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Regulators Tighten Oversight of Birmingham’s SouthPoint Bancshares
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Federal and state regulators have ordered Birmingham-based SouthPoint Bancshares to shore up its capital planning and show it can financially support its bank subsidiary, adding a new layer of scrutiny to a company already operating under a separate consent order. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Alabama State Banking Department entered…
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Alabama Power Freezes Rates as Data Centers Face New Cost Rules
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama Power is freezing customer rates while state regulators prepare to require the largest data centers to cover the added costs of serving their enormous electricity demand, a policy meant to prevent AI-driven development from shifting new power-system expenses onto households. The utility has said its customer rates are frozen through 2027,…
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Alabama’s Hunger Crisis Deepens as Trump-GOP Safety-Net Cuts Take Hold
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — More than 900,000 Alabamians experienced food insecurity in 2024, according to the latest county-level estimates from Feeding America, a figure that is gaining urgency as changes enacted by President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress reduce access to food assistance and raise health insurance costs. Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap study,…
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Birmingham Grant Fuels Hope for a Stronger West Side
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A $2 million state grant intended to help Birmingham prepare major industrial sites for redevelopment is giving new momentum to hopes for a stronger future across the city’s west side, where neighborhoods including Bush Hills have spent years pressing for investment, preservation and community-led improvement. The City of Birmingham received the funding…
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Birmingham VA Tests Psychedelic Treatment for Depression
BIRMINGHAM, Ala — Veterans in central and west Alabama may be eligible to participate in a new federal clinical trial testing whether psilocybin, a psychedelic compound, can help treat major depression that has not responded to standard treatments. The Birmingham VA Health Care System and Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center are among five sites nationwide in…
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Alabama Prisons Enter ICE Partnership
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Department of Corrections has entered a new agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that authorizes the state prison system to help identify and process incarcerated noncitizens for possible deportation, adding an immigration-enforcement role to an agency already facing federal litigation over violence, unsafe conditions and staffing failures. The agreement,…
Established in 1997