This Hour: Latest Mississippi news, sports, business and entertainment - Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee

RAPPER-ARREST WARRANT

Warrant issued for rapper Tim Dog

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi authorities have issued an arrest warrant for rapper Tim Dog, apparently doubting reports in February that the singer had died.

On Tuesday, authorities in Desoto County, near Memphis, Tenn., issued a warrant for his arrest alleging he hasn't paid restitution from a 2011 grand larceny conviction.

Tim Dog, 46, whose real name is Timothy Blair, is best known for a 1990s song "F--- Compton."

He was sentenced in August 2011 to 14 days in jail and five years on probation for allegedly swindling $32,000 from a woman who met him on an online dating site. He was ordered to pay about $19,000 in restitution.

The warrant says he hasn't paid.

PELLET PLANT LAWSUIT

Federal rules for Pike Co. in contract dispute

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A federal jury in Jackson has found for Pike County in a breach-of-contract lawsuit against a wood pellet company that never built a promised mill.

The Enterprise-Journal the jury's verdict was handed down Tuesday.

Indeck Energy Services of Buffalo Grove, Ill., bought land from Pike County in 2008 with plans to build a $17 million plant that would have employed 20 people.

But the project was abandoned, and county supervisors filed suit in 2010 seeking to buy back the 16-acre property for the original $128,400 purchase price.

It was the second trial in the lawsuit. A mistrial was declared in 2012 when a jury couldn't reach a verdict.

Indeck contended it met the terms of the contract by spending $1.8 million on site improvements.

MARGARITAVILLE BILOXI

Margaritaville Biloxi turns one

BILOXI, Miss. (AP) - A year after thousands danced to the tunes of Jimmy Buffett at the May 22, 2012, opening of the Margaritaville Casino, crowds have thinned and management has changed.

It was the first casino to open in South Mississippi since Hard Rock in 2007 in Biloxi.

Now, Margaritaville is moving aggressively with major additions; the first of which is a hotel.

Margaritaville CEO Doug Shipley told WLOX-TV in Biloxi that a feasibility study will help determine what level of hotel it's going.

Shipley says after plans for the hotel are finalized, construction should being sometime later this year

Shipley says more slots are being moved in and the buffet is being redesigned.

Marketing the new amenities will be a top priority in the future.

DESOTO COUNTY SALARIES

DeSoto Co. agrees to salary survey

HERNANDO, Miss. (AP) - DeSoto County will pay $12,400 for a study on salaries of local employees.

The Commercial Appeals reports that Board of Supervisors President Mark Gardner says officials have discussed the study for some time.

Gardner says officials need to know how the county's pay "stacks up with other county governments of comparable size and with private business."

Officials say Mississippi State University's John C. Stennis Institute of Government will complete the survey of county salaries and makes recommendations.

The project is to be completed by Nov. 30, according to the Scope of Work proposal approved by supervisors.

The Stennis Institute has been doing such studies for years, most recently for the city of Starkville.

RED SNAPPER FIGHT

Gulf anglers get longer red snapper season

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Gulf of Mexico anglers will have a longer red snapper season than they thought.

Federal regulators had said the season would be nine to 28 days depending on the state. But a week before opening, NOAA Fisheries announced that the recreational red snapper season in federal waters will be 17 to 34 days.

NOAA says updated recreational landings data and new information from Louisiana and Texas prompted the change.

The federal recreational season opens June 1.

The season off Mississippi and Alabama - which set their state season to match federal dates - changes from 28 days to 34.

The federal season off Texas rises from 12 days to 17. Florida's increases from 21 days to 26. Louisiana anglers will get 24 days rather than nine.

CHILDS APPEAL

Woman loses appeal of conviction in shooting death

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The Mississippi Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of an Oktibbeha County woman in the shooting death of her husband.

Verina Childs was convicted of murder in 2011 and was sentenced to life in prison.

Prosecutors say Douglas Childs was shot to death in 2009 while he and wife were hunting. They say a bullet recovered from the body matched her rifle.

Verina Childs argued she was a home when the shooting occurred because she had gotten sick while out in the woods. She said she learned of her husband's death when a neighbor came by.

The Supreme Court found Thursday that Verina Childs offered no evidence to support her hunting accident theory and prosecutors proved murder in what was a circumstantial evidence case.

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