WASHINGTON — Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) are pressing the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) to establish a public information campaign to alert homeowners to the potential fire hazards posed by corrosive drywall imported from China.
Cochran and Wicker are among six Senators who today asked the USFA, an agency within the Federal [...] [...]
LOS ANGELES — The National Association of Home Builders says its housing market index slipped in March, as harsh winter weather and competition from foreclosed properties hurt builders’ sales prospects.
The Washington-based trade association said Monday its index slipped two points to 15, back to its January level.
Readings below 50 indicate negative sentiment about the market. [...] [...]
The spring construction season is close to getting started and roadbuilders and contractors are ready to go to work.
There remain a few obstacles, though.
The $35-billion jobs bill circulating through Congress, which allocates $15 billion in tax forgiveness for small businesses who hire new workers, also contains $20 billion in annual highway funding for the states.
The [...] [...]
There are currently 68 American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA)-financed highway construction projects underway or completed in Mississippi involving $281.5 million in funds, according to data released by Washington, D.C.-based American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).
The projects underway or completed have supported or are supporting 7,831 jobs in Mississippi that would otherwise not exist, [...] [...]
TUPELO — Copeland & Johns Inc, of Jackson is building a new facility for Community Bank in Tupelo. The site is at the intersection of North Gloster Street and Lakeshire Drive.
The cost of the project was not disclosed.
Copeland & Johns estimates completion of construction by July 1. Jackson-based Dean and Dean/Associates Architects designed the three-story, [...] [...]
The nation’s nonresidential building construction sector lost 9,600 jobs in February, according to the March 5 employment report by the U.S. Labor Department. Since Feb. 2009, the sector has shed 101,700 jobs, or 13.3 percent.
Employment in nonresidential construction now stands at 661,600.
Hit the hardest was the nonresidential specialty trade sector, which lost 34,900 jobs last [...] [...]
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Bechtel Power Corp. announced March 1 that it is laying off more than 600 engineers and support staff as design work ends ahead of construction of a second reactor at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) Watts Bar nuclear power plant.
Francis Caravan, a spokesman for Bechtel, told the Knoxville News Sentinel that workers [...] [...]
Following an emergency meeting today to discuss the impact of the current shutdown of federal highway and transit programs, state transportation officials called the action “a bad situation and it’s only going to get worse.”
WASHINGTON — At a news conference held in conjunction with the annual Washington Briefing of the American Association of State Highway [...] [...]
JACKSON — A bill that passed the Mississippi House yesterday would allow the state to issue $300 million in bonds to pay for highways, bridges and other transportation projects around the state.
Before passing the bill 90-30, the House voted to add several road-widening projects to the original list, but members added no bond money to [...] [...]
Prices for construction materials and supplies were up 1.3 percent in January, according to the February 18 producer price index (PPI) report by the U.S. Labor Department. Year-over-year, construction materials prices are up 1.6 percent.
Iron and steel prices jumped 4.7 percent for the month and are up 5.9 percent since last January, the first year-over-year [...] [...]
