Greetings, fellow Earthlings,

As you idle your SUVs in rush hour traffic, sipping on gourmet coffee in disposable containers, please remember that today is Earth Day. (Next week: Up With Uranus Week.)

To mark the greening of society, Birmingham Weekly has a passel of articles on the event, including a look at Fresh Air Family, which wants you to go outside and play.

The Birmingham News marks the day with a feature on the soon-to-be first LEED-certified house in Alabama, over in Homewood. Take a look at it via satellite.

And finally, drop off your electronics and computers and unwanted gizmos from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Century Plaza during Ecycling Day. Send all gently used iPods to our mailing address.

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If Alabama hasn’t received enough national media attention lately, the drought is over, friends.

Exhibit A: Don Siegelman freed by “60 Minutes.” The former governor talked with the news magazine about seeing his story and his challenge for Republican operative Karl Rove.

Check out his brief interview from last Sunday’s broadcast …

• Siegelman Future Hinges On Appeal [CBS News]

Exhibit B: How bad is the state’s tax system? PBS news magazine “Now” investigates.

“Now” gets inside the lives of three Alabamian families — each in a different income bracket — to document the impact of regressive tax policies on people’s lives and wallets. The program follows a working mom to a grocery store, showing viewers how a 10 percent sales tax on groceries makes a significant difference in what her family eats.

Viewers travel to the backwoods to meet a couple who have always held jobs but still face hunger. They wonder why the government takes such a big share of the salary they earn. The program also spends time with a well-to-do suburban couple who benefit from a system that gives them huge tax breaks, and we hear their opinion on a tax hike.

The show airs at 8:30 p.m. Friday on APT-10 (a one-time only resurrection from its current time slot, 3:30 a.m. Sundays, banished there by the cowards at Alabama Public Television). Video and podcast will be available next week on the show’s site and on iTunes.
• Alabama Tax Policies [APT]

Exhibit C: As the corruption in Alabama’s two-year college system comes to light, lawmakers are running scared. Many “work” for the system, and are now being hauled before a grand jury to prove they’re not in it just for money. Oh, but think of the children poorly educated not-quite-collegians! (Hat tip to our pal Dave.)
• Fear, Paranoia and, Yes, Some Loathing in Alabama State House [New York Times]

Also:

• Rains bring nearly full capacity for local pollution- and pharmaceutical-tainted lakes
• Council approves mayor’s plan to beat council with pointy sticks
• Ah, spring, when a young man’s fancy turns to— er, fancy? Really?

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After nine months in prison, Don Siegelman is a free man. Sort of.

The former governor, convicted in 2006 of bribery, mail fraud and conspiracy, will be released from an Oakdale, La., prison camp on bond today as his appeal is considered. Meanwhile, co-convict Richard Scrushy remains locked up, his release denied because of flight risk.

The appeals court says enough substantial questions remain about the conviction to allow the release. Siegelman could end up in Washington, testifying before the House Judiciary Committee. Ironically, he didn’t even take the stand at his own trial.

How bizarre is this legal maze? See the “60 Minutes” report from February and judge for yourself.

• The Birmingham News: Siegelman leaving prison on appeal

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What’s wrong with Birmingham? And how do we fix it? Birmingham Weekly gathered city and community leaders for a series of conversations on the issues of the day. Crime, education, communication and cooperation all came up, along with a rather detailed discussion on the pros and cons of the neighborhood associations. The group includes a Langford staffer, the president of the County Commission, a brain, a princess, a basket case and a criminal.

Sincerely yours, the B’ham Club.
• Birmingham Weekly: Pieces of the puzzle

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Hoover dance instructor and 2006 national mambo champion Fabian Sanchez has partnered with Oscar winner Marlee Matlin. Not for a movie, but for something more glamorous: the sixth season of ABC’s reality competition, “Dancing With the Stars.” The show premiered last Monday.

Sanchez, a newcomer among the show’s professionals, and Matlin, the first deaf competitor, scored 22 in the first round, good enough to tie for fourth place among the 12 couples. The pair performed a cha-cha-cha and a quickstep.

He started dancing in 1992 and serves as co-owner of Fred Astaire Dance Studio with his wife, Jacqueline.

The round continues from 7 to 9 tonight, with a recap at 7 p.m. Tuesday and the results following at 8 p.m., all on ABC 33/40.

Update: The Comedy Club Stardome [map] will hold a free viewing party tonight. Doors open at 6, with free dance lessons from 9 to 10.

Speaking of ABC reality, the Gaudet family of Mobile moved into a new house in February after Katrina wrecked the old one, courtesy of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” The episode, which aired Sunday, is available online.
• The Birmingham News: Birmingham man dances way to TV

See Sanchez with his celebrity partner, after the jump …

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If your TV set and DVR haven’t been stolen, tune in at 7 tonight for the oddly named “Birmingham 35911,” an hourlong report from Alabama Public Television on the city’s struggles with violent crime. Randy Scott will serve as host for this installment of the news series, “Alabama Stories.”

“What’s being done to fight crime in Alabama’s largest city? Some federal statistics suggest there could be an increase in violence in the Magic City. As a new police chief settles in at city hall, this program explores what’s being done to stop this alarming trend.”

(APT will likely make the program available afterwards on its video page, which you can watch if your computer hasn’t been stolen.)

And be sure to visit our Crime Watch page, with the latest on Birmingham under siege. Fun fact: For 2008, we’re at 19 homicides, more than 50 percent ahead of last year at this time with a measly 12.

What is to be done?

Who’s got pull? The juice? The reach? In Alabama politics, the most powerful unelected person turns out to be union boss Paul Hubbert. (Though technically, he was elected by the membership.) The head of the Alabama Education Association ranked No. 1 in Danny’s list of the Top 40 movers and shakers who wield the sweetest power of all, untouchable.

How did Bobby Lowder rank? Or Milton McGregor? Or even Charles McCrary? What, no bloggers?
• Doc’s Political Parlor: Top 40 Most Influential Non-Elected Alabamians

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The Big Dance starts nationwide Thursday, and eight teams are headed to Birmingham to Step. It. Up. The BJCC Arena will play host to first-round East region games of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament on Friday and Sunday. The matchups:

Friday

• Game A: 2. Tennessee (29-4) vs. 15. American (21-11), 11:15 a.m.
• Game B: 7. Butler (29-3) vs. 10. South Alabama (26-6), 1:45 p.m.
• Game C: 3. Louisville (24-8) vs. 14. Boise State (25-8), 6:10 p.m.
• Game D: 6. Oklahoma (22-11) vs. 11. Saint Joseph’s (21-12), 8:40 p.m.

Sunday

• The winners of Game A and B, 1 p.m.
• The winners of Game C and D, 3:30 p.m.

(Specific times to be updated.)

The South Alabama Jaguars are the sole team in the field of 65 from the state, essentially playing a home game in Birmingham, which last held tourney games in 2003. UAB and Alabama’s men’s teams could be headed to the NIT, to be announced at 8 tonight on ESPN2/ESPNU.

Tickets for the Friday/Sunday games are still available, in three-ticket books at $153 each.

Update: Alabama State (but not Alabama) and UAB are headed to the NIT. Plus, zero Alabama women’s teams headed for the tourney.

Update 2: And the last team headed to post-season? Auburn, playing George Washington in the first round of the ladies’ tourney, 1 p.m. Saturday in Stanford, Calif.
• ESPN: 2008 NCAA tournament selections

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The Birmingham school board fired superintendent Stan Mims Tuesday night. His downfall? Taking a think tank report [PDF] that listed problems within the system and deleting pages with critical comments before distributing the altered version [PDF] to the public and media. No severance pay — his contract was for $175,000 a year plus $7,200-a-month expense allowance — though the board could change its mind at the termination hearing.

Mims changed his story a few times on why he altered the report, claiming its findings would demoralize the staff, findings such as “Leadership: lack of strategic vision; poor communication; no sense of urgency or energy” and “Operations: lack of performance standards.” We know we’re demoralized.

Meanwhile, the council approved $3.5 million for 15,000 laptops for the school system, whether it’s ready or not, whether it wants them or not. Those computers are the ones that cost $200 each and need a yet-to-be-implemented wireless network. Wait, what did that report say again?

• The Birmingham News: School board fires Mims

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Looks like the Schaeffer Eye Center Crawfish Boil has landed the big ones. Performing at the outdoor music festival this year … Fergie, T-Pain, Gavin DeGraw, Flo Rida and 3 Doors Down. (Kinda weird not seeing Cowboy Mouth on the lineup for the umpteenth time.)

The event, May 2 and 3, has moved uptown next to the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex [satellite view]. Tickets, $20 per day, go on sale March 29.
• Press release: 23rd Annual Schaeffer Eye Center Crawfish Boil Announces 2008 Lineup and Dates

Video previews, after the jump …

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Jefferson County has never been in more financial trouble. Thanks to years of bonds and swaps, the interest payments have escalated to $3.2 billion (never mind the principal) on the infamous sewer improvements. Those bonds have been downgraded to junk status. And don’t forget an extra $1.4 billion owed, originally borrowed for school construction. Meanwhile, county commissioners are scratching their heads just figuring out how to pay the tab, even sending representatives to New York to beg for help from creditors. It’s a crazy system, one that has states and cities fighting these seemingly arbitrary bond ratings.

In case you were unfamiliar with the guilty parties, let us reacquaint you with the commissioners who favored these pricey deals: Mary Buckelew, Bettye Fine Collins, Jeff Germany, Larry Langford (under investigation by the SEC), Steve Small, Shelia Smoot and Gary White (convicted for corruption). As the county goes broke, we’ll be over here, digging for change in the couch.
• The Birmingham News: Sewer-bond debt crisis gets uglier

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If “quarterlife” can make the jump from the Internet to NBC basic cable, surely the Birmingham city council can jump from basic cable to the Internet. Council meetings will now stream live Tuesdays, with past sessions archived on the city’s site. Hurry, councilors will start at 9 this morning. Also included, searchable minutes and agendas, along with electronic voting, because — and we kid you not — voice votes were too confusing.

[For those who love RSS feeds: agendas and minutes.]

The hilarity will still be carried tape-delayed on Bright House public access at 7 tonight. But if you have four-plus hours to kill at work, why not see how your tax dollars are being wisely spent on trolleys and domes and private smoking decks?
• Birmingham Business Journal: Birmingham Council meetings will be available online

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Should your company set up and run a blog? Is it like the Wild West? Our pal Jimmy DeButts explores these topics in a special report in this week’s Birmingham Business Journal. And yes, yours truly snags a quote and a mention. The link takes you to the online snippet (full access comes only with a year’s subscription at $85). Or head to your favorite newsstand this week and slap down $2 for a print edition.
• Birmingham Business Journal: Blogging: The new frontier

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In case you missed the broadcast — and apparently Huntsville and Mobile did — check out the 13-minute report from “60 Minutes.” It uncovers some odd doings behind the conviction of former governor Don Siegelman. Plus, you can watch him rake the yard in the big house.

Karl Rove has denied any involvement, and Alabama Republican Party Chairman Mike Hubbard called Jill Simpson (who named Rove in her CBS interview) a liar.

Lingering questions:

• Did Simpson knowingly omit details in her congressional testimony?
• Why won’t the Justice Department share its files on the case?
• Why did Rove skip testifying before Congress? And why didn’t Congress compel him?
• Did the prosecution’s star witness write out his testimony? If so, why wasn’t it shared with the defense?
• And finally, was Siegelman’s crime bribery, politics as usual, or just being in the enemy party?

• CBS: Did Ex-Alabama Governor Get a Raw Deal?

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Update: Watch the full report from “60 Minutes” broadcast on Feb. 24.

This time for sure: “60 Minutes” will air its investigation of whether former governor Don Siegelman was targeted by GOP strategist Karl Rove. A main source, Republican attorney and operative Jill Simpson claims she was asked by Rove to photograph Siegelman in a compromising position with an aide (shades of l’affaire McCain). Rove denies any such campaign.

Siegelman’s conviction for bribery has drawn criticism from 52 former states’ attorneys general, hinting that it, too, was the result of more Republican dirty tricks.

Here’s a sneak peek of the story, which airs at 6 p.m. Sunday on CBS 42 (opposite the Oscar lead-in, Barbara Walters):

Bonus video: Reporter Scott Pelley shares inside info, after the jump …

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