Medical First Responder graduates included: Deb McKenna, Pam Sumrall, Karen Gatlin; Dustin Gatlin, Thomas A'TinyA' Mozingo, Zack Robinson and Jessie Jones.

Local legislators took shots at Gov. Haley Barbour with one senator saying even the governor doesn't like the budget he proposed for 2010-11. Five lawmakers met at the Mississippi Engineering Society's monthly meeting Thursday at the South Mississippi Electric Power Association building on Mississippi 42.

Judge Sheila Smallwood set a $1 million bond in Petal municipal court this afternoon for Nathan G. Sumrall, 24, of Petal, who was charged with murdering his ex-girlfriend, April D. Tischer, 25.

A Petal man has been charged with murdering April D. Tischer, 25, of Petal, who was found dead at her apartment Saturday.

About 1,000 customers of West Lamar Water Association Inc., in three Pine Belt counties are under a 'boil water' notice because of a line break that caused a loss of pressure in the system.

A 24 year old USM student from Sumrall was killed Wednesday night when a cement truck crashed into the rear of the farm tractor he was driving.

A two-vehicle accident involving a tractor and a cement truck Wednesday evening claimed the life of a Sumrall man, who may have been a University of Southern Mississippi student.

By Jennifer Jacob Brown jbrown@themeridianstar.com It happens at almost every meeting.

Two Petal students and a Sumrall student were chosen as Presidential Scholars at the University of Southern Mississippi this fall.

Butch Bailey loves the opportunity to savor the flavor of the exotic when it comes to a pint of ale or stein of stout.

Ask any of Stone Barefield's friends or family, and they all agree: He lived to serve the public.

Andrea J. Hood of Brooklyn has been named a new vice president of Hancock Bank. The company's board of directors approved the promotion during the regular October board meeting.

Charles Scruggs decided that a group he felt had been overlooked ought to have a day to remember.

Submit items by 5 p.m. Monday to business@sunherald.com or fax to 896-2104. Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jess H. Dickinson, of Gulfport, was among four judges and 10 lawyers honored Thursday during the National Pro Bono Celebration at the Mississippi Bar in Jackson.

It's a parent's worst nightmare: Police in Ocean Springs uncovered a meth lab at a home that was also used as a day care center.

Debra Sumrall and her husband, Mike, were on a weekend get-a-way to the Mississippi Gulf Coast when they received a phone call at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning alerting them that their Jones County home was on fire.

The two-story building of whitewashed brick stands just across the way from the Longleaf Trace, tucked into the back of downtown Sumrall at the corner of Pine Street and Railroad Avenue.

A two-year long recession is easing, but Pine Belt municipalities have yet to feel the effects of improvement, city leaders said Oct.

Three high school marching bands continued the Pine Belt's tradition of exceptional music programs by placing in the top six in their divisions at the Mississippi Marching Band Championship last weekend.

They stood in unison with candles lit and paid tribute to victims of domestic violence.