7. The iconic Alabama welcome center attraction, featuring a new replica of the Saturn 1B rocket that has been a roadside landmark for decades, when the previous rocket was removed, people expressed that they wanted it replaced.

6. Opioid prescription dosage strength in Alabama continues to decline steadily, showing the successful efforts to combat the opioid crisis through stricter prescribing guidelines, monitoring, and alternative pain management promotion.

5. The Alabama Public Library Service board has now voted to strip state funding from the Fairhope Public Library, which was denied state funding after refusing to move or restrict access to the classic book The Handmaid’s Tale.

4. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado met with President Donald Trump, bringing him a Nobel Prize for U.S. efforts in Venezuela, amid ongoing pressure within the country .

3. Alabama judiciary committees gave first votes of approval to multiple crime-related bills, including measures on increasing penalties for acts involving multiple victims and organ theft, banning non-disclosure agreements in sexual abuse cases, and increasing penalties for assaulting lawmakers, advancing them toward full chamber consideration.

2. Governor-elect National Championship-winning Coach U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) introduced the Stop Fraud by Somalia Act to address large-scale child care fraud scandals, which he called one of the biggest in American taxpayer history, as he is demanding accountability for misused federal funds.

1. President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota to end the “travesty” of unrest following the ICE shooting; the White House slammed Gov. Tim Walz after he tried call for lowering the temperature; impeachment articles were drafted against Walz; and now House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) demanded his resignation as Minneapolis protests intensify.

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Dale Jackson is a thought leader for Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 5-9 a.m. weekdays on WVNN.