Mississippi Business Journal B-L-O-G

The golf teams at Ole Miss and Mississippi State, as well as SWAC champion Jackson State University, will be playing in the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship. Play begins  for all three in the East Regional May 15 at the Council Fire Golf Club in Chattanooga, and it’s hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

The Rebels are seeded No. 9, and State comes in at No. 13. JSU is No. 27.

Ten teams and two individuals not on advancing teams will move on from each of the three regionals to championship play at the Kampen Course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Indiana, hosted by Purdue University.

Not exactly March Madness, but I’ll take it.

State Treasurer Tate Reeves is the guest speaker for today’s Stennis Insititute-Capitol Press luncheon. The noon event is open to the public and will be held at Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church in downtown Jackson. Lunch is $8.

Reeves will discuss the current state financial picture, the impact of legislative spending and the state and national economy, according to the Stennis Institute’s Phil Hardwick.

The Community Development Foundation has been named to an impressive list. In its May issue, Site Selection magazine includes Tupelo-based CDF on its 2007 Top 10 List of Economic Development Groups for its role in landing the Toyota auto assembly plant. Here’s a snippet from the Site Selection article:

The CDF played a lead role in helping Mississippi secure the $1.3-billion Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant in Blue Springs – a project that will create up to 2,000 jobs and more 500,000 sq. ft. (46,450 sq. m.) on 1,700 acres (689 hectares). Crucial to the attraction of Toyota was Lee County’s alliance with Pontotoc and Union counties to form the PUL Alliance.

Check out the rest of the story in print or online.

If you love to play tennis, or even if you don’t play but love the game and want to see it grow, think about buying a specialty car tag that will help support the Mississippi Tennis Association’s Community Grant Fund Program to upgrade tennis facilities around the Magnolia State.

According to the MTA Web site, they are only 57 orders away from seeing the Play Tennis tag produced this year. The deadline, though, is May 15th.

Gov. Haley Barbour has named seven hospital executives to an advisory panel for Medicaid. Here are the details straight from a Governor’s Office news release:

JACKSON, Mississippi — Governor Haley Barbour today named seven hospital administrators to a Medicaid Hospital Advisory Committee and asked them to provide advice and assistance to the Division of Medicaid with regard to matters affecting hospitals participating in the Medicaid program.

“This commission is purely advisory in nature and its members are drawn from a diverse group of hospital administrators. It is my hope they will offer Medicaid and hospitals their best counsel based on their combined years of experience in determining a solution to fund the Medicaid shortfall,” Governor Barbour said.

Members of the committee are:

Chris Anderson – CEO, Singing River Hospital System, Pascagoula

Gerald Wages - CEO, North Mississippi Medical Center, Tupelo

Chip Denton - CEO, Grenada Lake Medical Center, Grenada

Wallace Strickland - CEO, Rush Foundation Hospital, Meridian

Gary Marchand - CEO, Memorial Hospital at Gulfport

Will Ferniany - CEO, The University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson

Ray Humphreys - CEO, Delta Regional Medical Center, Greenville

The funding situation for the Medicaid program was left unresolved when the Legislature adjourned last month. The governor is expected to call a special session to address the issue in the coming weeks.

The Mississippi Hospital Association wants a tobacco tax considered as part of the Medicaid funding solution, and it has posted an online action alert about that option for its members and others interested in fixing the Medicaid mess. Check it out.

Earth Day 2008 has come and gone, but the impact continues. Jackson-based Intechra collected about 14,000 pounds of electronics equipment during its annual Earth Day event in Jackson and even more in communities around the country. More details from a company news release:

JACKSON, Miss., April 25, 2008 – Intechra collected nearly 45,000 pounds of used electronics during free recycling events April 12 at five of its facilities across the country. The total is up 12.5 percent from its Earth Day collections in 2007.

E-waste (a.k.a. electronic waste) is created by the improper disposal of electronics and accounts for 70 percent of the heavy metals in landfills, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Materials such as lead, mercury, barium and cadmium can cause serious health problems if leached into the ground or water supply.

It’s everyone’s favorite topic of conversation in metro Jackson: traffic. Then again, maybe the weather has been No. 1 lately, but traffic is never far behind. Here’s an I-55/I-220 update straight from the MDOT news release:

JACKSON, MISS., Tuesday, April 15, 2008-The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) announces the following traffic alert to motorists traveling on I-55 southbound in Hinds County on Wednesday night.

For the most up-to-date information in your area, please visit www.MSTraffic.com and sign up for your traffic alerts. Also, visit http://www.mstraffic.com/mobile to get the latest traffic information from MSTraffic.com on your mobile device. MDOT advises the public to pull off the road to a safe location if you need to check the MSTraffic.com website while driving. MDOT’s number one concern is the safety of the traveling public.

The Mississippi State Department of Health reports another case of West Nile virus in the state:

(Jackson, MS) Today, the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) reports one additional human case of West Nile virus (WNV) for 2008. The new case is in Madison County.

MSDH conducts statewide mosquito testing with its most intensive surveillance during peak mosquito reproduction time, which is usually July, August and September.

[first published in the April 14th issue of the Mississippi Business Journal, page 14]

The Magnolia State is home for a wide range of talented financial planners, analysts and professionals who would be right at home on Wall Street. Fortunately for their clients — and business reporters on a tight deadline — they’re running successful firms and managing impressive portfolios right here on Main Street Mississippi.

I always enjoy visiting with folks on the frontlines of the financial services industry. Their perspectives help us tell better business stories no matter what we’re trying to cover.

Over the past few years, we’ve gotten to know members of the Financial Planning Association’s Mississippi chapter through working together on several projects. For the past two falls, we’ve put together a special publication of columns written by local FPA members as part of Financial Planning Week — the first week of October. We’re in the planning phase of that project right now.

Every spring, FPA hosts an annual symposium, and the Mississippi Business Journal helps sponsor and spread the word about the speakers, topics and continuing education credit opportunities. This year’s symposium is set for April 30 at the Country Club of Jackson. Last week when visiting with Ann Caves, who helps manage the association with husband Roy, I learned that this year’s FPA symposium is the 25th-annual incarnation of the event.

That’s a milestone worth celebrating.

The Estate Planning Council of Mississippi, the Mississippi Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Society of Financial Service Professionals are joining FPA as associates in presenting “Financial Planning: Putting the Pieces Together.”

Key issues and items on the agenda include business and securities law, the U.S. economic outlook, health savings accounts, tax updates, post-Katrina insurance and, of course, much, much more. Speakers include:

• Delbert Hosemann, Mississippi Secretary of State

• Jay Bryson, senior economist for Wachovia Corporation

• John Scott, CPA, firmwide director of tax services for HORNE LLP

• Stan Neese, United Healthcare

• Bill Rayburn, Ph.D., chairman of FNC Inc.

• Mike Chaney, Mississippi Insurance Commissioner

• Barry K. Jones, J.D., LL.M., CPA, AEP, partner in Wise Carter Child & Caraway law firm

• Walter Wofford, founder and CEO of IRA Wealth Education Inc.

For additional information or to register, contact the FPA office in Jackson at (601) 981-9834 or msfpachapter@bellsouth.net.

Contact MBJ editor Jim Laird at jim.laird@msbusiness.com. Read his blog at mbjblog.wordpress.com.

The Delta Council will host political analyst Stu Rothenberg as this year’s annual meeting keynote speaker. Here are a few more details from this morning’s news release:

Stoneville, Miss.–The 73rd Annual Delta Council Meeting will be held Friday, May 23, 2008, and will include a featured address by political analyst Stu Rothenberg. The Rothenberg Political Report publisher and Roll Call columnist’s address will be at Delta State University’s Bologna Performing Arts Center, in Cleveland, Miss.

The 73rd Delta Council Annual Meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. This year’s meeting is sponsored by BankPlus, KBH Corporation, Land Banks of Mississippi, Morgan Keegan, Jimmy Sanders., Inc., and five organizations representing “Voices of Mississippi Agriculture:” The Catfish Farmers of Mississippi, The Corn Promotion Board, Cotton, Inc., The Rice Promotion Board, and The Soybean Promotion Board.