Jun. 18, 2025

If you're into missile defense (specifically, President Trump's "Golden Dome") or the race to the moon, make sure you listen to the podcast today.

The rest of today's report is below. Thanks for reading,

Ike Morgan

Looking for the podcast? Click here or check other options below.

People once thought of "American-made" automobiles based on the automaker's name brand. Ford. Chevy. Dodge.

As we well know here in the South, foreign companies have long made vehicles in America. They make them with parts that may be manufactured by vendors next door or halfway around the world.

It can be a bit much to keep up with if you're trying to settle on an American-made car or truck. Just how American is that F-150? Or that Kia?

For 20 years, Cars.com has been publishing an American-Made Index, which is intended to rank car models by how American they are. Cars.com considers a model's assembly location, percentage of U.S. and Canadian parts, country of origin of available engines and transmissions, and its percentage of American employees.

It turns out, a single Alabama auto plant produces three of the top 10 most-American vehicles for 2025, according to Cars.com's rankings. Coming in and seventh, eighth and ninth on the list, the Honda Ridgeline pickup, Honda Odyssey mini-van and Honda Passport SUV are all built in Lincoln.

Also high in the rankings are the No. 12 Honda Pilot SUV from the Lincoln plant, the No. 18 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid SUV from Huntsville and the No. 26 Hyundai Santa Cruz pickup from Montgomery.

And, folks, you have to go all the way down to No. 22 to find the most-American vehicle assembled in Michigan. That would be the Ford F-150 Lightning out of Dearborn.

And which cars are the absolute most American? Tesla makes the top four models, mostly in California, with No. 1 being the Tesla Model 3.

The Army's Fort Novosel is already undergoing its name-change process back to Fort Rucker, reports AL.com's Heather Gann.

President Biden's administration oversaw the renaming of Fort Rucker to Fort Novosel as part of a move away from southern forts carrying the names of Confederate officers. The fort had been named for Confederate Col. Edmund Rucker. Then it was named for Army aviator Chief Warrant Officer Michael J. Novosel, who had lived in nearby Enterprise.

Last week President Trump announced that several of the renamed installations will be reverting to their former names, including Fort Novosel.

While it will again be named Fort Rucker, this time it's in honor of World War I aviator Edward Rucker.

The Army base is in the process of updating signs and other material. There will be a renaming ceremony on a date that's yet undetermined.

Population growth and an aging population are expected to greatly increase the demand for physicians over the next several years. Data from the Association of American Medical Colleges shows that the U.S. is expected to have a physician shortage of up to 86,000 by 2036.

That's good news if you're in med school right now. It means you'll get a few years experience and then your opportunities will multiply. It's probably bad news for healthcare access and cost.

With that in mind, Congresswoman Terri Sewell, a Birmingham Democrat, has joined Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick to introduce the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2025, reports AL.com's Heather Gann.

The legislation tries to tackle the doctor shortage by increasing the number of Medicare-supported medical residency positions by 14,000 over seven years.

More med students in, hopefully more physicians out.

The Association of American Medical Colleges has said it supports the bipartisan measure.

“There are a lot of people upset about the audacity of a city-funded group to come to a church and set up a sign and a tent that had the F-word written across it at a public, family-friendly farmer’s market.”

Birmingham council member Hunter Williams, on an odd decision by a homeless-outreach group.

In 1937, writer Gail Godwin of Birmingham. She moved to North Carolina with her family at an early age.

In 1944, singer Sandy Posey of Jasper. You may remember "Single Girl" or "Born a Woman."

In 1965, actress Kim Dickens of Huntsville.

If you miss that feeling of sitting down with in-depth, local reporting, consider subscribing to the Huntsville Times, Birmingham News, or Mobile Press-Register.

By subscribing, you’ll get a new daily digital edition in an email link, or you can use an app to download the new edition every day on your smartphone or tablet. You also get exclusive access to stories written for our subscribers.

“Down in Alabama” listeners get your first month free by going to al.com/digitalsubscription/exclusive and enter the promo code DIAPOD.

Reporter John R. Roby's going to give us some of the latest news on President Trump's "Golden Dome" project and NASA's plans to get to the moon. Both those topics obviously affect defense-industry firms in Alabama and Marshall Space Flight Center.

You can find “Down in Alabama” wherever you get your podcasts, including these places:

We appreciate you for taking the time to read today. Hope you're able to check back soon. Meantime, reply to this email with any suggestions you might have.

If you're so inclined, we'd love it if you'd forward to friends who might be interested in reading. (And if you're someone who's been forwarded this newsletter, we encourage you to subscribe and get this in your inbox every day.)