MPB News

10/18/2024

The Mississippi Legislative Democratic Caucus is renewing its calls for major reforms to the state’s public assistance program for poor residents five years after it was revealed that at least $77 million had been misspent.

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10/18/2024

Three construction company employees remained hospitalized in critical condition Thursday, a day after a bridge collapsed while they were preparing it for demolition in a rural area of central Mississippi, a sheriff said.

Three other workers were killed in the collapse and another was injured and treated at the site, Simpson County Sheriff Paul Mullins told The Associated Press.

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10/17/2024

More than a dozen recreational and commercial drone enthusiasts met with inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration at Jackson's airport.

Unmanned aircraft systems, otherwise known as drones, are becoming increasingly popular. Nationally, there are nearly 800 thousand registered drones

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10/14/2024

In August 2022, flooding from the Pearl River caused the city's largest water treatment plant to fail. This left at least 150,000 residents with no access to safe drinking water. It was declared a public health crisis.

At least 50 Jackson residents attended a meeting with officials from the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency. They expressed both satisfaction and concern with the city's water system.

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10/11/2024

During a Stennis Capital Press Forum in Jackson on Monday, Lance Evans, Mississippi’s state superintendent of education, voiced his support for universal, publicly funded pre-kindergarten.

Evans said that kindergarten teachers see the advantages kids who’ve attended pre-k have over those who have not had that early education every day when they look out at their classrooms.

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Mississippi Public Broadcasting is MPB. Mississippi is Our Mission. Get the latest news on Tate Reeves, the Election and updates on Television, Radio and Online

10/11/2024

The executive director of Mississippi's Medicaid program, Drew Snyder, is stepping down at the end of this month to take a private sector job, Gov. Tate Reeves said Wednesday.

Reeves said he has chosen Cindy Bradshaw to lead the program. She has been its deputy executive director since April 2023.

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Drew Snyder is stepping down as executive director of Mississippi’s Medicaid program at the end of this month.

10/08/2024

Cyber threats against power grids have increasingly become a critical concern for companies and government officials. Without adequate cybersecurity, power could become interrupted or hacked by outside forces.

A $2 million dollar grant from the Entergy Charitable Foundation will fund the creation of the Critical Power Grid Security Lab at Jackson State University. This lab will train students to enter the workforce as cybersecurity experts in nuclear, energy, electricity and natural gas sectors. This new initiative could help train students to protect power grids from getting hacked.

Read the full story on MPB News.

A $2 million dollar grant from the Entergy Charitable Foundation will fund the creation of the Critical Power Grid Security Lab at Jackson State University.

10/07/2024

A ribbon cutting ceremony opened the fair Thursday morning. A truck filled with the season’s bounty - pumpkins, sweet potatoes and corn - served as the backdrop.

Once the ribbon was cut, bands played and members of the public wandered along the mile-long midway - it was packed with rides, games and at least 60 food vendors. They sold everything from fried oreos to buffalo cauliflower. Attendees were dressed in scrubs and business suits, coming to the fair on their lunch break. A livestock area was filled with cattle and fresh pens that would be filled with other animals.

The state’s first fair happened in 1858 in downtown Jackson. It centered around agriculture and livestock.

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The 165th Mississippi state fair is underway in downtown Jackson.

10/04/2024

The women some call the "Mississippi Five" have each lived behind prison walls for more than 30 years.

The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, at least five presidential administrations, three impeachments, hurricanes too numerous to name and a global public health emergency have come and gone while they've been incarcerated.

But their recorded writings — captured by organizers, read aloud by the women over tinny prison phones — show the deeper, personal impact of that loss of time.

Read the full story on MPB News.

A campaign to free five women, known as the "Mississippi Five," shows how prison populations throughout the region are aging.

10/04/2024

The deadline to register to vote in Mississippi and still vote in the November election is October 7 at 5 p.m.

Election disinformation spreading across social media is something that comes with every election cycle. Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson says as people prepare to vote, it's important to make sure they’re relying on information from legitimate government source’s like circuit clerks offices.

You can check your voter registration status here:
https://www.msegov.com/sos/voter_registration/AmIRegistered
Find your polling location:
https://myelectionday.sos.state.ms.us/VoterOutreach/Pages/VOSearch.aspx
View a sample ballot: https://www.mpbonline.org/bento-api/filer-file-download/376883/

Read the full story on MPB News.

Mississippi Public Broadcasting is MPB. Mississippi is Our Mission. Get the latest news on Tate Reeves, the Election and updates on Television, Radio and Online

10/03/2024

It’s hard to miss the overflowing bowl of condoms at the entrance of the gym.

Some University of Mississippi students walking past after their workout snicker and point, and the few who step forward to consider grabbing a condom rethink it when their friends catch up, laughter trailing behind them. Almost no one actually reaches in to take one.

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Condom use is down among s*xually active teens and young adults.

10/02/2024

In a move to address health care challenges in some of the most underserved areas of the country, the Biden-Harris administration announced a major investment of $75 million to support rural health care services.

Alabama and Mississippi are two of a handful of U.S. states to receive a piece of that funding and plan to use the initiative, spearheaded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to expand access to both maternal health care and substance use disorder treatment — both critical issues that have long plagued rural communities in the region.

Read the full story on MPB News.

The federal funding from the Biden-Harris administration will help each state improve maternal health care and opioid addiction treatment in rural communities.

10/01/2024

Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre is trying to expand his defamation lawsuit against Mississippi Auditor Shad White to include a book White wrote about the misspending of welfare money that was supposed to help some of the poorest people in the U.S.

White's book, “Mississippi Swindle: Brett Favre and the Welfare Scandal that Shocked America,” was published in August. Favre's attorneys wrote in court papers Friday that the title and the contents are defamatory.

Read the full story on MPB News.

Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre is trying to expand his defamation lawsuit against Mississippi Auditor Shad White.

09/27/2024

Most panelists at House Speaker Jason White’s policy summit on tax reform expressed their support for eliminating Mississippi's income tax. As the more than 100 attendees left the all-day event Tuesday evening, White said he's confident that at least some progress will be made on that front after lawmakers return to Jackson in January.

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Mississippi Public Broadcasting is MPB. Mississippi is Our Mission. Get the latest news on Tate Reeves, the Election and updates on Television, Radio and Online

09/26/2024

Brett Favre, among about 40 others, is accused by Mississippi officials of receiving millions of dollars meant for the state’s poorest families.

Created in 1996 through congressional legislation, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program – best known as TANF – exists to provide cash payments to families with children living in poverty.

But instead, according to the office of Mississippi’s State Auditor, NFL hall of famer Brett Favre received more than 1 million dollars in speaking fees for speeches he never gave.

Read the full story on MPB News.

Mississippi Public Broadcasting is MPB. Mississippi is Our Mission. Get the latest news on Tate Reeves, the Election and updates on Television, Radio and Online

09/24/2024

Nearly 20 cars line the street outside of Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church in Lowndesboro, Alabama, in late August. Volunteers have placed laminated numbers onto their dashboards to count how many families will be served when the cars start their journey through the line.

Read the full story on MPB News.

As the November election approaches, food insecurity is one issue that’s top of mind for residents in Alabama’s newly redrawn District 2.

09/23/2024

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to protect dolphins along the Mississippi Gulf Coast after dozens were killed or sickened in 2019 following the prolonged opening of a spillway used for flood control.

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A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to protect dolphins along Mississippi's coast from harm by a spillway used for flood control.

09/23/2024

The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into a Mississippi sheriff's department whose officers tortured two Black men in a racist attack that included beatings, repeated use of stun guns and assaults with a s*x toy before one of the victims was shot in the mouth, officials said Thursday.

The Justice Department will investigate whether the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department has engaged in a pattern or practice of excessive force and unlawful stops, searches and arrests, and whether it has used racially discriminatory policing practices, according to Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke.

Read the full story on MPB News.

The U.S. Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into a Mississippi sheriff’s department whose officers tortured two Black men.

09/19/2024

A Mississippi town has taken down a Confederate monument that stood on the courthouse square since 1910 — a figure that was tightly wrapped in tarps the past four years, symbolizing the community's enduring division over how to commemorate the past.

Read the full story on MPB News.

A Mississippi town has taken down a Confederate monument that stood since 1910.

09/18/2024

Mississippi's public schools have received their report cards for the year with the state education department's release of the 2024 accountability grades.

Each year, the state’s schools are given an A- F grade based on things like state test scores and graduation rates. For 2024, nearly 86% of schools and nearly 94% of districts earned a grade of C or higher.

Read the full story on MPB News.

Mississippi Public Broadcasting is MPB. Mississippi is Our Mission. Get the latest news on Tate Reeves, the Election and updates on Television, Radio and Online

09/17/2024

Jackson State University has formally installed its 13th president, Marcus L. Thompson.

The investiture ceremony was held at JSU on Friday, September 13, 2024. The Lee E. Williams Athletic Center was filled to capacity with students, faculty, administrators and public figures.

Read the full story on MPB News.

Jackson State University recently celebrated the investiture of its 13th president, Marcus Thompson.

09/12/2024

As MPB's coverage of begins to wrap-up, we encourage those who still need assistance or updates on weather, road hazards, closures and more to monitor these agencies:

- Mississippi Emergency Management Agency
- US National Weather Service Jackson Mississippi/ US National Weather Service New Orleans Louisiana
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- Mississippi Department of Transportation

09/12/2024

So far no deaths have been reported due to

MEMA also says no search and rescue operations were deployed.

09/12/2024

Updates on road hazards from across the state due to .

09/12/2024

Heavy rainfall is expected across the state due to .

❗Heavy rainfall is expected now until this afternoon (09/12/24) as Francine has downgraded to a tropical storm.

At the time of this post there are over 59,000 customers without power.

If you have to drive today, be aware of flooded roads and debris.

Our friends, the Mississippi Department of Transportation, are monitoring road conditions!