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World
North Korea Second ICBM Test Puts Much of US in Range
North Korea on Friday test-fired its second intercontinental ballistic missile, which flew longer and higher than the first according to its wary neighbors, leading analysts to conclude that a wide …
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Crime
A Sterling Closer, Failed Maury Povich Quip Closed Out Hinds DA Smith's Second Trial
The mostly female and predominately black jury raised their hands Tuesday evening to confirm that they unanimously had decided that Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith was not guilty …
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Health Care
House Steers Toward Climactic Vote on GOP Health Care Bill
The House steered toward a climactic vote Friday on the Republican health care overhaul, plunging ahead despite uncertainty over whether they had the votes to prevail in what loomed as …
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Health Care
Schumer Seizes on Trump Team's Offer to Work with Dems
President Donald Trump's aides opened the door to working with moderate Democrats on health care and other issues while Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer quickly offered to find common ground …
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Putin's Spokeperson: We Had Contact with Trump Campaign
MOSCOW (AP) — A top Russian diplomat and Vladimir Putin's spokesman said Thursday that Russian experts were in contact with some members of President-elect Donald Trump's staff during the presidential …
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National
Merkel Warns Against 'Simple Answers' After Trump Meetings
Chancellor Angela Merkel cautioned Monday against seeking "simple answers" to complex global issues, a day after suggesting that Europe's relationship with the U.S. had shifted significantly following NATO and G-7 …
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Health Care
More Hurdles as Senate Again Delays Vote on GOP Health Bill
The Senate delayed a highly anticipated vote this coming week to repeal and replace the nation's health care law after Sen. John McCain's announced absence due to surgery, an enormous …
Story
Search Intensifies for Gunman Who Killed 6
The manhunt for a Marine veteran suspected of killing his ex-wife and five of her relatives amid a child custody dispute has spread to two suburban Philadelphia counties.
Story
Dems Hope Decision Will Energize Female Supporters
Their Senate majority in peril, anxious Democrats have seized the Supreme Court decision that some companies need not provide birth control to women as fresh evidence of the GOP's "war …
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Sports
Dak Prescott Expected to Play Against Seattle in the Second Half Tonight
Dak Prescott shrugs at the suggestion that the Dallas rookie quarterback's startling success in two preseason games is a product of what skeptics might call the "vanilla" defenses of the …
Story
Fondren After 5 Today 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
It's a gorgeous day to head to Fondren today after 5 p.m. for the monthly art and shop walk. Many galleries, shops and other businesses will be opening with free …
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Politics
Making Peace Over Medicaid?
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Politics
Nunnelee Reintroduces Akin's Bill
Mississippi's U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee is reviving the specter of former Rep. Todd Akin, a fellow Republican from Missouri.
Story
Thursday Nite Throw-downs
Southern Miss at Alabama-Birmingham (6 p.m., ESPN2)
Dr. S was 3-3 picking games last weekend, but we won't go there until later. First there are Thursday night games to be prognosticated.
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Cards Headed For World Series (Mets Still Suck)
Here's how the out-of-town papers saw it:
Let's hear it for the Redbirds. The St. Louis Cardinals are headed for the World Series, where they will face the Detroit Tigers (Cards in six). It's the Cards' second …
Story
NFL: Things That Make You Go Hmmm, Brett Favre Edition
Brett Favre's announcement Tuesday that he won't return to the NFL is being greeted with skepticism.
Story
Editorial
Stinker Quote of the Week: 'No Crisis'
Gov. Phil Bryant railed against the media three separate times while speaking at the Mental Health Summit at the Jackson Hilton last week.
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More Fallout from Tenn. Audit of JPS' Gray?
By R.L. NaveJackson School Board of Trustees President Monica Gilmore Love released a statement this afternoon about the controversy over JPS schools chief Dr. Cedrick Gray's handling of finances at his former district in Tennessee.
"The Board of Trustees is aware of the recent news items involving Dr. Cedrick Gray and the audit of his former school district in Fayette County, Tennessee. Our focus and our number one priority is, and will continue to be, to improve student achievement in our schools and to move this district forward. We are closely monitoring this matter and will take appropriate action, if and when it becomes necessary," Gilmore said in the statement.
A Tennessee comptroller's audit of Fayette County government, including the school district that Gray ran, revealed numerous accounting problems, including overspending by hundred of thousands of dollars that dwindled the school system's cash reserves.
While it looks like Gray should have kept a closer eye on the district's finances, local media's characterization of the situation as emblematic of law-breaking misdeeds is probably a bit of stretch. Some outlets have seized on the fact that the comptroller issued findings that show financial protocols. Well, anyone who has any experience reading financial reports knows that auditors almost always issue findings that reveal some sort of deficiency.
In fact, if you read the entire Fayette County audit, you'll see that the comptroller pretty much issued findings–some material–against every department from the county mayor's office, sheriff's office, register of deeds and public works.
Responding to the findings, Gray faulted inexperienced staff for the deficiencies.
“At no time was it the intention of this administration to defraud, usurp, or mislead the school board, County Commissioners, or the good people of Fayette County," Gray wrote in response.
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Born in the U.S.A. and new music...
By tommyburtonHear a new version of "Born in the USA" and this week's new releases...
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Going Rogue
On his county-provided laptop, Phil Fisher has replaced the standard mouse icon with a sword. A former Marine and a current brigadier general in the Mississippi Army National Guard, Fisher …
