LUY-Development

Author: Imported Author 1852152

  • More Mississippi Legislators Test Positive For Coronavirus

    More Mississippi Legislators Test Positive For Coronavirus

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said Thursday that four state senators are in isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus.

    Two of the four had already been diagnosed last week, and two more have been added to the list.

    House Speaker Philip Gunn said last week that at least one House member was out with the highly contagious virus.

    Hosemann and Gunn were among about four dozen Mississippi legislators who tested positive for the coronavirus last summer in the largest outbreak so far of any statehouse in the U.S.

    That outbreak happened after people crowded into the Capitol in Jackson as legislators worked on a state budget and other issues. Some ignored public health officials’ recommendations to wear masks and keep distance from one another.

    Mississippi legislators returned to the Capitol in early January to begin a session that is scheduled to end in early April. To promote social distancing, legislators have the option to attend committee meetings in person or online. The meetings are shown online to try to reduce the number of spectators inside the Capitol.

    Republican Gov. Tate Reeves gave his State of the State speech on the south steps of the Capitol on Tuesday as a safety precaution because of the virus. Usually, most of Mississippi’s 52 senators and 174 House members crowd into the House chamber, along with Supreme Court justices and other officials, to watch the speech.

    ___

    Follow AP’s coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.

  • Mississippi Looks At Penalties For Blocking Roadways

    Mississippi Looks At Penalties For Blocking Roadways

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Mississippi are seeking to increase penalties for people who block public roadways during protests. Several Democrats, however, are expressing concerns about legislation that could be seen as criminalizing free speech.

    Republican Sen. Chad McMahan of Guntown proposed the “Freedom of Roadway Act” to “criminalize the malicious obstruction of a public street, highway or road during an unpermitted protest.”

    Senate Bill 2283 would require that protesters who block roadways with no permit be fined up to $1,500, serve up to a year in jail or both. The minimum punishment would be a $500 fine and a 25-day jail sentence.

    McMahan told the Senate Judiciary B Committee on Wednesday that he drafted the bill after being approached by the Tupelo police chief, who was concerned after seeing protesters blocking roadways in other parts of the country.

    McMahan mentioned a protest outside of Memphis, Tennessee, where people blocked traffic on a four-lane highway. There have been several protests in Memphis over the killing of Black men by police that have closed roadways during the last few years.

    “There was a protest in Columbia, Mississippi, on Highway 98 where some folks from out of town came and blocked the road after some of these police deaths and things across the country,” said Republican Sen. Angela Burks Hill of Picayune, a co-sponsor of the bill.

    “It almost turned into the citizens handling the blocking of the roadway,” she said. “I think that — anything to deter somebody from wanting to do this. We don’t want anybody getting hurt.”

    However, Democratic Sens. Angela Turner-Ford of West Point and Derrick Simmons of Greenville raised concerns about the legality of criminalizing gatherings without a permit.

    “I’m just concerned about criminalizing potentially protected speech,” Simmons said.

    The majority of lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary B Committee said they would not support sending the legislation to the full Senate for a vote as it was written.

    Simmons proposed a compromise — increasing penalties on an existing law that bans any person from obstructing roadways, instead of passing legislation specifically targeting protesters.

    The change would increase the current punishment of $500 or six months in jail for blocking roadways to McMahan’s proposal of $1,500, a year in jail or both, with a minimum $500 fine and 25 days in jail.

    The amended proposal was passed by committee members unanimously and will now go on to the full Senate.

    ___

    Leah Willingham is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

  • Mississippi Governor Chooses New State Emergency Director

    Mississippi Governor Chooses New State Emergency Director

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency is getting a new leader.

    Gov. Tate Reeves announced Thursday that he has nominated deputy director Stephen McCraney to become executive director for the agency, which for the past year has been focused on the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and several natural disasters, including massive tornadoes.

    McCraney succeeds Greg Michel, who retired.

    McCraney will need to be confirmed by the state Senate, but he stepped into the new role immediately and can serve while waiting confirmation.

    Then-Gov. Phil Bryant chose Michel to lead MEMA in 2018. Reeves became governor in January 2020, and he kept Michel in the role.

    Michel was hospitalized with COVID-19 in December, and Reeves said during a news conference Thursday that Michel had been wanting to retire.

    McCraney had been deputy director and chief of staff at MEMA since 2016. In a news release, Reeves described his work ethic as “second to none.”

    “He has a command of Mississippi’s emergency infrastructure, and there is no steadier hand in a crisis,” Reeves said of McCraney.

    McCraney served 28 years in the Mississippi Army and Air National Guard and was a lieutenant colonel. He responded to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, a tornado that struck Smithville in 2011 and the Mississippi River flooding of 2011.

    “I’m deeply honored to take the helm of MEMA. This agency has shown tremendous strength within the last year,” McCraney said in the news release. “I will strive to keep Mississippi and her citizens ready to handle any manmade or natural disaster that comes our way; and forge an even greater relationship with our county EMA directors to ensure the needs of all Mississippians are met during a disaster.”

  • Group Wants Louisiana University Fined For 3 Monkey Deaths

    Group Wants Louisiana University Fined For 3 Monkey Deaths

    LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — A group opposed to experiments on animals says a Louisiana university should be fined $30,000 because heat stroke apparently killed three research monkeys in different outdoor cages on the same day last summer.

    The Ohio-based group Stop Animal Exploitation Now issued a news release about the deaths at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s New Iberia Research Center.

    “I am appalled that ULL negligence allowed three monkeys to die unnecessarily,” Michael A. Budkie, the group’s co-founder said in the release.

    The university said in a statement that the school and its staff are “diligent in the care” of primates at the New Iberia Research Center and follow federal rules.

    The school took timely and appropriate action following the deaths Aug. 5, which were promptly reported by phone a day afterward and in a letter Aug. 26, wrote Brent C. Morse, compliance oversight director for the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare in the National Institutes of Health.

    Budkie’s request for an investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture is based on the Aug. 26 report by research center director Francois Villinger, which it received under a Freedom of Information Act request.

    Villinger wrote that the center’s staff was providing sprinklers or misters and frozen juice in the afternoons to help the rhesus monkeys stay cool. The animals had lived outdoors in Alice, Texas, which has a climate similar to New Iberia’s, and other animals from the same place had settled in without problems during similar weather, so the staff could not have anticipated the deaths, he wrote.

    The animals were brought outside between 8 and 9:10 a.m., watched for 1 to 2 1/2 hours, and checked again at 12:30 p.m., when the three dead monkeys were found, he wrote. He said necropsy results “strongly suggested” heat stroke.

    “The ambient temperatures were comfortable for that time of year, with a humidity of 60% and 80-83 degrees Fahrenheit” — 26.7 to 28.3 degrees Celsius) — Villinger wrote.

    However, Budkie said, the thermometer had hit 93 Fahrenheit (33.9 Celsius) by noon.

    “It is absurd that ULL staff failed to take precautions when acclimating new animals on a day where the temperature reached 93 degrees Fahrenheit,” he said. His statement did not mention specific precautions.

    Villinger wrote in August that the center has also taken additional measures that include setting out wading pools and sprinklers in outdoor cages in the summer, as well as arranging cages from which monkeys being introduced to each other can move from an outdoor area to air-conditioned indoor space.

    Previous USDA investigations have resulted in the university paying $158,571 since 2007, including $100,000 in 2017, Budke noted. The 2017 payment settled several complaints, and the university did not admit any wrongdoing at the research center.

  • Trial Of Man Accused In Triple Homicide Moved To Sept. 13

    Trial Of Man Accused In Triple Homicide Moved To Sept. 13

    ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) — A Louisiana man accused in the deaths of three people in October 2017 has a new trial date.

    Matthew Sonnier, 32, of Alexandria, has been indicted on three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Jeremy Deon Norris, 28; Kendrick Dwann Horn, 33; and Latish Renee White, 42. He also faces two counts of obstruction of justice from a separate indictment related to the case. If convicted, he faces the death penalty.

    White’s body was found lying on a street in Pineville early Oct. 18, 2017. She had been stabbed multiple times and thrown from a car, The Town Talk reported. The bodies of Norris and Horn were found hours later after a passing motorist alerted officials about a fire in a ditch outside of Alexandria, the newspaper reported. Their bodies were found wrapped in a pool liner in the fire.

    The arrests of Sonnier and his sister, 34-year-old Ebony Nicole Sonnier, were announced the next week.

    Ebony Sonnier faces a separate trial in August on three counts of first-degree murder and being an accessory after the fact. Like her brother, she faces two counts of obstruction of justice in a separate indictment.

    The siblings have been in custody since their arrests. It was unknown if either has an attorney who could speak for them.

    Sonnier’s trial had been set for Feb. 22, but a Louisiana Supreme Court order pushed all jury trials back to at least after March 1 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sonnier’s new trial date is Sept. 13.

  • Cemetery Apologizes After Black Deputy Is Denied Burial

    Cemetery Apologizes After Black Deputy Is Denied Burial

    The board of a Louisiana cemetery that denied burial to a Black sheriff’s deputy is holding an emergency meeting Thursday to remove a whites-only provision from its sales contracts.

    Board President H. Creig Vizena said he was stunned and ashamed to learn that the family of Allen Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Darrell Semien, who died Sunday, had been told that he could not be buried at the Oaklin Springs Cemetery near Oberlin in southwest Louisiana because he was African American.

    “It’s horrible,” Vizena told The Associated Press. He said the board members were meeting for the express purpose of removing “white” from a contract stipulation that the cemetery is for “the remains of white human beings.”

    Karla Semien of Oberlin wrote Tuesday on Facebook that a woman at the cemetery had told her that her husband could not be buried there because it was for whites only.

    “She stood in front of me and all my kids wow what a slap in the face. I just can’t believe in 2021 in oberlin Louisiana this is happening,” Semien wrote.

    “To be told this is like we were nothing. He was nothing? He put his life on the line for them,” Semien told KPLC-TV on Wednesday. She did not immediately respond to a Facebook message from the AP requesting comment.

    Vizena said when he told other members about the language, each one said it had to be fixed.

    The offensive wording wasn’t in the cemetery association’s bylaws but only in sales contracts used since the cemetery was created in the late 1950s, Vizena said.

    People tend to sign such things without reading, he said.

    He said his 81-year-old aunt was the woman who told the family, and she was “relieved of her duties.”

    Vizena said he was on his way home from work Tuesday when a deputy who had known Semien called to tell him about the rejection. Vizena said he apologized to the family and offered one of his own plots in the small cemetery, which he estimated covers less than two acres (0.8 hectares). But, he said, the offer was turned down: The family said Semien, who was 55, couldn’t rest easily there.

    “My dad wasn’t any man, he was a phenomenal man,” daughter Shayla Semien told KATC-TV. “He was a police officer in this same community for 15 years. He was denied a place to lay because of the color of his skin.”

    Vizena said he believes Oaklin is not the only cemetery with such segregationist holdovers. Cemetery associations throughout the South and the country should check their bylaws and contracts for such language, he said.

    “It’s a stain that’s going to be on our cemetery and our community for a long time. But we’re going to fix it,” he said.

    ___

    McConnaughey reported from New Orleans.

  • Plan Would Expand Computer Science Courses In Mississippi

    Plan Would Expand Computer Science Courses In Mississippi

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi schools that don’t already offer computer science courses would be required to start phasing them in, under a bill advancing at the Capitol.

    Senate Bill 2678 is called the Mississippi Computer Science and Cyber Education Equality Act. It passed the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday and will go to the full Senate for more discussion.

    The bill says school districts would start phasing in computer science elective courses from 2022 to 2025, if money is available. The goal is to create courses for elementary, middle and high schools.

    Republican Sen. Scott DeLano of Biloxi said the cost would be about $2 million a year.

    C Spire Foundation, a charity connected to the Mississippi-based telecommunications and technology company C Spire, said in early January that it was pledging $1 million toward the effort.

    A news release from the foundation said that fewer than half of Mississippi high schools currently teach computer science courses.

  • Suspect Believed Connected To October Homicide Captured

    Suspect Believed Connected To October Homicide Captured

    VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) — A suspect wanted in a fatal shooting in Mississippi last year was captured Wednesday.

    The Vicksburg Police Department said its officers, in cooperation with deputies of the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, executed a warrant at an address in the city shortly after 2 p.m. and found James Earl Winters, 27, of Vicksburg, The Vicksburg Post reported.

    Winters has been on the run from law enforcement since Oct. 6, when he allegedly shot and killed Wade Carter Jr., 31, in the parking lot of LD’s Bar and Lounge. Carter was shot twice in the abdomen. He died three days later, becoming the city’s eighth homicide victim in 2020.

    Two other people were wounded in the shooting. Winters was identified as a suspect, but was not captured until Wednesday. U.S. Marshals had been searching for him since early November.

    Winters is expected to make his initial appearance in Vicksburg Municipal Court on Thursday. It was unknown if he has an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

  • Businessman Pleads Guilty In Illegal Dumping Of Wastewater

    Businessman Pleads Guilty In Illegal Dumping Of Wastewater

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi business owner pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to violate the federal Clean Water Act after prosecutors said he took part in illegally dumping large amounts of untreated industrial waste into the Jackson sewer system.

    Andrew Walker, 70, owns Rebel High Velocity Sewer Services, based in Jackson.

    Federal prosecutors said in a news release that Walker admitted to conspiring with generators and transporters of industrial waste to illegally discharge more than 3 million gallons (11.3 million liters) of untreated waste into the city sewer system.

    By law, the waste should have been treated to reduce pollutants. Prosecutors said the conspirators left it untreated to avoid that expense, and that they evaded sewer usage fees and the cost of disposing of the waste at legal facilities.

    The news release said that state and city authorities discovered in October 2016 that a manufacturing company had been discharging industrial waste directly into the sewer system.

    Government agencies ordered the company to stop the illegal dumping and to ship the waste off-site for treatment and disposal. Prosecutors said that from November 2016 through October 2017, Walker and his coconspirators misrepresented the industrial waste to be domestic waste and dumped it at Jackson’s treatment plant. The news release said they also discharged hundreds of truckloads of industrial waste into a city sewer pipe that they excavated at Rebel High Velocity Sewer Services.

    “The Clean Water Act is in place to not only protect the environment, but to safeguard our communities and residents from the risks of industrial waste,” said Michelle Sutphin, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Jackson office. “Circumventing the law to improperly dispose of waste in order to make a profit is a crime that the FBI and our partners take seriously.”

    Walker pleaded guilty Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Kristi H. Johnson in Jackson. He remains free on bond until his sentencing hearing, which has not been scheduled.

    Walker faces up to five years in prison for the count of conspiracy and three years for the count of discharging industrial waste. Each count also carries a fine of up to $250,000.

  • C Spire Investing $1 Billion To Bring Internet To 200,000

    C Spire Investing $1 Billion To Bring Internet To 200,000

    RIDGELAND, Miss. (AP) — C Spire is investing $1 billion over the next three years to deploy 5G wireless technology and all-fiber Gigabit broadband internet to more than 200,000 homes and businesses in Mississippi and Alabama.

    The C-Spire logos loom above the corporate offices in Ridgeland, Miss., Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. The privately owned technology and mobile telecommunications company announced Thursday, the expansion of the Mississippi Optical Network — the state's research and development program that will now offer a fiber network, increased internet speeds and boosted capacity to all 15 community colleges in an era of remote learning and online classes. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

    View all (2)

    The project is expected to bring all-fiber infrastructure to within 1,000 feet (305 meters) of half of Mississippi homes and deliver ultra-fast 5G service to nearly 600 sites — representing over 60% of the state, according to a press release.

    In a statement, Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker said the investment will support the advancement of education, health care, technology and small businesses in the state.

    “Because we live in a digital world, better, faster internet connections are critical to keeping our state competitive and boosting our $100 billion-plus economy,” Wicker said.

    In addition to the initial $1 billion, the firm plans to continue with another $500 million in capital spending over a five-year period.

    C Spire will leverage several recent acquisitions, including Teklinks and Harbor Communications, to accelerate its growth and expansion efforts.

    To learn more about C Spire 5G and fiber broadband internet, visit www.cspire.com/5GFast.