Business Blog

Gov. Haley Barbour’s Monday comments to the media on the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Energy Experts to Discuss Economic Impact at Sept. 8 Event The 2011 Energy Forum: “Unlocking the Value of Natural Gas” will be a one-day conference featuring experts in the energy industry discussing the role of gas in Mississippi and the nation. The conference will be held Sept. 8 at the Jackson Convention Complex. Among the [...]

Relief and optimism have replaced last summer’s struggle for survival for Starkville’s Cadence National Bank. The new lease on life for the multi-state regional bank came courtesy of a nearly $150 million capital infusion from Community Bancorp LLC, a Houston, Texas, banking investment group that swooped in last October to take over Cadence after the [...]

Birmingham-based Regions Financial Corp. says it could incur legal losses of up to $300 million on top of the $210 million it paid to settle fraud claims against investment brokerage subsidiary Morgan Keegan by Mississippi and other Southeastern states. In its second quarter 10-Q filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission earlier this month, [...]

Although Mississippians will be manufacturing solar panels at Stion in Hattiesburg, they will find it difficult to use the company’s products at home unless the state Public Service Commission adopts a uniform net-metering policy. Stion touts its residential products on its website: “Stion’s panels can help you save money on your electricity bill, gain energy [...]

Company: Thin-film technology will create solar success; plant ribbon cutting set for Sept. 16 As the photovoltaics industry took a hit with the bankruptcy of Evergreen Solar, Stion announced a Sept. 16 ribbon cutting for its Hattiesburg plant. While some industry experts speculate more solar companies may also fail or move production to China, Stion [...]

The hot, dry weather has the state’s reeling timber industry in a catch-22 situation. The drought has left Mississippi’s pine trees stressed and vulnerable to attack from pine bark beetles, including the highly destructive Southern pine beetle. The best defense against the pests is to thin tree stands. However, landowners are hesitant to thin their [...]

Home2 Suites by Hilton broke ground Thursday near the Renaissance at Colony Park shopping area in Ridgeland for the brand’s 13th extended-stay hotel. The property will be the second Home2 Suites in the Mississippi market, following the D’Iberville hotel that is currently under construction and slated to open in June 2012. The 4-story, 92-suite hotel [...]

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman just couldn’t play nice with his fellow attorneys general in their quest to settle with America’s largest banks and mortgage companies over flawed foreclosures. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller kicked Schneiderman off the 13-member executive committee of attorneys general he chairs after the New Yorker raised too many objections [...]

Nationwide, growth in public school spending hasn’t led to significant academic improvement. What it has led to is more teachers and administrators. In our recent story “Miss. school choice,” the MBJ highlighted information from the Mississippi Center for Public Policy that shows that over time more money has been added to the state public school [...]