| Magee Courier-Simpson County News

By Ben Smith - Magnolia Tribune, READ MORE > 222 Reads
On Tue, 09/02/2025 - 10:48 AM

Outdoor columnist Ben Smith says everyone in South Mississippi has a Katrina story. He looks back 20 years ago and is grateful for what he has.

Mail-in ballots are a problem

READ MORE > 1,135 Reads
On Mon, 09/01/2025 - 09:24 AM

When it comes to Donald Trump’s latest attack on mail-in voting, the president, as usual, gets his facts and interpretation of the law wrong.
He claimed that the U.S. is one of the only, if not the only, country in the world that still uses mail-in voting. Not true by a long shot. Dozens of countries use some form of mail-in voting, including numerous democratic U.S. allies.

Mail-in ballots are a problem

READ MORE > 1,135 Reads
On Mon, 09/01/2025 - 09:24 AM

Latino: After the Storm: Hurricane Katrina at 20

By Russ Latino - Magnolia Tribune, READ MORE > 190 Reads
On Fri, 08/29/2025 - 12:50 PM

Below is an opinion column by Russ Latino:

I paced the floor of my girlfriend’s (now wife’s) apartment. Cell phone networks had failed and I could not reach my mom. Her small neighborhood of Shoreline Park in Waveland, Mississippi sat at the epicenter of what was then the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

In the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, my mom had been adamant against leaving. She’d survived Camille. It would be fine. People were overreacting. Only she was wrong.

Latino: After the Storm: Hurricane Katrina at 20

By Russ Latino - Magnolia Tribune, READ MORE > 190 Reads
On Fri, 08/29/2025 - 12:50 PM

Below is an opinion column by Russ Latino:

In the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, my mom had been adamant against leaving. She’d survived Camille. It would be fine. People were overreacting. Only she was wrong.

Ready or not, Mississippi State and Southern Miss will tee it up Saturday at the Rock

By Rick Cleveland - Mississippi Today, READ MORE > 486 Reads
On Fri, 08/29/2025 - 12:46 PM

Mississippi State and Southern Miss, two teams desperate for even a little football success, will open their respective seasons Saturday at The Rock in Hattiesburg. State won two games last season. USM won one. Neither won a conference game.

The good news: Somebody has to win this one.

Salter: With Social Security and PERS under review, Baby Boomers are working longer before retiring

By Sid Salter - Contributing Columnist, READ MORE > 245 Reads
On Thu, 08/28/2025 - 02:02 PM

Below is a political opinion column by Sid Salter:

Columnist Sid Salter says there will inevitably come a day when Boomer workers begin to retire, and the impact will be significant.

Baby Boomers, the generation born between 1946 to 1964, are in the season of their lives when their retirement needs will increase and become more pervasive and persistent worries.

Salter: With Social Security and PERS under review, Baby Boomers are working longer before retiring

By Sid Salter - Contributing Columnist, READ MORE > 245 Reads
On Thu, 08/28/2025 - 02:02 PM

Below is a political opinion column by Sid Salter:

Columnist Sid Salter says there will inevitably come a day when Boomer workers begin to retire, and the impact will be significant.

Baby Boomers, the generation born between 1946 to 1964, are in the season of their lives when their retirement needs will increase and become more pervasive and persistent worries.

National debt continues to surge

By Bill Crawford, READ MORE > 603 Reads
On Thu, 08/28/2025 - 09:52 AM

Interestingly, just 37 days after President Donald Trump signed his “Big Beautiful Bill” (BBB), the national debt reached a new record at $37 trillion.
For debt nerds that amounts to about 120% of U.S. annual GDP, an historically high ratio but not the highest. The high came in March 2021 when it reached 130.4% of GDP as spending and collections were impacted by Covid. The ratio first passed 100% in 2013.
The BBB increased the national debt limit to $41.1 trillion. But that debt limit may not be sufficient for long.
A little history:

National debt continues to surge

By Bill Crawford, READ MORE > 603 Reads
On Thu, 08/28/2025 - 09:52 AM

Is this the worst generation?

By Camille Wright, READ MORE > 450 Reads
On Thu, 08/28/2025 - 09:48 AM

One has to wonder; will ours be known as "The Sorriest Generation" of Americans to ever live as compared to say, "The Greatest Generation" of Americans?

Is this the worst generation?

By Camille Wright, READ MORE > 450 Reads
On Thu, 08/28/2025 - 09:48 AM

One has to wonder; will ours be known as "The Sorriest Generation" of Americans to ever live as compared to say, "The Greatest Generation" of Americans?

Trump doing what the people want him to do

By Peter Gilderson, READ MORE > 469 Reads
On Thu, 08/28/2025 - 09:44 AM

It goes without saying, or at least it should, that if you want to win an election you should espouse ideas that are in agreement with the majority of the electorate. In the last presidential election, the number one issue for voters was the porous southern border, and the vast number of illegals that were entering the nation. It would appear logical then that the Democrats would change their tune about those immigrants. Not so. In fact, several are advocating for the release of some of the captured gang members--the worst of the worst.

Trump doing what the people want him to do

By Peter Gilderson, READ MORE > 469 Reads
On Thu, 08/28/2025 - 09:44 AM

A tariff is a tax

By Patrick Taylor, READ MORE > 481 Reads
On Thu, 08/28/2025 - 09:40 AM

Make no mistake, tariffs are taxes paid out of pockets of people in the importing country. Everybody pays: consumers by higher prices for both imports and many domestically produced goods; business owners by lower profits; investors by lower returns; and at least some employees by lower wages and salaries. In the likely event tariffs accelerate inflation the pace of price increases will quicken. Unemployment is also likely to rise. Recently both inflation and unemployment have crept up. Inflation maybe be on the verge of surging. Prices aren’t coming down in any case.

A tariff is a tax

By Patrick Taylor, READ MORE > 481 Reads
On Thu, 08/28/2025 - 09:40 AM

Don’t destroy our floodplains

By Jay Wiener, READ MORE > 403 Reads
On Thu, 08/28/2025 - 09:32 AM

I attended both public hearings conducted by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, to consider the Revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Pearl River Basin Mississippi Federal Flood Risk Management Project, on Tuesday July 29, 2025 — the first at 2 p.m. at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church and the second at 6 p.m. at the Mississippi Public Broadcasting Auditorium.

Don’t destroy our floodplains

By Jay Wiener, READ MORE > 403 Reads
On Thu, 08/28/2025 - 09:32 AM

We once laughed at peculiar jokes

By William Jeanes, READ MORE > 395 Reads
On Thu, 08/28/2025 - 09:28 AM

Twenty or so years ago, I laughed my way down the Natchez Trace, beginning just north of Tupelo and ending somewhere north of Jackson. During that leg of my solo 1,000-mile drive from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, to the Gulf Coast, I laughed for one solid hour. Out loud. Which is the best way to laugh. This festival of fun took place on a sunny Sunday afternoon in springtime; a now-discontinued radio program, Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” provided the industrial strength laughs.