News
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.
Latino Mental Health
The immigration protests in Birmingham and around the country have put a very public face on what has traditionally been a very private community. If you ask activists, they'll tell you many Hispanics have been isolated from mainstream society because of cultural reasons -- Fear of authority, language barriers, along with strong -- and sometimes isolating -- family bonds. That's also why domestic violence is such a difficult problem for the community, according to mental health experts working with immigrated hispanics. We sent John Sepulvado into the community to find out what's being done to curb abuse in Latino households.
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.
Technology and Trademarks
According to recent surveys, more than two-thirds of Americans have some sort of online access, whether at home or at work, and that means a wealth of information...and prose...and pictures...and art is available to anyone who seeks it. And that's creating a whole new world of problems in trademark and copyright realms. Now, intellectual property laws aren't something most of us spend much time thinking about as we tool around the web, but a new bill before Congress could change all that. WBHM's Steve Chiotakis explains, or, tries to explain.
Hurricane Katrina: Asian-American’s Mental Health
The plan for crisis counselors is almost always the same: get in -assess -and refer. Some joke they're the commandos of the mental health world, running to the front lines to help people who are trapped by really bad circumstances. And in South Alabama, that bad circumstance was Hurricane Katrina. Most counselors say they've been successful in helping people that need or want care -- As long as you don't count the Asian Community.
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.
Peace in the South
Immigration reform rallies across the country continue to attract thousands of marchers-drawing comparisons to the civil rights movement in the 50s and 60s and anti-Vietnam war rallies just a few years later. While attention to immigration issues has escalated in recent weeks, anti-war rallies have faded to the background. WBHM's Roseanne Pereira met up with peace activists from Birmingham to see firsthand how the peace movement is faring in the South.
Autism & Diet
The numbers continue to astonish. More than a half million Americans are diagnosed with some form of Autism. The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in 166 children have the disorder. Some say special diets can help a child recover, even lead to a reversal of diagnosis. Donna Francavilla explores this controversial issue.
Home Mental Health Care
Each year millions of family members find themselves caring for the physical needs of a loved one at home. Often times, it can be frustrating, time consuming and confusing. However, if that family member also suffers from a mental illness, those feeling are magnified, and you can add frightening, bewildering and hopeless. Historically, the primary caregiver feels alone, with no one to talk to, no place to turn. But as Les Lovoy reports, there is hope for both the patients, and the primary care givers.
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.
Domestic Abuse and Mental Illness
Although the term 'domestic violence' is a fairly modern one, the dark secret of such abuse has affected families throughout human history...and no country, or culture, or socio-economic group is immune. But while the problem remains, one aspect of it -- the secrecy -- has changed dramatically in recent years, as Dale Short reports.
Making Sense of Mental Health: Rebecca’s Story
Women with Turner's Syndrome live with symptoms including infertility, depression and health problems, such as brittle bones and heart ailments. Rebecca Shaney wasn't diagnosed with Turner's until she was 28, and ever since she's had a hard time finding a job. She shares her experience through an audio diary...
The Pentecostal Century
The last 50 years have seen an explosive spread of pentecostal and charismatic religion around the world. Former University of Alabama at Birmingham history department chairman David Harrell has studied and written extensively about the trend. He's on the UAB campus this week sharing his observations with students and WBHM's Tanya Ott. Click here to hear
From BSC to Saturn’s Moon
The scientific world is abuzz about the possibility of liquid reserves on a moon of Saturn. Research published in the journal Science documents Yellowstone-like geysers spewing from the moon. Birmingham-Southern College physics professor Duane Pontius was part of the research team that made the discovery.
Making Sense of Mental Health: On the Line
Underlying many of Alabama's societal challenges, from homelessness to prison overcrowding to school failure to unemployment, is undiagnosed or mistreated mental illness. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that only one-third of Americans with mental health problems get care. Monday, March 13th, WBHM will conclude our year-long special project Making Sense of Mental Health with a live call-in program. We'll talk to mental health experts and consumers, and we'll take your phone calls.
Whose Orders at abu Ghraib?
Internet news service Salon.com reports that the Deputy Chief of Staff for Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers has been reprimanded for his role in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. Christopher Brinson is also U.S. Army Reserve Captain Christopher Brinson and served as supervisor for many of the accused officers and soldiers stationed at the now-infamous and soon-to-be closing Abu Ghraib. WBHM's Steve Chiotakis spoke with national affairs reporter Mark Banjamin about the story.
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.
The Learning Game
It's always seemed like a game to get children to learn. But the trend inside the classroom has been moving away from the traditional 'lecture and retain' methods and more toward educational programs that kids are likely to be interested in. Many of today's computer programs feature games that inspire competition and success. And that seems to be teaching a lesson to adults, as WBHM's Steve Chiotakis reports.
Alabama Church Fires: Community Reaction
State and federal investigators continue sifting through the rubble of ten Alabama churches, looking for clues of who set them ablaze. Meantime, rumors are starting to circulate amongst residents in Alabama's rural towns, as WBHM's Tanya Ott reports.
Alabama Church Fires
Hundreds of state and federal investigators are working in Alabama to find the person or people responsible for a string of church fires through the central part of the state. So far, 9 churches have burned. Five are confirmed arsons, and investigators say the other four have similar M.O.'s. WBHM's Tanya Ott is following the story.
Katrina: Kids Mental Health
Thousands of Mississippi and Louisiana school kids remain in Alabama - displaced by Hurricane Katrina. And while the flurry of newspaper and television stories about storm victims has largely died down, mental health workers say there's still a lot of work to do to help children regain a sense of normalcy. WBHM's Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith reports.
Root Shock
Clean-up and rebuilding efforts continue across regions of the hurricane-wracked Gulf Coast. As expected, the mental health needs of evacuees are a big concern, especially as reports surface about surging suicide rates in the affected areas. The ordeal has left invisible, but long-term emotional scars on many survivors, as reporter Dale Short explains.
Women Leaders
The Black Belt of the Deep South got its name from the dark, rich soil, that made cotton king and fueled the institution of slavery. Today the area remains predominantly African American. It's also one of the poorest regions in the nation. One group in Alabama believes it can change the economics of the Black Belt - by getting more women into leadership positions in the state. WBHM's Tanya Ott explains.
Remembering a Soldier: Stephen White
Talladega, Alabama, has laid to rest its first soldier to die in Iraq. Sergeant First Class Stephen White and four other soldiers died January fifth in Najaf when a roadside bomb destroyed the HumVee they were riding in. His death hit his family and community particularly hard, because White was a 20-year veteran who had planned to retire. From member station WBHM in Birmingham, Tanya Ott reports.
Autism: Treatment
Autism is one of the most heart-breaking childhood disorders. It's characterized, in part, by severe social withdrawal and sensory intolerance. Thirty years ago, one in 10,000 children were diagnosed with autism; today, it's fewer than one in a thousand. Experts agree that some children can be helped if you catch the disorder early, but they're not so unified on the best methods. Karen Brown continues a two-part series - focusing today on treatment for autism.
Autism: Diagnosis
More children are being diagnosed with autism than ever before. Recent journal studies show rates three to four time higher than 30 years ago. As researchers ponder reasons for the trend - some say it's greater awareness, others blame environmental factors - parents and doctors are learning to pick up the early signs of autism... and debating when it's appropriate to make the diagnosis. Karen Brown reports.
