JACKSON — New leadership is in place at Mississippi Power. On Monday, Anthony Wilson was named president of the company and on Jan. 1 he will take over the duties of Chief Executive Officer G. Edison Holland Jr. Holland will remain chairman of the company and continue to oversee the completion of the Kemper County energy facility, which is scheduled ...

By JACK WEATHERLY  Mississippi Power Co.’s Kemper County power plant has been run on natural gas for the past year as the utility moves toward completion of the project hobbled by construction delays and cost overruns. As a result, the plant cut its after-tax charge of $235 million for the first six months of 2014 to $20 million in the ...

It’s all in the family when it comes to economic development in the South, if things in these parts are any indication. And I suspect they are. The recent announcement that Mississippi’s top economic development official, Brent Christensen, is leaving for a similar post in Greensboro, N.C., brings this to mind. That, and in Arkansas, a new governor, Republican Asa ...

Southern District Public Service Commissioner Leonard Bentz had not, as of Tuesday, sent Gov. Phil Bryant a letter noticing his resignation from the Mississippi Public Service Commission. It’s a matter of time before he does, Bentz said. Bentz was hired last week as the new executive director of the South Mississippi Planning and Development District, a publicly funded, regional economic ...

Southern District Public Service Commissioner Leonard Bentz leaned into a radio reporter’s microphone Tuesday morning in his office, and sang the first few bars of Elvis Presley’s “Blue Christmas.” It wasn’t bad. For Bentz, it must have felt awfully good, even though he said the appearance of shedding years of coal plant-related stress was “just a show.” Bentz had just ...

Mississippi Public Service commissioners voted 2-1 last Tuesday to approve a multi-year rate plan for Mississippi Power Co.’s Kemper County coal plant. Terms of the plan call for the utility to receive $99 million in construction-work-in-progress funds for the rest of 2013. That will create a rate increase between 12 and 13 percent for residential customers who use 1,000 kilowatt-hours ...

>> BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR Fashion designer Libby Story McRight finds niche creating old business  by Ted Carter Also in this week’s paper: >> DINING Mother Cluckers serving up comfort food in Pass Christian by Lisa Monti >> KEMPER UPDATE Can union labor save coal plant?— by Clay Chandler >> RANKING Forbes gives poor grades to Mississippi— by Ted ...

JACKSON — Economists say growth and employment should increase in Mississippi next year, led by an improved housing market and an increase in home construction. Forecasters discussed their outlook at a Tuesday conference held by the College Board in Jackson. Mississippi’s economy is predicted to grow 1.6 percent in 2013, compared to an expansion of only 0.5 percent this year. ...

A Memphis television station recently reported that The Dixie Café was selling Vietnamese farmed pangasius labeled as “catfish” and failed to properly identify the fish to consumers. Under federal law, only American channel catfish (ictalurus) may be sold as catfish. The FDA said it only physically inspects between one and two percent of fish imports, meaning 98 percent or more ...

In this column, Robert Shrum says sensible Republicans seeking to renew the viability of a conservative party that seems out of touch after a stinging defeat at the polls are being denounced as ‘heretics.’ Shrum says the party might never find its way back. Later in the piece, Shrum says … One of Limbaugh’s targets, Steve Schmidt, a veteran of ...