OurTupelo

Rick Cleveland, a columnist and correspondent for Mississippi Today, will be inducted into the Mississippi Press Hall of Fame during the 158th Annual Meeting on June 28 in Biloxi,.

Cleveland, an award-winning journalist who has spent decades chronicling sports in Mississippi, is the first sports journalist to be inducted. He has been recognized 13 times as Mississippi Sports Writer of the Year. 

“Rick is one of Mississippi’s most treasured storytellers,” said Mary Margaret White, Mississippi Today CEO and executive director. “We are so proud to see his years of sports journalism recognized with this incredible honor by the Mississippi Press Association.”

A Hattiesburg native, Cleveland graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. He went on to work at the Hattiesburg American, Monroe (La.) News Star World, Jackson Daily News and Clarion Ledger as a reporter, editor and columnist.

After leaving the Clarion-Ledger in 2012, he served for several years as executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. His work as a syndicated columnist and sports writer has appeared in magazines, periodicals and newspapers. He is the author of four books. His latest, the “Mississippi Football Book,” was published in 2023.

The post Rick Cleveland to be inducted into MPA Hall of Fame appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Felon Voting appeared first on Mississippi Today.

New federal funding announced in April will help bolster Mississippi’s efforts to track down potential orphan wells, the State Oil & Gas Board says.

Orphan wells, most of which were used for oil or gas production, are wells no longer in use but have no record of ownership or the company that dug them no longer exists. In an effort to ensure those wells have no oil or methane leaks, the federal government is spending $4.7 billion through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The U.S. Department of Interior announced $6.8 million for Mississippi on April 24, which is on top of $5 million the state got in initial funding.

“Many of these wells pose serious health and safety threats by contaminating surface and groundwater, releasing toxic air pollutants, and leaking methane – a ‘super pollutant’ that is a significant cause of climate change and many times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere,” an Interior Department press release said.

The state’s orphan well program has been around for decades, the Oil & Gas Board explained to Mississippi Today. Usually the board pays for the program with money it collects from the oil industry, but the new federal funds means the Board doesn’t have to wait to build up that pot of money. So far, the state has plugged 473 wells, according to the board’s database, most of which are in the southwest part of Mississippi.

While there are just seven known orphan wells the state still has to plug — three in Walthall County, three in Wilkinson County, and one in Wayne County — there are about 340 others that are potentially orphaned but are missing records, the database shows. The Board will use the federal funding to plug the known wells, as well as track down the others to make sure they were plugged properly.

Jess New, the board's executive director, said the federal grant gives the agency five years to conduct the work.

"With the funds provided, the (board) will seek to further identify, locate, characterize and rank orphan well sites, while continuing its efforts to plug, remediate and restore the locations on which those wells exist," New said in an e-mail.

To plug a well, New explained, the agency has to remove any piping or casing that was left inside, and then inject mud and a cement plug to seal it off. The new funding is also for "remediating" the wells by cleaning the sites and removing any old equipment that was left behind.

David Snodgrass, lead geologist for the board, said that part of the process is finding exactly where the old wells are, including many that are in the Jackson area.

"Literally there's one underneath our building," Snodgrass said. "We can't do anything about that. When things get built on top of something, it is what it is at that point."

He explained that many of the older wells have coordinates shown on hand-drawn maps, but contractors with the right technology — such as a magnetometer, a ground-penetrating radar, or lidar — can find the wells as long as they know the general area.

The post State to track down potential orphan wells with new federal funds appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Tased and Confused appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Can Mississippi State and Southern Miss baseball teams win tough regional tournaments on the road this weekend and advance to the NCAA Super Regionals? Glad you asked.

Answer: Of course, they can. But it will not be easy, especially where Southern Miss is concerned.

The Golden Eagles, winners of 14 of their last 15 and the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship, were sent to overall No. 1 seed Tennessee at Knoxville. It’s not a baseball death sentence, but it’s whatever comes closest.

State, which had hopes of hosting its own regional and probably should have, goes to Virginia where the host team won 26 of its 33 games this spring. The Cavaliers are not Tennessee, but they are not shabby, especially at the plate. 

Here are 10 things to know about what’s ahead for State and USM this weekend:

1. State’s first-round foe St. John’s is no pushover. State skipper Chris Lemonis is correct when he says of the Red Storm: “It’s just tough, hard-nosed, New York kids. Most of them are from the New York area and you’re playing against tough kids.” In its only shot at SEC competition this season, St. John’s beat Florida on the road. The Red Storm was 5-4 this season against Top 50 RPI teams. They have an ace and there’s a lot of him. Sophomore Mario Pesca, straight out of the Bronx, is 6-1 with a 2.94 ERA in 70 1/3 innings pitched, holding opponents to a .227 batting average. 
2. To get through the four-team regional, State must get more production from its power guys, Dakota Jordan and Hunter Hines. Jordan leads the Bulldogs with 17 home runs. Hines hit 15. They had one hit between them in four games of the SEC Tournament and neither has homered since Hines hit one of May 17 against Missouri.
3. Get past St. John’s and the Bulldogs would likely face host Virginia, which has won 10 of its last 13 games. The Wahoos can slug with anybody, but the pitching, especially starting pitching, is dicey. Virginia hit .342 with 113 home runs as a team. Furthermore, Virginia boasts 11 sluggers with 100 or more at bats who hit .294 or above.
4. Virginia is one of only four teams to host NCAA Regionals in both 2023 and 2024. Last year, the Hoos swept through their regional with three straight victories and then went two and out in the College World Series.
5. State hasn’t played in the post-season since winning the College World Series in 2021. This will be St. John’s 38th NCAA Tournament appearance but first since 2018.
6. Tennessee, the No. 1 seed and betting favorite to win the College World Series, is an intimidating 33-3 at home in Lindsey Nelson Stadium. That said, Southern Miss should know that the Vols are not invincible. In the 2023 Super Regional at Hattiesburg, the Golden Eagles defeated Tennessee 5-3 in Game One and had the Vols down 4-0 in Game Two with All American Tanner Hall on the mound. You know what happened next. Tennessee rallied to win Game Two and then blanked the Eagles 5-0 in Game 3 to advance to the CWS.
7. Southern Miss won the Sun Belt Tournament without the services of one its top sluggers, right fielder Carson Paetow, who is questionable for the Regional. Clearly, the Eagles need all hands on deck, it will be a game-time decision on Paetow, still recovering from a sprained right wrist.
8. No matter what happens at Knoxville and beyond, USM’s decision to elevate Christian Ostrander to head coach appears to be an exceptionally good one. Despite losing 70 percent of last season’s plate production, an All American ace and an All American closer, USM has won 41 games. Ostrander also has had to navigate several key injuries, besides Paetow’s, to achieve an eighth straight 40-victory season and second straight conference championship for the Eagles.
9. Indiana, playing the percentages, has decided to go with left-hander Ty Bothwell (6-3, 4.90 ERA), a sixth-year senior on the mound Friday. Percentages? Southern Miss hit .306 against right-handers, .263 against lefties this year.
10. No announcement has been made yet, but expect Southern Miss to go with Billy Oldham against Indiana in the first game. Oldham was excellent against Tennessee in the Super Regional last year, but Ostrander apparently has decided to go with Oldham Friday, which means Niko Mazza will likely throw on Saturday. 

The post Ten things to know about Regionals for Miss. State, Southern Miss appeared first on Mississippi Today.

RAYMOND — For the hundred or so Raymond residents who came to Tuesday’s Hinds County Planning Commission meeting about a proposed solar array, being able to see or hear what was going on was a luxury. The dozens of those who couldn’t fit into the packed, stuffy library room resigned to either peaking their heads in from the hallway or waiting outside in the 90 degree heat.

The focus of the meeting centered around a small group of representatives from the Virginia-based company Apex Clean Energy. The group, sweating in their collared shirts, stood before the Planning Commission to pitch what they argued was a huge economic opportunity for Hinds County: new jobs, tax revenue, and the chance to attract other businesses wanting to use solar energy.

After hearing everyone’s remarks, the Planning Commission ultimately voted against recommending the projects. But the final say rests with the Hinds County Board of Supervisors, who will make its decision at a June 17 meeting in Jackson.

Apex staff said at the meeting they started acquiring leases for the project, officially called “Soul City Solar,” in 2021, but residents said they first found about it during an informational session the company held on May 14.

Most of those residents who came on Tuesday were displeased with the idea. They argued that Raymond — a town of just under 2,000 people — is a venue for nature and open spaces, and, while they understood the allure of new income for the area, filling thousands of acres of land with metal panels sticking out of the ground doesn’t fit in with the town’s image.

“Whereas you would drive down the road and it would just be beautiful countryside, now you’re going to see an 8- to 10-foot cyclone fence,” said Allison Lauderdale, a Raymond resident who’s organized local opposition to the project, told Mississippi Today last week. “I think that’s going to be atrocious.”

Lauderdale started an online petition, which has close to 500 signatures, opposing Soul City Solar.

Tuesday’s meeting was contentious from the jump, as the Planning Commission seemed unprepared for the large turnout.

“Can y’all hear back there?” asked Delmer Stamps, one of the commissioners, explaining that they didn’t have microphones.

“No,” the crowd answered.

“We’re going to have to turn this air conditioner off,” another commissioner said.

“No! Talk louder!” the audience shouted back.

The Apex team then gave its pitch. The installation would use just under 6,000 acres, they explained, leasing property, including farmland, from seven private landowners the company has agreements with. Apex promised to maintain a perimeter of trees around the property so as to hide the panels from their neighbors’ view.

The project would produce 396 megawatts of electricity — in addition to battery storage of up to 70 megawatts — or enough to power 95,000 homes. Soul City Solar would be about twice as big as any solar farm that’s being constructed or currently running in Mississippi. Origis Energy is building a 200 MW plant in Lowndes County, and the largest operating plant is a 175 MW facility that EDP Renewables has in Scott County, former Public Service Commissioner Brent Bailey told Mississippi Today.

While Apex doesn’t have a utility to buy power directly from Soul City Solar, it’s plan is to sell power through the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, a nonprofit that serves as a marketplace for regional power grids.

Apex’s plan, should Hinds County approve the project, is to begin construction next year and have the panels operating by 2027. The company says its investment would bring in $156 million of local tax revenue over the 30 years that Apex is pledging to keep the facility. It would also create 400 construction jobs, along with 10 full-time operational positions.

Resident’s expressed a wide range of concerns, such as whether there would be harmful storm water runoff at the plant or issues recycling the metal panels. While the Environmental Protection Agency has penalized solar companies in the past over runoff violations during construction, Apex’s Tiffany Seavers said the company has plans to prevent such pollution in accordance with state and EPA regulations.

“Some of that will be extended buffers, some of that will be making sure that we have planting down very, very quickly after we have any kind of grading,” Seavers said.

But the most common objections were about the proximity of the panels to people’s homes as well as the potential disruption to the area’s wildlife.

“I don’t think everybody here is against solar, they’re against the location of this solar farm,” resident David Kazery said at the meeting. “We respect your hustle, but this venture could be done elsewhere that is more rural. I know y’all think that this is an extremely rural area, but there’s a lot of people here.”

Brian O’Shea, director of Public Engagement for Apex, said Soul City Solar will be at least 300 feet from other occupied properties. Other company officials reiterated at the meeting that the private landowners made the decision to lease their property for this use.

“We are working with landowners who chose to work with us,” Chris Hawk, a development manager for Apex, said. “They will continue to be the landowners at the end of the project. We will return the land to them for them to continue to use as they see fit, whether that’s farming or any other venture.”

It’s proposal, the company explained, is for Soul City Solar to exist for at least 30 years, and that it will be responsible for decommissioning and recycling the solar panels at the “end of (the panels’) useful life.”

The project would include “agricultural fencing” and “wildlife corridors” to allow animals to move throughout the space, Hawk added. Residents testified that deer, turkeys, and even black bears roamed the area.

Throughout the public comment period, residents passionately expressed their disagreement with the idea.

“I was offered money for my land (for Soul City Solar),” said Bolton resident Mike Brewer. “It’s not about the money for us. Y’all are the greedy bastards.”

Nicole McWilliams, a Raymond resident, fought back tears talking about her concerns over runoff from the solar array, especially because of the farmland that Soul City would occupy.

“The construction that we’re fixing to do is on so much acreage of agricultural land, and there’s been pesticides and there’s been chicken manure,” McWilliams said. “This is our community, so it means a lot to me.”

The Board of Supervisors’ meeting to decide whether to approve Soul City Solar will be on June 17 at 9 a.m. at the Hinds County Chancery Court.

The post Locals fight plan to bring state’s largest solar facility to Raymond appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Defying Gravity appeared first on Mississippi Today.

After one of the busiest baseball weekends of the year, Southern Miss first baseman Matthew Russo – one of the hottest players on one of the hottest teams in college baseball – joins the podcast to discuss the Golden Eagles’ Sun Belt Conference championship and upcoming NCAA Regional at Knoxville. There’s plenty more to discus, including Davis Riley’s PGA Tour victory.

Stream all episodes here.

The post Podcast: Matthew Russo of the red-shot Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles joins the pod. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Raising ‘Cane appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Jackson is laying the groundwork to use data across city departments and use it to address, initially, youth crime, homelessness and infrastructure needs. 

Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba is a member of the Bloomberg Philanthropies City Data Alliance, which trains mayors to understand data and use it to make decisions that can improve city services.

“If we don’t have proper data about where we stand, we can’t set sufficient goals of where we want to go in the future,” Lumumba said, adding that data also allows goals to be measured and followed.  

Twenty mayors from North and South America are part of the cohort, which met last spring. The mayor said the program is an opportunity to learn from other city leaders and see what Jackson is doing well. As part of a network of mayors, he can reach out to them even after the program is over.

James Anderson, head of government innovation programs for Bloomberg Philanthropies, said the mayor joined the program last year with an ambitious application that articulated a vision of changing a work culture that did not use data before. 

The use of data, including in city settings, has been a trend for the past decade, but the Bloomberg program is looking for mayors who want to take greater steps, Anderson said. 

For example, Jackson is now one of the few cities across America with a formal citywide data strategy, he said. 

“This alliance was the next step to help the most ambitious cities make ambitious gains,” Anderson said. 

Lumumba hopes using data can help the city be more proactive in its decision making and dealing with crises. As part of the citywide strategy, departments are also getting help with accessing data, understanding it and using it more in their daily work. 

One of his goals is to use data to reduce youth violence by addressing root causes of violence. 

Data has helped the city see that the sharpest increase in violence has been youth, and that has led to focused efforts for that population, such as work through the Office of Violence Prevention & Trauma Recovery and a youth curfew approved at the beginning of the year.

One challenge of a youth curfew is finding a place to house those who violate it, Lumumba said. There is a county facility, the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center, but it holds those charged with misdemeanors or felonies, including those who face adult criminal charges. 

A way to provide space for youth to go and to give them access to programs is through curfew centers, which Lumumba said are in the works. In a March episode of a city talk show, he said there are plans to partner with a local church to open a curfew center.

Lumumba envisions the center as a place staffed with social workers and professionals to provide young people with extra curricular activities and teach them conflict resolution skills. 

Through the program, another of the mayor’s goals is to use data to get Jackson to “functional zero” homelessness, which is the point where the same number of people entering homelessness exit homelessness in the same month. 

Although Lumumba said there are regional challenges to addressing the issue, recent counts show that 67 of the 93 people experiencing homelessness in central Mississippi were in the metro Jackson area. 

Nearly 1,000 people experienced homelessness in Mississippi in 2023, according to the Annual Homelessness Assessment Report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The common way to get these numbers are through “point-in-time” counts, which are completed annually by continuum-of-care service providers across the country in one day and gives an estimate of sheltered and unsheltered populations. 

Lumumba said he would like data collected in Jackson to go further because the current point-in-time counts are insufficient to understand what circumstances people are facing. Better data can help determine who needs housing and maybe, additionally, services for mental health or substance addiction, he said. 

Lumumba’s last data-related priority is about infrastructure needs and assessing the condition of roads and systems. 

He said a need is clear if residents report a road needing to be paved or a burst pipe. But beyond that, he said there is more work to be done, such as how paving projects relate to each other and how to create more mobility within the city. 

A program like the City Data Alliance can help cities make policy decisions, streamline services and look forward, said Dallas Breen, the executive director of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government and Community Development at Mississippi State University, which provides research, training and services to municipalities, counties and government agencies. 

Like Jackson is doing, Breen said it is helpful to work with a data scientist who can help city leaders and staff and understand the data they are looking at and how to collect it. 

“The more data you have, the more informed your decisions will be,” Breen said.

The post Crime, potholes, homelessness: Jackson turns to data for answers appeared first on Mississippi Today.