Free Republic

Chief Justice Pittman retiring from Mississippi Supreme Court SHELIA HARDWELL BYRD Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. - Supreme Court Chief Justice Edwin L. Pittman says he leaves office with Mississippi's judiciary system "much improved." Pittman on Monday made stops in Hattiesburg and Jackson to announce he will retire March 31. Pittman, during a news conference at the Supreme Court, cited some of the court's achievement during his tenure, including allowing cameras in the courtroom, posting high court arguments on the Internet and requiring out-of-state attorneys to register with Mississippi if they practice in the state. He also praised the court's rule...

<p>Welcome to Mississippi's new "three-party system."</p> <p>Historically, policy development has been a battle between the governor and the Legislature. No more.</p> <p>Now, it's an increasingly bitter conflagration between a Republican governor, a Republican-led Senate and a Democrat-dominated House. And in this new political paradigm, the rules are literally being made up as they go.</p>

<p>Clinton LeSueur trounced his opponents Tuesday in the 2nd Congressional District Republican primary, leaving him now to decide what campaign strategy to use against Democratic incumbent Bennie Thompson in the fall.</p> <p>State Rep. Mike Lott of Petal also easily won his Republican primary in the 4th Congressional District, and now will prepare to take on U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, a Democrat who has served since 1989.</p>

<p>VAUGHAN, Miss. — The FBI has joined local authorities and the Mississippi Highway Patrol in investigating the disappearance of a family of three from their home in rural Yazoo County.</p> <p>Michael and Rebecca Hargon (search) and their 4-year-old son, Patrick, have been missing since Saturday.</p>

Howard evokes Holocaust in attack on BNP By Andrew Sparrow, Political Correspondent February 20, 2004 Michael Howard launched a sustained and passionate attack on the leadership of the British National Party yesterday. The Tory leader used a visit to Burnley to dismiss the BNP as "a bunch of thugs" in a high-profile speech that defied the conventional Westminster view that the party should not be granted much publicity. Michael Howard: 'The policies of the British National Party are based on bigotry and hatred' In a rare reference to his Jewishness, Mr Howard said that he was particularly appalled by the...

<p>The state Court of Appeals said occasionally judges should consider the reasonableness of a motorist's decision to drive while legally intoxicated. The court kicked back to Amite County a DUI case for that reason.</p> <p>George C. Stodghill was convicted in 2002 of first offense driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to 48 hours in prison and fined $1,000, both of which were suspended due to what the trial judge called mitigating circumstances.</p>

GOVERNOR HALEY BARBOUR SIGNS FIRST BILL INTO LAW (Jackson, Miss.) -- Governor Haley Barbour signed House Bill 544, the Tallahatchie County Correctional Authority Bill, into law today making it his first piece of legislation to sign into law as governor. "By signing this bill, we are demonstrating our willingness to do all we can to save Mississippi jobs. Protecting these 280 existing jobs is just as important as creating new ones," said Governor Barbour. "I am honored that this is the first bill I have signed as Governor." HB 544 allows the Tallahatchie County Correctional Authority to house inmates, as...

<p>There were the smooth, soulful sounds of Percy Sledge.</p> <p>There were women draped in silk shawls, bejeweled gowns and fur coats, with their hair pulled back in European twists.</p> <p>There were men in black tuxedos, guiding their wives to the dance floor.</p>

<p>Gov. Haley Barbour was sworn in as Mississippi's 63rd governor today and pledged to make jobs a priority in his administration.</p> <p>"This is the moment to lift our horizons for Mississippi," Barbour said in his inaugural speech.</p> <p>"I envision a Mississippi of growth, hope and prosperity; a state that not only produces more and better paying jobs for our working people, but a home that raises up the prospects of all our people and elevates our respect for all our people," he said.</p>

<p>Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, in one of his final acts as Mississippi's chief executive, today suspended the sentence of several inmates and commuted the sentence of at least three.</p> <p>Those receiving indefinite suspensions of life sentences before Musgrove left office were Mickey Jerome Walton; Clarence Jones; MacArthur Hill; James E. Magee and Larry Harper. Jones, Hill, Magee and Harper had served as trustys at the Governor's Mansion.</p>

<p>"Mississippi's Moment?" Indeed, it can be.</p> <p>Gubernatorial inaugurations and their accompanying balls and parties are as close as many Mississippians get to glitz, glamor and the black-tie world of power politics and the small group of people who populate that world.</p>

<p>Four Republicans, including state Rep. Mike Lott of Petal, qualified Friday to run for Democratic 4th District U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor's seat in Congress.</p> <p>Lott, whose state House District 104 spans portions of Forrest and Lamar counties, has served four years. He's president of the Mississippi Legislative Conservative Coalition and a small business owner.</p>

Congressmen Taylor, Thompson to Face Republican Challengers Mississippi's two Republican congressmen will run unopposed by Democrats this year, but Democratic U.S. Reps. Bennie Thompson and Gene Taylor face challenges from the GOP. The qualifying deadline for candidates was Friday. In the 4th District represented by Taylor, a last-day Republican qualifier was state Rep. Mike Lott of Petal. Also running as Republicans are Karl Mertz of Long Beach, who challenged Taylor in 2002; Steven McCaleb of Long Beach and Randy McDonnell of Biloxi. Tracella Lou O'Hara Hill of Hattiesburg is running as a Reform Party candidate in the 4th District. The...

<p>Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, who took the oath of office Thursday with six other statewide elected officials, stressed bipartisan cooperation in the 2004 Legislature.</p> <p>"We must not care who gets the credit for accomplishments, we must be open-minded and welcome debate and work together," Tuck told a Capitol crowd that included U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, Gov.-elect Haley Barbour, and Evelyn Gandy, Mississippi's first woman lieutenant governor.</p>

Musgrove to move out of Governor's Mansion within days JACKSON, Miss. - Gov. Ronnie Musgrove says he's moving out of the Gov.'s Mansion at the end of this week. His last day in office is Jan. 13, when Gov.-elect Haley Barbour will be sworn in. Barbour, a former Republican National Committee chairman, defeated Democrat Musgrove in the November general election. Musgrove gave Barbour and Barbour's wife, Marsha, a tour of the Gov.'s Mansion last month. Musgrove said Tuesday that he has purchased a house in the Jackson area. His teenage children, Jordan and Carmen Rae, live with their mother in...

Barbour Announces Inaugural Plans Governor-elect Haley Barbour is in for a fun filled week beginning Thursday. Barbour will begin his pre-inauguration festivities all across Mississippi. And despite what you might think, all of the festivities are open to the public, some for a fee. In three days, Barbour will begin celebrating his victory with folks in five different areas, beginning in his hometown of Yazoo City Thursday night..that event is free. He goes north Friday for two get togethers...then, down south for two more Saturday. Those events cost $20. Sally Birdsall is on the inauguration team. "Haley will be at...

<p>If U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor is worried about being a Republican target this year, he's not showing it.</p> <p>Taylor, the south Mississippi Democrat with a strong independent streak, sharply criticized President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney last week when one of the Democratic presidential hopefuls, retired Gen. Wesley Clark, made a campaign stop in Jackson.</p>

U.S. Sues Mississippi Over Civil Rights Violations WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department sued Mississippi on Thursday, challenging the conditions at two state-run juvenile facilities where minors were subject to abuse and violence, including use of pepper spray and solitary confinement in a dark cell. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Mississippi claimed conditions at the facilities routinely and systemically deprived juveniles of their federally protected civil rights. The two schools in Raymond and Columbia house about 525 boys and girls ages 10 to 18, the majority of whom the department said were committed for non-violent crimes such...

<p>The South: Will The Last Dem Turn Out The Lights?</p> <p>The Washington that Senator John Breaux is leaving is a vastly different place than the capital the Louisiana Democrat arrived in 35 years ago in a rented U-Haul truck. A pragmatic moderate and consummate dealmaker, Breaux has come to feel like a crawfish out of water in the poisonous partisan swamp of Capitol Hill, where, as he put it in announcing his retirement on Dec. 15, "cooperation and legitimate compromise between our political parties [is now] seen as political failure."</p>

Musgrove says he has lots of options for his future SHELIA HARDWELL BYRD Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. - Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, who lost re-election in November, says he has plenty of options for his future, but he's not revealing any yet. Musgrove, during a newsmaker interview with The Associated Press on Monday, said he's had job discussions with a number of people and businesses. "I'm excited about the potential offers. I'll take my time and make a decision after I get through with my responsibilities as governor," said Musgrove, 47, who leaves office Jan. 13. He said he would like...