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Associated Press - September 2, 2010 11:54 AM ET
Cemetery in mismanagement case to be sold
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The secretary of state's office says it has received three bids for Green Acres Cemetery in Vicksburg, which was among those taken over by authorities because of allegations the owner misused customers' prepaid burial money.
Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann says pending a financial review, he'll recommend to Warren County Chancellor Vicki Barnes that the cemetery be awarded to Harry Carter Sharp.
Hosemann says Sharp offered a $135,000 cash payment, plus 10% of the pretax profits of the cemetery up to $100,000.
Four other cemeteries have been returned to private ownership. Each cemetery was sold as a separate property.
Gulf oil rig explodes off La. coast
GRAND ISLE, La. (AP) - An offshore oil rig has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, west of the site of the April blast that caused the massive oil spill.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Ranel says the blast was reported by a commercial helicopter company about 9:30 a.m. CDT Thursday. Seven helicopters, two airplanes and four boats are en route to the site, about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast.
Ranel says it hasn't been determined whether the structure is a production platform or a drilling rig or whether workers were aboard. Ranel says smoke was reported but it is unclear whether the rig is still burning.
Risks remain with Gulf well cap coming off
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Engineers don't expect to see another gusher when they delicately remove a cap on the blown-out Gulf of Mexico well that spawned the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
The planned removal of the cap Thursday is a prelude to raising the massive blowout preventer that failed to prevent the disaster.
But the government wasn't offering a guarantee no more oil would leak. Plans were being made for oil collection vessels to be on standby in case of a problem. Officials have been waiting for rough seas at the site to calm down before continuing with the removal of the blowout preventer.
They plan to begin removing the cap around midday.
Environmental groups question oyster safety
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Sampling by environmental groups has found oysters contaminated with oil along the Louisiana coast befouled by the BP PLC oil spill, a finding that casts doubt on statements by state and federal officials that all seafood tested here is safe to eat.
Batches of oysters were sampled on Aug. 2 and 3 near the mouths of the Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers and laboratory tests revealed the animals were tainted by oil. That's according to Wilma Subra, a well-known Louisiana chemist working for environmental groups.
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals says that since the April 20 Deepwater Horizon explosion the agency has found no oyster samples with high levels of oil contamination.
Louisiana has opened some waters to oyster harvesting, but much of the state's coast remains closed to oystermen because of concerns over oil.
Vermont fugitive caught in Miss.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Hinds County authorities say a Vermont man who had eluded arrest for 21 years on a sex offense was caught in Mississippi because he didn't have a driver's license.
Timothy John Vanstean was arrested at a home in Hinds County on Wednesday.
Vanstean had been convicted of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl in Vermont in May 1989 but fled before being sentenced.
Sheriff's Department spokesman Jeffrey Scott says Vanstean and his wife were stopped at a DUI checkpoint last week.
Scott says Vanstean was cited for not having his driver's license, and deputies discovered an outstanding warrant from Vermont on a domestic violence charge.
Scott says Vermont officials contacted the sheriff's office and Vanstean was arrested Wednesday.
Vanstean was being held in the Hinds County pending extradition proceedings.
Woman gets 40 years in son's death by starvation
McCOMB, Miss. (AP) - A 27-year-old woman who admitted to letting her 2-year-old child starve to death has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.
The Enterprise-Journal reports that Kimberly Hood of McComb had been indicted for capital murder and conspiracy last year in connection with the May 16, 2008, death of her 2-year-old son, Markqice Hood, apparently by starvation.
Hood pleaded guilty Wednesday to manslaughter and felonious child abuse in Pike County Circuit Court.
Disaster declaration after Miss. flooding
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 20 counties in Mississippi as natural disaster areas because of losses caused by flooding that occurred in May and June.
The counties are Adams, Jefferson, Tunica, Issaquena, Sharkey, Warren, Claiborne, Hinds, Tate, Coahoma, Humphreys, Washington, Copiah, Lincoln, Wilkinson, DeSoto, Panola, Yazoo, Franklin and Quitman.
The USDA says farm operators would be eligible for low interest emergency loans from USDA's Farm Service Agency provided eligibility requirements are met.
Farmers would have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses.
Grand Gulf seeks to expand facility
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Entergy Mississippi will go before nuclear power regulators later this month to pitch its plans to expand the Grand Gulf plant near Port Gibson.
With approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the utility would increase the plant's output from 1,265 megawatts to 1,443 megawatts - a 13% increase.
Entergy officials tell The Clarion-Ledger that after the upgrade, Grand Gulf will be able to produce enough electricity to power an additional 53,000 homes round the clock for the life of the plant.
Grand Gulf has operated since 1985. The upgrade's cost would be split among the facility's joint owners, which also include Entergy's Arkansas, Louisiana and New Orleans subsidiaries.
No verdict in capital murder trial
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A Hinds County capital murder case has ended in a mistrial when a jury couldn't reach a decision.
Jamal Johnson had been on trial for the 2009 slayings of 2 men at a south Jackson apartment.
Prosecutors on Wednesday told The Clarion-Ledger that they will try Johnson again.
Authorities say Quintyn Wilson and Fred Smith were shot to death during an apparent robbery at their apartment.
State provides $3M for Gulf Coast group home
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi Children's Home Services has received a $3 million state grant to build a new Gulf Coast group home and vocation training transitional work force housing facility on 80 acres in Harrison County.
MCHS officials say they will build 20-bed cottage-style group home for transitional work force housing and a vocational training center to help address an increased demand for mental health and training services while preparing clients to enter the work force.
MCHS officials say its Mississippi Segue Program is a 6 to 9 month program for behaviorally challenged youth, aged 14-18, with specialized educational needs.
They say it will offer a full array of traditional therapeutic services, as well as nontraditional therapeutic activities such as therapeutic recreation, ropes course, fishing, camping and other programming.
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