News
Arc Stories: July 2015 Edition
Stories about how our families shape us, change us, and even surprise us — a man who joins his father to defend their home against an intruder; a young woman defends her sister and goes to unique lengths to avenge her; one man discovers his father was not who he thought he was, and one man’s entire […]
There is Never a Final Word on Barbecue, John Archibald
A Road Trip – Columnist John Archibald of the Alabama Media Group has almost finished his month of travelling the highways and two lane roadways of Alabama, writing a story a day from places, all over. He says he's learned a lot from people from all over in a redeeming trip with a lot of miles.
Pushing Middle-Schoolers All The Way Through College
Fewer reading materials in the home. Less access to camps or museums. Those are some reasons summer learning loss disproportionately affects low-income kids. And there are many in the South, which can hamper efforts to raise graduation rates. But in the second part of this Southern Education Desk series, WBHM’s Dan Carsen reports on “GEAR […]
Highlights From Issues and Ales: Concussions and the Price of Playing Football
In Alabama, football is a way of life. But after recent revelations about the dangers of football-related head injuries, players and parents are reconsidering their involvement. How are health concerns changing who plays football? How does it change the culture around football, and what will it mean for the future of the sport? Hear highlights from our Issues and Ales panel discussion, Issues and Ales: Concussions and the Price of Playing Football.
Summer’s Season Of Learning Can Impact Graduation Rates
National education leaders are trumpeting recent increases in high school graduation rates, yet about 20 percent of kids still dropout before completing high school. That number jumps significantly among the Southern poor in places like Alabama and Mississippi. And it costs money. Dropouts earn less and governments pay more to support them. One possible solution? Make summer a season of learning for students that could help them stay engaged and in school. Sherrel Wheeler Stewart kicks off the Southern Education Desk series on Summer Learning and its impact high school graduation.
Timber: Music That’s Haunting, Low and Easy
Timber is a collaboration between Janet Simpson and Will Stewart. Stewart, an Alabama native, is currently based in Nashville. A few years ago, he was working on an EP when Birmingham musician Les Nuby, (Verbena, Vulture Whale) suggested he get together with Simpson. Blame is the first single from Timber’s self-titled EP. Simpson describes the group’s sound as haunting, low and easy. Timber is part of Secret Stages 2015 – they play Friday, July 31st at 10:15 p.m. at the 20 Midtown Stage located at Pale Eddie's Pour House.
America’s Promise Alliance Focuses On Increasing Graduation Rates
When school bells next month signal the start of another year, millions will head back to class, but others who have dropped out will stay at home. Alma Powell, a Birmingham native and daughter of a former Parker High School principal, leads America’s Promise Alliance. This non profit is focused on increasing the nationwide high graduation rate to 90 percent.
Former Football Players Discuss Rule Changes and Concussions
At WBHM’s Issues and Ales: Concussions and the Price of Playing Football, Bobby Humphrey, former running back for the University of Alabama, the Denver Broncos, and the Miami Dolphins; and Reginald Greene, former offensive tackle for North Alabama and Florence, answers some audience questions that the panelists didn’t get to address in the discussion. Humphrey addressed how […]
Former UAB Quarterback Talks Concussions
At WBHM's Issues and Ales: Concussions and the Price of Playing Football, former UAB quarterback and NFL veteran Kevin Drake answered some audience questions that the panelists didn't get to address in the discussion. Drake is the program director for the Wise Up Initiative, and he says one of the biggest problems with concussions is that too many go under the radar.
Birmingham Companies Starting to Spend their Piles of Cash
After the recession many American companies were holding onto tons of cash. Birmingham companies were no different. But even with an improving economy, those reserves at Birmingham firms are still growing. We talk about it with Birmingham Business Journal editor Cindy Crawford in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
Parents Look to Headgear to Protect Soccer Players from Concussions
Football players suffer the highest concussion rates among athletes. But players of the "other football," soccer, also experience a notable number of concussions. It’s a sport where most players don't wear protective headgear. But that’s changing as parents look for ways to protect their kids.
The Thorny Issues of Alabama’s Black Belt
Alabama's Black Belt historically held the state's wealth. But now that cotton is no longer king, it's one of the most impoverished regions of the country. The Black Belt has beautiful antebellum homes, but those homes were built thanks to slavery. The contrast shapes how Alabama Media Group columnist John Archibald thinks about that part of the state. He's traveling Alabama this month and spent time recently in the Black Belt.
Taxes, Gambling, and the Special Session
Governor Bentley calls a special session and then it was promptly adjourned for three weeks. And Republicans face a choice between new taxes or gambling. Here to discuss this (and other news)is Kyle Whitmire. He’s the state political columnist for The Birmingham News and AL dot com
In Football Country, Concussions Spark A Parental Dilemma
More and more people are learning about the risks contact sports pose to the brain. So even here in football-loving Alabama, parents and young athletes are wrestling with a serious dilemma, one that could affect them decades later: to play or not to play. To help parents facing that decision, WBHM’s Dan Carsen got some […]
UAB Research Lab Hopes To Define Concussion Biomarkers
There’s been a spike in children under 19 visiting the emergency room with concussions. ERs saw a more than 50 percent increase between 2001 and 2009. Doctors say this could actually be a good thing, resulting in part from improved awareness of what a concussion is. But, perhaps surprisingly, there’s still a lot we don’t know about concussions, like how long they last or what all the long term effects are. A group of doctors at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who aim to change this.
New Technology Aims To Measure Concussion Risk In Athletes
Concussions can occur from head injuries while playing any sport where a player receives a blow to the head. And for years, hearing the crack of two helmets colliding or seeing a player crash to the ground headfirst, was the only way to determine if a player might have suffered a concussion. But that’s changing.
As Concussion Awareness Rises, Football Focuses on Safety
Summer is winding down, and for many student athletes, that means one thing: football. Practices are starting across the country. And now more than ever, there’s a focus on safety…especially preventing head injury and concussions. All this week, WBHM explores what this means for football in our state, and highlights homegrown research and scientific developments that could change the game forever.
Birmingham Financial Planners Try To Woo Millennials
There are more than 80 million of them, and one day they could be very rich. They're the Millennials, people born between 1980 and 1999. And while they're still early in their careers, the Birmingham Business Journal's Cindy Fisher Crawford says financial planners are trying to secure their business early. In the process, they're learning some surprising things about millennials money habits.
Carly’s Law Study: Patients On Marijuana Derivative Oil Report Progress
Last year, Alabama was the second state to legalize limited use of marijuana derivate, commonly known as CBD oil. Alabama’s Carly’s Law, is allowing doctors at the University of Alabama at Birmingham to study and prescribe CBD oil to select patients. CBD oil has only traces or no THC --the active ingredient in marijuana known to produce a high-and is changing the debate surrounding the use of use of marijuana as medicine. UAB’s study officially started this spring.
Vestavia Hills Board Of Education Votes To Keep Name, Change Mascot
Vestavia Hills High School has been catching a lot of heat for their name, “the Rebels” and their mascot, a caricature of an elderly Southern plantation owner. Several weeks ago, the public was given a chance to weigh in on the decision to keep the name and mascot or eliminate both. Last night, the Vestavia Hills Board of Education unanimously voted to keep the name, but not the mascot.
On the Road and A Haircut with John Archibald
Columnist John Archibald of the Alabama Media Group continues his sojourn across Alabama, finding interesting people and places - including a storied barber, a church that has taken a trip, and gluten-free soul food.
WBHM Visits YouthServe’s Urban Service Grad Camp
This morning, WBHM’s Rachel Osier Lindley and Michael Krall visited the first day of YouthServe, Inc.’s Urban Service Grad Camp to talk about storytelling. YouthServe is an organization that encourages leadership and volunteerism while empowering young people in Birmingham. Lindley and Krall led a session of YouthServe’s Advanced Mini Camp, which features key community issues and allows high […]
An International History of the American Civil War
Americans tend to think of the Civil War as a domestic conflict, as a war between brothers. But the war didn’t take place in a vacuum. It had great implications for the international community. University of South Carolina history professor Don Doyle examines the Civil War through an international lens in his book “The Cause of All Nations.” He spoke to WBHM’s Andrew Yeager.
Harper Lee Fans Have Mixed Feelings About New Book
Avid readers all over the country have been talking about Alabama author Harper Lee’s newly published book, Go Set a Watchman. The book, intended to be a sequel to Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, is supposed to be a sequel to the 1960 classic, but was actually written first. Critics Some writers mentioned in reviews […]
Debate Over Confederate Monuments, In Birmingham And Beyond
Before last months church shooting in Charleston South Carolina, which left nine African Americans dead, the suspect posed in pictures with the Confederate battle flag. On Friday, South Carolina removed the battle flag from statehouse grounds. And now other cities across the South, including Birmingham, are reexamining the way they honor that and other symbols of the Confederacy.
Growing Tech Startups Beyond Innovation Depot
Birmingham's Innovation Depot houses almost 100 startup businesses, and has an economic impact of more than $1.3 billion. But as these startups get ready to graduate from this business incubator, they're struggling to decide where to office next. We talk about it in this week's Magic City Marketplace. Birmingham Business Journal editor Cindy Fisher Crawford tells WBHM's Rachel Osier Lindley about how Innovation Depot helps grow business in the city.
INTERVIEW: Carsen & Lindley On Emotional Vestavia Mascot Meeting
Since the mass shooting by a white supremacist in Charleston, South Carolina last month, symbols like the Confederate flag have come under renewed scrutiny. In Vestavia Hills, it’s the high school’s rebel mascot — sometimes called Colonel Reb or The Rebel Man — that’s drawing national attention. WBHM’s Dan Carsen went to an emotional public […]
Despite BP Settlement, Alabama’s General Fund is Still Ailing
Alabama will receive 2.3 billion dollars over 18 years through a settlement with BP over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. One billion dollars of that settlement is to cover economic losses. Even though that money will go into the state’s general fund, Governor Bentley made it clear that there will still be special legislative session […]
On the Road with John Archibald
Summer is a time when people take off, hit the road, and step away from their usual routines. For the month of July, Alabama Media Group columnist John Archibald is doing just that. He’s traveling Alabama and going to a new place each day. Instead of his usual fare of politics, corruption, and hypocrisy, he’s writing about the people and characters he meets – people whose names aren’t usually in print.
Capacity Crowd Turns Out For Vestavia Mascot Forum
An emotional issue across the South and the nation came to a head in Vestavia Hills last night — the debate over symbols related to the Confederacy. The school board held a public forum, partly spurred by residents who want the system to drop its “Rebel” mascot. Listen above or read below. Under the text, […]
“Confederates in the Attic” Author On The Confederate Flag Debate
The South has been grappling with what to do about Confederate symbols since a gunman shot 9 people at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, last month. Tony Horwitz, a bestselling author and journalist, spoke with WBHM's Will Dahlberg about Confederate imagery, memorabilia and monuments, and whether the United States should collectively push these pieces of history aside.
Alabama’s Teacher Of The Year On Teaching, Common Core, Mascots And More
Vestavia Hills science teacher Jennifer Brown is Alabama’s 2015-2016 Teacher of The Year. The 16-year educator, who once wanted to be a professional basketball player, sits down with WBHM’s Dan Carsen to talk about her motivations and about controversial issues like Common Core, charter schools, standardized testing and Vestavia Hills City Schools’ “Rebel” mascot. But the […]
