Government

Jefferson County HR Director Fired, No Comment on Cause

Three weeks after telling a friend on social media that she was “having a great time” in her job, Michelle Rodrigues has been fired from her post as the head of human resources for Jefferson County. “Michelle Rodrigues is no longer working for the county,” county manager Tony Petelos told BirminghamWatch. “On personnel matters, I can’t comment on that. All I can say is she’s no longer working here.” Rodrigues declined a request for comment from BirminghamWatch. Rodrigues is the second top manager the county has lost in a week. Armika Berkley resigned from her position as executive director of Cooper Green Mercy Health System. Petelos squelched thoughts that the actions might be related. “No, it had nothing to do with that,” he said. “Michelle has absolutely nothing to do with Armika leaving or her contract.” Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Almost All Alabama Congressmen Approve $4.5B for Southwestern Border Crisis, Other Votes During the Week Ending June 28

WASHINGTON — All but one of Alabama’s House members and senators voted to approve a bipartisan $4.5 billion emergency package to address a humanitarian crisis on the southwest border centered on hundreds of thousands of migrants from Central America who have entered the United States in recent months to apply for asylum protections under federal and international law. Read more.

by Voterama in Congress

Is Your Pet Peeve on Birmingham’s Planned Paving Map?

View Birmingham’s planned paving map. The city of Birmingham has released a map showing plans for repaving roads in the city. Roads shown in green are projects already funded in the city budget. The red streets are identified as priority projects but have not yet been funded. The map allows you to zoom in to see details of any projects, or you can search for a specific address. These plans are part of an ongoing $5.1 million repaving project. The roads in green are expected to be finished about November. Read more.

by Virginia Martin

Court Hearing Focuses on Alabama’s Minimum Wage Law

Judges for the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Tuesday on Alabama’s minimum wage law. The law was passed by the state Legislature in 2016, quashing an attempt by Birmingham’s city government to raise its minimum wage from the federal minimum of $7.25 to $10.10. The act gives that authority exclusively to the state. Plaintiffs in the case argue that the law was racially motivated. But judges hearing the case Tuesday focused mainly on a procedural issue, questioning whether the lawsuit was properly filed against the state attorney general, the Associated Press reported. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Public Hearing Set on Proposal to Block New Self-Storage Developments in Birmingham

The Birmingham City Council will hold a public hearing next week to discuss a potential moratorium on new self-storage, mini-warehousing facilities in the city. The proposal, spearheaded by District 5 Councilor Darrell O’Quinn, would halt all city involvement in the creation of new self-storage facilities — including the issuance of permits and zoning approvals — except in areas already zoned as M-4 (Planned Industrial) or I-4 (Industrial Park) districts. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Cooper Green Mercy Health System Executive Director Resigns

Less than a week after the Jefferson County Commission hired a deputy director at Cooper Green Mercy Health System, Executive Director Armika Berkley today resigned from her position. Her last day is Aug. 16. Efforts to reach Berkley were unsuccessful. County manager Tony Petelos acknowledged receipt of the letter and said Berkley’s resignation has been accepted. He said the resignation was unanticipated. “She’s just moving on,” Petelos told BirminghamWatch. “She’s been with us over two years now. We were very fortunate to have her during this period of time. “It’s been difficult at Cooper Green over the past several years with the work that’s going on and the lack of staff that we have,” he said. “We’ve lost some key positions over there.” Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Congressional Votes for the Week Ending June 21

WASHINGTON – Alabama’s delegation in the House of Representatives split along party lines last week on a vote aimed at funding the Trump administration's proposed addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The House voted 192 for and 240 against the amendment, which was offered to a $690.4 billion spending package (HR 3055) for fiscal 2020 that remained in debate at week's end. The outcome of the census affects many things, including some federal funding and the number of congressional seats a state is allocated. Amendment opponent Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., said the amendment would “reduce the accuracy and increase the undercount in places like Florida, Texas, Alabama, Michigan, California and New York. This, in turn, will affect reapportionment and the distribution of federal funds for the next decade in many of the communities we represent.”

by Voterama in Congress

Why No One Opposed a $31M Transfer From Alabama’s Education Budget

MONTGOMERY — In the last days of the legislative session, in late May, lawmakers quickly and quietly transferred a tax revenue worth nearly $31 million a year from the state’s education budget to the General Fund budget to fill a "hole" created by other financial commitments. Those normally opposed to diverting money from schools to other state expenses didn’t complain. Education advocacy groups were relieved the education budget didn’t get stuck with the growing expense of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, so losing a small, flat revenue source was an acceptable tradeoff. Some Republicans have said they didn’t know many details of the transfer, but leadership said the idea wasn’t new. Democrats in the House say they didn’t have time to oppose it. They found out about it when it was on the House floor on the second to last day of the session via an amendment to an economic incentives bill they supported. If they tried to kill the transfer, they’d kill the incentives. “What do you do?” said House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville. “You go on record voting against a bill for rural incentives?” Daniels said. “Or do you approve an amendment that there’s a year to contend with?” Read more.

by Mary Sell and Todd Stacy, Alabama Daily News

Next Phase in Minimum Wage Battle Begins Tuesday

Oral arguments are slated to begin this week in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as part of the latest stage of a prolonged legal battle over Alabama’s minimum wage law. The focus of the case is the Alabama Uniform Minimum Wage and Right-to-Work Act, which was passed by the state Legislature in 2016, quashing an attempt by Birmingham’s city government to raise its minimum wage from the federal minimum of $7.25 to $10.10. The act gives that authority exclusively to the state — meaning that raising the minimum wage above the federal level can only be done by an act of the Legislature. Plaintiffs in the case, which include several Democratic state legislators, the Alabama NAACP and Greater Birmingham Ministries, allege that the law was racially motivated; state Attorney General Steve Marshall has argued, instead, that the state law has no racial animus and was based on purely economic factors. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Housing Out of Reach of Many Minimum Wage Workers

A new report concludes that housing costs outpace wages at such a rate that now a worker being paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour has to work nearly 127 hours – the equivalent of more than three full-time jobs – to afford an average two-bedroom apartment. Read more.

by Virginia Martin