Business Blog

  Ashley Furniture Industries is expanding its manufacturing in Mississippi with the start of operations in a 275,000-square-foot facility in Verona, and will create 60 jobs at the new plant. Ashley Furniture has been in the state for nearly 20 years and has plants in Ecru and Ripley. It will use its new Verona facility, [...]

Recent sustained rains and melting snow across the Mississippi Valley will ensure continuing navigation on the Mississippi River through mid-February, even if no additional rain falls between now and Feb. 15, the Army Corps of Engineers says. The period from Jan. 9-13 saw three-eighths inches of rain, with10+ inches locally, over the Ohio River Valley [...]

  Sleep products producer Comfort Revolution will officially open its nearly half-million square-foot Belmont plant in Tishomingo County Monday with a 10 a.m. grand opening ceremony. West Long Branch, N.J.-based Comfort Revolution expects to employ about 200 workers over the next three years. The operation, housed in a renovated 432,650 square-foot building at 9 Industrial [...]

  Nissan used the celebration of its 10th anniversary in Canton to announce some further good news for the region: the Japanese automaker will begin production of the next generation Murano crossover at the Central Mississippi plant in 2014. Introduced in 2002, the Murano has stood out as among the most distinctively styled vehicles in [...]

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker received assignments today to five Senate committees for the 113th Congress. Mississippi’s junior senator remains on the Armed Services Committee and the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. In addition, he will serve on the Budget Committee; the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee; and the Joint Economic Committee (JEC). “These committees [...]

  Mississippi’s government and business leaders won’t find any glad tidings for the New Year in Forbes magazine’s annual list of “Best States for Business.” The business magazine’s December issue ranks Mississippi 46th overall and puts the state dead last in the “Growth Prospects” category. By contrast, Forbes proclaimed Utah the top state for business [...]

  Drax Biomass International Inc. plans to build a 450,000 metric ton per year wood pellet production facility in Gloster, in southwest Mississippi’s Amite County. The facility, to be known as Amite BioEnergy, represents a substantial multi-million dollar investment by the company and will create 45 direct jobs, as well as additional indirect jobs during [...]

VICKSBURG — Anderson-Tully Company is shutting down a second shift at its Vicksburg sawmill and is laying off 80 employees by Jan. 4. The company tells the Vicksburg Post that the move has been in the works for two months because of a depressed housing market. “This is a core business decision to right-size production to [...]

  File Tuesday’s College Board economic forecasting conference under “Missed Opportunities.” Here was an opportunity for a seriously detailed discussion on what steps Mississippi can take to avoid a bleak forecast that jobs growth in many of the state’s business sector won’t return to pre-2007 levels until 2020 at the earliest. Instead, a filibuster on [...]

The sweet tea, sandwiches and spuds really are that good. McAlister’s Deli announced today its ninth consecutive quarter of positive comparable sales growth, according to a company statement. Third-quarter same-store sales at company-owned restaurants were up 6.9 percent and franchise restaurants were up 7 percent. According to a McAlister’s  spokeswoman, the growth is attributed to, [...]