• Legislation to allow and regulate the use of medical marijuana cleared its first vote on Wednesday and now moves to the State Senate, where about half its members voted last year to approve a similar bill.
• That committee voted 8-1 to advance Senate Bill 165 with one abstention.
• Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, titled his bill the “Compassion Act.” It creates an appointed nine-member Medical Cannabis Commission to oversee regulations and licensing for medical marijuana cultivators, processors and dispensaries and requires a statewide seed-to-sale tracking system for all cannabis in the state.
• Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, was the only "No" vote. He had several concerns, the biggest being increased access to marijuana.
• The bill does not allow for the smoking or vaping of marijuana or edible forms of the drug. However, treatment in the form of pills, gelatinous cubes, gels, oils or creams, transdermal patches and nebulizers would be allowed.
• Users would receive a state-issued medical cannabis card and an electronic patient registry would be created.
• The bill allows for 34 total dispensaries in the state and mandates no more than 70 doses per patient at one time.
• Another approved amendment Wednesday addresses workman's compensation by saying a person who has a medical cannabis card and is proven to be at fault cannot file a claim.
• Read the full story from ADN's Caroline Beck HERE.

• Legislation to clarify that landfills can use materials other than dirt to cover new garbage each day is raising concerns about what the Alabama Department of Environmental Management has permitted as “alternative cover,” including coal ash, and its permitting process.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations say landfill operators must cover disposed solid waste with six inches of earthen material at the end of each operating day “to control disease vectors, fires, odors, blowing litter, and scavenging.”
• But late last year, landfills had to stop using the alternatives after communities surrounding two filed a lawsuit that argued ADEM wasn’t making landfills demonstrate the effectiveness of their alternative covers.
• The House is expected to debate the issue again this morning.
• Read more from ADN's Mary Sell HERE.

• I wrote a column about the Senate race entering the home stretch.
• I didn't try to tell you which candidate to vote for or which I think will win.
• Instead, it's just a snapshot of the race as it exists right now, with a glimpse into how campaigns think and what's likely to take place in the final eleven days.
• Here's a simile-forlorn excerpt that is exceedingly unhelpful to understanding the larger piece:

• My full column HERE.