But questions Sierra's Mississippi members intend to raise about a nearly $1 billion construction overage at Plant Ratcliffe in Kemper County, Miss., may be on the minds of every investor in the room. The company has told regulators there that it would absorb $540 million in overruns, effectively coming out of shareholders' pockets.
The president of Southern's Mississippi Power subsidiary abruptly quit Monday amid company admissions that he failed to respond to regulators' information requests.
Southern Political Report
5/22/13
Posted May 22, 2013 - 8:50 am
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Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves will visit Tupelo today to support mayoral candidate Fred Pitts.
Reeves will appear at 11:30 a.m. at Park Heights restaurant to support fellow Republican Pitts, 70, who will face Democrat Jason Shelton, 37, in the June 4 general election.
Open to the public, the campaign event will provide a light lunch and accept contributions to Pitts’ campaign.
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
5/22/13
Posted May 22, 2013 - 7:07 am
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Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann is celebrating a victory in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the redrawing of the state’s voting districts.
The Mississippi NAACP had challenged the state’s 2011 state elections because the Legislature did not immediately use the 2010 census to draw new district lines in 2011. The state House and Senate instead argued for several weeks before ending their 2011 session without adopting new maps.
The NAACP had asked for that election to be set aside and special elections to be held under a court-ordered plan. It said that using the old maps violated the one-person, one-vote principle by diluting African-American voting strength.
Courts affirmed a ruling that allowed state lawmakers to run in their old districts that year.
AP
5/20/13
Posted May 22, 2013 - 7:04 am
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Governor Phil Bryant said, “I appreciate the ruling by the United States Supreme Court confirming that the 2011 legislative elections were constitutional and, therefore, that costly special elections are unnecessary. In addition, the new apportionment plans that the Legislature enacted during the 2012 session have already been approved by the Department of Justice and will be effective for the 2015 election cycle.”
5/20/13
Posted May 22, 2013 - 6:58 am
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Mississippi Power Co. announced Monday that Ed Day, 52, retired as president and CEO, effective immediately, but the head of the Public Service Commission said his agency is responsible for Day's departure.
Leonard Bentz, chairman of the PSC, said the issues started last May when Mississippi Power acknowledged the cost of the power plant it is building in Kemper County was $366 million over estimates.
"We had been asking for a timeline from Mississippi Power Co. about when they knew the cost overruns were going to take place and when they reported them to us," Bentz said. "We had not received that information up until last week." A power company review determined that information was being withheld from the Public Service Commission, Bentz said.
Sun Herald
5/20/13
Posted May 22, 2013 - 6:53 am
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Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker lead a list of speakers for the American Legion's Boys State on the campus of Mississippi State University this month.
Bryant and Wicker are scheduled to speak on May 29, the fourth day of the annual event that teaches rising seniors about state and local government and the electoral process.
Boys State will meet May 26-June 1 on the Starkville campus.
AP
5/20
Posted May 22, 2013 - 6:50 am
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Editors Note - I guess no one covers planes landing safely, but for the unhinged madness that the redistricting fight caused, barely a mention was made in the mainstream media yesterday that Mississippi's redistricting was upheld at the US Supreme Court yesterday.
The NAACP had asked for that election to be set aside and special elections to be held under a court-ordered plan. It said that using the old maps violated the one-person, one-vote principle by diluting African-American voting strength.
Courts affirmed a ruling that allowed state lawmakers to run in their old districts that year.
The justices, without comment, upheld the lower court rulings.
Puffington
5/21/13
Posted May 21, 2013 - 10:54 am
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In Tupelo, Miss., a town known for its laid-back style, J. Everett Dutschke stood out when he arrived in 2000.
He was a martial arts instructor, yet he often wore pinstriped suits and cuff links in his off hours. He used a lot of multisyllabic words, which he over enunciated. The Southern accent of his earlier life in Texas and central Mississippi was gone. He told people he was an officer of Mensa, the organization for people with high IQs.
Washington Post
5/20/13
Posted May 21, 2013 - 7:42 am
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The Senate Agriculture Committee’s 2013 Farm Bill is encountering a critical test this week on the Senate floor, where the $955billion measure is expected to draw opposition from lawmakers who wanted more money taken from farm subsidies and less from the nation’s food stamp program.
However, the Senate’s bill has stirred much less regional conflict than did the one passed last year. That bill drew criticism from Southern senators and agriculture producers as being a “one-size-fits-all” measure that relied too heavily on crop insurance favored by Midwest and Northern farmers and less on the price-supports desired by their Dixie counterparts.
Mississippi Business
5/20/13
Posted May 21, 2013 - 7:37 am
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The U.S. Department of Justice still is considering whether to preclear Mississippi’s voter identification requirement that was approved by voters in November 2011.
Jan Schaefer, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Jim Hood, said information requested by the Justice Department on March 21 “is being sought and will be submitted to DOJ as it is collected from various officials and agencies which have it.”
Pamela Weaver, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, said the Justice Department in March requested “any correspondence between legislators, elected officials, employees and members of the public regarding voter ID. Because this was an unusually broad request without specific dates, we worked with the Justice Department on clarifying the scope of information and time frame.”
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
5/20/13
Posted May 21, 2013 - 7:32 am
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We are calling for ALL AMERICAN PATRIOTS to protest the IRS’ complete abuse of power on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at noon local time. (the event will be held across America at the same time)
Jackson event will be held at:
The IRS Building, 100 W. Capitol Street, Jackson
12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m.
Tupelo event will be held at:
The IRS Building, next to Tupelo City Hall
12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m.
The Mississippi Tea Party is just one of the groups targeted in this abuse of power. We must stand up to those in Washington who want to take our Constitutional rights away from us.
Jackson, Miss.—All registered voters MAY cast a ballot in the 2013 Municipal Primary Election Runoff, regardless if they voted in the Municipal Primary Election.
“There has been some confusion whether or not you could vote in the runoff election, if you did not vote in the Primary,” says Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. “Our Office has received numerous calls regarding this issue. We want to clarify that you CAN vote in the runoff election, even if you did not vote in the primary.”
However, a voter may not “cross-over” vote. The primary runoff election is viewed as a continuation of the primary. Therefore, according to State law, a voter may not switch from one party’s ballot to another between the Primary Election to the Primary Runoff. (Meaning, if you voted in the Democratic Primary Election, you must vote in the Democratic runoff, and vice versa.)
“We encourage all voters who have questions to contact our Voter Information Hotline, toll free, at 1-800-829-6786,” adds Secretary Hosemann.
The Municipal Primary Runoff Election is Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Polls will be open from 7:00 am- 7:00 pm.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann
Posted May 21, 2013 - 7:30 am
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“I am pleased the United States Supreme Court sustained my position that the Mississippi Constitution should control the election of its Legislature.
The ruling by the Supreme Court guarantees our Legislators will not have to run in special elections before the next regular election in 2015. This is a significant savings of taxpayer dollars. The Constitution and the State of Mississippi had a good day.”
###
For Immediate Release: Monday, May 20, 2013
Contact: Pamela Weaver, Director of Communications
Posted May 21, 2013 - 7:29 am
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State Revenue Commissioner Ed Morgan has a heckuva deal for taxpayers: give him $1, and he’ll turn it into $8, $10, or maybe even $16.
Lawmakers last year took him up on his offer. They gave him the $3.5 million extra he requested to hire more workers, to collect more back taxes, catch more swindlers, cheats and deadbeats. Gov. Phil Bryant, who pushed for the increase, made Morgan write a letter promising the extra money and staff would result in about $10 million more in tax collections.
It resulted in $60 million more. Don’t take Morgan’s word for it — lawmakers had their watchdog agency, PEER, ride herd on it, and its audit showed a direct correlation between the $3.5 million more for staff and the $60 million in back taxes collected.
Clarion Ledger
5/11/13
Posted May 21, 2013 - 7:25 am
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The nation's journalists keep bugging U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran about whether he'll run again in 2014, but Mississippi's senior senator says he hasn't made up his mind.
Cochran, 75, wouldn't have any trouble being re-elected if he decides to run. But there's already plenty of conversation about who would try to replace him if he decides not to, which has revolved around 11 possible candidates. The senator told the Sun Herald this week he's still weighing his options, but he wants to have a decision made within one year before the June 2014 primaries. That way, if he decides not to run, possible successors will have plenty of time to get organized.
The senator used to jog, but he doesn't do that anymore. He still takes walks often and has recovered from hip-replacement surgery a few years back. He said he feels good and doesn't have any health problems, which along with age, is a major consideration for him.
If Cochran runs, he'll be an overwhelming favorite to win and could embark on a six-year term ending Jan. 3, 2021. He'd be 83 years old by then. For now, he has no plans other than to serve out his term.
Sun Herald
5/18/13
Posted May 21, 2013 - 7:21 am
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Everybody wants to know whether U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran is going to retire or run for re-election.
I do know that in 2008, Cochran, who was then running for re-election to another six-year term, told me he planned to retire after that term was up. Now, the oft-reported story is Cochran, 75, is undecided about running in 2014 for a term that would expire in January 2021, and he told me as much on the phone Wednesday.
I've heard Republican power brokers are already working on a fairly complicated contingency plan involving multiple appointments that could end with a South Mississippian in the lieutenant governor's office if Cochran steps down before his term ends. Gov. Phil Bryant would appoint Cochran's replacement until an election could be held.
Sun Herald
5/18/13
Posted May 20, 2013 - 7:40 am
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State Senator Chris McDaniel, who's been an outspoken critic of Obamacare, is reacting to the ongoing IRS scandal. He says an IRS official who once oversaw a unit which targeted Tea Party groups has no business now heading up the IRS office which will be responsible for Obamacare.
Sarah Hall Ingram, who served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt groups from 2009 to 2012 is now the director of the IRS' Affordable Care Act office.
WDAM
5/18
Posted May 20, 2013 - 7:39 am
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Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant should study the record of one of his predecessors, the late John Bell Williams.
Williams, a longtime congressman who had lost an arm in World War II, was about as conservative as they come, a Democrat in name only when he defeated William Winter for governor in 1967.
Williams had been stripped of his seniority privileges by congressional Democrats for openly supporting Republican Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential race. He had opposed President Lyndon B. Johnson's "Great Society" anti-poverty programs, including Medicaid, a health-insurance program for the poor.
Veteran Mississippi journalist Bill Minor, who covered the state Capitol for the New Orleans TimesPicayune during the Williams administration, recalls in a column how Williams changed his stance on Medicaid "after getting all the facts and finding out Medicaid's importance to the health of Mississippians, especially the poor with no health coverage."
Greenwood Commonwealth
5/17/13
Posted May 20, 2013 - 7:35 am
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State Auditor Stacey Pickering released the following statement regarding today’s ruling to recess the State of Mississippi vs. Greg Davis:
“Our office is pleased with our efforts in the Hinds County Chancery Court to prove our case against Greg Davis. We are looking forward to the completion of the civil action at a later date. I appreciate the hard work of Special Assistant Attorney General Melissa Patterson. While the State Auditor’s Office cannot discuss the evidence presented, we believe that the facts show the State’s case clearly. I am confident that we will be successful in protecting the taxpayers of Southaven and the State of Mississippi.”
5/17/13
Posted May 20, 2013 - 7:31 am
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Wicker Demands Answers from Administration on FAA Salary Bonuses
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee joined a group of 17 senators in writing a letter to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta demanding an explanation regarding bonuses awarded to FAA employees earlier this year in advance of sequestration budget cuts.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the FAA notified employees in January of salary bonuses. Three months later, the FAA announced a plan to implement across the board furloughs due to sequestration, which resulted in travel delays for airline passengers. In April, Congress passed legislation that provided the FAA additional flexibility to transfer funding within the agency to prevent reduced operations and staffing.
In the letter, the senators wrote, “We are very concerned by these reports as they once again indicate both a lack of sound business management and a failure by the FAA to adequately plan for implementation of sequestration. At the time when sequestration was one month away, the FAA’s leadership ignored Secretary LaHood’s specific guidance and awarded bonuses.”
Below is the full text of the letter.
Dear Administrator Huerta:
We are writing in regards to recent media reports indicating that you approved salary bonuses for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees earlier this year. The Wall Street Journal’s May 14, 2013 online edition indicates that these bonuses came as the FAA was preparing to implement sequestration.
According to The Wall Street Journal, you notified FAA employees on January 14, 2013 that most of them could expect Organizational Success Increases (OSIs) of 1%, and Superior Contribution Increases (SCIs) of 0.6% to 1.8%. Employees at the FAA who qualified for these salary bonuses received additional pay in their February paychecks. Also, The Wall Street Journal reports that Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood had previously instructed the heads of the department's operating administrations not to award bonuses and specifically not to award OSI or SCI bonuses. Furthermore, Secretary LaHood reportedly instructed agencies to begin planning how to manage their funds given budget uncertainties and the looming sequester.
We are very concerned by these reports as they once again indicate both a lack of sound business management and a failure by the FAA to adequately plan for implementation of sequestration. At the time when sequestration was one month away, the FAA’s leadership ignored Secretary LaHood’s specific guidance and awarded bonuses. On March 5, 2013 the FAA contacted all participants in the contract tower program explaining that the FAA’s guiding principles in implementing the budget sequestration are to maintain high safety standards and to minimize the impact to the greatest number of passengers. The FAA then announced “across the board” furloughs of FAA employees. In an April 18, 2013 briefing with Senate staff, the FAA Chief Operating Officer David Grizzle reported that the FAA specifically chose not to analyze alternative furlough options or alternative spending cuts because those analyses would have violated the “fundamental premise” of the FAA’s implementation of the sequester, “equity among employees.” This fundamental premise directly contradicts the March 5 guidance issued by the FAA. These decisions made by the FAA’s senior leadership are cause for concern.
Please share with us why you chose to ignore Secretary LaHood’s guidance, and why you felt it necessary and appropriate to award salary bonuses to FAA employees instead of adequately preparing for sequestration. We further request that you explain what impacts these additional salary expenditures had on your decision to implement sequestration by imposing across the board furlough cuts, instead of implementing sequestration in a way that would minimize the impact to the greatest number of passengers. Finally, we request that you share with us the savings to the FAA if the agency had not awarded salary bonuses.
We appreciate your consideration of our concerns, and look forward to receiving your written response. Should you or your staff have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Senator Dan Coats (R-Ind.)
Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)
Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.)
Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.)
Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)
Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.)
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
Senator Dean Heller (R-Nev.)
Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)
Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.)
Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)
Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.)
Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)
Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)
Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)
# # #
wicker.senate.gov
Posted May 20, 2013 - 7:30 am
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From the steps of the state Capitol, state Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, and Hinds County Supervisor Peggy Calhoun announced their support of Jonathan Lee for mayor, hours after three other elected officials did the same for Chokwe Lumumba.
Horhn said the city was “crying out” for someone who could bring businesses to Jackson, saying his “good friend” Lee was the man for the job.
Calhoun said Lee represented hope, insisting that he was the best person to bring Jackson together.
“Jonathan Lee understands that in order to do this, he needs to work with all segments of our community — that’s north, south, east and west Jackson,” Calhoun said.
Clarion Ledger
5/17/13
Posted May 17, 2013 - 2:27 pm
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Washington, DC- Congressman Steven Palazzo (MS-4) released the following statement today after voting in favor of H.R. 45, repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. The bill passed by a vote of 229-195 and represents the 37th time Palazzo has voted for repeal.
“There are as many reasons to repeal Obamacare as there are pages in the law. Even Democrats who supported passage in 2010 are now calling it a ‘train wreck’ and ‘the most complex piece of legislation ever passed.’ It’s confusing for small businesses attempting to comply with the law and it’s costing Americans hundreds of billions in taxes. The IRS scandal which improperly targeted conservative groups is the latest reason. How can Americans feel confident about Obamacare going forward if they can’t even trust the agency tasked with enforcing this massive law? That is why I am voting again to repeal Obamacare, and that is why I will continue to push my Right to Refuse legislation. Both of these measures would take the power out of the hands of the IRS and place it back in the hands of the American people.”
Palazzo introduced H.J. Res 28, the “Right to Refuse” amendment in February as a way to reverse Obamacare’s individual mandate tax and as a permanent protection against taxes that would punish those who refuse to purchase goods or services. To date, it has 16 cosponsors and has been endorsed by conservative groups such as the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), R Street Institute, American Commitment, and the Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF).
5/16/13
Posted May 16, 2013 - 10:04 pm
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A local legislator and state Democratic leader pushed back Wednesday against claims by Gov. Phil Bryant that Democrats are willing to kill Medicaid in Mississippi in an attempt to force expansion of the program.
"That's absolutely disingenuous of the governor," said District 53 Rep. Bobby Moak, D-Bogue Chitto, Wednesday morning in a phone interview.
Bryant took his anti-Medicaid expansion message out of the capital and into Moak's backyard last week, touring a Brookhaven nursing home and then meeting with The Daily Leader editorial board for an interview.
The 2013 legislative session ended without a bill to authorize the state Medicaid program past June 30. The Democratic minority successfully blocked renewal of the program in an attempt to leverage a vote on expanding the Medicaid rolls as called for under the Affordable Care Act (often dubbed "Obamacare")
Moak, one of Lincoln County's two state representatives and the state House Democratic caucus leader, dismissed Bryant's criticism that Democrats have adopted an all-nothing attitude in regarding the expansion of Medicaid.
dailyleader.com
5/15/13
Posted May 16, 2013 - 10:02 pm
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Funding for education is falling short because Medicaid is devouring a larger share of state money than it did a few years ago, a top Mississippi budget writer said in a letter to teachers and school administrators.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Herb Frierson, R-Poplarville, wrote expanding Medicaid would create more uncertainty about funding for all levels of education, from kindergarten through universities.
"Do you think we should expand the Medicaid program knowing how it may cost the educational community?" Frierson wrote. "Can the educational institutions afford not to take a position on the expansion of the Medicaid program?"
But a Democrat who used to be a budget writer disputes the premise of Frierson's letter. Rep. Cecil Brown of Jackson said in an interview Wednesday money for education has fallen short because of many financial choices, including giving tax breaks to corporations and setting aside hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild the state's financial reserves.
AP
5/15/13
Posted May 16, 2013 - 10:01 pm
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Medicaid expansion won’t come without budgetary consequences in Mississippi. That’s the message circulated this week by the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee to the state’s education lobby leaders as the time left for reauthorization of Medicaid for FY 2014 draws shorter.
With pressure from Democratic colleagues in the Legislature, public health advocacy groups and most of the state’s hospitals growing for Medicaid expansion, state Rep. Herb Frierson, R-Poplarville, sent a letter to every college president, community college president, county and municipal school district superintendent and others in positions of leadership in public education from kindergarten to graduate school in Mississippi.
“I just wanted people who look to the Legislature for education funding to be armed with the facts about how the state’s budget pie gets divided and to know that Medicaid expansion isn’t something that can be done without consequences for every other function of state government,” Frierson said.
Sid Salter
5/15/13
Posted May 16, 2013 - 10:00 pm
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The clock is still ticking towards Medicaid funding in the state of Mississippi lapsing on July 1.
Democrats voted the reauthorization funding down during the last legislative session because they wanted Medicaid expanded in the state and such it’s left Mississippi in a bind, possibly needing a special session to fund it.
Democratic House Representative Steve Holland said Tuesday that they have been consistently meeting to talk about the latest with the issue.
“The Democrats are interested in resolving all the issues related to Medicaid,” said Holland.
Holland was adamant that they want an “up and down vote” on Medicaid expansion.
He said there needs to be a discussion on the topic.
newsms.fm
5/14/13
Posted May 16, 2013 - 9:59 pm
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It can't meet the mandates of a 2012 state law and the governor wants to shut it down, but Mississippi's only abortion clinic is not about to quietly retreat.
The clinic's owners are fighting on a legal front, with a federal lawsuit against the state, and supporters and staff are trying to make inroads on site -- urging patients to call elected officials and peppering state-required counseling with their own views and information.
Protesters, too, are zeroing in on the clinic. A national anti-abortion group, Operation Save America, has targeted Mississippi as a state where it hopes to end abortion, and it has sent people from as far as Colorado and Nevada to protest. Congregants from local churches pray outside the clinic several days a week. Some hold posters of fetuses and use microphones to call out to patients.
AP
5/15/13
Posted May 16, 2013 - 9:57 pm
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President Barack Obama on Thursday nominated Jackson attorney Debra M. Brown to be a U.S. District judge for northern Mississippi.
If confirmed, Brown would be the first African-American woman to serve as a federal district judge in the state, said a spokesman for Mississippi's senior U.S. senator, Republican Thad Cochran.
"I congratulate Debra Brown on her historic nomination and am hopeful the Senate will conduct a timely and thorough consideration of her qualifications to join the federal bench," Cochran said in a news release.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., also issued a statement praising the nominee.
"Debra Brown has a distinguished background in the practice of law," Wicker said. "She is well-regarded among a number of people across the legal and political spectrum, and I am impressed by what they say about her qualifications and character. I will ask the Senate Judiciary Committee to schedule her hearing in the very near future."
AP
5/16/13
Posted May 16, 2013 - 9:56 pm
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According to newly released documents, the man suspected of sending poison-laced letters to President Barack Obama and others appeared to try to evade authorities in the days before his arrest.
James Everett Dutschke of Tupelo, Miss., was charged April 27 with making ricin -- which was then mailed to Obama, Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker and Lee County, Miss., Judge Sadie Holland.
FBI applications for warrants were filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Oxford, Miss.
AP
5/16/13
Posted May 16, 2013 - 9:49 pm
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For Immediate Release
May 16, 2013
Contact: Jordan Russell
NUNNELEE VOTES TO REPEAL OBAMACARE
Congressman Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.) released the following statement regarding House passage of H.R. 45, which would repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:
“Rising premiums, job killing tax increases, and infringements on religious liberty all make the case for repeal stronger than ever,” said Nunnelee.
Congressman Nunnelee also expressed concern about the broad new powers the Internal Revenue Service receives in the Affordable Care Act:
“Using the tax collectors to intimidate political opponents is about the most anti-American activity our government could undertake. Given what we are finding out about the IRS, the last thing we should be doing is giving it an enormous new role to play in health care,” said Nunnelee.
The vote for H.R. 45 marks the 37th time since being sworn in that Congressman Nunnelee has voted to repeal all or parts of the Affordable Care Act.
Congressman Alan Nunnelee represents Mississippi’s First Congressional District. He serves on the House Appropriations Committee and the House Budget Committee. This is his second term.
# # #
Hello--
The more we learn about the president’s health care law, the more we understand why then-Speaker Pelosi said, “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it.”
Well, Congress passed the bill. And Mississippians are still not happy with the results.
This is why today I voted once again to repeal this flawed law.
Earlier this week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee published a report revealing that consumers may face average insurance premium increases of roughly 100 percent. Even more, some new participants in the individual market could see an increase of 413 percent.
Only a full repeal of this overreaching law will allow Congress to consider real reforms that will help Americans receive the care that they need, from the doctors that they choose, at a cost that they can afford.
God Bless,
Gregg Harper
Member of Congress
Posted May 16, 2013 - 9:47 pm
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For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 13, 2013
Contact: Pamela Weaver, Director of Communications
Secretary Hosemann promotes Sale of Tax Forfeited Lands in Greenville
Greenville, MS—Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann and Greenville Mayor John Cox hope the second round of tax forfeited land sales in Greenville will be just as successful as the first. In a joint press conference, Secretary Hosemann and Mayor Cox announced the public sale of another ninety-four (94) parcels of tax forfeited land, valued at $210,000.
“I would like to commend the City of Greenville for their aggressive marketing of these tax forfeited properties,” says Secretary Hosemann. “Tax forfeited properties are a drain on the community, the State, and your local tax rolls.”
"I am very pleased that the City of Greenville is working with the Secretary of State's Office to clean up our community," says Mayor Cox. "The best thing we can do is take the tax forfeited properties and return them to productive use. There are an unlimited number of reasons why people might bid on a property: neighbors can purchase a lot to expand their backyard, someone could purchase a lot and build a house on it, or even start a business with their new property. By auctioning the property for private ownership, the City of Greenville can spend more money fixing our streets and sewers instead of cutting grass. This is the second year we are holding an auction of tax forfeited property and we will continue this program as we work to beautify Greenville."
Currently, the Secretary of State’s Office holds over $66.2-Million worth of property forfeited to the State for non-payment of ad valorem taxes. Over $4.3-Million of tax forfeited property is located in Washington County.
In 2012, the City of Greenville and the Secretary of State’s office held the first public auction of tax forfeited lands in the area. Fifty-two (52) properties sold for approximately $34,667.
“We have been working with other cities to market the sale of our tax forfeited lands, which has become a growing program in our State,” adds Hosemann. “Our goal is to work with local governments, as we have in Greenville, to determine which properties may be marketed for private ownership, and which properties may be transferred to local governments for public use.”
For anyone serving time in regards to the death of a law enforcement officer, Governor Phil Bryant says, pretty soon, an early release will be out of the question.
"Those cases involving the loss of a life of a police officer, a highway patrolman, anyone in law enforcement should be different. It should be a higher standard and those individuals should at least serve the time that the court had ordered them," said Bryant.
Bryant made that known Wednesday morning during a fallen officer memorial at the Department of Public Safety. This comes after the man responsible for the 2009 death of Master Sergeant Steve Hood is now out of prison.
"Now something seems terribly wrong to me about that," said Bryant.
WDAM
5/15/13
Posted May 16, 2013 - 9:44 pm
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The latest apparent impact of the so-called “sequestration legislation” – the complex set of automatic federal spending cuts put into law by President Barack Obama in August 2011 – is an effort to force states and local governments to return funds appropriated in lieu of state and local taxes on federal lands.
The U.S. Forest Service is using sequestration as the basis for trying to force dozens of states to return $17.9 million in federal subsidies. Under the gun are so-called county payments. County payments are a federal-state revenue sharing plan that has been in place virtually since the inception of the national forest program by President Teddy Roosevelt.
Since 1908, hundreds of counties in states with national forests received a quarter of the revenue from the timber cut and sold from federal lands.
Those funds served in lieu of the collection of local property taxes and subsidized schools, roads and first-responder services around the country – despite the fact that the local governments receiving the payments have long questioned the equity of taking the federal timber payments in lieu of property taxes. The Supreme Court ruled shortly after the inception of national forests that state and local governments could not tax national forest lands.
SID SALTER
Posted May 16, 2013 - 8:13 am
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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and U.S. Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), have introduced the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.”
The legislation, which has been introduced as S. 946 in the Senate, and H.R. 7 in the House, has the support of 21 cosponsors in the Senate and 95 in the House. The bill will eliminate the need for numerous, separate, annual abortion funding prohibitions and ensure that no other program or agency is exempt from this important safeguard.
“The sanctity of human life for all, including the unborn, is deeply rooted in my beliefs and reflected in American values,” Senator Wicker said. “For more than 30 years, Congress has enacted annual provisions in appropriations bills to make certain American taxpayers are not funding abortions. It is past time for a single, government-wide prohibition on abortion funding. This legislation accomplishes that goal by establishing a comprehensive policy prohibiting public funding for abortion in all federal programs. This approach will reduce the need for separate abortion funding policies and ensure that no federal program is exempt from this prohibition.”
“More than 100 Members of Congress have joined us to introduce the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act – a government wide prohibition on taxpayer subsidization for abortion and conscience protections with durable remedies,” Representative Smith said. “President Obama has said he wants abortion to be rare. To Mr. Obama I say, ‘here is a bill for you.’ Even the Guttmacher Institute, the former research arm of Planned Parenthood, confirms that taxpayer funding bans are a proven abortion reduction method. According to Guttmacher, studies show that when abortion is not publically funded, abortions in the covered population are reduced by roughly 25 percent.”
“The overwhelming view of Americans is their tax dollars should not be used to pay for abortions,” Representative Lipinski said. “Yet taxpayer dollars are poised to pay for abortions through the Affordable Care Act and we continue to rely on the dangerous practice of passing annual riders to carry out the desire of the American people that taxpayer-funded abortions should be prohibited. This legislation makes perfect sense by answering to the public's wishes, making longtime federal policy permanent law and protecting innocent life that deserves to be protected.”
The bill would make permanent the policies that currently rely on regular re-approval, including amendments like the well-known Hyde Amendment, which prohibits funding for elective abortion coverage through any program funded through the annual Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Act.
It also would make permanent other existing laws, such as: the Helms amendment (which prohibits funding for abortion as a method of family planning overseas); the Smith FEHBP amendment (which prohibits funding for elective abortion coverage for federal employees); and, the Dornan amendment (which prohibits use of congressionally appropriated funds for abortion in the District of Columbia).
# # # #
Ryan J. Taylor
Communications Director
U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)
Posted May 16, 2013 - 8:12 am
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Perhaps Phil Bryant is not as conservative as he likes for Mississippi voters to believe. The governor has always referred to himself as a strict constructionist – conservative – when it comes to interpreting the law, and particularly the Constitution.
But maybe that is not the case.
Last week Bryant said that he would attempt to run Medicaid even if the Legislature does not reauthorize or fund the program.
He, in essence, dared anyone to take him to court and stop him, and thus, be responsible for shutting down the state-federal program that provides health care to about 640,000 poor pregnant women, poor children, the disabled and the elderly. Byrant asked if anyone would be willing to go to court and be responsible for shutting down a program that provides nursing home care for thousands of elderly Mississippians.
President Barack Obama’s administration officials are proposing rules to reduce the size of the cuts in federal funding to hospitals in states that do not expand Medicaid, such as Mississippi.
In those officials’ rules proposals to carry out the mandates of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the cuts in federal funds to treat people with no insurance, known as Disproportionate Share Hospital or DSH payments, would be administered in a way to reduce the size of the cuts to hospitals in states like Mississippi rejecting the Medicaid expansion.
Gwen Combs, vice president for policy for the Mississippi Hospital Association, said the cuts still would come, but their impact would be delayed for two years. Plus, she said that state hospitals still face other major cuts in federal funding because of provisions of the Affordable Care Act and other changes to federal law. She said that Hospital Association officials are still trying to determine the size of those other cuts.
Read more: Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal - Feds try to help state hospitals
Posted May 16, 2013 - 8:07 am
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U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) on Wednesday praised passage of the “Water Resources Development Act of 2013” by the U.S. Senate.
The bill, which passed by a vote of 83-14, supports the development of water-related resources and authorizes the Secretary of the Army to construct projects for improving U.S. rivers and harbors.
Senator Wicker championed provisions to support needed maintenance dredging at the Port of Gulfport, and smaller Mississippi River ports in Rosedale, Greenville, Vicksburg, Yazoo, as well as Claiborne.
wtva.com
Posted May 16, 2013 - 8:05 am
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Mississippi GOP Sen. Roger Wicker, one of the targets of the White House’s charm offensive, said the trio of controversies dominating conversation in Washington this week could hurt efforts to reach bipartisan deals on the budget and tax reform.
“I can’t imagine that this IRS scandal and the controversy surrounding the overreach and intimidation by the IRS will do anything but pour cold water on the president’s attempt to raise taxes as part of a grand bargain,” Wicker said on MSNBC. “So yes, it will hurt the president in that respect.”
Allow me to stand on a soapbox for a moment. Climate "experts" and specifically Hurricane prediction experts suck. They have absolutely no idea what they're talking about as a general rule and history rarely proves any of their predictions right.
For instance, today the Sun Herald published Dr. William Gray's long-awaited prediction for the 2013 hurricane season. BE CAREFUL. Allegedly, it's going to be an "above average" year for hurricanes according to Dr. Gray. He's predicting 16 named storms, 8 hurricanes, 3 of those major hurricanes and 4 of them making landfall on the US.
Just for giggles, I went back and looked at Dr. Gray's prediction for 2012. He produced a very scholarly paper in April 2012 that said that 2012 was going to be a below average year. In April, he predicted 10 named storms, 4 hurricanes with 2 of those being major hurricanes. How did that prediction go? Well, we wound up with 19 named storms (much higher than average), with 10 hurricanes and one of those being major. After 2005, they predicted doom and gloom for hurricanes in the following years, and it turned out to not be that bad.
And yet still Dr. Gray's prediction is treated like someone who has this great track record, without mention of the fact that just last year, this scholarly paper completely botched the "prediction", which he conveniently upwardly revised in June 2012.
It's an old tired story in the media. Someone speaks about this or that. It fills the newshole and media lends unquestioned credence to whomever steps up to the microphone without the first bit of fact checking or background work.
Maybe this Dr. Gray is right, but if he is, my sense is more luck is involved than anything else.
Posted May 15, 2013 - 3:12 pm
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The Mississippi Tea Party (MSTP) announced today that it was one of the “tea party” and “patriot” groups harassed by the Internal Revenue Service during its campaign to stifle and suppress the political speech of U.S. Citizens. Beginning in 2009 the MSTP experienced long delays in responses to its application for tax exempt status and was further harassed by letters demanding, under penalty of perjury, that it turn over extensive confidential information about it members and their private activities. The letters it received are virtually identical those that have been released by other groups and reported on in recent news stories.
Roy Nicholson, Chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party said “it was obvious to us that the delays, lengthy interrogations by mail, and demands for confidential information were a deliberate attempt by IRS officials to use intimidation to suppress the political speech and lawful activities of U.S. Citizens.” When asked what response the Tea Party made Nicholson replied, “We recognized it for what it was and decided that rather than allowing ourselves to become absorbed, violated, and distracted by fighting the U.S. Government we would make better use of our limited resources and time by simply advising the IRS that we were abandoning our application for 501c(4) status.” Nicholson added “Though the IRS did its best to suppress our speech and stop our movement they were unable to subdue our spirit, diminish our resolve, or limit our effectiveness.” The Mississippi Tea Party went on to accomplish several significant things in Mississippi. For instance, it played a big role in getting Voter ID passed in Mississippi. Its Move the House campaign was a big part of why there is a Republican majority in the State House for the first time in 140 years. It was a crucial player in stopping Billy McCoy’s absurd redistricting plan with its ‘friend of the court’ brief filed in the NAACP federal redistricting suit. Additionally, MSTP has been effective in holding back the Obamacare Health Insurance Exchange in the state, advocating for charter schools and many other important issues. Those are “just some of the things that Mississippians accomplished in spite of the IRS’s criminal assault on Free Speech.”
Mississippi Tea Party’s Executive Director, Julia Hodges, will be in Washington, D.C. on Thursday morning to be part of a press conference with Representative Michelle Bachmann and Tea Party Patriots’ President Jenny Beth Martin to demand thorough action on the IRS scandal.
MSTP Release
5/15/13
Posted May 15, 2013 - 11:38 am
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Candidates for mayor provided a stark contrast in their picture of city finances and where the city is headed.
Shooting back and forth on issues of city money reserves, beautification and whether the county is setting property values high and using the city as a piggy bank, the candidates -- Mayor Connie Moran and Jackson County Supervisor John McKay -- stirred the crowd to cheers and occasional jeers.
It was a lively debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters at the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center to a crowd of what appeared to be more than 200.
McKay said the city is projected to have an $80,000 deficit at the end of the budget year this fall and he can provide the leadership "to avoid an impending crisis."
Sun Herald
5/14/13
Posted May 15, 2013 - 7:51 am
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COCHRAN & WICKER OFFER BILL TO RESTORE SENIORS’ ACCESS TO CHRONIC PAIN MEDICATIONS
Legislation Would Allow Pharmacies to Directly Bill Medicare for Compounded Medications
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) today announced the introduction of legislation that would stop a new federal regulation that will make it more difficult for senior patients in Mississippi and other states to receive certain pain medications.
Cochran and Wicker have introduced legislation (S.914) to again allow pharmacies to bill Medicare Part B directly for drugs prescribed by doctors and used in implantable intrathecal pain pumps. The measure would restore a billing procedure used by pharmacies in Mississippi and other states for more than two decades to ensure access to these specialized medications.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in January began barring pharmacies from directly billing Medicare for these services, instead choosing to only accept reimbursement bills from physicians who purchase the compounded drugs from pharmacies.
“With this final rule, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has not fully taken into account patient impact or state regulations. During the public comment period, pharmacies, physicians, and patients overwhelmingly opposed this billing change,” Cochran said. “There was no compelling reason to move forward with the rule. Seniors with chronic pain disorders are already experiencing reduced access to their medications because of this new regulation, which flies in the face of Mississippi’s prohibition on pharmacies selling compounded pain medications to physicians.”
“Countless Mississippians depend on medications provided by local pharmacists, and CMS’s proposed action threatens to end patients’ access to this care,” Wicker said. “CMS should completely rescind this erroneous interpretation of a successful policy that has been in place for decades. This legislation will fix the problematic ruling by CMS and preserve patients’ access to critical medications while ensuring that safety and quality measures are met.”
Under pressure from the entire Mississippi congressional delegation and others, CMS went through full comment and rulemaking procedures, rather than forward with the clarification that was originally proposed in 2011. Only 2 percent of the public comments received from pharmacies, physicians, patients, state pharmacy boards, and elected officials from 26 states supported the change. Some commented that the rule would impede seniors’ access to care and place a financial burden on physicians who might be unable to afford purchasing and rebilling these medicines to Medicare.
The rule also raised safety issues associated with compounded medicines. Pharmacies that directly bill Medicare must comply with federal accreditation rules that include compliance with requirements for sterile compounding and handling of these compounded medicines.
The Cochran-Wicker legislation, which would not affect the amount billed for these drugs, has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee. Representative Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) introduced a companion measure (HR.232), which is cosponsored by Representatives Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.).
###
Chris Gallegos
Office of U.S. Senator Thad Cochran
Posted May 15, 2013 - 7:50 am
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COCHRAN READY FOR SENATE CONSIDERATION OF 2013 FARM BILL
Senate Agriculture Committee Gives Bipartisan Approval to New Farm Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) today stressed the importance of the Senate moving toward consideration of the 2013 Farm Bill, which was approved by bipartisan committee vote on Tuesday.
Cochran is the ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee that approved the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013 on a 15-5 vote. The five-year legislation to reauthorize federal farm, nutrition, conservation and related programs is now available for debate by the full Senate.
“It is important to have a bipartisan approach for reauthorizing agriculture and nutrition programs. We are the most advanced agricultural nation in the world in terms of production, science and technology, and conservation. This legislation will touch virtually all aspects of life in our country and will play an important role in the future of our economy and U.S. trade,” Cochran said following the committee mark up.
“Agriculture is still the most important economic activity for the Lower Mississippi Valley. So it makes important for us in Mississippi to see that this important farm and nutrition law be reauthorized,” he added.
Overall, the committee-approved Farm Bill is expected to reduce federal spending by approximately $24 billion over the next 10 years, much like similar legislation passed by the Senate last year. This year’s measure, however, makes several changes to more fairly address the risks faced by agriculture producers in the South. It also makes reforms to the nutrition safety net for low-income Americans.
A key provision would create Adverse Market Protection, a price protection program that would aid rice and peanut growers and work in tandem with an Agriculture Risk Coverage program that is suited to crops like corn, wheat and soybeans. The Senate measure also authorizes a new cotton insurance program that will contribute $2.8 billion toward deficit reduction and lead to a resolution of the Brazil Cotton Dispute in the World Trade Organization.
At the start of Tuesday’s committee action, Cochran looked to eventual enactment of a Farm Bill negotiated with his Senate colleagues and the House of Representatives. Federal farm and nutrition programs are currently operating under a short-term extension that expires Sept. 30.
“I think it is important that we move the bill through the Congress and to the President for his signature. Farmers and ranchers need the certainty that comes from a five-year Farm Bill. We have tried to be fair to those affected by this bill, as well as to those who pay the bill,” Cochran said in his opening statement.
“We need to move the process forward, get to the Senate floor and negotiate ultimately with the House of Representatives in conference and resolve our differences. We hope the President will sign our bill. I think it deserves his support,” he said.
###
Chris Gallegos
Office of U.S. Senator Thad Cochran
Posted May 15, 2013 - 7:49 am
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The Senate has begun laying the groundwork on a massive farm bill that would cut spending while also creating new subsidies for farmers.
The legislation the Senate Agriculture Committee is considering Tuesday makes concessions to Southern rice and peanut farmers, thanks to a new top Republican on the committee, Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran. The bill eliminates $5 billion in annual subsidies called direct payments that are important to those Southern farmers but makes it easier for them to receive alternate subsidies if prices dip.
The Senate bill calls for a total of roughly $2.4 billion a year in cuts, while a House version to be considered Wednesday would save $4 billion out of about $100 billion annually. Those cuts include more than $600 million in yearly savings from across-the-board cuts that took effect this year.
Newsmax
5/14/13
Posted May 15, 2013 - 7:42 am
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The Senate has adopted U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's amendment designed to ensure a Louisiana levee plan wouldn't send water to Mississippi during the hurricanes and other storms.
Cochran, R-Miss., offered amendments last week and the Senate adopted one Tuesday as part of the Water Resources Development Act of 2013. The adopted amendment, which is the "end product" of three amendments Cochran offered last week, ensures Mississippi's governor participates in any discussion involving the levees.
"The amendment ensures that (Gov. Phil Bryant) will have a seat at the table if and when projects that could affect Mississippi are considered," Cochran said. "It will give Mississippians a role in guaranteeing that a flood control project built by our neighbors won't inadvertently increase flood risk on our side of the border."
Sun Herald
5/14/13
Posted May 15, 2013 - 7:42 am
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While the department of insurance doesn't typically get involved in network payout cases, Chaney says his office is working as a facilitator.
"The problem is that most companies are facing some tremendous pressure on the cost and to hold cost down they're reducing the payments that they make to the providers," said Chaney.
By reducing those payments, Chaney says consumers will most likely have to eventually pay more. Some physicians are concerned it will all hurt the state's medical climate while Chaney says companies and states around the region are battling the same problem.
"We're not the only state in this boat. Alabama is in the same boat we're in. Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Florida, Georgia, we're all in the same boat and we're all working to try to have a common solution to make things work," said Chaney.
WDAM
5/14/13
Posted May 15, 2013 - 7:39 am
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While the department of insurance doesn't typically get involved in network payout cases, Chaney says his office is working as a facilitator.
"The problem is that most companies are facing some tremendous pressure on the cost and to hold cost down they're reducing the payments that they make to the providers," said Chaney.
By reducing those payments, Chaney says consumers will most likely have to eventually pay more. Some physicians are concerned it will all hurt the state's medical climate while Chaney says companies and states around the region are battling the same problem.
"We're not the only state in this boat. Alabama is in the same boat we're in. Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Florida, Georgia, we're all in the same boat and we're all working to try to have a common solution to make things work," said Chaney.
WDAM
5/14/13
Posted May 15, 2013 - 7:39 am
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Mayor candidate and county supervisor John McKay told the Sun Herald this evening that his meeting with State Auditor Stacey Pickering's staff today concerning deep-sea fishing trips he took with the state Department of Marine Resources was "outstanding."
McKay released a statement tonight just before a political forum by the League of Women Voters at the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center.
McKay said he did not meet with Pickering himself, but the state auditor's staff authorized him to say that "the State Auditor has no investigation of him nor any violation of state law relating to his participation as a guest on boat trips related to the DMR foundation."
Sun Herald
5/14/13
Posted May 15, 2013 - 7:36 am
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We've been spending a lot of time talking about the Medicaid debate and how to this point the Republicans in the Mississippi Legislature have remained generally on the right side of the issue. In continued tough economic times, it's hard to swallow another major entitlement expansion in Mississippi that could costs tens of millions of dollars per year every year . . . forever. Medicaid is expensive enough and as it stands one in every five Mississippians is a beneficiary of that program.
First, let's look at the latest numbers. Medicaid came out on Monday with updated guidance on DSH payments, which is really at the core of the issue. I have been shocked that the numbers haven't been reported. In today's Daily Journal, Bobby Harrison seemed to bury the lede without any real deference to the actual numbers that are in print. According to Medicaid's own numbers, in 2013-2014, Mississippi's DSH payments are projected (not guaranteed) to go down only $4.4 million. On page 31 of the linked document, DSH payments go from $162.3 million to $157.9 million. Not that $4.4 million isn't real money, but in the confines of a state budget, $4.4 million is a rounding error.
Speaker Pro Tem Greg Snowden made an interesting point in the debate recently. Predictably, you're not seeing that getting any press coverage at all. Basically, Mississippi's general fund is the source of funds for both education and Mississippi's Medicaid match. So who are you going to choose, education funding or Medicaid expansion? Can't have both. Snowden's point is that folks who are ostensiby pro-education seemed to be ignoring the political and economic reality that says that you can't in the long term spend tens of millions of dollars a year more for Medicaid, which even on the current path we may be doing, without it significantly hurting education. Yet education advocates remain quiet as church mice on this bourgening money grab.
Phil Bryant has got to wrestle control of this debate back by putting House Democrats on the actual vote. He's right on policy, politics and morals on this issue. Lucien Smith, Chief Counsel to Governor Bryant, was on Paul Gallo's show yesterday saying that essentially Bryant would not call legislators back until a deal in principle had been reached. He doesn't want to subject voters to a $30,000/day fruitless special session. But that gives the Democrats the luxury of publicly holding an impossible position (not voting to refund Medicaid) without actually having to vote against it. It's a bluff. They know it and everyone else does to. And even if the special session met every day from here to the end of June and spent $1 million, it pales in comparison to the long term cost of getting this wrong.
It's time for Bryant to call the special session on a straight up vote to reauthorize. If he keeps the call narrow, the Senate will likely pass the bill quickly and adjourn. The House will likely wrangle with it procedurally for a day or two. However, if there's no debate on expansion, and an up or down vote is all that's left, there's really not much more to do than vote. If Democrats vote to not reauthorize Medicaid, it will be the worst political move they've made in decades and Republicans will be set up for 2015 in ways they can't even imagine.
Politics is about making choices. Democrats face an impossible one. It's time for the posturing to end and the voting to commence.
Editors note: We will be welcoming back Frank Corder to the site in the coming weeks!
Posted May 15, 2013 - 6:50 am
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That seemed to be the case last week when Gov. Phil Bryant said he would try to run Medicaid even if the Legislature failed to pass bills reauthorizing or funding the program. Beyond the cloudy legality of the Republican’s claim, it turns away from the clear-as-glass GOP strategy of blaming Democrats for voting against the program and causing a calamity where 640,000 Mississippians wouldn’t have health care coverage come July 1.
Those GOP positions, repeated over the last two months, appeared aimed at ratcheting up pressure on members of the House Democratic minority. The idea is that some would give in and vote to reauthorize the state-federal health insurance program for the poor without insisting on expanding Medicaid to cover additional people. The plan appeared to be to build the pressure into June and then for Bryant to call lawmakers back for a special session, with the threat of the program’s imminent collapse teetering over Democrats’ heads.
But if it’s Bryant’s position that he can keep Medicaid going even if the Legislature doesn’t act, why say it out loud? It’s likely to encourage some Democrats to keep fighting.
Jeff Amy
Clarion Ledger
5/15/13
Posted May 15, 2013 - 6:46 am
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From a press release by the House Democratic Caucus:
May 13, 2013
Jackson, MS- Statement from House Democratic Caucus Leader Bobby Moak (D-Bogue Chitto):
“On Monday the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released proposed regulations for the implementation of reductions in Medicaid disproportionate share payments to hospitals pursuant to the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. These cuts begin January 1, 2014. The release can be found at Medicaid.gov. The agency has previously announced cuts to Medicare payments under the program beginning October 1, 2013.
Both the Governor and the Division of Medicaid have consistently speculated that the cuts will not occur. With the release today, they have been proven wrong. Should the Mississippi Medicaid program not be expanded to offset these cuts, our hospitals will be irreparably harmed. We again call on the Governor to call a special session to deal with this issue as soon as possible.”
###
5/13/13
Posted May 14, 2013 - 6:58 am
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Natron Wood Products will locate a plywood mill in Louisville, creating more than 200 new jobs.
Natron Wood Products owner Richard McDougal says the operations will be located in a 265,000-square-foot existing facility and represent a company investment of $10 million.
Gov. Phil Bryant joined in the announcement Monday in Louisville.
AP
5/13/13
Posted May 14, 2013 - 6:55 am
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Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves was on the stump Monday night, speaking at a fundraiser for Ocean Springs mayoral candidate John McKay.
Reeves spoke to about 40 invited guests, including Ocean Springs aldermen Chic Cody, Bobby Cox and James Hagan, as well as Jackson County Supervisor Troy Ross, at the home of Dr. Jim and Jane Sutton. Sutton, in his introduction of Reeves, referred to him as the "Vice President of the State of Mississippi."
Reeves immediately qualified that remark.
"I want to be clear. I am NOT Barack Obama's vice president," Reeves said. "I agree with nothing he has to say.
gulflive.com
5/13/13
Posted May 14, 2013 - 6:55 am
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Mississippi's Medicaid program was the talk Monday as local elected officials gathered in Meridian.
Republican Rep. Greg Snowden discussed the legislative stalemate over renewing and funding the Medicaid program at the Lauderdale County Council of Governments meeting.
State Republicans want to renew the program as is, while many Democrats want to expand it as part of the new federal health care law.
WTOK
Posted May 14, 2013 - 6:52 am
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U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) is questioning whether a U.S. Department of Agriculture bio-based marketing program amounts to a bias against traditional forest products and whether such policies are fair.
Cochran broached the topic at a Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to review the FY2014 budget request for the USDA.
The USDA BioPreferred product labeling program offers certified labels to manufacturers for products made of renewable plant, animal, marine or forestry materials. The label also grants these products federal procurement preference, which means the federal agencies are encouraged to purchase them to the maximum extent practicable.
Cochran last week asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack whether the BioPreferred program represents “a bias in preferring bio-based market program items over traditional forest products.”
Mississippi Business Journal
5/13/13
Posted May 14, 2013 - 6:51 am
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In testimony given at the resumed trial of Southaven Mayor Greg Davis in a Hinds County courtroom Monday, it was learned that Davis' administrative assistant Kristi Faulkner created a fake invoice purporting to be from an Arizona psychological counseling center at Davis' behest, and provided a printed copy to State Auditor investigators.
The trial resumed after several months hiatus in the ongoing investigator into questionable spending by Davis on trips and other items.
The date of May 13 is proving to an inauspicious anniversary for Davis who is on the June 4 general election ballot for mayor.
On this date in 2008, Davis lost a bid for the U.S. Congress in a runoff with Democrat Travis Childers who would go on to beat Davis again in the general election.
desototimes.com
5/14/13
Posted May 14, 2013 - 6:49 am
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Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps says the prison system faces a budget crunch, partly because the Parole Board releases fewer inmates these days.
But the Parole Board chairman, Malcolm McMillin, says it's not his job to worry about Epps' budget.
McMillin said decisions about parole are strictly up to the five-member Parole Board, which he has led since Gov. Phil Bryant appointed him to the post in January 2012. He said he sees no need to meet with Epps to talk about the prisons' financial condition.
5/11/13
AP
Posted May 13, 2013 - 7:18 am
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State Treasurer Lynn Fitch, who encouraged the shutdown of Mississippi's prepaid college tuition program last year, wants to open it to new participants, probably in 2014.
Parents and grandparents should be forewarned: Those who set aside money for college in the coming years will not get as good a deal as people already in the program.
Blame that on the 5-year-old economic slump. The program's investments are supposed to return almost 8 percent a year, which exceeds the anticipated college tuition increase of 6 percent a year.
5/12/13
Posted May 13, 2013 - 7:14 am
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Mississippi’s standoff between proponents and opponents of Medicaid expansion expands in dramatic dimensions almost daily, with Gov. Phil Bryant saying he will run the agency by executive order rather than give in to supporters of expanding the program under new eligibility limits in the Affordable Care Act, which takes effect Oct. 1.
Bryant’s position generally reflects his Republican Party’s opposition to even a legislative debate about adding as many as 300,000 Mississippians. Legislative Democrats, on the other side, generally support expansion.
So far, little has been said about the consequences for the program’s 640,000 current clients.
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
5/12/13
Posted May 13, 2013 - 7:13 am
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Any effort by Republican Gov. Phil Bryant to run the Division of Medicaid after June 30 without a legislatively approved budget or authorization appears to be ripe with problems.
“The whole thing is messy,” said House Speaker Pro-Tem Greg Snowden, R-Meridian, who conceded at some point “a whole lot of things must be addressed” by the Legislature.
The 2013 session ended without the Legislature passing bills to fund Medicaid or to reauthorize it for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1. The thought was that the Legislature would come back in special session before July 1 to address those issues.
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
5/13/13
Posted May 13, 2013 - 7:10 am
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State Revenue Commissioner Ed Morgan has a heckuva deal for taxpayers: give him $1, and he’ll turn it into $8, $10, or maybe even $16.
Lawmakers last year took him up on his offer. They gave him the $3.5 million extra he requested to hire more workers, to collect more back taxes, catch more swindlers, cheats and deadbeats. Gov. Phil Bryant, who pushed for the increase, made Morgan write a letter promising the extra money and staff would result in about $10 million more in tax collections.
It resulted in $60 million more. Don’t take Morgan’s word for it — lawmakers had their watchdog agency, PEER, ride herd on it, and its audit showed a direct correlation between the $3.5 million more for staff and the $60 million in back taxes collected.
Clarion Ledger
5/11
Posted May 13, 2013 - 7:07 am
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That seemed to be the case last week when Gov. Phil Bryant said he would try to run Medicaid even if the Legislature failed to pass bills reauthorizing or funding the program. Beyond the cloudy legality of the Republican's claim, it turns away from the clear-as-glass GOP strategy of blaming Democrats for voting against the program and causing a calamity where 640,000 Mississippians wouldn't have health care coverage come July 1.
Those GOP positions, repeated over the last two months, appeared aimed at ratcheting up pressure on members of the House Democratic minority. The idea is that some would give in and vote to reauthorize the state-federal health insurance program for the poor without insisting on expanding Medicaid to cover additional people. The plan appeared to be to build the pressure into June and then for Bryant to call lawmakers back for a special session, with the threat of the program's imminent collapse teetering over Democrats' heads.
AP
5/11/13
Posted May 13, 2013 - 7:03 am
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Two U. S. senators have introducted a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the program to help preserve historic battlegrounds in the United States.
Senators Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) introduced the American Battlefield Protection Program Amendments Act.
The bill reauthorizes the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program that provides competitive grants to match private and non-profit donations for preservation efforts.
The bill does expand the program to include significant battle sites associated with the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
WTVA
5/10/13
Posted May 13, 2013 - 7:02 am
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“Politicizing the IRS was one of the articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon,” noted Doug Schoen, who handles polling for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “That being said, we are still a very long way from that point.” But, Schoen added: “The allegations are very, very serious and it is simply impossible to believe that it was just Lois Lerner and some low-level employees in Cincinnati who came up with this scheme to systematically focus on Tea Party and ‘patriot’ groups.”
Here’s a quick summary of what we learned this weekend:
...
Washington Post
5/13/13
Posted May 13, 2013 - 6:58 am
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Kelvin Buck, Holly Springs’ mayor-elect, said he will not resign his state House seat before July 1 and said he would participate in any special session dealing with Medicaid.
“I plan to be part of that debate (on Medicaid) all the way through the process,” said Buck, who defeated incumbent Andre DeBerry in Tuesday’s Democratic Party primary and faces no general election opposition.
Five Democratic House members sought a mayoral post this year. While Buck is the only one to have won a mayoral seat outright, three other House members advanced past Tuesday’s primary election.
NE Mississippi Journal
5/10/13
Posted May 13, 2013 - 6:54 am
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State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. has asked a judge to void a jury’s finding that the company defrauded the government involving a policyholder claim after Hurricane Katrina.
Motions filed in U.S. District Court in Gulfport also seek a new trial
The verdict came in April in a whistleblower lawsuit against the Illinois- based insurer.
The lawsuit was filed in 2006 by Cori and Kerri Rigsby of Ocean Springs, who worked for an Alabama contractor hired by State Farm to provide damage assessments after the August 2005 hurricane.
The jury found State Farm avoided covering a policyholder’s wind losses by blaming damage on storm surge, which is covered by federal flood insurance.
State Farm was ordered to repay $250,000 to the government. Other damages are to be determined.
AP
5/11/13
Posted May 10, 2013 - 11:10 am
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A Canton alderman is facing a federal charge for allegedly accepting or soliciting a bribe on behalf of the city.
The federal indictment is lean on specifics, but it alleges that between May and October in 2012 Louis Smith, who represents Ward 4, “did corruptly solicit, demand, accept and agree to accept things of value from a person, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with a series of transactions.”
Those items were valued at $5,000 or more, according to the indictment.
Smith, 56, was arraigned in federal court Thursday afternoon on one felony bribery count before Magistrate Judge Linda Anderson. The three-term alderman was dressed in a Madison County Jail uniform and shackled at the hands and feet. Smith pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted a $10,000 bond with a conditional release.
Clarion Ledger
5/10/13
Posted May 10, 2013 - 8:26 am
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Contrary to what many Mississippians seem to believe, Medicaid is no “welfare queen” health care plan trumped up by the Obama Administration. Far from it.
It has a 44-year history in Mississippi, launched in 1969 under an unlikely advocate, then-Gov. John Bell Williams. Two years earlier as a congressman, Williams actually voted against creation of Medicaid under Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” program.
Williams was elected governor in 1967 as a Democrat, but ran as a bitter critic of national Democrats after they had stripped him of congressional seniority for openly supporting Republican Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential race. Mississippi went overwhelmingly for Goldwater because of his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but LBJ won by a landslide nationally.
Bill Minor
5/9/13
Posted May 10, 2013 - 8:25 am
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I am responding to Bill Minor’s vicious attack on the GOP in the effort to win the leadership of the House (“Group’s apology indicative of how GOP took over state House,” April 26).
He used terms like “unprecedented in state politics.” How the Republicans “grossly twisted facts.” You know the saying about “glass houses?”
In my bid for re-election, Democrat PACs (Victory PAC and Justice for All Mississippians) didn’t bother to “twist facts,” they just gave the wrong “facts.” Example: they said I “voted to allow easier access to meth ingredients.” Wrong. I voted just like law enforcement asked me to on that issue.
Jim Ellington
5/6/13
Posted May 10, 2013 - 8:22 am
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The following are a collection of editorials from the last week published in Mississippi newspapers.
Audits should be mandatory
Every government agency and program in every state ought to be required to use a portion of its own budget to pay for an independent audit of its finances. In Mississippi, each city and county must pay for an annual audit out of its own revenue.
So why not require each state agency to do the same?
-------------------------------
Testing should be done in Manning case
Mississippi was scheduled on Tuesday to execute Willie Manning for the murder of two Mississippi State University students more than 20 years ago.
The victims, Tiffany Miller and Jon Steckler, were kidnapped, driven to a remote location where Miller was raped, and then shot to death. It was a cold-blooded, inhumanly cruel deed.
The alleged perpetrator is no choir boy either. Not only has Manning been convicted of these murders, but he has also received a death sentence for the slayings of two Starkville women that occurred a month after the MSU students were murdered.
AP
Posted May 10, 2013 - 8:21 am
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Many believe language in the Mississippi Constitution would prevent the state from developing a voucher program to pay tuition for students to attend private schools.
The language is Section 208 of the Constitution, which reads in part “nor shall any funds be appropriated toward the support of any sectarian school, or to any school that at the time of receiving such appropriation is not conducted as a free school.”
Section 208 of the Mississippi Constitution is generally referred to as the Blaine Amendment, and similar language can be found in 36 state Constitutions, according to a 2007 report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. According to various accounts, the amendment dates backs to the late 1800s as the growing number of Catholic immigrants coming to the United States began to start their own schools because of their dissatisfaction with the strong Protestant influence in the existing schools. The amendment was designed to ensure Catholic schools did not receive any public funds.
Many now do not see the Blaine language as an attack on Catholicism, but simply as a roadblock – for better or worse – preventing public funds from going to private entities.
Louisiana is one of the few states in the nation that does not have similar language in its state Constitution. Yet, the Louisiana Supreme Court by a 6-1 ruling has found that state’s school voucher program unconstitutional.
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
5/8/13
Posted May 10, 2013 - 8:19 am
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A group of Mississippi biotechnology companies and state associations have written Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), urging him to support mandatory funding for renewable energy programs in a new Farm Bill.
Elevance Renewable Sciences of Natchez and DuPont Corporation, which has operations in Pass Christian and Pascagoula, sent the letter along with supporters at AgBioworks Foundation and the Memphis Bioworks Foundation.
The letter read, in part: “The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry will soon consider a new version of the Farm Bill. As that process develops, we ask you to help champion the key energy title reforms and updates that senators included in last year’s bill and to ensure the legislation provides for at least $800 million in mandatory energy program funding, which the bipartisan Conrad-Lugar Amendment established. Robust mandatory funding for energy programs is instrumental to their success, and reform language in S. 3240 providing long-overdue eligibility for renewable chemicals in key energy title programs is vital to the future of this promising industry.
MBJ
5/10/13
Posted May 10, 2013 - 8:17 am
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U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) has once again pressed the U.S. secretary of agriculture to explain why a catfish inspection program authorized five years ago has not been implemented.
Cochran, who has been fighting to ensure a fair and level playing field for U.S. catfish producers, raised the issue again with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at a Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to review the FY2014 budget requests for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“A lot of the aquaculture producers in Mississippi and around the country believe this law has not been aggressively implemented. They are frustrated and they want to know if the USDA has a plan to try to put action behind the words in the Farm Bill law,” Cochran said.
MBJ
5/10/13
Posted May 10, 2013 - 8:16 am
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Jackson County Supervisor John McKay says the deep-sea fishing trips he took in 2012 with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources are now an issue in his race for mayor of Ocean Springs.
McKay, a Republican, tells The Sun Herald (http://bit.ly/10z5nsy) that he wants to talk to State Auditor Stacey Pickering about the trips.
The fishing trips surfaced during an investigation of spending by the marine resources agency. McKay and various other public officials took trips on the MDMR boats.
"We didn't know that it was so-called taxpayer money that we were spending," McKay said. "We thought it was foundation money or whatever. We were told that was the purpose of the boat."
McKay's opponent, Ocean Springs Mayor Connie Moran, a Democrat, referred calls on political strategy in the race to political consultant Reed Guice, who works for her campaign.
AP
5/10/13
Posted May 10, 2013 - 8:14 am
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Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi joined a Republican boycott Thursday of a committee vote on Gina McCarthy’s nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency, a move that left the committee’s chairwoman “stunned.”
Republicans said McCarthy, currently the assistant EPA administrator for air and radiation, hasn’t adequately answered questions posed by GOP lawmakers on the Environment and Public Works Committee.
“Despite a weak economy and enduring high unemployment, the administration continues to use EPA to push regulations that I fear will put more Americans out of work and at the same time achieve only minimal results, at best,” Wicker said. “I’m afraid these harmful regulations will continue under Ms. McCarthy’s leadership of the agency.
hattiesburgamerican.com
5/9
Posted May 10, 2013 - 8:11 am
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For Immediate Release
May 9, 2013
Contact: Jordan Russell
NUNNELEE SUPPORTS FULL FAITH AND CREDIT ACT
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss) today released the following statement regarding House passage of H.R. 807, the Full Faith and Credit Act:
"Over the past couple of years, Washington has repeatedly battled over the debt ceiling. President Obama likes to claim Republicans are willing to risk economic catastrophe and deny senior citizens benefits if we do not get our way. Today, we showed nothing could be further from the truth.
Hitting the debt ceiling is a symptom of the failed tax, spend, and borrow policies of the Obama Administration. These policies have also led to the weakest recovery from a recession since the end of World War II. To grow our economy and pay down debt we must cut and reform spending, simplify taxes, stop overregulation, and recover American energy. Recklessly spending money we do not have and piling up even more bills for the next generation to pay is the real threat to the future of this country.
The Full Faith and Credit Act is a small step on the way to achieving long term results. It takes the threat of default off the table and ensures seniors will receive their Social Security payments. If Harry Reid and Barack Obama kill it, we will know who is playing dangerous political games with our economy and the earned benefits of our seniors."
H.R. 807 passed the House 221-207.
Congressman Alan Nunnelee represents Mississippi’s First Congressional District. He serves on the House Appropriations Committee and the House Budget Committee. This is his second term.
# # #
Posted May 10, 2013 - 8:08 am
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Jackson, Miss. – Legislation that will dramatically reduce the state’s tax rate for oil and natural gas companies that use horizontal drilling was recently signed into law. Gov. Phil Bryant affirmed House Bill 1698 on April 23, advancing a major component of his Energy Works: Mississippi’s Energy Roadmap plan.
“Mississippi has been ranked a top location for oil and gas investment internationally and this severance tax reduction builds upon our already strong positioning among the most competitive states in the nation when it comes to attracting companies that explore and develop shale plays,” Governor Bryant said. “It positions our state as a top contender for significant company investments and job creation in this market sector. Mississippi’s low tax rate structure and business friendly environment make the state an ideal location for companies investing in oil and gas exploration, as well as the service and supply companies that contribute to those plays.”
This bill will reduce the severance tax from 6 percent to 1.3 percent, a reduction of almost 80 percent, for oil and gas extracted from horizontally drilled wells for a period of 30 months or until the payout of the well. The legislation applies to all qualified horizontally drilled wells between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2018.
While there are several geologic formations in Mississippi with significant potential for oil and gas production using horizontal drilling, one in particular is quickly drawing attention and investment to the state. The emerging Tuscaloosa Marine Shale development in southwest Mississippi is projected to produce a very high-quality oil at substantial quantities. Experts anticipate that once full-scale production commences, the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale will be one of the most active shale plays in the United States. Several companies are currently undergoing preliminary drilling tests in the play, working to refine the extraction techniques appropriate for the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale.
Oil and gas developments using horizontal drilling technology, such as the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale, can help reduce the country’s dependence on foreign sources, increase its domestic energy supply, lower costs and create thousands of high-paying jobs that will positively impact local communities.
“Recognizing the fierce competition for capital dollars in the U.S. onshore energy marketplace, Mississippi's leaders have taken a bold step in better positioning the state to capture the benefits of the American energy renaissance relative to tight oil and shale gas,” said Lem Smith, director of U.S. Government and Regulatory Affairs for Encana Oil and Gas (USA) Inc.
“Technological advancements in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have led the way in enabling the nation to be less dependent upon foreign oil sources, and formations like the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale in southwest Mississippi stand to benefit from this new, targeted and carefully-crafted tax policy,” said Smith.
Governor Bryant tasked the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) with executing his strategies for energy-related economic development. MDA promotes the state’s energy-related economy utilizing four targeted approaches: Responsible Resource Exploration and Extraction; Energy-Intensive Industry Recruitment; Energy Systems Component Manufacturing; and Biomass Development.
“The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale in southwest Mississippi has the potential to provide remarkable opportunities for the region’s residents and the state as a whole. The passage of the severance tax reduction bill will help attract corporate investment, support economic growth and spur job creation throughout the region,” said MDA Executive Director Brent Christensen. “I thank Governor Bryant and the State Legislature for taking steps to improve our competitiveness and aggressively recruit new energy development and investment to this state.”
This severance tax reduction is one of several laws enacted under Governor Bryant’s landmark energy legislation in 2013. To learn more about energy initiatives in Mississippi, please visit http://www.mississippi.org/energy-works. To learn more about the benefits of a Mississippi location, please visit http://www.mississippi.org/locate-in-mississippi/.
###
Mick Bullock
Communications Director/Press Secretary
Office of Governor Phil Bryant
Posted May 10, 2013 - 8:06 am
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Contrary to what many Mississippians seem to believe, Medicaid is no “welfare queen” health care plan trumped up by the Obama Administration. Far from it.
Furthermore, it has a 44-year history in Mississippi, launched in 1969 under an unlikely advocate, then Gov. John Bell Williams. Two years earlier as a congressman, Williams had actually voted against creation of Medicaid under Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” program.
Williams was elected governor in 1967 on the Democratic ticket, but ran as a bitter critic of the National Democratic Party because Democrats stripped him of his Congressional seniority for openly supporting Republican Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential race. Mississippi went overwhelmingly for Goldwater because of his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but LBJ won by a landslide nationally.
Bill Minor
5/8/13
Posted May 9, 2013 - 7:12 am
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Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker says the deadly attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi reveals such lax security measures by the U.S. government that he fears for the safety of his military-officer son.
"Our men and women everywhere, our diplomats . . . in harm's way, need some sort of assurance that we've learned our lessons and, going forward, this is not likely to happen again,'' Wicker told "The Steve Malzberg Show'' on Newsmax TV.
Newsmax
5/8/13
Posted May 9, 2013 - 7:09 am
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Gov. Phil Bryant said if there is no agreement on Medicaid by July 1 he will try to run the agency without a legislative appropriation or reauthorization, and, essentially, dared anyone to take him to court to stop him.
"As head of the Governor's Division of Medicaid, I will do all I can to continue and to provide Medicaid to the citizens who qualify in the state of Mississippi," the first-term Republican said Wednesday after a tourism event at the Capitol. "That is my legal argument. If someone wants to challenge me in court, what is their argument?"
Bryant said he had an obligation to ensure the thousands of elderly residents on Medicaid in nursing homes are not "thrown out on the street."
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
5/8/13
Posted May 9, 2013 - 7:07 am
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U.S. Senator Thad Cochran, R-Mississippi, today introduced a series of amendments intended to ensure the safety of Mississippians from flooding or storm surge threats that might result from a new flood control proposal for Louisiana.
To various degrees, the three Cochran amendments to the Water Resources Development Act of 2013 (S.601 or WRDA) would force the Army Corps of Engineers to certify that that new flood control projects designed to protect the New Orleans region wouldn't be harmful to coastal Mississippi.
gulflive.com
5/8/13
Posted May 9, 2013 - 7:05 am
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Two Mississippi lawmakers are being honored for their work to pass charter school legislation during the 2013 regular session of the Mississippi Legislature.
On Wednesday, The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools named Lt. Governor Tate Reeves and State Senator Gray Tollison of Oxford as 2013 Charter Champions.
The annual award is presented during National Charter Schools Week.
wtva.com
Posted May 9, 2013 - 7:01 am
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The Mississippi Supreme Court stayed the execution of Willie Jerome Manning, who was scheduled to die Tuesday night at 6 at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
Manning was convicted in 1994 of killing two Mississippi State students in front of the campus’ Sigma Chi fraternity house.
Justices voted 8-1 to issue the stay. Justice Michael Randolph, of Hattiesburg, dissented.
Randolph was critical of the court’s decision, writing that Manning had failed to comply with the statutory requirements attached to his claim that DNA testing on a hair found in one of the victim’s cars could possibly exonerate him. Randolph took particular issue with letters submitted with the hair analysis from the U.S. Department of Justice that were unsigned.
“The letters challenge not only former FBI experts in hair, but also ballistics. Our established law and justice require more,” Randolph wrote in his opinion.
Mississippi Business Journal
5/7/13
Posted May 9, 2013 - 6:54 am
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JACKSON - State Auditor Stacey Pickering received the Patriot Award
from ESGR, Employer Support Of The Guard and Reserve, during a press
conference today where he was joined by Governor Phil Bryant. This
award was presented to Auditor Pickering, a Chaplain in the
Mississippi Air National Guard, for his support of employees who are
members of the National Guard and Reserve.
“It is an honor to receive the Patriot Award for the second time while
serving as State Auditor,” said State Auditor Stacey Pickering. “I
have and will continue to value all men and women in our armed forces,
and I encourage them to serve our country knowing that they have the
full support of this agency.”
Auditor Pickering was nominated for this award by Susan Syverson, an
Investigator with the State Auditor’s Office who serves in the
Mississippi Air National Guard 255th Air Traffic Control Squadron.
Pickering received his first Patriot Award in March 2009.
According to Jack Wallace, Mississippi ESGR State Chair, “The Patriot
Award was created by ESGR to publicly recognize individuals who
provide outstanding patriotic support and cooperation to their
employees, and who, like the citizen warriors before them, have
answered their nation’s call to serve. Stacey Pickering was nominated
for being highly supportive of the National Guard by his Reserve
Component employee, Susan Syverson. Supportive supervisors are
critical to maintaining the strength and readiness of the nation’s
Guard and Reserve units.”
ESGR is a Department of Defense Operational Committee established in
1972 to develop and maintain employer support for Guard and Reserve
service. ESGR advocates relevant initiatives, recognizes outstanding
support, increases awareness of applicable laws, and resolves conflict
between service members and employers. Paramount to ESGR's mission is
encouraging the employment of Guardsmen and Reservists who bring
integrity, global perspective and proven leadership to the civilian
workforce.
Office of Stacey Pickering
5/8/13
Posted May 9, 2013 - 6:53 am
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If you made it to a campaign rally for a presidential campaign last year, chances are you heard heard "Even Better Than The Real Thing" by U2 at President Barack Obama's rallies or "Born Free" by Kid Rock at Mitt Romney's rallies.
I collect political memorabilia. There is nothing collectible about a playlist. But years ago, campaigns composed their own songs and I've collected several records from Mississippi gubernatorial campaigns which provide a glimpse into the politics, issues and culture of the time.
In 1962, the Mississippi Legislature adopted "Go, Mississippi" by Houston Davis as the state song. While the words were different, the tune was the same as the campaign song Davis wrote for Ross Barnett's successful 1959 gubernatorial campaign: "Roll With Ross." When Governor Barnett released his campaign songs on a souvenir record, the A-Side featured "Roll With Ross" and an attack on one of his opponents, Lieutenant Governor Carroll Gartin, titled "Little Carroll's Last Stand." Two versions of "Go, Mississippi" are on the B-side.
While the song may harken back to Senator Jim Eastland's 1954 campaign song by the Mississippi Ramblers - "Cotton State: Roll On Mississippi, Roll On" - the anthem for Barnett in 1959 reflected the main issue of his campaign: "For segregation, one hundred per cent / he's not a moderate, like some other gent / he'll fight integration, with forceful intent / Roll with Ross, roll with Ross, he's his own boss!"
Madison County Journal
5/8/13
Posted May 9, 2013 - 6:52 am
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The elimination round is over, and Jackson voters have ousted incumbent Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr.
Jackson businessman Jonathan Lee led the field of 11 Democratic candidates in Tuesday’s primary election. City Councilman Chokwe Lumumba finished second.
“I know my dad is looking down on me tonight,” Lee said. “I feel great. It was a labor of love.”
Lee said he will be back out Wednesday, knocking on doors to share his message about bringing people to the table to solve Jackson’s problems.
Clarion Ledger
5/8/13
Posted May 8, 2013 - 7:51 am
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State Representative George Flaggs, Jr. is the apparent winner of Vicksburg's Democratic mayoral primary election.
The Vicksburg Post reported (http://bit.ly/15p1wB6) that, according to unofficial returns, Flaggs led Tuesday's voting with 2,590 votes. Linda Fondren had 1,515. Incumbent Paul Winfield had 402, while other candidates divided the rest of the vote.
AP
5/8/13
Posted May 8, 2013 - 7:48 am
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Thursday, May 23, 2013
