7. Journalists at Northwestern have lost their minds

• Northwestern University campus newspaper The Daily Northwestern reported on former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaking at a Young Republicans meeting at the university, and now the newspaper has issued an apology.
• The apology, which was crushed by actual journalists, stated, “We recognize that we contributed to the harm students experienced, and we wanted to apologize for and address the mistakes that we made that night — along with how we plan to move forward.” The apology added how they realized that some of the pictures posted of protesters at the event were “retraumatizing and invasive.”

6. Hyundai is adding 200 more jobs to Alabama

• The Santa Cruz will be manufactured at the Hyundai plant in Montgomery, Alabama, which according to Hyundai Motor Manufacturing of Alabama will add hundreds of jobs and a $410 million expansion.
• Manufacturing is set to begin in 2021. President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama Byungjin Jin said that this action shows that Hyundai is “confident our more than 3,000 Team Members are ready to build a quality crossover for the U.S. market.”

5. Eventually, every Democratic voter will be running for President

• It’s anticipated that former Governor Deval Patrick will be launching a 2020 Democratic presidential campaign by the end of the week. He’ll likely go immediately to New Hampshire to file for the state’s primary.
• Patrick has considered a presidential run before, but at the time ultimately decided against it due to the “cruelty of our election process.”

4. Byrne wants veterans to be able to choose their own doctor

• U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) has introduced legislation, the Full Choice for Veterans Act, which would allow veterans to receive care locally rather than having to go to a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital.
• Byrne said that this would save taxpayer money, but it would also help veterans avoid having to deal with the current “dysfunctional system.” He added, “Our veterans deserve the best medical care available and should never forego treatment because of bureaucratic roadblocks.”

3. 18 arrested in Jefferson County drug case 

• Rolando Antuain Williamson, known as “Baldhead,” is the alleged kingpin of a multi-million dollar drug ring now in police custody after purchasing $80,000 in laundered cash that led to the dismantling of his Western Jefferson County empire.
• Northern District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Jay Town highlighted how extensive this enterprise was, saying, “Today, a group of federal and local law enforcement officers dismantled a drug-trafficking operation charged with peddling the poison of methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and marijuana onto the streets of our city.”

2. Poarch Band of Creek Indians want to establish a compact with Alabama

• PCI has launched its campaign to inform people on their plan to enter into a compact with Alabama, which would be very beneficial to the state based on the projections PCI has released.
• The compact would allow PCI to operate casinos and table gaming within the state, and in return, PCI would pay Alabama over $1 billion within the first year due to projected taxes and fees from the operation.

1. The impeachment hearings have started

• During the first round of public impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump, diplomats testified about Trump pursuing political investigations, but Republicans are still aren’t buying-in, calling the whole process a “low-rent Ukraine sequel” to the Russia probe and even asking the star witnesses if they could identify an impeachable offense (they could not).
• The hearing also led to  Republicans and Democrats fighting after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) interrupted a line of questioning to warn the witness to be “cautious” about their answers while Republicans proclaimed this was all hearsay. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) confusingly declared that “hearsay can be much better evidence than direct.”