7. The Democrat nomination battle rages on

• Thursday night, the top seven presidential candidates took the stage in Los Angeles only seven weeks before the Iowa caucus to try to differentiate themselves so they could become the Democratic nominee for president.
• All of the candidates supported impeachment, climate change laws that they admit would kill jobs, more immigration and higher taxes, which will make the current occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue very happy.

6. Alabama could see a medical marijuana bill

• The group put together to research medical marijuana, the Alabama Medical Cannabis Study Commission, is voting this week on whether to move forward by suggesting a bill to legalize medical marijuana.
• The group’s decision could impact how legislators discuss the issue in 2020, but if the Alabama legislature did legalize medical marijuana, it would make it the 34th state to do so.

5. Mobile harbor to see improvements

• U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) has helped to secure funding to deepen and widen the Port of Mobile.
• The funding will be provided through the Energy and Water Development Bill in the Fiscal Year 2020 spending and will include a dredging program focused in the Central Gulf Coast.

4. Legislation could prevent cop killers from sitting in jail for years

• Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth is working on new legislation that could lessen the time people convicted of killing police officers spend on death row.
• In his tweet that announced his work, Ainsworth said, “Murdering an officer who maintains law and order should quickly cost your own life.”

3. Government shutdown avoided

• The $1.4 trillion spending package has been approved by the Senate so the government will be funded through the rest of the fiscal year.
• The spending package is divided into two bills. The first one for domestic programs passed 71 to 23, and the second passed 81 to 11.

2. Democrats’ recession probably won’t happen

• As the media and their Democrats attempted to push the economy into a recession, and as they are trying to convince Americans that the economy is not working, the American people are making it clear once again that they just don’t trust them.
• A new CNN poll shows that American feel better about the American economy than they have in about 20 years with 76% rating economic conditions in the United States as very/somewhat good and 68% think the economy will be good a year from now.

1. Democrats get scared, McConnell doesn’t care

• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) took to the floor of the United States Senate to declare he is at an “impasse” with House Democrats, led by Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who passed impeachment but seems unwilling or scared to move forward with it because Democrats want “to break from the unanimous bipartisan precedent and force an all our nothing approach.”
• U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) responded by calling this impeachment a “sham,” adding Democrats “got cold feet on their side.” He also pointed out how the Democrats have insisted “that the republic was at stake,” but now the Democrats have decided to delay until the Senate decides to hold the trail the way they want.