By Blake Guthrie
Editor’s note: This column, authored by Blake Guthrie, appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on November 9, 2025.
When he emailed permission to publish, he wrote this personal note to me…
“I have a lifelong love/hate relationship with Birmingham. Having grown up there, all I wanted to do was get the hell out as a young man. Now, I love coming back and seeing all the changes in the right direction.” Continue reading My love/hate relationship with Birmingham
By Jay Taylor
The dawn of 2026 was a rare wet morning on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, California.
For only the 11th time in 137 years, rain fell on the Rose Parade. Still, the Homewood High School band persevered for every inch of the 5.5-mile route. We parents beamed even if the sun didn’t.
In the afternoon, it was reversed. The clouds parted. But our Crimson hearts were overcast as we took the grandest whoopin’ of them all. Continue reading Alabama Paid $1.9M to Destroy Louisiana Monroe. Playing UAB for Free Makes Too Much Sense
By Don Erwin
In 2020 I wrote Buffalo Hunting in Alabama, a novel about economic development.
One of the plot lines involved Alabama competing against other states for a giant, blockbuster pharmaceutical plant. In my novel, the Birmingham metro won the project.
Fiction has now become real life. Sort of. I got the state right but the metro wrong. Continue reading Huntsville Didn’t Need UAB to Win Eli Lilly—And That Should Terrify Birmingham
By Michael Sznajderman
Birmingham has so much to offer, especially for visitors.
From our important civil rights sites, to our unique industrial heritage, to our amazing parks and greenways, to our nationally recognized foodie scene, we punch above our weight as a destination. Continue reading The day Birmingham goes dark
By David Fleming
On the morning of October 31, 2025, a fast-moving fire began in a long-vacant commercial building on Cobb Lane in Birmingham’s Five Points South and tore through an entire block, destroying multiple historic structures and leaving nearly two dozen people displaced. Continue reading It’s Not Just the Arsonist Who Started the Devastating Southside Fire
Today’s guest columnist is Dr. Michele Kong.
Fourteen years ago, our world changed forever.
Our son was diagnosed with autism, and overnight we stepped into a reality we were not prepared for. Continue reading People from all over the world soon to be coming to Birmingham
Today’s guest columnist is Emily Lyons, RN.
Daniel walked to his garage in North Carolina.
He set up a video camera and started recording.
Looking at the camera, he said words to the effect of “This is for the media and the FBI,” applied a tourniquet, and used a radial arm saw to cut off his hand.
He drove himself to the hospital, leaving his severed hand behind. Continue reading Man cuts off hand after brother blows up Birmingham woman and murders policeman
Today’s guest columnist is Dr. Del Smith.
Most entrepreneurs dream of joining the S&P 500.
Few are bold enough to announce it as their destination.
Fewer still would choose Birmingham, Alabama as their launchpad. Continue reading Why I chose Birmingham to build my future S&P 500 Company
Today’s guest columnist is Richard Friedman.
I hugged her as soon as I saw her.
This friend, a Birmingham Christian woman in her 20’s, had just come back from Israel.
She’d been there during the June war with Iran, sheltering in Jerusalem. Continue reading Birmingham fuels Israel’s strength
Today’s guest columnist is Doug Martinson.
Editor’s note: This column appeared last week in the Huntsville Real-Time News . I thought people in Birmingham might be interested in what leaders in Huntsville are saying about their city and ours.
Huntsville rocketed past Birmingham in 2020 to become the largest city in Alabama. And then the city just kept on growing. Continue reading Why Alabama’s biggest city keeps winning