Jun 07, 2024

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It’s Friday, so let’s start with a little bit of silliness. Proving once again that it’s hard to be funny on the internet, an April Fools joke is still being taken a little too seriously by some Birmingham residents.

An online petition to turn the once prized Brookwood Village mall property into an aquarium currently has over 3,700 votes on Change.org.

The petition was created last month after Bham Now published an April Fool’s Day prank post on their social media pages that said developers would be turning the vacant mall into an aquarium.

Apparently, many people wanted this joke to become reality. And, I hate to break it to these folks but Mountain Brook City Manager Sam Gaston said that city leadership has not had any discussion about turning the property into an aquarium.

Boeing’s first crewed Starliner flight soared into orbit Wednesday and it was carried by a rocket built at Decatur’s United Launch Alliance plant.

The Atlas V rocket lifted off at 10:52 a.m. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were aboard from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for an end-to-end test of the Starliner system.

NASA reported the Starliner docked at the International Space Station’s Harmony module and will remain at the orbital laboratory for about a week.

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute announced the passing of activist Myrna Carter Jackson, who was twice arrested during marches in 1963 while protesting Birmingham’s racial segregation laws.

Jackson died on May 31. She was 82.

“Born in Birmingham on July 9, 1941, Mrs. Jackson was a pillar of our community, a tireless advocate for human rights, and a beloved friend and mentor to many,” the BCRI said in a joint statement with the NAACP Metro Birmingham Branch and the Civil Rights Activist Committee.

At age 21, she became active in marches, sit-ins and demonstrations organized by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, led by the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth.

She also served on the board of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute from 2010 to 2014, in addition to being an active volunteer who educated groups from all over the world about the civil rights movement. In 2017, Mrs. Jackson helped organize the official designation of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument.

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute will feature an exhibit in honor of Mrs. Myrna Carter Jackson during its Juneteenth Celebration on Saturday, June 15. The memorial display, including original artwork of Mrs. Jackson, will be on view in the BCRI Rotunda through the end of July.

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