From The Mississippi Press newspaper in Pascagoula: “An experiment in government transparency conducted by the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson yielded a not-so-surprising result.
“The newspaper reported it requested Gov. Haley Barbour’s office to produce four days of e-mails from Barbour’s staff of about 40 people.
“The governor’s office responded with an estimate that it would cost $14,170.48 to meet the request.”
Russell Hood of the Webster Progress-Times in Eupora has been tapped for the Community Service Award by the Webster County Development Council…The incoming staff for the Reflector at Mississippi State University has taken over the reins of the newspaper…Good thing Jerry Mitchell has a “double-wide” cubicle at The Clarion-Ledger, as a profile in The Christian Science Monitor notes. He needs that space to pin up all the press he’s received in recent years.
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution: “The Mississippi attorney general’s office has sued a Cobb County design, engineering and construction management firm for breach of contract and gross negligence in a failed beef processing plant in the northern part of the state.
“The Facility Group, based in Smyrna, was hired to complete the Mississippi Beef Processors plant.”
EARLIER: The Facility Group was already facing problems in North Carolina due to the “Beef Plant Stench.”
Two high-profile former U.S. senators — Republican Trent Lott of Mississippi and Democrat John Breaux of Louisiana — have been enlisted to push the merger of Delta and Northwest Airlines. Delta also has signed up government affairs firm Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti Inc., packed with former Capitol Hill senior staffers, and a law firm that employs R. Hewitt Pate, who ran the antitrust division at the U.S. Justice Department from 2003 to 2005.
Joe Morse, a 1960’s-era civil rights worker, is planning a return trip to Mississippi this summer and is bring fellow Minnesotans with him. The 64-year-old retired auto worker is profiled in the Winona (MN) Daily News.
Governor Haley Barbour’s office has told The Clarion-Ledger that it will produce four-days worth of staff email correspondence if the newspaper ponies up $14,107, including over $5,000 in fees related to hauling in an out-of-town computer guru to figure out how to comply with the request.
Barbour spokesman, longtime newsman Buddy Bynum, former editor of the Mississippi Business Journal and Meridian Star, was tasked with the unenviable job of going on record for what is an exorbitant — if not laughable — charge for access to the emails. “It definitely would be cheaper to refuse to answer,” he said, indicating some states would have summarily dismissed such a request for records. He ain’t lyin’.
Retired Sun Herald publisher Roland Weeks, credited with persuading divergent Mississippi Coast communities to speak in one regional development voice, is the 2008 recipient of the Capt. William Harris Hardy Founder’s Day Award…Ed Nichols, who recently took the reins of the Clarksdale Press-Register as publisher, has assumed the same duties for the Greenville Delta Democrat Times. Both papers are owned by Jackson-based Emmerich group. Nichols succeeds John Clark in Greenville.
There have been doubters ever since Packers star quarterback Brett Favre announced his retirement last month. And after his interview in The Sun Herald, those doubters have reason to feel validated.
Asked whether he would return should the Packers be hit with injuries, the 38-year-old told the newspaper, “It would be hard to pass up, I guess. But three months from now, say that presents itself, I may say, you know what, I’m so glad I made that decision. I’m feeling very comfortable in what I’m doing and my decision.”
ALSO: The AP splits hairs over the location of The Sun-Herald.
Round-the-clock blogging, a text message blinking and yet another flash of video on YouTube has obviously sped communication up to a dizzying pace. Never mind the content. So says the seasoned Sid Salter (how’s that for alliteration) to a group of political science majors at Mississippi State.
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