• Did you watch the impeachment hearing yesterday?
• You could be forgiven if you got bored and gave up. I mean, just look at the Chairman and Ranking Member pictured above.
• Unlike with the Intelligence Committee, which featured witnesses from in and around the diplomatic apparatus involved in the Ukraine affair, the Judiciary Committee’s hearings featured testimony from staff attorneys essentially trying to weave all those threads together to make the case for impeachment.
• So, members of the committee were questioning their own staff. That’s a little awkward, as Alabama’s Rep. Martha Roby pointed out during her time.
• “This is just bizarre. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, I’m asking questions to staff as witnesses before us in an impeachment investigatory hearing? I mean, no disrespect to staff… but we have not and we will not hear from any fact witnesses.”
• Democrats contend that the White House refuses to allow administration officials to testify before the committee.
• News today is that Democrats are currently drawing up two articles of impeachment – one for abuse of power and one for obstruction of Congress. Those should be released sometime this morning.
• Read more HERE.

• The Alabama prison system announced Monday that it is investigating the use of force by officers following the recent death of an inmate and that an investigation is ongoing into the death of another prisoner in what has already been a violent year inside state prisons.
• The Alabama Department of Corrections said it is investigating the alleged use of force that resulted in the death of an inmate at Ventress Correctional Facility. Fifty-five-year-old Michael Smith of Fairfield, died Dec. 5 after being removed from life support following a Nov. 30 incident at the prison.
• The department released little information about the death, but said two officers were placed on mandatory leave afterward.
• Full story from Kim Chandler HERE.

• The Saudi gunman who killed three people at the Pensacola naval base had apparently gone on Twitter shortly before the shooting to blast U.S. support of Israel and accuse America of being anti-Muslim, a U.S. official said Sunday as the FBI confirmed it is operating on the assumption the attack was an act of terrorism.
• Investigators are also trying to establish whether the killer, 2nd Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani, 21, of the Royal Saudi Air Force, acted alone or was part of a larger plot.
• Alshamrani, who was killed by a sheriff’s deputy during the rampage at a classroom building Friday, was undergoing flight training at Pensacola, where members of foreign militaries routinely receive instruction.
• “We are, as we do in most active-shooter investigations, work with the presumption that this was an act of terrorism,” said Rachel J. Rojas, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s office in Jacksonville.
• Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, of Enterprise, was one of the shooter’s victims.
• Full story HERE.

Montgomery factory plans $25 million expansion, will hire 51

• Hager Companies, a family-owned business that builds and ships commercial hinges is expanding its operations at its Montgomery plant.
• The St. Louis-based company already employs 240 people in the area, but the modernization/expansion should create as many as 51 new jobs.
• The expansion includes a warehouse and logistics facility.
• Read the full story from the Montgomery Advertiser’s Brad Harper HERE.

SEC promotes Charlie Hussey to deputy commissioner

• BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Southeastern Conference has promoted Charlie Hussey to deputy commissioner.
• Commissioner Greg Sankey announced the promotion on Monday, elevating Hussey from associate commissioner for Network Relations and Chief Operating Officer.
• Hussey assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer in February 2017, directing and managing the day-to-day operations of the SEC headquarters. He’ll continue those duties.
• Hussey will continue to serve as the SEC’s primary liaison with ESPN and the SEC Network for all television and sponsorship matters. A 1999 Mississippi graduate, Hussey has been with the SEC in various capacities since 2000.

11 treated after chemical reaction causes problems at plant

• MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Medical workers treated nearly a dozen people and firefighters evacuated a building Monday after a chemical reaction caused injuries inside a manufacturing plant.
• The Montgomery Fire Department said the incident happened after chemicals became mixed accidentally at Kinpak, a plastic fabrication facility.
• Eleven people were affected, and three were sent to hospitals for inhalation injuries that weren’t life-threatening.
• Fire Capt. Jason Cupps told WSFA-TV crews were working to ventilate the building and will be on the scene for several hours. The public wasn’t at risk, but officials asked people to stay away from the area to give firefighters room to work.
• Photos released by fire officials showed crews outside the building in protective gear.