The strokes: Many Birmingham-area natives have fond memories of spending their blazing hot carefree days growing up at the neighborhood pool. What better way to get out of Mom and Dad’s hair for a few hours while getting in some play time and exercise? Sadly, cities in Jefferson County are operating fewer pools, thanks to costs and liability issues. Those cities are Birmingham (17 pools), Fairfield, Homewood (two pools), Hoover, Leeds, Trussville and Vestavia Hills. Guess that leaves sneaking into apartment complexes, joining the Y or moonlight swims at the McMansions for us …
• While still a hit with residents, city pools prove costly to keep [Birmingham News]

Pay to win: Together, Alabama and Auburn spent more than $100 million on athletics. Was it worth it? Both ended up in the middle of the SEC when it came to overall championships, as well as spending. Florida, Georgia and Tennessee spent $65 million each and were ranked in the Top Three. See, it’s not whether you win or lose — it’s how (much) you pay (for) the game.
• Biggest spenders top SEC rankings [Birmingham News]

Delta shelter: Thanks for Forever Wild, the state’s land conservation program, paddlers have a place to play and explore. The Bartram Canoe Trail, a 200-mile canoe and kayak trail, is ready for visitors in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, just north of Mobile. The trail is one of the longest in the nation in the second-largest river delta in the nation. Paddlers can choose from day trips or overnight trips. Said one kayaker, “There is really quite a racket, from water and land fowl. You get a real concert going there.” Music to our ears.
• Canoeing in Alabama’s rich delta [Birmingham News]

Pro or con: Can Alabama survive one more minute without pro football, even as other Southern states reap the benefits (and costs)? Is college ball enough? And why does the writer mention only the Stallons, forgetting the misbegotten Americans, Birmingham Vulcans, Alabama Vulcans, Alabama Magic, Fire, Barracudas and ‘Bolts? So many questions, so little interest.
• Football-crazed Alabama doing just fine without NFL’s presence [USA Today]

Also:

• Southside dance club expels drunks, decibels all night long
• Steel coil breaks loose, robs liquor store
• Municipalities to make up tax-holiday shortfall with random property seizures

• • •

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A shot at justice: Justice may be blind … but it ain’t bulletproof. More homicides mean more cases, and Jefferson County Judges find themselves with less security than ever. Gee, what could possibly go wrong at a capital murder trial or with gang suspects or violent suspects? Ask people in Atlanta; Reno, Nev.; Seattle; Kingston, Tenn., Middletown, Conn.; …
• Court security a concern [Birmingham News]

Too little information: A Birmingham lawyer’s new book explores the Freedom of Information Act — and how the “war on terror” is crippling the public’s access to vital data and facts. In “The Federal Information Manual: How the Government Collects, Manages and Discloses Information Under FOIA and Other Statutes,” Stephen Gidiere says the White House has gone too far in its secrecy, all in the name of battling terrorists. Tuesday marked FOIA’s 40th anniversary. Which is scarier: not knowing, or finding out each new thing government does in the name of security?
• City lawyer writes book on Freedom of Information Act [Birmingham News]

Legion of honor: Paris honored two American legends on America’s 230th birthday. Montgomery native and civil rights icon Rosa Parks had a sports complex named after her. She died in October at age 92. The other honoree, Thomas Jefferson, received only a statue and may have owned Parks’ great-grandmother. Vive la différence.
• Jefferson, Parks given honors to mark Fourth [Associated Press]

Also:

• Organizers of crime-awareness parade arrested for criminal negligence
• Proposed “Auntie Violence” character beaten to death
• When sense is outlawed, only outlaws will have guns, knives, clubs

• • •

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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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Guilty: Former governor Don Siegelman, right, was found guilty today on seven counts of bribery, mail fraud and obstruction of justice. Ousted Healthsouth CEO Richard Scrushy, left, was found guilty on all six counts of bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud.

During the 42-day federal trial in Montgomery, Siegelman ran for and lost the Democratic nomination for governor, while Scrushy continued his ministry building through his TV show and plans to feed African children. The jury, seven black members and five white members, spent 11 days deliberating — at one point, deadlocked but charged by U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller to continue.

Also on trial were Siegelman’s chief of staff Paul Hamrick and state highway director Mack Roberts. The jury acquitted Hamrick and Roberts on all charges.

Siegelman served as governor from 1999 to 2003, losing his re-election bid to Bob Riley in a tight race. Siegelman maintained throughout the proceedings that the charges were politically motivated. Scrushy founded sports rehabilitation hospital chain Healthsouth in 1984 and was ousted in 2003. He was acquitted in the $2.7 billion fraud scandal involving the Birmingham-based company in 2005.

Prosecutors said that Siegelman traded favors for gifts and campaign donations and that Scrushy had arranged for $500,000 to be donated to Siegelman’s campaign for a lottery.

Sentencing dates have not been announced. Maximum sentences are five to 20 years, minimum sentence is probation, with home confinement a possibility.

Always a patsy: One of the lesser players in the Healthsouth debacle ended up with eight years in federal prison. Hannibal “Sonny” Crumpler could’ve faced 15 years plus $1.3 million in fines. Contrast that with 15 other execs found guilty who earned probation to five years in prison. Who says there’s no justice for the little guy?
• Ex-HealthSouth exec sentenced [Birmingham News]

Also:

• Martin Luther King Jr.: Don’t put me in the middle of your corruption trial
• So much for the amen corner defense
• Maybe they can room together in prison

• • •

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Size matters: Birmingham is losing residents, but could it actually become second in size to … Montgomery? The latest Census update has some folks worried, especially with federal funding at stake. Birmingham has 231,483 residents, Montgomery has 200,127. The good news is that Montgomery is facing the same problem of shrinkage as residents flee to outlying suburbs. The bad news is that Birmingham hasn’t found a way to bring more people in to enjoy its soaring crime rate, declining schools and combative government. Those are the selling points, right?
• Population loss could cost Birmingham federal money [Birmingham News]

Bus start: Area officials are stumped. Why aren’t more people riding the bus? As part of a cooperative regional effort, they’re planning on surveying residents to find out why they don’t ride and what would attract them. Maybe we can help. They don’t ride because service is spotty and usually being cut back. Birmingham is designed as a car-friendly place, so it’s tough to get anywhere on time without a car. And more people won’t ride public transportation until the cost for using cars becomes prohibitively high — that means gas prices, traffic, parking costs/space and so on. Life just isn’t fare.
• Officials wonder why few ride buses [Birmingham News]

Asistencia telefónico: The phone book is getting an accent. A telephone directory in Spanish is headed to 50,000 homes and businesses in Birmingham and Columbus, Ga. Hispanics make up 2.2 percent of the state’s 4.5 million residents. But when was the last time you used a printed phone book?
• Spanish phone book gaining users, sponsors in Alabama [Birmingham News]

Counting rows: Fewer people went to see the Alabama Ballet, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Alys Stephens Center and Summerfest Musical Theatre last season. The organizations are reporting drops from 5 to 19 percent. Some groups are blaming competition from the 2005-06 attendance leader, “The Lion King.” (The Broadway show, not the cartoon film.) Other groups that saw attendance increases are Opera Birmingham and the Birmingham Museum of Art. “Hakuna matata — it means no audience …”
• ‘Lion King’ leads arts attendance numbers [Birmingham News]

Also:

• Trussville embraces cultural diversity of Purple Onion
• Fireworks stands peddle discount finger- and eye-removal kits
• Summer school cliques have second chance to shun outsiders

• • •

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Positive outlook: Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham are telling HIV-positive mothers to relax. That’s because stress hurts the body’s ability to fight off infection. The pioneer MOMS (Making Our Mothers Stronger) Project is a National Institute of Health study. Says one researcher, “The person who can roll with the punches, who can confront the stressor and who can solve the problem is gonna do much better, and their immune system is going to commensurately be more adaptive.” [audio version]

• Free HIV tests around Birmingham today. No needles, just a mouth swab. Maps: AIDS Alabama | Jefferson County AIDS in Minorities | The Phoenix | UAB Recreation Center | UAB 1917 Clinic

• The MOMS Project [WBHM (90.3 FM)]

God is my architect: A church in Thorsby is facing the wrath of God and government. Members of Cedar Grove Methodist Church completed construction on their homemade church in September. Last Thursday, an 80-foot span of roof came crashing down on the unoccupied sanctuary. A church member, browsing photos of other churches online, printed out the pics to use as blueprints. Apparently, no building plans or permits were approved by state agencies. Pastor Jeff Carroll said, “If the state and the church are separate, I don’t understand why they think they’ve got jurisdiction.” The (ungodly) state is sending inspectors to determine the cause of the collapse. We’re guessing lack of faith and/or prayer.
• Pastor says he was unaware of church building requirements [Birmingham News]

Gender bender: Alabama prohibits marriage between two men or two women, but what about a woman and a woman who used to be a man? Or in this case, a transgender woman who didn’t have the operation and is still physiologically a man? While you ponder that, just such a couple married in Chilton County — after an Elmore County judge refused to perform the ceremony. They wed on June 6, the day voters approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. We’re OK with the marriage — so long as they still had groom’s cake.
• Transgender woman weds in Alabama [Montgomery Advertiser]

Behold the power of the Oprah: One of our favorite authors, Monroeville’s Harper Lee, has penned a letter for the July issue of O, the Oprah Magazine. The letter discusses how she became a reader in 1930s rural Alabama. Lee never gives interviews and hasn’t published nearly anything since her masterpiece novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” She writes, “In an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods, and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books.” She mentioned us! She mentioned us!
• Harper Lee writes item on reading for Oprah’s magazine [Associated Press]

Also:

• Festival theater to be converted to sticky 18-room mansion
• North Birmingham car wash employees might not ever get rich
• Yearbook wish to “Have a good summer” eerily prescient

• • •

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Not so smrt: How does Birmingham stack up against other midsize American cities for college degrees? Well, duh. No, really, duh. Birmingham is 65th among 76 cities, with Huntsville, Mobile and Montgomery ranking higher. The Census data was limited to Birmingham’s city limits, not counting wealthier and more educated residents in its many suburbs. Semi-random aside: Best line from a Birmingham News editorial has to be “Jefferson County is a tale of too many cities.” See, we is smart.
• Birmingham found lacking in ‘brainpower’ [Birmingham Business Journal]

Paying for pupils: The state’s annual report card on schools, in three sentences. Per-student spending is at an all-time high, $6,481. More than half of the 730,000 students are living in poverty — more than half. Several poor districts, with federal aid, spend more per pupil than rich districts: Linden in Perry County tops the list at $8,896 per student, beating out Homewood in Jefferson County. We’ll say it again: You can’t spend your way to success in education. State high school graduation rates are appalling, and test scores are flat.
• Schools spend record per pupil [Birmingham News]

Calling in the super: The city’s troubled school system is bleeding students and languishing in mediocrity. This looks like a job for Superintendent. Or make that superintendent. Stan Mims, the incoming head of Birmingham schools has a tough task ahead. What are his plans? The story doesn’t say, but mentions his track record at other city school systems. Most notably in East St. Louis, more students went to college and more schools met Illinois standards under his watch.
• ‘Man of great passion’ seeks to motivate parents, children [Birmingham News]

Teenage fanclub: It’s summer, and the last thing teens want to do is required reading, right? Not quite. The Birmingham Public Library is continuing its Read It Forward campaign by giving away 500 paperback copies of “Tears of a Tiger.” Readers can comment on the book on the library’s Cyberteen site and track where each numbered copy has been. Next thing you know, the library will be more popular on MySpace than we are. Oh, nuts.
• Teens read free books, post notes on Web site [Birmingham News]

Also:

• Bus survey arrives late, refuses answers not written on exact change
• State water fight leads researchers to seek powdered form
• Beach forecast: heavyset, with chance of occasional thong

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Grad expectations: A new study places Alabama at 44th in the nation in high school graduation rates. Only 60.7 percent of high school students graduate, though the state school officials say the rate is 82 percent. The study says only 42 percent of black men graduate, while 44.5 percent of Hispanic students graduate. The study didn’t include state high school diplomas for vocational or advanced academic tracks. Hmm, we earned an advanced academic diploma (we took AP basket weaving and advanced lunch), but we don’t count. Shucks.
• State ranks low in graduation study [Birmingham News]

A sporting chance: The Southeastern Conference, headquartered in Birmingham, wants to be on TV. Forget the CBS college football package or the NCAA basketball tournament. We’re talking one channel, 24 hours, seven days. Current TV contracts expire in 2009, so it’s never too early to start programming your own network. We suggest “Leave It to Bear,” “So You Think You Can Coach,” “The War Eagle at Home” and “Everybody Hates Finebaum.”
• SEC studies own TV network [Birmingham News]

Bookstore bonanza: If your book club is looking for its next read, Black and White has a few suggestions. Its book issue has reviews of current hot reads, including the memoir from Birmingham’s Howell Raines.
• The book issue [Black and White]

Kill effects: DeWayne Wickham, a columnist for Gannett News Service and USA Today, points out that Birmingham and Charlotte, N.C., were named Most Livable Cities in 2004. Now, rising crime rates in both cities are making them less desirable. One professor blames the real culprits, video games and music video. Last time we checked, “Grand Theft Auto” didn’t rob us at gunpoint and Busta didn’t swipe our DVD player.
• Violence is making the nation’s most ‘livable’ cities less so [Gannett News Service]

Also:

• Hot enough to make meth on the sidewalk
• City budget passes without any fatalities
• Roebuck pawn shops offer baby-sitting, coffee, wi-fi

• • •

Send us your news tips.

The nondeciders: The jury in the Don Siegelman/Richard Scrushy corruption trial is deadlocked after six days of deliberation. TV reports say U.S. Chief District Judge Mark Fuller will instruct the jury to continue until a unanimous verdict is reached. Charges for former governor Siegelman and Healthsouth founder Scrushy include racketeering, bribery and conspiracy. The trial is in its eighth week.
• Jury In Corruption Trial Has Failed To Reach A Verdict [Fox 6]

The heat is on: How hot is it? It’s triple-digit hot, as Wednesday was the first 100-degree day in six years. It’s hot enough to send Gov. Riley to Washington, to beg for drought assistance from the feds for farmers. It’s hot enough that Birmingham has to watch its water usage. And it’s hot enough that our punchlines have wilted.
• Across The Board–Our Hottest Day This Year and in Several Years [ABC 33/40]

Rocky rain: Want rain? Be sure to wish for the right kind. Our pal William has the story of Tarrant residents bombarded with hail the size of rocks. That would be because they are rocks, damaging roofs, cars and anything out in the open. Blasting at the Vulcan Materials quarry was the culprit. Talk about getting stoned (we couldn’t resist).
• Blasted stone falls on neighbors [Birmingham News]

Also:

• It’s always sunny in Pleasant Grove, making it difficult to sleep
• Alabaster summer school class learns about stuff it should’ve learned back in fall
• We already miss Gray Charles

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Take one laptop and call me in the morning: A stolen laptop containing confidential info on kidney donors and recipients was taken from UAB’s medical school. Four months ago. Notices went out June 8 after the patient database was reconstructed, giving the thief a lengthy headstart with names, Social Security numbers and medical records of 9,800 people. A university spokesman says the laptop was stolen from a locked, secure office. OK, we’re not sure about the locked part, but we’re pretty sure “secure” means something other than what he’s saying. Next time, how about a head’s up if say, student’s credit card numbers are swiped from the bursar’s office?
• Stolen UAB computer had data on 9,800 people [Birmingham News]

License revoked: Summit Medical Center on Southside surrendered its license last week. The abortion clinic was accused of having nondoctors treating patients, including one woman whose failed abortion led to a ER visit and 6-pound stillborn infant. Surrender of the license means Summit waives its right to a hearing, which had been scheduled for today.

• Safe Haven, a downtown shelter for homeless women with mental illness, opens its doors
• UAB opens a top facility for nonsurgical treatment of heart and vascular diseases
• Gadsden Marine in Iraq witnesses first baby’s birth on Father’s Day via video conference

• Local abortion clinic surrenders license to state Health Department [Birmingham Business Journal]

Research resources reduction: Alabama lost more than a third of its biotech research money from the National Institutes of Health, from $70.2 million in 2004 to $46.6 million in 2005. However, overall federal dollars incresed in the same period from $6.69 billion to $7.54 billion. John Secrist III, vice president of the Drug Discovery division at Birmingham-based Southern Research Institute, said, “You move in the direction of the support,” meaning work on drugs for cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Hodgkin’s diseases.
• Biotech research dollars nosedive [Birmingham Business Journal]

Also:

• Bureaucrats take extra-long smoke break to make up for late arrival
• Budget crisis, day 1: Let’s send out for pizza! No, Chinese!
• Sky is all thunder, no storm

• • •

Send us your news tips.

The last-minute City Stages roundup …

Festival of debt: City Stages is $530,000 in the hole — with no real plan to pay it off. So says music festival founder and president George McMillan. His latest suggestions include higher ticket prices, more corporate ticket sales, more public funds and more fund-raisers. Fans, public officials, heck most anyone not actually working for the festival have long suspected organizers were short on ideas on long on bills. (For example, an online charity auction with zero publicity.) The first step is admitting you have a problem, but it looks like the second step won’t be paying off the gaping hole of debt.

The three-day event starts tonight downtown; tickets are $28 per day. Headliners include Hank Williams Jr. (pictured), Los Lonely Boys, The Beach Boys, Cameo and Shinedown. The weather: tonight will be hot in the 80s; Saturday afternoon will be partly cloudy and hot, high in the upper 80s, with a chance of early evening thunderstorms, dropping to the upper 70s by nighttime; Sunday afternoon will be partly cloudy and hot, high in the upper 80s, dropping to the upper 70s by nighttime.
• Debt to fade in Stages [Birmingham News]

No vacancy: It’s not all bad news. The festival can take some credit in bringing in tourists to spend money at area hotels and restaurants. Also, on tap this weekend, more than 5,000 Presbyterians meeting at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. Great, just what we need, all those Presbyterians crowding the after-party at the Nick …
• Convention, City Stages fill city hotels [Birmingham News]

Drop it like it’s Hicks: We swear, we’re not on the chronic when we tell you: The Birmingham News is reporting that on Saturday night, Miller Lite stage headliner Snoop Dogg and hometown hero/American Idol Taylor Hicks will be performing. Together. On the same stage. At 10:50. Our money’s on “P.I.M.P.” or “Let’s Get Blown.” Go, white boy … go, white boy!

• • •

Complete City Stages 2006 coverage.

• • •

In other Idol news:

• Ruben Studdard, Idol 2003, won a $2 million lawsuit against his former manager, who’s in bankruptcy and unlikely to have the cash. Studdard headlined Stages in 2004.
• Birmingham is finally being considered as a site for “Idol” auditions, after its stellar track record with Hicks, Studdard, Bo Bice and Diana DeGarmo. Tryouts could take place this fall at the BJCC.
• Taylor Hicks: People magazine’s Hottest Bachelor.
• And our pal and film producer Alan Hunter is a judge in a new reality show hunting for an acting “Idol.”

• Taylor Hicks will sing with Snoop [Birmingham News]

Also:

• City budget hinges on to-may-to / to-mah-to pronunciation
• Birmingham-Southern to field D-III rock, paper team, adding scissors squad by 2009
• It’s so on, chair people

• • •

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Your tax dollars at play: For the second time in two months, a former Jefferson County commissioner has been convicted of conspiracy. Jurors decided today that Jeff Germany funneled money through a nonprofit agency to himself, his wife, his ex-girlfriends and current friends. He faces a possible 10 years in prison; sentencing is Sept. 21. If one more gets locked up, at least we’ll have a quorum. [print version]
• Former Jeffco Commissioner Germany Found Guilty [Fox 6]

What a waste: Speaking of the commission, the other former member/criminal steered work to F.W. Dougherty Engineering, which designed the $52 million pumping station at Valley Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. That’s part of a $400 million upgrade. With us so far? Thanks to the firm’s incompetence, the commission is shelling out an additional $26.5 million today to repair and rebuild the pump station. The firm, by the way, didn’t take out enough insurance on the project. And yet, no one’s made a pithy T-shirt or panties about the super sewer debacle …
• Jeffco to pay $26.5 million to fix sewer pump station [Birmingham News]

Convicts of the county: Tuesday, a jury convicted Ronald Wilson, a county engineer, and Pugh Construction guilty of more sewer shenanigans — this time bribery and conspiracy for him, conspiracy for the firm.
• Jury convicts Jeffco engineer, construction firm in sewer case [Birmingham News]

Penny pinchers: By now, you may have lost all faith in the county’s ability to manage public funds, protect the infrastructure or stay out of jail. Fret no more, the county is guarding those dollars zealously. County employees have the option to buy back into the retirement plan (in a dispute lasting 28 years!), though the county fought the state law and lost. Because it will cost the county millions of dollars, it is eliminating retirement health insurance for the up to 774 employees who exercise their legal buyback option. See, they’re not all corrupt … some are just petty and vindictive.
• Jeffco to restrict retiree health plans [Birmingham News]

Also:

• State officials plan for unlikely outbreak of World Cup fever
• Martini tax proposed to milk young professionals
• Parks debate wireless canine access

• • •

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Criminally hip: Birmingham is often accused of being behind other cities in trends. Take heart, citizens: The latest FBI stats show the crime rate in 2005 increased significantly in Birmingham and other major cities. Murder here jumped 79 percent, while only increasing 44 percent in Charlotte, N.C., 42 percent in Kansas City, Mo., and 38 percent in Cleveland. The rate dropped in Detroit, Los Angeles and New York.
• Violent Crime on Rise in Big U.S. Cities [Associated Press]

Singles out: American Idol and Birmingham native Taylor Hicks has his debut single out, “Do I Make You Proud,” with “Takin’ It to the Streets” included. A portion of the proceeds benefits the American Red Cross. If coronation pop songs aren’t your thing, may we recommend a ballad for Katrina relief?
• American Red Cross to Benefit From Sale of New American Idol Taylor Hicks’ Single ‘Do I Make You Proud’ [press release]

Stages unplugged: Birmingham Weekly has its official guide to City Stages 2006 out on newsstands today. You’ll have to run out and pick up a copy, because it ain’t available online yet.
• City Stages 2006 issue [Birmingham Weekly]

Also:

• Allergies arrive late to area, fail to show remorse
• Courts clogged with indicted officials awaiting or attending trials
• Baptists battle for who will lead them back into wilderness

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Taken for a ride: It’s all well and good when public officials, such as a city council member, take the bus to show how lousy the bus is. The media lands a nice one-day story. But then, they go back to their comfy cars, often subsidized by taxpayers, and the problems remain. Such was the case Thursday for a transit meeting, taking place on National Dump the Pump Day. “(Transit authority head Hugo) Isom said he would have participated in the observance but the bus heading to his office doesn’t arrive till 10 a.m.” Since a judge ordered the prison chief to fix overcrowding or face jail time, we recommend a similar sentence to public officials: Whatever shape you leave the bus system in, you’re sentenced to abandon your cars and ride the lines for five to 10 years, no parole.
• Councilwoman’s bus ride highlights difficulties [Birmingham News]

Up from bribery: Alabama’s quest to become a civil rights tourist destination has become popular with at least one faction: lobbyists. The Center for the Public Integrity, a Washington nonprofit investigative organization, says that they’re funding junkets to sites in Selma, Montgomery and Birmingham to cozy up to members of Congress. The Faith and Politics Institute in Washington has arranged seven trips in nine years for lobbyists and lawmakers, which included a tour of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. The head of the Faith and Politics Institute said, “From my 20 years of experience in Washington, however, I know well … most lobbyists are not depraved evildoers exploiting the public interest for private gain.” Yes, but we’re pretty sure the Constitution still says a lobbyist counts as only three-fifths of a person.
• Rights tours criticized [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Save our ships: Down in Bayou La Batre, shrimp season kicked off on Wednesday. But shrimpers have one small problem: Their boats can’t leave port. They’re not even in the water, but in the trees. Nine months after Hurricane Katrina, the seafaring town is still looking for recovery help. Ironically, some voters are crediting Gov. Riley’s response to the crisis for their votes in last week’s primary. [narrated slide show]

You can help ongoing recovery efforts.
• 100-Ton Symbols of a Recovery Still Suspended [New York Times]

Also:

• Immigrants gather to watch World Cup, scare barflies
• Local deadbeat dads still expect Father’s Day gifts
• Midfield pharmacy offering Flag Day sale on expired condoms, pregnancy tests

• • •

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The contenders: Tuesday’s state primaries offered few surprises, including the top races for governor. For Republicans, Gov. Bob Riley soundly defeated ousted judge Roy Moore, while for Democrats, Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley knocked out six opponents, including still-on-trial former governor Don Siegelman. Both Riley and Baxley benefitted not only from solid campaigns, but the virtual self-destruction of the their main opponents. Moore seemed to offer little beyond his Ten Commandments bully pulpit, while Siegelman unsuccessfully trotted out the lottery again and blamed Riley for his current courtroom tour on corruption and racketeering charges. Turnout was slightly higher than the 2002 state primaries. Great, Nov. 7 will have a sane and likely boring campaign for governor.
• Primary results [Alabama Live]

A toast: Not surprisingly, the amendment to ban gay marriage in Alabama passed overwhelmingly. Some voters in favor of the amendment cited religion as their reason. Lowndes County, however, did approve liquor sales on Sundays. Tsk tsk. If Jesus died to keep gays from marrying, he certainly didn’t die so you could booze it up on the Sabbath. Straights can drink to victory, gays can drink to better days.
• Gay marriage ban easily approved [Montgomery Advertiser]

The last line of defense: With someone like the mayor of Alabama’s largest city, you’d want only the best protecting him, right? A Birmingham cop assigned to protect Mayor Kincaid has just returned to duty after a month off. Officer William T. Camp Jr. wasn’t on vacation: He was suspended for abandoning a dying man and four victims during a shooting at a restaurant where he provided off-duty security. Camp left to chase the suspect — without calling the paramedics or the cops. Someone please get Mayor Kincaid a panic button and a helmet that says “MAYOR.”
• Officer back on job after 30-day suspension [Birmingham News]

Also:

• Losing candidates prepare to make losing endorsements
• Voters: the vote was yesterday?!
• Only 42 shopping days until runoffs

• • •

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