7. McConnell visited Alabama over the weekend

• U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently visited the area where he grew up in Alabama and stopped at various locations throughout the Limestone County area. 
• McConnell visited with Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks, the Alabama Veterans Museum and Archives, his childhood home, and Athens Elementary, as well as other areas where his family has history. McConnell was born in Sheffield in 1942. 

6. Masks won’t be required at the University of Alabama anymore

• Starting November 5 at the University of Alabama, there will no longer be a mask requirement for vaccinated individuals inside buildings on campus. The masking requirement remains for those who are unvaccinated. 
• It’s already been announced that those working within the University of Alabama System and Auburn University will be required to be fully vaccinated no later than December 8. Auburn University hasn’t changed its mask requirements and still mandates that they be worn indoors. 

5. Speaker canceled at Samford University

• Pulitzer Prize-winning author, historian, pundit and clandestine speechwriter for Joe Biden’s campaign Jon Meacham was set to speak at Samford University for an event for the new university president Dr. Beck Taylor, but he’s since been removed as a speaker due to his involvement with Planned Parenthood. 
• A petition was created by student Emily Kirby to remove Meacham since he also spoke at an event for Planned Parenthood recently. The petition said, “[O]verall his beliefs and core values do not align with those of Samford University, as it is a Southern Baptist institution.” Taylor advised that Meacham’s speech being scheduled wasn’t meant as an endorsement of his views and added he’ll be rescheduled “at a more appropriate time to an event not so closely connected to the symbolism of the inauguration.”

4. Democrats appear to have the votes

• Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has announced that she believed she had the votes to pass both massive spending bills after months of public wrangling and negotiations in public and in private. The “social spending” is now $1.75 trillion and requires both progressives in the House and moderates in the Senate to come around to an agreement to pass President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan.
• Democrats have been pushing to spend over $1+ trillion through a reconciliation bill. U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) has said that this is a “great American shakedown.” Scott added, “We’re back to the days where you have to pass the legislation to know what’s in [the bill].” Scott went on to say that “every American” should be wary of how this legislation is being passed since there’s been so little information actually provided. The House has been pushing for a vote on the bill when there hasn’t been enough time for members to read the details of the bill. 

3. Impact of “Jabpocalypse” will soon be felt

• The real-world impact of vaccine mandates is starting to be felt in New York City, and the problems it is going to create are going to be felt around the country as the last date for employees to choose vaccinations or unemployment becomes a reality. 
• New York City is now looking at closed fire stations, sanitation problems and a police force depleted by these rules. These issues are not just affecting the public sector. American Airlines witnessed another round of flight cancellations this weekend, and while they are blaming them partially on “wind,” labor issues are obviously an issue as well.

2. Pringle sees an opportunity for Republicans in another Democrat district

• State Representative Chris Pringle (R-Mobile) has explained how there could be a chance for Republicans to benefit from another Democrat congressional district since it could allow Republicans to gain all seven districts. 
• Pringle stated on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal” that “the seventh congressional district was drawn when the Democrats were in the supermajority in the Alabama Legislature.” He added, “[T]hey drew that district to be a majority-minority district. It’s remained that way because once it is there, it is protected under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. But the plan they had brought forth — the seventh congressional district is no longer a majority-minority district, and neither is the second [district].” 

1. Marshall has filed a lawsuit against Biden’s vaccine mandate

• Alabama is working to protect federal contract workers from President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate through Attorney General Steve Marshall’s lawsuit against the mandate. Marshall described the mandate as a “lawless and authoritarian federal-contractor vaccine mandate, which is a contemptible infringement upon individual liberty, federalism, and the separation of powers.” The timeline on all of this is unclear.
• Marshall went on to say that this shows Biden’s “open disdain for the rule of law in seizing power Congress never gave him,” and the requirements could “further wreck our economy and people’s lives by denying countless workers the ability to feed their families simply for daring to oppose this get-jabbed-or-get-fired dictate.”