Search Results for King
Long Hours At Work And School Fuel Determination For Stratford High Graduate In Nashville
Though he’s a teenager, Kevin is the man of the house. While in high school, he worked long hours to help out, which made staying in school a struggle. Instead of dropping out, he stuck with it and graduated from Nashville’s Stratford STEM Magnet High School.
Science Friday
Covering everything from the outer reaches of space to the tiniest microbes in our bodies, Science Friday (you guessed it…on Fridays from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.) is the trusted source […]
New Orleans’ Posh Academy Helps LGBT Students Complete GED
In it’s series Back On Track, the Southern Education Desk looks at a program in New Orleans that supports some of those students as they work toward a high school degree. The program called Posh Academy, is part of BreakOut, a non profit addressing issues of LBGT youth. WWNO’s Mallory Falk spoke with some of the students, including 23-year-old Lhundyn Fernandez.
Study Centers and Counselors Give Student-Athletes Academic Support
Football, basketball, baseball, gymnastics. College sports are a way of life in the South. Fans pack into stadiums or glue themselves to TV's to watch their favorite teams battle it out. But the pressure on a young person to succeed on the field or court is only half the battle. College athletes are also expected to succeed in the classroom.
NAACP Asks for Jefferson County Courthouse Murals to be Removed
Members of the Jefferson County Commission say they’ll address a petition by the local NAACP chapter and other groups calling for the removal of two murals in the courthouse. This latest push comes in the wake of the killings of nine African Americans at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, that sparked a debate over symbols of the Confederacy throughout the South.
Alabama Charges More Women for Chemical Endangerment of Children than Any Other State
In August of 2014, Casey Shehi gave birth to a healthy baby boy at Gadsden regional medical center. But a few days later, she was later arrested for chemical engagement of a child. She was confused at first, until she remembered she took two anti-anxiety pills during her pregnancy. It’s part of a growing trend. In the last few years, authorities have aggressively prosecuted women for prenatal drug use. A joint investigation between ProPublica and AL.com found that Alabama prosecutes more pregnant and new mothers for this than any other state. Al.com's Amy Yurkanin reported the story with ProPublica’s Nina Martin. She tells WBHM’s Rachel Lindley how this all started.
Arc Stories: September 2015 Edition
Stories include a man trying to do the right things when society is telling him otherwise; one man’s conflict within his own making; a young girl impersonating someone of a different race […]
Athletes And Schools Tackle Tougher NCAA Academic Requirements for Potential D1 Players
When it comes to Division I football, Southern states including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana, produce the largest number of recruits per capita. New NCAA rules take effect for college athletes next fall. A 2.0 GPA and a decent ACT score won’t be enough anymore. To avoid the bench, freshmen will have to come in with a 2.3 GPA in core classes — reading, math, science, and social studies. And players in high school — where standards are generally lower — are feeling it.
Alabama Auto Workers Say “Yes” to Joining Union
The United Auto Workers Union scored a major victory Wednesday in Piedmont, Alabama where workers at truck seat manufacturer CVG voted in favor of joining the union. The company says it has been responsive to employee concerns, and invested millions to improve working conditions. But that wasn’t enough.
Dissecting Alabama’s General Fund Budget
The state’s new budget year starts October 1 and agency leaders have to figure out how to work within the austere general fund budget passed by lawmakers in a special session last week. The budget provides level funding to key departments such as prisons, Medicaid, law enforcement, and mental health. Most others face cuts of at least 6 percent. For an overview we turn to Thomas Spencer, a senior research associate at the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama. PARCA is a nonpartisan think tank focused on Alabama government.
College Athletes Talk Tensions Between Sports and Academics
Across the South, college football is in full swing. But football is just one of dozens of NCAA sports. In any season, student-athletes are pushing themselves on the field, in […]
Voices from Birmingham’s History: Flooding Along Village Creek in Ensley
Birmingham is in a valley, resting at the foothills of the Appalachians. The city’s creeks collect water running down from the mountains and filter it through the floodplains. Last week, WBHM reported on developers today taking a new interest in the 1925 Olmsted Plan for parks and green space in Birmingham. The Olmsted Plan preserved the city's major tributaries, specifically those of Village and Valley Creek.
Season Opener! Carlos Izcaray Leads the Alabama Symphony Orchestra
This weekend, newly appointed Music Director Carlos Izcaray conducts the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in a program featuring both modern and romantic works. Izcaray (pronounced “eez-ca-RYE”) spoke with WBHM’s Michael Krall […]
Birmingham School Board Approves Application to Authorize Charter Schools
"In an effort to be a player in this process, we really needed to become an authorizer, so that anyone who is interested in moving forward with a charter school application would have to first come to the school district,” Dr. Kelley Castlin-Gacutan .
After Almost 100 Years, Birmingham’s Olmsted Park Plan Sees New Life
With the success of Railroad Park in downtown Birmingham, the city’s seen increased support for more public green spaces. As the city develops new parks and trails for Birmingham residents, leaders are taking lessons from the city’s history, including seeking advice from a park plan published almost a century ago.
A New Leader for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
Tuesday Birmingham will mark the 52 anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing which killed 4 girls and helped galvanize support for passage of the Civil Rights Act. For staff at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, they’ll note this anniversary under new leadership. Andrea Taylor began as the new president and CEO of the institute last week.
House Approves 25-Cent Cigarette Tax Increase
The House of Representatives, in a series of tight votes Thursday, approved a 25-cent cigarette tax increase and other revenue bills as a plan to help close a budget gap slowly inched forward.
Exhibit Showcasing Art By Veterans Opens Friday
Returning soldiers often suffer from the lingering psychological trauma of war. Studies show one way to help veterans cope is through making art. This Friday, the visual arts organization Space One Eleven debuts Reflections of Generosity, a veteran-focused art exhibition that expresses the complicated feelings of life after war.
Alabama’s Science Standards Get a Makeover
Alabama schools are getting new science standards for the first time in a decade. The state Board of Education voted unanimously today to replace old standards that some teachers say […]
Civil Rights Complaint Filed Against Jefferson County Health Department
North Birmingham neighborhoods have long struggled with pollution from nearby heavy industry. Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency accepted a civil rights complaint against the Jefferson County Health department…filed by a local environmental activist group. Nick Patterson, the editor of WELD, tells WBHM what’s in the complaint and why it matters.
Governor Robert Bentley Makes First Public Appearances Since Divorce Filing
Governor Robert Bentley touted the state’s economic successes in two speeches in Birmingham Wednesday. They were his first public appearances since First Lady Diane Bentley, his wife of fifty years, filed for divorce […]
WBHM and Birmingham’s Gigi Douban Chosen for Political Reporting Partnership with NPR
Public Radio WBHM 90.3 FM and Birmingham reporter Gigi Douban have been chosen collectively as participants in NPR’s Political Reporting Partnership. Douban and WBHM, along with a group of sixteen […]
“To Me, It Was A Good Thing” Feizal Valli Remembers How Hurricane Katrina Brought Him To Birmingham
Feizal Valli worked as a bartender in New Orleans for over a decade. When he first moved to the city back in the 90s, New Orleans was known as the murder capital of the country. When Hurricane Katrina hit, Valli was living on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. He talked to WBHM's Ashley Cleek about his life before and after the storm.
Alabama High School ACT Results Show Increases And Some Disparities
Report from ACT reflects academic performance for the first full class of Alabama's graduating seniors taking the college entrance test as an exit exam.
Civil Rights Activist Amelia Boynton Robinson Dies At 104
Amelia Boynton Robinson, a civil rights activist who nearly died while helping lead the 1965 Selma march on "Bloody Sunday," championed voting rights for blacks and was the first black woman to run for Congress in Alabama, has died. She was 104.
Birmingham Native And Curator John Fields Recalls His Hurricane Katrina Experience
It has been 10 years since Hurricane Katrina, and John Fields, curator at the Abroms-Engel Institute of Visual Arts and Birmingham native, lived in New Orleans when the disaster hit. In honor of the tenth anniversary of Katrina, he talked to WBHM's Gina Yu about his experience and the way it changed his life and art.
First Charter Schools Open In Mississippi; Alabama Charters Could Come Soon
States across the U-S have increasingly been turning to charter schools in an effort to bolster struggling public school systems. Two of the most recent states to adopt the controversial form of education are Mississippi and Alabama. As part of a Southern Education Desk series examining charter schools in the South, we turn to Mississippi Public Broadcasting's Paul Boger for a report on how those states are adopting to the alternative form of public education.
Paying For Charter Schools In The South
Florida has about 650 charter schools. They are part of school districts but are privately managed and largely free of many of the rules governing traditional public schools. But as enrollment in charters has increased, so has the financial cost. WFSU’s Lynn Hatter reports for the Southern Education Desk that Tennessee and Georgia are also struggling to find ways to support their charter schools.
Alabama Media Group Cuts Staff in Birmingham, Huntsville, and Moblie
The Alabama Media Group is laying off at least 15 people total at its three main hubs in Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile. The company announced the cutbacks Tuesday.
Getting Parent Buy-In For A New Alternative
The big push for charter schools in Louisiana started after Hurricane Katrina. The state’s Recovery School District took over most of the public schools in New Orleans, and quickly issued charters. The organization has moved on to Baton Rouge, but, without a hurricane scattering teachers and students, charters really have to get parents to buy into the alternative they’re selling.
A Window On Other Arenas: Sports, Race, And More With UAB Sociologist Adrienne Milner
You don’t have to be a scholar to know that African-Americans are heavily represented in contact sports like football and basketball, but underrepresented in “lifetime sports” like tennis or golf. […]
Lessons For New Orleans
Charter schools are changing American education. Some say for the better, some say the worse. This week the Southern Education Desk looks at the charter school movement throughout the south. We start in New Orleans, the testing ground for the movement.
