Jackson, Miss - This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Mississippi Book Festival. The festival has spent a decade contributing to Mississippi’s literary legacy, transforming the capitol into a literary hub that unites authors and readers for one day each…
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State’s Department of Mechanical Engineering is becoming a named academic school with a cornerstone endowment gift from alumnus Michael W. Hall and his wife Valarie. The Michael W. Hall School of Mechanical Engineering’s namesake originally hails from Pontotoc…
Jackson, Miss.—The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning today named Dr. Tracy M. Cook as 21st president of Alcorn State University. Cook has served as interim president of the university since July 8, 2023. He will assume…
WASHINGTON – Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers were sentenced this week for torturing and abusing two Black men in Rankin County, Mississippi. Senior District Judge Tom Lee sentenced the defendants to terms in prison ranging from 10 to 40…
State Auditor Shad White announced Wednesday that former Ellisville Deputy City Clerk Emerald Wuertz pleaded guilty to embezzlement. Wuertz was arrested by agents in September of 2023 and served with a $41,246.20 demand letter. Wuertz is guilty of altering customers'…
A fourth former Mississippi sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced for his part in torturing two Black men. Christian Dedmon was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in federal prison, hours after Daniel Opdyke was sentenced to 17.5 years. Two former deputies,…
By MICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press/Report for America A former Mississippi sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced to about 20 years in prison for his part in torturing two Black men after a neighbor complained that the men were staying in a…
A Natchez Police officer discovered skeletal remains of a body after being led to them by a subject after making a traffic stop. Natchez Police Commander Jerry Ford told The Natchez Democrat one of his officers conducted a traffic stop…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A former Mississippi police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal misdemeanor charge after authorities said he forced a man he had arrested to lick urine off the floor of a jail cell. Michael Christian Green,…
BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Updated 10:41 AM CDT, March 13, 2024 JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A new Mississippi law will allow earlier Medicaid coverage for pregnant women in an effort to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies in a state…
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 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…
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is investigating an officer-involved shooting involving the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department that occurred on Friday on Poplar Springs Drive in Meridian. A deputy with the sheriff’s department was attempting to initiate a traffic stop on…
The Justice Department announced today its findings that conditions of confinement at three Mississippi Department of Corrections facilities violate the 8th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The Department’s 60-page report details its findings from a thorough investigation of…
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,…
The Mississippi Legislation has proposed a bill that allows reduction of parole time for a felon. The reduction in time would happen if the parolee enrolled in…
The Mississippi Legislature proposed a bill, called "The Fair Minimum Wage Act," to put the state's minimum wage at $15 per hour. House Bill 16 was…
Mississippi State University received approval to admit the first students into a newly-created Master of Science in Nursing degree program at MSU-Meridian. The program is Mississippi's first direct-entry MSN that allows college graduates holding non-nursing degrees to enter the nursing…
The Ocean Springs Library will host "Welty," a traveling exhibit of photos taken by Eudora Welty. The photos were taken during during…
JACKSON, Miss. – Governor Tate Reeves today announced a major public safety operation taking place in the city of Jackson. The large-scale public safety operation, called Operation Unified, is the result of coordinated efforts between state, local, and federal law…
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…
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Marine Corps Sgt. Harold Hammett, killed during World War II, was accounted for on September 25, 2023. Sgt. Hammett was born in Avery, Mississippi and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1940.…