Business Blog

A court-appointed receiver is in talks with several prospective buyers of downtown Jackson’s Roberts Vista Hotel, currently shuttered and awaiting repairs from water damage. The hotel is known more commonly in Jackson as The Walthall, for Civil War figure Edward Cary Walthall, whose name it bore upon opening 85 years ago. As it has several [...]

U.S. News & World Report is touting Jackson as the 4th best place in the nation to retire on under $40,000 a year. “Your retirement budget will stretch much further in Mississippi’s state capital than in many other places,” said the report in the most recent issue of the national magazine. The article cites Jackson’s [...]

The Fed is reporting modest gains in regional as well as nationwide economic activity. U.S. economic activity has expanded over the last four months, though spending is reported to be flat or up only slightly, the Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book report issued Oct. 10. Manufacturing sectors activity was mixed but, on balance, [...]

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has joined at least 40 other states’ legal officers in opposing legislation in Congress that could pre-empt states’ authority in governing payday lending businesses. Hood says in a news release that the bill in Congress would allow payday lenders, installment lenders, car title lenders, prepaid card issuers and check cashers [...]

In a case from Harrison County, the Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled on the right of a defendant to confront his accusers — a basic right in the U.S. Constitution. Robert Jenkins wanted to question the analyst who tested the illegal drugs he was accused of possessing. Instead, prosecutors put on the stand a laboratory [...]

VERONA – A drill turned real for DeSoto County emergency responders who were just settling in for a day of large animal rescue training when the call came on Sept. 28. An 18-wheeler hauling about 100 calves through the state hit the Coldwater River bridge on Highway 78 in DeSoto County,” said Dr. Carla Huston, [...]

AT&T, the nation’s largest 4G network, has turned on its 4G LTE network in Jackson, according to a news release from the company. The Dallas-based telecommunications giant says the new service will bring customers the latest generation of wireless network technology including faster speeds, new devices and spectrum efficiency. “LTE technology is capable of delivering [...]

Frank Brown started at the Mississippi Business Journal Oct. 2, coming from the Huntsville Times in Alabama, where he had served as online editor and page designer since 2005. Before that, Brown served as the executive editor of the Delta Democrat Times in Greenville. He spent 20 years at the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson before his [...]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent last month, dropping below 8 percent for the first time in nearly four years. The rate declined because more people found work, a trend that could have an impact on undecided voters in the final month before the presidential election. The Labor Department said Friday [...]

by Dennis Seid/NEMS Daily Journal As it turns out, fliers who had been going to Delta.com didn’t find any flights between Tupelo and Atlanta. They still can’t. But, said Mickey Bowman, Silver’s vice president of essential air service, that problem will be solved soon. “Hopefully it’ll be done by the first of November,” he said. [...]