Heads and tales: Women on top

Lead, follow or get another X chromosome: Birmingham-based Leading Edge Institute wants women to take charge. The nonprofit group teaches female collegians about pressing state issues, and how they can make a difference. The gap is wide: Female members make up only 12 percent of the state legislature. Hear the story.
• Women Leaders [WBHM]

Fire sale: Have we got a deal for you! Homes in your area for sale, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, available for mere hundreds! Save! Save!! SAVE!! Sound too good to be true? Not exactly, when fire districts can auction off houses that are supposedly delinquent in paying off a few hundred in fire dues. A state law put Center Point homeowners in that nightmare scenario, but a Circuit Court date in February will weigh it versus due process protections in the state and U.S. constitutions.
• Auctions scorch residents [Birmingham News]

A Birmingham family album: Vulcan Park has a new photo exhibit, “Common Bonds: Birmingham Snapshots, 1900-1950,” showcasing everyday shots from family life in the early 20th century. Barbara Kelley, education director and curator of special exhibitions at Vulcan Park, said, “This exhibition is all of us. This is everybody’s life. You want to believe this is your family. It’s everybody’s family.” (Our family photos will have to wait for the next half century, but most of them have a thumb in the frame anyway.) The exhibit, which opened Saturday, closes July 31.
• Exhibition stars everyday people [Birmingham News]

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