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Hood Wants 15-week Abortion Ban Appeal Reconsidered by Full 5th Circuit

Mississippi wants a redo after a federal appeals court struck down its 2018 law that bans women from having abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood filed a motion asking the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to reconsider the law's constitutionality on Dec. 27.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Mississippi U.S. Reps Face Challenges from the Left and the Right in 2020

A University of Mississippi law professor and self-described "Democratic socialist" is challenging her district's U.S. House representative, Republican Trent Kelly, in this year's election.

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Physicians Push Back on Medical Marijuana Opposition in Mississippi

A number of state Mississippi physicians are pushing back after the State Board of Health decried a push to legalize medical marijuana.

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No Reconsideration for 15-Week Abortion Ban Ruling, 5th Circuit Tells Mississippi

A federal court decision that struck down Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban will stand for now.

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State's Payments to CoreCivic for Housing Inmates at Private Prison May Exceed Legal Limits

Mississippi's emergency contract with a private prison corporation to house 375 inmates could exceed legal limits even more than previously known.

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Poll: Mississippians Back Medicaid Expansion, Hyde-Smith ‘Flailing’

"Given her flailing approval rating, it is no surprise that Senator Hyde-Smith is in an already tightening race with Mike Espy," Espy Campaign Manager Joe O'Hern said. "Whether it is Senator Hyde-Smith's disturbing comments about public hangings, her open support for voter suppression at the 'other' universities, her clear track record of hyper-partisanship in the Senate or her D.C. insider ambitions, these approval numbers are a clear sign that Mississippians are looking for change and are unhappy with Cindy Hyde-Smith as their senator."

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New Republican Legislator Resigns Under Pressure from Speaker Gunn

Mississippi House Rep. Ramona Blackledge, the Republican woman whom Jones County voters sent to Jackson to represent them in the Mississippi House of Representatives, is resigning just weeks into her term.

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GOP Wants to Override Jackson's Abortion Clinic 'Buffer Zone' Law

Jackson's medical facility "buffer zone" law, which minimizes protest activities in the immediate vicinity of the state's only abortion clinic, may be short-lived if a Republicans bill in the Mississippi Legislature becomes law.

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The TANF Players

Since the last issue, a huge corruption scandal hit Mississippi with allegations of theft inside a State agency working with prominent Mississippians, Republican donors and former pro wrestlers. Here are the major accused players.

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'An Abortion Desert': Mississippi Women May Feel Effect of Louisiana Case

A Louisiana abortion law would turn the Bayou State into "an abortion desert" and would have strong ripple effects for women in Mississippi and other states across the country, opponents say. The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments in the case Wednesday.

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'Do Not Go to Church': Three Forrest County Coronavirus Cases Bring Warnings

The Mississippi State Department of Health confirmed two more cases of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, in Mississippi this morning. All three known patients currently reside in Forrest County.

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Voucher Program Helping Seg Schools Should Go, Education Advocates Say

On Valentine's Day, a voucher program that subsidizes private schools for special- needs children got the gift of four more years from the Mississippi Senate—even though many private schools in the state do not offer services for those students.

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Mike Espy Boosts Young House Candidate With Endorsement, Data

Brandon Rue, president of a student organization at the University of Southern Mississippi called Common Causeto, plans to run as a Democrat for Mississippi House District 102, the state legislative seat that represents much of Hattiesburg, including Southern Miss.

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Bryant: GOP Would've 'Hollered' If Obama Pushed Criminal Reform

"You're the only president that can do this," Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant says he privately told President Trump last year, as he urged the fellow Republican to support criminal-justice reform.

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GOP Kills Tort Reform Amendment Requiring 'Reasonable' Safety Efforts

Businesses no longer would have to "take reasonable steps" to prevent violence on their premises after Republicans defeated a proposed amendment to a "tort-reform" bill working through the Mississippi Legislature, also called the Landowners Protection Act.

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Democratic House Leader David Baria Won’t Seek Re-Election

Mississippi House Minority Leader David Baria will not seek re-election to his seat, the Bay St. Louis Democrat announced unexpectedly in a letter to supporters Friday afternoon.