Category: Our Culture
One Black Artist’s Quest to Shake Up the Comics World
Lashawn Colvin recently opened her very own comic book store in Montgomery, becoming the first known Black woman in the South to do so.
Coronavirus
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Another 234 COVID-19 Deaths in Alabama Reported Tuesday
The Alabama Department of Public Health reported 234 deaths from COVID-19 in its daily update on Tuesday, raising the state’s total to 6,896 since the pandemic began.
The figure apparently catches up from deaths that did not show up in reports for the weekend, when there were two deaths listed on Monday and three on Sunday. Earlier last week, the daily updates showed as many as 171 deaths. ADPH notes that its daily figures for deaths are not for the current day because it can take two weeks or more for some to be reported and confirmed.
There were 2,900 new cases of the coronavirus in Tuesday’s report, bringing the total for the pandemic to 445,909. The state has averaged 2,767 new cases a day over the past week.
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New Alabama COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations Falling as Ivey Extends Mask Mandate
The effects of the holiday season on the spread of COVID-19 may be slowing down in Alabama.
In BirminghamWatch’s weekly analysis of COVID data across the state, the number of new daily cases has fallen significantly since peaking on Jan. 10, and fewer hospital beds have been occupied by those infected with the virus, as well. Death counts from the virus remain high, though many recent reports are from deaths that occurred as far back as November.
The numbers come on the heels of Gov. Kay Ivey’s announcement Thursday morning that she would extend until March 5 her order that face masks must be worn in public places. The new order remains unchanged from the previous one, which was to expire on Friday. Read more.
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Park Board Approves Making Legion Field a 24/7 Vaccination Site
The Football Capital of the South could soon be the COVID Vaccination Capital after the Birmingham Park Board voted unanimously today to approve measures to allow Legion Field to be used as a 24/7 COVID-19 vaccine distribution center. Read more.
2021 Birmingham City Election
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Woodfin Will Run for Reelection as Mayor
WBHM Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin acknowledged Thursday that he will be running for a second term during the municipal elections in August. Read more.
Census
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Annual Population Numbers Indicate Alabama Might Hold On to Its Congressional Seats — Barely
The U.S. Census Bureau’s annual population estimate of U.S. residents indicates Alabama could be pitted against New York for the possible loss of a U.S. House of Representatives seat after the decennial census is released. The estimates as they stand now would put Alabama’s population just high enough to keep its present seven representatives, with New York losing a seat, according to an analysis by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama. Read more.
GovernmentWatch
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Settlement Reached to Address ABC Coke Pollution
Birmingham-based clean-air advocate Gasp and the Southern Environmental Law Center have announced “significant improvements” to a consent decree to address ABC Coke’s illegal emissions of benzene and its effects on communities around northeast Birmingham and Tarrant.
SELC intervened on behalf of Gasp in January 2020 to protest requirements set out by the consent decree agreed to by the Jefferson County Board of Health and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with the Drummond Company – which owns ABC Coke. SELC made the case that the requirements were inadequate to address ongoing violations and control of pollution from benzene, a known carcinogen. Read more.
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Birmingham Police Stations Offer Safe Place For Online Buyers and Sellers to Meet
WBHM The comments from Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin come after a UAB student was shot and killed during a transaction arranged online. Read more.
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Senate Confirms Alabama-Connected Austin as Secretary of Defense
Voterama in Congress
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 93 for and two against on Jan. 22 to confirm retired Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III as secretary of defense. Austin, who was educated at Auburn University and has sat on its board, is the first Black to hold the position in its 74-year history. Both Alabama senators voted in favor of confirming Austin. Read more. -
Birmingham Gets New Economic Director, Water Board Members
Although still recovering from COVID-19-related pneumonia, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin announced three major political appointments Tuesday morning, including a new director of innovation and economic opportunity and two members of the Birmingham Water Works Board. Read more.
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JeffCo Commission Picks Up Where Feds Left Off, Will Pay for COVID Time Off
Today, Jefferson County picked up where the federal government left off, covering the cost of employees taking off because they’ve been exposed to or contracted the novel coronavirus. Following its committee meeting today, commissioners reconvened their Jan. 7 commission meeting to retroactively extend what had been provided under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Read more.
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Rising COVID Cases Send JeffCo Commission Back to Virtual Meetings
Jefferson County commissioners conducted their regular committee meeting Tuesday in the new normal way, returning to a virtual platform. With hospitalizations climbing to unprecedented levels, county leaders invoked Section 3 of the emergency declaration they enacted March 16 to permit virtual meetings. Read more.
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Birmingham Council Goes Virtual, Mayor Still Hospitalized
On Tuesday, for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Birmingham City Council opted for an all-virtual council meeting — though, at least initially, that format kept them from accomplishing much. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin remains hospitalized with COVID-related pneumonia. Read more.
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Birmingham Revenue Appears Stable, Council Extends Funding for Rickwood, McWane and Ruffner
Birmingham’s finances appear to be holding steady despite COVID-19’s impact on city revenues, finance director Lester Smith told city councilors Tuesday afternoon — though he warned that a clear picture of the city’s financial health won’t be visible until March. Read more.
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Two Birmingham Water Board Leaders Reappointed, Two New Members Named
The Birmingham City Council approved four appointments to the Birmingham Water Works Board on Tuesday, with terms set to stretch through 2024. The council appoints six of the BWWB’s nine members; the other three seats are appointed by the Jefferson County Mayor’s Association, the Shelby County Commission and the Blount County Commission. Read more.
About News
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No Easy Way to Make Fox News Change Its Bad Behavior
No one is more responsible for the devastation to life and property at the U.S. Capitol than the criminals themselves, but retributions are under way against parts of the media environment that allowed it and even encouraged it.
Under public pressure, and perhaps stunned by events, major social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have temporarily or permanently suspended selected accounts, including the president’s, deemed to potentially incite violence. Amazon, Apple and Google essentially shut down Parler, a social media platform popular with conspiracy theorists.
It’s not as clear what to do about traditional news media, such as Fox News, that also stirred unfounded anger with repeated lies by opinion hosts, commentators and guests about the validity of the presidential election. Read more.
Birmingham
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Birmingham Gets New Economic Director, Water Board Members
Although still recovering from COVID-19-related pneumonia, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin announced three major political appointments Tuesday morning, including a new director of innovation and economic opportunity and two members of the Birmingham Water Works Board. Read more.
Biden Administration
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Jones Not Biden’s Pick for AG, But Don’t Count Him Out of the Administration Just Yet
UPDATED — Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones had a lot of assets that put him on the short list of candidates for attorney general in the incoming Biden Administration. Read more.
Economy
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Alabama Labor Department Discontinues In-Person Unemployment Assistance
WBHM
Labor officials cite safety concerns as the primary reason for moving to a phone-based system. Read more.
U.S. Sen. Doug Jones
The Legacy of Race
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Vestiges of the Past Carry Ingrained Racism Into the Modern Age
Vestiges of segregation still thread through the systems and processes with which we engage throughout our lives, influencing Black Alabamians in large and small ways, including economic opportunities and lifetime wealth, relationship with law enforcement, health care and even projected lifespan. BirminghamWatch has an ongoing effort to analyze how these sometimes unrecognized vestiges of segregation are playing out in people’s lives today. Read stories in The Legacy of Race series.
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