Tag: Best of BirminghamWatch 2021

Best of BirminghamWatch 2021

BirminghamWatch this week is revisiting its best and most popular work from 2021 in a series of packages on Race and Hate Crime, the COVID-19 Pandemic and Politics.

COVID-19

Alabama Population Shrinks Under Weight of COVID-19 Deaths

March 11, 2020: The Day COVID-19 Became Real for America, and What’s Happened Since

Schools Opening Short on Teachers Because of an Increase in Retirements

Federal COVID Relief Funds Enabled Churches and Other Religious Organizations to Pay Employees

Race and Hate Crime

Lady Justice Is Not Wearing a Blindfold

Alabama is Home to 20 Hate Groups, 838 Operate Nationwide, SPLC Says

A Lack of Hate or Lack of Reporting?: Alabama Has Reported Zero Hate Crimes in the Past Two Years

Politics

Woodfin Reelected Birmingham Mayor in Landslide

‘For everything there is a season’: Richard Shelby Declines Senate Reelection Run in 2022

Mt Brook Donations to Britt for Senate Signal Views from the GOP’s Business Wing

Sewell, Alabama’s Lone Congressional Democrat, Seeks to Strengthen Voting Rights, Defeat Party Infighting

BirminghamWatch’s Best of 2021: COVID-19

Alabama Population Shrinks Under Weight of COVID-19 Deaths


For the first time in the history of Alabama, COVID-19 last year pushed the state’s death rate higher than the birthrate.
“The state population is shrinking, and we have never seen that happen before in the history of Alabama,” Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said Wednesday.

In fact, more people died in Alabama last year than any other year on record.

The Alabama Department of Public Health reports that 7,181 people died from COVID-19 last year.

So far this year, there have been 5,603 COVID deaths, according to the ADPH. The combined number of deaths from COVID for 2020 and 2021 reported Wednesday is 12,784.

The Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama stated in a report earlier this year that, if earlier Census estimates were accurate, “The trend of deaths exceeding births in Alabama will happen again in 2021.”
Read more.

More Best of BirminghamWatch 2021

March 11, 2020: The Day COVID-19 Became Real for America, and What’s Happened Since

Schools Opening Short on Teachers Because of an Increase in Retirements

Federal COVID Relief Funds Enabled Churches and Other Religious Organizations to Pay Employees

Best of BirminghamWatch 2021: Politics

‘For everything there is a season’: Richard Shelby Declines Senate Reelection Run in 2022

Sen. Richard Shelby, who has represented Alabama in the United States Congress since 1979 and in the Senate since 1987, has decided that his sixth and current term will be his last.

Shelby made the announcement on the Senate floor Monday and released it through his official Senate website. It was a call that many political observers in Alabama had expected when the Democrats took the majority after winning Georgia’s two Senate seats in runoff elections early in January.

“For everything there is a season,” Shelby said to begin his speech.

“I have done my best to address challenges and find ways to improve the day-to-day lives of all Americans. I have also focused on the economic challenges of Alabamians, increasing access to education and promoting facilities to improve the quality of schools.

“I have worked to enhance Alabama’s role in space exploration and the security of our nation. Further, I have supported the utilization of Alabama’s greatest resources, including its unparalleled river system and the Port of Mobile.”

As the chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, Shelby used his political muscle to steer federal funds to his home state. Recently, he has used his influence to try to move the U.S. Space Command headquarters to Huntsville. But the GOP loss of the majority cost Shelby his role as chairman of the committee, and much of the influence that goes with it.
Over his six terms, Shelby has served as either chairman or vice chairman — depending on which party held the majority at the time — of the Appropriations, Rules, Banking and Intelligence committees. Read more.

More Best of BirminghamWatch 2021

Woodfin Reelected Birmingham Mayor in Landslide

Mt Brook Donations to Britt for Senate Signal Views from the GOP’s Business Wing

Sewell, Alabama’s Lone Congressional Democrat, Seeks to Strengthen Voting Rights, Defeat Party Infighting

Best of BirminghamWatch 2021: Race and Hate Crimes

Lady Justice Is Not Wearing a Blindfold


In 1996, Jerald Sanders, a Black man and resident of Alabama, used his pocket knife to tear a hole in a front porch screen so he could steal a bicycle stored inside.

When apprehended a few weeks later, Sanders was charged with burglary in the first degree, a Class C felony.
Because Sanders had multiple prior offenses on his record, his sentence was pushed to life in prison without parole. A Class C felony often results in a fine or minimal jail time.

Sanders’ story is not rare. Black men are sentenced to prison time that reflects not only the crime for which they are being sentenced, but for their entire criminal history. According to statistics from the Sentencing Project, Blacks are incarcerated at more than five times the rate of whites. Read more.

Alabama is Home to 20 Hate Groups, 838 Operate Nationwide, SPLC Says


Twenty Alabama groups have been categorized as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center among 838 nationwide. Read more.

A Lack of Hate or Lack of Reporting?: Alabama Has Reported Zero Hate Crimes in the Past Two Years


On April 9, 2020, the Etz Chayim Synagogue in Huntsville was defaced with antisemitic graffiti. The following day, the Chabad of Huntsville was vandalized with similar hate speech. Security footage taken from both scenes indicates the same perpetrator committed both crimes. Given that they took place on the first night of the Jewish holiday Passover, the crimes are thought to be meticulously planned and executed with one purpose: to send a message of hate to the Jewish community.

Mayor Tommy Battle released a statement to the public saying “the city of Huntsville condemns antisemitism in the strongest possible terms” and emphasized Huntsville as a city of inclusivity and acceptance. “Any offense against one is an offense against all,” Battle said. The case has since been handed over to the FBI, and no perpetrator has been caught.

Despite these attacks against the Jewish community the state of Alabama has reported zero hate crimes to the FBI’s annual Unified Crime Report for the past two years in a row. It is the only state in the country that has reported zero hate crimes.

“It is highly implausible that in 2019 or 2018, no hate crimes were committed in Alabama. Of the over 417 law enforcement agencies in the state, only two actually participated in the 2019 reporting process to the FBI, which is deeply troubling and undoubtedly means that many hate crimes have gone unreported,” said Dr. Allison Padilla-Goodman, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Southern Division. >Read more.

Federal Covid Relief Funds Enabled Churches and Other Religious Organizations to Pay Employees

Ava Wise was thinking first of others as she considered what would have happened if the federal Paycheck Protection Program had not provided her employer with money to pay her during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We may not have been open to serve people,” said Wise, director of Project Hopewell, a nonprofit formed under Hopewell Baptist Church in Birmingham’s Hillman Station Neighborhood.

Effects of the COVID-19 relief program hit close to home for Wise and others who benefited from federal relief money that was paid to businesses, state and local governments, and churches and other organizations.

Without the payroll assistance, she said, “We can’t pay our bills. We can’t buy food. It cuts off our livelihood.”

Although it is unusual for churches, synagogues, mosques and groups with religious affiliations to receive taxpayer money, many were awarded federal stimulus funds during the pandemic. While churches may be tax-exempt, their employees pay taxes to city, state and federal governments. The U.S. Small Business Administration’s PPP program was designed to cover the payrolls of recipients.

A review by BirminghamWatch of federal records listed about 321 applicants from Jefferson County that identified themselves as religious organizations received loans totaling $39.7 million during a 14-month period under the PPP program.
Read more.

Alabama Population Shrinks Under Weight of COVID-19 Deaths

For the first time in the history of Alabama, COVID-19 last year pushed the state’s death rate higher than the birthrate.

“The state population is shrinking, and we have never seen that happen before in the history of Alabama,” Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said Wednesday.

In fact, more people died in Alabama last year than any other year on record.

The Alabama Department of Public Health reports that 7,181 people died from COVID-19 last year. Read more.

Sewell, Alabama’s Lone Congressional Democrat, Seeks to Strengthen Voting Rights, Defeat Party Infighting

Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, the lone Democrat in Alabama’s seven-member congressional delegation, is seeking to grow the party with a two-pronged approach — countering Republican-backed voting restrictions while raising money to protect Democratic incumbents against challenges from the left.

First elected in 2011, Sewell has for four successive congresses introduced legislation to restore much of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, legislation that mandated federal oversight of election laws in areas with a history of racial discrimination. That historic legislation was largely struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013. The court’s ruling that the law’s requirements were outdated  led to state legislatures issuing a ream of voting restrictions in the wake of that decision.

This year, Sewell again introduced the bill, House Resolution 4, newly named the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in honor of the Alabama-born Georgia congressman and civil rights icon who died last year.
Read more.

Woodfin Reelected Birmingham Mayor in Landslide

As the newly reelected mayor of Birmingham stepped to the stage upstairs at The Fennec in the Parkside District, a few hundred people chanted, “We’re With Woodfin,” and “Four More Years.”

Indeed, they were with Randall Woodfin at the ballot box on Tuesday. As a result, the incumbent pushed aside seven challengers and earned another four-year term in office.

“The energy in this room tonight doesn’t reflect me,” he said. “It reflects us. The energy in this room is the definition of Team Birmingham.”

In total, 36,790 Birmingham residents went to the polls Tuesday, for a voter turnout of 25.27%.

Incumbents did well in the City Council election, with six of the nine incumbent councilors being returned to their seats outright and two more heading to an Oct. 5 runoff. Incumbents on the city’s board of education didn’t fare as well. Read more.

Strong Campaign Propels Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin to a Second Term (WBHM)

2021 Birmingham City Election Results

Schools Opening Short on Teachers Because of an Increase in Retirements

Beadie Bell has been a teacher in the Bessemer City School system for 20 years now. As a pre-school educator, she has seen many teachers come and go over the years but said she has seen a particularly “surprising” number of educators who have chosen to retire this past year.

According to 2020-21 numbers provided by Alabama’s Teacher Retirement System, 3,515 employees retired during the school year, the highest number since 2010-11. It’s a trend many school systems throughout the state have seen in the past year, and the number keeps growing.

That trend has left many school systems looking for new teachers even as they begin opening their doors for the new school year.

Jefferson County’s school system, for instance, has 63 open slots for certified teachers, counselors and coaches posted on the Alabama Department of Education’s site as the system nears its Aug. 10 opening date. Birmingham City Schools had 56 open teaching positions listed on the DOE site and 29 open sports coaching positions as schools started Tuesday. Read more.

More on the upcoming school term:

State Hiring Marketing Firm for Teacher Recruitment

5 Things to Know About Alabama’s Back-to-School COVID Toolkit

Mt Brook Donations to Britt for Senate Signal Views from the GOP’s Business Wing

Residents of Mountain Brook may be relatively few in number, but they sent a message about their views on the Republican Party in campaign finance reports filed last week by candidates running to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby.

Although Mountain Brook’s population is just more than 20,000, people who live in the affluent Birmingham suburb contributed far more than any other municipality in the state to Katie Boyd Britt.

Donations from residents of Mountain Brook signal support for Britt from the traditional, business-oriented wing of the Republican Party. Read more.

Also read:
Britt Leads Rivals in Fundraising for GOP U.S. Senate Nomination