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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

A future U.S. Navy ship will honor Jackson, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced Friday. Adam Lynch

In U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’ Coast recovery plan released last week, he recommends that a large portion of BP’s penalty money go to the Gulf Coast, The Sun Herald reported.

The former Mississippi governor suggested that money BP will pay from federal Clean Water Act violations go toward recovery to the five Gulf states affected by this summer’s oil disaster. The Sun Herald estimates that BP could face fines between $21.1 million to $5.4 billion.

Mabus recommended that a Gulf Coast council, comprised of state and federal members coordinate recovery efforts.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.