Heading up the weekend entertainment lineup, Main Street has a drive-in movie on the Town Green this evening, and community theaters in west and east Biloxi have new productions.
You’ll find Cliff Thompson in the revival of “Forever Plaid” at Center Stage and “The Reunion” at Biloxi Little Theater. There’s also a rodeo at the Coast Coliseum, Funambula at the Beau Rivage, OAR at Hard Rock, and Sylvia Browne at IP.
For details on these events and others, courtesy of listings from the Mississippi Gulf Coast Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau, click here. For details on the BLT show, click here.
What you can do now to speed up next week’s school registration
Registration for Biloxi Public Schools will be Tuesday and Wednesday, July 23-24, but parents can take some steps now to speed up their registration process.
You can now apply for free or reduced school meals online. The process is quick, easy and free, and in a few short steps you’ll be done. Since the information you’re providing is electronic we’ll be able to review your application faster than ever before. To begin the process, click here.
Meantime, you should review the Registration page to see the documents you’ll need Tuesday or Wednesday, and you can even begin filling out registration forms now. To see the complete registration story, click here.
Popp’s Ferry bridge fender work expected to be complete by Oct. 6
Contractors working on a $280,000 project to repair the bridge fender sideswiped by a tug boat at the Popp’s Ferry bridge expect the work to be completed ahead of its Oct. 6 schedule.
The firm DNP began work this week to repair the wooden fender, which protects the bridge from vessels navigating the channel. The southwest fender was struck by a barge in May and the damaged section has been marked by navigational lights since then.
Work is scheduled to be completed by Oct. 6, but should be finished before then, contractors said.
Neither boaters nor motorists should be inconvenienced during the work.
The city, meantime, will pursue reimbursement from the firm operating the tug boat that struck the fender.
Webcasting: CAO discusses FEMA projects, audit and more
David Nichols, chief administrative officer for the City of Biloxi, tells the inside story on the latest audit of city finances, discusses ongoing FEMA projects and talks baseball. To listen to the 11-minute program, click here.
News and notes
City Council: The Biloxi City Council will face an agenda of nearly two dozen issues when it meets next week. Councilmembers will gather Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. to hear a review of the last city audit. For background on the audit, click here. Then at 1:30 p.m., councilmembers hold their regular meeting. To see agendas and supporting documents for both meetings, click here.
Storm and flood: Work has begun on the Storm & Flood Preparedness guide for 2013, but you don’t have to wait for the citywide mailout to begin preparing for storms and inclement weather. To visit the city’s online storm center – where you’ll find preparation information, evacuation routes and real-time radar for the entire Gulf Coast — click here.
Traffic update: To see the latest update on streets and drainage work from the Public Works Department, click here.
The white helmet: Three Biloxi firefighters — Kevin M. Powell, Robert R. Weikal, and Brian Rouse — were recently made captains, a move that returns the city to its full complement of 27 fire captains. The promotion ceremony — which took place before family and friends at the Lopez-Quave Public Safety Center on July 21 — also showcased the quick wit of then-Acting Fire Chief Mark Dronet. Will the new captains get white fire helmets, someone asked from the audience. Said the acting Chief: “Hey, I’m just trying to keep my own white helmet.” For the record, says new Fire Chief Joe Boney, Mark Dronet will indeed wear a white helmet as Assistant Chief of the Biloxi Fire Department.