Author: Virginia Martin
UAB’s Largest Alumnus Gift Ever Sets Aside $10M to Entrepreneurship, Criminal Justice Departments
UAB has received the single largest gift from an alumnus in its history. J. Frank Barefield Jr., president of Abbey Residential and chairman of Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama, has given the school $10 million.
Of that amount, he committed $5 million to name the UAB J. Frank Barefield Jr. Department of Criminal Justice in the College of Arts and Sciences; and the other $5 million was committed to name the UAB J. Frank Barefield Jr. Entrepreneurship Program in the Collat School of Business, according to a statement from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Read more.
U.S. Steel used convict labor in Birmingham. Has it reckoned with its past?
A century ago, U.S. Steel was one of the companies involved in Alabama’s convict lease system. The steelmaker has a mixed record on acknowledging that history. Read more.
BirminghamWatch looked at the history of convict leasing in Alabama as party of its Legacy of Race kickoff story, Vestiges of Segregation Remain. America Is Fighting Over Them Today.
New Data Show How Often Alabama Uses Solitary Confinement
Survey numbers from 2021 show that roughly five percent of people in Alabama’s prisons are housed in isolation for at least 22 hours a day for 15 days or more. Read more.
Memoir Explores ‘Being Black but Growing Up White’ After the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing
“Dear Denise” follows Lisa McNair’s life in a series of letters to the sister she never met. Lisa recounts her experience growing up in the first generation of African Americans after legal segregation. Read more.
Birmingham School Budget Includes Raises, New Psychologists and More Pre-K Classes
The Birmingham Board of Education on Tuesday approved a $506,988,421 budget that includes pay increases for all employees and establishes a $15 minimum hourly pay rate. The 2023 budget also includes additional pre-kindergarten classes, six new school psychologists and adjustments in the teacher salary schedule to make pay more competitive with surrounding school districts, according to a news release from the board. Read more.
Birmingham Council Discusses Changing the Neighborhood Association Structure
Several Birmingham City councilors on Tuesday called for significant changes to the city’s current organization of neighborhood associations.
Discussion over an item setting neighborhood elections for Oct. 18, later passed by the council, veered into a discussion of councilors’ broader dissatisfaction with the system. Most of that centered on low attendance at neighborhood meetings, leading to uncontested elections.
District 5 Councilor Darrell O’Quinn, a former president of the Crestwood North neighborhood, suggested that there were “other ways of devising a system that provides representation and embraces the reality that even though there may be hundreds of residents in a neighborhood, there’s only ever going to be a handful of people who actually engage in neighborhood-level conversations.” O’Quinn added that many neighborhood leaders are elected almost by default because no one else signs up to run. Read more.
Auburn Ranked Top University in the State
Auburn University has been ranked as the best university in Alabama and tied for 97th best in the National Universities category in U.S. News and World Report’s latest Best Colleges rankings.
The magazine’s annual rankings were released Monday. Other universities that landed at the top of the list for Alabama included Samford, University of Alabama, UAB, UAH and Birmingham-Southern College. Read more.
School Resource Officers Turn to Mental Health to Make Kids Safer
Parents’ school safety concerns carry more weight this year after the mass shooting in May at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. School resource officers in Hoover are adjusting by placing a greater emphasis on mental health. Read more.
Scales Sets Town Hall on Public Safety for Monday Evening
Musicians Say The World Games is Shorting Their Payment for Performances
In July, Kathleen Costello along with dozens of other musicians performed on a stage at Protective Stadium in downtown Birmingham to welcome athletes from across the globe to The World Games. Playing as part of the opening ceremony was a unique opportunity for the Alabama Symphony Orchestra’s principal clarinetist. But it has turned into a financial headache as Costello has yet to be paid in full for her performance.
Costello is not alone. WBHM has spoken with a number of individuals and organizations who are concerned they will not get paid for the work they did for The World Games after event organizers announced a $15 million dollar deficit. Read more.
