The state’s oldest African American newspaper has a new owner.
The Birmingham Times, was purchased by the Foundation for Progress in Journalism, a Birmingham non-profit. Sam Martin will be the paper’s new publisher. Martin was formerly the publisher for the Montgomery Advertiser.
“We believe there has been a void in the coverage of the African-American community. We will look to fill that void. We will cover a lot of events,” says The Birmingham Times’s next executive editor, Barnett Wright, former political reporter at The Birmingham News.
“That doesn’t just mean things that are related to race,” says Wright. “Taxes, corruption, finances, health…all those things have an impact on the African-American community.”
The Times was founded by Dr. Jesse Lewis more than 50 years ago at the height of the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement.
This is a historic day for me personally,” Dr. Lewis said in The Birmingham Times. “I’m glad to see that The Birmingham Times will continue to live on. When I first published the newspaper in 1964 it was to give the Black community a much-needed platform. The need for that platform continues to exist, so I am honored that The Birmingham Times will continue to exist.”
Over Memorial Day weekend, at least 26 shootings were reported in major cities across Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. At least 10 people were killed and 17 others were injured. It was the latest example of rising homicides and gun violence across the Gulf states this year.
Thousands of people in Alabama prisons received COVID-19 stimulus payments from the federal government, but state officials are holding the checks. They say people in prison will get their money, but maybe not all of it.
Since January of this year, six children under the age of 10 have been shot in Birmingham, according to police reports. Only one of the shooting incidents has led to an arrest.
The drug, aducanumab, is expected to help slow the progression of the disease, but not to improve current memory impairments, according to a release from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Close to 70% of Alabamians are still not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but many people have stopped wearing masks and returned to normal activities.
Council President William Parker's plan includes gift cards, savings bonds, college scholarships and drawings in an attempt to encourage more people get vaccinated against COVID-19.
