Mississippi Today’s “Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs” investigation has been named a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. The 2023 investigation from the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today and The New York Times’ Local Investigations Fellowship revealed how Mississippi sheriffs rule like kings, wielding vast power, exploiting and abusing the very people they are called to protect with no one stopping them. Sign up for our free, daily newsletter and get news that holds power to account. The seven-part 2023 series, which has conti ..read more

Mississippi Today’s “Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs” investigation has been named a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. The 2023 investigation from the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today and The New York Times revealed how Mississippi sheriffs rule like kings, wielding vast power, exploiting and abusing the very people they are called to protect with no one stopping them. The series included new details about the Rankin County “Goon Squad.” “I feel so blessed to see our work investigating sheriffs in Mississippi recognized by the ..read more

The post Marshall Ramsey: Sine Die appeared first on Mississippi Today ..read more

Probably the biggest surprise in the recent NFL Draft came in the fifth round when the New Orleans Saints, who just last year signed veteran quarterback Derek Carr to a four-year, $150 million contract, chose South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler. Rick Cleveland The Saints hadn’t been expected to take a quarterback. Rattler had been expected to go much higher. At least one expert, a former New Orleans Saints quarterback and a Mississippi legend, believes the drafting of Rattler was a wise choice by his hometown team. “I like Spencer,” Archie Manning said recently. “I like him as a person ..read more

May 6, 1983 Alvin Sykes, who spent much of his time in the Kansas City Public Library, convinced federal prosecutors to prosecute Richard Bledsoe for a hate crime. Credit: Kansas City Public Library A federal judge sentenced Raymond Bledsoe to life for beating Black jazz saxophonist Steven Harvey to death in a Kansas City park because of his race.  A Missouri jury had acquitted Bledsoe of murder, and afterward, he reportedly bragged to his girlfriend about killing a “n—–” and getting away with it.  Harvey’s family members, Alvin Sykes and the Steve Harvey Justice Campaign convinced f ..read more

Mississippi Today’s Adam Ganucheau, Bobby Harrison, Geoff Pender, and Taylor Vance discuss the breakdown of Medicaid expansion negotiations in the Legislature. The post Podcast: How the 2024 Medicaid expansion debate died appeared first on Mississippi Today ..read more

The post Marshall Ramsey: Holding the Door appeared first on Mississippi Today ..read more

May 5, 1917 Eugene Jacques Bullard, seen here in uniform in World War I, was the first African-American combat pilot. Credit: Wikipedia Eugene Jacques Bullard became the first Black American combat pilot.  After the near lynching of his father and hearing that Great Britain lacked such racism, the 12-year-old Georgia native stowed away on a ship headed for Scotland. From there, he moved to Liverpool, England, where he handled odd jobs before becoming a boxer, traveling across Europe before he settled in Paris.  “It seems to me that the French democracy influenced the minds of both Wh ..read more

The Mississippi Capitol is 171,000 square feet, granted a massive structure, but when it comes to communication between the two legislative chambers that occupy the building, it might as well be as big as the cosmos. Such was the case in recent days during the intense and often combustible process that eventually led to the death of Medicaid expansion and with that the loss of the opportunity to provide health care for 200,000 working poor Mississippians with the federal government paying the bulk of the cost. Democrats in the state House came under intense pressure and criticism for blocking ..read more

May 4, 1884 Photo of Ida B. Wells, circa 1893 Credit: Courtesy of National Park Service Crusading journalist Ida B. Wells, an African-American native of Holly Springs, Mississippi, was riding a train from Memphis to Woodstock, Tennessee, where she worked as a teacher, when a white railroad conductor ordered her to move to another car. She refused.  When the conductor grabbed her by the arm, “I fastened my teeth in the back of his hand,” she wrote.  The conductor got help from others, who dragged her off the train.  In response, she sued the railroad, saying the company forced Bl ..read more