3 months ago
In a series of exclusive interviews with Mississippi Today over the past year, former Rankin County Deputy Christian Dedmon talked about the fraternity he found in law enforcement and his descent into cruelty inside the “Goon Squad.”
Eddie Parker stood in a courtroom facing the former Mississippi law enforcement officers who were convicted of torturing him and one of his friends. Some of the ex-officers wore red-striped outfits that identified them as the most dangerous inmates behind bars.
By Jerry Mitchell - Mississippi Today on
3 months ago
State Board of Education members during a meeting, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025 in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Timely audits can alert state officials to potential financial emergencies at school districts such as the situation that spurred a takeover of Okolona schools in late October.
A third of Mississippi school districts are behind on submitting completed annual financial audits to the state Department of Education.
Without that information, state education officials are in the dark about current finances at 47 of Mississippi’s 138 public school districts, including any pending financial emergencies.
By Devna Bose - Mississippi Today on
3 months ago
Delvin Francisco Rodriguez, a 39-year old Nicaraguan man being detained by immigration authorities, has died in a Natchez, Mississippi hospital.
In the months leading up to his death on Dec. 14, Rodriguez had been held in the Adams County Correctional Center, which is run by Core Civic Inc.
By Mukta Joshi - Mississippi Today on
3 months ago
Mississippi Today health reporter Allen Siegler and health editor Laura Santhanam give an update on the state’s plan to spend its initial pot of opioid lawsuit settlement money. Siegler’s in-depth reporting has chronicled some issues and raised serious questions about how the state and local governments are spending the money, which is supposed to help address the scourge of opioid addiction, which has cost at least 10,000 lives in Mississippi since 2000.
By Geoff Pender, Allen Siegler and Laura Santhanam - on
3 months ago
These Mississippians faced challenges, spoke out, made art and launched innovative projects in 2025. Our reporters wrote about their experiences – whether positive or negative – as part of our commitment to elevating the voices of everyday Mississippians, holding those in power accountable and shining a light on the state’s dark places.
By Mississippi Today Staff on
3 months ago
Below is a political opinion column by Bobby Harrison:
Unless Congress reverses course, Mississippians will pay much more for ACA marketplace insurance in 2026.
Mississippians have benefitted more from the enhanced subsidies provided for the federal Affordable Care Act marketplace insurance policies than the people of almost any other state.
By Bobby Harrison - Mississippi Today on
3 months ago
Sen. Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford, takes notes during a presentation by Mississippi Department of Child Services Commissioner Andrea Sanders, during a study group on women, children and family, held at the State Capitol, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024 in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
State lawmakers and leaders of Mississippi’s public colleges and universities are examining ways to increase the number of adults who complete some form of education after high school, land a job and earn a living wage.
The initial conversations, held Wednesday and Thursday during a joint meeting of the state House and Senate committees on universities and colleges, will likely continue during the 2026 legislative session.
Here are four key takeaways from the committee meetings.
By Candice Wilder - Mississippi Today on
3 months ago
Missisisppi’s appeals court on Tuesday rejected the state attorney general’s office request to vacate its decision to free a man, who later received clemency, for spending five more years in prison than the maximum for his crime.
By Mina Corpuz - Mississippi Today on
3 months ago
Evan Turnage worked for years as a top aide for some of the most powerful Democrats in Congress. Now, the Yale-educated attorney from Jackson is launching a primary challenge aimed at ousting one of the body’s most long-entrenched members.
By Michael Goldberg - Mississippi Today on
3 months ago
Donna Steelman poses for a portrait inside of her home in Starkville, Miss., Tuesday, Nov. 11 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Tears well up in Donna Steelman’s eyes as she looks out at her flower garden, wilted from the first November frost, remembering her three closest friends.
One passed away from cancer two years ago. Another is currently battling a terminal illness. The third is incarcerated in a facility 80 miles away, with an infection she fears could one day kill her, though it is highly curable. Steelman prays her friend — “one of the few I’ve got left alive” — will be released from prison, but worries her homecoming will be bittersweet.
By Gwen Dilworth - Mississippi Today on
3 months ago
In a book “Intersections: Seeking Self at Parchman Prison,” Sally Lott McLellan wrote about how her art class and volunteer work was a journey of self-discovery for her students and herself.
In the harsh and colorless confines of the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, nine men hunkered down over an array of vibrant hues and used pencils, crayons, kindergarten scissors, cloth and milk jugs to create masks and a headdress, pencil drawings and wall hangings, shell necklaces and Gullah dolls.
By Mina Corpuz and Debbie Skipper - Mississippi Today on
3 months ago
Lewisburg Elementary School physical education teacher Jason Reid prepares for his afternoon bus route on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Olive Branch, Miss. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
State Auditor Shad White’s office says Mississippi teachers are paid less today than they were during the Great Recession.
Mississippi teachers are among the lowest paid in the country. State Auditor Shad White wants state lawmakers to change that next year.
By Devna Bose - Mississippi Today on
3 months ago
See the baby boy and girl names that made the Top 25 list in Mississippi this year.
The Mississippi Department of Health released the most popular baby names in the Magnolia State for 2025 on Tuesday.
The department’s Office of Vital Records compiles a list of most popular baby names born to Mississippi residents every year. The counts and rankings are based on provisional birth certificate data.
James and Amelia topped the list of boy and girl names, respectively, in Mississippi this year.
By Frank Corder - Magnolia Tribune on
3 months ago
Empty beds inside Holly Springs Alliance Hospital's emergency room in Holly Springs, Miss., on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. The federal government has rescinded the hospital's rural emergency status. Credit: Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today
Mississippi will receive nearly $206 million in the 2026 fiscal year as a part of a federal program that aims to transform rural health care and offset budget cuts that could harm rural hospitals.
Awards were made to all 50 states as a part of a five-year, $50 billion federal investment into rural health care. The amounts average $200 million and range from $147 million to $281 million. Texas and Alaska will receive the largest shares of funding, while Connecticut and New Jersey were granted the smallest amounts.
By Gwen Dilworth - Mississippi Today on
3 months ago
For much of Thursday night’s Sugar Bowl showdown with Georgia, it looked as if Ole Miss’ dream football season was careening toward a rude wake-up call.
Luckily for Rebel fans, Trinidad Chambliss found the snooze button.
The Ole Miss quarterback put together a performance for the ages, passing for 362 yards and two touchdowns to rally his team to a stunning 39-34 win over the SEC Champion Bulldogs.
By Tyler Cleveland - Mississippi Today on
3 months ago
Could the outcome have been different?
A statewide group tasked with reviewing domestic violence homicides and other related deaths will begin to look at missed opportunities to offer resources and intervention to change future outcomes.
By Mina Corpuz - Mississippi Today on
3 months ago
Mississippi has 1,534 listings in the National Register of Historic Places.
Fifteen sites in Mississippi were listed in the National Register for 2025, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History announced this week.
The 15 sites included in the National Register, with descriptions from MDAH, are:
By Frank Corder - Magnolia Tribune on
3 months ago
Trinidad Chambliss continues to write one of the most fascinating stories in college football history. If this wasn’t football, you’d call it a fairy tale. All that’s missing are magic beans and silver slippers.
Here Thursday night at the jam-packed Superdome, one of the world’s most famous sports venues, Chambliss willed the Ole Miss Rebels to a scintillating 39-34 Sugar Bowl victory over the proud Georgia Bulldogs. He did it with his strong right arm. He did it with his legs. He did it with courage and with uncommon flair.
By Rick Cleveland - Mississippi Today on
3 months ago
Important state and national stories, market and business news, sports and entertainment, delivered in quick-hit fashion
By Magnolia Tribune Staff on
3 months ago
In January 2016, the 50th anniversary of the 1966 killing of Vernon Dahmer Sr., the Mississippi Legislature honored him and his family in the Senate chamber. Afterward then-Sen. John Horhn, who introduced the measure, posed with the family and others, including Hollis Watkins, a civil rights activist who stayed with the family in 1961 and worked on voting rights. Credit: Jerry Mitchell/Mississippi Today
Mafia hitman Gregory Scarpa Sr. pocketed millions from drug dealing, donned a seven-carat pinky ring and shot to death so many people that he stopped counting at 50.
Oh, and he helped the FBI solve who killed Mississippi NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer Sr.
Hollywood plans to release a movie next year on Scarpa’s role in the Dahmer case, “By Any Means,” starring Mark Wahlberg as the mobster.
By Jerry Mitchell - Mississippi Today on
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