Government

Woodfin’s Decisions for Extra Funding Delayed for Council Discussion

The Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to delay $5.5 million in funding measures that Mayor Randall Woodfin said would address “critical needs” in a handful of city departments. The proposals will instead go before the council’s Committee of the Whole when it meets Wednesday. That $5.5 million would come from projected increases in use tax and occupational tax revenue, said Director of Finance Chaz Mitchell, who assured councilors that those projections were “very conservative.” But several councilors, including District 2 Councilor Hunter Williams and District 8 Councilor Steven Hoyt, said that the council had not been adequately informed of the proposed expenditures. Read more.

Shutdown Leaves Some Alabama Farmers in Limbo

WBHM Tuesday marks one month for the partial federal government shutdown, and it’s not just federal workers feeling the pinch. Alabama farmers are also seeing its effects.

BPD Sgt. Wytasha Carter Laid to Rest Saturday

Remembering Sgt. Carter: Family, Friends Speak at Funeral of Fallen B’ham Officer (WBRC) ‘He Lived and Died for Us:’ Thousands Honor Slain Birmingham Police Officer Sgt. Wytasha Carter (AL.com) "We Are Blown Away:" Father of Slain BPD Sergeant Speaks at Son's Funeral (WVTM) Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith Speaks at Sgt. Carter Funeral (WVTM) Former Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper Leads a Prayer at Sgt. Carter Funeral (WVTM) Thousands Say Their Final Goodbyes to a Hero (ABC 33/40) Remembering Sgt. Carter: Law Enforcement From Around the Country Attend Funeral of Fallen BPD Officer (WBRC)

Experts: Alabama’s Mask Law Is Outdated

WBHM Protesters at a Walmart in Hoover chanted “no justice no peace” one night last month as they approached the entrance. There have been several similar demonstrations in the wake of the fatal police shooting of a black man at the Galleria mall on Thanksgiving. At one of those demonstrations, police arrested protest leader Carlos Chaverst. They charged him with disorderly conduct and loitering for wearing a mask. It’s one of the more antiquated laws in Alabama. Over the last decade or so there have been numerous challenges to mask laws across, and many states have added the language “intent to intimidate.” But Alabama’s law includes no such language. Read more.

Pepper Place Entertainment District, Fairfield Fire Equipment and New Committee Assignments Occupy Birmingham Council

Birmingham is getting another entertainment district and Fairfield is getting three firefighting vehicles as a result of Tuesday’s Birmingham City Council meeting. The council also voted to approve new committee assignments — a necessary change after last year’s appointment of three new councilors. Read more.

Judge Tosses Memorial Protection Law in Case Over Birmingham Confederate Monument

Updated: A Jefferson County judge has voided a state law that protected historical monuments. Ruling in a case over the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Birmingham’s Linn Park, then-Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Michael Graffeo said that the law essentially forced a pro-Confederacy message on the city of Birmingham. “Just as the state could not force any particular citizen to post a pro-Confederacy sign in his or her front lawn, so too can the state not commandeer the city’s property for the state’s preferred message." Read more.

Woodfin Mournful but Optimistic in His Second State of the Community Address

Following a tragic week for Birmingham, Mayor Randall Woodfin delivered his second State of the Community address Monday night. His speech was equal parts elegiac and hopeful, addressing the death of former Mayor Larry Langford and the murder of Birmingham Police Sgt. Wytasha Carter while casting an optimistic eye toward the future. “This evening, I come before you in a state of mourning,” he said during his speech. “We’re a city with a broken heart.” But resilience, Woodfin argued, “is in our DNA,” and after a lengthy prayer from local pastor Terry Drake, he shifted his focus to the accomplishments of his administration’s first year at City Hall. The city, he said is, “writing another chapter in our grand legacy.” Read more.

Langford’s ‘Big’ Life Eulogized as Friends and Admirers Gather for a Final Farewell

Father Vernon Huguley acknowledged that many people couldn’t stand Larry Langford. “But that’s alright too,” Langford’s former pastor said during his funeral Monday, “because if you can’t say ‘Amen,’ you need to say, ‘Ouch!’” A few hundred people filled the sanctuary of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Fairfield and spilled into the neighboring parish hall as Birmingham, Fairfield and Jefferson County said a final farewell to a man who lived life large. “He was a good man with a good heart with the love of God in him,” Huguley said. “He wanted that love to be expressed and realized in the people who God placed in his circle.” Read more.

Larry Langford, Longtime Politician and Birmingham’s Idea Man, Dies at 72

A Life Remembered: Hundreds Line Up to Pay Their Respects to Larry Langford

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Jefferson County’s First African-American Sheriff Wants to Boost Diversity

By Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, WBHM Like a lot of kids, Mark Pettway wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up. But as he got older, things changed. Pettway begins his job as Jefferson County sheriff today. He’s the first African American to hold that post after defeating longtime Republican Sheriff Mike Hale in November. Read more.

Gov. Kay Ivey Praises Past Progress, Outlines Future Route in Inaugural Address

Gov. Kay Ivey was sworn in this morning along with other constitutional officers in a ceremony of pomp and circumstances on the red carpet-lined steps of the Alabama Capitol. The National Guard performed a flyover of the event, where the Alabama National Guard presented colors and the concert ensemble of Booker T. Washington Magnet School performed for a crowd that included four former governors and other constitutional officers. Former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions – whom Ivey pointed out came out of Wilcox County, as did she – also was in attendance, along with Reps. Bradley Byrne and Martha Roby representing Alabama’s congressional contingent. A parade down Dexter Avenue was to follow at noon, and the Inaugural Gala will be held tonight at the Montgomery Civic Center. Wearing a burgundy coat and cream pants on this overcast morning, as temperatures hovered in the mid-40s, Ivey pointed to recent successes in Alabama and laid out a few of Alabama’s biggest challenges in the coming year, which she said she looked at as “opportunities.” Read more, including excerpts from Ivey’s speech or her full address.