Mississippi

by Leah Willingham -- ITTA BENA, Miss. – A decade ago, the sole grocery store in the city of Itta Bena shuttered. The last bank left a few years later, followed by the pharmacy — lifelines for a small, rural...
by Emily Wagster Pettus -- JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi voters will decide this year whether to simplify the process for electing a governor and other statewide officials by eliminating a step that’s a bit like the electoral college in...
by Najee El-Amin -- In 2016, Mississippi’s voter turnout rate took a nosedive as 70,000 eligible citizens did not show up to cast a ballot. Activists have been trying to figure out why this happened and how to get African...
by Emily Wagster Pettus --  JACKSON, Miss. — Charles Evers, who led an eclectic life as a civil rights leader, onetime purveyor of illegal liquor in Chicago, history-making Black mayor in deeply segregated Mississippi and contrarian with connections to prominent...
by Jay Reeves --  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Long a symbol of pride to some and hatred to others, the Confederate battle flag is losing its place of official prominence 155 years after rebellious Southern states lost a war to perpetuate...
by Emily Wagster Pettus -- JACKSON, Miss. — Spectators at the Mississippi Capitol broke into cheers and applause Saturday as lawmakers took a big step toward erasing the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag, a symbol that has come...
How does one go from being mayor of a major city to being president of a small HBCU in rural Mississippi? It’s a question Dr. Ivy Taylor has answered frequently since being tapped as the new president of Rust College...
by Adrian Sainz and Jay Reeves --  TUNICA, Miss. — Since mid-March, the wide roads leading to the gambling halls of Tunica County, Mississippi, have been devoid of cars. The bells of the slot machines and chatter from hopeful card...
by Angelica Owens --  Prospective graduates of the Rust College class of 2019-20 now know that graduation exercises set for April 26 are on hold, indefinitely. A campus update sent out Friday says the decision to delay graduation was in keeping...
Marketia Morrow is quietly terrified. As the Chief Nursing Officer at Alliance Healthcare System in my hometown of Holly Springs, Miss., she is in a combat zone – she can’t self-isolate. Can’t keep a six-foot distance. Can’t work from home....