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Bill Adds Teeth to Stalking Law
Sitting on Gov. Haley Barbour's desk this morning awaiting his signature is a bill designed to give Mississippi's stalking laws some bite. House bill 1309 revises and strengthens the definition …
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Medical Examiner Bill Sent To Barbour
The Mississippi Legislature has passed a bill that would require state medical examiners to be certified forensic pathologists. The House of Representatives today approved Senate changes to House Bill 1456, …
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Strangulation, Security and Suffrage
Both chambers of the state Legislature spent the past week considering bills from the opposite chamber. The House amended Senate Bill 2923—a bill that expands domestic assault to include strangulation …
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Revenue Estimates Down, Barbour to Announce Budget Cuts
With newly revised revenue estimates projecting a slow recovery for the state economy, Gov. Haley Barbour is preparing to cut an additional $41 million from the state budget for this …
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Barbour Signs Strip Club Bill
Gov. Haley Barbour signed a bill on March 15 giving rural counties authority to regulate strip clubs. House Bill 170 demands supervisors publish and post notice of any proposed ordinance …
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Baria: Barbour's Wind Pool Veto Raises Rates
Sen. David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis, successfully added an amendment to a bill by voice vote yesterday that continues the state's annual $20 million payment to the Mississippi Windstorm Underwriting …
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Silver Alert Legislation Awaits Barbour's Signature
Keeping our parents and grandparents safe is the goal of a Mississippi House bill creating a Silver Alert system. The system, based on Amber Alerts for children, will allow family …
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Community Events and Public Meetings
8:30 a.m., Stimulus Funding Opportunities Conference, at River Room Conference Center (100 Ridge Drive, Flowood). The Mississippi Development Authority will host a conference to explain opportunities for Mississippi-based certified minority …
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Luckett Touts Bio-Fuels, Education at Jackson Forum
Investments in early childhood education and alternative energy can spur Mississippi's economy, Clarksdale attorney and 2011 candidate for governor Bill Luckett said during a speech at Koinonia Coffee House in …
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Clarion-Ledger Drops Stringfellow Column After First Lady Flap
Eric Stringfellow, who has worked with The Clarion-Ledger as a writer or editor since 1982, revealed today that the executive editor of the paper, Ronnie Agnew, has dropped his column. …
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Gov. and Dems Play Blame Game
Gov. Haley Barbour and House Democrats are blaming each other for the Legislature's failure to re-authorize the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, an agency that provides workforce services and dispenses …
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Appropriations and Pole-Dancing
The House and Senate agreed on a major appropriation bill last week, when negotiators came to terms on appropriations bill SB 2495, which restores $82 million to the Fiscal Year …
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Wins, Losses for School Appropriations
The House and Senate agreed to restore about $37 million to K-12 education in a this week following Gov. Haley Barbour's veto of a budget reconciliation bill that would have …
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Lawmakers Attempt to Restore $82 Million to 2010 Budget
The Mississippi Legislature has sent a second budget reconciliation compromise to Gov. Haley Barbour, this time restoring $82 million of the cuts the governor has made this fiscal year. Barbour …
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Obama Energizes Students
For several hours the students at Brinkley Middle School waited anxiously inside their school's auditorium for First Lady Michelle Obama to enter the building this afternoon. When Obama arrived, along …
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Happiness Worth Celebrating
In my own relationship with an abusive man, "You're the best" turned fairly quickly into "I'm the only one who loves you," along with overt attempts to demonize my friends …
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Nursing Homes and Overrides
Last week was all about passing budget bills, with the House and Senate considering a huge list of appropriation legislation funding various state agencies.
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Barbour Blames Media for Toyota Woes
In 2007—before the economy tanked—Mississippi lawmakers and Gov. Haley Barbour approved a $293.9 million incentive package to persuade Toyota Motor Corp. to build a factory in Blue Springs, Miss., near …
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[Mott] Happiness Worth Celebrating
For too long in Mississippi, the legal community--police, lawyers and judges--have seen domestic abuse as a problem best dealt with at home. Women bring violence on themselves, the thinking goes; …
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Johnson Attending Obama Visit
City of Jackson Spokesman Chris Mims confirmed today that Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr., was invited to attend first lady Michelle Obama's personal visit to the city on Wednesday. Obama …