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Germany Renews Push for Russia-Ukraine Talks
Germany's foreign minister renewed a push for internationally backed direct talks between Russia and Ukraine as he consulted with his French and Polish counterparts Tuesday.
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Official: Deal Emerging on Mideast Talks Extension
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is closer to a deal that would rescue the faltering Mideast peace talks, pushing a formula that would include the release of convicted U.S. …
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Koreas Trade Fire; Island Residents in Shelters
North and South Korea fired hundreds of artillery shells into each other's waters Monday in a flare-up of animosity that forced residents of five front-line South Korean islands to evacuate …
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Food
Food Corps Recruiting Service Members; Apply by March 30
For the last year, Mariel Parman, 24, has worked as a service member with Food Corps to help improve the health of Mississippi's young people by linking health disparity with …
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Crime
Attorneys Allege Lethal Drugs Violate Michelle Byrom's Constitutional Rights
“MDOC’s decision to purchase raw pharmaceutical ingredients and then secretly compound them at an unknown time and location by people with unknown training and credentials, increases the risk that the …
Entry
Moak on the Closing of Harrah's Tunica Casino
By R.L. NaveHouse Minority Leader Bobby Moak released the following statement on the announcement that Harrah's will close its Tunica casino:
Jackson, MS- Today Harrah’s announced they are closing their casino in the Tunica market. This is a loss of Thirteen-Hundred (1300) Mississippi jobs, not to mention a tremendous blow to the credibility and future viability of our Mississippi gaming market. Casinos are a legal business in our state. They account for over twenty-five thousand direct jobs and, in particular, are the main reason Tunica was able to remove itself as one of the poorest counties in the nation.
Leadership in our state has refused to afford this vital industry the tax incentives and credits it offers to existing businesses or even those used to lure in new industries. We are now paying the price for this with the loss of jobs and tax revenues to local governments and the state. Contrary to popular belief, casinos are not immune to both economic downturns and the dramatic impact of the growth of out-of-state gaming operations in neighboring states such as Arkansas. We are no longer the only game in town. Regional gaming competition is not a phenomena that ends in Tunica, either. It is one of the most dangerous threats to the Mississippi gaming markets and lurks around the corner in states like Alabama, Florida and beyond.
No taxpayer funds are expended when a new casino enters our Mississippi market and creating, on average, 1,500 good-paying jobs. In return for their investment, Mississippi does not treat this industry as others within our borders. Mississippi offers no credit for hotel renovations or infrastructure, no credit for restaurant construction/improvements and does not even allow front line employee training, as other businesses are allowed to do, at the community college level - even though they pay taxes to support the community college system.
There is lacking a vision by Mississippi leadership to look at other jurisdictions and implement sound business investment incentives to take care of the casino industry that now resides in our state and foster growth and reinvestment by existing operators. With the closure of Harrah’s Tunica, we are seeing what happens when we exclude this industry from our overall state business investment model.
This industry must be allowed the opportunity to develop assets that not only help their bottom line, but state coffers as well. It has been almost 3 years since the federal government opened the door to internet gaming at the state level. Mississippi has refused to even consider allowing this to be developed in our state. While I am not asserting that internet gaming is the silver bullet that will allow gaming in Mississippi to regain its foothold, there is no doubt that it is but one tool of many that could be effectively employed to increase the attractiveness of this market to gaming-centric tourists. Harrah’s is a leader in the internet gaming effort in the halls of Congress and states around the nation. We have continually shut the …
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Music
Meet The New South
On the front porch of his home in Hattiesburg, Drew Young invites musicians to join him to talk about and play music. His collaborator and former student, Paul West, directs …
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Style
Getting Schooled in GMOs
GMOs in the form of corn, soy, wheat and rice—the crops most affected by genome modification to make a plant more resistant to insects or poor growing conditions—are at the …
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Cover
Running Scared
"Big Significant Things" focuses on Craig, played by English actor Harry Lloyd, and his road trip around the south.
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Cover
Shifting Sands
The opening of "A Tangled Tale" features dark scenes of nature, from something jumping out of water to catch a butterfly to the casting of a fisherman's line.
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Show Us the Campaign Money—On Time
On Tuesday, April 1, candidates seeking the office of Jackson mayor are required to submit their campaign-finance reports.
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Politics
Piling on the Poor
Before the session started, fiscally conservative budget writers vowed to keep state spending to a minimum unless the economy improved and projected revenues went up.
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Education
State Takeovers: A Fix for Failing School Districts?
When the state took control of the Hazlehurst City school district in 2008, the small rural district was in chaos and suffering from abysmal academic performance.
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Crime
Will Byrom Be Tortured to Death?
Mississippi's pending executions of Michelle Byrom and Charles Crawford—which are not yet scheduled—have mired the state in a controversy over what constitutes "cruel and unusual" in executions.
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Jacksonian
Robbie Fisher
Since she left her law career and position as Mississippi Nature Conservancy's state director, Robbie Fisher's main focus has been filmmaking, specifically producing films.
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Music
For Lou’s Sake
The late New York rocker Lou Reed and his street-wise songs might seem worlds away from music made in Mississippi, but many Jackson musicians cite the musician as an important …
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Miss. College Savings Plan to Reopen Enrollment
A state board voted unanimously Monday to reopen enrollment this fall in the Mississippi Prepaid Affordable College Tuition program.
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City & County
Secretary of State Kicks Watkins; Watkins Alleges Republican Politics
The secretary of state says David Watkins misused bond money; Watkins says it's all about politics.
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Events
Community Meetings and Events
Eudora Welty House's 10th Anniversary Garden Luncheon is Thursday, March 27 starting at 11 a.m. at Mississippi Museum of Art.
