Virginia Martin

Birmingham Council Sets Agenda for the Legislature, Backing Exhibition Driving, Illegal Dumping and More Bills

The Birmingham City Council has set its legislative agenda for 2023, establishing lobbying priorities for when the state Legislature convenes in March. New priorities for the city include battling exhibition driving and allowing local banks to buy tax-delinquent properties, along with a slate of recurring issues. The council’s list was approved without recommendation from Mayor Randall Woodfin’s office, which in the past has lobbied for its own separate list of legislative priorities. Read more. Read the full City Legislative Package for 2023

by Sam Prickett

Red Mountain Cut Features Time Capsule of Alabama’s Robust Geologic History

A national natural landmark, the road cut along Birmingham's Red Mountain Expressway documents more than a hundred million years of geologic history and was once an educational centerpiece. Read more.

by Mary Scott Hodgin, WBHM

I’m Failing to Get Outraged About the Death of The Birmingham News

Gonna make this short because, as grateful as I am for every wonderful person who has ever read an Arenblog post, I write primarily for my students, and I can assure you they don’t give a sheet* about the end of newspapers in three of Alabama’s largest cities. Today marked the end of The Huntsville Times, The Mobile Press-Register and The Birmingham News, for which I busted my tail for 30 years and in which I took enormous pride (on its good days, anyway). Read more.

by Tom Arenberg

‘It’s a fight for freedom.’ Ukraine backers call for continued arms support 1 year into war.

A group of supporters gathered at Railroad Park in Birmingham to draw attention to human rights violations in the country and call for continued arms support from the U.S. Read more.

by Zoe McDonald

Preparing for the ‘Experience of a Lifetime’: Birmingham Students to Sing at Carnegie Hall

The choir at Ramsay High School is heading to Carnegie Hall this May. It’s an opportunity to boost school pride and to give some students the experience of a lifetime. Read more.

by Kyra Miles, WBHM

New Book Offers Glimpse Into the Life of Harper Lee

“Afternoons with Harper Lee” (NewSouth Books, 2022) by Wayne Flynt Among the millions of documents preserved in the Birmingham Public Library Archives, there is a brief, handwritten letter from Harper Lee to a fellow writer. In the letter, Lee explains that she cannot read a book that has been sent to her and lists a variety of ailments that have made reading difficult. “As Gilda Radner would say.” Lee writes, “It’s always something.” This is one of the items that archives staff regularly bring out to show visitors, although it is wasted on 21st century college and high school students, who rarely have a clue who Gilda Radner was or that she was one of the comic geniuses of the last century. But what makes this letter intriguing is that it tells us something about the life and tastes of a widely beloved but intensely private author. Like many people, Harper Lee watched Saturday Night Live and quoted lines from the show. Small nuggets like this are at the heart of Wayne Flynt’s new book, “Afternoons with Harper Lee.” Flynt, a professor of history at Auburn University, and his wife Dartie, befriended Lee after a stroke forced her to leave New York and return to her hometown in Monroeville. Read more.

by James L. Baggett

Alabama Has 5th Highest U.S. Gun Death Rate; Study Blames Weak Laws, High Ownership

The Violence Policy Center, a non-profit educational organization, used the most recent CDC data on gun death rates in the U.S. for its analysis. Read more.

by Taylor Washington, WBHM/Gulf States Newsroom

JeffCo Commission Agrees to Support Magic City Classic for 1 Year, Will Consider Longer Contract Later

Lashunda Scales was moved to tears Thursday as she lobbied to get a 3-year deal for Jefferson County to support the Magic City Classic. But Scales’ tears didn’t move her fellow Jefferson County commissioners to go beyond the 1-year, $500,000 commitment that was on their meeting agenda. The commission approved the professional services agreement with the Alabama Sports Council on a 4-1 vote with Scales voting no. Sheila Tyson hesitated before voting with commissioners Jimmie Stephens, Joe Knight and Steve Ammons. The money comes from the county’s economic development fund, although Stephens, the commission president, questioned whether that was the appropriate source. Read more. Earlier this week Commission Considering Funding to Keep Magic City Classic in Birmingham

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

‘Injustice, Inc.’ Uncovers How Some in the Legal System Use Poor Families to Get Rich

Daniel L. Hatcher discusses his book, which looks at how state agencies exploit impoverished families to make money through the U.S. juvenile justice system. Read more.

by Bobbi-Jeanne Misick Gulf States Newsroom

Commission Considering Funding to Keep Magic City Classic in Birmingham

The Jefferson County Commission today sent a resolution to the agenda of Thursday’s meeting to pay $500,000 to the Alabama Sports Council in support of the Magic City Classic. The resolution followed a vigorous discussion among commission members about the level of support the county will provide to the annual gridiron meeting between Alabama State and Alabama A&M universities. Commissioner Lashunda Scales initially presented a resolution for the county to pay the ASC $750,000 for each of the next three years to help keep the game at Birmingham’s Legion Field, where the past 80 Classics have been played. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.