It’s National Houseplant Appreciation Day.

Which might make you feel extra bad if you put yours on the porch yesterday to get sun and left it out overnight.

Gov. Kay Ivey has put 37 Alabama counties under a state of emergency today because of threats associated with ice, snow, sleet, freezing rain, slushy mix, poor driving decisions and prolonged below-freezing temperatures.

Especially in the northern part of the state, it’s a great day to stay home. I hope y’all are warm, happy and safe.

Below you’ll find the Alabama News quiz, which makes its return this week. It’s followed by the podcast player, then the daily report.

Ike

Medical cannabis conflict

It seems like a long time since Alabama passed legislation that set up the framework for a medical-marijuana industry that still hasn’t come to be.

It’s been so long, you could almost forget it’s supposed to be a thing. Did it really pass? Was it a crazy dream?

No, it wasn’t a dream (particularly to those whose REM sleep is repressed). The Compassion Act passed in the Spring of 2021. People have started college and earned degrees faster than the Alabama medical cannabis industry could germinate.

AL.com’s Mike Cason reports that right now lawyers are in court-ordered mediation to try to get beyond a current legal impasse.

If you recall, conflict bloomed over the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission’s issuing of business licenses to those who will cultivate, process and dispense the product.

Some companies that didn’t make the cut for licenses are claiming that the Commission isn’t following the law, and the courts have shut down the process while it’s being litigated. Right now, some licenses have been issued, but they’re hung up over dispensaries and integrated companies.

That’s where we are after three efforts to issue licenses in 2023.

Specifics of the mediation are confidential, but Commission attorney Mark Wilkerson said he thinks progress is being made.

Session ‘25: Another bill to watch

Another pre-filed bill for the coming Alabama legislative session is a measure that would exempt the Alabama State Missionary Baptist Convention and its local associations in good standing from paying local taxes, reports AL.com’s Heather Gann.

Which sounds really, really specific. That’s just one faith organization.

The bill’s sponsor, State Rep. Phillip Ensler, a Montgomery Democrat, said that’s because the Alabama code requires such local tax exemptions to be granted individually. He said he’d like to eventually see the ability to grant tax exemptions more broadly: “where maybe all churches or religious nonprofits are exempt or if they reach a certain threshold of how much charitable and community work they do.”

Note that religious organizations are exempt from federal taxes but have to be granted local exemptions.

A marketing splash

Come on down, sweet-tea fans.

AL.com’s Howard Koplowitz reports that a contestant accurately identified $3.99 as the current price of a gallon of Milo’s sweet tea. She did not go on to win the “Now and Then” game, however.

Of course, years ago Milo’s Tea Company spun off from Milo’s Hamburgers and is its own company. Milo’s originated in the Birmingham area.

More Alabama News

The podcast

Amanda Khorramabadi is going to tell the story of the rise and fall of Visionland.