Happy Sunday everyone. Here is the news you need to know for December 2.

1. George H. W. Bush 1924- 2018

• The 41st President of the United States died on Friday night at 94 years old. He joins his wife, Barbara, who passed in April and their three year old daughter, Robin, who died in 1953.
• He will be honored with a state funeral at National Cathedral in the nation’s capital on Wednesday, followed by burial Thursday on the grounds of his presidential library at Texas A&M.
• Governor Kay Ivey announced that all flags will be flown at half staff starting on Saturday, for 30 days.
• Many Alabama leaders reacted over the weekend to the former president’s passing.
• You can read all those reactions HERE.
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel said this week of the late President: “He’s the father, or one of the fathers, of the German unification, and we will never forget that.”
• There have been many great pieces this weekend remembering the president, and one that especially stood out was Bill Clinton’s Opinion piece in the Washington Post that is worth a read.
• Saturday Night Live even paid tribute to the late president, remarking about his warm manner and his ability to laugh at himself.
• You can read more about Bush’s impact on America and his history as a public servant HERE.

2. Newt Gingrich keynotes Alabama Farmers Federation dinner.

• The former speaker of the U.S. House will be giving the keynote address at the Alabama Farmers Federation Annual Meeting on Monday night.
• Governor Kay Ivey and Agriculture Commissioner / Treasurer-elect John McMillan will also be attending and speaking to ALFA members.
• McMillan is to be given the Federation’s highest honor, the Service to Agriculture Award.
• You can read more about the event HERE.

3. First Rosa Parks Day Celebrated

• Saturday marked the first official celebration of Rosa Parks Day in Alabama.
• A resolution officially naming the day passed the Alabama Legislature unanimously this past session.
• There were various events in Montgomery on Saturday to mark the 63rd anniversary of her arrest on December 1, 1955 for not giving her seat up on a Montgomery bus to a white man.
• Parks has been remembered as the Mother of the Civil Rights movement and her actions that day began the year-long Montgomery bus boycott movement.
• A replica of the bus that use to be in use in Montgomery was stationed outside of the Troy University Rosa Parks Museum on Saturday (a bus replica is in the museum too).
• Here is an interesting piece from the Montgomery Advertiser about how the bus has been used in the past to mark special civil rights history events and how it is an interesting beast to drive as well.
• The day is not a full-fledged state holiday where state offices close, but counties and municipalities can elect to observe Dec. 1 as a holiday.
• Read more about the holiday and its events HERE.

4.China Trade Ceasefire

• The United States and China reached a 90-day ceasefirein a trade dispute that has rattled financial markets and threatened world economic growth.
• The breakthrough came after a dinner meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires.
• Trump agreed to hold off on plans to raise tariffs Jan. 1 on $200 billion in Chinese goods.
• The Chinese agreed to buy a “not yet agreed upon, but very substantial amount of agricultural, energy, industrial” and other products from the U.S.
• This is good news, especially for Alabama automakers, steel makers and farmers who recently expressed toSen. Doug Jones at a round table discussionin Mobile how detrimental these trade disputes have been to their profit margins this year.
• One of the long-sought deals made was that China now has to label fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid responsible for tens of thousands of American drug deaths annually, as a controlled substance.
• You can read more about the G20 Summit and the trade discussionsHERE.

5. The Week in Good News

Here is the good news of the week, although, I’m sure all of you Alabama fans don’t really need any right now.

Jalen Hurts Come Back

You Can’t Stop What’s Destined. THANK YOU LORD!#AllGlory2God #NeverLoseFaith #Blessed #Wow pic.twitter.com/RrcgdUFTQu

— Jalen Hurts (@JalenHurts) December 2, 2018

• I mean, that tweet pretty much says it all.
• Whether your an Auburn or Alabama fan, I think we can all get behind the success story of Jalen hurts.
• And it looks like even Auburn fans were happy for Jalen Hurts and his success…
• Congrats to Alabama, but especially congrats to Jalen and his well deserved win after a tough season.

• In case you haven’t heard, this week a new NASA rover, InSight, touched down successfully on Mars surface.
• It’s mission is to take a closer and deeper look to the planets interior and to carefully listen to tremors to hopefully make a more detailed map of the planet.
• Through all of this new data, it will hopefully paint a more clearer picture of how the planet was formed.
• But that rover couldn’t have gotten very far if it weren’t for the hard working scientists and engineers in Alabama who made the rockets to get it there.
• You can read more about the landing HERE.