Mississippi

Aerial view of Union Station train terminal front entrance in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Amtrak Gains Final Approvals for Return to the Gulf Coast

A vote by the Mobile city council secured three key agreements that will pave the way for bringing passenger rail service back to coastal regions east of New Orleans.

August 11, 2024 - AL.com

A line of white wind turbines surrounded by wheat and soybean fields with a cloudy blue sky in the background.

Mississippi Opens Its First Utility-Scale Wind Farm

The 184-megawatt wind project will help supply power to Amazon’s growing data center operations and logistics hubs in the region.

June 20, 2024 - Canary Media

Ornate, tan stone capitol building with a gold dome roof and low-rise city buildings in the background.

States Are Banning Guaranteed Income Programs

Four states now have laws in place that prevent cities and counties from creating or continuing guaranteed income programs, and several more have tried or are trying.

May 23, 2024 - Bloomberg CityLab

Mobile home with pipe directed into the yard into a pit of standing sewage.

Closing the ‘Wastewater Gap’ in the Black Belt

Newly announced federal funding will help resolve the decades’ long sewer crisis faced by rural majority-Black communities in Alabama and Mississippi.

February 19, 2024 - Word In Black

"Fort Worth Central Station" sign on platform at train station

Amtrak To Study New York-to-Dallas Service

A proposal to extend the Crescent line would bring rail service through Mississippi and Louisiana to the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

March 14, 2023 - Mass Transit

A snow covered statue looks out over a blanket of snow at the White House, which is also covered in snow.

Winter Storm Knocks Out Drinking Water Systems in the South, Including in Jackson

Jackson, Mississippi made headlines and incurred a civil rights investigation earlier this year when flooding knocked out the city’s drinking water supply. This week’s winter storm had the same effect on Jackson as well as other Southern cities.

December 29, 2022 - Mississippi Free Press

Amtrak Sunset Limited train passing by forested area in Cade, Louisiana

More Delays for Restoring Gulf Coast Amtrak Service

Conflicts over freight rail and funding are holding up the restoration of New Orleans-to-Orlando service on Amtrak’s Sunset Limited line.

October 30, 2022 - Governing

A sign announcing the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Facility in Jackson, Mississippi

Mississippi Investigated for Civil Rights Violations in Jackson Water Crisis

The NAACP has accused a pair of Mississippi departments of discrimination against Black Mississippians, leading to the loss of drinking water in the state's capital city at the end of the summer.

October 25, 2022 - Mississippi Free Press

The Pearl River floods with brown near downtown Jackson, Mississippi.

Costs to Fix Jackson's Water System Estimated at $1 Billion

Planning and funding are both in dire need in Jackson, Mississippi. The question is who should be in charge of all the planning and funding.

September 28, 2022 - Mississippi Free Press

The Pearl River floods with brown near downtown Jackson, Mississippi.

Water Supply Failure in Jackson, Mississippi

A catastrophic failure of the water supply in Jackson is leaving state and local officials scrambling to deliver clean water to some 180,000 residents of the state’s capital.

August 30, 2022 - Mississippi Free Press

Floodplain

FEMA Flood Mitigation Initiative Will Pay Homeowners To Move

The Swift Current grant program will distribute $60 million to homeowners in high-risk counties to help pay for flood mitigation measures or relocation.

March 24, 2022 - Grist

A diversion canal from the Yazoo River is shown from above. The river's banks are lined with industrial land uses near the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Army Corps Pulls the Plug on $450 Million Mississippi Floodwater Project

A coalition of environmental scored a victory this month, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers canceled an expensive, and controversial, flood control project.

December 23, 2021 - Associated Press via KTAR News

An image of a bridge in Vermont with a sign in front of it announcing a COVID-19 quarantine order.

Revisiting Vermont: A COVID Update

PBS NewsHour investigates the surging coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Vermont which, along with Rhode Island, has 75% of its total population fully vaccinated, the nation's highest, as the U.S. appears to enter a winter surge.

December 13, 2021 - PBS NewsHour

An image of a sign asking people to wear masks during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Louisiana's Health Care System on Brink of Collapse

We've been here many times before in the pandemic, but without the benefit of a vaccine. Gov. John Bel Edwards, one of a few governors to mandate mask-wearing indoors, warns of a collapse of the health care system, but also rules out restrictions.

August 26, 2021 - The Advocate (Louisiana)

Mass Vaccination

Vaccination Disparities Between Urban and Rural America

The pandemic has largely been measured by case incidence, down significantly in recent weeks in most states. A new metric, the vaccination rate, may determine where the virus strikes next. The urban-rural divide is a major factor, says the CDC.

May 25, 2021 - CNBC

COVID-19

Texas Lifts Coronavirus Restrictions, Ends Mask Mandate, Despite CDC Warning

Gov. Greg Abbott announced that he is reopening Texas 100% and lifting the state mask mandate, as is Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning of a variant-induced fourth surge.

March 3, 2021 - Austin American-Statesman

Rural Pandemic

Can the Public Be Educated to Wear Masks?

The Midwest has been the epicenter of coronavirus since late August, led by North and South Dakota. Masks have the potential to significantly reduce viral transmission, but neither state mandates their use. Will a public health campaign help?

October 5, 2020 - Grand Forks Herald

Coronavirus COVID-19

The Changing Geography of the Pandemic

During the pandemic's first phase in March and April, the Northeast was devastated by COVID-19. After Memorial Day, the surge was in the South and West. As cases decrease nationwide, they are now spiking in the Midwest, particularly North Dakota.

August 27, 2020 - The Washington Post

Masks for Public Health

Georgia Mask Ban Reversed After White House Coronavirus Task Force Issues Critical Report

Shortly after a private White House report blasted Georgia's pandemic response, Gov. Brian Kemp issued an executive order allowing cities and counties to impose requirements on mask-wearing. The report was leaked to The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

August 24, 2020 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Coronavirus

States Not Unified in Response to Coronavirus Pandemic

Public health experts were pleased that Trump extended his coronavirus guidelines, but they remain advisory, left to state and local governments to implement. Nine states have yet to issue stay-at-home orders, leaving the nation vulnerable to COVID.

April 6, 2020 - The Hill

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