Hoover Schools

  • Hoover Parents, School Leaders Speak Out on Diversity

    WBHM
    Hoover parents had their say on discrimination in city schools Thursday night, and their words could help shape how school leaders in Hoover deal with race issues.

    Hoover schools want to emerge from federal oversight, required by an ongoing desegregation lawsuit. Part of the process involves drafting a plan around diversity and seeking community feedback.

  Doug Jones

  • Doug Jones Recounts Church Bombing Prosecution in New Book

    WBHM

    The Klansmen who bombed Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963, killing four black girls, did not face justice for years. In 1977, then-Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley won a conviction against Robert Chambliss for his role in the attack. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that two others were tried and convicted. Senator Doug Jones led those later prosecutions and writes about it in his memoir “Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing that Changed the Course of Cvil Rights.” Read more.

  Sunshine Week

  • Sunshine Week: Open the Windows and Light up the Workings of Government

    This week, reporters across the country are observing Sunshine Week, an event designed to highlight the importance of government transparency and to increase public understanding of freedom of information resources.

    Sunshine Week was started by the American Society of News Editors in 2005 and is now co-sponsored by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. In addition to a series of public forums happening across the country — none are scheduled for Birmingham — Sunshine Week will include a series of online webinars focusing on how to navigate transparency laws on federal, state and local levels. See what resources are available to help you learn about state, Birmingham and Jefferson County operations when you read more.

  BW Recommends

  GovernmentWatch

  CongressionalWatch

  State Prisons

  • PARCA Tackling Research on Alabama’s Prison Problems as Legislature Begins to Meet

    The Alabama Legislature will face tough choices this year on solving problems of the state’s crowded, obsolete and under-funded prison system, and the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama is preparing a series of briefings to address “a system in crisis.”

    PARCA, a non-profit organization that does nonpartisan research on issues facing state and local governments in Alabama, outlined problems that it said could lead to a federal takeover of the prisons system if they are not solved.

    Gov. Kay Ivey has proposed the construction of three new men’s prisons at a cost of $950 million as one step toward dealing with the issues of crowding, health care and crumbling facilities. Read more.

  State Budgets

  Alabama Roads

  • Report Highlights Alabama’s Poor Roads as Officials Consider the ‘T Word’

    By WBHM

    The state’s roads are in bad shape. Those potholes and accidents cost the average driver in the Birmingham area about $1,800 a year, according to a new report from a transportation group.

    The report comes as state lawmakers prepare to convene next week in Montgomery for the start of the legislative session. Gov. Kay Ivey is expected to announce a plan to improve state infrastructure Tuesday. She supports a gas tax increase for roads and bridges.

    More than 40 percent of Birmingham’s major roads and highways are in poor or mediocre condition according to Trip, a national transportation nonprofit research group. Read more.

  Charter Schools

  Coal Mining

  • Riverkeeper and BWWB Warn Another Coal Mine Threatens the Mulberry Fork

    Four years ago the Black Warrior Riverkeeper roused public opinion to keep the Shepherd Bend coal mine from opening. Now the river protection advocacy organization is warning of another proposed mining operation – this one three miles upstream on the Mulberry Fork from Shepherd Bend.

    What’s called the No.5 Mine is in the Walker County community of Dovertown, near the city of Cordova. Mays Mining Inc. would operate the mine at a former industrial site that was left with contaminated groundwater, according to Riverkeeper Nelson Brooke. Read more.

  Economy

  • U.S. Steel Revives Furnace Project in Fairfield

    WBHM

    U.S. Steel Corporation will restart work on its electric arc furnace in Fairfield. The $215 million initiative will replace the former blast furnace at Fairfield Works. The project started almost four years ago, but was put on hold due to poor market demand for steel. Ty West, editor-in-chief of the Birmingham Business Journal, says this is good news. Read more.

  Crime Strategy

  • Birmingham Police Chief Urges Residents to Become More Active in Crime Prevention, Describes New Approach to Policing

    In a presentation to neighborhood officers, Birmingham Police Chief Patrick D. Smith laid out a new strategy for the department and urged residents to be proactive in addressing crime in their communities.

    “We have to get real about it,” he said. “We cannot do things the way we always did.”

    Thursday’s meeting, which took place after a swearing-in ceremony for newly elected neighborhood officers, was one of the first major presentations of Smith’s strategy since he took the job in June. Smith described his first six months on the job as playing “catch-up” with a department that had fallen “behind the curve” in its approach to fighting crime.

    “When I took over, I did an analysis of the department,” he said. “Over time, from 2014 to 2018, crime has doubled … We have to do a lot to bring this police department back to where it needs to be.” Read more.

  2018 Election News