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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‘I Would Make the Same Decision’: Board Chair Defends Incentives for Birmingham Data Center Project (WBHM)
Industrial Development Board Chairman David Perry last week cited anticipated tax revenues among the top reasons the board approved $3.2 billion in tax incentives over 30 years for the Nebius data center in the Oxmoor Valley. Perry said tax revenues on that property should be $87 million a year by the end of that time.
Two Republicans Vie for 7th Congressional District Nomination in Special August Primary (Alabama Reflector)
Two Republicans have put in their names to run against U.S. House Rep. Terri Sewell in Alabama’s 7th Congressional District. Former educator Ammie Akin and retired pastor David Perry face each other for the GOP nomination on Aug. 11, with the winner facing Democrat Sewell in November.
City Council Posts Speaker-Policy Signs After Conflicting Statements, Removal of Potential Speaker (WBHM)
Three signs that included information about the Birmingham City Council’s public-speaker policy were on display Tuesday outside the council’s chambers. That’s notable because councilors have made conflicting statements about the policy recently, and police officers forcibly removed a would-be speaker from council chambers the previous week.
Cahaba River Coalition Acquires 151 Acres for Conservation in Bibb County (Bham Now)
The Cahaba River Coalition announced that it has purchased 151 acres of critically important land adjacent to the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge in Bibb County, home to the Cahaba lilies and numerous fish species.
Federal Court Ruling on Alabama Prison Mental Health Care Could Lower Staffing Requirements (Alabama Reflector)
The state could be allowed to hire fewer qualified corrections officers to address mental health needs in Alabama prisons under a federal court ruling last week, according to criminal justice reform advocates. However, the ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday largely sustained a lower court’s ruling that inadequate mental health care in the Alabama Department of Corrections constituted cruel and unusual punishment.
Shark Attack on Alabama Teen Inspires the Start of a National Alert System (Associated Press)
Lulu Gribbin was 15 when she survived a shark attack off the coast of Florida. She lost her left hand, part of her right leg and almost her life. What she didn’t know when she entered the water on that day in 2024 was that another woman had been bitten by a shark 90 minutes earlier and just 3 miles down the beach. Had she known about the earlier attack, there is no way she would have been swimming, she said.
Gribbin’s story inspired “Lulu’s Law,” new federal legislation signed last week by President Trump to authorize emergency alerts to warn beachgoers when a shark has bitten someone in the area. Alabama approved such a warning system last year.
Finding the Story: How Je’Don Holloway-Talley Turned Her Lifelong Love of Writing Into a Life of Purpose (Birmingham Times)
Je’Don Holloway-Talley has built a life using the written and spoken word to tell other people’s stories. Now she’s expanded her journalism career — including her work with the Birmingham Times as well as with BirminghamWatch and other outlets in the area — to include the big screen. Her first feature film, the rom-com “Funny Feelings,” premiered at the American Black Film Festival and this past weekend was featured in the Essence Film Festival in New Orleans.
