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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Birmingham-Based Non-Profit Purchases Church Next to Woodlawn High School To Launch Community Arts Center  (CBS 42)

The Birmingham arts nonprofit Bare Hands has purchased a church building next to Woodlawn High School and plans to renovate the space and turn it into a community arts center that will open before the end of the year. The center will include after-school programming for children and art programs for residents of all ages, among other features. Renovation work on the church is already underway.

Alabama Democratic Leaders Rule on Efforts To Keep Birmingham Mayor’s Aides Off Primary Ballots (AL.com)

Challenges to keep two aides to Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin off the Democratic primary ballot for the state Legislature are over. The Alabama Democratic Party ruled on Friday that incumbent Rep. Kelvin Datcher and Alicia Escott Lumpkin may remain contestants in the races for Birmingham area House Districts 52 and 60. Opponents argued the candidates were ineligible to seek elected office because they also were the mayor’s appointees. The prohibition against appointees from seeking elected office is in the Mayor-Council Act, the state law that sets up the framework for Birmingham’s city government.

Dozens of Area Students Excel During YouthSpeak Showcase in Birmingham (Birmingham Times)

More than 200 students from Birmingham and Jefferson County schools, ranging from elementary to high school, gathered at Red Mountain Theatre on Friday for the fifth annual YouthSpeak showcase.

The gathering, a partnership between Birmingham City Councilor Crystal N. Smitherman and RMT, amplifies the voices of young people through the transformative power of the arts, including spoken word, music, dance and dramatic performance.

New Pedestrian Access Coming to Hollywood Blvd 280 Overpass (BhamNow)

A coalition involving leaders in Birmingham, Mountain Brook, Homewood and Jefferson County has secured funding to improve pedestrian access on the Hollywood Boulevard overpass above U.S. 280. Located between Homewood and Mountain Brook, the existing bridge has long been a sore spot for pedestrians in the two Over the Mountain suburbs. The project will retrofit the existing overpass to include protected pedestrian access on the north side of the bridge; an additional turn lane; additional striping; and a new traffic light for improved traffic control.

Alabama State Health Officer: ‘Fully Expect’ to See Measles in the State (Alabama Reflector)

Alabama’s public health director said Thursday that public health officials were “doing everything possible to prepare” for measles as the highly contagious disease spreads through the country. “We’re educating providers and sending out information to health care facilities and individual providers so that they can look for it and recognize it,” said Dr. Scott Harris, the state health officer, at a meeting of the Alabama Department of Public Health.

Survivors of Violence Headed to the State Capitol to Push for Justice Reforms (Birmingham Times)

Survivors of violence in Alabama will gather Feb. 24 at the state Capitol for a day of advocacy, healing and finding ways to transform pain into policy change. Survivors Speak Alabama, an all-day event scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., will host those directly affected by violence, along with family members, advocates, and community partners. The nonprofit What About Us, which assists families that have lost someone, will be taking people to Montgomery on buses Tuesday, leaving from the Crescent Cultural Community Center, at 1121 Tuscaloosa Ave. SW, by 7:45 a.m.

Gov. Kay Ivey Signs Controversial Environmental Regulation Bill Into Law (Alabama Reflector)

Gov. Kay Ivey Thursday signed a controversial bill that could weaken the state’s environmental regulations. SB 71, sponsored by Sen. Donnie Chesteen, would prohibit Alabama from having stricter environmental regulations than the federal government. The bill moved quickly through both chambers sparking concerns from Democrats and environmentalists in the state who said the bill could leave Alabamians more susceptible to pollution and unsafe environmental conditions.

How Jesse Jackson Took King’s Civil Rights Movement to Company Doorsteps (The New York Times)

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been leading a crusade to end legal segregation and expand voting rights in the South for more than a decade. But by 1966, he had grown troubled by what he saw in the North, where poverty remained entrenched in segregated urban ghettos. To expand what he saw as a broader, national fight for economic equality, King knew the person he wanted to spearhead the effort in Chicago — a 24-year-old seminary student named Jesse Jackson.

In interviews conducted before Jackson’s death on Tuesday, those who knew him then or worked with him later recalled a man burning with ambition, charisma and ego.

What passed in the Alabama Legislature: Feb. 17-19, 2026 (Alabama Reflector)

Action in the Legislature last week.