The Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to allocate roughly one-third of its remaining federal COVID relief funds among the city’s police department, fire and rescue, public works and “district-specific and citywide council projects.” Read more.
Every county in the Birmingham metropolitan area except Blount has been moved into the high-risk category for COVID-19 transmission. Jefferson County’s positivity rate has been rising and now stands at 25%, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health, and the county has had an average of 291 new cases a day for the past seven days. Hospital admissions in the county are up somewhat, with 10 more patients over last week, for a 2% increase. The swath of counties with high transmission risks means residents need to exercise more care, including making sure their vaccinations are up to date and wearing masks if they are at a high risk from the virus, said Dr. Wesley Willeford, Jefferson County Health Department’s medical director of disease control. He said health officials see no need now to issue mandates as they did in 2020. Read more.
After half a century, Americans’ constitutional right to get an abortion has been overturned by the Supreme Court. The ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – handed down on June 24, 2022 – has far-reaching consequences. The Conversation asked Nicole Huberfeld and Linda C. McClain, health law and constitutional law experts at Boston University, to explain what just happened and what happens next. Read more.
North Birmingham residents looking to be relocated from their environmentally contaminated properties will have to continue waiting — though, Mayor Randall Woodfin assured them, that “long conversation” is far from over. Charlie Powell, a longtime resident of the city’s Collegeville neighborhood, asked officials during Tuesday’s council meeting for an update on relocation efforts for residents of the EPA’s 35th Avenue Superfund Site, which includes parts of Collegeville, Harriman Park and Fairmont. “I’ve been fighting this battle for 10 years, and I have some concerns from some of the people,” Powell said. “They want to know, what are the plans for the relocation that we asked for? … We’re right in the mouth of this thing!” The area received the federal superfund designation in 2012 due to high levels of soil contamination. Read more.
The number of new coronavirus cases a day in Alabama now is almost exactly the same as it was two years ago heading into Memorial Day. Cases have been trending upward for more than a month, and Alabama averaged 510 new cases a day in the 7-day period that ended Friday, according to information from the Alabama Department of Public Health. At this time in 2020, Alabama was averaging 501 cases per day. Read more.
Federal health officials have moved three northeast Alabama counties out of the COVID community low-risk category into a medium-risk level. The counties are Madison, Jackson and Limestone. The move comes after state health officials have watched the average number of statewide COVID cases grow from 100 a day around the first of May with a 2.5% positivity rate to 400 cases per day with a 9.4% positivity rate this week. Read more.
An amendment on the ballot Tuesday would authorize the state to issue $85 million in bonds to pay for improvements at state parks and historical sites. Read more.
A federal judge in Alabama ruled to block part of a law that makes it a felony to provide gender-affirming care to minors on Friday. Families with transgender kids tell WBHM they are cautiously relieved. Read more.
A group of parents and doctors want the judge to stop the law from going into effect while a lawsuit continues. Read more.
The Birmingham Water Works Board has asked the city to require developers of a property near the Cahaba River watershed to submit to board approval before beginning construction. Arlington Properties plans to build a multi-family housing development at 4641 U.S. 280, a property that is directly adjacent to BWWB-owned Cahaba watershed lands. The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved rezoning the property from an agricultural district to a general commercial district. The BWWB is asking to have a say in the development’s permitting process. “If this development is being considered for approval, we would request that the city require the developers to comply with Birmingham Water Works’ watershed protection policy and to submit the proposed plans and associated documentation to the BWWB prior to such approval,” April Nabors, the BWWB’s environmental engineer, told the council. “We just want to be part of the approval process.” District 2 Councilor Hunter Williams expressed some skepticism about this request, in light of the board’s recent attempt to have conservation restrictions on its own watershed properties loosened. Read more.
