September 3 Morning News
September 3, 2012, Morning News
A group of Bessemer residents wants their courthouse to stay open. The Birmingham News reports that the group called “Saving Bessemer” plans to meet tomorrow morning on the steps of the local justice center to let their views be known. Jefferson County officials are considering the possibility of moving the courthouse to an empty mall. But the group wants the courthouse to remain in downtown Bessemer.
U.S. Steel and the United Steelworkers have reportedly reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract covering more than 16,000 workers at domestic facilities, including one in Fairfield, Alabama. U.S. Steel says the talks covered health care for retirees and other issues. The union says members will vote after reviewing details over the next few weeks. The two sides had been negotiating since June on a contract to replace the existing pact, which expired Saturday.
It’s been 81 years since nine black teenagers were convicted of raping two white women, one of whom later recanted her story. But only one of the nine Scottsboro Boys (pictured above) was pardoned of his rape convictions before the men died. Now a push is on by the Scottsboro Boys Museum and others to make sure that happens for the other eight. Governor Robert Bentley says he would like to see a pardon, but state law doesn’t allow him to issue them. The state parole board says its rules don’t allow posthumous pardons. Two legislators are working on resolutions saying the state considers the names of the Scottsboro Boys cleared.
Visitors to some Civil War anniversary events are hearing another long-silenced sound amid the cannon fire. It’s music from 19th-century minstrel shows, performed not in blackface but in uniform. Some re-enactors have formed camp bands to play music that soldiers enjoyed hearing around battlefield campfires. Groups such as the 2nd South Carolina String Band pride themselves on their accurate impressions — right down to the exaggerated black dialect of songs with inescapably racist overtones. The musicians say they don’t mean to offend. Critics say they should help listeners understand how the demeaning songs also helped popularize the banjo, an instrument with African roots.
Supreme Court appears likely to uphold state bans on transgender athletes
To date, 27 states have enacted laws barring transgender participation in sports.
Scott Adams, the controversial cartoonist behind ‘Dilbert,’ dies at 68
Adams announced in May that he was dying of metastatic prostate cancer. Thousands of newspapers carried his strip satirizing office culture from the '90s until a controversy in 2023.
As Iran’s protests continue, Israelis and Palestinians watch closely
There is broad support for the protests among Israeli officials, but Palestinians say they hope the Iranian regime stays in place and the protests die down soon.
The EPA is changing how it considers the costs and benefits of air pollution rules
The EPA won't consider the economic costs of harms to human health, at least for now. Legal and health experts are concerned that the change could make it easier for the agency to roll back rules.
California fire victims say fighting with insurance companies has delayed rebuilding
Wildfires last January destroyed communities around Los Angeles. Homeowners say recovery has been slowed by fights with insurers to get their claims paid.
‘Fly, Wild Swans’ is Jung Chang’s painfully personal tribute to her mother
A historian of modern China, Jung Chang turns the lens back on herself in her newest book to understand how she sees the world and why she writes about China today.
