Economy
How the Transgender Bathroom Bill Could Affect Business
One item soon to make its way through the Alabama Legislature is the bathroom bill. It’s officially known as the Alabama Privacy Act, and it’s believed to target transgender people. Sen. Phil Williams pre-filed the bill, which requires that an attendant be stationed inside mixed-gender bathrooms. On this week’s Magic City Marketplace, Ty West, editor of […]
Birmingham’s New Downtown Publix Attracts Residents Beyond the City Center
Publix opens its long-awaited downtown Birmingham store. It's a retailer that could have an impact beyond the city center.
Business Leaders Optimistic Lawmakers Will Reauthorize Historic Tax Credit
Birmingham Business Journal managing editor Stephanie Rebman discusses Alabama's lapsed historic tax credit and a new economic development plan for the state.
What Constitutes Downtown Birmingham?
Amidst all the talk about downtown Birmingham’s resurgence, there’s kind of a semantic assumption -- that we all mean the same thing when we say "downtown." Labels might not seem to matter much, but to marketers and real estate folks it does have an effect.
President Trump and Alabama’s Economy
We talk about what may happen for Alabama's economy under the Trump Administration in this week's Magic City Marketplace.
How Birmingham Stacks Up to Other Southern Metros
We explain how Birmingham compares to other southern metros in this week's Magic City Marketplace.
Trump’s Infrastructure Plan Might Not Benefit Alabama Much
In this week's Magic City Marketplace we hear why President-elect Donald Trump's infrastructure plan might not benefit Alabama that much.
What will 2017 Bring for Birmingham’s Economy?
The new year is just two days old but businesses are eager to see what 2017 brings. We talk about what is expected in the Birmingham area economy this year in Magic City Marketplace.
The Year Ahead for Transit in Birmingham
In this week's Magic City Marketplace, what to expect from Birmingham transit in 2017 and the effect of an interest rate hike on Birmingham banks.
What Trump Could Mean for the Steel and Coal Industries
We look at what a President Trump could mean for the struggling steel and coal industries.
Birmingham Expects a Boost from National Civil Rights Designation
What a national historic monument designation for Birmingham's Civil Rights District could mean for tourism
TopGolf Complex Coming Soon to Uptown
The Birmingham City Council this week cleared the way for construction of a proposed 65,000 square-foot Topgolf complex in Uptown. The council also approved a $1.5 million incentive package to be spread out over the next eight years.
Alabama Cattle Ranchers Hit Hard by Drought
After months of warm, dry weather, it did finally rain this week. But a few days of precipitation won’t erase months of drought. The lack of rainfall has crippled the state’s $2 billion cattle industry. The drought has forced ranchers to buy hay from out-of-state and if the dry weather persists this winter, things could get a lot worse for farmers and their herds.
How Birmingham is Doing Attracting Millennials
As Birmingham works to keep its post-recession economic rebound going, a part of that is Millennials. As these people born roughly between 1980 and 2000 enter the job market or advance in their careers, they’ll rent apartments, buy homes, spend money that will fuel future growth. So business leaders are keen to attract and keep Millennials in Birmingham. That’s where we start in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
What a President Trump Means for Business
President-elect Donald Trump won the election on a promise to make America the best place in the world to do business. But apart from backing away from trade deals, the specifics of what a Trump Administration would do for the business community are still unclear. We get a sense of what might be coming in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
A Birmingham/NASA Connection and Amendment 11
Alabama has a long history with space exploration thanks to the Marshal Space Flight Center and other NASA facilities in Huntsville. But Birmingham is taking a small step toward that space industry through a project at UAB. We hear about it along with Amendment 11, a ballot proposal economic development leaders want to see passed, in this week’s Magic City Marketplace
A Conversation with “Mr. Fred,” 86-Year-Old Learning to Read
Fred Oliver of Birmingham is 86 and a world traveler. He served in the Korean War, spent time in Japan, and has held more jobs than he can count. He loves to visit far-off places, but as we reported yesterday, his latest odyssey is close to home, at the Literacy Council of Central Alabama: he’s learning to read and write.
Fighting Adult Illiteracy, One Reader at a Time
Imagine not being able to read an email from your family. Or a job application. Or medication labels. How about a simple road sign? Adult illiteracy is a complex, stubborn problem. Based on conservative estimates, in the five-county area around Birmingham alone, there are more than 90,000 adults who have trouble reading and writing. There are almost as many reasons as there are people.
U.S. 280 Becoming a Second City Center
There’s been plenty of attention showered on downtown Birmingham for its building boom and growth in restaurants and attractions. But there’s another area that’s been expanding too into almost another economic hub. That’s the U.S. 280 corridor from Jefferson to Shelby counties. We talk about that in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
Alabama Leaders Hope to Land New Air Force Fighters
Earlier this year the Air Force declared its Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning 2 program combat ready. It’s been 23 years in the making and has suffered though shortcomings and budget issues. But with the fighters ready to take the sky, political leaders in Alabama are hoping to bring the program to this state and the economic benefits that come along with it. That’s in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
Birmingham’s Airport Struggles to add Airlines
When a New Orleans-based airline announced it was starting non-stop flights from that city to Alabama earlier this year, they announced those flights would come to Huntsville. It was a blow to Birmingham which had been under consideration. But it also speaks to the position Birmingham is in when it comes to attracting new airlines or flights. We talk about it in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
UAB, Private Groups Part of the Fight Against Breast Cancer
You may see more pink ribbons and other pink items in the next few weeks as October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. The UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of many operations working to fight breast cancer. We talk about that effort and how it overlaps with the business community in this week's Magic City Marketplace.
Downtown Birmingham’s Middle Income Housing Gap
Birmingham’s downtown has seen many new apartment projects go up with more on the way. Developers have been pretty clear they’re after the high-end apartment market. But not everyone who wants to live in the city center can afford those high rents. It’s creating something of a housing gap and we talk about that in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
Urban Dwellers Making a Push to Save Disappearing Honeybee
A quote about the honeybee made famous by an anonymous thinker states, “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left.” As ominous as that sounds it’s not far from true. Bees play an extremely important role in the production of crops and the […]
Lakeshore/UAB Partnership Spurs Disability Health Research
The 2016 Paralympics took place earlier this month. When that competition happens, the Birmingham-based Lakeshore Foundation often gets some attention. Lakeshore is a training center for Paralympic athletes. But it is also driving research around physical disabilities and technology. We hear about it in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
A Look at the Struggling Neighborhoods of Birmingham’s West Side
Communities like Ensley, West End and Fairfield were commercial hubs during the industrial heyday of the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Picture Not Quite as Rosy for Law School Grads
Law school graduates seem to be in an enviable position. They're on the way to a solid job with good pay and a prestigious career. That rosy picture though has tarnished somewhat. We hear about it in this week's Magic City Marketplace.
From CIA to United Way: Weld for B’ham on Diverse Agencies
This week, CIA Director John Brennan met with Birmingham City School students as part of a self-described crusade to make the agency more diverse. That’s one story in the latest Weld For Birmingham. Editor Nick Patterson joins us most Thursdays to discuss Weld's top stories. He tells WBHM’s Dan Carsen about Brennan's visit, and about Weld’s cover story on the United Way and area nonprofit groups.
Where Clinton and Trump Stand on Business Issues
We’re less than 60 days from the presidential election. It’s been a roller coaster of a campaign already between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. But there are issues beneath the headlines and we look at some of the issues of importance to the business community in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
Weld for B’ham on Living Beyond the Headlines, West of I-65
When you hear “Ensley,” or “Brighton,” or “West End,” what comes to mind? Many people who work, live, and raise families on the west side of Birmingham want you to know there’s more to life there than the crime and other problems that fill so many news reports.
What Birmingham’s Music Festivals Could Mean for Business
As Labor Day unofficially marks the end of summer, this week's Magic City Marketplace looks at why Birmingham's music festivals hold relevance for the business community.
Why Is It So Hard to Recycle Glass in Alabama?
Glass is a part of our daily lives. It’s in our refrigerators and our cabinets. We eat off it. We drink out of it. It’s everywhere. Everywhere but in our recycling bins, and that’s because the majority of waste services in Alabama don’t recycle glass. But that’s not the case at the Alabama Environmental Council’s […]
