JACKSON -- Gov. Phil Bryant on Tuesday, flanked by Coast lawmakers, business and tourism leaders, signed into law a bill that would prevent Mississippi schools from starting before the third Monday in August, beginning in the 2014-2015 school year.

Beginning July 1, Aubrey K. Lucas will work out of an office in the building that bears his name at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Four community colleges in Mississippi have been chosen as finalists for the $1 million Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.

Four South Mississippi teachers are being honored today for their efforts in the classroom.

University of Southern Mississippi President Martha D. Saunders announced Tuesday that Vice President for Research Dr. Denis Wiesenburg has been named as the university’s next provost, pending approval by the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning. The change is effective July 1.

Enrollment at The University of Southern Mississippi has reached an all-time high, as a fourth-straight record freshman class and an emphasis on student retention have pushed overall enrollment up by nearly 5 percent.

MOSS POINT Representatives from the Mississippi Association of Educators are meeting with Moss Point teachers this morning about what to do if they've lost their jobs.

BILOXI — Students and staff at Biloxi High School are expected to return to class soon after police investigated a bomb threat at the school.

BILOXI Biloxi Superintendent Paul Tisdale told faculty and staff Monday morning that he is retiring at the end of June.

NASA will team with students at 17 high schools in four states -- including five in Mississippi -- to design and develop hardware and software models and products for use in the space program.

BILOXI The Biloxi School Board today will consider an offer from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for $1.5 million to reopen Nichols Elementary.

BILOXI About three dozen protesters interrupted a ceremony Friday morning to honor an elementary school that received a national honor.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College president Willis Lott has told the Sun Herald he is retiring.

Pearl River Community College this week enrolled more than 5,400 students for the first time in school history, PRCC officials announced today.

The Gulfport School District will cut more than $5 miillion from its budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Brad Shonk, a fourth-grade teacher at Nichols Elementary in Biloxi, has been named the Mississippi Teacher of the Year.

LONG BEACH The search committee for the vice president of the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast has narrowed the candidates to three, Dr. Betsy Vogel-Boze; Dr. Frances Lucas; and Dr. Andrew Rogerson. The candidates will visit the campus over the next two weeks.

BILOXI - Thirty-nine teachers in the Biloxi School District found out late Tuesday their contracts would not be renewed for the next school year.

GAUTIER University of South Alabama officials say they have decided not to accept an invitation at this time to place a satellite campus in Gautier, Miss., but USA will continue to provide the same educational services as in the past for students in coastal Mississippi.

St. Stanislaus College today announced the resignation of Paul Verlander as principal, effective Friday.