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Birmingham is a contender to host the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials in 2028.

Gene Hallman, president of Eventive Sports in Birmingham, told AL.com that the city’s bid is one of four currently under consideration. The event would take place over several days in June 2028 ahead of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Hallman said he expects to hear a decision as soon as this summer. Trial locations are decided by the Olypics committee and the sport’s national organization, in this case, USA Gymnastics.

“I feel reasonably optimistic and hopeful that we could win this,” Hallman said.

One of the most popular sports at the Olympic Games, the trials will determine the makeup of men’s and women’s teams who will compete during the 2028 Olympics.

Hallman said he got the idea to bring the trials to Birmingham after the 2022 World Games, when he was able to give the USA gymnastics team a peek at Birmingham’s facilities. After a visit to the 2024 trials in Minneapolis last year, he said he was encouraged by the team to place a bid.

Hallman said he has the support of state and local leaders, as well as other public partners that have pledged to pitch in. The 2022 World Games cost Birmingham $66 million and drew an estimated $165 million to the city – a significant boost, but less revenue than expected.

A city spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Hallman said he wouldn’t be able to say how much it would cost to host the trials until they work out negotiations with other partners.

In Minneapolis, reports show the 2024 trials generated more than $70 million in economic activity.

Birmingham is likely one of the smaller contenders, but it has a lot of promise, Hallman said.

There are more than 20 million people that live within a three-hour drive of the city, he said. The city also has a long history of supporting big sporting events, including the SEC Championship at Legacy Arena last spring.

The trials bring teams from across the globe to compete in a wide variety of events. Hallman expects to see stars like Jordan Chiles, Stephen Nedoroscik and possibly Auburn’s own Suni Lee make an appearance.

“Alabama and Auburn universities over time have done a terrific job with their programs and really grown the fan base for gymnastics,” he said.

“I would imagine we would sell tickets in virtually every state in the country.”

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This is an opinion column

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Today’s guest columnist is Don Erwin.

It seems like only yesterday the City of Birmingham lost its title as “Alabama’s largest city.” Now, according to the latest census numbers, Huntsville has 34,000 more people than Birmingham.

It seems like only yesterday that Hoover, the Metro’s second-largest city, was a dynamic, growing suburb, but during 2020-2024, Hoover gained less than 4/10ths of one percent in population.

How time flies when you’re falling behind.

The Birmingham Metro accounts for 23% of Alabama’s population, but in 2024, the Birmingham Metro accounted for just 17.75% of the state’s announced jobs from new companies. Four of the seven Birmingham Metro counties announced no new companies.

This is not a one-year anomaly. For the years 2012-2024, the Birmingham Metro accounted for just 15.36% of the state’s announced jobs from new companies.

Poor job growth leads to poor population growth.

During 2020-2024, the Auburn-Opelika Metro with 206,000 people added 11,678 people. The Birmingham Metro, with almost 1.2 million people, added just 10,767 people. The Huntsville Metro, with less than half the Birmingham Metro population, added 47,561 people.

Birmingham’s still the largest Metro in Alabama, but that’s living on past glory and of doubtful importance. Would you rather live in Switzerland or India?

There are many downsides to poor job growth. For Birmingham Metro citizens looking for good jobs, it means not as many are available. For people looking for a place to build a career and raise a family, it means they look for places with more opportunity.

Here’s the crazy thing: We’re doing good things to create and attract new jobs. Our business startup efforts have produced results. Jefferson County and the other metro counties are developing industrial parks. We’re just not doing enough.

The Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA) is the regional organization responsible for Birmingham’s economic development efforts. I’ve reviewed BBA’s business plan. It’s a good one. I’ve talked with its people. They’re competent and enthusiastic. They’re ready to fully execute if they have proper funding.

Last fall, I wrote that BBA has about one-fourth the staffing of the Birmingham Regional Planning Commission and one-half the staffing of the Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau. We fully fund planning and tourism attraction efforts, why not efforts to attract new jobs and companies?

Birmingham has some unique (for Alabama) job-attraction challenges. Jefferson and Shelby counties have office buildings with two million square feet of vacant space. If a photo of downtown Birmingham were photoshopped to reflect the actual occupancy of the tall towers, downtown Birmingham would look a lot “flatter.”

Building owners will tell you their new tenants almost always come from within the Metro, rather than elsewhere. Instead of growing the pie, we’re just shuffling the pie slices.

We can’t depend on others to bring us jobs. The Alabama Department of Commerce is mostly focused on putting traditional manufacturing companies into traditional industrial parks. They’re not going to help find prospects for our vacant office space. A special team to identify and recruit office-space-using companies must be created. That takes funding.

BBA estimates it would take an additional $1.5-$2.0 million/year to fully fund their hunt for new jobs and companies.

Currently, BBA is funded about 80% by area companies and 20% by area governments. In many metros, the split is more typically 50-50. Metro Birmingham governments should step up.

I recently talked with a city official who wondered if their city could afford to contribute more to BBA’s economic development efforts.

My answer: If you focus on generating good jobs for your citizens, there will be plenty of money for your city’s needs, because people with good jobs and new companies generate plenty of sales and property and other tax revenue.

Jim Clifton, the Chairman of the Gallup organization, has written: “Mayors and leaders of every city, town, and village…must realize that every decision they make should consider the impact, first and foremost, on good jobs… Everybody in charge of anything needs to focus on job creation. If they divert their attention, vote them out… The jobs war is what should get city leaders up in the morning, what they should work on all day, and what should keep them from getting to sleep at night.”

There are lots of things easier to do than recruiting new companies and jobs. But when the Titanic is sinking, you don’t paint the deck chairs.

Let’s adequately fund economic development. We can either take action, or we can wait for the 2025 Commerce Department report and see us falling further behind.

Time is passing us by. It’s time for leaders to be leaders.

Don Erwin was an economic developer for twelve years. He is the author of Buffalo Hunting in Alabama, a novel about the competition among cities and states to attract economic development projects. He lives in the Birmingham metro.

David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).

Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. dsher@comebacktown.con

The New York Jets announced a kicker change on Wednesday. The NFL team waived Anders Carlson to create a roster spot for Harrison Mevis.

Nicknamed the “Thiccer Kicker,” the 5-foot-11, 243-pound Mevis played for the United Football League’s Birmingham Stallions in the 2025 season. Mevis made 20-of-21 field-goal attempts in 10 regular-season games with Birmingham. The lone miss came from 63 yards, and Memphis wide receiver Isiah Hennie returned it 108 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the first half in the Showboats’ 24-20 upset of the Stallions on April 25.

Mevis kicked for four seasons at Missouri and ranks fourth in SEC history with 415 career points.

Last year, Mevis signed with the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted rookie. The NFL team released him three days after he’d made a 41-yarder on his only field-goal attempt in the Panthers’ preseason opener.

Carlson ranks sixth in SEC history with five fewer points than Mevis while kicking for Auburn. Carlson and Mevis squared off once in the SEC. On Sept. 24, 2022, Mevis missed a 26-yard field-goal attempt on the final snap of the fourth quarter before Carlson made a 39-yard field goal in overtime to lift Auburn to a 17-14 victory at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Carlson made 8-of-10 field-goal attempts and 9-of-11 extra-point tries in five games for the Jets in 2024. Carlson had the only field goal for New York of at least 50 yards last season when he made a 58-yarder in a 28-27 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 17.

Carlson also kicked in two games as an injury replacement for the San Francisco 49ers in 2024. He made 5-of-5 field-goal attempts, including connecting from 55 yards, and 3-of-4 field-goal tries with the 49ers in his second NFL season.

Carlson joined the Green Bay Packers as a sixth-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft. He displaced 16-year veteran Mason Crosby as Green Bay’s kicker and became the first rookie in league history to make a field goal in 17 regular-season games. But with the playoffs included, he also had the most missed extra points with six and most missed total kicks with 13 in the NFL in 2023.

In his first NFL season, Carlson made 27-of-33 field-goal attempts and 34-of-39 extra-point tries in the regular season and 2-of-3 field-goal attempts and 7-of-8 extra-point tries in two postseason games.

Carlson’s postseason field-goal miss came on a 41-yard attempt with 6:18 left in a second-round game against San Francisco on Jan. 20. The 49ers responded with a 12-play, 69-yard drive capped by running back Christian McCaffrey’s 6-yard touchdown run with 67 seconds to play. San Francisco took a 24-21 lead instead of tying the game, and that ended up as the final score.

The Packers waived Carlson at the end of the 2024 preseason.

More stories on the NFL

The Jets used five kickers in the 2024 season – Greg Zuerlein in eight games, Anders in five and Greg Joseph, Riley Patterson and Spencer Shrader in one apiece. Zuerlein did all his kicking in the first eight games before going on injured reserve.

New York had re-signed Carlson on Jan. 14.

Mevis joins Caden Davis as the kickers on the Jets’ offseason roster. Davis kicked at Texas A&M from 2020 through 2022 and Ole Miss in 2023 and 2024. He signed with New York as an undrafted rookie on May 9.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

Earlier this week, the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system announced it was in contract disputes with United Healthcare, the largest insurance provider in the country.

If the contract is terminated, it would leave Alabamians with United without in-network access to the largest hospital in the state.

United says it covers over 500,000 Alabamians, while UAB says it serves about 1.4 million patients throughout the state.

“We will continue to diligently negotiate with United in good faith to reach a reasonable agreement,” said Dawn Bulgarella, the CEO of the UAB Health System, in a statement announcing the dispute this week.

Who would be affected?

The change would apply at all UAB clinics, including the St. Vincent’s facilities and services provided by UAB-employed physicians at Children’s of Alabama hospital. That means patients with United insurance would “be personally responsible” for costs at all of those facilities. The move would affect patients with both commercial and Medicare Advantage plans from United.

For people with United PEEHIP plans, UAB said “you may see a very small difference in cost, but will still be covered.”

A list of all potentially affected entities is available here.

When would the change happen?

The deadline for UAB and UnitedHealth to reach a new contract agreement is July 31. If they don’t make a deal, patients “may be personally responsible” for costs beginning Aug. 1.

What is the dispute about?

UAB and United are pointing the finger at the other, calling out the opposing side’s profits and already high costs. Both entities have even started websites on the issue to make their case.

UAB said the disputes were caused by high denial rates by United and low payments that were often delayed.

In response, United sent a statement to AL.com, saying that UAB is “already one of the most expensive academic health systems in the Southeast.”

“Despite this, UAB is demanding a double-digit price hike for our commercial plans in one year as well as increases for our Medicare Advantage plans that would make it among the highest-cost providers in our Medicare Advantage network nationally.”

On their newly created website, United said the amount UAB is asking for would make it an outlier compared to similar health systems, making it more expensive than all but one of the Southeast’s 25 academic medical centers.

United went on to say that UAB’s recent acquisition of St Vincent’s has driven up healthcare costs for Alabamians despite predictions it would lower costs.

“UAB’s history of unsustainable rate increases along with the double-digit price hike they’re seeking for our commercial plans in just one year would directly drive up health care costs for self-insured employers. These employers pay the cost of their employees’ medical bills themselves rather than relying on UnitedHealthcare to pay those claims,” United said on their site.

United said they proposed to extend the contract by 60 days to provide continued access to in-network care for their customers, but UAB refused.

UAB responded to those claims by United on Thursday night, saying they first asked United to engage in contract renewal conversations nearly a year ago, but the insurance provider “only waited until recently — 45 days before they are required to alert its members of the potential lapse — to engage.”

Bulgarella, the CEO of UAB Health, said United has demanded rate reductions, meaning they would reimburse UAB less for the services and treatments they provide to patients.

Bulgarella added that UAB treats the sickest patients in the state and United already pays UAB community hospitals less than it costs to provide care, contributing to hospital closures.

“Medicaid was not expanded in Alabama, meaning that as a public, safety net hospital, UAB Hospital alone provides more than $100 million a year in care for which it is not paid,” Bulgarella said. “United reimburses care providers less than other insurers, denying and delaying payments to UAB Health System care providers at an alarming rate, which drives up the cost of care and must be factored into contract negotiations.”

This isn’t the first time contract negotiations have broken down between the two.

In 2019, UAB announced its contract with the insurance giant would expire, citing many of the same issues. But an agreement was reached shortly before the deadline.

Is this issue only happening in Birmingham?

Several hospitals across the country have echoed many of the same concerns as UAB.

In north Alabama, the Huntsville Hospital Health System sent a notice of termination to United in October, but eventually reached an agreement to keep the hospital in-network.

In North Carolina, Duke Health also called out the insurance provider’s low reimbursement rates, and had a similar contract dispute until it was eventually resolved in November.

Earlier this week, North Mississippi Health Services terminated its contract with United Medicare Advantage plans, saying their patients’ claims were frequently delayed or denied.

What if I have questions?

UAB said patients with questions about access to their health system can call the number on the back of their insurance card for information. They also have created a website on the matter, found here.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that UAB is the Level 1 trauma center in the state. The story has been corrected.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. —

People in Alabama and around the country are holding protests on Saturday against the Trump administration on what will be the same day as the military parade in Washington, D.C.

While they are rallying against several policies, they are also focusing on illegal immigration and recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.

>> WHAT TO KNOW: Nationwide protests against immigration raids escalate, leading to arrests and curfews

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and ICE confirmed those have happened in Birmingham and in other areas around Alabama.

The National Guard was deployed to Los Angeles against the governor's cooperation. The last time this happened was to Selma in 1965 during the Civil Rights Movement.

The images of these raids have been all over social media, inciting emotions like fear, anger and sadness, according to people holding the rallies.

>> VIDEO: ICE releases footage of immigration raid inside Omaha's Glenn Valley plant

Lynne Lee is part of the 50501 movement here in Birmingham.

"You're not following the law," Lee said. "You are not giving everyone due process. Everyone on this soil is entitled to due process. And ICE is not fulfilling that.”

ICE agents are working with federal and local partners to detain and deport immigrants who are in the country illegally. Deputy director of the ICE Regional Office in New Orleans, Brian Acuna, said following the law is exactly what his agents are doing — a mission that hasn't changed in decades.

“The immigration law in this country is pretty clear and black and white. If the person does not resolve their immigration situation, then they have a final order of removal," Acuna said.

Birmingham immigrant organizations hope to track ICE encounters with hotline

While the deputy director says the mission has stayed the same, the number of people arrested by ICE has increased.

According to ICE officials, more people have been arrested so far this year than in all of 2024. That number is at 2,345 people as of June 13, 2025.

There are several protests planned across Central Alabama, including in Birmingham, Tuscaloosa and Jacksonville.

Video below: U.S. military parade spurs debate on financial, political costs