Business Blog

Downtown Jackson lodging landmark The Edison-Walthall Hotel is still on the market, having failed to get an acceptable bid bid price at a real estate auction this week. Taylor Real Estate `Auction’s Benny Taylor said he received a couple of bids at the May 22 online auction but neither met the minimum set for the [...]

GULFPORT, Mississippi — Work is set to begin June 6 on building a new wharf face for the west pier of the Port of Gulfport, a project that marks a key phase in restoring the port nearly destroyed almost a decade ago by hurricane Katrina. The Mississippi State Port Authority awarded Hattiesburg-based L&A Contracting a [...]

The cause of any given miscarriage or stillbirth is difficult to determine, and many experts believe there is no conclusive evidence that exposure to drugs in utero can cause a miscarriage or stillbirth. A Lamar County woman whose blood tests showed traces of illegal drug use after she birthed a stillborn child would go to [...]

In supporting billions of dollars in cuts to federal food assistance, a U.S. House Republican from Tennessee and a fellow GOP member from California insist the government has no business feeding the hungry but themselves receive tens of thousands of dollars annually in farm subsidies. House Agriculture Committee members Reps. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) and Doug [...]

The Senate Agriculture Committee’s 2013 Farm Bill is encountering a critical test this week on the Senate floor, where the $955billion measure is expected to draw opposition from lawmakers who wanted more money taken from farm subsidies and less from the nation’s food stamp program. However, the Senate’s bill has stirred much less regional conflict [...]

Oregon-based plywood panel producer Natron Wood Products is moving into a vacant 250,000 square-foot building in Louisville and will create 200 new jobs as it begins operations. The plant represents a $10 million investment by Natron Wood Products, Gov. Phil Bryant said Monday at an official announcement of the plant in Louisville. Natron Wood’s Winston [...]

Hancock Holding Co. has confirmed that the $20 billion regional bank plans to close up to 45 branch offices by the end of the year, but has targeted only one branch in Mississippi for closing. Closings in Louisiana will be few as well, with just two branches to be shut down in the New Orleans [...]

JACKSON — Canadian energy company Encana estimates a new 80 percent state tax cut will save it up to $800,000 a year in oil and natural gas extraction taxes on wells it puts into production after July 1 in Southwest Mississippi’s Tuscaloosa Marine Shale development. Encana has six deep ground horizontal wells in the Tuscaloosa [...]

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI — Energy exploration companies that do horizontal drilling in Mississippi will pay  80 percent less in taxes next year   on oil and gas they extract. The prospect of an economic bonanza from extracting shale oil from below ground in Mississippi, especially  the southwest part of the state, led Gov. Phil Bryant to make [...]

VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District is accepting sealed bids from individuals or groups that are interested in leasing agricultural – grazing land in Yazoo County. The tract consists of exactly 27 acres on the Yazoo River levee system, west of Yazoo City on River Road near Highway 16. The [...]