January News

The former chief of the Justice Department's Voting Rights Section, who stepped aside in December after apologizing for remarks about minority voters, is now working in Alabama. via WLOX-TV Biloxi

“Keep in mind, she's actually on leave from Stanford. She's still a tenured professor at Stanford University”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will return to Stanford University when President George W. Bush steps down in January, her spokesman said Monday, denying rumors she sought political office. via News Max

A former southeast Georgia physician is scheduled to be sentenced Friday for his role in an operation that federal authorities say illegally distributed prescription drugs over the Internet. via WALB-TV Albany

Mississippi's unemployment dropped to 5.9 percent in February, five-tenths of one percentage point better than January. via WAPT-TV Jackson

“There are a lot of people who get very emotional about this issue”

As an architectural icon and the seat of state government, the Missouri Capitol draws more than 100,000 visitors each year to its ornate perch on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. via KSHB-TV Kansas City

A nursing home in northern Iowa says it will appeal a $10,000 fine levied by the state. via KWQC-TV Davenport

Republican Greg Davis and Democrat Travis Childers won their party nominations today during runoffs in north Mississippi's 1st Congressional District. via WREG-TV Memphis

The first few months of 2008 have been unusually strong for new music, so let's get right to it, huh? Below is my list of the top 15 albums, more or less in order, from January, February and March. via Ann Arbor News

Inclement weather prevented us from having our Second Annual Mississippi Donor Day in January. via WJKX-FM Hattiesburg

“If you have ever comforted the parents or grandparents of a young person lost in a DUI crash, then you know that the cost of this proposal is too great and the damage it stands to inflict is too heavy a burden for innocent families to bear”

HEADLINES

State employees and teachers would receive a 2.5 percent cost-of-living pay raise under the $21.2 billion budget that passed unanimously in the Senate. They're the lucky ones. Facing sluggish tax collections, budget writers slashed overall spending by $245 million below what Gov. Sonny Perdue proposed in January. The big loser is schools, which had been hoping the state would finally replenish austerity cuts that have affected districts for six years. Republican lawmakers wanted to replace the full $141 million in proposed cuts for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Instead, they were able to add just $56 million. Read more

A restored trust fund with close to $55 million in assets will focus charitable giving on activities that benefit young people and conservation of wildlife resources. via WREG-TV Memphis

Governor Haley Barbour has signed several bills into law this week. Some of the bills he signed would: Make the misuse of an electronic benefits transfer card welfare fraud, starting July 1. The bill says ... via WREG-TV Memphis

A new round of felony indictments in a failed state-sponsored beef processing plant could cause political trouble for former Mississippi Gov. via Manufacturing.net

A Gulfport man listed on the state Department of Public Safety's 'top 10 narcotics most wanted' has turned himself in and is held at the Harrison County jail.

Dwan Durrell Parnell, 21, of Debra Drive, was wanted since January, when the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and Gulfport Police Department served a search warrant at his residence. They found a loaded Glock .45, cash believed linked to drug trafficking, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, MBN Director Marshall Fisher said in a news release. Read more

Katie South knew something wasn't right. Her husband, Joe, has been dead for almost three years. via Insurance Journal West

“We'll have to go back and see where we can make cuts and what we can combine. We may have to go into our fund balance.”

Amite County school officials are concerned the district could lose more than $400,000 in state and federal money this year. via The Mississippi Press

“The river is continuing to come up”

Flood-weary residents in Missouri, Arkansas and Ohio fought Friday to save their homes after heavy rainstorms pushed swollen rivers out of their banks, and a fresh snowstorm blew through parts of the Upper ... via Lubbock Avalanche

“So we can say 'go to our Web site, go to such and such, and it's there.”

Americans in the hurricane danger zone may soon be able to use Google to find out if their own home is threatened by a dangerous storm surge, the director of the National Hurricane Center said on Wednesday. via Scientific American

The Hattiesburg City Council is expected to take up a resolution on Tuesday that would make Jolly Matthews the municipal judge effective April 1. Edwin L. Pittman Jr. via Hattiesburg American

Economists and egg producers say egg prices are rising in the United States, partly due to an increase in the cost of chicken feed and high energy costs. via WAAY