A rose of best wishes for a happy, safe and productive 2019 for all in the Golden Triangle. Each new year seems to bring with it great optimism, and for some resolutions to improve their health, financial or other personal outcomes. May we all find the best of luck in those endeavors as we ring in the new year Tuesday.
A rose of good luck to the Mississippi State Bulldogs football team in its New Year’s Day Outback Bowl match up with Iowa. While MSU fell short of the lofty end of its expectations this year, first-year head coach Joe Moorhead led an upperclassmen-laden team to a respectable 8-4 regular season record, including a 4-4 mark in the grueling Southeastern Conference. Here’s hoping the seniors (and draft declaring juniors) end their college careers on a high note with a bowl win.
A rose to the Lowndes and Oktibbeha County supervisors for approving resolutions asking the Legislature to allow electric cooperatives to provide broadband internet service to their customers. The resolutions, pushed by Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley, aim to get the Legislature to change an old law that restricts rural electric cooperatives to only selling electric power. By allowing those cooperatives – not forcing them – to expand their services, it could extend high-speed broadband internet service to thousands of rural residents across Mississippi.
A rose to Columbus Mayor Robert Smith and the city council for walking back a drastic spending freeze measure and instead opting for a collective effort to more closely scrutinize city expenditures. As a knee-jerk reaction to an $881,000 deficit in Fiscal Year 2018, the council voted 4-2 on Dec. 18 to freeze spending “on everything,” leaving department heads unsure what they could purchase for day-to-day operations. The mayor brought the council back to the table for a special-call meeting on Thursday, in which councilmen lifted the freeze and instead appointed a subcommittee of elected officials and department heads to help develop some guidelines on what spending is necessary. That more measured solution has much better potential to rein in spending without slashing critical operations.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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