PASCAGOULA, Miss. – Officials signed a contract with a construction company to begin work on building the Mississippi Maritime Museum. The first phase will be renovation of the band hall of the former Pascagoula High School into a 3,000 square-foot Maritime Activity Center. The second phase calls for renovating another former high school building into an interim museum. Officials hope to build a permanent museum on Lowry Island featuring the retired USS Ticonderoga, a guided missile cruiser built and based in Pascagoula. State legislators agreed to borrow $100,000 to help fund the museum as part of the bond bill they passed this year. (Source: gulflive, 05/05/16)