By By Jacki Lowry In 1978 Bill Waldrop had a vision for improving the lives of those living in Double Springs, Alabama, his wife’s hometown. Waldrop began building his first grocery store, to alleviate the burden of those within the community forced to drive a half hour to the nearest market. Gateway Foods, Inc. soon […]

By Alec Harvey When Sid Evans left Garden & Gun magazine to take over the reins at Southern Living, the notes poured in from his friends and peers. “I got a lot of congratulatory letters when I became editor, but I also got a lot of warnings from people, saying, ‘Don’t screw it up.’” That […]

By: Karim Shamsi-Basha A Muslim Palestinian walked into Jerusalem and opened a store called “Alabama – The Heart of Dixie.” It sounds like the start of a joke, but it isn’t. As I walked along the narrow David Street leading from Jaffa Gate to the Wailing Wall in the middle of ancient Jerusalem, the character […]

DON’T MISS: These issues and more will be discussed at Yellowhammer’s upcoming Alabama Economic Growth Summit In order to keep pace with demand, employers across the eight counties spanning southwest Alabama estimate a need for 4,851 skilled workers during the next 12 months. That figure, reported in the Southwest Alabama Workforce Development Council’s (SAWDC) 2015 […]

By Karim Shamsi-Basha John Bryan’s great-grandfather, the Rev. James Alexander Bryan, came to Birmingham in 1889 to pastor Third Presbyterian Church, and remained there until 1940. “On his death bed, he asked the people gathered around him to continue serving and ministering to the homeless. That was how Brother Bryan Mission began,” said Bryan, who […]

By Kelli M. Dugan MOBILE, Ala. — While the future funding of the U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship program remains unclear, Austal USA shows no signs of altering its aggressive production plans at its Mobile shipyard. In fact, the Australian shipbuilder’s U.S. headquarters on the Mobile River hosted a recent keel-laying ceremony for the future […]

Lisa Smith considered not being among the hundreds of Alabama fans descending on Academy Sports in Hoover. It was nearly midnight when she arrived and temperatures were freezing or below. But the McCalla resident said she couldn’t miss it. “This is too good not to come out,” she said. “I had to be a part […]

By Solomon Crenshaw Jr. Only twice this football season has Haley Jackson been at a Jacksonville State home football game. Instead, the senior marine biology major has been working as a waitress at Struts Wings restaurant next to Burgess-Snow Field. “On game days, we’re slammed,” she said. “It’s all hands on deck.” But Jackson’s hands […]

By: Kelli M. Dugan Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley on Tuesday welcomed Zodiac Aerospace, the latest support firm seeking proximity to Airbus’ $600 million U.S. manufacturing facility. France-based Zodiac, a global leader in aircraft cabins, employs more than 30,000 across 100 sites worldwide. The Mobile location is the 25th in the United States. “(Zodiac is) being […]

“Sweet and decadent – you definitely want to have it before you die.” That’s a description of the award-winning Half-Baked Cookie from Urban Cookhouse co-owner Andrea Snyder. The dessert is included as one of the Alabama Tourism Department’s 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die. Producer Chad Allen gave Alabama NewsCenter a look […]

By: Michael Sznajderman Torrential rains, high winds and tornadoes marked the Christmas holiday, and Alabama Power employees responded. A confirmed tornado touched down in Southwest Birmingham Christmas night. The tornado and related storms caused extensive damage and flooding in several neighborhoods in the city and in neighboring Midfield. Alabama Power crews worked through the night […]

By Michael Sznajderman As Alabama Power nears the $1 billion mark in expenditures related to complying with recent federal environmental regulations, more environmental rules loom that could more than double the cost figure. Newly approved federal regulations could force the company to dramatically change the way it handles and stores coal ash and how it […]

By Alejandro Danois Heading into this season, the plan was for the Alabama offense to have a two-headed running attack, with 6-foot-3, 245-pund junior Derrick Henry splitting carries with 6-foot-1, 210-pound senior Kenyan Drake. It’s a proven part of the Crimson Tide strategy, attacking defenses with more than one elite ball-carrier. The past few seasons […]

By Solomon Crenshaw Jr. Three swimmers stood on the podium following the 100 butterfly final at the U.S. Winter Nationals. Everyone knew two of them. Tom Shields had won five NCAA individual swimming championships and Michael Phelps eclipsed Mark Spitz in winning 18 Olympic gold medals. Auburn sophomore Luis Martinez was the man nobody knew […]

By: Mike Tomberlin It’s a pattern we’ve become used to in Alabama. An international automaker chooses a site in the state for a new manufacturing plant. It produces a popular new model using some parts that are produced from suppliers that also located in Alabama. Its success leads to it expanding its plant, making it […]

By Matt Windsor The longest-lived human on record didn’t make it much past 120 years. That’s nothing compared to the ocean quahog, a fist-sized clam found off the coast of Maine. “They can live 500 years or longer,” says Steven Austad, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Biology in the UAB College of Arts and […]

By Michael Sznajderman It’s quiet inside the steel and brick building that houses Plant Gorgas Units 6-7 in Walker County. Except for the low buzz of a few light fixtures, the once-familiar roar of the turbines and the rumble of coal pulverizers have ceased – and won’t be heard again. The same is true at […]

By Bryan Davis There are many cities in America where the median annual salaries are higher than Birmingham, but often the cost of living in those cities exceeds the benefits of a higher paycheck. According to a recent report from Forbes, Birmingham’s lower cost of living allows annual income to go further, despite often being […]

(Video above: Christy Swaid discusses HEAL, the non-profit she founded that is tackling childhood obesity in Alabama) By Karim Shamsi-Basha With tearful eyes, Christy Swaid shows a “thank you” note from a student in Alabama’s Black Belt region. Among a few lines highlighted in yellow, one said, “HEAL has changed my life.” That pretty much […]

(Video above: Sherry Hartley, co-owner of Alabama Goods, shows some of the store’s state-made items.) By: Michael Tomberlin National retailers are touting their deals for Black Friday, but small, local companies believe they are the real deal when it comes to Small Business Saturday. Since American Express started promoting local businesses as a holiday shopping […]

By: Michael Tomberlin The SEUS Japan 38 conference may have ended nearly a week ago, but economic development officials believe it will have lasting effects for Birmingham and the state. The 38th joint meeting of the Southeast U.S./Japan and the Japan-U.S Southeast Associations was held in Birmingham last week. Seven southeastern states had their own […]

By: Carla Davis Terrence Bullock’s body still carries reminders of 10 years ago when he nearly lost his life in the Iraqi desert. On that night in 2005, Bullock, a lance corporal in the Fourth Amphibious Assault Battalion of the U.S. Marine Reserves, was conducting a sweep of an area held by insurgents near the […]

By: Bob Blalock Tim Townes has a dream. He has a dream that one day in Alabama, he will see four little girls sitting on the steps of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Townes dreams that on Martin Luther King Jr. Day two years from now, national television news shows will trumpet the […]

By Bob Shepard The University of Alabama at Birmingham will launch the first Phase 1 human trials of a drug – derived from the female hormone estrogen – that may help patients with severe bleeding survive long enough to get to appropriate medical care. A three-year, $10 million U.S. Department of Defense contract from the […]