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Special session short in time, long in praise
If Thursday's one-day special legislative session was the shortest - ever! - according to at least one state lawmaker, it was long in praise. "It's the fastest special session in the history of the Mississippi Legislature," Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Gordon, D-Okolona, effused of the one hour and 45 minute session called to reduce the sales tax rate on modular houses from 7 percent to 3 percent in hopes of speeding Coast rebuilding. House Speaker Billy McCoy praised House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Percy Watson for guiding the bill to passage. Gov. Haley Barbour even praised lawmakers. WHAT ABOUT FOOD TAX? But one lawmaker wasn't handing out praise. The lone vote against the single item on the special session bill, which the Senate passed 46-0 and the House passed 114-1, was Rep.
Easton Another Head Case: Skull Found In Home
A contractor cleaning out the basement of an Easton home on Friday found a skull in a paper bag in the back of a credenza, authorities said.
The skull found at 722 Bushkill St. was the second one found this week in the Lehigh Valley.
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Church bought single mom of two a new home
After Hurricane Rita blitzed her Texas home a year ago, a single mom's faith in God was strengthened when the First Baptist Church in Bermuda bought her a new home on the same parcel of land.
While the country was still gaping at Katrina's devastation of New Orleans, falling trees blown about by category three Rita's fierce winds sweeping in from the Gulf of Mexico and causing $10 billion in damage in the Houston area were smashing Belinda (B) Lopez's Mauriceville house and furniture.
Stunned, she remembers thinking: "How am I going to afford to buy a new house?"
She didn't know how much the insurance was going to give back to purchase a new home for her and sons Austin, 11, and Dallas, 10.
"Being a single mom with two kids how do you do this?" she agonized.
In Iraq, civilian contractor deaths near 650
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The war in Iraq has killed at least 647 civilian contractors to date, according to official figures that provide a stark reminder of the huge role of civilians in supporting the U.S. military.
The contractor death toll is tracked by the U.S. Department of Labor on the basis of claims under an insurance policy, the Defense Base Act, that all U.S. government contractors and subcontractors working outside the United States must take out for their civilian employees.
In response to questions from Reuters, a Labor Department spokesman said there had been 647 claims for death benefits between March 1, 2003, and September 30, 2006. The Defense Base Act covers both Americans and foreigners, and there is no breakdown of the nationalities of those killed.
GSA contractor to pay $98 million in settlement of fraud case
The government will recover $98.5 million from a software contractor charged with providing fraudulent prices during negotiations that allowed the company to sell to agencies through the General Services Administrations federal supply schedules program. .
FEMA shows heart in altering trailer deadline
Considering how its performance in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina bordered on pathetically cruel, it's refreshing to see the Federal Emergency Management Agency has a heart and a dose of common sense. At least it seems that way. .
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