Mississippi
Mo. Dept. of Conservation to host guided paddle trip along the Mississippi River
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) – The Missouri Department of Conservation invites the community to a guided paddle trip along the Mississippi River later this month.
According to a release, participants will get to float by canoe or kayak, enjoy lunch on a sandbar and learn from expert guides on a 13-river mile trip from Trail of Tears State Park to the Red Star Access on August 24.
“This program is designed for confident paddlers who have a minimum of one year experience in paddling waterways such as the Current, Missouri or Black Rivers,” said MDC Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center Manager Laci Prucinsky.
“Generally, the river flows at five miles per hour,” Prucinsky added. “A support boat will always be present, as an added safety precaution but navigating this river definitely calls for skill and strength.”
The release noted that participants are asked to bring lunch, snacks, sufficient water, sunscreen and water shoes (no flip flops) and appropriate clothing for the river float. Personal flotation devices (PFDs) or lifejackets are required.
Additionally, participants ages 16 to 17 must be accompanied by an adult within the same boat. Participants are also required to attend a safety briefing covering navigation, river hazards, flows and other important information on Aug. 23.
Registration is required due to limited space. To sign up, call the Cape Girardeau CNC at (573) 290-5218.
For more information, click here.
Copyright 2024 KFVS. All rights reserved.
Mississippi
Eucharistic boat procession set to roll down Mississippi River
CNA Staff, Aug 6, 2024 / 12:34 pm
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament will float down the Mississippi River this August in a Eucharistic procession.
A procession of house, tug, and steamboats is set to launch in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Aug. 14 and land in New Orleans the following evening.
The 130-mile procession, known as the Fête-Dieu du Mississippi, has garnered attention from state and local officials who are encouraging attendance. The event is a fusion of the National Eucharistic Revival with a local tradition held by the religious Community of Jesus Crucified (CJC).
“The historic river procession is planned in conjunction with the national three-year Eucharistic Revival taking place in the United States and is intended as a missionary endeavor following on the heels of the recent National Eucharistic Congress held in Indianapolis this past July,” read the Aug. 4 press release.
“Over the past three years the Catholic Church in the United States of America has been experiencing a Eucharistic Revival,” said nationally-acclaimed speaker and Baton Rouge pastor Father Josh Johnson in a statement shared with CNA. “The bishops are now sending all Catholics out on mission to share our Eucharistic Lord with everyone throughout our neighborhoods, on the highways, and even in the water!”
Jesus in the Eucharist will be accompanied by at least 14 boats.
While a procession on foot is usually led by a crossbearer, this procession will have a dedicated boat to carry a specially-made 17-foot-tall crucifix. Another vessel carrying historic bells will announce the coming of the Blessed Sacrament, while a houseboat will bear the 14-foot-tall monstrance.
Beyond the Bayou
While the traditional procession is on the Bayou Teche, this year’s 10th annual procession will float along the Mississippi River, blessing the state of Louisiana and the river itself.
Louisiana’s governor and local mayors have encouraged residents to attend the river procession, citing its historical and religious significance.
“The Mighty Mississippi, once named the River of the Immaculate Conception, has been a blessing to our great state with all types of industry, commerce, worship, and recreation occurring on its waters and along its banks,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said in the press release.
Landry said the procession is “an historic moment in our state, highlighting the strong faith of our people and giving us an opportunity to ask God for his protection.”
“This historic event not only celebrates our faith but also unites our community in a spirit of reverence and reflection,” Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Broome added.
“New Orleans could not be the world-class city it is today without the Mississippi River and those who work hard on it day in and day out to provide for their families,” noted New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who said she “could not be more excited for the Fête-Dieu du Mississippi to bless our city, state, and river!”
Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans in a July 31 letter shared with CNA said the event is “one of a kind,” calling it “an extraordinary public witness of our faith” and encouraging laity, religious, and clergy to participate.
(Story continues below)
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Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, who headed the National Eucharistic Revival and Congress, endorsed the event, encouraging people to attend the Masses and processions.
“As the bishop of the diocese where the Mississippi begins, I am so delighted that the wonderful tradition of the Fête-Dieu du Mississippi continues to grow,” Cozzens said in a statement. “As we saw through the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage and Congress, whenever we honor Our Lord in the Eucharist, he pours out blessings upon us and our country.”
130 miles along the Mississippi
This year’s procession is set to begin with Mass at St. Joseph’s Cathedral celebrated by Bishop Michael Duca of Baton Rouge followed by a milelong procession on foot to the river.
“It is my prayer that the men and women participating on any leg of the procession route will be living witnesses of Christ, awakening a faith-filled fire and inspiring those around them to love one another as he has loved us first,” Duca said in the press release.
Along the Mississippi River, Eucharistic Revival rally spots will host speakers, prayer, and mobile confessionals while participants await the flotilla’s passing. The Blessed Sacrament will travel through Plaquemine, Donaldsonville, Convent, Luling, and Audubon Fly before reaching its final stop in New Orleans.
Local businessman Kurt Crosby of Crosby Tugs volunteered his houseboat to carry the Eucharist as well as a tugboat to push the “floating church” that will carry religious sisters, brothers, and priests on the river procession.
“We are looking forward to the event, most importantly to show people the living Eucharistic Lord on the Mississippi River in this starving world,” Crosby said in the press release.
When the boats arrive in Convent at the end of the day, participants will process to St. Michael the Archangel Church, where all-night prayer will be offered. Father Vincent Dufresne, pastor of St. Michael’s, has been organizing more than 100 volunteers in preparation for the event.
“It is my prayer that all participants, young and old alike, will be strengthened by this experience of community devotion to Our Lord and Savior; that they will continue to work for an ongoing awareness of Jesus in his real presence with us in our local churches,” he said in the press release.
The first-ever blessing of the Mississippi River and the state of Louisiana will take place on the solemnity of the Assumption at the Audubon Fly as the flotilla makes its way along the river.
The event will also feature a Holy Hour on the Steamboat Natchez, where participants may pray and make a Holy Hour on the water. The steamboat will meet up with the flotilla for the last hour on Aug. 15, according to an archdiocese spokesperson.
The flotilla is set to arrive in the French Quarter at about 4:25 p.m., where there will be Benediction on the levee at 5:15 p.m. in front of Jackson Square, followed by a procession into St. Louis Cathedral, where Aymond will celebrate Mass.
“We desire to thank God for the great state of Louisiana and its mighty river and we desire to beg God’s blessing as we embark on our future journey toward him,” said Father Michael Champagne, CJC, longtime organizer of the event.
The historic procession
The unique procession is an outgrowth of a traditional procession known as Fȇte-Dieu du Teche, which has been celebrated annually by the Community of Jesus Crucified and local Catholics.
“For 10 years, La Fête-Dieu du Teche has led Eucharistic processions down the waterways of south Louisiana. Each procession has been a unique celebration of Catholic faith and Cajun [and] Creole culture,” Louisiana native Father Aquinas Guilbeau, OP, told CNA in an email. Guilbeau, chaplain at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., is set to speak at the event.
The Bayou Teche procession is in honor of the feast of the Assumption and carries a statue of the Assumption of Mary along with the Blessed Sacrament. The procession makes occasional stops, disembarking to celebrate Benediction at makeshift altars along the waterways.
“What I love best about the Fête is that it reminds me of the Gospels when people would come from all over to see, hear, and touch Jesus… Hundreds of people waiting for the Lord to come… That’s what it’s like… It’s like you opened the Scriptures and dove in,” Courtney Chrisholm, an annual participant in the Fête-Dieu procession, said in a press release.
“At each stop along the way, there are hundreds of people adoring the Lord in the Eucharist. It’s incredible and such a gift,” she added. “Every year I have gone, I have encountered Our Lord in a new and profound way along the Bayou.”
The annual procession is part of a series of creative ways to evangelize developed the CJC as part of the new evangelization: Bible marathons, which entail 100 hours of the Bible being read aloud in shifts; mobile confession units styled after ambulances; and even a “friar truck,” a bold red repurposed fire truck that contains a massive pulpit.
The boat procession recalls local history, honoring the journey made by the Acadians, who were exiled from Nova Scotia for their Catholic faith, many of whom settled in Louisiana, according to the organizers of Fête-Dieu du Teche.
“This year, barely a month after the National Eucharistic Congress, the procession will go down the Mighty Mississippi, which Catholic explorers and missionaries first crossed nearly 450 years ago,” Guilbeau said. “The two-day procession from Baton Rouge to New Orleans will again claim the river, its lands, and its peoples for Christ and his Church.”
“I pray that all the towns and cities through which the Lord ‘passes by’ will receive abundant graces of conversion and renewal. I hope to see everyone — in the words of the old spiritual — ‘down by the riverside’!” he said.
Mississippi
Position preview: Looking at Mississippi State’s defensive line for the 2024 season
The countdown to this year’s college football season has begun in earnest with less than four weeks until Mississippi State opens the season on Aug. 31 against Eastern Kentucky at Davis Wade Stadium. The Bulldogs, under first-year head coach Jeff Lebby, opened fall camp on Thursday.
As camp progresses, The Dispatch will be taking a look at each position group on MSU’s roster, noting who could be the potential starters, backups and impact players to look out for on the gridiron.
The Bulldogs, despite losing Jaden Crumedy and Nathan Pickering, have several players returning on the defensive line. De’Monte Russell and Deonte Anderson will be relied on as the group’s veteran leaders, while Trevion Williams and Kalvin Dinkins are back after season-ending injuries early last season. MSU also added Sulaiman Kpaka and Kedrick Bingley-Jones in the transfer portal.
The Starters
De’Monte Russell
6-foot-4, 285-pound redshirt senior from Jackson, Mississippi
Entering his sixth year with the program, Russell became a starter for the first time last season, finishing with 24 tackles including six tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. After appearing in four games and redshirting as a true freshman in 2019, he missed all of 2020 with an injury but has played regularly since then.
Sulaiman Kpaka
6-foot-3, 300-pound redshirt senior from Grand Prairie, Texas
Kpaka spent the last five years at Purdue, appearing in just two games over his first three seasons there before becoming a regular in 2022. He made 19 tackles that year, 11 of them solo, then set a career-high with 2.5 tackles for loss last fall.
Kedrick Bingley-Jones
6-foot-4, 310-pound redshirt senior from Concord, North Carolina
Rivals ranked Bingley-Jones as the No. 3 player in North Carolina and the No. 5 defensive tackle in his class coming out of high school, but in four years with the Tar Heels, Bingley-Jones has made just eight tackles despite appearing in 26 career games.
The Backups
Trevion Williams
6-foot-4, 295-pound redshirt sophomore from Crystal Springs, Mississippi
A much-heralded recruit out of high school, Williams played in three games as a true freshman to keep his redshirt status intact, then missed the final nine games of last season with an injury. He has as much raw talent and potential as anybody in this position group, so if he can stay healthy, Williams can really bolster MSU’s defensive front.
Kalvin Dinkins
6-foot-2, 315-pound redshirt sophomore from Lake, Mississippi
Like Williams, Dinkins has yet to see the field much due to injury. He did not appear in any games as a true freshman, then was lost for the season last year after making his collegiate debut in the season opener against Southeastern Louisiana. If Dinkins can stay on the field this year, the Bulldogs’ defensive line becomes that much deeper.
Deonte Anderson
6-foot-3, 270-pound redshirt junior from Miami, Florida
Anderson redshirted in 2021 and made five appearances, mostly on special teams, in 2022, but was a key piece up front last year, playing in all 12 games with two starts. He finished with 38 tackles, including three tackles for loss and 0.5 sacks. Against Western Michigan, Anderson made five tackles, forced a fumble and broke up a pass at the line of scrimmage, and he made a career-high eight stops against Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl.
Eric Taylor
6-foot-4, 310-pound senior from Trussville, Alabama
Taylor spent his freshman year at LSU but did not play, then transferred to Southwest Mississippi Community College, where he had three sacks and eight tackles for loss in 2022. In his first year with MSU last year, Taylor played in every game and finished with 15 total tackles, becoming a quality depth piece for the Bulldogs.
The Rest
Joseph Head Jr.
6-foot-4, 240-pound redshirt freshman from Lexington, Mississippi
Head had a monster junior year at Holmes County Central High School, racking up 89 tackles, 12 sacks and three forced fumbles. He then had 21 tackles for loss and 17 quarterback hurries as a senior. He made his collegiate debut last October against Western Michigan but did not register any statistics.
Kai McClendon
6-foot-2, 305-pound freshman from Gulfport, Mississippi
McClendon finished his final high school season with 63 tackles (49 of them solo), eight tackles for loss, three sacks and a forced fumble. Georgia Tech and Arizona State were his other major conference offers.
Corey Clark
6-foot-4, 310-pound sophomore from Birmingham, Alabama
Clark began his college career at North Alabama, playing in 50 snaps across four games as a freshman to maintain his redshirt status. Last year, he played at Northeast Mississippi Community College, playing in nine games and recovering two fumbles despite making just five total tackles.
Gabe Moore
6-foot-4, 290-pound redshirt freshman from Louisville, Mississippi
Coming from a powerhouse high school program at Louisville, Moore put up otherworldly numbers as a senior with 116 total tackles (39 for loss), 12 sacks, five forced fumbles and two pass breakups. He did not appear in any games last year as a true freshman.
Gavin Nelson
6-foot-5, 285-pound redshirt sophomore from Birmingham, Alabama
Nelson made his first three collegiate appearances last season, making two tackles against Southeastern Louisiana and one against LSU.
Terrance Hibbler Jr.
6-foot-3, 290-pound freshman from Lexington, Mississippi
Hibbler chose MSU over a laundry list of offers, including Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss and seven other Southeastern Conference programs. He earned first-team all-state honors as a high school senior and was the MHSAA Class 5A Player of the Year, leading his team with 92 tackles and 21 sacks.
Ashun Sheppard
6-foot-3, 280-pound junior from Brandon, Mississippi
Sheppard played the last two years at East Mississippi Community College, helping the Lions reach the national championship game last year. He was the No. 11 ranked junior college defensive lineman in the country.
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Mississippi
What Mississippi is doing to keep elections secure
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The November election is less than 100 days away, and two federal agencies are making a public service announcement to explain that while some cyber attacks are possible, not all pose a threat to the security of your vote.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) jointly released information on DDoS attacks on July 31.
DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service and works by overwhelming websites with traffic, making them inaccessible.
Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson says it may sound familiar to you.
“We saw this directly here in Mississippi a couple of years back in an election,” explained Watson.
The DDoS attack happened in 2022 and kept many people from accessing the Secretary of State’s website at different times on election day.
“It was only our public facing website,” noted Watson. “No election information was breached. What we did was harden our system with some new tools to make sure if that’s the attack that happens, we see it. We can tell exactly what’s going on, and we can further defend ourselves from it.”
However, many question the integrity of the ballots being cast and counted.
“When it comes to elections, you don’t want just secure elections,” said Sen. Jeff Tate, former Senate elections committee chairman. “You want the perception of your elections to be secure. Also that’s very important.”
There were already some security measures in place to keep hackers out of the equation in Mississippi.
“Unless you could hack into a plug in the wall, you couldn’t hack into those machines,” said Watson.
In 2022, legislation was passed that adds some back-up security.
“The counties were due for new equipment,” explained Tate. “One of the mandates that we put with this money is that it had to be purchased by 2024 it had to have a paper trail, and it could not have the capability of being hooked up to the Internet. So, not only can it not be hooked up to the Internet, it can’t have the capability of being hooked up to the Internet.”
Secretary Watson notes that election interference will likely come in many forms, including misinformation.
That’s why he is encouraging you to reach out to his office or your local circuit clerk before you go sharing the latest election-related rumor you see on social media.
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Copyright 2024 WLBT. All rights reserved.
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