The Downtown YMCA is closing. Will other Birmingham recreation centers be able to fill the gap?
The closure will leave only one full-service YMCA that’s technically in Birmingham city limits — the Mountain Brook branch. Read more.
Economy
Investigation Accuses Alabama Power of Funneling Money to Local News Sites for Favorable Coverage
A trove of leaked documents appears to show Alabama Power indirectly and covertly paid news outlets for favorable coverage. A story from NPR and the nonprofit news collaborative Floodlight says the practice continued for almost a decade and hid transactions by utilizing nonprofits and shell companies. Read more.
Smart Homes Made Affordable for Birmingham Residents
One way people can reduce their impact on the climate — and save money on utilities — is to be more economical with energy at home. But making energy-efficient upgrades and installing new technology isn’t cheap. Last May, Bertina Robinson was driving on First Street South in Birmingham and discovered the homes that are part of “Live on 1st,” a new affordable housing development. Now she lives in one. “This is a smart system house. I can lock my doors from my phone, I unlock my doors from my phone. I can turn my heat on from my phone, I can turn my air on, from my phone,” Robinson said. “Live on 1st” is a group of three smart, highly energy-efficient modular homes in the Titusville neighborhood. These homes are the first set of such homes built by Navigate Communities in the city. The organization, a subsidiary of the county’s housing authority, is taking a modern approach to affordable housing in a city where nearly 25% of residents live in poverty. Read more.
Old Carraway Complex to be Demolished All at Once Under New Deal With City
The city of Birmingham has revised its plans for the former Carraway Hospital complex to give developers more up-front money for demolition. At Tuesday’s meeting of the Birmingham City Council, councilors approved revision of a 2-year-old funding agreement with Corporate Realty (doing business as Northside Redevelopment LLC), which is redeveloping the former Carraway Hospital site into a mixed-use development, Star at Uptown, which is to include residential, retail, office and dining spaces, as well as a 9,000-seat amphitheater. Under the original incentives package, the city would have remitted $9.1 million in future sales, use and property tax revenues to Northside Development; Tuesday’s revisions cut that number in half to $4.55 million. In return, developers will now receive $3.7 million from the city for demolition right away. Read more.
Alabama Coal Miners Begin Their 20th Month on Strike
Hundreds of coal miners in Brookwood reached a milestone Thursday: They’ve spent 20 months on strike. That’s well past the six-week average for strikes, according to Bloomberg Law. The miners believe it’s the longest strike in Alabama’s history. They have continued demanding their employer, Warrior Met Coal, restore the pay and benefits that were cut in 2016 as a cost-saving measure to keep the mines from shutting down. Out of the 900 miners who started the strike a year and a half ago, 500 remain, according to United Mine Workers of America. Read more.
Outdoorsy Black Women Helps Change the Face of Outdoor Activities
Outdoorsy Black Women is a national organization with more than 3,000 members across the country. The Birmingham chapter began in early 2022 and it already has 160 members. Read more.
Will the Magic City Classic return to Legion Field next year?
With Legion Field nearly 100 years old and Protective Stadium opening last year in downtown Birmingham, people have questioned if the Magic City Classic will find a new home. Read more.
Birmingham Gets Grant to Train Unemployed for Health Care Jobs
A $10.8 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration will go to a new initiative placing Birmingham’s historically excluded job seekers in high-demand health care positions. “Our grant (proposal) was very competitive because we have an amazing health care sector here, and so essentially this will build on our already existing opportunities (to) connect job seekers who haven’t really traditionally had the ability to cross over and compete for those jobs,” said Sarah McMillan, the manager of workforce and talent development in the city’s Office of Innovation and Economic Opportunity. Read more.
6 Ways the Conversation Around a Guaranteed Income in the US Has Changed
A guaranteed income conference held in Atlanta shows how the movement has progressed since 2017, with more than 50 pilots currently handing out cash. Read more.
Confrontations Between Alabama Miners, Strikebreakers a Part of a Rough Labor History
Every two weeks on the grass and gravel outside a United Mine Workers of America union hall, miners sing happy birthday to their kids, eat hot dogs and announce the names of members who have died since the last rally. But the camaraderie in the parking lot contrasts with the tension in the small town of Brookwood, Alabama. Miners wear shirts that read “no luv for scabs” — slang for workers who have crossed the picket line — and cheer as a local union leader tells a story of threatening one of those strikebreakers at a gas station. “I said, ‘I’m going to beat your eyes out and then blow your brains out,’” Larry Spencer said as the crowd laughed in March. “‘Because I’m tired of you taking my brothers’ and sisters’ jobs.’” The strike at the Warrior Met Coal-owned mines in Brookwood, where hundreds of these union workers are employed, is on its 16th month and counting. During that time, the strike led to fist fights, flattened tires and shattered car windows. Now, the United Mine Workers of America union is fighting a $13.3 million dollar fine that’s, at least in part, for the property damage. The confrontations on the Warrior Met Coal picket line make up the latest chapter in a long, rough history of conflict between miners and companies that explain why some historians call the U.S. labor movement one of the bloodiest. Read more.