December 20, 2020

'January Will Be Rough': COVID-19 Peak Shows No Signs of Slowing Down

Patients at the University of Mississippi Medical Center are waiting in line for ICU beds to become available, as COVID-19 rates remain at record highs as this week draws to a close. The Mississippi State Department of Health is reporting 2,507 new cases and 34 new deaths today after Wednesday’s and Thursday’s reports showed 2,343 cases with 42 fatalities and 2,261 cases with 26 new deaths, respectively. The rolling seven-day average is now 2,161.

The consistently high numbers mark a continuation into the third consecutive week of regular reports of over 2,000 daily cases, leaving hospitals and health-care workers at their limits. Hospitalizations remain high—critically so for intensive-care utilization.

The first tiered vaccine rollouts in the state have begun, with health-care workers receiving the first allotment of doses. “I'm day 4 post COVID vaccine - and feel great,” State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs tweeted on Dec. 17. “Healthcare workers on the front line need and deserve this protection. Please check with your Dr. first if you have severe allergies or history of anaphylaxis.”

COVID rates in long-term care facilities remain at a peak—235 reported today, in line with the highest levels of spread inside LTCs throughout the state. The outbreak tracker includes data from 211 nursing homes, 199 care homes and 72 intermediate care facilities serving developmentally disabled individuals. As of Tuesday, MSDH reported 156 nursing homes with active COVID-19 outbreaks—the majority of active exposures. LTC workers are slated to receive their first vaccine doses next week.

Read more: https://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2020/dec/18/january-will-be-rough-covid-19-peak-shows-no-signs/

December 20, 2020

Thirty MS House Republicans Call for Investigation into Election Fraud

Thirty (30) elected offcials from the State of Mississippi have written a letter to the Mississippi federal delegation asking them to support Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks’ request for a thorough investigation into the widespread voter fraud in a number of swing states pertaining to the 2020 Presidential election.

The Mississippi lawmakers include:

Rep. Dana Criswell
Rep. Dan Eubanks
Rep. Steve Hopkins
Rep. Brady Williamson
Rep. Chris Brown
Rep. Randy Boyd
Rep. Becky Currie
Rep. Fred Shanks
Rep. Price Wallace
Rep. Bubba Carpenter
Rep. Mark Tullos
Rep. Donnie Scoggin
Rep. Jill Ford
Rep. Dana Underwood McLean
Rep. Brent Anderson
Rep. Shane Aguirre
Rep. Larry Byrd
Rep. Sam Creekmore
Rep. Bill Kinkade
Rep. Jeffery Hale
Rep. Billy Calvert
Rep. Troy Smith
Rep. Stacey Hobgood-Wilkes
Rep. Timmy Ladner
Rep. Tom Weathersby
Rep. Randy Rushing
Rep. Shane Barnett
Rep. Jody Steverson
Rep. Dale Goodin
Rep. Tracy Arnold
Rep. John Reed

The House Republicans says in the letter that fair elections are pivotal to the survival of the American republic, adding, “The election fraud is widespread, and the fraud and irregularities are numerous.”

The group wants Sen. Roger Wicker, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, Congressman Trent Kelly, Congressman Michael Guest and Congressman Steven Palazzo to support Brooks’ call for a Congressional investigation in support of President Donald Trump.

Read more: https://yallpolitics.com/2020/12/19/thirty-ms-house-republicans-call-for-investigation-into-election-fraud/

December 20, 2020

MS Democratic Party Chairman: "I agree with Hillary Clinton that Electoral College should be

MS Democratic Party Chairman: “I agree with Hillary Clinton that Electoral College should be abolished”


National Democrats have become increasingly more vocal about their want to abolish the Electoral College in favor of a winner-take-all popular vote in U.S. Presidential elections, and now that sentiment is trickling down to their state parties – even in Mississippi.

Earlier this week, the Mississippi Democratic Party retweeted Hillary Clinton after she participated in casting an Electoral College vote in New York for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Clinton wrote in the tweet: “I believe we should abolish the Electoral College and select our president by the winner of the popular vote, same as every other office.”

https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1338548429753081868


Clinton lost the 2016 election to President Donald Trump in the Electoral College despite winning the national popular vote. The same scenario happened in 2000 when former President Bill Clinton’s Vice President Al Gore lost to George W. Bush.

Read more: https://yallpolitics.com/2020/12/18/ms-democratic-party-chairman-i-agree-with-hillary-clinton-that-electoral-college-should-be-abolished/

December 20, 2020

Former Mississippi Gov. William Winter, advocate for education reform and race relations, dies at 97

JACKSON, Miss. — Former Mississippi Gov. William Winter, a Democrat who pushed to strengthen public education and improve race relations, has died. He was 97.

Winter, who was governor from 1980 to 1984, died Friday night at home in Jackson, family spokesman Dick Molpus said Saturday. Molpus is a former Mississippi secretary of state who had worked on Winter’s gubernatorial staff.

As governor, Winter was best known for pushing Mississippi lawmakers to enact the Education Reform Act of 1982, which set rules for compulsory school attendance, established free public kindergartens and set quality standards for schools and teachers in a state that had long struggled with the intertwined problems of poverty, racial strife and poor academic performance.

Winter served in the 1990s as co-chairman of a national commission on racial reconciliation created by President Bill Clinton, whose time as governor of Arkansas overlapped with Winter’s time as governor of Mississippi.

Read more: https://www.al.com/news/2020/12/former-mississippi-gov-william-winter-advocate-for-education-reform-and-race-relations-dies-at-97.html

December 20, 2020

How the loss of a post office is creating unrest in one Alabama city

Spanish Fort has grown a whopping 34% in the past nine years. It remains a growing city, with expanding schools, growing subdivisions and shopping malls.

But the city is about to be without a post office. In a move that has outgoing U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne “very frustrated,” the city’s sole post office – located within a strip mall – is set to close by Jan. 15. The 700 occupied P.O. boxes within the Spanish Fort facility will then be relocated to the Daphne Post Office.

“I just don’t understand why they would take the post office away from the good people of Spanish Fort,” said Byrne, a Republican from Fairhope who is leaving office on Jan. 3. “The discussions we were having with them is that they indicated they were not going to do that and that they would maintain a presence in Spanish Fort and maintain post office boxes there.”

He added, “I am disappointed with the postal service but I don’t think that will get resolved between now and Jan. 3.”

Read more: https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2020/12/how-the-loss-of-a-post-office-is-creating-unrest-in-one-alabama-city.html

December 20, 2020

UK tightens restrictions, nixes Christmas gatherings over COVID-19 spread

LONDON — Millions of people must cancel their Christmas get-togethers and most shops have to close in London and much of southern England, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Saturday as he imposed a new, stricter level of coronavirus restrictions on the region to curb rapidly spreading infections.

Johnson said Saturday that the capital and large areas in southern England already placed under the highest level of the U.K. government’s three-tiered coronavirus alert system will move into a new Tier 4 that requires all non-essential shops, hairdressers and indoor leisure venues to close after the end of business hours Saturday.

With just days to go until Christmas, Johnson also announced that a planned easing of socializing rules that would have allowed up to three households to meet in “Christmas bubbles” from Dec. 23 to Dec. 27 will be canceled for Tier 4 areas and sharply curtailed in the rest of England.

“It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you we cannot proceed with Christmas as planned,” Johnson said.

Read more: https://www.al.com/news/2020/12/uk-tightens-restrictions-nixes-christmas-gatherings-over-covid-19-spread.html

December 20, 2020

Gov. Kay Ivey's study group on gambling releases report

ov. Kay Ivey’s study group on gambling policy on Friday released its long-awaited report, which shows that a majority of Alabamians polled support a state lottery and legalized gambling.

The 876-page report ultimately lays out five options for Ivey and state legislators to consider and provides a historical overview of Alabama’s patchwork of constitutional amendments regarding gambling and numerous attempts by governors and state legislators to change the state’s gambling laws.

Ivey said in her State of the State address that before she’ll consider the Poarch Band of Creek Indians’ proposal to expand gaming she wants to know how much the state stands to make in tax revenue from the deal, and how much the state stands to bring in through a state lottery.

The Poarch Creeks have pushed a plan they say would generate $1 billion for the state in the first year and $350 million every year if the state were to codify in law its gaming monopoly and allow for an expansion of its casinos to include Birmingham and another location in North Alabama.

Read more: https://www.alreporter.com/2020/12/18/gov-kay-iveys-study-group-on-gambling-releases-report/
(Alabama Political Reporter)

At 876 pages, it is difficult to call the report "concise."

December 20, 2020

Judson College needs $500K in donations by Dec. 31 to stay open

MARION -- Judson College, the fifth oldest women’s college in the United States and only all-women college in Alabama, will close at the end of the year unless they receive $500,000 in donations by Dec. 31, and a further $1 million committed between Jan. 1 and May 31, 2021, according to a letter from the School President Mark Tew Tuesday.

“Judson College is having increased difficulty pursuing its educational mission,” the letter states. “This reality caused the Board of Trustees to make the following determination. In order to begin the spring semester, the College must, by December 31, receive unrestricted cash donations of $500,000 and unrestricted commitments for an additional $1,000,000 in cash donations to be contributed to the College between January 1 and May 31, 2021.”

Declining enrollment in the past decades, as well as financial difficulties exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, are reasons cited by Tew for Judson’s current situation. Tew reassured in his letter that Judson would inform and offer students transfer options to complete their studies at other universities if the college is forced to close.

“If the generosity of the College’s dedicated family of donors reaches these goals, the College will proceed with the spring semester that will conclude with commencement on April 30, 2021,” Tew wrote.

Read more: https://www.alreporter.com/2020/12/17/judson-college-needs-500k-in-donations-by-dec-31-to-stay-open/
(Alabama Political Reporter)

December 20, 2020

Virgin Island Senators Reject Bryan's Debt Refinancing Deal

Ten senators of the 33rd Legislature on Tuesday evening rejected Governor Albert Bryan's debt refinancing deal, with some sticking to their stance that the measure was not in the best interest of the territory; some contending that the refinancing, contrary to what was being said, was not certain to go toward saving the Government Employees' Retirement System, while others, including Finance Committee Chairman Kurt Vialet, contended that the deal — which would have dissolved the territory's $150 million Debt Service Reserve Fund — would affect future generations as it would have deferred payments and place a heavy burden on Virgin Islanders ten years down the road.

Additionally, the strategy used by Mr. Bryan and his surrogates in the buildup to the session to gain support, backfired. The administration had used G.E.R.S.'s impending collapse to gain support, stating in press releases, on radio, online and in ads that if the measure were to fail, retirees would face a 42 percent cut in their annuities come January.

On Tuesday, that approach collapsed, with senators establishing that the system, though in dire need of financial support, would not halve the pensions of retirees in January. G.E.R.S., in a letter addressed to Governor Bryan in May, called for a cash infusion of $195 million or face the prospect of a 42 percent cut in retirees' pension in January 2021. But such an action could only be authorized by the Legislature, and the pension system has since said the cut would not happen in January, though the problem must be addressed in the next two years.

Senators have also proposed other ideas to bolster G.E.R.S. that are expected to get more attention now that Mr. Bryan's debt refinancing deal has failed.

Read more: https://viconsortium.com/vi-politics/virgin-islands-senators-reject-debt-refinancing-bill-in-blow-to-governor-

December 20, 2020

University of Puerto Rico president says no campuses will close, urges gov't to avoid more cuts

University of Puerto Rico (UPR) President Jorge Haddock said Thursday that UPR will not close any of its 11 campuses, nor will it engage in the consolidation of administrative offices because such a move would lead to more red tape.

Haddock said during government transition committee hearings that the federal Financial Oversight and Management Board is no longer forcing UPR to close campuses because the university has achieved efficiencies in other areas. Regarding the consolidation of administrative offices that could serve all of the campuses, Haddock said that in practice it would have created another level of bureaucracy.

“Right now, we have a budget model that allows each campus to attract students and funding,” he said.

Despite the decreasing numbers of young people in Puerto Rico, UPR has managed to attract more students. It has received 3,856 applications for new students, a hike of 837 applications from the same period last year. UPR received in the current academic year 13,024 applications from new students despite the global pandemic. Of those, 11,055 were accepted and 8,956 completed registration.

Read more: https://www.sanjuandailystar.com/post/upr-president-says-no-campuses-will-close-urges-gov-t-to-avoid-more-cuts