C Spire launches new WiFi On app for Android-powered phones

RIDGELAND — C Spire Wireless has launched WiFi On, a free app that gives users a connection to a Wi-Fi network with over 12 million global hotspots. C Spire is partnering with Devicescape, a San Bruno, Calif.-based Wi-Fi connection services company, to provide the new, always-on client-based app. The service allows customers with Android touchscreen…

• Telepak strikes another branding deal with C Spire
• C Spire signs contract extension with NBA’s Grizzlies
• C Spire unveiled new retail store prototype on Coast
• Bomgar lands IT provider in hospitality industry
• AT&T brings 4G LTE network in to more of Central Miss.
• Hood: Google seems to be yanking drug how-to videos

United Mississippi merging, adding two counties to footprint

NATCHEZ — United Mississippi Bank officials say a merger will expand the Natchez-based bank into Franklin and Amite counties. UMB President Sammy Porter tells The Natchez Democrat the merger, which is being completed through a stock purchase agreement with People’s Bank of the South and PBFC Holding Company, is a “great thing” for both banks.…

• Whitney closing eight branches in three La. cities
• More than 200 employees take early retirement from BancorpSouth
• Bank earns five stars for 94th consecutive quarter
• Deadline approaching for post-tornado loans from SBA

Delta road project getting opposition from residents

GREENWOOD — Plans for the first phase of the anticipated Viking Road connector are underway, but some Leflore County taxpayers wish they weren’t. The proposed road is supposed to connect Mississippi Highway 7 to U.S. Highway 49, but the plan has been split into two phases because of a lack of funding. Phase I will…

• Yokohama Tire distributors see uptick in business since plant announcement
• Senators want anti-dumping orders to stand on imported rebar
• Ingalls lands another, $76.8M Coast Guard cutter
• Chaney: Recalled gas cylinders can be deadly

With tar balls still common, some question end of oil spill cleanup

GULF OF MEXICO — Finding tar balls linked to the BP oil spill isn’t difficult on some Gulf Coast beaches, but the company and the government say it isn’t common enough to keep sending out the crews that patrolled the sand for three years in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. Tourist John Henson of Atlanta disagrees,…

• Supervisors move to buy warehouse for Genesis Energy project
• County wants Entergy customer records; utility says it’s ‘fishing’
• Power back on along Casino Strip after weekend storm
• BP oil spill cleanup ends, but MDEQ still monitoring beaches

Hospitals suing Blue Cross, allege reduced payments

ACROSS MISSISSIPPI — Ten Mississippi hospitals have filed a lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi alleging the insurer wrongfully reduced inpatient payments it was obligated to make for medical services rendered to patients. This is according to a news release from Health Management Associates Inc. (HMA). The lawsuit, which was filed in the…

• Hood says governor cannot legally operate Medicaid
• Woman indicted for Medicaid fraud; faces up to 35 years in prison
• Health officials identify second West Nile virus case of 2013
• Hood subpoenas Google’s records over online drug sales

South’s oldest casino to reopen as Golden Nugget

BILOXI — Although its hotel is still in the middle of a $100 million makeover, the oldest casino in the South will reopen at 1 p.m. Friday with a new look as the Golden Nugget Casino Biloxi. Changes range from new windows and fewer walls to new carpet and new nametags, The Sun Herald reported.…

• With tar balls still common, some question end of oil spill cleanup
• Bomgar lands IT provider in hospitality industry
• Diamondhead exploring zoning change to allow for casino
• Power back on along Casino Strip after weekend storm

Developer submits plan for one-million-square-foot mall development

D’IBERVILLE — Plans for Gulf Coast Galleria — a million-square-foot mall with restaurants, shops and a hotel along Interstate 10 — have been submitted to the D’Iberville Planning Department. Developer Robert Mandal with Ramco Development tells The Sun Herald the mall will be more than 750,000 square feet, with the hotel and other buildings adding…

• Hosemann recruiting Realtors to market tax-forfeited property
• Supervisors hire HORNE to conduct hospital-sale feasibility study
• County wants Entergy customer records; utility says it’s ‘fishing’
• Diamondhead exploring zoning change to allow for casino

Treasurer: Prepaid tuition program won’t reopen until 2014

JACKSON — Mississippi Treasurer Lynn Fitch says it now appears that sometime in 2014 will be the earliest that the Mississippi Prepaid Affordable College Tuition plan will reopen for additional enrollments. Like most investors, the plan had an excellent first quarter in the stock market. That could cut its projected shortfall. But the board that…

• USM moves to second phase of tornado recovery efforts
• Work to begin on new USM golf practice facility
• Report: State’s teacher education programs ‘mediocre at best’
• School superintendent terminated after party funds, travel questions

State’s blueberry farmers fighting weather, insects

ACROSS MISSISSIPPI — Late-spring cold snaps and untimely freezes have delayed harvests and reduced yields for Mississippi’s 2013 blueberry crop. George Traicoff of Hernando runs a family owned and operated you-pick operation in DeSoto County. He started Nesbit Blueberry Plantation with 6,000 plants in 1984, and today his family tends 16,000 plants. “We are running…

• Late soybean planting leaves crop vulnerable to storms
• USDA releases disaster recovery funding for Isaac, floods
• Senate passes Farm Bill; Cochran touts $4B in savings
• Late cotton planting could boost pest species