April 2013 – Page 6 – The Mississippi Link

SMCC seeks edge to lure honor students

April 11, 2013 Kermit 0

Southwest Mississippi Community College will offer students scoring 27 or 28 on the ACT full tuition and a $500 bookstore voucher beginning this fall.

The students must maintain a 3.0 grade point average to continue to receive free tuition.

SMCC President Steve Bishop told the Enterprise-Journal that the change was recently approved by the school’s board of trustees as a means of attracting honor students to the two-year school in Summit.

Bishop says students who score 29 and above will receive full tuition, room, meals and a $500 bookstore voucher, provided they maintain a 3.0 GPA. […]

Civil rights activist, Euvester Simpson, among those to get Hamer Award

April 10, 2013 Kermit 0

Civil rights activist, Euvester Simpson, who was just a teenager when she was jailed with Fannie Lou Hamer in Winona, Miss. in 1963, is one of five people who will be honored by The Fannie Lou Hamer Institute on April 19 at Jackson State University.

The four other humanitarian award recipients are:

Rev. John Earl Cameron of Jackson, a civil rights activist who ran for Congress in 1963; Alvin O. Chambliss, an attorney who represented Jake Ayer Sr. in the landmark lawsuit over desegregation in Mississippi’s higher education system; Jackson attorney Robert McDuff, whose work has include voting rights issues, civil rights and criminal law; and Nsombi Lambright, director of Resource Development and Communications for One Voice and former director of the Mississippi ACLU. […]

Death row inmate opposes setting execution date

April 10, 2013 Kermit 0

Death row inmate Willie Jerome Manning has told the Mississippi Supreme Court that he has more arguments to make, meaning now is not the time to be setting an execution date sought by the attorney general’s office.

Manning was recently denied an appeal by the U.S. Supreme Court in the deaths of two college students. The attorney general’s office asked the Mississippi court to schedule the execution for April 24.

In a brief filed on April 1, Manning’s attorney said there are issues pending before the state high court. Manning is seeking a new trial, arguing that a jailhouse informant had recanted his testimony; that Manning’s trial attorney was ineffective; and that blacks were improperly kept off his trial jury. […]

New 'personhood' initiative proposed in Miss.

April 10, 2013 Kermit 0

Abortion opponents are pushing for another Mississippi ballot initiative that would define life as beginning at conception, coming less than two years after 58 percent of voters in the conservative state rejected a nearly identical proposal.

Sponsors who filed paperwork for a new initiative said they believe people were misled about the measure that was defeated in November 2011.

Opponents call the move a waste of time.
[…]

State auditor recovers $19k for Vicksburg

April 9, 2013 Kermit 0

State Auditor Stacey Pickering presented a check for $19,416.10 to officials with the City of Vicksburg. This recovery follows an investigation into embezzlement of public funds by former Assistant City Clerk, Katrina McCloud. The amount recovered includes $18,842.53 in total funds embezzled and $573.57 in interest expense.

“In light of the recent headlines in Warren County, I am pleased that the Office of the State Auditor can provide some positive news to the City of Vicksburg,” said State Auditor Stacey Pickering. “The money returned…should restore funds that the City can use for the betterment of its future.” […]

Saturday mail cutback still being debated

April 9, 2013 Kermit 1

The new spending bill passed by Congress in March appears to continue the requirement for six-day mail delivery, but some lawmakers and postal officials say plans to cut Saturday service should proceed.

The financially troubled Postal Service announced that it would switch in August to five-day service for first-class mail and continue six-day package delivery. The government at the time was running on a temporary spending measure and postal officials invited lawmakers to spell out the way ahead in the 2013 spending bill. That sweeping funding bill was approved Thursday without new language.

Some lawmakers say a long-standing provision in the bill mandates six-day delivery. Postal authorities argue they still will have delivery over six days, just that not all mail will be delivered all six days. […]

George Co. site for new wood pellet plant

April 9, 2013 Kermit 0

Gulf Coast Renewable Energy will locate a $25 million wood pellet plant in the industrial park in George County.

Company officials met with the board of supervisors to request help with construction of an access road to the site on 40 acres just outside the Lucedale city limits.

The project will create about 30 new jobs, said company vice president for engineering Gary Ogle.

It will produce about 160,000 metric tons of pellets per year, Ogle said, and the company also plans to double production within the next 3 years. […]

Video shows suspect killing police detective

April 8, 2013 Kermit 1

Details continue to emerge into the shooting death of a Jackson police detective and the suspect he was questioning. Detective Eric Smith, 40, was killed in the line of duty early Thursday evening while questioning 23-year-old Jeremy Powell. Powell was being charged with April 1 murder of Christopher Alexander.

Alexander was found dead on Greenwood Avenue near Daniel Lake Boulevard early April 1. He had been stabbed to death.

The Associated Press (AP) said authorities have a video from the police interrogation room that shows Powell shot Smith to death before killing himself with the officer’s gun. […]

Former police officer gets 5 years for sex with 15-year-old

April 8, 2013 Kermit 0

A former Rolling Fork police officer who confessed to having sex with a 15-year-old South Delta High School student in 2011 will spend five years in prison.

Brian Richards of Anguilla was sentenced by Circuit Judge M. James Chaney to five years in prison followed by five years’ probation after pleading guilty to statutory rape.

Richards, 30, must register as a sex offender upon release.

Richards was assigned to provide security each morning at South Delta High School, where he met the girl, according to court records. […]

Miss. lawmakers OK partially state-funded pre-K

April 8, 2013 Kermit 0

Mississippi government would directly fund a limited preschool program for the first time under a bill on its way to Gov. Phil Bryant.

The House and Senate on Tuesday passed Senate Bill 2395, which would send money to regional groups of preschool providers. The House favored the measure 97-17, while the Senate voted for it 37-11.

The state would create a preschool program that could serve 1,325 4-year-olds in its first year, using a $3 million appropriation. Groups of preschool providers would have to apply for grants and would use private donations, federal money or other funds to match the state money. […]