State News
Miss. budget battle cost taxpayers
JACKSON (AP) — The extended battle over the state budget cost taxpayers additional dollars as lawmakers and Gov. Haley Barbour pushed decisions to the final hours of the fiscal year that ended Tuesday.
And with the budgets for two agencies still unapproved, taxpayers likely will be paying again for lawmakers to return to the Capitol.
Legislative accounting officials estimate the costs totaled $406,895 after April 1, which is the approximate date regular sessions usually adjourn for the year. But the regular session ended in early June with no budget agreement and a three-day special session was required last week to produce a budget.
Special sessions cost more than regular sessions.
House Speaker Billy McCoy says the extended budget fight was ‘‘a terrible waste of manpower and money.’’
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Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com
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Leaders consider saving some of stimulus
Republican Gov. Haley Barbour and a bipartisan group of Mississippi lawmakers are considering saving, rather than spending, one of the two pots of federal stimulus money Congress recently approved.
Doing so could make it easier for officials to craft a state budget during the 2011 election-year session when most lawmakers are either seeking another term or running for higher office, and when Barbour — a potential 2012 presidential candidate — is wrapping up his final year as governor. -
Cooking oil case before appeals court
The state Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments Sept. 30 in the case of Edna Mae Sanders, who is seeking a new trial in the death of her husband.
The man died a week after he was doused with hot cooking oil. Sanders, of Diamondhead, was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison after a trial in Hancock County in 2008. -
Barbour: Biofuel project tops Miss. session agenda
Mississippi lawmakers on Friday will consider $50 million in state incentives for research and production of renewable fuel made from timber, one of the state’s most widely available natural resources.
Gov. Haley Barbour said Tuesday the biofuels project will be one of three items on the agenda for a special session, and he’s asking legislators to let DeSoto County supervisors build a new jail outside the county seat of Hernando. -
Danielle forms in Atlantic
Hurricane Danielle has formed far from land in the Atlantic with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph), and it’s expected to strengthen in the next couple of days.
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Lesbian student files suit in photo fight
Another teenage lesbian is suing a Mississippi school district, this time over a policy banning females from wearing tuxedos in yearbook portraits.
Ceara Sturgis’ dispute with the Copiah County School District started in 2009, before Constance McMillen made headlines for her fight to have a same-sex prom date and wear a tuxedo to her school’s dance in a different district. -
First beer sales allowed at Coliseum in October
On Oct. 16, Hank Williams Jr. will be in Jackson to perform at the Mississippi Coliseum. Joining him will be country music acts Jamey Johnson, Colt Ford, Josh Thompson and The Grascals.
But perhaps the star of the show will be something that’s never appeared — at least legally — at the four-decade-old coliseum: beer. -
Mississippi lawmakers hold hearings on redistricting
Fast-growing and relatively affluent suburbs could gain representation in the Mississippi Legislature, while economically struggling areas with shrinking populations could lose some seats.
That’s how things are shaping up as state lawmakers prepare for redistricting in 2011.
Officials in the fastest-growing county in the state, DeSoto, say they anticipate picking up at least one additional seat in the 122-member House and one more in the 52-member Senate. DeSoto now has all or part of six House districts and two entire Senate districts. -
Hood: No decision yet on whether Miss. will sue BP
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said Tuesday he hasn’t decided yet whether to file a state lawsuit against BP over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Hood said he’s taking time to evaluate possible claims for damages created by the spill or by chemicals used to break up the oil. He said determining the environmental impact on fish, for example, could take months or longer. -
USDA, Miss. extension service: crops look good
- 3 hospitals have construction under way
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Leaders consider saving some of stimulus
