By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard Delta Express manager Scott Phipps changes the sign yesterday to show the new price of gas at $3.29 per gallon. Motorists driving by shouted obscenities out the window as Phipps was changing the sign. (James Clark photo) Panic in the wake of Hurricane Katrina has…

By ROBERT TANNER / AP National Writer Going online to buy the latest bestseller or those photos from summer vacation may be tax free for most people today, but it won’t last forever. Come this fall, 13 states will start encouraging — though not demanding — that online businesses collect sales taxes just as Main…

By KEVIN HALPERN / Online Director / SouthernStandard.com The lowest form of human life are already crawling out of the woodwork. Are they the people looting and pillaging in New Orleans? No, they are the people who are blaming President Bush for Hurricane Katrina and its devastation. Those people include politicians, political wanna-bees, political commentators…

MEMPHIS (AP) — The state Democratic Party backed former state Sen. John Ford’s sister in a challenge of her primary win for Ford’s old state Senate seat. Barring a court challenge, Ophelia Ford will remain the party’s nominee for a Sept. 15 special election to replace her brother in Shelby County’s heavily Democratic Senate District…

ERWIN (AP) — A man at a court clerk’s office to pay a fine for public intoxication passed out on a bench while waiting, but the real stinger to the story was the scorpion he brought along. James W. Fitzpatrick, 27, went to the Unicoi County General Sessions Court on Tuesday and drew the attention…

By BETH RUCKER / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE — Tennessee officials have scored a victory in a legal fight to bring one of Mississippi’s largest charitable foundations back to Nashville. A Nashville judge has ruled that Robin G. Costa, the president of the Maddox Foundation, illegally moved the $100 million nonprofit group to Hernando, Miss.…

By LUCAS L. JOHNSON II / Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE — The state announced Wednesday the awarding of a new contract to a TennCare contractor suspected of paying consulting fees to a former state senator indicted on federal bribery charges. Doral Dental was the lowest bidder and achieved a score higher than six other competitors,…

By WOODY BAIRD / Associated Press Writer MEMPHIS — With thousands of refugees from Hurricane Katrina stuck in Memphis for who knows how long, city officials are making long-term plans to care for them. Memphis school officials announced Wednesday that classrooms are opening for children left homeless by the storm. “The key for us at…

By DAVE GOLDBERG / AP Football Writer There is only one certainty about the New Orleans Saints’ future: They will live and work out of the Marriott Riverwalk in San Antonio for a while. Beyond that, question marks abound. It’s highly unlikely they’ll be able to hold their home opener Sept. 18 at the Superdome…

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NCAA wants university officials and student-athletes to focus on recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina rather than worry about infractions, schedule changes or travel restrictions. To help, college athletics’ governing body may temporarily adjust some of its most restrictive rules. Steve Mallonee, the NCAA’s managing director for membership services, said Wednesday the…