Business Blog

In this Ted Talk, James Glattfelder studies complexity: how an interconnected system — say, a swarm of birds — is more than the sum of its parts. And complexity theory, it turns out, can reveal a lot about how the economy works. Glattfelder shares a groundbreaking study of how control flows through the global economy, [...]

If you ever thought solar energy was for barefoot, tofu-eating hippies. You might want to think again. » READ MORE ABOUT WILL HEGMAN … Watch the segment from MPB’s Mississippi Roads about Mississippi solar energy expert Will Hegman. You will be amazed what we can do.

The Mississippi Development Authority says Tuesday’s scheduled press briefing regarding recently-enacted energy legislation has been postponed until next month. Gov. Phil Bryant and representatives from the MDA, Mississippi Manufacturers Association, Mississippi Energy Institute and Natchez Inc. were to hold the briefing and Q&A session at the Woolfolk State Office building tomorrow. When contacted, the MDA [...]

PORT GIBSON — Officials say a transformer at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Plant near Port Gibson emitted smoke on Sunday but the reactor was not in danger. Entergy Nuclear spokesman Mike Bowling says the incident was reported shortly before 5:45 p.m. It was resolved about 90 minutes later. No injuries were reported. Grand Gulf [...]

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 [...]

The Mississippi Business Journal over the years has chronicled the exodus of Mississippi corporations, trade associations and non-profit groups to Alabama’s Orange Beach and Gulf Shores and Florida’s Panhandle for their conventions and trade shows. While we lamented the loss of hospitality dollars to our state, we conceded the lure of the sparkling sand beaches [...]

  Wholesale natural gas prices have doubled during the last year, and that’s bringing sighs of relief from an unusual variety of interests. Soaring production and an unusually warm winter sent prices plunging to under $2 per thousand cubic feet last spring, prompting some to wonder whether the natural gas boom would kill demand for [...]

By political columnist Bill Minor You’d hardly expect to hear a diehard Reagan-era Mississippi Republican sharply criticizing a big utility company for building a costly, unneeded — and experimental — generating plant with endorsement from state GOP leadership. Well, it has happened. Clarke Reed, of Greenville, pioneer of the state’s modern GOP, has spoken out [...]

Even if their farms were not in the path of the April 11 tornado, hundreds of farmers will feel the loss of the massive communications tower in Noxubee County. The 300-foot-tall microwave tower located in the middle of a soybean field just northeast of Macon provided about 200 farmers and others with broadband Internet and [...]