News

State expects to soon select contractor for 2 museums

JACKSON, Mississippi — The state of Mississippi expects to select a general contractor Sept. 26 for phase one for work on the Mississippi Museum of History and the accompanying Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.

The Mississippi Business Journal reports that the contract award is a prelude to an Oct. 24 groundbreaking.

The Museum of History will tell the story of Mississippi from its pre-Columbian past, its evolution as an agrarian region with the arrival of the first European settlers and on to today’s emergence as a diverse and innovative manufacturing center… […]

News

Estimated $25M in damage to buildings, vehicles

The Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy in Pearl isn’t the most aesthetically appealing place to train officers these days, its director, Pat Cronin, concedes.

The March 18 hailstorms that struck metro Jackson destroyed 87 law enforcement and civilian vehicles parked at the academy when the storms hit, punched holes in roofing membrane above the gymnasium and smashed through more than 100 windows and skylights throughout the complex.

“We look bad,” Cronin muses. “We’ve got plastic holding tires down (on some roofing). We’ve been compromised in some areas, but we’re operational.” […]