The former American Red Cross building that’s been sitting vacant for over 21 years will finally have new life, adding to dramatic redevelopment in downtown Birmingham. Read more.
MONTGOMERY -- Alabama leaders say 45% of the state’s workforce now has an educational certificate or degree beyond high school, representing progress in the goal of adding 500,000 newly credentialed people to the workforce by 2025 despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Ed Castile, deputy secretary of the Workforce Development Division in the Alabama Department of Commerce, told Alabama Daily News the pandemic has even helped in some respects in reaching the half million goal. “Oddly enough, it hurt us, but then it helped us,” Castile said. “The sad news is a lot of people lost their jobs, but that helped us a little bit by getting people into programs to give them a credential which added them to our numbers. But it also got them a job that could also not be so affected by something like the pandemic.” Read more.
MONTGOMERY — A first-of-its-kind advanced graphite processing plant in Coosa County will bring an overall investment of $124 million to Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey announced Tuesday. The plant, which will be known as Alabama Graphite Products, will help with the production of an essential material in batteries that power electric vehicles, electronics and other green energy products. “This plant not only will make Alabama the U.S. leader in graphite production, the go-to place for this important resource in battery manufacturing, it also will elevate our standing even more as a major player in the fast-growing electric vehicle sector,” Ivey said. Read more.
As of Saturday, Alabama’s unemployed workers will no longer receive extra federally funded benefits put in place to help people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Kay Ivey last month announced she was withdrawing the state from those programs effective June 19. Read more about her reasons and the effects on the unemployed in BirminghamWatch’s original reporting. Governor Shuts Down Extra Help for the Unemployed, Says Workers Needed to Invigorate the Economy
Landing, an apartment rental company, will relocate it headquarters to Birmingham, creating more than 800 new jobs. Read more.
Knowing that nearly half of Alabama’s public university bachelor’s degree earners are working in other states five years after they graduate, state leaders are funding more efforts to keep that talent pool at home. In the 2022 state education budget, lawmakers allocated $800,000 for a new “Retain Alabama” initiative to introduce college students to opportunities for them in the Yellowhammer state. “Our state has been a low-growth state and we have to do all we can to retain that knowledge capital that we’re losing every year when they leave,” said Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, chairman of the Senate education budget committee. Read more.
Birmingham will apply for federal relief for five city-owned concert spaces and museums that lost revenue during the pandemic. The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, established last year by the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act, offers funding for COVID-impacted entities, public or private, including live venues, movie theaters, museums and live performing arts organizations. The city will seek SVOG funding for Boutwell Auditorium, Sloss Historic Landmark Furnace, the Southern Museum of Flight, Birmingham Botanical Gardens and Arlington Historic House. Read more.
Citing an increasing difficulty of business owners and employers to find workers to fill jobs, Gov. Kay Ivey today announced that Alabama will stop participating in all federally funded pandemic unemployment compensation programs effective June 19. “As Alabama’s economy continues its recovery, we are hearing from more and more business owners and employers that it is increasingly difficult to find workers to fill available jobs, even though job openings are abundant,” Ivey said in a press statement. Ivey said increased unemployment assistance was meant to be short-term help for people who couldn’t work during shutdowns related to the pandemic. But now, she believes the assistance is contributing to a labor shortage she said “is compromising the continuation of our economic recovery.” Read more.
Colonial Pipeline’s shutdown of its 5,500-mile pipeline Friday after a ransomware attack brought attention to the vulnerability of the energy infrastructure on which the country relies. The New York Times reported Sunday that it was unclear when the pipeline, which carries nearly half of the East Coast’s fuel supplies, would reopen. This is not the first time the public’s attention has been turned to the things that can go wrong with the energy supply. In 2016, BirminghamWatch’s Hank Black wrote about the pipelines that run through the state and the Southeast:
Alabama Has Thousands of Miles of Gas and Oil Pipelines, Mostly Out of Sight and Mind
By Hank Black, September 23, 2016
The Colonial Pipeline gasoline spill in Shelby County was a wake-up call for the public and the government about just how critical oil and gas pipelines are to America’s energy supply needs, and how such an incident could impact the environment.
The Cahaba River Society said the spill “very narrowly missed” entering the river, less than a mile away. CRS field director Randy Haddock, PhD, said pipeline safety isn’t top-of-mind until a significant incident occurs. “As the acute phase of this event ends, we expect to start having conversations” among advocacy groups, industry, government, and others about how to prevent or limit damage when another incident occurs, Haddock said. Some experts say the 50-year average age of the nation’s pipelines is cause for concern.
Alabama has 6,748 miles of interstate pipeline, plus more than 57,000 miles of smaller main and service lines that distribute product from a transmission pipeline. By comparison, Mississippi has 10,450 miles of interstate pipe, and Arkansas has 7,212 miles. Read more.
MONTGOMERY — After taking an initial hit at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic last year, Alabama's economy has largely bounced back. Still, some businesses are having trouble finding enough workers, particularly in the restaurant and hospitality industry. A drive down Zelda Road in Montgomery, the Capital City's midtown eatery hub, shows "help wanted" signs in almost every store. Information from the Alabama Department of Labor shows a 52% increase in advertised food prep and serving jobs in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2020. Advertised waitress and waiter positions have increased about 44%. Hotel desk clerk postings have more than doubled. Mindy Hanan, president of the Alabama Restaurant and Hospitality Association, said the state's restaurants and hotels can’t get enough workers. “We’re wide open and we need as many employees as we can have,” Hanan said. Read more.
