Virginia Martin, Author at BirminghamWatch - Page 255 of 480
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Virginia Martin

Ivey Extends COVID-19 Health Order Through July

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey extended a public health order Tuesday, which allows businesses, entertainment venues and beaches to operate provided they follow social distancing, sanitation and other guidelines, until July 31st. The order would have expired Friday and comes as new coronavirus cases have risen sharply through June. “While we are not overwhelmed yet, we should not think that because our summer feels more normal than our spring that we are back to normal,” Ivey said at a press conference Tuesday morning. “The fact is, folks, we are still in the thick of this virus, disease and it is deadly.” Read more.

by Andrew Yeager, WBHM

Birmingham Council Agrees to Fine for Covering Confederate Monument Base

Earlier this month, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin yielded to protestors’ demands to remove the controversial Confederate Soldiers and Sailors monument from Linn Park. The statue was driven to an undisclosed location — for its protection, Woodfin said — and the city was promptly sued by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall for violating the state’s Memorial Preservation Act. Marshall has said he will be seeking a $25,000 penalty. On Tuesday, the City Council voted to pay a different $25,000 fine associated with the Confederate statue — this one resulting from the actions of former Mayor William Bell, who ordered the statue covered by a black plywood barrier in August 2017. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Birmingham Set to Pay Fine for Covering Confederate Monument

Earlier this month, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin yielded to protestors’ demands to remove the controversial Confederate Soldiers and Sailors monument from Linn Park. The statue was driven to an undisclosed location — for its protection, Woodfin said — and the city promptly was sued by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall for violating the state’s Memorial Preservation Act; Marshall has said he will be seeking a $25,000 penalty. But Tuesday, the City Council will vote on paying a different $25,000 fine associated with the Confederate statue — this one resulting from the actions of former Mayor William Bell, who ordered the statue covered by a black plywood barrier in August 2017. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Generation After Generation, the Need for Black Parents and Children to Have ‘The Talk’ Continues

Get on the ground. Get on the ground now. I must have been speeding. No, you weren’t speeding. I wasn’t speeding? You didn’t do anything wrong. Then why are you pulling me over? Why am I pulled over? Put your hands where they can be seen. Put your hands in the air. Put your hands up. — From “Stop and Frisk,” by the Jamaican-American poet Claudia Rankine Ralph Cook and Grover Dunn were born in the early 1940s, and though they did not know each other until much later, they had some things in common. Both were black, both were raised in Bessemer, both have had long public careers and have been among the first blacks to hold various public posts in what used to be “the Cutoff.” Being black, Cook and Dunn also had another shared experience – a talk from their parents about how to behave in the presence of the police. That experience is one they hold in common with black children and parents in Alabama and across the country, including black parents nearly half their age, such as Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Chris England. As adults, Cook and Dunn have had what is commonly referred to as “the talk” with their children and their grandchildren. “It’s a shame we have to do this,” said Dunn, the assistant tax collector in the Bessemer Division. “But we do it constantly.” Read more.

by Tom Gordon

Jefferson County Plans to Set Up COVID-19 Nursing Home Unit

Jefferson County Commissioners today OK’d establishing a dedicated unit to care for nursing home patients who have COVID-19 in one location. The commission authorized an agreement with the UAB board of trustees to establish the unit. The plan calls for Jefferson County to use a portion of its Cares Act funds for this project, which will put patients in a wing of Aspire Physical Recovery Center at Hoover. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

COVID-19 Cases Hit Record High Average for the Past Two Weeks

Alabama’s uphill battle with the COVID-19 outbreak continues, as the 14-day moving average of new daily cases set a new high Wednesday. Alabama’s uphill battle with the COVID-19 outbreak continues, as the 14-day moving average of new daily cases set a new high Wednesday. After turning downward during the middle of the last 7-day period, the number of new cases reported by the Alabama Department of Public Health zoomed upward in the past couple of days. The 14-day moving average has now surpassed the 700 mark, topping out at 714.14 on Wednesday. The 7-day average moved to 672.89 — a jump of 80 average new daily cases in just 24 hours. While the shorter-term average has gone through peaks and valleys this month, the longer-term average has risen by almost 79% in two weeks’ time. Read more.

by Robert Carter
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