Heads and tales: Declaring independence
By Wade Kwon
The break-up: How tough is it to lead a school system? In Hoover, you can have the backing of a contract (with a $500,000 buyout), the support of the teachers, administrators and parents — and still be fired. That’s what happened last week when the school board decided to fire Connie Williams with three years to go on her contract. The board have given her a job performance review in May with a “more than satisfactory” rating. Since then, two board members have been replaced, and the long-rumored firing was approved. Math must work differently over the mountain, where half a mil is nothing compared to political suicide.
• Hoover schools’ Williams fired [Birmingham News]
The need for less speed: A lot of folks out on the roads this holiday, folks speeding along and not paying much attention. We admit it: We used to be speed freaks, too. But the state wants drivers to slow down, not just to improve safety, but to remember those already killed on the highways. The Alabama Public Safety Fatality Victims Memorial offers families a chance to share their photos and memories online of loved ones lost in car accidents, more than 1,000 killed each year. Those roadside crosses just keep piling up — but you can do something about it.
• Alabama launches Web program to remember traffic fatalities [Associated Press]
Independent lens: Tuscaloosa native, photographer and artist William Christenberry has a new yearlong exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The works include photos and sculptures of evolving buildings in small-town Alabama. Christenberry, who’s lived in Washington since 1968, makes annual trips back to Hale County to continue documenting the landmarks of his home territory. The story includes several slideshows of this current and past work, including a 37-year odyssey of one Hale County building.
• Southern Exposures: Past and Present Through the Lens of William Christenberry [New York Times]
Also:
- We’ll take some fried chicken, some beans, chips, rolls, fruit salad, tea and coleslaw for starters
- Governor ponders run for U.S. Poet Laureate
- If you lose a finger or a house from fireworks, don’t say we didn’t warn ya
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