Birmingham Pursues Two Federal Agencies to Fill Downtown Building
The former Liberty National Building has sat vacant since 2010. Now the City of Birmingham is hoping it can draw two government agency headquarters to the Magic City and breathe new life into that building. It could also bring 600 new jobs. Birmingham Business Journal reporter Brent Godwin wrote about the city’s effort and spoke with WBHM’s Andrew Yeager.
Interview Highlights
What agencies are involved:
“The two [U.S. Department of Agriculture] entities are the National Institute of Food and Agriculture … and the Economic Research Service … Their leases are expiring soon in D.C. and so they put out a bid looking for a new spot and that’s what Birmingham is going after.
“From Birmingham’s standpoint it [makes] a ton of sense. So much of the state of Alabama, businesses [are] agriculture related. It ticks a lot of boxes for us and it could tick a lot of boxes for them as well.”
What landing these headquarters would mean for downtown Birmingham:
“You’re going to hear this a lot in the business community is we need the density of jobs. We need the vitality that comes from having multiple large employers. And that’s something that has been lacking even as Birmingham has so much going on. So this would really add to that. Especially if it were to land at the Liberty National building, that would obviously be significant for downtown in bringing a tall, very recognizable building back to life from it’s current state where it’s just been vacant.”
When the project might happen:
“We are not really sure when the USDA is set to make its decision, but they have indicated timelines that they’d like to be somewhere by fall of 2019. So if you think about how long those processes take, that’s actually a pretty short timeline, so we could know something fairly soon, maybe by the end of the year.”
Mass trial shines a light on rape culture in France
A harrowing and unprecedented trial in France is exposing how pornography, chatrooms and men’s disdain for or hazy understanding of consent is fueling rape culture.
What’s your favorite thing about fall?
With cooler mornings and shorter days, if feels like fall is finally here. So what’s your favorite thing about fall? We put that question to people at our recent News and Brews community pop-up in Cullman.
Teammates LeBron and Bronny James make history as the NBA’s first father-son duo
The Jameses, who both play for the L.A. Lakers, shared the court for several minutes on the NBA's opening night. They join a very small club of father-son teammates in American professional sports.
After John le Carré’s death, his son had the ‘daunting’ task to revive George Smiley
Nick Harkaway grew up hearing his dad read drafts of his George Smiley novels. He picks up le Carré's beloved spymaster character in the new novel, Karla's Choice.
When Steamboat goes WHOOSH, scientists look for answers
What triggers geysers to go off is still not well understood. A new paper shows that one small earthquake likely triggered an eruption of the world's tallest active geyser, Steamboat.
Trump’s ex-chief of staff warns his former boss would rule like a ‘fascist’
John Kelly is one of several Trump-era White House officials to publicly criticize their former boss, arguing that Trump is not fit to hold office again.
