Senate leaders have eliminated all taxpayer-funded out-of-state travel for the rest of the fiscal year. Meanwhile, the House is considering a proposal to limit its members to one out-of-state trip each this fiscal year, said House Management Committee Chair J.P. Compretta, D-Bay St. Louis.

University leaders say they worry that talk of mergers will impact their ability to recruit students and raise money during a time when both are needed.

Federal regulators Thursday allowed Entergy Corp.'s subsidiaries in Mississippi and Arkansas to withdraw from an agreement that includes hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds for the utility's Louisiana customers.

NASCAR fans are helping the Mississippi Governor's Mansion get a small facelift.

A $75,000 award to a family who claimed Lisa Williams' death resulted from Laurel police officers' failure to arrest Kenneth Wilson after two distrubance calls has been thrown out by the Mississippi Supreme Court.

GREENVILLE, Miss. -- Environmental groups have intervened in a lawsuit filed by a Mississippi levee board over the Environmental Protection Agency's veto of a $220 million flood control project that dates back decades.

University of Southern Mississippi senior McKenzie C. Beilmann, 24, known as "Cole," planned on traveling internationally through a career in construction. He had his eye on South America. But his death in a two-vehicle accident Wednesday evening on U.S. 98 deprived him of that chance. Instead, it places him on a tragic list with six other Southern Miss students to die this semester.

The FBI is seeking to find family members of 33 people slain during the civil rights movement. A third of those killings took place in Mississippi, including that of Jimmie Lee Griffin, whose body was discovered on a highway near Sturgis on Sept. 24, 1965.

ATLANTA -- The first county-by-county survey of obesity reflects past studies that show the rate of obesity is highest in the Southeast and Appalachia, with two Alabama counties -- Greene and Dallas -- having adult obesity rates that are among the highest in the nation.

Indiana is mulling changes to how it estimates monthly revenues, while several states are considering mergers and consolidations of government agencies, universities, school districts and more to save money.

Indiana is mulling changes to how it estimates monthly revenues, while several states are considering mergers and consolidations of government agencies, universities, school districts and more to save money.

Some education leaders this week said Gov. Haley Barbour's K-12 budget recommendations would be almost impossible to implement, especially in one year.

Some South Mississippi lawmakers say given the state's current budget troubles, any option to save money should be on the table, but some of Gov. Haley Barbour's recent proposals are unlikely to pass.

Mississippi's mental hospital isn't properly equipped to handle a death-row inmate whose execution was blocked by a federal judge who ruled the inmate was insane, state authorities argued in court records.

TUPELO, Miss. -- City Council members voted 4-3 Tuesday in favor of allowing wine and liquor sales on Sundays in a move that opponents called "sneaky."

Junior Achievement of Mississippi was dissolved by its board Wednesday because of financial problems created by a large debt on its building and decreasing financial contributions.

The federal government on Tuesday agreed to assist the state's farmers after excessive rains in the spring and fall and a summer drought damaged nearly $500 million in crops. The Department of Agriculture designated 79 of the state's 82 counties natural disaster areas, opening the doors for farmers to apply for federal assistance programs.

Mississippi's community colleges are seeing record growth, but they are not immune from Gov. Haley Barbour's recommendations for widespread budget cuts and restructuring for the coming fiscal year.

Consolidating school districts is not a simple solution to the state's projected budget shortfalls, and Harrison County Superintendent Henry Arledge said Tuesday that it certainly won't be a quick one.