BirminghamWatch Recommends is a rundown of stories you might have missed this week. It offers insight into issues important to our area and sometimes tickles your curiosity.

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Alabama Nonprofit To Be Featured in Google Super Bowl Ad (Bham Now)

The Leeds-based nonprofit The Red Barn will be featured in an ad during today’s Super Bowl. The organization provides educational and therapeutic equine-assisted programs to low-income children with disabilities. The ad, part of Google’s 50 Stories, 50 States campaign, shares how The Red Barn has used Google’s Gemini AI technology to build up its organization.

In Wake of Mass Shootings, Alabama Lawmakers Eye Ban on Glock Switches and Public Safety Bills (Associated Press)

Other bills expected to be considered include greater incentives to help local law enforcement agencies with staffing and the use of electronic monitoring to ensure juvenile defendants are complying with bond conditions. Legislation called the “second chance” bill also would allow judges to review the sentences of nonviolent offenders sentenced to life in prison under the state’s habitual offender law. The Legislature began its annual session Tuesday.

Alabama Tow Truck Drivers Would Be Required To Immediately Register Vehicles They Tow Under New Bill (AL.com)

State Rep. Allen Treadaway, R-Morris, introduced the bill after receiving a large number of towing complaints from motorists in downtown Birmingham. Now tow truck drivers are supposed to report “unclaimed” vehicles within five business days, which has led to some people believing for days that their vehicles were stolen.

A.H. Parker: Birmingham’s First Black High School Celebrates 125 Years (Birmingham Times)

What is now Parker High was established in 1900 to educate Black teens in the Birmingham area. It has turned out hundreds of influential graduates, including Oscar Adams Jr., the first Black Supreme Court justice of Alabama; Arthur D. Shores, the noted Birmingham civil rights attorney; musician Erskine Hawkins, trumpeter and big band leader who composed such jazz standards as “Tuxedo Junction;” and sculptor John Rhoden, whose work is currently being featured at the Birmingham Museum of Art.

Blueprint Alabama Launches To Build a Blue Alabama (Alabama Political Reporter)

Alabama Democrats have formed the new Blueprint Alabama political action committee to elect more Democrats to office statewide after a long decline in the party’s influence here. The effort is to include building a new brand for the party, uniting candidates, activists and organizers to work together; and recruiting and training candidates and organizers to run competitive races.

The 40 Best Restaurants in Birmingham, Alabama (Southern Living)

As Southern Living says, Birmingham now resembles a “Foodie City” more than its traditional moniker of Steel City. The editors put together a bookmark-worthy and diverse list of restaurants ranging from Hot and Hot Fish Club to Sam’s Super Samwiches.

‘I can’t stop now, I’m too young’: Dr. Jesse J. Lewis Sr. Turns 100, Reflects on His Legacy (WVTM13)

Civil rights icon Jesse Lewis Sr. established the nation’s first Black-owned public relations firm, founded The Birmingham Times and served as president of Lawson State Community College, along with many other accomplishments. At 100, he still goes into the office several times a week.