BW Recommends
BW Recommends | Oct. 5, 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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In ‘The Alabama Solution,’ Amateur Footage Helps Expose Prison Abuses (New York Times)
A new documentary, “The Alabama Solution,” is bringing national attention to conditions in the state’s prisons. With its use of cell phone footage secretly recorded by inmates over a decade, the film illuminates crowded, violent, filthy conditions at several facilities.
The film is directed by Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman. Jarecki is best known for his documentary series “The Jinx.”
“The Alabama Solution” is showing at select theaters nationwide and will be available on HBO Max starting Oct. 10.
Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, formerly with UAB, contends she was fired as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases because of her advocacy for critical health research and her support for evidence showing vaccine safety. She was fired about a week ago, three weeks after filing a complaint that alleged NIH officials were involved in the “cancellation of several critical research grants, the politicization of scientific research, and the baseless hostility towards vaccinations, ignoring scientific evidence demonstrating their safety and effectiveness.”
Birmingham Stallions Survive UFL Cut, Three Teams Not Coming Back (BhamNow)
The UFL cut three teams from the league last week, and the three-time champion Birmingham Stallions were not on the list. UFL owner Mike Repole previously said that fans had responded to a challenge to buy season tickets, and the Stallions would be playing again in Birmingham this March.
Eighteen Months After a Fatal Explosion, Alabama Rolls Back Its Commitment to Monitor Explosive Gases Above Coal Mines (Inside Climate News)
Alabama officials charged with protecting residents from surface impacts of underground coal mining have notified the federal government that they’ve suspended plans to require that expanding mines monitor for potentially explosive methane gas.
The decision is a reversal of the state’s previous agreement with federal regulators spurred by a fatal home explosion above the expanding Oak Grove mine in rural Jefferson County.
Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Alabama ’26 Candidates Report September Campaign Fundraising Numbers (YellowHammer)
An overview of campaign totals for candidates in the upcoming state elections.
Report: Alabama Continues to Lead Nation in Prosecutions of Pregnant Women (Alabama Reflector)
Alabama continues to lead the nation in prosecutions of women in relation to pregnancy, pregnancy loss and birth, according to a new report from Pregnancy Justice, a nonprofit that defends the rights of pregnant people. The study reported that Alabama prosecuted 192 women from June 2022 to July 2024, the first two years after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade. Most of the prosecutions are related to drug use, according to the report.
Alabama Nonprofit Vows to Continue ‘Hate Map’ After FBI Cuts Ties (AL.com)
The Southern Poverty Law Center said it would continue its work documenting hate and extremist groups despite FBI Director Kash Patel’s announcement he had dissolved the FBI’s ties with the Montgomery-based group. Patel accused the SPLC of having become a “partisan smear machine.” His announcement came just days after he said the FBI would end ties with the Anti-Defamation league.
Conservatives have complained that a “hate map” the SPLC maintains includes right-wing groups. SPLC President Bryan Fair also last week in an interview with Mississippi Today said civil rights organizations were preparing for potentially being targeted after President Trump signed a memo ordering federal law enforcement to investigate what he said are wealthy donors and organizations funding left-wing political violence.
