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Immigrant Rights Worker and Son Detained by ICE

Updated — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Homewood today detained a board member of Adelante Alabama Worker Center, a human rights group based in Hoover that has been active in obtaining the release of immigrant detainees. Marcos Baltazar and his son, who’s name was not disclosed, were detained, said Resha Swanson, Adelante policy and communications coordinator. The two, who are immigrants, were making a routine check-in with ICE at the time of their arrest. Read more.

by Virginia MacDonald

Getting by in Food Deserts: Mobile Grocery Stores, Neighborhood Farms Help Residents Find Fresh Food

Roland Washington checked off the names of his neighbors who had come to buy groceries at the mobile store that twice a month visits his apartment complex near Tarrant, an area of Birmingham that has few to no options for fresh food. The mini crowd-control task for which Washington volunteers his time is managing the people who come to take advantage of the wholesale-priced fresh produce, meat and other food provisions sold on a first come-first serve basis. He makes sure no more than a few people enter the trailer at a time. For Washington and his neighbors, that mobile grocery store is the difference between getting fresh vegetables and fruits or not. The Corner Market, the mobile grocery store run through a program of the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama, is an initiative aimed at relieving the difficulties faced by people who live in food deserts. Food deserts are defined as areas where at least 500 people live more than half a mile from a full-service grocery store. The lack of access to fresh food is a problem faced by people across the world. About 23.5 million people in the U.S. live in food deserts, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report. Nearly half of them are low-income. Closer to home, almost 2 million people in Alabama live in food deserts, according to a 2015 report on food access by the The Food Trust. In Jefferson County, that number is 205,657. In Birmingham, 69 percent of residents live far enough away from a grocery store to make it difficult for them to obtain fresh food, Mayor Randall Woodfin told the City Council in a meeting this spring. He said part of all nine council districts exist in a food desert. The Corner Market and other mobile grocery stores are one way communities are trying to alleviate the difficulties for people who live in food deserts. Read more.

by Cheryl Slocum

Self-Storage on Montclair Allowed Despite Moratorium

A self-storage facility on Montclair Road will be allowed to expand despite a citywide moratorium on such businesses, the Birmingham City Council decided Tuesday. The council voted to allow Montclair Storage to continue with construction on a 10,000-square-foot expansion to its current facility, which had been roughly halfway completed when the council enacted the moratorium last month. The facility currently operates in a building formerly occupied by the now shuttered Montclair Baptist Medical Center; the expansion would also be on that property. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Birmingham Councilor Says City Has Increased Its Dedication to Public Transit

Despite looming service reductions from the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority, District 5 Birmingham City Councilor Darrell O’Quinn emphasized Tuesday that the city has increased its dedication to public transit. “When you look at the big picture, the city of Birmingham is not backing away from its commitment to provide public transportation for its citizens,” he said. “We are actually providing more public transit.” O’Quinn’s comments came after District 8 Councilor Steven Hoyt expressed concern over an upcoming “hiccup” for Birmingham public transit — namely, the BJCTA’s announcement that it would likely cut close to one-third of its service in the city starting Sept. 23. O’Quinn described the BJCTA’s statements that it needs more money each year from the city as a challenge, but also said that it offered an opportunity to make Birmingham transit more efficient. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

All Quiet on Alabama Immigrant Front in Face of ICE Raids in Neighboring Mississippi

It may have been an uneasy quiet for the large number of Hispanics among the 86,000 people employed in the Alabama poultry industry, but it has been quiet here since the 680 workers at Mississippi plants were arrested Wednesday by immigration authorities. The Alabama Poultry and Egg Association’s communications director, Huck Carroll, said Friday that the association is not aware of any ICE raids or other activity at the state's processing plants.  Alabama is home to 19 “meat-type broiler processing plants, processing over 21 million broilers per week” for over 1 billion a year, the association says. Alabama is second only to Georgia in the chicken business. Read more.

by Tom Gordon and Ginny MacDonald

Jefferson County Commission Approves $700 Million Budget

The Jefferson County Commission passed a budget of more than $700 million for fiscal 2020 during its meeting Aug. 8. The action completed a budget process that finance committee chairman Joe Knight called “horrendous.” After the 3-2 vote to approve the budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, Knight said he was tired of 3-2 votes by the commission, and he presented an administrative order to revamp the procedure for future budgets. “There are some good things that got done,” Knight said. “I want this to be a commission of five. I’m tired of the 3-2, the yeah-yeah, the politics. I want to be fair. I want to be across the board. I want everybody to be treated fairly.” Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Voting Rights Vigils Held Nationwide Tuesday

Voters in Alabama and across the country attended Voting Rights Vigils on Aug. 6 to mark the 54th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act and call on Congress to pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act. Read more.

by Virginia Martin

Senators Approve Two-Year Budget Deal That Will Suspend the National Debt Limit

WASHINGTON – The Senate in two votes last week approved a two-year budget deal that will suspend the national debt limit and possibly raise interest payments to more than $400 million a year. One of those votes was to pass the budget; the other was to kill an amendment to prohibit increasing the national debt. Both of Alabama’s senators — Richard Shelby, R, and Doug Jones, D — voted for the budget and against the amendment. Read more.

by Voterama in Congress
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