A motel room once used by Martin Luther King Jr. to plan landmark civil rights protests is the centerpiece of a new national monument in Alabama. President Obama signed an order creating the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument in one of his final acts in office. The announcement Thursday coincides with the upcoming King holiday. In 1963, King stayed at…
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch will deliver her final speech as attorney general in Birmingham at 16th Street Baptist Church. The Sunday speech will commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. and comes on the eve of the national holiday named for King. Lynch has served as attorney general in the Obama administration since 2015. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the…
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – It hasn’t rained in weeks across much of Alabama, and some people say it’s time to get God involved. Activists are planning a mass prayer for rain in drought-plagued Alabama on Sunday afternoon. The interfaith event is scheduled at a park in downtown Birmingham. The prayer session is being promoted on Facebook as parts of the…
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – A first-round Davis Cup match between the United States and Switzerland will be held at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. The USTA announced Thursday that the first round in Birmingham will take place from Feb. 3-5. The city also hosted a Switzerland-U.S. first-rounder in 2009. The U.S. team of Andy Roddick, James Blake, and Bob and Mike…
U.S. House Democrats are asking for an investigation of Georgia-based Colonial Pipeline Co. following a fatal pipeline explosion in Alabama. Five ranking members of panels dealing with energy, transportation, infrastructure, pipelines and investigations released a letter to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on Wednesday seeking the review. They cite the deadly explosion earlier this week near Birmingham, Alabama, and a large…
The body of a woman has been found inside a burning car behind a vacant home in Birmingham. Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards said in a statement that the burning car was reported Monday afternoon in the city’s Wylam community. Authorities discovered the body after extinguishing the flames inside what appeared to be a two-door sports car. Edwards says…
A major AP story praises Alabama for preserving Civil Rights sites, while calling on other states to follow suite. Not all states and cities are letting time bury memories of their civil rights sites. In Alabama, for example, tourism officials invite visitors to experience such places as the University of Alabama’s Foster Auditorium, where Gov. George Wallace stood at…
Fifty years ago, Beatles member John Lennon made a statement that would change how millions viewed the musical sensation. It would also bring an Alabama writer into the international spotlight, if just for a brief time. In 1966, the troops were still in Vietnam, the United States was locked in the Cold War with the U.S.S.R, and The Beatles had just…
Two well-known snack food companies are merging. Utz quality foods of Hanover, Pennsylvania is buying Birmingham, Alabama based Golden Enterprises, Inc., which is the owner of the popular Golden Flake brand snack chips. Golden Enterprises CEO Mark McCutcheon says the merger will “allow the Golden Flake brand to continue to grow in our core southeastern markets, while expanding the product…
Source: Office of Governor Robert Bentley After more than three decades of construction, the final phase of Interstate 22 has opened. WVTM-TV reports that the I-22 interchange on Interstate 65 will connect Birmingham to Memphis. The I-22/I-65 interchange opened Monday morning after a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Formally known as Corridor X, the Department of Transportation started construction on what was then…
