Presented by Azimuth

Good morning! Here’s your Daily News for Monday, January 14, 2019.

1. It’s Inauguration Day!

• Kay Ivey will be sworn in for a full term as governor today. After “steadying the ship of state” the last two years, Ivey now says she wants to “keep Alabama growing.”
• The festivities have already been going for a few days, both with the coastal celebration Saturday and various parties over the weekend.
• Today begins with a prayer service at 8:15 a.m. at First Baptist Church in Downtown Montgomery.
• The swearing-in ceremony at the Alabama Capitol begins at 10:00 a.m. and could last a few hours.
• Ivey, Lt. Gov-elect Will Ainsworth, Attorney General Steve Marshall, Treasurer-elect John McMillan, Secretary of State John Merrill, Agriculture Commissioner-elect Rick Pate, and Auditor Jim Ziegler will all take the oath of office and give speeches.
• The Inaugural Parade is scheduled to begin at noon and go down Dexter Ave. (Parking/Access Legend below)
• You can watch live online via WSFA.
• Read more about what to expect policy wise in the new term from Kim Chandler HERE.
• And don’t miss this great story from Jeff Poor, who found Ivey’s high school yearbook and specifically a “prophesy that foretold her being elected governor.

2. Birmingham officer killed.

• One Birmingham police officer was killed and another critically wounded in a shooting early Sunday as the officers questioned two people suspected of trying to break into cars.
• Two suspects are in custody, one of whom was shot and is receiving medical treatment.
• Sgt. Wytasha Carter, 44, is Birmingham’s first police officer killed in the line of duty in more than 14 years.
• Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith said the officers had approached the two suspects just before 2 a.m. outside a downtown Birmingham nightclub, after a plainclothes officer spotted one of them checking door handles on cars parked outside the venue. Smith said one suspect opened fire after being confronted by the officers.
• “This is one of the roughest hours of your career,” Smith said.
• “There’s not a chief, not an officer that ever wants to have to deal with this. This is a very difficult thing for the family, very difficult for the department.”
• Carter began his law enforcement career in 2002 as a correctional officer with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and worked for two other police departments before transferring to the Birmingham department. He was promoted to sergeant in February 2018.
• Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin called for prayers from the community.
• “Join me in praying for the family of the Birmingham Police officer killed early this morning, and the officer who is currently in the hospital. They were shot while serving and protecting our city,” Woodfin said.
• Read more about the shooting HERE.
• Better still, read Al.com Crime Reporter Carol Robinson’s more thorough and updated account HERE.

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3. Shutdown turns snowy.

• A snowed-in Washington, D.C. is preparing to welcome back Congress for its first full legislative week of the new term.
• (Before I go any further, you should check out this great twitter thread from Majority Leader Aide Don Stewart of Capitol Hill dogs playing in the snow.)
• It may be a new week, but the question is the same: how long will the shutdown last.
• Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is now encouraging President Trump to reopen the government for “like three weeks” to allow for negotiations with Democrats to continue.
• Democratic Sen. Chris Coons said that would be a “great place to start” and that Democrats could be open to “a responsible, modern investment in technology that will actually make us safer.”
• Meanwhile, in the House, the Democratic Majority is expected to continue passing individual appropriations bills reopening parts of the government piece-by-piece. They aren’t expected to go anywhere in the Senate.
• Read more HERE.

4. Human trafficking awareness.

• Human trafficking is second only to drug trafficking as the largest criminal industry in the world;
• More than 27 million victims are enslaved worldwide;
• The average age for a labor or sex slavery victim is 12 years old;
• Alabama’s interstates – specifically I-20, I-85, I-10 and I-65 are major transport routes for human trafficking.

5. Matthew Stokes: Three cheers for charter schools.

• Alabama Daily News Columnist Matthew Stokes is encouraged.
• Specifically, Stokes is heartened by the recent effort to proliferate charter schools in Montgomery and Birmingham.
• Why? Not because charters are a cure-all to local or state education woes, but because they are one more tool in an ever-expanding toolbox and Alabama leaders are finally choosing to use them.
• He credits State Superintendent Eric Mackey and State Sen. David Burkette for showing the kind of political courage not often seen in Montgomery.
• Here’s an excerpt:

• Read Matthew’s full column HERE.

Headlines.

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