Despite stiff opposition, Bessemer changes its laws to accommodate data centers
Residents in and around Bessemer expressed continued disapproval of a plan to build a 14.5 million square foot data center in their back yards. Now, the city is one step closer to final approval.
Bi-annual bluegrass jamboree serves up music with a side of Alabama legend
The Henderson Bluegrass Jamboree, a bi-annual event which takes place the second weekends of April and October, is a well-kept tradition among the Southeast’s bluegrass community. From sunup to sundown, picking circles are formed as are impromptu jams between strangers-turned-friends.
Eighteen months after a fatal explosion, Alabama rolls back its commitment to monitor explosive gases above coal mines
In a letter to federal regulators, the director of the Alabama Surface Mining Commission wrote she has “indefinitely suspended” methane monitoring requirements her agency agreed to in 2024. Experts say the “astonishing and reckless” move leaves residents at risk.
Coalition raises concerns surrounding manufacturer’s environmental, labor practices in small Alabama town
The report from the Good Neighbors Alabama coalition concerns the Neptune Technology Group plant in Tallassee.
Birmingham’s Furnace Fest celebrates big milestone and new beginnings
Twenty-five years ago, Furnace Fest roared from the belly of Birmingham’s historic Sloss Furnaces for the very first time. It's revival returns this weekend.
As opposition to an Alabama medical waste treatment facility boils over, a mysterious Facebook page weighs in
Dozens of residents opposed to Harvest Med Waste Disposal’s site in Remlap packed the Blount County courthouse to voice their concerns. Online, a paid campaign supporting the facility has been active, though its backers have remained anonymous.
Alabama looks to solve two problems at once by helping formerly incarcerated people enter the workforce
The state incarcerates more of its people than most others, and when they’re released, those with criminal records struggle to find jobs – increasing the likelihood they’ll reoffend. Meanwhile, many businesses can’t find enough skilled workers.
Children of the storm
As 11-year-olds weathering poverty, we survived the winds and water of Hurricane Katrina along Alabama’s Gulf Coast. Twenty years later, we’re still wading through its wake.
Here are the results of Tuesday’s elections in Birmingham
Birmingham voters made their picks in races for mayor, city council and school board.
Wilsonville residents seek preemptive strike against massive data center project
“That’s going to be their legacy, to potentially destroy a small town,” said one resident of the landowner and developers of a proposed hyperscale data center.
Capped Alabama coal ash pond still polluting groundwater 7 years after closure, lawsuit claims
Coosa Riverkeeper filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Alabama Power, alleging significant groundwater pollution violations from the utility’s Gadsden coal ash pond that has been capped in place since 2018.
Fact-checking claims about a proposed hyperscale data center
The developer behind the $14.5 billion project in Bessemer has suggested residents’ concerns are based on misinformation. Here’s what we know about the project and its impacts.
Alabama’s new utility commission president wants to hear from ‘all sides’
Cynthia Lee Almond spent four years in the Alabama Legislature and 16 years on the Tuscaloosa City Council before being appointed president of the state’s Public Service Commission.
Alabama environmental groups secure rare win in fight to update water toxicity standards
The new standards will reduce amounts of 12 toxic or cancer-linked pollutants in Alabama waterways, according to clean water advocacy groups that petitioned for the changes.
Bessemer recommends changing its laws to accommodate one of the country’s largest proposed data centers
Despite overwhelming public opposition, officials in Bessemer voted to recommend changes to city zoning ordinances to allow the massive development. Its operation could strain the state’s water and power supplies and leave an already imperiled fish species at risk of extinction.
The darter fish and the data center
A newly identified species is already in danger of extinction. A proposed massive data center in Bessemer would “nuke” its habitat, scientists say.
In one of the nation’s most polluted communities, Trump terminates funding for air monitoring
Residents in majority-Black north Birmingham have long been subjected to industrial pollution. The new administration has cut funding for a program aimed at measuring the impact.
Canceled climate grants would have cut pollution while boosting production, jobs at two Alabama ironworks
The U.S. Department of Energy rescinded $3.7 billion in clean energy grants last month, saying the projects selected would not generate a positive return on investment.
A Song for the Cahaba River
As the Cahaba’s “charismatic” namesake lily blooms, an old festival and a new musical tribute celebrate Alabama’s longest free-flowing river.
What’s Possible — AI in Alabama
Every so often, a new technology arises that transforms everything it touches. It fundamentally alters how we relate to each other and the world around us. Right now, the technology with that potential is artificial intelligence. On "What’s Possible – AI in Alabama," a locally-produced special by WBHM, we dive into a conversation about what AI means for the state.
Is AI coming for your job? Maybe. Here’s what to expect and how to prepare
Artificial intelligence is already transforming workplaces in Alabama. And the pace of the AI revolution is about to accelerate.
Alabama Power threatened with lawsuit for contaminating groundwater with coal ash
Nine years after the Gadsden Steam Plant stopped burning coal, its unlined coal ash pond is still polluting Alabama groundwater, records show.
WBHM to welcome Report for America corps member
WBHM is excited to welcome Vahini Shori to its newsroom through a partnership with Report for America. Shori will join the station in July.
Bessemer residents want answers about a four-million-square-foot data center coming to their backyards
Residents in and around Bessemer are furious over Project Marvel, a plan to build a 4.5-million-square-foot data processing facility on 700 acres of wooded land. Public officials have been sworn to silence.
WBHM seeks an All Things Considered host/reporter
Come be the newest afternoon host at WBHM, with a newsroom that has won multiple national Murrow Awards in recent years. The afternoon host is the local voice in Birmingham […]
Trump aims to fast track Alabama coal build-out, citing US need. Nearly all the coal is bound for export
A Trump effort to streamline the project would benefit the overseas steelmaking industry while putting Alabamians and the environment at risk.
As Pynk Beard, Grammy-winning songwriter Sebastian Kole turns the page
Grammy-winning songwriter Sebastian Kole has accomplished a great deal in his career. As his alter ego Pynk Beard, though, he could achieve much more. The Birmingham native is stepping out from behind the scenes and into the spotlight to bring his brand of country music to the masses.
For Homewood’s spotted salamanders, a win and a warning
A grassroots effort successfully pushed back on a development in that would have destroyed a critical salamander habitat. Still, amphibians face constant risks.
The long road to answers for some chronic illnesses
Growing costs, research cuts, and staffing shortages are health care issues that are top of mind for many in the country right now, especially for the millions of people who deal with chronic illness. Some of those people don’t even know what to call their illness.
Birmingham legend Odetta to be celebrated in tribute concert
Gina Coleman and her band Misty Blues will bring Odetta back home, performing a live tribute to the Birmingham legend at the historic Carver Theatre on Saturday, April 19.
Why is Alabama’s workforce participation rate so low? And what’s being done to improve it?
While Alabama boasts an unemployment rate that is among the lowest in the country, its workforce participation rate consistently lags the national average, meaning a large portion of Alabamians are neither employed nor actively seeking work. This has raised concerns both about barriers to employment for individuals and about the state’s economic future.
In Homewood, a fight for the spotted salamander
As a Samford University expands its footprint and threatens the amphibian’s habitat, residents are voicing their opposition and searching for another way forward.
