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U.S. NEWS Friday 5 May 2023

Federal officials unveil flood plan for Mississippi Delta

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG jor step forward for South
Associated Press/Report for Delta residents who have
America been waiting decades for
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — the federal government to
Federal officials presented keep its promise, and also,
a proposal Thursday to fur- to protect them from flood-
ther control flooding in the ing,” Wicker said in the
Mississippi Delta, a move news release. “This water
that comes after months management plan would
of work from government help prevent nearly all the
agencies and decades of flooding that has destroyed
delays amid disputes over homes and businesses, ru-
potential environmental ined crops, and devastat-
impacts. ed wildlife.”
The south Delta’s Yazoo The proposal is a recom-
Backwater area covers mendation from the Corps
thousands of square miles, and EPA that will be pre-
starting just north of Vicks- sented to the public for
burg and going up to comment.
where Mississippi Highway “The overall approach is a
12 bisects the Delta. The major inter-agency effort
area has experienced sig- that aims to provide flood
nificant flooding for many risk reduction through a
years, including a damag- Backwater flooding covers stretches of farm land on March 17, 2019, near Yazoo City, Miss. water management so-
ing 2019 flood that lasted Associated Press lution,” Anna Owens, a
several months, according ing often occurs after rain- Thursday in Onward, Mis- tion of pumping stations, spokesperson for the Corps’
to the U.S. Army Corps of fall feeds high waters in the sissippi, experts from the support for voluntary buy- Vicksburg District, said in an
Engineers. Mississippi River. Corps and the Environmen- outs for at-risk homes and email. “The plan also con-
Farmers, rural shopkeepers Environmental groups have tal Protection Agency pre- help to elevate homes and siders affected communi-
and Mississippi politicians opposed the project for sented what they called a build ring levees, accord- ties, agriculture, and the
from both major parties decades, arguing it would “preferred approach” to ing to a news release from needs of fish, wildlife, and
have long pushed for a be too expensive and hurt water management in the the offices of Mississippi’s wetlands.” After a public
proposed project to miti- wetlands to help agribusi- Yazoo Backwater area. two Republican U.S. sena- comment period, officials
gate flooding that involves ness. The proposal would include tors, Roger Wicker and Cin- will revise the proposal be-
pumping water from parts At a public meeting on the installation and opera- dy Hyde-Smith. “It’s a ma- fore they unveil a finalized
of the south Delta. Flood- plan on June 30, she said.q

Porn industry group sues over Utah age verification law

By SAM METZ along with an erotica au- who want to view sexually serve a compelling state in- to declare pornography
Associated Press thor and companies that explicit materials. The plain- terest.” a public health crisis and
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An manage adult websites tiffs have asked a federal It is currently illegal to show two years after lawmakers

adult entertainment indus- and are party to the suit judge to bar enforcement children pornography un- passed a measure paving
try group filed a lawsuit on argues that Utah’s new of the law until their legal der federal law, however the way to require inter-
Wednesday challenging a law unfairly discriminates challenge is resolved. that law is rarely enforced. net-capable devices be
new Utah law that requires against certain kinds of They contend that the age Utah’s new law is the con- equipped with porn filters
porn websites to implement speech, violates the First verification law “imposes a servative state’s latest ef- for children. Provisions of
age verification mecha- Amendment rights of porn content-based restriction fort to crack down on ac- the law delay it from tak-
nisms to block minors from providers and intrudes on on protected speech that cess to pornography and ing effect unless at least
accessing sexually explicit the privacy of individuals requires narrow tailoring to dovetails with lawmakers’ five other states pass similar
materials. other efforts to restrict how measures.
The law, which took effect children use the internet, in- The age verification law is
Wednesday, made Utah cluding social media sites. facing strong pushback,
the second state to require It comes less than a year including from one of the
adult websites to verify the after Louisiana enacted biggest porn sites, Pornhub,
age of those who want to a similar law and as addi- which disabled access to
view their pages either tional states consider such its site in Utah earlier this
through an independent policies as filters or age veri- week.
contractor or digital ID. fication for adult websites. The Free Speech Coali-
Lawmakers likened the re- The Utah law builds off tion has filed similar chal-
quirement to those for al- years of anti-porn efforts by lenges before. In 2002, its
cohol or online gambling the Republican-controlled case against a federal
and argued that stronger Legislature, where a major- child pornography statute
protections were needed ity of lawmakers are mem- made landed before the
to shield kids from pornog- bers of The Church of Jesus U.S. Supreme Court, which
raphy, which is ubiquitous Christ of Latter-day Saints. struck down provisions for
online. The Utah State Capitol is shown on March 3, 2023, in Salt Lake It comes seven years after overly interfering with free
City.
The Free Speech Coalition Associated Press Utah became the first state speech.q