Mississippi

Jesmyn Ward was struggling. Despite two master's degrees and five years of work experience, her job situation was difficult: She commuted an hour each way to a low-paying college teaching job. In her writing career, things were even worse. She sent out stories and got back rejection letters. Her agent tried and failed, and tried and failed again, to sell her book. "I almost gave up," Ward says. In the spring of 2008, she thought, "Maybe I should stop this. Maybe I should just quit and do something that would give me a steady, higher paycheck, like nursing.

'Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story' No MPAA rating Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes Playing at: Laemmle's Noho 7, North Hollywood

Phil Bryant will succeed Haley Barbour as governor of Mississippi, marking the first time in more than a century the state has replaced one Republican governor with another. Bryant, the lieutenant governor, led Democrat Johnny DuPree 60-40% with more than half of the precincts reporting. Republicans appeared set to claim all but one of the state's constitutional offices; Democrats failed to even mount candidates in three of them. Barbour, the former Republican National Committee chairman who flirted with a presidential bid, was term-limited.

A powerful, personal portrait of history's unfolding and its effect on the future, the documentary "Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story" is in equal measure a look at two families, the ongoing legacy of America's recent past and an essay on one man's moment of transformative courage. Director Raymond De Felitta (his last fiction feature was"City Island") does a noteworthy job of allowing those separate topics to feel distinct and give each equal consideration. In 1965, De Felitta's father Frank traveled to Greenwood, Miss., to make a documentary for NBC News.

The murder case of Emmett Till -- one of the most infamous slayings of the civil rights era -- appears to be drawing to a fruitless close 52 years after the black teenager whistled at a white woman, then turned up dead in Mississippi's Tallahatchie River. It was disclosed Tuesday that a grand jury in Leflore County, Miss.

The cost of executions is soaring, especially in the state that conducts the most: Texas. The reason? The necessary drugs have become increasingly hard to get. A year ago it cost the Texas Department of Criminal Justice $83.55 for the drugs used to carry out an execution -- sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. Then last March the state was forced to replace sodium thiopental with pentobarbital after the U.S. supplier of the former drug halted distribution amid international protests.

Jevan Snead recovered from a poor start to throw for two touchdowns and Dexter McCluster scored twice to lead No. 8 Mississippi to a 45-14 win over host Memphis on Sunday. Snead struggled for three quarters before breaking open a close game with scoring passes of 17 and 18 yards to McCluster and Markeith Summers . Brandon Bolden rushed for 71 yards in nine carries, scored one touchdown and set up another with a 28-yard run. It was the seventh straight win for the Rebels (1-0)

Bum, bum, bum, bum … As the Choctaw drummer settles into his cadence, nearly 100 men in blood-red shirts, shorts and bandannas huddle around their leader in a darkening high school parking lot beneath the golden glow of a floodlight. "Big night!" James Denson, the team's star player, shouts three times. At 6-foot-3, he's taller than most, a muscular 208 pounds and square-jaw handsome. His team, Beaver Dam, is just minutes away from playing in the championship game of an ancient and violent sport known as stickball, a cousin of lacrosse that is defiantly true to its American Indian roots.

Mississippi wasn't ready for the top five -- or South Carolina's defense. Star passer Jevan Snead was hounded all game and the fourth-ranked Rebels never got in gear, losing to South Carolina, 16-10, Thursday night at Columbia, S.C. South Carolina (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) had been 1-31 all-time against top-five foes but left Williams-Brice Stadium with the biggest win of Coach Steve Spurrier's five seasons. Spencer Lanning kicked three field goals and fullback Patrick DiMarco had a key two-yard touchdown catch for the Gamecocks.

Here in this Mississippi Delta county, they are waiting for the return of the slender man in the elegant suit -- the one who spoke, in a heavy Chinese accent, of a promise that couldn't have been more welcome or fashionable. It was the promise of a new green industry, with hundreds of green jobs. "I heard about it," said Claude Boyd, a 41-year-old farmhand out of work after the winter harvest. "I need it bad. I've got good references." Joey Lowery, 42 and also unemployed, sounded a skeptical note.

Jesmyn Ward was struggling. Despite two master's degrees and five years of work experience, her job situation was difficult: She commuted an hour each way to a low-paying college teaching job. In her writing career, things were even worse. She sent out stories and got back rejection letters. Her agent tried and failed, and tried and failed again, to sell her book. "I almost gave up," Ward says. In the spring of 2008, she thought, "Maybe I should stop this. Maybe I should just quit and do something that would give me a steady, higher paycheck, like nursing.

ATLANTA — Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill Monday imposing new restrictions on the state's sole abortion clinic that could force it to close its doors. The law is one of several recent state measures championed by antiabortion activists and passed largely by Republican allies. Last week, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a law that banned most abortions after 20 weeks. In March, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell signed a bill requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion.

LAS VEGAS - Following a national trend of new get-tough abortion legislation, Arizona has passed a law that severely restricts the procedure, banning most abortions after 20 weeks - setting the stage for another showdown between social conservatives and women's rights groups. With GOP Gov. Jan Brewer's signature on the Republication-sponsored legislation, Arizona took a stand on an issue that could become fodder during this year's presidential campaign. Proponents say the law protects fetuses, which they say can feel pain after five months of development.

The sole abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi could be forced to close under a bill headed to the desk of Gov. Phil Bryant, who has said he intends to sign it. The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported that the state Senate gave final legislative approval to the measure on Thursday. It now heads to Bryant, a Republican who was elected to lead the state in November -- at the same time an antiabortion "personhood" amendment failed when put to a statewide vote. During his first state of the state address in January, however, Bryant pledged he would not give up the fight.

ATLANTA -- Mississippi's controversial illegal immigration crackdown bill died in a state Senate committee Tuesday, bucking a trend in Deep South states for more-stringent enforcement efforts. Reportedly still afoot, however, are other legislative maneuvers to get the core elements of the bill onto the desk of recently elected Gov. Phil Bryant, a strong supporter of an Arizona-style immigration law. Pro-immigrant groups say they are not ready to declare victory until the legislative session ends next month.

A brutal killing last year brought back ugly memories for the people of Jackson, Miss. Hundreds of people marched in August -- an event reminiscent of the civil rights movement -- after a security camera recording showed that James C. Anderson was beaten and run over by white young adults in June. "There is a lot of general appall over what took place here," Ronnie C. Crudup Sr. told The Times during the march. "We wanted to get well-minded people, both black and white, together to do something to support this family and this country.

Mississippi's attorney general has set today as the deadline for the tobacco industry to reach a settlement of the state's Medicaid lawsuit against cigarette makers or go to trial. A spokesman for Mississippi Atty. Gen. Michael Moore said that if a settlement is not reached by noon PDT today , the state will proceed with the first of its Medicaid cases July 9 in Pascagoula, Miss. Moore plans to hold a news conference in Jackson, Miss.

I applaud the motion picture "Mississippi Burning," a gripping reminder of life in rural Mississippi 24 years ago. Millions of Americans have little idea about the oppression of black people in parts of the South then. I have been startled in my conversations with some young people to find that the opening scene of the film, in which a black youth reaches up to drink from a water fountain marked "Colored," came as a revelation to them. How clear it is that young men and women today know little of the segregation and social isolation to which blacks were subjected at that time; how little they know of the brutalities of the Ku Klux Klan--the lynchings, the beatings, the burnings and the castrations.

Could this be a paddlewheel renaissance? Maybe, but not in that creaky, 19th century way. Some new Victorian-style riverboats plying the Mississippi and other U.S. rivers this year will come tricked out with large balconies, Wi-Fi in every stateroom and satellite TVs. American Cruise Lines said Tuesday it plans to build a new paddlewheel ship to add to its U.S. river fleet. The news comes as the finishing touches are being put on the Connecticut-based company's brand-new Queen of the Mississippi, which is set to make its inaugural cruise from New Orleans on the Mississippi River in August.

Rick Santorum has won the Mississippi GOP presidential primary, according to an Associated Press projection, following his earlier triumph in neighboring Alabama on Tuesday. The dual victories are a major boost to the former Pennsylvania senator's campaign at a time when the primary calendar favors him. He's spending tonight in Louisiana, another deeply conservative state which holds a March 24 primary. Speaking at his campaign headquarters there, Santorum rallied his supporters with what he portrayed as another against-the-odds turn in his underdog campaign.