Issues
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.
Student Docs Debut
Documentary films are becoming increasingly popular in the United States. The big story at last year's box office, a documentary about penguins. UAB students are currently unveiling their forays into the format -- which include stories about Birmingham's Muslim community and one Native American group's struggle to retain its culture.
Lobbying the Statehouse
From 1995 to 2004, companies and special interest groups spent nearly a billion dollars lobbying state legislators... and that number may actually be much higher, because eight states don't track overall spending on lobbying. Alabama is one of those states - -and try as they might, critics have been unable to pass legislation that would require more reporting on lobbyist efforts. WBHM's Tanya Ott reports.
Pardoning Rosa Parks
Alabama Governor Bob Riley has signed into law a bill that will pardon, if asked, civil rights pioneers who were arrested for violating segregation-era laws. Before the bill passed in the final hours of the regular legislative session, there was debate in the African-American community over whether those arrested did anything wrong. WBHM's Steve Chiotakis reports.
Marilynne Robinson
Marilynne Robinson's second novel, Gilead, is written in the form of a letter from a 76-year old Congregationalist minister to his young son. Gilead is a meditation on family relationships, religion, and finding meaning in life. Robinson's visit coincided with the selection of Gilead for the Mayor's Book Club of Vestavia Hills. She spoke with WBHM's Roseanne Pereira.
Legislative Review and Preview 2006/04/18
Lawmakers have wrapped up their annual regular session of the legislature with budget money, tax cuts and reform and other monetary, policy and social bills that have been debated and passed. Others, including a death penalty moratorium and abortion ban, have failed.
David Broder
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and columnist David Broder has been an 'inside-the-beltway' observer for more than 40 years, working much of his career at The Washington Post. Broder was in Birmingham as part of a lecture series and forum agreement that the Post just initiated with Samford University. Lately, among other issues, he's been keeping up with the latest news from Iran and that country's proclamation that it is now a member of the group of nuclear nations with its enriched uranium program.
No Child Left Behind: Year 4
No Child Left Behind has been on the books now for four years and the jury is still mixed on its success. A new study released this week by the non-profit independent group Center on Education Policy finds that NCLB, as it's known, is having a significant impact on students and educators. On the one hand, schools are more effectively using test data to adjust teaching. At the same time, though, they're reducing instructional time in other subjects to make more time for reading and math.
Bibb County resolve
Authorities have made three arrests in the spate of fires that've befallen churches in parts of rural Alabama. 19-year old Ben Moseley, 19-year old Russell Debusk and 20-year old Matthew Lee Cloyd, all college students in the Birmingham area, face conspiracy and arson charges. But while investigators were trying to find the culprits, life went on in rural Bibb County - where half of the fires occurred. Many residents told WBHM's Steve Chiotakis that the crimes brought a new resolve to churchgoers.
