A new report concludes that housing costs outpace wages at such a rate that now a worker being paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour has to work nearly 127 hours – the equivalent of more than three full-time jobs – to afford an average two-bedroom apartment. Read more.
Overall on children’s well-being, Alabama came in 44th nationwide, down from last year’s ranking of 42nd in the country. That’s according to the latest KIDS Count Data Book, released annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The report ranks the well-being of kids across the U.S. The publication includes indicators of health, education, economic well-being and family and community. This year’s report is based on data from 2017 from sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Education. Despite that decline in rank, the state progressed in several areas. For example, from 2010 to 2017, there was a big drop in the percentage of high schoolers not graduating on time. Read more. Explore the interactive digital data book.
MONTGOMERY — A recently-passed bill aimed to spur job growth in rural and urban areas of the state has been signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey. Sponsored by Rep. Bill Poole, R-Tuscaloosa, House Bill 540, dubbed the Alabama Incentives Modernization Act, is a set of tax incentives designed to enhance development in counties that are experiencing slow economic conditions and to help bring new technology companies to the state. Proponents of the legislation say it enhances current incentives, encourages investments in designated opportunity zones and offers a capital gains tax cut for tech companies moving to Alabama. Read more.
Birmingham-area projects to prepare local workers for jobs likely to be in demand were among those that got support from Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham in its May round of grants, the foundation announced this week. Read more.
Access to Care Albert Schweitzer Fellowship-Alabama Chapter, $5,000 to support capacity building as the Alabama chapter establishes itself as an independent non-profit providing opportunities for in-depth, year-long service learning for students pursuing health and health-care related professions. The Arc of Walker County, $20,000 to purchase three vehicles for medical transportation needs for Residential, Day
Updated — Two IT companies have canceled or put on hold discussions about moving to Birmingham because of the abortion ban signed into law last week, according to Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin. Woodfin told author Diane McWhorter about the changes for an opinion piece published Saturday on CNN. McWhorter wrote that Woodfin “confirmed to me today that the abortion ban affected two IT companies considering moves to the city – one canceled outright, while the other ‘put the brakes on negotiations.’” Read more.
Tomatoes will likely soon get pricier. The Trump administration plans to impose a 17.5 percent tariff on tomatoes imported from Mexico. Those could take effect this week. Florida growers, who once dominated the market for off-season tomatoes, lobbied for the tariffs But today more than half the fresh tomatoes sold in the U.S. come from Mexico. Many Alabama growers and consumers are taking a wait-and-see approach. Read more.
Eleven days after announcing a name for the new downtown stadium, the executive director of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center was again at a podium, this time announcing that the 50th Bassmaster Classic presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods will be in Birmingham and on Lake Guntersville on March 6-8, 2020. “I want to have announcements every day. I'll never complain about that,” Snider said after an afternoon press conference. “But yeah, this is exciting.” Bruce Akin, CEO of Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, said it is more than appropriate for the company to bring its “super bowl of fishing” to Alabama, the state where B.A.S.S. was born. This year’s announcement is a bit later than normal, he said, as organizers wanted to be sure construction on the Interstate 59/20 bridge through downtown Birmingham would be done in time. This will be the 13th time that Alabama has hosted this event out of 50. Read more.
In some ways, Birmingham-based medical technology company AerBetic is attempting to imitate one of the most sensitive detection devices in nature: a dog’s nose. “The idea came from diabetic alert dogs,” said AerBetic co-founder Eric Housh, referring to canines trained to alert diabetic owners when their blood sugar is too low. While those dogs are effective, Housh said, they can be prohibitively expensive. “Plus, there’s a long wait time to get one, and you can’t really take the dog everywhere, right?” he added. His proposed solution is a “non-invasive diabetes alert device that uses your exhaled breath to infer your diabetic status.” It’s a product that’s been in development in Birmingham for two years, with assistance from the city’s medical and technical research community. Read more.
The idea behind Milk the Moment is, at first, counterintuitive for a mobile app: it’s meant to get users off their phones. The app, re-launched in Birmingham, is one of seven startups now participating in Innovation Depot’s Velocity Accelerator, a program that provides up-and-coming tech companies with funding, mentors, office space and other resources. Milk the Moment founder Courtney “Coko” Eason said that her experience at Innovation Depot – and in Birmingham in general – has her considering relocating the company’s headquarters from Nashville to the Magic City. “We’re calling it Milk 2.0,” she said of the app’s relaunch. “We’ve totally redesigned it … . It’s very brand-spanking-new, and it’s all happening out of Birmingham.” Read more.
