• President Donald Trump declared that a widespread U.S. outbreak of the new respiratory virus sweeping the globe isn’t inevitable even as top health authorities at his side warned Americans that more infections are coming.
• At a White House news conference, Trump sought to minimize fears as he insisted the U.S. is “very, very ready” for whatever the COVID-19 outbreak brings. He put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of coordinating the efforts.
• Trump credited border restrictions that have blocked people coming into the U.S. from China for keeping infections low. But now countries around the world — from South Korea and Japan to Italy and Iran — are experiencing growing numbers of cases. Asked if it was time to either lift the China restrictions or take steps for travelers from elsewhere, he said: “At a right time we may do that. Right now it’s not the time.”
• Read more and watch the full press conference HERE.

• Raise your hand if you like being dead last in math? How about 49th in reading?

• Just what I thought. We’re NOT ok with that. So let’s change it.

• We’re one of the last states in the U.S. to elect its school boards.

• On Tuesday March 3rd, Vote YES on Amendment One to change that.

• Our 2-year college system did the same thing a few years ago, and it’s changing for the better.

• Vote YES on Amendment One, March 3rd.

• The Alabama House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill to ban smoking tobacco and using vaping products in vehicles when children younger than 14 are present. But as the bill moves to the Senate, some lawmakers are concerned about policing people’s actions within their property.
• The House last week approved House Bill 46, by Rep. Rolanda Hollis, D-Birmingham, in a 78-19 vote. It was amended to add the vaping prohibition and to say that smoking or vaping with children in the car is a secondary violation, not a primary reason a driver can be pulled over. The violation comes with a fine not to exceed $100.
• Senators in both parties say they need to review the bill and aren't sure how they'll vote.
• “I think it is irresponsible to smoke around children but do we really need a law to say that?” Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, said.
• Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham also expressed skepticism.
• "I think that second-hand smoke is serious, but I think we've got to kind of balance between the parent and the situation as it relates to the child and the limitations," Smitherman said.
• Also, another bill from Rep. April Weaver, R-Brierfield, would ban vaping in "no smoking" areas.
• Read the full story from ADN's Abby Driggers and Devin Pavlou HERE.

• Sessions campaigns as the consistent conservative he’s always been
• Tuberville disrupts Senate race as ‘outsider’
• A career of fighting has led Byrne to Senate showdown

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• Significant flooding is likely to continue throughout the week on some rivers in Alabama, Mississippi and northwest Florida, forecasters said.
• Two Alabama waterways —Bayou Sara in Saraland and the Alabama River near Clairborne Dam — are forecast to remain above major flood stage for much of the week, The National Weather Service said Wednesday.
• Moderate flooding was also occurring in some spots on the Tombigbee River and on the Mobile River at Barry Steam Plant.
• In Mississippi, some minor flooding was occuring along the Chickasawhay, Pascagoula and Leaf rivers. In Florida, there is moderate flooding on the Escambia River near Century.

• MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A 66-year-old man has been sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison for sexually assaulting a young girl in Elmore County.
• Dennis Long received a 198-year sentence from Circuit Judge Bill Lewis in Elmore County court on Tuesday. Long was convicted in December of sodomy and sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12. The abuse began when she was 9, news outlets reported. 
• Long also has two prior child sex offenses from the 1980s and 1990s, according to court records. He was offered a plea deal on the most recent conviction with a recommended sentence of 35 years, but he decided to go to trial. 
• Lewis said he sentenced Long well above guidelines for the crime because he didn't want the man to be let out of prison again. The guidelines called for about 17 years, Lewis said.
• "When everyone in Alabama wants to let everyone out, it forces judges to put in stiff sentences," the judge said. 

• BESSEMER, Ala. (AP) — Police in Alabama are trying to determine what happened to a woman whose body was found 15 feet (5 meters) below ground in a storm drain.
• The Bessemer Police Department was dispatched to the scene Tuesday afternoon after county workers reported finding the badly-decomposed body in a covered manhole at the corner of an intersection.
• "In my 30 years with the Bessemer Police Department, I've never seen a body recovered from a storm drain," Bessemer Police Chief Mike Roper said.
• Investigators said the body appeared to be female, but an identity and a cause of death will have to be confirmed by an autopsy because of the state of decomposition, according to the agency. Police haven't said whether foul play is suspected.
• Agencies in the area said they're looking into whether any missing persons reports may be connected to the discovery.
• No additional details were released.

• CULLMAN, Ala. (AP) — A longtime Alabama judge who retired after being accused of wrongly sending court work to his son has been convicted on multiple judicial ethics charges.
• Records show the Alabama Court of the Judiciary returned the judgment Monday against former Cullman County District Judge Kim Chaney, who had five terms in office and was reportedly the state's longest-serving district judge. 
• Chaney retired recently as investigators accused him of wrongly sending $105,000 in court-appointed legal work to his attorney son, Alex Chaney, from 2015 through 2017. Chaney also was accused of wrongly ruling in cases involving his son. 
• Chaney, who did not contest the allegations, was ordered to pay about $3,700 in court costs. He was convicted on three judicial ethics charges involving six different rules, including a prohibition against nepotism.
• Chaney served nearly 30 years in the position before retiring and being found guilty, and the Cullman Bar Association unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday praising Chaney's record and ethics despite the conviction, The Cullman Times reported. The resolution said Chaney became Alabama's longest-tenured district judge in 2018.
•  "We had about 20 people at the meeting, and of those, everyone in attendance was in favor of doing this resolution in support of Judge Chaney," said Annette Parker, president of the organization.
• Chaney worked as a deputy and county prosecutor before becoming a judge.