Virginia Martin, Author at BirminghamWatch - Page 104 of 480
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Virginia Martin

Mayor-Council Act, Which Tilted Power Toward Mayor, Still Under Fire 7 Years After Adoption

The Birmingham City Council approved Mayor Randall Woodfin’s proposed budget for the 2024 fiscal year last week. It was the culmination of the city’s most contentious budgeting process in years. Since Woodfin took office in 2017, almost all of his budgets have passed without any alterations from the council, thanks mostly to state legislation from 2016 that took away their ability to do so. The Mayor-Council Act is the state law governing the separation of powers between the branches of Birmingham’s municipal government, but some argue that changes to the bill approved the year before Woodfin took office have shifted that balance of power too heavily toward the executive. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Heart Disease, Hypertension Take Toll on Alabama Women

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women, both nationally and in Alabama. Alabama had the third-highest rate of death from heart disease in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only trailing Oklahoma and Mississippi. That year, the death rate from heart disease for Alabama women was 193.7 per 100,000, compared to 135.6 for women nationwide. Read more.

by Jemma Stephenson, Alabama Reflector

In Dueling Alabama Congressional Map Proposals, a Dispute Over Possibilities

Can Alabama draw new maps on explicitly racial lines? Maybe. “It’s kind of head spinning and even lawyers who are in the space get a little confused,” said Michael Li, a redistricting expert and senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. At the Tuesday public hearing, attorney James Blacksher and Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, went back and forth about whether Alabama’s new maps can split counties to be on explicitly racial lines. The answer to that question remains to be seen. Read more.

by Jemma Stephenson, Alabama Reflector

2 Developers, Former Judge on Ballot for Open JeffCo Commission Seat

Probate Judge James Naftel III used a 1971 Lipton TV commercial — Is it soup yet? — to address the ballot to fill the vacant District 5 position on the Jefferson County Commission. “It is soup. It is,” Naftel said Thursday. “We have three official candidates and one who didn't have enough signatures, so her name will not appear on the ballot. The ballots are being printed and delivered to the absentee (voting office) today.” District 5 voters will choose from recently retired Alabama Supreme Court Justice Mike Bolin, Jeff O. Wise and David Silverstein. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Lawmakers Begin Redrawing Alabama’s Congressional Map

The effort to redraw the congressional map began Tuesday with a public hearing at the State House. This follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding a lower court’s ruling that Alabama’s congressional map does not reflect the state’s Black population. Read more.

by Richard Banks, WBHM

Bham Budget Passed After Compromise With Councilors; Concerns Remain About the Power of the Mayor’s Office

Birmingham’s most contentious budgeting process in years ended Tuesday with the City Council’s unanimous approval of Mayor Randall Woodfin’s $554.8 million FY 2024 budget. Having extracted a rare compromise from the mayor’s office — nearly half a million dollars redirected from street paving to code enforcement — councilors adopted a conciliatory tone. “I think all of us came away feeling better than we felt before,” said District 3 Councilor Valerie Abbott. Earlier she had complained, “We’re doing all the glitzy things that are so cool. Well, I’m sorry, I’m tired of cool. I would just like for some things to get done.” Councilor Hunter Williams clarified Tuesday that he wasn’t talking about the current mayor when he said last week that state legislators had created “a little king,” but he still worried that the current system under a different mayor could result in no checks and balances in city government. Read more.

by Sam Prickett
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