Glenn Stephens

Small Business Loans Site Crashes Amid Flood of New PPP Applications

Alabama bankers couldn’t access the federal Paycheck Protection Program application site on Monday so that small businesses hurt by the coronavirus could apply for the loans. Alabama Bankers Association President Scott Latham said the U.S. Small Business Administration promised that its systems would be prepared for action on Monday, but they were not. “Despite the agency’s efforts to be ready, it has failed,” Latham said in a press release. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

UAB, Southern Research Will Be Part of Search for Drugs to Combat COVID-19

The University of Alabama at Birmingham and Southern Research of Birmingham will be part of an international program that will try to identify existing drugs that may be effective in treating people exposed to COVID-19. The effort, coordinated by Scripps Research of La Jolla, California, involves ReFRAME, a large collection of drugs developed for other diseases and known to be safe for humans, UAB said today. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Alabama National Guard Team Disinfects State Veterans Home

An Alabama National Guard team was disinfecting at the Robert L. Howard State Veterans Home this morning as part of a mission to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus at nursing homes around the state.  The team, part of a special Guard task force, arrived in a white bus at the Pell City-based facility, one of four state veterans homes in Alabama. The Howard facility has 246 residents and 346 employees. Read more.

by Tom Gordon

UAB to Start COVID-19 Testing With Mobile Units in Bush Hills, Center Point

LOCATION UPDATED — UAB will provide testing for COVID-19 in two community locations this week, offering the tests for people who cannot or don’t want to go to its downtown testing site, officials said today. A mobile testing unit will go to Rock City at Central Park in the western area of Birmingham on Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m. and to Cathedral of the Cross in Center Point on Friday from 1 to 3 p.m. They will see people who have made appointments by calling 205-975-CV19 (2819). Participants must drive up to the mobile facility this week, but walk-up appointments are expected to start as early as next week. Read more.

by Hank Black

Coronavirus-adjusted General Fund Budget in Committee Tuesday

The Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee is expected to debate and vote on the 2021 General Fund budget on Tuesday. Legislative leaders late last week said their session, on pause since mid-March because of the coronavirus, would resume May 4. But Senate budget committee chairman Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Range, said that lawmakers need to set an example for the rest of the state. Read more.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Half of Alabama Households Have Responded to 2020 Census

Alabama is running slightly below the national average in response to the 2020 census, state officials said Friday. Figures through Thursday, April 23, show 50.8% of the Alabama households that were sent questionnaires by the Census Bureau have responded, compared to 52.4 percent nationwide. Gov. Kay Ivey and other state officials have urged Alabama residents to participate in the census, which is taken every 10 years, because population figures are used to determine the number of members each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the distribution of federal funds to the states. Read more.

by Virginia MacDonald

Alabama Unemployment Claims Top 330K Since Coronavirus 

Alabamians filed 331,670 unemployment claims in a four-week period that began in mid-March, the Alabama Department of Labor said Thursday. During the week of April 12-18, 66,432 initial unemployment claims were made, with 59,527 of those related to loss of work because of the coronavirus, according to ADOL. Manufacturing jobs accounted for 9,770 of those claims, followed by accommodations and food services with 6,685 and retail trade with 5,540. Health care and social assistance accounted for 5,367 of the claims. Read more.

by Will Whatley, Alabama Daily News

Ensley’s Ramsay-McCormack Building to be Razed, Replaced

Ensley’s long-abandoned Ramsay-McCormack building will be demolished and replaced by a four-story, multi-use building, Mayor Randall Woodfin told the Birmingham City Council on Wednesday. An assessment by commercial construction firm Stewart/Perry revealed numerous structural problems in the 10-story, city-owned office building, which has been vacant since 1986. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Legislative Session on Hold Until May 4

Concerns about the coronavirus will keep lawmakers out of the State House another week, their planned resumption of the legislative session now May 4, as reported first by Inside Alabama Politics.  The session has been on hold since mid-March and lawmakers had hoped to be back next Tuesday.  Read more.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

COVID-19 Cases in Alabama Nursing Homes Likely to Rise

Cases of COVID-19 have been reported in more than 70 Alabama nursing homes, including a veterans home, and officials say they expect the numbers to increase.  Seventy-three nursing homes in 39 counties have reported at least one COVID-19 positive resident or employee, Alabama Nursing Home Association spokesman John Matson said on Wednesday.  Read more.

by Mary Sell and Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News