Sentencing of ex-bank employees postponed

GULFPORT — Sentencing has been reset for Oct. 12 in U.S. District Court for two former employees of Hancock Bank’s Ocean Springs main branch in a multimillion-dollar embezzlement scheme to defraud the bank branch. Margaret Migues, former branch operations manager at the Hancock Bank main branch in Ocean Springs, and Doris Burney, a former teller there, [...]

• Report: State nearly leads nation in ‘financial distress’
• BancorpSouth in acquiring mode 
• Allison: Exemption doesn’t free banks from state regulation 
• Overhaul does have supporters 

Greenville mayor: TJ MAXX store ‘on hold’

GREENVILLE — It appears Greenville will not have a new TJ MAXX store, at least not when expected. The Mayor’s Office has released a statement saying the project was at a standstill. “With regards to the proposed TJ MAXX store in Greenville, Miss., it is our understanding that the scheduled project is on hold at this [...]

• USDA declares disaster in 20 counties
• Hosemann opens bids for troubled cemetery
• HORNE ranks among 50 largest firms in the nation
• Enerkem breaks ground on waste-to-fuel plant

Country music star opens bar in Delta casino

TUNICA — Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill has opened at Harrah’s Tunica. The new bar and restaurant featuring country music, dancing and sports on high-definition flat screen and projection screen TVs, officially opened for business Aug. 24. Named after the singer/songwriter’s hit single “I Love This Bar,” the 15,000-square-foot restaurant features live music [...]

• Barbour: Jones County casino bad for environment
• Judge expected to rule on Jones County casino
• Council approves site for another Greenville casino
• Coast leaders: It could have been worse 

MCHS to build group home, training facility

HARRISON COUNTY — Gov. Haley Barbour has awarded Mississippi Children’s Home Services (MCHS) a $3-million grant to develop a Long Term Workforce Housing Program as part of a Katrina Community Development Block Grant secured byBarbour shortly after Hurricane Katrina. This grant will support the building of a new Gulf Coast group home and vocation training transitional [...]

• Air Force selects FCMC to privatize Keesler housing
• Fondren improvements getting federal TEP funds
• Less than 200 victims still in FEMA trailers
• Grocery to open in South Jackson

Franks asks judge to toss extortion lawsuit

TUPELO — Jamie Franks has asked the Lee County Circuit Court to dismiss a lawsuit filed against him by local school superintendent Mike Scott. No trial date has been set in the lawsuit. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports that Franks argues the lawsuit doesn’t support Scott’s claims. Scott was elected Lee County superintendent in 2007 as a [...]

• MUW’s V3 College signs more two-year schools
• Budget cuts force layoffs at Southern Miss
• Community college’s enrollment soars
• Louisiana board hires Layzell as consultant

Coast hospital lays off nearly 50 workers

GULFPORT — Forty-seven employees have been laid off at Memorial Hospital in Gulfport. Gary Marchand, the hospitals president and CEO, says the layoffs came Friday and included 35 full-time employees. He says 10 nurses were laid off. Marchard said yesterday that Memorial Hospital is trying to offset an anticipated $11 million shortfall related to reimbursement reductions from [...]

• Health Department awards CONs for three projects
• Officials identify another West Nile virus case
• Baptist gives pink slips to nearly 200 workers
• Magnolia Regional plans major renovations