Richard Banks
Morning Edition Host & Senior ReporterRichard Banks has worked in print, digital, and broadcast media throughout his career. He’s covered agriculture and climate (including a nine-part series on how Israel is attempting to mitigate its water scarcity), race and politics, culture and adventure sports, even who has the best pies in the South (in one, three-day stretch, he sampled 17 pies, as well as some Pepto-Bismol).
Banks earned his journalistic chops at his high school and college radio stations. He later became the editor of his hometown magazine, Memphis.
In 2000, he and his family moved to Birmingham to work for Southern Progress and its parent company Time Inc., where he was the first online editor at Southern Living and helped develop the magazine’s early forays into video.
Now, at WBHM, Banks is thrilled to be back in front of a mic and working with an absolutely top-notch team, dedicated to fact-based coverage of the news and service to a community he loves ... just as long as he’s not asked to do stories about pie.
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One amendment is technical — changing how a lieutenant governor vacancy is filled. Another is controversial — dealing with school prayer. -
An Alabama law that went into effect Oct. 1 requires state employees to use Gulf of America instead of Gulf of Mexico. The law is stirring up controversy. -
The Gulf of America Act effectively bans Alabama state employees from using the term “Gulf of Mexico.” But the law, say First Amendment advocates, is at best poorly written, at worst its intentionally vague, meant to chill free speech. -
Activists say Birmingham, Bessemer, and the rest of Alabama could learn from what’s happening in Memphis. -
Tara Stallworth Lee takes music and translates it into a visual feast through photography. Her new book, “An Alabama Song,” offers a music journey through pictures of the people who make and study it. -
A Colorado-based company is proposing what could be one of the largest mining operations in Alabama, causing concerns among environmentalists. -
Doug Jones is the only Democrat to win statewide office in Alabama in almost 20 years. Now he’s running for governor and believes the time is right for another victory. -
Residency questions have followed Sen. Tommy Tuberville as he runs for governor. A reporter combed through documents for answers and found more questions. -
The $126.5 million deal, which closed Thursday, means thousands of active-duty enlisted personnel will come to Birmingham to train. -
As Lee Ellenburg assumes the role, he's is already making a few changes, including declaring that climate change is real and caused by humans.
