Space Command saga, Death Row, TV meteorologists: Down in Alabama

It’s another getaway day. After this report we’re going to stick a fork in this week.

First, we have updates on Space Command, a Death Row case and TV meteorologists.

Thanks for reading,

Ike

A space for Space Command

Last week both of Alabama’s U.S. senators along with Congressman Dale Strong introduced a resolution calling on President Trump to immediately set a course for U.S. Space Command to place its headquarters in Huntsville.

This week, Sen. Tommy Tuberville said he had spoken with the president and that he “feels very good” about HQ’s chances of finally permanently landing in Alabama, reports AL.com’s John R. Roby.

The backstory on this, by the way, is a great snapshot of government and politics in action.

Four years ago, in January 2021, the Air Force announced it had made the decision to place the permanent Space Command HQ at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, choosing the Rocket City out of a short list of possible destinations that also included its temporary location in Colorado Springs.

It was purported to have been a decision based on merit and strategy, not a politically motivated one, and made by military officials.

Donald Trump, by then the former president, later went on the Rick & Bubba Show and said he had single-handedly made the decision to place it in Alabama. Critics pounced, arguing that Trump was rewarding Alabama for loyalty to him. Elected officials in Colorado from both political parties made their case for Colorado Springs.

Last year, President Biden made the decision to move the planned permanent HQ to Colorado.

Now here we are, the old president is now the new president, and the debate is back on.

Meanwhile, there are two mandated reviews of the Air Force’s selection process that are overdue, and there’s no indication when we might see those.

Space Command could come with 1,600 jobs.

Death Row transfer? Not likely

The Death Row inmate who’s scheduled to die by nitrogen gas next week is trying a less-common tactic to avoid the death penalty: He wants to transfer to Michigan’s prison system, reports AL.com’s Ivana Hrynkiw.

Demetrius Terrence Frazier broke into Pauline Brown’s Birmingham apartment in 1991. He searched for money, then woke her up to rape and kill her.

A few months later he was back home in Detroit. He took a 14-year-old girl into a vacant house to rape her but she tried to run away. He followed her and shot her dead.

He was convicted in the Michigan killing and given three life sentences.

A few years later he was brought to Alabama, tried and convicted of Pauline Brown’s killing, sentenced to death here, and taken back to Michigan.

In 2011, Gov. Robert Bentley reached an agreement with Michigan’s governor that brought Frazier back to Alabama, where he has sat on Death Row ever since.

Then in November his lawyers wrote to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer arguing that he’s still in the legal custody of the state of Michigan.

Michigan hasn’t had a death penalty since 1963. Still, it doesn’t appear that Michigan will welcome Frazier back. A staffer has told his lawyers that the Michigan governor won’t be acting on this.

Long-distance weather reports?

Allen Media Broadcasting has reconsidered outsourcing its weather coverage to The Weather Channel for its Alabama stations, reports AL.com’s Howard Koplowitz.

Allen Media operates 27 television stations overall and two in Alabama: WAAY in Huntsville and WCOV in Montgomery.

On Monday the company announced that, instead of locally produced weather reports, its weather coverage would come from Weather Channel studios.

WAAY 31 General Manager Mike Wright was crediting viewer feedback for the change.

Picture That

Flora-Bama t-shirts for sale.Flora-Bama Lounge

The Flora-Bama has jumped aboard President Donald Trump’s effort to rename the Gulf of Mexico -- at least in the name of t-shirt sales, with this patriotic image on some that are available through pre-order.

Quoting

“... the paradox with Donald Trump is he seems to make dishonest statements just for the fun of it, as a challenge to see if anybody has the gumption or the wherewithal to take him to task for the dishonest statements he makes. He sees it as a game, and he’s winning it.”

Mo Brooks, former Alabama congressman and Trump ally, on social media this week.

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