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The Best In Sports In 7 Days
Pro baseball, Mississippi at West Tenn (7 p.m., Jackson, Tenn., 930 AM): The M-Braves wind down their series in lesser Jackson. If you have time, visit the Casey Jones Museum.
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Bryan's Rant
At Long Last
Finally, there will be a playoff in college football in 2014. No more wanting, wishing or hoping. The BCS is done after the 2013-14 season is completed.
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Judge Upholds Power Plant Certificate
Mississippi Power Co.'s $2.8 billion Kemper County coal-fired plant is one step closer to legal clearance after a judge denied a Sierra Club challenge to the plant's license.
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Shutdown: All Part of the Plan
The Republican members of the U.S. Congress, including the Mississippi coalition, are trying to blame the government shutdown on anyone but themselves.
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Pascagoula LNG Terminal Awaits Federal Export OK
Investors spent $1 billion building a facility in Pascagoula to import liquefied natural gas. But plans to bring natural gas into the United States collapsed when explorers began finding large …
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Events
It's the Weekend!
Country singer-songwriter Jamey Johnson's performance at 10 p.m. at Club Magoo's has been rescheduled for Nov. 23.
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Miss. DPS Drops $6 Photo Fee on Gun Permit
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety on Monday dropped the $6 photo fee it tacked onto the charge for a concealed-carry gun permit starting July 1, and it's working to …
Story
Bonnaroo 2006 !!!
June 16-18, Manchester, TN: Radiohead, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Phil Lesh, Beck, Elvis Costello & the Imposters, Death Cab for Cutie, Bright Eyes, Neville Brothers, Bela Fleck, Buddy Guy, …
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Events
It's the Weekend!
On Saturday and Sunday, the Christmas in July Arts and Crafts Show is at 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at Mississippi Trade Mart.
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Person of the Day
The Scottsboro Boys
For his alleged participation in raping two white women, prosecutors apparently wanted 17-year-old Haywood Patterson to stand trial first "because he has the blackest skin, the wickedest gleam in his …
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Art
Municipal Art Gallery: A Center of Arts, History and Culture
Mixed-media art pieces such as watercolor paintings and pen-and-ink drawings line the interior of Municipal Art Gallery. Carole C. Hammond's pointillist replica of Georges-Pierre Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on La …
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Person of the Day
Teaira McCowan
Teaira McCowan had 18 points and 11 rebounds in her seventh double-double of the season, and Mississippi State beat Maine 83-43.
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Bryan's Rant
Is Sean Payton on the Trade Block?
The 2015-2016 NFL Season is hardly in the books, and coaches are already getting the ax. One coach doesn't have to worry about that, but he does get to pick …
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Bryan's Rant
Saints Cuts
This offseason has seen the New Orleans Saints make cuts left and right, some of which were obvious—but last week, the team made cuts that were a bit of a …
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Jacksonian
Yolanda Singleton
Yolanda Singleton, the promoter for Xperience Jxn Entertainment, has a singular vision for audiences in the metro area.
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City & County
Council Votes No on $15 Million Waste Hauling Contract
The Jackson City Council overwhelmingly said no to a proposal for hauling biosolids from a city wastewater treatment plant.
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City & County
City Wrap-Up: Thalia Mara's Cheap(er) Seats, Lakeland Costco Officially Dead
Thalia Mara Hall has seen some ups and downs in the past year. The down times have included a nearly yearlong construction period as Jackson's opera house underwent a $5 …
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Mississippi Power Credit Rating Falls Over Kemper
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Fitch Ratings lowered its credit rating for Mississippi Power by one notch from A- to BBB+ Friday, saying there remain "elevated risks" of financial, regulatory and …
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Patriots Butler Visiting the Saints
By bryanflynnSuper Bowl XLIX hero Malcolm Butler is in New Orleans visiting with the Saints. Normally this wouldn’t be super newsworthy with the NFL in the midst of free agency. But Butler is not a free agent, but a restricted free agent. That means he is free to sign with another team, but his current team, the New England Patriots, have the right to match the offer.
Since the star cornerback is a restricted free agent, New England placed a first-round tender on him. That means any team that signs Butler has to give up a first-round pick if the Patriots didn’t match the offer sheet that another team gave the cornerback.
If he plays for the Patriots this season and signs his free-agent tender, Butler will make $3.91 million in 2017. That means that if the Saints sign Butler to an offer sheet, New England will get New Orleans’ 11th overall pick.
The Saints can also work out the details for a long-term deal with Butler and let the two teams work out a trade after he signs his tender. That trade could include players, draft picks or both.
New Orleans would do better to go the second route and not sign Butler to a long-term deal and watch the Patriots get the No. 11 pick. The Patriots already traded their No. 32 pick to the Saints for wide receiver Brandin Cooks.
New England might get its first-round pick back in a trade with the Saints. It seems unlikely that the Patriots would let Butler go for anything less after putting a first-round tender on him.
Butler’s name did come up during the Cooks trade, but he hadn’t signed his tender so he wasn’t under contract and couldn’t be traded. This just might be a long way around to get the deal both teams might have wanted in the first place.
New Orleans could decide also not to work a deal for Butler. The upcoming draft is deep in secondary players and a few potentially great players that can be selected.
Unlike drafted players, the Saints know what they are getting with Butler: a young player who has been named to the Pro Bowl and Second Team All-Pro. He brings two Super Bowl rings to New Orleans with him.
On the flipside, players the Patriots have moved on from generally don’t fare well in their next stop. New Orleans dealing for Butler could end up not being worth the price the team paid for him.
One more thing for the Saints to think about is Super Bowl LI. Butler struggled in coverage against the Atlanta Falcons. On one play, Butler got juked out of his cleats as a Falcons receiver blew past him.
He committed a pass-interference penalty in the game and played just okay enough not to stink the place up. If the Patriots hadn’t come back to win, Butler’s play might have ended …
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New Oil Estimate: 60,000 Barrels
Officials have once again revised their estimates of the amount of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from the site of the devastated Deepwater Horizon rig, the fifth revision …
