WaPo: “Opening arguments are expected Monday in the hate-crimes prosecution of three White men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery, a landmark federal case focused on whether the defendants were motivated to chase and threaten him because he was Black. The trial of Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan bookends, in a way, a…

AL Political Reporter: “A recent poll shows that more than seven in 10 Alabama voters support expanding Medicaid to increase access to healthcare.  That poll, conducted by Cygnal for Alabama Arise, informed likely Alabama voters about what expanding Medicaid could do, including the creation of an average of 20,000 new jobs per year over the…

AL Political Reporter: “A former Montgomery Police officer who was convicted of manslaughter in the shooting death of an unarmed Black man remains out of prison despite the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals twice denying the former officer’s appeal.  Aaron Cody Smith, who was convicted in January 2020 of the 2016 shooting of Greg Gunn,…

North State Journal: “Georgia’s Republican-controlled Senate voted Monday to erect a monument to conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Georgia native Clarence Thomas after heated debate and objections from several black senators, one of whom called Thomas a “hypocrite and a traitor.”   The monument would be financed by private donations and would be erected somewhere…

WaPo: “A top deputy overseeing election issues for Virginia’s new Republican attorney general resigned Thursday after The Washington Post questioned the office about Facebook posts she had made praising rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and falsely claiming President Donald Trump won the 2020 election. Former deputy attorney general Monique Miles also…

NPR: “Dale Farran has been studying early childhood education for half a century. Yet her most recent scientific publication has made her question everything she thought she knew. “It really has required a lot of soul-searching, a lot of reading of the literature to try to think of what were plausible reasons that might account for this.”…

“Hearing ends in Arkansas gerrymander case, now we wait” AR Times: “After a whirlwind week of late nights, snow delays and a marathon Saturday session, both sides finished arguments in a case over whether Arkansas’s new state House maps violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act by weakening Black Arkansans’ political power. And while skeptics predict…

AR Times: “Jay Martin, a lawyer in Little Rock and former state representative, has joined the filed of Democratic candidates for governor….Martin considered a run for governor in 2018. He served two terms in the House, 2003-2007, representing parts of North Little Rock and Sherwood. He heads the law firm of Wallace, Martin, Duke &…

CNN: “The North Carolina State Board of Elections said on Monday that it has the power to block GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn from running for reelection over his role in the January 6 insurrection — an open legal question at the center of liberal-backed efforts to disqualify him from future office.The bipartisan election board made the assertion…

AL Political Reporter: “The Alabama Department of Archives and History at noon Wednesday is to hold a live-streamed program honoring three pathbreaking Alabama women.  The “Alabama Women at Work” program is to take place at noon, live-streamed on the department’s Facebook page.  Debbie Pendleton, retired ADAH director of public services, will discuss Birmingham businesswoman and suffragist,…