December’s well underway, which means the snowbirds are showing up in Orange Beach, Christmas parades are scheduled all over beginning this week, and Magic 96.5 has brought Mariah Carey back into our lives for another year.

Also, keep an eye out for Santa Claus at places such as shopping malls and Bass Pro Shops. He wears crimson and white, you know. (This year, it’s definitely more crimson than it is garnet).

Read the newsletter below. Sign up to get it in your inbox each day here.

College football playoffs and bowls

You might’ve heard by now that Alabama landed a berth in the College Football Playoffs. Saturday’s 27-24 SEC Championship win over top-ranked Georgia was enough for the playoff committee to move Alabama from No. 8 to No. 4 in the College Football Playoff rankings.

Also moving up four spots, to No. 3, was Texas, the only team to beat the Tide this season. So we might see a do-over of that season opener in the National Championship Game on Jan. 8. For that to happen, Alabama has to beat No. 1 Michigan and Texas has to beat No. 2 Washington in the semifinals on New Year’s Day.

Also playing in bowl games this winter are Jacksonville State in the New Orleans Bowl Dec. 16 against Louisiana, Troy in the Birmingham Bowl Dec. 23 against Duke, South Alabama in the 68 Ventures Bowl Dec. 23 against Eastern Michigan, and Auburn in the Music City Bowl Dec. 30 against Maryland.

Correctional officer’s death

The Alabama Department of Corrections has denied that tear-gas exposure killed a corrections officer last month, reports AL.com’s Ivana Hrynkiw.

Correctional Officer Senior Yashea J. Chapel died Nov. 10 after an asthma attack at home, according to a Department spokesperson.

Alabama Political Reporter ran a story that said Chapel “died from an asthma attack induced by inhaling mace.” But the Department has said there are no documented incidents that have Chapel coming into contact with chemical agents on the job.

George Santos: How our delegation voted

When the U.S. House of Representatives voted this past Friday to expel New York Congressman George Santos, more than a hundred Republicans voted along with nearly all Democrats to reach the two-thirds majority needed.

But among Alabama Republicans, only one voted yes on the expulsion, reports AL.com’s John Sharp. Overall, the yes votes won, 311 to 114.

The vote comes a couple weeks after the House Ethics Committee found substantial evidence Santos has repeatedly broken the law. He’s not been convicted of anything but faces 23 charges of wire fraud, money laundering, aggravated identity theft and credit-card fraud.

Of course, Santos has made news as inaccuracies have been revealed in his own personal back story — such as a Wall Street career and a college degree.

Congressman Robert Aderholt, a Haleyville Republican, voted yes on the expulsion, joining Birmingham Democrat Terri Sewell.

The rest of Alabama’s House delegation, all Republicans, voted no — some reasoning that taking such a rare step might lead to its being abused.

Aderholt said he’d have voted yes if it were a Democrat caught in this situation, so he did the same with a Republican. “I don’t believe that even a slim majority should excuse such gross unethical conduct,” he said. “Politics should not be considered in such a matter.”

Quoting

“It looks like a bomb’s gone off. It’s a blessing nobody was here, nobody got hurt.”

Ricky Bromberg, president of Brombergs, after a police chase ended with a truck crashing into the landmark Mountain Brook jewelry store.

More Alabama news

The podcast