TH URSDAY, ApRil 15, 2010 • 50¢
SpORTS
Ready to roll
By Emily Wagster Pettus The Associated Press
A WiNNER Braves beat Padres in San Diego B1
WEATHER Tonight: Clear; low near 52 Friday: Sunny; high near 82 Mississippi River:
39.3 feet Fell: 0.6 foot Flood stage: 43 feet
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DEATHS • Ruel Anderson • Rosa Lee Dabney • Anderson Lavelle Keen • Frank Excel Marley Sr. • Daisy Mae Young Palmer • Fannie Ruth Shally • Earl Ray Taylor • Bobby Lynwood Warnock Jr.
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TODAY iN HiSTORY 1861: Three days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln declares a state of insurrection and calls out Union troops. 1865: President Abraham Lincoln dies, nine hours after being shot the night before by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington. 1912: The British luxury liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland, less than three hours after striking an iceberg; some 1,500 people die. 1960: A three-day conference to form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) begins at Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C. The group’s first chairman is Marion Barry. 2009: Tens of thousands of protesters stage “tea parties” around the country to tap into the collective angst stirred up by a bad economy, government spending and bailouts.
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ONliNE www.vicksburgpost.com VOLUME 128 NUMBER 105 2 SECTIONS
Barbour on budget: Sharpen the scissors
KATIE CARTER•The Vicksburg PosT
Crews work downtown this morning, unloading sound equipment for Riverfest 2010.
Riverfest preparations in full swing By Tish Butts tbutts@vicksburgpost.com The weather will cooperate for the 23rd edition of Riverfest, news that fired up preparations for the downtown-centered events Friday and Saturday. Starting today, South Street, from Walnut to Mulberry, will be closed. Also, Washington Street, from Crawford to Veto, will be closed. More streets will be shut down beginning early Friday morning, ahead of vendor setup, said Erin Hern, Riverfest president. “We are excited,” Hern said this morning. “The weather’s going to be perfect.” Advance tickets remain available for two nights of entertainment. Daytime events are free. Through the years, the festival has seen shoulderto-shoulder crowds and washouts — all dependent on what Mother Nature decides conditions should be on the third weekend of April. Today, forecasts See Riverfest, Page A9.
Riverfest 2010 — Jammin’ on the River Riverfest kicks off Friday night. Advance tickets are $15 per night or $25 for a weekend pass. Tickets at the gate are $20 per night or $35 for a pass. Tickets will be available at www.riverfestms.com through today, and at Vicksburg Main Street office at 1309 Washington St., Toot’s Grocery at Wisconsin and Confederate avenues, and Paper Plus on Washington. Daytime events along Washington begin at 10 a.m. Saturday and are free.
ENTERTAiNMENT Friday • 6-6:45 p.m. — King Edward • 7:05-7:50 — The Chill • 8:10-8:55 — Jimbo Mathus • 9:15-10:15 — The Tip Tops • 10:45-midnight — Jason Michael Carroll (headliner) Saturday • 11 a.m.-2 p.m. — Gospel Fest • 6-6:45 p.m. — Mayhem String Band • 7:05-7:50 — Rocket 88 • 8:10-8:55 — Reid Stone and the Guilt Ridden Troubadour • 9:15-10:15 — J. Blackfoot (headliner) • 10:45-midnight — Blue Mountain
DAYTiME EVENTS Friday • 6:30-9 a.m. — Y’s Men’s Pancake Sale at
Purks YMCA; $6; for take-out, call 601638-1071. Saturday • 7:30 -10 a.m. — Y’s Men’s Pancake Sale at Purks YMCA; $6; for take-out, call 601638-1071. • 8 a.m.-4:30 — Vicksburg-Warren County Riverfest Arts & Crafts Show; South, Walnut and Crawford streets; free. • 8 a.m.-3 — Vicksburg Red Carpet Classic Auto Show; Blackburn Motors on North Frontage Road; 601-831-2079 or 601831-2597; www.vicksburgcruisers.com. • 8 a.m. — Walk MS, by Alabama-Mississippi Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society; begins at Art Park at Catfish Row; 601-856-5831 or angie.jackson@nmss.org. • 8 a.m. — Bluz Cruz canoe and kayak race along Mississippi River; registration at River Outfitters on Halls Ferry Road from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, at LaQuinta Inn & Suites on South Frontage Road from 4-8 p.m., online at www.bluzcruz.com; $45 per person, $35 for American Canoe Association members. • 8 a.m.- 8 — 30th annual Alcorn State University Jazz Festival; Vicksburg Convention Center; free. • 9 a.m. — Center for Pregnancy Choices Walk for Life at Art Park at Catfish Row; registration,8:30; free; 601-638-2778. • 10 a.m. — Free activities along Washington Street.
JACKSON — Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Wednesday he wants lawmakers to be cautious with taxpayers’ money when they return next week to work on a state spending plan. “This is a tight budget. It makes significant cuts. It can’t be executed with business as usual. And the next year’s going to be tougher,” Barbour said Gov. Haley in releasing Barbour his revised spending recommendations for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Lawmakers normally would’ve finished their threemonth annual session and set a budget by early April. They started a recess about three weeks ago because they’re hoping Congress will approve extra stimulus funding for Medicaid, including $187 million for Mississippi. The economy has been lagging and state revenues have been sluggish since mid-2008, and Barbour has made five rounds of budget cuts in the current fiscal year. The federal Medicaid money is still pending, and neither the Republican governor nor top state lawmakers say they know whether it will be approved before the Legislature reconvenes Tuesday. See Budget, Page A9.
Board gives go-ahead for college hikes By The Associated Press JACKSON — The state College Board has approved increases in room and board for Mississippi’s eight public universities. The increases, which go into effect beginning in the fall, cover average single and double occupancy rates for on-campus housing, as well as hikes to university meal plans. See Colleges, Page A9.
Judge aims to expedite 18-state health law challenge By The Associated Press PENSACOLA, Fla. — A federal judge intends to fast track a lawsuit by at least 18 states, including Mississippi, that seek to overturn President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, he told attorneys Wednesday. But filing deadlines and hearing dates set by U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson at the scheduling conference could stretch into November depending on his rulings and
On A6 • Poll: Resistance remains strong • Tea party tour wraps up today the time taken by states and the U.S. Department of Justice to respond. Wednesday’s hour-long court session was the first hearing in the lawsuit that was filed in federal court in Pensacola by Florida Attor-
ney General Bill McCollum minutes after Obama signed his 10-year, $938-billion health care bill into law. Attorney generals from 12 other states joined McCollum. An attorney for the group said Wednesday they will amend the lawsuit before a May 14 deadline to add six additional states. Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, Idaho, Louisiana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and
BANNERS
Washington joined the original suit. Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, Nevada and North Dakota have since decided to join. The states claim the federal government cannot force citizens to buy health coverage. They also argue the federal government is violating the Constitution by forcing a mandate on the states without providing money to pay for it. Ian Heath Gershengorn, an attorney for the Department
of Justice, said the federal government will file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit saying the court does not have the jurisdictional authority to overturn the law. “We feel there is a strong basis for a motion to dismiss,” he said. Vinson set a Sept. 14 hearing to listen to arguments from both sides on that motion and set a tentative schedule that would move the case into late fall.
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