Dec 01, 2023

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Kentuck Festival of the Arts, an annual world-renowned festival in west Alabama, may not take place in Kentuck Park next year.

The annual two-day celebration of art, music, and culture is held at the seven-acre park on 5th Street in Northport.

The Kentuck Arts Center, the institution behind the festival, said it has failed to reach an agreement with the city of Northport about the festival’s funding. In a statement released Wednesday, Kentuck said that on Nov. 16, its 19-member board of directors instructed the organization’s staff to begin the process of finding a new home for upcoming festivals.

Kentuck said negotiations with Northport city leaders began falling apart when the city moved to change the terms of the agreement for the annual festival. Those changes included decreasing Northport’s funding for the festival and an attempt to change the contract from one year to five years.

The Tuscaloosa News reports the city offered $80,000 in funding last year. Under the terms of the new contract, the city of Northport offered Kentuck Arts Center $68,000 per year with a promise that the festival would be held in Northport, but with no assurance the location would be in Kentuck Park.

Three labor and delivery units closed last month in Alabama, including one in downtown Birmingham, one in suburban Shelby County and another in rural Monroe County.

These are just the latest in a string of closures going back decades that have hit rural areas especially hard. Rural hospitals often face financial pressure, and keeping enough staff on hand for labor and delivery can become expensive, especially when the number of births declines.

The number of rural counties in Alabama with labor and delivery units has fallen from 45 to 15 since 1980, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. But it’s not just a rural problem. The recent closures also leave Shelby County without a hospital that delivers babies, making it the largest county in Alabama without those services.

Alabama already struggles with high infant and maternal mortality rates compared to the rest of the country. A study of outcomes following the reopening of a labor and delivery unit in rural Alabama showed that having those services available can improve the health of moms and newborns. But questions remain about how to fund and recruit doctors for those departments.

Family Dollar is proposing to give $25 gift cards to shoppers in Alabama and five other states who made purchases at a time when a rat infestation at the company’s Arkansas warehouse led to the closure of more than 400 stores.

Under a proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit filed in federal court in Memphis, Tennessee, Family Dollar will dole out $25 gift cards to shoppers who bought any product between January 2020 and Feb. 18, 2022, when the 404 stores were closed.

Products involved in the recall included drugs, medical devices, dietary supplements, and food for humans and pets.

Along with Alabama, residents in five other states where stores were closed -- Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee -- are eligible for the $25 gift cards.

Residents have until Jan. 9 to submit a claim, opt out of the settlement or object to the settlement.

A court hearing on final approval of the settlement is scheduled for April 5.

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