CEO of Mississippi Power resigns, board elects replacement.

Mississippi Power Co. announced this morning that President and CEO Ed Day is retiring and will be replaced by G. Edison “Ed” Holland.

The company’s board of directors elected Holland to the job. He will “be responsible for the operations of Mississippi Power, including overseeing the continued construction of the Kemper County energy facility.” The change is effective immediately.

“Mississippi Power is getting a highly regarded, experienced leader in Ed Holland,” Thomas A. Fanning, Southern Company chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a news release. “He brings a strong combination of judgment and vision to the role that will propel the company forward. Ed will be engaged in the region and work to strengthen the communities we serve.”

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Supreme Court won’t hear Mississippi NAACP challenge to legislative redistricting.

The Supreme Court won’t order new legislative elections in Mississippi over complaints about the timing of the state’s redistricting.

The Mississippi NAACP had challenged the state’s 2011 state elections because the Legislature did not immediately use the 2010 census to draw new district lines in 2011. The state House and Senate instead argued for several weeks before ending their 2011 session without adopting new maps.

The NAACP had asked for that election to be set aside and special elections to be held under a court-ordered plan. It said that using the old maps violated the one-person, one-vote principle by diluting African-American voting strength.

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Central MS TEA Party may join in lawsuit against IRS.

Central Mississippi TEA Party (CMTP) President Janis Lane says her group is considering joining a potential American Center for Law and Justice lawsuit against the IRS in response to being unfairly targeted by the federal agency. The CMTP filed for tax exempt status with the IRS in 2010.

“We began doing some investigation and found that other Tea Party groups had received the same kinds of letters with the same type of questions,” said Lane. “We are thankful this information has come to light and hope that no other organization, no matter the cause or political bent, will ever have to go through this kind treatment by our government again.”

Lane says the group is presently watching developments closely and will decide when the time is right what their next steps will be.

“We will follow this very closely and determine our next moves based on the responses the Center for Law and Justice receives from the IRS,” she said. “But, we are prepared to push back against this type of bullying through legal means if necessary.”

“Our government is supposed to serve citizens equally, impartially,  and with respect. The IRS is supposed to be non-partisan but this incident shows some of the IRS employees cannot be trusted to uphold their mission.”

The CMTP is a grass roots group which maintains a presence in the Capitol during the legislative session encouraging elected officials to enact bills that will make Mississippi a more business friendly state, limit government intrusion, and to keep the state and country aligned with the Constitution.

Lane says that even with the threat of harassment, the group maintained it’s core mission and accomplished great things for the state.

“Even with the threat of IRS harassment, the CMTP has stayed focused on our grass roots efforts to bring our state and country back to the principles on which we have stood for over 200 years,” says Lane. “When we are a principled state and nation, we prosper; when we are not, we do not prosper.  The CMTP wants to see Mississippi and its citizens prosper, and we will not be intimidated from performing that very important task.”

CMTP Press Release

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NEWSOM: Cochran scenario to produce Coast lieutenant governor?

I’ve heard Republican power brokers are already working on a fairly complicated contingency plan involving multiple appointments that could end with a South Mississippian in the lieutenant governor’s office if Cochran steps down before his term ends. Gov. Phil Bryant would appoint Cochran’s replacement until an election could be held.

Bryant could choose Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves for Cochran’s seat. There’s friction between the Bryant and Reeves camps at the Capitol and the move would get Reeves out of the state Senate, clearing the way for Bryant to appoint his own lieutenant governor. The guv’nah would then have a full-time legislative water carrier who could settle in as an incumbent before running for election.

Word around the campfire is it’s likely he’d go with one of two Coastians to replace Reeves. This would be major, given

Coast candidates have historically fared very poorly in statewide elections.

Bryant’s top choice may be State Sen. Michael Watson, R-Pascagoula, a staunch Bryant loyalist who had been rising fast after taking office in 2008, but has seen his influence diminish substantially during the Reeves regime because of drama between the two camps.

If not Watson, things would get a little weirder.

Bryant could appoint former State Sen. Billy Hewes, Gulfport’s next mayor, who was Bryant’s pro tem when Bryant was lieutenant governor.

Hewes lost his 2011 bid to become lieutenant governor when Reeves beat him in the Republican primary. But he’s also a seasoned politician with connections forged during a 20-year stint in the Legislature.

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Wet weather puts farmers behind schedule across Mississippi.

The U.S Department of Agriculture says foul weather only left Mississippi with four days suitable for fieldwork during a two-week period that ended May 12.

A USDA report says the percentages of cotton, race, soybeans, peanuts and watermelons that have been planted as of May 12 were far below five-year averages. For example, 52 percent of the state’s cotton crops have been planted by mid-May over the past five years. This year, however, only 7 percent of cotton has been planted, according to the USDA.

Corn, which was 91 percent planted, is a notable exception to that trend.

Flint said farmers can plant in the dark to catch up.

“It’s far from time to panic,” he said. “There’s still time to get most crops in the ground before the absolute cutoff date.”

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Corps will hold meeting on Gulfport channel deepening Tuesday

A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday on the state port’s proposal to study deepening the ship channel to as much as 47 feet.

The port has asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study the feasibility of a deeper ship channel as part of an ongoing environmental assessment of port expansion.

The Sun Herald reports the port’s request to deepen the 20-mile-long ship channel would modify a corps study of port expansion that began about two years ago.

The study already includes expansion of the port’s West Pier, East Pier, north shore and turning basin.

The plan calls for filling about 200 acres of water bottoms for wharfs, bulkheads, terminal facilities, container storage, container-transfer infrastructure and other improvements.

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College Board approves $11 million for Valley State gym expansion.

Another $11 million has been added to the budget to expand and renovate Mississippi Valley State University’s gymnasium complex.

The College Board approved plans Thursday to raise the budget for the overhaul of the R.W. Harrison Health, Physical Education and Recreation Complex to $17.5 million. The complex includes the 5,000-seat gymnasium where Valley’s basketball teams play. Plans call for an addition that will host academic assemblies and athletic events. The College Board had approved earlier plans with the understanding that more money would be added from a legislative bond issue.

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5,000 more Mississippian’s give up on finding work.

Mississippi’s unemployment rate dipped in April, but mainly because fewer people were looking for work.

However, a separate survey of employer payrolls continued to rise, suggesting Mississippi’s slow climb out of recession continues.

Both sets of figures were released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The jobless rate fell to 9.1 percent from 9.4 percent in March. Mississippi continued to have the third-highest unemployment rate among states.

A 5,000-person decrease in the labor force was the main factor cutting Mississippi’s jobless rate. The state reported almost 121,000 unemployed people in April, down from 125,000 in March, and level with the 120,000 from April 2012.

Nevada had the highest jobless rate among the states in March at 9.6 percent, while Illinois was second at 9.3 percent. North Dakota again had the lowest rate at 3.3 percent.

The broadest measure of those who are unemployed averaged 15.5 percent in Mississippi during the 12 months ended March 30, the most recent figures available. That number includes people who are looking for work only sporadically, have given up looking or are working part time because

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Lawmakers expect legislation to lower blood-alcohol limit next session.

State Seal of Mississippi. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NTSB recommended Tuesday to lower the legal BAC limit from 0.08 to 0.05. State Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, said lawmakers will probably see preliminary legislation on the issue but nothing more.

“I think we have good law enforcement and a stout law now,” Holland said. “But, when (the NTSB) suggests something we look at it. I would predict it will get a hearing this next term but probably not come out of committee or pass.”

State Rep. Brian Aldridge, R-Tupelo, said he’s sure he will see some legislation concerning the lower limit during the next term but would need to see more research from the NTSB to support a new law.

“I’d like to see evidence of why they feel this needs to be done,” he said. “I’m not a fan of passing feel-good legislation. Saying that, if it saves lives and there is evidence of that, then I’ll absolutely vote and even co-author a bill.”

In 2010, an NTSB study showed 641 people in Mississippi were killed in traffic accidents, 23 of which involved a driver with a BAC between 0.01 and 0.07.

That percentage is in the single digits across the country with the exception of Vermont and the District of Columbia

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Democrat lawmakers look to Arkansas Medicaid deal as potential model for Mississippi.

 

The Arkansas “private option” plan has become a model that several conservative states are looking at as a possible solution to Medicaid expansion. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has given preliminary approval to the Arkansas “private option” plan. Arkansas has not submitted its formal proposal to HHS.

“This is the key to Republicans supporting the plan: Realization that we lost the battle to overturn Obamacare,” said Arkansas state Rep. Charlie Collins, a conservative Republican. “As a legislator I don’t have the luxury of living in a fantasy land and pretending Obamacare is not going to come to Arkansas, Mississippi or anywhere else.”

Now, some Mississippi lawmakers are looking at the Arkansas plan as a possible solution for the current standoff that has left the state’s program on track to shut down in less than two months.

Democratic lawmakers in Mississippi blocked Medicaid reauthorization and funding for the 2014 fiscal year after Republicans didn’t allow a bill to be considered to expand Medicaid in Mississippi. The Legislature ended its regular session this year without approving a funding bill, which required a three-fifths majority to pass.

State Reps. Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, and Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, traveled to Washington earlier this month to talk to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials about Medicaid, including the Arkansas plan.

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