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JeffCo commission votes to hire first female county attorney

Carol Sue Nelson. Source: Maynard Cooper & Gale website.

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC)- The Jefferson County commission made history Wednesday morning by voting to hire the first female county attorney.

Commissioners voted 3-2 to hire Carol Sue Nelson, a current attorney at Maynard Cooper and Gale law firm in Birmingham.

Nelson is a graduate of Auburn University and the Cumberland School of law. Her bio on the Maynard Cooper and Gale website says she focuses on "employment litigation and advising and counseling clients on employment issues" and routinely counsels clients in the healthcare, insurance and finance industries, as well as manufacturers and municipalities.

Nelson is expected to take the job on June 3. Her salary will be $224,000.

Commissioners David Carrington, Sandra Little Brown and George Bowman voted for Nelson and Joe Knight and Jimmie Stephens voted against. Knight and Stephens said they wanted more time to look at other candidates.

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Jeffco manager waiting on internal investigation results

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC)- Jefferson County officials are still waiting on the results of an internal investigation into a possible tag line scandal.

A Fox6 investigation revealed video of a Jefferson County employee apparently taking money in exchange for moving a person to the front of a long car tag line. Once Fox6 brought the allegations to county officials, an internal investigation began.

"We are going to allow the investigation to conclude our internal investigation," Tony Petelos, Jefferson Co. Manager said.

So far, two Jefferson Co. workers have been fired. Petelos says the internal probe will determine if more employees were involved. Petelos will not say if the investigation has turned up any new wrong doing.

The county manager did say he plans to meet with county employees in the Revenue Department to discuss the situation.

Birmingham BOE expected to approve Jones Valley consolidation

Jones Valley could go from a K-8 school to a 6-8 grade middle school if the Birmingham Board of Education approves a consolidation plan tonight. Source: WBRC video

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC)- The Birmingham Board of Education this afternoon is set to look at moving more than a hundred students from Jones Valley K-through-8 school over to the new Oxmoor Elementary. Not everyone is happy with the move.

Birmingham School Superintendent Craig Witherspoon says Jones Valley is facing overcrowded problems and by shifting grades K-5 to Oxmoor Elementary it would relieve some of the problems. Jones Valley would then become a 6-8 grade middle school.

But some parents are complaining about the move. They don't like the distance their children will have to travel.

"I understand budget cuts. I understand it takes money to do everything but to take these kids' school away? Why?" Brendolyn Brown said.

The consolidation is expected to be approved. Ed Richardson, who heads the state intervention team, supports the move and believes it's in the best interest of the school system.

Magic City ranked as one of the least active U.S. cities

Two residents enjoy Railroad Park Tuesday afternoon. Source: WBRC video

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC)- Birmingham is being ranked among the least active cities in the United States. Men's Health magazine released the rankings of the 100 most and least active cities.

Starting off at number one is Portland, Oregon, then it's Boise, Idaho, Salt Lake City and then the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. Those leading the way on the back end as the laziest cities starts with Jackson, Miss., Charleston, West Virginia, Nashville, Columbia, South Carolina and then Birmingham.

Over at Railroad Park Jenessia Walker enjoyed a walk at lunchtime Tuesday. Walker and other people are surprised at the ranking.

"I disagree with that. Me personally, I work out time to time. I know a lot of people who work out daily," Walker said.

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Men from Vestavia, Birmingham arrested in Auburn robbery

(L-R) Dennis Elder and Bradford Blount

AUBURN, AL (WBRC)- Two 22-year-old men from the Birmingham area were arrested this week in connection to a robbery that happened in Auburn.

A victim called Auburn police on Tuesday, May 14 to report a robbery that had just happened at his home in the 600 block of Dekalb Street. The victim was able to give police information about the suspects and their vehicle.

Police identified Bradford Blount, 22 of Vestavia, and Dennis Elder, 22 of Birmingham, as the suspects and took them into custody. When law enforcement contacted Elder at his former residence in Auburn, they also found narcotics.

Both Blount and Elder face charges of first degree robbery and trafficking of a controlled substance. The men are being held in the Lee County Detention Center on a $150,000 bond each.

Copyright 2013 WBRC. All rights reserved.

Bayside reminisces on firsts and looks to the future

Bayside reminisces on firsts and looks to the future

After a four year hiatus from Alabama, for no reason in particular, Bayside finally returned to grace Birmingham's music scene with their undeniable presence.  The New York natives have been making their way toward the east coast alongside punk rock band Alkaline Trio. 

While Zydeco was one of the smaller venues they've played, Bayside founding member Anthony Raneri says he doesn't discriminate; he appreciates all shows, whether it be festivals, amphitheaters or a hole in the wall venue. 

Back in October, Bayside released a covers EP titled, Covers, Vo. 1.  Raneri says they had the fans in mind when they decided to go forth with a cover album.

"We knew it had been a little while since we released our last record and we knew it was going to be a little while before we released the next one, so it was something to get to the fans," he said.

Alabama found lacking in computer science students

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC)- With more job opportunities than any other college major these days, computer science is hot. The Bureau of Labor says there will be up to 800,000 new jobs in this area by 2020. So, why are fewer than 100 students in Alabama learning about this field?

"I'm always surprised that we have to go out and advocate for computer science education," computer science teacher, Carol Yarbrough said.

Whether it makes sense or not the computer science industry is in need of some good publicity. And who better to be the face of it than a Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and a few of their very successful friends. They are a part of a short film on the site code.org. It's advocating the need for computer programming education specifically teaching high school students how to write code.

"We heard there was a lot of folks in industry putting an effort to raise the awareness of computing," University of Alabama professor, Jeff Gray, said.