texas and a district in Alabama allow their teachers to be armed; it’s been proposed in Alabama

— While Alabama considers a law to allow teachers to arm themselves, we often forget one school system (Franklin County) already does this.

— The Alabama law lets teachers and others to be trained as Reserve Deputy Sheriffs and carry firearms on school grounds.

5. More Alabama sheriffs are under fire over excess money from inmates’ food budget, it’s legal for now

— Alabama law allows sheriff’s to pocket money they do not spend feeding inmates. This obviously has led to some problems.

— One sheriff pocketed $110,000 dollars, another lent $150,000 to a now bankrupt used car dealership.

6. NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley puts his money where his mouth is to help black Alabamians

— Barkley told ESPN’s “First Take” that athletes should be giving back to their community.

— In late 2017, Barkley said he was pledging $1 million to minority startups because “black women really came out and supported Doug Jones” but he added, “That does not mean restaurants and hair salons, black women.”

7. “Black Panther” kills at the box office

— The latest Marvel film had the fifth-highest-grossing debut ever behind only “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” ”Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” ”Jurassic World” and “The Avengers.”

— The movie made $387 million worldwide.

Rep. Will Ainsworth has begun drafting legislation that would establish a framework for some teachers to be trained and armed with firearms, to prevent more massacres like the one that occurred yesterday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

“I think just common sense tells you if that coach would have had a gun, you know, as soon as that guy had stepped into the classroom, he could have ended the situation,” Ainsworth told Yellowhammer News.

Ainsworth was referring to Aaron Feis, a football coach at the Florida high school, who was shot yesterday while shielding students from gunfire. Feis later died from his wounds.

Ainsworth said that he has been considering this kind of legislation for some time.

“Michigan just passed a bill, so we’re looking at a lot of different states, and hopefully have a piece of legislation at the start of next week that we’re going to drive.”

This offers another state legislature an opportunity to act upon the issue of mass shootings, on which the United States Congress has made little progress over the years.

“My phone has been blowing up with people asking us to get something passed. Educators, teachers, parents that are concerned about this, and I think it’s something we’ve got to look at and have a conversation about, and try to address in Alabama,” Ainsworth said.

Ainsworth’s legislation has a few priorities: arming teachers who want to be armed, setting up a framework of approval for those to be armed from school principals or superintendents, and making sure teachers who are approved go through the proper training.

“We’ve got to make sure that whoever’s going to have these guns in the schools, that they’re actually properly getting trained, and that there’s a mechanism in place to make sure that kids in the school systems can’t get their hands on these weapons.”

Ainsworth also noted that his approach would be a better way to protect children than hiring more school resource officers because teachers are all over the schools and are with the students.

“The amount of security you would need to properly do that would be a lot.”

Reiterating a common argument among conservatives against gun control measures, Ainsworth said that at the end of the day, bad people are going to acquire guns any way they can.

“My opinion is that guns don’t kill people – evil people do. The data backs it up. Gun control doesn’t work,” he said, citing high homicide rates in Chicago despite strict gun control laws.

Those advocating stricter gun laws generally respond to such arguments by pointing to the fact that many of the guns coming into Chicago come from other states with less strict laws, such as Indiana.

“More gun control will not stop someone who is intent upon inflicting harm in our schools, but someone who is properly trained and armed with the right equipment certainly can,” Ainsworth said in a Thursday statement.  “It is my hope that passage of this legislation can be fast-tracked once it has been introduced.”

Attorney General Steve Marshall joined us to discuss the current opioid crisis in the United States right now. He discussed Alabama legislators plans to solve the crisis in Alabama, and he put an emphasis on returning veterans.

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For the past six years, I have had the honor and privilege of serving as the secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce. Economic development continues to be one of my passions. I love Alabama and believe in all of the things she has to offer. Our dedicated team of professionals and our allies share this belief.

Through hard work and dedication, we had a banner year in 2017. Led by Gov. Kay Ivey, our team recruited world-class companies from around the world to locate in Alabama and become part of the growing Made in Alabama movement. Preliminary figures indicate these companies collectively are investing more than $3.3 billion, while creating more than 7,000 jobs.

While this is excellent news, it’s also encouraging that 2018 is off to strong start. Toyota-Mazda selected Huntsville for a $1.6 billion auto plant with 4,000 jobs. Kimber, a leading firearms maker, announced plans for a manufacturing facility in Troy with 366 jobs.

Alabama’s business-friendly climate has garnered national accolades from Site Selection magazine, which receives feedback from corporate real estate executives and site-selection consultants. This has helped propel Alabama into the national and international spotlight as a place that welcomes new businesses and continues to offer programs even after those
businesses are established.

Our reputation as a state where companies want to build and expand their facilities didn’t happen overnight. For years, AIDT, which is part of the Department of Commerce, has been a wonderful asset in helping companies hire and educate their workforce.

While AIDT has been a great tool in attracting businesses, we needed a comprehensive system we could present to perspective investors showing that Alabama truly means business via an educated talent pool. This is why AlabamaWorks has become a true asset in the recruitment process.

When a company is selecting a site, it looks at several qualities. These can include infrastructure, access to roads, railway and waterways, site readiness and proximity to needed resources. While these metrics vary according to the company’s needs, one remains a constant: a readily available workforce. This is where AlabamaWorks gives us a competitive advantage.

Officially launched in late 2016, AlabamaWorks is an umbrella organization comprised of business and industry, the Department of Commerce (including AIDT), the Alabama Technology Network, the Alabama Community College System, the Alabama State Department of Education, the Alabama Department of Labor (including the Alabama Career Center System) and the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services.

As its focus, AlabamaWorks unites prospective employees, training opportunities and unfilled jobs or new jobs in one place. The streamlining of these has allowed us to further showcase Alabama as the premier location which provides prime sites that meet business’ criteria while offering a mechanism to locate prospective employees and training services.

AlabamaWorks provides us with a key competitive advantage in recruiting. This will increase in value with the addition of Gov. Ivey’s attainment program to have 65 percent of high school graduates acquire a post-high school certification by 2025. By adding this, companies and industries will further realize that Alabama is strategically planning to meet their workforce needs now and in the future.

I am proud that my department is part of the AlabamaWorks initiative because I see the positive effect it is having on our people, our economy and our national positioning as a business-friendly state. To learn more, visit www.alabamaworks.com.

Friday morning, Gov. Kay Ivey’s office announced data that revealed a record number of people employed for December.

According to the Alabama Department of Labor, 2,093,063 people were counted as employed last month, the most ever recorded, up from 2,087,509 in November 2017 and up from 2,047,753 in December 2016.

The preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the state remains at 3.5 percent with 75,698 unemployed.

“We are ending 2017 with great news on the employment front,” Ivey said in a statement that accompanied the data. “Not only have we reached a record low unemployment rate, but now we can add another record to our list – more people are working in Alabama than ever before! We’ve been busy recruiting new business to our state, like our recent announcement of Toyota-Mazda’s decision to locate in North Alabama, bringing 4,000 jobs and more than 300 jobs in Troy due to Kimber’s recent announcement.”

Alabama Secretary of Labor Fitzgerald Washington said the data had exceeded predictions made in the early part of last year.

“In early 2017, economists predicted that Alabama’s economy would gain 18,700 jobs over the year,” he said in the statement. “I’m happy to say that we surpassed that prediction by more than 13,000 jobs, gaining a total of 32,500 jobs. Employers are hiring in Alabama, and we stand ready to provide whatever assistance is needed to make sure that they are able to fill their open positions.”

The data showed normal trends when broken down locally. Shelby County leads the state with a 2.5 percent unemployment rate. Cullman County at 2.8 percent and Marshall, Madison and Lee Counties at 2.9 percent follow.

On the other end of the spectrum, Wilcox County has the highest rate at 9.5 percent, with Clarke County at 6.7 percent and Lowndes County at 6.5 percent.

When broken down by “major city, Birmingham’s southern suburbs lead the way. Vestavia Hills has the state’s lowest rate at 2.1 percent. Homewood comes in at 2.3 percent, and Alabaster and Hoover at 2.4 percent. Cities with high unemployment rates are Selma at 6.3 percent, Prichard at 6.2 percent and Anniston at 5.0 percent.

Jeff Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and works as the editor of Breitbart TV. Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeff_poor.

 
 
Its Friday, so it’s time for a favorite segment on The Ford Faction and that is “The Final 30 with Amanda Head.”  She mentions her views on the comments made from President Trump about other countries.  She also sheds light on the DACA reception to the comments and Donald Trump’s physical that was made earlier last week.  “The Fake News Awards” were this week and Amanda Head had a lot to say about it and she weighs in on the media’s inaccuracy of covering real news.  Amanda even lets us know what she thought on the National Championship.

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The Ford Faction was fortunate enough to have Ron Brown call into the show and talk about his video that surfaced earlier this week about the UA sorority girl that went on a racist rant.  Ron addressed the situation by talking about his transition from Atlanta, a prominent black community, to Birmingham.  He mentions the transition being easier than ever and how he has never experienced racism in Alabama.  Ron even mentions his reflection on Alabama winning the National Championship.

Below is a preview of the interview. Click here to listen to the full audio.
 

 
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