Editor’s Note | Sunshine Week Warning: Government Secrecy Leads to Mississippi Brain Drain
We hear so much hand-wringing about brain drain in Mississippi, but what we don’t talk about nearly enough is government secrecy.
We hear so much hand-wringing about brain drain in Mississippi, but what we don’t talk about nearly enough is government secrecy.
The Mississippi Free Press asked a court on Monday to hold that Mississippi House Republican Caucus meetings must be open to the public under the Open Meetings Act. Last year, the full Mississippi Ethics Commission rejected the Mississippi Free Press’ argument and declared that the Legislature is not a “public body” under the law.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is welcoming the end of affirmative action for race-conscious admissions to colleges and universities after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that institutions must use “race-neutral” criteria when admitting students.
Three Jackson residents will appeal a judge’s ruling that upheld House Bill 1020’s mandate for Mississippi’s white Supreme Court chief justice to appoint unelected judges to serve in majority-Black Hinds County, a coalition of organizations supporting their efforts said in a statement on Monday afternoon.
Three news outlets have allied to oppose former Gov. Phil Bryant’s effort to block the public from viewing emails and text messages that could shed new light on an ongoing investigation involving the misuse of federal welfare dollars.
“Petitioners’ claim fails because the State’s 1950 and 1968 enactments purged any taint from the 1890 law,” Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s Jan. 3, 2023, brief-in-opposition said.
Despite being a 38% Black state, the Mississippi Senate has just 12 Black members, who represent 23% of the 52-member body.
The Mississippi Center for Justice is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Jim Crow voting law that Mississippi’s white-supremacist leaders adopted in 1890 in an attempt to disenfranchise Black residents for life.
Mississippi election officials risk disenfranchising thousands of voters unless they make changes to ensure voters have access to accurate polling-site information, a coalition of civil-rights and voting-rights groups said in a letter to Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson on Friday, Oct. 14.
Mississippi Journalism and Education Group is a a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media organization (EIN 85-1403937) for the state, devoted to going beyond partisanship and publishing solutions journalism for the Magnolia State and all of its people.
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