Glenn Stephens

Birmingham City Council Approves Healthy Food Overlay District

The Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to establish a “healthy food overlay district,” designed to make healthy food options more accessible for the approximately two-thirds of the city’s population that lives within food deserts. The healthy food overlay district will cover areas of Birmingham defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as “low-access census tracts,” where “a significant number (at least 500 people) or share (at least 33%) of the population is greater than half a mile from the nearest supermarket, supercenter, or large grocery store.” The final version of the ordinance also establishes a half-mile “buffer” around the overlay district, within which restrictions on dollar stores will still apply. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

New Map Provides Comprehensive Graphic of Coal Ash’s Groundwater Pollution at State Power Plants

While some electric utilities in some other southeastern U.S. states are moving millions of tons of toxic coal ash away from waterways and into lined landfills, those in Alabama are holding fast to plans to corral their toxic material in unlined pits at their present locations, an option labeled cap-in-place. Four nonprofit environmental groups this week released a new ineractive map they say shows the potential danger of the cap-in-place strategy chosen in the state by Alabama Power Company, PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The maps, based on results of the utilities’ federally required tests of groundwater pollution near the facilities, show where arsenic, molybdenum, and other chemicals persist at levels that exceed government-set standards. While the information has been available on the utilities’ websites, it previously has not been aggregated graphically in map form. Read more.

by Hank Black

Literacy, Reading Proficiency, Free Speech and Budget Bills Win Legislative Approval

MONTGOMERY -- Bills to improve student literacy and hold back third-graders who can't read proficiently, define free speech on college campuses, and allocate the state's $2.1 billion General Fund budget received final passage Thursday as lawmakers wind down their 2019 legislative session. Friday is likely the last day of the session, and some major legislation is still pending, including the state's education budget. Lawmakers from both chambers will meet Friday morning to work out differences in the $7.1 billion education budget, and a final vote is expected by the end of the day. Read more.

by MARY SELL and CAROLINE BECK, Alabama Daily News

Legislature Moves to Regulate Pharmacy Benefit Managers

MONTGOMERY -- Legislation aimed at reining in pharmacy benefit managers to save consumers money passed the House by a 101-0 vote Thursday and now heads to Gov. Kay Ivey's desk for her signature. Senate Bill 73, dubbed the Alabama Pharmacy Benefit Managers Licensure and Regulation Act, was sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, and passed the Senate on May 15 by a 27-0 vote. The bill requires pharmacy benefit managers to register with the Alabama Department of Insurance, and outlaws gag clauses that keep pharmacists from telling consumers about cheaper options for prescription drugs and claw backs the require them to charge more for medication. Read more.

by Willl Whatley, Alabama Daily News

Jefferson County Commission Advances Morgan Road Project

Residents of southern Jefferson County could have been forgiven if they doubted that the widening of Morgan Road would ever take place. After all, the project has been the subject of discussions for more than two decades. But action at today’s Jefferson County Commission meeting brings the long-discussed project one step closer to reality. Commissioners authorized a construction funding agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation for nearly $2.4 million to begin widening the road from Interstate 459 to the Shelby County line at South Shades Crest Road.  Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Broadband Expansion Bill Gets Final Passage

MONTGOMERY -- A bill that would allow electric utility companies to offer high-speed internet to rural communities by way of their existing power networks cleared the Alabama Legislature Wednesday and now goes to the governor for her signature. Supporters say House Bill 400 would alleviate the cost of running new fiber lines to rural areas by allowing utilities such as Alabama Power Co., the Tennessee Valley Authority and regional electric cooperatives to piggyback their existing networks with high-speed cable lines. Read more.

by By Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Should We Hear the Lies and the Hate?

Whenever White House adviser Kellyanne Conway appears on a TV news or talk show, I switch the channel to more useful programming, such as the Home Shopping Network selling something in which I have no interest. Conway, who traffics in distortion and lies, is among the media circuit regulars who has spawned industry debate as to whether some people deserve an interview and appearance ban. A combative December appearance by Conway on Chris Cuomo’s CNN news talk show, for instance, produced a live, long and lively argument between Cuomo and CNN news anchor Don Lemon.  A more recent repeat of the same issue, but involving a more offensive individual, occurred two weeks ago when conservative commentator and author Ben Shapiro, who could less politely be described as a hateful troll, was aggressively questioned by an interviewer on a BBC politics show. Shapiro, who unlike Conway does not advise a national decision maker (but who is popular enough that he filled the lecture room at a February appearance at the University of Alabama), abruptly walked out of the interview on live TV. Nesrine Malik, a columnist for The Guardian, wrote: “No matter how much those with regressive, prejudiced or simply dishonest views are challenged, it is pointless if they are constantly provided a venue. It is the platform that legitimizes them, not how they perform when they are on that platform.” Read more.

by Tom Arenberg

Woodfin’s Budget: Money for Pensions, Paving; Changes for Education, Discretionary Projects

Mayor Randall Woodfin presented his proposed FY 2020 budget to the Birmingham City Council Tuesday, pointing to changes in city funding for education and councilors’ discretionary projects. At $451 million, the budget is the city’s largest to date — although, as Woodfin emphasized, several major financial requirements resulted in a “lean” approach to appropriating funding. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Woodfin highlighted what he called the “moral obligations” of the budget — fully funding the city’s long-underfunded pension liability and dedicating $8 million to street paving in all nine council districts. “The only disappointment I’ve had so far in this budget was that I wanted $10 million (for street paving),” Woodfin said. “But the pension said no, so we got to $8 million.” At Tuesday’s meeting, Woodfin spent significant time explaining to councilors his decision to cut certain “pet project” line items from the budget, arguing that this would be offset by $50,000 increases to their individual discretionary funds. Woodfin’s proposed budget cut funding to a handful of organizations and events, including the Agape House, Children’s Village, Shadowlawn Cemetery, Magic City Smooth Jazz, the Ballard House, Bride Ministries, Red Mountain Park, Build Up Ensley, the Northeast YMCA and the Joseph House, among others. But Woodfin specifically chose to focus on District 8 Councilor Steven Hoyt’s Party with a Purpose, an annual event held in Ensley since 2007 that offers health, recreational and entertainment resources to residents. That event has typically received $50,000 from each year’s general fund; in the FY 2020, it receives nothing. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Woodfin Highlights “Moral Obligations” of Proposed 2020 Budget

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin says his proposed FY 2020 operating budget represents a “fundamental shift” in how the city thinks about spending, with an increased focus on fulfilling his administration’s “moral obligations” — prioritizing city employees and neighborhood revitalization. That means that even though the city’s projected $451 million budget is the largest to date, it’s also “as lean as they come,” he says, focusing on “needs, not wants.” The budget still has to be approved by the Birmingham City Council, which received a full copy Tuesday morning. Because it is such an austere budget — addressing longstanding issues such as the city’s unfunded pension liability and putting significant funding toward neighborhood revitalization projects such as street paving and weed abatement — Woodfin says that negotiations may be difficult. “There’s not a lot of wiggle room in this budget for people to tinker with it,” Woodfin says. “If you tinker with it, (funds) can only come from paving or the pension, because we took (that money) from everywhere else.” Read more.

by Sam Prickett

County Officials Field Questions About Sewer Rates From Hundreds of Jefferson County Residents

Updated — Wayne Wooley’s question cut to the heart of the Sewer Town Hall gathering Monday night at Regions Field. “What did I do? What did my church do to deserve all this?” the 72-year-old Crestwood South resident asked. “Tell me why you’re putting all this burden on us? I’m on a fixed income. That’s to me illegal.” Two and a half hours proved not to be long enough for the event, sponsored by County Commissioner Lashunda Scales. More than 400 people attended the meeting, asking questions and listening to answers from Jefferson County officials about rising sewer rates that have left many ratepayers, including those on fixed incomes, questioning how they will shoulder the costs. Reviews were mixed as people left the ballpark. Some were happy to have had an opportunity to ask questions and to have their voices heard. Many were displeased with responses. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.