Tag Archives: Statewide

Saf-T-Net premium service now free for Alabama residents

Posted on February 22, 2012 | Leave a comment

AlaSAF-T-NetLogo_150x150_WebThis afternoon, Governor Bentley announced that Baron Services of Huntsville will provide its premium SAF-T-Net® service at no cost to all Alabama residents.

The premium version of the service normally offered by the company costs $3.99 per month or $45 for the year and provides National Weather Service polygon based tornado, severe thunderstorm, and flash flood warnings for up to four user-defined locations (including your smartphone) via phone, email, or text messaging. While a free version of the service is available, it only allows you to receive those warnings for one location and the types of warnings available are limited.

The service also provides updates from area media partners as they are available.

Currently residents are being encouraged to sign up for the service via any of the media partners in the state, including locally (all links to sign-up pages):

The Birmingham News/al.com
CBS 42
Fox 6

They may also visit www.alabamasaftnet.com and sign up directly with Baron Services. The company has provided an infographic via PDF explaining just how the service works (or you can watch the video available for viewing on the site’s media page).

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Posted in Statewide, weather

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Alabama Gives begins at midnight on Thursday

Posted on February 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

Alabama Gives Day logoFor those who spend a great deal of time online, you’ve no doubt already received a notice from your favorite local or statewide charity about it. Your friends may have changed their profile images on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ (where, incidentally, we have a page) in recent days to what could become a familiar logo.

The Alabama Association for Nonprofits is joining forces with the Alabama Association of Broadcasters and Razoo to present the first ever Alabama Gives Day. As of this posting, there were 1,427 organizations taking part in this 24 hour fundraising event that helps to highlight what nonprofits across the state of Alabama are doing. Some of the local organizations have taken to some rather creative online campaigns, like  the video being used by Vulcan Park featuring their lovable mascot “V”.

Be aware that you’ve got to make your donations on February 2 (read: not this evening or this weekend) in order for it to count towards what could be the largest single day of fundraising in the history of the state. If the numbers included in the event’s press release from December are any indication, it could be a big day for many organizations.

Just in case you’re still wondering what the event’s all about, check out the commercial created to help publicize the event on television and online. The fun starts at midnight.

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Posted in Statewide, Take a moment

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Cruising and guzzling around metro Birmingham

Posted on July 21, 2011 | 2 comments

Soho Square development, downtown Homewood. via City-Data.comIt’s time again to take a look at the most walkable cities in the state of Alabama as rated by walkscore.com.

While the 2010 scores were only posted on this site back in mid-December, the new scores were released today and reported on by the Birmingham Business Journal.

Homewood repeats as the state’s most walkable city scoring a respectable 53 – down from last year’s score of 55. Birmingham’s score remained steady at 40. While the score stayed the same, the city is now tied for second statewide with Selma and Florence.

The release of this year’s rankings coincided with the unveiling of an infographic created by online money management service Mint.com earlier this week. It lists Birmingham as the No. 2 Guzzler city among its users, with them averaging $216/month for gas.

We figured we’d do a comparison similar to the one we conducted in December – sharing the average amount spent per month in the cities visited by the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce as part of the B.I.G. trips taken between 2002-2008. They’re again listed in the order they were visited:

  • St. Louis – $136 – Teetotaler
  • Baltimore – $136 – Teetotaler
  • Charlotte – $195 – Guzzler
  • Nashville – $149 – Sipper
  • Pittsburgh – $155 – Sipper
  • Denver – $112 – Teetotaler
  • Austin – $169 – Gulper
It may be helpful to check out how Fast Company’s Co.Design blog presented and interpreted the data – specifically how it related to lists of the best places to live.

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Posted in transportation

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You can’t text and drive in Birmingham

Posted on July 13, 2010 | 3 comments

Texting while at the wheel. OregonDOT/FlickrBirmingham, AL has joined Jacksonville, Vestavia Hills, Gadsden and Roanoke as the latest city to approve a ban on texting while driving.

The new ordinance was passed unanimously during this morning’s Birmingham City Council meeting. Those drivers found in violation of the the ordinance will be subject to a $100 fine.

Other cities currently considering a texting while driving ban in Alabama include Huntsville (which recently delayed their vote due to issues involving enforcement) and Decatur.

Alabama hosted the nation’s first statewide summit on distracted driving back in December (though an attempt to pass a statewide ban, while widely supported in the legislature, failed to pass in the Senate this spring). Sponsors of the bill hope to bring it up for a vote again during the upcoming legislative session.

Photo: Texting while at the wheel. OregonDOT/Flickr

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Posted in The City

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New venue, tickets still available for Open Secret

Posted on February 4, 2010 | Leave a comment

OpenSecret promotional pieceA new film about the 1901 constitutional convention that led to the state of Alabama’s governing document (the world’s largest) is currently in the process of being debuted across the state.

February 26th brings the film, Open Secret, directed and produed by Melanie Jeffcoat, to the Carver Theatre (overwhelming demand for attending forced organizers to move it from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute) courtesy of Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform.

The film’s script is based on the 109-year-old transcripts of the convention and reveals the issues of race, poverty and suffrage – and perhaps several other reasons why we may want to rewrite the document. Tickets are still available for the screening which will include a panel discussion with:

  • Merika Coleman, Alabama State Representative (D) for District 57 (Jefferson)
  • Paul DeMarco, Alabama State Representative (R) for District 46 (Jefferson)
  • Dr. Carol Ann Vaughn Cross, Core Curriculum Fellow, Samford University (Moderator)

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Posted in State Constitution

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Share your thoughts on the mock draft constitution – before midnight!

Posted on July 7, 2009 | Leave a comment

Tonight at midnight is the deadline to offer your comments and opinions about the mock draft constitution created as part of the Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform (ACCR) Foundation‘s Mock Constitutional Convention.

The public comment period has been going on for some time now and the deadline is for your submission of comments considered in the document’s reworking. Doc’s Political Parlor is hosting the commenting period – click here to get started.

Doc also has some additional information about the goals of the exercise – and if you need incentive to check that link out, how about taking a look at the world’s largest constitution (that would be Alabama’s) digitally compared to the U.S. Constitution.

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Posted in politics

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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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Posted in politics

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