Mississippi descendants of McCain family slaves plan to vote for Obama
Wall Street Journal Oct 17, 08 8:42 AM CDT
(Newser)
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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 never attended.
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Cat. 2 storm hobbles coast before making landfall
CNN Sep 1, 08 8:55 AM CDT
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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 New Orleans, but its surge will likely breech levees and at least partially flood the city that was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
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Wall Street Journal Aug 30, 08 11:32 AM CDT
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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 are still turning up in woods and water.
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Weekend wreck left actor, 71, with broken bones, other injuries
Associated Press Aug 7, 08 2:08 PM CDT
(AP)
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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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People Aug 5, 08 10:01 AM CDT
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Morgan Freeman “has a broken arm, broken elbow, and minor shoulder damage but he is in good spirits," his publicist told People . The actor underwent successful surgery to correct the damage from a car accident Sunday night in Mississippi, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports. "He's worried about his golf swing," said a business partner.
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Britney's sis will wed at Miss. home
OK! Jul 31, 08 11:38 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Jamie Lynn Spears is planning a late-fall wedding at home, with sister Britney as maid of honor, OK! magazine reports. "Her own backyard with just the people who matter most is more Jamie Lynn's style,” said a friend. The 17-year-old ex-Nickelodeon star, fiance Casey Aldridge, and baby Maddie live in Liberty, Miss.
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Southern states have highest rate, led by Mississippi
CDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Jul 18, 08 7:13 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The South has the nation's largest percentage of obese residents, a new survey by the Centers for Disease Control finds, with 30% of adults in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee qualifying as obese. Even in Colorado, the state with the best fat stats, 19% of the populace is obese.
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Southern farmers abandon fish biz as feed prices triple
New York Times Jul 18, 08 2:14 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The soaring price of corn and soybeans is moving up the food chain and drying up the South's catfish farming industry, reports the New York Times . Farmers are draining their ponds as the cost of feeding the fish becomes prohibitive. In the Mississippi Delta, heartland of the relatively new industry, thousands of much-needed jobs are disappearing.
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FEMA sat on donated goods for 2 years, then gave them to state agencies
CNN Jul 17, 08 5:54 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Household goods donated to help Hurricane Katrina victims instead ended up in the hands of 11 state agencies, including a gaming commission, CNN reports. FEMA stored 121 truckloads of items two years before handing them over to agencies like the Mississippi Gaming Commission. Leaders of groups helping Katrina victims were amazed when shown what the agencies received, saying they had no idea such items were available.
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FEMA gave them to Miss. and other states for general use
CNN Jul 7, 08 5:46 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Household and cleaning supplies worth $85 million never reached Hurricane Katrina victims because FEMA kept them in storage for 2 years, CNN reports. Louisiana didn't ask for them, the federal agency says, so coffee makers, dinnerware sets, clothes, and other items went to Mississippi and 15 other states—which doled them out to prisons and other state workers.
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Candidate doesn't know what colleague is talking about
New York Times Jul 3, 08 10:33 AM CDT
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John McCain denies colleague Thad Cochran's recollection that he physically assaulted a Nicaraguan official in 1987, the New York Times reports, saying “it’s simply not true.” The Mississippi Republican remembers that McCain “reached over and grabbed this guy by the shirt collar and…snatched him up like he was throwing him up out of the chair.”
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Class-action leader Scruggs 'could not be more ashamed'
Clarion-Ledger Jun 27, 08 5:50 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Disgraced Mississippi lawyer Dickie Scruggs was sentenced to the maximum 5 years in prison today in a judicial bribery scheme; at the hearing, the class-action pioneer said, “I could not be more ashamed than I am today.” The judge hinted he might shave some time off if Scruggs cooperates with authorities in other bribery probes, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports.
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Maddie Briann arrives via C-section just as Britney makes it to town
National Enquirer Jun 19, 08 11:10 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Jamie Lynn Spears gave birth via C-section this morning in Mississippi, the National Enquirer reports. The 17-year-old’s baby, Maddie Briann, weighs 6 pounds, 10 ounces. Sister Britney arrived in Louisiana yesterday to await the delivery. An ultrasound last week showed that there were possible complications with the baby's position.
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But photog says he was 200 feet away
Associated Press Jun 5, 08 9:09 AM CDT
(Newser)
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A paparazzo who once photographed Britney Spears’ bare nether regions was charged Tuesday for stalking the pop wreck’s pregnant teen sister Jamie Lynn, the AP reports. Authorities say Edwin Merino wouldn't leave the ready-to-pop Jamie Lynn, 17, and her baby daddy alone; he says he was shooting from a gas station from 200 feet away.
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