TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalTeacher pay raises uncertain in legislative budget plan
JACKSON • State legislative leaders took no position on providing a teacher pay raise or shoring up the state’s retirement system in the budget proposal they released last week.
However, they stressed they were leaving unallocated funds to address such items in the 2019 session
“As we move into the legislative session, there are a lot of decisions to be made,” said Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves after the 14-member Legislative Budget Committee approved a $6.05-billion state support budget proposal Wednesday morning. “This is a starting point.” But Reeves said the proposal leaves “the flexibility to meet the needs of the state.”
Multiple leaders have endorsed a teacher pay raise for the upcoming session, which starts in January, in advance of the November general elections. Gov. Phil Bryant endorsed at least a $25 million pay raise in his proposal released last month and also proposed allocating an additional $75 million to try to place the Public Employees Retirement System in better financial shape.
Read more: http://www.djournal.com/mississippi-today/teacher-pay-raises-uncertain-in-legislative-budget-plan/article_01d0df30-7342-534d-b6c5-bf0c8e64fffe.html
Companies Asked a Mississippi Senator to Refund Donations. They Are Still Waiting.
WASHINGTON — When video surfaced last month of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi telling a supporter she would be “on the front row” if he invited her to a “public hanging,” some of the country’s largest corporations found themselves in a public relations nightmare.
Having cut checks to Hyde-Smith’s campaign, they risked association with comments that were quickly condemned by her Democratic opponent, a black man, and national civil rights groups as “racially tinged” and highly offensive, particularly in a state haunted by a history of lynchings. Almost a dozen companies and one major sports league issued public statements condemning what she had said and asked for refunds. Still others did so quietly.
But almost three weeks after Hyde-Smith, a Republican, defeated the Democrat, Mike Espy, in a runoff election, it appears that only one of the donors has received any of the more than $50,000 in total that the senator has been asked to return. They might as well give up on waiting.
Hyde-Smith’s campaign told at least one company, Walmart, on Thursday that it did not intend to refund its money. What it did not say: The campaign is out of money anyway after a frantic push to the finish line, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss the finances.
Read more: https://www.sunherald.com/news/state/mississippi/article223132250.html
Man gets 3 years for identity theft of veteran and benefits
Tierun Bush of Jackson serve 36 months in federal prison for stealing a U.S. military veteran's identity and using it to get over $133,603 in benefits.
Senior U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee also ordered Bush at his sentencing Thursday to pay full restitution to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
Bush, 56, was found guilty of aggravated identity theft and theft of government funds and property, U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst announced.
From 2005 to 2018, Bush used the name, Social Security number and other identifiers of the military veteran to fraudulently receive narcotics, medical care, medical equipment, and financial assistance for the cost of housing from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Read more: https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/2018/12/13/man-sentenced-identity-theft-veteran-and-benefits/2304947002/
Auditor demands more than $200,000 from Lincoln County chancery clerk
BROOKHAVEN -- Mississippi's state auditor is demanding that a southwest Mississippi official repay more than $200,000 to county government.
State Auditor Shad White on Thursday released a report saying Lincoln County Chancery Clerk Tillmon Bishop needs to repay the money, The Daily Leader of Brookhaven reported.
Auditors contend Bishop improperly paid eight employees with $163,000 in county money instead of fees collected by the chancery clerk's office. They also say Bishop improperly paid $53,000 in salary and expenses after the end of the 2017 budget year.
Bishop said no money has been taken from his office and the findings were due to errors in bookkeeping. He said there's confusion in part because he wrote a check from the account that holds fees back to another account that holds county-provided money to settle money that was earlier transferred between accounts. Bishop said he intends to meet with auditors to try to resolve discrepancies.
Read more: http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=70549
Grieving parents say priest condemned their son at funeral because he committed suicide
TEMPERANCE, MI (WXYZ/CNN) - The parents of an 18-year-old are calling for the priest who presided over their son’s funeral to be fired over what they say were inappropriate remarks about suicide.
Linda and Jeff Hullibarger remember their son Maison Hullibarger, 18, as a young man with dreams and potential. He was studying criminal justice at the University of Toledo and loved his family, football and camping.
It is hard for his parents to talk about even the good times following Maison’s suicide on Dec. 4. The pain of losing him is unbearable.
When the Hullibargers met with Rev. Don LaCuesta at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Temperance, MI, to plan their son’s funeral, he asked what they wanted him to speak about.
Read more: http://www.wlbt.com/2018/12/16/grieving-parents-say-priest-condemned-their-son-funeral-because-he-committed-suicide/
Foster Claims 'Third Party' Offered $1 Million to Exit Governor's Race
JACKSON — A third party offered to help Mississippi State Rep. Robert Foster, R-Hernando, secure $1 million in fundraising if he would drop out of the race for governor, the GOP candidate claimed in an interview with the Jackson Free Press Thursday.
Foster said he turned the offer down.
"I'm not going to give any names or anything because I can't prove anything because it was all done through a third party, through phone calls and stuff," he said. "But I can confirm it was made."
He said the source of the alleged offer, which was first reported Wednesday by Larrison Campbell in Mississippi Today, made it last month and stipulated that he would receive the financial help if he ran for a different statewide office instead.
Foster announced his run for governor on Tuesday. He will likely face Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves in next year's Republican Party primary, though Reeves has not yet announced a run.
Read more: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/dec/13/foster-claims-third-party-offered-1-million-exit-g/
Farm bill boosts Alabama rural health care, but real showdown awaits in Montgomery
Alabama’s rural hospitals face a sickly prognosis. A whopping 88 percent are bleeding deficit ink and more than a dozen seem likely to shut within two years.
But some state lawmakers hope to find deliverance in the form of the $867 billion federal farm bill. For the first time in the farm bill’s history, there’s a section directly addressing rural health concerns.
“No question we are motivated to stabilize rural hospitals. And tools to do that in the new farm bill will be used as soon as possible in my opinion,” said state Rep. Randall Shedd, R-Fairview.
Alabama’s seven House members and both senators all supported the bill -- the “Agriculture Improvement Act” – when it passed Tuesday.
Read more: https://www.al.com/news/2018/12/farm-bill-boosts-alabama-rural-health-care-but-real-showdown-awaits-in-montgomery.html
White clergy make video supporting protesters, recite 'Black Lives Matter'
A group of eight white clergy in Birmingham has released a video of them reading a statement in support of current protesters in Hoover who say they’re standing up for justice for a black man killed by police in Alabama’s largest mall last month.
All eight clergy repeat the phrase, “Black Lives Matter,” and call for respect for black leaders.
Demonstrators have been protesting the Thanksgiving night shooting death of Emantic Fitzgerald “E.J.” Bradford Jr. at the Riverchase Galleria. Two others were wounded.
Read more: https://www.al.com/life/2018/12/white-clergy-group-makes-video-supporting-protesters.html
Judge: Sheriff not immune from blogger's suit
DECATUR — A federal judge says a blogger can sue an Alabama sheriff for allegedly trying to silence her criticism of the officer.
The Decatur Daily reports that U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala ruled that Morgan County Sheriff Ana Franklin is not immune from a lawsuit filed by online critic Glenda Lockhart.
Lockhart has written a blog critical of Franklin. The lawsuit says Franklin and some of her deputies bribed Lockhart’s grandson to collect information from Lockhart’s office and computers. Authorities later searched her business and seized computers.
Lockhart sued Franklin and the sheriff had argued that she was immune from the claims under state law.
Read more: https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/news/20181213/judge-sheriff-not-immune-from-bloggers-suit
Attorney general's office will prosecute Hoover mall shooting cases
Attorney General Steve Marshall said his office will take over prosecuting the Nov. 22, 2018, shootings of E.J. Bradford, Brian Wilson and Molly Davis at Hoover’s Riverchase Galleria Mall.
Marshall notified Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr (D) that he is assuming prosecution of the cases after the admission by District Attorney Carr in a letter to Attorney General Marshall of the presence of potential conflicts between himself and key parties in the cases. Attorney General Marshall noted that the conflicts warrant recusal under the National District Attorneys Association’s National Prosecution Standards.
“I have reviewed your December 11th letter regarding your prosecutorial role in the shooting death of Emantic ‘E.J.’ Bradford, Jr.,” Attorney General Marshall wrote District Attorney Carr. “Based on the information you provided in that letter and our multiple conversations on the subject—particularly your acknowledgement that ‘a fair-minded, objective observer could conclude that a conflict exists’—I have determined that the National Prosecution Standards dictate your recusal from the investigation of each of the shootings that occurred in the Riverchase Galleria on Thanksgiving night, not just E.J. Bradford’s.”
“While I have no reason to believe that you are actually biased or compromised, I agree that other fair-minded persons might question your neutrality based on the information that you provided in the letter and during our private conversations,” Marshall said. “For example, you state that the officer who shot Mr. Bradford is either the charging officer or a witness in approximately 20 cases pending in your office. A fair-minded Defendant (or family member) in those cases could question whether you and/or your prosecutors are biased in favor of protecting the officer from prosecution because the officer’s testimony may be important in his or her case. On the flip side, you acknowledge personal relationships with some of the protestors who are calling for the officer who shot Mr. Bradford to be criminally prosecuted, which could lead a fair-minded person to question your bias in favor of indictment. I have weighed these factors and others mentioned during our conversations and agree that, when taken as a whole, these factors warrant recusal under Rule 1-3.3(d).”
Read more: http://www.alreporter.com/2018/12/14/attorney-generals-office-will-prosecute-hoover-mall-shooting-cases/
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