Dec 04, 2024

I hope everybody's staying relatively warm during this cold snap. Bone. Chilling.

It's not over yet, either, so mind those pipes the next couple nights and keep up with weather stories here.

Thanks for reading,

Ike

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President-Elect Donald Trump has leaned back into his talk of tariffs, just as he did during his first term as president, but there are still too many unknowns for Alabama's officials to become concerned over the Port of Mobile's economic interests, reports AL.com's John Sharp.

Trump has said he'll issue an executive order to impose steep tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China. He's using the tariffs -- or the threat of tariffs -- as a bargaining tool, for example, to pressure Canada and Mexico to crack down on illegal drugs and illegal immigration.

But as an economic tool, tariffs are certainly not a historic favorite among conservatives and free-market types. While targeted tariffs can give some U.S. companies a competitive boost by reducing foreign competition, they can mean higher prices for U.S. consumers, and by reducing trade they can sting the businesses and people who bring those foreign goods to us.

Which is why there might be Port of Mobile concern. The port's economic impact on Alabama has been measured at around $98 billion.

After a speech touting the port's growth and economic impact, Gov. Kay Ivey said she's waiting to see what happens on tariffs but that "Alabama has a friend in Donald Trump."

Port Authority CEO John Driscoll also said there are just too many unknowns but that the tariffs Trump has mentioned will surely affect freight at the port.

The Alabama Senate Republican Caucus has elected a new leader for next year's legislative session, reports AL.com's Heather Gann.

State Sen. Garlan Gudger of Cullman will be confirmed as the next president pro tempore when the full Senate meets Feb. 4. We last mentioned Gudger here after a Fourth of July Jet Ski crash involving Gudger and his son. The state senator suffered fractured vertebrae and ribs, a punctured lung and internal bleeding.

Gudger is 49 and has been in office since 2018.

He'll replace current Pro-Tem Greg Reed, a Jasper Republican, who plans to leave the Senate to work as a workforce transformation advisor to Gov. Kay Ivey.

The very last remaining tenant of Brookwood Village Mall has announced its closure, reports AL.com's Heather Gann.

Brookwood Village sits on the line where Mountain Brook meets Homewood. It's one of those iconic malls that were such a part of people's lives for decades, but it's become more and more empty over the years. Recently, the Five Guys restaurant announced it was closing up shop.

Andrews Sports Medicine proposed the repurposing of the old Belk space into a 131,000-square-foot medical facility. The City of Homewood's planning commission approved that proposal last month, and the City Commission is expected to vote on it before the first of the year.

The Commission will also consider whether to split the mall's property into three lots, with one being the medical facility.

Brookwood Village Mall opened in 1974. It was the site of Alabama's first Chick-fil-A location, back during the carrot-raisin-salad days.

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