The Terminal

Travelogue: Coverage after the Langford verdict

Andre Natta — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:06:24 +0000

Word of the guilty verdict against former Birmingham mayor Larry Langford has spread through the media in the last 20+ hours. This would include a story filed last night during NPR’s All Things Considered; this report turned in by The New York Times‘ Shaila Dewan (it was on page 19 of Section A); this piece filed by HULIQ.com; even The Huffington Post decided to add their voice to the coverage. Bloomberg News chimed in too – along with the folks from WAFF sharing WBRC’s story with visitors to their website.

But wait, there’s more…

You’ve also got the wire accounts from Reuters and the Associated Press.

There were a couple of pieces written that used Langford’s trial as its muse earlier in the day yesterday, including this column for the Kansas City Star and this piece chronicling the issues facing Baltimore’s sitting mayor for that city’s CBS affiliate.

And while we tried to collect some posts from out of town, Spitball Army’s got some other links, including one back to this site. Thanks!

Photo: Bob Farley/f8Photo

Verdict in: Langford guilty on all counts

Andre Natta — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:51:44 +0000

UPDATE: NPR’s All Things Considered is working on uploading audio that was filed earlier this evening during the broadcast.

It took less than two hours for a jury in Tuscaloosa, AL to find Birmingham mayor Larry Langford guilty on 60 federal counts. Information is still coming in, though it has been reported that he will be sentenced in the next 90-100 days.

This verdict will eventually leads to the installation of the first woman mayor of the City of Birmingham as the sitting City Council president, Carole Smitherman, will be sworn in as interim mayor. She would serve until a special election is held within the next 45-60 days.

It appears from following the trial on Twitter that the residents of this city have an opinion about the news this afternoon.

We’re interested in hearing what you think about it and what’s going to happen next here in The Magic City below in our comments section.

Photo: Bob Farley/f8Photo

Yes, follow surgery on Twitter

Andre Natta — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:13:17 +0000

The folks at UAB are providing tweet-by-tweet coverage of a robotic adrenalectomy this morning, October 23. You can follow the procedure, being conducted by Martin J. Heslin, M.D. via their Twitter account, @uabmedicine or via the hashtag #UABOR. Or just click on the links in that previous sentence. To learn more about UAB’s first live-tweeted surgery, check out this entry on their website.

Show your East Lake pride

Andre Natta — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:39:24 +0000

Some of you may vaguely remember our post about the Keep East Lake Weird campaign back in January. Well, residents have finally found a way to let everyone know just how proud they are about living in the community and its potential.

East Lake Apparel and Gifts is now up and live on the Interwebs giving you access with mugs, t-shirts (even Christmas ornaments).

Election ‘10: The Battle for endorsements

Andre Natta — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:03:56 +0000

We figured it was only a matter of time before we started covering next year’s governor’s race. What we didn’t expect was the battle for endorsements to get jump started so quickly.

First, word came yesterday of former Birmingham mayor (& the first African American to be elected to the post) Richard Arrington planning to announce his endorsement of Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Alabama’s agricultural commissioner Ron Sparks (that formal announcement is scheduled to happen around 2 p.m. this afternoon). Word came shortly thereafter from fellow candidate Artur Davis‘ campaign that U.W. Clemon, the first African-American to receive a federal judicial appointment, had endorsed the U.S. congressman.

Hopefully neither of these endorsements will mean as much as when the candidates meet during “State the Case”, the first of a series of Gubernatorial Informational Community Awareness Sessions being organized by the Metro Birmingham NAACP on Friday, October 23 beginning at 6 p.m. at Boutwell Auditorium.

Peeling back history…

Andre Natta — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:12:20 +0000

Folks who’ve been in Birmingham, AL for a while who take 22^nd Street home in the afternoon may have noticed the painted wall adjacent to the 22^nd Street Bridge going over the railroad tracks. While our photo shows what happened after the canvas that had been attached to the wall was removed, it does give you an idea of what Daze, Roke and Priest did to create a rather unique piece of street art.

For a closer look at how the finished work looked, you’ll want to check out this post on the Wooster Collective website.

Photo: Peeling back history – revised. acnatta/Flickr

Stitt, McCrary, James join Academy of Honor

Andre Natta — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:41:19 +0000

Three Birmingham area residents are in pretty select company.

Yesterday Alabama Power CEO Charles McCrary, Vulcan Materials CEO Donald James and Birmingham restaurateur Frank Stitt were among five individuals inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor during a ceremony in the old House chamber at the Alabama Capitol.

According to the Associated Press report, “…membership in the academy is limited by law to 100 people whose accomplishments and service have greatly benefited the state.”