Mobile’s Moon Pie Drop Returns With Mardi Gras Parade, Live Music and Free Museum Access
Mobile is gearing up for one of its biggest New Year’s Eve celebrations yet, with the city’s signature Moon Pie drop, a Mardi Gras parade,…
Sessions’ Chief of Staff, With Deep Mobile Roots, Moves to a Washington Lobbying Practice
Armand DeKeyser, chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions for eight years and a former executive assistant to Mobile Mayor Arthur Outlaw, joined the government relations group at Kilpatrick…
Former Council Members Deliver a Verdict on Mobile’s Abandoned Pay Raise: Public Service Is Not a Career
After the Mobile City Council retreated from a steep pay raise under public scorn, former council members offered a blunt assessment in January 2005: the job is part-time, and police…
‘You’re in Deep Trouble’: A Mobile Broker’s Rough First Year Under a New Firm’s Rules
A retired Mobile stockbroker recalled the punishing first year at a new firm, where unfamiliar exchange rules, an unhappy back office and a parsimonious owner made for slow going and…
A Mobile Broker Remembers the Week His Firm Walked Out and Took the Clients With It
In a January 2005 installment of his recollections of a bygone Mobile, a retired stockbroker described the frantic fortnight in which he and his partners opened a new office and…
Ann Bedsole Rules Out a Mayoral Bid and Joins the Campaign to Keep Mike Dow at City Hall
Former state Sen. Ann Bedsole dismissed talk of a mayoral run in December 2004, saying she supported Mike Dow and joining prominent Mobilians urging the mayor to take a second…
Does Mobile Still Have an Establishment? A Debate About Power in a City That Lost Its Headquarters
As a new Republican county commission promised tense days for Mobile's old guard, longtime observers asked a harder question at the close of 2004: does the city still have an…
Copeland Aims for a Sixth Term on the Mobile City Council, but a Firefighter May Challenge Him
Mobile City Council President Reggie Copeland said in December 2004 he would seek a record sixth term in District 5, even as city firefighter Bryan T. Lee weighed his first…
Interest-Only Mortgages and the Baldwin County Boom: A Quiet Argument Over Risk
In December 2004, a private exchange among South Alabama professionals turned into a pointed debate: were interest-only mortgages fueling Baldwin County's housing boom, and what happens if prices stop rising?
Insiders Weigh a Racially Divided Mayor’s Race, and a Long-Shot Fix for Annexation
In December 2004, Mobile political insiders privately weighed the risks of a Peavy-Jones mayoral race dividing the city along racial lines, and floated a retail development as an annexation icebreaker.
Nodine’s Blunt Talk to Mobile Civic Leaders Exposes a Widening Split Over Annexation
Newly elected Mobile County Commissioner Stephen Nodine acknowledged a spirited and forceful exchange with civic leaders at a December 2004 meeting, exposing deep divisions over annexation and city spending.