Jefferson County News

Jefferson County still has $3.2 billion in sewer debt that it cannot repay and still lacks a plan to raise the money needed to fully repay bondholders.

Richard "Richie Rich" Johnston boasted to a fellow inmate about a 2005 double-homicide, not realizing the other inmate was a long-time friend of the victim, a Birmingham police detective testified today.

Jefferson County jurors convicted a Fairview teen of capital murder and armed robbery and his co-defendant pleaded guilty today to a reduced charge for killing a woman walking her dog in a Hoover apartment complex after they robbed another person.

A lawsuit contended the council discussed issues June 25 at a closed meeting not allowed under the open meetings law and that it failed to give proper notice for a July 6 meeting.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tom King has been appointed to hear a lawsuit filed by an Alabama legislative oversight committee trying to block a $13 million no-bid contract.

Jefferson County officials say what they first thought was a hit & run accident was a double fatal, with two bodies found in a vehicle believed to have left the scene.

Jefferson County authorities today announced formal charges against three teens nabbed moments after a convenience store robbery thanks to a Good Samaritan who followed them until authorities arrived and took over.

Overshadowed by the news of last week's lawsuit by Jefferson County against convicted former Commission President Larry Langford and the financiers who cashed in on sewer bond deals gone bad is a suit filed more than a year ago on behalf of sewer customers.

Alabama should use a sales tax for schools in troubled Jefferson County to start paying off the county's massive debt, local business leaders said on Tuesday.

Jefferson County authorities are trying to piece together the events that led to a fatal crash in Pinson on Tuesday night, leaving two people dead.

Three teens face robbery charges after authorities say they held up a Jefferson County convenience store Monday night.

Jefferson County emergency management officials are monitoring creeks this morning as the area remains under a flood watch because Tropical Storm Ida is expected to dump up to 6 inches of rain on the area today.

A Friday decision from the Alabama Supreme Court was the first topic of discussion today in a Jefferson County courtroom, where a judge was set to hear arguments about the definition of bingo.

One can't help but wonder what the members of the Birmingham Board of Education would have done this week if somebody hadn't noticed one of the agenda items included electing officers for the next term.

Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies shut down a methamphetamine lab in Hueytown on Saturday and arrested three people in connection with it.

The Alabama Supreme Court ordered corrections officials in September to release their internal reports on inmate assaults at Donaldson Correctional Facility in western Jefferson County.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's settlement last week with JPMorgan over payments former bankers made to get municipal bond and swap business from Jefferson County, Ala., as well as other recent enforcement actions, show the SEC is not afraid to pursue complex and difficult financial crimes, the agency's head of enforcement said yesterday.

Demarius Seay has pleaded guilty to felony murder in the April 12, 2008, slaying of Parker High School student Brandon Ashley Donkor.

Brandon Sanders was arrested by Jefferson County deputies on drug charges. Phillip Michael Johnson was arrested by Jefferson County deputies after being retrieved from a swimming pool.

Timothy Joe Skelton has been charged with manufacturing the drug methamphetamine.