Four words on Mississippi’s license plates have sparked a federal lawsuit. American Atheists, the Mississippi Humanist Association and three nonreligious state residents filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the state over its “In God We Trust” license plate. The complaint accuses the Mississippi Commissioner of Revenue of violating the people’s freedom of speech and religion by … Read more
A federal appeals court panel has reinstated a Tennessee law requiring first-time voters in the state to appear in person to vote. A split 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel overturned a lower court’s ruling that blocked the restriction on absentee voting ahead of the 2020 general election. Judge Julia Smith Gibbons reasoned in … Read more
A Tennessee businessman died when his single-engine plane crashed about 10 miles from an airport. Officials say the plane went down Monday in Mercer, about 75 miles northeast of Memphis. The Madison County fire chief says the pilot had radioed a local airport and was experiencing trouble before losing contact. The pilot was identified as … Read more
The grandmother of an 11-year-old boy from Tennessee who was injured on a roller coaster in Missouri says doctors are concerned they might not be able to save his legs. Shelandra Ford is with Aalondo Perry at a Missouri hospital. He was hurt in Branson on Sunday. Ford told WREG-TV in Memphis, Tennessee, that her … Read more
First lady Jill Biden visited one of the states least vaccinated against COVID-19 on Tuesday, encouraging residents of Mississippi to get their shots and telling them, “The White House, our administration — we care about you.” “I’m here today to ask all of the people who can hear my voice, who can see my face, … Read more
A man has been arrested for arson in a December fire that killed the sister-in-law of a former Mississippi lawmaker. Former state Rep. Ashley Henley was found shot to death on June 13 outside the same burned-out mobile home where Kristina Michelle Jones was found dead on Dec. 26. Assistant District Attorney Steven Jubera tells … Read more
Federal authorities say a prison inmate who had escaped from a minimum security facility in Tennessee has been captured. Tyreece Miller is the U.S. Marshal for West Tennessee. He said Cecil Corey Haggins was found Wednesday at a hotel in Manchester, Tennessee. The Bureau of Prisons said Haggins was discovered missing from Federal Correctional Institution … Read more
The city of Memphis welcomed the first woman to lead the police department on Monday as she began her first day on the job. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland tweeted that he was proud to participate in the pinning ceremony of Police Chief C.J. Davis. The police department also tweeted “Welcome aboard.” A former member of … Read more
A managed care company has agreed to pay Mississippi $55.5 million to settle a lawsuit that accused one of its subsidiaries of overcharging the state’s Medicaid program for pharmacy benefits management. Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Auditor Shad White announced Monday that the state had reached the settlement with Centene Corp., which it called the … Read more
A former DeSoto County lawmaker was found shot to death during the weekend in a rural area outside the burned home where her sister-in-law was found dead after Christmas. 40 year-old Ashley Henley was a Republican who served in the state House from January 2016 to January 2020 from a district in DeSoto County. Henley’s … Read more