Off The Record: The latest rumors and rumblings in Alabama
The Britt-Tuberville housing spat
Congress is headed into a recess on a low note. No housing bill. No SAVE Act. No one’s happy when mom and dad are fighting. The most public dust up within Alabama’s Senate delegation since Tuberville withheld military flag officer nominations is escalating after a closed door meeting between Trump and Republican Senators this week. It was a notoriously nasty standoff after Trump pulled the plug on signing a housing bill that has hundreds of millions of dollars on the line for Alabama-aligned priorities – in exchange for passage of the SAVE Act, which requires the (impossible) elimination of the filibuster.
Tuberville walked out of the meeting and did a live TV hit in which he accused a bill Britt has been working on for over a year of “mostly” benefitting illegal immigrants… It hasn’t gone well for him since. Britt issued a rare correction of her colleague as Congress headed home for a couple of weeks. Notably, Tuberville, or any of the five senators who voted against the housing bill could’ve objected to recessing – and kept colleagues working on whatever their disagreements were – but they did not.
North Alabama solves another impossible defense problem (Gate 3 remains unsolved)
Another day, another reminder that North Alabama can apparently figure out how to track and destroy drones from a moving vehicle. This week, the Army touted a successful test of a new counter-UAS capability developed through work done by many of our friends and neighbors right here in the Tennessee Valley. (We know who you are, even if most of what you do comes with a security clearance).
Once again, Huntsville’s defense community has proven it can solve some pretty complicated problems. We’re just wondering if anyone has tried pointing a little of that problem-solving power toward the Gate 3 staffing shortage.
Andrea Alvarez’s family time was coming either way
Insiders tell OTR single term on the Huntsville City School Board was all that the social media tirade prone Andrea Alvarez could muster. While choosing to not serve for another term, Alvarez cited goals of spending more time with her family and imitating a lawsuit against the state over the CHOOSE Act, but according to a political consultant with a history of involvement in the school system, Alvarez would have been handily defeated for a second term. “An activist is different than a leader,” the consultant stated. It’s hard to find any legal mind who believes the lawsuit has any merit, but one thing is absolutely certain: all eyes have already turned to who her successor will be.
Lt. Governor John Wahl
Residency challenges are apparently Alabama’s favorite blood sport this cycle, and John Wahl just drew his second one. On the filing deadline, an angry mob of Limestone County Republicans, led by Tim Colling, filed paperwork claiming Wahl hasn’t cleared the state’s seven-year residency bar – and that he’s got proof. The trouble is that Wahl doesn’t just have allies in the party – he ran it for years. The committee that decides whether any of this even gets a hearing is a coin toss – and it already threw one Wahl residency challenge back in February bankrolled by Wes Allen. We see how that turned out.
Rats still clocking in at Wintzell’s Montgomery
There might as well be caution tape around the Wintzell’s Montgomery restaurant. Health inspectors walked into Wintzell’s Oyster House in Montgomery earlier this month and walked right back out. Rodents are running the place, there’s mold in the soda guns, warm chicken and fish in the walk-in cooler and moldy produce. The place scored a 65/100 and is still closed (unsurprisingly). The pest control company has to document three straight days of no rodent activity before reopening can even be discussed — and as of this week, the rodents are apparently still very much at home.
