BirminghamWatch

27/07/2025

An update on our fundraising effort: we've collected $8,160 of our $50,000 goal as of 3 p.m. July 27. Thanks to all of you who have invested in our efforts and shared our campaign with your friends and colleagues. There's still time to help us meet our goals. A link to the letter posted last Sunday is in the comments. Thanks again!

26/07/2025

The Smithfield Estates resident is one of nine people running for mayor in the Aug. 26 city election.

David Russell is running for the mayor’s seat with plans to bolster western areas, rebuild population.

26/07/2025

The Birmingham Youth and Young Adult Fellowship Choir, which earned the golden buzzer from judge Simon Cowell to send it to the live telecasts for the “America’s Got Talent” competition show, dropped in for a visit with the Jefferson County Commission.

23/07/2025

The winning bids for the work came from Dunn Construction Company, which moved its headquarters to Birmingham in 1900. Dunn’s more recent projects include repaving of Red Mountain Expressway and Green Springs Highway and paving at the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport.

The council accepted three bids from Dunn Construction Co.

23/07/2025

Central Alabama Redevelopment Alliance and Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama is each in line to receive $120,000 – up from $100,000 a year ago.

The Jefferson County Commission is set to increase funding for two groups that help develop small businesses.

23/07/2025

“My understanding is that they had not produced a lot of results,” Phillip Wiedmeyer, board vice chairman, said after the meeting in explaining why the board decided to cancel all agreements with Birmingham Business Resource Center.

The water works board canceled agreements with a nonprofit organization that helped local firms, especially those owned by women and minorities, qualify to bid on contracts for providing goods and services to the water works.

21/07/2025

We need your support now more than ever. We'll have to temporarily suspend publishing at the end of the month if we can't succeed. More info at the link, including ways you can help—financially, by sharing stories with others, or both. Thank you in advance!

The Alabama Initiative for Independent Journalism will temporarily suspend publication of BirminghamWatch at the end of July 2025 until early fall if it is unable to secure enough bridge funding to operate until grant funds are scheduled to arrive in October.

18/07/2025

"Credit and linking matter. They are a reward for good, hard-working and usually local writers who don’t get a lot of morale lifts in this business. More significantly, though, wider acknowledgement boosts the reputation of the originating writer and their organization, which in turn means more readership and a greater likelihood that a source with a great story tip down the road is going to pick them to tell it to," writes Tom Arenberg, an instructor of news media at the University of Alabama.

Journalistic larceny is actually legal if it falls within the subjective guidelines of “fair use.” The harder question is what represents ethical vs. unethical use of another news organization’s good work.

18/07/2025

In 12 to 16 months, ratepayers would see paper bills and an online customer portal that include information currently available to customer-service staff but not customers, said Barry Williams, an assistant general manager of the water works.

The board over the City of Birmingham Regional Water Works also Monday will debate the purchase of a house on Inland Lake, but it won’t be talking about a proposal to create an internal law department to cut costs on attorney’s fees.

16/07/2025

The market, a project of the Fountain Heights Cooperative, broke ground July 9 at 1201 16th St. N. Organizers say it will serve as a permanent space dedicated to food access, education and entrepreneurship in the historic Fountain Heights neighborhood.

The project is aimed at providing food access, education and entrepreneurship opportunities.

16/07/2025

“I think this is great. Southside is a disaster when it comes to parking and I’ll be glad to see it enforced,” said Councilor Valerie Abbott.

City councilors also approved ordinance changes to strengthen city’s parking enforcement efforts.

11/07/2025

“There will be a little bit different defense there,” County Attorney Theo Lawson said. “The law makes Commissioner Stephens one of the appointing authorities for the water board, as it currently stands. The commission, on the other hand, is not an appointing authority and has no role so there will be separate defenses."

The move is to represent the Jefferson County Commission president in a suit the city filed after the Legislature changed the makeup of the water works board.