The Sip bets billions on data centers. Lifeline or giveaway?
Mississippi's economy is eying roughly $49 billion in data center investment. Is it really the anchor Mississippi's waited a century for, or technical extraction in a hard hat?
Latest
The Week Ahead in the Sip: July 6–12
Mississippi events July 6–12: blues portraits in Jackson, live music in Starkville, a Coliseum rodeo, and festivals statewide.
Welcome to the Sip
It's time for everyone to see the Sip from the inside. Come home. You're welcome.
Celebrations in the Sip
Somebody in your life did the thing. Walked the stage. Got the degree. Made it across when the making-it-across was never guaranteed. And you have been carrying that pride around in your chest with nowhere big enough to put it — because a text to the family group chat doesn'
Has Self-Care Become a Way to Opt Out of Community?
From Audre Lorde's political framing to today's $1.8 trillion wellness economy — perspectives on whether self-care has become a substitute for the community work it was originally designed to support.
Gahtd*mmit, SCOTUS!
What the April 29, 2026 Louisiana v. Callais ruling does, who it affects most, the data behind it, and how Mississippi's May 20 special session will reshape the state's electoral maps.
Why Aren't More Men Holding Their Friends Accountable?
On Saturday evening, April 25, 2026, Megan Thee Stallion took to Instagram to publicly end her relationship with Dallas Mavericks guard Klay Thompson. The post was direct in a way celebrity breakups rarely are. Cheating, she wrote. Had me around your whole family playing house. She gave a follow-up statement
KIRBY, ain't nothing to play wit!
If you've heard pop radio in the past ten years, you've heard Mississippi raised, singer-songwriter, KIRBY. You just didn't know it. So get familiar.
Jesmyn Ward's First Essay Collection Lands May 19, 2026. Mississippi Should Pre-Order Now.
Jesmyn Ward — two-time National Book Award winner, MacArthur Fellow, DeLisle resident — releases her first essay collection *On Witness and Respair: Essays* on May 19, 2026, from Scribner. Mississippi readers should pre-order now.
The Mississippi Book Festival is About to Turn Twelve
The 11th Mississippi Book Festival drew thousands to the State Capitol on September 13, 2025. The 12th festival is scheduled for September 26, 2026. Here's what made 2025 work — and what we're hoping to see in 2026.
Dr. Denise Jones Gregory Is JSU's First Alumna President. Here's Why That Matters.
After a decade of presidential turnover, eight months of national search, seventy-nine applicants, Jackson State chose its own. Dr. Denise Jones Gregory was named the 14th president of Jackson State University on April 16, 2026 — the first JSU alumna to permanently lead the institution.
Jackson's Budget Math Isn't Mathing
A $250,000 property tax shortfall is the smallest part of Jackson's mid-year budget problem. The Jackson City Council is holding line-by-line finance meetings to figure out what's underperforming and why. The deeper issue just may be a structural one.
Jackson State
Tramell Tillman's Making History.
JSU alumnus Tramell Tillman won the Emmy and the Critics' Choice Award for *Severance*, then landed a role in Marvel's *Spider-Man: Brand New Day*. Here's what his run means for Jackson State, MADDRAMA, and Mississippi.
sundayviews
The "Sinners" Boom Came to Thalia Mara Hall. The Delta Blues Renaissance Is Real.
Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience ended at Thalia Mara Hall on March 27, 2026, with Mayor Horhn proclaiming Morgan Freeman Day. The "Sinners" film and a generation of Delta blues artists are driving a real renaissance.
politics
Here We Go: A Plain-Language Recap of the 2026 Mississippi Legislative Session
The 2026 Mississippi legislative session adjourned April 5 with the Metro Jackson Water Authority Act and a partial Medicaid budget passed — but Medicaid expansion, teacher pay, ballot initiative restoration, and redistricting all failed. Here's what happened, and what comes next.
Jackson
Jackson Weighs a Pause on Data Centers
Ward 4 Councilman Brian Grizzell has introduced an ordinance that would put a 183-day moratorium on new data centers in Jackson while the city writes a regulatory framework. It's the first time a Mississippi municipality has paused to ask what the data center boom is actually costing.
community-news
Bully's, and the Black-Owned Restaurants Holding Jackson Together
A James Beard-winning soul food institution and the Jackson Black-owned restaurant scene that built the city's food culture — Bully's, Sugar's Place, Big Apple Inn, Johnny T's, and more.