Tag Archives: Mississippi

CNBC reports: Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith will win Mississippi’s Senate election, holding a GOP seat despite comments that stoked racial tensions in the state and sparked backlash from donors, NBC News projects. The GOP senator will defeat Democratic former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy in the special election runoff, the final 2018 congressional race. Hyde-Smith will serve the remainder of GOP …

The Hill reports: Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith’s (R-Miss.) campaign on Saturday ripped an article from the Jackson Free Press reporting that she attended and graduated from a Mississippi segregation academy in the 1970s, calling it part of the “gotcha liberal media.” Hyde-Smith spokeswoman Melissa Scallan called the report “a new low” in a statement to The Hill while claiming the report …

CBS News reports: Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy are participating in the only debate before the special election on Nov. 27 on Tuesday evening in the contentious race to be elected the next U.S. senator from Mississippi. Hyde-Smith, who was appointed by Gov. Phil Bryant to fill the remainder of Sen. Thad Cochran’s term after he …

Mississippi’s Starkville Daily News reports: A Starkville priest is at the center of a criminal investigation involving a string of fraudulent charity efforts that federal agents believe was covered up by church leaders in Jackson. According to a 37-page affidavit filed Friday by Department of Homeland Security Special Agent William G. Childers in U.S. District Court in Jackson, an ongoing …

CBS News reports: A newly published video shows Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a white Republican from Mississippi, praising someone by saying: “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.” Hyde-Smith, who faces a black Democratic challenger in a Nov. 27 runoff, said Sunday that her Nov. 2 remark was “exaggerated expression of regard” for someone …

ABC News reports: A Mississippi man was fired from his job for wearing a controversial shirt to the polls. A viral photo shows Clayton Hickey on Election Day voting in a t-shirt with an image of the Confederate flag and a noose on the front. The photograph, which was taken at a polling center in Olive Branch, Miss., outraged fellow …

Weather Underground reports: Tropical Storm Gordon is quickly heading toward a landfall tonight along the northern Gulf Coast as a Category 1 hurricane. The National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane warning from the mouth of the Pearl River, Mississippi, to the border between Alabama and Florida. Tropical storm warnings are posted from west of the mouth of the Pearl …

The Weather Channel reports: Tropical Storm Gordon is pushing into the Gulf of Mexico as it continues to bring heavy rain and gusty winds to Florida. Gordon will head for a northern Gulf Coast landfall late Tuesday as a strong tropical storm or possibly a Category 1 hurricane. The National Hurricane Center has now issued a hurricane watch from the …

Reuters reports: Gulf Coast residents should “take this storm seriously”, the National Weather Service said early on Sunday, as Subtropical Storm Alberto drove north, threatening heavy rains and winds to the southern coastal states. Florida, Alabama and Mississippi declared states of emergency on Saturday as the storm threatened up to 12 inches of rain over the Memorial Day weekend, as …

The Washington Post reports: Former congressman Mike Espy said on his website Friday that he wants to rise above party and partisan wrangling as he pursues the seat longtime Republican Sen. Thad Cochran resigned from on April 1 due to failing health. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant appointed the state’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Cindy Hyde-Smith to the seat. But …

The Associated Press reports: Mississippi’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a woman has parental rights to a 6-year-old boy born to her ex-wife when the two were married, in a case watched by gay rights activists and groups aiding in vitro fertilization. Christina “Chris” Strickland brought the appeal, challenging a lower court decision that an anonymous sperm donor still had …

The Starkville Daily News reports: Close to 3,000 people flooded downtown Starkville on Saturday for the first LGBTQ Pride parade in the city’s history. After grabbing national attention, the grassroots group Starkville Pride was allowed to move forward with its parade despite initially being voted down by the city’s Board of Aldermen in late February. The group took legal action …

Roll Call reports: Mississippi Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith will be coming to the U.S. Senate next month. GOP Gov. Phil Bryant formally tapped the Republican former state senator to fill the unexpired term of Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran, who is poised to go out with a win on an omnibus spending bill before resigning effective April 1. …

The Associated Press reports: Mississippi lawmakers on Thursday passed what is likely to be the nation’s most restrictive abortion law, making the procedure illegal after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The House voted 75-34 in favor of the measure, and Gov. Phil Bryant has said he will sign it. The owner of Mississippi’s only abortion clinic has pledged to sue— a …

CBS News reports: Starkville aldermen vote to allow Starkville Pride to hold a pride parade. The vote passed 3-3 with 1 abstention. Mayor Spruill was forced to break the tie. Ward 3 Alderman, David Little, chose to abstain, while Perkins, Vaughn and Carver voted against. Aldermen Sandra Sistrunk, Jason Walker and Patrick Miller voted in favor of the parade. The …

USA Today reports: U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran announced Monday he is resigning effective April 1 because of health reasons, ending one of the longest and most storied political careers in Mississippi history. He is 80. “I regret my health has become an ongoing challenge. I intend to fulfill my responsibilities and commitments to the people of Mississippi and the Senate …

The Starkville Daily News reports: The Starkville Board of Aldermen voted to deny the request to hold an LGBT pride parade after hearing 16 people speak in favor of the event during its meeting Tuesday night. The board approved the motion to deny the request with a 4-3 vote. Alderman Ben Carver, Alderman David Little, Vice Mayor Roy Perkins and …

The New York Times reports: As President Trump’s family business prepares to open a hotel in the Mississippi Delta this fall, its local development partners have asked the State of Mississippi to subsidize the project with up to $6 million in tax breaks, according to documents obtained through an open records request. If approved, the benefits could offset nearly a …

The Associated Press reports: Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says he will pay a fine after being arrested with a loaded handgun in his briefcase as he went through an airport security checkpoint. Barbour — Republican National Committee chairman in the mid-1990s and governor from 2004-12 — tells The Associated Press on Wednesday he was trying to board a flight …

Bustle reports: On Tuesday, Democratic Mississippi Rep. Credell Calhoun introduced a bill that would impose strict religious requirements on teachers in the state’s public schools. Among other proposed rules, House Bill 1100 would mandate that Mississippi educators read the Ten Commandments every day in the first hour of class. In addition to reciting the Ten Commandments at the top of …