Wade on April 2006
By Wade KwonA last look at the ’06 …
Then and now
Less taxing: Alabama doled out tax cuts … for the poor. Rep. John Knight had proposed reform bills for years, but this year — coincidentally an election year — brought some relief. Before, the state taxed working families making as little as $4,600 annually (the only state to tax families making below $10,000). The approved bill raised the threshold to $12,500.
For 2007, Gov. Riley wants to up the minimum to $15,000, while passing tax cuts for families earning up to $100,000. Meanwhile, the state’s regressive food tax remains intact.
Rise of the Pizza Bowl: ESPN begins its play for more bowl games in an already bloated post-season, putting up a $2 million line of credit to make Legion Field the premier destination for teams no one’s ever heard of. The Birmingham Bowl becomes the corporately named Papajohns.com Bowl, in which the Bulls of South Florida take on the Pirates of East Carolina.
According to the itinerary, teams will tour the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute on Thursday and visit a hospital on Friday. Dozens will pack the stadium Saturday for the noon kickoff (televised on ESPN2). Tickets are $30. The teams receive a $300,000 payout, but the loser has to coach Alabama next season.
Line in the sand: As protestors rallied nationwide, thousands marched in Birmingham and Albertville, calling for immigration reform. A proposed federal reform would have turned all undocumented immigrants and anyone aiding them into felons. Up to a half million marched in more than 100 U.S. cities.
Meanwhile, federal immigration laws have remained unchanged since 1986. Can Americans and would-be Americans look forward to real reform in the new year from the Democratic Congress and Republican President?
Stuck in the sewer: The $1 billion Jefferson County sewer debacle claimed a high-profile name, as former county commissioner Chris McNair (father of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing victim Denise) was convicted on bribery charges.
The ongoing series of trials netted the conviction of a Huntsville engineering firm and two of its executives earlier this month. McNair still faces another trial in February and sentencing (anywhere from probation to jail time) in April.
Loud and proud: Sidewalk launched Birmingham Shout, a two-day, all-gay film festival. After this brief experimentation, Sidewalk graduated and became straight again.
Haiku flashback
snaps reject (April 7)
Yo mama so fat,
she has diabetes and
other health problems.
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Archives: April
Special report: The ’06 … a last look
Wednesday, December 20, 2006, 12:14 pm
Cutting the food tax would be one of the best things this state could do. It might even bring non-junk food into the affordable range. I try to eat vegatables, fruit, and grains more than anything else, but it’s so much more expensive than a microwave pizza. I don’t even like crappy food — I just can’t always afford anything better.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006, 12:43 pm
My oversimplifed take: It is possible to eat healthy, good and cheap all at once, but it takes work. It’s a shame that for many, the default is cheap. The other component is adequate exercise: Eat a little of everything, then put in some walking around the neighborhood.
When Ruben Studdard says Alabama’s too fat, it’s past time to get serious about nutrition.