The World Around You

Obama in Bama

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama will be in Birmingham Sunday, his campaign said today.

Obama will host a “town hall” meeting at 2 p.m. at the Bartow Arena on the UAB campus. The meeting is open to the public. Free tickets may be obtained at http://www.barackobama.com. Or they may be picked up starting at 9 a.m. Friday from Obama campaign offices. Doors of the arena open at noon.

This is Obama’s third visit to Alabama this year. He was in Birmingham in July for an event that drew 2,000 to a downtown hotel. In March, he was in Selma.

Obama coming to Birmingham Sunday - Breaking News from The Birmingham News - al.com

There a bunch of people who need to be getting real nervous this morning over the headline from the Birmingham News this morning. Former two-year college chancellor Roy Johnson is cooperating with prosecutors…

Johnson’s cooperation is significant in a case focusing on political corruption inside the state’s college system. The former veteran legislator who rose to become House speaker pro tempore served for decades as one of the state’s most powerful political figures and kept close ties to lawmakers after he took over the college system in 2002.

Dozens of legislators, their close relatives and businesses received jobs in the system, and some of those arrangements are under federal investigation.

Efforts to reach Johnson and his lawyer, Joe Espy of Montgomery, failed Wednesday. Johnson has denied any wrongdoing.

Prosecutors identified Johnson last year as a major target in their corruption investigation. The state school board fired Johnson as chancellor in July 2006 after a series of articles in The Birmingham News detailed college contracts and jobs his relatives received. Johnson and his family received more than $600,000 in jobs and contracts the year before he was fired, system records show.

Former Alabama 2-year colleges chancellor Roy Johnson expected to plead guilty, cooperate with corruption probe- al.com