By Emily Williams The COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine have provided Homewood Middle School sixth grade language arts and social studies teacher Leslie Tanner with a learning opportunity as her work and home life truly have collided for the first time. She has been a member of the Homewood Middle School faculty for the past 16 years, taking only brief breaks while she and her … [Read more...]

By Solomon Crenshaw Jr. Shawn Fitzwater was confident his latest mural wouldn’t hang around very long. “If I got in trouble over it,” the owner of Fitz Hand Painted Signs said, “I could easily cover it up.” But a funny thing happened on the painter’s trip to buy whitewash. The feel-good message of his mural – We Are All In This Together – struck home and, for now, … [Read more...]

By Sam Prickett National Arbor Day is always celebrated on the last Friday in April, but for the city of Mountain Brook, trees are a constant priority. For more than two decades, the city has been designated a “Tree City USA” by the Arbor Day Foundation, an award that highlights the city’s commitment to tree care. It’s also received the foundation’s more prestigious “Growth … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant Austen and Kelsey Keim spent Easter in Cape Town, South Africa. But they were not on a vacation getaway for their third wedding anniversary, which will be April 22, or trying to escape the global coronavirus pandemic that’s sweeping Alabama and the United States. Austin, a former Mountain Brook High School basketball player and youth pastor at Brookwood … [Read more...]

In response to the current pandemic, The Greater Birmingham Humane Society launched its COVID-19 Regional Pet Pantry to aid pets throughout the community as well as their owners. The pantry was launched on April 2, after the facility’s adoption center was closed due to the City of Birmingham’s “Shelter in Place” order. “We moved over 200 animals into foster care and turned … [Read more...]