Expanded broadband access is the Alabama Rural Broadband Coalition’s mission
It’s a lot easier to stay home when you have internet; that’s how you survive. Without internet access, you can’t do your homework, can’t work and you can’t order from the grocery store online. Access to fast and reliable internet is something all Alabamians should enjoy, said state Sen. Clay Scofield of Cullman. “As this pandemic has made clear, high-speed broadband access in all corners of Alabama is truly a basic personal necessity in today’s society and could bring in an array of benefits related to education, telemedicine, economic development, and even agriculture,” Scofield said. The Alabama Rural Broadband Coalition (ARBC), formed in 2018, continues to work to expand internet service by offering proactive policy solutions to bring more voices to the conversation and resources to the table. ARBC added more than 30 new members in 2020, now involving more than 50 organizations from different industries working together. In the past three years, public and private partners have made important advances in the coalition efforts. How the Alabama Rural Broadband Coalition is elevating Alabama from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo. ARBC was instrumental in securing the passage of legislation to establish the Alabama Broadband Accessibility Fund to provide grants to expand access to high-speed internet. The fund has distributed nearly $20 million, connecting 25,000 Alabama households and community anchors. Additionally, ARBC worked with legislators and stakeholders on the Alabama Broadband Over Easements Act, which allows carriers to use electric providers’ existing infrastructure for high-speed internet. Six electric cooperatives are using or plan to use these policy solutions for broadband in 26 counties. Alabama Power is partnering with C Spire and Point Broadband to support their broadband offerings for customers in Jasper, Trussville, and Lake Martin. “From use in our homes or for e-learning or for video conferencing or remote works, to providing critical healthcare services like telemedicine to our rural hospitals and rural clinics, it has never been more apparent that internet for all is critical now and in the future,” said Dr. Lee Carter, general practitioner, Autaugaville. The ARBC is a member-led group of organizations from across the state focused on rural broadband expansion, ranging from agriculture and business to economic development, education, and health care. ARBC was formed with the assistance of the Energy Institute of Alabama. Learn more at alruralbroadband.com. Republished with the permission of Alabama NewsCenter.
House Dems make case for conviction; Trump denies charges
Donald Trump endangered the lives of all members of Congress when he aimed a mob of supporters “like a loaded cannon” at the U.S. Capitol, House Democrats said Tuesday in making their most detailed case yet for why the former president should be convicted and permanently barred from office. Trump denied the allegations through his lawyers and called the trial unconstitutional. The dueling filings offer the first public glimpse of the arguments that will be presented to the Senate beginning next week. The impeachment trial represents a remarkable reckoning with the violence in the Capitol last month, which the senators witnessed firsthand, and with Trump’s presidency overall. Held in the very chamber where the insurrectionists stood on Jan. 6, it will pit Democratic demands for a final measure of accountability against the desire of many Republicans to turn the page and move on. The impeachment trial, Trump’s second, begins in earnest on Feb. 9. The Democratic legal brief forcefully linked Trump’s baseless efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election to the deadly riot at the Capitol, saying he bears “unmistakable” blame for actions that threatened the underpinnings of American democracy. It argued that he must be found guilty on a charge of inciting the siege. And it used evocative language to conjure the day’s chaos, when “terrified members were trapped in the chamber” and called loved ones “for fear they would not survive.” “His conduct endangered the life of every single member of Congress, jeopardized the peaceful transition of power and line of succession, and compromised our national security,” the Democratic managers of the impeachment case wrote. “This is precisely the sort of constitutional offense that warrants disqualification from federal office.” The Democrats’ filing made clear their plan to associate Trump’s words with the resulting violence, tracing his efforts to subvert democracy to when he first said last summer that he would not accept the election results and then through the November contest and his many failed attempts to challenge the results in court. When those efforts failed, the Democrats wrote, “he turned to improper and abusive means of staying in power,” specifically by launching a pressure campaign aimed at state election officials, the Justice Department, and Congress. “The only honorable path at that point was for President Trump to accept the results and concede his electoral defeat. Instead, he summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue,” the Democrats wrote in an 80-page document. The Democrats cited his unsuccessful efforts to sway Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and former Attorney General William Barr. Trump then became “fixated” on Jan. 6, the managers wrote. They note that many of his supporters, including the Proud Boys — who Trump told to “stand back and stand by” at a September debate — were already primed for violence. “Given all that, the crowd which assembled on January 6 unsurprisingly included many who were armed, angry, and dangerous—and poised on a hair-trigger for President Trump to confirm that they indeed had to “fight” to save America from an imagined conspiracy,” the Democrats wrote. The House brief is more than 5 times as long as the 14-page Trump filing and heavy on footnotes and citations, aiming to construct what Democrats hope will be a detailed roadmap for conviction. Trump’s legal team, by contrast, was more sparing in a filing that avoided dwelling on the drama and violence of the day. Trump’s lawyers, David Schoen and Bruce Castor, denied that he had incited the riot by disputing the election results or by exhorting his followers to “fight like hell.” They said he was permitted by the First Amendment to challenge his loss to Democrat Joe Biden as “suspect” and that, in any event, the trial itself was unconstitutional now that Trump has left the White House. Trump’s lawyers disputed the Democrats’ characterization of Trump’s remarks and his role in the riot, denying that he had ever endangered national security. When he told his followers to fight like hell, they said, he was talking about “election security in general.” Trump, they said, was not attempting to interfere with the counting of electoral votes, only encouraging members of Congress to engage in the customary process of challenging vote submissions “under a process written into Congressional rules,” as had been done in years past. “The actions by the House make clear that in their opinion the 45th President does not enjoy the protections of liberty upon which this great Nation was founded, where free speech, and indeed, free political speech form the backbone of all American liberties,” the defense lawyers wrote. Trump’s legal team also laid out a challenge to the constitutionality of the trial now that Trump has left office. Though that claim may not be resolved any time soon in the courts, it may nonetheless resonate politically. Republicans have signaled that acquittal is likely, with many saying they think Congress should move on and questioning the constitutionality of an impeachment trial — Trump’s second — now that he has left office. In a test vote in the Senate last week, 45 Republicans, including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, voted in favor of an effort to dismiss the trial over those constitutional concerns. Still, the Constitution specifies that disqualification from office can be a punishment for an impeachment conviction, and Democrats made clear that they see that as a worthwhile objective in this case. “This is not a case where elections alone are a sufficient safeguard against future abuse; it is the electoral process itself that President Trump attacked and that must be protected from him and anyone else who would seek to mimic his behavior,” the Democrats wrote. Though no president has been tried after departing the White House, Democrats say there is precedent, pointing to an 1876 impeachment of a secretary of war who resigned his office in a last-ditch attempt to avoid an impeachment trial. The Senate held it anyway. The Democrats wrote that the framers
Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama to vote on union
Amazon workers at an Alabama warehouse will vote next week on whether to unionize in one of the most visible labor-organizing pushes at the online retailing giant. Employees at the Bessemer facility are seeking to form a union to represent the full and part-time workers at the center. The employees are seeking to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Mail-in balloting begins Feb. 8, under a decision posted last month by the National Labor Relations Board. “We face outrageous work quotas that have left many with illnesses and lifetime injuries,” the site reads. The site takes the familiar swoosh on the Amazon logo and turns it upside down to look like a frown. Amazon has said that since the warehouse opened in March, it has created thousands of full-time jobs in Bessemer, with average pay of $15.30 an hour, including full healthcare, vision and dental insurance. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Steve Flowers: Legislative session begins
As the 2021 Regular Legislative Session begins, you will see new leadership in the state Senate. Republicans dominate both chambers, overwhelmingly. They have a supermajority and dominate all issues and the budgeting process. They acknowledge the handful of Democrats, but really never give them any say in decision making. Therefore, the leadership is determined within the Republican caucus. President Pro Tem, Del Marsh, decided in late November to step down from the all-powerful position of President Pro Tem of the Senate. Marsh had announced a few months earlier that he would not run for reelection to his Anniston based Senate Seat in the 2022 Elections. Many Montgomery insiders had foreseen this change in leadership for a while. The succession of state Senator Greg Reed of Jasper to the Pro Tem leadership of the Senate post was expected, as was the ascension of Senator Clay Scofield of Marshall County to the Majority Leader position. Greg Reed’s anointment to the omnipotent President Pro Tem position is a natural transition for the Alabama Senate. He is a real leader and well respected by his colleagues. This progression has been in the works for a while. Reed is a perfect choice to lead the Alabama State Senate. He is very organized and meticulous with excellent planning and organizational skills. Senator Clay Scofield is one of the most likeable people in the Senate. He is very jovial and friendly but deceptively effective. He is a young, prominent farmer from Sand Mountain and he will be a great Majority Leader. First-term State Senator Donnie Chesteen of Geneva/ Houston is doing a yeoman’s job working to expand rural broadband in the state. He served eight years in the House before moving to the Senate in 2018. The Democrats may have a superstar emerging in the Senate with Kirk Hatcher of Montgomery. Hatcher is in his first term in the Alabama House. When Senator David Burkette left the Montgomery Democratic Senate Seat last year, an open race to fill the seat began. Hatcher entered and led a six-person field with an impressive 48%. Second place finisher, veteran former Representative, John Knight, could barely muster 20%. Hatcher finished Knight off in a December runoff. Kirk Hatcher joins his fellow Morehouse graduates, Mayor Steven Reed and Probate Judge J.C. Love, as the new, young leadership of Montgomery. This triumvirate cadre of leaders all grew up together in Montgomery. All three went off to Morehouse and came home to lead their city. They are an impressive threesome. Democrats in the House and Senate would like to see early voting and absentee voting made easier in Alabama. However, their efforts to allow early voting or no-excuse absentee voting faces a dismal outlook in the GOP controlled legislature. The state saw an amazing record-breaking 318,000 absentee ballots cast in the November election. The previous record was 89,000. The rules were loosened by Secretary of State John Merrill due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than a dozen counties opened courthouses on Saturday for people to cast in-person absentee ballots. State Representative Chris England, who also chairs the Alabama Democratic Party, has opined that the long lines and extensive absentee ballot voting shows that people want opportunities to vote early. England and House Democratic Leader Anthony Daniels of Huntsville will push for change in the state voting laws that give Alabamians the opportunity to vote early, permanently. Daniels and England are young superstars to watch. Chris England gets his leadership abilities honestly. His father is legendary Tuscaloosa Circuit Judge and former State Supreme Court Justice and University of Alabama Trustee, John England. The apple does not fall far from the tree. Chris is also a prominent Tuscaloosa lawyer in his own right. The House leadership will remain intact and continue their well-organized operating procedures. Speaker Mac McCutcheon is mild mannered, gentlemanly, and well-liked. He and the popular Republican Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter from DeKalb County work well together in organizing the super Republican Majority House of Representatives. Veteran Mobile Legislator Victor Gaston is steady as Pro Tem. The glue that holds the House together and makes it successful are the two Budget Chairmen Steve Clouse of Ozark and Bill Poole of Tuscaloosa. Clouse and Poole have chaired the House Ways and Means Committees for almost a decade. They do an excellent job. Both budgets originate in the House. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
