JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The state’s top lawmakers and business leaders mingled at the Mississippi Coliseum on Thursday morning – tradition for the annual Hobnob event.

The Mississippi Economic Council played host for the 24th and final time.

If you’re involved with politics or business, you’ve heard of these three organizations and the work they’ve been doing.

The Mississippi Economic Council, the Mississippi Manufacturers Association, and the Business and Industry Political Education Committee.

“Mississippi needed a single authoritative and common voice for business,” explained MEC Chair John Hairston. “Policy makers were asking for clarity when it comes to legislative priorities. Business owners were asking for alignment of our policies, and our members were asking to become more impactful.”

So, these three groups will become one.

“Will represent every sector of Mississippi’s economy under one banner: the Mississippi Business Alliance,” said Scott Waller, MEC President and CEO.

The new rebranding was unveiled in front of the Hobnob crowd.

However, things officially began with the merged efforts on Jan. 1.

“Previously, you had legislators and policymakers trying to look for advice or input and they had three different organizations that were similar and overlapped,” described John McKay, current head of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association.

McKay will lead the Mississippi Business Alliance.

The joint organization will build on the already existing work of the three groups – everything from policy to workforce development and vetting of business-friendly candidates.

According to policymakers, there will be a value in having a singular group for business interests.

“These three organizations are merging not just to consolidate, but to elevate,” Gov. Tate Reeves emphasized.

“To have a unified voice is very helpful to those of us who are supposed to implement public policy,” Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said.

And they’re looking at this as more than a simple merger.

“It’s really a transformation of how we operate and sponsor the business community moving forward,” Hairston continued. “It’s the uniting of our collective strengths into one clear and very decisive force for progress into the future, for the benefit of our grandchildren and those that come after them.”

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JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A Mississippi mother is searching for answers after not being able to get in contact with her daughter who is trapped in Jamaica from Hurricane Melissa.

Lori Washington, an Ocean Springs native, told 3 On Your Side that she has not heard from her daughter since Monday.

“Now my mind is flashing back to the phone call that I got when my soldier was killed,” Washington said. “My oldest boy was killed in 2014 and now I’m scared that I’m going to get another phone call.”

She shared that her daughter, Lasha Thornton, travels frequently for work and the last location she knew of her whereabouts was Trelawny, Jamaica.

Washington says Thornton just turned 26 and must’ve been in Jamaica for her birthday.

In a text from her daughter Monday, Washington shared that she informed her the airports were shut down, and she would have to wait out the storm.

It has now been two days since hearing from her daughter, and Washington is doing all that she can to find answers.

“Once some reporter over there can hear this and make sure that my daughter is either at the convention center, where they have some of the tourists, or if they can check, I just want to know she’s okay and that she’s eating and she’s hydrated,” Washington said. “And I want her to come home, it’s time to come home.”

According to a post Tuesday on the country’s government website, there were around 6,000 people in shelters.

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A group of monkeys being transported on a Mississippi highway that escaped captivity on Tuesday after the truck carrying them overturned did not carry a dangerous infectious disease, a university has said.

The truck was carrying rhesus monkeys, which typically weigh around 16lb (7.7kg) and are among the most medically studied animals on the planet.

Video shows monkeys crawling through tall grass on the side of Interstate 59 just north of Heidelberg, Mississippi, with wooden crates labeled “live animals” crumpled and strewn about.

The local sheriff’s department initially said the monkeys were carrying diseases including herpes, but Tulane University said in a statement that the monkeys “have not been exposed to any infectious agent”.

All but one of the escaped monkeys were killed, the Jasper county sheriff’s department said in a post on Facebook, warning that the monkeys were “aggressive”.

They were being housed at the Tulane University National Biomedical Research Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, which routinely provides primates to scientific research organizations, according to the university.

The crash happened about 100 miles (160km) from the state capital of Jackson. It was not clear what caused the truck to overturn.

The Associated Press contributed to this report