Tag Archive for Birmingham

Democrats Offer a Sane Alternative to Trump in the White House and Republicans in the U.S. Senate

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By Glynn Wilson – In a world upended by the coronavirus and resulting economic recession, Democrats are taking to the internet this week and scrambling to reach out to all Americans willing to listen to offer a sane alternative to Donald Trump in the White House and Republicans in the United States Senate with a…

Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Adjourns the U.S. Senate Past Labor Day With No Coronavirus Relief Deal

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Democrats in the Senate Respond – By Glynn Wilson – Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell single-handedly adjourned the United States Senate on Thursday until September 8, the day after Labor Day, without reaching a deal for a new round of coronavirus relief. In response, along with other Democrats in the Senate, U.S. Senator Doug Jones…

President Trump Makes No Secret of Conspiracy to Gut Mail Voting: Senators Urge USPS to Fix Delays and Avoid Cost Increases Ahead of November Election

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By Glynn Wilson – A group of United States Senators, including Doug Jones of Alabama, is urging President Donald Trump’s recently appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to provide answers regarding reports of recent changes to long-standing practices at the U.S. Postal Service, changes that would result in increased delivery times and costs for election mail,…

U.S. Senator Doug Jones Launches Reelection Campaign in Birmingham

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By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Alabama Senator Doug Jones, the Birmingham Democrat, officially kicked off his campaign for reelection on Sunday at the B&A Warehouse in downtown Birmingham, emphasizing a centrists theme of common sense solutions and bringing the people of the state together as “One Alabama.” He came on stage with a…

Bipartisan Legislation to End the Military Widow’s Tax Reaches Key Milestone in Senate Support

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Staff Report – The bipartisan Military Widow’s Tax Elimination Act has earned its 61 cosponsors, making it filibuster proof in the Senate, if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will bring it to the floor for a vote. U.S. Senator Doug Jones sponsored the legislation and announced Tuesday that his bill had surpassed the key threshold…

The Arc of the Moral Universe Doesn’t Bend Toward Justice Without Pressure

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Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing that Changed the Course of Civil Rights, by Doug Jones, All Points Books, a division of St. Martin’s Press and MacMillan Books. Book Review – By Glynn Wilson – The inspiration for the title of Doug Jones’ emotional, inspiring and detailed account of the legal cases that brought…

Watercress Darter Habitat Restoration Project Underway on Village Creek

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By Glynn Wilson – BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It only took 10 years after the human-caused environmental disaster, but a habitat restoration project for the endangered watercress darter along Village Creek in Roebuck Springs is finally underway and should be completed by the summer of 2018, according to an announcement just out from the non-profit Freshwater…

Decatur Man Pleads Guilty to Kidnapping and Child Sex-Trafficking Charges

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Staff Report – A man from Decatur, Alabama, pleaded guilty in federal court this week to kidnapping and child sex-trafficking charges as part of a detailed plan to hire someone to kidnap a woman and her 14-year-old daughter for sale to a Memphis pimp, according to a press release just out from the U.S. Attorneys…

Senator Doug Jones Urges People in Alabama to Keep the Movement Going

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By Glynn Wilson – BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — His history changing campaign for the United States Senate was a state and national “turning point” and a “watershed,” Senator Doug Jones said to a packed house of supporters on Southside Sunday who came out to celebrate his victory with hot dogs, barbecue and beer. “We were on…

We Can All Learn From the Russian Indictments and Tactics

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson – BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — If special counsel Robert Mueller can issue 14 indictments against Russians who conspired to mess with an election in the United States who he will never actually be able to drag into court and jail, why can’t he indict the top man who obviously…

Jason Isbell, St. Paul and the Broken Bones to Support U.S. Senate Candidate Doug Jones at Huntsville, Birmingham Concerts Saturday, Dec. 9

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BREAKING NEWS: Grammy-winner Jason Isbell and St. Paul and the Broken Bones will perform FREE get out the vote concerts in support of Doug Jones on Saturday, Dec. 9, three days before the vote in Alabama’s special U.S. Senate election on Tuesday, Dec. 12. Jones, the Democrat, is in a neck and neck race with…

A Message for Friends in Alabama From Rowland Scherman

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Vote for Doug JonesLetter to the Editor By Rowland Scherman – CAPE COD, Ma. — Somehow, strangely enough, the fate of the entire planet Earth has boiled down to whether the people of the beautiful state of Alabama will vote for a legitimate senate candidate, or a candidate chosen by the most dangerous United States…

Drummond Company Executive and Lawyers Indicted in Environmental Bribery Conspiracy

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By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two Birmingham lawyers and an Alabama coal company executive were indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday on charges of conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud and money laundering for paying a state legislator to fight the cleanup of a Superfund site in north Birmingham. U.S. attorneys, IRS and…

Learning the Lesson of the Birmingham Church Bombing

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Sunday, September 15, 1963, when the bomb went off in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in downtown Birmingham, I was only five-years-old about to turn six in October. My family lived just 15 miles northeast of the church in the suburbs, but oddly,…

Former Alabama Legislator Pleads Guilty to Bribery Conspiracy, Fraud and Tax Evasion

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By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Former Alabama legislator Oliver Robinson pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to accepting bribes from a Birmingham lawyer and an Alabama coal company executive in exchange for advocating their employers’ opposition to EPA actions in North Birmingham, according to a press release just out from the U.S.…

Coalition for Immigrant Justice Raises Awareness

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By James Rhodes – BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Victoria Siciliano, communications coordinator for the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, recently hosted a community informational forum at the Civil Rights Institute downtown. The primary purpose of the gathering was to raise awareness regarding the plight of the resident immigrants as well as to showcase their personal stories…

Photographer Rowland Scherman Was There

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He Shot Rock ‘n’ Roll Too EDITOR’S NOTE: We caught up with Scherman and got this story we ran on August 6, 2011 in The Locust Fork News-Journal. We re-run it here today because we are about to hook with Rowland again in New York on a trip to meet up with author and new…

Bernie Sanders Campaigns for President in Birmingham, Alabama

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By Walter Simon – BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The last time I was in the vicinity of the Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham was in the winter of 2012 at the occupy camp we set up, wrapping around the corner sidewalk of 20th and 5th avenue north in front of the entrance to Regions bank. The bus…

Ten Years After: Goofy Shit Sells

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – How was I to know 10 years ago that we would end up where we are now? I was living in Alexandria, Virginia working for States News Service and free-lancing as a reporter for the likes of Time magazine covering stories related to the Abu Ghraib torture…

Rumors of My Mother’s Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – Rumors of my mother’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. But not without causing great harm. She’s not Mark Twain. Every time someone loads up their guns and goes on a shooting rampage in an office building, a school or a church, national broadcast news anchors like Brian…