Business News for the Mississippi Delta

Danielle Morgan

By Charlotte Buchanan   Danielle Morgan, Executive Director of Visit Greenwood, was born and raised in Yazoo City. Her enthusiasm for the Delta shows in her everyday life and work. “The Delta is such a special place to me. I have always been passionate about sharing it with the world and now I get to […]

Karen Matthews

Improving Delta Health and Education By Becky Gillette • Photography by Johnny Jennings  The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has taken a devastating toll on the people of the Mississippi Delta. One of the most heartbreaking aspects of the pandemic is how it impacts those with underlying health issues more than healthy folks, says Karen Comer Matthews, […]

Drive Plus Determination Equals Success

Promising a Ray of Hope: Sandy Ray is Moving Mississippi Politics By Jack Criss   As Chief Executive Officer of her firm, Southern Consulting Associates, Inc., Cleveland-native Sandy Ray brings nearly twenty-five years of experience in both state government and politics in Mississippi and throughout the southeast.  As a well-known, registered lobbyist, Ray assists clients […]

The Village at Madison

Major new development taking shape By jack criss The Village At Madison is a new $50 million, eighteen-acre development in Madison County containing forty-six residential lots and 88-acres of available commercial and office space. Half Shell Oyster House restaurant became the first establishment to open its doors at The Village At Madison and negotiations are […]

Heaton Pecans

Family-Owned and Operated For Over Forty Years By Angela Rogalski Heaton Pecans in Lyon, started out as a peach stand, but in 1975 Bill Heaton, Cliff Heaton’s father and the original owner, decided he would plant a pecan orchard instead of peaches and Heaton Pecans was born.  Today, owner Cliff Heaton’s daughter Cadey True runs […]

Bill Bynum

A Career and Life Centered Around Hope By Jack Criss  •  Photography by Greg Campbell  Bill Bynum has done a lot of good in his career. As CEO of HOPE (Hope Enterprise Corporation, Hope Credit Union and Hope Policy Institute) based in Jackson, MS, Bynum and his team, as stated on the organization’s website, “provides […]

Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith

A Calling and Commitment To Serve By Jack Criss The first woman ever elected as Mississippi’s Agriculture Comm-issioner, the first woman to represent Mississippi in Congress through appointment and the first woman from Mississippi elected to Congress, Cindy Hyde-Smith puts a higher power as “first” in her personal life. “Terrible things are happening in our […]

“Proud Southern” Architect 

Frances Zook carves impressive niche By Jack Criss  •  Photography by Laura Negri Childress Frances Flautt Zook doesn’t mind being categorized as a Southern architect. Truth be told, she embraces the label. “I’m a proud Southern architect,” Zook, a Greenwood native, says. “Vernacular styles of a geographical area influence my work. I don’t admire a […]

Blakeman, Brister & Putman Financial Group

Local service, worldwide expertise By Jack Criss Founded in 1957 by Sonny Blakeman, Blakeman, Brister and Putman Financial Group has throughout its history established itself as one of the Delta’s—most recognizable money/wealth management teams. Along with partners Mike Brister and David Putman, Chip Otts, an Indianola native, has been associated with the firm since 2000, he says the company offers a full […]

Medical Marijuana

Ballot Alternatives Could be Confusing to Voters By Becky Gillette Mississippi could join thirty-four other states in legalizing medical marijuana if voter Initiative Measure No. 65 is approved by voters in the November election. While public opinion polls have shown about eighty percent of Mississippians favor medical marijuana, health authorities and a majority of state […]