Mississippi Edition

More federal unemployment assistance reaches Mississippi.

And, with hotels and restaurants nearly empty, we look at the impact the pandemic is having on Mississippi’s hospitality sector.

Then, lighter traffic and tighter wallets cause a drop in the state’s lottery transfer.

Plus, after a Southern Remedy Health Minute, what lessons, if any, have been learned ten years after Deepwater Horizon.

Segment 1:

Governor Tate Reeves is letting Mississippians know more unemployment assistance is now available to the state. Speaking at his daily press briefing yesterday, Reeves said the newly available funds, made possible through the CARES Act, help extend unemployment benefits to those workers not previously covered. The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance will be managed by the state's department of Employment Security. MDES Director Jackie Turner says her department is seeing an unprecedented spike in the amount of weekly unemployment payments.

Segment 2:

The Mississippi Lottery has been a monetary success since its debut late last year. Raking in a gross of nearly eight million dollars a week in instant scratch-offs, the program's proceeds were able to contribute needed infrastructure funds during the first quarter. But restrictions put in place as a response to the pandemic has caused a dip in lottery transfers to the state. Tom Shaheen is President of the Mississippi Lottery Corporation.

Segment 3:

Southern Remedy Health Minute

Segment 4:

Ten years after the nation's biggest offshore oil spill fouled its waters, the Gulf of Mexico sparkles in the sunlight and its fish are safe to eat. But scientists, who have spent millions in BP settlement funds researching effects of the Deepwater Horizon disaster have found much to be concerned about. Numbers of dolphins and whales are down since the spill, and the loss of tidal marshes were accelerated. On this Earth Day, the question is now what, if any, lessons have been learned from a decade of recovery and research. Dr. Sarah Giltz, a marine scientist with the non-profit group Oceana, shares with our Michael Guidry.