Page 21 - Erica Wright News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

From left to right: Kevin Powe, BJCTA Board member; James Sullivan, BPL Board of Trustees member; Ted Smith, BJCTA board member; Janine Langston, BPL Interim Director; Frank T. Martin, BJCTA Executive Director and CEO; Ed Ticheli, Developer American Life Lofts; and Willie Davis, III BPL Board Vice President and BJCTA board member during the unveiling of the new BPL book mobile service. (Erica Wright, The Birmingham Times) By Erica Wright The Birmingham Times Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit officials and the Birmingham Public Library (BPL) on Wednesday unveiled what they said would be the...

We asked Birmingham-area residents, During severe weather, what’s your emergency plan? MACAYLIN CROWLEY: “I go to the basement in our house. It has no windows and we just bunk down and get settled down there. We have a basement floor that leads to a closed garage so we go to the basement and watch TV . . . and see where the storm or weather is headed and if it gets worse we go into the actual garage that is in the back corner that is underground.” JESSICA HAMILTON: “It depends on if I’m at work or at home. If I’m at home, I have a storm shelter that I get in and if I’m at work, ...

As the city of Bessemer grew, so did LaTasha Cook-Williams. The 45-year-old Marvel City native is the first woman and first African American to serve as president of the Bessemer Area Chamber of Commerce, a position she has held since 2015. “I am excited to set some examples and, hopefully, make it easier for the generation after me when it comes to taking leadership positions,” she said. Cook-Williams said she has noticed gradual changes with businesses in Bessemer since she started working with the chamber as an intern in 1992. “It was predominately Caucasian [back then], … but I’...

By Erica Wright The Birmingham Times When the U.S. shut down last March, Birmingham City Schools (BCS) quickly transitioned to virtual learning with seven weeks left in the academic year. “What we realized was that many of our students did not have the devices or internet access needed for us to provide instruction in a digital way,” said BCS Superintendent Mark Sullivan, EdD. “Not only that, but we had not really trained our teachers on many of the digital platforms we were using because no one could have predicted where we would be.” The system began to make immediate adjustments, s...

Met: At Miles College in 1996 where both were students.  “I saw her a year before I asked about her and I was watching her, she was with her friends and I didn’t want to intrude,” said Arthur. “When the following school year started, I asked her friend about her and introduced us and that’s how we started talking.”  Said LaTessa, “He did ask a mutual friend about me and we ended up going on a date at Burger King some time later.”  First Date: At a now closed Burger King in Fairfield. “It was a casual date. It was very comfortable,” sa...