The League of Women Voters of Alabama is expanding its work to give the public access to what goes on in the Legislature. The league’s Education Fund and Alabama State University are collaborating to recruit interns to record House and Senate public meetings that are not live-streamed and make them available on its Alabama Channel. Read more.
The normal winter flu season is in full swing in Alabama, but this year COVID and RSV are joining the mix. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranks the state among seven others with the highest rates for respiratory disease. Alabama health officials say there has been a 3.2% increase in hospital admissions statewide for the three viral diseases, but there is no shortage of treatment facilities or hospital beds across the state. But they warn that, with the workplace and schools opened after the holidays, the numbers could climb. Read more.
Alabama House Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, told a packed Great Hall at Birmingham-Southern College that there is work to do to fulfill the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Not only is our Black history under attack, but our most fundamental right that is allowed to us under the Constitution – our right to vote – is under attack,” Givan said at the 38th annual Unity Breakfast in celebration of the slain civil rights leader. “But I say to you, they don't have to take it because we don't utilize it." Read more.
The leader of the Civil Rights Movement and a commander of the Confederate army both are honored on the same day. Not everyone is happy about that. Read more.
Angela Dixon, Jefferson County’s chief finance officer, was praised Tuesday during the Jefferson County Commission’s committee meeting for having received a certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association.
Jefferson County has completed its refinance of $2.24 billion in sewer revenue warrants for a gross savings of $1.17 billion, which reduces the county’s payments on the overall sewer debt. Additionally, the refunding was accomplished without extending the maturity of the sewer debt. The refinance includes a provision for a customer assistance program and stabilizes rate increases. Read more.
Republican lawyer Bryan Brinyark will head to Montgomery to represent House District 16, which includes Fayette County, parts of Tuscaloosa and western areas of Jefferson counties. Read more.
The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday voted to spend $150,000 on a project to transition junior developers and engineers in the tech industry into more senior-level positions. The group tasked with developing this program, called the Birmingham Upskill Partnership Initiative, is the regional technology association TechBirmingham. Deon Gordon, president and CEO of TechBirmingham, said stakeholders in the tech industry have noticed a dearth of workers with senior-level skill sets. Read more.
Voters in House District 16 go to the polls Tuesday to elect a new representative to the state House. Republican nominee Bryan Brinyark will face Democratic nominee John Underwood in the election for the district, which extends from Fayette County to north Tuscaloosa and western Jefferson counties. Read more.
It was early morning on July 8, 2018, when Joseph Pettaway’s family was told by a neighbor that he had been badly injured by a police dog overnight and taken to the hospital. He’d been rehabbing a home a block away from where he lived with his mother. His sister, Nancy, set off to see what had happened at the blighted house on the outskirts of Montgomery. She came upon a grisly scene. Blood was pooled on the pavement, and police officers were hosing it down. The front door was open, and Nancy Pettaway peeked at the hallway inside. “I seen blood, like they had dragged him,” she said. “One of the police told me to get back, and I said I ain’t going nowhere, cause that’s my brother, that’s my brother’s blood, and you gotta tell me what’s going on.” But the Montgomery police refused to give her any information and later that day confirmed to the news media only that a suspected burglar had died on the scene. The police who were there when Pettaway was killed wore body cameras that recorded what happened, but Montgomery’s department repeatedly refused to show the footage to the Pettaways, saying the video was “confidential,” and under Alabama law, the family had no right to access the video. It’s a recurring theme in Alabama, which is among the most restrictive states for disclosing body cam footage when police kill. Read more.
