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Tag Archive | "Jefferson County bankruptcy"

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Birmingham columnists on WBHM


WBHM If WBHM’s recent shift away from classical music baroque your heart, then there’s not much we can do for you (except maybe suggest Pandora). In the meantime, Birmingham’s public radio station is taking a greater interest in local news, even bringing newspaper people on the air.

And, they let us sit on the good furniture.

Beginning this week, WBHM will feature Wednesday segments with Birmingham Weekly columnist Kyle Whitmire (I promise I won’t write about myself in the third person again) and Birmingham News columnist John Archibald (booo!!!).

John ArchibaldArchibald gets the morning shift, with a segment called “Plugged.” It promises a more heady agenda, focusing on hoity-toity themes. This week’s segment, which you can hear here, focused on trust, whatever that is.

Meanwhile, I get the afternoon shift, talking about who’s backstabbing whom at City Hall and County Commission. The first segment focused on Jefferson County’s last minute attempts to avoid bankruptcy, the mayor’s wrecked plans for free bus fare and his pesky problem of being sued by the SEC.

Not that this is any sort of competition, but in our first week, I totally whipped Archibald at this radio game. However, he does have a better head shot than I do, which through the wonder’s of Photoshop, I’ve now made even better. My photo, which is at least five years old, dates from my first pathetic attempt to grow a full beard.

But neither of us topped the radio professional. Yesterday, WBHM’s Tanya Ott took Mayor Larry Langford to task for his recent unpleasantness with the SEC and on-going Justice Department investigation. According to Langford, the federal investigations into him are the evil machinations of his campaign opponent Patrick Cooper and, of course, the media. It’s all one great conspiracy.

I’m still waiting on my black helicopter.

Popularity: 9% [?]

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Collins discusses possible JeffCo bankruptcy


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Commission President Bettye Fine Collins discusses Jefferson County’s options as clock runs out.

Popularity: 8% [?]

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Larry Langford comments on SEC suit


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Read the full story and more here.

Popularity: 11% [?]

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Langford legal woes: First shoe drops


SEC sues Langford, Blount and LaPierre

As expected, the SEC has filed a lawsuit in federal court here against Mayor Larry Langford, Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount and lobbyist Al LaPierre. The SEC’s complaint is a civil lawsuit, so nobody is getting arrested or going to jail. That’s the Justice Department’s end of things and they’re still working at it.

In the meantime, the SEC wants Blount, LaPierre and Langford to repay money they received in various bond deals from Langford’s tenure at the Jefferson County Commission. According to the lawsuit, Blount paid off more than $150,000 of Langford’s personal debts, while Langford directed more than $6.7 million in fees to Blount’s investment firm, Blount Parrish.

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Popularity: 18% [?]

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WEEKLY DIGEST: March 6-13, 2008


We’re taking Ginny Phillips off the masthead. Now that she’s a published author, it only seems appropriate that any future bylines in this paper match what it says on the cover of her debut novel: Gin Phillips. The excerpt of The Well & the Mine that ran as this week’s cover story ought to be enough to convince you to get your very own copy (and if it’s not, perhaps the cornbread at John’s City Diner will be – the book release party will be held there on March 13).
Far stranger than fiction is the atmosphere surrounding Magic City government. A porn star and the Pope? It sounds like the start of a bad joke. And then there’s JeffCo’s money woes – possibly the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history looming on the horizon. Good thing Mayor Larry Langford hired a guy who helped create that catastrophe as the city finance director.

“You can travel across the entire land, ain’t no place like Birmingham…”
O! For a restart of the city! For a reboot of the republic! If only a good meal – barbecue say, or lobster tails and champagne — could make this all go away.

Popularity: 49% [?]

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