All results / Stories / Ashton Pittman
Entire Affordable Care Act May Be Invalid With Mandate Gone, Court Says
A three-judge panel in New Orleans wants a lower court to decide whether or not the entire Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama's signature achievement, should be struck down.
Medicaid Expansion 'On the Table,' Says Incoming Lt. Gov. Hosemann
The Mississippi Senate could still expand Medicaid access to as many as 300,000 residents who currently have no health-care access, Delbert Hosemann, the State's incoming lieutenant governor, told members of the press Tuesday.
Curtis Flowers Released on Bail from Parchman for First Time Since 1997
Curits Flowers will leave Mississippi's Parchman prison and return home for the first time in more than two decades after Montgomery County Circuit Judge Joseph Loper granted him a $250,000 bail on Monday morning.
Espy: Hyde-Smith Betrays 'Sacred Oath' With Vow to Protect Trump at Trial
Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith is failing to uphold her "sacred oath to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law in this country" with her vow to protect President Donald Trump from impeachment, potential Democratic opponent Mike Espy claimed in an email missive to supporters on Dec. 12.
Report: Mississippi Charter Schools Improve Grades, Need Changes
Three charter schools in Jackson raised their grades over the past year, a new legislative PEER committee report found. Still, the report recommended changes by the board that oversees charter schools in Mississippi.
White GOP Rep Who Lost to Black Dem Wants Election Overturned
A white woman who lost her Mississippi House of Representatives seat to a black woman challenger is asking the Republican-dominated body to overturn the election results.
Koch-Funded ‘Bill Mill’ ALEC Names Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn National Chairman
When he resumes his leadership at the Legislature in 2020, Mississippi Speaker of the House Philip Gunn will also serve as the new national chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization that pushes corporate-friendly and anti-public-education legislation in state houses across the nation. The right-wing billionaire Koch family, an assortment of lobbyists, corporations and wealthy donors fund ALEC.
Trent Lott Ties, Civil Rights Rulings Plague Trump Judge Pick from Mississippi
An embattled Mississippi judge's nomination to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans faces opposition from civil rights groups that claim he has a poor record on issues involving race and sexual assault—and from conservatives who claim he is not conservative enough.
A New Dynamic: Shanda Yates’ Surprise Victory
Shanda Yates had never thought about running for office and had a litany of reasons not to pursue the House District 64 seat when she first discussed the idea with her husband, Yancy Burns, her partner at their firm, Burns & Associates PLLC.
Wicker Defends Trump, Boosting Russian Ploy to Pin 2016 Attacks on Ukraine
Mississippi's senior U.S. senator, Roger Wicker, claimed in an interview on Sunday that he saw no "direct evidence" that President Donald Trump did anything wrong when he pressured Ukraine to open investigations into former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
How 'Sister District' Helped Shanda Yates Unseat Longtime Mississippi Republican
Sister District, a California-based group dedicated to helping elect Democrats in state legislatures across the country, helped one Jackson area political newcomer unseat a longtime Republican incumbent.
'Extreme' Prison Terms Must Be Focus for New Mississippi Leaders, Reformers Say
Mississippi's incoming class of statewide and legislative leaders should prioritize reducing "extremely" long prison sentences, a national bipartisan criminal-justice reform organizations says.
It's Official: Dem Shanda Yates Ousts 32-Year Republican in Mississippi House
Shanda Yates, a 38-year-old Jackson-area attorney, has ousted Billy Denny, a top Republican in the Mississippi House of Representatives who first won his seat in 1987—when Yates was just 6 years old.
Trump's Tupelo Visit Boosted Dems More Than GOP in Northeast Mississippi, Strategist Says
President Donald Trump's visit to Tupelo earlier this month may have helped Mississippi Democrats more than Republicans in this year's state elections, Chism Strategies, one of the state's top polling and political strategy firms, says.
Hyde-Smith Blocks Gun Checks as School Shooting Unfolds in California
U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, an NRA-endorsed Republican, blocked a universal background-checks bill this morning around the same time a teenage gunman in Santa Clarita, Calif., carried out a mass shooting at his high school.
God Save the Governor: Phil Bryant, Brexit Soldier
Republican Phil Bryant is certainly not the first Mississippi governor to support a state's plan to secede from a multi-state union. ... But Bryant seems to be the first to entangle himself in a foreign U.S. ally's own secession effort.
Mike Espy Vows to 'Correct Our Mistakes' in New U.S. Senate Campaign
Democrat Mike Espy has a plan to win in Mississippi, he told the Jackson Free Press Tuesday morning, soon after officially launching his 2020 campaign for U.S. Senate.
White Supremacists Help Emmett Till Center Raise More Than $30,000
A small clan of white supremacists unintentionally helped a Mississippi anti-racism organization raise more than $30,000 in just six days after filming a propaganda video around the memorial of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old victim of a 1955 civil-rights murder.
Democratic Women Win House Seats, Oust GOP Incumbents in Mississippi
Shanda Yates, a millennial Democrat, could still oust Bill Denny, a top Republican in the Mississippi House, if her current lead in the House District 64 vote count holds once election officials add provisional ballots. With just the Election Day totals counted, the Associated Press reported that Yates led Denny, a 32-year incumbent, by about 51% to 49%, or 136 votes, in House District 64, which includes parts of Madison and Hinds counties.
Black Democrat Wins in Redrawn District After Racial Gerrymander Case
Even as Republicans swept statewide offices in Mississippi on Tuesday night, Joseph Thomas, an African American Democrat in a district that stretches across six counties, narrowly ousted a Republican incumbent. Earlier this year, a federal court forced the GOP-led Legislature to redraw the boundaries for that district, Senate District 22, after finding that they had drawn it in a way that was intended to dilute black voting power.