Mississippi attorney general puts $66 M into state treasury

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says his office has put more than $66 million into the state treasury.

Hood says in a statement that the money was delivered Wednesday. Most of it came from settling a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies accused of inflating the price of drugs for the Mississippi Medicaid program.

Hood says he is asking legislators to spend nearly $11 million of the money to fight the use of heroin and synthetic drugs. He also recommends spending about $32 million to improve the struggling foster-care system.

Hood says that by April, the state should receive $150 million from a settlement announced last summer of the state's lawsuit over the 2010 BP oil spill. Gov. Phil Bryant says that money should be spent on the Gulf Coast.