Author: Virginia Martin
COVID Cases Increasing in Summer Spike
COVID-19 is trending upward in Alabama and across the country, following a pattern of summer spikes set since the virus first arrived in the U.S. in 2020. Read more.
Life Moves Pretty Fast, You Have to Have Your Hearing Aid Turned Up, Bolin Discovers
The opening to Thursday’s Jefferson County Commission meeting was a little like a scene from the 1986 movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
County Clerk Millie Diliberto called roll, beginning with the newest person of the dais, Mike Bolin. But he didn’t answer when his name was called.
“Say, ‘Here,’” Commission President Jimmie Stephen prompted.
“Oh. Here,” Bolin said. “Sorry.”
The District 5 commissioner acknowledged having not initially heard his name.
“I’m a little hearing impaired and I didn’t understand,” he said. “I’ll turn my volume up.”
Bolin was elected this summer to fill the position left vacant when Commissioner Steve Ammons resigned to become CEO of the Birmingham Business Alliance, and Thursday was his first official commission meeting. Read more.
Birmingham City Council Sets Aug. 29 Public Hearing on Towing, Parking Changes
Members of the public will be able to address Birmingham city councilors Aug. 29 regarding proposed changes to local ordinances regulating towing from paid parking lots in the city. City councilors are considering revisions to the ordinances after widespread public complaints about predatory towing and other parking-related issues around Birmingham. Read more.
Former Judge Bolin Now Answers to ‘Commissioner’
Mike Bolin took his first dip into the legislative branch of county government Tuesday as he took part in his first committee meeting as a member of the Jefferson County Commission.
The former Jefferson County probate judge and Alabama Supreme Court justice admitted to some trepidation as he “put a foot into the water” since this was just his sixth day on the job.
“I don’t care how smart or how dumb you are, you can’t acclimate to everything that goes on in there until you’ve gone through two or three rounds,” Bolin said. “I enjoyed being there. I enjoyed the back and forth. Read more.
NIH Selects UAB’s Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo to Replace Dr. Anthony Fauci as Head of the NIAID
Marrazzo, who has led UAB’s Division of Infectious Diseases since 2016, served as a national expert throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more.
Birmingham City Council Declines to Nominate Full Slate of Candidates to Board Overseeing Property Taxes
UPDATED —The Birmingham City Council has passed on the option to submit a full slate of nominees to the Jefferson County Board of Equalization, the body that oversees property tax appraisals in the city and countywide.
At its Tuesday meeting, councilors voted to nominate only one candidate, incumbent board member Karen Wadlington, to continue service on the board. Alabama law allows the council to nominate up to three candidates for each vacancy on the three-member board. The terms of two of the board’s three members have now expired, according to a county spokesperson, which allowed the City Council six total nominations. Read more.
JeffCo Commission Back at Full Strength After Bolin Sworn In Monday
The Jefferson County Commission is back up to its required five members after Mike Bolin was sworn in Monday as the newest commissioner. Shown are commissioners Lashunda Scales, Joe Knight, Bolin and Sheila Tyson, with Chairman Jimmie Stephens (center front). Bolin recently was elected to the District 5 seat, left vacant when Steve Ammons resigned to become CEO of the Birmingham Business Alliance. Read more.
$50 Million HUD Grant Expected to “Transform” West Birmingham Neighborhoods
In a setting that felt more like a tent revival than a press conference, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge announced Wednesday that Birmingham had landed a $50 million community redevelopment grant. Read more.
Read the Details: Birmingham OKs Rezoning in West Birmingham Ahead of Possible Redevelopment Plan
In Search of Midnight Oil: JeffCo County Manager Preparing for Annual Budget Hearings
County Manager Cal Markert displayed a wry smile when asked if he is looking forward to budget hearings in August.
“I look forward to it being over and done, I guess,” he said after the Jefferson County Commission’s meeting today in Bessemer. “It’s coming up and we’ve got to do it. It’s just a lot of extra work. Not extra work but a lot of work.”
Setting the county’s budget is an annual balancing act of determining where funds can be allotted to accomplish needed projects, and it involves hearings during which department heads meet with Markert and county commissioners to make their case for requested funds during fiscal 2024. Read more.
Birmingham will fund a ‘violence intervention’ program. Can it get to the heart of the problem?
Michelle Farley remembers Rico. He was a member of the Youth Action Committee at One Roof, the Birmingham homelessness services organization where Farley serves as executive director.
In 2019, Rico was shot, according to Farley, and remained hospitalized for weeks. He was then released, she said, “with no more resources for conflict resolution or violence prevention than when he entered.”
Just a few weeks later, Rico was shot for a second time. He didn’t make it.
On Tuesday, the Birmingham City Council approved a pilot program to provide services to those impacted by gun violence in the Magic City. Read more.
