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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Bessemer, Alabama, Could Face Legal Action Over Environmental Impacts From a ‘Hyperscale’ Data Center (Inside Climate News)

Bessemer City Council members delayed consideration of a proposed hyperscale data center last week after residents voiced concerns about effects on the environment and infrastructure. The developer’s plans call for the construction of 18 buildings totaling about 4.5 million square feet, each larger than the average Walmart Supercenter. The Center for Biological Diversity sent the council a letter asking its members to consider the development more deeply, particularly the dangers posed to endangered species.

Arrests of Alabama Immigrants Soar as Local Deputies Become ‘Mini-Immigration Officers’ (AL.com)

Law enforcement agents are on track to arrest twice as many immigrants without legal status in Alabama as last year, the result of an effort to meet President Donald Trump’s mass deportation promises. So far this year, 1,947 immigrants have been apprehended, compared to 1,823 for all of last year. One reason for the growing numbers of arrests is the expansion of partnerships between local law enforcement and the federal government.

Alabama Library Board Proposes Ban on Material Discussing Transgender Issues From Kids’ Sections (Alabama Reflector)

The state board governing Alabama libraries plans to amend its administrative code to add language banning “any material that promotes, engages, or positively depicts transgender procedures, gender ideology, or the concept of more than two biological genders, shall be considered inappropriate for children and youth.” The board opened a public comment period on the proposal. Libraries that violate the proposal, if it’s adopted, would be denied state funding.

Britt: Federal Funds for Alabama Summer Learning Programs to Be Released (Alabama Daily News)

The federal government has decided it will release $21.2 million the state had been promised to support after-school and summer learning. About $52 million in education funding remains frozen, including $48 million for teacher salaries and professional development, including efforts to reduce class sizes. U.S. Sen. Katie Britt said she had signed a letter with nine other Republican senators asking that the education funding be released, and U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville said he had spoken to Education Secretary Linda McMahon about the issue.

VA Home Restoration Will Take At Least 12 Months, Cost $50M-$60M (Alabama Daily News)

Rebuilding the Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins State Veterans Home in Enterprise after an April fire will take 12-14 months and cost up to $60 million, state officials said. The veterans home that opened about six months before the fire cost $98.8 million to build. The fire started when contractors were working on vents on the roof over the kitchen.

‘We will shut Homewood down,’ Activists Warn as They Demand Release of Video of Jabari Peoples Shooting (AL.com)

Activists with Black Lives Matter Birmingham said they will take protests to the streets of downtown Homewood unless leaders back their demands to release police footage showing the shooting of an 18-year-old man by a police officer. Jabari Peoples died June 23 during a confrontation with a Homewood police officer in a city park. Accounts of the situation varied, and activists say police have let down Peoples’ family. But Alabama Law Enforcement Agency officials said releasing the video would jeopardize the investigation.