В Магнолии выявлены проблемы с благоустройством, а SpaceX планирует новый космодром в Луизиане

One of our younger friends took to Facebook over the weekend to lament the run-down appearance of some houses and neighborhoods in Magnolia where friends and families used to live. “It’s discouraging to see the conditions of many of these homes … It doesn’t take any money to pick up after yourself,” he wrote in part. We could not have said it better. As it happened, we were also driving around town on Saturday to scout for future “Re-imagining Magnolia with ChatGPT” sites, and found plenty. Especially distressing were the number of abandoned and wrecked vehicles we observed in front and back yards in the zone bounded by Columbia, Jefferson, Garland and Clay streets. Your yard isn’t the appropriate place for broken, wrecked or abandoned vehicles. Pantera Minerals was among the first companies to acquire leases to thousands of acres of potential lithium-rich brine acreage a few years ago. It sold 35,000 acres in leases last year, and has turned its attention to a search for silver and antimony in Sevier County. Pantera said last week that it has started a drilling program to determine the extent to which those elements might be found in Southwest Arkansas. Near-surface mining for silver and other metals was a thing in the region during the Civil War era. We continue to follow this news with interest. South Arkansas has oil, natural gas, lignite and, trapped within saltwater brine, bromine, lithium and other elements. How sweet it would be if commercial quantities of antimony and silver were uncovered. CLICK HERE to read the article. Note to PO. Thanks for the generous donation. It has been duly deposited and will go toward our approaching website upgrade which will, ironically enough, include a “donate” button. Our new online poll question is the same that we ask once a year: How many football games will the Magnolia Panthers win this season? Magnolia has three consecutive 5-5 seasons, but enters the 2026 campaign under a new conference alignment that’s sure to shake things up a bit. The Panthers’ three consecutive 3-4 conference records haven’t been good enough to reach the playoffs. Dropping Hope (usually a big win for Magnolia) and Parkview (usually a big loss) from the schedule, and adding White Hall and Pine Bluff, may boost the Panthers to 6-4 (regular season) and 4-3 (conference) records, or better. Magnolia hasn’t played Pine Bluff in recent memory. Magnolia and White Hall matched up five times in six years between 2012-2017, with White Hall leading the series 4-1. We’re always interested in space-related news. So you can bet we’ll let you know the outcome of an 11 a.m. presser in Abbeville, LA. SpaceX and the State of Louisiana are expected to announce plans for a rocket launch site on Pecan Island, just a few miles from the Gulf of Mexico. Space exploration, science and commerce has picked up to the point of where there are 2, 3 or more launches a week from the government sites in Florida and California, and the SpaceX site in South Texas. Starbase on South Padre Island apparently isn’t enough for SpaceX’s Elon Musk, so Pecan Island may soon become a new dateline. We’ve never seen a space launch in person. Yes, we can see ourselves along coastal Louisiana to witness a launch. Yes, it’s still the Gulf of Mexico in our stylebook. And Lake Ontario will remain Lake Ontario. The U.S. president, who continues to be miffed that Canada generally finds the president and his trade policies repugnant, said overnight that he wants to rename the body of water “Lake America.” Ten years ago, we reported that the Magnolia Airport Commission was naming the field in memory of Ralph C. Weiser. CLICK HERE to read the article. Release the Epstein files. Mike McNeill is publisher and editor of magnoliareporter.com. He has been a reporter or managing editor at six daily newspapers in four states since 1977, before launching magnoliareporter.com in 2010. Email him at [email protected] or call him at 870-904-3865. Opinions expressed in this column are his own. CLICK HERE to see past installments of Mike McNeill’s Diary. magnoliareporter.com is moving away from its social media account on X (formerly Twitter). Join us on Bluesky by downloading the Bluesky app and becoming a member. See what we post at @magnolia-reporter.bsky.social .