Members of the Daughters of the American Revolution–Gulf Coast Chapter on Wednesday planted the first two trees on the grounds of the new West Harrison High School on County Farm Road.

BILOXI — Generous-spirited volunteers and employees from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino served up an early Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings to more than 300 homeless people at the Biloxi Town Green on Wednesday afternoon.

JACKSON — Most of the attention in Gov. Haley Barbour’s budget proposal has been focused on his plans to merge universities, consolidate school districts and close mental health centers.

PASCAGOULA — A Gulfport man jailed on burglary charges allegedly targeted homes of friends in the St. Martin community, Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd said Wednesday.

PASCAGOULA — Firefighters on Wednesday responded to a fire in the boys section of the Jackson County Youth Court detention facility.

The first major fundraising event by the Gulf Coast Community Foundation will fill Hard Rock Live with everything Italian from 6 to 9 tonight.

GULFPORT — Circuit Judge John Gargiulo on Wednesday sentenced Andrea McKay to life in prison for the murder of her ex-boyfriend.

Oyster harvest areas open

Some Mississippi Coast doctors and breast cancers survivors have joined the tidal surge of public opinion created when a government task force recommended fewer mammograms and to stop breast self-examination. New guidelines call for no routine mammograms before age 50 and none after 75.

NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Army Corps of Engineers’ failure to properly maintain a navigation channel led to massive flooding in Hurricane Katrina.

GULFPORT — The city might apply in 2010 for permits to build a commercial boat harbor south of downtown, provided demand is high for slips in the Small Craft Harbor being reconstructed after Hurricane Katrina.

GULFPORT — Police arrested Nicole Michelle Butler on an embezzlement charge Tuesday night from a complaint at PetSmart on Crossroads Parkway.

JACKSON COUNTY — A man whose escort service represents many of those arrested in a multi-agency sting on Nov. 5 has been arrested on a prostitution charge in connection with the undercover operation, authorities said Tuesday.

PASCAGOULA — Circuit Court Judge Dale Harkey issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for a D’Iberville man who failed to show up in court, where he was expected to plead guilty to charges related to a 2008 armed home invasion and robbery.

OCEAN SPRINGS — A search was under way Tuesday night for a suspect in a late-afternoon robbery at First Bank & Trust on U.S. 90.

With good schools, industry, travel hubs, higher education and shopping, Gulfport seems to have it all.

Registered Nurse Amber Dellenger was at Gorenflo Elementary on Tuesday to administer H1N1 flu vaccine shots to students at the school.

BILOXI — Biloxi real estate developer Scott DeLano took 53 percent of the vote Tuesday in unofficial results to beat Patrick Collins in the special election for state House District 117.

BILOXI — After 18 months of work, most City Council members are eager to adopt a comprehensive plan for the city and to put it to work.

Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway is out of town but left word with the City Council he plans to nominate a new candidate for police chief at the next meeting on Dec. 1.