Good morning! Happy Birthday, Mom! Here’s your Daily News for Tuesday, October 2.

1. McConnell: We’ll be voting this week.

• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced from the floor that the Senate would be voting later this week to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, saying “the time for endless delay and obstruction has come to a close.”
• This as Democrats and many in the media have shifted away from the sexual assault allegations to a tack of questioning Kavanuagh’s fitness for office based on his college rowdiness and testimony before the Judiciary Committee.
• Rape accuser Julie Swetnick changed her story in an NBC interview that it’s hard to believe made it to air. And the New York Times broke the news that Kavanaugh threw iceand may have instigated a bar fight in college.
• Gov. Kay Ivey expressed support for Kavanaugh’s nomination when asked about it by reporters, saying she generally thought he should be confirmed while acknowledging she wasn’t privy to all the details senators are. Challenger Walt Maddox did not take a position when asked.
• Of course, they are running for governor, not senator.
• Up in Tennessee, U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen was booed for saying he’s awaiting the results of the FBI investigation before taking a position on Kavanaugh. Those could have well been disapproving liberal boos.
• Birmingham attorney Brandon Essig has some experience litigating sexual misconduct cases and has been subjected to multiple FBI background investigations. He offered some perspective on this process in a column for ADN that I think is worth a read this morning.
• I would welcome some more opinions on this as the week goes on, by the way. Just hit reply if you want to talk about it.

2. State opens data security center.

• Gov. Kay Ivey, the Alabama National Guard, and the Office of Information Technology opened the state’s first digital Security operations center Monday.
• Cyber security is a big deal for state government, from protecting elections to safeguarding personal financial information.
• There are as many as 100 million attempted hacks on state networks everyday.
• The idea is to stay ahead of the “bad guys” who try to access data from foreign countries, Chief Information Security Officer Ryan Allen said.
• Read and watch the full story from WSFA/Raycom political reporter Lydia Nusbaum HERE.

• 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. Death Row Decision.

• Later today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of Vernon Madison, an Alabama man who was sentenced to death for murdering a police officer in 1985.
• Madison’s lawyers say he doesn’t remember his crime because a stroke years ago damaged his mental faculties.
• Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative argues that executing Madison is a violation of the Eighth Amendment because he “does not remember the crime for which he has been convicted and does not have a rational understanding of why the state of Alabama seeks to execute him.”
• Attorney General Steve Marshall points out that a state court has found Madison competent and that the Eighth Amendment doesn’t prohibit executions for lack of memory.
• “It’s not that he has to have a perfect memory. The question is whether he understands the crime that he committed as well as understands why he’s being punished. I think it’s pretty clear on both fronts that he does,” Marshall says.
• This is going to be a national story by the end of the day. Read the full report from Kim Chandler HERE.

4. New Ivey ad gets nostalgic.

• “That’s as close as I’ll ever get.”
• Those are the words scribbled onto the back of a photograph of Kay Ivey sitting in Gov. Lurleen Wallace’s chair. She was 23 years old and on the staff of Girls State.
• Of course, she turned out to be wrong. She now has the top job and is running to become just the second woman to be elected to hold it.
• Ivey’s new ad highlights this nostalgic moment and connects it with a hopeful message of “anything is possible in Alabama.”
• Watch the ad for yourself HERE.

5. News Briefs.

• During yesterday’s Rose Garden news conference on NAFTA, President Trump was in an especially combative mood with the media.
• He meanly and awkwardly told ABC’s Cecilia Vega “I know you’re not thinking. You never do.”
• Later he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins “Don’t do that. That’s not nice,” for asking a question about the Kavanaugh nomination. He then said “you’ve had enough” when she tried to follow up.
• Many Trump supporters LOVE how tough he is on reporters, which is why I think he does it.
• It’s still unwise and unseemly to be so dismissive and combative with female reporters, especially at a time when women will be the decisive factor in the midterm elections.

• Amazon is raising its minimum wage for employees to $15 an hour.
• The wage hike is expected to impact 350,000 workers, which includes full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal positions.
• It just so happens that today Amazon is breaking ground on a 1,500 worker fulfillment center in Birmingham. They currently operate a sort center in Mobile.
• The wage hike also includes Whole Foods employees, which is great because I hear that Whole Foods in Navy Yard / Capitol South finally going to open after at least three years of devastating false hope.

• Loren Dyson of Ozark turned 105 this week.
• That’s a lot of life to see!
• Dyson celebrated with family and told WTVY “I feel good.”
• Get that lady some cake.

Headlines.

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