Raymond News
R by Kara Culp Spring has arrived in Raymond! The azaleas are showing off with their magnificent pink and white flowers, the roses that were cut back in February are already starting to bloom bigger and better and, my...
Top Story
Mississippi's Greatest Bookman: Fred Cecil Smith (1953-2026) of Jackson's Choctaw Books Remembered
Fred Cecil Smith, 72, of Starkville, Mississippi, a nationally respected antiquarian bookseller and archivist, passed away after a long battle with cancer on February 28, 2026 at his home surrounded by his family. The...
Latest Coverage
Recent stories from the local archive
Felder's Native Myth
Native may be the new buzzword for choosing landscape plants, but it often gets in the way of good gardening. Not knocking native plants; after all, this past president of the Mississippi Native Plant Society grows and...
Evil Meat
Do you eat steak? You're killing the planet! So say climate activists. Is it true? Probably not. Vox warns that beef is the "worst thing we eat when it comes to global warming." The World Economic Forum,...
Consequences Breed Fires
Last week Iran launched two intermediate-range ballistic missiles toward Diego Garcia, a key U.S.-U.K. base in the Indian Ocean 2,500 miles away. Even though neither missile reached its target, the range of these...
Mississippi's Greatest Bookman: Fred Cecil Smith (1953-2026) of Jackson's Choctaw Books Remembered
Fred Cecil Smith, 72, of Starkville, Mississippi, a nationally respected antiquarian bookseller and archivist, passed away after a long battle with cancer on February 28, 2026 at his home surrounded by his family. The...
Raymond News
R by Kara Culp In the summer of 1992, a little 6-year-old Kara was playing at her Auntie Joyce’s house in Lake Zurich, Illinois. It was one of my favorite places in the entire world. Their big red 1920’s home sat on...
Data Centers Gold Rush: Mississippi's Readiness
Whether Mississippi, Georgia or Northern Virginia is the national pacesetter in obtaining development promises from data center companies, as all three states claim, each is glowing, if not with electricity, certainly...
Felder's Woodland Wonders
Even in this super-colorful Spring time, let's slow down to appreciate a handful of peculiar, often underappreciated oddities that adorn other landscape plants. One is the velvety mat of emerald-green moss, which...
The Reading Wars
"My child can't read!" That's become a common complaint from parents. Why? It might be because kids are distracted by social media and video games. But I think it's also because reading...
Signs of the Times
As we have approached Resurrection Sunday aka Easter this year, I've seen many advertisements about specials in theaters on television and online about Jesus's life, death, and resurrection. Over the past year...
The Future of Magnolia Looking Right
Over the past eight months, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen have taken meaningful steps to position Magnolia for long-term success. Mayor Brumfield has consistently emphasized that the city's future belongs to its...
Raymond News
R by Kara Culp Greetings from New Orleans, Louisiana! To kick off Spring Break week, Robert and I loaded up the kids in the minivan and headed south to one of our favorite cities for a couple days. Our children have...