All downhill from here: The event very few have been awaiting starts tonight, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Hometown gold medalist Vonetta Flowers is back to defend her historic gold medal in bobsledding with an unexpected teammate, Jean “Mean Girl” Racine Prahm. But she’s really excited that her three-year-old son Jorden is beginning to develop his hearing, despite early deafness caused by impaired brain development: “He’s hearing like a 2-week-old baby. He has to learn what he’s hearing. We’re excited that he is responding.” Flowers and Prahm compete on Feb. 21.

The Opening Ceremonies air from 7 to 11 tonight on NBC 13, and while usually amusing, won’t be nearly as funny as our other favorite televised spectacle.
• For Flowers, an Emotional Four Years [Associated Press]

Trophy gal: Birmingham native Emmylou Harris picked up her 12th Grammy Award on Wednesday, winning Female Country Vocal Performance for “The Connection,” off her 2005 CD, "Heartaches and Highways: The Very Best of Emmylou Harris." For those who don’t know Emmylou like we know Emmylou, this CD is a great way to delve into her fantastic body of songs.
• Grammy winners [Associated Press]

Showstopper: Daisy Dean, matriarch of the “Dean and Company” public access show/family, died at age 94(?) on Jan. 24. You may have caught the low-budget high-spirited affair on Bright House cable, which has aired weekly since 1980. Dean appeared onscreen with her daughter and granddaughter for the variety show, but started out early on as an original Rockette and Hollywood actress. At age 10, she saw her mother and grandmother gunned down in front of their Kansas general store. The show continues to air at 7:30 p.m. Mondays on channel 4.
• Last of the Showgirls [Black and White]

Also:

• Cupid caught in Hoover, deported to Mexico
• Frigid forecast causes run on soup, DVDs, moonshine
• We can’t wait for Presidents Day, either

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Overflow: Something stinks in Jefferson County. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that the county has violated 13 categories of a court agreement to fix the sewer system at a cost of $3 billion. That means sewage can spill into basements and streets — even in dry weather — instead of reaching a treatment plant. Yuck. Some violations go back as far as nine years.
• Sewer rules broken [Birmingham News]

Gasping at straws: Birmingham-based McWane Inc. is shelling out $3 million in fines to the feds for rigging air pollution tests and using equipment out of compliance. The crimes took place at one of its subsidiary companies in Provo, Utah. And you thought McWane only poisoned the hometown crowd … Nope, enough death and malfeasance for everybody.
• McWane settles Utah pollution charges [Birmingham News]

Highway to … well …: Interstate 65 will expand to eight lanes, with construction commencing this summer. The 38-mile project will extend from Gardendale to the Shelby County Airport. We don’t usually mention road projects, especially because they’re short-term solutions that lead to worse traffic and pollution. (Repeat after us: More capacity leads to more cars, which leads to … more traffic.)

But, the interstate will include high-occupancy vehicle lanes, the first in Alabama. We like HOV lanes because they’re cheap (paint and some signs), fast and increase the passengers-to-vehicles ratio, a critical requirement of better transportation planning. Too bad we didn’t put in HOV lanes 10 years ago — but we could change lanes on U.S. 280 and I-20/59 tomorrow …
• I-65 to widen through county [Shelby County Reporter]

Also:

• Mayor, county commission “hug it out”
• Calera mom stuns supermarket shoppers by telling daughter “no”
• Get your Valentine’s hopes up now, before it’s too late

• • •

Send us your news tips.

In comes tax: Alabama ranks in the bottom five again … in tax burdens for citizens. While that might be cause to celebrate for some, an antiquated tax system such as ours holds back needed services for Alabamians across the board, while shifting the burden to those least able to afford it. Like the rest of the nation, the state collected more per person in 2004 than 1994, a jump of 38 percent. Most of it goes to education. More data are available for all states.
• Alabama collecting 38 percent more taxes than in 1994 [Associated Press]

Roads to riches: Cities along Interstates 20 and 59 in St. Clair County have seen sales tax revenue explode from 2003 to 2005 — by as much as 50 percent. Development in the area is fueling the financial growth, even though several cities kept tax rates the same. The county has a one-cent sales tax for education, another for general purposes.
• Tax revenues soar in towns near I-20, I-59 [Birmingham News]

Do you like me? Yes No: The romantics of Birmingham have expressed themselves in short mash notes in time for that most romantic of holidays, Ferris Wheel Day. ([sniff] Where’s ours?) Here’s but a sampling: “Dear Fat Ass, You make my heart explode with love. Always, Your Wife p.s. We are out of paper towels.”
• Love Notes! [Birmingham Weekly]

Also:

• Museum field trip results in horseplay, shouting
• Secret of Bessemer smokehouse’s barbecue sauce? Thiamin hydrochloride
• Nickelback, Metallica take radio station’s playlist changes personally

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Four more flamed: Four more churches were found today destroyed by fire, 60 miles west of five torched churches in Bibb County last week. Officials have no suspects or motives. Of the 59 church fires in the past five years, a third were ruled arson. The nine fires in the past week are assumed to be related and likely arson.
• Alabama church fire probe spreads to four more on rural roads [Associated Press]

Get on the bus: Parents in Bessemer won’t have to wonder if the school bus is running late anymore, thanks to new GPS units on all 27 buses. The gadgets, at a cost of $38,000, will show where buses are in real time. But this is kinda scary: Director of transportation Joey Sims said, “Next year, we can start tracking each student who rides the bus. We can scan each student’s ID card as he enters and departs the bus, and we’ll be able to tell whether they got on or off the bus.” Guess the tracking chips in the brain can’t be too far behind …
• Bessemer buses to get GPS [Birmingham News]

Bloggergate: Looking for a little companionship? One sexy DC insider describes herself as “single, straight and a Scorpio” and even posted a photo with her bare midriff (heavens!) on the Internet. At least, until 34-year-old Stormie Janzen had to tone it down. Why? Because, by day, she’s the scheduler for Sen. Jeff Sessions, and her MySpace blog had the potential for embarrassment. Heck, if her pornish name didn’t bring shame, why should her (now-restricted) blog? At 34, she’s way too old for Internet predators anyway. Besides, only losers hang out on MySpace.
• Sessions’ aide revealed on sexy Internet diary [Montgomery Advertiser]

Also:

• Imposter groundhog ruins winter, spring for Birminghamians
• Mailman bites tongue over Dora bachelor’s magazines, Netflix choices
• “World’s Greatest Redneck” mug shaped more like moonshine flask

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Ring of fires: Five Bibb County Baptist churches were torched earlier today, as police suspect arson. A sixth fire in Chilton County took place Thursday afternoon, but may not be related because of construction work already under way on site. Several churches had predominantly white congregations, unlike the Alabama church fires in 1996, all with black congregations. One church had been standing since 1886.
• String of fires damage or destroy five rural Alabama churches [Associated Press]

Greetings from Detroit: We hear talk of some sort of sporting contest to decide a champion team, a super match in a bowl-type setting. In case you can’t tell a Seahawk from a Steeler, we also hear some pretty filmed advertising spots will supplement the game. But if you absolutely need someone to cheer on, how about Alabama all-time rushing leader Shaun Alexander? Not only is he a Seattle standout, he brought in a record 28 touchdowns this season and earned the NFL’s MVP title. We’ve no doubt he’ll XL Sunday in Detroit (Roman numeral humor!). And he’s not the only Crimson Tider playing for the Seahawks.
• Seahawks’ Long Journey Has Reached Last Stage [New York Times]

The Six-Billion-Dollar Plan: If Alabama had an extra, oh say, $3 billion lying around, should we spend it on building more schools or improve hurricane evacuation routes? Heck, if we had $6 billion, we could do both. Can we afford not to do either one? Dare to dream.
• Schoolhouse building blues | State wants $3 billion for hurricane evacuation [Birmingham News]

Also:

• Shoppers snag big-screen TV sets for Puppy Bowl II on Animal Planet
• Downtown diner’s greens far from it
• March declared Black Geography Month

• • •

Send us your news tips.

It’s not downsizing, it’s DiGiorno: Kraft Foods is closing the DiGiorno pasta plant in Hoover, cutting 61 jobs. It’s part of the corporation’s plan to cut 8,000 jobs and close 20 factories. While profits are up, one report says it’s because Americans are eating out more than cooking at home. Pasta la vista, baby.
• Kraft Foods closing pasta plant in Hoover [Birmingham News]

Down from the mountain: The Birmingham Museum of Art has scored another grand exhibit, Pompeii: Stories from an Excavation. The show, possibly in October 2007, will have relics buried in the 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Birmingham will be one of three stops for the exhibit in the United States. Meanwhile, the museum features Ethiopian art in a double exhibit: “Ethiopian Art from the Walters Art Museum” and “Painting Ethiopia: The Life and Work of Qes Adamu Tesfaw” starting Sunday.
• Museum among three U.S. stops for Pompeii relics frozen in time [Birmingham News]

Orange and black and blue: The Auburn University board of trustees has failed a big exam. It asked for an independent review of the school’s operations and leadership in November. The report, released Tuesday, reinforces the long-standing rumblings: bad leadership from the trustees, along with the faculty senate and alumni board. Ouch. And leading this parade of mismanagement? His name rhymes “Bobby Lowder.” The report goes on to make 142 recommendations, but and none of them have to do with recruiting top-rated linebackers.
• Report blasts Auburn leadership [Birmingham News]

Also:

• Local high-stakes pinochle tournament fails to attract drunken card sharps
• Deer take to runway to protest airport encroachment
• Days like this match mother’s dire premonitions from childhood

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Against the odds: For those keeping score, Gambling is illegal in Alabama, but “gambling” 😉 is still cool. Circuit Judge Scott Vowell ruled that the Birmingham Race Course’s sweepstakes is legal (or close enough). Gov. Riley promised to close the loopholes in state gaming laws. It’s really hard to know who to pull for in this fiasco: greedy gaming interests who’ll bleed the community dry, or overzealous pols and cops looking to pander to conservative voters. As always, we side with the hookers.
• Judge rules race course games legal but a ‘sham’ [Birmingham News]

King’s queen: Heiberger native Coretta Scott King died Monday at age 78 after battling cerebral vascular disease and ovarian cancer. She fought for women’s rights and the end of apartheid in South Africa. When she first met her future husband, Martin Luther King Jr., she was put off … because she thought he’d be taller. According to the timeline, she watched the King Day ceremonies on television two weeks ago, the 20th anniversary of the federal holiday.
• Coretta Scott King, a Civil Rights Icon, Dies at 78 [New York Times]

Financial security: Wallace Malone, founder of former Birmingham-based SouthTrust Bank, is leaving the Wachovia family. For his trouble, he’ll receive $135 million, and that’s on top of the $473 million worth of Wachovia stock from the 2004 buyout. Malone is putting $60 million toward founding a charity, though probably not for the thousands laid off. Hey, we hear the race course is hiring …
• Banker to Receive $135 Million Parachute [New York Times]

Also:

• Lakeview trendiness expected to grow record 11 percent
• Hamas announces Alabama gubernatorial candidate, Ron “Bubba” el Fayid
• Book your post-Valentine’s Day binge drinking now

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Eastwood euthanized: The long slow death of Eastwood Mall will soon end. Wal-Mart is set to tear down one of the Southeast’s first enclosed malls in May, with a brand new Supercenter arriving in the second quarter of 2007. The nearby Irondale Wal-Mart will close, but the Sam’s Club will be expanded. And the whole shebang will face Montclair Road, rather than Crestwood Boulevard. Just as long as we can get to those $4.99 car stereos and $12.99 vacuum cleaners …

Update: The City of Birmingham will reveal its redevelopment plan for the Century Plaza/Eastwood Mall area at 6 p.m. Feb. 9 at the former Rich’s in Century Plaza.
• Wal-Mart set to tear down Eastwood [Birmingham Business Journal]

Mockingbird maven: One of our favorite authors, Harper Lee, appeared Friday in Tuscaloosa for the awards ceremony for an essay contest based on "To Kill a Mockingbird," her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. She has attended the ceremony at the University of Alabama each year since it began in 2001, despite her reluctance to give interviews or appear in public. Lee’s sole novel has sold 10 million copies in its 46-year existence.
• Harper Lee, Gregarious for a Day [New York Times]

You got Cirqued: Cirque du Soleil is coming March 30-31 to the BJCC Arena for the first time. The traveling show, Delirium, will focus more on music and dance than acrobatics. We hope it’s as enchanting as Mystere, based in Las Vegas. It certainly will be as pricy: Tickets, which go on sale Feb. 6, will be $70 to $100 (not counting Ticketma$ter charges).
• Canadian circus troupe Magic-City bound [Birmingham News]

Also:

• Racetrack to promote Bible study through Scripture-themed blackjack decks
• Inglenook resident suspicious of roaming cookie peddlers
• Leaders promise growth, status quo in coming year

• • •

Send us your news tips.

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]

Also:

• Downtown trolley actually runs without cable
• City council wins visitation rights for lobbyist in heated custody battle
• Dance recital fails to spark love of arts in parents

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Your place and mine: Birmingham Realtors sold a record 16,715 houses in 2005, worth $3.23 billion. The region with the biggest jump in sales from 2004 to 2005? The northern area, including Gardendale and Warrior, with a near 40-percent increase.
• Home sales hit record, average cost up in 2005 [Birmingham News]

Taking off: The Birmingham International Airport accommodated a record 3.1 million travelers in 2005. December was the airport’s 15th consecutive month of growth (not 15 years, as erroneously reported in the story/headline). The previous record was 3 million passengers in … 2001, when the 9/11 attacks crippled the travel industry.
• Birmingham airport reports 15th straight year of growth [Birmingham Business Journal]

Southside’s spiffy space: A popular festival venue is nearly done with its renovations. Caldwell Park — home to Do Dah Day, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra summer series, EarthFest and theater productions — has better drainage and new lights and handrails, with new picnic tables, benches and trash cans on the way. Cost: $220,000.
• Caldwell Park’s Face Lift Almost Complete [Black and White]

Incentive invoice: Progress comes at a cost. In Alabama, that cost is nearly $5 million, but money well spent. The Legislature is working on paying the incentives promised to industries, but it has helped the state make big leaps in jobs and productivity. One economist said, “This is the kind of forecast I’ve been waiting 30 years to give you. Our state economy is vibrant. It is dynamic and it is growing.”
• State owes almost $5 million promised to lure new industry [Associated Press]

Also:

• Midfield pharmacist fills prescription for laughter, Lortab
• Skate punks ruin park experience for taggers, gang bangers
• Trees unite over sorrow for fallen highway brothers

• • •

Send us your news tips.

A poor showing: The Auburn University Montgomery Center for Demographic and Cultural Research has a study that says 1 in 6 Alabamians are poor. Other statistics are even more grim. In some counties, nearly 30 percent of citizens are below the poverty line. The Alabama Poverty Project, which released the study, has more info. Meanwhile, the state unemployment rate continues to decrease.
• Study finds one in six Alabama residents living in poverty [Associated Press]

The next chocolate Birmingham station: One radio station will have a new sound come Monday: a black news/talk format. Cox, which also owns top performing stations WBHJ (95.7 FM) and WBHK (98.7 FM), will launch the new sound with local veterans Binnie Myles and Chris Talley and … Rev. Al Sharpton. Ironically, the station changing over is former country powerhouse WZZK (105.9 FM), the whitest station in town, except for maybe the Christian contemporary one.
• Black Talk Comes To Birmingham [Billboard]

Manual transmission: Might want to snag the Black and White Annual Manual before it gives way to the next issue Thursday. As usual, the writers have assembled a thorough guide to the city’s cultural options. Or, just thumb through it online. Who are we to judge?
• 2006 Annual Manual [Black and White]

Also:

• Avondale dad knows way too much about boutique sale
• Gas meter reader can’t count that high
• Record spring fever outbreak forecast for March

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Showusyourtrips!: One of the nation’s oldest Mardi Gras celebrations takes place in Mobile, but has long been overshadowed by its rowdier neighbor, New Orleans. With its competition still rebuilding from God’s wrath Hurricane Katrina, will Mobile benefit from refugee revelers? Some 90,000 are expected for Mobile’s parades and parties.
• Mobile expects larger Mardi Gras crowds because of Katrina [Associated Press]

Billing department: Helping Alabama during the Katrina crisis cost roughly $33 million, and now the federal government is billing the state. By law, the state must chip in one-fourth of the cost, or $8.3 million. Katrina will likely be Alabama’s second-most expensive storm, right behind … Hurricane Ivan of 2004.
• Feds: Alabama owes more than $8 million [Mobile Register]

Any port from a storm: More than 24,000 Katrina evacuees are still in Alabama, with more than 5,000 in Jefferson and Shelby Counties. Most have settled into new jobs and schools, but the trauma remains. Bessemer native Marie Sandoval fled Slidell, La., with her family and said three-year-old daughter was traumatized by the storm and the sudden relocation. “We thought she would just forget about it after a while, but she brings it up every day. She asks, ‘Why did our house get broken?’ She always asks about her old room.”
• Many evacuees make permanent home here [Birmingham News]

Also:

• Glossy social mag reveals hot parties, facelifts
• Bartow Arena to be torn down for new Taco Bell, Arby’s, DVD store
• Who we’re praying for in 2006: Nagin, Alito, Tom-Gelina

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Poll dancing: Jefferson County voters can renew or reject Tuesday a pair of property taxes that generates $15 million annually for the county school system. That is, those who know a vote’s afoot. Does money make a difference? A recent “20/20” report says, “National graduation rates and achievement scores are flat, while spending on education has increased more than 100 percent since 1971. More money hasn’t helped American kids.”

Update: See Stossel’s report (41 min.).

• Hammonds: Two school taxes critical [Birmingham News]

Tube tribe: For a good chunk of the 20th century, TV watching was a shared experience, even as we hid away in our homes. Now, viewing parties are bringing us back together, if only for 60 minutes at a time. One such party involves the Monday night ritual of watching the popular action epic, “24,” at a Hoover steakhouse. But will anyone come to our “E-Ring” party next week?
• Tubing together [Christian Science Monitor]

Our digital past: Melinda at the library tipped us off that the Birmingham Public Library has put part of its archive online. History buffs and curious browsers can see newspaper articles, photos, engravings and other odds and ends. For example, check out a few clippings from our favorite newspaper. The library system has quite a bit of good stuff going on, from new self-checkouts to librarians training as storytellers.
• Birmingham Public Library Launches New Digital Collections (press release) [Birmingham Public Library’s Digital Collections Blog]

Also:

• Waiting room magazines preview '99 cars, trucks
• State of the city: Alabama
• Teen fans use camphone to document concert, car ride, late-night trip to gas station mart

• • •

Send us your news tips.

The Wal-Mart way: Textile manufacturer Russell Corp., founded in Alexander City, is cutting 2,300 jobs by the end of 2007. Of those, 1,700 will be in the United States — 1,250 in Alabama alone. “Russell spokeswoman Nancy Young said Friday the company would phase out the positions as part of a restructuring meant in part to help it reduce costs and continue selling men’s fleece products to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The company said it previously lost a contract to sell fleece products for boys to Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer. The loss meant Russell had too much manufacturing capacity, making cutbacks necessary, Young said.” Ah, Wal-Mart. Can’t survive without 'em, can’t really survive with 'em. PBS’ “Frontline” exposed the retailer’s do-or-die tactics in this 2004 report.
• Russell to cut 2,300 jobs by late '07, mostly in Alabama [Associated Press]

Power steering: When it comes to car manufacturing, where do you think of? Detroit? That’s so last century. Welcome to Alabama, with its wide range of new car styles, prices and ability to adjust quickly to market demands. “The Alabama four — Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota — all added jobs and production capacity in 2005.” Forget textiles — think Tercels.
• While Detroit sputters, Alabama’s auto industry revs up [Mobile Register]

Midnight has broken: Prattville native Wilson Pickett was one of 11 children. As a teen, he sang in a gospel group in Detroit. But when he went solo, he made hits, including “In the Midnight Hour.” Most were recorded in Memphis or Muscle Shoals. Pickett died Thursday at age 64.
• Wilson Pickett, 64, Soul Singer of Great Passion, Dies [New York Times]

Also:

• Fatter kids to provide abundant Soylent Green
• Car dealers abandon downtown for underwater lair
• My grandmother can’t read this blog

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Innocent until proven wealthy: Reporter Jay Reeves has the talker of today: A columnist published in a black-owned newspaper claims Healthsouth founder Richard Scrushy paid her $11,000 to write favorable pieces. The check came to her the same day Scrushy hired a PR agency owned by the founder of the newspaper. The PR firm also cut a check to the columnist’s preacher, one of the black clergy present at Scrushy’s fraud trial. Scrushy denies any knowledge of the payoffs. If the allegations are true, then Scrushy should run for mayor, because he’s been a bigger friend to the black community than Richard Arrington or Bernard Kincaid put together and could win in a landslide. (Thanks to Mike for the tip.)
• Writer: Scrushy Bought Sympathetic Stories [Associated Press]

Speaking of trainwrecks: Our pal Jenny Bone Miller has a report on Wednesday afternoon’s train collision in Lincoln, forcing the evacuation of 500 because one burning train had sodium cyanide. Three railroad workers and one resident were injured. “The wrecked trains blocked the escape route of about 52 residents in 30 homes along Lomar Drive. Emergency management officials ordered those residents to take shelter in their homes, closing doors and windows and turning off ventilation systems.” The Federal Railroad Administration has piles of stats, such as different causes for Norfolk Southern accidents from the last 10 years.
• Trains crash near Lincoln [Anniston Star]

Log in, tune up, drop off: Bands interested in playing at this summer’s City Stages now have an online option for “auditioning.” The three-day downtown music festival is taking submissions through April 15 via Sonicbids, which handles electronic press kits for musicians and bookings for other festivals such as North Carolina’s popular MerleFest. But will it even be called “Vines & Waldrep City Stages 2006” after the title sponsor pulled a classic rocker move and broke up after its first headlining gig?
• Submit Your Band For Vines & Waldrep City Stages 2006 (press release) [City Stages]

Also:

• Protestors seek to preserve Saks location from reverting to dirt pile
• Bar patron accepts free drink, yet fails to ‘loosen up’
• ‘Real World: Birmingham’ turns out to be seven strangers stuck in elevator

• • •

Send us your news tips.