HANCOCK COUNTY — HazNet, the All Hazards Network web-based emergency management system (EMS) provided by NVision Solutions Inc. has been designated a Certified Space Technology by the Space Foundation.



HazNet combines the visual power of satellite-based geographic information systems (GIS) mapping and analysis with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) mandated reporting and organizational requirements of the National Incident Management System. NVision based HazNet on lessons learned from multiple hurricane response and recoveries as well as from participation in emergency response exercises around the nation.

HazNet was developed by programmers certified in the DHS Incident Command System (ICS) and ex-military specialists who were also first responders in emergency operations centers (EOCs) along the Gulf Coast. It took more than five years of research and over 200,000 hours of operational testing to create the system, which is now an important tool for planning, response, and recovery to any sized crisis.

NASA, which supports HazNet through its Small Business Innovative Research Contracts, Dual-Use Technology Transfer Program, and Innovative Partnership Program, uses a highly customized version of the HazNet to protect the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi as part of its new EOC. NASA also purchased HazNet agency-wide to protect all major bases starting in March 2010.

ABERDEEN — Attorney General Jim Hood says he will appeal a federal judge’s order overturning the convictions of a North Mississippi couple sent to prison for embezzlement.

At the same time, Hood, in a motion filed this week, asked U.S. District Judge W. Allen Pepper to withhold any order for a new trial for Michael and Marie Salts until the appeal is heard by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Pepper agreed this past week with a magistrate’s finding that the couple were denied a fair trial in 2005.

The Saltses were convicted of embezzling from an insurance company and sentenced to 10 years.

Marie Salts recently completed her time and is on house arrest. Her husband was denied the possibility of parole because of a previous conviction.

WINSTON COUNTY — The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) reports the second human West Nile virus (WNV) case of 2010.

The case is in Winston County. The first case of the season was reported last month in Coahoma County.

In 2009, Mississippi had 53 WNV cases with four resulting in death. Mississippi’s first WNV case of 2009 occurred in January. Although WNV numbers were lower in 2009 than in the previous year, they are not an indicator for the 2010 WNV season.

“It is important to remember that while July, August and September are peak WNV mosquito reproduction months, all mosquito-borne diseases, including WNV, can occur in Mississippi throughout the year,” said Acting State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers.

JACKSON — The Mississippi Department of Human Services (DHS) says it will furlough its employees one day next month because of the budget shortfall.

The agency’s executive director, Don Thompson, said March 18 that most DHS offices will be closed April 2, which is the Friday before Easter. Oakley Training School will remain open.

Thompson says additional unpaid days off for DHS employees might be announced before the fiscal year ends June 30.

Gov. Haley Barbour has cut most the budgets of most agencies by about 9 percent because revenues have fallen short of expectations.

OXFORD — If Google wants to bring the Internet to everyone in a community, the City of Oxford would like to roll out the welcome mat for them.

The Oxford Board of Aldermen this week hired Oxford attorney Stewart Rutledge to help persuade Google to select Oxford as one of the company’s test sites for a new ultrahigh speed broadband network.

Google plans to build a community-wide, ultra-high-speed broadband network in one or more cities that would offer download speeds as high as one gigabit per second more than 100 times as fast as most Americans have today.

Rutledge said one factor in Oxford’s favor will be its population of “techies” who would test the limits of Google’s experiment and another segment of low-income residents who probably have little access to the web.

WASHINGTON — The current account trade deficit widened in the fourth quarter, reflecting an improving economy, but the imbalance for all of 2009 fell to the lowest point in eight years. Economists believe the deficit will increase in 2010 but not return to the record heights seen before the recession.

The Commerce Department said today the deficit in the October-December quarter jumped 12.9 percent to $115.6 billion, as imports of oil, autos and other foreign products outpaced the gains in U.S. exports.

For the year, the deficit in the current account plunged by 40.5 percent to $419.9 billion, the smallest imbalance since 2001. Last year’s deficit represented 2.9 percent of the total U.S. economy, the smallest percentage in 11 years.

The current account is the broadest measure of trade because it includes not only trade in goods and services, which are tracked by the government on a monthly basis, but also investment flows between countries. The figure is closely watched by economists because it is a measure of how much the country must borrow from foreigners to finance its balance of payments imbalance.

As America’s current account deficit soared to an all-time high of $803.5 billion in 2006, which represented 6 percent of total GDP. That raised alarm bells over whether foreigners would continue to be willing to finance America’s huge trade deficits. Now the bigger concern is over foreigners’ willingness to purchase U.S. Treasury securities to finance America’s soaring budget deficits.

Economists predict that the current account deficit will continue to widen this year but will not climb back to the previous record levels. They think that a weaker dollar will continue to boost U.S. exports. A weaker dollar makes U.S. goods more competitive in overseas markets and foreign goods more expensive for U.S. consumers.

For the fourth quarter, U.S. goods exports rose 8.8 percent to $263.6 billion with increases in shipments of autos, industrial supplies and farm products increases as an improving global economy boosted demand in key foreign markets.

But the rebound in the U.S. economy increased demand for imports as well. Goods imports rose in the fourth quarter by 9.2 percent to $432.4 billion, led by big gains in petroleum, capital goods, autos and auto parts and consumer goods.

The deficit in goods of $145.5 billion in the fourth quarter was offset somewhat by a $36.5 billion surplus in services trade, items such as transportation and financial services. The United States had a $25.1 billion surplus on investment flows and a deficit of $31.8 billion in a category known as unilateral transfers, which covers such things as foreign aid.

The country’s largest deficit with an individual country is the imbalance with China, which stood at $226.8 billion last year.

Lawmakers in both the House and Senate sought to increase the pressure this week on China to allow its currency to rise in value against the dollar.

U.S. manufacturers contend that China is violating global trade rules by holding down the yuan’s value against the dollar to make Chinese goods cheaper in the United States and American products more expensive in China. They contend that the yuan is undervalued by as much as 40 percent.

A group of 14 U.S. senators unveiled legislation Tuesday that would provide for penalty tariffs to be imposed on Chinese imports if China does not allow its currency to rise in value while 130 House members sent a letter to the administration Monday urging a tougher approach.

The Obama administration is hoping China will allow its currency to rise in value against the dollar as a way of narrowing the trade gap but Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday that such efforts amounted to a kind of trade protectionism.

In the week ending March 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims in the U.S. was 457,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s unrevised figure. The four-week moving average was 471,250, a decrease of 4,250 from the previous week’s unrevised average.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5 percent for the week ending March 6, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 6 was 4.579 million, an increase of 12,000 from the preceding week’s revised level. The four-week moving average was approximately 4.575 million, a decrease of 8,000 from the preceding week’s revised average.

The fiscal year-to-date average of seasonally adjusted weekly insured unemployment, which corresponds to the appropriated AWIU trigger, was 5.166 million.

GULF OF MEXICO — Struggling oyster fishermen say it has been a troublesome season.

Heavy rains have kept the oyster reefs closed longer than anyone can remember. There are also concerns about increasing competition from out-of-state fishermen who get licenses to work the reefs in Mississippi waters.

The Mississippi Commission on Marine Resources heard the concerns from frustrated fishermen this week.

“I’ve been around this industry my whole life. I’ve never seen a season this bad before from being overfished. We’re being flooded by other states coming here, taking our resources from our state. Taking their money back to the other states,” said Randy Lesso Jr.

“We’re starving this season. I mean it’s been open six months and we’ve worked less than 50 days. Limited entry is a big thing, but we need to do something about this season now. ‘Cause if I’m gonna get cut out of next season, I want this season to be something,” said oysterman Dustin Pizzi.

Not only have oyster fishermen been pinched by increased competition on the reefs this season, Mother Nature has also been an adversary. Heavy rainfall forced the Department of Marine Resources to shut down the oyster reefs multiple times.

“The entire month of December, except for one day. And that’s what really hurt this oyster season,” said Scott Gordon, who oversees the oyster program for the DMR.

As for the number of oyster boats working the reefs, the DMR has been looking at something called “limited entry.”

Specific restrictions on licenses could, for instance, reduce the number of out of state oyster fishermen. But some worry that approach is not in the best interest of the industry.

“This is public reefs. We have spent hundreds of thousands of federal money to rebuild these reefs. These reefs belong to the public. It doesn’t belong to a certain group of fishermen down in West Hancock or Harrison County,” said commission member Richard Gollott.

“Whenever you do have some kind of program when you’re keeping somebody out, or maybe kicking somebody out, they’re not going to be happy about it,” said Gordon.

The commission decided to give existing license holders the first chance at buying oyster licenses for next season. The commission rejected a proposal to limit the number of licenses to no more than 10 percent of this year’s total.

The commission also voted to give DMR Executive Director William Walker authority to limit the number of licenses, if he determines it’s in the best interest of the oyster industry.

JACKSON — Gov. Haley Barbour says he prefers strengthening construction along Mississippi’s coastal counties to lower insurance rates rather than subsidizing insurance policies through the wind pool program.

“Since Katrina I have emphasized the need to build back stronger than before,” Barbour said. “Working with the insurance commissioner, we’re putting $20 million into helping people upgrade their homes, making them more hurricane resistant.”

The state has appropriated money each year since 2007 to the wind pool to help make insurance premiums more affordable. At the end of this fiscal year, the wind pool will have received $160 million from state and Community Development Block Grant funds.

Funding through a grant by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Wind Mitigation Retrofit Program would concentrate on improving roof systems with better roof-to-wall connections and hurricane straps. The program also works toward better seals on windows, doors and garages and improved roof systems, such as upgraded shingles.

âThe wind pool already has a discount program called the MWUA Retrofit Mitigation Program. However, the MWUA program does not pay for mitigation measures, but provides a schedule of discounts based on mitigation completed.

The Wind Mitigation Retrofit Program would subsidize the cost burden for homeowners to complete the retrofit measures to receive discounts through the wind pool and private insurance company programs.

FEMA has given the state preliminary approval for the program, and is working with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency on a final application.

GULFPORT — Officials say former Hancock Bank branch operations manager Margaret Migues conspired with other employees to embezzle more than $2 million during her 29-year career.

U.S. Magistrate John Roper set a $25,000 unsecured bond for the 52-year-old Migues March 17. With her attorney at her side, Migues waived indictment by a federal grand jury, instead accepting the federal charge of embezzlement already lodged against her.

Court documents show Migues is accused along with others of stealing the money from 1980 through July 2009.

Prosecutors say Migues has entered into a plea agreement with the government, which Roper ordered sealed Wednesday. She is expected to enter a formal guilty plea at a later date. Migues facing a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and up to a $1 million fine.