State
Greenbriar water, sewer project is chugging along
Daily Leader
The city’s engineer is forecasting an early completion for the water and sewer expansion in Brookhaven.
Repairs Approved for Another Sinking Greenville Manhole
Delta Daily News
Another sinking Greenville manhole has been approved for repairs. The Greenville City Council on Tuesday approved spending about a quarter of a million dollars with Mitchell Contracting of Madisonville, Louisiana to fix the sinking manhole in the sewer line on Caldwell Drive.
City officials seek $1.6M to help cover cost of erosion project
Vicksburg Post
The city of Vicksburg is seeking $1.6 million in emergency watershed protection money to help cover the cost of stabilizing the west bank of Hennessey’s Bayou in south Vicksburg.
Supervisors name new person to Utility Authority Board of Directors
Picayune Item
A new member of the Pearl River County Utility Authority was appointed by the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors during Tuesday’s meeting.
State Government
Did the Mississippi Dept. of Education waste $840,000 on software project?
Clarion Ledger
The state Department of Education spent $840,000 then scrapped a $5.5 million software project initially pitched as a potential cost saver for the state’s school districts.
Oil Spill
Bryant signs BP settlement bill into law in grand style
WLOX
GULFPORT, MS (WLOX) -It's official: Governor Phil Bryant signed into law a new economic future for South Mississippi.
Regional
'People will only tolerate so many false alarms': Experts talk Tropical Storm Gordon forecast
The Advocate
Louisiana officials declared an emergency, called out the National Guard, shuttered schools and closed courthouses as Tropical Storm Gordon drew near, but the weather system bucked east and left the Pelican State unscathed.
National
Researchers warn a common air pollutant is a driver of dementia, even at levels below current EPA standards
Washington Post
Low air quality, even at pollution levels well below current Environmental Protection Agency thresholds, is associated with increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease in later life, according to a new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Acting EPA chief to visit Butte, Anaconda Superfund sites
KTVH
BUTTE – Acting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler will travel to the Butte-Anaconda Superfund Sites this Friday, according to the office Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont.
Schools Across the U.S. Find Elevated Lead Levels in Drinking Water
WSJ
Schools in multiple states are tearing out water fountains and old faucets after finding elevated levels of lead in their drinking water.
Dem state attorneys general sue Trump admin for repealing bird protection policy
The Hill
Eight Democratic state attorneys general sued the Trump administration Wednesday to try to overturn a policy that repealed certain protections for migratory birds.
Press Releases
Dennis Jones Selected as Area Conservationist for
USDA NRCS Mississippi Southern Counties
Jackson, September 5, 2018 -The United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is pleased to announce that Dennis Jones has been named Area Conservationist and will oversee 24 NRCS Field Service Centers in the southern counties of Mississippi.
“I am very humble, grateful and excited to serve as the Area Conservationist in Area 3,” Jones said. “I look forward to continuing working with our partners and the landowners in fulfilling NRCS’s mission of Helping People, Help the Land.”
Jones will replace Wesley Kerr, who retired in December 2016 as Area Conservationist.
Jones, a native of Waynesboro, Miss., has been involved in agriculture all his life. As a child, he worked on his grandmother’s beef cattle farm and frequently assisted his father, who worked with the Mississippi State Extension Service as a county agent and district program director. Throughout high school and college, he worked as a farm manager on a horse and beef cattle farm in Wayne County.
Jones, a 1999 graduate of Wayne County High School, received a scholarship to play football and pursue a degree in General Agriculture at Alcorn State University. He graduated cum laude from Alcorn in 2003.
After graduation, Jones obtained a Soil Conservationist job with the NRCS in Pontotoc County, Mississippi from 2003 to 2005. He then served as a Soil Conservationist in Marshall County, Mississippi from 2005 to 2006, and the District Conservationist in Union County, Mississippi from 2006 to 2009. He later served as the Supervisory District Conservationist for Lincoln, Lawrence, and Franklin Counties from 2009 to 2014. Most recently he worked as the Area Resource Conservationist for Area 3.
Jones is married to the former Carol Taylor of Buckatunna, Miss, and they have three children, Kara (11), and twins Dennis Jr. and Layla (9).
Jones has a vast knowledge of conservation practices and Farm Bill Programs. He also enjoys working with producers and NRCS staff to get conservation on the ground.
EPA Wraps Up Community Engagement Event in Kansas
09/05/2018
Leavenworth, KS – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wrapped up the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) community engagement in Leavenworth, Kansas with nearly 100 attendees.
EPA Awards $2 Million to Establish Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary Program
09/05/2018
ATLANTA (September 5, 2018) – Today in Pensacola, Fla., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Gulf of Mexico Program awarded the Bay Area Resource Council (BARC) a $2 million cooperative agreement to establish the Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary Program.
Interior Announces More Than $36 Million to Boost to Wetland, Waterfowl Conservation, Access to Public Lands
WASHINGTON – The Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, chaired by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, today approved $23.8 million in grants for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners to conserve or restore almost 135,000 acres of wetland and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, shorebirds and other birds in 17 states throughout the United States.
NFWF Awards Nearly $1 Million in Grants to Recover Monarch Butterflies and Pollinators across the United States
Seven projects will increase pollinator habitat and boost conservation efforts
WASHINGTON, D.C. (SEPTEMBER 5, 2018) –The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) today announced seven grant awards totaling more than $920,000 to conserve monarch butterflies and other insect pollinators in 19 states across the country.
Moving Mountains: Elwha River Still Changing Five Years After World’s Largest Dam-Removal Project: More than 20 million tons of sediment flushed to the sea
USGS
Starting in 2011, the National Park Service removed two obsolete dams from the Elwha River in Olympic National Park, Washington. It was the world’s largest dam-removal project. Over the next five years, water carrying newly freed rocks, sand, silt and old tree trunks reshaped more than 13 miles of river and built a larger delta into the Pacific Ocean.
