Introduce yourself with 10 bands/musicians you've seen live: 1. James Brown 2. The Mommyheads 3. Old Crow Medicine Show 4. Outkast 5. Brandi Carlile 6. They Might Be Giants 7. Shirley Horn 8. Charlie Haden 9. Joshua Redman 10. Tony Bennett

Damn. Rob Base. 💔 Cancer sucks.

This is something worth paying attention to as we approach November, just because. See Andrea's piece for Reflector:

A side benefit of my assigned polling location? The fact that there are two parking lots, one on each level. The entrance to the second floor (where voting takes place) is impossible to stand near while honoring the 30' minimum distance rule. Much more peaceful...

Yep, this sucks.

Journalist Solomon Crenshaw Jr. is covering the voting rights events in Selma and Montgomery today for The Handbasket. Here’s a great shot from this morning:

So here’s the question for everyone – how do we fix this? How do we restore a truly global commons where ideas can be freely shared and algorithms are subject to neither ideological nor financial biases?

Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen said next Tuesday’s primary will happen as scheduled, but votes in congressional races in four districts will be voided after a special primary in August. 🔗 https://mrf.lu/YDz3

The May 19 primary is still important, y'all.

Via Ralph Chapoco: At least two protests are planned for Saturday in Selma and Montgomery in response to efforts by the state to revert to congressional maps previously ruled racially discriminatory.

Historian of abolition here, history tells us how we got here, to put it succinctly “John Brown was hanged for treason and Robert E. Lee was not.”

Alabama House speaker said he hopes SCOTUS “will overturn Amendment 14,” the one that made Black people citizens and guaranteed equal protection under law. It wasn’t just a slip. Today’s newsletter. 👉 link.al.com/public/45636...

“People didn’t send us here to draw racist maps, they sent us here to figure out how to fix the roads ... and lower our grocery prices," Tennessee state Sen. Charlane Oliver said. 19thnews.org/2026/05/char... via @19thnews.org

Last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision changed the tenor of Booker’s town hall conversation w/ U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell from simply rallying to support Democratic candidates in this year’s election to bolstering support for the fight against moves to reverse the gains made generations ago.

Leaving X. German parties leaving, collectively, is more than a symbolic exit. It is a chance to reassess how and where political communication happens. A platform’s relevance is not inherent. It is constructed through user behavior. And when influential users walk, the relevance begins to erode.

A detail I didn’t know: “The Herald entered the Epstein series for a Pulitzer Prize that year, but it was not a finalist. Alan Dershowitz … who helped broker Epstein’s original deal, wrote a letter to the Pulitzer committee that year, urging them not to honor Brown’s work.” share.inquirer.com/THMiUZ

Considering what we've been covering in Alabama for more than a year, I'm watching what happens here closely…

Attacks on VPNs are, at their core, attacks on the tools that enable digital privacy. Utah is setting a precedent that prioritizes government control over the fundamental architecture of a private and secure internet, and it won’t stop at the state’s borders. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Having finally used their Airport line late last year, I'm intrigued.

Danco Laboratories seeks Supreme Court stay of ruling pausing mail-order access to abortion drugs reut.rs/4dgx56F

🎉 Congratulations, @marshericsr.bsky.social!

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issues new rules saying acting and writing must be performed by humans and not AI to be eligible for Oscars (Lisa Richwine/Reuters) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

Gladiolus - they came with the place; we found out when they popped up the first time. Considering they're the birth flower, it was an added bonus.

This is the second time I've had the pleasure to serve as a community reviewer for SRCCON - something I don't take lightly. When I finally got to go in 2017, I dove in headfirst and haven't regretted it one bit. I'd love to see some of y'all in Minneapolis this summer. to experience it firsthand!

good reminder that before the counting is over, election results don’t tighten. at no point is anyone trailing. nobody moves closer. they’re just tabulating the polls. it’s a fixed number that just isn’t done yet. to say otherwise is bad journalism but even worse math.

Yep, it's gonna be May.

It's gonna be a lot colder tomorrow, so I'm going to look back at this photo a lot for the rest of the weekend

The headline does not convey how completely batshit this story is. The Archive Today (archive.ph etc) admin weaponized the site's captcha to attack a blogger who wrote about them and *altered archived screenshots* as part of the attack. arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

Grateful to know folks like @danhaugen.bsky.social at @minnpost.bsky.social and the child at @sahanjournal.bsky.social at moments like this. Hopeful they're able to continue to be safe at this moment

I took a mini-rant about how smaller nonprofit journalism organizations need to face this moment financially and turned it into my first @bhamwatch.bsky.social "About News" column. Let me know what you think (and share it if you'd like).

Why, yes, that's a byline at the start of 2026. Unlike 2025, you'll be seeing it for a while as we try to build out our staff (and coverage). If this project proceeds, it's fills out a key space adjacent to Parkside.

About two weeks ago, I checked the @bhamwatch.bsky.social P.O. box before a board meeting to find the largest single unsolicited donation in the organization's history ($25,000!!!). It's unrestricted and it arrived at a pivotal moment as we consider the organization's future.

If your city has one, a skyline can help tell your story more than you realize. In a city as young as Birmingham is in relation to its peers, it can also give you an idea of where it is on its journey, especially as it feels as though the focus is shifting back into the city center from UAB.

We're in the early days of our end-of-year campaign for @bhamwatch.bsky.social. I just published a piece about how we plan to use any monies raised. Take a look and give (or share) if you can. Thanks!

It's quite meta to watch the BBC ask hard questions about what happened at the BBC… on the BBC

Exclusive: Warner Bros Discovery board rejected Paramount Skydance buyout offer, source says reut.rs/47zDvuJ

Yes, I did. @bhamwatch.bsky.social has had a great journey so far. Here's to what's next... and to finding ways to feed the interests of those civically curious in #bham for some time to come!

The proposed ordinance would empower city officials to pursue foreclosure on nuisance properties in certain cases. “This is a judicial process that targets the property and not the person,” Katrina Thomas, director of the city’s Department of Planning, Engineering and Permits, told councilors.

I'm just going to think positive starts as we get this thing going again. Yes, it's Tuesday, but it's time for the Monday Morning Watch.

Our voter guide for next week's municipal elections in Birmingham, Alabama, is now available to peruse! Find candidate bios and profiles, sample ballots + a what-you-need-to-know primer as you head out to vote for mayor, City Council, and the school board.

It's official. "The Alabama Initiative for Independent Journalism is suspending publication of BirminghamWatch until at least early September, as it is unable to secure enough bridge funding to operate until grant funds are scheduled to arrive in October."

Hello, everybody! The nonprofit I run and its publication @bhamwatch.bsky.social need your assistance if possible. We'll need to suspend publishing late next week for a while if we're not able to secure some funds. Here's the 411:

I figured it was a good morning to wear my @jskstanford.bsky.social reunion T-shirt, especially considering how much this week felt like a roller coaster. The thumbs ups and first bumps made it feel like it was the right choice.

“It is not possible financially. It’s not realistic” for the city to maintain these properties for absentee owners, the mayor said. He added it would take roughly four years to cut this amount of lots one time with the city’s current personnel. birminghamwatch.org/2025/07/09/b...

While most service lines in the local system are not made of lead or galvanized metal requiring replacement under the new EPA rule, 471 lines are known to be made of those materials, and the material type of about 39,000 service lines is unknown. birminghamwatch.org/2025/07/09/b...

Thanks for sharing some info about us today, @brianlyman.bsky.social - and for collaborating with @bhamwatch.bsky.social this summer!

It was fun serving on the @opennews.bsky.social community panel for @srccon.bsky.social 2025. It's also one of the reasons I'll spend a lot of time in Minneapolis this summer. Looking forward to seeing folks there! 2025.srccon.org

When Frank Woodson initially announced his candidacy for mayor of Birmingham via an interview with @bhamwatch.bsky.social, it became one of the busiest weekends for the site in recent years. Check it out.

There's a reason for a long-term backyard garden project - a reminder to fully disconnect when needed.