The former Cougars coach is expected to participate in “listening sessions” with student and community groups and tour the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum after he tweeted an image of a noose last week.

Ron Harrist, who covered Elvis Presley, black separatists, white supremacists and college football legends during his 41 years as a reporter and editor in Mississippi for The Associated Press, died of complications from leukemia at his home in Brandon early Saturday, his son Andy Harrist said. He was 77. “Ron was absolutely one of the […]

Ron Harrist, who covered Elvis Presley, black separatists, white supremacists and college football legends during his 41 years as a reporter and editor in Mississippi for The Associated Press, died of complications from leukemia at his home in Brandon early Saturday, his son Andy Harrist said. He was 77. “Ron was absolutely one of the […]

The Racing Commission had a long and open discussion but again cleared the Cherokee Nation's belated application for a casino permit in Pope County. A Mississippi casino operator says it will sue if the Cherokees win the permit.

The post Arkansas Racing Commission sticks with competition for Pope County casino; Mississippi operators promise lawsuit if they don’t win appeared first on Arkansas Times.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Held that the First Amendment's commercial speech protections entitled a company to operate automotive service centers under the name "Tire Engineers," even though a state board that licenses engineers objected to the use of the profession's occupational title. Reversed and rendered summary judgment in favor of the company, in this declaratory judgment action.

(United States Supreme Court) - Addressed whether the State of Mississippi's peremptory strike of a particular black prospective juror was motivated by discriminatory intent. Justice Kavanaugh, who delivered the opinion of the 7-2 Court, explicitly stated that the decision broke no new legal ground but rather simply reinforced the Batson decision, in this case involving a man's sixth murder trial (the other five had ended in hung juries or else been reversed on appeal).

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Affirmed. The trial court's determination that the County Board of Supervisors' elimination of a longtime county Solid Waste Enforcement Officer's position was retaliation was upheld. The employee was running for sheriff as an Independent and the Board preferred Democrats.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Affirmed. The court affirmed the dismissal of a suit claiming race discrimination and retaliation under Title VII in the firing of a deputy clerk of a city that was part of a group of layoffs intended to offset a budget shortfall. The plaintiff failed to present a genuine issue of material fact that her race was the motivating factor in her termination or that there was a causal connection between an EEOC complaint and the termination.

Head coach Mike Leach tweeted a meme of a noose

Here is the COVID-19 situation in Mississippi.

By Isaac Cabe  Published: May 06th, 2020 

Here is the COVID-19 situation in Mississippi.

JACKSON, Miss. (May 7, 2020) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced four grant recipients in Mississippi have been selected to receive awards totaling $1,464,000 to assess and clean up contaminated properties under the agency’s Brownfields program.

Hear about travel to the Northern Mississippi River Valley in Minnesota and Wisconsin as the Amateur Traveler talks to Dean Klinkenberg from MississippiValleyTraveler.com about this stretch of America's mightiest river.

Hear about travel to the Mississippi Gulf Coast as the Amateur Traveler talks to Charles McCool from McCoolTravel.com about this tasty area with great beaches.

A Greenville, Miss. teacher was fired and a superintendent placed on administrative leave after a video of a student being dragged by her hair surfaced on social media.

State lawmakers have made it illegal for school districts to spend any public money on the Mississippi Association of School Superintendents, saying district leaders personally attacked state officials while they were seeking votes for a school funding initiative last year.

State of the States: Education highlights from latest governor's address before the legislature.

The name change comes as leaders of the school district in Mississippi's capital city, where more than 95 percent of students are African-American, are reconsidering Confederacy-linked names on three campuses.

Education remains Mississippi’s top priority, but programs won’t see increases this year as steep as in years past, Gov. Barbour told lawmakers.

Mississippi’s outdated textbooks teach an abbreviated version of civil rights, undermining the state’s new ‘innovative’ standards.

The Mississippi education department will be the first to operate a teacher residency program, which aims to increase retention and diversity in the profession.

This Quality Counts 2019 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.

The state, which earned a D-plus, scored low on the Chance for Success Index, which tracks a host of socioeconomic factors that can affect the educational environment.

This Quality Counts 2020 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.

The court revived a lawsuit claiming that Mississippi's lack of a "uniform" education system violates the 1868 federal law that readmitted the state to the Union.

Texas moved quickly to hire a new women's basketball coach, luring Vic Schaefer away from powerhouse Mississippi State on Sunday. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte announced the move by tweeting a picture of himself with Schaefer and his family holding up the “Hook'em Horns” hand signal. The move comes just two days after Texas dismissed eight-year coach Karen Aston, who had only one losing season in her tenure and had led the Longhorns to the Sweet 16 or farther four times.

Mississippi State hired former Old Dominion women’s basketball coach Nikki McCray-Penson to replace Vic Schaefer as the Bulldogs’ head coach. Athletic director John Cohen called McCray-Penson “a proven winner who will lead one of the best programs in the nation” on the department’s website. McCray-Penson, a former Tennessee star and Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer, said it’s been a dream to coach in the Southeastern Conference and she’s “grateful and blessed for this incredible honor and opportunity.”

02020-02-06: Flooding in Louisiana and Mississippi

Here is the COVID-19 situation in Mississippi.

Former Tippah County, Miss., Deputy Sheriff Jeffrey Rogers, 35, pleaded guilty today to a one-count information charging him and former Deputy Sheriff William Rogers with violating the civil rights of an arrestee. William Rogers, 56, who is Jeffrey Rogers’ father, pleaded guilty on Jan. 20, 2009, to the same charge of violating the civil rights of an arrestee.

Marshall E. Sanders, an attorney based in Vicksburg, Miss., was sentenced to 18 months in prison for failure to file tax returns by Magistrate Judge James C. Sumner. In addition, Judge Sumner ordered Sanders to pay restitution to the IRS of $1,025,453.

A federal judge today sentenced Jimmy “Jimbo” Sullivan, the former chief of police in Mendenhall, Miss., to 30 months in prison for using excessive force when he repeatedly stomped on the head of an arrestee. At his guilty plea hearing on Jan. 30, 2009, Sullivan admitted that he used excessive force on July 22, 2005, after joining other law enforcement officials in the apprehension of a man who led police on a car chase.

Former Tippah County, Miss., Deputy Sheriff William Rogers and his son, former Tippah County Deputy Sheriff Jeffrey Rogers, were sentenced in federal court on April 30, 2009, for violating the civil rights of an arrestee by shooting him with a taser unnecessarily.

The Department announced that on May 5, 2009, it will monitor municipal elections in the towns of Cleveland, Como, Meridian and Sardis, Miss., to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

On June 2, 2009, the Department of Justice will monitor elections in the following jurisdictions to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal voting rights statutes: the towns of Como, Drew, Greenwood, Isola, Louise and Meridian, Miss.; Bergen County, Middlesex County and the borough of Penns Grove, N.J.; and the town of Martin, S.D.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit today rejected a challenge to the conviction of James Ford Seale, a former member of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi. Seale was convicted by a federal jury in Mississippi in 2007 and sentenced to three life terms in prison.

The Department today filed a lawsuit against the former owner and managers of Homestead Mobile Home Village, a mobile home park in Gulfport, Miss., for violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against black tenants on the basis of race or color.

The United States has joined a whistleblower suit against Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC); Applied Enterprise Solutions (AES); Dale Galloway, Chief Executive Officer of AES; Stephen Adamec, former Director of the Naval Oceanographic Major Shared Resource Center (NAVO MSRC) at the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi; and Robert Knesel, Deputy Director of NAVO MSRC.

Jonathan Haynes, a former police officer with the Jackson, Miss., Police Department, was sentenced today for a civil rights violation for stealing money from a citizen during an off-duty encounter.

Two manufacturing companies, in separate settlements, have agreed to pay civil penalties and take corrective measures to settle Clean Air Act violations resulting from explosions at two plants in 2002 and 2003 in Louisville, Ky., and Pascagoula, Miss.

The agreement was reached under the department’s Project Civic Access initiative to bring localities into full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The United States has reached a comprehensive settlement agreement with the city of Jackson, Miss., to improve access to public transportation for individuals with disabilities.

Kyle Palmer, 27, of Biloxi, Miss., was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr., in the Southern District of Mississippi to 36 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter.

A federal court has ordered the Walthall County, Miss., School District to eliminate policies that have resulted in significant racial segregation among students in the school district.

Michael Shane Minich, 35, a former Lee County, Miss., Sheriff’s Deputy, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock, in Aberdeen, Miss., to depriving citizens of their civil rights under color of law by secretly removing cash from their wallets during traffic stops.

A federal court in Jackson, Miss., has ruled in favor of the United States involving a businessman’s attempt to use a KPMG- marketed tax shelter to avoid paying income tax on approximately $18 million in capital gains.

The Justice Department today announced an agreement with Pearl River County, Miss., to improve access to all aspects of civic life for persons with disabilities.