Government

These Little Warrants Went to Market

Aug. 8, 2017 – Jefferson County Commissioners were told at their committee meeting Tuesday that they’ll need to wear their best “Sunday go to meeting” attire Aug. 31 as they pose for a picture commemorating the recent sale of warrants for school systems in the county. “It was a very successful warrant issue,” Commission President Jimmie Stephens said after the meeting. “We actually had orders for $1.7 billion worth of warrants, of which there were only $338 million to sell. It drove the interest rate down, which benefits the citizens of Jefferson County, puts more money in our coffers to be able to utilize for the citizens of Jefferson County.” Stephens said the county continues to advance from its dark days of bankruptcy. “We’re more proactive in what we’re doing,” he said. “We have the resources in place now – whether they be human resources or whether they be capital resources – in order to improve the quality of life for the citizens of Jefferson County.” Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Funding for Titusville Day Event Raises Questions at Birmingham Council Meeting

Aug. 8, 2017 — Tuesday’s mostly placid meeting of the Birmingham City Council was marked by questions over funding for community events in District 6. A resolution appropriating $10,000 for the 33rd Annual Titusville Day — a gathering organized by Councilor Sheila Tyson that took place Aug. 5, — appeared on Tuesday’s agenda. Councilor Valerie Abbott expressed concern that money was being spent on the Titusville Day item despite lack of an approved FY 2018 budget. Council President Johnathan Austin responded that the council was spending based on the previous fiscal year’s budget until the new one passed. Council President Pro Tem Steven Hoyt added that approval of expenditures before a budget was passed “just depends on who it is and what it is,” drawing chuckles from the dais. “I got it now,” Abbott laughed. “At least you spoke truth to power, as you’re always saying.” Despite questions about whether the item had been approved by the city’s law department, which it hadn’t, the item passed. Read more.

by Sam Prickett, BirminghamWatch

Antidote to Birmingham Crime? Community Investment, Not More Police, Some Residents Say

What’s the way to prevent and reduce crime in Birmingham? The prescription suggested by Birmingham residents at a BW Listening session is community involvement and investment – from city government, churches, individual residents and families, and communities as a whole. It’s not primarily about police, they said. “The absence of police means safety to me,” said Carmen, a West End resident. “Police can’t prevent crime.” A half-dozen residents of East Lake and West End and other city neighborhoods gathered for a BW Listening conversation this week at the headquarters of Urban Ministry, a social services organization in southwest Birmingham. BirminghamWatch is asking what’s on the minds of Birmingham voters as they approach elections of a mayor, members of the City Council and school board members. Read more.

by Carol Nunnelley

Birmingham Council Squabble Over Funds for District 4 Meetings Continues After Councilor Initially Refuses to Divulge Funding Source

Aug.1, 2017 — If Tuesday’s Birmingham City Council meeting presented municipal politics as a “game,” as Councilors Steven Hoyt and Lashunda Scales both put it, then the rules of that game and who was breaking them remained very much up in the air. For the second week in a row, a large portion of the meeting was dedicated to enmity between Scales and Councilor William Parker over the latter’s request for discretionary funds to pay for meetings of District 4 neighborhood officers, volunteers and city officials with state and federal officials. One set of meetings would focus on “the preservation and maintenance of cemeteries in Alabama,” the other “regarding funding for infrastructure related projects.” Both items were referred to committee last week after several councilors expressed concern that they had not been vetted through the proper channels and both were on Tuesday’s agenda. But Parker attending a meeting Thursday with Gov. Kay Ivey raised concerns with some councilors, particularly Scales, who grew frustrated as Parker repeatedly refused to answer whether city funds had been spent on the meeting. “My response is simply that we had a meeting last week with the governor, the council referred the item, and this item was in the committee of the whole on Wednesday and is now back before us,” Parker said. Read more.

by Sam Prickett, BirminghamWatch

U.S. Senate Special Election Voter Guide

Voters will go to the polls Aug. 15 to select party nominees for the U.S. Senate seat vacated earlier this year by now U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. BirminghamWatch, along with WBHM 90.3, Starnes Publishing, and the Trussville Tribune, are collaborating to offer this one-stop, interactive, non-partisan Voter Guide. Candidate profiles, campaign contributor lists and voter information are in the Voter Guide below. Republican Senate Candidate List and Profiles      Democratic Senate Candidate List and Profiles League of Women Voters’ Vote411.org                     ID Needed at the Polls Verify Registration and Polling Place                       Absentee Ballots Research Campaign Financing                                   Report a Problem at the Polls Developments in the Senate Race: Trump Sends Robocall for Strange in Alabama (Politico) Alabama GOP Senate Primary Gets Even Strange-er After Trump Intervention (New York Magazine) Trump's Choice in Alabama Senate Race is Struggling Ahead of Tuesday's Primary as Republican Loyalties Split (LA Times) Trump-Era Party Divisions Show in Alabama GOP Senate Race (Wall Street Journal) Crowded Field of Alabama Candidates Fight for Open Seat in Senate (Open Secrets) Alabama Senate Race Tests Trump, McConnell Reach (AP) Democrats Hope for a Comeback in the U.S. Senate Race (WBHM) )5 Questions as Alabama Casts Votes in U.S. Senate Primary) (Montgomery Advertiser) Low Voter Turnout Predicted in Today's Special U.S. Senate Race (Decatur Daily) What a Strange Trip It’s Been

by Virginia Martin

Democratic Senate Candidates

Special Democratic Primary Election For United States Senator (Vote for One) Will Boyd Vann Caldwell Jason E. Fisher Michael Hansen Doug Jones Robert Kennedy Jr. Brian McGee Charles Nana (Brian McGee dropped out of the race after ballots were printed.)

by Virginia Martin

Republican Senate Candidates

Special Republican Primary Election  For United States Senator (Vote for One)   James Paul Beretta Joseph F. Breault Randy Brinson Mo Brooks Dom Gentile Mary Maxwell Roy S. Moore Bryan Peeples Trip Pittman Luther Strange (Dom Gentile dropped out of the race after ballots were printed.)    

by Virginia Martin

Charles Nana (D)

Democratic candidate, U.S. Senate

by Glenn Stephens, BirminghamWatch

Vann Caldwell (D)

Democratic candidate, U.S. Senate

by Glenn Stephens, BirminghamWatch

Bryan Peeples (R)

Republican candidate, U.S. Senate

by Glenn Stephens, BirminghamWatch