Virginia Martin

Impasse Between City Council, Mayor’s Office on Scheduling Delays Spending of City Relief Funds

Scheduling problems between the City Council and mayor’s office have slowed Birmingham’s efforts to spend $74 million in federal relief funding. The city received its money from the American Rescue Plan in May and quickly allocated $17.5 million toward premium pay for city employees who worked through the COVID-19 pandemic. But negotiations over how to spend the rest of the remaining money stalled last month after Mayor Randall Woodfin proposed allocating the money into several different “buckets.” To Woodfin’s obvious frustration, councilors balked, questioning the apparent arbitrariness of those allocations, particularly to public transportation, and delayed the item until a committee of the whole meeting could be convened. That meeting still hasn’t happened. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Alabama ICU Beds Almost Full as COVID Hospitalizations Continue Rapid Rise

Critical care units in Alabama hospitals are nearing capacity due to increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients, but recent deaths from the virus still remain relatively low. State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said Friday that about 93% of Alabama’s ICU beds are occupied as the more transmissible COVID-19 delta variant continues to spread in the state and vaccination rates remain low. Read more. Related: Latest COVID Surge Is Putting Pressure on Hospitals Yet Again

by Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

Latest COVID Surge Is Putting Pressure on Hospitals Yet Again

The recent sharp spike in the number of people infected by COVID is not just taking a toll on those who are infected. It’s creating major problems for the hospitals and the professionals that treat them. Dr. Don Williamson, president and CEO of the Alabama Hospital Association, says hospitals sometimes are having a hard time finding room for patients who are suffering from non-COVID afflictions, and their emergency rooms are overflowing. Read more.

by Robert Carter

Echoes of the Past as Overwhelmingly White Mountain Brook Debates Diversity

This summer, passionate voices clashed over a teacher anti-bias training program in Mountain Brook City Schools. But the debate rests on uncomfortable history in this white pocket of racially diverse Jefferson County. Read more.

by Kyra Miles, WBHM

Community Leaders Gather for Open House of Montgomery Mental Health Crisis Center

MONTGOMERY — Community and Alabama Department of Mental Health leaders gathered Wednesday to get their first look at one of the three new mental health crisis centers going up across Alabama. These facilities will provide 24/7 care for anyone experiencing an acute mental health crisis and are meant to ease the burden on local emergency rooms and jails that have become the main receivers of individuals in crisis. The other facilities will soon open in Mobile and Huntsville. There are also plans to open a fourth in the Birmingham/Tuscaloosa area. Read more.

by Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

Eight Metro Hospital Administrators Deliver Common Message: Get the COVID Vaccine

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, the men and women who run Birmingham’s hospitals and the head of the Jefferson County Department of Health appeared jointly before the news media to discuss the latest surge in cases. But all were unified in one message that’s been repeated many times in the past few months: If you haven’t been vaccinated for the virus, it’s time to get the shot — and quickly. In the online press conference, the heads of Ascension St. Vincent’s, Brookwood Baptist, Children’s of Alabama, Grandview, Hill Crest Behavioral Health, Medical West and UAB hospitals answered questions about the latest surge in the COVID virus. New cases have skyrocketed to more than 3,000 per day for the past few days, and hospitalizations have jumped from less than 200 statewide to more than 1,700 in less than a month. Read more.

by Robert Carter

5 Things to Know About Alabama’s Back-to-School COVID Toolkit

Over the last several weeks, the hyper-contagious delta variant and surge in COVID-19 cases have pushed school districts to make last-minute changes to their plans for back to school. Many health officials and school administrators said they were waiting for the Alabama Department of Public Health to release its back-to-school guidance in order to make decisions about masking, social distancing and vaccinations for K-12 schools. Now, that 2021-2022 toolkit is here, and it has prompted some schools in Jefferson County to quickly update their COVID-19 protocols. The state guidance provides schools and guardians with checklists, testing guides and information on how to best protect students and teachers throughout the school year. Read more.

by Kyra Miles, Report for America Corps for WBHM

State Hiring Marketing Firm for Teacher Recruitment

The Alabama State Department of Education is upping its teacher recruitment efforts with a $3 million media and marketing contract with Big Communications in Birmingham. “We need to do a whole rebranding of the teaching profession and specifically teaching in Alabama,” Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey said Monday. Read more.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Schools Opening Short on Teachers Because of an Increase in Retirements

Beadie Bell has been a teacher in the Bessemer City School system for 20 years now. As a pre-school educator, she has seen many teachers come and go over the years but said she has seen a particularly “surprising” number of educators who have chosen to retire this past year. According to 2020-21 numbers provided by Alabama’s Teacher Retirement System, 3,515 employees retired during the school year, the highest number since 2010-11. It’s a trend many school systems throughout the state have seen in the past year, and the number keeps growing. That trend has left many school systems looking for new teachers even as they begin opening their doors for the new school year. Jefferson County’s school system, for instance, has 63 open slots for certified teachers, counselors and coaches posted on the Alabama Department of Education’s site as the system nears its Aug. 10 opening date. Birmingham City Schools had 56 open teaching positions listed on the DOE site and 29 open sports coaching positions as schools started Tuesday. Read more. More on the upcoming school term: State Hiring Marketing Firm for Teacher Recruitment 5 Things to Know About Alabama’s Back-to-School COVID Toolkit

by Michelle Love

Alabama Becomes First in Nation to Certify All ALEA Officers in Sensory Inclusive Practices

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is the first state police department in the country to have all of its officers certified in sensory-inclusive practices, Gov. Kay Ivey announced Tuesday. “Too often we have citizens with sensory issues or folks who have PTSD, autism, dementia and a whole host of special needs that, frankly, our heroes in blue haven’t been trained to deal with up to this point,” Ivey said. Read more.

by Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News