Virginia Martin

New Birmingham BOE OKs Post to Work With 13 ‘Failing’ Schools

At the first board meeting for most of its members, the Birmingham Board of Education Tuesday night approved a new instructional support position to work exclusively with students at 13 city schools on the state’s “failing” list. Led by newly elected board President Cheri Gardner, the board also approved hiring a new English as a second language instructor to serve multiple schools and heard from Superintendent Lisa Herring about a five-stop Listening and Learning tour she plans over the next three weeks. Read more.

National Backlash Against Roy Moore Grows

The backlash against Roy Moore in Washington grew Tuesday over allegations by women who say he made sexual advances on them when they were teenagers. The RNC pulled out of a joint fundraising agreement it had with Moore, saying it would put no more money into the Senate campaign. As more Republicans rescinded support for Moore in the Dec. 12 special election, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that if Moore is elected, he immediately will be the subject of a Senate Ethics Committee investigation. Read the day’s reports on the Moore situation. Amid Calls to Step Down, Moore Finds Refuge With Base (Associated Press) National Republican Move Against Roy Moore Grows — But Key Alabama Republicans are Not Joining In (Washington Post) RNC Cuts off Moore (Politico) McConnell: Moore Will Face Senate Ethics Probe If He Wins Election (The Hill) Roy Moore Says He's Being 'Harassed' by the Media Over Allegations (CNN) He Said He Was a Washington Post Reporter Offering a Reward for Dirt on Roy Moore. But It Wasn’t True. (Washington Post) Roy Moore, Long Divisive in his Hometown, and Even More So Now (New York Times) When Did Roy Moore Meet His Wife? (Al.com) Ala. Senate Race on Track as Moore Scandal Grows (AP video) Read BirminghamWatch’s coverage of the controversy

Another Woman Accuses Roy Moore of Attack, Senate Leader Calls for Vote to Expel, and Pastors Publish Letter of Support

Friends of Moore’s Accuser Defend Her Decision to Discuss Allegations Now

Roy Moore Says Sexual Allegations Were Raised to ‘Defrock’ His Campaign, Fallout Continues as Some Republicans Defend Him and Others Look for Ways to Bounce Him From the Ballot

Accusations of Sexual Misconduct Against Roy Moore Throw Senate Race Into Turmoil

Birmingham City School Board Elects Leadership

The Birmingham City Board of Education elected new leadership Tuesday night, the first board meeting for the majority of the nine-member panel. Two-term board member Cheri Gardner was elected president of the board, and new member Douglas Ragland was elected vice president. Gardner, 56, a funeral home director first elected to the District 6 seat in 2013, is one of only three incumbents on the board. The others are Daagye Hendricks, District 4, and Sandra Brown, District 9. Ragland, 60, who retired as superintendent of Midfield schools, represents District 1 and is one of six new members of the board. Other new board members are Terri Michal, District 2; Mary Drennan Boehm, District 3; Michael Millsap, District 5; Patricia Stagner McAdory, District 7; and Sonja Q. Smith, District 8. Read more about the Board of Education election.

A False Start: Birmingham Council Brings up Budget Then Decides the Newly Elected Need More Time to Study It

Nov. 14, 2017 — A budget for the 2018 fiscal year came closer to passage than ever during Tuesday’s meeting of the Birmingham City Council, but consideration eventually was pushed back to December because of concerns that newly elected officials had not had enough say in the matter. Read more.

Be Ready: Jeffco Commission Makes Plans to Get and Keep Storm Sirens Functional; Announces Changes at Polls

Nov. 14, 2017 – Joe Knight conducted a show and tell presentation for his fellow commissioners at the Jefferson County Commission’s committee meeting Tuesday morning. When he was done, the body agreed to go with the fourth of four options presented for addressing the issue of severe weather sirens throughout the county. The option selected

Woodfin Announces His Executive Leadership Team

Nov. 14, 2017 — Birmingham Mayor-elect Randall Woodfin named members of his administration’s executive leadership team Tuesday morning. Almost all of the appointees previously worked in some capacity with Birmingham city government. Two worked on the campaign of Bernie Sanders, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate who endorsed Woodfin shortly before his election. Standing at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in front of a black banner with the words “How Does It Help All 99 Birmingham Neighborhoods?” emblazoned on it, Woodfin said he plans to “hit the reset button at City Hall as relates to certain leadership having a sense of urgency with helping people and putting people first.” The question on the banner behind him serves as “our why,” he said, the guiding principle behind every decision his administration makes. “When we wake up every single day over the next four years, every decision we make, every issue we face, anything on the solutions end of the problems we have, we will always ask this question,” he said. Read more. BIRMINGHAM VOTES 2017 Randall Woodfin will be sworn in as Birmingham’s new mayor during his inauguration Nov. 28. BirminghamWatch interviewed him, new council members and departing council members before the passing of the baton:

First? Look at the Books: A Q&A With Birmingham’s Next Mayor

Newly Elected Birmingham City Councilor Hunter Williams Calls for Broad Coordination to Move the City Forward

For Newly Elected Birmingham City Councilor Darrell O’Quinn, the Neighborhood is Still the Thing

New Birmingham Councilor John Hilliard Says He Can’t Do It Alone, Residents Must Share Responsibility for the District

Transparency, Neighborhoods and One Uber Battle: Three Former Birmingham Councilors Talk About Their Time at City Hall

READ COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE BIRMINGHAM CITY ELECTION.

Another Woman Accuses Roy Moore of Attack, Senate Leader Calls for Vote to Expel, and Pastors Publish Letter of Support

The whirlwind continues to swirl around Roy Moore, the Republican candidate in the special election for the U.S. Senate, as events surrounding his embattled campaign continue to unfold at a frenetic pace. On Monday afternoon, another woman came forward to accuse Moore, Alabama’s former chief justice, of making sexual advances toward her when she was a teenager and he was a district attorney in Gadsden. Beverly Young Nelson said that Moore tried to force himself on her in his car, which was parked in the back of the Old Hickory House barbecue restaurant where she worked. The attack is alleged to have taken place in December 1977, when she was 16 years old and Moore was 30. Nelson detailed her version of the incident during a press conference in Madison, New York arranged by attorney Gloria Allred, who’s made a reputation of taking on high-profile, often controversial cases involving sexual harassment and women’s rights. In a prepared statement, Nelson said that she worked at the Old Hickory House while she was a student at Gadsden High School, and that Moore was a regular customer there, usually sitting in the same seat at the counter. Nelson said that she had long red hair at the time and would often compete in beauty pageants, and that Moore would sometimes flirt with her by tugging on the ends of her hair. Nelson said that one night her boyfriend was late in picking her up from her job after closing time, and when Moore saw her waiting outside, he offered to take her home, which she accepted. But instead of pulling out onto Meighan Boulevard, she said, Moore drove his car around to the back of the restaurant, parked in a dark area between the restaurant and a dumpster and began to force himself on her. “He reached over and began groping me, putting his hands on my breasts,” Nelson said. “I tried to open my door to leave, but he reached over and locked it so I could not get out. I tried fighting him off, while yelling at him to stop, but instead of stopping, he began squeezing my neck attempting to force my head onto his crotch … . I thought he was going to try to rape me.” Moore denies the claims. Read more. Read coverage of the story: GOP Chair Warns Republican Office-Holders Against Supporting Write-In Candidates (Alabama Political Reporter) Senate Republicans Repudiate Roy Moore’s Candidacy and Urge Him to Leave the Race (Washington Post) GOP Confronts Long-Shot Options for Dealing With Moore (Associated Press) No State Precedent for Successful Statewide Write-In Candidate (Decatur Daily) Sen. Richard Shelby Says Roy Moore Should Seriously Consider Dropping Out (WAAY) What All 52 Republican Senators Say About Embattled Alabama Candidate Roy Moore (ABC News) Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Roy Moore Make Senate Race in Alabama a Toss-Up (Anniston Star) Roy Moore Allegations Prompt Reflections on Fundamentalist Culture in Which Some Christian Men Date Teens (Washington Post) Gadsden Locals Say Moore's Predatory Behavior At Mall, Restaurants Not A Secret (AL.com)

Friends of Moore’s Accuser Defend Her Decision to Discuss Allegations Now

“They are not dishonest people. They are not attention seekers. They are Republicans.” That’s what Henrietta Speaks wants people to know about Nancy Wells, her friend since high school in Gadsden decades ago, and Wells’ daughter, Leigh Corfman. Corfman, backed up by her mother, has thrown Alabama’s race for a U.S. Senate seat into turmoil with her account to The Washington Post of a sexual encounter with candidate Roy Moore in 1979. Corfman was then 14 and Moore was 32 and an assistant district attorney. Other women also have told the Post they dated Moore when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s, but they’ve said the encounters did not go past kissing. As the allegations drove some leading Republicans to rescind their endorsements of Moore, they also seem to have hardened the support from his base. Moore received a standing ovation at the conclusion of a speech he gave Saturday to the Mid-Alabama Republican Club in Vestavia Hills, his first public appearance since the allegations were published. Read more. Read coverage of the story: Roy Moore Says Allegations are Intended to Derail Senate Bid (Washington Post/Associated Press) Allegations Against Roy Moore Roil US Evangelical Ranks (Associated Press) Roy Moore Alabama Senate Candidate Under Siege, Tries to Discredit Accusers (The New York Times) Roy Moore's Supporters Still 'Believe in Him' as GOP Senators Withdraw Endorsements (ABC News) Democrat Doug Jones Charts An Unlikely Path in Alabama Senate Race as Scandal Isolates GOP's Roy Moore (Los Angeles Times)

Roy Moore Says Sexual Allegations Were Raised to ‘Defrock’ His Campaign, Fallout Continues as Some Republicans Defend Him and Others Look for Ways to Bounce Him From the Ballot

UPDATED – Roy Moore this afternoon denied all claims by a woman who said she had inappropriate sexual contact with him when she was 14 years old and he was 32. “These allegations are completely false and misleading,” Moore said during an interview on the Sean Hannity radio show this afternoon. “I don’t know Miss Corfman from anybody,” he said. “I never talked to her, never had contact with her.” Leigh Corfman in a series of interviews with the Washington Post said she and her mother were approached by Moore, then an assistant district attorney in Gadsden, while they were sitting in the county courthouse waiting for a custody hearing. The meeting sparked a series of rendezvous, Corfman told the Post. She alleges that in one of those meetings, Moore removed her shirt and pants and removed his own clothes, then guided her hand to touch him over his underwear. Three other women, teenagers at the time, also said they were approached by Moore for dates, but those dates never went beyond kissing, the Post reported. During the interview, Moore repeatedly pointed out that the allegations were being made 40 years after the fact and just weeks away from the special Senate election. “This never happened,” he said. “They know it never happened, and … you don’t bring out things like this 40 years later.’ Moore said the allegations were false and “meant to defrock my campaign.” Fallout from the accusations continued Friday, the day after the Washington Post published the reports. The National Republican Senatorial Committee ended its fundraising agreement with Moore because of the allegations, the Associated Press reported. The group had been part of a fundraising committee that included the Alabama Republican Party and the Republican National Committee. Two U.S. senators publicly withdrew their endorsements of Moore, and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he believed Corfman’s story, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Innocent until proven guilty is for criminal convictions, not elections,” Romney said on Twitter, calling Corfman’s account “too serious to ignore.” The New York Times also reported that Republican senators were trying to distance themselves from Moore. The paper said there was a “flurry” of calls, emails and texts discussing the possibilities for a write-in candidate, a delay in the Dec. 12 election so another candidate could be placed on the ballot, or even not seating Moore if he were to be elected. In Alabama, the state’s Republican leadership remained largely silent on the issue Friday. Other Republican officeholders in the state took up for Moore, saying they found allegations concerning events from 40 years ago suspect. Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate in the Senate race, told AL.com that his campaign "had no knowledge whatsoever" about the allegations that had been raised. Read more. Read full coverage on the story: Alabama Republicans Defend Roy Moore: ‘It Was More Than 40 Years Ago.’ (New York Times) NRSC Ends Fundraising Agreement With Roy Moore (Associated Press) For Alabama Women, Disgust, Fatigue and a Sense Moore Could Win Anyway (New York Times) Alabama Poll: Moore and Jones Tied Following Scandal (The Hill) Sexual Molestation Allegation Puts Alabama Senate Seat in Play as Moore's GOP Support Fades (Los Angeles Times) 'I Believed in His Christian Values:' Residents of Roy Moore's Hometown React to Allegations (Washington Post video) Should He Stay or Should He Go? The Reason Republicans Can’t Quite Ditch Roy Moore Yet (Washington Post) Doug Jones: 'No Knowledge Whatsoever' Ahead of Story Alleging Sexual Misconduct by Roy Moore (AL.com)

Accusations of Sexual Misconduct Against Roy Moore Throw Senate Race Into Turmoil

Just when former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore seemed headed for victory in the Dec. 12 special U.S. Senate election, an accusation that he had inappropriate sexual contact nearly four decades ago with a girl who was 14 has thrown the race into turmoil. In a bombshell story published Thursday, The Washington Post reported allegations by Leigh Corfman that she went out with Moore and they had inappropriate sexual contact when she was 14 and he was 32. Three other women also told the Post that Moore approached them for dates when they were between 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s, but their contact with the man who later became chief justice of Alabama never went beyond kissing. Moore’s campaign in a response attributed to campaign chairman Bill Armistead said, “Judge Roy Moore has endured the most outlandish attacks on any candidate in the modern political arena, but this story in today’s Washington Post alleging sexual impropriety takes the cake. National liberal organizations know their chosen candidate Doug Jones is in a death spiral, and this is their last ditch Hail Mary.” The accusations call into question whether Moore, who defeated incumbent Sen. Luther Strange in a Republican primary runoff in October, can continue in his election battle with Jones. After the Post story broke, numerous members of the Senate, including Alabama’s Richard Shelby, called on Moore to step aside as the GOP nominee if the charges were true. One senator didn’t bother with the “if true” caveat; John McCain, R-Arizona, in a tweet called the accusations “disqualifying.” Read more. Read full coverage on the story: Woman Says Roy Moore Initiated Sexual Encounter When She Was 14, He Was 32 (Washington Post) Mitch McConnell Calls on Roy Moore to Exit Alabama Senate Race ‘If These Allegations Are True’ (Washington Post) Why Evangelical Voters Are Unlikely to Bail on Roy Moore (Washington Post) Several Alabama Republicans Defend Moore But Others Cautious; His Name to Stay on Ballot (Decatur Daily) Kay Ivey, Other Alabama Leaders, Weigh in on 'Deeply Disturbing' Roy Moore Allegations (AL.com) Roy Moore Says 'Forces of Evil' Behind Report of Sexual Contact With 14-year-old (Fox News) Moore Accuser's Attorney: "I'm Sure She Was Scared to Death" to Report Sexual Encounter (AL.com) ‘Bizarre’ Responses From Alabama GOP Officials on Roy Moore's Alleged Sexual Encounters (Business Insider)