LUY-Development

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  • Biloxi gets more time on grant to renovate downtown theater

    BILOXI, Miss. (AP) — A city on the Mississippi Gulf Coast is getting more time to repair and renovate a downtown theater that hosts musicals and other productions.

    Biloxi’s Saenger Theatre is temporarily closed for the $2.3 million project. A grant from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History required that the work be done by the end of this year, WLOX-TV reported. The department has approved an extension, giving the city until Dec. 1, 2020 to finish.

    The theater opened in 1929 to show movies and vaudeville productions. It was sold to the city in 1975.

    Phase one is to demolish the brick fly tower on the back of the theater. That work can’t be done until elevated utility lines behind a neighboring building are removed and work is done to fortify the alley between the buildings.

    “Once the utilities have completely been removed and put underground and the alley has been stabilized, the contractor will start doing the work,” said Biloxi spokeswoman, Cecilia Dobbs-Walton. “Hopefully, that will be in the next couple of weeks. Once that is done, they’ll demo the top porting of the fly tower down to the roof line.”

    Then work will begin replacing the heating and air conditioning system on the roof of the theater. While the exterior work is delayed, an assessment is being done to determine the scope of the work needed inside the Saenger.

    “The contractor is already doing work you can’t see inside, getting the inspectors, getting everything they need,” Dobbs-Walton said. “Work is already going on. So, the project is moving on and with the extension, it should be complete by December 2020.”

  • Entergy bills expected to rise; La. regulators seek options

    BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana utility regulators are studying ways to handle a coming increase in monthly electric bills tied to Entergy’s building of new electricity generating plants, with industrial customers asking to leave the system amid worries their rates could rise as much as 50%.

    The five-member Louisiana Public Service Commission unanimously directed its staff Wednesday to look at all options available, such as enlarging the use of renewable energy sources and expanding programs to help pay for making homes and businesses more energy efficient. The commission’s staff also will review the implications of allowing large industrial customers to fend for themselves by seeking better electricity prices on the “open market” or letting plants and refineries make their own power.

    “It is a proactive approach to make sure we maintain the customers’ perspective as we look for solutions to those energy needs,” said Commissioner Craig Greene of Baton Rouge.

    The Advocate reports that Entergy told regulators it needs to eventually spend an estimated $10 billion to $12 billion to replace units that are approaching 50 years old. As a regulated monopoly, Entergy’s customers must pay those costs. The state’s largest petrochemical refineries and manufacturing plants, which buy about half the power Entergy sells, argue the projected costs are too high and they want out.

    Entergy disputes the rate increase estimates calculated by the Louisiana Energy Users Group, which encompasses 24 of the largest companies operating in the state.

    “We have some of the lowest rates in the country thanks to the PSC’s oversight. We will continue to focus on balancing access to affordable, reliable energy for all of our customers,” Entergy spokeswoman Lee Sabatini said in statement.

    The PSC directive looking at all options could reopen a debate from the 1980s and 1990s about whether Louisiana should deregulate and allow customers to buy their electricity from whomever they want on the open market. The commission in 1999 ruled that because of the cost of the infrastructure needed to deliver electricity, customers would be better served by letting utilities to operate as monopolies — with no competition allowed in specific service areas — and to regulate the costs.

  • Saints Chasing NFC’s Top Seed Rally To Beat Titans 38-28

    Saints Chasing NFC’s Top Seed Rally To Beat Titans 38-28

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Last week Drew Brees took his latest turn writing his name into the NFL record book. Now Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas has grabbed his piece of league history with the most catches in a single season.

    For now, those records are mere guideposts to where the New Orleans Saints want to go.

    Drew Brees threw for 279 yards and three touchdowns and Alvin Kamara ran for two TDs as the New Orleans Saints kept their chase of the NFC’s No. 1 seed alive by rallying from a 14-point deficit to beat the Tennessee Titans 38-28 Sunday.

    Thomas insisted passing Pro Football Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison’s mark of 143 catches meant nothing. Thomas needed 10 receptions to tie Harrison’s mark set in 2002, and he finished with 12 catches for 136 yards — his last a 2-yard TD with 2:10 left for the final margin.

    “We got the victory,” Thomas said. “We’re trying to play and go to a championship right now. At the end of the season, we’ll look up and see all the things we accomplished. But right now we’re focused on one common goal, and that’s a championship.”

    The Saints (12-3) had to win after San Francisco beat the Rams 34-31 on Saturday night. They scored 24 straight points to keep alive their chance at one of the NFC’s top two seeds and a first-round playoff bye going into their regular-season finale at Carolina.

    Thomas earned a game ball for his record-setting day. Brees said he didn’t know during the game that Thomas had the record.

    “I knew I had thrown a lot of balls to him and I knew he needed 11, so I had a feeling he was close to it or eclipsing it or one of those,” Brees said.

    The Titans (8-7) still have a shot at the AFC’s final playoff berth after Houston won the AFC South title beating Tampa Bay on Saturday. The Jets beating Pittsburgh 16-10 means the Titans must beat the Texans in Houston in the finale to earn their second playoff berth in three seasons.

    “We got a playoff game next week,” Titans cornerback Logan Ryan said. “A win-and-we’re- in situation. Regardless of what our record, regardless of what division we’re in, that’s a great situation to have if you’re a competitor.”

    Tennessee had the ball with 4:24 left and down 31-28. The Saints turned over the ball after lining up for a punt and snapping the ball short to Taysom Hill. He threw to a wide-open Justin Hardee Sr., who dropped the ball.

    On the next play, Ryan Tannehill threw to Kalif Raymond to the New Orleans 40. Saints rookie safety C.J Gardner-Johnson hit Raymond, knocking the ball loose. Gardner-Johnson picked it up and ran 38 yards to the Titans 25 with no flag for what Titans coach Mike Vrabel thought was a hit to the head of a defenseless receiver.

    “They didn’t see it that way,” Vrabel said. “That’s what happens. It’s fast. It happens quickly. Again, it’s about player safety and about when that player becomes unprotected. There’s a certain time completing the catch, and it’s a fine line.”

    Tennessee had one last chance. Tannehill threw incomplete to Tajae Sharpe in the end zone with 1:44 left to turn it over on downs.

    The Titans sat Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry to rest the left hamstring that has limited him the past two weeks. Tennessee announced Saturday Henry was questionable, around the time the Texans clinched the AFC South.

    Even without the NFL’s second-leading rusher with 1,329 yards, the Titans jumped out to a 14-0 lead. Tannehill hit Jonnu Smith for a 41-yard touchdown. Then the Titans got creative, handing off to rookie wide receiver A.J. Brown, who ran 49 yards for another TD.

    Then the Saints got going on offense, defense and special teams. New Orleans sacked Tannehill four times by halftime and finished with five.

    Wil Lutz kicked a 47-yard field goal in the second quarter, his 32nd of the season and a franchise record. Brees threw to Jared Cook who ran to finish off a 61-yard TD for the Saints’ longest play from scrimmage this season, pulling New Orleans within 14-10 by halftime.

    Alvin Kamara scored his first touchdown since Week 3, ending the longest scoring drought of his career at nine games with a 40-yard run. He added a 1-yard TD run.

    Tannehill threw two TD passes to Sharpe, the last with 7:27 left pulling them within 31-28. The Titans outgained the Saints 397-377.

    THOMAS’ RECORD DAY

    Not only did Thomas set the NFL record for most catches in a single season, he also now has the most receptions over two seasons. Antonio Brown had 265 catches between 2014 and 2015. Thomas came in with 258 and matched Brown’s record with seven catches through the first three quarters. Now Thomas has 270 receptions with a game left this season to add to both marks.

    “That’s a great accomplishment,” Payton said of Thomas’ single-season record. “Marvin Harrison was a fantastic player.”

    PENALTY WOES

    The Saints have some things to clean up. They were flagged 11 times for 70 yards, nine of those in the first half. Four were holding calls, with three false starts.

    INJURIES

    Saints cornerback Eli Apple hurt an ankle late in the first quarter, and safety Marcus Williams hurt a groin. That forced New Orleans to move cornerback P.J. Williams to safety.

    Titans wide receiver Corey Davis was being evaluated for a concussion in the fourth quarter.

    UP NEXT

    Saints: wrap up the regular season visiting Carolina.

    Titans: head to Houston trying to squeeze into the postseason.

  • Carnival cruise ships in accident at Mexico’s Cozumel

    MEXICO CITY (AP) — A cruise ship scraped another while trying to dock in the Mexican Caribbean resort of Cozumel on Friday, damaging at least one of the boats and resulting in a minor injury to a passenger.

    Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement that the Carnival Glory was maneuvering in the port when it “made contact” with the Carnival Legend in the morning.

    Videos shot by startled passengers and posted on social media showed the noisy, slow-moving accident, which left part of the Glory visibly mangled at the stern.

    The cruise line said it was assessing the damage, but there were “no issues that impact the seaworthiness of either ship.” It said a guest suffered a minor injury when a group was evacuated from a dining room.

    According to Carnival’s website, the Glory sails from New Orleans on cruises to the Caribbean and the Panama Canal and is 952 feet long with a guest capacity of 2,980.

    The Legend operates from multiple ports in the United States and Europe to a variety of destinations and is 963 feet long with a capacity of 2,124.

  • Apparent twister destroys buildings, 1 dead

    Apparent twister destroys buildings, 1 dead

    At least one person was killed Monday as strong storms left a trail of smashed buildings, splintered trees and downed power lines in Louisiana, and forecasters said more states were in the bullseye.

    One person died when an apparent tornado struck a small residential area in Vernon Parish, but details were immediately available, said Chief Deputy Calvin Turner.

    Officials fear others could be hurt in the area since crews were still trying to get into hard-hit areas where downed trees and power lines blocked roads, he said.

    “We’ve got damage at lots of places. We’ve got a church where the fellowship hall is torn all to pieces. Some homes are hit. Right now we’re having trouble just getting to places because of tress that are down,” said Turner.

    In nearby Alexandria, Louisiana, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans, a sheriff’s official said the storm system left roads impassable, peeled the roof off of a church and destroyed a car lot.

    “As of right now we’ve had people trapped. I don’t have any reported injuries,” said Capt. Phillip Jordan of the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office. Nearly 6,000 area homes and businesses were without power, according to the Louisiana utility Cleco.

    Damage also was reported about 25 miles (40 kilometers) away in DeRidder, but details weren’t immediately available.

    Entergy Mississippi reported more than 2,000 power outages in the neighboring state, concentrated mostly west of the state capital of Jackson along the path of a storm where a tornado was spotted on the ground.

    There were no immediate reports of injuries there, but the weather service said the threat of severe weather would continue all day as a cold front mixed with warmer air.

    About 1 million people live in an area of northeastern Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi that had a moderate chance of dangerous weather, forecasters said. A tornado watch was issued from east Texas through Louisiana into central Mississippi and southern Arkansas.

    Forecasters said a lesser threat extended into Alabama, western Georgia, the western Florida Panhandle and Tennessee as storms moved eastward.

    School systems in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi dismissed students early and canceled afternoon events and activities as a precaution because of the weather threat.

    Forecasters said tornadoes, hail and winds blowing at 70 mph (112 kph) posed the greatest threat as a cold front moved across the region in an easterly direction. Storms that are predicted to begin in the west could last until early Tuesday in the eastern, forecasters said.

    Tornadoes in December aren’t as unusual as they might seem.

    Monday was the 19th anniversary of a Southeastern tornado outbreak that included a twister which killed 11 people in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and storms on Dec. 1, 2018, spawned more than two dozen tornadoes in the Midwest.

  • Natchez Adams schools let out early with threat of bad weather

    Natchez Adams schools let out early with threat of bad weather

    NATCHEZ — Natchez Adams School District will end the school day early after the National Weather Service in Jackson has placed the Miss-Lou area under a tornado watch until 6 p.m. today.

    A tornado watch means conditions are ripe for severe thunderstorms that can produce tornadoes.

    NASD elementary schools will close at 12:30 p.m. today; middle schools at 12:45 p.m.; and the high school at 1:15 p.m.

     

    See the original article by the Natchez Democrat

  • LSU QB Joe Burrow Wins Heisman

    The nation’s top-rated passer, who led his team to the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff, has earned a key piece of hardware as he seeks a national championship trophy at season’s end. LSU quarterback Joe Burrow won the 2019 Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, beating out three fellow Heisman finalists in Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts, Ohio State QB Justin Fields and Ohio State defensive end Chase Young.

    Burrow, who is on pace to set an FBS single-season record for completion percentage (.779) and has 48 touchdowns to six interceptions on the year, is the fourth straight quarterback to win the award and the 12th to win it in the last 14 seasons. He is the second Heisman Trophy winner in LSU program history and the first since Billy Cannon earned the honor in 1959. Burrow is also the first SEC quarterback to win the Heisman since Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel in 2012.

    Burrow’s victory shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who had been paying attention this season. He was such a heavy favorite heading into Saturday night’s ceremony that many sportsbooks stopped accepting wagers on the Heisman winner. It wasn’t so much a question of whether Burrow would win but rather how much of a margin he would carry.

    After beginning his college career at Ohio State, Burrow transferred to LSU as a graduate student with two years of eligibility remaining ahead of the 2018 season. His first year with the Tigers was good but nothing like what we saw in 2019. He finished the 2018 season with 2,894 yards passing, 16 touchdowns and five interceptions. Then LSU overhauled its offensive philosophy, and Burrow took off. His 48 touchdowns on the season are not only an LSU school record but an SEC record, as are his 4,715 passing yards.

  • Ferriday Trojans win State Championship in New Orleans

    Ferriday Trojans win State Championship in New Orleans

    NEW ORLEANS, La. — The No. 1 seed Ferriday High School Trojans defeated the No. 2 seed Many High School Tigers 56-17 Friday afternoon at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to win the LHSAA Class 2A State Championship.

    After Many took a 3-0 lead just past the midway point of the first quarter on a 30-yard field goal by Trotter Lafollette, Byron Milligan’s 35-yard run to the Many 41-yard line on what was the final play of the first quarter led to Kobe Dillon’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Elijah White with 10:39 to go in the second quarter. Even though the try for two was no good, Ferriday (14-1) took the lead for good at 6-3.

    Later on in the second quarter, the Trojans’ defense forced a fumble that Roosevelt Davis recovered and ran back to the Tigers’ 31-yard line. That led an 11-yard TD run by Dillon with 5:40 left. Dillon threw a shuffle pass to Blake Tarver for the two-point conversion and a 14-3 Trojans advantage.

    One play after the Trojans forced a turnover on downs, Dillon connected with White on a 45-yard TD pass for a 20-3 lead with 4:24 left in the second quarter. Dillon scored on a 13-yard run with 28 seconds to go until halftime, just one play after he connected with Milligan on a pass that went 83 yards.

    Ferriday led 34-3 on a two-yard run by Tevyn Byrd at the 7:08 mark of the third quarter before Many scored its first touchdown of the game on a 15-yard run by Terrence Williams with 2:42 left in the same quarter. The Tigers scored on a two-point conversion run to make it 34-11.

    But the Trojans responded with a 19-yard scoring pass from Dillon to Justin Burns with 52 seconds remaining in the third quarter to go up 40-11.

    Milligan had another big play, this time a 35-yard run early in the fourth quarter that set up his three-yard TD run three plays later with 9:59 left in the game. He added the two-point conversion run to give Ferriday at 48-11 lead.

    Williams scored on a three-yard run for Many (11-4) to make it 48-17 with 1:52 left. But instead of taking a few knees and letting the clock run out even after returning the ensuing kickoff to its own 49-yard line, the Trojans used just 30 seconds as Milligan scored on an eight-yard run and Burns scored on the two-point conversion run to put an icing on the Trojans’ march to the state championship.

    See the original article by Patrick Jones at The Natchez Democrat

  • ‘Weird’ text from unknown number alarms mother of 14-year-old girl

    CINCINNATI, Ohio (FOX19) – It was a normal Wednesday morning for one 14-year-old Avondale girl until she saw a text message from a 513 number she didn’t recognize.

    The message had been delivered at 11:18 p.m. the previous night.

    “Hi pretty gurl, your mum told me to pick you up to maybe go get a few things,” the message read. “I am in the white van behind the grey car wright in front of your house.”

    The girl, who had been busy getting ready for school, showed the message to her mother, who asked not to be identified.

    She didn’t recognize the number either, and right away she knew there was something wrong.

    The mother dropped her daughter off at school, then told school officials and shortly afterward went to the police station to file a report.

    “I had the police call the number, and the police did,” the mother said. “They called the number, no answer.”

    FOX19 NOW called as well. We also got no answer.

    The mother says police did leave a message.

    “It really scares me,” the mother said. “It really does.”

    She says she’s going to keep a close eye on her daughter’s phone from now on. She’s considering changing the number.

    She also says she wants this to serve as a reminder for other parents.

    “We need to keep a close eye on our kids,” she said. “A very close eye.”

    Cincinnati Police confirm they took a report. They say at present it’s not a criminal offense, as it could simply have been a wrong number.

    However, they also say charges could come if incriminating information arises.

  • Ole Miss names Keith Carter new athletic director

    Ole Miss names Keith Carter new athletic director

    JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Ole Miss has a new athletic director.

    The school removed the interim tag from Keith Carter, who will be introduced as the school’s new permanent athletic director Friday.

    Carter was a unanimous choice by the school’s search committee.

    “This search was committed to finding the right leader who possesses the integrity and character needed to lead Ole Miss Athletics, a strong and proven record of success and excellent management and interpersonal skills,” Chancellor Glenn Boyce said. “We were looking for someone who wants to be at Ole Miss, and who believes all of our programs can compete and win at every level. Keith Carter is absolutely the best person to lead Ole Miss Athletics to a new era of success.”

    Carter has served as interim athletic director since May. Before that, he was deputy AD for Development and Resource Acquisition.

    He was a four-year starter for Ole Miss Men’s Basketball and was named All-American as a senior in 1999.

    He’ll be introduced at a press conference by Boyce at 1 p.m.