• U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby today announced plans to finally relocate the rest of the federal government's operations from Washington, D.C. to Huntsville, completing a decades-long goal in the making for Alabama's senior senator. 
• For years on the Appropriations Committee, Shelby has steered billions of dollars to build up aerospace, missile defense, space, homeland security and FBI programs in Huntsville.
• Taking the next step to relocate the rest of the government to North Alabama just felt right, Shelby said.
• "I feel like it's time. Huntsville has a lot to offer," Shelby said.
• "And people have been tired of the 'swamp' for a while, am I right?"
• Sources on the Appropriations Committee told Alabama Daily News the work of relocating all government agencies to North Alabama could take years, but that Shelby had the backing of President Donald Trump.
• "I think we'll start with the Pentagon. That's easier than it might seem," one staffer said. "The Capitol complex, though. The Library of Congress, all those books. That's going to be a bear."

• The push to repeal the state's education standards was fast and furious in the week leading up to the Legislature's Spring Break.
• Within three days, Senate President Pro Ten Del Marsh, R-Anniston, had introduced and passed his bill through the Senate. And it wasn't just Marsh. Many Republicans in the upper chamber were eager to vote on the bill, something to finally make much of the far-right base happy after the gas tax plan.
• My thought was it would likely be the same way in the House, but not so fast.
• Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, is the Chairwoman of the House Education Policy Committee, the first stop for Marsh's bill. She told the Decatur Daily there's "still a lot wrong" with the bill and she plans to "slow the bill down so we can address everyone’s concerns... We have to get this right before it proceeds.”
• That committee is not scheduled to meet this week as of now.
• Education officials and advocates are pushing back on the idea of Common Core repeal/prohibition and could make a stand in the lower chamber. While they were successful in getting Marsh to agree to some key amendments, they aren't ceding the larger fight.
• In a story in today's Advertiser, Brian Lyman examines the validity of the bill's premise: that standards were to blame for the decline in NAEP scores. Really good story, btw.
• In the Anniston Star, local school leaders are wary of another change in standards and how it would affect classrooms.
• Actually, there have been several such stories cropping up in the last week or so: Brewton Standard, Alex City Outlook, Clarke County Democrat, Trussville Tribune, Florence Times Daily, CBS42, Athens News Courier - and that was just a quick Google search this morning.
• There's no question that being against Common Core is popular with voters.
• There is a question to how far lawmakers will go to please them and how effective the push-back will be from the education and business community.

• The confetti was still swirling around Auburn coach Bruce Pearl when he gazed over a team headed to the first Final Four in school history and declared, "This one was for Chuma!"
• "The next two," Pearl added with a triumphant grin, "are for Auburn."
• Drawing inspiration from injured forward Chuma Okeke, the No. 5 seed Tigers finished off a joyful romp through college basketball royalty by bringing down the winningest program of all.
• Their 77-71 overtime win over second-seeded seed Kentucky in the finals of the Midwest Region on Sunday came after blowouts of Kansas and North Carolina that served notice: Auburn is more than a football school.
• The hashtag "DoItForChuma" began trending less than 48 hours after Okeke hurt his knee against the Tar Heels. Meanwhile, several Tigers said they took umbrage with a crude picture that a Kentucky fan put up a banner outside his house that made light of his injury. Images of it circulated on social media.
• The Tigers head to the Twin Cities for the Final Four, where they will face South Region champion Virginia. The Cavaliers beat Purdue in an overtime thriller on Saturday night.
• Full story HERE.