MFP Contributor
The Friends of the Ridgeland Library has now delivered half the $110,000 fund raised in support of the Madison County Library System. This money fills the hole left over after Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee defunded the library of the same amount following complaints against LGBTQ+ content in the collection and visible on the shelves, claiming an expired contract.
COVID-19 is still continuing a sharp decline in Mississippi, but the state continues to under-use the available supply of oral antivirals, meaning that even more preventable death—especially in unvaccinated individuals—is occurring.
A Ridgeland Board of Aldermen meeting scheduled to address the city’s library contract quickly morphed into a raucous referendum on LGBTQ+ books and the actions of Mayor Gene McGee on Tuesday night. Twenty speakers took to a podium in front of a packed hall to speak their part before the board departed for an executive session, deliberating for over two hours out of the public eye.
Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee’s attempt to censor the content of the city’s public library of what he calls “sexual content” is set for a resolution tonight. Protesters from an organization that believes that LGBTQ+ people practice “sexual perversion” plan to crowd the meeting and speaker list in support of the mayor’s book-banning plan.
The omicron surge has likely passed its tipping point in Mississippi, declining on a quick trajectory comparable to delta’s sudden fall. New cases have fallen sharply this week, but surveillance in the state’s hospital system is a more valuable sign of decreasing transmission.
The 2022 Legislative Session has been remarkably rapid, compared to some of the gridlock seen in the Mississippi Capitol during the pandemic era. With the deadline for general bills to pass out of their original chamber approaching this Thursday, some of the session’s most significant goals are already checked off.
The Mississippi Senate has unveiled its income-tax plan, challenging the House’s charge toward full elimination of the State’s income tax. As Senate Finance Committee leadership previously hinted, the Senate bill’s aim is to eliminate the 4% income-tax bracket, while leaving the top income-tax bracket of 5% intact.
Mississippi may have arrived at the peak of the omicron wave, with cases and hospitalizations pausing a dizzying climb that began with the new year. But the ongoing surge, combined with significant lingering damage to the health-care system, continues to roil the state’s hospitals and intensive-care units.
Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee is withholding $110,000 of funding from the Madison County Library System allegedly on the basis of his personal religious beliefs, with library officials stating that he has demanded that the system initiate a purge of LGBTQ+ books before his office releases the money.
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