Mississippi News
Mississippi ballot initiative process faces narrowing path to being restored
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A push to revive Mississippi's ballot initiative process is in peril as proposals are receiving weak support from Senate Republicans, and the House and Senate are pushing significantly different plans. In a narrow 26-21 vote Thursday, the state Senate gave first approval to a bill that would allow...
21h ago
Mississippi will allow quicker Medicaid coverage during pregnancy to try to help women and babies
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A new Mississippi law will allow earlier Medicaid coverage for pregnant women in an effort to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies in a poor state with the nation's worst rate of infant mortality. The "presumptive eligility" legislation signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Tate Re...
Mar 13, 2024
Mississippi holds primaries for 4 seats in the US House and 1 in the Senate
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippians head to the polls with party primaries for all four of the state's U.S. House seats and one U.S. Senate seat. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CDT Tuesday. If runoff elections are needed, they will be held April 2. The general election is Nov. 5. Here's a look at the candidates ...
Mar 12, 2024
Could Biden and Trump win their party's nominations this week? What to watch in the next contests
NEW YORK (AP) - President Joe Biden and his likely Republican challenger, Donald Trump, are on track to win enough delegates this week to become their parties' presumptive nominees, ushering in a bruising eight-month campaign for the White House. Elections in four states on Tuesday will likely give Biden and Trump the ...
Mar 11, 2024
Mississippi legislators are moving toward a showdown on how to pay for public schools
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A conflict is building among Mississippi legislative leaders over whether to tweak an education funding formula or ditch it and set a new one. The state Senate voted Thursday, without opposition, to make a few changes to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, which has been in law since 1997....
Mar 08, 2024
Mississippi House votes to change school funding formula, but plan faces hurdles in the Senate
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The Mississippi House voted Wednesday to set a new formula to calculate how much money the state will spend on public schools - a step toward abandoning a formula that has put generations of legislators under political pressure because they have fully funded it only two years since it was put into...
Mar 07, 2024
Mississippi lawmakers moving to crack down on machine gun conversion devices
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Legislation advancing in Mississippi - where lawmakers are typically loathe to introduce new gun restrictions - would ban most devices used to convert semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic ones. Under a bill passed by the state Senate on Wednesday, local prosecutors could charge people who ...
Mar 07, 2024
School funding and ballot initiatives are among issues surviving in Mississippi Legislature
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi legislators are considering proposals to rewrite the funding formula for public schools. Senate Bill 2332 would revise the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, the formula that has been fully funded only twice since it became law in 1997. House Bill 1453 would set a new formula that...
Mar 06, 2024
Mississippi police unconstitutionally jailed people for unpaid fines, Justice Department says
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi police department in one of the nation's poorest counties unconstitutionally jailed people for unpaid fines without first assessing whether they could afford to pay them, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday. The announcement comes amid a Justice Department probe into alleged...
Mar 04, 2024
Mississippi passes quicker pregnancy Medicaid coverage to try to reduce deaths of moms and babies
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The Mississippi Legislature is sending a bill to the governor that will allow women with low incomes to get Medicaid coverage earlier in pregnancy, in an effort to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies in a state with abysmal rates of maternal and infant mortality. The state Senate approv...
Mar 01, 2024