News Staff Mississippi is developing a way for people to have their driver’s license, vaccination card and other state-issued documents available in a smartphone wallet, Commissioner of Public Safety Sean Tindell said Tuesday. He said the digital driver’s license, or mobile ID, could be available as soon as November. Tindell said people would have the option of … Read more
Gov. Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn have announced plans to review how the state funds its multibillion dollar K-12 education system. Lee and Schwinn said Friday that they hope school leaders, families and other members of the public will provide their feedback on how the system can be improved over the next few … Read more
The Mississippi Book Festival is being shown online after the in-person event was canceled because of concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers say videos of 31 panel discussions have been recorded in the past month. Those will become available Tuesday on the festival’s website, msbookfestival.com. The festival originally was scheduled for Aug. 21 at the … Read more
Republican candidates in Mississippi and across the U.S. have been raising money for months by promising to ban teaching of critical race theory. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn both made that pledge a central theme of their stump speeches several weeks ago at the Neshoba County Fair. On Wednesday, Mississippi Center … Read more
A small-town Tennessee post office where two mail workers were fatally shot during a robbery 11 years ago has been renamed in their honor. The post office in rural Henning was renamed Tuesday for U.S. Postal Service employees Paula Robinson and Judy Spray. The women were shot by Chastain Montgomery Sr. and his 18-year-old son … Read more
Entry to two Mississippi history museums is free Wednesday to mark the birthday of the late civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer, known for saying she was “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” She was born Oct. 6, 1917, in Montgomery County and worked most of her life as a sharecropper. In 1962, … Read more
Mississippi on Wednesday followed through on its promise to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that it come up with a plan to prevent unnecessary institutionalization of people with mental illness. Lawyers for the state filed a notice of appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. On Sept. 7, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves … Read more
Police have issued an arrest warrant for a man suspected of fatally shooting a Rhodes College student during an off-campus home invasion in Memphis, Tennessee. Rhodes College Interim President Carroll D. Stevens said senior Andrew Rainer was killed early Satuday in a home invasion. Rainer attended high school in Memphis and was pursuing a major … Read more
The Mississippi Supreme Court acted quickly Monday to block a circuit judge’s order in a dispute over whether a special election is needed to fill a vacancy in the state House of Representatives. Two people signed up to run in a Nov. 2 special election in District 29 in parts of Bolivar and Sunflower counties. … Read more
A Memphis police officer investigating a crash on Interstate 40 was hit and killed by a tractor-trailer. Memphis Police tweeted that 34-year-old Officer Darrell Adams was struck Saturday while investigating the two-car crash. He had worked for the department since April 2016. Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said the loss of a dedicated servant caused … Read more