If you remembered to pack your old computer equipment but forgot why (it could have been because of this post), try skipping the initial evening rush hour traffic and delivering the items to Vulcan Park BEFORE 6 p.m.

They’ve been working hard all day and there’s a storm coming this way too. The image above shows volunteers finishing up loading the 2^nd truck.

Here’s the scene at The Summit. While Birmingham is definitely not as crazy as New York is about the whole deal, there’s still a significant number of people camped outside of the currently-closed Apple Store.

The store is scheduled to reopen at 6 p.m. local time to begin selling the iPhone to the waiting public. In case you don’t want to deal with the traffic or the lines, the latest Apple gadget is available at area AT&T stores.

Good luck!

More than 100 people attended last night’s inForum event held at the Birmingham Museum of Art and presented by the Birmingham City Council. The purpose of the event was to expose the citizens of the city to all of the opportunities available to serve as appointees on city boards and agencies.

It was also an opportunity to honor those long-serving appointees and listen to Robert Holmes, senior vice president of ethics and corporate concerns for Alabama Power deliver a powerful message encouraging people to serve their city and their community.

We’ve already updated our poll question on the front page to see what our readers think about Siegelman’s and Scrushy’s sentences, but we thought we’d go that extra mile today and ask you to articulate your points. Go on over to My Birmingham and let us know what you think about last night’s decisions.

But of course we want to have you vote on this as well. Keep an eye out on My Birmingham for a piece on Sunday about our recently closed poll about the 2007 mayoral race.

Our first mayoral poll for the 2007 campaign closes at 12 p.m. today.

This is the first of several that we’ll conduct involving the race to be the next mayor of Birmingham, Alabama during the summer.

If you haven’t yet, take a few seconds to vote. Just look over to your right as you reach the front page and cast your vote at the information desk area.

We’ll have a new one up this afternoon starting at 12:30 p.m.

Earlier this week we told you about the Taylor Hicks print being auctioned off to raise funds for Enterprise, Alabama’s Board of Education. The city is still recovering from damage sustained and deaths caused by a tornado earlier this spring.

When the dust settled last night, the winning bid for the piece of art was $277.50. The starting bid was $30.

Richard Scrushy and Don Siegelman received their sentences last night from U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller and taken into custody while their lawyers prepared to file emergency appeals as early as today.

The sentences: