Mississippi
Mississippi River delegation lobbies for conservation funding in Washington
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mayors from 10 states along the Mississippi River flew to Washington, D.C. earlier this month to lobby for funding to protect and restore one of the world’s most important working rivers.
The convening was part of the annual capitol meeting of the Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative (MRCTI). The initiative, which includes 105 cities, aims to scale up existing investments and policies protecting the river corridor.
Advocates from the Mississippi River Network also were in Washington D.C. to host meetings with senators and house representatives as they discussed the budgets for 2024 and 2025.
The network consists of nearly 70 local organizations and 20,000 individual members dedicated to creating a healthier basin. Members from across the basin flew to the capitol to bring concerns from their communities directly to the decision-makers, said Maisah Khan, policy director of the network.
The Mississippi River Network presented two policy priorities: increasing federal funding for farmer-led conservation and investing in better water infrastructure. This funding would largely come from the second half of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
So far, these two acts have brought $146 billion in new investment to the Mississippi River corridor, according to the 2024 Policy Platform for MRCTI. But climate change has already taken a toll on the shipping industry, which moves 589 million tons of cargo each year.
Over the last two years, intense drought across the basin caused billions in losses along the Mississippi River, said Sarah Kapnick, chief scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as she spoke to the mayors in the capital.
The mayors agree that middle America needs an ambitious plan to safeguard the Mississippi River basin, which produces 92 percent of U.S. agricultural exports. MRCTI’s 2024 Policy Platform recognizes the importance of ecosystems at the heart of this economic corridor.
Their plan incorporates federal funding over the next two years with policy recommendations designed to emphasize resilience, climate mitigation and ecosystem restoration across the basin.
Demand for farmer-led conservation funding
The Farm Bill reauthorization is a critical part of the policy priorities for both the Mississippi River Network and the Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative. The current iteration of the Farm Bill was last passed in 2018.
On March 9, President Joe Biden signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024, which includes funding for the Department of Agriculture and five other federal departments through Sept. 30. However, the Farm Bill is separate and has been extended through 2024, and could be up for renewal this year.
The Mississippi River Network called on elected officials to protect and increase conservation program funding in both the Farm Bill and the Inflation Reduction Act. Farmers play a crucial role in conservation because the fertilizers and pesticides sprayed on their fields eventually run off into the Mississippi River and contribute to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
Current conservation program funding is not meeting the demands of farmers, according to data collected by the Mississippi River Network. There is huge demand for these programs and they are consistently underfunded. These conservation practices would offer a high return on investment for both farmers and downstream Mississippi River communities in the form of mitigating floods, filtering pollutants, and maintaining habitat for recreation and tourism.
“Funding farmers is the issue that everyone is in support of,” said Mark “River” Peoples, an advocate and guide with the Quapaw Canoe Company who traveled to the capitol with the Mississippi River Network to speak with elected officials. “But where is that money going to come from?”
Mayors along the Mississippi River also are calling on elected officials to increase funding for current conservation practices. MRCTI urges the House Committee on Agriculture to update its proposed Healthy Farms Healthy Watersheds Act of 2023 to include the Mississippi River and its tributaries. The act would strengthen nutrient runoff management programs, which can reduce pollutants that contribute to the dead zone.
The mayors of MRCTI also encouraged Congress to increase funding for the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative, which uses Farm Bill money for agricultural conservation programs, by $50 million. According to MRCTI, since 2005, the corridor spanning the 10 mainstem basin states has sustained over $246 billion in losses from droughts, floods, extreme heat and named storms.
Billion-dollar climate disasters are becoming increasingly common. In 2023 alone, the U.S. experienced 28 weather disasters where losses exceeded $1 billion. Mayors along the Mississippi River have seen the effects of these climate disasters steadily increase.
As droughts increase and last for longer periods, the mayors of MRCTI urge Congress to address gaps in drought policy and resilience.
Water infrastructure to east chronic drought
“Five hundred and fifty-three days of low water had incredible economic implications on this nation,” said Edward Belk, director of civil works for the Army Corps of Engineers.
Southern Louisiana’s historic drought also caused a second year of saltwater intrusion, threatening drinking water. As salt water from the Gulf of Mexico crept up the Mississippi River, the Army Corps barged 153 million gallons of water to communities that had lost access to clean drinking water, said Belk.
The mayors also asked that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency invest $5 billion to find a permanent solution for saltwater intrusion in southern Louisiana. MRCTI said the funding would begin to cover the cost of converting water treatment plants to handle desalination as well as examine and implement the best option to ensure New Orleans has permanent access to fresh water.
This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation. MRCTI and the Mississippi River Network also receive Walton funding.
PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) – Pine needle blight is becoming more prevalent, not only in the Pine Belt, but across the greater Southeastern United States.
Experts believe the blight is a type of pathogen that affects multiple types of pine trees.
The blight came to light after its increasing presence, and entomologists said that this could pose a problem for trees, both big and small.
Dr. John Riggins, Mississippi State University Forest Entomology professor, and other researchers have said the needle blight is a developing problem.
“Historically, it was only a problem in the seedling stages of Longleaf Pine,” Riggins said. “And now the reason it’s becoming a new issue as an emerging threat is because we’re seeing it impact Loblolly Pine, including mature Loblolly Pine, which is the primary tree that we grow right here in Mississippi.”
Pine needle blight can be spotted when brown patches make a tree or group of trees appear unhealthy, but that does not mean necessarily that the tree is dead. Experts say that this brown leaf period can happen during the springtime months around March or April.
The blight is believed to be affecting pine species in nearby states like Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas. Pine trees will typically become green again after a few weeks, but it is not guaranteed.
“It appears that, for the most part, most of the impacted trees are going to recover to some degree within a few weeks,” Riggins said. “But that repeated defoliation, year after year, is a repeated stress on the impacted trees.
“Eventually, it does affect tree health and you start to see additional mortality.”
Experts say that arborists, the Mississippi Forestry Commission and local Mississippi State University extension offices all offer good resources to better understand how the pine needle blight is affecting the region.
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:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(742x271:744x273)/mom-car-crash-072624-tout-8af25918eebf4d7b9c510c4384451d1a.jpg "Mom of 3 Dies After Being Hit by Car Near Mississippi Restaurant: ‘Truly Heartbroken’")
A mother of three children was struck and killed by a car near a restaurant in Mississippi on Saturday, July 20, authorities said.
The incident occurred on MS-43 near the Sunset Grill restaurant in Rankin County and is under investigation, the Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP) said in a news release shared with PEOPLE on Friday, July 26.
The pedestrian, Marcie Errington, 41, of Crystal Spring, Miss., was hit by a Chevrolet Silverado traveling northbound. She died at the scene from her injuries, the MHP added.
The driver of the Silverado, identified by authorities as Donnie Taylor, 67, of Brandon, Miss., was unhurt in the collision.
No additional details were offered from the MHP.
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According to a GoFundMe set up on behalf of her family, Errington was a nurse and a devoted mother to her three sons.
“We are truly heartbroken at the loss of our sweet Marcie,” read the fundraiser description. “She was such a radiant gypsy soul who loved nature, animals and children… Her sons were the center of her universe, and her every action was a testament to the profound love she had for them.”
The GoFundMe described Errington as “thoughtful, selfless, compassionate, and genuinely caring – everything that made her such an amazing momma and nurse.”
“Marcie’s impact on our lives is immeasurable,” the description continued. “She taught us the true meaning of love, empathy, and perseverance. Her legacy of kindness will live on through the countless lives she touched, both human and animal. We are devastated by her loss, but we celebrate the beautiful person she was and the extraordinary life she lived.”
Kelly Johnson, a friend of Errington’s, remembered her as outgoing. “When you think of a Gypsy Soul, that’s what you think of as Marcy, she loved anything that breathed,” Johnson said, NBC affiliate WLBT reported.
Errington was employed at Pedicare Nursing Agency. The news of her death sent a shock to Errington’s colleagues, said Melissa Flanagin, the agency’s founder.
“There was a time of denial where we didn’t want to believe that that had really happened to our Marcy,” Flanigan told CBS affiliate WJTV. “When we learned, and it was confirmed that it was her, we were just heartbroken.”
Johnson told WLBT that the GoFundMe will help Errington’s children.
“There’s a lot of bills and things that have, you know, accrued and you know, just life,” Johnson said. “It’s mainly to take care of those children to make sure they have what they need.”
Mississippi
Mississippi State’s Rendon promoted to brigadier general surrounded by family, friends and servicemen
Contact: Mary Pollitz
STARKVILLE, Miss.—On Thursday afternoon [July 25], Mississippi State alumnus Andrew Rendon, the university’s executive director for Veterans and Military Affairs, was promoted from colonel to brigadier general in the Mississippi National Guard. Less than one-half of 1% of officers in the Army achieve the rank of a general officer.
The first action Gen. Rendon took after his promotion was to present his daughter Sarah and wife Hilary with flowers while thanking the three institutions he credited with his success—MSU, the Mississippi National Guard and his family.
“Not once have those institutions left me alone. Not once have they let me down. Not once have those institutions not cared for me,” he said. “In every instance, as I asked for help support or assistance, they have been there for me.”
MSU President Mark E. Keenum commended Rendon with his leadership supporting the armed forces, military students and his country. Rendon’s service and commitment to others—along with Bulldogs, cowbells and Edam cheese—is what the university is known for, Keenum added.
“We’re also known for our values. Our core values that define who we are at MSU: integrity, strong work ethic and respect for others,” Keenum said. “Gen. Rendon embodies all of these values, and he lives them every single day. So, it’s an honor to recognize him and his achievements this afternoon as he begins this new chapter of service to our state and our nation.”
The promotion ceremony for the Guard’s commander of the 66th Troop Command took place in Wingo Auditorium of the university’s Old Main Academic Center. The event was officiated by MSU alumnus Maj. Gen. Janson D. Boyles, Adjutant General of Mississippi.
Rendon began his military career nearly 30 years ago as an Army Aviator. After spending nine years on active duty, with assignments in Germany and Alabama, Rendon joined the MSNG in 2004 serving in various aviation roles throughout the state, from logistics officer and platoon leader to his current role as troop commander and MSNG director of Joint Staff.
Rendon holds both a Ph.D. and Master of Public Policy and Administration degree from MSU. He also has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Mississippi and a Master of Strategic Studies degree from the U.S. Army War College.
His military awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, six Meritorious Service Medals, the Senior Army Aviator Badge, U.S. Army Parachutist Badge, and numerous other federal and state awards.
Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters. Learn more at www.msstate.edu.
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