One guess-- Iowa Pacific?

I'd recommend looking out for yourself first. Apply anywhere else you can. No magic funding is coming through, regardless of what Ed Ellis says.

If you're concerned about tossing 3 months' of wages (and who wouldn't be), I would call your state labor commission and find out what your rights are or contact an employment law attorney in your state. Mississippi is pretty wide open with not a whole lot of worker protections, so it may wind up being "That's a tough situation...I'd look for a new job."

The reality is even if there are some protections and ability for you to file a claim for back wages, you'd just join a herd of creditors trying to chase Guitar Man down to get their money. And there are much larger fish in line (like state governments chasing millions in back taxes). There likely won't be much of anything left for claims such as yours when you get your turn in line.

With your experience, I would think you could pretty easily find work on one of the Class 1s, especially since it seems our new generation of people are pretty averse to doing a lot of physical work which keeps them away from their phones very long. Some of the best money for MOW people is working on the big production gangs, but those are almost 100% travel and will see you away from home weeks/months at a time living out of camp cars or extended stay motels. Not a bad way at all to bank some good money for a few years if you're not anchored to MS or have a need to be home frequently (oh, like, a family).

Here's a thought-- would you consider Train & Engine Service? Pretty much any Class 1 other than CSX is starving for people. CN is even hiring experienced engineers straight from shortlines and other Class 1s right into the engineer's seat. The guys I know who have done that went to Jackson, MS so that is not too far away for you.

If you are thinking of other careers, you can walk into pretty good jobs in trucking (with many willing to pay your training) as long as you can pass a DOT physical and don't have any major crimes on your record. Downside, gone all the time unless you drive local, which doesn't pay as much. There are also plenty of jobs working the MS river towboats which pay pretty well. But those guys work a 30-day stint on the river, followed by 2-3 weeks off. Gone a lot, but some quality off time, too for at least a bit of balance. One caution-- almost everyone on those boats smoke, so if you are averse to tobacco smoke, that is an issue. Some of the companies have tried to create "Non-smoking boats" but so far have failed because the demand isn't there (read: you piss off more people than you please).

Good luck. Bottom line, time to move on and look out for number 1-- YOU.