LAUREL, MARYLAND (May 10, 2024) Director of the United States Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, speaks during the Secret Service Wall of Honor Ceremony at the James J. Rowley Training Center in Laurel, Maryland. (DHS photo by Tia Dufour)
Cheatle has served as the Secret Service Director since 2022. Calls for her resignation came after security failures led to the attempted assassination of former President Trump.
The White House announced on Tuesday that Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned a day after facing harsh criticism in a grueling Congressional hearing in the House Oversight Committee on Monday.
Democrat and Republican House Committee members were largely unified in calls for Cheatle to resign in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
In a statement released by the White House, President Joe Biden thanked Cheatle for her decades of public service.
“She has selflessly dedicated and risked her life to protect our nation throughout her career in the United States Secret Service,” President Biden stated. “We especially thank her for answering the call to lead the Secret Service during our Administration and we are grateful for her service to our family.”
Former President Trump, who posted on Truth Social close to the time as Cheatle’s resignation was announced, stated, “The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy. It was my great honor to do so!”
Cheatle has served as the Secret Service Director since 2022. She previously worked in a lead security role at PepsiCo after serving in the Secret Service for 27 years.
In the hearing on Monday, Cheatle took responsibility for the security failures that led to a would-be assassin taking aim and injuring Trump along with two others, while killing an attendee at the Republican nominee’s campaign rally in Pennsylvania. However, she would not openly answer Committee members’ questions, referring to them to the FBI as the investigating agency.
Congressman James Comer, the House Oversight Committee chairman, welcomed the news of Cheatle’s resignation.
“While Director Cheatle’s resignation is a step toward accountability, we need a full review of how these security failures happened so that we can prevent them going forward,” Comer said in a statement.
President Biden praised Cheatle for her “honor, courage, and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization tasked with one of the most challenging jobs in public service.”
Biden’s statement went on to say that the independent review of the July 13 incident he ordered continues, saying he looks forward to assessing its conclusions.
“We all know what happened that day can never happen again,” Biden said, adding, “As we move forward, I wish Kim all the best, and I will plan to appoint a new Director soon.”
No timeline has been set on when the President will name a new appointee to led the Secret Service.
This article first appeared on the Magnolia Tribune and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney says something needs to be done to mitigate “just objecting so you delay the process” when new healthcare facilities or services are proposed.
Within Mississippi, discussions to significantly reform Certificate of Need (CONs) laws have not yet been successful, but talks are continuing and reform advocates hope changes are on the way.
The beginning of the CONs
Certificate of Need laws were established under President Gerald Ford’s Administration nearly 50 years ago. CONs require new medical facilities to obtain government permission before opening.
Cade Yates, Deputy State Director for Americans for Prosperity, said the federal mandate began with the goal of encouraging medical industry investments and reducing healthcare costs. Yates contends the idea to restrict the number of healthcare facilities in America did not work as planned.
“Unfortunately, over the next ten years it was so disastrous that the feds repealed it under (President Ronald) Reagan and left it up to the states,” Yates said.
To Yates, instead of making healthcare cheaper and improving the quality of care, CON laws did the opposite.
“Because you know that any time the government tries to have a heavy hand top-down approach it generally leads to worse outcomes,” Yates added.
Matthew Mitchell, a scholar at the Knee Center for the Study of Occupational Regulation, points out that after Congress eliminated the federal CON mandate, “several states repealed their CON laws while others have significantly pared their programs back.” Mitchell says, “Today, 4-in-10 Americans live in a state without these rules.”
Yates described those states as having better healthcare options at a better price.
Dr. Daniel Edney, State Health Officer for the Mississippi Department of Health, said CON laws were put in place to ensure that when a medical service is proposed there are enough patients to support it. He said CON laws also ensure the applicant seeking to deliver the service has the funding to support what they propose.
Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney, addresses members of the Mississippi Joint Legislative Budget Committee during his budget presentation for the state Department of Health, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
CON laws tend to apply to the creation and expansion of hospitals, long-term acute care facilities, nursing homes, home health agencies and dialysis units. The persons or company interested in opening or expanding a facility submits an application and the Department of Health reviews the proposal to determine if the new practice is needed in a specific community.
Problems with CON
According to Mitchell, the “process can take months and can cost tens of thousands of dollars in fees and much more in compliance cost. Existing providers are allowed to oppose the applications of their would-be competitors and the regulator may deny an application if he or she thinks that the new service will duplicate an existing one.”
Mitchell argues that what the law “calls ‘duplication’ customers would call ‘competition.’”
Dr. Edney said that objections by competitors can lead to an 18-month to two-year delay in the approval process. Additionally, because a legal challenge is possible, the dispute can be quite costly, creating a financial hardship on the applicant.
The CON application process is also required when an existing facility wants to expand services or purchase new medical equipment.
When asked how many CON applications are disputed, Dr. Edney said, “I would say virtually all of them.” As such, he proposes some sort of “barrier” for those making objections.
Under the current system when an objection is made, the applicant is required to pay the legal fees when the matter is taken to court. Instead, Dr. Edney proposes a bond be paid by the objecting agency or business. One example was a hospital in the Delta that was ready to make an investment in a much-needed surgery center. Opposition from another hospital in the area ultimately caused that attempt to provide care to fail.
“We have to do something to mitigate that problem of just objecting so you delay the process,” Edney said.
State Representative Lee Yancey presents HB 1676 to the other members of the Mississippi House of Representatives Wednesday, March 14, 2024. The bill passed out of the floor with a vote of 77-38.
(Photo by Jeremy Pittari | Magnolia Tribune)
State Representative Lee Yancey (R) has been working on legislation to address the problems that Certificate of Need laws cause for years but has seen little success thus far.
“I still think it’s a regulatory burden that’s anticompetitive and I think that we would have a much more open healthcare market if we could get rid of some of the red tape,” Yancey told Magnolia Tribune.
One of the problems Rep. Yancey sees with the CON laws is that Medicaid reimbursements do not match the actual cost of the services being provided, cutting into already tight profit margins.
“If something costs $100, Medicaid ought to reimburse $100,” Yancey described. “It doesn’t make sense for it to reimburse $80 for a $100 service.”
Rep. Yancey said CON laws also limit investment in communities that need it. He offered the example of a company that wanted to open a medical rehabilitation facility in Flowood. When representatives of the existing medical rehabilitation opposed, the process stopped moving forward.
“So, Flowood missed out on having a new business come into their city with a $10 million investment,” Yancey said.
To Rep. Yancey, CON laws only work to limit Mississippians’ access to healthcare.
“Why should the state care?” Yancey asked. “If people want to go into business, let them go into business. The ones that make it, make it; the ones that don’t, don’t.”
Rural Mississippians are often most affected by CON regulations since residents already have limited access to care. CON further restricts care by restricting competition, Yancey said.
“If you’re out in rural Mississippi somewhere, sometimes the best you can hope for is to get to the place where they can triage you and the ones that are in the worst shape can be air lifted or rushed to an ER in one of our larger hospitals,” Yancey described.
CON reforms debated
A select committee was formed by Speaker of the House Jason White (R) this summer to review the state’s existing CON laws. Rep. Yancey is curious to see what comes out of those discussions. He would like to see the government get out of the way of business and commerce.
“I really would like to see us move the ball,” Yancey said. “It doesn’t matter if it has my name on it or not, I just want to see good change come to Mississippi in these areas.”
While such laws are often too restrictive, there are areas of healthcare where Rep. Yancey and Dr. Edney agree CON laws are needed. Yancey said it makes sense to limit the number of personal care and nursing homes in the state due to the fixed reimbursement rate from Medicaid. If too many of those businesses are allowed to operate, he said many will be unable to reach a capacity where it is profitable.
To Dr. Edney, CON laws protect existing facilities from an outside company cherry picking desirable services that produce more profit. Allowing cherry picking in the healthcare arena could create situations where resources are taken away from existing facilities, he said.
“It keeps for-profit entities from dropping a service into a community that is only going to feed off the cream and not provide more comprehensive services that a rural hospital would provide,” Edney added.
Dr. Edney admits there are faults with the existing CON laws, but he is clear that he does not advocate for their total elimination.
“So, it is a huge balance between premarket competitive issues versus not disrupting the healthcare needs of a small community,” Edney said.
Another problem Edney’s office deals with concerning CON laws pertains to the how fees are collected. Those fees have to be subsidized by the Department of Health because they do not cover the cost incurred by the Department to run the program.
Dr. Edney said a rate increase implemented last year has helped, but the agency is still in the red by roughly $250,000 annually. He estimates that before the rate increase, the agency was supplementing double that amount. For an agency that already runs on a tight budget, Edney said it is a burden.
“I don’t like subsidizing regulatory action,” Edney explained. “I like subsidizing public health needs.”
Adjusting or reforming CON laws could also address a problem in Mississippi where health deserts exist. Dr. Edney said there are currently health deserts in the Delta, Central Mississippi outside of the Jackson Metropolitan area, and southwest Mississippi.
“Lincoln County is a great example,” Edney said. “It has a healthy hospital providing for the needs of the community in a very important way, but there is not a lot of new investment at the CON level.”
He said if “cherry picking” were allowed in that county, it would not take much “to knock that county’s hospital sideways.” For that, and other reasons, Dr. Edney is apprehensive to abolish all CON laws.
“There are times that the CON process just gets in the way, then there are times that CON is doing what it is supposed to do, like the example in Lincoln County,” Edney stated.
However, the State Health Officer believes there are aspects of the CON laws where change could be beneficial, such as removing the requirement for a certificate of need when a facility wants to update or purchase medical equipment.
“I can’t think of a place in rural Mississippi where we wouldn’t want primary care investment, so that’s one example where I would love to waive the process,” Edney described.
Another change Edney believes would be beneficial is in allowing for waivers for services needed most, such as the perinatal services of labor and delivery, prenatal care and postpartum care. Psychiatric care is also desperately needed in this state.
“I concur with the Board of Health that psychiatric facilities and perinatal care facilities… and substance abuse areas, we need really all the access that we can get there,” Edney said.
As with past legislative sessions, Dr. Edney expects to speak to lawmakers about how to address the issues with CON laws.
“Whatever we do with CON, let’s just be careful,” Dr. Edney cautioned. “Let’s don’t disrupt the healthcare infrastructure of rural Mississippi, which is very fragile right now. Let’s be thoughtful, let’s let the data drive it.”
This article first appeared on the Magnolia Tribune and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has stepped down from her post amid criticism following the assassination attempt of former U.S. president and Republican nominee Donald Trump.
In an email penned to agency staff, Cheatle bore responsibility for the events that led up to Trump being shot in the ear by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks at a rally in Butler, Pa. before a counter-sniper claimed the shooter’s life.
“I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” Cheatle wrote. “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director.”
Cheatle’s resignation comes as a litany of complaints from officials, including members of Mississippi’s congressional delegation in Senate Armed Forces Committee ranking member Roger Wicker and House Homeland Security Committee member Michael Guest, called for the federal agency head to no longer be in charge of protecting U.S. political leaders or those surrounding them.
“For the Secret Service to begin repairing trust with the public, its director must resign,” Wicker said on Friday with Guest parroting similar sentiments on Tuesday’s airing of The Gallo Show.
“If she refuses to resign, she should be terminated immediately,” Guest said. “She didn’t go to the scene. She has not talked to the agents. She did not review the [operation] plan. She did not grant the additional resources that Trump’s security detail requested, basically putting in motion the events of July 13.”
Guest also noted that Cheatle, who called the July 13 shooting the “most significant operational failure” by Secret Service in a very long time, did not terminate anyone under her umbrella who was responsible for drafting the security plan for the Butler rally.
Though Cheatle remained steadfast that she was “fit for the job” and even scoffed at the idea of drafting her resignation letter during a Monday congressional hearing in which she was lambasted by lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle, she ultimately had a change of heart a day later.
Investigators are continuing to assess the shooting that claimed the life of beloved firefighter Corey Comperatore and left three
The Marshall County School District is making waves with a new rule that will require students to lock away their phones during academic hours, and the move isn’t going unnoticed by lawmakers.
Following MCSD’s announcement that the new policy – requiring students fifth through twelfth grades to place phones in locked pouches during the school day – will go into effect this fall. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said he hopes other school districts will follow suit.
“I’d like for all of our other schools to take a look at that, not only as an interruption in your education system but also from the fact that people get harassed on their [phones],” Hosemann said.
“Look at all the things that are coming out in every publication and every book about the mental health of our young people from being addicted to their iPhones, Samsungs, or whatever. That is materializing into a significant problem.”
Hosemann, a Republican going into the second year of his second term as leader of the Senate, added that he plans to push legislation in 2025 that would encourage all public-school districts across Mississippi to consider cell phone restrictions inside classrooms.
Different from states like Florida and Oklahoma who have statewide bans, Hosemann believes the conversation surrounding cell phones in classrooms needs to end at the local level.
“I want our kids to have a safe place in schools to learn and not be harassed or whatever during the school session,” Hosemann said, noting his office has already met with the Mississippi Department of Education on the topic. “I think you’ll see us do things to allow school boards to make those decisions. Those decisions are best made on the local level, but we want to give them an implementation strategy this year.”
Part of that implementation strategy is expected to revolve around funding. In Marshall County, the lock pouches cost $30 with the district buying the first pouch. If a student damages or loses their pouch, parents will be required to pay for a replacement. During the most recent session, the legislature passed a new K-12 funding
The Marshall County School District is making waves with a new rule that will require students to lock away their phones during academic hours, and the move isn’t going unnoticed by lawmakers.
Following MCSD’s announcement that the new policy – requiring students fifth through twelfth grades to place phones in locked pouches during the school day – will go into effect this fall. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said he hopes other school districts will follow suit.
“I’d like for all of our other schools to take a look at that, not only as an interruption in your education system but also from the fact that people get harassed on their [phones],” Hosemann said.
“Look at all the things that are coming out in every publication and every book about the mental health of our young people from being addicted to their iPhones, Samsungs, or whatever. That is materializing into a significant problem.”
Hosemann, a Republican going into the second year of his second term as leader of the Senate, added that he plans to push legislation in 2025 that would encourage all public-school districts across Mississippi to consider cell phone restrictions inside classrooms.
Different from states like Florida and Oklahoma who have statewide bans, Hosemann believes the conversation surrounding cell phones in classrooms needs to end at the local level.
“I want our kids to have a safe place in schools to learn and not be harassed or whatever during the school session,” Hosemann said, noting his office has already met with the Mississippi Department of Education on the topic. “I think you’ll see us do things to allow school boards to make those decisions. Those decisions are best made on the local level, but we want to give them an implementation strategy this year.”
Part of that implementation strategy is expected to revolve around funding. In Marshall County, the lock pouches cost $30 with the district buying the first pouch. If a student damages or loses their pouch, parents will be required to pay for a replacement. During the most recent session, the legislature passed a new K-12 funding
The Liebherr-Logistics GmbH in Oberopfingen serves the sales and service of the Liebherr Group worldwide. (Photo from Liebherr)
Liebherr said it plans to expand its logistics network for the North and South American continents with a state-of-the-art spare parts logistics center in Tupelo’s Hive Business Park.
The Mississippi Development Authority announced Tuesday that Liebherr, one of the largest manufacturers of construction equipment in the world, is locating distribution and manufacturing operations in Lee County.
According to MDA, the project represents a corporate investment of $176 million and will create at least 180 jobs by 2026. The Swiss manufacturer is said to be potentially investing up to $238.4 million and creating up to 342 jobs to support its new operations.
On its new site in the Hive Business Park in Tupelo, Liebherr said it plans to expand its logistics network for the North and South American continents with a state-of-the-art spare parts logistics center, thereby strengthening its presence in the American market.
The continental warehouse of Liebherr-Logistics GmbH will handle logistics and service operations, such as warehousing, distribution, value-added services − pre-assembly, kitting, repackaging − as well as customs and export services.
“Tupelo is the ideal location to service and deliver our spare parts to clients in the U.S. and other countries on the North and South American continent. Furthermore, it will serve to expand our businesses with other product segments of the Liebherr Group at the same campus. Its unique logistical capabilities combined with the central geographical location will make a difference to us and our clients,” said Liebherr-Logistics GmbH’s MD Joerg Stroebele in a statement. “A very professional CDF team, a positive business climate in Mississippi as well as a strong labor market with a highly educated workforce positively contributed to our decision for Mississippi and Tupelo.”
Since 2015, Liebherr-Logistics GmbH has been supplying its markets from Oberopfingen in southern Germany. In 2023, a second distribution warehouse was opened in Born, the Netherlands, to be closer to customers in Northern and Western Europe. The company will develop a new campus on the 118-acre site that will enable it to construct more than 1 million square feet of building space.
Governor Tate Reeves was thrilled to have the company invest in Mississippi.
“I am thrilled to welcome Liebherr to Mississippi. The company’s decision to expand its North American footprint in our state is indicative of the strength of our business climate and capabilities of our workforce. My administration is committed to fostering economic growth and providing good-paying opportunities for all Mississippians,” Reeves said in a statement. “I thank the Liebherr team for choosing Lee County and am excited to watch the company play an integral role in our continued prosperity. The Mississippi momentum is strong, and it is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.”
The Mississippi Development Authority noted that the agency is providing assistance through the Mississippi Flexible Tax Incentive, or MFLEX program. MDA also is providing assistance for constructing and equipping the facilities. Lee County, the city of Tupelo and Accelerate MS also are assisting with the project.
Liebherr is a family-run technology company with a diversified product portfolio. In addition to construction equipment, the company provides high-quality, user-oriented products and services in a wide range of areas. The Liebherr Group is comprised of more than 150 companies in more than 50 countries and currently employs more than 53,000 employees worldwide and over 1,600 in the U.S.
Mississippi’s 35 delegates to the Democratic National Committee unanimously voted on Monday night to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president, aligning the state with the vast majority of delegates around the country.
“We will work diligently to ensure that she is the next president of the United States,” Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Cheikh Taylor said in a statement. “The first woman and woman of color to serve us in the highest office in the land.”
President Joe Biden on Sunday announced he was stepping aside as the Democratic nominee and endorsed Harris. Delegates to the convention will meet starting August 19 in Chicago to formally select a nominee.
But several state delegations, including Mississippi, met late Monday to confirm their support for Harris. By Monday night, Harris had the support of well more than the 1,976 delegates she’ll need to win on a first ballot, according to a tally by the Associated Press.
“I know Kamala Harris, and let me tell you, the Republicans have no idea what they are about to face with her leading our ticket,” said Jacqueline Amos, a national committeewoman from Mississippi. “I call on all Democrats to join President Biden in endorsing Vice President Harris for the Presidency.
Since Biden’s departure from the election, Harris has inherited his campaign staff and $96 million in cash. She also set a new 24-hour record for presidential donations on Monday.
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This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
But the dove found no place to set her foot. – Genesis 8:9
Reader, can you find rest apart from the ark, Christ Jesus? Then consider that your religion may be in vain. Are you satisfied with anything short of a conscious knowledge of your union and interest in Christ? Then woe to you. If you profess to be a Christian while finding full satisfaction in worldly pleasures and pursuits, your profession is probably false. If your soul can stretch herself at rest and find the bed long enough and the blanket broad enough to cover it in the chambers of sin, then you are a hypocrite and far away from any proper thoughts of Christ or awareness of His preciousness.
But if, on the other hand, you feel that if you could indulge in sin without punishment, that would be a punishment itself, and that if you could have the whole world and live in it forever, it would be quite enough misery not to be separated from it, for your God—your God—is what your soul longs for, then be of good courage, you are a child of God. With all your sins and imperfections, take this for your comfort: If your soul has no rest in sin, you are not as the sinner is! If you are still crying after and craving after something better, Christ has not forgotten you, for you have not quite forgotten Him.
The believer cannot do without his Lord; words are inadequate to express his thoughts of Him. We cannot live on the sands of the wilderness—we want the manna that drops from heaven; the pitchers of self-confidence cannot produce for us a drop of moisture, but we drink of the rock that follows us, and that rock is Christ. When you feed on Him, your soul can sing, “He who satisfies me with good so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s”; but if you don’t have Him, your wine cellar and well-stocked pantry can give you no sort of satisfaction: Learn to lament over them in the words of wisdom, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”
This article first appeared on the Magnolia Tribune and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
But the dove found no place to set her foot. – Genesis 8:9
Reader, can you find rest apart from the ark, Christ Jesus? Then consider that your religion may be in vain. Are you satisfied with anything short of a conscious knowledge of your union and interest in Christ? Then woe to you. If you profess to be a Christian while finding full satisfaction in worldly pleasures and pursuits, your profession is probably false. If your soul can stretch herself at rest and find the bed long enough and the blanket broad enough to cover it in the chambers of sin, then you are a hypocrite and far away from any proper thoughts of Christ or awareness of His preciousness.
But if, on the other hand, you feel that if you could indulge in sin without punishment, that would be a punishment itself, and that if you could have the whole world and live in it forever, it would be quite enough misery not to be separated from it, for your God—your God—is what your soul longs for, then be of good courage, you are a child of God. With all your sins and imperfections, take this for your comfort: If your soul has no rest in sin, you are not as the sinner is! If you are still crying after and craving after something better, Christ has not forgotten you, for you have not quite forgotten Him.
The believer cannot do without his Lord; words are inadequate to express his thoughts of Him. We cannot live on the sands of the wilderness—we want the manna that drops from heaven; the pitchers of self-confidence cannot produce for us a drop of moisture, but we drink of the rock that follows us, and that rock is Christ. When you feed on Him, your soul can sing, “He who satisfies me with good so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s”; but if you don’t have Him, your wine cellar and well-stocked pantry can give you no sort of satisfaction: Learn to lament over them in the words of wisdom, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”
This article first appeared on the Magnolia Tribune and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
ELBA, Minn.—Jeff Broberg’s well sits inside a wooden shed not too far from a field he rented about a decade ago to a local farmer.
One day, Broberg discovered the farmer was fertilizing with hog manure. In doing so, combined with the commercial fertilizer he was already using, the farmer was almost doubling the amount of nitrogen on the field in hopes of producing a better corn yield.
Not all of that nitrogen went to the corn. Some of it seeped into the groundwater and was pumped through the well that supplied the water Broberg drank in the form of nitrate, which is made when nitrogen and oxygen combine.
It’s an alarming local effect of a persistent problem that washes far downstream through the Mississippi River watershed, eventually ending up in the Gulf of Mexico, where nitrates are one cause of a low-oxygen “dead zone” that chokes off plant and aquatic life.
In Minnesota, Broberg’s well water tested at 22 parts per million nitrate—more than double what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says is the safe limit for the contaminant.
Broberg, a retired geologist who’s now a clean-water advocate, had his well tested when he first bought the house in 1986. For the first decade he lived there, it hovered close to 10 parts per million nitrate, the EPA’s limit. When it started to test above that, he began to haul water from a friend’s house in a nearby town.
Finally, he installed a system that reduced nitrate levels in the water he drank, a system that protected him after the incident with the farmer.
Retired geologist Jeff Broberg is framed in the doorway to his well house April 11, 2024, at his home in Elba, Minnesota. The water from his well exceeds the guidelines for nitrate contamination. Credit: Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/broberg_cred-Mark-Hoffman_Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/broberg_cred-Mark-Hoffman_Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/broberg_cred-Mark-Hoffman_Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1″ alt=”a man stands in a dilapidated wellhouse in front of equipment” class=”wp-image-44877″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/broberg_cred-Mark-Hoffman_Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/broberg_cred-Mark-Hoffman_Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/broberg_cred-Mark-Hoffman_Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/broberg_cred-Mark-Hoffman_Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/broberg_cred-Mark-Hoffman_Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/broberg_cred-Mark-Hoffman_Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel-1024×683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px” data-recalc-dims=”1″>Retired geologist Jeff Broberg is framed
