Good morning, all.

Hey, remember these guys? Solvay Pharmaceuticals.

Come on. Think back a few months and you’ll jar loose the name Solvay, the latest industry to toy with our emotions by flirting with locating in Athens, only to dump us for someone else. We’ve been saying for months that the company planned to build its $300 million flu vaccine plant in Birmingham, Ala., rather than Athens. We’ve just been awaiting final word.

But it never came. The company’s imminent announcement on the site location turned into “next week” which turned into an “eventual announcement” which, well, has seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth. Last week, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley let another clue slip in this never-ending process. Here’s a chunk from the Birmingham News on April 30:

… (The governor) dropped a tantalizing hint about an economic development project that could transform the fortunes of Birmingham’s fledgling biotechnology industry, saying the city is well positioned in the health care industry to draw new business.

Last week, Brookwood Pharmaceuticals, a drug development and research outfit, said it plans to add about 300 jobs in Birmingham by expanding its activities here. Tuesday (April 29), Riley told members of the Birmingham Kiwanis Club “that might be followed, I hope in the next few weeks, by another announcement” that would “take biotech to a different level.” …

So is the wait finally, officially over? I’m guessing so.

To be honest, with all the crazed panic over NBAF, I totally forgot about Solvay. And while it looks likes nothing much has changed as far as an official/unofficial decision goes, this paragraph from the Birmingham News on May 2 doesn’t make the arrival look any more promising. A chunk:

… Drew Page of Athens-Clarke County Economic Development Foundation said his office has not had contact with the company for the past 60 days or so, but he suspects the state has maintained contact with Solvay. …

Yup. When you’ve handed off your duties to the state and only suspect they’ve been following up on the issue, then I think we can call the time of death on this project. Congrats, Birmingham. I’m sure you two will be very happy together.

With this finally over, I guess I’ll get to work on those “Congrats, San Antonio” banners for the NBAF announcement.

FIVE-MINUTE READ

Despite running this in the paper some time ago (but not having it online that I can find), I keep getting calls about this. So here is your info. Your government check is in the mail. … While the Lord may work in mysterious ways, he sure has some crazy folks working for him down here. And this clown of the cloth belongs to John McCain. I think the most telling line from this Times story speaks to the question why one crazy pastor captures radioactive attention while another slides on by uncheck: A sonorous white preacher spouting venom just doesn’t have the telegenic zing of a theatrical black man. True. I think many white folks fear what goes on in black churches. That’s where the seeds of revolutions have been planted, you know. And so, when confronted with a pastor who spouts off crazy phrases taken out of context (and find me a pastor’s body of work who the same cannot be done to with ease), then it panics and sounds the alarm. Good read. … As if we’re not reminded of the horrors of modern war on a daily basis, Sean Malloy, a University of California, Merced professor, has made a discovery to remind us of the horrors of past wars as well. Malloy recently unearthed 10 previously-unpublished photographs illustrating the aftermath on the Hiroshima bombing. “Taken by an unknown Japanese photographer, were found in 1945 among rolls of undeveloped film in a cave outside Hiroshima by U.S. serviceman Robert L. Capp, who was attached to the occupation forces,” Malloy wrote. “Unlike most photos of the Hiroshima bombing, these dramatically convey the human as well as material destruction unleashed by the atomic bomb.” … I’ll let this one speak for itself. … Does anyone have the movie rights on this guy yet? … Talk about typecasting.

* * *

Take five minutes out of your day to join Executive Editor Jason Winders here each morning. Stand up and be counted.