mississippi

Mississippi to allow religious exemptions for childhood vaccinations

By Emily Wagster Pettus, Associated Press

Mississippi is starting the court-ordered process of letting people cite religious beliefs to seek exemptions from state-mandated vaccinations that children must receive before attending day care or school.

People rescued from cars and homes as rapid rainfall causes flash flooding in central Mississippi

By Associated Press

Torrential rain in central Mississippi is flooding roads and sending water into homes and businesses. Swift water washed one car into a ditch, and the driver escaped before the car submerged.

Mississippi sheriff fires deputies accused of sexually assaulting Black men and shooting one in mouth

By Michael Goldberg, Associated Press

Mississippi deputies accused of beating and sexually assaulting two Black men before shooting one of them in the mouth have been fired.

The water in Mississippi’s capital is safe to drink, city officials say

By Michael Goldberg, Associated Press

U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate ordered Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and water manager Ted Henifin to appear in court Wednesday because of comments Lumumba made at a June 14 news conference.

Multiple Mississippi tornadoes touchdown overnight, killing 1 and injuring nearly 2 dozen others

By Michael Goldberg, Associated Press/Report for America

Officials say multiple tornadoes swept through Mississippi overnight, killing one and injuring nearly two dozen.

High temperatures trigger storms, widespread power outages across southern U.S.

By Scott Sonner, Associated Press

Triple-digit temperatures prompted heat advisories across much of the southern U.S., triggered thunderstorms that knocked out power from Oklahoma to Mississippi and whipped up winds that raised wildfire threats in Arizona and New Mexico.

Kids’ reading scores have soared in Mississippi ‘miracle’

By Sharon Lurye, Associated Press

The success has grabbed the attention of educators nationally by showing rapid progress is possible anywhere, even in areas that have struggled for decades with poverty and dismal literacy rates.

Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre asks Mississippi court to remove him from welfare fraud lawsuit

By Emily Wagster Pettus, Associated Press

Millions of federal welfare dollars for low-income Mississippi residents were squandered on projects supported by wealthy or well-connected people from 2016 to 2019, prosecutors say.

NAACP sues Mississippi over ‘separate and unequal policing’ as state-run patrols expand

By Emily Wagster Pettus, Associated Press

The NAACP warns that “separate and unequal policing” will return to Mississippi’s majority-Black capital under a state-run police department, and the civil rights organization is suing the governor and other officials over it.

Insurance losses from Mississippi tornado nearing $100 million

By Michael Goldberg, Associated Press/Report for America

The Mississippi Insurance Department says insurance losses from the March tornado that carved a path of destruction through parts of Mississippi are approaching $100 million, and uninsured losses will likely exceed that number.