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Sports
Celebrating Small-Town Sports
From March 18 through April 30, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum will help visitors discover what those players really mean to Mississippi when it hosts the traveling …
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Person of the Day
Edward G. Cortright Jr.
Edward G. Cortright Jr., who served as chancellor for Mississippi's 11th Chancery District for 26 years, died on Wednesday, Aug. 11, at age 94.
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Crime
Woman Who Won Freedom from Prison in 2011 Dies of COVID-19
Jamie Scott, a woman who won freedom from prison a decade ago after being convicted with her sister in a 1993 armed robbery in Mississippi, then went on to become …
Entry
Voter ID Rhetoric Inconsistent With GOP Reax to Primary Allegations
By R.L. NaveVoter ID would secure the integrity of elections, they said. Voter ID would prevent election fraud, they said.
Yet, in the first election where voter ID was used in Mississippi, complaints of voter fraud among Republicans have been rampant.
Incidentally, none of the the accusations spelled out in a lawsuit filed yesterday over the GOP primary runoff for U.S. Senate have anything to do with voter impersonation, which voter ID was designed to stop.
Also, interestingly, a lot of the top Republican officials hollerin about voter fraud have made nary a peep about the the allegations that have surfaced about vote buying in the race in the race between U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran and state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who also chairs the Senate Elections Committee.
Where's Delbert? Haley? Phil Bryant? (All three are Cochran supporters, by the way)
Brandon Jones of the Mississippi Democratic Trust posed a similar question in a statement sent to the press on Monday: "The citizens of this state were sold a package of voting laws by leaders who told us that their main concern was election integrity. These leaders, like Secretary of State Hosemann, now have an opportunity to show that all the talk about protecting the vote wasn't politics as usual."
I did a quick search and found these examples of GOP officials over the years talking about protecting the integrity of the elections:
"I believe that anyone who understands (like I do) that there is voter fraud occurring in our elections throughout the state and who does not support meaningful voter reforms to help clean up that system is part of the problem instead of part of the solution. … The problem is real and a strong Voter ID law is part of the solution."
—State Sen. Joey Fillingane, Y'all Politics op-ed October 2012
“This legislation is about protecting the integrity of Mississippi’s elections. This legislation is a direct result of the majority of Mississippians expressing their desire for a constitutional voter ID requirement in the state. We want everyone to participate in the election process, and we want that process to be fair and secure.”
—Gov. Phil Bryant, May 2012
"Voter ID is not about intimidation; it is simply about integrity and having a fair and honest election."
— Pete Smith, spokesman for Gov. Haley Barbour, 2004
"We need voter ID and we can't stop until we get it. … We need to continue to prosecute those who steal your vote."
— Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, Neshoba Democrat, July, 2009
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[Barbour] Leaving No PLAD Behind
Mississippi Medicaid was bleeding badly—doubling in cost over five years—and changes had to be made. Our dilemma was this: How to keep the Medicaid program sustainable while making sure everyone …
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[Head] And the Good News Is…
The 2011 legislative session begins Jan. 4, and it's likely to be exceptionally loud, complicated and messy. Mississippi faces an unusual alignment of unfavorable omens: a budget crisis, a national …
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Beating the Same Drums
The first week of the legislative session, which started Jan. 4, brought the beginning of bill submissions seeking to beat the Legislature's Jan. 17 deadline for general bills and constitutional …
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Legislators Promise to Keep ‘13th Check'
This morning, legislators tried to calm fears about upcoming recommendations from the Public Employees' Retirement System Study Commission, saying they would not be in favor of ending the "13th check," …
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DuPree Aims to Win
Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree proved that grass-roots organizing matters more than cash when it comes to winning the Democratic Party nomination for governor. Now, many voters are wondering about the …
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Crime
Recycling Crime
U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate has put the clamps on an effort to change a new state law regulating the metal-recycling industry. The law specifically demands scrap buyers keep all …
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Nissan to Expand Canton Plant
Despite declining auto sales worldwide, Nissan announced plans today to expand its Canton, Miss. plant to produce a new commercial vehicle, according to a release:
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Legislative Update: Medicaid and Marriage
This week marked either the victory cheer or the death knell for a round of money bills seeking approval. Tuesday, specifically, marked the deadline for the House or Senate to …
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[Beety] The Cost of Death
On July 21, the state of Mississippi is scheduled to put Joseph Daniel Burns Mississippian, murderer and father of three—to death. Our state has executed only 10 men over the …
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Tougaloo Site a 'Done Deal'
A Civil Rights Museum commission appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour approved the location of a planned National Civil Rights Museum, March 11, with a 22-to-9 vote in favor of a …
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Legislative Round-up–Week 5: Getting Busy
With the Jan. 30 bill submission deadline gone, the House and Senate buckled down to serious floor action this week.
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Legislative Round-up—Week 6: Wasting Away
The Senate had another busy week, passing full funding of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program Tuesday. With Gov. Haley Barbour finally onboard with fully funding MAEP—in an election year—the Senate …
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Education
AG Hood: State Must Fund Mental Health Care, Not Ignore Lawsuit
Attorney General Jim Hood is calling on the Legislature to increase funding for the Mississippi Department of Mental Health as a part of his legislative priorities this session.
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Politics
'God Gave Us Charles Johnson': Blogger Speaks at Tea Party Meeting
Charles "Controversy" Johnson, as Tea Party member Tricia Raymond calls him, buddied up to radical conservatives last night at Life Church Jackson in Flowood at one of three of his …
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Cover
The Katrina Effect: Politics After the Storm
Nobody had ever seen anything like Katrina. "When Katrina came, we knew we were in for an entirely different kind of animal," said Capt. Louis Skrmetta of Gulfport.
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Of Sin and Politics
I remember being surprised when I got old enough to realize that not everyone had a yearly "giant house party" in their home county. In fact, the Neshoba County Fair …
