The Mississippi State is home to some of my favorite things- catfish, sweet potatoes, and rootbeer (invented in Biloxi in 1898). Mississippi’s Treasury Department has also become home to something that’s on top of my list and probably yours as well – money. Mississippi unclaimed money, to be exact. “Nearly 1 in 5 Mississippians have money representing over $38 million that needs to be claimed,” stated Mississippi State Treasurer Tate Reeves in a recent press release. This is certainly good news for the numerous families that suffered hurricane losses in recent years, and are now dealing with serious setbacks in their budgets.

According to a recent report by NBC’s Dateline, a number of lucky Mississippians were recently reunited with their lost funds and it was actually a pleasant shock for most of them. A Biloxi, MS resident found out he had $30,000 from an investment his deceased father didn’t tell him about. A couple who had lost everything to the recent hurricane received $250,000 from Mississippi unclaimed property. Another woman who was struggling to rebuild homes for her mother and herself received $100,000. Gordon White, was in the middle of building his dream home when Katrina hit and was forced to live in a trailer had $200,000 from bank stock shares his father had kept secret. One of the biggest claims given-out yet was to a Vietnam veteran who was forced to retire from his job as a company supervisor due to post-traumatic stress. Turns-out he was owed almost a million dollars from old company stocks he had forgotten about after retiring from said company.

Posted on March 25th, 2008 by John Thornhill
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Tennessee is a medium sized state with 5.6 million people living there. The largest city is Memphis, though the capital and largest metropolitan area is Nashville, with 1.5 million people. Nashville is located in North-central Tennessee and is known for its role in the country music business. Another advantage of Tennessee is that state income taxes only apply to stocks, bonds and other financial income. That’s another thing to think about when you make your Tennessee Incorporation. Tennessee also has “right-to-work” laws. Tennessee is the producer of a variety of agricultural crops including sweet corn and strawberries, cotton and the cattle industry, with 90,000 cattle and beef farms in the state.

All the big four country labels have offices in Nashville. The other large business in the city, aside from government offices is the hospital industry, where the Hospital Corporation of America has national offices for its chain of hospitals all across the nation. Parts of the automobile industry have moved to Nashville, with Nissan, the Japanese manufacturer moving its US headquarters there, and also a major plant to Smyrna, a Nashville suburb. Bridgestone America, the Japanese tire manufacturer has offices in Nashville. Bridgestone has 4,900 workers at a production plant in Nashville, and is opening up a storage facility in nearby Lebanon, Tennessee.

Memphis is located on the Mississippi River, in Tennessee, with a population of a little less than 700,000. Memphis also has a long tradition in the music business, being the original stomping grounds of blues performance, such as B.B. King. The Beale St. neighbor hood features the Gibson Guitar Co. plant and also its Beale St. Showcase and restaurant. Memphis is also known for its Mardi Gras festivities, probably the biggest one in the United States after New Orleans.

FedEx maintains a central facility in Memphis, which has helped make the Memphis Airport a large cargo handling airports. This includes the central FedEx mail sorting facility. Corporations such as FedEx Corporation, AutoZone Incorporated and International Paper have made Memphis their home. International Paper Royal Blue is a small chip mill in Pioneer, Tennessee, while International Paper has a plant in Memphis that employs 3,000 people. Among other products that the company produces are the plastic and paper packaging for various fast food chains. AutoZone is also the sponsor of the Liberty Bowl Stadium in Memphis. Schools in Memphis include the Christian Brothers University, which is a Catholic school on a 75-acre campus in the middle of town and the Memphis College of Art, located next to the Art Museum.

Knoxville, in Eastern Tennessee is a research and educational center. It has the main campus of the University of Tennessee. In nearby Oakridge, are the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and other Department of Energy facilities. Oak Ridge was part of the Manhattan Project to create a nuclear bomb during World War II. Today, the laboratory has the Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator Pulsed Neutron Source, and other facilities for nuclear and neutron research. The laboratory is also a center for biological research including genomics, the study of an organism’s entire gene map and coding. Also headquartered in Knoxville, is the government agency, the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Posted on December 7th, 2007 by Anna
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The capital and largest city in Mississippi is Jackson, which has a metropolitan area population of over 500,000. It is located on the Pearl River. Jackson is the home of machinery and other manufacturing plants, as well as food processing. It is located in a region that produces soybeans, cotton, poultry and eggs. The Museum of Mississippi History is in the Old Capitol Building in Jackson. It is currently undergoing restoration following damage from Hurricane Katrina. Much of the Museum will be moved into a new building. Perhaps your idea for your Mississippi Incorporation is involvement in various reconstruction projects. There is a lot of work going on along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, after extensive hurricane damage. Reconstruction work has been the center of many projects. A highway is being reconstructed and all four lanes of the bridge are expected to be open in November. The first of two Mississippi bridges destroyed by Hurricane Katrina will reopen next week, an event drawing national attention for its importance to the Coast’s recovery. Two lanes of the U.S. 90 Bay St. Louis Bridge linking Harrison and Hancock counties will open May 17. Katrina’s storm surge reduced the bridge to rubble in August 2005. Also suffering severe damage is the neighboring city of Gulfport. Reconstruction crews from all over the United States were paid Federal Emergency Disaster money to reconstruct roads and bridges in the area.

The $266.8 million St. Louis Bridge was built by companies from California and Georgia. Crews began demolishing remnants of the old bridge in March 2006, and the first piling was installed in June. This was all paid with Federal Disaster relief money, and there will be a great deal of celebration when the bridge is rebuilt and can be used again.

Katrina also destroyed the Biloxi Bay Bridge. It connected the cities of Biloxi and Ocean Springs, and two lanes are scheduled to open in November. Construction of the $336 million structure was postponed because several local companies wanted a taller bridge for larger vessels, where local officials settled on 95 feet.

Despite extensive damage to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi by the hurricanes Rita and Katrina in August and September 2005, there has been significant recovery of the Gulf Coast region. In Biloxi, Mississippi, the casino is humming away again. The Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi is housed in the largest building in town, and is the largest employer there. It is also the home of the Casino’s exclusive golf course, Fallen Oaks. Now, the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is opening is Biloxi, and it has 1,500 slot machines and 52 gaming tables. There is also gambling in the Mississippi River towns of Tunica, Natchez, Vicksburg and Greenville. Mississippi has become the second biggest gambling casino state after Nevada.

Other interesting sites in the Jackson area are the Mississippi Petrified Forest, which exposes huge petrified trees that were by a prehistoric river. There is a nature trail and a place to picnic, as well as a museum explaining the site. Jackson is also next to the Ross Barnett Reservoir, which covers over 60 square miles and creates lots of opportunities for water recreation in the area.

Posted on September 19th, 2007 by Glen
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