Friday, November 22, 2024

Bloomburg article on Alabama's Hyundai plant

 

"Hyundai’s most productive car plant sits on a former cotton plantation on the southern edge of Montgomery, Alabama, where it pumps out Tucson crossovers, Santa Fe SUVs and other models on three shifts, 24 hours a day, sometimes seven days a week.

The factory and its popular models have propelled the South Korea automaker and its affiliate Kia into the No. 4 spot in US sales for the first time in 2023, surpassing Jeep and Ram owner Stellantis NV. Its high levels of output, close-knit supply chain and low labor costs have buoyed Hyundai Motor Co.’s profit margins, which are among the best in the global auto industry.

But this crown jewel has been tarnished by its low wages, a major engine recall and lingering fallout from the use of child labor in its local supply chain. And Hyundai’s future success in the US will rely less on its Alabama operation as it plans a rapid shift to electric vehicles despite uncertain demand and government support given the potential return to power of former President Donald Trump.

“Hyundai has to be careful not to grow too fast for its own good,” said Sung Hwan Cho, a former executive vice president at the carmaker and current president of the International Organization for Standardization. “A stalk that sprouts too quickly will tumble over.”

FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Saturday, September 14, 2024

The White Sox (Seminary!) in New York State.

Our Salesian Seminary class in Goshen, New York. That's me in the upper right, standing kinda alone. I left the school in late 1964, transferring to Bishop Reilly High School in Queens, from which I graduated.


 The seminary was later closed, and the buildings eventually town down.

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Last Day at Alabama Public TV

 My empty mailslot.










Leaving with some of the MANY

neckties I bought and wore hosting

"For The Record" on APT.

 

 

 

(Speaking of, just for the record, just this week in 

2024, I bought the first NEW neckties in years. They

are solid colors...black, yellow, and aquamarine!)

Sunday, June 23, 2024

Next year will be the 60th Anniversary.

 

Photo by Tim Lennox
 

An article in today's Washington Post details the attempt to save some of the physical structures that remain along the trail.

Sunday, May 26, 2024

Searcy Hospital Photos in honor of Mental Health Month





 

In 1900, the Alabama Legislature established a mental health facility on the former site of the Mount Vernon Arsenal to relieve overcrowding at Bryce Hospital. 

The property received its first patients from Bryce Hospital in 1902. It was renamed Searcy Hospital in 1919, in honor of Dr. J. T. Searcy, the first superintendent. Searcy was a segregated hospital and was restricted to African American patients only until 1969, when it was integrated by court order.

The hospital served the southern third of Alabama until it closed in 2012. The campus is now closed to visitors due to safety concerns.

(I took these photo during an escorted tour of the property)

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

The Alabama soldiers who fought FOR The Union.

 

Silent Cavalry': Not all Southerners ...

Amazon.com: Silent Cavalry: How Union ...


Alabamians FOR The Union

General Grenville M. Dodge, (seated, left) of the First Alabama and his staff are pictured in an 1862 photo from Corinth, Mississippi. The photo is part of the Grenville M. Dodge Collection. Photo: Howard & Hall

 

‘Silent Cavalry’: Not all Southerners wanted the Confederacy to win

Howell Raines’ book tells of Alabama cavalry that fought for the Union.

Howell Raines calls it the most amazingly counterintuitive fact in all of Civil War history: “White volunteers from the Alabama hills helped Sherman burn Atlanta.”

A mounted regiment of nearly 3,000 subsistence farmers from the state’s hard-scrabble hill country not only joined the Union side in the battle of Atlanta, they were “the point of the spear” in Sherman’s relentless march through Georgia to the sea.

Source: The Atlanta Journal:

https://www.ajc.com/things-to-do/silent-cavalry-not-all-southerners-wanted-the-confederacy-to-win/JKE4I74QXFFRXKIY4U27V5Y2NY/

Way Back When


 Here I am "interviewing" Dwight, the parking lot attendant who kept our cars from being ticketed, among other helpful actions.😏

The photo was taken in front of WERC Radio's location on 2nd Avenue North. That building was torn down to make way for.....a parking lot....as shown in these photos.

Saturday, February 17, 2024


 The old greyhound bus station in Montgomery, reflected in the windshield of a bus parked out front. The station is now an historic site.

Union Guards Confederates


 An old "Union Street" street sign "stands guard" over confederate graves in Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery. It was used to mark the edge of the cemetery roads after modern street signs were installed.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

The Moon Tree & I.

 I moved from Manhattan in NYC to Birmingham in 1976.

That's the same year the "Moon Tree" was planted at the Alabama Capital building.

It's a loblolly pine that is a good 80' tall now.

I'm more or less the same height. er, age in Alabama 😎 now. 

Read More about it HERE.

Apollo 14 Patch

Wet Deck. Indoor Day.


 

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Sunday, November 26, 2023

Montgomery's Moon Tree

 

Immediately left of statue.

Today is a VERY cold day---not the best day to visit....but when you have a chance, take the kids and introduce them to the Moon-Tree on the Alabama Capitol grounds.

 

HERE is a list of where the moon trees were planted, including five in Alabama.

 Note that another Loblolly Pine Moon Tree, like Alabama's, was planted  on the White House grounds in 1977....though it did not survive.

Apollo 14: The mission that saved the US Moon program

Monday, November 13, 2023

Delaying Winter/Extending Fall

 



Winter is short, here in the South, but I still don't like 

the 

cold.

 

So here's a temporary 

 

visual 

Fall extension.

😎


Monday, November 6, 2023

Capitol/Davis Inauguration

 No, I did NOT tale this photo of the Jefferson Davis Inauguration... (I'm up there in years, but I was it was taken in 1861, a century before my birth!)..however, I did some AI work to make it more viewable. You can zoom in more on the AI version.

Original 1861 photo

AI improved and cropped a bit.

Saturday, August 12, 2023

F-35 Training


 Alabama Air National Guard pilots may have some intense training come up in a few months when the F35's arrive:

"After some training, pilots come out looking like they are 100 years old," another test pilot said.

Source: HERE.

Star Marks Spot Where confederate president Jefferson Davis Was Sworn-in.


 Did The Daughters of The Confederacy Choose The Wrong star?

I think they intended to use the seven pointed star, no?

One way or the other, the star marker sits between the center columns at the front of the Alabama Capitol building, though there are reports Davis actually stood on a wooden platform built for that purpose over the stairs.

Alabama's Coat of Arms

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Alabama


 So where is the reference to the Native American Tribes that were here LONG before the other countries that are given some Coat of Arms real estate?


Wednesday, July 5, 2023

Ghost Boys


 Some boys peer through the glass doors of the Alabama Archives building as those doors reflect the 1852 capitol dome across the street.

Sunday, June 11, 2023


 The pedestrian tunnel that lets people access the Alabama riverfront
in Montgomery by going under the railroad tracks. The lights in the tunnel change colors based on seasons and holidays.


 

About Me

My photo
Montgomery, Alabama, United States
I was born in The Bronx, but have lived in Alabama since 1976. I semi-retired on April 30th 2019, the 50th Anniversary of my first (radio) broadcast. I have since started a Part-Time job as a docent in The Alabama Capitol Building.