A Good Economic Year for Birmingham but with a Caveat

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The end of the school year is coming quickly and those final report cards will be here soon. Birmingham received an economic report card of sorts last week from the Birmingham Business Alliance.  It’s where we start this week’s Magic City Marketplace. Birmingham Business Journal editor Cindy Fisher Crawford tells WBHM’s Andrew Yeager about the report from the BBA. It shows the metro area’s economy did better in 2014 than the year before.

 

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