Environmental Justice

  COVID-19

  • Alabama Tops 50,000 Mark in COVID-19 Cases

    There were 1,402 new cases of COVID-19 in Alabama over the past 24 hours, according to the state Department of Public Health’s daily report Saturday. That pushed the total number of cases to 51,294 since the pandemic began.

    It was the fourth consecutive day with counts above 1,100, including a record 2,164 on Thursday. Alabama is now averaging 1,276 cases a day over the past week and 1,192 for the past 14 days.

    The Health Department’s COVID-19 dashboard listed nine new deaths on Saturday, raising the overall total to 1,086.
    Read more.

  • Wilson Wrestles With Ways to Tamp Down COVID-19 in Jefferson County

    Jefferson County Health Officer Dr. Mark Wilson wrestles with how the state’s most populous county can decrease the daily number of COVID-19 cases, which has been steadily rising for the past two weeks.

    The county inked a record 343 cases from Wednesday, marking a high point in what has been an upward trend for the county. This past week, July 3-10, 10,659 people were tested in the county, with 1,417 of them testing positive for COVID-19. That’s an average of 202 new cases per day and a positive test rate of 13.3%, Wilson said. There also were 19 deaths during the week.

    “The situation is horrible,” Wilson said. Read more.

  • Alabama’s COVID-19 New-Case Averages Top 1,000 Per Day for First Time

    Alabama reached an unwelcome milestone in its battle with the COVID-19 virus, as the number of new cases reported each day has passed the 1,000 mark in moving averages for the first time.

    The BirminghamWatch weekly analysis of data reported by the Alabama Department of Public Health shows that the 7-day moving average of new cases has jumped to 1,140.29 per day, the second highest since the outbreak began; the average peaked at 1,212.29 on July 5.

    The longer-term 14-day moving average now stands at a record high of 1,057.14, after surpassing 1,000 two days prior. Read more.

  • Fauci Says Alabama Still Could Rein in COVID-19, Even as Cases Spread Among Young People

    Dr. Anthony Fauci said even though Alabama has seen a rapid rise in the number of COVID-19 cases since Memorial Day, the state now has “a window of opportunity” to slow the virus outbreak.

    Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday in a press conference with Alabama Sen. Doug Jones that the methods to slow the spread of virus are known: washing hands, wearing masks, social distancing and closing bars.

    “Indoor bars are the perfect setup for the virus to spread,” he said.

    The reopening of bars and resumption of large events with little social distance has put younger people in the virus’ cross hairs.

    Last month, Jones said, the median age of virus victims in the state dropped 15 years. In Alabama, the largest portion of people testing positive for the disease is now those in the 25- to 49-year age range. Read more.

  U.S. Attorney

  2020 Election

  • Tuberville Tops Sessions in Fundraising for the Senate Race

    Former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville is leading former Sen. Jeff Sessions in fundraising in the final weeks of their Republican runoff campaign for the Senate seat Sessions once held, according to reports they filed this week with the Federal Election Commission.

    The reports, covering the period of April 1 to June 24, show Tuberville took in $652,390, compared to $439,374 for Sessions. Still, Sessions had a cash balance of $500,331, compared to Tuberville’s $448,204.

    Both candidates continue to aggressively raise campaign cash in the final days of the race. With lists of contributors Read more.

  • Supreme Court Blocks Curbside Voting, Loosening of ID Requirements for Absentee Ballots

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday halted plans to provide curbside voting in the July 14 primary runoff and to ease ID requirements to vote by absentee ballot. The state went to the Supreme Court asking that it stay a lower court judge’s ruling that eased some voting practices in an attempt to lessen the potential exposure to the coronavirus, particularly among older people. Read more.

  Birmingham City Schools

  BirminghamWatch Recommends

  Jefferson County Commission

  • Jefferson County Will Take on Improvements for Medical West Development

    The Jefferson County Commission took a step toward supporting Medical West hospital’s making its new home in McCalla with the rezoning of four parcels bordering Interstate 459.

    Today’s action rezones the property from A-1 agricultural to institutional-2. Medical West is an affiliate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System.

    The rezoning came with repeated reference to the hospital having to remain in unincorporated Jefferson County. Read more.

  COVID-19

  • College Students to Be Tested for Coronavirus Using Federal Allotment

    Colleges and universities in Alabama and some underserved regions of the state will benefit from $30 million of the state’s federal allocation from the Cares Act, Gov. Kay Ivey announced Monday. Read more.

  • Jefferson County Plans to Set Up COVID-19 Nursing Home Unit

    Jefferson County Commissioners today OK’d establishing a dedicated unit to care for nursing home patients who have COVID-19 in one location. The commission authorized an agreement with the UAB board of trustees to establish the unit. The plan calls for Jefferson County to use a portion of its Cares Act funds for this project, which will put patients in a wing of Aspire Physical Recovery Center at Hoover. Read more.

  • People Succumbing to COVID Fatigue are Spreading the Virus, UAB Doc Says; NY Tells Alabama Travelers to Quarantine or Go Elsewhere

    The biggest challenge to stopping the spread of COVID-19 now is the public’s desire to return to the “old normal,” Dr. Molly Fleece, UAB assistant professor of infectious diseases, said Wednesday.

    “Masks work,” Fleece said as UAB and other health officials brace for increased summer activities and the Fourth of July.

    The number of COVID-19 cases in the state rose Wednesday by 954, one of the largest daily increases since the pandemic began, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.

    Fleece said that, over the past 24 hours, Mobile and Lee counties had their highest number of new cases recorded.

    She said the spike in the number of cases can be attributed to summer travel and COVID fatigue as people just want to go back to their old lifestyles.

    Also Wednesday, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut barred travelers from Alabama from entering without quarantining for 14 days upon arrival. Read more.

  • Gov. Ivey Has Been Quiet On COVID-19. Does It Matter?

    Some governors have spent lots of time in front of the cameras talking about the coronavirus pandemic. New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has held daily press briefings. Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has been out front almost daily as well.

    Meanwhile, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has been relatively quiet about COVID-19. That’s despite new cases increasing sharply around the state in June.

    “I think we’ve all got to do a much better job of educating people top to bottom,” U.S. Sen. Doug Jones said in a press conference last week.

    He said state leaders, not just the governor, should be talking about the pandemic. He added the message those leaders give should be based on science.
    Read more.

  • Low ICU Capacity Could Affect Non-Coronavirus Patients the Most

    WBHM

    Alabama’s ICU capacity has fallen to 19% as coronavirus cases continued to climb steadily across the state. That amounts to about 300 ICU beds of 1,600 available statewide. Alabama confirmed 787 new cases Friday, bringing the total to 28,583. While the number of hospitalizations has fluctuated slightly, overall it has trended upward since the pandemic began. That’s concerning to Dr. Don Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association.

    For more on the impact on hospitals, WBHM spoke with Williamson. Read more.

  • Dr. Saag: Alabamians Get an F for Following Public Health Advice

    Dr. Michael Saag has become frustrated with the public. The infectious disease doctor and COVID-19 survivor said recently that he knows people have become impatient with the continuing pandemic and are tired of changing their lifestyles to accommodate it. But the reaction from the public has been “not very mature,” he said during the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham’s Community Call last week.

    In fact, he said he’d give Alabamians an F in their ability to carry out public health advice that would have tamped down the virus – maintaining social distance, wearing face masks and staying home as much as is practical, among them. As a result, the state’s coronavirus cases have once again been rising, to the point that Alabama has shown more new cases than the entire country of Germany.

    That danger isn’t going away anytime soon. Saag said the novel coronavirus will be with us for a least another year – until doctors develop an effective vaccine or early treatment. Watch Saag’s presentation.

  • More Coronavirus News

    Read all of BirminghamWatch’s coronavirus coverage.

  About News

  • Execute Journalists? Don’t Think It Hasn’t Happened

    President Trump’s reported statement that journalists who publish leaked information should be “executed” is a more explicit and heinous extension of his repeated “enemy of the people” trope. It’s so far beyond the pale that the only necessary reaction is ridicule, then dismissal as nothing more than Trump venting berserkly in private*.

    Except for the fact that it has happened.

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports that in the past 18 months, 14 journalists around the world have been murdered because they were journalists. UNESCO reports some that CPJ does not, including one as recently as this month. Some of the assassinations have suspected ties to government officials, others to political or criminal groups.
    Read more.

  Don Siegelman

  • Former Governor Turns Attention to Criminal Justice System Following Release From Prison

    It has been three years since former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman was released from prison after being convicted of federal corruption charges in 2006. One thing remains unchanged about the case: Siegelman maintains he is innocent.

    A jury convicted Siegelman of bribery for soliciting a $500,000 donation from then-HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy for a fund to support his education lottery campaign. Prosecutors say in exchange, Siegelman appointed Scrushy to a state hospital regulatory board. Siegelman said the prosecution was politically motivated.

    In a new memoir, “Stealing Our Democracy: How the Political Assassination of a Governor Threatens our Nation,” Seigelman lays out how he saw the case and trial. But paints himself as a fighter for criminal justice reform after experiencing what he believes was an improper prosecution.
    Read more.

  Letter From the Birmingham Jail

  Protests

  • Birmingham Council Agrees to Fine for Covering Confederate Monument Base

    Earlier this month, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin yielded to protestors’ demands to remove the controversial Confederate Soldiers and Sailors monument from Linn Park.

    The statue was driven to an undisclosed location — for its protection, Woodfin said — and the city was promptly sued by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall for violating the state’s Memorial Preservation Act. Marshall has said he will be seeking a $25,000 penalty.

    On Tuesday, the City Council voted to pay a different $25,000 fine associated with the Confederate statue — this one resulting from the actions of former Mayor William Bell, who ordered the statue covered by a black plywood barrier in August 2017. Read more.

  • Woodfin Says He Received Death Threats After Removal of Monument

    Responding to questions this morning on the NBC Today show, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said he received death threats in response to his order to take down a Confederate monument in the wake of destructive protests Sunday night.

    “Unfortunately, in the state of Alabama, there’s a lot of people who like to participate in revisionist history,” Woodfin said, speaking with host Al Roker. “They believe it’s American to support the Civil War as relates to these competitive monuments. They’re mad because we took the statue down and, yes, there have been several threats.
    Read more.

  • Finding A Way Forward in Birmingham After Violence and Destruction

    A Confederate monument that stood in a downtown Birmingham’s Linn Park for 115 years is now gone. Crews removed the structure following protests over police treatment of black Americans that turned destructive on Sunday, damaging many buildings. This happened in a city that prides itself on its history of nonviolent protest during the civil rights era. Rev. Thomas Wilder leads Bethel Baptist Church in Collegeville. It’s the same church Birmingham civil rights leader Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth once led. Wilder spoke with WBHM’s Andrew Yeager. Read more.

  • Relief Fund Set Up for Small Businesses Damaged in Protest

    A coalition of community groups, in partnership with the city of Birmingham, has set up the Birmingham Business Relief Fund to give grants to small businesses affected by protestors’ vandalism Sunday night. “Many businesses were already suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and these funds will assist businesses as they rebuild, repair and renew their operations,” Ivan Holloway, executive director at Urban Impact, said in a statement announcing the program. Read more.

  About News

  • Coverage of Protests Brings Out Internal Newsroom Anger

    The homicide of George Floyd and the subsequent street protests have illuminated failings not only among law enforcement agencies but also among many mainstream news organizations. Along with other issues, the well-documented lack of racial diversity on newsroom staffs has shown itself in harmful and embarrassing ways.

    Perhaps a black journalist in The New York Times’ chain of editing, or simply a heightened awareness created by a more diverse department, would have anticipated the valid internal and external criticism that U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton’s published idea to send the military to “restore order” in American cities posed a safety threat to protesters and journalists, especially black ones. “This puts our Black staff members in danger,” the newsroom union wrote.
    Read more.

  Alabama Prisons

  Energy Production

  • PSC Gives Thumbs-Up for Alabama Power to Increase Fossil Fuel Use, Delays Solar Request

    UPDATED — Alabama regulators voted today to give the go-ahead to Alabama Power Company’s request to add almost 2 million megawatts of energy from natural gas sources to its capacity to generate electricity. The plan, proposed last year, would include a new 726-megawatt gas unit at its Plant Barry near Mobile.

    The commission also voted to delay consideration of Alabama Power’s additional request to add 400 megawatts in solar-plus-storage generation to its inventory.

    Combined, the requests are estimated to cost Alabama Power $1.1 billion, which ultimately would be paid by its customers. Read more.

  Law enforcement

  • ALDOT Considering Allowing Police Cameras, Plate Readers

    The Alabama Department of Transportation is considering allowing law enforcement agencies access to ALDOT rights-of-way and structures to install license plate readers and other surveillance equipment.

    At least one Alabama lawmaker said legislation may be needed to regulate the use of the devices and information they collect.

    Tony Harris, government relations manager for ALDOT, told Alabama Daily News the proposed rules are a result of recent requests from multiple police agencies.
    Read more.

  Jefferson County Commission

  • Jefferson County Commission Names New CFO

    Viewers of Tuesday’s Jefferson County Commission committee meeting were given a hint of what was to come in today’s commission meeting.

    Even if they didn’t realize it.

    Revenue Director Travis Hulsey, the county’s interim chief financial officer, was about to present financial resolutions when commissioners asked that deputy CFO Angela Dixon make the presentation instead.

    They did that because Dixon was hired today to be the county CFO, replacing John Henry, who left for a job in Washington, D.C., in January.
    Read more.

  Open Records

  • Nonprofits Target Open Records Law With Suit Against Three State Officials

    Two environmental groups filed suit this week under the Alabama Open Records Act seeking to force state officials to turn over documents related to the 35th Avenue Superfund federal bribery trial.

    Over the past few years many nonprofits, news organizations and others have attempted to use the law to gain access to information but often have been stonewalled by agencies and their officers.

    The Environmental Defense Alliance and Gasp, a clean air and human rights advocate, filed a lawsuit claiming that Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, the director of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and a member of the Alabama Environmental Management Commission violated the Open Records Act by denying access to public records.
    Read more.

  Alabama Public Service Commission

  Education

  Birmingham City Council

  • Ensley’s Ramsay-McCormack Building to be Razed, Replaced

    Ensley’s long-abandoned Ramsay-McCormack building will be demolished and replaced by a four-story, multi-use building, Mayor Randall Woodfin told the Birmingham City Council on Wednesday.

    An assessment by commercial construction firm Stewart/Perry revealed numerous structural problems in the 10-story, city-owned office building, which has been vacant since 1986.
    Read more.

  U.S. Senate Runoff Election

  • Sessions Targets China, Calls for ‘Reset’ in Relationship

    The outbreak of the new coronavirus has drastically altered the campaigns for Alabama’s runoff elections. Originally scheduled for March 31, runoffs for the Republican races for Congress and U.S. Senate are now postponed until July 14.

    The pandemic and its total consumption of the news cycle have also shifted the narrative for candidates. Former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who is running for his former seat in the U.S. Senate, has capitalized on the situation to take an aggressive position against China and highlight his foreign policy bonafides.

    In the runoff, Sessions faces former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, who won 33% of the vote to Sessions’ 32% in the March 3 primary election. Todd Stacy of Alabama Daily News interviewed Sessions and talked about his campaign and the issues he is discussing.
    Read more.