TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalRecord number of new COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma health officials reported a one-day record of more than 6,000 newly confirmed coronavirus cases Saturday as experts warned the Thanksgiving holiday may make testing numbers erratic.
The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported 6,257 new cases of COVID-19 and 13 more deaths linked to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
The record daily case count comes as the pandemic has grown worse across the state.
Infectious diseases experts have warned the holiday could cause spikes in testing and delays in processing that may make the resulting figures difficult to interpret.
Read more: https://dothaneagle.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/the-latest-record-number-of-new-covid-19-cases-in-oklahoma/article_d671a1d2-106f-5da4-a3aa-7cfd2b7f3ef1.html
US women beat Netherlands 2-0 in World Cup rematch
BREDA, Netherlands (AP) — Rose Lavelle scored against the Netherlands again, Kristie Mewis scored in her first appearance for the United States in six years and the U.S. women won a rematch of last year's World Cup final by the same score, 2-0, on Friday.
The older sister of starter Sam Mewis came in as a second-half substitute and scored in the 70th minute. It was Kristie Mewis' second goal for the team, after her first in 2013. The 2,722 days between her goals was the longest stretch in team history.
“I just had to just re-watch it, actually, because I think I blacked out on what actually happened," Kristie Mewis said about her goal.
The United States hadn't played in 261 days because of the coronavirus pandemic. The top-ranked Americans have won all nine matches they've played this year. They're 11-0-0 under coach Vlatko Andonovski, who took over after Jill Ellis stepped down last year.
Read more: https://dothaneagle.com/sports/soccer/us-women-beat-netherlands-2-0-in-world-cup-rematch/article_461f745e-3539-5a5d-b9b1-abadf85f9519.html
Alabama attorney general sues removal of Confederate monument
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is challenging the removal of a Confederate statue from the Madison County courthouse.
The lawsuit, issued Friday, argues that the decision to move the statue honoring Confederate soldiers to a Huntsville cemetery violated the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act, passed in 2017. The law was made to protect Confederate monuments.
The Madison County Commission voted in October to move it to Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville where Confederate soldiers are buried. The move was made in accordance with the law, according to commissioners involved in the decision.
Marshall is wanting a judge to penalize the move with a one-time fine of $25,000.
https://www.apr.org/post/alabama-attorney-general-sues-removal-confederate-monument
(no more at link)
Doug Jones as Biden's attorney general? What oddsmakers have to say
Oddsmakers have projected favorites for three Cabinet positions as President-elect Joe Biden plans to announce picks this week.
Biden is set to to name multiple Cabinet choices Tuesday, senior adviser Symone Sanders said Sunday on “Face the Nation.” The Biden-Harris transition team on Monday announced several key foreign policy and national security picks, including Antony Blinken for secretary of state.
Biden picked Alejandro Mayorkas for Secretary of Homeland Security. He is the first Latino and first immigrant to be nominated for the position. He also picked Avril Haines for Director of National Intelligence. She would be the first woman to lead the intelligence community.
The announcements come as the Biden-Harris transition team has been assembling White House staff and moving forward with the transfer of power process as the president-elect prepares to take office on Jan. 20, 2021. Biden’s Cabinet nominees will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Read more: https://www.al.com/news/2020/11/doug-jones-as-bidens-attorney-general-what-oddsmakers-have-to-say.html
Alabama woman accused of husband's murder says she was stabbed in vagina
A 66-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday for allegedly killing her husband on July 30, 2019, according to the Foley Police Department.
Linda B. Doyle is accused of killing James Doyle.
“A thorough investigation was conducted and the case was presented to a Baldwin County Grand Jury. She was indicted for Murder this month. A warrant was obtained for the arrest of Linda B. Doyle and she was taken into custody without further incident at her residence in Foley,” the department posted on Facebook.
However, her attorney, Patrick Doggett, told WKRG, Linda B. Doyle acted in self-defense after she was “stabbed multiple times in the vagina with a butcher knife” by James Doyle.
Read more: https://www.al.com/news/2020/11/alabama-woman-accused-of-husbands-murder-says-she-was-stabbed-in-vagina.html
Former Alabama judge faces prison time; prosecutors cite 'audacity and wickedness' of crimes
State prosecutors this week delivered a scathing description of former Limestone County Judge Doug Patterson in a court filing asking that he be ordered to serve five years in prison.
“The audacity and wickedness of Patterson’s crimes cannot be overstated: he stole from the disabled, he stole from the dead, and he stole from the children of Limestone County,” prosecutors from the Alabama Attorney General’s Office wrote in the filing on Wednesday. “In short, Patterson stole from those who couldn’t protect themselves.”
Patterson, 38, pleaded guilty last month to three felony charges of using his position for personal gain, financial exploitation of the elderly and theft. He will be sentenced Dec. 8 by Judge Steven Haddock, who was specially appointed to the case after Limestone County’s judges recused.
Patterson stole nearly $73,000 from a juvenile court fund and two of his former legal clients. Prosecutors said he wrote 70 checks to himself from the court fund, which he oversaw as a district judge. In their sentencing recommendation, prosecutors wrote that Patterson stole $7,500 from the fund just 32 days after he became a judge.
Read more: https://www.al.com/news/2020/11/former-alabama-judge-faces-prison-time-prosecutors-cite-audacity-and-wickedness-of-crimes.html
Rural hospitals in Alabama struggle to find enough nurses to face COVID-19
J.W. Cowan began his career 40 years ago trying to recruit nurses to what he now calls “forgotten man’s territory” in rural Alabama.
“A good rural nurse, I don’t know of anything that’s any tougher than that,” he said. “They persevere. They put the community, they put the hospital first, and my hat just goes out to them.”
Today, he is still trying to recruit nurses to Choctaw County near Mississippi, except he’s doing it in a pandemic. And the job has only gotten tougher and nurses are more in demand across the country, making it even harder to staff rural hospitals.
Cowan is an administrator at Choctaw General Hospital. His staff are working back-to-back, 12-hour shifts during the pandemic. One nurse worked a 96-hour week, and it’s not unusual for nurses to work seven days in a row to keep the hospital staffed.
Read more: https://www.al.com/news/2020/11/rural-hospitals-in-alabama-struggle-to-find-enough-nurses-to-face-covid-19.html
Want racist language out of Alabama's Constitution? Wait until 2022
It got the overwhelming approval of legislators in both parties, and more than two-thirds of Alabama voters.
There’s still work left to be done to begin removal of racist language from the Alabama Constitution. But Rep. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, said she found the margins of support for Amendment 4 encouraging.
“In the political climate we live in right now, any time you get a piece of legislation with all Democrats and all Republicans in the Legislature, that’s hard,” she said. “And then to get the percentage passage in the political climate we’re in, in the racial climate we’ve been in of late, it’s so heartwarming to see Alabamians come together.”
The measure passed on Nov. 3 with about 67% of the vote in unofficial, incomplete returns. Amendment 4 does not remove the offensive sections, but instead authorizes the Legislative Division of the Legislative Services Agency, which drafts bills for legislators, to recompile the state Constitution.
Read more: https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2020/11/27/alabama-constitution-racist-language-wait-until-2022-purge-it/6228418002/
Stillman College battles back from financial brink
The 105-acre Stillman College campus in Tuscaloosa looked largely different in early 2017 when Cynthia Warrick became its seventh president, the first woman in that position.
Enrollment had fallen to less than half a hoped-for 1,300. Sports programs had been cut from 12 down to 2, a cost-saving measure. Admission had been reduced for fall 2015, from roughly $22,500 to $17,500 for tuition, meals and housing, but the perception of Stillman's expense drove some potential students to investigate other alternatives. And cutting tuition was a risk: The college needs that money to run. Despite the cuts, enrollment dropped from 917 full-time students in fall 2014 to less than 600 by late 2016.
"As a private school, that really affected us," said Warrick. "We're tuition-driven."
The summer before she took on the job, Stillman had borrowed $1.05 million to cover payroll and other operating costs, in a bank loan requiring the city of Tuscaloosa to sign on as guarantor.
“Stillman College has honored its commitment to the consortium of banks, thus it is premature to speculate on the future," Mayor Walt Maddox said in early 2017.
Read more: https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/news/2020/11/27/stillman-college-battles-back-financial-troubles-three-years-ago/6254119002/
Alabama hospitals nearing COVID-19 summer surge levels
Alabama hospitals reported caring for 1,483 people infected with COVID-19 on Wednesday, the highest number of patients since Aug. 11, when the state was enduring its summer surge. Wednesday was also the 18th straight day with more than 1,000 people in hospitals in Alabama with COVID-19.
The seven-day average of hospitalizations was 1,370 on Wednesday, the 36th straight day of that average rising. The Alabama Department of Public Health reported 2,453 new cases Wednesday. The 14-day average of new cases was — for the eighth day in a row — at a record high of 2,192.
Across the country, more than 80,000 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 on Tuesday, a record high and the 15th straight day of record hospitalizations nationwide, according to the COVID Tracking Project, a coronavirus tracking website.
The CDC this week recommended people not travel for Thanksgiving to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Read more: https://www.alreporter.com/2020/11/25/alabama-hospitals-nearing-covid-19-summer-surge-levels/
(Alabama Political Reporter)
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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