It felt like a pep rally Thursday at Jackson-Olin High School, where students, parents and community members lined up to get their COVID-19 vaccinations. Music, snow cones and cheerleaders pumped up the crowd for a visit from the second gentleman of the United States, Doug Emhoff. He and other members of the White House are
A lawsuit seeking to compel the Birmingham Water Works Board to permanently protect Cahaba River watershed lands is advancing to the Alabama Supreme Court. The Cahaba River Society and Cahaba Riverkeeper are appealing a Jefferson County Circuit Court’s recent decision to throw out the lawsuit against the BWWB they filed in March. In it, they allege the board has failed to comply with a 2001 consent decree ordering it to protect undeveloped land around the Cahaba watershed. Read more.
A professor from the UAB School of Public Health urged people who are on the fence when it comes to getting the COVID-19 vaccine to “jump off (and) give it a try.” “We've got millions of people that have been vaccinated with very few side effects,” Dr. Suzanne Judd said Thursday during a Zoom question-and-answer session with the media. “The most important thing is this pandemic could turn again in the fall, and you want to be on the side of being vaccinated if that virus starts circulating rapidly again.” She said the state may have dodged a bullet in terms of a COVID surge following Memorial Day, but there could be trouble ahead when Labor Day comes around if more people don't get vaccinated. Read more.
UAB public health officials are encouraging everyone eligible to get vaccinated for COVID-19 as it sees an increase in hospitalizations in the aftermath of Memorial Day. Read more.
The FDA has approved the first new drug for Alzheimer’s disease in 20 years, but some doctors, including one at UAB, warned patients’ families not to expect much from the drug any time soon. Read more.
Close to 70% of Alabamians are still not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but many people have stopped wearing masks and returned to normal activities. Read more.
Alabama's new medical marijuana law is more than 100-pages long. We did the hard work and pulled out the highlights that may impact you. Read more.
The three-day Memorial Day holiday weekend saw little change in Alabama’s COVID-19 data, with averages staying near lows not seen since the early days of the pandemic. In BirminghamWatch’s periodic analysis of COVID data, the 7-day moving average of new cases reported by the Alabama Department of Public Health on Thursday stands at 264.43 per day, which is the lowest that average has been since May 6, 2020. The 14-day average was nearly the same as the short-term mark at 271.29, its best level since May 13 of last year. The 7-day average has dropped from 278.14 a week ago; the 14-day average was not available last week due to a large influx of old, unreported cases that distorted new-case numbers over mid-May. The total caseload from the start of the pandemic is now at 545,028, or 10.9% of the state population of 5.03 million as measured in the 2020 Census. Read more.
The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday, approved Mayor Randall Woodfin’s proposal to give $5,000 to each full-time city employee and $2,500 to each part-time employee. These one-time payments will total about $16.8 million, which will come from the city’s American Rescue Plan funding. The premium payments, designed to reward employees for their work through the pandemic, still need to be approved by the Jefferson County Personnel Board, which will meet June 8. If that happens, city employees can expect payments by June 30. Read more.
Birmingham City Schools and Alabama Regional Medical Services will be giving COVID-19 vaccinations to city school students and their parents over the summer in an effort to make schools and their communities safer when they reopen in the fall.
