BW 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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An Afrikaner Farming Family Trades South Africa for Alabama (New York Times)

The South African family was allowed into the country under the Trump administration’s granting of refugee status for Afrikaners, the white ethnic minority that ruled during apartheid. One of the best things about Alabama for them? The humid heat, which is similar to their homeland.

Alabamians Want Answers About a Four-Million-Square-Foot Data Center Coming to Their Backyards (Inside Climate News)

Residents in and around Bessemer are furious over Project Marvel, a plan to build a 4.5-million-square-foot data processing facility on 700 wooded acres. Public officials have been sworn to silence.

Birmingham Loses “Groundbreaking” $44M Federal Biotech Grant; What You Need to Know (Bham Now)

The Trump administration rescinded a $44 million federal grant for health care innovation awarded in January to the Birmingham Biotechnology Hub, led by Southern Research. The grant money was set to support the growth of Alabama’s biotechnology ecosystem.

Alabama Legislature’s 2025 Session Ends in Lengthy Senate Filibuster (Alabama Reflector)

The Legislature wrapped up its 2025 regular session with a final day of action on Wednesday.

Legislature 2025: What Didn’t Pass (Alabama Daily News)

Bills to continue tax exemptions on overtime pay, let the governor and legislative leadership appoint members of the Alabama Department of Archives and History Board, and reform the parole system all died when the legislative session ended last week. So as of now, you still can’t walk out of a convenience store with a canned cocktail, but you could perform a drag show in a public library, hypothetically, or say gay in a school. And the laws on gambling remain the same. Despite a lot of talk, no gambling bill was officially offered.

‘Devastating.’ How Proposed SNAP Cuts Could Impact Alabama (Alabama Daily News)

Alabama could have to pay millions of dollars each year to partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program under a Republican proposal to cut money from the program to help offset tax cuts. The plan would shift some costs associated with the program from the fed’s ledgers to the states’.