State
Radioactive material missing from Mississippi job site
NY Daily News
A yellow box containing radioactive material was stolen Friday morning in Mississippi.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department said a Troxler Nuclear Density Gauge was taken from a Mississippi Department of Transportation bridge site on Highway 57, according a press release.
Judge approves Costco fuel site
Madison County Journal
RIDGELAND — The city won its zoning appeal in the Costco store headed for Highland Colony Parkway.
AREA BUSINESSES GOING GREEN
WCBI
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – In January of 2019, California became the first state to ban plastic straws in diners and restaurants unless specifically asked for by a customer.
Likewise, Seattle was the first major city to enact a similar law.
11 confirmed cases of chronic waste disease in Mississippi, last day of deer hunting
WJTV
Today is the last day for deer hunting season in Mississippi.
Once again, Mississippi hunters are No. 1 at harvesting mature deer
Clarion Ledger
According to the Quality Deer Management Association, Mississippi hunters are No. 1 when it comes to harvesting mature deer.
Bambi beware: Hunting could soon be legal in parts of city
AP
STARKVILLE, MISS.
It could soon be legal to hunt with a gun in parts of a northeast Mississippi city.
The Commercial Dispatch reports that Starkville aldermen may allow hunters to shoot guns on properties of a certain size.
10 Mississippi counties eligible for disaster funds
WDAM
Ten Mississippi counties will be able to apply for federal dollars to help cover the costs of repairing roads and bridges damaged by heavy rains and winds in December.
Man charged with three counts arson after American Furniture fire
Daily Journal
A Pontotoc County man was charged Friday with three counts of second-degree arson in connection with a fire Thursday afternoon that destroyed a large warehouse at American Furniture in the Pontotoc County Industrial Park south of Ecru.
State Government
Mississippi National Guard promotes officer to general
AP
The Mississippi National Guard has a new general, promoting Amos P. Parker from colonel.
The guard promoted Parker on Friday. He is a Summit native who serves as the assistant adjutant general for the Army at Mississippi National Guard headquarters.
Oil Spill
Camille Cut is no more. A look at new changes to the barrier islands of the Mississippi Coast.
Sun Herald
It’s time to order new signs and update the brochures, because for the first time in 50 years, there’s no longer a Camille Cut or an East and West Ship Island.
...▪ Round Island — A fill project in 2017 left this island off the coast of Pascagoula and Gautier with a core so porous it acted like quicksand. Chris Wells, chief of staff at Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, said he’d like to say that two years later there isn’t a risk for people venturing onto the island, “But I can’t.” The dredge of sand, water and dirt pumped onto the island from the Pascagoula shipping channel hasn’t had enough time yet to settle, he said, and MDEQ is asking people to continue to stay off Round Island until the work on the island is complete. “We had signs up at one point asking folks to stay off,” he said. “Hurricane Nate took care of them.”
Ultimately, the interior is going to be a marsh, he said. A living shoreline project, being funded with Restore Act money from the BP oil spill recovery funds, is providing plants to protect the berm from erosion. While people are off the island, it’s been a very productive bird nesting area, he said, and Audubon is monitoring the site.
Audubon just released its Gulf Coast Restoration Plan, recommending $1.7 billion needs to be spent across the five Gulf states to fund 30 projects the organization says are vital to the region’s recovery,
Audubon makes case for $2.5 million in projects for Mississippi Gulf Coast
Mississippi Today
The National Audubon Society is recommending a $1.7 billion investment in the Gulf Coast through restoration and conservation efforts, including $2.5 million worth of projects in Mississippi.
Regional
Noah Valenstein keeps job as chief of Florida’s environmental agency
Tampa Bay Times
TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday that he has reappointed Noah Valenstein to keep his role as secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
EPA hits chemical maker's NC plant for not notifying on new compounds
AP
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says a chemical maker’s North Carolina plant may have broken federal law by failing to notify the agency before it started manufacturing and repurposing new industrial compounds.
2 orange alligators spotted in Bluffton. What’s causing them to change colors?
Island Packet
Two orange alligators that look like they took a bath in some bad self-tanner are raising eyebrows in the Lowcountry again.
LSU scientists will be scanning Mississippi River for Mardi Gras beads after Carnival; here's why
The Advocate
Scientists will be scanning for colorful beads and other Mardi Gras throws that make their way into the Mississippi River after this year's Carnival season.
Small earthquake detected in Randolph County
WMC
RAVENDEN SPRINGS, AR (KAIT) - The seismograph was busy early Sunday as a small earthquake was detected near Ravenden Springs.
National
Just How Green Are U.S. Airlines?
Carriers want fliers to see them as eco-friendly—but while their planes are more efficient, their greenhouse-gas emissions are rising overall
WSJ
Virgin Atlantic Airways flew the first biofuel demonstration flight in 2008. Eleven years later, no airline has done much more than that. One of the major elements in reducing aviation-produced greenhouse gases has yet to take off.
'Zombie deer disease’ has impacted wildlife in 24 states
(Gray News) – A fatal disease that affects the brains and spinal cords of deer, elk and moose has shown up in at least 24 states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Untested water: 99.9 percent of foreign fish goes without testing for unsafe drugs
VENICE, LA (InvestigateTV) - Nearly every piece of seafood in U.S. grocery stores and restaurants comes from another country, but our government only looks at a tiny fraction to make sure it’s safe.
Illinois EPA shuts sterilization facility due to pollution
AP
A suburban Chicago plant that sterilizes medical instruments with a chemical believed to be cancer causing has been shut by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Coal ash cleanup legislation heads to Gov. Northam
WHSV
RICHMOND, Va. (CNS) — Two bills are headed to the governor’s desk requiring Dominion Energy to clean up millions of tons of coal ash at four Virginia power plants in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Trump nominates a top FEMA official to lead the agency
CNN
President Donald Trump has nominated a senior Federal Emergency Management Agency official to lead the agency, following director Brock Long's resignation earlier this week. Jeffrey Byard is currently FEMA's associate administrator for the Office of Response and Recovery, the "senior-most executive over disaster response, recovery, logistics, and field operations," according to a statement from the White House Press Office. A Marine veteran, he joined the agency in September 2017, per ProPublica, in the midst of the agency's response to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
