Ellington

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — The state of Mississippi has bought 217 more acres of Cat Island to set aside for public use.

About one-third of Cat Island is part of the National Park Service's Gulf Islands National Seashore and BP purchased about one-third of the island following the 2010 oil spill from the Boddie family, which also owned the 217-acre portion the state is buying.

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said Thursday that purchase price is $8 million. He says $528,000 is coming from state tidelands funds, which come from casino leases, plus about $5 million in federal oil spill settlement funds and $1.2 million in Federal Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program funds.

Hosemann is also using $1.3 million that had been set aside to purchase Deer Island but not needed.