Jefferson County News

JP Morgan is paying more than 700 million dollars to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission it made unlawful payments to friends of Jefferson County commissioners in order to win municipal bond business.

The Jefferson County Commission in session in early August, 2009. Despite a severe strain on its finances, cash-strapped Jefferson County adequately funded salaries for all 3,600 employees for the last pay period in October, interim Finance Director Travis Hulsey said Monday.

Richard Scrushy's house on Lake Martin is valued at more than $5 million. A Jefferson Count Circuit Court judge denied Richard Scrushy's attempt to block the sale of his assets this morning, paving the way for the sale of his $7 million Lake Martin home to be sold at an auction Monday.

John Archibald: Price of business was high, but the cost higher 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 bondA holders.

A jury in Bessemer has convicted 21-year-old Lakendall Sims of two counts of capital murder.

A 22-year-old man shot to death last Friday at a car wash in the 800 block of 20th Street Ensley was likely committing a robbery when he was killed, Birmingham police said Thursday.

Lakendall Sims was convicted today of two counts of capital murder in the May 2007 death of 21-year-old Gabriel Alaniz.

See this graphic in PDF: SEC lawsuit and settlement documents Federal regulators allege in a lawsuit that Jefferson County Commissioner Shelia Smoot and former Commissioner Jeff Germany demanded that JPMorgan Chase & Co.

CENTER POINT - Officials in Center Point say two people are dead following a mobile home fire in unincorporated Jefferson County.

A Walker County woman was killed Sunday in a two-car accident in downtown Birmingham, according to the Jefferson County Coroner's Office.

A prosecutor is allowing 13 electronic bingo halls in Jefferson County's Bessemer Cutoff to remain open for at least the next few months.

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to a settlement worth more than $700 million over federal regulators' charges that it made unlawful payments to friends of public officials to win municipal bond business in Jefferson County, Ala.

Time is up for various bingo operators in Jefferson County, and they are shutting down.

Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Robert S. Vance on Nov. 3 issued an order denying a request to allow electronic bingo in Walker County until the Alabama Supreme Court hears an appeal to his ruling that the games are illegal.

BIRMINGHAM - City officials in Birmingham have disclosed a $20 million budget shortfall just days after the corruption conviction and ouster of its mayor, Larry Langford.

Storm water runoff eroded the soil and damaged this Birmingham fence line. Proposed changes to the county's Erosion and Sedimentation Ordinance, which haven't been determined, come as the EPA is auditing the county's stormwater program, the agency said in a letter to all five county commissioners.

More clinics are open this week to administer H1N1 vaccinations in Jefferson County.

Published: Monday, November 2, 2009 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Monday, November 2, 2009 at 3:00 a.m. Some Alabama electronic bingo halls have until Thursday to shut down.

Larry Langford blamed everyone but himself when he stood outside the courthouse moments after he was convicted on federal corruption charges and ousted as Birmingham's mayor.

Jefferson County's hisA tory of scandal is a detriA ment for the five sitting county commissioners, who say they are someA times viewed with suspiA cion and subjected to unA warranted attacks.