Good morning and Happy Friday! Here’s your Daily News for October 12.

1. In Alabama, damage. In Florida, devastation.

• Gov. Kay Ivey visited the Wiregrass Thursday assessing local damage from Hurricane Michael, meeting with local leaders to offer assistance, and thanking emergency workers for their diligence through the storm.
• I was along for the ride and got a first hand look. Dothan has by far the most damage to property and power lines, though eastward toward the state line you can tell how powerful the storm was by the swaths of trees blown down. The biggest problem facing the city and Houston County is clearing trees and getting power restored to residents. That could take a while in some places.
• Read the latest from Lance Griffin at the Dothan Eagle HERE.
• The storm dealt a blow to Southeast Alabama’s cotton farmers. Some who couldn’t get their crop harvested ahead of the storm could lose as much as two thirds of their expected yields.
• But all that is damage. In Florida there is devastation.
• The coastal town of Mexico Beach hardly exists anymore after the storm.
• Panama City will take years to recover. The storm literally changed the geography of the panhandle, which you can see via these before and after photos.
• Jay Reeves has covered his share of disasters and he knows how to tell the story. Read his dispatch from the Florida coast HERE.

2. Judge Liles Burke confirmed.

• The U.S. Senate cleared 15 more of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominations Thursday – three appeals court judges and 12 district court judges.
• Judge Liles Burke of Arab was confirmed as District Judge for the Northern District of Alabama. Burke has served on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals for the last seven years and was a district judge in Marshall County before that.
• Nominations of this kind are shepherded along by the state’s senators, and Sen. Richard Shelby was quick to congratulate Burke on his confirmation.
• “He is extremely qualified for this high honor, having served as a judge in Alabama for over a decade. I congratulate Judge Burke on this prestigious achievement and am confident he will serve our nation well,” Shelby said.
• Five Alabama judicial nominees have been confirmed since Trump took office.
• Read more HERE.

3. What’s going on at the Parole Board?

• WSFA’s Jenn Horton has been digging into a trend at the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles: inmates with long sentences – even life sentences – getting paroled early.
• It has some victims’ families really upset and district attorneys concerned about having violent people back on the streets.
• Gov. Kay Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall have scheduled to meet with the Board to review what’s going on.
• Something must have caught the Board’s attention because 47 parole candidates were suddenly removed from the docket, many who are in prison for murder.
• The Board told Jenn that Executive Director Eddie Cook wants to review those cases again.

4. Kanye at the White House.

• So, it happened. Kanye West went to the White House.
• He met with President Trump in the Oval Office and delivered a memorable performance.
• He was there to talk about prison reform, gang violence, and manufacturing. But wouldn’t you know it, he got off the subject a bit.
• Kanye’s embrace – literal and figurative – of Trump has been met with harsh criticism and mockery from celebrities and the media.
• To me, skepticism is totally appropriate. I mean, Kanye is a performance artist and the whole thing is a little weird.
• But I’m old enough to remember how many in the same media lauded Kanye for his brave honesty when he accused former President George W. Bush of not caring about black people after Hurricane Katrina. How could you forget the look on Mike Myers’ face?
• Some selective Kanye criticism maybe.
• Anyway, read all about it and watch the video for yourself HERE.

5. News Briefs.

• A West Alabama task force is cracking down on cannabis oil, or CBD oil.
• It is confusing one CBD oil shop owner in Tuscaloosa who thought he had followed the law in setting up his operation.
• Tuscaloosa Police say the passage of new laws to allow limited and experimental uses of CBD oil has led people to believe the products are allowed on a broader basis.
• Read more in the Tuscaloosa News.

• Two prison guards were injured after being assaulted by inmates.
• The Alabama Department of Corrections says the incident occurred early Thursday morning at the Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore. The two officers were treated and released at a nearby hospital.
• Prison officials say the first officer was injured when he was assaulted by several inmates after he entered a housing area inside the prison.
• A second officer, who responded to the incident, was injured when he tried to separate the inmates from the first officer.

• The Alabama Medical Licensure Commission has suspended the license of Dr. Michael Dick.
• Dick was arrested for sexually harassing and assaulting patients nine months ago.
• Now the Medical Examiners and the Decatur Police are arguing over why it took so long to suspend the guy’s medical license.
• Read more from Eric Fleischauer in the Decatur Daily.

Headlines.

Front Pages (images link to newspaper websites, which you should visit and patronize).