Top Stories – Page 80 – The Mississippi Link

Mississippi prisons, mental health, Medicaid seek more money

JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — Mississippi’s prison and mental health systems and Medicaid program are seeking millions of extra dollars to get through the budget year, then more money on top of that for the coming year.

Agency leaders appeared Tuesday before the Joint Legislative Budget Committee to request money for fiscal year 2014, which ends June 30, and for fiscal 2015, which begins July 1.

State revenue has increased roughly 5 percent a year for each of the past two years, and the state-funded portion of the current budget is about $5.8 billion… […]

Mississippi authorities recover abducted 6-year-old, boy unharmed

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News Briefs From Around The State

Mississippi authorities recover abducted 6-year-old, boy unharmed

LEXINGTON, Mississippi — A man who abducted his 6-year-old son from a Holmes County home has surrendered to authorities.

Highway Patrol spokesman Warren Strain says 43-year-old Terrell Milton Adams called the sheriff’s office Tuesday told deputies where he was and was arrested. The boy, 6-year-old Sirvontez Adams, was not harmed… […]

Natchez casting call set for James Brown movie

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NATCHEZ, Mississippi — Actors and musicians looking to land a part in the upcoming James Brown movie to be filmed in Natchez will have their chance this weekend.

The Natchez Democrat reports Universal Pictures is scheduled to have a casting call for “Get On Up” Saturday at the Natchez City Auditorium.

The film will tell the story of the Godfather of Soul’s life from his impoverished childhood to his evolution into one of the most influential figures of the 20th century… […]

AP analysis: Former Gov. Haley Barbour still effective at shaping Mississippi policies

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JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — Once a governor, always a governor in Mississippi. The title never fades, even when the time in office expires.

However, with his recent re-entry into public policy discussions about energy, Haley Barbour appears to be wearing “Gov.” as more than an honorary title.

Call him Shadow Gov. Barbour — a person who still pushes ideas that, for better or worse, might shape Mississippi’s economic future.

When Actual Gov. Phil Bryant was in Brazil on an economic development trip this past week, fellow Republican Barbour earned headlines with a speech… […]

State expects to soon select contractor for 2 museums

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JACKSON, Mississippi — The state of Mississippi expects to select a general contractor Sept. 26 for phase one for work on the Mississippi Museum of History and the accompanying Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.

The Mississippi Business Journal reports that the contract award is a prelude to an Oct. 24 groundbreaking.

The Museum of History will tell the story of Mississippi from its pre-Columbian past, its evolution as an agrarian region with the arrival of the first European settlers and on to today’s emergence as a diverse and innovative manufacturing center… […]

8 kilograms of heroin seized in I-20 traffic stop among Mississippi’s largest drug busts

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NEWS BRIEFS FROM AROUND THE STATE

8 kilograms of heroin seized in I-20 traffic stop among Mississippi’s largest drug busts

PEARL, Mississippi — Rankin County authorities say they made a major heroin bust after a traffic stop on Interstate 20.

WLBT-TV reports that eight kilograms of heroin, worth approximately $1 million, was seized around 7 a.m. Saturday… […]

Suicidal mother suspected of killing her two kids at hotel

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SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Police say an apparently suicidal woman whose remarks sent authorities to a Southern California hotel room is the mother of two children found dead there.

Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna (burr-TAHN’-yuh) said Saturday night that the 42-year-old woman from Scottsdale, Ariz., has been released from Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach and will soon be booked for investigation of two counts of murder… […]

Navy Yard accused shooter was a 34-year-old contractor; Senate placed on lockdown; 13 dead

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—Officials released the name of the shooter killed after opening fire on the Washington Naval Yard.

Law enforcement have identified the gunman as Aaron Alexis of Fort Worth, Texas, according to NBC News.

Twelve people, including Alexis, have been killed in the shooting that began at 8:20 a.m.

Officials said the 34-year-old had been recently hired as a civilian contractor. He reportedly entered the Naval Yard using another person’s ID… […]

Officials misused US surveillance program, according to documents

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(AP) – Government officials for nearly three years accessed data on thousands of domestic phone numbers they shouldn’t have and then misrepresented their actions to a secret spy court to reauthorize the government’s surveillance program, documents released Tuesday show.

The Obama administration had earlier conceded that its surveillance program scooped up more domestic phone calls and emails than authorized. But until Tuesday, the depths of the program’s abuse were unknown.

According to the documents released by the administration, a spy court judge in 2009 was so fed up with the government’s overreaching that he threatened to shutter the surveillance program designed to fight terrorism… […]

Meet Debra Brown, awaiting confirmation as Mississippi’s next federal judge

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TUPELO, Mississippi – (AP) — Mississippi’s likely next federal district jurist admits she’s been a judge only for the state’s High School Mock Trial Competition.

People who know Debra Marie Brown say she’s plenty ready to don the black robe.

Brown, 49, of Jackson, isn’t a judge yet — she merely lacks consent from a majority of U.S. senators to become the state’s first black female to assume that lifetime appointment… […]