Fees

Environmental Groups: Fees Tied to Solar are ‘Unlawful’

Attorneys recently filed a complaint with the state Public Service Commission against Alabama Power over extra fees the power company imposes on homes, schools, and small businesses that use solar power. The complaint calls the five-year-old fees “unlawful” and “contrary to the public interest.”

AL.com, WBHM Event Yields Frank Talk On Hoover School Bus Fees

Today, AL.com and WBHM hosted a lunch discussion on the controversy over the Hoover school system's plan to impose fees on student bus riders. AL.com reporter Jon Anderson and WBHM's education reporter Dan Carsen were on hand to facilitate the sometimes heated discussion and answer questions. Afterward, Carsen spoke with WBHM's News Director Rachel Lindley. To start, Carsen recaps how the situation got to where it is today.

INTERVIEW: AdvancED CEO Mark Elgart

AdvancED is a private accrediting firm working with more than thirty thousand schools worldwide. A team from its Southern Association of Colleges and Schools division arrives in Birmingham today. They're checking whether Birmingham City Schools are fixing problems that led the agency to put the system on accreditation probation last summer. It got WBHM's education reporter Dan Carsen thinking about what these firms actually do, and whether they have as much power as it seems. He caught up with AdvancED president Mark Elgart and asked him how his agencies decide which districts get accredited ... and which don't.