Category: Mississippi News

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Department of Health is confirming two more cases in the state of lung illness connected to vaping.

The department says Tuesday that the new cases bring the state’s total to seven cases, which includes one person who died weeks ago.

All seven have been in people between 18 and 34 years old.

The department said that as of Oct. 15, the U.S. had seen 1,479 cases of lung illness in 49 states, the District of Columbia and one territory. Thirty-three deaths had been reported from 24 states.

JACKSON, La. (AP) — One person is dead after a wreck involving a prison bus.

It happened just before 6:30 a.m. Tuesday near the Dixon Correctional Institute in East Feliciana Parish.

News outlets report a car crossed the center line of Highway 68 South and hit the bus head-on. Louisiana State Police Trooper Taylor Scrantz says the car’s driver, 19-year-old Austin Dixon, of Gloster, Mississippi, had on a seatbelt but suffered fatal injuries.

Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections spokesman Ken Pastorick says 24 trusty inmates and six guards, including the bus driver, were on the bus. Three inmates and two officers were transported for treatment.

Pastorick says the trusties were headed to Baton Rouge to work in the Capitol Complex government buildings to perform janitorial, lawn care, maintenance, and kitchen work.

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Former Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck is retiring Dec. 31 as vice president for campus services at Mississippi State University.

The university said in a news release Tuesday that Tuck announced her plans this month, and President Mark Keenum will restructure some administrative jobs on the Starkville campus.

Tuck, 56, is a Maben native and earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Mississippi State and a law degree from Mississippi College. She served in the Mississippi Senate from 1990 to 1996. She was defeated in the 1995 Democratic primary for secretary of state, then was hired as the top administrator for the state Senate.

Tuck was elected lieutenant governor as a Democrat in 1999, switched to the Republican Party in 2002 and won a second term as lieutenant governor in 2003.

After leaving office, she was hired by the university. The news release said Tuck led the Division of Campus Services, which included facilities management, parking and an office overseeing construction. Her current salary is $241,334.

“Over a very distinguished career in public service that has spanned more than three decades, Amy Tuck has been a faithful advocate for the people of Mississippi,” Keenum said in the statement. “In the state Senate, as lieutenant governor, and most recently as a senior administrator at Mississippi State, Gov. Tuck has been an outstanding leader. She will be missed at her alma mater. I have appreciated her support and wise counsel.”

The release said George Davis, the assistant vice president for campus services, is also retiring this fall. The university is returning to a previous structure that combines the finance and campus services divisions into a Division of Finance and Administration that will be led by the current university vice president for finance and chief financial officer, Don A. Zant. He has been at the university since 1997.

“Don Zant’s career at MSU has provided him an exhaustive knowledge of our financial operations and our administrative structures,” Keenum said.

PLAQUEMINE, La. (AP) — A Mississippi man has died after his truck ran off the road and underneath the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge in Louisiana.

Shortly before 7:30 a.m. Monday, Louisiana State Police began investigating a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 10 westbound at the Whiskey Bay exit in Iberville Parish.

WAFB-TV reports 50-year-old John Cloninger, of Pearl, died in the crash. Troopers say Cloninger was driving a 2001 Peterbilt tractor-trailer westbound on I-10. For reasons still under investigation, authorities say Cloninger ran off the road to the right and struck a concrete bridge rail. After hitting the railing, the truck fell to the ground underneath the bridge.

Cloninger, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The crash remains under investigation.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The new Mississippi Lottery will start offering multistate games on Jan. 30.

The state’s lottery corporation on Tuesday announced the date that Powerball and Mega Millions will be available in Mississippi.

The corporation said last week that the sale of scratch-off tickets for single-state games in Mississippi will begin Nov. 25.

Mississippi has been one of six states without a lottery, but lawmakers met in 2018 and authorized the games of chance. The first $80 million a year will go to highways, and revenue after that will go to education.

Powerball and Mega Millions are overseen by the Multi-State Lottery Association.

LAKESHORE, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for fatally crashing his boat into a 19-year-old woman who was setting crab traps on a bayou.

Judge Larry Bourgeois delivered 47-year-old Eugene Butler Jr.’s sentence on Monday for manslaughter in the 2016 boat crash that killed Vanessa Mauffray.

Hancock County officials said Mauffray was crabbing with her boyfriend on Bayou Caddy when Butler sped around a curve and broadsided their 15-foot (5 meter) vessel. Witness testimony revealed Butler hadn’t been looking forward moments before the crash.

The Biloxi Sun Herald previously reported that Mauffray’s boyfriend pulled her to shore as their boat sank. She later died from her injuries at a hospital.

Bayou Caddy is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Gulfport, Mississippi.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Two candidates for secretary of state said Monday that they have different ideas about whether Mississippi should change its laws to expand early voting.

Under current Mississippi law, absentee voting is limited to people who have a temporary or permanent disability, are at least 65 years old or will be out of town on Election Day.

The Republican nominee, state Sen. Michael Watson, said he sees no need to change the system.

“I think our system, as is, is working,” Watson said. “Obviously, lots of excuses that you can use — work, or out of town and a few other things that you can kind of talk about. Again, we give them 45 days to get in there. In my opinion, it’s easy enough as it is.”

The Democratic nominee, former Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree, said he supports expansion of early voting to get more people involved in the election process.

“You have a fundamental right to vote, and why do I have to give an excuse to vote?” DuPree said. “That’s like, why do I have to give an excuse to breathe? I believe that we should have no-excuse early voting.”

Thirty-nine states allow people to vote early without having to provide an excuse such as being out of town on election day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The two candidates spoke Monday in Jackson at a forum sponsored by Mississippi State University’s Stennis Institute of Government and the Capitol Press Corps. Both said they support efforts to educate people about voting.

The election is Nov. 5.

DuPree and Watson are competing to succeed third-term Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a Republican who faces Democratic state Rep. Jay Hughes in the open race for lieutenant governor.

The secretary of state serves with the governor and attorney general on the state election commission.

Candidates file campaign finance reports and businesses file documents of incorporation at the secretary of state’s office. The office also regulates charities and securities, and it oversees public land leases, which generate money for schools.

DuPree, 65, is a real estate broker and served 16 years as Hattiesburg mayor. He was previously a Forrest County supervisor and Hattiesburg school board member. He was also the Democratic nominee for governor in 2011, falling to Republican Phil Bryant in the general election.

Watson, 41, of Pascagoula, is an attorney has served three terms as a state senator in a district that’s entirely in coastal Jackson County.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Some billboard messages have been removed in Mississippi because they urged people to vote on the wrong election date.

WAPT-TV reports that the billboards in Jackson said the election is Nov. 16.

The correct date for Mississippi is Nov. 5.

Kamari Guthrie is spokeswoman for a nonprofit, nonpartisan group called vote.org. She says the organization ordered the vinyl covers for billboards, but they were intended to go up in Louisiana, where runoffs are Nov. 16.

Hal Kilshaw is vice president of government relations for Lamar Advertising, which owns the billboards where the messages went up. He says workers noticed the date was wrong, and all of the incorrect messages were removed by Saturday.

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — A coastal Mississippi city’s residents are worrying about the growing cost and sporadic delivery of their utility bills.

People in Gulfport say they’re seeing spikes in what they owe and billing cycles for water, sewer and garbage collection that cover differing lengths of time beyond the usual 30 days.

Loretta Howard told The Biloxi Sun Herald that she received a $213 utility bill this month. It covered 43 days and greatly exceeded the $39.42 she paid each month from March through August.

“I’m on a limited income,” the 88-year-old said. “If I pay that bill, it means I’m going to be short on groceries.”

The sporadic billing also is problematic for residents who have the charges automatically deducted from their checking accounts.

“I’ve had no success getting any answers or information,” said Marley Walker. “Why didn’t they take the time to send a notice letting the people know what was going on?”

Walker said his bill grew 92% for the extended billing period, while one of his neighbors saw a 59% increase.

The city’s public information officer LaShaundra McCarty said register heads are broken on some electronic meters and being replaced, which could delay billing since some meters have to be read manually. The newspaper reports the full $4.2 million replacement project could take years.

McCarty suggested a bill as high as Howard’s could involve a leak. She said the city hopes to replace temporary workers in the water department with two permanent full-time employees who can respond to calls and emails from residents.

MOSS POINT, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi police officer recently cleared of criminal wrongdoing in a fatal shooting is facing internal discipline for failing to turn on his body camera’s audio.

Moss Point police Chief Brandon Ashley says Sgt. Lancen Shipman violated policy when he didn’t turn his camera’s audio on until after he fatally shot 27-year-old suspect Toussaint Diamon Sims.

Ashley says Shipman thought he’d hit the button, but hadn’t.

The Biloxi Sun Herald reports Sims was fleeing officers pursuing him on multiple felony charges in August. Police officials and Shipman’s attorney have maintained Sims was armed and threatening officers.

Ashley says a first-offense policy violation typically results in a citation in the officer’s file. The official penalty is pending. Shipman remains out on paid administrative leave.