Biloxi News Archives

“There are a lot of concrete stairs with no house”

STATE COLLEGE -- These State College teens have homes and attend a high school bustling with teachers and students.

That may be stating the obvious, but after spring break this year, seven local teens realize that not everyone has that experience, especially students in Biloxi, Miss., a region still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

'We were very surprised at how barren the town still was, especially of children,' said Kathy Yingling, a State College Area High School English teacher who organized the trip. Read more

“I congratulate MDOT and its team of contractors for such outstanding work and getting it done ahead of schedule.”

The good news keeps coming for drivers in East Biloxi where the three westbound lanes of the Biloxi Bay Bridge opened Friday, and the cones came down on the westbound lanes of U.S. 90 all the way to the Interstate 110 ramp.

MDOT District Area Engineer Kelly Castleberry had said Thursday the westbound lanes would open Monday. On Friday he called Biloxi City Hall and said the lanes would open early, according to Public Affairs Director Vincent Creel.

'The weather has been cooperating, so we've been able to get the work done even quicker than expected,' Castleberry said. Read more

“However, there is no bonus for achieving this milestone, only a disincentive of $57,000 a day for not achieving the required schedule.”

All six lanes of the Biloxi Bay Bridge and all traffic lanes on U.S. 90 from the bridge to Interstate 110 will be open by April 7.

'MDOT will open that section of Highway 90 the same time we open the lanes of the bridge,' said Kelly Castleberry, district area engineer for the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

The milestone day the Coast has waited for since Aug. 29, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina washed away the bridge, will actually be celebrated for a week.

On Monday the three westbound lanes from Ocean Springs to Biloxi will open and drivers will be greeted in Biloxi with smooth new traffic lanes all the way to I-110. Read more

“We've lost a friend and a hero This family lost a loved one. The city lost a loved one. The country lost a loved one. He stood for what was right. What else can you say?”

Funeral services were held at Hart's Chapel Baptist Church in Poplarville for Sgt. via Picayune Item

“We have the paperwork to prove the VA awarded him the Purple Heart. The VA notified him, not the other way around.”

A disabled Biloxi Air Force veteran was one of two men arrested Tuesday on charges of lying about receiving military medals, including the Purple Heart.

The Department of Veterans Affairs filed criminal complaints against Christopher Billeaud, 52, of Biloxi and John Wayne Lebo, 57, of Tylertown. Both men were released on unsecured bonds of $25,000 and $5,000, respectively.

Both face a year in prison and $100,000 fines for each violation.

Billeaud is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm and the Gulf Coast chapter president of the National Defense Transportation Association. He is accused of altering his discharge papers to indicate he received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star and using the papers to get a Purple Heart license plate, which is free of charge for life and does not expire. He is also accused of falsifying his rank, claiming to be a retired chief master sergeant rather than a master sergeant. Read more

“We have expanded our strategy to reflect the convergence of several factors”

Associated Ventures LLC, an international real estate development and investment firm, based here, announces that it is expanding its development focus in the limited-service, extended-stay hotel segment. via Hotels

“If you have to drive to Pensacola, it's bad enough, but driving to Biloxi is ridiculous”

A grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Veterans Affairs Community-based Outpatient Clinic has been scheduled for April 25, according to officials. via Panama City News Herald

The Biloxi City Council is moving closer to approving a mixed use development that's drawn criticism from some citizens. via WLOX-TV Biloxi

“It's not the good old boy system anymore. It's the young conservative representatives that are shedding light and listening to our constituents and following through”

Calls for change this year are resonating with the American public. As the rising chorus of voices swells, it's heartening to sense a mood of change in Mississippi which in the past has been called a closed society.

A sign of change came on the legislative front during Sunshine Week, last week, as media around the country wrote articles to raise awareness of the dangers of secrecy and the importance of open government.

Without dissent the Mississippi Senate passed a bill to improve access to incident reports of crime. The vote in the House was almost unanimous with only three 'no' votes. Read more

“This is a tough time right now to raise capital”

The Mississippi Gaming Commission quickly approved the site plan Thursday for a new casino resort on Biloxi's Back Bay.

The developers told the Gaming Commission they hope to return with the building plans by summer, and Managing Director John Ed Ainsworth said they should break ground 'certainly in 2008.'

Bayview Casino will be built between Boomtown Casino to the west and the Old Brick House on Bayview Avenue and Braun Street. The resort will be developed in phases, with the casino and hotel on the south side of Bayview Avenue built first, followed by an undetermined project on the 2.4 acres between the street and the water. Read more

“All are outstanding, active alumni, based on what I've heard today, and I think that's important. And they are successful professionals”

Gov. Haley Barbour says he chose his four new College Board nominees based on their ability to work confidently with large sums of money and to oversee an eight-university system that affects tens of thousands ... via The South Mississippi Sun Herald

“My role was to update the chief legal officers of the states about Oklahoma's efforts to curb the environmental and public health problems the massive dumping of poultry waste has caused in the Illinois River Watershed”

Attorney General Drew Edmondson returned to Oklahoma Thursday from Biloxi, Miss., where he discussed Oklahoma's lawsuit against poultry companies accused of causing pollution in state waters. via Log Cabin Democrat

“If they don't ever see a deer, they're not going to get involved.”

By a slim margin and after nearly an hour and a half of debate, the state Senate today approved a bill that would allow Mississippi hunters to bait deer. via The Clarion-Ledger

“Customers rely on us for exceptional service, and this investment is a testament that being the best communications and entertainment company for our customers is paramount”

The Associated Press JACKSON - AT&T Inc. will spend $66 million in Mississippi to expand its wireless network. via Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

“With oil prices well above $100 a barrel and showing no signs of any significant decrease, we had a choice -- we could sit back and hope things get better, or we could take aggressive action to deal with this industry-wide problem”

Skybus Airlines is discontinuing or reducing some flights out of Piedmont Triad International Airport. via WXII12

“We are still working very hard to find a development solution for the property”

History buffs will tell you the old White House Hotel on the beach in Biloxi is historic. Many locals believe it has a long history of being an eyesore.

Two and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, the turn-of-the-century hotel near Keesler Air Force Base looks as if it was just hit by the worst natural disaster in modern times. At first glance, tourists might think the storm was last week.

Truth is, the old hotel has been one of the Coast's eyesores for years. Even before Katrina.

Last month, the Sun Herald asked readers what they believed were the Coast's worst eyesores. There was no shortage of votes for the White House. Read more

International newspapers have called Andres Duany the world's most influential architect.

He is regarded as the founder of New Urbanism.

But even with that impressive resume, Gulfport politicians want local residents to view and critique Duany's ideas before starting construction.

The City Council was adamant about holding an additional public hearing on the designs before deciding whether to approve them and move forward.

Only a few council members showed up for Monday's hearings. Read more

“I don't want anybody here thinking that somehow, 'Well, you know, maybe I can get both,' ”

Stewart M. Powell / Hearst Newspapers Democrat Barack Obama on Monday rejected rival Hillary Clinton's suggestion that he might be willing to accept the role of vice presidential running mate on a Democratic ... via Detroit News

Soon Biloxi will know whether Keesler Air Force Base is on the short list of bases being considered for the Air Force Cyber Command.

The Air Force intends to release a list of three or four finalists for the headquarters in the next few weeks, Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick told Gannett New Service.

Keesler is one of at least 15 bases being considered for the command that will protect the military and federal government from cyber attacks on computers, radios and other electronic equipment. Read more

“The president's second term was significantly damaged by the reaction to what happened after Katrina, because the American people thought that it wasn't handled right”

Former President Bill Clinton shakes hands with audience members after speaking Saturday, March 8,2008, on behalf of his wife, Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. via HendersonvilleNews.com

“It sounded like it would give an agency the opportunity to participate in something that, individually, they would never (financially) do”

Frustrated by a lack of progress with a $19 million federal computer project, Biloxi city officials recently spent $800,000 in drug forfeiture money on a separate computer system for their police and fire departments.

Police Chief Bruce Dunagan said he's tired of waiting on the Mississippi Automated System Project to deliver technology to his officers, and the city is terminating its five-year relationship with the program this month.

'We can't wait around,' Dunagan said. 'We've still got all the citizens out here to help.' Read more

“Everything the candidates are talking about is important to the candidates, but I don't believe it's hitting the pulse of what's happened to the Gulf and the people here”

While most voters this year have said the economy or Iraq is their top priority, some Mississippi voters have a different focus -- recovering from Hurricane Katrina. via CNN

“I think the general public is able to see this was different than some of the other projects that were so controversial”

Gold Coast Casino came out shining Thursday after the Biloxi Planning Commission overwhelmingly approved plans for a mixed-use development on U.S. 90 and Veterans Avenue that includes a casino north of 90.

The vote of 8-2-1 came at the end of a four-hour meeting that also saw the IP Casino Resort get approval to rezone land it owns south of the current hotel to allow an onshore casino.

Both applications now go to the Biloxi City Council and if approved, the Mississippi Gaming Commission will decide whether both are legal casino sites. Read more

Sheriff's deputies responding to a missing persons report Friday evening in Starkville found Mississippi State University student Andreas Galanis, 28, of Biloxi, dead and charged his roommate with capital murder.

Bobby Batiste, 28, of Preston, a senior at MSU, is being held in the Oktibbeha County Jail without bond and officials said there are no additional suspects.

According to the Starkville Daily News, the Okitibbeha County Sheriff's Department was contacted by Galanis' family in Biloxi after Galanis failed to make a flight to Florida. Deputies went to his off-campus home at TwentyOne Apartments in Starkville and were told Galanis left earlier in the day on a flight to Florida. Read more

“If you put those two things together, you'd have an almost unstoppable force.”

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton says Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would be virtually "unstoppable" on a joint presidential ticket. via Daily India

East Bay Business Times - by Steven E.F. Brown Chevron Corp. will test a process to make fuel more efficiently at a refinery in Pascagoula, Miss. via East Bay Business Times

The Legislature has approved a bill that would allow the Mississippi Coast Coliseum to lease or exchange its surplus properties, as officials hope to attract a hotel to the site so the area has a better shot of landing big conventions.

The bill was passed in the Senate last week, and Wednesday, the House approved it. Now the bill goes to Gov. Haley Barbour for his signature.

Sen. Tommy Gollott, R-Biloxi, who pushed the bill with several other South Mississippi legislators, told the Sun Herald last week that Coliseum officials had asked for the legislation. Coliseum officials said they hope to lure a hotel to the southeast corner of the property near the intersection of U.S. 90 and Beauvoir Road. Read more

“They don't come to you. That's the reason we've gained so much new air service. When you go to them, they want to see the people. They want to talk not just to staff, they want to talk to commissioners.”

Officials with the Gulfport-Biloxi Regional Airport want a change in Mississippi's Open Meetings Law to keep secret airport authorities' talks with business prospects. via Commercial Appeal

Elizabeth Becker Le Dung was seven when his family bought passage on a rickety boat and fled the communist government of Vietnam for parts unknown. via The New Nation

Mayor A. J. Holloway told residents of Ward 6 on Tuesday he thinks it will take eight more years for Biloxi to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

The meeting brought more than 100 residents of the ward to the Margaret Sherry Library on Popp's Ferry Road to meet with their Councilman Edward Gemmill and several city officials.

'It took over a year to clean up the mess,' Holloway told residents who complained about continuing drainage and road problems. It will be another three to five years and $350 million to replace the infrastructure in the storm surge and Holloway cautioned, 'It's going to be a gridlock in a lot of areas.' Read more