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Op-Ed: Mississippi’s Entergy has its Southwest Airlines moment | Opinion

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www.thecentersquare.com – Jameson Taylor | The Center for Political Renewal – 2023-06-28 11:47:00

When a company fails spectacularly — Bud Light, for instance — it’s difficult not to notice. When a company fails spectacularly in a way that hurts people — Southwest Airlines  — policymakers should notice. And when a company is a public utility with a government-granted monopoly — Entergy, for example — policymakers should not only take notice but do something about it. Mistakes and bad weather happen, but the loss of power for tens of thousands of people in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and other states — not once, but twice within almost a week — suggests something is wrong.

As I sit here in the Mississippi heat, again without power, it seems to me Entergy is having a Southwest moment. Recall that Southwest canceled almost 17,000 flights during the 2022 Christmas holidays. My family and I were supposed to be on one of these flights. Our flight — and subsequent rebooked flights — was canceled so many times I lost count. Each of those cancellations represents a failure to deliver what was promised. After so many cancellations, I lost confidence in Southwest. I also lost trust in their customer service, which was slow to acknowledge and respond to the systemwide disruption.

In my experience, Entergy has likewise been slow to respond to a large-scale breakdown in services. Here in Jackson, my family and I lost power on June 16 after a severe thunderstorm. (Not a hurricane, I might add.) In spite of there being a live, downed wire in my yard, Entergy did not show up until June 22. That’s almost seven full days without power – not including the past three days, June 25 to June 27. During that time, Entergy repeatedly stated they would send a team to investigate … remember, we had a live wire in our yard. Day after day passed with no help. After multiple phone calls, we realized we couldn’t trust what customer service was telling us. So, we gave up and hoped for the best.

Hoping for the best has resulted in contemplating another week without power. Instead of just hoping, we all — beginning with the Mississippi Legislature — need to start asking questions. After Southwest cancelled one-third of its flights, the U.S. Senate held hearings.

Punctuating its lack of transparency, Southwest’s response to Congress was uninspiring: “In hindsight, we did not have enough winter operations resiliency.” That much was obvious, but it’s more of an apology than Entergy has offered. In a self-congratulatory press release following the first round of storms, the company said: “Entergy Mississippi’s response was good. However, we always want to work hard to try to make it perfect next time.”

No one is asking for perfection. And, like me, many customers were probably willing to put the first, long round of power outages behind them. After a second round of outages — and, at least here in Jackson, repeated outages over the years — it’s time to start asking questions.

Here are a few to get lawmakers started:

How much has Entergy increased its rates over the years? … According to Bigger Pie Forum, the answer is 32 percent in three years. … How does this increase compare to public utilities in other states, factoring in population size and other variables?

Do Mississippi (and other state) taxpayers subsidize Entergy, either directly or indirectly? If so, how much and for what, exactly?

How did Entergy obtain the legal monopoly it currently enjoys? … When is that monopoly up for reconsideration and what does the bidding process look like?

How much has Entergy invested in less reliable power sources, such as windmills and solar panels? … According to Bigger Pie, the answer is $1.2 billion. … What investments in more reliable power, like natural gas, have been displaced by these gambles? … A related question is whether Entergy is implementing ESG initiatives that compromise reliability or increase consumer costs?

How much, compared to other grid operators, has the company invested in maintenance and upkeep for existing plants and equipment? … From where I sit, as a mere customer and complete non-expert, it seems to me that this is the key question. … Is the company investing in new-fangled projects and ideas while neglecting its meat-and-potatoes operations?

Finally, how resilient and reliable are Entergy’s operations? No doubt, more people are affected when the grid goes down in large states, like California or Texas. But how do we compare to similarly situated states? … According to U.S. News rankings, based on U.S. Department of Energy data, Mississippi is almost last — No. 45 — among all states. Arkansas is No. 44 while Louisiana fares even worse at No. 47.

It’s obvious that having reliable access to electricity is absolutely necessary for a state’s economy to function, much less grow. It’s also vital to protecting public safety, improving health outcomes, and advancing nearly every other quality-of-life measure. Entergy may be doing an almost-perfect job under challenging circumstances. Then, again, they may not. Given the stakes — and the number of people affected — it’s time for lawmakers to take a look.

Jameson Taylor, Ph.D., has a 20-year track record of advancing pro-family and pro-liberty policies in multiple states, including Mississippi’s ban on late-term abortions that overturned Roe v. Wade. He is the director of legislative affairs for American Family Association Action and president of the Center for Political Renewal

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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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Will Trump extend the 90-day tariff pause? | National

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www.thecentersquare.com – Morgan Sweeney – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-25 16:01:00

(The Center Square) – The Trump administration has been reluctant to give many details about the implementation of the president’s tariffs since his announcement of the 90-day pause, but Friday, he answered a question that has now been posed many times to his team: Will the pause be extended? 

President Donald Trump called it “unlikely.”

“I think I know pretty much, and again, we’ll have deals made but we’ll also make deals,” Trump told a reporter on Air Force One. “In other words, we’ll just set the tariff and we’ll be reasonable, very reasonable, and that’ll be the end. That’s the deal. We set the price.”

The White House had previously avoided being specific about an extension or most of the ongoing negotiations with a group of at least 100 countries, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

A reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday if some of the proposals other countries had put forward would be enough to extend the pause for at least some of them.

“Well look, ask me in July when the deadline hits,” Leavitt said. “There’s a lot of time left and the president’s trade team is working, again, at Trump speed, as quickly as they can to ensure that these deals can be made.”

Trump also said Friday that he had been in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as the countries were locked in a trade war after the U.S. raised its tariffs on China to 145% and China responded with a minimum 125% rate. But the president remained cryptic, beyond that, on his conversations with the Chinese leader. 

A reporter asked what the two had discussed as Trump was leaving the White House Friday morning.

“I’ll let you know at the appropriate time. Let’s make a deal,” Trump responded.

The president announced new reciprocal tariff rates for nearly all of America’s trading partners on April 2, roiling stock markets worldwide, but then issued a 90-day pause on April 9 after numerous countries quickly approached the U.S. asking for a deal.

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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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