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How the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Will Impact Mississippi | Mississippi

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. via The Center Square – 2023-08-17 12:13:43

In today’s polarized political climate, few issues in Washington receive bipartisan support. Investment in the nation’s infrastructure, however, is a notable exception – and with good reason. A 2021 report from the American Society of Civil Engineers assigned U.S. public infrastructure an average letter grade of “C-” based on performance in 17 major categories, including roads, drinking water, transit, dams, and bridges. According to the report, the U.S. needs to invest an additional $2.6 trillion in infrastructure over the next 10 years.

To help address this shortfall, President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law in November 2021. The bill authorizes $1.2 trillion in federal spending over a five-year period, including $550 billion in new spending to rebuild public works and transportation infrastructure. (Here is a look at Biden’s approval rating in every state.)

Much of this money will be distributed to state governments and has already been earmarked for certain projects, including bridge and highway repair, electric vehicle charging station construction, broadband internet expansion, airport improvements, cybersecurity, and wildfire protection. While the largest states by population are the ones receiving the most federal dollars, they are not necessarily the states where federal infrastructure spending will have the largest impact.

Mississippi is expected to receive $4.5 billion federal infrastructure investment. Adjusting for population, this comes out to about $1,507 per capita, the 19th highest among the 50 states.

Federal highway aid will account for 74.0% of infrastructure investment in the state, more than any other category, followed by water infrastructure, which will account for 9.6% of federal spending, and bridge replacements and repairs, at 5.0%.

All data in this story was compiled by U.S. News & World Report in its article, The States Benefiting the Most From the Infrastructure Deal.

Rank State Per capita federal infrastructure aid ($) Total federal infrastructure aid ($B) Largest investment category 2nd largest investment category 3rd largest investment category
1 Alaska 6,721 4.9 Federal Highway Aid Airports Water Infrastructure
2 Wyoming 4,479 2.6 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Bridge Replacements and Repairs
3 Montana 3,558 3.9 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Bridge Replacements and Repairs
4 Vermont 3,458 2.2 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Bridge Replacements and Repairs
5 North Dakota 3,390 2.6 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Bridge Replacements and Repairs
6 South Dakota 3,210 2.8 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Bridge Replacements and Repairs
7 West Virginia 2,452 4.4 Federal Highway Aid Bridge Replacements and Repairs Water Infrastructure
8 Delaware 2,401 2.4 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Airports
9 Rhode Island 2,345 2.6 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Public Transportation
10 Hawaii 1,800 2.6 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Bridge Replacements and Repairs
11 New Mexico 1,759 3.7 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure
12 Maine 1,736 2.4 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Public Transportation
13 Connecticut 1,675 6.0 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Bridge Replacements and Repairs
14 Arkansas 1,648 5.0 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Bridge Replacements and Repairs
15 Idaho 1,645 3.0 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Bridge Replacements and Repairs
16 Iowa 1,593 5.1 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Bridge Replacements and Repairs
17 Louisiana 1,557 7.3 Federal Highway Aid Bridge Replacements and Repairs Water Infrastructure
18 Nebraska 1,550 3.0 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Bridge Replacements and Repairs
19 Mississippi 1,507 4.5 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Bridge Replacements and Repairs
20 New Hampshire 1,487 2.0 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Bridge Replacements and Repairs
21 Missouri 1,464 9.0 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Public Transportation
22 Oklahoma 1,458 5.8 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Public Transportation
23 New Jersey 1,454 13.5 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Bridge Replacements and Repairs
24 Kentucky 1,439 6.5 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Bridge Replacements and Repairs
25 Illinois 1,390 17.8 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure
26 Alabama 1,387 7.0 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Public Transportation
27 Pennsylvania 1,369 17.8 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Bridge Replacements and Repairs
28 New York 1,333 26.9 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure
29 Massachusetts 1,327 9.3 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Bridge Replacements and Repairs
30 Kansas 1,307 3.8 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Public Transportation
31 Indiana 1,303 8.8 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Public Transportation
32 Nevada 1,301 4.0 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure
33 Oregon 1,265 5.4 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure
34 Wisconsin 1,234 7.3 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Public Transportation
35 Texas 1,216 35.4 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure
36 Utah 1,209 4.0 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure
37 Maryland 1,198 7.4 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure
38 South Carolina 1,195 6.1 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Public Transportation
39 Minnesota 1,192 6.8 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure
40 Virginia 1,170 10.1 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure
41 Georgia 1,152 12.3 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure
42 Tennessee 1,151 8.0 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Public Transportation
43 California 1,127 44.6 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Bridge Replacements and Repairs
44 Washington 1,115 8.6 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure
45 Ohio 1,087 12.8 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Public Transportation
46 Michigan 1,070 10.8 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Public Transportation
47 Colorado 1,068 6.2 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure
48 Arizona 1,022 7.3 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure
49 North Carolina 996 10.4 Federal Highway Aid Water Infrastructure Public Transportation
50 Florida 887 19.1 Federal Highway Aid Public Transportation Water Infrastructure

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News from the South - Louisiana News Feed

Carbon capture hearings will hear from concerned residents, industry | Louisiana

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Nolan McKendry | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-25 16:45:00

(The Center Square) − Louisiana Rep. Joseph Orgeron, R-Jefferson, is taking a less cautious position on carbon capture — acknowledging local concerns while defending the role the technology can play in reducing industrial emissions.

Orgeron will vice chair a high-stakes showdown over the future of carbon capture in Louisiana at the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee on Tuesday, where lawmakers are set to hear a sweeping package of bills aimed at reining in the state’s growing carbon sequestration industry.

“I sympathize with those constituents who are looking for the opt-out option—to not have it in their parish,” Orgeron told The Center Square in an interview. “But I represent an area basically awash in hydrocarbon harvesting from the early ’50s, ’60s. We’ve had our environment kind of shared with the hydrocarbon harvesting industry, so we’re a little bit more open to it.”

Orgeron chairs the state’s Clean Hydrogen Task Force and has positioned himself as an advocate for low-carbon technologies that can reduce emissions without sidelining Louisiana’s traditional energy sector.

“In Louisiana, we have the hydrocarbons, like natural gas, that can then be cracked to make the hydrogen feedstock that’s needed,” Orgeron said. “And rather than release [the carbon] into the environment… basically capture that carbon and sequester it safely in underground pore space that we also have a large amount of.”

Still, he acknowledged the desire of some parishes to block carbon capture developments and said he would support local opt-outs — though not without consequence.

“They would have to relinquish any and all benefits, monetary benefits, that they may receive from the added space, the added industry… that may come from carbon sequestration in the state,” Orgeron said.

The legislation, driven largely by Republican lawmakers from western and central Louisiana, targets everything from eminent domain powers to public notice requirements, with an emphasis on strengthening landowner rights and local control.

Rep. Rodney Schamerhorn, R-Beauregard, said in a previous interview that past land seizures for projects like Fort Polk and the Toledo Bend Reservoir have left lasting scars in his region, fueling deep mistrust of new carbon capture initiatives. While many residents initially supported the technology, he said they now feel misled about its purpose and risks.

The committee will also take up House Bill 4 by Rep. Charles Owen, HB353 by Rep. Shane Mack, HB522 by Rep. Danny McCormick, HB568 by Rep. R. Dewith Carrier, and Senate Bill 73 by Sen. Mike Reese.

The wave of proposals comes amid mounting scrutiny of carbon infrastructure, particularly in light of a 2020 pipeline rupture in Satartia, Miss. that released a cloud of CO2 into a nearby town when a landslide hit, causing residents to collapse or suffer seizures from oxygen deprivation.

Industry leaders are pushing back.

“This is a business opportunity,” said Tommy Faucheux, president of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association. “If we lose that, the investments — and the jobs — will go elsewhere.”

“These CCS projects and the associated development could transform communities in ways they’ve never seen,” Faucheux said. “We’re talking about economic development in parts of Louisiana that haven’t traditionally benefited from the oil and gas footprint.”

“The industry has been spending a lot of time engaging with communities, with land owners,” he added. “The companies want to work and come to agreements with all the landowners. They want to have conversations about pipeline routes, for instance. The use of eminent domain has not been something we’ve prioritized or really led with. I think it has been really more the exception than the standard.”

 

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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed

Eradication of divisive medical education policies applauded | North Carolina

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-25 15:59:00

(The Center Square) – Eliminating policies in higher education that U.S. Rep. Dr. Greg Murphy believes are detrimental to the best in health care is a step in the right direction, the North Carolina Republican says.



U.S. Rep. Dr. Greg Murphy, R-N.C.




“I applaud the Trump administration for rooting out the discriminatory and demeaning requirements of DEI in medication education,” Murphy said, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion. “These practices reward political activism and not merit. Patients deserve better.

“Liberal apologists played with patient’s lives to push a progressive discriminatory agenda. Doctors need to be selected as the brightest and hardest working, not on identity politics.”

Murphy’s assessment came a day after President Donald Trump’s executive order entitled Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education.

The third graph of Section 2 reads in part, “The attorney general and the secretary of Education, in consultation with the secretary of Health and Human Services, shall investigate and take appropriate action to terminate unlawful discrimination by American medical schools or graduate medical education entities that is advanced by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or other accreditors of graduate medical education, including unlawful ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ requirements under the guise of accreditation standards.”

Murphy, a practicing urologist, has repeatedly chastised the medical schools promoting diversity policies over merit.

Earlier this month, he responded to a writing in the New England Journal of Medicine entitled “Advancing health equity in the climate crisis – A climate justice curriculum for resident physicians.” He said it was “yet another example of irresponsible leadership in medical education.”

Murphy opined, “Instead of learning to take care of patients, medical residents are studying this nonsense. No wonder the questions about NIH funding are being asked.”

The National Institutes of Health operates with a budget of $47 billion. For worldwide biomedical research, it is the largest public funder.

Murphy believes the American health care system “is killing the patient” with the middlemen, including the education component.

He’s also spoken out on the Association of American Medical Colleges, saying it has been “exposed for their racially divisive lies.” A significant infant-mortality study, The National Review reported, was edited to preserve racial perspective. The story says “researchers deliberately obscured a data point about white babies under the care of Black physicians because ‘it undermines the narrative.’”

“Falsifying research,” Murphy said, “is why Americans have lost trust in medical education. All those involved in this scandal need to resign.”

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The Center Square

Feds launch investigation into UC Berkeley for not reporting CCP funding | California

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www.thecentersquare.com – Kenneth Schrupp – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-25 14:45:00

(The Center Square) – The United States Department of Education announced it is investigating the University of California, Berkeley for not reporting significant funding from the Chinese government.

“The Biden-Harris Administration turned a blind eye to colleges and universities’ legal obligations by deprioritizing oversight and allowing foreign gifts to pour onto American campuses,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “I have great confidence in my Office of General Counsel to investigate these matters fully, and they will begin by thoroughly examining U.C. Berkeley’s apparent failure to fully and accurately disclose significant funding received from foreign sources.” 

A 2023 House of Representatives investigation found Berkeley violated Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, which requires disclosure of foreign funding over $250,000, saying Chinese funding of American research institutions facilitates transfer of American-funded technology with military applications to the Chinese government.

“U.S.-Chinese joint education institutes like U.C. Berkeley’s partnership with Tsinghua University, and the University of Pittsburgh’s partnership with Sichuan University, serve as conduits for transferring critical U.S. technologies and expertise to China, including to entities linked to China’s defense machine and the security apparatus it uses to facilitate human rights abuses,” said Select Committee on the CCP in a report. 

At the time, Berkeley told the committee that it is “relinquishing all ownership” in the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute. 

It also cited a Trump administration executive order directing the DOE to launch Section 117 investigations to secure compliance with reporting requirements that must be followed to continue receiving federal grant funding. 

In its announcement last week of a similar Section 117 investigation into Harvard University, DOE noted, “Noncompliance risks Department of Justice enforcement, including civil actions, or loss of federal funding eligibility.” 

The Department of Education says that “Berkeley’s responses revealed a fundamental misunderstanding regarding its Section 117 reporting obligations” in justifying its renewed investigation.

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