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BIRMINGHAM NEWS OPINION - >Commentary and editorial pieces from the editorial writers at The Birmingham News

BIRMINGHAM NEWS OPINION
Commentary and editorial pieces from the editorial writers at The Birmingham News

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    Featured Story

    OUR VIEW: Despite taking hard hits in the recession, Alabama still is ranked as one of the best places in the country to do business

    By Birmingham News editorial board

    November 21, 2009, 5:32AM
    This recession, as bad as it is for Alabama employment, hasn't knocked the breath out of the state's efforts to attract businesses and industry. While Alabama's unemployment rate is at about 10.9 percent, among the highest jobless rates in the country, the state's business climate remains a solid seventh out of the 50 states, Site Selection magazine says in its... Full story »

    WORTH NOTING: CANDIDATE INTERVIEWS

    By Birmingham News editorial board

    November 21, 2009, 5:31AM
    The Birmingham News will make a recommendation in the Dec. 8 special election for Birmingham mayor. We invite any candidate who would like an interview with The News' editorial board to set up an appointment by calling Pat Goggins at 325-2382. Candidates should meet with the editorial board no later than Dec. 2. Failure to do so will not eliminate... Full story »

    YOUR VIEWS: Alabama is even more beautiful in the fall; let's capitalize on that

    By Letters from our readers

    November 21, 2009, 5:30AM
    My wife and I spent the second week in October on a bus trip over some of the back roads in New England. The trip covered parts of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. The foliage was beautiful, and the scenery was magnificent. I gorged on clam chowder. The white birches were in their golden glory, and the maples were... Full story »

    JOEY KENNEDY: Is a government supposed to be run like a business?

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    By Joey Kennedy -- The Birmingham News

    November 20, 2009, 3:23PM
    Acting Mayor Carole Smitherman this week told folks at the Operation New Birmingham annual meeting that city government must operate more like a successful business with sound budgeting and spending practices. OK. That's cool. We can accept that. But too often, politicians (especially when running for office, as Smitherman is) push that government-as-business mantra to extremes. The analogy falls... Full story »

    OUR VIEW: New business group should help bring credibility to Jefferson County's efforts to avoid sewer bankruptcy

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    By Birmingham News editorial board

    November 20, 2009, 5:32AM
    There's not much new about the plan advocated this week by a group of business leaders aimed at keeping Jefferson County's sewer system out of bankruptcy. The plan is simple: Getting the Legislature's approval to pay some sewer debt with excess revenue from the county's 1 cent sales tax for school construction, creating an independent sewer board and negotiating with... Full story »
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    OUR VIEW: Birmingham's acting mayor sheds one lobbyist; now she should get rid of another

    By Birmingham News editorial board

    November 20, 2009, 5:31AM
    The Birmingham News has long believed that governments shouldn't hire lobbyists, either to work in Montgomery or in Washington, D.C. After all, we elect City Council members and a mayor to be our lobbyists. We elect a governor, state representatives and senators to be our lobbyists. We elect U.S. representatives and senators to be our lobbyists. Why spend hundreds of... Full story »

    YOUR VIEWS: Teacher sexual misconduct with students growing issue

    By Letters from our readers

    November 20, 2009, 5:30AM
    Another schoolteacher has been accused of sexually abusing a student. A Springville High School teacher was arrested and charged with two counts of sodomy and one count of enticing a child. We do not know whether the charges are true. A trial may determine that. We do know, however, that an elaborate statutory process is in place that sometimes resembles... Full story »

    OUR VIEW: Chief A.C. Roper, Birmingham Police Department doing the right stuff to bring city's crime rate down

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    By Birmingham News editorial board

    November 19, 2009, 5:32AM
    In football, the fourth quarter is the most important quarter. In a close game, the fourth quarter is where a game is won or lost. But where Birmingham's crime rate is concerned, if the fourth quarter is anything like the previous three, there will be much to celebrate at the end of the year. After three quarters in 2009, police... Full story »

    OUR VIEW: Competing lawsuits not in the best interest of Jefferson County sewer customers

    By Birmingham News editorial board

    November 19, 2009, 5:31AM
    Overshadowed by the news of last week's lawsuit by Jefferson County against convicted former Commission President Larry Langford and the financiers who cashed in on sewer bond deals gone bad is a suit filed more than a year ago on behalf of sewer customers. That June 2008 suit attempts to hold other former and current county commissioners who approved sewer... Full story »

    YOUR VIEWS: DHR Workers should go the extra mile

    By Letters from our readers

    November 19, 2009, 5:30AM
    The News recently reported the trial of an Alabama Department of Human Resources caseworker who, according to the jury verdict, did a poor job of investigating and recognizing the potential danger zone where a child was living. The News also reported the ex-boyfriend is now in prison for beating and killing this defenseless child in 2002. And the obvious missing... Full story »

    JOEY KENNEDY: No, really, the qualifying deadline for Birmingham mayor is today

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    By Joey Kennedy -- The Birmingham News

    November 18, 2009, 1:35PM
    OK. I WAS WRONG. I relied on one of our newspaper stories when I said in Tuesday's blog that yesterday was the last day to qualify to run for mayor of Birmingham. Colleague John Archibald has it right in today's column (here) -- qualifying closes today. Right now, 14 people are running. Archibald offers a pretty good rundown of the... Full story »

    OUR VIEW: Alabama voters statewide should have a chance to say, once and for all, whether this is going to be a gambling state or not

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    By Birmingham News editorial board

    November 18, 2009, 5:32AM
    Whether you think the problem is the perpetual push of gambling interests or the push-back from the anti-gambling crowd, state Sen. Scott Beason may have the solution. Beason, R-Gardendale, said he'll push next year for a statewide vote on whether Alabama should have gambling. Not whether to expand it, or save the dog tracks, or regulate it, or tax it,... Full story »

    OUR VIEW: Nothing acting Birmingham Mayor Carole Smitherman does can be viewed outside a political perspective

    By Birmingham News editorial board

    November 18, 2009, 5:31AM
    One gets a sense the changes acting Mayor Carole Smitherman is making at Birmingham City Hall are calculated to help her campaign for mayor. Yet, just because somebody does something for a political reason doesn't mean it's bad. Smitherman is attacking the city's perceived budget problems aggressively and head on. When Smitherman moved over to the mayor's office from her... Full story »

    YOUR VIEWS: Alabamians gripe about tax burden, and they should

    By Letters from our readers

    November 18, 2009, 5:30AM
    Captivated by the beautiful irony of Bill Keller's "My View" essay (Viewpoints, Nov. 8), my eyes roamed to The News' lead editorial, "National champs, again." It recounted the all-too-familiar story of a survey showing Alabamians have the overall lowest tax burden in the United States, followed by the predictable cheers by politicians of both parties. But the editorial contained an... Full story »

    JOEY KENNEDY: In Birmingham politics, it seems some things never change

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    By Joey Kennedy -- The Birmingham News

    November 17, 2009, 7:45AM
    A FRIEND E-MAILED the other day, a bit upset. He lives in Birmingham and has, of course, followed former Mayor Larry Langford's booting from office and the buildup to the mayor's election on Dec. 8. This friend is hoping that maybe our city will change for the better. But here's what he writes to me: "I thought you might be... Full story »
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    OUR OPINIONS
    The opinions on this page are shaped by The Birmingham News' editorial board, independent of news coverage decisions elsewhere in the paper. Members of that editorial board are publisher Victor H. Hanson III, editor Thomas V. Scarritt, editorial page editor Bob Blalock, editorial writers Joey Kennedy, Eddie Lard and Robin DeMonia.
    LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
    Letters should be about 200 words and must include the writer's name, address and daytime telephone number. The address and phone number will not be published. Letters may be edited for grammar, spelling and brevity. For questions, call Marvera Goymer at
    (205) 325-3252 or e-mail her at epage@bhamnews.com.
    SPEAK YOUR MIND
    Making a list, checking... 11/21/2009 9:43 a.m. CT
    What does JeffCo 11/21/2009 9:22 a.m. CT
    For those who wish to... 11/21/2009 9:21 a.m. CT