The Birmingham City Council approved new committee assignments on Tuesday, after new council officers were chosen recently. The Council approved new committee assignments, which will be for a term of two years. Two new committees were created in the process, the Community Development Committee and the Workforce Development Committee. Chairs of the new committees –
My application to become The (Nashville) Tennessean’s Taylor Swift beat reporter failed. That’s possibly because, as a person entrenched in his habits, I have never heard a Taylor Swift song*. This is a real job, to the alarm of many serious journalists in the business. There’s also a Beyonce beat reporter position for hire. Read more.
UPDATED — It ain’t over. Jefferson County’s efforts to escape an environmental consent decree took a bit of a hit Tuesday, with the U.S. District Court denying its motion to declare the county sewer system in compliance with the decree. That ruling came hours after the Jefferson County Commission moved to Thursday’s agenda an agreement to pay $2.223 million in fines to the Environmental Protection Agency. Read more.
Cynics may be surprised to learn that media codes of ethics exist and take more than 30 seconds to read. That’s because media wield tremendous power — power customarily used for the public good but sometimes misused to disastrous effect. The Alabama news website 1819 News published a story Wednesday revealing, against his will, that F.L. “Bubba” Copeland, the mayor of Smiths Station and the pastor of First Baptist Church of Phenix City, posted social media photos of himself dressed as a woman. This included lingerie pictures, and the story also said he offered online encouragement to people considering gender transition. Read more.
Leroy Stover, the first Black to serve as a patrolman on the Birmingham Police Department, died Thursday. He was 90. “Today, our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of former Deputy Chief Leroy Stover,” the police department released via social media. “As the first Black officer to integrate the Birmingham force, his legacy and work at the Birmingham Police Department paved a way for others to follow in his footsteps. We offer our full condolences to the family and know that he would forever be in our hearts and mind.” Johnnie Johnson, who later became the first Black chief, immediately followed Stover onto the force one day later, in March 1963. They were followed by Bob Boswell and Frank Horn. Read more.
“Learning From Birmingham: A Journey Into History and Home” (University of Alabama Press, 2023) by Julie Buckner Armstrong Birmingham is a place that requires explanation. The city’s racial past makes it a source of fascination and contempt. If you live in Birmingham, you know that outsiders often come at you with questions, and sometimes attitude. For African American residents, the attitude can come in the form of hillbilly jokes and a lack of respect. It was these type experiences that inspired Birmingham poet Dianne Mills to compose the wonderfully profane “Don’t Say S—t ‘bout Birmingham.” White residents also experience a lack of respect from outsiders, a sense — sometimes said out loud — that we must be a bit backward or simply not smart enough to realize that we live in a terrible place and should probably leave. White residents can also experience suspicion regarding our racial attitudes. Call it the taint of Bull Connor. But for many of Birmingham’s white sons and daughters, there are no questions an outsider can ask that we have not already asked ourselves. Read more.
Some Southern towns have been erased by environmental disasters — whether natural or man-made. One Alabama town offers lessons on the hidden cost of progress. Read more.
In West Jefferson, everything happens in the shadow of Alabama Power. Fewer than 500 people live in the town of less than one square mile, located just a 20-minute drive northwest of Birmingham. There’s little in the way of excess. Modest homes dot the landscape, with residents waving as cars pass by. There’s a Dollar General, a Baptist church and an elementary school — the staples of a small Southern community. But in this town, a plant looms large. Read more.
The Birmingham City Council in a special called meeting Friday elected Darryl O’Quinn as its president on a 5-3-1 vote after the legality of his initial election, on Tuesday, came under questioning. Read more.
Birmingham-Southern College is running out of money and time. After the state treasurer rejected the school’s $30 million loan application, school officials must now consider their options, including closing the 167-year-old campus on Birmingham’s west side. Read more.
