1. Jeff Coleman on AL-2 bid: ‘I’m all in’

 

• The race to replace U.S. Representative Martha Roby in has its first confirmed candidate.
• Dothan businessman Jeff Coleman told Alabama Daily News that he plans to run for the Republican nomination for Congress in Alabama’s 2nd District.
• “I’m all in,” Coleman said Wednesday when contacted by ADN. “And I’m all in to win.”
• Roby announced last week that she will not be seeking reelection to a sixth term in Congress in 2020. Her surprise announcement has led several potential candidates to consider a bid to succeed the Montgomery Republican, but Coleman is the first to confirm his candidacy.
• “Our family has prayed a lot about it over the last week, and when you try to live a God-led life, you can’t ignore this call to serve,” Coleman said.
• He talked more about his decision to run and the campaign team he’s building.
• Read all that in the full story HERE.

 

 

2. DNC rejects AlaDems’ plan.

• National party officials have rejected the Alabama Democratic Party’s proposed bylaws after expressing concern that the state group isn’t doing enough to get more non-black minorities involved.
• In February, the Democratic National Committee ordered the Alabama party to hold new elections for party leaders and to revise bylaws to provide representation of more minorities— not just African Americans— in the party. The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee rejected those reworked bylaws Tuesday.
• Alabama Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy Worley said Wednesday that the state party will discuss its options with an attorney and continue to work with the DNC.
• The decision comes after a nearly yearlong dispute over the governance of the state party. The DNC ordered changes after challenges were filed when Worley was reelected as party chairwoman last August.
• Committee member Harold Ickes said the party’s internal elections last year made the “Keystone Cops look organized.”
• Full story HERE.

 

3. UAB, United Healthcare reach deal.

• The University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System has reached a deal with UnitedHealthCare to continue accepting the company’s medical insurance.
• The agreement means almost 25,000 policyholders can continue getting care at one of Alabama’s leading hospitals.
• UAB was going to quit accepting the company’s insurance after Wednesday without a new contract.
• The new deal will cover two years, and a statement from UnitedHealthCare says its customers won’t see any interruption in benefits.
• An impasse emerged after months of talks and disagreements over the cost of care at UAB. The insurer said the hospital system was too expensive, and the hospital said the company was ignoring costs associated with treating the state’s sickest patients.
• The new agreement will be finished over the next two weeks.
• Story link.

 

4. Skip Tucker: A bad day to be a bad person.

 

• Skip Tucker is back this week and he’s writing about, Charlie Graddick, whom he worked for on campaigns years ago.
• Graddick will soon be taking over as Executive Director of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, having been appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey.
• That has a lot of people talking, but especially Skip, who says Graddick’s “law and order” mentality will serve the state well.
• Here’s an excerpt:

• Read the full column HERE.

 

5. AP News Briefs.

• Police say they’ve arrested a man who allegedly left his 1-year-old son in a locked car while he was shoplifting from a Walmart store.
• Authorities in Huntsville, Alabama, say 27-year-old Travis Gill Sasser was arrested Tuesday. He’s charged with theft and domestic violence.
• News outlets report the man is accused of leaving his son inside a locked car outside a Walmart for about an hour while he went inside to steal a $259 blender on Monday.
• Police say the man dropped his keys while running out and realized he couldn’t get into the vehicle. Police say he then called 911 and was arrested.
• Police say the child was taken to a hospital and released after an evaluation.

• The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for the first time in a decade.
• It left open the possibility of future rate cuts, but perhaps not as many as Wall Street had been hoping for. During a news conference, Chairman Jerome Powell struggled to find just the right words to articulate the Fed’s strategy and what might prompt future rate cuts at a time when the risk of a recession in the United States seems relatively low.
•  The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled to finish down 333 points, or 1.2%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.01% from 2.06% late Tuesday, a sharp drop.
• The central bank reduced its benchmark rate — which affects many loans for households and businesses — by a quarter-point to a range of 2% to 2.25%. It’s the first rate cut since December 2008 during the depths of the Great Recession, when the Fed slashed its rate to a record low near zero and kept it there until 2015. The economy is far healthier now despite risks to what’s become the longest expansion on record.
• But Powell stressed that the Fed is worried about the consequences of Trump’s trade war and sluggish economies overseas.
• “Weak global growth and trade tensions are having an effect on the U.S. economy,” he said.
• Full Story HERE.

• The Trump administration said Wednesday it will create a way for Americans to legally and safely import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada for the first time, reversing years of refusals by health authorities amid a public outcry over high prices for life-sustaining medications.
• The move is a step toward fulfilling a 2016 campaign promise by President Donald Trump. It weakens an import ban that has stood as a symbol of the political clout of the pharmaceutical industry.
• But it’s unclear how soon consumers will see benefits, as the plan has to go through time-consuming regulatory approval and later could face court challenges from drugmakers. And there’s no telling how Canada will react to becoming the drugstore for its much bigger neighbor, with potential consequences for policymakers and consumers there.
• The U.S. drug industry is facing a crescendo of consumer complaints over prices, as well as legislation from both parties in Congress to rein in costs, not to mention proposals from the Democratic presidential contenders. Ahead of the 2020 election, Trump is feeling pressure to deliver on years of harsh rhetoric about pharmaceutical industry prices.
• Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the panel that oversees Medicare, is a longtime supporter. He and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota have a bill to facilitate importation. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who chairs the health committee, welcomed the plan but said the key is whether importation can be done safely.
• Full story HERE.

 

Headlines.

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