Birmingham Teachers Stage Sickout Due to COVID Frustrations
Some Birmingham City Schools employees staged a sickout this week to bring attention to their concerns with how COVID-19 is being dealt with in their schools. Read more.
Virginia Martin
Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith Resigns, Citing Personal Matters
Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith resigned Friday, saying he wanted to focus on personal matters. Birmingham Mayor Randall L. Woodfin appointed Capt. Scott Thurmond, a 23-year veteran on the force, to replace Smith on an acting basis, according to a statement issued by the mayor’s office. In a letter to Woodfin on Friday, Smith resigned effective Feb. 25, but he asked to be put on administrative leave with pay until then to allow him to conclude some personal business and to allow for a smooth transition to new leadership. Read more.
Critical Race Theory Divides Educators and State Leaders
Every time Annemarie Gray begins teaching a new unit in her history class, she changes the posters on the walls of her classroom at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham. They currently feature Andrew Jackson and maps showing what’s known as the Trail of Tears. For the next lesson, she’ll put up photos of abolitionists who fought for the end of slavery. Gray, who is white, says telling the whole story has always been important in her lessons. “I’ve always sort of said that when it comes to teaching American history, I teach the good, the bad and the ugly,” Gray said. “Frankly, I would challenge anyone to come into my classroom and tell me that I’m teaching anything that isn’t the truth.” But in Alabama, Mississippi and other parts of the country, the truth of American history is being challenged because of a concept that’s becoming a political football across the country — critical race theory. Read more.
Alabama COVID Hospitalizations Multiply More Than Tenfold Since Thanksgiving, Closing in on Pandemic Highs
The recent spike in omicron-derived COVID-19 cases has far exceeded any other new-case numbers since the pandemic began in early 2020. Omicron often has had symptoms that are mild or even non-existent, keeping victims out of hospital beds — until the new year arrived. Since then, admissions of patients with COVID have skyrocketed, whether the virus was the primary problem or was found when a patient sought treatment for another issue. Across Alabama, hospitals report 2,946 patients who are COVID-positive as of Tuesday, more than 10 times the 271 patients reported on Thanksgiving Day. The current totals are approaching the record for the pandemic set Jan. 11, 2021, when 3,074 inpatients were positive for the coronavirus. The highest total during the delta surge was 2,890 on Sept. 1; the omicron surge total passed that mark Tuesday. Read more.
It’s Official: Birmingham Will Host USFL’s Inaugural Season
The Birmingham Stallions will play the New Jersey Generals in the United States Football League's first game on April 16. Read more.
Birmingham Council Uses Rescue Funds to Boost Affordable Housing Development
The Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to allocate $540,000 of American Rescue Plan funding to subsidize an affordable housing development in the city’s Belview Heights neighborhood. Read more.
How many people died in homicides in Birmingham in 2021? It’s not clear.
Tracking Birmingham's homicides for 2021 should have been straightforward. Here's why it wasn't. Read more.
UAB Surgeons Transplant Pig Kidneys Into a Human Body for the First Time
A team of scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham is the first to successfully transplant the kidneys of a genetically modified pig into the body of a brain-dead recipient. Read more.
JeffCo to Spend $200K to Set Up COVID Testing and Vaccination Site in the Cutoff
The Jefferson County Commission on Thursday approved spending $200,000 in relief funds to establish a COVID-19 testing and vaccination site to service the Bessemer Cutoff area. Commissioners subsequently approved a resolution for additional testing/vaccination sites as recommended by the Jefferson County Department of Health. "We want to make sure that testing is available throughout Jefferson County and that the citizens are best served by the actions of the commission,” said President Jimmie Stephens, who represents the Cutoff. “We want to make sure that if they want to be tested, if they want a vaccination, there is a convenient testing site where they can get to.” Stephens said the county serves many residents, some of whom are affirmed. He said mass testing sites may be a 20- or 30-minute drive for some residents. Read more.
The Famous Case of the Free Press and the Atomic Bomb
A New York state judge’s order last month prohibiting The New York Times from publishing memos written by a lawyer for the political spying organization Project Veritas blatantly violates the First Amendment. But not every court case seeking to dictate press publishing decisions is as laughably wrong as this one. Take, for instance, the case in which publication might have meant the end of mankind. True story. In 1979, The Progressive, a politically liberal magazine based in Wisconsin that still exists today, planned to publish an article detailing how a hydrogen bomb works. The U.S. government went to court to try to prevent publication. It’s a notable case in the legal history of prior restraint. Read more.