Virginia Martin

Judicial Funding Fight Likely to Continue in Upcoming Legislative Session

An additional eight circuit court and five district court judges are needed in various parts of Alabama, including Madison and Baldwin counties, according to a recent report. That same report also says Jefferson County has more judges than caseloads there require. But reallocating judgeships has become a politically complicated issue in recent years. Fiscal conservatives in the State House have balked at spending millions on additional seats when Jefferson County and other districts have a surplus. Jefferson County’s well-muscled delegation has protected its judicial seats. But now, more lawmakers, including the new chairman of the House General Fund budget committee, appear willing to spend on at least a few new seats. Read more.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Some kids in Birmingham dodge trains and cars walking to school. More buses could help.

Alabama only has to provide bus access for families that live within two miles of their school, which leaves some families having to walk in dangerous conditions. Birmingham City Schools is trying to add new routes to address these concerns. Read more.

by Kyra Miles, WBHM

Hoover City Schools canceled Derrick Barnes’ visit. He says it’s political.

Hoover school officials say they canceled the Black children's book author's visit due to a controversial social media post. Officials never saw the post after an anonymous parent reported it. Read more.

by Richard Banks, WBHM

This Swampy Paradise is Alabama’s Winter Haven for Sandhill Cranes

As many as 25,000 sandhill cranes migrate to Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge every winter, along with a handful of highly endangered whooping cranes. Read more.

by Mary Scott Hodgin, WBHM

Pay Raises, Recreation Areas Provided Under Woodfin’s Budget Surplus Plan

The Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to unanimously approve Mayor Randall Woodfin’s plans for spending the city’s $81 million budget surplus, with money allocated to a cost-of-living adjustment for city employees, capital improvement for parks and libraries, and funding for a new amphitheater in the city’s Uptown entertainment district. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Sometimes You Shouldn’t Stay Out of the Story

In late December, a reporter for the Bend (Oregon) Bulletin who was assigned to report on dangerously cold weather wrote a first-person account of his decision to summon help for a shivering woman living in a tent. He feared she might not survive the night. Compassionate and heroic, is it not? Apparently not, because he got torn to shreds on Twitter – so much so that the next day he posted that he was taking a break from the “unrelenting hatred” on the platform. Read more.

by Tom Arenberg

Jefferson County Drug Overdose Deaths Hit New Peak in 2022

Drug overdose deaths topped gun and vehicle-related deaths investigated last year by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office. Read more.

by Miranda Fulmore, WBHM

Birmingham Schools Get More Than $600K From Scales’ County Account

Eleven Birmingham schools were to be presented with checks totaling more than $600,000 donated through Jefferson County Commissioner Lashunda Scales’ county discretionary funds. “I have been a Partner In Education with Birmingham City Schools since 2004, which is longer than the time I’ve served in an elected position,” Scales said in a statement from the

by BirminghamWatch

JeffCo Funding for BSC Would Be ‘Very Difficult,’ Commission President Says

Jimmie Stephens said Tuesday that it is very difficult to give public dollars to a private institution.   The Jefferson County Commission president was asked by media after Tuesday’s committee meeting whether there was any update on Jefferson County possibly allotting funds to help Birmingham-Southern College, the private liberal arts college in Birmingham’s Bush Hills Neighborhood.   “Our position hasn't changed,” he said. “The county has not considered that and I don't know that they have any plans to.   “I can say at this time, based on our past pattern and practices, that it is very difficult to give public dollars to a private institution,” Stephens said. “If that were to happen, it would be something that we've never done before.”   Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Birmingham Council Looks to Reduce Crime With Statistical Analysis

The Birmingham City Council has approved a partnership with the nonprofit Aspen Institute to gather and analyze a wide variety of data about the city’s 99 neighborhoods. The project, named the Birmingham/Aspen Justice and Governance Partnership, is intended to reduce crime by gathering and analyzing hyperlocal statistics — for example, the number of traffic stops or emergency room admissions in a given neighborhood. This information would be made publicly available and could be used by lawmakers to inform policy. Read more.

by Sam Prickett