Statewide News – Page 37 – The Mississippi Link

Helen of Troy to bring 300 new jobs to Olive Branch

Officials from Helen of Troy said they would be constructing a 1.3 million-square-foot distribution facility in Olive Branch in DeSoto County. The project represents a company investment of $37 million and will create more than 300 new jobs.

Helen of Troy is a designer, developer and worldwide marketer of brand-name household, personal care and healthcare/home environment consumer products. A leader in global consumer products, the company offers creative solutions for its customers through a strong portfolio of well-recognized and widely-trusted brands. […]

Aurora Flight Sciences to create 250 new jobs in Columbus

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Aurora Flight Sciences Chief Executive Officer John Langford, Senator Roger Wicker and Representative Alan Nunnelee attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the company’s new 30,000-square-foot facility at the Golden Triangle Regional Airport in Columbus.

The new facility, which will allow the company to increase its commercial composites manufacturing operations, represents a corporate investment of $17 million and is creating 250 new jobs. […]

Free community shred days set for Friday and Saturday

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The office of the Mississippi Attorney General is announcing two free community shred days in cooperation with ShredIt and a host of other partners.

Consumers only, no businesses, may bring up to five large garbage bags or boxes to be shredded at the following locations: […]

Prof translates bio on would-be Hitler killer

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A University of Southern Mississippi faculty member has translated from German to English a book about a failed attempt to kill Adolf Hitler.

William Odom, a Southern Mississippi professor of German, translated the biography of Georg Elser, titled “Bombing Hitler.” The Hattiesburg American reports that the translation is available online.

Odom, who joined the Southern Mississippi faculty in 1974, is the author of “German for Singers,” which has been used for more than 30 years at leading conservatories and universities as a guide for singers in learning German opera and art songs. He also translated “Jazz: A Photo History” and “Tomorrow We’ll Be in Switzerland,” a play that tells the story of a group of Jewish children who were hidden from the Nazis in France during World War II. […]

Evans wins new trial for murder in father’s death

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Dante Lamar Evans claims a Harrison County judge wouldn’t let him tell a jury that he feared for his life at the hands of an abusive parent when at the age of 14 he shot and killed his father.

Now he’ll get his chance.

The Mississippi Supreme Court has thrown out his murder conviction and ordered a new trial. At the same time, the Supreme Court ordered the trial judge to let Evans hire an expert to make that argument for him. […]

Nurse charged with fraud

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A Lauderdale County nurse has been arrested on a charge of illegally obtaining drugs from the nursing home where she was working.

The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office said 36-year-old Shannon Bomar, of Lauderdale, was recently indicted on a charge of acquiring or obtaining possession of a controlled substance or prescription by misrepresentation or fraud.

The indictment alleges that Bomar, while working as a nurse at the Golden Living Nursing Center of Meridian, illegally took a quantity of Lortab tablets from the facility. […]

Wiggins man gets jail time for home repair fraud

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A former Wiggins resident has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for home repair fraud and false pretense in Harrison County.

Charles Lynn Reeder, 53, originally of Wiggins, was sentenced after pleading guilty to one count of felony false pretense and one count of home repair fraud before Judge John Gargiulo in Harrison County Circuit Court. Reeder was sentenced to the maximum 10 year sentence on the false pretense charge and five years for the home repair fraud charge with three years suspended, meaning he will serve 12 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC).
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Woman arrested for filing fake insurance claims

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A Bay St. Louis woman has been arrested following indictment on two counts of insurance fraud, Attorney General Jim Hood said.

Dana Aikens, 37, was arrested on Feb. 1 and indicted by a Hancock County Grand Jury. The indictment alleges that Aikens executed “a scheme to defraud” Geico Insurance Company and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. On count one, Aikens is alleged to have filed a claim for damage from an automobile accident that had already been covered by another insurance company. On count two, the defendant filed a claim for damages in an accident that allegedly never happened. […]

Leflore County nurse sentenced to drug court

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A Sidon woman, who worked as a nurse at a Leflore County nursing home, has been sentenced to drug court for taking controlled substances from the facility and using them herself.

Stephanie Ray Barton, 46, appeared before Judge W. Ashley Hines in Leflore County Circuit Court on Jan. 30 and entered an open plea of guilty to one count of obtaining a controlled substance by means of fraud or subterfuge.

Barton was a licensed practical nurse working at Golden Age Nursing Home in Greenwood. Barton was accused of stealing Lorcet, a prescription painkiller containing hydrocodone, by signing for the drug on patients’ records and then keeping the medication for her own use. […]

Prison escapees plead guilty to kidnapping

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Federal officials said Darian “Drake” Pierce, 35, of Bogalusa, Louisiana, and Ricky L. Wedgeworth, 38, of Memphis, Tennessee, have pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping.

Pierce and Wedgeworth entered their plea on Feb. 11 in federal court. They will both be sentenced on May 30, 2013.

Officials said on March 4, 2011, Pierce and Wedgeworth escaped from the Louisiana State Police Headquarters compound where they were both serving 25-year sentences. They traveled to the Fairfield Inn in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where, on March 7, they assaulted, carjacked, and kidnapped the victim, David Cupps, a businessman from Sunbury, Ohio. […]