Feb 06, 2025

President Trump drew attention this week for telling the press he plans for the U.S. to manage the Gaza Strip and redevelop it into another Riviera.

We'll see. You'll know it's actually happening if you see a Margaritaville going up along the coast.

Seriously, Jimmy Buffett's imprint seems like it's everywhere. He left a heck of a legacy, and, in today's report, a local museum is expected to explore that legacy in a future exhibit.

That and more below. Thanks for reading,

Ike

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Jimmy Buffett passed away more than a year ago, but his business interests, image and music are a lasting part of our culture, especially along the Gulf Coast.

Mobile now has the "Son of a Sailor Fest," a Margaritaville Restaurant is coming to Gulf Shores, and a Margaritaville Resort is going up along the Intracoastal.

And now, the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico in Mobile plans to display Buffett's musical and coastal legacy right where his roots are, reports AL.com's John Sharp. A Buffett exhibit is planned to open in September 2026.

The museum is located on the Mobile River, across from where Buffett's grandfather's schooner once stayed anchored. (That's the grandfather who inspired "Son of a Son of a Sailor" and "The Captain and the Kid.")

The Mobile City Council helped clear the way just this week. Fox 10 News reported that the council agreed to settle the museum's debts from back when it was known as GulfQuest.

Congratulations, Camp Hill, you have a virus named after you, reports AL.com's Howard Koplowitz.

The virus was found in a northern short-tailed shrew.

You would think that anything with "northern" in its name would be lost in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. But if you've lived in central or north Alabama you've likely seen one and called it a mole. (I say that because I've seen many and called them moles.)

Researchers from an Auburn University lab collected the shrew in Camp Hill. Dr. Wendy Hood of the Hood Lab said other researchers have since found that the shrew carried a new henipavirus species that's now known as the novel Camp Hill virus.

Australian researcher Dr. Rhys Parry was the lead author of the article on the virus. He wrote that more study is needed to determine whether the virus is a danger to humans.

The state Legislature swung into action Tuesday. Among the early bills making it through committee was the "What is a Woman" bill sponsored by state Sen. April Weaver, a Brierfield Republican.

A similar bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Susan Dubose, a Hoover Republican.

AL.com's John Sharp reports that the bill would define man, woman, boy, girl, father, mother, male and female based on biological sex. It also says that those definitions would be used by the state regarding single-sex spaces and vital statistics.

Gov. Kay Ivey mentioned the House version of the bill during her State of the State address and said she plans on signing it.

Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell wants Dec. 1 to be a federal holiday to honor Rosa Parks, reports AL.com's Joseph D. Bryant.

That's the day Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery in 1955.

"Rosa Parks Day" is a commemorative day in Alabama. Sewell's bill would make it a full-blown federal holiday.

Sewell has introduced this legislation before. This week she framed it as a counter to President Trump's removal of DEI programs, something Sewell called an attack on Black history.

During her announcement she was flanked by fellow Alabama Democratic Congressperson Shomari Figures.

In 1983, former Alabama and NFL quarterback Brodie Croyle of Rainbow City.

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