Tag Archives: politics

The Caputo Report changes directions

Posted on June 29, 2009 | Leave a comment

Caputo Report logoPascal Caputo has served as the vice president of public policy for the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce for nearly two years. For the last seven months he has shared posts on The Caputo Report, a blog that became a valuable tool for the organization in terms of sharing perspectives on Chamber-related issues.

Well, beginning with this post filed on Saturday, the blog is now reflecting only the opinions of Mr. Caputo as he prepares to leave the Chamber in advance of the soon to be reorganized Chamber (their merger with the Metropolitan Development Board will be complete later this summer). He explains what he hopes to continue to do with the blog in the near future. This comes after

Logo: Courtesy of The Caputo Report.

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Posted in Business, Online

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A new way to Empower Alabama

Posted on May 27, 2009 | Leave a comment

empower-alabama-logoYesterday statewide nonprofit organization Empower Alabama announced that it would be closing its doors at the end of the month via email. Local progressive blog FreeThinkBham shared the news with folks in metro Birmingham via the posting of the email sent by the organization‘s executive director, Bradley Davidson. According to the note, many of its supporters have already created a political action committee, Front Door Democracy PAC, to focus on the 2010 general election.

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Council supports Rickwood proposal, but not funding

Posted on April 14, 2009 | 2 comments

The Birmingham City Council just voted on items pertaining to a potential restoration project for America’s oldest ballpark, Rickwood Field.

The ballpark is located on Birmingham’s West Side and will turn 100 years old next spring. The following was taken verbatim from the City’s Facebook group, as sent by Alicia Brown:

“Mayor Langford has proposed the formation of the Baseball Museum that will honor both the Negro Baseball League and the Southern League. Some Council members expressed concern about the “change in scope” by including the white leagues, but Mayor Langford explained that Birmingham has matured and is ready to recognize all of its history. Council voted a resolution to support the museum, but did not approve funding, delaying the project.“

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Posted in On the agenda, Sports

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Like Father, Like Son

Posted on April 6, 2009 | Leave a comment

Terminal, Earl Hilliard Jr.

Earl Hilliard Jr. shares a moment with his father and former holder of the 7th Congressional District seat, Earl Hilliard Sr., at Kelly Ingram Park Monday morning after a press conference announcing the junior Hilliard’s candidacy that seat. Hillard Sr. lost his seat to Artur Davis in 2003 who Hilliard Jr. wants to replace. The senior Hilliard held the seat for 10 years and was the first black congressman from Alabama since reconstruction. Earl Hilliard Jr. is a first term State Rep. and was recently named freshman legislator of the year by the House Democratic Caucus.

Photo: Bob Farley/f8Photo.org

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There’ll be a tea party in Hoover on Tax Day

Posted on April 3, 2009 | 4 comments

tea-bagBirmingham will have its own Tax Day Conservative Tea Party in Hoover come April 15th. You may have heard about this effort recently organized by groups like Smart Girl Politics and TCOT (Top Conservatives on Twitter) and promoted on conservative talk radio shows (including Sean Hannity’s and Glenn Beck’s), to protest and expose the alleged bankrupt liberal agenda of the White House Administration and Congress, specifically President Obama’s stimulus bill and his proposed budget.

There will be two rallies in metro Birmingham, with the larger one taking place at Hoover’s Veterans Park from 6:30 – 9 p.m. It will include appearances by local radio personalities Steve and Leah, Matt Murphy and Lee Davis. Conservative radio personality Sean Hannity will also be doing a live stream and interviews from the Veterans Park rally during his radio show that day.

For more information or to volunteer, check out the Facebook page with photos, video and information.

Photo: Jason Permenter/Flickr.

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Arrington’s back

Posted on April 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

That’s the simple version of what’s been reported by two outlets in recent days. The recent edition of The Birmingham Times reported on its front page that the former mayor Richard Arrington, Jr. had changed his official residential address back to The Magic City’s Vinesville neighborhood and was thinking about creating a new political coalition based on the Jefferson County Citizens Coalition he founded more than 20 years ago.

Today’s front page story in The Birmingham News digs a little deeper into the situation, getting an interesting response from the former mayor in terms of whether or not he’d consider running for office again in 2011 as well as the current office holder‘s opinions about Arrington’s recent actions.

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Birmingham’s OK, but…

Posted on March 9, 2009 | Leave a comment

That’s the message that city officials probably heard when they learned that The Birmingham Fund had lost $10 million in the last six months. The sobering  news may provide support to the Birmingham City Council‘s plans to not pledge money to support projects recently presented by Mayor Langford, including several that have been presented to council twice in recent weeks, though according to reports the account is still outperforming the benchmarks set for it.

The council’s current approach will face a challenge if Senator Shelby is successful in getting more monies appropriated for a mass transit solution here in metro Birmingham. The current $100 million will be forfeited soon – for several reasons. It will also face some challenges if stimulus monies are received for projects.

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