Magic City Marketplace
A Strong Year for Birmingham’s Private Companies
Many of Birmingham’s private companies had a great 2014 with sales up at the largest 100 companies a collective 77-percent. Two-thirds also added employees. Those numbers came from a Birmingham Business Journal survey and we talk about what sparked the increase in this week’s Magic City Marketplace. The newspaper’s editor Cindy Fisher Crawford tells WBHM’s Andrew Yeager about the reasons for these firms growth.
The Affordable Care Act and the Healthcare Business, Five Years Later
When the Affordable Care Act was signed into law five years ago, people expected it to dramatically change the healthcare landscape. So how has Birmingham -- the medical epicenter of Alabama -- fared? That’s where we start this week’s Magic City Marketplace. Birmingham Business Journal editor Cindy Fisher Crawford tells WBHM’s Rachel Lindley how the Affordable Care Act’s hit hospital’s bottom lines.
The Decline of Bank Branches
Banking, like many industries, has seen technology-driven disruption. The latest victim of change is the neighborhood bank branch. With people writing fewer checks and many bank services available through a smart phone, demand for a brick-and-mortar building is dropping. We talk about that in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
Community Involvement in a Possible Return of UAB Football
UAB President Ray Watts is expected announce by June first whether to bring back the university’s football, bowling and rifle programs. It’s a decision that many students and alumni have an interest in. The business community is watching too. We talk about it in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
UAB and the Alabama System Board of Trustees
UAB football boosters are waiting on a June first deadline to hear whether school leaders will reinstate its football program. But university president Ray Watts’ decision to cut the football, rifle and bowling programs in December sparked a larger conversation about whether the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees exerts too much influence over the Birmingham campus. It may be an education matter, but the business community is weighing in too. We talk about it in this week's Magic City Marketplace with Cindy Fisher Crawford. We'll also hear about a wave of hotel development in Birmingham's city center.
A Good Economic Year for Birmingham but with a Caveat
The end of the school year is coming quickly and those final report cards will be here soon. Birmingham received an economic report card of sorts last week from the Birmingham Business Alliance. It’s where we start this week’s Magic City Marketplace. Birmingham Business Journal editor Cindy Fisher Crawford tells WBHM’s Andrew Yeager about the report from the BBA. It shows the metro area’s economy did better in 2014 than the year before.
Small Alabama Banks Move to Birmingham
Birmingham has seen some big names in banking from Wells Fargo to PNC to come into the city in the last decade. But it’s also attracting small banks from around Alabama who hope to gain a foothold in the city. We hear about that, changes to Medicare and a bike sharing program comes to Birmingham in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
Golf Courses Struggle to Stay Above Par
Drive by a country club now that the weather is warmer and you’ll likely see people taking in a round of golf. However the number of people who choose to do that has been steadily dropping over the last 10 to 15 years. That’s forced a couple of Birmingham country clubs to close and the others to look to a new strategy. We hear about it in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
Potential Changes to State Incentives
When it comes to attracting new or expanding businesses to Alabama, incentives are a tool state leaders say can make the difference. However, Alabama has been falling behind its southern neighbors when it comes to incentives. A bill in the legislature would make changes to that and we talk more from Birmingham Business Journal editor Cindy Fisher Crawford in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
Women, Manufacturing and Job Opportunities in Alabama.
Picture a factory worker and you might imagine a gruff man, covered in dirt working the line. That's not the reality for manufacturing today, but the industry is male dominated. And with Alabama a manufacturing-heavy state, that affects opportunities for women. We talk about that in this week's Magic City Marketplace.
A Snapshot of the Convention and Event Business
Birmingham did not win the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Nor has it hosted an NCAA basketball tournament game in years. But players in Birmingham's tourism and convention industry are working to keep a steady stream of events through the city. We have a snapshot of that industry in this week's Magic City Marketplace.
Magic City Marketplace: A Long Time Coming
Much has been written about the investment and nightlife along Second Avenue North in Birmingham as a sign of the city center's rising fortune. But the area's comeback isn't just a post-recession story. And it's one economic development leaders hope isn't done. We talk about that in this week's Magic City Marketplace.
Magic City Marketplace: Hospitals Set to Merge
Hospitals around Birmingham are preparing for a major shift in the healthcare marketplace -- the proposed merger of Baptist Health System and Brookwood Medical Center. That deal could close as soon as next month and would combine two big players in Birmingham healthcare. Thats where we start in this week's Magic City Marketplace.
Magic City Marketplace: Birmingham Job Market
Birmingham's unemployment rate is at its lowest point since the recession and about 5,000 jobs were added last year. That's good news. But the shiny headlines are tempered by the fact that Birmingham job growth is slower than other southeastern cities. We talk about that in this week's Magic City Marketplace.
Magic City Marketplace: Gay Marriage and the Workplace
It's now been one week since same-sex couples could get marriage licenses in Alabama. Most counties are now following a federal judges' ruling overturning the state's ban on gay marriage and the decision could also affect employers. We talk about that in this week's Magic City Marketplace.
Magic City Marketplace: Free College Tuition
President Obama cast a spotlight on community colleges when he announced a plan last month to offer free at such institutions. It's a plan that could have significant effect on Alabama as the state tries to make its 2-year college system a bigger educational and economic player. We talk about it in this week's Magic City Marketplace.
Magic City Marketplace: The Future of the Historic Tax Credit
Some of downtown Birmingham's redevelopment projects have been helped along by Alabama's historic tax credit. But that credit is capped and will sunset next year. So developers and political leaders are debating what to do with this popular incentive. We hear more from Cindy Fisher Crawford in this week's Magic City Marketplace.
Magic City Marketplace: Stunted Downtown Growth?
Birmingham's received a lot of attention for its downtown revival with more apartments and a grocery store slated to open in the next couple of years. But that has some business types warning that growth could be stunted because of the city's taxes. That's where we start with this week's Magic City Marketplace.
Jefferson County Bankruptcy Round-Up
After multiple corruption trials, years of hand wringing and intense negotiations with creditors, Jefferson County has been cleared to exit municipal bankruptcy The $4.2 billion bankruptcy was the largest in U.S. history until Detroit's filing earlier this year. This is the collection of WBHM's stories to date.
Magic City Marketplace
Developers eye properties around Birmingham's new downtown baseball stadium, two new housing developments are on the way and companies spent less on lobbying last year.
Magic City Marketplace
New data suggests the hospital industry in bouncing back from the recession in a big way. The nine major hospitals in the Birmingham metro area netted more than $154 million during fiscal year 2010. That’s more than seven times the amount they netted the previous year.
Magic City Marketplace
A Birmingham construction company jumps into the lucrative health care sector and there may be a lot more graduates to fill Alabama's tech jobs.
Legislature Considers Immigration Law Tweaks
The Alabama Legislature begins its regular session today and one of the big issues lawmakers will consider is changing the state’s immigration law. That law, HB56, is considered the nation’s toughest crackdown on illegal immigrants. When it passed last year it got very little attention from Alabama’s business community, but as WBHM's Tanya Ott reports, business leaders are driving the latest efforts to modify the law.
Magic City Marketplace
The Birmingham marketplace is connected by people who have to grapple with numbers and projections and spin. We try and slice through the psychobabble that can be business news with our occasional segment featuring the editor of the Birmingham Business Journal.
Magic City Marketplace
The Birmingham marketplace is connected by people who have to grapple with numbers and projections and spin. We try and slice through the psychobabble that can be business news with our occasional segment featuring the editor of the Birmingham Business Journal.
Magic City Marketplace
The Birmingham marketplace is connected by people who have to grapple with numbers and projections and spin. We try and slice through the psychobabble that can be business news with our occasional segment featuring the editor of the Birmingham Business Journal.
