Government

Birmingham City Councilors Suggest Bell is Forcing Lundy out of Office

Birmingham City Councilor Marcus Lundy announced Tuesday he will not be seeking re-election, leading to an outpouring of verbal — and at times emotional — support from his fellow councilors, with some indicating they believe he was forced out. A majority of the council members, speaking on the record and anonymously after the meeting, allege that Lundy was pressured to not seek re-election by Mayor William Bell or else potentially lose his job at Regions Bank. Read more.

by Cody Owens, Weld: Birmingham's Newspaper

Gardendale School Board Appeals Federal Court Ruling, Asks for Full Control of All Schools in the City Right Away

Lawyers for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and for the Gardendale Board of Education agree on something. They both want Gardendale’s takeover of two elementary schools in the city to be delayed by federal courts. The Gardendale board filed two motions Tuesday. One informed the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that it intends to cross-appeal a federal judge’s decision allowed the new system to take over operation of the two schools for the coming academic year. The other asked the original judge to stay her own ruling, delaying the order’s implementation until the board’s appeal and that of the NAACP are handled by the appellate court. Gardendale is appealing Haikala’s late April ruling because it feels she should have ruled entirely in its favor, allowing it to take control of all four JefCoEd schools inside the city’s limits, including Gardendale High and Bragg Middle schools. The NAACP, on the other hand, is asking for a stay so it can argue that Gardendale shouldn’t be able allowed to take control of any of the schools. Read more. Students Purportedly Wearing “Blackface” in Online Photos Rekindle Racial Allegations in Gardendale’s Bid to Form Its Own School System Earlier Stories What’s Next? Residents Speak out About Next Steps for Gardendale’s New School System Judge Stands with Order: Gardendale Can Take Steps Toward Separate School System NAACP Asks Judge to Reconsider Allowing Gardendale to Start Its Own School System NAACP Plans to Ask Judge to Reconsider Gardendale School Order; Ruling in Case Defies Conventional Procedure Judge Haikala Is No Stranger to the Spotlight Federal Judge Gives Gardendale Control Over City’s Elementary Schools, Lets JeffCo Keep Middle and High Schools for Now. Read Haikala’s May 9 order Read Hiakala’s initial ruling.

by Robert Carter, BirminghamWatch

Sine Die: Legislators Pass Redistricting, Historic Preservation Tax Credit in Waning Hours of the Session

Legislators checked off everything on their must-do list and adjourned for the year Friday, passing redistricting plans mandated by the court on their final day and finishing off the last of the budgets earlier in the week. But not everything on the priority list made it through the gauntlet, and Gov. Kay Ivey said she might have to call legislators back into session later this year to address conditions in the state’s prisons. A bill to finance construction of new prisons was debated in the regular session but died for lack of consensus. Other bills did squeeze through in the waning days of the session, including one to renew a tax credit program to encourage renovation of historic buildings. Jefferson County legislators, Democrats and Republicans alike, had listed that bill as their top priority for the session. Here is a sampling of legislative action of interest in the Birmingham area and statewide: Legislature OKs Redistricting Plan on Last Day of the Session (BirminghamWatch) Tax Credits for Renovating Historic Buildings Passed by the Legislature (BirminghamWatch) Briarwood Presbyterian Church Police Department Bill Died for Lack of Action in the Legislature (BirminghamWatch) Alabama Lawmakers End Tumultuous Legislative Session (Associated Press) Speaker: House Members Will Get Sensitivity Training (Decatur Daily) A Look at What Passed and Failed in the 2017 Session (Associated Press) Gov. Kay Ivey Says Special Session on Prisons Possible (AL.com) Changes to Accountability Act Fail in House (Montgomery Advertiser) Day Care Oversight Bill Dies in Alabama Senate (Montgomery Advertiser) Ivey Signs Autism Bill Into Law (Montgomery Advertiser) Historic Monuments Bill Goes to Governor (Montgomery Advertiser) South Alabama Lawmaker Eyeing TVA Money (Decatur Daily)

by Virginia Martin, BirminghamWatch

Briarwood Presbyterian Church Police Department Bill Died for Lack of Action in the Legislature

Briarwood Presbyterian Church will not be ranking among an elite group of churches with their own police departments, at least not this year. A bill that would have allowed the megachurch to hire certified peace officers died when the Legislature adjourned Friday, the second year in a row the measure has died. Briarwood’s proposal to establish its own police force has been a controversial one. Critics said the move was unconstitutional. But Briarwood representatives cited the increasing rate of mass shootings at churches, schools and commercial venues as reasons for bringing police officers on staff. Read more.

by Hanno van der Bijl and Virginia Martin, BirminghamWatch

Tax Credits for Renovating Historic Buildings Passed by the Legislature

The Alabama Legislature on Friday approved a bill to restore tax credits to encourage renovation of historic buildings. The bill, House Bill 345, now goes to the governor for her signature. The program, which expired last year, helped fund restoration of 51 buildings across the state, most notably in Birmingham and Mobile. Read more.

by Virginia Martin, BirminghamWatch

Legislature OKs Redistricting Plan on Last Day of the Session

The Alabama Legislature this morning gave final approval to redistricting plans, finishing off one of its most contentious jobs on the last day of the regular session. The plan to rewrite the House districts now goes to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk. The redistricting plan for the Senate was approved and sent to the governor Thursday. Legislators redrew the districts after a federal court said 12 of them were the unconstitutional results of racial gerrymandering. Democrats, angry that the redistricting plan backed by Republicans had not changed enough on the map, threatened to lock down the Legislature by asking that the bills be read at length – a task that took eight hours in the House and most of the night in the Senate. The Senate redistricting plan proposes to redraw 25 of the 35 districts, and the House redistricting plan would redraw 70 of the 105 districts. Jefferson County has been one of the key sticking points in the plans throughout the process. Several districts cross into Jefferson County although the bulk of the population is in another county. The inclusion of those legislators on the Jefferson County delegations creates Republican majorities. Democratic leaders had wanted district lines redrawn to respect county lines, thereby balancing power evenly between Democrats and Republicans on the delegations. The plans before the Legislature did not do that, leaving Republicans with a one-vote majority in both the House and the Senate. Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh told the Associated Press on Thursday that the major dispute was "all about Jefferson County and the makeup of the delegation. … I get it. But based upon what I've seen I do believe that these will hold up in court." Democrats disagreed. "It seems like we are going to end up in court again," said Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery and chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus. "It's clear. You can look at the map. There is racial gerrymandering." Read more.

by Hanno van der Bijl and Virginia Martin, BirminghamWatch

WellHouse Works to Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking

A representative of The WellHouse told the Jefferson County Commission that 40 percent of human trafficking in the U.S. is in the Southeast. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr., BirminghamWatch

Whew! Jeffco Commissioners Relieved to Learn They Wouldn’t Be on the Hook for New Election Tablets

Jefferson County commissioners’ concerns that a state Senate bill requiring new election technology would cost the county money proved to be unfounded. The Alabama County Commission Association had fired off a red alert to county commissions about the possibility that Senate Bill 108 might cost counties. “It turns out there is some federal money for this that the ACCA was not aware of,” Jefferson County Registrar Barry Stephenson said. “So as far as affecting the general fund of Jefferson County, it doesn’t. It all got worked out.” Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

What’s Next? Residents Speak out About Next Steps for Gardendale’s New School System

May 16, 2017 – For residents of Gardendale, most of whom supported the city’s efforts to break away from the Jefferson County Schools and form a new municipal system, the question is, “What’s next?” Many of those residents filled the council chambers of City Hall on Tuesday night to pose their questions or voice their concerns to the Gardendale Board of Education. It was the board’s first meeting since U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala issued a lengthy ruling that gave the board control of the city’s two elementary schools, with the possibility of taking over the middle and high schools in three years, if racial and financial issues are settled to Haikala’s satisfaction. That’s far less than the full, immediate control that Gardendale officials sought. Moreover, the ruling also required that the city reimburse JefCoEd for the Gardendale High School property, or else allow the county to keep that facility and build a new school for itself. Gardendale attorneys had argued that Alabama law gave them a loophole to take over GHS for nothing, since JefCoEd issued no debt to pay for it; the debt was instead taken on by Jefferson County government. With a strong contingent — at least by Gardendale standards — of local police on hand, attendees came one by one to the front to have their say before the board. Most of them implored board members and Superintendent Patrick Martin to keep pressing toward a full breakaway. Read more. Earlier Stories Judge Stands with Order: Gardendale Can Take Steps Toward Separate School System NAACP Asks Judge to Reconsider Allowing Gardendale to Start Its Own School System NAACP Plans to Ask Judge to Reconsider Gardendale School Order; Ruling in Case Defies Conventional Procedure Judge Haikala Is No Stranger to the Spotlight Federal Judge Gives Gardendale Control Over City’s Elementary Schools, Lets JeffCo Keep Middle and High Schools for Now. Read Haikala’s May 9 order Read Hiakala’s initial ruling.

by Robert Carter, BirminghamWatch

Community Activists Accuse Mayor Bell of Campaign Finance Violations, Neglect of City’s Poor

Members of the community advocacy group the Outcast Voters League took to the floor during Tuesday’s Birmingham City Council meeting to castigate Mayor William Bell and the council for perceived inaction. One activist, Iva Williams, alleged that Bell has violated state law by failing to regularly file finance reports for his reelection campaign. Williams announced that he has filed a formal ethics complaint against the mayor with the Alabama Secretary of State. Read more.

by Ryan Scott, Weld: Birmingham's Newspaper