BY RALPH D. RUSSO The NCAA and the nation’s five biggest conferences announced Thursday night that they have agreed to pay nearly $2.8 billion to settle a host of antitrust claims, a monumental decision that sets the stage for a groundbreaking revenue-sharing…
BILOXI, Miss. (AP) — Private recreational anglers and for-hire vessels get their chance at red snapper beginning at 12:01 a.m. Friday when the 2024 season opens in Mississippi, state regulators said Tuesday. Anglers landing in Mississippi may harvest two red…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Gov. Tate Reeves has signed legislation that will change the way the state pays for public schools, ditching a formula that brought political pressure on lawmakers because they usually budgeted less money than required. Republican Reeves…
BY PETER SMITH CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — United Methodist delegates repealed their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate on Wednesday, removing a rule forbidding “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as ministers. Delegates voted 692-51 at their General Conference —…
BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Medicaid expansion plan endorsed by leaders in the Republican-led Mississippi Legislature could struggle for bipartisan support because it includes a work requirement that is unlikely to receive federal approval, the state House Democratic leader…
BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi would ditch a complex school funding formula that legislators have largely ignored since it became law a generation ago and replace it with a new plan that some lawmakers say is simpler…
BY MICHAEL R. SISAK AND DAVE COLLINS NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein ’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with “egregious” improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify…
MEXICO CITY (AP) — They prowl through palace gardens stalking pigeons and make cameos on televised press briefings. Some greet tourists at the doors, while others take a sneaky lick of ice cream from staff. Nineteen feral cats have free…
LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson, the decorated football superstar and Hollywood actor who was acquitted of charges he killed his former wife and her friend but later found liable in a separate civil trial, has died. He was 76. Simpson’s…
BY MICHAEL GOLDBERG BRANDON, Miss. (AP) — Already sentenced to many years in federal prison, six white former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to a long list of state and federal charges for torturing two Black men were sentenced…
BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi lawmakers are unlikely to create a new funding formula for public schools this year, after senators blocked a House proposal Tuesday — an action that creates tension during the final weeks of a four-month…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — After men near Mississippi’s capital were buried in a pauper’s cemetery without their relatives’ knowledge, the U.S. Justice Department will help the city’s police revamp policies for performing next-of-kin death notifications. The intervention follows the discovery that seven…
BY MICHAEL GOLDBERG AND EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Bills to expand Medicaid and rewrite the funding formula for public schools are among measures still alive in the Mississippi Legislature. Tuesday was the deadline for House and Senate committees to consider…
BY ROBERT YOON WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Republicans will compete on Tuesday for the right to challenge 16-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Bennie Thompson in Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District. Ron Eller and Andrew Scott Smith were the top vote-getters in the March 12 primary, but…
BY BETH HARRIS LOS ANGELES (AP) — Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries “Roots,” has died. He was 87. Gossett’s first cousin Neal L. Gossett told…
BY MICHAEL GOLDBERG JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A proposal to expand Medicaid to tens of thousands of residents in one of the poorest states in the U.S. is still alive in the Mississippi Legislature . But Senate Republicans changed the plan…
By LEA SKENE BALTIMORE (AP) — A container ship rammed into a major bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday, causing it to snap and plunge into the river below. Several…
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Olin Pickens sat in his wheelchair facing a life-sized image of himself on a screen, asking it questions about being taken prisoner by German soldiers during World War II. After a pause, his video-recorded twin recalled…
LONDON (AP) — Kate, Princess of Wales, says she is undergoing chemotherapy to treat cancer found after her surgery. The video announcement Friday came after weeks of speculation spread on social media about her whereabouts and health since she was…
DALLAS (AP) — For decades, their mission during World War II was a secret. With inflatable tanks, trucks and planes, combined with sound effects, radio trickery, costume uniforms and acting, the American military units that became known…
BY ANDREW DALTON LOS ANGELES (AP) — M. Emmet Walsh, the character actor who brought his unmistakable face and unsettling presence to films including “Blood Simple” and “Blade Runner,” has died at age 88, his manager said Wednesday. Walsh died from cardiac arrest…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Astronaut Thomas P. Stafford, who commanded a dress rehearsal flight for the 1969 moon landing and the first U.S.-Soviet space linkup, died Monday. He was 93. Stafford, a retired Air Force three-star general, took part in four…
BY COURTNEY BONNELL LONDON (AP) — System failures at McDonald’s were reported worldwide Friday, shuttering some restaurants for hours and leading to social media complaints from customers, in what the fast food chain called a “technology outage” that was being fixed.…
BY KATE BRUMBACK ATLANTA (AP) — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis must step aside from the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump or remove the special prosecutor with whom she had a romantic relationship before the case can proceed, the judge…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court has affirmed the convictions and death sentences of a man in the killings of eight people, including his mother-in-law and a deputy sheriff, at three different crime scenes one long night in 2017. Justices…
BY MICHAEL GOLDBERG JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Legislation advancing in Mississippi — where lawmakers are typically loathe to introduce new gun restrictions — would ban most devices used to convert semi-automatic firearms…
BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi House voted Wednesday to set a new formula to calculate how much money the state will spend on public schools — a step toward abandoning a formula that has put generations…
BY STEVE PEOPLES AND MEG KINNARD NEW YORK (AP) — Nikki Haley will suspend her presidential campaign Wednesday after being soundly defeated across the country on Super Tuesday, according to people familiar with her decision, leaving Donald Trump as the last remaining major candidate for the 2024…
BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS AND MICHAEL GOLDBERG JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators are considering proposals to rewrite the funding formula for public schools. Senate Bill 2332 would revise the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, the formula that has been fully funded only twice…
BY DAN GELSTON PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jason Kelce has retired after 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. The 36-year-old Kelce officially called it quits Monday at the Eagles’ NovaCare Complex, ending a career in which he became not only one of…
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon since the Apollo astronauts fell silent Thursday, a week after breaking a leg at touchdown and tipping over near the lunar south pole. Intuitive Machines’ lander, Odysseus, lasted longer…
BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Republican Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said he intentionally avoided hot-button issues and political conflict in his State of the State speech Monday, instead calling for legislators to support economic development by funding roads,…
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A private U.S. lunar lander reached the moon and eased into a low orbit Wednesday, a day before it will attempt an even greater feat — landing on the gray, dusty surface. A smooth touchdown…
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A large Alabama hospital has paused in vitro fertilization treatments as health care providers weigh the impact of a state court ruling that frozen embryos are the legal equivalent of children. The University of Alabama at Birmingham said…
RIDGELAND, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi grand jury has decided not to indict former NFL player Jerrell Powe months after he was arrested on a kidnapping charge in 2023, his attorney said. Tom Fortner told The Associated Press on Monday…
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Another private U.S. company took a shot at the moon Thursday, launching a month after a rival’s lunar lander missed its mark and came crashing back. NASA, the main sponsor with experiments on board, is hoping for a successful…
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s hush-money trial will go ahead as scheduled with jury selection starting on March 25, a New York judge ruled Thursday, turning aside demands for a delay from the former president’s defense lawyers. The decision means that the…
BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Former Rep. Alyce Clarke was the first Black woman elected to the Mississippi Legislature, and now she is the first Black person — and first woman — to have a portrait on display in the…
BY KRISTIN M. HALL Toby Keith, a sometimes polarizing figure in country music who crafted an identity around his macho, pro-American swagger, has died. He was 62. The “Beer For My Horses” singer-songwriter, who was battling stomach cancer, died peacefully Monday surrounded…
BY MARK KENNEDY NEW YORK (AP) — Carl Weathers, a former NFL linebacker who became a Hollywood action movie and comedy star, playing nemesis-turned-ally Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies, facing off against Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Predator” and teaching golf in “Happy Gilmore,”…
BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is renewing his call for legislators to phase out the state’s personal income tax over several years, and he is asking them to spend more money on economic development,…
NEW YORK (AP) — Chita Rivera, the dynamic dancer, singer and actress who garnered 10 Tony nominations, winning twice, in a long Broadway career that forged a path for Latina artists and shrugged off a near-fatal car accident, died Tuesday.…
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — With their purple, gold and green colors and toy babies hidden inside, king cakes are staples of Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, but apparently they’re also valuable enough to steal — at least this time…
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Harry Connick Sr., who was New Orleans’ district attorney for three decades and later faced allegations that his staff sometimes held back evidence that could have helped defendants, died Thursday at age 97. Connick died peacefully…
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The manslaughter retrial for the man who fatally shot New Orleans Saints star Will Smith almost eight years ago was delayed Tuesday after an alternate juror dropped out. Twelve jurors and two alternates were chosen Monday for the…
BY KEVIN MCGILL NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Nineteen federal appellate judges are scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday on whether Mississippi can continue to permanently strip voting rights from people convicted of certain felonies, including nonviolent crimes for which they have served a complete…
BY KYLE HIGHTOWER FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Six-time NFL champion Bill Belichick agreed to part ways as the coach of the New England Patriots on Thursday, bringing an end to his 24-year tenure as the architect of the most decorated dynasty…
NEW YORK (AP) — Glynis Johns, a Tony Award-winning stage and screen star who played the mother opposite Julie Andrews in the classic movie “Mary Poppins” and introduced the world to the bittersweet standard-to-be “Send in the Clowns” by Stephen Sondheim, has died. She…
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s Democratic secretary of state on Thursday removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause, becoming the first election official to take action unilaterally as the U.S. Supreme Court is poised…
Tom Smothers, half of the Smothers Brothers and the co-host of one of the most socially conscious and groundbreaking television shows in the history of the medium, has died at 86. The National Comedy Center, on behalf of his family, said…
