The Biloxi City Council, with a roomful of citizens on hand at City Hall to speak for or against the city flying the state flag, opted this afternoon to table a vote on the issue and seek an attorney general’s opinion.
Councilmembers voted 6 to 1, with Councilmember Robert L. Deming III as the lone dissenter, to ask the attorney general if the council’s proposed ordinance requiring the city to fly the state flag at municipal facilities would be valid or if the mayor had authority over city facilities.
A host of citizens at the meeting spoke on the issue during the meeting.
The City Council is considering the flag ordinance after Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich weeks ago ordered that the U.S. flag be flown exclusively at city facilities.
During the meeting, councilmembers also voted to hire litigants to represent the city in any pending litigation against CSX and to spend $400,000 as the city portion of a $2 million pedestrian bridge over U.S. 90 at MGM Park. The majority of the project will be federally funded.
Councilmembers, during a morning meeting, heard from proponents of the mayor’s initiative to create a temporary shelter and homeless assessment center at the former Beauvoir Elementary School in west Biloxi.
See photos from the City Council meeting this afternoon
C-USA is here now, and the Saints are on deck
The Conference USA baseball championship tournament gets underway Wednesday morning at 9 at MGM Park with No. 6 seed Rice (27-29) facing No. 3 seed Florida Atlantic (33-19-1), and the New Orleans Saints and the Kids Experience are already on deck for a return appearance to Biloxi and MGM Park.
Wednesday’s C-USA play includes four games in all, with No. 7 FIU (31-25) facing No. 2 seed Old Dominion at 12:30 p.m., top-seeded Southern Miss (44-12) play No. 8 seed UTSA (28-26) at 4 p.m. and in the nightcap No. 4 Charlotte (32-22) taking on No. 5 Louisiana Tech (36-18), at 7 p.m. Four more games are scheduled Thursday and play continues daily through Sunday.
Meantime, the Saints Hall of Fame Weekend returns to Biloxi June 9-10 with a golf tournament, a Kids Experience at MGM Park, and an autograph and picture day at the Great Lawn in east Biloxi. Big news this year: Players from the current Saints lineup will join Hall of Famers on the Biloxi weekend.
Read about the Saints Hall of Fame weekend
See a reminder on C-USA play, bracket and more
News and notes
House fire: Two dozen Biloxi firefighters spent an hour extinguishing a fire at a two-story house on First Street in east Biloxi this morning. To see video from the scene, click here. To see images from the blaze, click here.
Fire festival: The Biloxi Fire Department, along with the West End Hose Co. No. 3 Fire Museum, will present the Jump into Summer Festival on Saturday and Sunday on the Biloxi Town Green. The festival will include a kid’s firefighter challenge, bounce houses, food and more. To see the event flyer, click here.
The week that was: So what was the big news last week? The Biloxi Police, Fire and Community Development departments give you a detailed report each week in the online Weekly Report. To see last week’s report, click here.
