Sometimes, a little help can make all the difference. For 30 years, that’s been a guiding principle for the Alabama Business Charitable Trust Fund (ABC Trust). And over those 30 years, that help has added up to make a big difference for hundreds of thousands of families across the state. “I would say, over the past 30 […]

Shane Campbell is a true believer. The civil engineer from Hoover is on his third electric vehicle (EV) – all of them high-performance models. Right now he’s driving a Jaguar I-PACE. Before that, it was a BMW and an Audi e-tron. But on Oct. 15, he did something he’d never done before with any of his EVs: take it […]

It was one of Birmingham’s first parks – a place of respite from the bustle of a growing city, and also a place of racist horror. It has been the site of countless events and social protests – a place where some of the city’s important personalities are commemorated and where famous musicians have played; […]

For more than a century, Walker County’s economy was driven largely by the rich seams of coal that underlie the region. By 1900, the bounty of the famed Warrior Coal Field had transformed an agricultural county into the second largest producer of coal in Alabama, just behind rapidly industrializing Jefferson County. Today, Walker County’s economy […]

It’s a growing business in Alabama that is sowing a different kind of agriculture – and helping meet the expectations of polished palates, healthy eaters and people struggling with food insecurity. Hydroponic farms and gardens are cropping up in urban and rural Alabama settings, supplying grocery stores, restaurants and nonprofits with fresh produce while using […]

On a blustery and blessedly cloudy June day, a team of archaeology experts and student volunteers from the University of West Alabama (UWA) carefully pick through soil in a Marengo County field that is ready for planting. To the unskilled eye, the land looks no different than hundreds of other farm plots in this area of Alabama’s […]

For 20 years, Go Skateboarding Day, on June 21, has been a time for enthusiasts to recognize (and play hooky from normal obligations) to hit sidewalks and skate parks and embrace the internationally celebrated sport of skateboarding. But on this particular June 21, skateboarders in Birmingham rejoiced and marked a landmark moment: the opening of City Walk […]

Gasoline prices in Alabama are on the rise again, just as summer driving season is about to heat up. According to AAA, gas prices in Alabama have jumped by 18 cents a gallon over the past week, with the national average price per gallon now well over $4. But for a growing number of Alabamians who […]

As Birmingham and Jefferson County communities finish preparation for The World Games 2022, workers are in the final stages of completing City Walk BHAM, a downtown linear park that will serve as the central gathering place and entertainment venue for athletes, visitors and residents attending the international event. “It’s been pretty exciting, watching it all come together,” […]

It’s an unusual relationship – between a soft-spoken, Alabama-based graphic artist and a long-dead New York photographer who once was renowned for “cheesecake” pinups of showgirls and portraits of Hollywood stars, but who has faded into almost complete obscurity. And yet, Clyde Adams can’t get photographer Murray Korman out of his head, driving Adams along a nearly-decade-long […]

At first, the pandemic wasn’t too kind to Christa Cotton and her fledgling cocktail company. And then, it was. A recent check-in – right before Mardi Gras – with the 2010 Auburn University graduate and CEO of New Orleans-based El Guapo found Cotton feverishly working with her team to get shipments of her popular bottled bitters, a key ingredient […]

If you wanted to sketch the course of Brittany Wagner’s professional life, you’d have to use a pencil. That simple but powerful utensil – sharpened on one end, with a tiny eraser on the other – was Wagner’s weapon of choice as she guided aspiring but often struggling athletes through the rigors of community college […]

An ongoing blood-supply shortage in Alabama, fueled by the pandemic, has gone from bad to dire, spurring hospital leaders and blood donation organizations to implore Alabamians to donate. “I’m not sure we’ve been in this territory before,” Dr. Don Williamson, former state health officer, now president/CEO of the Alabama Hospital Association, told Alabama NewsCenter. “I don’t […]

When Rebecca Denson and her husband, Clint, launched Sachai Tea Co., the idea of improving their community, and the world, were key components of their business plan. The same is true for Chris Sims and his partners at CAVU, a virtual career- and business-development company. The like-minded companies are among the first in Alabama to seek and […]

A federal grant will provide a big boost to a new program spearheaded by Jones Valley Teaching Farm that’s designed to help expand the local food system and nurture community farming in Birmingham’s urban neighborhoods. The three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will bolster Jones Valley’s Good Community Food Program, an education and training initiative to […]

Many folks may not view parks and nature trails as pivotal tools for economic development. But a recent report prepared for the Alabama Innovation Commission hails Alabama’s abundant natural resources as a potential magnet for making the state more attractive for drawing advanced industries, and attracting the skilled workforce those businesses need. According to the report by the […]

This summer, folks from across the region flew to Greensboro for the 2021 Black Belt Birding Festival – a sold-out event that has organizers with Alabama Audubon already working to expand the festival in 2022. Indeed, the bigger event planned for next year follows what turned out to be an immensely successful 2021 festival for […]

What began as a whim became a worldwide whirlwind for Danny Smith. A native of landlocked Birmingham, Smith four years ago spotted a job opening at the British affiliate of Carnival Corp., the cruise ship company. It was for a newly created position: fleet environmental officer. Next thing you know, Smith is in Southampton, England, […]

Birders from across the region are converging this weekend in west Alabama for the return of the Black Belt Birding Festival – back after a year’s hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pent-up demand from birders is obvious – the festival is a sellout – but don’t despair. There are free events, open to […]

Two Birmingham natives who participated 60 years ago in the historic Freedom Rides told their stories to an inquisitive and admiring crowd Wednesday evening at the Birmingham Public Library. Catherine Burks-Brooks and the Rev. Clyde L. Carter weren’t on the first two buses that left Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961, that were attacked by pro-segregation mobs in […]

The storms that tore through Alabama last month took a toll on a rare longleaf pine forest near Lake Mitchell, but Alabama Power biologists have moved in to make repairs ahead of the nesting season for a protected woodpecker. Chad Fitch, a biologist with Alabama Power, said the storm took down numerous trees in the 1,600-acre, old-growth longleaf pine […]

Daniel Creech doesn’t talk much. When he does, it packs a punch. Creech doesn’t have to talk to communicate how he feels. When he’s excited, his eyes shine. And when he’s happy, his contagious, full-throated laugh draws in anyone who is near. His friends and professional relationships at United Ability, the Birmingham nonprofit agency that serves […]

The next time you’re straining to steer safely through a sudden thunderstorm, give thanks to the Alabama woman whose clever idea made the path forward a little easier. Mary Anderson (1866-1953) is credited with designing the first operational windshield wiper, and she had the patent to prove it. Anderson was born just after the Civil […]

For years, greenspace advocates in Montgomery have eyed an extraordinary, city-owned property near downtown as a potential site for a new park. The proposed public space even has a name: Cypress Nature Park. Others have longed for the city to create recreational trails that would better connect neighborhoods and capitalize on Montgomery’s historic and natural […]