Mississippi
‘Can’t Be Allowed’: Alarm as Mississippi Gov. Floats Privatization of Jackson Water System
Water stress has been restored in Jackson, however residents of Mississippi’s capital nonetheless lack secure consuming water and now should deal with the specter of privatization—an thought floated by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and denounced by critics on Monday.
Though “the chance with respect to amount of water has not been eradicated, it has been considerably diminished,” Reeves stated at a Labor Day press convention within the metropolis. “Folks in Jackson can belief that water will come out of the tap, bogs will be flushed, and fires will be put out.”
Whereas the rapid, flood-induced emergency seems to have been contained, Reeves made clear that with regards to addressing the Jackson water system’s longstanding points, he’s “open” to permitting a profit-maximizing company to take over a life-sustaining public good.
“Privatization is on the desk,” the governor stated. “Having a fee that oversees failed water techniques as they’ve in lots of states is on the desk. I am open to concepts.”
The underfunded and understaffed O.B. Curtis Water Remedy Plant is now “pumping out cleaner water than we have seen for a really, very very long time,” stated Reeves, citing native well being officers. The governor expressed hope that the boil-water discover affecting greater than 150,000 individuals since July 29 may very well be lifted inside “days, not weeks or months.”
“We all know that it’s at all times attainable that there can be extra extreme challenges,” he added. “This water system broke over a number of years and it will be inaccurate to say it’s completely solved within the matter of lower than every week.”
Flooding—made extra widespread and intense by the fossil fuel-driven local weather emergency—was the proximate reason behind the current lack of water stress in Jackson, however disinvestment, the last word reason behind the town’s ongoing water disaster, will be traced again a long time.
As Judd Legum famous Tuesday:
The combination of public colleges within the Sixties prompted an exodus of prosperous whites from Jackson, eroding the town’s financial sources. Jackson’s declining financial fortunes additionally prompted the departure of middle-class Blacks, inflicting an general inhabitants decline. Town went from over 200,000 individuals in 1980 to lower than 150,000 individuals immediately. Greater than 1 / 4 of the inhabitants lives under the poverty line. Mississippi is the poorest state within the nation, however Jackson is even poorer than the state as a complete. Per capita revenue is simply $21,906.
However whereas the town’s inhabitants and tax base shrunk, it nonetheless has 114 sq. miles of growing old water infrastructure to keep up. The state, dominated by Republicans, has been largely unwilling to assist a metropolis populated by Black Democrats. In 2021, for instance, intense storms left Jackson residents with out consuming water for a month. Town requested the state for $47 million in funding for emergency repairs. Mississippi allotted $3 million.
On Monday, Reeves acknowledged that “there are certainly issues in Jackson which are a long time outdated, on the order of $1 billion to repair.” The governor failed to say, nevertheless, how the GOP’s refusal to offer monetary help on the scale required has helped perpetuate the harmful establishment.
Reeves’ privatization proposal, first reported by the nonprofit outlet Mississippi Free Press, was shortly met with condemnation on social media.
“This cannot be allowed to occur,” tweeted Josh Potash, an academic strategist at Sluggish Manufacturing facility, a social and environmental justice NGO. “The response to a water disaster cannot be turning the town water provide right into a for-profit trade.”
Civil rights legal professional Sherrilyn Ifill wrote on social media, “Beware privatization.” She pointed to a 2019 report by the NAACP Authorized Protection and Academic Fund, which discovered that the rising privatization of water infrastructure impedes “the human proper to reasonably priced, clear water.”
In accordance with Mississippi Free Press: “Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba has repeatedly stated he opposes totally privatizing the water system by promoting it to a personal firm. However on August 8, he stated that he would consider a ‘maintenance agreement’ with a personal firm for operations and administration of the system to alleviate staffing shortages.”
Reeves, in the meantime, repeatedly criticized the town in his Monday remarks, “citing its longtime water billing points, staffing points on the water plant, and a failure to offer the state or the federal authorities with a plan to repair the water system,” the outlet added.
That is acquainted territory for Reeves. Following the February 2021 freeze that left Jackson residents with out secure water for a month, the governor stated that the town must do a greater job “gathering their water invoice funds earlier than they begin going and asking everybody else to pony up extra money.”
Nonetheless, Legum identified, Jackson’s struggles to gather charges for water and to lift sufficient income to pay for routine upkeep will be attributed to Siemens, a multibillion-dollar company of the type that Reeves has baselessly recommended might alleviate the town’s water disaster.
As Legum defined:
In 2010, Siemens started pitching Jackson officers to rent the corporate to put in all-new automated water meters and a brand new billing system. Siemens would additionally “make repairs to the town’s water remedy crops and sewer strains.” The place would cash-strapped Jackson get the cash for such a mission? Siemens assured Jackson that the mission would greater than pay for itself. Jackson must pay Siemens $90 million—the most important contract in metropolis historical past—however Siemens promised the brand new system would generate “$120 million in assured financial savings” within the first 15 years, in line with a lawsuit later filed by the town.
[…]
In accordance with the town’s lawsuit towards the corporate, “[m]ore than 20,000 water meters had been put in incorrectly or had been unable to transmit meter readings to the system.” That was about one-third of all meters within the metropolis. Worse, the brand new meters “had been additionally incompatible with the brand new billing system.” Siemens, it appears, “had by no means paired the water meter and separate billing techniques collectively, utilizing Jackson as a ‘$90 million take a look at case for an unproven system.’”
“Ultimately,” Legum wrote, “Jackson was caught with a $7 million annual bond cost [through 2041], a $2 million month-to-month shortfall in water charges, and a system of water meters that was not working.”
Reeves, for his half, seems poised to forge forward with little regard for historical past or democracy.
“I believe there’s an amazing want for the management, those that characterize Jackson and people who don’t, to take motion,” stated the governor.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23891680/acastro_illo_226067_0002.jpg "Jacob Wohl is running an AI lobbying company under a fake name, Politico reports")
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. —It winds 650 miles, rushing past the cities, industries and landscapes that make up Minnesota.
However, the Mississippi River has never gotten this type of attention from water quality professionals.
For the first time ever, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is testing the entirety of the river, from Itasca to Iowa, in a single year.
The governor’s office wants the river to be swimmable and fishable, but right now, parts of the river are polluted.
The MPCA says the upper Mississippi is largely healthy up north, but quality drops south of St. Cloud where metro development and tributaries from agriculture muddy the waters. The National Park Service says stretches of the river exceed water quality standards for things like mercury, bacteria and sediment.
Think of the testing like a checkup for one of our state’s most valuable and powerful resources. Researchers will check temperature, transparency and levels of pollutants like phosphorus, nitrogen and ammonia.
Crews also check fish for those contaminants and collect insects to test in a lab to identify any concerning trends.
“If we find the fish community is suffering — maybe the water is too warm and maybe there’s a thermal pollution source upstream or maybe it’s too much runoff — that sort of stuff. Temperature is an important indicator especially for sensitive species,” Isaac Martin with the MPCA said.
Also for the first time, the agency is looking for PFAS contamination with money from an Environmental Protection Agency grant to identify and stop the forever chemicals from streaming into the Mississippi.
PFAS are a group of manufactured chemicals for industry and consumer products that don’t break down in the environment. While research is ongoing, the EPA says exposure to the chemicals can cause human health issues. It’s why the federal agency just lowered the amount allowed in drinking water.
“They go to parts per trillion, which is incredibly sensitive. You get that low, you’re talking drops in an Olympic swimming pool,” Martin said. “Part of the reason why it was chosen is because it’s a primary drinking source or potentially could be a primary drinking source. We’re just finding them in places we never expected to find them. We’re finding them almost everywhere and being that it is new, there’s just a lot of ‘I don’t know’ that goes with it.”
It’s too early to know what this complete snapshot will reveal, but we know this powerful river is part of our community, economy and health.
“Maybe you don’t use the resource yourself, but maybe you know someone who does or future generations of your own will,” Martin said. “In Minnesota, we’re just trying to be the best stewards we can be.”
The data from this testing will be available early next year. Researchers will use that data and compare it to 10-year pollution averages to determine which parts of the river are improved or impaired.
A full report will be released in 2026.
Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Mississippi high school Athlete of the Week for August25-31. Read through the nominees and cast your vote. The poll will close Sunday at 11:59 p.m. If you would like to make a nomination in a future week, email Tyler@scorebooklive.com. For questions/issues with he poll, email athleteoftheweek@scorebooklive.com.
Editor’s note: Our Athlete of the Week feature and corresponding poll is intended to be fun, and we do not set limits on how many times a fan can vote during the competition. However, we do not allow votes that are generated by script, macro or other automated means. Athletes that receive votes generated by script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified.
Kohl Bradley, DB, George County: Racked up 17 tackles and returned an interception 80 yards for a touchdown in a 33-7 win over East Central.
DaJuan Colbert, DB, Natchez: Recorded 15 tackles, forced one fumble and returned another one 75 yards for a touchdown in a 58-50 win over Hancock.
Garrison Davis, QB, Holmes County Central: Completed 14 of his 21 pass attempts for 375 yards and three touchdowns in a 20-6 win over Vicksburg.
Xzavion Gainwell, DB, Yazoo County: Recorded nine tackles, an interception and an 80-yard interception return for a touchdown in the Panthers’ 20-16 win over South Delta.
Elijah Jones, RB, West Jones: Had 24 carries 226 yards and four touchdowns in a 34-6 win over Laurel.
Kingi McNair, WR, Pearl: Caught four passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns in a 26-20 win over Neshoba Central.
Ashton Nichols, DB, Clinton: Recorded six tackles to go with two big pass breakups, a blocked punt and a return for a touchdown in a 26-20 win over Warren Central.
Ethan Prater, RB, Pisgah: Rushed for 132 yards on 27 carries with three scores and caught a 60-yard touchdown pass in a 33-32 win over North Forrest.
Glen Singleton, RB, Madison Central: Rushed for 174 yards on 18 carries with all four touchdowns in a 27-20 win over Ocean Springs.
Damarius Yates, RB, Kemper County: Rushed for 193 yards on 17 carries and returned a kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown in a 38-15 win over Kosciusko.
Mississippi
‘If they cannot play Thalia Hall, they cannot play in Mississippi at all’: Broadway in Jackson speaks out about possible show cancellations
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – It’s been one month since Thalia Mara Hall closed its doors due to a mold outbreak.
Innovation Arts and Entertainment is the company responsible for bringing Broadway productions to Jackson.
Representatives from the company visited Jackson after hearing the building had been closed.
CEO Adam Epstein says the City of Jackson did not inform them of the news.
“We did not find out from anybody within the city. We found out by reading news clippings forwarded to us by other people in Jackson,” Epstein said.
Certified Industrial Hygienic Testing reported visible dirt, debris, and suspected mold growth on many surfaces.
Epstein fears this could change the possibility of bigger shows coming to the capital city.
“They’re going to skip over us because of this mess. We need to show as a community that Jackson cares about this valuable asset and that we demand our elected leaders to support and treat this really, incredibly valuable asset with the TLC it deserves,” he said.
Thalia Mara Hall is the only venue in the state that can host a Broadway production due to the technical needs and accommodations required.
“Touring theatrical shows. If they cannot play Thalia Hall, they cannot play in Mississippi at all,” he said.
Broadway in Jackson is not only a great source of entertainment in the city, but it’s also beneficial economically.
“Those other businesses don’t benefit. The city doesn’t earn tax revenue from events that we present. They don’t earn rental income from the events we present. They don’t earn facility fees from the events we present. This is a real tragedy. It’s unacceptable.”
The well-being of the potential audience is the company’s main priority.
“I will not risk our ticket buyers’ health and safety and comfort. Our shows can and will cancel before we’d ever put somebody in jeopardy. We’ve issued a 100% guarantee of a full refund if the venue is not given a clean bill of health,” Epstein said.
All shows will be canceled on a case-to-case basis.
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