Birmingham Mayor Undecided On When To Reopen City Economy
The city of Birmingham is working closely with Alabama health officials to determine when the city’s economy will reopen. At a press conference Tuesday, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin offered updates on the city’s fight against the coronavirus. Woodfin said it’s important for residents to continue following the stay-at-home order as local and state officials take the next steps to address the economic crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Woodfin was joined by Wesley Willeford, medical director of disease control with the Jefferson County Department of Health. Willeford said the number of new coronavirus cases is decreasing each day. He said that’s due to social distancing efforts and the work of the community, as residents limit interaction with each other.
“The best tool at our disposal is to starve the virus of an opportunity to cause infection,” Willeford says.
Woodfin touted the efforts of health care workers battling the coronavirus on the front lines. He also thanked grocery store employees, police officers, fire and rescue teams and public works employees.
The mayor also mentioned a dark side during the crisis. Woodfin said since the shelter-in-place ordinance took effect, the YWCA has seen a 50 percent increase in domestic violence calls.
“The shelter-in-place order does not mean you stay in your home and endure domestic abuse,” Woodfin said.
He urged anyone dealing with domestic violence to contact the YWCA at 205-322-HURT.
Woodfin said he will meet with state and local health officials this week to determine whether the city’s “shelter-in-place” order will be extended. The current order expires on April 30, the same day Alabama’s stay-at-home order is set to end.
Nancy Guthrie search enters its second week as a purported deadline looms
"This is very valuable to us, and we will pay," Savannah Guthrie said in a new video message, seeking to communicate with people who say they're holding her mother.
Immigration courts fast-track hearings for Somali asylum claims
Their lawyers fear the notices are merely the first step toward the removal without due process of Somali asylum applicants in the country.
Ilia Malinin’s Olympic backflip made history. But he’s not the first to do it
U.S. figure skating phenom Ilia Malinin did a backflip in his Olympic debut, and another the next day. The controversial move was banned from competition for decades until 2024.
‘Dizzy’ author recounts a decade of being marooned by chronic illness
Rachel Weaver worked for the Forest Service in Alaska where she scaled towering trees to study nature. But in 2006, she woke up and felt like she was being spun in a hurricane. Her memoir is Dizzy.
Bad Bunny makes Puerto Rico the home team in a vivid Super Bowl halftime show
The star filled his set with hits and familiar images from home, but also expanded his lens to make an argument about the place of Puerto Rico within a larger American context.
Japan’s Takaichi to pursue conservative agenda after election landslide
Japan's first female Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, brought the ruling Liberal Democratic Party its biggest-ever electoral victory, fueling her ambitions to pursue to a political agenda which she says could "split public opinion."
