Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin Holds State of the City Address
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin announced new fundraising partners for the Birmingham Promise Initiative at Tuesday’s State of the City address.
The co-chairs include Lee Styslinger with Altec, John Turner with Regions Bank and Mark Crosswhite with Alabama Power. This comes after the city announced last year its commitment of $10 million over five years to fund the intitiative.
The Birmingham Promise provides 2020 gradutates of Birmingham City Schools free tuition to all public universities in the state.
“This is not rocket science, but it’s not charity either,” Woodfin says. “It’s the right thing to do.”
Miranda Fulmore, WBHM
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin address the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham
Woodfin says they also plan to expand the initiative’s apprenticeship program. In 2019, 23 students were allowed to leave school and go to work. Woodfin says moving forward they plan to partner Shipt, Alabama Power, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and dozens of other employers to offer the same opportunity to 100 students.
Woodfin says he hopes providing resources for the city’s youth is his legacy, but that neighborhood revitalization remains his top priority. He says in 2019 the city spent billions of dollars demolishing blighted buildings, controlling overgrown weeds and repairing the city’s streets and sidewalks. The city also worked with Alabama Power to invest in LED street lighting.
The city also saw improvements in crime compared to 2018. According to the mayor’s office, the city’s homicide rate is down 9%, rape is down 16%, robbery is down 25% and total violent crime is down about 15%.
But Woodfin says the city still has work to do.
“One homicide is too many. One robbery is too many. One rape is too many,” he says.
Congress rolls back $9 billion in public media funding and foreign aid
The House approved a Trump administration plan to rescind $9 billion in previously allocated funds, including $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Louisiana police chiefs charged in immigrant visa fraud scheme
Three current and former police chiefs, a marshal and a business owner were charged with falsifying police reports in a years-long visa scheme in Louisiana.
Settlement reached in investors’ lawsuit against Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other company leaders
A settlement has been reached in a class action investors' lawsuit against Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and company leaders over claims stemming from the privacy scandal involving Cambridge Analytica.
Senate panel to vote on federal judge nomination for Emil Bove, who defended Trump
The vote comes as scores of former DOJ lawyers and retired state and federal court judges say they fear his intense loyalty to the president would carry over onto the bench.
A ‘Crypto Week’ win: Congress passes 1st major crypto legislation in the U.S.
It was a remarkable win for the crypto industry — and for President Trump, who campaigned on making the country "the crypto capital of the planet."
How did Condé Nast go from dominance to decline? A new book explains
For decades, Condé Nast publications such as Vogue and Vanity Fair were consequential tastemakers. Writer Michael Grynbaum explores the heyday of these magazines and how they lost their footing.
