Today’s guest columnist is Daniel Coleman.
If economic growth comes from increased productivity, where does productivity come from? Capital and labor.
Capital can come from anywhere. Our issue in Birmingham is with “labor.” We have some great entrepreneurs here, with great ideas, who cannot find the workers they need to build and grow their companies. Continue reading Why Birmingham is not competitive
Today’s guest columnist is Carla Crowder.
The State of Alabama suddenly has a lot of money.
Federal funds are pouring into the state and lawmakers are figuring out right now how to spend this windfall. This is taxpayer money; we should pay attention. Continue reading It’s not too late for Alabama to save $100’s of millions and cut crime
Today’s guest columnist is Jennifer L. Greer.
Think about the worst thing you have ever done. Does it define you?
No. And it doesn’t define Daoud Boone, a military vet, theatre major in college, aspiring poet/playwright, and an incarcerated Alabama man serving a life sentence — without parole. Continue reading Life in prison can’t hold this Alabama man down
Today’s guest columnist is Memphis Vaughan.
Recently ComebackTown published a column on the possibilities of a bullet train from Birmingham to Atlanta.
The response on social media was wildly positive.
Hundreds of commenters wanted to know why high speed rail and other visionary projects are dead on arrival in Alabama. Continue reading Imagine our future if Alabama leaders had vision
Today’s guest columnist is Jay Glass.
When you read about lynchings and the KKK in Alabama, you expect to be reading about incidents that happened 100 years ago. But this chain of events happened between 1979 and 1987–just 34 years ago.
Certain acts can have important unintended consequences.
An example of such a profound delayed effect with far-reaching social ramifications would have its origin in downtown Birmingham on the afternoon of November 29th, 1979 in front of Newberry’s in the 200 block of 20th Street North. Continue reading 1979 Birmingham murder leads to lynching and end of Alabama KKK
Today’s guest columnist is Billy Field.
What’s the first history lesson you ever had?
For me, it was the story of George Washington and the cherry tree. “Yes, mother, I did chop down the cherry tree. I cannot tell a lie.”
Turns out, that story was not true. But parents didn’t tell it for historical fact, they told it for the moral lesson, the importance of telling the truth. Continue reading Alabama: It’s time for our children to be taught the truth
Today’s guest columnist is Ryan Hankins.
I don’t think Paul Ricœur, the French philosopher, ever visited Alabama.
It’s his loss. Had he come to the Yellowhammer State, he could have seen remarkable examples of his most famous philosophical idea– the hermeneutic of suspicion. Or more simply, an approach to life grounded in suspicion, to assume there is always some hidden meaning or ulterior motive at work. Continue reading So much distrust and suspicion in Alabama–Are we about to see a new day?
Today’s guest columnist is Terry Barr.
This may be a surprise to you young folks, but Birmingham has always had great restaurants–especially when it comes to fresh seafood and barbecue.
When I think of what I want, it’s the food back home. Continue reading My heart aches for all those Birmingham restaurants
Today’s guest columnist is Dr. Robert Glaze.
My first awareness of George Wallace was an admiring one, as he and one other member of the Alabama delegation to the 1948 Democratic convention did not walk out to become Dixiecrats. Continue reading The sad story of a lonely, miserable Alabama governor
Today’s guest columnists are Patrick J. Murphy and Jonathan Murphy.
In January 2021, a law went into effect in Alabama that allows the formation of a new kind of business entity called a “benefit corporation.” Continue reading Do good or make money? Now Alabama entrepreneurs can do both