Small Fraction of Students Qualify for Birmingham Promise Scholarship

January 28, 2020

For urban students interested in college, tuition can be a major barrier. So when it was announced recently that the Birmingham Promise would offer a full tuition scholarship to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, many praised the partnership as a way to give eligible Birmingham graduates a much-needed financial boost. But there’s just one problem: most students aren’t eligible to apply for the scholarship. Read more.

Birmingham Council Approves Sending Up to 297 Neighborhood Reps to Conference

January 28, 2020

Despite some concerns of excessive spending, the Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to send up to 297 neighborhood representatives — up to three from each of the city’s 99 neighborhoods — to this May’s Neighborhoods USA Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. Read more.

Business Education Alliance: High-Level Skills and Education Needed to Meet Workforce Needs

January 28, 2020

Alabama faces a shortage of 200,000 highly skilled workers to fulfill industry job predictions by 2025 unless it aligns workforce development programs and collaborations between business and education with what employers will need, said the Business Education Alliance in a report released today.

As Alabama shifts away from an industrial-based to knowledge-based economy, the BEA report stated, 60% of the working population will need to attain college-level degrees or credentials to qualify for jobs in 2025. Data for 2017 showed that 43% of the Alabama workforce possessed a college degree or other post-secondary education. Read more.

Local Effort Backs Carbon Emission Fee With Monthly Rebate to All Households

January 28, 2020

The most efficient way to combat climate change is to make fossil fuel use more expensive, an International Monetary Fund study found last October. The IMF also said sending the money from a tax or fee on coal and oil straight to citizens would blunt the economic disruption of that strategy. Read more.

McClintock, Hammett, Others Set for Feb. 8 Event on Climate Solutions

U.S. Sen. Doug Jones Comments on Day 1 of President’s Defense: “I don’t care to hear the partisan rhetoric.”

January 25, 2020

Watch the video.

Environmental Groups Protest New Waters of the US Rule

January 23, 2020

Environmental groups in Alabama and elsewhere say they will fight to delay or stop a new federal rule that would remove the 1972 Clean Water Act’s oversight of half the nation’s wetlands and many small streams. The new rule greatly narrows the Obama-era definition of what constitutes waters of the U.S., commonly called WOTUS.

The rule — called the Navigable Waters Protection Rule — was announced today by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler at a homebuilders meeting in Las Vegas. Real estate and farm interests have been major proponents of replacing WOTUS, which the Trump Administration repealed last fall. The new rule is scheduled to be implemented in 60 days, following publication in the Federal Register. Read more.

Prisons Officials Request $42 Million Increase to Hire Staff, Improve Healthcare

January 24, 2020

Officials from the Alabama Department of Corrections and the Bureau of Pardons and Paroles presented their budget proposals to lawmakers Thursday ahead of the upcoming legislative session.

ADOC Commissioner Jeff Dunn requested a $42 million increase, bringing the agency’s total General Fund budget to $563 million. Dunn said much of the additional money will be used to recruit 700 more security staff, increase funding for inmate healthcare and hire about 100 mental healthcare professionals. Read more.

Birmingham Council Reallocates Unused CrossPlex Funds to Repave Roads, Under Protest

January 21, 2020

The Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to reallocate money from a completed capital project at the Birmingham CrossPlex to citywide road repaving, rebuffing the protests of District 8 Councilor Steven Hoyt, who called the proposal “unfair.”

The $468,532.78 in question was left over from the construction of detention ponds, fountains, a walking trail and fencing at the CrossPlex; that money will be added to a $6.7 million repaving project the council approved in December. Last week, city engineer Mike Eddington told the council that the project was completed two years ago, and the money has sat untouched in that project’s fund since then.

Hoyt attempted to delay a vote on the reallocation by several weeks, arguing that funding should not be taken away from the still-developing CrossPlex. “Ain’t nothing complete out there, and you all know that,” he said. Read more.

‘Bird Nerd’ Wraps up Study of Bird Deaths From Flying Into Windows

January 12, 2020

As the sun rises on a workday in downtown Birmingham, the human population in the city’s center typically includes a small group: first responders, cooks, cleaners, security guards, the homeless and those seeking to get some quiet time in the office before their colleagues arrive.

During the past two years, that early morning population also frequently has included a woman walking slowly and looking closely at the sidewalks, plazas and lawns outside glass-fronted buildings. Sometimes — as much as 20 times on the morning of Oct. 13 — she would pause, kneel, remove a small brown paper sack from her shoulder bag and carefully place inside it the carcass of a dead bird, usually one that had been migrating through town.

Her name is Jessie Griswold. She is the lead animal care professional at the Birmingham Zoo’s Animal Health Center. She also is an unabashed “bird nerd.” She recently concluded work on a research grant — the only type of its kind recently done in the state — to bring to local light a problem that has afflicted Birmingham and other metropolitan areas around the country.

The problem? Bird deaths from window collisions. Read more.

Mural Disagreement Delays Grant to Five Points West

January 14, 2020

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin and District 8 Councilor Steven Hoyt clashed Tuesday over a proposed grant that would fund five new murals in Five Points West, in addition to several other programs,

The argument resulted in a two-week delay and threats from Woodfin to scuttle the grant entirely.

The grant, part of Woodfin’s Bold — Building Opportunities for Lasting Development — program, would give the Five Points West/Crossplex Business Alliance $26,500 to provide a variety of services, including training, talent and recruitment programs for local businesses, a new business office for meetings and training to be developed in tandem with Main Street Alabama, façade and signage improvements for small businesses and the collection of data “regarding all businesses and commercial properties in the Five Points West Commercial Corridor.”

But Hoyt, who had called for the item to be delayed when it appeared before the council last month, took issue with one clause in the proposed grant requiring the business alliance to develop five murals in the Five Points West business district. Read more.

Jones Pushes for Witnesses to Testify During Trump Trial, Talks About Tensions With Iran

January 9, 2020

The U.S. Senate should conduct a “full, fair and complete” trial of President Donald Trump that includes the testimony of witnesses and the presence of the president’s lawyers to question them, U.S. Sen. Doug Jones said Thursday.

“I have said consistently that I believe the American people deserve a full, fair and complete trial,” Jones said. “Justice that is fair and impartial requires witnesses, documents and the pursuit of truth over everything else. It appears that we may not be headed for a trial with witnesses.”

During his weekly telephone news conference with Alabama reporters, the freshman Democrat said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has announced rules that would allow presentation of evidence and questions from senators before taking up the question of whether witnesses will be allowed. Read more.

Senate Votes on Impeachment Issues

January 28, 2020

Alabama’s senators split along party lines on votes involving President Trump’s impeachment last week, as did all the senators. The House was in recess.

Read the major votes in the Senate during the legislative week ending Jan. 25

Jefferson County Commission Delays Vote on Fee for Card Payments

January 10, 2020

John Henry twice said his goodbyes on Thursday – first at his final meeting of the Jefferson County Commission and then at a farewell event in his honor later in the afternoon.

But the final wave goodbye for the county’s chief financial officer will likely be his input in a tabled matter concerning the proposal to add a 1% convenience fee of no less than $1.95 to over-the-counter business conducted by credit or debit card with Jefferson County.

Henry suggested that commissioners table the matter for two weeks so he and Revenue Director Travis Hulsey can find an answer to a revenue department budget shortfall because of the increasing use of credit and debit cards.

“We definitely understand the concerns in reference to the hit to constituents,” the outgoing CFO said. Read more.

Jefferson County Gets New Human Resources Director, Raising Hopes for Lifting Consent Decree on Personnel Practices

January 7, 2020

Jefferson County Commissioner Joe Knight offered a predictable straight line after Caroline Brown was introduced as Jefferson County’s new human resource director at Tuesday’s commission committee meeting.

“Can you get us a good deal on a Toyota?” Knight asked, referring to her long tenure with the automaker.

“Not anymore,” the Montgomery native said as the boardroom burst into laughter. “Not anymore.”

While Brown can’t provide the hook-up for a fleet of motor vehicles, county manager Tony Petelos calls her “the missing link” in the county’s efforts to escape from the consent decree on personnel practices with which it has dealt for nearly 40 years. Read More

Helping Walker County Families Destroyed by the Opioid Crisis

January 1, 2020

Not long ago, more than 66 million pain pills flowed through Walker County, a rural area 15 miles northwest of Birmingham.

Today, the children of those who struggled with addiction still feel the effects, and people in the county are forging a new path to help rebuild families. Read more.

Amid Slow Sales, Charlemagne Records Closes its Doors

December 24, 2019

Charlemagne Records has been open for more than four decades. But at the end of the year, the store is set to close. Like many brick-and-mortar music retailers, Charlemagne has struggled with sales in the digital age. Read more.

Doug Jones Weighs in on Trump Impeachment, Other Issues

December 24, 2019

WBHM – When the U.S. Senate returns from the holiday break, there will be one overriding issue: impeachment. Democratic U.S. Senator Doug Jones shares his thoughts on this and other actions on Capitol Hill. Read more.

Calming Fears: Jefferson County and UAB Officials Work to Dispel Rumors About New Health Care Authority

December 11, 2019

The due diligence phase of Jefferson County’s move toward a health care authority was fraught with misinformation, including the rumor that current employees were going to be let go.

“The staff there is doing such a great job, but we need more,” said David Randall, president of the Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority. “I think the initial panic was, ‘We’re going to get fired.’”

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

“No, please stay because we need you,” said Randall, a senior vice president of strategic planning and business development at UAB. “I think if anything there was a gap in that we need to add more individuals. (Cooper Green staffers are) doing a great job, lifting a heavy load with the staff that they have. I mean amazing.”

Leaders from UAB and Jefferson County met with media Wednesday to provide an update on the move toward a university health care authority, including trying to dispel misinformation about the action.

County manager Tony Petelos repeated his point that the county is not getting out of the business of health care for its poor population. Rather, he said, the day-to-day operation of the hospital-turned-clinic is being handed over to medical professionals who are better suited for the task. Read more.