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Selma Abortion Protests, Birmingham Police Body Cameras

Edmund Pettus Bridge
Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Ala.

Activists are planning protests at what they say is an unlicensed abortion clinic in Selma.

Abortion opponents say they'll hold a rally Friday and march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge Saturday in a demonstration against the Central Alabama Women's Clinic. Organizers say they have evidence that the medical office performs more than nine abortions monthly. That would require it to come under state regulation as an abortion clinic.

An investigation by the Alabama Department of Public Health didn't determine how many abortions are performed at the office. But the agency also says it didn't find evidence to show the office is performing 10 a month, the minimum number required for it to be considered an abortion clinic.

Some Birmingham police officers have started wearing body cameras recently, and the city is looking at the federal government to help them buy a lot more.

Birmingham is competing with 11 other cities to win a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice that would outfit another 150 police officers in the city with body cameras. The Birmingham City Council approved that grant application earlier this week.

The Birmingham Police Department says most of the body camera program’s cost doesn’t come from the cameras themselves, but the storage and maintenance of all the data they record.

Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper says that as of now, all evening and night shift patrol officers are equipped with cameras. Roper says the goal is eventually for all uniformed officers in Birmingham to have a body camera when on duty.

Members of the Birmingham City Council praised the city’s police department for its swift implementation of the current body camera program and its eagerness to expand their use.

Future chess champions are being groomed in Hoover this week during the first session of Chess Kids Nation’s fourth annual Summer Chess Camp.

Campers are trained in puzzle solving as well as learning to think several moves ahead. Balagee Govindan is the founder of Chess Kids Nation. He says the camp is open to anyone from kindergarten to high school.

“We take all sorts of players. They can be beginners, intermediate, or advanced. We have about five coaches who will be teaching classes for us and all the coaches are professional chess players and also state champions, both in Alabama and Georgia.”

Govindan says a tournament is held on the last day of camp so that campers can apply the skills they’ve learned throughout the week. At the end of camp, attendees are provided with completion certificates signed by their coaches. Another session of camp is scheduled for early July.

Yet another minor earthquake has struck western Alabama, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The USGS recorded a magnitude 2.1 tremor early yesterday morning. The epicenter was west of Tuscaloosa, between Eutaw and Aliceville.

U.S. Geological Survey records show that more than a dozen small earthquakes have occurred since Nov. 20 in Greene County, west of Tuscaloosa. All the earthquakes reported in western Alabama have been a magnitude 3.8 or weaker.

A state earthquake expert says researchers have installed a seismic monitor in the area, northwest of Eutaw, looking for a cause. The tremors could be tied to underground faults that were found in recent years, but experts don't suspect a link to oil or gas production at the moment.

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