State
Mississippi sues Army Corps, Mississippi River Comm. over spillway openings
GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - Mississippi is suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi River Commission calling the intrusion of freshwater into the Mississippi Sound from repeated openings of the Bonnet Carré Spillway “illegal.”
“In any instance where you have this kind of occurence, you have to first stop the bleeding,” said Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann.
Hosemann was in Gulfport Monday to announce the filing “on behalf of the citizens on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and all people in Mississippi.”
Regional
Water quality sensor hitches ride on Mississippi River boat
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A data-gathering sensor attached to the American Queen steamboat will give scientists and cities a better understanding of water quality along the entire length of the Mississippi River.
U.S. Geological Survey and Army Corps of Engineers officials, a group of Mississippi River city mayors and the operators of the American Queen showed off the new equipment on the steam-driven vessel in Memphis last fall.
Deer Disease Takes Its Toll on Hunting in the South
Deer hunting has declined in some Southern states since a fatal, mad-cow-like disease was discovered in the region’s deer population, state officials said. Chronic wasting disease can be transmitted among deer species, including whitetail deer, the most popular large-game target for American hunters. The incurable disease has spread across the U.S. and can now be found in deer populations in large parts of the West and Midwest as well as in states farther east, including Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.
In 2018, it came to Mississippi and Tennessee.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/deer-disease-takes-its-toll-on-hunting-in-the-south-11577788200
Mobile to decide key issue on Amtrak future on Gulf Coast
City leaders are preparing to decide a key issue in restoring passenger train service along the northern Gulf Coast, where Amtrak hasn’t operated regularly since Hurricane Katrina.
Council members are scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to commit as much as $3 million over three years to operate Amtrak trains through the city, al.com reported. Katrina badly damaged rail lines in 2005, and Amtrak hasn’t resumed regular east-west service since then.
National
The Trump administration’s environmental stocking stuffers
While Americans were buying and opening their Christmas presents, the Trump administration’s environmental regulators were wrapping up their work on some controversial issues, including some proposed rollbacks of Bush and Obama-era regulations.
Their gifts — which you might have missed amidst the holidays — include policies on energy efficient lightbulbs, water contamination and pesticides.
Here are the details:
