Thompson Named New ECCC Men’s Basketball Coach (May 2013).doc

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The agency reports 3,022 Individual Training Accounts (ITAs) totaling over
$11 million were issued in a twelve month period. MDES tracked the wages
earned by participants. Annual wages calculated for the participants
equaled over $67 million, almost $56 million more than was spent on the
training. The ROI for this training program during this time period was
$5.02 for every one dollar spent on training.

According to Mark Henry, MDES Executive Director, ³This training program
empowers Mississippians by improving their job skills, and then those
improved job skills make Mississippi employers more competitive. For both of
those reasons, this training program helps expand our state¹s economy.²

Federal funding for the ITA program is provided through the Workforce
Investment Act and is administered by the state¹s four Local Workforce
Investment Areas. Funds are paid to eligible trainers, such as community
colleges. Participants of the ITA program may choose the field in which
they want to be trained, with each local workforce area setting the priority
for spending of funds. Training is generally limited to occupations that
pay high wages and are in high demand by employers. More than 180 courses
are currently provided in fields ranging from nursing to welding and from
truck driving to heating & air conditioning certification. Seven of the top
ten courses with the highest ROI are in the medical sector.

ROI_ITA_edited2.doc

John A. Brown, age 61, of Logan Drive in Starkville, appeared before Judge
Lee Coleman in Oktibbeha County today and plead guilty to one count
possession of child pornography. Judge Coleman sentenced Brown to 20 years,
15 suspended, five to serve with five years post release supervision. The
Judge also slapped Brown with a $50,000 fine and he must register as a sex
offender upon his release.

³An undercover investigation by our Cyber Crime Unit and our Internet Crimes
Against Children Task Force caught this defendant downloading child
pornography,² said Attorney General Hood.

This case was prosecuted by Special Assistant Attorney General Brandon
Ogburn of the Attorney General¹s Cyber Crime Division.

Jackson, Miss.‹Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, along with several
members of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Legislative Delegation, announced the
purchase by the citizens of the State of Mississippi of a significant
portion of Cat Island, one of the barrier islands located off the
Mississippi Gulf Coast.

³The acquisition of such a pristine ecological portion of land is a
significant step in the preservation of Cat Island for public use,² says
Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. ³This purchase brings us one step
closer to protecting Cat Island for future generations to enjoy.²

Through several different funding mechanisms, the State of Mississippi was
able to acquire approximately 217 acres of Cat Island from a private
landowner at minimal cost to the State.

³We had the opportunity to purchase this portion of Cat Island primarily
through settlement funds and federal grants,² says Secretary Hosemann.
³Just as the State secured funding for Deer Island in the past, this
purchase is yet another investment in conserving the natural resources of
Mississippi¹s Barrier Islands.²

The total purchase price for Cat Island is $8-Million, with only $528,000
coming from Tidelands funds. Tidelands funds are generated from casino
leases and assessments and allocated by the Mississippi Gulf Coast
Legislative Delegation for projects on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Funding for the purchase is as follows:

MOEX Offshore 2007 (Federal oil spill settlement funds):
$4,987,326

CELCP (Federal Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program):
$1,206,575

Reallocation of Deer Island Bond Funds:
$1,277,943

Tidelands Fund Appropriation
$528,155

Cat Island is the westernmost island of the five Barrier Islands which form
the southern boundary of the State of Mississippi. The island lies roughly
eight to ten miles south of the mainland coast of Mississippi and is the
only Mississippi barrier island with significant acreage remaining in
private ownership.

MISSISSIPPI STATE — Mississippi State University architecture students
designed a sustainable home that can provide its own electricity, water
supply and food for a family of four.

In the final project of a sustainable design class, the students turned
theoretical principles into a practical home and landscape. They designed
all aspects of a self-supporting, modern homestead, including features like
solar energy use, rainwater harvesting, wastewater management, and gardens,
trees and shrubs to provide a year-round food supply.

Pete Melby taught the regenerative design technology class in MSU¹s
Department of Landscape Architecture. His undergraduate and graduate
students studied various elements of sustainable home and landscape design.

³We started with an overview, then looked at food, water, buildings, energy,
waste management and land management,² Melby said. ³We studied all of these
human life support systems this semester, and the students created
sustainable home landscape projects to tie up their work for the year.²

Spencer Buisson, a junior landscape architecture major from Brandon,
explained how the class looked at each piece of the home and landscape from
a sustainability perspective.

³We found that a south-facing overhang was one of the most important aspects
of our design project, as it helped with the heating and cooling seasons,²
Buisson said.

Mason Snider, a senior landscape contracting student from Birmingham, looked
at how energy-efficient planting design and food production fit into the
master plan. His plan carefully placed trees that would not only provide
food, but also privacy from the street and shade in the summer, while
allowing the sun to heat the house in the winter. He also planned for
convenience.

³I put a raised-bed garden outside the back door so you wouldn¹t have to
walk far to get your vegetables,² Snider said.

Will Stockton, a senior landscape architecture major from Hernando, designed
a home that produced energy and emitted less carbon dioxide than a
traditional house. His plan used photovoltaic panels to capture solar energy
and transform it into electricity for the house or to contribute to the
power grid.

Michael Vampran, a senior landscape architecture and landscape contracting
student from Jackson, looked at energy efficiency. He shared a variety of
passive techniques to take advantage of available light and to heat and cool
the home efficiently.

³I looked at the roof overhangs and placed them so they would let in the
heat and light in the winter but shield the house from the sun¹s direct rays
in the summer,² Vampran said.

Sara Lamb, a graduate student from Jackson working on her landscape
architecture degree, focused on harvesting rainwater to use in the landscape
and as a back-up drinking water supply.

³I calculated the water needs for the number of people in the household and
what kind of rainfall they might have,² Lamb said. ³Then I calculated the
catchment area needed to collect this water.²

A sloped metal roof for the house would allow a homeowner to collect 90
percent of the rainfall. Using the dimensions of her 2,100-square-foot
proposed house, Lamb said she could collect 756 gallons of water from 1/8
inch of rain and 1,890 gallons from 2 inches of rain.

She proposed storing the water in two linked, underground cisterns after
filtering it and treating it with an ultraviolet light chamber to make it
potable. Such a system could provide a two-week water supply, Lamb said.

Ben Wei, a master of landscape architecture graduate student from China,
worked to design a clean sewage treatment arrangement for the proposed
house. His system included a traditional septic tank, a rock reed filtering
bed and a plan for using the treated water in the home landscape.

Patrick Johnson, a master of landscape architecture graduate student from
Dallas, calculated how much food could be produced on a typical quarter-acre
house lot. Seasonal vegetables and fruit trees and bushes can supply the
7,770 servings of fruits and vegetables a family of four needs each year.

Johnson estimated a fall garden could supply 1,200 servings while spring and
summer gardens could each supply 1,100 servings. The biggest harvest would
be 4,900 fruit servings from the trees and shrubs.

Melby said the project allowed the students to see what these concepts look
like in a real-life setting. Melby created a website to explain 30 ways of
reducing energy use in a typical home by 70 to 90 percent; the web address
is http://www.energyusereduction.com.

Jackson, Miss – The Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC) is pleased to announce
that applications are now being accepted for the agency¹s Minigrant program.
The upcoming application deadline is Monday, June 3, 2013. MAC offers two
Minigrant deadlines each year (June 1 and November 1) to assist with smaller
arts projects around the state.

Minigrants for organizations are designed to meet a wide variety of needs in
Mississippi communities, schools, and arts organizations and to stimulate
arts projects in rural and underserved communities. Non-profit organizations
or local government entities may apply for up to $1,000 to support
presentations by members of the MAC¹s Artist Roster, or to support
professional development efforts for an arts organization. An organization
may receive one minigrant per fiscal year.

Professional-level artists may apply through the Artist Minigrant program to
support promotion efforts, attending a professional workshop, or to purchase
artistic supplies.

Complete grant guidelines and application forms are available on MAC’s
website at www.arts.ms.gov or call 601-359-6030
for more details. First time applicants are strongly encouraged to call and
speak with a MAC staff member about their project before submitting an
application.

The Mississippi Arts Commission is a state agency, funded by the Mississippi
Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mississippi Endowment
for the Arts at the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson, and other
private sources. MAC is the official grants-making and service agency for
the arts in Mississippi. The agency serves as an active supporter and
promoter of arts in community life and in arts education.

Like many home gardeners, I used to put plants in my landscape without
worrying about labels because I was sure I¹d remember what was planted
where. And like most of you, I would end up scratching my head wondering
what I had planted where.

One of the best gardening tips I can share, especially in the spring when
you¹re putting so many new things out, is to label your landscape plants.

You don¹t have to buy plant tags to do this. Most gardeners have items lying
around the house that are perfect. DIY plant tags can give your garden and
landscape a custom look and add interest as pieces of garden art. They can
be plain or fancy. Use your imagination and creativity.
Making plant tags is a great way to get kids interested in the garden.

Since much of the garden ends up on the dinner table, it makes perfect sense
to use kitchen utensils for garden tags.

Recycling wooden kitchen utensils only takes markers and a little paint. If
you don¹t have any to recycle, buy some at the local dollar store. Paint
them, write the plant name, and then apply a clear coat of polyurethane to
help keep the tag readable all season long.

A fun idea I found browsing online is to use antique metal spoons as plant
markers for the herb garden. The spoons are easily flattened, and you can
use letter punches available from the hardware store to customize each one
for the particular herb grown. These plant tags are permanent, and they
provide a new way to display your spoon collection.

My wife was looking for tags to use in her mint garden and came up with
another nice DIY idea. She printed the variety of mint on a mailing label
and used clear tape to protect the label and secure it to a wooden
clothespin. Using a bamboo skewer as a stake, she can reposition the
clothespin as needed to remain readable as the mint grows. The tags get a
natural look as the materials weather.

Some of my favorite recycled tags are old Venetian blind slats. One set
could provide plant tags for many seasons. Simply cut the slats into 4- to
6-inch lengths. If you are not ready to redecorate and remove your current
window treatments, see if your local home improvement store can give you
leftover slats or loose ends from custom-cut venetian blinds.

I¹ve learned a few lessons as I¹ve made my own plant tags. Perhaps the most
important one is to make sure tags remain readable. Don¹t use ink that will
run when the tag gets wet.

It may seem logical to use permanent marker pens since they write on nearly
anything and come in so many colors. The downside is that ink fades rather
quickly, even the black ones. Industrial varieties last a little longer, but
even these will fade in time.

The best writing instrument I have found for plant tags is a simple, soft
lead pencil like an HB or a 2B. You can find these at office supply or hobby
stores. Pencils work great as long as the surface of the tag is a little bit
rough. For really smooth surfaces, you are probably stuck with the markers.
Making and using your own plant tags in the garden as markers clearly
states, ³That¹s my garden.²

Yokohama will invest $300 million in the initial project phase, with future
expansions potentially increasing the company¹s investment to more than $1
billion. Yokohama expects to create 500 new jobs. Potential future
expansions are expected to bring total employment at the plant up to 2,000
jobs.

Expected to be operational by October 2015, the new facility will have the
capacity to produce one million tires per year.

³Yokohama has been in business for more than 90 years, making some of the
most durable tires in the market,² Gov. Bryant said. ³Now, the company is
expanding that same quality of manufacturing to Mississippi. With the
potential of creating 2,000 jobs, this project speaks not only to our
commitment to a quality workforce but an environment for growth and
expansion. I appreciate Yokohama and specifically CEO Hikomitsu Noji for
their support of Mississippi and our citizens.²

³This is an historic day for Yokohama,² said Hikomitsu Noji, YTC¹s chief
executive officer, president and representative director of the Yokohama
Rubber Co. Ltd., YTC¹s parent company in Japan. ³The building of a new plant
in the U.S. confirms our commitment to the North American marketplace. I¹d
like to thank Governor Phil Bryant and the State of Mississippi for their
fortitude in bringing this to fruition.²

Gov. Bryant called the Legislature into special session on April 26 to vote
on an incentive package in support of the project. Lawmakers approved $70
million for the initial project and total bonding capacity up to $130
million for future expansions at the facility. State assistance includes
funding for the purchase of the land where Yokohama¹s facility will be
located and for site preparation, infrastructure improvements and workforce
training.

Clay County, West Point, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Tennessee
Valley Authority and Atmos Energy provided assistance for the project, as
well.

³We are grateful that Yokohama Tire Corporation has placed its confidence in
our strong business climate and its trust in our capable, dedicated
workforce, and I am certain those two assets will help ensure the company
thrives in West Point,² said Mississippi Development Authority Executive
Director Brent Christensen. ³I thank our partners in West Point, Clay County
and the Golden Triangle Development LINK, along with our utility partners
and colleagues at the Appalachian Regional Commission, who worked so
diligently to make this project possible. This is a great day for the state
of Mississippi.²

The West Point facility, the company¹s first U.S. facility to be built from
the ground up, will be located on a 500-acre site with construction slated
to begin in September of this year. Yokohama also has operations in Salem,
Va., where the company manufactures consumer passenger car and light truck
tires.

Additional details regarding the company¹s construction timeline and hiring
processes will be made available online at www.yokohamams.org.

Yokohama Tire Corporation is the North American manufacturing and marketing
arm of Tokyo, Japan-based The Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd., a global
manufacturing and sales company of premium tires since 1917. Servicing a
network of more than 4,500 points of sale in the U.S., Yokohama Tire
Corporation is a leader in technology and innovation. The company¹s complete
product line includes the all-new AVID® Ascend — the first mass-market
tire using Yokohama¹s breakthrough orange oil technology ­ as well as tires
for high-performance, light truck, passenger car, commercial truck and bus,
and off-the-road mining and construction applications. For more information
on Yokohama¹s extensive product line, please visit www.yokohamatire.com
.