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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How Much Water and Energy Do Data Centers Consume? A New Jersey Bill Demands Answers. (Inside Climate News)

A proposed 4.5 million-square-foot data center in the Bessemer area has drawn criticism, most recently from the NAACP,  for its potential water and electrical use, traffic concerns, noise and environmental pollution, and potential for inferring with the Northern Beltline project. The Bessemer City Council is expected to consider the developer’s rezoning and development proposal Oct. 7.

After Weeks of Uncertainty, Alabama Community College Gets Federal Funding for Prep Program (Alabama Reflector)

By the time federal funds were confirmed for the Upward Bound program at Central Alabama Community College, the program had been suspended. Now administrators are trying to restart the program, which helps low-income and first generation college students prepare for higher education.

Alabama Hospitals to Face Millions in Losses If ACA Subsidies Expire (Alabama Political Reporter)

A new report found that Alabama health care providers will be among the most negatively impacted nationwide should certain Affordable Care Act premiums expire. The report conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation projects billions of dollars in lost revenues for health care providers alongside uncompensated care spikes if Congress allows ACA enhanced premium tax credits to expire at the end of 2025.

Birmingham City Schools First in U.S. to Implement KultureCity Sensory Training (BhamNow)

Birmingham City Schools has implemented districtwide sensory training as part of a program in partnership with KultureCity. The goal is to increase faculty and staff awareness of students on the autism spectrum, ensuring they are educated about autism and understand that these students are not exhibiting disciplinary issues.

Public school kids were already going missing. Now schools are poised to see sharper enrollment declines (The Hechinger Report)

The number of students who are not in school exploded in 2020 after the COVID outbreak, and many still aren’t back. The missing kids are not in private schools or being homeschooled. Many children are simply not enrolled anywhere, according to a new analysis of federal data from the Brookings Institution.

He Couldn’t Get Alabama to Spare His Mother’s Killer, but Still Found Peace (New York Times)

William Berry years ago forgave the man who killed his mother in 1997. As Geoffrey West’s execution drew near, Berry tried to tell state officials that killing the murderer would bring him no sense of justice or closure. His message of forgiveness did reach West before he was executing last week, though Berry was not allowed to deliver it in person.