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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Birmingham Police Chief Announces Strategic Plan for Summer 2025 (WBRC)

Birmingham Police Chief Michael Pickett on Friday laid out a strategic plan to curb violence over the summer that will include enforcement of juvenile curfews, a crackdown on license enforcement at clubs, checkpoints in high-crime areas, more community engagement and other increased efforts.

Mayor Woodfin Announces Formation of Birmingham Youth Sports League (Birmingham Times)

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin on Saturday announced creation of a Birmingham Youth Sports League that “will serve as the official organization to streamline organize and elevate youth sports across the Magic City.” The city will invest $500,000 in the program, and corporate support will make it a public-private partnership.

Science Shattered (ProPublica)

The National Institutes of Health is responsible for doling out more than $30 billion a year in grants for biomedical research, money that funds work toward medical breakthroughs and on which research facilities such as those in Birmingham rely. The Trump administration this year has terminated more than 1,450 grants, withholding more than $750 million in funds. NIH officials told ProPublica the cuts threaten the stability of the institution and the scientific enterprise of the nation at large. Hundreds of current and former NIH staffers published a declaration this week, cosigned by thousands of scientists across the world, decrying the politicization of science at the agency and urging its director to reinstate the canceled grants.

In a Deep Red State, a Mining Regulator Is Wary of Possible Trump Cuts to Its Budget (Inside Climate News)

If cuts mean there’s not enough money to regulate mines, the state mining commission might have ask the Alabama Legislature to dole out supplemental funding or watch the federal government take over, Alabama’s chief mining regulator said.

Rickwood Field to Welcome Star-Studded Llineup for East-West Classic (Bham Now)

Thirty former baseball players will face off in the five-inning exhibition East-West Classic on Juneteenth at Rickwood.

Birmingham Crowd Joins ‘No Kings’ Marchers: ‘They’re treating immigrants as garbage’ (AL.com)

Protesters rallied in Pepper Place Saturday as a part of ‘No Kings,’ a coordinated, national demonstration against the policies of President Donald Trump as he celebrates his birthday with a military parade in the nation’s capital.