Category Archives: politics

The Caputo Report has arrived

Posted on December 17, 2008 | Leave a comment

The Birmingham blogosphere is always growing, and recently we’ve seen some interesting additions to the mix. One of them is The Caputo Report, written by our regional Chamber of Commerce‘s vice president of public policy, Pascal Caputo.

The first official blog from the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce has hit the ground running having just completed a poll about the necessity of a county manager for Jefferson County. The chamber has been supporting this initiative for some time, including a bill introduced in Montgomery earlier this year. It’ll be interesting to see how the Chamber uses this tool in the future.

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Posted in Online, politics

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Larry’s been busy too

Posted on December 15, 2008 | Leave a comment

Today’s been a busy day insofar as Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s legal issues are concerned. This afternoon the legal team representing the mayor against federal charges brought against him recently asked that his right to a speedy trial be waived due to the amount of information that must be sorted through. The team will be hoping that the ruling in response to this motion is in their favor, unlike the ruling that was handed down earlier in the day involving the case brought against him by Central Alabama Pride, Inc. in late August.

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Artur Davis to hold town hall meeting tonight

Posted on May 29, 2008 | Leave a comment

U.S. Representative Artur DavisWe’re trying to think of snappy headlines for some of these posts, but there are only so many ways to say certain things… like this one. We could talk about the varying opinions of the Congressman’s constituency. We could try to get you to comment below about the issues that should probably come up during this evening’s meeting. Instead, we’ll just tell you that it’s over at the Jefferson County Courthouse in the County Commission chambers beginning at 6 p.m.

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UPDATE: The hunt for District 1’s seat may be over soon(er)

Posted on May 27, 2008 | Leave a comment

UPDATE: See end of post.

That would be based on a ruling made by the Supreme Court in Washington this morning (yes, that crew in Washington). They’ve ruled that Governor Riley did not have to get Federal approval to appoint a fellow Republican to a vacant spot on the Mobile County Commission.

Justice Ginsburg’s opinion is 38 pages long, but it is important, since it is one of the primary arguments being made concerning the Jefferson County Commission District 1 seat currently occupied by Gen. Bowman. Birmingham City Councilor William Bell won a special election called in February, leading to the current court battle over who should rightfully be occupying the seat.

We’ll see how it’s received and what’s next.

UPDATE: Seems like the Governor was already thinking about that (see the official release from his office).

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Posted in Election '08, politics

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You know, there’s a primary on June 3

Posted on May 14, 2008 | Leave a comment

It seems that unless the offices of governor or president are on the ballot, most people tend to stay home on Primary Day. Eight Democratic groups in the greater Birmingham metro area are hoping to make people aware of the options that will be on the ballot come June 3 and to convince them to come out and vote, most notably for them in the race for the Senate seat currently occupied by Jeff Sessions. They will be hosting a Democratic Candidate Primary Forum at the Homewood Library next Tuesday, May 20 beginning at 6:30 p.m.

We’ll be updating the destinations calendar later on today with more details (though that link to the OTM Democrats should provide enough info to get you started).

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Posted in 35209, Election '08, politics

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WSJ weighs in on Langford SEC filing

Posted on May 1, 2008 | Leave a comment

The Wall Street Journal’s law blogger has chimed in on Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s latest situation, saying that the case being pursued could be considered a test case for future prosecutions and is part of a trend over at the federal agency.

If you’re interested in reading up on all of the fun that the local media is going to have for the next few months, you’ll want to head over to al.com, where the documents are posted (it is very, very long).

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On the agenda: The disparity study finally moves forward

Posted on April 29, 2008 | Leave a comment

So besides the 684 properties on this morning’s City Council meeting for having “noxious and dangerous weeds” (that’s got to be some kind of record), there is one issue that for some has taken way too long to finally reach the dais: a resolution adopting the results of the long referenced disparity study commissioned by the Council during the Kincaid administration.

There are four items on the agenda relating to the study (items 11 – 14): one that would adopt the findings; two that would authorize the Council’s economic development committee to create and appoint members to a sub-committee to create an implementation plan based on the results of the study; and one to approve The Freeman Group, LLC to facilitate the sub-committee’s planning efforts (for fees not to exceed $20,000).

It will definitely be interesting to see how the results are used to deal with this important issue in the city.

You can always watch the meeting at your desk on the city’s website; the fun starts at 9:30 a.m.

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Posted in On the agenda, politics

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