Alabama Reacts to Gay Marriage Decision
Gay marriage is now legal in Alabama. In a 5 to 4 decision the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday states can’t stop same-sex couples from marrying and must recognize those unions across the country. Ashley Cleek has an overview of how the decision is playing out in Alabama.
Food Stamp Fraud Investigation Means Fewer Places to Find Groceries
A federal investigation into food stamp fraud called operation T-Bone shuttered 11 stores across Jefferson County in June. The scam allegedly involved store operators buying food stamp debit cards from local customers and then using those cards to stock their own shelves with goods from wholesalers. The investigation turned up the heat on the alleged scam, but it also left many communities in Birmingham without anywhere to buy even the most basic groceries.
University of Alabama History Professor Speaks About Cannonballs Found On Campus
It's not every day you stumble upon a 150-year-old relic. But that's what happened last week when a sidewalk repair crew at the University of Alabama uncovered 10 Civil War era cannonballs buried in the ground. The university called in a bomb squad as a precaution but the cannonballs were removed without incident. WBHM's Stephanie Beckett spoke with University of Alabama history professor Harold Selesky about why they probably came from that time period.
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Ruling Means 130,000 Alabamians Keep Insurance Subsidies
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act means that 130,000 Alabamians will keep subsidies to buy insurance through exchanges.
Arc Stories: June 2015 Edition
Stories about people overcoming challenges both big and small in some unique ways. A man who risks everything to chase a dream; a young woman’s relationship is interrupted by divine intervention; and one man tries to get through one very hot night. (Originally aired June 25, 2015 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.)
Flags and Rebels — What to do with Confederate Symbols
If you walk around the Alabama statehouse now, you will no longer see the Confederate battle flag on the grounds. That flag along with three other Confederate flags were removed from a memorial Wednesday on the orders of Governor Robert Bentley. Last week’s shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, sparked a conversation about symbols of the Confederacy. Alabama Media Group columnist John Archibald talks about the flag and the mascot of Vestavia Hills High School’s mascot, the rebel.
NPR News
Kyle Whitmire: Alabama Can Either Live In The Past or Future
Governor Bentley removes the Confederate flag from the Alabama Capitol Grounds; Google makes a $600 million dollar investment in Alabama; and the looming special legislative session session will aim to fix problems with Alabama’s general fund including the possibility of gambling. Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for The Birmingham News and AL.com, and he […]
U.S Attorney General Visits Birmingham
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch spent Wednesday in Birmingham to meet with local law enforcement officers and city leaders about improving cooperation between police and their communities. She also addressed issues raised by last week’s shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Google Building $600 Million Data Center in Alabama
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley says Google is planning to build a $600 million data center in northeast Alabama. Bentley said Wednesday that Google will build the data center on a 350 acre plot of land in Stevenson owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Stevenson is about 60 miles northeast of Huntsville.
Uncovering Alabama’s Hidden Hepatitis C Problem
Injection drug use is on the rise around the country, feeding an increase in cases of the blood-borne liver disease Hepatitis C. The Centers for Disease control says that, nationally, Hepatitis C infections rose 150 percent in the last 3 years. But the spread of the disease in Alabama is hard to measure. Doctors and health care officials are trying new ways to determine the true spread of the disease here in Alabama -- doctors like Jim Galbraith, an emergency room physician at UAB.
Drummond Coal Won’t Renew Shepherd Bend Mine Permit
Drummond Company Inc., a global leader in coal production and one of the largest private companies in the U.S., has faced controversy ever since it received a permit to mine coal at Shepherd Bend, an area close to an intake for Birmingham’s drinking water supply. Many groups and consumers, worried about toxins and chemicals reaching the water, […]
Improving Birmingham’s Mass Transit
Mass transit is a point of frustration for many Birmingham boosters, who see the bus system as woefully under developed and underfunded. But with the World Games coming to Birmingham in 2021 and the city going after other tourism events, the public transit system gains new importance. We talk about it in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
