Virginia Martin

Councilors Discuss Spending $500K to Send Neighborhood Leaders to Convention but With Report Requirement

Each year, the Birmingham City Council approves funding for hundreds of neighborhood officers to attend the Neighborhood USA conference. This year, though, that approval will likely come with the stipulation that attendees report back to their neighborhood associations on what they learned. Pending a council vote next week, the city’s 99 neighborhoods will each have the option to send two representatives to NUSA, which this year will be held in El Paso, Texas. The conference offers what it describes as “cutting-edge workshops” and “tools and training to improve and maintain great neighborhoods every year.” Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Alabama Health Officer Reflects on Lessons Learned From COVID-19

Three years ago, Alabamians were beginning to see the impacts of a new respiratory virus sweeping the nation.  “Everybody remembers watching in horror at what was transpiring in Washington State in this skilled nursing facility,” recalled Dr. Scott Harris, state health officer with the Alabama Department of Public Health. “We just didn’t know how much we didn’t know.” Harris made the comments during a monthly meeting of the Alabama Board of Health on Thursday. He discussed lessons learned from the pandemic and future challenges amid the looming removal of a federal emergency declaration. Read more.

by Mary Scott Hodgin, WBHM

A Local Hip-Hop Education Group Teaches Kids Life Skills

The education collective Knowledge Rhythm and Understanding, known as K.R.U., is using the music genre to teach life skills. Read more.

by Kyra Miles, WBHM

Work on Landfill Fire ‘Proceeding Well,’ ADEM Director Says

ADEM Director Lance LeFleur said on Friday that smoke from the underground landfill in Moody has been greatly reduced and the EPA expects the fire to be out in a matter of weeks, or sooner. He said work on putting out the fire is proceeding well, and ADEM and EPA are continuing to monitor air and water quality in the area. Read more.

by Virginia Martin

JeffCo Approves $5 Million Toward Construction of Amphitheater

The Jefferson County Commission today approved the next step in making a 9,000-seat, $50 million amphitheater part of The Star Uptown development on the campus of the former Carraway Hospital. A $5 million contribution from the county’s economic development fund goes toward building the event venue. The county also approved a guarantee to cover any shortfall on the project up to $10 million. The matter was approved on a 3-1-1 vote with Sheila Tyson voting no and Lashunda Scales abstaining. The panel vote came after citizens – mostly residents of the area where the venue will be built – voiced their concern about the future of their community. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

‘Unreformed’ Podcast Tells the Largely Untold Story of an Abusive Alabama Reform School

A conversation with journalist and podcast host Josie Duffy Rice details the troubled history of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children, or Mt. Meigs. Read more.

by Bobbi-Jeanne Misick Gulf States Newsroom

Who would put out a landfill fire near Moody? That question consumed officials for weeks.

A private landfill near Moody smoldered for almost two months, inundating residents miles around with noxious smoke, before the EPA stepped in. Read more.

by Zoe McDonald

Commission Sets Hearing on Funding for Downtown Amphitheater

Birmingham is one step closer to having an amphitheater in The Star Uptown development after commissioners placed a public hearing on the matter on the agenda of Thursday’s Jefferson County Commission meeting. Commission President Jimmie Stephens presented the resolution at the commission’s committee meeting Tuesday. It calls for a hearing concerning the county pledging $5 million on the project and making $10 million of its credit available if there is a shortfall in revenue to pay for the project. “This is the $5 million pledge that everyone has done up to now,” Stephens said. “The City of Birmingham, the BJCC, the (Greater Birmingham Convention and) Visitors Bureau have all added to it. And Live Nation.” Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Birmingham to Spend $4 Million on Home Rehab Program

Birmingham residents will have a short window this month to apply for the Critical Home Rehabilitation Program, which will distribute more than $4 million to homes in need of repair around the city. That’s the most the city has ever dedicated on housing rehabilitation, Mayor Randall Woodfin told councilors on Tuesday. He noted that, in the previous three years combined, the city spent $2 million to rehab 224 homes, at a cost of roughly $15,000 per home. This year, the city will spend $4 million to repair at least 250 homes, with an allocation of $30,000 per home. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

No Water Contamination Found From Landfill Fire

Testing of water around the environmental landfill fire burning underground in Moody shows no contamination from the fire, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management reported last week. ADEM conducted instream water quality sampling at four locations, upstream and downstream of the fire in Big Black Creek and the Cahaba River, according to a press release

by BirminghamWatch