Mississippi

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Ida Churns Toward Gulf Coast
 Ida Churns Toward Gulf Coast 
Nov 9, 2009 2:07 AM CST

Ida Churns Toward Gulf Coast

Oil companies shutting down rigs, evacuating workers

(Newser) - Hurricane Ida is surging toward the Gulf Coast, triggering emergency warnings in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida. Ida "threatens the safety and security" of citizens along the state's southeast coastline, said an emergency declaration by Lousiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Forecasters are hoping Ida will lose force as it heads...

Beer Gets Boozier
 Beer Gets Boozier 
Nov 4, 2009 2:33 PM CST

Beer Gets Boozier

States allow drinks up to 16% alcohol to be called beers

(Newser) - States are raising caps on the alcohol content of beer, setting limits as high as 16% by volume in moves to appease the microbrew industry. Alabama and West Virginia raised their limits this year, while Vermont and Montana adjusted theirs last year; and lobbying is under way in Iowa and...

Emmett Till's Casket Found 'Rusted, Battered'

Locals search for loved ones' graves at desecrated cemetery

(Newser) - As Chicagoans mourned the desecration of a historic cemetery, the casket of civil rights icon Emmett Till was found rusted in a shack amid garbage and gravestones, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. “When we opened it up trying to find what we have, a family of possums ran out,”...

Poverty, Heat, Infrastructure Make Southerners Fat

(Newser) - The American South is the most obese region in the country because of a “perfect storm” of factors, Claire Suddath writes for Time. Mississippi, whose 33% adult obesity rate makes it the fattest state, is also the poorest, with 21% of people living under the poverty line. That means...

Mississippi Still Porkiest, but Alabama Closing In

Obesity up in 23 states: report

(Newser) - Mississippi's still king of cellulite, but an ominous tide is rolling toward the Medicare doctors in neighboring Alabama: obese baby boomers. It's time for the nation's annual obesity rankings and, outside of fairly lean Colorado, there's little good news. Obesity rates among adults rose in 23 states over the past...

Miss. Gov Tests Waters for 2012

Connections, experience serve Haley Barbour well

(Newser) - Another face to watch for 2012: Haley Barbour. The Mississippi governor is traveling the country this week, appearing at Republican fundraisers and conferences in what many see as a warm-up for a 2012 run, CQ Politics reports. A Republican consultant says Barbour, 61, has a good shot in a year...

Anti-Abortion Activists Target State Battlegrounds

In Mississippi, only one clinic remains

(Newser) - With President Obama in office, abortion is unlikely to become illegal under federal law anytime soon. So activists are taking their battle to the state level, pushing for complex rules and limits that make the procedure difficult to obtain, the Washington Post reports. "The states are the battlegrounds and...

Town Known for Civil Rights Murders Elects Black Mayor

Mayor brings change to Mississippi Burning town

(Newser) - In a town best known for the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers, the election of its first black mayor is more than just noteworthy: It’s “an atomic bomb of change,” says James Young. Young, who remembers being harassed by the Ku Klux Klan, defeated the...

Controversial Miss. Mayor Dies After Losing Primary

Unorthodox leader faced upcoming federal trial

(Newser) - The mayor of Jackson, Miss., died early today, less than 2 days after losing a re-election bid in a contentious Democratic primary that came a week before his second federal trial, the AP reports. Frank Melton, 60, who had a history of heart problems, was to be tried on civil-rights...

Cash-Poor MGM Mirage May Sell Casinos

(Newser) - MGM Mirage, the gambling conglomerate, is considering the sale of casino properties in Michigan and Mississippi to pay down debt and save an underfunded Las Vegas development, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Vegas-based company has retained Morgan Stanley to shepherd the sales of the MGM Grand Detroit and Biloxi’...

Jindal to Turn Down Stimulus $$$ for Jobless

(Newser) - Louisiana will refuse money from the federal stimulus plan aimed at increasing unemployment insurance, Gov. Bobby Jindal said today. The first governor to officially turn down stimulus dollars, Jindal said the expanded coverage could create higher unemployment insurance taxes down the road. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said he will also...

Mississippi Most Religious State, Vermont the Least

Bible belt has most religious states, New England some of least

(Newser) - If you’re looking for religion, head to Mississippi; if you want to avoid it, choose Vermont, a new Gallup survey suggests. Mississippi is ranked as America’s most religious state, with 85% saying religion is “an important part of daily life.” At the other end of the...

Man Nabbed in Mississippi for Obama Threats

Wisc. native faces 5 years in prison for online posts

(Newser) - A Wisconsin man was arrested in Mississippi yesterday after posting online threats to kill Barack Obama, the Daily Leader reports. Steven Joseph Christopher, 43, had written “ok we have 9 days until my Presidential Assasination” in an expletive-filled, anti-Semitic posting on the website alien-earth.org. He referred to Obama...

32M Lack Basic Reading Skills
 32M Lack Basic Reading Skills 
Jan 9, 2009 8:18 AM CST

32M Lack Basic Reading Skills

Study says Illiteracy crisis getting worse

(Newser) - One in seven American adults in the US—about 32 million people—have such low literacy skills that they cannot read a newspaper story or a prescription bottle, a new federal study says. "They really cannot read paragraphs (or) sentences that are connected," says an Education Department researcher....

Mississippi Has Most Teen Pregnancies

State passes Texas and New Mexico in nationwide uptick

(Newser) - Mississippi has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the US, the AP reports. Some 68 Mississippi women out of 1,000 aged 15-19 got pregnant in 2006—the most recent year for which data are available, and in which the US rate rose for the first time in 15...

US Health Ranking Puts Vermont First, Louisiana Last

Southern states plagued by high obesity, smoking rates

(Newser) - Move over, Mississippi: Louisiana is now America’s unhealthiest state, Reuters reports. An annual state-by-state report that measures factors like smoking, obesity, and health insurance coverage also put Vermont at the top for the second year in a row. The five healthiest states are:
  1. Vermont
  2. Hawaii
  3. New Hampshire
  4. Minnesota
  5. Utah
...

Miss. McCains Descended From Plantation Slaves

Mississippi descendants of McCain family slaves plan to vote for Obama

(Newser) - The McCain family of Teoc, Miss., is watching this year's election with particular interest, the Wall Street Journal reports. The African-American clan is descended from plantation slaves owned by the family of John McCain's great-great-grandfather. The white and black McCains meet for regular family reunions, although the senator himself has...

Gustav Roars to Landfall as Cat. 2

Cat. 2 storm hobbles coast before making landfall

(Newser) - Hurricane Gustav was downgraded to Category 2 as it churned toward landfall this morning, causing 9-foot storm surges and widespread power outages to the southeast of New Orleans, CNN reports. A FEMA official told the AP this morning that the eye of the storm is expected to pass west of...

Lost Coffins Remain Part of Katrina's Legacy

(Newser) - Louisiana is still finding coffins displaced by Hurricane Katrina three years on, the Wall Street Journal reports. Katrina and Rita moved 1,500 bodies from their resting places in the state's swampy south, where floating coffins during floods have long been part of local folklore. Hundreds remain unidentified, and they...

Freeman Leaves Hospital
 Freeman Leaves Hospital
Aug 7, 2008 2:08 PM CDT

Freeman Leaves Hospital

Weekend wreck left actor, 71, with broken bones, other injuries

(Newser) - Morgan Freeman was discharged today from the Tennessee hospital where the Oscar-winning actor was treated for broken bones and other injuries sustained in a weekend car crash in Mississippi, the AP reports. A spokeswoman for the hospital gave no details other than that Freeman had checked out.

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