Tourism has led New Orleans recovery

State News

September 4, 2010

Associated Press Associated Press Sat Sep 04, 2010, 07:52 PM CDT

NEW ORLEANS — Although New Orleans is aiming for a diversified economy as it continues its recovery from Hurricane Katrina, the city isn’t there yet.

Economic development officials say that, in the meantime, tourism remains the big driver for the city.

According to the New Orleans tourism agency, the city had 7.5 million visitors in 2009, compared to a typical pre-storm year of 8.5 million. Smith Travel Research says hotel occupancy January through May was up 13.1 percent from the previous year and rates were up 2.3 percent in the French Quarter and central business district.

Attendance at one of the city’s biggest attractions — the Aquarium of the Americas — has rebounded to about 80 percent of its pre-storm average.

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State News

Miss. high court hears arguments over pardons Feuding attorneys asked the Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday to determine the validity of pardons that Haley Barbour gave to convicted killers and other convicts during his final days as governor. Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. said the court would not rule Thursday, but he didn’t say when a decision would come.
February 10, 2012
Senate votes to merge 3 Sunflower school districts The Mississippi Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would merge Sunflower County’s three school districts into one, easing into the politically sensitive topic of consolidation by focusing on a single area in the impoverished Delta.
February 9, 2012
Kansas, Missouri fight to keep Marine data center
Kansas and Missouri officials are working together to fend off New Orleans’ effort to lure a Marine Corps data center and its 400 high-paying jobs away from Kansas City.
The congressional delegations and governors from both states have written to Marine Corps Commandant James F. Amos, arguing to keep the center where it is.

February 8, 2012
Judge temporarily blocks Mississippi execution
A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the execution of a Mississippi inmate who killed two men during a robbery spree in 1995. The man’s attorneys asked for the order, not arguing guilt or innocence, but that corrections officials prevented Edwin Hart Turner from getting medical tests that could prove he is mentally ill.

February 7, 2012
New rules, tests proposed for public aid in Miss.
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February 4, 2012
Home strengthening may lower insurance
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State officials told the Sun Herald that they hope the reinforcement of roofing, doors, windows and other components also will qualify homeowners for insurance discounts, although there are no guarantees.

February 4, 2012
Inmate asks courts to stop execution
Condemned inmate Edwin Hart Turner’s lawyer told a federal judge Friday that a corrections policy prevented Turner from getting tests that could prove he’s mentally ill and ineligible for execution.

February 4, 2012
Pardoned killer to fight return to Mississippi
A convicted murderer who left Mississippi after being pardoned by former Gov. Haley Barbour seems poised to fight attempts to force him to return from Wyoming. Joseph Ozment’s attorney, Robert Moxley, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he will defend Ozment’s freedom if he decides to try to stay in Wyoming.

February 3, 2012
Universities say financial aid fund running short
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February 3, 2012
Bad info infuriated kin of pardoned man’s victims
In another twist in the often confusing aftermath of pardons granted by former Gov. Haley Barbour on his way out of office, Mississippi corrections officials said Tuesday that victims’ relatives were given bad information by the state that fanned their outrage.

February 2, 2012
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