1. New NAFTA deal.

• The United States and Canada have reached a deal in the talks to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement.
• The U.S. and Mexico had already reached an agreement and were threatening to go it alone without our neighbors to the north.
• It appears the primary win for the U.S. is opening up Canadian markets for American dairy products.
• The Mexican part of the deal stands to help Alabama’s automotive and agriculture industries.
• We’ll know more after a news conference set for 10:00 Central Time in the White House Rose Garden.
• Renegotiating NAFTA was a major campaign promise for President Trump and reaching an equitable deal would represent a big win for his presidency.
• A new NAFTA – which we are apparently calling the United States Mexico Canada Agreement, or USMCA – would also give Trump considerably more leverage to work with in his trade disputes with China.
• Read the basics HERE.
• Go more in depth with Bloomberg HERE.

2. Kavanaugh: the latest.

• As requested by the Judiciary Committee and ordered by President Trump, the FBI is interviewing witnesses as part of a re-opened background investigation into Kavanaugh.
• It is supposed to take no longer than a week, which was the original agreement between Sen. Jeff Flake and Committee Democrats. But, not really surprisingly, some are already questioning the FBI’s tactics and saying more time is needed.
• Look for Democrats to increasingly argue that Kavanaugh drank too much in college and misled the Committee about his drinking habits.

• With the midterm elections 36 days away, and control of Congress hanging in the balance, which party benefits from this nomination mess?
• The answer is maybe both of them?
• Te drama has riled up both the Republican and Democratic bases.
• Trump voters who may have sat this election out due to complacency are now determined to vote. That helps Republicans in places like Missouri and Florida and Indiana and West Virginia where the GOP has Senate pick-up opportunities.
• Suburban women were already trending toward the Democrats, and fallout from Kavanaugh may make that even more precipitous in November. That could help Democrats win key House races in California, Virginia, Nebraska, New York, and Minnesota.
• Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns have a good write up about this today. Senate GOP sources tell them the House could have already been a lost cause, but gaining a Supreme Court seat and keeping the Senate Majority make it worth pressing on.

• Congratulations to Michael Schilleci on being elected Chairman of the National Beer Wholesalers Association!
• He owns & operates Supreme Beverage Company, which provides domestic, imported, and craft beer and other beverage products to the entire North Alabama region.
• Beer Distributors from around the nation recently gathered in San Diego to elect new leadership. Schilleci becomes the first member from Alabama to serve as National Chairman.
• The Alabama Wholesaler Beer Association is proud of Michael and his representation of our state.
• Alabama’s beer distributors employ more than 4,000 hardworking people. We promote responsible consumption, combat drunk driving, and work to eliminate underage drinking.
• Learn more about Michael Schilleci and the ABWA HERE.

3. Marshall: Uber settlement shows why data breach law matters.

• Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office has won a settlement from ride sharing company Uber in a data breach case.
• The company was sued back in 2016 when it failed to report that the personal information for some 600,000 users was compromised.
• Our cut of the settlement is $2 million, which isn’t all that much money in the grand scheme. That is to say, it’s no BP money.
• But this really isn’t about the money or even about Uber.
• Alabama didn’t have a data breach notification law at the time of the incident, so our lawsuit was limited in scope.
• Lawmakers finally passed that law this past session, meaning the state will be able to participate in civil actions against companies that don’t properly inform customers of data breaches.
• Read more HERE.

4. Matthew Stokes: I hate all of this.

• ADN Columnist Matthew Stokes is back this week with thoughts and observations from the Kavanaugh nomination debacle.
• Stokes sees so winners here. He finds the whole public spectacle contemptible, embarrassing, and avoidable.
• That Christine Blasey Ford’s was deprived of her right to have her story heard and adjudicated privately is one the of saddest parts of the story, he writes.
• Here’s an excerpt:
• “I hate that this whole mess has been adjudicated publicly. As Noah Rothman of Commentary has noted in numerous podcasts, tweets and articles, this is something that the public is simply not equipped to handle.  We’re not equipped because we cannot help but bring our own emotions, experiences and prejudices to the matter. That’s precisely the reason our Senators are there; to process information and make judicious decisions in a deeply impartial manner.  As we’ve crossed the point where that is no longer possible in this case, I think the last minute decision to give the FBI a week to investigate is both moral and politically wise, a point seemingly lost on a lot of anxious grassroots Republicans.”
• Read Matthew’s full column HERE.

5. News Briefs.

• The latest in ADN’s series of coverage for Alabama legislative races checks in with House District 47.
• Republican David Wheeler is facing Democrat Jim Toomey in what could be a close race.
• This is the reliably Republican seat Rep. Jack Williams has held for many years, but it was one of those suburban areas that voted for Doug Jones back in December.
• Read Caroline Beck’s Sunday story diving into the race HERE.

• A ton has been written and said about the Oliver Robinson/Drummond/Balch case over the last year or two.
• Most of it follows a consistent narrative about greed and corruption and pollution that has gone mostly unchallenged.
• Birmingham real estate attorney Guy Martin went there in a recent column.
• He points out some interesting facts I had not considered or really even known about the whole ordeal just from reading the news.
• His piece is less about the criminal case and more about the regulatory and scientific issues surrounding the attempt to expand a cleanup site into Tarrant.
• It’s worth a read.

• The U.S. Department of Education has awarded the University Charter School in Livingston a five-year $1.17 million grant.
• This grant is funded through department’s Expanding Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools Program.
• Sen. Richard Shelby announced the grant saying University Charter School “will have a major impact on the development and progress of students in the Black Belt, preparing them for future professional success. It is my hope that the school can serve as a model for further expansion of rural charter schools.”
• Read Ed Enoch’s full story in The Tuscaloosa News.

• Rep. Bradley Byrne is touting the benefits of the recently-enacted appropriations bill funding Defense, HHS, Education & Labor. The benefits for Alabama are many, he writes.
• Rep. Martha Roby recently passed a bill that aims to crack down on human sex trafficking and child exploitation. She writes about the specifics of what the bill does in her latest weekly column.
• Rep. Mike Rogers talks about his recent visit to the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston and how this facility plays an important role in Homeland Security. Read his latest column HERE.

Headlines.

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