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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What boycotting looks like 70 years after the Montgomery Bus Boycott (Associated Press)

The Montgomery Bus Boycott, widely considered the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement, marked its 70th anniversary Friday. Speakers during an event tied the examples of the past to modern-day “selective buying campaigns” used to apply economic pressure when needed.

AFAR Names Birmingham Among Best Places in the World to Travel in 2026 (BhamNow)

AFAR has included Birmingham among its list of 24 destinations across all seven continents that are the best places in the world to travel in 2026. The travel publication cited the Magic City’s food culture as a major reason to visit the city, which is one of only seven U.S. cities to make the list and the only destination in the Southeast.

100K Alabamians Could Lose Health Insurance Overnight (WSFA)

Alabama hospital leaders and U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell are warning that if health care premium subsides set to expire at the end of the year are not renewed, many rural hospitals, including one in Wilcox county, could be pushed into deeper financial trouble. Citing the example of an employee who pays $188 a month for insurance now but would have to pay $1,500 for the same plan as of Jan 1, Sewell said nearly 100,000 Alabamians could lose health insurance overnight. Losing that many insured patients so quickly could hit hospitals hard, especially in rural counties where many facilities are already on the edge.

Forestry Carbon Credit Programs Have a Poor Track Record. Can a More Refined Approach Fix the Problem? (Inside Climate News)

The Family Forest Carbon Program pays landowners not to timber their trees, then sells the additional growth as carbon credits. But critics question whether it leads to overall emissions reductions.

With Homelessness Rising, New Federal Rules Could Benefit States That Take Tougher Approaches (Alabama Reflector)

As the housing shortage pushes more Americans into homelessness for the first time, the Trump administration wants to focus federal housing aid on mental health treatment and enforcement against street homelessness, rather than on finding people permanent homes as quickly as possible. The administration’s new plan to tie federal housing aid to work requirements and drug treatment could be a boon to states such as Alabama, Florida and Wyoming that already are pursuing that strategy. But for many other states — and nonprofit providers across the country — the rules represent a sudden pivot from past expectations.

Alabama Inmates Plan Work Strike as Families Say Crisis Continues in the Prison System (Associated Press)

Family and advocates of people incarcerated in Alabama prisons on Thursday said they want to keep a public spotlight on problems in state lockups and said inmates are planning another work stoppage to protest conditions. The families during a press conference said a humanitarian crisis is continuing in prisons despite years of federal investigations and attention. They are hoping to build on momentum from a recent documentary about the Alabama prison system. The group is seeking a number of changes, including a repeal of the state’s habitual offender act, sentencing reform, the creation of a conviction review unit and changes to the prison labor system.