Politics

Mississippi Official Defends Own Comment About 'Woke' Voters

April 16, 2021

Jackson Water: City Approves $1.2.million to Improve O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Facility

April 15, 2021

Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Paused, No Serious Reactions Reported In Mississippi

April 14, 2021

Mayor Lumumba: Violence Prevention Must Take Into Account Poverty and Gun Laws

Addressing reporters last Friday in the wake of high end-of-year homicide rates, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba highlighted his administration's efforts to curb violence in the city through a variety of mechanisms.

DOSSIER: Shame on WLBT for Dishonoring Past with Empty Crime Rhetoric

WLBT, the NBC affiliate of the Atlanta-based Gray Television, climbed fully on board with U.S. Attorney Hurst's false rhetoric that Jackson leaders and other locals are somehow "denying" gun violence in the capital city.

Lawmaker Who Called for Lynching of Confederate Statue Foes Elevated

In 2017, Mississippi House Rep. Karl Oliver wrote that Louisiana leaders ought to be "LYNCHED" for removing Confederate monuments. On Jan. 8, House Speaker Philip Gunn made him vice chair of the powerful appropriations committee.

Police Task Forces ‘Waste of Time’ for Violence Prevention?

Law-enforcement efforts to combat violent crime in Jackson in recent years have increasingly focused on the creation of multi-agency task forces, which identify high-crime regions or criminal activity, gather intelligence, and serve subpoenas, warrants and indictments related to those crimes.

MDOC Hits ‘Breaking Point’

Inmate deaths are not a new phenomenon in Mississippi. Some family members and activist organizations, like the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, have pointed to a lack of funding to explain rising prison violence.

2020 Legislative Preview: GOP In Charge, But Conflict Ahead?

The GOP's newfound dominance in Mississippi does not mean a pacified Legislature, outgoing House Minority Leader Rep. David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis, says. Baria believes that real political daylight exists between the two men now inheriting the most powerful positions in the state.

Local United Methodist Churches Face Schism Over LGBTQ Inclusion

The future of Mississippi's United Methodist churches and institutions is in question after a group of influential United Methodist Church leaders announced a preliminary agreement to split the church in two on Jan. 3, due to irreconcilable disagreements over LGBTQ rights.

OPINION: 'Chaos or Community'? Citizens Co-conspirators in Broken Criminal System

"Mississippi leaders have historically created and encouraged incarceration as an intentional pathway for a segment of Mississippi's society, disproportionately the African American community."

Hyde-Smith, Wicker 'Gunning to End Roe': Ask High Court to Overturn

Mississippi's two U.S. senators, Republicans Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider overturning its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide.

New DA Jody Owens Promises Reform, Alternatives to Incarceration

Earlier this week, civil rights attorney and avowed criminal-justice reformer Jody Owens officially took over as the new Hinds County district attorney, succeeding the controversy-plagued Robert Shuler Smith, who served eight years.

Mississippi Prison Deaths Follow Warnings of Meager Funding, Shortages

Three more Mississippi prisoners have died at the hands of other inmates in the six days since the Mississippi Department of Corrections initiated a statewide prison lockdown last Sunday, bringing the week's death toll to four.

Statewide Gas Taxes a Bridge Too Far for Lt. Gov.-elect Hosemann

Lt. Gov.-elect Delbert Hosemann will not consider raising gas taxes statewide in 2020, he told the press on Dec. 17. But he is opening the door for county supervisors to pass their own local tax raises.

JPD Arrests 82 People Under 'Operation Targeting Gun Violence'

Days after U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst chided Jackson public officials for being too soft on crime, Jackson Police Department Chief James Davis held a press conference to highlight 82 arrests in the city.

OPINION: Jackson Policing Betrays Poor and Working-class Black People

Before rushing to volunteer to be Jackson's political classes' attack dog against racist insult, we should be mindful of Zora Neale Hurston's oft reminder: "all my skin folks ain't my kinfolk."

DOSSIER: Chuck Todd’s ‘Naive’ Screw-up Is Warning for Mississippi Reporting, Too

If you were caught up in the spirit of the holiday, as I was on Christmas Eve, you might have missed one of the most disturbing interviews ever with a national journalist that Rolling Stone posted around midnight. In the interview with NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd, also the host of "Meet the Press," the beleaguered and supposedly expert journalist revealed that he has recently figured out that Donald Trump and his supporters are intentionally using his program to spread disinformation (which he inaccurately called "misinformation," but we'll come back to that.)

Previous Next

Ellington