FOCUS: 2022 Elections • Housing & Evictions • #MSWelfare Scandal • Jackson Water • Abortion • Race & Racism • Policing • Incarceration
Mississippi’s Department of Archives and History’s board will continue to pick its own appointees, with Senate approval, after the Mississippi House rejected a bill that would have turned power to select board members over to the governor and lieutenant governor.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba and Lt. Gov Delbert Hosemann met today at the Capitol for a “respectful conversation,” in the mayor’s words, to discuss a concrete plan to address Jackson’s short-term water-system needs. The meeting was a preface to the much more complex discussion of how to permanently address the city’s aging water infrastructure.
Mississippi Critterz board member Janice Antonow announced that Oxford’s animal shelter will be closing temporarily after months of rumors, leaks, and photos circulating of sick animals in unhygienic and crowded conditions. “We don’t have specific plans right now for the shelter,” Antonow said March 8. “I do know we’re going to close down, at least temporarily.”
Incarcerated pregnant women and mothers of minor children will gain new protections under Mississippi law after the state senators, like their House colleagues, unanimously passed House Bill 196, “The Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act,” on Thursday.
The Mississippi Legislature’s efforts to introduce new purges of registered voters have run out of time in 2021, a casualty of a tighter session than
As Gov. Tate Reeves lifted mask mandates on March 3, 2021, some cities like Hattiesburg extended their rules. Others, including Oxford, did not. Meantime, local businesses hoped to recoup lost business despite ongoing risks.
A non-partisan congressional ethics board says it found “substantial evidence” that U.S. House Rep. Steven Palazzo, a Mississippi Republican who represents the state’s 4th Congressional District, may have repeatedly violated federal law, including by misusing campaign funds and using his office for campaign purposes and to do favors for a family member.
Mississippi’s K-12 public-school teachers may still get a $1,000 pay raise after lawmakers in the House and Senate reached a last-minute agreement. Some feared the raise could become a casualty amid a legislative impasse over a House tax-reform bill.
Despite federal pandemic warnings, Gov. Tate Reeves put an end to Mississippi’s statewide mask and gathering requirements today, leaving the state’s COVID-19 precautions in the hands of counties, municipalities and individual businesses.
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