SUMMARY: Mississippi State University astrophysicist Angelle Tanner leads a $19.5 million NASA mission to place an artificial star in Earth's orbit under the NASA Astrophysics Pioneers program. The mission aims to calibrate telescopes to measure star brightness accurately, assisting in the study of the universe's expansion. Tanner's $300,000 sub-grant project employs cubesats with National Institute of Standards and Technology-calibrated lasers. The artificial star will address uncertainties in astrophysics measurements, impacting exoplanet properties and cosmic structure. The mission honors LSU Professor Arlo Landolt. For updates, visit George Mason University's dedicated mission page.

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SUMMARY: Former Pearl police officer Michael Christian Green has been sentenced to one year in federal prison for forcing a detainee to lick urine off the floor of a jail cell. Green, 26, pleaded guilty in March to depriving the individual of his civil rights under color of law. U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew S. Harris imposed the maximum sentence. The victim, arrested after a disturbance at Sam's Club, urinated in a cell corner when not allowed to relieve himself. Green threatened him with violence, demanding he lick the urine. Green must also undergo anger management and one year of supervised probation post-release. The FBI, with the Pearl Police Department's assistance, investigated the case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel Goff.

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SUMMARY: Linda Hunt, a 49-year-old woman from Crowder, was the final defendant sentenced in a large-scale drug trafficking case in North Mississippi. Hunt pleaded guilty to methamphetamine distribution and received a 23-year prison sentence followed by five years of supervised release. She led a trafficking ring dismantled after a nearly three-year investigation involving 12 agencies. Nineteen other individuals were previously convicted, with each receiving at least 18 months in prison. U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner emphasized the significance of the case, demonstrating the severe consequences for drug dealers through a collaborative multi-agency effort as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces operation.

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