Issues

Black Farmer Lawsuit

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Fall Break

The semester is half over and children have been hard at work. They’ve earned more than a weekend’s respite. At least, that’s the feeling of the nine Alabama school districts, including Jefferson and Shelby County, that have included a fall break in their school calendar for this year. It’s the third year for fall breaks […]

Economic Irony

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Watermelon 101

It’s an age-old puzzle. You’re standing in front of dozens of gorgeous watermelons…how do you choose the best one? The experts say there are two schools of thought on that… ‘You want one that’s not a bright, shiny green…’ ‘You pat on it, like that” ‘There’s a little stem, and when it turns brown it’s […]

World’s Longest Yard Sale

The grassy shoulders of the Lookout Mountain Parkway are littered with everything from furniture and electronics to handmade quilts and lawn ornaments. But the residents of the houses that dot this usually calm 2 lane highway are hardly complaining: Instead, they have set up concession stands to sell lemonade, polish sausages, and funnel cakes to […]

Youth Workforce Development

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Old Fashioned Market

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Sock Capital of the World

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Food Safety

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Scholar’s Bowl

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Alabama Bluegrass

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

If Money Grew on Trees

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Philanthropy: Venture Philanthropy

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Philanthropy: Transfer of Wealth

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Education Budget Cuts

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Child Care Crunch

Carol Pierson is a fighter. After escaping a violent marriage, she fought to get off welfare and find a good job at a local university. ‘I work in the human genetics department. I’ve been there a little over 2 years. I love my job. I enjoy working there.’ After taxes, health insurance and mandatory retirement […]

Carillon: The Bells of the Season

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

The Road Less Traveled

  The 94-mile highway known as Corridor X has been on the drawing board for three decades, but now, transportation officials say it is only a few years from being complete. For the small businesses ‘ the tiny mom and pop restaurants, hotels and service stations sprinkled along the old highway the interstate will parallel […]

For the Birds

On a quiet Sunday morning, the parking lot of the National Guard Armory is already filled with cars and vans and RVs, bearing tags as far away as Louisiana and Texas. A family reunion, maybe? Well, not exactly. The visitors who are flocking to this sprawling space are members of a unique subculture: bird enthusiasts. […]

Race for City Hall

With a record-setting number of candidates … 18 in all … many Birmingham voters say they’re having a hard time telling the players, even with a program. WBHM invited two local journalists who are covering the race to give us a perspective on what’s at stake for those seeking the mayor’s office and on the […]

Recycled/Remade: Folk Art at the BMA

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

40 Years of Civil Rights

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Election: The Numbers Game

UAB professor Larry Powell is ‘the poll guy’. When media outlets want to do a political poll ‘ more often than not they tap Powell for the job and ,boy, has he been busy these past few months! “Typically in politics the odd number years are off years, where you’re supposed to it back and […]

School Fees

Tatnisha McTerry and her kids have settled into the morning routine.10-year-old Detrick and 11-year-old Justin scrub their Michael Jordan tennis shoes till they shine. “It’s 6:55 boys! Six-55! You’ll be rushing to catch the bus in a minute.” McTerry is playing catch-up financially. Registering four kids for public school has made a real dent in […]

The Clean Air Quest

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Health South: A Non-Profit Reality

Gary Edwards is happy to forget the old building his organization -‘ United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Birmingham -‘ used to inhabit. “We’d probably been in that particular one for 30 years -‘ we held it together with duct tape. That was a part of town that was kinda changing.” That’s a polite way of […]

Buddhist Art in Birmingham

This week, at the Birmingham Museum of Art, this is what the art of patience sounds like… No, they’re not crickets. They’re ancient tools known as chakpus ‘ hollow, metal rods shaped like funnels. In the museum lobby, as onlookers come and go, seven Buddhist monks lean across a wide circular table, using the funnels […]

Civics 101

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Alabama Earthquake

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Alabama Quarter

  The US Mint has introduced the new Alabama quarter, with festivities at Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller, who is featured on the coin. Governor Bob Riley, former U.S. Senator Howell Heflin and former Miss America Heather Whitestone-McCallum joined U.S. Mint Director Henrietta Holsman-Fore for the recent festivities. Director Fore says, when completed, […]

The Black College Challenge

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama

Waste Not Want Not

NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama