Posts by Will Blakely

Birmingham Water Works is hiring another public relations firm, but a spokesperson said it wouldn't add to the approximately $200 million budget already approved for fiscal year 2023.

Around 30 train cars derailed early Thursday morning from a Norfolk Southern Railway in Calhoun County, just as the railroad company’s CEO apologized to Congress for the devastating derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which resulted in over a million pounds of toxic chemicals potentially being spilled.

The University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) is in the top 1% of “public, private and international organizations” funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), according to a press release from the university.

March is Women’s History Month, and the University of Alabama has booked a keynote speaker whose tenure as CEO of an anti-sexual harassment nonprofit ended when she privately consulted with former Democratic N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo amid the sexual harassment accusations levied against him. 

On Tuesday, 1819 News approached Pelham Mayor Gary Waters at a Pelham City Council meeting to ask about the city's plans if Live Nation chooses to move forward with a deal that would result in them managing a new amphitheater in North Birmingham instead of Pelham's Oak Mountain Amphitheatre. 

University of Alabama YAF to welcome Mike Pence in April.

Over 1,000 large corporations received bias ratings from a nonprofit organization seeking to determine how hostile the companies were to particular viewpoints. One Alabama-based corporation was labeled “medium risk.”

If passed this legislative session, a new bill in the Alabama House of Representatives would allow beneficiaries of the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) and the Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) to earn a salary of as much as $52,000 a year while still receiving retirement benefits.

As the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) hears a challenge to President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt for millions of borrowers across the United States, some economists say easy-to-obtain student loans from the federal government may be the cause of the problem in the first place.

The Pelham City Council elected to approve a road widening project for Amphitheater Road, which leads to the Oak Mountain Amphitheatre, even as the plan for Live Nation to manage a new amphitheater in North Birmingham instead seems to be coming to fruition.

A women’s studies class at the University of Alabama (UA) potentially made tens of thousands of dollars for the gender and race studies department by charging students over $95 for a textbook full of materials available elsewhere for free.

A Troy University communications official responded to questions on Friday related to the university’s recent closure of its Confucius Institute, an educational institution connected to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The Birmingham City Council has set several legislative priorities for 2023 aimed at making it easier for the city to take control of certain pieces of property around the city.

Earlier this week, several media outlets reported on graduation statistics from the Alabama Department of Education, which showed graduation rates falling below 90% in the state for the first time since 2018.

Troy University has closed its Confucius Institute, a controversial educational institution with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

Two Democrat mayors of Alabama cities co-authored an article in Times Magazine on Monday urging the Supreme Court to approve President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt for billions of borrowers across the United States, which federal officials estimate would cost the country a total of $300 billion over the next 10 years.

The task force is recommending an array of policies, including adding a salary history ban, offering incentives to conduct equal pay audits, using tax credits and COVID funding to expand childcare and more. 

Law enforcement arrested a Dekalb County School District high school soccer coach on Monday on charges of engaging with a student under the age of 19.

The Tuscaloosa area may be the most fraud-laden metro area in the country, according to statistics from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The Alabama Republican Party (ALGOP) passed a resolution supporting legal efforts to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and bureaucracies and mandatory diversity training in public universities and other public institutions. 

Troy University’s Johnson Center for Political Economy and the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) hosted a panel on Thursday afternoon to discuss exactly how free Alabama is. 

BIRMINGHAM — The Alabama GOP (ALGOP) held leadership elections during the party’s winter meeting at the Sheraton Hotel on Saturday morning.

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) announced the award for financially struggling Birmingham-Southern College of $500,000 in federal money earlier this week for the school's "experiential learning and civic engagement student initiatives" and suggested that lawmakers should use public funds to bail out the private college.

State legislators have consistently insisted the state can't afford to permanently cut income taxes, much less eliminate them altogether. Lawmakers have also strayed away from reforming the state’s retirement system, even as it reported negative returns in 2022. One economist says they’re all wrong.

In 2018, London-based entertainment company TVG Hospitality began working with the City of Huntsville to construct a new $40 million 8,000-seat music venue, The Orion, which opened in May 2022. 

Birmingham Water Works may be looking to automate meter readings after a year of chaos in the utility due to meter reading issues, which the utility attributed in part to labor shortages.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Saks) urged the Biden administration to deploy “additional nuclear forces” and speed up innovations in the country’s nuclear technologies only days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his country’s withdrawal from its nuclear treaty with the United States.