About 6,000 Mississippi third graders may not advance to the fourth grade, after the Mississippi Board of Education set a passing score on the state's third-grade reading test.

Without the dispute over Jones leaving Ole Miss to distract them, more members of the general public might have noticed the train wreck on the board that coordinates the state’s 15 community and junior colleges.

Craftsmen recently coated the statue with a fresh layer of 23-and-¾ karat gold leaf. That's about $10,000 worth of material manufactured in Italy especially for this project.

Destinations are connected by the so-called "Gold Record Road," which is made up of Interstate 40 from Nashville to Memphis, Highway 61 from Memphis to New Orleans, and the Natchez Trace Parkway from Nashville to Natchez, Mississippi.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections plans to end the Joint State County Work Programs beginning Aug. 1.