Issues

Code Red

The Birmingham metropolitan area was placed under an air quality alert once again Wednesday for particle pollution, a code red for what officials say was a particularly dangerous situation: smoke coming from wildfires burning in Georgia and Florida. Winds have shifted and the smoke has moved out of the area -- for now.

Alabama lures steelmaker

German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp has chosen Alabama for a $ 3.7 (B) billion dollar steel mill that, at full capacity, is expected to employ more than 2,700 workers. The company says the plant will be built in northern Mobile County, near Mount Vernon. Completion of the project is expected in 2010.

Small Banks

As mega banks merge with other mega banks to form super mega banks, there's a counter-trend that may be somewhat surprising. Increasingly, career banking professionals are leaving the big guys to start their own community banks. Les Lovoy reports on how this phenomenon is changing the face of banking in Birmingham.

Chilton County Cold Snap

Farmers across the southeast are assessing damage from a weekend cold snap that caused temperatures to dip in the mid 20s in some areas. The fruit was further along in development because of an unseasonably warm weather March - and that means it was more susceptible to the cold. Many growers in Blount County say they suffered a complete loss. In Chilton County - home to Alabama's peach industry - the losses ranged from 30 to 80 percent of the orchards. WBHM's Tanya Ott spent some time in Clanton this weekend and filed this report.

Community College Controversy

Scandal is rocking Alabama's two-year college system. The problems first surfaced in 2004, when Former Governor Don Siegelman was tried on bribery charges alleging he funneled more than a half-million dollars through the state Fire College. Last year, the system's chancellor was dismissed for alleged mismanagement and nepotism. This week, suspicion spread to state lawmakers. WBHM's TAnya Ott reports.

Gadsden Auction Houses

When a city loses its main employer there's often a period of mourning, then an attempt to recover. In Northeast Alabama, one small city that used to be known for steel is making a name for itself in a business with a completely different image. WBHM's Tanya Ott reports.

Chevalier Burning Bright

Author Tracy Chevalier rocketed to fame after the publication of her slim, stark novel "Girl with a Pearl Earring". The book was about the creation of the Vermeer painting of the same name. It went on to become an Oscar winning movie. Chevalier's newest novel, Burning Bright , also deals with the creation of a work of art. But this time the artist is more obscure.

Steel Deal

At a time when U-S manufacturers are moving overseas for cheap labor and lax environmental codes, a giant German steelmaker plans to build the largest steel mill project the United States has seen in nearly two decades. ThyssenKrupp says it's narrowed the choice to a site in Mobile and another one near New Orleans. Both Alabama and Louisiana offer incentive packages believed to be worth more than one billion dollars, as WBHM's Tanya Ott reports.

Prison Arts and Education

The vast majority of people who are in prison will get out. Legally. And chances are, those inmates who were locked up won't be rehabilitated or prepared for re-entry into society. But some lockup programs are trying to tackle prison recidivism through education and the arts. Studies show that they?re working. WBHM's Steve Chiotakis looks at one particular program in Alabama that offers inmates the opportunity to learn while paying their debt to society. But it still has yet to win over some victims.

March Storms

March roared in like a lion across the Southeast and Midwest, bringing with it a band of bad weather. The system spawned several deadly storms that left a total of twenty people dead in Georgia, Missouri and Alabama -- including eight high school students in Coffee County.

VA Missing Hard Drive

Officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the FBI continue their investigation into a missing hard drive with more than 1.8 million patient and doctor names and sensitive information that went missing from the Birmingham VA Medical Center. The VA says it's notifying those who may be included in the records, is updating its security policy and - according to the Associated Press - is eliminating its research enhancement awards programs in Birmingham and other sites until tighter security standards are met. But criticism continues about the length of time it took the department to disclose the disappearance and the security issues. WBHM's Steve Chiotakis reports.

WBHM 30th Anniversary

In celebration of WBHM's 30th anniversary year, meet some of the people who were there during the station's early years. WBHM officially signed on at Sunday, December 5, 1976 at 1 p.m. In this interview Michael Krall talks to Les Myers, WBHM's first Music Director...

Tuskegee Doubts

America's first black fighter pilots - the Tuskegee Airmen - are credited with shooting down more than 100 enemy aircraft during World War II. But perhaps their biggest claim to fame was having never lost to enemy fire an American bomber that they were escorting. That's been the story for more than a half-century, but now a former airman and historian says he's uncovered records that disprove that claim. The assertion is causing a firestorm, as Tanya Ott reports.

The Bodon Family Secret

During World War II no one fought the Nazis longer than the Czechs. Even after Czechoslovakia was taken over by Hitler's Germany, the Czech's fought on; the resistance moving from havens in Poland to France and, eventually, to Britain. One UAB filmmaker's father was one of those fighters. The whole time he fought the Nazis, and for the rest of his life afterward, he was keeping an enormous secret.

Justin Brown

On November 17-18, guitarist David Starobin played contemporary music with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. One of the works is Paganini Variations by Poul Ruders. David Starobin spoke with WBHM's Michael Krall about the work.

The Secrets of Amarna

For more than eighty years King Tutankhamun (or Tut) has been the superstar of ancient Egypt. Tut's reign was only a short one, the pharaoh died while still a teeanger, but the glittering treasure found in his tomb captured imaginations the world over. All that gold has, for years, outshone one of the more astonishing bits of Egyptian history -- the Amarna heresy, which was sparked by none other than King Tut's father.

Campaign 2006: The Results

Election Day dawned on Alabama gray and rainy but, later, the skies cleared. The mixed bag of weather seemed to fortell the evening ahead for politicos across Alabama as Governor Bob Riley's 'big coattails' didn't appear to be quite long enough for a GOP sweep in the state.

Rethinking Violence: Is it a Disease?

The homicide rate in Birmingham is on the rise. A recent study ranked the Magic City as the 6th most dangerous city in the country. A group based in San Francisco is working to fight violence by taking a public health approach and treating it as a disease; they're bringing their message to Birmingham.

Race for Alabama Governor

Alabama voters cast ballots in a number of of local and statewide races Tuesday -- not the least of which is the governor's race. Incumbent Republican Governor Bob Riley finds himself in a face-off with current Lieutenant Governor Democrat Lucy Baxley.

Street Smart

Rush hour in the Birmingham-metro area now averages 6 hours per day. You've no doubt been caught in the gridlock either on 280 or I-65 or U.S. 31. From 1992 to 2002, the delay per traveler increased from 11 hours per year to 26 hours per year! But Gabriel Roth says there's a solution. He's the editor of a new book called 'Street Smart' that advocates 'privatizing' roads. You get your electricity and telephone service from private companies - why not transit? Roth explained the concept to WBHM's Tanya Ott.

General Wesley Clark

State and local Democrats have been spending time over the remaining weeks of this election cycle trying to bolster the party's image as being tough when it comes to national defense and offsetting attacks by Republicans - including President Bush - who say they are nothing but a party of 'Cut and Run' when it comes to Iraq. Helping in that effort was retired General Wesley Clark - NATO's Former Supreme Commander and a former presidential candidate - who was in Alabama over the weekend speaking on behalf of Democratic candidates.

Paying for Progress

It is a difficult place to be, in between fertile and fading. Urban areas - parts of Birmingham included -- that were once 'hot spots' are now 'not-so-much-spots'. Businesses have a hard time staying afloat because people have left or are shopping someplace else. But increasingly, developers see green in those places as local governments pony up to lure business back. As WBHM's Steve Chiotakis reports, tax incentives and infrastructure improvements are carrots in a new kind of economic development model.

North Korea Nukes

The U.S. and its allies have confirmed that North Korea has tested a nuclear weapon in the northern part of the country. Calling it a defense against invasion, the rest of the world looks warily on believing a nuclear North Korea puts other nations -- particularly those geographically close -- at risk. One Asian expert and UAB history professor, Dr. John Van Sant, tells WBHM's Steve Chiotakis that what complicates a diplomatic resolution is the history of bad blood - not only with the U.S., but with North Korea's neighbors.

Katrina: One year later

One year ago, Hurricane Katrina roared ashore the central gulf coast, killing hundreds, causing billions of dollars in damage and displacing more than a million people from New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. More than 3-thousand headed for the Birmingham area. Coordinators of one project went out and talked to those who fled, and WBHM's Steve Chiotakis talked to them about the project.

On the Line – education

Standardized testing... school overcrowding... teacher pay. WBHM's listener call-in program 'On the Line' tackled The State of Education in Alabama.

Mockingbird

She was a tomboy who would grow up to write one of the seminal novels of the 20th Century. Published in 1960, Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' catapulted her into fame -- a fame from which she made a hasty retreat. There's a new biography out about Lee and the creation of her only novel. WBHM's Rosemary Pennington spoke with the author, Charles J. Shields.

Faith-based Voting

It's been more than a year-and-a-half since the election of 2004, the campaign that brought moral values to the political lexicon. Polls showed a close race - and it was. But in exit surveys, a slim majority of voters said they chose to re-elect President George W. Bush because of moral issues - gays, abortion and integrity over his Democratic opponent, Senator John Kerry, who received votes for economic and foreign affairs issues. And that begs the question: does religion have a sustainable stranglehold on politics?

On The Line: Election 2006

On June 6th Alabama voters go the polls to choose candidates for Governor and vote on a Constitutional Amendment defining marriage. On Tuesday, May 30th, at 6:30 p.m. we took your questions and comments about the election, the legislature, and political reform.

Regions and AmSouth

Two Birmingham banking behemoths say they will join forces for a merging of equals. Regions and AmSouth Banks have announced that, in a 10 billion dollar deal, they will combine to create one of the nation's largest banks. The Regions name will stay, but the AmSouth name, some overlapping employees and bank branches will go. The city is still feeling the effects of the Wachovia purchase of Southtrust Bank a couple of years ago. WBHM's Steve Chiotakis spoke with a financial and banking analyst about what's ahead.

Howell Raines

Howell Raines says his leaving The New York Times was part of a long journey that brought him back to doing what he wants to do: write and fish. Over four decades, Raines climbed the print journalism ladder, starting in Birmingham and making his way to The Times. He tells WBHM's Steve Chiotakis that his new book, The One That Got Away, uses some scaley metaphors to highlight those turn of events.

Kenyan Student Group

UAB has a very visible international student population at the graduate level -- but increasingly, more undergrads are coming from other countries. And the largest group of foreign undergrads comes from - of all places - Kenya. WBHM's Roseanne Pereira spoke with UAB student Pauline Kamau about her efforts to bridge the divide between the US and the African nation.

International Women

Ever since September 11, 2001, enrollment of foreign graduate students in U.S. schools has been in decline. Until this academic year, when there was a slight uptick in the numbers. Foreign students play a vital role in higher education, particularly in some of the sciences, where they serve as researchers and instructors at higher rates than American-born students. The students are mostly male, and some bring with them families from their home countries. The transition to a new culture can be a challenge for many wives, as WBHM's Roseanne Pereira reports.