Government

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

Hundreds of mourners had already walked by the rose-covered casket in the center of Bill Harris Arena at the Birmingham CrossPlex by the time the visitation for Larry Langford was scheduled to begin. The doors opened about 40 minutes before the scheduled start time of 2 p.m. because so many people had arrived early to pay their respects to the man whose resume included terms as mayor of Fairfield and Birmingham, and as president of the Jefferson County Commission. People easily topping 1,000 lined up at three guestbooks. Each signed his name as validation of what Langford’s wife, Melva, and other relatives certainly already knew. The man whose life ended Wednesday in a Princeton Baptist Medical Center bed was more than a politician; he was a fixture in the community. There were politicians, from state Sen. Linda Coleman, D-Birmingham, to state Rep. John Rogers, D-Birmingham. But the masses were regular people. Many had known Langford from his days growing up in Titusville’s Loveman Village public housing community and later as he graced the airwaves as a TV journalist. Two former Birmingham mayors spoke during a ceremony after visitors had finished strolling by the guarded casket. One of them, Bernard Kincaid, recalled the three-word slogan – Let’s Do Something – that allowed Langford to emerge from a field of 10 to be elected mayor of Birmingham without a runoff in 2007. Read more.

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

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Inauguration Day in Montgomery

Monday is inauguration day, with a full slate of activities slated in Montgomery. The day kicks off with a prayer breakfast before swearing-in ceremonies begin at 10 a.m. on the Capitol steps for constitutional officers, including Gov. Kay Ivey, Lt. Gov.-elect Will Ainsworth, Attorney General Steve Marshall, Secretary of State John Merrill and State Auditor Jim Ziegler. Ivey’s inauguration speech will be televised live on Alabama Public Television’s Capitol Journal beginning at 10 a.m. A parade follows at noon, and an invitation-only Inaugural Gala will be held tonight at the Montgomery Civic Center. Inaugural activities kicked off Saturday with a concert and celebration on the coast.

Congressional Votes for the Week Ending Jan. 11

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives took up a litany of funding bills last week despite the federal government’s partial shutdown. Among them was a Republican move to increase funding for rural broadband by $125 million, to a total of $565 million. Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama, spoke in favor of the move, saying. "You might not find a great deal of agreement between the parties of President Trump and former President Obama, but the vital need for rural broadband is one of those things." Nonetheless, the House defeated the measure on a largely party-line vote. There was near unanimous support for one bill to ensure federal employees will be given backpay once their departments are fully reopened. All of Alabama’s representatives approved that measure, which now goes to the president. Read more about how area members of Congress voted during the legislative week ending Jan. 11.

Federal shutdown affects employees, programs in Alabama

Feeling like a “political pawn,” Takara Shelton reported to work Friday at the Federal Correctional Institution at Talladega. “We’re upset, frustrated,” said Shelton, a cook foreman at the federal lockup. “We are coming to work, putting gas in our cars, keeping the public and the inmates safe, and we are not getting paid for it and don’t know when we will.” Shelton is among more than 700 Alabama residents who are employees of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which operates three prisons in the state, and were supposed to be paid this weekend. But no pay is in sight for them because of the partial federal shutdown that began Dec. 22. Alabama has about 50,000 federal workers, including post office employees, and an estimated 5,500 of them are on unpaid status because of the partial federal shutdown. Among the unpaid are employees of the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, Transportation and Homeland Security, plus a dozen smaller agencies. Most of those who are not being paid are on furlough, meaning they are not working. These include 2,200 NASA employees in Huntsville and most of the employees of departments of Agriculture (1,028), Commerce (318) and Interior (149). But the prison workers are among employees who are required to continue working – even though they are not being paid during the shutdown – in jobs that are deemed essential because they are safety and security related. These include employees of Transportation Security Administration, Federal Bureau of Prisons,and Department of Homeland Security. The partial shutdown has shuttered a number of federal offices around the state. It also threatens federally funded programs for home loans, low-income housing and SNAP, the food-assistance program used by more than 800,000 Alabama residents. Read more.

Birmingham Police Chief Urges Residents to Become More Active in Crime Prevention, Describes New Approach to Policing

In a presentation to neighborhood officers, Birmingham Police Chief Patrick D. Smith laid out a new strategy for the department and urged residents to be proactive in addressing crime in their communities. “We have to get real about it,” he said. “We cannot do things the way we always did.” Thursday’s meeting, which took place after a swearing-in ceremony for newly elected neighborhood officers, was one of the first major presentations of Smith’s strategy since he took the job in June. Smith described his first six months on the job as playing “catch-up” with a department that had fallen “behind the curve” in its approach to fighting crime. “When I took over, I did an analysis of the department,” he said. “Over time, from 2014 to 2018, crime has doubled … We have to do a lot to bring this police department back to where it needs to be.” Read more.

Commissioner Questions Spending for Hospital Move if Land Is to Be Annexed

Jimmie Stephens said “it wouldn’t be right” for Jefferson County to spend money preparing for the move of UAB West Hospital to McCalla only to have the hospital annexed by neighboring Bessemer. “It wouldn’t be right for the county to expend all those dollars on infrastructure in unincorporated Jefferson County for them to reap those benefits and then go away,” Stephens said following Thursday’s Jefferson County Commission meeting. “We want to work with our municipalities,” the commission president said. “If the CEO of UAB West wants to go into Bessemer, that’s fine. But they should do the infrastructure. If you do the infrastructure with the county, it should be in the (unincorporated part of the) county.” Stephens said there’s no news concerning plans for the new hospital. “It’s still planning to be moved,” the commission president said. “We haven’t gotten any drawings. We haven’t gotten any of the infrastructure work that will be done.” Read more.

Sen. Doug Jones Urges Quick End to Shutdown, Touts Medicaid Bill, Civil Rights Cold Case Act

Citing “heartbreaking stories” from Alabamians affected by an “increasingly costly federal shutdown,” U.S. Sen. Doug Jones on Thursday urged Congress to act on legislation to restart government services now and then hash out Homeland Security funding for border security after employees are back at work and getting paid. “We need to get the government going and talk about border security in a reasonable way,” Jones, D-Alabama, said during a Thursday call with Alabama media outlets. Alabama’s junior senator said his office has heard from many Alabamians affected by the federal shutdown. “These are heartbreaking stories from families who are literally scared to death of losing their paychecks. These folks are not getting rich working for the government and many live paycheck to paycheck,” he said. About 5,500 federal employees are on furlough or working without pay because of the shutdown. Read more.

Despite Anti-Tax Pledge, Ivey Key Supporter of Gas Tax Proposal

Gov. Kay Ivey is a proponent of a statewide gas tax increase, despite previous signed pledges to oppose “any and all” tax hike efforts. Ivey is one of dozens of current and former Alabama politicians — most of them Republicans — who at some point signed an anti-tax pledge from the group Americans for Tax Reform. Ivey’s not the first or only to later back away from it. Americans for Tax Reform is led by lobbyist Grover Norquist, who recently asked state leaders to reject a proposed gas tax hike. An infrastructure improvement plan and gas tax increase are expected to be a major part of the 2019 legislative session, and Ivey has signaled to lawmakers it’s her No. 1 priority. Read more.

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

Larry Langford, former mayor of Birmingham and Fairfield and commissioner for Jefferson County, a prominent and controversial figure in Jefferson County politics for the past four decades, died Tuesday at the age of 72. Langford was perhaps best known as a man of ideas, some ambitious and others just off-the-wall. He proposed holding the 2020 Olympics in Birmingham and restoring streetcars to downtown. He’s credited with spreading the seeds of ideas that became some of the city’s most popular attractions, including Railroad Park, the Birmingham CrossPlex and Uptown entertainment district. While mayor of Fairfield, Langford persuaded 11 area cities — in an area well known for its lack of intergovernmental cooperation — to work together to build the VisionLand amusement park, which opened in 1998 and went bankrupt in 2002. “There is no doubt, Langford was a pioneer and visionary who was well ahead of his time,” said Commissioner Lashunda Scales, who now represents Larry Langford’s former county commission district. But in the end, Langford almost died in prison, winning compassionate release and returning to Princeton Baptist Medical Center just 10 days before his death. Read more.

Scales Voices Concern Over Cancelation of Angela Davis Honor

Jefferson County Commissioner Lashunda Scales expressed concern Tuesday about the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute cancelling its plans to honor Birmingham native and Civil Rights icon Angela Davis. BCRI was to have given Davis its Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award at its annual gala next month. That event has been cancelled, and plans to give the award to Davis have been rescinded. “I believe that (BCRI) board members … need to be very cautious that we’re not trying to rewrite the American history according to African Americans, or blacks or the Negro experience,” Scales said. “We all want to embrace diversity, but diversity should not come at the expense of telling the history that makes us uncomfortable.” by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.