Forward Mobile: The Quiet Circle of 40 That Worked Behind the Scenes
A retired executive told the Rotary Club of Mobile in June 2008 that Forward Mobile, an unpublicized circle of about 40 civic and business leaders, had quietly shaped decades of…
Battle House Hotel Nears Completion of $220 Million Renovation, Will Join Marriott’s Renaissance Brand
Two of downtown Mobile’s largest hotels are set to reopen under Marriott’s Renaissance brand this year, marking a milestone in the city’s downtown revitalization effort led by the Retirement Systems…
A Six-Figure Exit: The Retirement Math Facing Bishop State’s President
With a federal and state investigation swirling around Bishop State Community College, its longtime president stood to collect a lump sum of roughly $529,000 under Alabama's DROP program if she…
Royal Street Goes Both Ways Again as Downtown Mobile Undoes Decades of One-Way Traffic
Mobile moved in late 2006 to restore two-way traffic on Royal Street and blocks of Dauphin and St. Francis, an $800,000 project tied to the Battle House Hotel and the…
Political Notebook: A Redneck Woman for BayFest and a New Fire Chief for Bayou La Batre
Country star Gretchen Wilson was headed to BayFest, a longtime Mobile firefighter was poised to lead Bayou La Batre's department, and a former sheriff was at work on a book.
Cotton, Shipyards and Brookley: One Mobilian’s Blunt Accounting of the City’s Fortunes
Mark Berson placed Mobile's golden age between 1830 and 1860, traced its long decline through the loss of Brookley Field, and argued in 2005 that the city was poised to…
Lions Club Prepares to Roast the Outgoing Mayor of Mobile
The Mobile Lions Club scheduled a March 31, 2005 roast of retiring Mayor Mike Dow, with allies and old critics alike lined up to take their turn at the microphone.
Is Mobile’s Golden Age Right Now? A Realtor Makes the Case for the Present Tense
Oyster stands on Government Street, the Lyric Theatre, wartime shipyards running around the clock -- all had a claim. But in the third entry of a series on Mobile's golden…
Riley and Bronner Pressed Dow to Run Again, but Mobile’s Mayor Appeared Unmoved
Gov. Bob Riley and retirement systems chief David Bronner urged Mobile Mayor Mike Dow to seek re-election at a meeting shortly before Christmas 2004, but his backers conceded he was…
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.