Mississippi
Jackson hotel, restaurant taxes could increase with Mississippi Senate bill
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A bill making its way through the Mississippi Legislature would bump up tax rates on hotels, motels and restaurants in Jackson, with the revenue benefitting the city’s tourism department.
The proposal would increase the hotel tax rate by 1% and the restaurant tax rate by 0.5%, modest bumps, said bill sponsor Sen. Hillman Frazier, D-Jackson, that would go a long way for the Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau, known as Visit Jackson.
“We’re trying to be very conservative here with this increase,” he said in a March 20 interview. “These changes are just enough to maintain operations.”
With inflation taking ever-growing bites out of profits and reduced state funds on the horizon as the income tax revenue decreases, Frazier said a minor tourism tax increase is necessary to keep Visit Jackson well-funded.
Hotels and motels currently have an 11% tax rate, most of which is attributed to the 7% sales tax. The convention center tax adds another 3%, and Visit Jackson nets 1%. Under Frazier’s bill, which has been co-authored by four other Jackson-area senators, Visit Jackson’s share would double.
For restaurants, the rate would increase from 9% to 9.5%, with Visit Jackson collecting 1.5% of that sum. The increased revenue, according to documents prepared by Visit Jackson and shared with legislators, would fund hotel-restaurant partnerships, collaborations with local farmers and culinary demonstrations at city events.
The rate changes, according to the documents, would yield the bureau around $2 million in additional revenue each year.
The crucial part of the bill, Frazier said, is that Jackson will remain competitive when compared to other cities in Mississippi and throughout the south.
The proposed 12% hotel tax rate falls below nearby New Orleans, which boasts a 16.2% tax and $3 nightly fee, and Birmingham, where the $3 nightly fee is accompanied by a 17.5% tax.
Neighboring Brandon, Flowood and Richland levy a 12% hotel tax and 9% restaurant tax, the documents read, nearly identical to the rates that Jackson would adopt with legislative consent.
Approval from other legislators may present a challenge, Frazier said, explaining that some lawmakers have opposed the provision in the past because it increases the amount they pay when they check into Jackson-area hotels during the session. His bill has passed two committees as of March 20 and faces a full vote in each chamber before it can become law.
“Visit Jackson does a very good job selling Jackson and bringing people here to visit,” Frazier said. “We need to give them the resources to keep doing what they’re doing.”
Bea Anhuci is the state government reporter for the Clarion Ledger. She covers the Mississippi Legislature, and its impact on Jackson. Email her at banhuci@usatodayco.com or message her on Signal @beaanhuci.42.
US in a tight squeeze as water demands soar
The US water supply is buckling under the weight of drought, the water demands of AI data centers and aging water infrastructure.
The Mississippi Public Service Commission has made a ruling that paves the way for Gabriel Prado and his company PraCon Global investment Group to move forward with plans to potentially build a data center in the Jackson area.
The Public Service Commission’s ruling could transform how energy usage is delivered, particularly for the data center economy in Mississippi and next generation AI industrial development, in theory protecting consumers from long-term energy cost increases.
“PraCon Global investment Group welcomes the decision of the Mississippi Public Service Commission that leaves intact the plain language of Mississippi law and declines to reinterpret or narrow the long-standing statutory exemption that allows companies to construct, own, and operate electric generationfacilities for their own private commercial use without regulation as a public utility,” Prado said. “Asstated in its Request, PRADO AI’s proposed power generation facilities will serve its planned AI data center and AI semiconductor manufacturing campus.
“By declining to issue a declaratory opinion, the commission did not alter, limit or reinterpret the statutory exemption contained in Mississippi Code §77-3-3(d). PRADO AI celebrates that the PSC and Mississippi law continues to operate exactly as written by the Mississippi Legislature, allowing private companies to generate electricity for their own facilities without being classified as a public utility.”
The ruling is also a step for Prado and his company, which plans to jump into the fray to compete in the data center explosion as he intends to add large scale AI industrial infrastructure projects, including “AI semiconductor facilities” and data centers across Mississippi.
Large utilities’ role in Mississippi data center economy
As Mississippi gets deeper and deeper into a data center economy that is going to require copious amounts of energy over the next decade, Entergy Mississippi pushed all its chips in the middle of the table.
Entergy Mississippi made a five-year investment in 2025 into what it called reliable energy to keep rates lower. Those investments, Entergy has said, will be paid for by companies such as Amazon.
Meanwhile, states throughout the nation are pushing back on the data center economy, in part because of fears of rising energy costs.
In May, Maine lawmakers passed the first U.S. statewide moratorium on new, large data centers to study impacts on energy rates and environmental resources.
Last week in Jackson, dozens of Jackson residents — some with signs that read “No Data Centers,” “Can’t Drink Data” and “Jackson is our City” packed shoulder-to-shoulder into the small conference room inside the Warren Hood Building on Wednesday, May 27.
It all goes back to available energy
The one thing that data center developers AWS, Compass Data in Meridian and AVAIO Digital in Brandon have talked about is the ability of the state’s energy companies to deliver at a breakneck speed. In the case of Compass, it has been Mississippi Power, but for AWS, at both Madison campuses and the Warren County campus and then AVAIO, it has been Entergy.
Mark McComiskey, AVAIO Digital CEO2, made that case clear in August, when talking about why his company chose Mississippi, in general and Brandon, specifically.
“The Greater Jackson area is poised to become a new hub for cloud computing and AI development, and we are delighted to partner with the city of Brandon to make a significant investment in expanding the region’s digital and energy infrastructure,” McComiskey said.
Interstate 20 across Mississippi may come to be known as the Data Center Corridor because of availble energy built by Entergy.
Prado’s plan for economic development
Prado, meanwhile, wants to have energy production on site, unlike what Entergy and Southern Company do with grids across the state. Prado’s plan, he said, also would not be like what Elon Musk’s XAI did with turbines that created severe noise pollution in North Mississippi.
Prado said he has identified multiple sites in Mississippi for development of advanced AI industrial campuses, which would have AI semiconductor fabrication facilities and data center campuses.
The projects are structured, he said, so that electricity is not sold or resold, but instead provided as an “incidental component or real estate leasing arrangements”, which Prado said is consistent with Mississippi law.
If he is able to do that, Prado wants to take the data center economy to places that currently don’t have sufficiently built-out grids from Entergy or Southern Company, such as places in the Mississippi Delta or even Southwest Mississippi.
Prado is relying on language in Mississippi Code 77-3-3(d), which says that an entity is not a public utility and will not be treated as such if “it provides electricity to itself or to tenants as an incident of tenancy.”
The filing to the PSC states any of Prado’s power generation facilities will operate off-grid, serving only on-site electrical demand, with no electricity being sold to the public or third parties.
“By self-generating energy on site, we ensure that 100% of the cost of powering AI semiconductor and AI cloud computing operations is borne by the company and is not passed on to Mississippi rate payers over time,” Prado said.
How is the power generated?
Samsung is doing something similar in Texas with a $17 billion project.
However, Prado has not fully explained the details of his project and how it will work.
“We are building long-term, environmentally responsible AI industrial infrastructure, not short-term fixes,” Prado said. “This is about doing it right from day one, with reliability, sustainability and community impact in mind.”
Who is Gabriel Prado?
To this point, Prado, who lives in Jackson, has only ventured into commercial real estate and development.
In December 2024, Prado helped bring to life Topgolf, as the sports entertainment venue opened in Ridgeland with much fanfare as part of the Prado Vista development just off of I-55.
And while Topgolf is the drawing card for the development northeast of the Renaissance at Colony Park, the project has promise of more with shopping and an array of other options..
One of the outgrowths from Topgolf being the anchor of the 77-acre mixed-use development was to include office, retail and restaurant space, and the potential of homes for sale, among other things.
This new data center economy venture would seem to take the Belhaven University graduate to a different level of commitment in the business world of Mississippi.
This is a developing story.
Charlie Drape contributed to this story.
Ross Reily is a writer for the Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter @GreenOkra1.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WLBT) – Mississippi State hit seven home runs and scored 19 runs to defeat Louisiana 19-5 in the Starkville Regional final Sunday night.
Jacob Parker and Ryder Woodson each hit two home runs for the Bulldogs. Parker went 4-for-4 with four RBIs and five runs scored, while Woodson finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs.
Early power surge
Mississippi State took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on solo home runs by Gehrig Frei and Parker. Woodson added a solo homer in the second inning to make it 3-0.
Louisiana’s Nate Lewis hit a solo home run in the third inning to cut the lead to 3-1.
Bulldogs pull away with four-run fourth
Mississippi State scored four runs in the fourth inning. Kevin Milewski drove in Reed Stallman with an RBI single, Frei added an RBI hit and Ace Reese hit a two-run homer to right-center to make it 7-1.
Woodson drove in a run with a single in the fifth inning. Louisiana scored one run in the sixth inning to cut the deficit to 8-3.
Five-run seventh extends lead
Mississippi State scored five runs in the seventh inning. Parker hit an RBI double, Vytas Valincius followed with an RBI double and Stallman hit an RBI triple. Woodson capped the inning with a two-run homer to left to extend the lead to 13-5 at the end of the seventh.
Parker, Valincius deliver final blows
Parker hit his second home run of the game in the eighth inning, a two-run shot that made it 15-5.
Valincius hit a grand slam in the ninth inning to push the lead to 19-5.
Strong performances throughout lineup
Frei finished with four hits, three runs scored and two RBIs. Noah Sullivan had three hits and scored three runs.
Ryan McPherson pitched five innings for Mississippi State, allowing two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and no walks.
Up Next
Mississippi State now heads to the Athens Super Regional where they will face 3-seed Georgia, a team that swept the Diamond Dawgs this season.
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Mississippi
Mississippi State baseball beats Cincinnati 10-5, moves within one win of regional title – SuperTalk Mississippi
Tomas Valincius struck out 10, Ace Reese and Kevin Milewski homered, and Reed Stallman knocked in three runs to lead Mississippi State to a 10-5 victory in the winner’s bracket game of the Starkville Regional on Saturday night.
The top-seeded Bulldogs (42-17) managed early behind another standout performance from Valincius, who allowed two runs over 7.1 innings to earn his 11th win of the season.
Valincius was supported offensively by Reese’s solo home run in the first inning, a run two-seed Cincinnati (38-21) responded to in the second to tie the game at 1-1. The Bulldogs broke open the game with three runs in the fifth inning, then followed with four more in the sixth and two more in the seventh to build a 10-1 lead.
As part of the surge, Stallman knocked in three runs on two doubles, Gehrig Frei hit a two-run single, Bryce Chance drove in one, and Milewski hit a two-run shot. Vytas Valincius, Tomas’ brother, crossed home plate on a wild pitch.
Cincinnati worked to chip away late, but the deficit was too much to overcome. The Bearcats scored two in the eighth and two in the ninth before Mississippi State reliever Ben Davis limited the damage by getting the final outs to end the ballgame.
Mississippi State is now just one win away from winning its first regional championship since 2021 – the same year the Bulldogs won the College World Series. Mississippi State will play the winner of Sunday afternoon’s elimination game between Cincinnati and Louisiana at 7 p.m. If Mississippi State drops the game, a winner-take-all final will be played Monday.
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