Mississippi
Additional CWD positives found, samples stream in Louisiana, more needed across Mississippi – Mississippi’s Best Community Newspaper
![Additional CWD positives found, samples stream in Louisiana, more needed across Mississippi – Mississippi’s Best Community Newspaper Additional CWD positives found, samples stream in Louisiana, more needed across Mississippi – Mississippi’s Best Community Newspaper](https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/01/011523.CWDUpdateweb.jpg)
Extra CWD positives discovered, samples stream in Louisiana, extra wanted throughout Mississippi
Revealed 2:05 pm Friday, January 13, 2023
- Power Losing Illness samples could be dropped off at Natchez State Park. You’ll be able to take antlers so long as you allow the cranium plate and neck with lymph nodes hooked up on the drop off cooler. Hunters fill out a pattern card on the station with their identify, contact data and the place the deer was harvested. CWD samples are wanted throughout Mississippi to seek out new areas of the illness to higher comprise the illness. (Hunter Cloud | The Natchez Democrat)
VICKSBURG — Power Losing Illness struck once more in Warren County inside a mile of three different optimistic detections. Every optimistic has been in shut proximity to Mississippi’s first detection in Issaquena County in 2018.
Mississippi Division of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Deer Program Coordinator William McKinley mentioned they’re as much as 62 CWD positives throughout the state. Fiscal 12 months 2022 had probably the most positives earlier than this 12 months with 51. Whereas nearly all of positives have been in North Mississippi, Northwest Warren County continues to seek out positives.
“This was a 5 12 months previous buck which was discovered lifeless. It was not harvested. It had already been scavenged,” McKinely mentioned. “They turned it in. It is vital as a result of it exhibits what CWD does, it kills deer.”
Hunters in Claiborne County have submitted 113 CWD samples this 12 months and Warren County has submitted 337 samples. Warren County has detected 4 positives since first detection in 2018. Two positives had been detected this 12 months though extra positives may very well be detected over the following few weeks with elevated deer harvests and pattern collections.
Hunters wishing to submit a pattern for CWD testing can discover a drop off location on the MDWFP’s CWD web page. McKinley encourages hunters in Warren County and throughout the state to get their deer examined for CWD. The Heart for Illness Management recommends folks keep away from consuming deer meat from a CWD optimistic deer as a result of it’s unknown if the illness may unfold to people. It additionally helps discover new areas the place the illness is going on.
“Hold testing deer and harvest extra deer than common. If you happen to kill one annually possibly take two. Elevated harvest helps handle the deer density which is a instrument in preventing CWD,” McKinley mentioned. “Decrease deer density is a plus in deer administration and illness administration. You don’t should kill each deer you see however enhance your harvests so we are able to get extra samples in.”
Mississippi has a number of hundred samples pending take a look at outcomes and often these samples lag a bit behind with assortment so there may be loads of time to seek out new positives earlier than the tip of the season.
Throughout the Mississippi River, Samples from Louisiana’s CWD administration zone have steadily streamed in. Louisiana Division of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks deer program supervisor Johnathan Bordelon mentioned the state’s second optimistic case of CWD was discovered 4 miles away from their first case in Tensas Parish and was confirmed Monday.
Bordelon mentioned they’ve collected 512 samples from the CWD management space in Tensas Parish, Madison Parish and Franklin Parish.
“The tempo of submissions has not slowed down,” he mentioned.
Louisiana’s second CWD optimistic buck was harvested by a hunter on non-public land. The Mississippi Division of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks reported the deer was harvested 1.5 miles away from the state line in Claiborne County. MDWFP is asking hunters to assist ramp up surveillance efforts in Warren County and Claiborne County following Louisiana’s second detection.
MSU’s Deer Lab analysis has proven deer swim throughout the Mississippi River to journey to house ranges. Buck 140 is probably the most well-known deer from the challenge as he swam the river twice a 12 months for a couple of years earlier than being harvested by a hunter on Phil Bryant WMA in Warren County in December 2022.
McKinley encourages hunters statewide in Mississippi to get their deer examined even in areas the place the illness has not been detected. Common deer inhabitants per county in Mississippi is eighteen,000 and the possibility of killing a CWD optimistic deer and having it sampled is slim early on within the illness unfold as a result of prevalence is low. Benton County, the place many of the positives are discovered, is at a prevalence price of 1 in six sampled deer are optimistic. Extra samples are wanted to find out the precise prevalence price in Benton County.
“The chance of discovering the illness early is slim. It’s often additional out earlier than we discover it. We encourage hunters to show in additional samples,” McKinley mentioned. “I may akin it to preventing a forest fireplace. You don’t begin preventing a forest fireplace within the lifeless middle, you battle the main edges. We’d like hunters to seek out the forefront of this illness.”
Mitigating CWD unfold
Power Losing Illness is a one hundred pc all the time deadly illness to deer. It’s a neurological illness brought on by an infectious prion, misfolded protein, which is transmitted between deer with direct and oblique contact with the prions.
Direct contact occurs when an contaminated deer transmits the illness to a different deer with contact by means of bodily fluids. Oblique contact occurs when the prions are shed into the surroundings and deer are available contact with the shed prions.
Harvesting deer to decrease deer density lowers the danger of an infection, fewer deer to come back in touch with, and offers extra forage and browse for a deer inhabitants. Bucks usually tend to carry and unfold the illness as a result of yearlings are usually dispersed into a brand new house vary.
A technique companies attempt to restrict the unfold of CWD is mitigating unnatural focus of deer. Greatest administration practices advocate a ban on supplemental feed websites and mineral licks because of the unnatural focus of deer. Meals plots aren’t included within the supplemental feed ban. Hunters involved about their herd’s vitamin can spend money on meals plots and habitat administration corresponding to prescribed burns, cover thinning and letting native browse and forage develop in fields.
MDWFP Fee voted to rescind the supplemental feed ban within the majority of Claiborne County at their November assembly following public feedback requesting the ban be lifted. William Mounger II was the one commissioner to vote towards the proposal and urged folks to attend an academic session on CWD.
Be taught extra about CWD
January’s fee assembly on the Cotton Home Resort in Cleveland will host an hour-long instructional session on CWD after it was initially scheduled for the December fee assembly. This assembly is open to the general public. It’s tentatively scheduled from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Individuals seeking to be taught extra about Power Losing Illness can go to the MDWFP CWD web page and watch a sequence of 13 movies concerning the illness put collectively by the MSU Deer Lab. The training challenge was funded by the US Division of Agriculture and is one of some CWD initiatives the deer lab is engaged on.
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Mississippi
Playing for Mississippi State not an option for Arizona State back Kyson ‘Sipp’ Brown
Arizona State forces 3 turnovers in win over Wyoming to start 2024
All offseason, coach Kenny Dillingham preached getting turnovers. Forty seconds into the season’s first game, the defense produced its first one.
Sophomore running back Kyson Brown is one of the faster players on the Arizona State football team. But Brown seems to have a little more pep in his step this week. Why? Well, the Sun Devils (1-0) are set to take on Mississippi State (1-0) at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Mountain America Stadium.
Sure an SEC opponent is enough to get any athlete fired up. But the 6-foot, 200-pounder hails from Tupelo, Mississippi, which is where he got his nickname, Sipp. Tupelo is 67 miles north of the Mississippi State campus in Starkville that Sipp has visited a handful of times.
“I have family, growing up they were all Mississipp State fans and some Ole Miss fans,” he said. “Some of my family are debating whether they want to cheer for me or not. It’s going to be good. A lot of hometown friends. Got a couple guys I went to high school with there. It’s going to be good seeing those guys and hopefully, we compete at a good level and get the W.”
Brown, a mechanical engineering major, is enrolled in ASU’s Barret honors program, He emerged as one of the team’s most improved players. He saw some time on special teams as a true freshman in 2023 and has set himself up for a bigger role, although the ASU backfield has a lot of depth.
In the last week’s 48-7 win over Wyoming, Brown pitched in with six rushing attempts for 25 yards and two receptions for 73 yards. His 68-yard touchdown reception was the longest play from scrimmage that ASU had on the night.
“It felt amazing just to get back in the end zone again,” Brown said. “You come out of high school, you know I’m used to being in the end zone every game, all the time. That play, I knew — once I made the first guy miss — I knew I wasn’t going to let anybody catch me.”
Brown lived in Mississippi until moving to Lancaster, Texas, outside of Dallas, after his sophomore year of high school. He sat out junior year after the transfer. As a senior he averaged 9.5 yards per carry, finishing with 707 yards and 11 touchdowns on 74 carries while adding 14 receptions for 168 yards and two touchdowns.
Sitting out his junior year hurt his recruiting, but he still had notable offers from Purdue, Missouri and Houston. The balance of his options were lower-profile schools. Mississippi State didn’t offer.
He is happy with the end result. A place on the ASU football roster. In the offseason, he worked on his agility, flexibility and catching the ball, which was evident in his recent scoring play.
“We all have the big-play potential,” he said of his fellow running backs. “I feel my role is to make plays, wherever they put me be able to perform.”
Mississippi
Report shows Mississippi Legislature retirement reforms this year aren’t effective. See why
![Report shows Mississippi Legislature retirement reforms this year aren’t effective. See why Report shows Mississippi Legislature retirement reforms this year aren’t effective. See why](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/04/30/PJAM/73515915007-tcl-legislature-06.jpg?auto=webp&crop=2999,1687,x0,y100&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Lawmakers, PERS director agree they must work together in the future
How to plan for retirement using an online calculator
Retirement calculators can give you an idea of when you’ll financially be able to retire.
Problem Solved
State lawmakers will need to readdress concerns about the Public Employment Retirement System of Mississippi in 2025 if it is to remain viable long term, according to a July study.
Legislative actions in the 2024 Session to reduce public employer contribution rate hikes and increase state funding are not enough to address billions in unfunded future benefits to retirees, according to a report released by the Legislature’s third-party watchdog group, the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee.
Projections show the state’s retirement plan being less than 50% fully funded by 2047 and having $25 billion in liabilities. According to several municipal leaders who spoke to the Clarion Ledger earlier this year, the legislative move from lawmakers in the past session should save public employers from cutting positions and raising taxes to keep and hire more public employees.
“Change in approach for increasing the employer contribution rate, in addition to the one-time funds transfer, reduces the plan’s projected future funded ratio from 65.5% to 49.9%,” the report reads. “…The PERS plan is currently expected to be at a lower-funded level in the future than it currently is today.”
PERS Executive Director Ray Higgins told the Clarion Ledger he wasn’t surprised by the report’s findings.
“The PEER analysis seems to be an accurate report and generally reconciles with our information,” Higgins said. “Also, the legislative action from last session appears to be a short-term solution.”
While the report does not list out any specific recommendations for lawmakers this coming year, it says continued work will be necessary to fix the retirement system that has 118,000 retirees receiving benefits and 147,000 active members paying into the system.
In 2023, the PERS governing board, made up of mostly elected members, as advised by financial actuaries who watch over the state’s retirement plan, passed a rate increase on public employers, such as cities, counties and school districts from 17.40% to 19.90% that was to take effect July 1. The rate would have continued to increase to 22.4% by 2027.
In the 2024 Session, the Legislature passed two bills. Senate 3231, prohibits the PERS Board’s plan to gradually increase the employer contribution rate and replaces it with a plan to increase to 19.90% over the next five years in 0.5% annual increases. SB 3231 also takes the board’s only regulatory power to increase rates and puts it in the hands of the Legislature.
SB 2468 enacts a one-time transfer of $110 million of capital expense funds into the PERS trust.
More on PERS bill MS Legislature passes bill restricting state retirement board’s authority
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s Deputy Chief of Staff Leah Rupp Smith told the Clarion Ledger efforts Hosemann helped push forward that resulted in those bills’ passage led to a potentially more stable retirement system.
“To avoid this calamity while developing a future solution, the Legislature adopted a less-aggressive employer increase,” Smith wrote via email. “We are now informed the plan has a projected future funding ratio of 65.5% as of 2047, as compared to 48.6% projected one year ago.”
Republican House Speaker Jason White’s Communications Director Taylor Spillman did not reply to several emails requesting White’s comments on the report.
What are the big problems?
Higgins previously said the ratio of retirees to active members has seen a reverse trend since 2013, when there were 93,000 retirees and 162,000 active members. This increases the unfunded liability of the system as fewer people take jobs in government, reducing active members and more people retire, increasing the funding obligation of PERS.
The other issue lies with projections for the retirement plan’s future if state lawmakers decide not to take action in the years to come.
“While the ($110 million) funding for the first year is comparable, each year in the future could potentially see a greater deviation in expected employer contribution revenues for the PERS plan,” the report reads. “This deviation does not immediately constitute a problem for the PERS plan; however, careful evaluation of the plan’s future liabilities and funding needs will be necessary to ensure the sustainability of the PERS plan.”
Are there any solutions?
Higgins and Smith both said future work on PERS is still a top priority.
Higgins specifically mentioned a new retirement benefits package that could be offered to new public sector employees, which the PERS board has called tier 5.
“The Board has previously recommended a tier 5 for new employees to help better sustain PERS in the future and is currently considering what may be included or resubmitted in next year’s legislative package,” Higgins said.
Read about new Medicaid program Mississippi Medicaid prenatal care access program still awaiting federal approval. Why?
Earlier this year, Hosemann told the Clarion Ledger he wanted to see evidence that a new tier of benefits could help maintain the retirement system long term. Smith did not confirm whether Hosemann’s office is currently studying that idea in the legislative off season, but she did say the Legislature is looking at several ideas.
“The Legislature is exploring any option for a more viable plan,” Smith said. “The Lt. Governor continues to be committed to fulfilling current employee and retiree benefits, including the cost-of-living adjustment for these individuals.”
Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.
Mississippi
Mississippi votes conservative. Are we going to see more conservative policies?
![Mississippi votes conservative. Are we going to see more conservative policies? Mississippi votes conservative. Are we going to see more conservative policies?](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/07/15/PJAM/89169fbe-3f64-4f81-81fd-727f995bada2-Douglas_Carswell.jpg?auto=webp&crop=554,312,x3,y96&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Waiting for my suitcase in the arrivals hall at Jackson airport the other evening, it occurred to me that the luggage carrousel was a pretty good metaphor for Mississippi politics.
Like suitcases on a carrousel, many leaders simply sit on the conveyor belt of state politics, waiting their turn to get moved along to the next role.
Too often leaders are carried along by time and process, rarely offering any vision as to what our state should do differently. That explains why Mississippi conservatives have achieved less in 12 years than Arkansas, Louisiana and Alabama have accomplished in the past 12 months. Louisiana did not even have a Republican governor this time last year, yet they’ve already passed universal school choice.
Things could be about to change if House Speaker Jason White has his way. This week, White announced that he will be hosting a Tax Policy Summit on Sept. 24 to take a deep dive into the prospects for tax reform.
My friend, Grover Norquist, will be speaking, as will Gov Reeves, as well as leading conservative figures from the state Legislature.
Having a conversation in public matters because in the past the leadership in our state Senate has done what it can to head off tax cuts. Bringing the facts of what can and cannot be done into the open makes it far harder for anyone to keep finding new excuses to oppose actual conservative policy.
Sunshine is the best disinfectant against the putrid politics of backroom deals. We have seen far too many backroom maneuvers used to kill off good conservative policy in this state. Back in 2022, Mississippi passed a law to cut the state income tax to a flat 4 percent. This $525 million tax cut, driven forward by Speaker Philip Gunn and Gov Reeves, benefited 1.2 million taxpayers and their families. But we must not forget how some in the Senate fought against it — not in the open, of course.
Weak Senate leadership has a history of opposing conservative proposals in our state. Seldom do they have the courage to come out and explicitly kill off conservative measures. Instead, they do it on the sly. The Senate leadership maneuvered to stop anti-DEI legislation in 2024. I don’t recall anyone coming out and explaining why they opposed anti-DEI law. They just killed it in committee with a nudge and wink.
For three years in a row, the Senate leadership has killed off attempts to restore the ballot initiative. Again, those against resorting the ballot lack the courage to say they are against it. They killed that, too, on the sly.
Rep Rob Roberson’s excellent school funding reform bill, perhaps the only big strategic achievement of this year’s session, passed despite attempts to scupper it by some in the Senate. (Part of the backroom deal to get the bill passed was to change its name. It really was that petty.) When the Senate leadership wants to oppose an authentically conservative policy, they follow a now familiar pattern.
A reason is cited as to why what is being proposed can’t be done. School choice, we were once told, would be unconstitutional. An anti-DEI law, it was implied, was unnecessary because there was no DEI on campus.
Once that excuse is shown to be nonsense (there is no constitutional bar to school choice, DEI is rampant on campus), another excuse is promptly conjured up. And on it goes.
Each time the Senate leadership opposes conservative policy this way, I wonder what their alternatives are. The answer is that most of the time there are none. It is pretty low grade to oppose ideas simply because they are not your own. Eventually, of course, a suitcase that sits on the carousel for too long ends up in lost luggage.
As a direct consequence of the 2022 Reeves-Gunn tax cuts, Mississippi is now starting to see a flood of inward investment into the state.
Every time you hear about a new factory opening up in our state, remember who and what helped make it happen. I am very optimistic that this tax summit could see further progress to make our state more competitive.
— Douglas Carswell is the president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
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