News
Highway Tango
When it comes to trucking safety, Alabama has been hauling up the rear in most categories: fatal accidents, inspections, traffic enforcement, number of state troopers. Over the past five years, the number of fatal car-truck crashes has remained steady, averaging around 137 each year and a recent poll by truckers in Overdrive magazine ranked Alabama the worst in truck inspections. The state hasn't done much to change those statistics. That means it's a 'drive at your own risk' mentality on Alabama highways, for car and truck driver alike. WBHM's Steve Chiotakis takes a look at how drivers of four- and eighteen-wheeled vehicles mix and mingle on the roads, and what can happen when things get ugly.
Holiday Blues
While the Christmas season is often a time of great joy and happiness, it can also bring about feelings of gloom and depression. If you're feeling a touch of 'the holiday blues,' you're not alone. WBHM reporter Frank Thompson has more on this all-too-common seasonal phenomenon:
Babec’s Pacemaker
Most twenty-six year olds don't have to worry about heart problems unless they're a male gorilla pushing four hundred pounds. Babec, the Birmingham Zoo's senior silverback, is turning twenty-six but in the fall of 2005 it looked like he might not see another birthday. Babec was in the final stage of heart disease. While his illness was life threatening, it led to a scienitfic breakthrough -- Babec got a pacemaker. WBHM's Rosemary Pennington visited Babec to see how he's doing.
Lawyer Assistance Program
In a study of 105 professions, lawyers ranked number one in the incidence of depression. Male lawyers are two times more likely to commit suicide than the general male population. And substance abuse rates are also higher in the legal field than in many other fields. The stats are getting the attention of the Alabama Bar Association. Frank Thompson reports.
Phyllis’s Story
Last year a record number of Americans needed emergency shelter. While the Department of Housing and Urban Development is unveiling its masterplan to end chronic homelessness there are still millions of Americans needing help. In the latest installment of our Making Sense of Mental Health Project WBHM's Rosemary Pennington recently visited a Birmingham shelter where the majority of the residents have a mental illness.
Green Tea and Skin Cancer
There have been countless studies over the last few years touting the health benefits of drinking tea. Black tea appears to help prevent ovarian cancer while green tea is shaping up to be a potent weapon in the fight against several different cancers. WBHM's Rosemary Pennington recently spoke with a UAB researcher about a new study that ties green tea to skin cancer prevention.
Meth Bill
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed sweeping new policies on methamphetamine enforcement. But as Laura Strickler reports from WBHM's Capitol Hill Bureau the vehicle for the meth legislation - the Patriot Act - faces a rough road in the Senate.
Ten Days of Tibet
NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama
Asian Soybean Rust
Alabama farmers are almost done harvesting cotton, corn and soy - the state's big three agricultural commodities. This year many soy farmers are breathing a sigh of relief. It was the first growing season soy farmers had to watch for a devastating disease that has crippled crops in Asia, Africa and South America. John Sepulvado has the story of the scientists from Alabama and around the southeast who are working to fight Asian Soybean Rust spores.
Asperger’s Syndrome: the Kids
Aspergers Syndrome is a mental disorder that only recently has been widely identified. As the rate of diagnosis increases, parents of young children with Aspergers look for resources. Reporter Donna Francavilla profiles a new choice in Birmingham.
Flu Pandemic
Today in Washington, state and federal officials are meeting to hammer out a flu pandemic preparedness plan. President Bush's proposal earmarks more than $7 billion for vaccine research, preparedness and buying anti-virals. But some states, including Alabama, say it's not enough. WBHM's Tanya Ott reports.
World AIDS Day
More than forty million people the world over are living with HIV/AIDS with five million new infections this year alone. December 1st is World AIDS Day. Started in 1988 it is an international event which aims to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS issues. In this web excluse WBHM's Rosemary Pennington speaks with an AIDS educator about the day and the epidemic.
Mental Health & Workplace Productivity
Depression and anxiety tend to peak as the holidays approach, either because of the stress of the season or simply the weather, with seasonal affective disorder brought on by darker, gloomier days. A new review of previous studies finds that depression and anxiety exact an enormous toll on U.S. businesses.
My Uncle Danny
One-percent of the global population lives with schizophrenia -- a chronic, often disabling, brain disorder. The most common type of schizophrenia is 'paranoid schizophrenia'. Paranoid schizophrenics suffer from delusions and hallucinations. It's something WBHM's Rosemary Pennington knows a bit about; her Uncle Danny has lived with it for more than three decades.
Medicare D
Enrollment for Medicare/Part D kicked off this week with benefits to begin after the first of the year. But seniors have lots of questions about the plan. And there was one place in Birmingham that featured some answers. WBHM's Steve Chiotakis spoke with Cooper Green Hospital's project manager Mark Sussman about the 2005 Health Fair and all the new information coming out about the new prescription drug program.
House Budget & Mental Health Programs
The U-S House of Representatives passed its controversial budget early this morning, but it wasn't easy. WBHM's Capital Connection Correspondent Laura Strickler reports on how the budget would impact many programs in the state of Alabama, including mental health care.
The Gospel According to Anne
Anne Rice has a rabid following; readers who've come to love her tales of vampires, witches and others 'outsiders'. But her days of writing about them are over. Rice is embarking on a new direction -- one that some think is a departure for the author. Rice talked with WBHM's Rosemary Pennington about the shift.
Special Education
Walk into any classroom in America - and chances are there'll be at least one special education student. You may not be able to pick him or her out of the crowd. His disability could range from dyslexia or attention deficit disorder to cerebral palsy. It used to be these students were segregated from the general school population, but legal changes beginning in the mid-1970s brought special education students into regular classrooms. It used to be called 'mainstreaming', but today's buzzword is 'inclusion.' Parents fought hard for it, but as WBHM's Tanya Ott reports - despite significant gains they say it's still a battle.
Overcoming Schizophrenia
These days, doctors who treat mental illness have an unprecedented variety of effective new medications from which to choose. That's the good news. The bad news is that finding just the right medication, and the right dosage, for each patient often involves a frustrating period of trial and error. But once that perfect combination is found, the improvement can be both sudden and dramatic, as in this story by reporter Dale Short.
Anne Fadiman
The Hmong population have been emigrating to the United States for decades, basically forced to leave Laos after the Vietnam War because of their anti-Communist stand with the West. Over the years, they settled in different pockets around the country -- mainly northern California and the upper Midwest. And that's caused a culture clash in some communities, a clash that author Anne Fadiman describes in the book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. WBHM's Steve Chiotakis spoke with Fadiman about the book and the little known-Hmong people and why many were forced to come to America in the first place.
Super Outbreak of ’74
NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama
Remembering Rosa Parks
She's being remembered as the 'mother of the civil rights movement.' Rosa Parks died at her home in Detroit of natural causes at the age of 92. Fifty years ago, while living in Montgomery, she defied an order to give her seat up for a white man. She was arrested and a bus boycott ensued. WBHM's Steve Chiotakis spoke with the Reverend Abraham Woods, president of the Birmingham chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He says Parks deserves her place in history for standing up by staying seated.
Teen Depression Study
It is a puzzle many mental health professionals are working to solve: What comes first in teenagers — depression or risky behavior? The findings of a new study show the two certainly go hand-in-hand, but depressed teens may not be using drugs to self-medicate. In fact drug use and sex may actually be causing depression […]
Young Zombies in Love
Zombie themes are very popular right now - and not just because of Halloween. There's been a resurgence in Zombie movies, including the locally produced hit Hide & Creep. And this weekend, Birmingham Southern College takes the genre to the stage, with a play called Young Zombies in Love. WBHM's Tanya Ott spoke with BSC's Theater director Michael Flowers about the play.
Poverty
NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama
Lemony Snicket
For several years now fans have followed the story of the Baudelaire orphans. The latest and 'last before the last installment' in the Lemony Snicket 'Series of Unfortunate Events' has just hit bookstore shelves. There's been a lot of speculation as to the fate of the Baudelaires. WBHM's Tanya Ott spoke with Lemony Snicket's 'handler' -- Daniel Handler -- in hopes of clearing up some of the mystery. Judge for yourself whether it worked!
Birmingham: Open for Business
Thousands of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita evacuees have made their way through Birmingham in the last month, and now the city is considering rolling out the welcome mat even more aggressively. WBHM's Tanya Ott reports.
Asperger’s Syndrome: Nathan’s Story
In 1944, researcher Hans Asperger published findings of a study of several young boys who demonstrated normal intelligence, autistic-like behaviours, and marked deficiencies in social and communication skills. The condition came to be known as Asperger's Syndrome, and after the original study was translated and re-published in 1994, more and more people began being diagnosed with Asperger's. In the latest installment of our Making Sense of Mental Health series, Reporter Donna Francavilla examines what Asperger's Syndrome is and takes us to one of the newest facilities in nation to treat the condition..
Boarding Home Inspections
Hundreds of people with mental illness live in boarding homes scattered across the Birmingham metro area, and starting this week, there's effectively no inspection program to make sure those homes are clean and safe. As part of our continuing series, Making Sense of Mental Health, WBHM's Tanya Ott spoke with Shannon Weston, executive director of NAMI Alabama and Dr. Tom Hobbs, co-chairman of the blue ribbon committee tasked with finding a solution to the problem.
Hurricane Ruins Convention Business
NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama
Black Belt Poverty
NPR News and Classical Music for North Central Alabama
Post-Herald Last Edition
Afternoons in Birmingham just won’t be the same anymore — that’s because the Birmingham Post-Herald is no more. Publisher E-W Scripps Company says it just can’t afford to keep the paper running. In a letter to Post-Herald staff Scripps CEO Kenneth Lowe says, quote “Paid circulation of the Post-Herald has declined to … a level […]
