Birmingham City Council Ups the Minimum Wage
The Birmingham City Council’s agenda was long, but all anyone seemed to care about was what the minimum wage would be come Wednesday.
The council passed the initial minimum wage ordinance unanimously in August (Councilor Valerie Abbott abstained), but today, members were divided.
Councilors Kim Rafferty and Valerie Abbott voted against the ordinance. Abbott said she’d received multiple emails from business owners who were worried how they’d comply if the higher wage went in effect tomorrow.
“I think that that’s a little bit of a short notice for businesses in Birmingham to be told that they have to raise people’s wages on tomorrow,” Abbott said.
Abbott also cautioned about starting a fight with the Legislature.
Last year, Birmingham passed a stair-step raise in its minimum wage, with an eventual increase to $10.10 by 2017.
Then, last week, the Alabama House of Representative passed a bill that would stop cities in Alabama from raising their own minimum wages, and that bill is presently being debated in the Senate.
But Council President Johnathan Austin said he was up for it. He and other councilors argued the state should not be involved in local affairs.
“The Legislature is 100 percent in favor of states rights, yet they want to come in and dictate to this elected body, who we were elected by these citizens, what we do and how we govern ourselves,” Austin argued.
The ordinance passed with a six to two vote. But, the law department noted that the ordinance would not take effect until it was officially published, which could be later this week.
A proposed Bessemer data center faces new hurdles: a ‘road to nowhere’ and the Birmingham darter
With the City Council in Bessemer scheduled to vote Tuesday on a “hyperscale” data center, challenges from an environmental group and the Alabama Department of Transportation present potential obstacles for the wildly unpopular project.
Birmingham Museum of Art’s silver exhibit tells a dazzling global story
Silver and Ceremony is made up of more than 150 suites of silver, sourced from India, and some of their designs.
Mentally ill people are stuck in jail because they can’t get treatment. Here’s what’s to know
Hundreds of people across Alabama await a spot in the state’s increasingly limited facilities, despite a consent decree requiring the state to address delays in providing care for people who are charged with crimes but deemed too mentally ill to stand trial. But seven years since the federal agreement, the problem has only worsened.
Ivey appoints Will Parker to Alabama Supreme Court
Parker fills the court seat vacated by Bill Lewis who was tapped by President Donald Trump for a federal judgeship. The U.S. Senate last month confirmed Lewis as a U.S. district judge.
How Alabama Power kept bills up and opposition out to become one of the most powerful utilities in the country
In one of the poorest states in America, the local utility earns massive profits producing dirty energy with almost no pushback from state regulators.
No more Elmo? APT could cut ties with PBS
The board that oversees Alabama Public Television is considering disaffiliating from PBS, ending a 55-year relationship.
