Rienzi News

Thursday, July 3, 2008 3:47 PM CDT The Mississippi House and Senate this morning remained stalemated on solving Medicaid's budget shortfall after returning Wednesday from another break in a special session that ...

By Bobby Harrison Daily Journal Jackson Bureau JACKSON - The Mississippi House passed legislation Friday to prevent Gov.

BY BOBBY HARRISON Daily Journal Jackson Bureau JACKSON - The Legislature returns Thursday to the Capitol for the ongoing special session, but still with no agreement on how to fund a $90 million deficit in the ...

A long-term funding solution for Medicaid remained unresolved today after a meeting between Gov.

Expenses for the Mississippi Legislature were up about $1 million to $19 million for the 12-month period that ended in April.

Mississippi taxpayers are footing the bill for more than $19 million in legislative expenses, including salaries and travel expenses, over a one-year period that ended in April, according to the state auditor's ...

Mississippi's Medicaid director on Thursday sent hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers a list of proposed cuts designed to save $90 million in the coming budget year.

Raising the pay for workers who lose their jobs is among the measures state legislators need to work out in the special session that began last month to resolve differences the House and Senate have been ...

Voter identification hit another roadblock Tuesday in the Mississippi House, and lawmakers appeared to do little work on fixing Medicaid's finances even as Gov.

Members of the Mississippi House authorized $88 million in bonds Wednesday to try to lure a multimillion-dollar project to Mississippi.

BY BOBBY HARRISON Daily Journal Jackson Bureau JACKSON - To almost no one's surprise, the state House and Senate took different paths Wednesday in acting on Gov.

By Bobby Harrison Daily Journal Jackson Bureau JACKSON - Gov. Haley Barbour extended the ongoing special session Thursday to allow legislators to take up the issue of increasing unemployment benefits.

The House and Senate have both passed a bill to allow private financing to build toll roads.

Lawmakers return to the state Capitol today for a special session that will require more work than they expected, generate another round of debate over controversial topics and cost taxpayers thousands of ...

“I have a lot of friends in the media.”

BY BOBBY HARRISON Daily Journal Jackson Bureau JACKSON - Numerous subplots lurk beneath the issue of the Legislature regulating the expenditure of taxpayer money on advertising. via Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

“We need you, Mississippians, your help to make sure that the state doesn't do something stupid about employment security”

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS The Associated Press JACKSON - Gov. Haley Barbour says some lawmakers are being "foolish and wrongheaded" to tie the fate of an employment agency to a dispute over state advertising. via Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

“We didn't always agree, but we didn't get mad.”

BY BOBBY HARRISON Daily Journal Jackson Bureau JACKSON - House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, was sitting on the House floor minutes after the 2008 legislative session ended Friday morning when Lt. via Djournal.com

“It is my every desire to get this completed, but if that's not possible”

Stalled budget talks at the state Capitol have some lawmakers predicting the session could end without agreement on Mississippi's estimated $5 billion budget. via The Clarion-Ledger

“If Medicaid is so important, why don't we place all the cards on the table face up?”

BY BOBBY HARRISON Daily Journal Jackson Bureau JACKSON - The Mississippi House decided Friday that a tax increase on cigarettes and liquor should be considered in negotiations to solve the Medicaid shortfall. via Djournal.com

“I am opposed to abortion and will continue to vote that way, but I don't know what I'm voting for and neither do most of you”

Mississippi House members on Thursday signed off on a bill most indicated they didn't fully understand that could further discourage abortions and possibly put the state in conflict with federal privacy laws. via The Clarion-Ledger