State
Elected officials contend with storms’ aftermath
Monroe Journal
Governmental bodies across the county addressed a number of points last week related to a severe weather outbreak April 13 and 14 that claimed one life, spawned two tornadoes, left numerous homes damaged or destroyed and caused several injuries, isolated flooding and widespread damage.
...Clay said the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality will not issue burn permits for the debris.
Earth Day Celebration on Saturday
DeSoto Times-Tribune
DeSoto County will celebrate Earth Day this Saturday in Hernando. It is the ninth annual Earth Day Celebration held on the DeSoto County Courthouse square.
Major sewer line project underway in downtown Columbia
WDAM
COLUMBIA, MS (WDAM) - A major sewer project is underway in downtown Columbia.
About 170 feet of sewer line is being replaced on Main Street next to the county courthouse.
It’s a $138,000 project that began last week.
MSU Fish Lab awards first grants for international research
NewsMS
The international Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish has made the first round of awards for research, granting $100,000 each to five projects in four countries.
State Government
Many state employees are waiting to get small pay raises. But not MDOT engineers, some other workers.
Clarion Ledger
The state's 27,000 employees haven't received an across-the-board pay raise in more than a decade.
Officials say they’ll make up teacher raise shortfall later
AP
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — State officials said Wednesday that they’ll make up a $10 million to $15 million shortfall in funding for teacher raises of $1,500 apiece after the Mississippi Department of Education miscounted the number of eligible teachers.
Regional
Efficient irrigation improves yields, conserves resources
Delta Farm Press
On average, the Mid-South receives abundant annual rainfall to produce good yields and high quality for numerous field crops.
National
House Oversight opens investigation into EPA administrator's compliance with ethics law
CNN
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has opened an investigation into Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler's compliance with an ethics law that requires officials to disclose all sources of money earned in an amount greater than $5,000 two years prior to holding an appointed position, according to a letter House Oversight chairman Elijah Cummings sent Wheeler.
PFAS contamination is Michigan's biggest environmental crisis in 40 years
Detroit Free Press
Sandy Wynn-Stelt knows it's too late for herself. The chemicals she drank for perhaps 25 years out of her tap — the ones that now poison her blood at levels 750 times the average American's — will remain inside her body.
Thousands of private wells have unsafe levels of bacteria, nitrates, new study says
Des Moines Register
Thousands of private wells that Iowans use for drinking water are contaminated with unsafe levels of bacteria and nitrates, a study looking at 16 years of data shows. The Environmental Working Group and the Iowa Environmental Council blame farmers' use of fertilizer for the pollution.
Oklahoma governor signs law banning bans on plastic bags
The Hill
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) has reportedly signed a law banning bans and fines on plastic bags.
New spike-armored dinosaur discovered in Texas
Fox News
Hillsboro paleontologist Andre LuJan had been digging on his company-owned property in the dusty west Texas hills for years, with little to show for it but a few small fossils.
