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Ever y day Si nCE 1883
Bridge opening Monday
Romney rebounds in Maine By The Associated Press
Grammy Awards
Adele leads list of nominees for show at 7 on CBS
C1 WEATHER Today: sunny, highs in the upper 40s Tonight: mostly clear and cold, lows in the lower 30s Mississippi River:
36.7 feet Rose: 0.1 foot Flood stage: 43 feet
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DEATHS • Charles Durr Hudspeth • Jimmie L. Larry • V. Ella McWade
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TODAY IN HISTORY 1733: Led by philanthropist James Edward Oglethorpe, the first English colonists arrive in Georgia, at the site of Savannah. 1878: Frederick W. Thayer, captain of the Harvard University Baseball Club, patents the baseball catcher’s mask. 1909: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is founded. 1924: Calvin Coolidge, known by many as the ‘Silent President,’ makes the first presidential political speech on radio. 1973: The first release of American prisoners of war from the Vietnam war takes place. 1999: The Senate votes to acquit President Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
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Workers walk on the newly constructed Washington Street bridge.
Brenden Neville•The Vicksburg Post
Businesses, residents ‘thrilled’ with span By John Surratt jsurratt@vicksburgpost.com Diane Lutz stood in the front yard of her house on South Washington Street Thursday afternoon and watched a group of workers collect debris from the bridge on Washington at Clark Street. “They’re getting it spruced up for the program,” she said. “It’s going to be great to see it finished.” After more than three years and $8.6 million, the bridge, now a roadtopped rail tunnel covering a section of the Kansas City Southern Railway tracks, is scheduled to reopen Monday with a noon ceremony featuring speakers and high school bands. And business owners still open on the street between the Lee Street intersection and the bridge hope the opening signals better days. “Wonderful,” said Hardy Katzenmeyer, who owns Katzenmeyer’s
‘I went to look at it the other day. It’s practically done, and it’s a good-looking bridge, too.’
Hardy Katzenmeyer
If you go The reopening ceremony for the Washington Street Bridge is noon Monday on the south end of the bridge. Parking will be available on the north end of DiamondJacks parking lot, and a shuttle service will be available.
Antiques and Pet Shop at Washington and Lee. “We’ve been waiting three years. We’re thrilled. I went to look at it the other day. It’s practically done, and it’s a good-looking bridge, too. I’ll save gas, because now I can come straight in. I won’t have to detour and go around.” He said his business had begun improving over the past few months, but expressed mixed emotions over losing the lighted detour sign. “It was a big ol’ sign, but it was a
good landmark,” he said. Along with cleaning the site, workers were finishing the installation of guardrails and signs on the bridge. City street department employees had pulled the big flashing detour sign that blocked Washington Street at Lee intersection and replaced it with a smaller sign. “They striped the road today,” Lutz said. See Bridge, Page A11.
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VOLUME 130 NUMBER 43 3 SECTIONS
Whitney Houston
Houston, singing star, dead at 48 By The Associated Press
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PORTLAND, Maine — Mitt Romney eked out a narrow win in Maine’s Republican caucuses, state party officials announced Saturday, providing his campaign with a much-needed boost after three straight losses earlier this week. But the former Massachusetts governor’s margin of victory over rival Ron Paul was so slim it all but guaranteed scrutiny of the party’s decision not to count the results of caucuses scheduled later in February. Mitt At a gathering Romney in Portland, state Republican Chairman Charlie Webster announced Romney had won with 2,190 votes compared to 1,996 for Paul, the only other candidate to aggressively compete in the state. Rick Santorum received 989 votes and Newt Gingrich won 349, but neither actively campaigned there. Webster said any caucus results that come in after Saturday wouldn’t be counted no matter how close the vote turned out to be. “Some caucuses decided not to participate in this poll and will caucus after this announcement,” Webster said. “Their results will not be factored in. The absent votes will not be factored into this announcement after the fact.” Maine’s caucuses began Feb. 4 and continued throughout the week. But the results announced
Earnie Hall, director of the River City Rescue Mission, Speed Ways gas station owner Major Singh rings up a stands in the Mission’s thrift store on Washington customer on Thursday morning inside his store at MatStreet. tingly and Washington streets.
LOS ANGELES — Whitney Houston, who ruled as pop music’s queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, died Saturday. She was 48. Beverly Hills police Lt. Mark Rosen said Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. in her room on the fourth floor of the hotel. Her body remained there and Beverly Hills detectives were investigating. “There were no obvious signs of See Houston, Page A11.