Apr. 08, 2025

It's a business and economics day Down in Alabama.

First, over on the podcast, business reporter William Thornton joins us to talk about the Trump tariffs and how they might impact Alabama businesses.

Below, today's report includes briefs on home prices, defense/space contracts and more.

Thanks for reading,

Ike

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They keep telling us how cheap it is to own a home in Alabama. And by the numbers you can see, relatively speaking, that it's true.

AL.com's Ramsey Archibald reports that the typical Alabama home is valued at $223,000. That's based on data from Zillow.

That $223,000 placed us eighth least expensive in the U.S. It's cheaper to buy a home in Iowa, Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi of course, and West Virginia.

That doesn't mean you and I haven't been priced out of a few neighborhoods.

Ramsey found that Mountain Brook, the new home of Paul Finebaum (since I have to pick on somebody), can boast a typical single-family home value of around $936,000.

That's what we're calling the "typical" price in an entire city, not a high-end value.

Nobody's close to Mountain Brook. But in a distant second-place is Orange Beach at just over $685,000.

That's followed by the Lake Martin town of Equality, Indian Springs Village in Shelby County, Jacksons Gap, Vestavia Hills and Homewood.

Those cities are all above the half-million-dollar mark.

Another big U.S. Space Command contract has come down, and it means big work and big money for companies that are involved in highly sensitive rocket launches, reports AL.com's John R. Roby.

United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin are receiving shares of the $13.6 billion contract through 2029. Those two companies build rocket engines and assemble space vehicles in Huntsville and Decatur.

SpaceX also has a big part in the deal.

The program is called National Security Space Launch. It funds the launching of satellites for national-security purposes.

As we talked about when we had John on the show in February, U.S. Space Force is ramping up its operations, and it means big work for the big defense and space companies in North Alabama.

United Launch Alliance is a joint venture involving Boeing and Lockheed-Martin. It was awarded $5.3 billion for 19 flights. Blue Origin is receiving $2.4 billion for seven launches.

An iconic Birmingham brand has sold off part of its business, reports AL.com's William Thornton.

Buffalo Rock divested its full-line vending operations to Five Star Breaktime Solution and other Canteen franchises.

These vending operations are in 7,600 locations in 700 micro markets in Alabama, Georgia and the Florida Panhandle.

Buffalo Rock still has its Pepsi and Keurig Dr Pepper bottling operations. Company leadership says the move lets them focus on their beverages.

Buffalo Rock was founded in 1901 and is the company that brought the popular Southern soft-drink brands Grapico and Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale.

In 1977, computer engineer Mark Spencer of Auburn.

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We're talking Trump tariffs with business reporter William Thornton.

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