Mississippi
Mississippi sends 135 snowplows to help clear ice and snow from traffic-clogged highways
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi officials sent National Guard troops, tow trucks and 135 snowplows Wednesday to clear snow and ice from two interstate highways where massive traffic jams began piling up a day earlier on the frozen, slippery roadways.
No injuries were reported, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety said. One traveler told The Associated Press she feared she might freeze to death on Interstate 22, where her car sat idle for 14 hours before she followed a pickup truck to get around the pileup and reach a gas station.
“I just thought that we were going to die there,” said Samantha Lewis, 78, who got stuck in Mississippi during a road trip with a friend. “There was nowhere to go, nothing to do, no one to save us.”
The highway shutdowns in northern Mississippi upped the misery and anxiety in a Southern state still reeling from officials say is its worst winter storm in more than 30 years.
“Ice and snow is everywhere. Lots of downed trees. This storm was worse than 1994’s historic storm,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a social media post Wednesday as he visited hard-hit areas.
Power outages linger with more arctic weather on the way
Utility trucks are seen through ice covered trees on Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn. after a winter storm passed through area over the weekend. Photo by George Walker IV/AP Photo
Officials said conditions were growing more dire in areas that still have widespread outages days after a weekend winter storm blasted parts of the South and the Northeast. More than 370,000 homes and businesses remained without power nationwide Wednesday.
More than 100,000 of those outages were in Nashville, Tennessee, where downed trees and snapped power lines still blocked access to some areas. Utility workers will need at least the weekend, if not longer, to finish restoring power, said Brent Baker, a Nashville Electric Service vice president.
Forecasters say the subfreezing weather will persist in the eastern U.S. into February, with a new influx of arctic air arriving this weekend and a growing chance for heavy snow in the Carolinas and Virginia.
The National Weather Service said chances of additional, significant snowfall are low in places like Nashville, but weekend temperatures will reach dangerously low single-digits with wind chills below zero.
In northeast Mississippi, emergency managers in Alcorn County were receiving “calls of desperation” from people stuck inside their homes and running out of food, water, medication and other supplies, said Evan Gibens, the emergency agency’s director.
Dispatchers, who have been sleeping on site since Friday, have fielded more than 2,000 calls from people seeking help, Gibens estimated. He said about 200 people are staying at a local arena being used as a warming shelter.
“We are doing everything we possibly can,” Gibens said.
An ‘extremely frightening’ night on a frozen highway
The Mississippi Department of Transportation said Wednesday the impasse on its interstates began Tuesday when drivers began using single lanes the agency had tried to keep open for emergency vehicles. Cars and semitrucks began getting stuck, agency spokesperson David Kenney said.
The blocked highways were making it harder for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to distribute emergency supplies. Agency spokesperson Scott Simmons said its drivers were having to find alternate routes to avoid the backups.
Lewis said she and a friend, Catherine Muldoon, were driving through Mississippi on a trip from Florida to Oklahoma when they got stuck on I-22 at about noon Tuesday. Cars and trucks were backed up in a single lane that was partly cleared. They spent more than half a day stranded, Lewis said, turning on the car for 15 minutes to warm up and then shutting it off for 45 minutes to conserve fuel. Finally at about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, they followed a pickup truck on one of the ice-covered, traffic-free lanes and reached a gas station.
“It was extremely frightening,” Muldoon said. “If we didn’t have the blankets and clothing that we had, it would have been dire straits.”
In the small community of Red Banks, Mississippi, local authorities were asking people with all-terrain vehicles to bring water, food, blankets or gas to stranded motorists, said Lacey Clancy, who works at a cafe near I-22 and neighboring Highway 178.
“The highway kind of looks like a parking lot,” Clancy said in a phone interview. “A lot of people have run out of gas, abandoned their vehicles.”
Angie Gresham, who lives in nearby Holly Springs, Mississippi, said hundreds of stranded vehicles were lining I-22 as well as streets in the city. She said stranded truck drivers were scouring stores and restaurants, many which don’t have power, in search of food and supplies.
“They’re just trying to survive,” Gresham said.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety said in a statement that all passenger vehicles were cleared from the frozen highways by 3 a.m. Wednesday. That left long lines of commercial trucks still awaiting removal hours later.
Mississippi National Guard soldiers equipped with wreckers began arriving before dawn Wednesday, State transportation officials announced Wednesday afternoon that the 135 snowplows were being dispatched to the clear the icy interstates.
Jamie Partridge, was still hunkered down Wednesday at a hotel in Batesville, Mississippi, while his home remained without power. He said he was worried about supplies not reaching people in need if the highways were blocked.
“Once you get the goods on the interstate, you can’t branch out and get it anywhere else where it needs to be,” Partridge said.
Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Martin reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Jeff Amy in Atlanta; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, and Sarah Brumfield in Washington contributed to this report.
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Staff
A wood products manufacturer is set to create new jobs as part of a major expansion.
Carpenter Pole and Piling is investing nearly $5 million into its Wiggins, Mississippi, operation.
The expansion will add 10 new positions and support long-term growth in the region.
“Carpenter Pole and Piling is a true Mississippi success story, and we’re proud to see the company continue investing right here at home,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said.
“This expansion in Stone County is creating new opportunities for hardworking Mississippians while strengthening a company that has long contributed to our state’s economy,” Reeves said. “When Mississippi businesses grow, our communities grow with them, and we remain committed to fostering a business environment where companies can thrive.”
Carpenter Pole and Piling produces utility poles and pilings for marine and foundation use.
The project includes construction of a new treatment plant, investment in a 2,600-cubic-foot autoclave and an alternative treatment option to improve production capacity.
The company is also clearing and preparing an additional 20 acres for a new pole storage yard.
Stone County is also contributing to the project.
The company expects to complete construction by September 2026.
The new roles are expected to be filled by January 2027.
Carpenter Pole and Piling specializes in the production of utility poles. It also manufactures foundation and marine pilings.
The new autoclave will increase production and add an alternative treatment option.
This story was created by business and development writer Ross Reily, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more.
Mississippi
CBSB: Southern Miss sweeps again, Mississippi State shines in Texas, Ole Miss struggles – SuperTalk Mississippi
Southern Miss earned its second consecutive sweep, rounding out a mostly successful weekend of college baseball for Mississippi’s major programs.
The No. 12 Golden Eagles (10-1), fresh off a mercy-rule victory over Alabama, exited a hostile Louisiana Tech environment with three straight wins versus a former conference counterpart. Christian Ostrander’s crew won 8-3 on Friday, cruised to an 11-0 run-rule victory through seven innings on Saturday, and was on the good side of a 6-2 scoreboard in Sunday’s finale.
A three-run bomb by Kyle Morrison in the top of the fourth of Friday’s game put the black and gold up 5-3, and solid pitching carried the team the rest of the way. A six-run top of the fourth of Saturday’s game, in part due to a Matthew Russo 2 RBI single, broke a scoring stalemate and fueled Southern Miss to a win in a shortened matchup. A two-run long ball by Joey Urban in the top of the ninth of Sunday’s battle gave the Golden Eagles a buffer that would not be eclipsed.
Kros Sivley (2-0) was Friday’s winning pitcher after logging a pair of strikeouts in 1.2 innings. Grayden Harris (2-0) got the win on Saturday after fanning five batters and surrendering no runs through six complete innings. Camden Sunstrom (1-0) closed out the finale with the win after striking out two batters and not giving up a hit or a run in the final two frames.
Mississippi State wins two in Texas
The No. 4 Bulldogs (11-1) had a solid weekend in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series. Brian O’Connor’s club handled the weekend test with an 8-4 win over Arizona State, a 15-8 victory over Virginia Tech, and a heartbreaking 8-7 extra-innings loss to No. 1 UCLA.
Mississippi State broke a scoring hiatus on Friday with a strong bottom of the fifth. A Bryce Chance RBI single scored the game’s first run, then a Gehrig Frei homer put the Bulldogs up 4-0. Three insurance runs were added in the next offensive frame, and Mississippi State did not look back. On Saturday, an Ace Reece longball gave the maroon and white a 4-0 lead in the top of the second. Virginia Tech chipped away, cutting the deficit to two runs, until a five-run top of the seventh put things out of reach.
Sunday’s finale was a battle between two teams vying for bragging rights as the nation’s best. The Bruins took an early 3-0 lead, but Mississippi State quickly countered. A two-run bomb by Reed Stallman and an RBI double by Ryder Woodson knotted things up 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth. The Bulldogs added a run in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings to lead 5-3.
A two-out home run by UCLA’s Roch Cholowsky tied the ballgame in the top of the ninth. Mississippi State, with runners on second and third and no outs in the bottom of the ninth, could not send a runner home. A wild pitch and a 2 RBI triple scored three Bruins in the top of the 10th. Stallman hit his second home run of the day to inch the Bulldogs within one run of their foe, but it was not followed up with more scoring.
Winning pitchers for Mississippi State this weekend were Ryan McPherson (2-0) and Tomas Valincius (3-0), while Ben Davis (0-1) was tabbed with the lone loss.
Ole Miss struggles in neutral-site tournament
In its first set of tests versus power conference opponents, the Rebels (10-2) struggled mightily, dropping two of three outings in the BRUCE BOLT College Classic. Mike Bianco’s club fell to Baylor 6-5 in extra innings on Friday before bouncing back on Saturday in an 8-0 win over Ohio State and suffering a 9-2 loss to Coastal Carolina in Sunday’s finale. Ole Miss was a combined 0-18 at the plate with runners in scoring position in the two losses.
Though the weekend didn’t play to the Rebels’ advantage, a few individual performers stood out. Murray State transfer Dom Decker, who entered his junior campaign without hitting a home run, hit three balls over the outfield wall at the Houston Astros’ Daikin Park. Hunter Elliott had a career-high 11 strikeouts on Friday, while Cade Townsend and Taylor Rabe collectively fanned 16 batters in Saturday’s shutout.
Next up
Southern Miss will play a pair of home midweek games, the first being against Mississippi State on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and the second versus Nicholls on Wednesday at 6 p.m., before hosting North Alabama over the weekend.
Mississippi State will host Lipscomb over the weekend after facing the Golden Eagles.
Ole Miss will host Memphis on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and North Alabama on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., before welcoming Evansville for a weekend series.
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