Virginia Martin

BSC Baseball Players Savor Final Bus Ride as Panthers

Time flies but the Birmingham-Southern baseball team opted to take the bus. A day after falling in its third game in the double elimination Division III College World Series, the Panthers hit the road rather than taking to the sky. They weren’t delaying the inevitable – returning to a college that closed Friday. Instead, they were savoring every moment they had with one another. “I don't think I would have wanted it any other way,” said Jan Weisberg, BSC baseball coach the past 17 years. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Birmingham Residents Cite Street Paving, Blight and the Neglect of Communities Among Budget Concerns

Birmingham residents who attended a budget hearing Monday night expressed concerns about many of the issues they said they bring up every year, including street paving, blight and the neglect of less prosperous communities.  They weren’t debating line-items in a budget proposal for fiscal 2025 because there isn’t one. As Birmingham Council President Darrell O’Quinn explained, for the time being, the spending plan for next year is identical to this year’s budget. City officials are using the $554 million 2024 budget as a stand-in for the coming year to allow staff to catch up on work lost due to what the city called a computer network disruption, which several news organizations have reported as a ransomware attack.  Read more.

by Daniel Gaddy

Celebration Marks Beginning of Construction on New Downtown Amphitheater

The construction equipment left no doubt that the ground had already been broken behind the former Carraway Hospital. But the lack of virgin soil took nothing away from the celebratory feel of the ceremonial groundbreaking Monday morning for the planned amphitheater that’s coming to Birmingham’s Druid Hills Neighborhood. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Missing Piece of Trump Case Coverage: The Jurors

No one has published any interviews so far with members of the Manhattan jury that found Donald Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying records last week, but I’m certain multiple media outlets are trying. Juror names and addresses were shielded from the media and the public but I think it’s inevitable that enterprising reporters will eventually find a juror or two who is willing to talk. Read more.

by Tom Arenberg

As BSC Closes, Alumni and Supporters Stock Up on Memorabilia

Friday is the last day for Birmingham-Southern College, and it’s the last chance for alumni and friends of the school to collect a treasured memento. The Stockham Shop, in the Stockham Women’s Building on the BSC campus, will reopen from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday to sell BSC memorabilia, including a lot of yearbooks. The nearly 170-year-old campus is closing after years of financial problems. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Civil Rights Icon Fred L. Shuttlesworth Honored With Mural at Birmingham Airport

Millions of visitors to Birmingham can now be welcomed at the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport International Airport in the city by one of its most renowned Civil Rights icons. A new mural honoring the Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth recently was unveiled in Concourse B of the airport that bears his name. Read more.

by Barnett Wright, The Birmingham Times

Good Night, BSC: Alumni and Friends Reunite to Bid Farewell to Their Alma Mater

Hundreds of alumni, family and friends of Birmingham-Southern College filed into Bill Battle Coliseum Thursday night. Across the academic quad, more who couldn’t get a seat in the stands where Panther basketball teams played gathered in the auditorium of Munger Hall. All returned to the college that they have known so long to bid an official farewell in a closing ceremony. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

EPA Formally Denies Alabama’s Plan for Coal Ash Waste

The federal agency says the state’s plan was not as protective as federal standards, allowing toxic waste to remain in unlined pits that may contaminate groundwater. Alabama officials say they will appeal. Read more.

by Lee Hedgepeth, Inside Climate News

The Long View: Coca-Cola CEO Discusses New Project as JeffCo OKs $2M Investment

Mike Suco said Coca-Cola United looks well beyond the present when it looks into the future. “We are a company that thinks not in a year or two or three years,” the president and CEO told the Jefferson County Commission on Thursday. “We think in 50-year increments.” The Jefferson County Commission invested $2 million in that long-term vision for an estimated $330 million, multifaceted Coca-Cola Bottling Company United headquarters that is expected to create as many as 50 new jobs and retain more than 750 jobs. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

JeffCo Considering $2M for New Coca-Cola Development

Jefferson County during its meeting Thursday will consider being part of an economic development project that will create a new gateway in and out of Birmingham. Representatives of Coca-Cola Bottling Company United asked the commission for an economic incentive package of $2 million as the company looks to relocate from its longtime home north of Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport to the former Stockham Valves and Fittings location in Birmingham’s Kingston Neighborhood. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.