NEW ORLEANS (AP) — It’s been two years since the largest free festival and showcase of Louisiana music, food and culture has taken place in New Orleans’ French Quarter. But that changes in April, when the 2022 French Quarter Festival returns. The coronavirus…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators are working on proposals to fund state government for the year that begins July 1. The Republican-controlled House and Senate on Thursday passed the first draft of budget bills for…
PEARL, Miss. (AP) — An inmate who escaped from a Mississippi prison received an ambulance ride to a hospital after telling someone he was bleeding because he had been in a motorcycle accident, a state Department of Corrections spokesman said…
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — The University of Southern Mississippi is opening a new building with the aim of supporting military veterans. The new facility is about supporting those who served the nation, said Jeff Hammond, the director of the university’s…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi House has voted to make the state’s Medicaid program end a contract with health care giant Centene, although that plan could change later as lawmakers continue to debate issues. Centene settled a lawsuit last year that…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mystery solved: The top administrator in the Mississippi House says he unilaterally made the decision to take a statue of a racist former Gov. Theodore Bilbo off public display and put it…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Biloxi man has been arrested and is accused of carrying a gun on the University of Mississippi Medical Center campus and attacking an officer. The 49-year-old suspect, identified as Richard Neil. was taken into custody…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators are working to set a new way for people to petition to put issues on statewide ballots, months after the state Supreme Court tossed out the state’s old initiative process.…
CANTON, Miss. (AP) — Morgan Freeman stars as a small-town sheriff in a movie that began filming Tuesday in Mississippi. Cole Hauser and Jaimie Alexander also are stars in the comedic noir thriller “The Minute You Wake Up Dead.” It’s among four…
LAS VEGAS (AP) — After playing in the Pro Bowl on Sunday, Saints running back Alvin Kamara was arrested and accused of beating someone the night before in a Las Vegas nightclub. Kamara had four catches for 23 yards for…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Most states already offer scholarships or tuition waivers for young people who have spent time in the foster care system. Mississippi could join that list this year. The state House last week…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A statue of white supremacist former Mississippi Gov. Theodore Bilbo has quietly been moved out of sight in the state Capitol — a move praised by Black lawmakers who say he never…
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A jury on Wednesday found that no defamation occurred between former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore and the woman who accused him of molesting her when she was 14. The former Alabama judge and Leigh Corfman…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi House committee has ignored — and killed — a bill to expand the state hate crimes law. House Bill 1467 would have created enhanced penalties for crimes motivated by a victim’s disability, sexual orientation or…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — One of Mississippi’s Republican U.S. senators said that if President Joe Biden nominates a Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court, that nominee would be the beneficiary of a “quota.” Sen. Roger Wicker spoke…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi hospital association is sounding the alarm over nursing vacancies. There are nearly 3,000 registered nurse vacancies in Mississippi, The Clarion Ledger reported. The exodus of nurses is adding further strain on hospitals striving to find care…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi government entities could not withhold services or refuse jobs to people who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 under a bill that passed the Republican-controlled state House on Thursday. That…
By BRETT MARTEL NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton, whose 15-year tenure with the club included its only Super Bowl championship and also a one-season suspension…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi senators are taking the first steps toward spending some of the $1.8 billion the state is receiving from the federal government for pandemic relief. Senators passed bills Monday to put $104.6 million…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Black lawmakers walked out in protest Friday and withheld their votes as the Mississippi Senate passed a bill that would ban schools from teaching critical race theory. The state superintendent of education has…
By HILLEL ITALI NEW YORK (AP) — Meat Loaf, the heavyweight rock superstar loved by millions for his “Bat Out of Hell” album and for such theatrical, dark-hearted anthems as “Paradise By the Dashboard Light,” “Two Out of Three Ain’t…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Louie Anderson, whose more than four-decade career as a comedian and actor included his unlikely, Emmy-winning performance as mom to twin adult sons in the TV series “Baskets,” died Friday. He was 68. Anderson died at…
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Authorities are investigating a shooting near Mississippi State University that injured two people. The university said in an alert Thursday evening that the suspected shooter was seen running toward the campus after gunshots were fired at…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi employers would be required to pay women and men the same amount of money for the same work, under a bill that passed the state House on Thursday. But an advocate…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi Senate committee on Thursday advanced a bill that would ban schools from teaching critical race theory, even though the state superintendent of education has said the theory is not being taught…
FOXWORTH, Miss. (AP) — A Louisiana woman is in custody accused in a shooting in Mississippi that left one dead and two others wounded. Deputies were called to an area of Highway 587 in Foxworth late Tuesday, WLBT-TV reported. Foxworth is an…
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY and MATTHEW BROWN NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Wildlife rehabilitators are decontaminating dozens of alligators, brushing their pointy teeth and scrubbing their scaly hides in the weeks after a pipeline rupture dumped 300,000 gallons (1.1 million liters) of diesel fuel…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A bill to create a medical marijuana program is headed for debate in the Mississippi Senate in coming days. Senate Bill 2095 passed the Senate Public Health Committee on Wednesday. It would allow a person with a…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi would phase out its income tax, reduce the sales tax on groceries and set a higher sales tax rate on many other items, under a bill that advanced Wednesday through the…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Senate on Wednesday is expected to approve a plan to redraw the state’s four congressional districts. The plan passed the House last week mostly along party lines, with Republicans and…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi House is working on a proposal to phase out the state income tax, reduce the sales tax on groceries and increase the sales tax on many other items. The House Ways and Means Committee…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi House and Senate are pushing forward with separate plans to give pay raises to teachers. The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday passed House Bill 530, and the whole House could debate the bill in…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi government collected more money during the first half of this budget year than it did during the same period a year earlier. State budget years begin July 1. New figures from the Legislative Budget Office…
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (AP) — A south Mississippi art shop is shipping artwork across the U.S. and as far as Canada and Germany after a Walter Anderson print was featured on the HGTV show “Home Town.” Show hosts Erin and…
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Coach Nick Saban walked off Alabama's team plane Friday night to a cold, harsh reality. When he returns to the airport for the final time this season, the Crimson Tide will either be celebrating another national championship…
Sir Sidney Poitier, the first black actor to win a best actor Academy Award, has died. Poitier was 94 years old. NBC's Mark Barger looks at his incredible 71-year career.…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Mississippi House on Thursday approved a plan to redraw the state’s four congressional districts. The 76-42 vote was mostly along party lines, with Republicans and one independent in favor and…
By MARY CLARE JALONICK, LISA MASCARO and ZEKE MILLER WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday delivered what he declared was the “God’s truth” marking the first anniversary of the U.S. Capitol insurrection, the violent attack by Donald Trump’s supporters that has…
IUKA, Miss. (AP) — A former social worker with the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services has received eight years in prison for sex crimes involving two teenage boys under her care. Lauren Rose Cavness, 27, of Tishomingo, appeared Wednesday…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS and LEAH WILLINGHAM JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has tested positive for COVID-19 after the opening day of a legislative session when Hosemann and many other people were walking around the Capitol…
MOSS POINT, Miss. (AP) — Authorities have used a DNA test to identify the skeletal remains of a man found nearly two months ago near the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Jackson County Coroner Bruce Lynd Jr. said Tuesday that the person was…
This undated photo, provided by the American Kennel Club, shows the Russian Toy breed. The American Kennel Club announced that the Mudi and Russian Toy have received full recognition, and are eligible to compete in the…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators began their three-month session Tuesday, and the mother of a man with chronic medical problems implored them to create a medical marijuana program, despite objections from Gov. Tate Reeves. The…
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Hundreds of motorists waited desperately for help Tuesday after a winter storm snarled traffic in Virginia and left some drivers stranded for nearly 24 hours in freezing temperatures along an impassable stretch of interstate south of…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Hospitalizations for COVID-19 continue rising rapidly in Mississippi as new cases proliferate. The state Health Department reported Monday that 695 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were hospitalized Sunday. That is up from 265 hospitalized two weeks earlier, on Dec.…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators begin their three-month session on Tuesday with a clear idea of several issues that will come up for debate. One of the first orders of business will be adopting a plan to redraw the state’s four…
DENVER (AP) — An estimated 580 homes, a hotel and a shopping center have burned and tens of thousands of people were evacuated in wind-fueled wildfires outside Denver, officials said Thursday evening. At least one first responder and six others…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi is receiving $543 million from the federal government to implement health measures to keep K-12 schools open during the ongoing pandemic and provide internet access, tutoring and mental health support to students. The money is…
By REBECCA SANTANA NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Sandra Jaffe, who co-founded Preservation Hall in New Orleans, introducing countless people to jazz through the intimate French Quarter venue over six decades, has died. Jaffe died Monday, her son Ben Jaffe, creative…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — James B. Tucker, an attorney who prosecuted corrupt Mississippi public officials during a 30-year career with the Justice Department, died Tuesday. He was 82. His death was announced Wednesday by the Butler Snow law…
