Government

Birmingham Council Passes Healthy Food Initiative to Offer Incentives to Bring in New Grocery Stores

The Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to approve allocating $500,000 to a new “Healthy Food Initiative,” which officials said would give incentivizes for new grocery stores to move into the city. The creation of that fund is separate from the pending Healthy Food Ordinance, which is aimed at increasing healthy food options in the city’s food deserts through measures such as limiting the expansion of dollar stores and loosening restrictions on grocers and farmers’ markets. The two changes would work together to attract new grocery stores to the area, said Josh Carpenter, the city’s director of innovation and economic opportunity. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Birmingham Council Opposes Plan for Concrete Plant in 5 Points West

The Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday evening to formally oppose plans to relocate a concrete plant from downtown Birmingham to the Five Points West community, citing public health concerns. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Mr. Hoyt Goes to Australia. City-Paid Trip Takes Him to Sports Business Convention

Birmingham City Councilor Steven Hoyt and council administrator Cheryl Kidd will leave Birmingham on Wednesday to attend the Sport Accord Gold Coast 2019 Summit in Queensland, Australia. The city will pay $8,930.07 for each of them to attend, making it the most expensive city-funded trip, per person, than any city employee has taken since at least November 2017. The trip also lasts several days longer than the convention. Hoyt and Kidd will be part of a delegation representing the 2021 World Games, which will be held in Birmingham. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

House Passes Bill to Criminalize Abortion

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama House of Representatives approved legislation Tuesday to criminalize almost all abortions performed in Alabama. Seventy-four Republican House members voted for the bill, three Democrats voted against it. Many other Democrats had already left the chamber in protest when the vote was taken. House Bill 314 makes performing an abortion a Class A felony, but women who seek or have abortions would not be criminally liable. The only exceptions in the bill are if there is a serious health risk to the woman or if the fetus has a “lethal anomaly.” The bill now goes to the Senate. Bill sponsor Rep. Terri Collins, R- Decatur, said on the House floor that it is designed as a challenge to Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, and to redefine when life begins. "When I was pregnant with my first child, my grandmother went with me to have the ultrasound," Collins said on the House floor while introducing the bill. "When we saw that little hand on the screen, we waved at it because we knew it was a person." “Is that baby in the womb a person? I believe our (state) law says it is, and our people say it is, and our technology says it is,” Collins said. There is no exception for rape or incest in Collins' bill. Read more.

by Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

County Officials Field Questions About Sewer Rates From Hundreds of Jefferson County Residents

Updated — Wayne Wooley’s question cut to the heart of the Sewer Town Hall gathering Monday night at Regions Field. “What did I do? What did my church do to deserve all this?” the 72-year-old Crestwood South resident asked. “Tell me why you’re putting all this burden on us? I’m on a fixed income. That’s to me illegal.” Two and a half hours proved not to be long enough for the event, sponsored by County Commissioner Lashunda Scales. More than 400 people attended the meeting, asking questions and listening to answers from Jefferson County officials about rising sewer rates that have left many ratepayers, including those on fixed incomes, questioning how they will shoulder the costs. Reviews were mixed as people left the ballpark. Some were happy to have had an opportunity to ask questions and to have their voices heard. Many were displeased with responses. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Birmingham Looks at Limiting Dollar Stores, Easing Restrictions on Other Food Vendors as Way to Battle Food Deserts

A new ordinance proposed by Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin looks to combat the city’s food deserts by loosening regulations on farmers markets and mobile grocers, while simultaneously limiting the spread of dollar stores in low-income neighborhoods. The proposed ordinance would establish a “healthy food overlay district” over areas of Birmingham defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as “low-access census tracts,” which are areas where “a significant number (at least 500 people) or share (at least 33%) of the population is greater than half a mile from the nearest supermarket, supercenter, or large grocery store.” According to that data, 69% of Birmingham residents live in a food desert — a figure often cited by members of the Woodfin administration as motivating the new healthy food ordinance. The council is expected to vote next week to set a public hearing to discuss the ordinance. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Jones and Byrne Have Stacked Up Millions to Lead Fundraising in the US Senate Race.

Incumbent Democrat Doug Jones and Republican Bradley Byrne already have millions of dollars in their campaign accounts as the field begins to form for Alabama’s 2020 U.S. Senate race. In reports filed this month with the Federal Election Commission, Jones listed a cash balance of $3.09 million at the end of the first quarter of this year. Byrne, the congressman from Mobile who is giving up his House seat to run for the Senate, reported a balance of $2.04 million. Candidates are required to file quarterly financial reports with the FEC once they raise $5,000 in contributions. Byrne and Jones are the first to file in the Senate Race. Others have filed in the race for each of Alabama’s seven U.S. House districts. Read more.

by Glenn Stephens

Town Hall Meeting Tonight to Discuss Sewer Rates and the Effects of Jeffco’s Bankruptcy

The Jefferson County Commission is conducting a town hall-style meeting tonight to discuss the county’s 2011 bankruptcy and its long-term effects, including the schedule of sewer rate increases, the county’s current financial condition and an outlook for the future. The event is 6 p.m. at Regions Field, 1401 First Ave. S., Birmingham. Doors open at 5 p.m. The town hall is open to the public. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Could Cooper Green Employees Stay in the Retirement System if They Went to Work With a Health Care Authority? Maybe.

The executive director of Jefferson County’s General Retirement System has softened her stance concerning eligibility of employees of Cooper Green Mercy Clinic to remain in the county pension system. The issue arose when Jefferson County commissioners brought up a proposal to study partnering with UAB to form a health care authority. In a letter last week, Amy Adams wrote that current pension law would not permit Cooper Green employees to participate in the county’s pension if they were “terminated.” A day later, she clarified a point and said it might be possible under certain conditions. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Bill Would Protect Forest Owners From Fire District Fees

Disputes between timberland owners and some fire districts have resulted in statewide legislation to prohibit any district from assessing fees or dues on timberland. “We have, unfortunately, local fire districts throughout the state and some of them, we feel like, have been taking some measures, i.e., issuing some costs, on their own,” Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, said. “The (Alabama Forestry Association) and such have felt we have to do something to protect the landowners.” Senate Bill 282 would leave fire protection on privately owned property used for timber production to the Alabama Forestry Commission, a state agency. The bill, which would affect money paid to Jefferson County fire districts including the one in Center Point, was given a favorable report on a 11-0 vote in the Senate Forestry, Conservation and Agriculture Committee earlier this month. The next stop is a vote in the Senate. Fire district fees as high as $8 an acre per year have been reported in Jefferson County. “I don’t want to call out folks, but it is my understanding that most of the issue has been raised in the northern part of the state,” Albritton said. Gene Necklaus, president of the Alabama Association of Fire Chiefs, said the issue appears to be between a few holding companies and one or two fire districts. Read more.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News