The Republican-led states that have refused to expand Medicaid are trying a variety of strategies to save struggling hospitals and cover more people without full expansion, which was one of the key provisions of the Affordable Care Act. In Alabama, a single parent with two children can’t qualify for Medicaid if he or she makes more than $4,476 per year. Read more.
Birmingham Parking Authority celebrated the opening of its first electric vehicle charging station Wednesday at its Avondale Village parking lot. “This charging station is an important milestone not only for the Birmingham Parking Authority but for the city of Birmingham as well,” said Andre Davis, executive director and CEO of the BPA. “This is the first EV charging station in any BPA parking facility, and it's the first EV charging station in the city funded in partnership with the Alabama Clean Fuels Coalition.” The Level 2 EV charging station at 109 41st Street South can charge as many as four vehicles at one time. Read more.
In an effort to better understand the biodiversity of north Alabama, scientists are conducting a “tree census,” with the goal of studying roughly 100,000 trees for 50 years. Read more.
MOBILE — The second line started at four, but it was five o’clock somewhere. Hundreds of people gathered here on a September Sunday — their Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops brightening the city streets — to participate in a walking parade in remembrance of Jimmy Buffett, who spent much of his childhood in this Gulf Coast city. Buffett, a poet of paradise, died Sept. 1 at age 76. Though he may be more commonly associated with Florida, the late musician and environmental philanthropist was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and was raised in Mobile. In addition to his musical legacy, Buffett was a champion for environmental causes, co-founding the Save the Manatee Club with then Florida Gov. Bob Graham. Read more.
Alabama State Climatologist John Christy is considered an outsider, if not a pariah, among most climate researchers. His critics say his work has been plagued by errors and many of his conclusions dismissed. Yet he defends his research and continues to have an outsized influence on the climate change debate well beyond Alabama’s borders. Read more.
The connection between climate change, hurricanes and tornadoes is not so clear. But data is beginning to show some relationship. Read more.
Two Alabama researchers study ice cores and fossil records from Antarctica, helping connect an alarming increase in the earth’s temperature to rising levels of carbon dioxide. Read more.
The loop would connect Ruffner Mountain, Railroad Park and Red Mountain Park. Read more.
COVID-19 is trending upward in Alabama and across the country, following a pattern of summer spikes set since the virus first arrived in the U.S. in 2020. Read more.
The industrial plant has 60 days to clean up contaminated water in Five Mile Creek before it faces a federal lawsuit, local environmental groups warn. Read more.
