Rienzi News

In releasing his budget proposal last week, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour might've tapped into his own version of economic stimulus.

Republican Gov. Haley Barbour and key legislators say they won't try to offset Mississippi's sluggish revenue with a tax increase in 2010, but fees are open for discussion.

One of Mississippi's leading House Democrats has questioned whether the state can afford its 152 school districts and eight public universities.

JACKSON, Miss. - Officials and supporters of the Elvis Presley Birthplace again will ask legislators to love them tender when the 2010 session begins in January.

A mistrial has been declared in the culpable negligence manslaughter trial of a Rienzi man.

Mississippi lawmakers on Wednesday discussed delaying the start of the school year, raising fees on driver's licenses and rehiring retired troopers as ways to save money in the next state budget year.

Mississippi's Medicaid director told lawmakers Wednesday that Attorney General Jim Hood has refused to prosecute a possible case of $24 million in fraud by a man paid to provide behavioral services to patients.

Mississippi agency directors were told to keep budget requests modest in a tight economy, but state mental health director Ed LeGrand has requested an extra $50 million for next year.

JACKSON, Miss. - Mississippi lawmakers this week begin the long process of deciding how to spend taxpayers' money for the upcoming budget year.

JACKSON, Miss. - A key legislator and a transportation leader say it's unlikely the Legislature will pass an increase in Mississippi's gasoline tax to shore up the highway construction program.

When the state budget process starts to bog down over Medicaid or education funding next spring during the 2010 regular session of the Mississippi Legislature, remember that the process officially started on Sept.

Mississippi schools began trying to shave their budgets Thursday after Gov. Haley Barbour announced $172 million in cuts to the state's $6 billion budget - most falling on education, which makes up the majority of the budget.

House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, has always given the popular but largely erroneous image of state legislators as drunken louts a hard time.

A group of Democrats has asked a Hinds County judge to overturn Gov. Haley Barbour's partial veto of legislation dealing with overtime pay for Mississippi Highway Patrol troopers.

After months of bickering over the budget, Mississippi lawmakers spent less than six hours in special session Friday to approve the final details of the state's $6 billion spending plan.

The Democratic-led Mississippi House voted Friday to let the Public Service Commission hire three more staff members to evaluate legal and financial documents from utility companies.

A state auction of more than 855,000 cartons of contraband cigarettes could happen as early as September, State Auditor Stacey Pickering said.

With just a week left in the state's fiscal year, Gov. Haley Barbour said Monday he won't call lawmakers back for a special session to pass a state budget because he's unhappy with a Medicaid agreement reached by House and Senate negotiators that would prevent him from making spending reductions in the program.

Mississippi House and Senate leaders said Thursday they're closer to reaching an agreement on a state spending plan for the coming fiscal year, thanks to a settlement with Microsoft that will provide $40 million in 40 days.

State lawmakers still haven't agreed on a spending plan for the coming fiscal year, despite tonight's midnight deadline and pressure from state workers.