Profiles on each of the candidates running for the Democratic nomination to the Alabama House of Representatives District 52 seat.

Professional experience: President and CEO, CityServe Alabama; board member, Digital Fulcrum Media; former executive director, Mission Alabama, 2002-2016; became executive director of Mission Birmingham, 2007; became executive director of Mission Birmingham Transformation Strategies, 2011; assistant director, Young Business Leaders, 2001-2010; chief operating officer, Cornerstone Schools of Alabama, 1999-2001. had worked for nearly 20 years for United Parcel Service before leaving his management position to work with historically disadvantaged families and communities in central Alabama.

Political experience: Jefferson County treasurer; was disqualified from her race for reelection for not turning in required ethics paperwork on time; ran unsuccessfully for Jefferson County circuit clerk, 2018. Professional experience: Currently treasurer of Jefferson County; has worked in a variety of fields, from law to media. Shortly after earning...

Political experience: Ran unsuccessfully for House District 52 seat in 2022, Birmingham City Council, District 6, in 2019. Professional experience: Community relations manager, Oak Street Health, 2023-present; senior program manager, The Alpha Omega Group, which fosters programs that promote community involvement, employment, training, education and healthy social behaviors; former County chair organizer, Movement Labs; former small business program manager Operation HOPE; former homeless prevention & rapid re-housing case manager for Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity; former legal secretary for the Internal Revenue Service; former human resource planner-job developer for the Jefferson County Commission; first black president, Alabama Democratic Women.

Political experience: Served in Alabama House of Representatives, District 55, 1998-2006; ran for Jefferson County Commission, 2007 and 2018; executive committee member, National Conference of Black State Legislators, 2002; former executive committee member, National Conference of Mayors. Professional experience: Small business owner, principal consultant with Absolute Solutions, a public affairs...

Political experience: Alabama state director for the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign. Professional experience: Deputy director community development for the city of Birmingham, 2017-present; also has worked at Alabama State University, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Jefferson County Health Department, REV Birmingham and the Birmingham City Council. Civic experience:...

Political experience: Volunteered for candidates, serve on the Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee, GOTV efforts, phone banking and canvassing. Professional experience: Works with zoning with city of Birmingham. Education: Bachelor’s in information technology and business management, Herzing University, juris doctorate, Miles Law School. Main issues: Women’s reproductive rights; Medicaid...

Alabama trails the nation in terms of convenience and access to the ballot — ranking 46th in ease of voting — according to a recent report released by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama. PARCA found that reasons for the state’s high cost for voting include a...

Jefferson County Economic & Industrial Development Authority has added about 1,100 acres to its inventory of developable land to create its latest industrial park in north Jefferson County. JeffMet North Industrial Park, off Interstate 65 at Exit 275 near the Gardendale/Morris area, sets the stage for the creation of an...

The Birmingham Land Bank Authority on Friday held a ceremonial groundbreaking on what will be the newest home built in the Fountain Heights Neighborhood, marking the official launch of the Land Bank’s Accelerated Home Ownership Program. AHOP launched last year with a goal to help 25 individuals become owners...

In an effort to keep a longtime business in the county, the Jefferson County Commission agreed to reimburse Red Mountain Distributing for 60% of the 1-cent sales tax the company pays to the county. Red Mountain, which does business as Ashley Furniture, has outgrown its warehouse in Bessemer. The city...

County Manager Cal Markert gave credit Tuesday to Jefferson County Commission President Jimmie Stephens in helping county employees get a better deal on investment funds. “Employees have an option for what is called a 457 Plan, where they can put additional funds in an account that’s pre-taxed,” Markert said.

The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved $1 million to create a mental health program for students at Birmingham City Schools. The money is part of a yearlong agreement with the Birmingham Board of Education, under which the board will increase the number of school-based licensed counselors and provide students with school-based consulting services.

Time flies but the Birmingham-Southern baseball team opted for the bus. A day after falling in its third game in the double elimination Division III College World Series, the Panthers hit the road rather than taking to the sky. They weren’t delaying the inevitable – returning to a college that closed Friday.

Birmingham residents who attended a budget hearing Monday night expressed concerns about many of the issues they said they bring up every year, including street paving, blight and the neglect of less prosperous communities. They weren’t debating line-items in a budget proposal for fiscal 2025 because there isn’t one. As...

The construction equipment left no doubt that the ground had already been broken behind the former Carraway Hospital. But the lack of virgin soil took nothing away from the celebratory feel of the ceremonial groundbreaking Monday morning for the planned amphitheater that’s coming to Birmingham’s Druid Hills Neighborhood.

No one has published any interviews so far with members of the Manhattan jury that found Donald Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying records last week, but I’m certain multiple media outlets are trying. Juror names and addresses were shielded from the media and the public but...

Friday is the last day for Birmingham-Southern College, and it’s the last chance for alumni and friends of the school to collect a treasured memento. The Stockham Shop, in the Stockham Women’s Building on the BSC campus, will reopen from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday to sell BSC memorabilia, including a lot of yearbooks. The oldest one is the 1919 edition of The Revue.

Millions of visitors to Birmingham can now be welcomed at the International Airport in the city by one of its most renowned Civil Rights icons.Last week, officials with the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport unveiled a new mural honoring The Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth in Concourse B. The airport was renamed in his honor in 2008.Dozens of area leaders, activists and residents gathered for the unveiling which was attended by members of the Shuttlesworth family, including daughters, Dr. Ruby Shuttlesworth Bester and Patricia Shuttlesworth Massengill. “[This mural] is absolutely beautiful. I am so pleased with everything that you’ve done to honor my father,” Massengill told attendees at the event. “It looks just like him — I always told him, ‘Dad, you need to smile’ and he would say, ‘I’m concentrating on the Lord’s work and what I can do for mankind.’” Nearly 13 feet high and 66 feet wide, the mural created by artist Rico Gatson, titled “Fred S,” depicts Shuttlesworth surrounded by an array of colors. It was initially created for the Birmingham Museum of Art’s Wall to Wall series before finding its permanent home at BHM. “I am eternally grateful and honored to bring this iteration of the mural portrait of the great Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth to the airport and to the city of Birmingham,” said Gatson. The mural is a result of a community project from 2023 Leadership Birmingham spearheaded by Ashby Pate, secretary of the Birmingham Airport Authority Board. “The mural’s placement in the terminal ensures that more than three million visitors to the airport each year will be able to draw inspiration from this incredible artistic interpretation of his legacy,” said Pate, a member of the Leadership Birmingham class that chose this collaboration as their community project. “ … Rev. Shuttlesworth changed Birmingham forever — and when he did, he changed the world.”

Hundreds of alumni, family and friends of Birmingham-Southern College filed into Bill Battle Coliseum Thursday night. Across the academic quad, more who couldn’t get a seat in the stands where Panther basketball teams played gathered in the auditorium of Munger Hall. All returned to the college that they have...