Politics

Subscribe

Lydia Quarles

If Lydia Quarles has her way, Mississippi will no longer rank as the 49th state in the nation for the number of females serving in elected office.

Barbour to Give State of the State Address Tonight

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour will give an overview of his legislative priorities and accomplishments during his State of the State address tonight.

Payday Lending Under Scrutiny Today

UPDATED: This story has been updated with additional information from this afternoon's hearing.

City Sets Special Election

On Tuesday, Jackson City Council members scheduled a special election for Feb. 15 to fill the Ward 1 council seat. The deadline for candidates to qualify for the Ward 1 special election is Jan. 26. Former councilman Jeff Weill who resigned from his Ward 1 position to serve as Hinds County Circuit judge this month and is replacing judge Swan Yerger who retired this year.

Building A Future that Works

Beginning a brand-new clean calendar at the turn of the year provides all of us the perfect opportunity to take stock of the past and make changes for a better future, especially those things we may have been procrastinating about.

[Head] And the Good News Is…

The 2011 legislative session begins Jan. 4, and it's likely to be exceptionally loud, complicated and messy. Mississippi faces an unusual alignment of unfavorable omens: a budget crisis, a national climate favoring anti-immigrant sentiment, a contentious statewide election year and an inexplicably influential tea-party movement with which conservative elements in both parties have fallen madly in love.

2011 Mississippi Legislative Preview

The Mississippi Legislature returned Jan. 4, and many legislators are not looking forward to the kind of cuts facing state departments. The Mississippi Department of Mental Health is looking at a shortfall of more than $30 million this year, which could easily mean the closing of some mental-health institutions in the state, delivering more mental-health patients into county jails and state prisons.

A More Collegial Council

At 33, Marcus Ward is already a veteran of Jackson city politics. From 2005 to 2009, he served as chief of staff and director of intergovernmental relations under former Mayor Frank Melton. Now he is considering a run for the Ward 1 City Council seat, which Jeff Weill is vacating to become a Hinds County Circuit judge.

Voter ID, Abortion, Eminent Domain, Oh My

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann will deliver three voter-referendum initiatives to the state Legislature this morning that could require voters to bring photo identification to polls, restrict the state's use of eminent domain and amend state law to define when life begins.

Legislature Returns; How to Track Bills

As state legislators return to the Capitol tomorrow for the 2011 Legislative session, lawmakers will spend the next 90 days approving diminished funding for state agencies and debating a host of bills.

Common Sense in 2011

Political junkies watched with some surprise as the lame-duck 2010 Congress passed a number of last-minute bills to bring the year to a close. Widely heralded as a week of "wins" for President Obama, the accomplishments are hopefully a bit of a harbinger of things to come.

[Stiggers] A Christmas Safety Net

Qweem-O-Wheat: "It looks like a lot of people will have a merry Christmas and survive the New Year. Why? Because the left-wing Democrats and right-wing Republicans of the good ship ‘Bi-Partisan' agreed to appease the rich and accommodate the broke and unemployed by extending the Bush tax cuts and unemployment insurance. "

Technology and the Government

Google set off grassroots campaigns in dozens of cities this year when it announced its Google Fiber for Communities contest. Google promised to finance enormous fiber-optic infrastructure projects in the city with the best proposal. The project would provide connection speeds of 1 gigabit per second—100 times faster than broadband available to most Americans—for up to 500,000 people, the company said.

Chism Links Democratic Gains to Demographics

Political consultant Brad Chism predicts future Democratic gains in Mississippi, despite losses in the Nov. 2 elections, if Republicans continue to alienate minority voters over the next few decades.

Wicker Opposes Bill With His Earmarks

Mississippi's Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker said yesterday that he is not supporting a proposed $1.2 trillion spending bill because it is filled with earmark spending although he inserted more earmarks into the bill than almost any other senator.

Blogs

Video