Business Blog

STONEVILLE, Mississippi — After a stormy regional conflict over Farm Bill debate in 2012, U.S. Senator Thad Cochran worked cooperatively with Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (Michigan) to forge a compromise piece of farm legislation that garnered a 15-5 vote in the Senate Agriculture Committee today. ” (Tuesday) was one more example of Sen Cochran’s ability to [...]

The Associated Press Media Editors Association condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the actions of the Justice Department in seizing phone records of The Associated Press. In condemning this action, APME joins the Society of Professional Journalists, the Radio Television Digital News Association and many other journalists across the country. “In a continuing witch hunt [...]

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 [...]

No one in my family is actually from Mississippi. While my father grew up in Jackson, he was born in Alaska thanks to my grandfather’s Army posting there. My mother is from Atlanta. I was born in New Orleans. My brother was born in Virginia. Like so many others, I’m one of those “not from [...]

In a reader poll of the Mississippi Business Journal, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves leads Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann and Gov. Phil Bryant of potential candidates for the seat of governor in the 2015 election. » See poll here …

TUPELO, Miss. — Federal agents of all sorts invaded northeast Mississippi several days ago, on a mission: Find the man who sent a poison-laced letter to the president. But the United States government quickly found itself entangled, once again, in a misunderstood land dominated by squabbling tribes and petty vengeances, the L.A. Times reports. Agents [...]

The Government Accounting Office is muddying the waters with its claim that the government is unnecessarily doubling up on imported catfish inspections, say Republican leaders on both the House and Senate agriculture committees. The GAO insists needless duplication is occurring with mandates that both the Food & Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture handle [...]

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 [...]

If you are a federal worker on furlough this week — or an airline passenger delayed by federal furloughs — you might save your blood pressure, and go read another story. This one is about all the money the U.S. government spends on . . . nothing. As reported in the Washington Post, it is one of [...]