State
Looks like they’ll be talking trash in Harrison County Chancery Court
Sun Herald
The Harrison County Utility Authority has asked a chancery judge to stop Gulfport from breaking with the authority and contracting on its own for garbage and rubbish collection and disposal.
LOCAL CONCERNS AFTER TEXAS CHEMICAL PLANT EXPLOSION
WXXV
There were chemical plant explosions today outside of Houston, a result of flooding caused by the storms. Officials are checking the smoke from the site for harmful contaminants.
MSU: Give these bucks a pass
Clarion Ledger
A study aimed at tracking buck movement once hunters enter the woods is scheduled to begin this fall and meetings will be held this month to update those who hunt in the study area and answer any questions.
NEW HUNTING ZONE
Northside Sun
The Reservoir District is now in a new hunting zone. Recently, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks added new hunting zones to the state.
Regional
Foundation, International Paper announce reforestation effort on Texas, Louisiana border
The Advocate
A plan to reforest areas along the Louisiana-Texas border — already in the works before Hurricane Harvey's arrival — is expected to help nature recover from the blow dealt by the storm.
Hurricane watchers point to 2 key factors for busier than expected storm season
The Advocate
Halfway through hurricane season, the outlook has gotten darker.
As the remnants of Harvey still drift across the south, a new hurricane, Irma, has formed out in the Atlantic Ocean. Should it strengthen to a Category 4 or 5 storm, as predicted, it would be the second major hurricane of the 2017 season. Major storms are Category 3 and stronger.
National
Harvey pounded the nation's chemical epicenter. What's in the foul-smelling floodwater left behind?
LA Times
The pounding rains of Hurricane Harvey washed over the conduits, cooling towers, ethylene crackers and other esoteric equipment of the nation’s largest complex of chemical plants and petroleum refineries, leaving behind small lakes of brown, foul-smelling water whose contents are a mystery.
In Texas chemical-plant fire, failure of backup measures raises new fears
Washington Post
When the hurricane blew in, workers at the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Tex., faced the problem of keeping the plant’s volatile chemicals cold. The plant had 19.5 tons of organic peroxides of various strengths, all of them requiring refrigeration to prevent ignition.
EPA delayed chemical safety rule after industry complaints
AP
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration delayed an Obama-era rule that would have tightened safety requirements for companies that store large quantities of dangerous chemicals such as the chemical plant near Houston that exploded early Thursday.
States say EPA’s climate rule guidance is 'legally incorrect'
The Hill
Democratic attorneys general want the Trump administration to rescind guidance that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent to states about complying with the Obama administration’s main climate change regulation.
Mississippi River dam operations changed to deter Asian carp
AP
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The Army Corps of Engineers has tweaked how it runs Lock and Dam 8 on the Mississippi River in Genoa, Wisconsin, in hopes of impeding the spread upriver of invasive Asian carp.
Dow, DuPont merger finally complete nearly 2 years after deal reached
USA Today
The chemicals makers officially completed their deal Thursday, becoming DowDuPont after first announcing their betrothal in December 2015.
Press Releases
Contact
Catherine Jennison
601-631-5818
Catherine.R.Jennison@usace.army.mil
VICKSBURG, MISS… The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Vicksburg District has entered into a Partnership Project Agreement with the town of Noxapater in Winston County. The signing of the Wastewater System Rehabilitation Project (Section 592 Program) was held at the District Headquarters Building, on August 29, 2017.
The Town of Noxapater was represented by the Mayor of Noxapater, Sammy Carter who was accompanied by Stanley Spradling, engineer. Col. Michael C. Derosier, also part of the signing, stated he appreciates the opportunity to work with local communities.
The total project costs, $500,000, will be used to design and construct a wastewater system rehabilitation. The wastewater system will inspect, clean, and repair approximately 4,000 linear feet of existing sewer lines, upgrade the existing wastewater treatment facility, and install rotating biological reactors in the lagoon. The project will allow the town to be in compliance with the disinfection limits set forth by The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
The project costs will cover estimated costs for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance; review and technical assistance provided by the Vicksburg District; design, construction, and lands, easements, rights-of-way, relocations, and disposal areas (LERRD).
The Section 592 Program provides environmental assistance to non-federal interests in Mississippi. Assistance may be in the form of design and construction assistance for water-related environmental infrastructure and resource protection and development projects in Mississippi. This includes, but is not limited to, projects for wastewater treatment and related facilities, elimination or control of combined sewer overflow water supply and related facilities, environmental restoration, and surface water resource protection and development.
National Public Lands Day
National Public Lands Day is the nation’s largest, single-day volunteer event for public lands. Held every year on the last Saturday of September, National Public Lands Day brings together hundreds of thousands of individual, student and organizational volunteers to help maintain and restore America’s treasured places.
Gov. Bryant Appoints Judge David M. Ishee to Mississippi Supreme Court
JACKSON – Gov. Phil Bryant announced today that he has appointed Judge David M. Ishee to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Ishee’s appointment is effective Sept. 18. He will replace Supreme Court Justice Jess H. Dickinson, who has accepted the appointment of commissioner of Mississippi Child Protection Services.
“Judge Ishee’s extensive experience in presiding over cases for more than two decades in Mississippi will serve him well on our state’s highest court,” Gov. Bryant said. “I am pleased he has agreed to accept this appointment.”
“It’s a great honor to be appointed to the Mississippi Supreme Court. It has been something I have aspired to for most of my career, and I greatly appreciate the governor’s confidence in me,” said Ishee. “I look forward to working with my new colleagues on the Supreme Court.”
Ishee was appointed in 2004 to the Mississippi Court of Appeals by then-Gov. Haley Barbour. During that time, Ishee was appointed by the chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court to chair the Criminal Section of the Model Jury Instructions Revision Committee, which revised the Criminal Model Jury Instructions for the circuit courts of Mississippi. He has also served as a special circuit court judge and chancellor in numerous counties by appointment of the Mississippi Supreme Court.
In 1999 he was appointed municipal court judge for the city of Gulfport. At the age of 29, in 1993, he was appointed municipal court judge for the city of Pascagoula, making him the youngest municipal court judge in Mississippi. He was re-appointed for a second term in 1996. During this time, he also served one year as interim municipal court judge for the city of Ocean Springs, and was judge pro tem for the Jackson County Youth Court, where he presided over numerous child custody hearings as well as hearings involving abused and delinquent children.
Ishee graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1985 with a bachelor of science in history. He also attended the University of London and received his juris doctorate from the University of Mississippi School of Law.
He is a member of Trinity United Methodist Church, where he serves as an usher and a staff Parish Committee member.
Ishee lives in Gulfport with his wife, Linda, and their daughter, Lauren.
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