Mississippi Today

On Friday morning, Brooke Jones was at work at Mississippi’s only abortion clinic, performing an ultrasound, when her aunt called – twice. “She usually doesn’t call when I’m at work,” Jones, a sonogram and lab tech at the clinic, said. “I called her back when I finished my patient up. She was like, ‘Have you heard? I said, ‘Heard what?’ She said, ‘They overturned it.’”

An unserved arrest warrant in the lynching case of Black teenager Emmett Till nearly 70 years ago has been found in the basement of a Mississippi courthouse. The original warrant is for Carolyn Bryant Donham and is dated Aug. 29, 1955. It was found last week by a search group in a file folder in a box in the Leflore County courthouse, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Mississippi Today has compiled a list of questions in regards to abortion in Mississippi after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week, and Mississippi’s trigger law banning abortions is set to go into effect in less than 10 days. We will continue to update this FAQ....

Former Gov. Phil Bryant’s own words about his role in the state’s welfare fraud scandal are a great understatement. And now at the three-year mark since investigators began nibbling at the edges of what state Auditor Shad White has called the largest public fraud case in state history, things still don’t look good. But there remain as many questions as answers on how at least $77 million in federal welfare dollars was stolen or misspent. And by whom.

INDIANOLA – The new crop of workers arrived with clipped accents and small khaki shorts. Richard Strong remembers the young men – farmers back home – had never seen a massive 28,000-pound tractor until traveling some 8,000 miles to Mississippi. As kids, Richard and his brother, Gregory,...

Mississippi Today reporter Sara DiNatale spent eight months investigating the state of the farming workforce in the Delta. She interviewed a dozen local and H-2A visa farm workers, including some currently living in South Africa. She examined three investigation files from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division,...

As the old saying goes, any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. By listening more intently and understanding the people who make up Mississippi’s communities, our reporters put a human face on how policy affects everyday Mississippians. We’re listening closely to our readers to help us continue to align our work with the needs and priorities of people from all across Mississippi. Please take a few minutes to tell us what’s on your mind by clicking the button below.

U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo, representing Mississippi’s 4th District, became the first incumbent congressman to lose in a party primary in recent state history when he was defeated Tuesday by Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell in the Republican primary runoff. Another incumbent congressman, Michael Guest of the 3rd District in...

Today’s January 6th Hearing testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson was nothing short of stunning. By listening more intently and understanding the people who make up Mississippi’s communities, our reporters put a human face on how policy affects everyday Mississippians. We’re listening closely to our readers to help us continue to align our work with the needs and priorities of people from all across Mississippi. Please take a few minutes to tell us what’s on your mind by clicking the button below.

A recent court filing from Austin Smith, nephew to the now disgraced former welfare director John Davis, is loaded with explosive allegations. The post Former Gov. Phil Bryant should be sued over misspent welfare funds, civil defendant argues to court appeared first on Mississippi Today.

All four Hinds County chancellors recused themselves from the lawsuit filed by the state’s only abortion clinic asking that a law banning abortions in Mississippi be stopped from taking effect. The four chancery judges, Denise Owens, J. Dewayne Thomas, Crystal Wise Martin and Tiffany Grove, recused themselves from the...

Northern District Transportation Commissioner John Caldwell postponed the disbursement of $100 million to cities and counties for emergency road and bridge needs Tuesday saying he wanted more details on how the funds were being divvied. Caldwell said he had told Mississippi Department of Transportation staff he wanted data on how...

We’re committed to answering questions from our readers about topics in Mississippi that matter most through our series, MT Asks.

We value the thoughts and opinions Mississippi Today readers have on news and other current events, which is why we’ve committed to listening and responding to topics that matter to readers. We want to know what you are curious about so we can get you the answers you need! We’ll prompt readers for questions each month. For June, we ask you:

Twenty-two years ago, The Tomato Place was nothing more than one of four fruit and veggie stands run by Luke Hughes. “I was here sorting tomatoes, when this guy comes up, takes a look at my tomatoes and asks if we could make him a sandwich. I made him a sandwich. Guess he must’ve really liked it,” Hughes says with a chuckle. “Because the very next day, he came back for another one. The rest, as they say, is history.”

NATIONAL CHAMPS: Ole Miss completes rags to riches story. Rick Cleveland, a native of Hattiesburg and resident of Jackson, has been Mississippi Today’s sports columnist since 2016. A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor’s in journalism, Rick has worked for the Monroe (La.) News Star World, Jackson Daily News and Clarion Ledger. He was sports editor of Hattiesburg American, executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. His work as a syndicated columnist and celebrated sports writer has appeared in numerous magazines, periodicals and newspapers.

Mississippi Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann on Monday announced he was creating a nine-member “Senate Study Group on Women, Children and Families” after the U.S. Supreme Court’s abortion decision last week. In a press release, Hosemann said the committee would be tasked with making recommendations to the Legislature...

An all but forgotten 1998 ruling by the state Supreme Court declaring a right to an abortion is granted in the state Constitution could prolong the fight over abortion in Mississippi despite last week’s landmark decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The Mississippi Supreme Court in the 1998 decision, Pro-Choice...

Mississippi Today won awards for its COVID-19 coverage and general excellence in its first year to participate in the Mississippi Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest. The post Mississippi Today wins awards for general excellence, COVID-19 coverage appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Ole Miss Rebels had just won the Super Regional at Hattiesburg and were on the bus back to Oxford when Mike Bianco received text messages of congratulations from both Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis and hitting coach Jake Gautreau. The texts, Bianco said, also wished him good luck...