Tuberville forgets about triangles, police immunity expands, DOGE cuts come to Birmingham: Down in Alabama
Tuberville forgets triangles exist while advocating for Pentagon cuts
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., wants the Pentagon cut — literally.
During a Wednesday night appearance on Fox News where he advocated for cuts to the Pentagon’s budget, Alabama’s senior senator invented a word for a three-sided shape, apparently forgetting that triangles exist.
“Pete Hegseth has welcomed DOGE to come into the military. We need to start in the Pentagon. We need to make a trigon — three sides — instead of five sides in the Pentagon,” Tuberville told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.
This week, the Defense Department began cutting 5,400 probationary workers and put a hiring freeze in place, according to the Associated Press.
It comes after staffers from the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, were at the Pentagon last week and received lists of such employees, U.S. officials told the AP.
Bill expanding Alabama police immunity advances after lengthy debate
A bill to expand immunity for police officers won approval today in an Alabama House committee after a long discussion.
The “back the blue” legislation, by Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, is one of the bills supported by the Republican leadership in the Legislature and Gov. Kay Ivey. It would rewrite the state law on immunity for police.
Reynolds, former police chief in Huntsville, said a key change is that police officers accused of criminal wrongdoing on the job, such as excessive use of force, would be entitled to a hearing to determine if they acted within their authority as officers before a case against them can proceed.
The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill on a voice vote, with some Democrats voting no. Committee approval puts the bill in position for consideration by the House as early as next week.
Birmingham Social Security DOGE cuts ‘devastating,’ Alabama lawmakers say
Birmingham residents and representatives alike are concerned for what the future holds following recent cuts made at the local Social Security office by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala. said that her office “received reports that more than 100…constituents who work at the Social Security Administration in Birmingham have been unjustly terminated,” in a post to X on Tuesday.
She later clarified that the American Federation of Government Employees — the union representing federal workers — told her the cuts affected “Social Security Region 4, which covers several states including Alabama.”
Several AL.com readers said they were worried about what these cuts might mean not only for the employees, but for people who use Social Security services.