BW Recommends
BW Recommends | July 27, 2025
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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Independent grocery stores have had a tough five years. SNAP cuts will make it harder (WBHM)
For many independent grocery stores, SNAP sales make up a bulk of their business. Cuts to the food stamp program in Trump’s ‘big beautiful’ bill have store owners in some rural areas worried about whether they will be able to survive.
Feds Release Frozen Education Funds Nationwide, Including $50M for Alabama (Alabama Daily News)
The education funding supports multiple federal grant programs, including ones for English learners, migrant students and to reduce class sizes. In Alabama, they pay for 280 teachers. The latest restoration of funds follows a decision a week ago to release $21.2 million the state had been promised to support after-school and summer learning.
Alabama Activists Target Trump With Epstein Billboard on Busy Expressway: ‘What’s the big secret?’ (AL.com)
If your efforts to avoid the latest political-celeb scandal are frustrated while you’re driving northbound on the Red Mountain Expressway, blame the Birmingham Blue Dot. The progressive group is sponsoring the digital billboard with an image of President Trump and Jeffrey Epstein to highlight the issue that has divided even the MAGA faithful.
Rumors Swirl About Birmingham Stallions’ Future, but Fans Say the Team’s Impact Is Undeniable (WBRC)
Speculation continues after a report last week that the Birmingham Stallions may be one of four UFL teams moved to new cities. Fans have been buzzing since the information was reported, but no formal decisions has been announced.
There was a deal to fix this Alabama community’s raw sewage crisis. Trump tore it up over DEI (The Guardian)
Families in Alabama’s Black Belt still are grappling without working sewer systems since the Trump Administration terminated a civil rights settlement that had mandated the state resolve the issue. Federal funds for septic systems that would work in the difficult soils were cut off after the administration dismissed the settlement as an illegal diversity, equity and inclusion agreement.