Pro-Business Smoke Out
Much has been written about the regional bidding war for the new Kia auto plant—a war in which Georgia defeated Mississippi, and Alabama was never really a competitor. But as state officials tout the various economic incentives they can offer manufacturers, here's something they need to think about: Would more companies want to come to their states if their work force were non-smoking?
Barbour Vetoes Tobacco-Grocery Tax Bill
Following is Gov. Haley Barbour's statement today vetoing the popular effort to raise the tax on cigarettes and lower the tax on on groceries. Note that he is repeating his past statement about the effect the tax-switch would have on local governments—even though his allegations on that front are disputed by the State Tax Commission. As quoted in Adam Lynch's report this week on this issue:
Lott, Cochran Introduce Bill for Offshore Gulf Drilling
[verbatim statement] A bill to direct revenues to Mississippi and other Gulf states, generated by the expansion of deepwater oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico, was introduced in the U.S. Senate Wednesday by Senators Trent Lott and Thad Cochran of Mississippi. The bill, authored by Senator Lott, is a response to legislation now before the Congress which proposes to open about three million acres in the Gulf's Lease Sale 181 Area, 123 miles southeast of Biloxi but which fails to provide any coastal impact assistance to states like Mississippi from the revenues that will be generated from the offshore oil and gas drilling.
‘Coon Hounds' Poem Causing Controversy
Read the poem here.
WMC-TV is reporting that a folksy poem by Paul Ott, proposed to the Legislature as the state poem, is causing controversy, with a group of Ole Miss professors and students saying it doesn't exactly make Mississippi look very, well, smart.
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