Mississippi ponies up $30 million in incentives to keep Cooper Tire

As you know, Cooper Tire is in the process of conducting a "capacity study" in which it will likely close one of its four U.S. plants or otherwise substantially modify its operations. Cooper has tire manufacturing plants in Albany, Georgia (1,300 employees), Findlay, Ohio (1,100 employees), Tupelo, Mississippi (1,200 employees), and Texarkana, Arkansas (1,400 employees).

Hints are few and far between as to what we're competing against, but this article from today's Biloxi Sun-Herald shows that Mississippi officials are proposing to give Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. $30 million in financial incentives to keep the company's Tupelo plant open.

Update: Here's more from the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal in Tupelo.