Louisiana-Mississippi news at 12:30 p.m. CDT
Print- •
-
Share
- Share this item
-
Grab the link
Copy and paste the link:
- Blog about it
- Close
- •
-
Post a Comment
- •
Favorite- •
The Saturday supervisor for the Lousiana-Mississippi report is Janet McConnaughey. If you have any contributions for or questions about the report, call 1-800-222-0046 or 1-601-948-5897. To report technical problems: 1-800-469-1362.
AP stories, along with the photos that accompany them, can also be obtained from http://www.apexchange.com. Reruns are also available from the Service Desk (800-838-4616).
LOUISIANA
SAINTS-STEPPIN' OUT
NEW ORLEANS — Never has so much fishnet, feathers, beads and bangles done so little for so many. Thousands of men, decked out in everything from flowing gowns to tiny miniskirts, paraded through the streets of New Orleans on Sunday to show their love for the New Orleans Saints and their happiness about the team's first trip to the Super Bowl. "I just wish my father and 'Buddy D' were alive to see this day," said George Butler, 63, as he dabbed at his eyes with his black and gold feather boa. "I know they're the happiest "Who Dats" in heaven." By Mary Foster.
AP Photos LAJB101-108.
BARKSDALE-GLOBAL STRIKE
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE — The commander of the Global Strike Command has scheduled a busy Monday, with visits to the nation's three nuclear bomb wings — in Louisiana, North Dakota and Missouri. Those meetings will formally bring the Air Force's two nuclear weapons systems — its missiles and nuclear-capable bombers — under the new Global Strike Command, in charge of Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz. He says it will be the first time that's been true in about 27 years.
ATTORNEY ARRESTED
NEW ORLEANS — A suspended attorney is in jail for allegedly e-mailing a threat to the federal bankruptcy court in New Orleans, the FBI said Sunday. Ashton R. O'Dwyer, 62, had a loaded handgun when he was arrested about 9:40 p.m. Friday evening on the 6000 block of St. Charles Ave., a news release said.A sworn statement supporting the arrest warrant said that, earlier Friday, he sent an e-mail including the statement, "Given the recent 'security breach' at 500 Poydras Street, a number of scoundrels might be at risk if I DO become homicidal."
LOTTO
BATON ROUGE — Nobody won the big jackpots in either Louisiana Lotto or the multistate Powerball lottery game. Four Powerball tickets won $200,000 consolation prizes, but all were sold outside Louisiana.
NEWS IN BRIEF
PRISONER HEALTH
LIVINGSTON — Inmates in Livingston Parish will no longer receive free health care in jail. The parish president signed a new ordinance that releases the parish from paying the medical bills of prisoners.
EXPLOSION SUIT
HOUMA — A woman whose house was destroyed by an explosion has sued the Terrebonne Parish government, claiming a deteriorating gas line caused the blast and fire that severely burned her and her two young sons.
HAITI QUAKE-KATRINA DOGS
MIAMI — These dogs must have nine lives. Dachshunds Bella and Deiter survived Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Then they survived the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti. The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International helped get the dogs to Miami on Friday.
SPORTS
SUPER BOWL
On the first day of February, the New Orleans Saints will be preparing for a football game. Think about that for a while: The team once disparagingly called the Aints whose fans wore bags on their heads are heading to South Florida to play in the Super Bowl. Historically one of the NFL's biggest flops, the Saints (15-3) are at the top of the NFC. If they overcome the Indianapolis Colts next Sunday they will own their first championship. Of course, they already own the undying loyalty of New Orleanians, based as much on their roles in rebuilding the Big Easy after Hurricane Katrina's devastation in 2005 as on their football prowess. By BARRY WILNER
AP Photo LAWH102.
FROM OUR MEMBERS:
Also moved in advance for use Monday
SANCTUARY DRILLING, HFR. EDS: FOR USE MONDAY, FEB. 1, AND THEREAFTER.
NEW ORLEANS — In the heart of Cajun country, managers of one of the nation's oldest nature preserves are wrestling an existential crisis. The National Audubon Society's Paul J. Rainey Sanctuary, a 26,000-acre rest stop for thousands of birds migrating south for winter, is one of Louisiana's best-kept wetlands. But preservation efforts by groups such as Audubon have been no match for coastal erosion: Louisiana loses as much as 35 square miles of wetlands each year, an environmental crisis caused largely by the leveeing of the Mississippi River and the dredging of navigation canals to reach the state's oilfields and ports. By Jen Degregorio, The Times-Picayune.
AP Photos LAORS101-102.
MICROSOCIETY SCHOOL, HFR. EDS: FOR USE MONDAY, FEB. 1, AND THEREAFTER.
SHREVEPORT — After months of preparation and management training, 10-year-old Remya Elebee was recruiting employees for her newsroom during a job fair preview at Oak Park MicroSociety Elementary School in Shreveport. Also at the fair preview that day, "Police Chief" Aaron Metcalf, 10, was drawing a steady crowd of first-graders eager to join the "Peacekeepers" and enforce school rules. "I will interview you and look at your resume," Aaron told them. Interviews and applications were to be taken the first week of February. By Nicole Blake Johnson, The Times.
AP Photos LASHT101-102.
N IS FOR NURSE, HFR. EDS: FOR USE MONDAY, FEB. 1, AND THEREAFTER.
ALEXANDRIA — Four-year old Katie Smith from Alexandria Country Day was having such a good time at her schoolroom nursing station that she thought she'd like to be a nurse when she grows up. After all, a nurse had saved her stuffed bunny's life. "She got bitten by a shark," Katie said with a smile. She held up the leg where a nurse had just put a large Band-aid to help her toy heal. By Karina Donica, The Town Talk.
AP Photos LAALE101-102 of Jan. 27.
MISSISSIPPI
TOP STORIES:
MISSISSIPPI LOTTERY
JACKSON, Miss. — State Rep. Alyce Clark said she's tired of seeing Mississippi residents cross state lines to play lotteries in Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas, and she wants to keep that money at home. Clarke, a Jackson Democrat, has filed a bill that would let Mississippi voters decide in November whether to create a state-sponsored game of chance to help pay for college scholarships. "In my opinion, if we had a lottery, we wouldn't have all the budget problems we have," Clarke said. By Emily Wagster Pettus.
BRIGGS PAYMENT
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi Power wants ratepayers to cover a $220,000-plus real estate commission paid to former Lt. Gov. Eddie Briggs for services related to the utility's planned Kemper County coal plant. The Sierra Club says the three-member Public Service Commission — which will decide the question — has a huge conflict of interest. That's because its only attorney is Briggs' daughter, Katherine Collier. The Sierra Club is not alleging that she has acted unethically, but filed a petition Friday seeking to make Collier step aside from the case.
NEWS IN BRIEF:
SUV-HOUSE
JACKSON, Miss. — The SUV crashed into the house as occupant Connie Mejia stood a few feet away, with groceries in her hand. She was unhurt. But the SUV's driver and another person were taken to Jackson hospitals after the accident Saturday afternoon.
SCHOOL BUS GUN
VICKSBURG, Miss. — The Warren County Sheriff's Office brings a felony charge of having a firearm on a bus against a 13-year-old Vicksburg girl. She allegedly took a .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol onto a school bus.
FROM OUR MEMBERS:
SECRECY-RECORDS
GULFPORT — In Oxford, University of Mississippi student Jackson Ables paid $1 per page for copies of a city budget, plus $7 an hour for a city worker to gather the records. In Gulfport, military retiree Walter Thomas paid 25 cents a page for copies of city e-mails and $33.79 an hour to have the records gathered and assembled. His total cost: $1,032.69. Gulfport's initial estimate for the records was $3,000, but Thomas pared back the request so the charge would be lower. The Mississippi Public Records Act says public bodies can charge fees "reasonably calculated to reimburse it for, and in no case to exceed, the actual cost" of producing those records. As the two examples illustrate, the cost of copies varies widely. By Anita Lee, The Sun Herald.
Story length: About 630 words.
Photos.
SECRECY-STUDENT'S STRUGGLE
OXFORD — The class assignment I received as a journalism student at the University of Mississippi seemed straightforward enough. I was to compare Oxford's two most recent city budgets, find any discrepancies and attempt to account for the differences. I entered Oxford City Hall expecting to request the records, wait for copies and head back to campus to start my investigation. By Jackson Ables for The Sun Herald.
Story length: About 645 words.
With mug shot of Jackson Ables.
SECRECY-BARBOUR Q-AND-A
Brief interview about open government with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. By Emily Wagster Pettus, The Associated Press.
DIABETES MANAGEMENT
JACKSON, Miss. — Cynthia Bethany and Dianne Perry have battled diabetes for 20 and 25 years, respectively. The Jackson residents have learned what to do to prevent complications but admit needing help to stay on the right track. That's where Mississippi Health First Collaborative comes in. The new initiative provides state Medicare beneficiaries, ages 18-75, an opportunity to take free diabetes self-management education classes. The initiative was announced in October by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It is organized by the state office of Information and Quality Healthcare, which is one of Medicare's Quality Improvement Organizations.
By Shanderia K. Posey, The Clarion-Ledger.
LIVING WITH LOSS
GREENWOOD, Miss. — Whether expected or sudden, natural or tragic, there are few moments in life when everything feels as out of control as when a loved one dies. Although life and death are all part of the cycle, dealing with death is a situation you are never truly prepared for because it is different with the loss of each person in your life. Depending on the cause of death, how well you know the person and his or her impact on your day-to-day life, emotions can vary drastically. Sometimes the end can be a relief when the person is suffering in the last few months or weeks of life, such as Robert Smith's mother. Smith and his family members visit her at the graveyard on U.S. Highway 82. They have decorated it with flowers, a small Christmas tree and even wind chimes.
By Andrea Hall, Greenwood Commonwealth.
OUTDOORS WITHOUT LIMITS
COLUMBUS, Miss. — A crisp morning, rich with the promise of sunshine and wood smoke, greeted 13-year-old Christopher Wrench and his friends staying at the Plum Nellie deer camp in southeast Lowndes County. It was going to be another good day. For one very special recent weekend, the Lee Middle School student and his companions donned camo, trekked in the woods, had the opportunity to shoot, ate hearty and shared laughs and good stories — all soul-pleasing pastimes outdoorsmen routinely accept as their due. The difference here is that Christopher, after multiple surgeries, has a shunt in his brain to drain fluids. And his friends each live with conditions ranging from dwarfism and Down syndrome to cerebral palsy and paralysis. For most of them, the great outdoors is a rare and exhilarating environment.
By Jan Swoope, Columbus Commercial Dispatch.
WATERWAY SENTINELS
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. — Quietly stationed in a solitary perch above the Old Fort Bayou waterway is the faithful bridge tender. He is often forgotten by those who pass over the half-mile long state bridge that spreads over parts of Ocean Springs and St. Martin. For the past 25 years Glenn Miller has vigilantly stood watch for approaching vessels that require passage through the 25-foot deep channel. Bridge tenders, such as Miller, call their job "The Dream." The "dream," or journey, begins with a vessel inching head-on toward the bridge. When it is near, the unseen tender is charged with opening and closing the giant river overpass.
By Leigh Coleman, The Sun Herald.
SPORTS:
COLLEGE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
The AP, New Orleans
