Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is scheduled to sign a bill Thursday to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls or women’s sports teams. Mississippi will become the first state this year to enact such a ban, after a federal court blocked a similar Idaho law last year. Mississippi’s Senate Bill 2536 is set to … Read more
Mississippi legislators wrangled Wednesday over regulations for medical marijuana, with the House killing one bill and the Senate reviving the issue hours later by wedging it into a separate bill. Voters in November approved Initiative 65, which authorizes a medical marijuana program. It got on the ballot through citizens’ petitions. The constitutional amendment requires the … Read more
Police are investigating a car crash that killed an off-duty officer in Memphis, Tennessee. The Memphis Police Department said on Twitter that 31-year-old Officer Nicholas Blow was driving away from a police station parking lot on Monday night when his car was hit by another vehicle. Blow was taken to a hospital, where he died. … Read more
The former director of the Mississippi Veterans Memorial Cemetery was arrested and accused of embezzling money from the office, authorities said. Henry Gruno was arrested Monday by the Office of the State Auditor and presented with a $29,818 demand letter, news outlets reported. The amount includes interest and investigative expenses. The auditor’s office said Gruno … Read more
The Mississippi House on Tuesday rejected a proposal to restructure the board that governs the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. The nine-member board was established in 1902. Its members have always nominated their own successors and those nominees have been confirmed by the state Senate. Senate Bill 2727 said the Archives and History board … Read more
A Mississippi man convicted of child exploitation has died after being taken from a prison to a Jackson hospital. The state Department of Corrections said Tuesday that Vernon Williams, 63, was pronounced dead Saturday at Merit Health Central. He was taken there from Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. An autopsy will be done. Williams pleaded guilty … Read more
Soldiers from the Tennessee National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 181st Field Artillery Regiment, are deploying for a 10-month tour of the Middle East. A farewell ceremony took place on Sunday at Smyrna’s Volunteer Training Site. The battalion commander said many of the more than 350 departing soldiers have assisted with efforts to fight COVID-19 over the … Read more
Almost every Tennessee House Republican says hearings should be held for the removal of a judge who expanded absentee voting in the 2020 election due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The push against Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle has sparked warnings from legal experts that lawmakers were seriously considering an unprecedented breach of judicial independence. … Read more
The Mississippi House voted Wednesday to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls’ or women’s sports teams in the state’s schools and universities. The bill heads to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves in the next several days, and he is expected to sign it into law. Mississippi is one of more than 20 states with lawmakers … Read more
More than 1 million Tennesseans will soon become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine after the Department of Health announced it was expecting a large supply of the immunizations. Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey said Tuesday that the new eligibility will apply to people 16 and older who have high-risk health conditions — including cancer, hypertension, obesity … Read more