Mississippi
Black bear moves on from DeSoto County. But could he — or other bears — return to area?
DeSoto County black bear: See video of the bear near Nesbit
A black bear was spotted multiple times in North Mississippi as it made its way across DeSoto County and into Marshall County.
A juvenile black bear’s adventure through DeSoto County has produced photo and video across the area and sparked discussion about wild bears in Mississippi.
Now, more than a week after the bear was first spotted in DeSoto County, he appears to have moved on eastward to Byhalia and Marshall County.
But could this bear or other bears return?
Anthony Ballard is the Black Bear Program coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. He said it’s possible this bear or others could visit the area, but noted it’s hard to predict what bears will do.
“That bear could turn north and go to Tennessee,” Ballard said. “He might turn around and go right back to Lake McCormorant, or he may walk to Alabama. You just never know. He may set up camp right where he is and stay there for the rest of his life.”
The DeSoto County bear was noticeably young and likely male. Ballard said it’s normal for males of his age to travel long distances rapidly in this way. While females usually remain close to their mother, males around 16-18 months begin to roam.
“So this time of year, what you see is young males, usually, that disperse a long distance from their original home range,” he said. “So it could be tens or even hundreds of miles from that original home range, just to just spread those genetics out, you know, into a different area. That’s kind of a biological way of, you know, preventing inbreeding and genetic problems. They’re going to just try to figure out how to be a bear on their own.”
Ballard said the travel is instinctive — bears aren’t necessarily looking for females at this point or even going anywhere in particular, just somewhere to establish a home range without any competing males nearby. North Mississippi hasn’t seen a bear in years, so that certainly fits the bill.
While most of the estimated 150 bears in Mississippi can be found near the Gulf Coast and Mississippi Delta, Ballard hazards a guess that the bear is actually from Arkansas, meaning he swam across the Mississippi River.
“A lot of the bears that we have here in Mississippi came from population sources from either Louisiana or Arkansas,” he said.
It’s a good sign — as the population density of bears increases, the males adapt by going farther and farther distances to find their permanent home, even crossing large bodies of water like the Mississippi.
Black bear populations are making a comeback in Mississippi. They’re a historically important species to the state, with fossil records dating back 12,000 years. By the 1930s their numbers were devastated to about a dozen bears. Bear hunting was banned in 1932, and thanks to years of conservation efforts, by 2002 there were nearly 50 bears. Now the number is more than 150, though it is difficult to determine an exact number.
Bears are a protected species in Mississippi — harming one could lead to jailtime. If the bear has been spotted in your area, be sure to move inside your home anything that could attract the bear, like barbecue grills, smokers, garbage, animal and pet feed and even bird feeders. Do not scare or agitate the bear with loud sounds, simply wait for the bear to leave.
“I tell people anything that a dog can get into, a bear can smell even better, and they’re even better at getting into it,” Ballard said.
To learn everything you need to know about coexisting with bears in the areas that they roam, visit bearwise.org.
Jacob Wilt is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal covering DeSoto County, as well as Dining in the Memphis area. You can reach him at jacob.wilt@commercialappeal.com.
GEORGE COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) — A George County High School senior is dead after an SUV hit him while bicycling on Highway 26 Friday night.
Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP) officials said at 8:15 p.m. the MHP responded to a fatal crash on Highway 26 in George County.
Those officials said a Ford SUV traveling west on Highway 26 collided with 18-year-old Tyree Bradley of McLain, Mississippi, who was bicycling.
Bradley was fatally injured and died at the scene, MHP officials said.
The crash remains under investigation by the MHP.
See a spelling or grammar error in this story? Report it to our team HERE.
Copyright 2026 WLOX. All rights reserved.
Some losses feel like they drag on longer than the box score suggests, and Mississippi State’s 3-1 opener at Texas A&M fits that category.
It wasn’t a blowout. It wasn’t a game where the Bulldogs looked outmatched.
It was just one of those nights where the early mistakes stuck around and the offense never quite found the swing that could shake them loose.
The frustrating part is how quickly the hole formed. Two solo homers and a wild pitch in the first two innings put Mississippi State behind 3-0, and that was basically the ballgame.
Against a top tier SEC team on the road, spotting three runs that early is a tough ask. The Bulldogs didn’t fold, but they also didn’t cash in when the door cracked open.
“I liked our fight. I think we’re really just working through some things offensively, and trying to stay together,” Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts said. “This team still believes, and we’re going to battle and fight every chance we get, and I think I saw a lot of that. I’m encouraged for what that means for us moving forward, but, you know, they’re a good hitting team, and we’ve got to be able to shut them down early. I don’t think Peja [Goold] had her best stuff, but she continued to battle out there and find ways to get outs.”
They had chances. Two runners stranded in the fifth. Two more in the sixth. Another in the seventh. Des Rivera finally got the Bulldogs on the board with an RBI single, but the big hit that usually shows up for this lineup never arrived.
It wasn’t a lack of traffic. It was a lack of finish.
If there was a bright spot, it came from the bullpen. Delainey Everett gave Mississippi State exactly what it needed after the rocky start.
“That was just a huge relief appearance by Delaney to keep us in it,” Ricketts said. “It’s really good to have her back and healthy these last few weeks because these are the moments where we really need her and rely on her. We know that she’s going to be a big part of the remainder of the season going forward as well.”
Three hitless innings, one baserunner, and a reminder that she’s quietly putting together a strong stretch.
There were individual positives too. Nadia Barbary keeps climbing the doubles list. Kiarra Sells keeps finding ways on base.
But the bigger picture is simple. Mississippi State is now 6-10 in the SEC, and the margin for error is shrinking. Nights like this one are the difference between climbing back into the race and staying stuck in the middle.
They get another shot this morning with the schedule bumped up for weather. The formula isn’t complicated.
Clean up the early innings, keep getting quality relief, and find one or two timely swings. The Bulldogs didn’t get them Friday. They’ll need them today.
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Mississippi
Mississippi farmers struggle through years without profit as war with Iran deepens crisis
YAZOO COUNTY, Miss. — Mississippi Delta farmers are facing another expensive planting season as fertilizer and fuel costs continue to climb.
Farmers in Yazoo and Sharkey counties, Clay Adcock and Jeffrey Mitchell, said it has been years since their crops turned a real profit.
“I guess it would be since 2022,” Adcock said.
“Last 2.5 to three years since we had a very profitable year,” Mitchell said.
Rising input costs squeeze farmers
Adcock said he was paying $300 per ton of fertilizer before the war with Iran broke out. He is now paying double for the same amount. Mitchell saw similar spikes.
“Fertilizer was up 25% before the Iranian conflict already,” Mitchell said. “Then since that started Diesel fuel is up 40% in the last six months.”
Survey and research from the American Farm Bureau show they are not the only ones feeling the pinch.
“We’ve got trouble with the farming community,” Adcock said. “And you can see that with the bankruptcies that are there and no young farmers that can afford the capital to get started.”
Mitchell said today’s farmers face a shrinking industry of suppliers. 75% of all fertilizer in the U.S. comes from four companies: Yara USA, CF Industries, Nutrien and Koch Industries.
“With the world market on fertilizer, pretty much everyone has the same price,” Mitchell said. “It’s not like you can go to store B, get a better price.”
forces
Oil and natural gas cut off in the Strait of Hormuz forces energy companies worldwide to compete for less supply. The spike in costs passes on to fertilizer producers, who pass higher prices on to distributors, leaving family farms at the end of the line with the most expensive bills.
“They deliver it to us and we’re at their mercy,” Adcock said.
Adcock said he would like to see more regulation to even the playing field among fertilizer companies and prevent potential price gouging.
“There should be guiderails in place to keep fertilizer producers within a range and if they get out of that range it throws up red flags as they do in the SEC with stocks,” Adcock said. “Have some consistency in our business.”
Mitchell said the costs will circle back to consumers at the store. The spike in diesel also increases the cost of transporting finished crops after harvest to stores.
“Everything will be higher once it gets to Kroger or Wal-Mart or wherever,” Mitchell said. “They’ll just pass it onto consumers.”
It is too early to tell what the final prices will look like once harvest season is over. Each farmer said one way consumers can help is to buy as much produce as possible directly from farmers at markets and buy American items.
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