Conundrum 

Some are calling it a Catch-22, others compare it to the chicken-and-egg debate, but the bottom line is customers with great credit are being denied the opportunity to buy houses A team of Palo Alto, Calif., researchers announced a couple of weeks ago that they’ve solved the Rubik’s Cube riddle in a series of 20 computerized [...]
TODAY'S TOP STORIES
USDA declares disaster in 20 counties
- Entergy to pitch expanded nuclear plant to NRC
- MDA reopens ARRA-funded appliance rebate program
- Greenville mayor: TJ MAXX store ‘on hold’
- Starkville becomes 50th Main Street community
- Survey: State has highest job supply/demand rate in U.S.
- Enerkem breaks ground on waste-to-fuel plant
- Franks asks judge to toss extortion lawsuit
- HORNE ranks among 50 largest firms in the nation
- Hosemann opens bids for troubled cemetery
MBJ INSIDERS
MBJ Feature
Service decision made the difference for McInvale 
HVAC company grows from humble beginnings It seems a most unlikely business story. A heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) company...
- Mapping the future - There’s an app for that

- The branding of a region

- BancorpSouth in acquiring mode

- Allison: Exemption doesn’t free banks from state regulation

- Coast leaders: It could have been worse

- Big money at stake

- On tap

- Tabor: Back to the drawing board

- Withering in the field

- Facelift and expansion of 1950s era Monfort a go

- $6 million spent to keep migratory ducks from oil

Real Estate
There area some positive signs 
Overall, area is down, but Downtown Jackson and Lakeland area lead the way with positive commercial absorption numbers Jackson’s downtown...
- Mountains of new paperwork

- Conundrum

- Long Waits Nothing Unusual

Katrina: 5 Years
A thoughtful pause 
Coast cities reflect and recover with multiple projects Many residents and officials will pause to observe Sunday’s fifth anniversary of...
- SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Trapani's Eatery

- SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Allen Plumbing Company

- Life on the Coast: Five years of the new normal

MARKET SECTORS
FINANCE - Market Sector
Top Story
Sentencing of ex-bank employees postponed
GULFPORT — Sentencing has been reset for Oct. 12 in U.S. District Court for two former employees of Hancock Bank’s Ocean Springs main branch in a multimillion-dollar embezzlement scheme to defraud the bank branch. Margaret Migues, former branch operations manager at the Hancock Bank main branch in Ocean Springs, and Doris Burney, a former teller there, [...]
COMMERCE - Market Sector
Top Story
Greenville mayor: TJ MAXX store ‘on hold’
GREENVILLE — It appears Greenville will not have a new TJ MAXX store, at least not when expected. The Mayor’s Office has released a statement saying the project was at a standstill. “With regards to the proposed TJ MAXX store in Greenville, Miss., it is our understanding that the scheduled project is on hold at this [...]
HOSPITALITY - Market Sector
Top Story
Country music star opens bar in Delta casino
TUNICA — Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill has opened at Harrah’s Tunica. The new bar and restaurant featuring country music, dancing and sports on high-definition flat screen and projection screen TVs, officially opened for business Aug. 24. Named after the singer/songwriter’s hit single “I Love This Bar,” the 15,000-square-foot restaurant features live music [...]
REAL ESTATE - Market Sector
Top Story
MCHS to build group home, training facility
HARRISON COUNTY — Gov. Haley Barbour has awarded Mississippi Children’s Home Services (MCHS) a $3-million grant to develop a Long Term Workforce Housing Program as part of a Katrina Community Development Block Grant secured byBarbour shortly after Hurricane Katrina. This grant will support the building of a new Gulf Coast group home and vocation training transitional [...]
EDUCATION - Market Sector
Top Story
Franks asks judge to toss extortion lawsuit
TUPELO — Jamie Franks has asked the Lee County Circuit Court to dismiss a lawsuit filed against him by local school superintendent Mike Scott. No trial date has been set in the lawsuit. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports that Franks argues the lawsuit doesn’t support Scott’s claims. Scott was elected Lee County superintendent in 2007 as a [...]
HEALTHCARE - Market Sector
Top Story
Coast hospital lays off nearly 50 workers
GULFPORT — Forty-seven employees have been laid off at Memorial Hospital in Gulfport. Gary Marchand, the hospitals president and CEO, says the layoffs came Friday and included 35 full-time employees. He says 10 nurses were laid off. Marchard said yesterday that Memorial Hospital is trying to offset an anticipated $11 million shortfall related to reimbursement reductions from [...]





