Category — Jackson, Mississippi

TUPELO — Delta Airlines has moved its morning flight to Memphis from Tupelo Regional Airport to the afternoon. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports the change takes effect April 5.

ACROSS MISSISSIPPI — Reader’s Digest revealed the best, worst and deadliest roads in America, and exposed the risks drivers pose to themselves and others.

HANCOCK COUNTY — Aerojet, a GenCorp company, and Orbital Sciences Corporation, along with Aerojet’s Russian partner, SNTK, announced that a series of NK-33 rocket engine tests conducted in Samara, Russia, were successfully completed in support of the development of Orbital’s Taurus II space launch vehicle.

ITTA BENA — Ernest A. Boykins Jr., who lead Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU) as its president for 10 years, has died. He was 78. Boykins died Sunday at his home after a lengthy illness, the university announced on its web site. Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

The Feb. 2010 Mortgage Monitor report, released by Lender Processing Services Inc., shows that while delinquency rates in the U.S. have risen to historic highs, the pace of deterioration has slowed.

LOS ANGELES — The National Association of Home Builders says its housing market index slipped in March, as harsh winter weather and competition from foreclosed properties hurt builders’ sales prospects.

Conversation in offices around the state have likely, at some point, turned to Mississippi State’s devastating loss to Kentucky yesterday in the championship game of the SEC Tournament, and to March Madness as a whole.

GREENVILLE and MERIDIAN — L. Ray Humphreys, who has led Delta Regional Medical Center (DRMC) in Greenville as CEO/president for the past nine years, has resigned to accept the position of CEO of Anderson Regional Medical Center in Meridian.

The U.S. government said today it cannot explain a reported incident of sudden, high-speed acceleration in a Toyota Prius on a San Diego, California, freeway last week.

LONDON — World stock markets fell today as investors fretted about the status of banking reform in the U.S. and awaited confirmation of a rescue package for debt-laden Greece. The British pound slipped amid growing British political and economic concerns.

PURCHASE, N.Y. — PepsiCo says it will buy back up to $15 billion shares of its common stock through June 2013. The world’s second-biggest soft drink seller previously said today it expects to repurchase about $4.4 billion shares this year.

NEW YORK — Phillips-Van Heusen says it will buy privately held Tommy Hilfiger in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $3 billion, creating one of the world’s biggest clothing companies.

CLINTON — New businesses, including payday and title loan shops, pawnshops and tattoo parlors, still cannot open in Clinton. For the second time, Clinton aldermen have extended a 90-day moratorium on new businesses while crafting a zoning ordinance.

MADISON — NASA has selected L-3 Vertex Aerospace to receive a contract for aircraft and airfield related services at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. The contract has a maximum value of $20 million.

CLARKSDALE — Clarksdale and Coahoma County residents will soon have high-speed Internet access thanks to a partnership between the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) and the Mississippi Technology Alliance (MTA).

BALDWYN — Craft and fabric retailer Hancock Fabrics reports net income of $1.8 million for fiscal 2009 — its first annual profit in five years.

PEARL — The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency misspent nearly $18 million in Hurricane Katrina reconstruction grants, and should pay it back — with nearly $1 million interest, federal auditors say.

BRANDON — The Brandon Board of Aldermen is considering a ban on smoking tobacco in groceries, restaurants and retail businesses. And Ridgeland is thinking about making its tobacco ban even tougher, forbidding smoking even on city parking lots and property next to city buildings.

DALLAS — Federal regulators are proposing more maintenance-related penalties against American Airlines. The Federal Aviation Administration said it would fine American $787,500 for three cases of alleged maintenance problems.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Mississippi can use supplemental Medicaid payments to reimburse the Regional Medical Center (The Med) at Memphis for the cost of treating Mississippi residents.

JACKSON — The state Senate has passed a bill to provide help to the cut-and-sew industry in Mississippi. The bill, passed March 11, would provide a $2,000 tax credit for each new cut-and-sew employee hired in the ailing furniture industry.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) is pressing federal officials to accelerate federal water projects in Mississippi as one way to create greater economic activity in a state with a 12 percent unemployment rate.

TOWSON, Md. — Shareholders have approved a nearly $3.5-billion stock buyout, clearing the final hurdle for Stanley Works to acquire Black & Decker.

Lobbying for change Yelverton finds niche in halls of Capitol Joel Yelverton is owner of Yelverton Consulting, a Clinton-based firm specializing in lobbying, professional association management and local government consultancy.

With a sleek décor, unique gifts, specialty gourmet foods, an espresso bar, dozens of cupcakes and other treats, Crave is quickly becoming a favorite place to dine or lounge in Cleveland.

Farris Watson says she was made for her job.

Columbus businessman Dick Rollins has been named to the board of Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle. His appointment was approved by the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation board of directors in Memphis in December.

Hattiesburg Clinic vascular surgeon Keith Thompson, D.O., F.A.C.O.S., has been selected to serve as a principle investigator in a nationwide Food and Drug Administration approved clinical study evaluating the minimally invasive repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms.

The 2010 class of Leadership Pinebelt, a long-standing program of the Area Development Partnership (ADP), has met for the first time. Throughout 2010, these individuals will attend a number of training sessions focusing on different aspects of the community.

Of Mississippi’s 82 counties, 49 of them are located within the Go Zone region Tax incentives created under the Gulf Opportunity Zones legislation in 2005 have helped spur economic development as the region recovers from hurricanes that rocked the region that year.