Author Archives: Colin Krieger

City of Columbus Waives Debt for Local Business

By Business, Columbus, Manufacturing, Mil. Manufacturing, Military

City of Columbus Waives Debt for Local Business

THE DISPATCH –

The city of Columbus has agreed to forgive about $80,000 clothing manufacturer American Power Source, located at 826 17th Ave. S., owes on its property note. In exchange, the company must pay property taxes and note payments that are delinquent and keep its employment at a minimum of 30 jobs. Photo by: Alex Holloway/Dispatch Staff

City Attorney Jeff Turnage reported that the city and Golden Triangle Development LINK worked out an agreement which would see military clothing manager American Power Source Inc. repay roughly $66,000 worth of back taxes and note payments to the city, the county, and the city school district, in exchange for the deed to the manufacturer’s property and other considerations. The agreement also requires that the company continue to do business at their current location, as well as maintaining current employment for local workers.

“In the past three to four years,” the agreement states, “APSI has unfortunately experienced a substantial reduction in orders and sales volume for U.S. military uniforms that it produces due, at least in part, to a shift in the production of such uniforms to U.S. prisons.”   Because of slumping production, American Power Source has missed several note payments and ad valorem tax payments for 2014-16. The resolution notes a “substantial likelihood” the company would fail to make the remaining note payments.

Ward 4 Councilman Marty Turner, who cast the one opposing vote, did so because he said he didn’t feel it was in the best interest of his ward or the city as a whole. He encouraged people to research the company and agreement, and said he felt more people should have been involved before the final decision.  “It could have been much better if more people were involved for the disclosure of what was going on,” Turner said. “It could have been much better. I don’t just necessarily disagree with everything, but if we would have had a better deal, then I would have went along with it . . .It seems like the government is leaving the ordinary people out of the discussion, and their representatives are just voting just to vote,” he added.

Please click here for full article.

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New Businesses Coming to Columbus, New Hope, Starkville

By Business, Columbus, Foodservice, Main Street, New Hope, Retail, Starkville

New Businesses Coming to Columbus, New Hope, Starkville

Courtesy of THE DISPATCH

Caleb Sherman of The Dispatch

New businesses are in the process of opening up shop for the convenience of customers!

In Columbus, Bargain Hunt is moving into the old Southern Family location next to K-Mart on 45

In New Hope, Starkville’s Smartphone Doctor will be adding a new location in the Lehmberg Crossing shopping center on Alabama St.

Starkville’s Main Street will be getting “Pop Porium,” a gourmet popcorn, sno-ball, and soda fountain featuring homemade syrup flavors. They hope to have a hundred varieties of popcorn available for sale by the end of the year, based on customer feedback; they plan to open soon with fifty.

Read the full article here: http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=56294

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West Point’s Navistar Plant Going Strong

By Business, Manufacturing, Mil. Manufacturing, Other Manufacturing, West Point

West Point’s Navistar Plant Going Strong

PRESS RELEASE

WEST POINT, Miss. (AP) – Navistar International Corp. has been awarded a $35 million contract to deliver 40 armored vehicles to Pakistan from its Mississippi plant.

The U.S. Army announced the contract Thursday, saying Navistar, based in Lisle, Illinois, had made the only bid for the mine resistant ambush protected MaxxPro Dash DXM trucks.

Work is supposed to be done at Navistar’s plant in West Point, as well as in Pakistan, and is estimated to be finished by Oct. 31, 2018.

Although the West Point plant had laid off all its workers in 2013, it has since won a series of contracts to build or refurbish vehicles for the U.S. Army and foreign militaries, hiring several hundred workers.

Courtesy of WCBI

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WIN Center Moves to New Location, Still Helping Workers Find Jobs PDQ

By Business, Education, EMCC, Golden Triangle, Starkville

MAYHEW – Courtesy of the Commercial Dispatch

The WIN center, which helps to match prospective employees up with jobs of all sorts, is up and running during its move to a new facility at EMCC’s Center for Manufacturing Technology Excellence in Mayhew.

Calvin Dailey, an interviewer with the WIN center, said the state-funded job placement center regularly draws 200 to 400 people, mostly job-seekers, per week from Clay, Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Noxubee and neighboring counties, depending on the season.  “If you just come in here saying, ‘I need a job today,’ nine times out of 10, we’re able to get you a job today because you just want employment,” he said. “But if you come in and you’ve got a resume and you want something specific, we’re going to work with you until we help you get that job.” He went on to remark that “Moving here turns us into a one-stop shop; moving here was a great benefit to our people, really.”

Once a client comes seeking a job, WIN creates a profile — that can be used at any WIN center in the state — and helps track potential matching openings.  The WIN center also offers a variety of training programs, designed to help workers build better resumes, dress for success, and more. They also provide assistance to workers displaced due to jobs being outsourced overseas, as well as to veterans in search of work.

There is no cost to use the WIN center’s services, and the referral service does not conduct background checks nor drug testing; workplaces that require these are expected to handle it themselves.

The city of Starkville recently submitted 10 job orders to the WIN center, and City Human Resources Director Navarrete Ashford said that seems to be working out well — with interviews for eight of those openings scheduled this week.

The WIN center, as always, works hard to help people find work, and to help employers find workers – and THAT’S Good for Business!

Please click here for the full article.

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M. Smith’s Newest Work Launches Today to Great Fanfare

By Culture/Entertainment, Recreation

M. Smith’s Newest Work Launches Today to Great Fanfare

From information obtained from the author’s publisher (Lee Boudreaux Books/Little, Brown & Co.)/Press Release and  The Dispatch

COLUMBUS, MS –

Michael Farris Smith, award-winning author of 2013’s “Rivers,” will be officially releasing his brand-new book, “Desperation Road,” to the public tonight at an event from 5 to 7 PM. The event will be held at Book Mart at 501 Main Street in downtown Columbus. Please stop by the store to pick up a copy and show your support for a local author!

The book describes “Russell Gaines on the morning he is finally released from the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections: ‘In the southern Mississippi swamp you can watch the world awaken as the pale yellow sun edges itself between the trees and moss and widewinged cranes.…Limbs too old to hold themselves up any longer bend and break like old men accepting their marshy graves.'” It goes on to tell of how he must now adapt to how the world has changed in the eleven years of his incarceration, and how he must adapt even more quickly to the angry relatives of a man whose death he was held responsible for…and that’s just for starters.

Initial reviews of the work give it high praise:

“DESPERATION ROAD is a brilliantly compelling novel dealing with an enormously difficult but fundamental reality of the human condition: how lives lived intensely for years without connection to or even knowledge of each other can suddenly intersect with profound consequences. Michael Farris Smith is a prodigiously talented writer whose new book is not only an exciting read but an important literary event.” —Robert Olen Butler, author of A Small Hotel

“A novel that lends dignity and grace to those too often damned, DESPERATION ROAD is fearless, guttural, and thunderously heartfelt. Quite simply one of our finest writers at work today, Michael Farris Smith has made his own place at the table.”—David Joy, author of Where All Light Tends to Go

“Anchored by prose that is both poetic and brutal, DESPERATION ROAD is a gorgeous and violent book. But don’t be fooled by the title. Michael Farris Smith’s novel teems with the honest and believable humanity that only the bravest writers dare to search for in the most troubled souls.” —Ivy Pochoda, author of Visitation Street

Smith was honored for his work as part of last month’s “Goose’s Grand Gala.”

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Internet Tax Bill in Jeopardy

By Business, Retail

Internet Tax Bill in Jeopardy

 

This is a follow-up to a couple of stories we published recently:

PRESS RELEASE — Associated Press by way of The Dispatch

JACKSON — The Mississippi House could be on track to reverse itself and eventually kill a proposed internet sales tax.

Jeff Smith (courtesy photo)

House Bill 480 passed the House on Wednesday, despite opposition from some Republicans who said they oppose any new taxes. The bill would enforce sales tax collections for items sold over the internet, and would earmark the money for road and bridge work.

The bill was put on hold for the possibility of more debate. On Thursday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jeff Smith, R-Columbus, tried to remove that hold and send the bill to the Senate — but opponents blocked him.

The House has until Feb. 13 to reconsider the bill. If nothing happens by then, the bill will die.

The bill is an effort to formalize the collection of sales taxes from Amazon.com and others that sell goods to Mississippians from outside the state. It would set aside the internet sales tax collections to pay for road and bridge work, with 70 percent going to the state, 15 percent to counties and 15 percent to cities.

College Board researchers estimated in January that Mississippi was losing between $106 million and $123 million in sales tax revenue. Transportation officials say they need at least $500 million to prevent roads from deteriorating. However, many lawmakers refuse to raise fuel taxes, leaving road advocates searching for other revenue.

Original article here: http://cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=56015

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IHL Commish Emphasizes the Need for MS’s Future Success: More College Grads

By Business, Education

IHL Commish Emphasizes the Need for MS’s Future Success: More College Grads

COLUMBUS – Info courtesy of the Dispatch

Glenn Boyce – IHL commissioner (courtesy photo)

Glenn Boyce, commissioner of Mississippi’s Institutions of Higher Learning, recently spoke to the Rotary Club about what he feels is needed for the state to continue its success in business going forward: Namely, getting people into college – and more importantly – seeing them through to graduation.

“Mississippi’s future economic growth is post-secondary training,” Boyce said. “The simple truth is that if we don’t get Mississippians through college with a degree, our economic growth is going to stagnate. By 2020 — that’s just three years from now — studies show that 65 percent of all new jobs will require a post-second degree or specialized training.”
Educating residents is one thing, though. Keeping them is another important issue, Boyce said.

He pointed out that students in Mississippi have been making great strides in recent years in terms of both education in general and the college graduation rate, but that we still lag far behind the national average. He also spoke about the need to provide viable work opportunities for new graduates in-state: “You hear a lot about what’s called ‘The Brain Drain’ in Mississippi,” he said. “It’s disturbing. We’re losing as many as 50 percent of our graduates to other states. It’s not because they don’t love Mississippi. It’s because there aren’t opportunities for them here. If they have the opportunities, they will stay. In fact, we know that Mississippians come back to the state at a high rate when opportunities arise.”

Fortunately, things are looking up – step by step. “Thanks to the (IHL) board, we’re starting two bio-medical engineering programs at Mississippi State and Ole Miss,” Boyce said. “We want to create a wave of engineers specially trained for the bio-medical industry and then go after those companies. But we have to create the labor pool of qualified workers before we can go after those companies. We can’t bring in the companies and then train workers.”

Please click here to see the full article.

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MS House Considers Collecting Tax on Internet Sales to Prop Up Infrastructure

By Business, Retail

MS House Considers Collecting Tax on Internet Sales to Prop Up Infrastructure

Info Courtesy of The Associated Press

JACKSON –

Mississippi’s House voted on Wednesday to enforce existing tax law regarding the collection of taxes on internet purchases made by Mississippi residents. Under this new proposal, the revenue collected will be earmarked for road and bridge work.  By a 79-38 vote, representatives passed House Bill 480, formally codifying efforts to collect taxes from Amazon.com and other vendors that sell goods to Mississippians from outside the state. 70%  will go to the state, 15% to counties, and 15 percent% to cities for the infrastructure improvements.

Rep. Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, emphasized that under current state law, consumers already are supposed to pay use taxes. However, officials have said enforcement on individual consumers is nearly impossible.  He emphasized that this is not a new tax, but rather, a way to collect taxes that people were supposed to have been paying all along, and to put them to good use.

Under the latest bill, retailers would be responsible for collecting the online sales taxes. Even without the law in place, Mississippi’s Department of Revenue has proposed rules to collect the taxes, and Amazon.com voluntarily agreed earlier to start collecting taxes Wednesday.

Please click here to read the full article.

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Insitu Visits MSU in Search of Talent

By Golden Triangle, Insitu, MSU, Starkville

Insitu Visits MSU in Search of Talent

 

The Dispatch – Starkville, MS

Executives from Boeing subsidiary Insitu were in town recently, following up on last year’s work towards establishing a foothold for their aircraft in the Golden Triangle area. They are currently seeking candidates to fill at least two “high-skill” positions within their company, along with a possible internship, and they have chosen MSU’s recent job fair as the best place to start looking. Mississippi State is the lead university in the Federal Aviation Administration’s Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) program. The university is also an FAA Center of Excellence.

Insitu leadership Darcy Davidson, Benjamin Tarkany, Charlton Evans, and Jon Damush meet with the local media at Mississippi State University Tuesday afternoon. The Boeing subsidiary that works with unmanned aerial systems is opening a location at the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park in Starkville. Photo by: Deanna Robinson/Dispatch Staff

Benjamin Tarkany coordinates talent acquisition at Insitu.  “We have established a vision of what we want to do with the office,” he said. “At first it was more (looking at) what are the capabilities in the area, and we’ve aligned what we can do project-wise with the talent pool here and what we think we can realistically bring to sit out of this office and see benefit from it . . . We’re engaging candidates here locally and we’re also hoping to bolster our applicants by being here and present,” he later added.

Insitu Vice President and General Manager Jon Damush said,  “The challenge in that is that you might be able to find a place that has conducive airspace, but most of the time conducive airspace is not co-located with any kind of infrastructure or human resources capacity, let alone an academic capacity . . .When we became aware of what was happening at Mississippi State with the ASSURE program and economic development efforts that are going on here, to us it looked like the perfect alignment of factors.”

Please click here to see the full article.

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Joe Max Higgins Helps Golden Triangle to Make a Great Impression

By Business, Columbus, Golden Triangle, Manufacturing, MS Dev Authority, MSU, Other Manufacturing, PACCAR, Starkville, Steel Dynamics, West Point

Joe Max Higgins Helps Golden Triangle to Make a Great Impression

“Business Facilities” magazine did a great article following up on CBS’ coverage of our own Joe Max Higgins not too long ago, highlighting his zeal and efforts in bringing manufacturing plants and jobs to our area. Higgins has been working tirelessly for many years to help revitalize our area — and that’s Good for Business!

Excerpt:

Thanks to an interview on last Sunday’s 60 Minutes broadcast on CBS, the economic development community has a new mega-star, and his name is Joe Max Higgins. Higgins is Economic Development director for Mississippi’s Golden Triangle.

As revealed during his star turn on 60 Minutes, Higgins is a project-building dynamo. Since he arrived in the Golden Triangle in 2003, Joe Max has turned a rural stretch of the Magnolia State into one of the hottest high-growth locations you can find anywhere. If you didn’t watch Sunday’s show, we encourage you to check it out.

Here are some highlights:

Under Joe Max Higgin’s leadership, the area has attracted $6 billion in new investments. Unemployment in the Golden Triangle is now 6 percent and falling fast.

Beginning in the 1990s, the Golden Triangle began suffering an exodus of manufacturing jobs in its primary industries of textiles, toys and tubing, with a majority of the estimated 12,000 jobs it lost leaving for overseas locations. Since Higgins arrived, more than half of these jobs have been replaced. According to Joe Max, the influx of 6,000 new manufacturing jobs to the tri-county region was driven by companies who had offshored production coming to the realization that they could produce their goods and get them to market from plants in Mississippi cheaper than by shipping them to the U.S. from overseas plants.

Joe Max’s in-your-face approach has landed some killer deals for the Golden Triangle, including a Steel Dynamics plant that is one of the most advanced steel mills in the nation.

Higgins’ bulldog tenacity is applied to state and county officials as well as corporate site selectors. He’s succeeded in convincing them to pony up more than half a billion in incentives and tax breaks to grease the wheels of dealmaking in the Golden Triangle.

Higgins told 60 Minutes that when he arrived in the Golden Triangle the area was “paralyzed” by poverty. But he saw some golden assets that could form a foundation for solid growth, including an airport, railways and waterways that connect the area to the Gulf Coast in the south and the Great Lakes in the north.

Higgins told the locals to shake off what he called “a losing attitude” and realize they had the assets to make the Triangle “big and strong and fast.”

Bulldog indeed. You’ve got our full attention Joe Max, and we look forward to keeping everyone up to date on the great progress being made in Mississippi’s Golden Triangle.

 

Click this link to view the full article

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