UAB Medical Center West to Remain Near Bessemer
Officials in west Jefferson County at a press conference Monday welcomed UAB Medical Center West’s decision to build a new facility there. Prior to the announcement, UAB had also considered moving the facility to Hoover.
Keith Pendleton, CEO of Medical Center West, said in 2017 they purchased land just off I-459 in McCalla to build a replacement hospital for the Bessemer facility. Then Hoover tried to recruit the hospital.
West Jefferson County officials say they opposed the move because it would have been a blow to the area’s economy and health care offerings.
Bessemer Mayor Kenneth Gulley says the announcement signals a win for the hospital and the western area.
“It’s retaining approximately 1,500 jobs that’s already here,” Gulley says. “If it had gone to the city of Hoover, that means we would have lost approximately 1,500 jobs.”
Bessemer wants to annex the 35-acre site into its city limits. Gulley says Medical Center West needs municipal services including police and fire protection. The city of Bessemer will work with Jefferson County to develop the infrastructure for the new facility in the McCalla community, Gulley says.
Percival Everett wins the National Book Award fiction prize
Everett's novel James is a retelling of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. The prestigious literary prize also awards the best in non-fiction, poetry, translated literature and young people's literature.
After a court win, the Justice Department is trying to make Google sell its Chrome browser
If a judge orders Google to sell Chrome, it could dramatically upend the multibillion-dollar online search business.
U.S. charges Indian billionaire with defrauding investors, hiding bribery scheme
One of the world's richest people has been indicted on charges he duped investors in a massive solar energy project in India by concealing that it was being facilitated by an alleged bribery scheme.
Federal courts trumpet steps to protect workers after #MeToo movement
The federal courts say they have taken "extensive" steps to protect workers from abuse, discrimination and harassment since the rise of the #MeToo movement, but critics say many workers don't trust the internal system for reporting complaints.
The International Space Station adjusts its orbit to avoid space debris
There are at least 19,000 pieces of space debris in Earth's orbit, not including active satellites, that the U.S is monitoring.
Veteran news editor expects Trump ‘to go after the press in every conceivable way’
Former Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron says he thinks Trump is "salivating for the opportunity to prosecute and imprison journalists." New Yorker editor David Remnick agrees.
