The GOP advantage: Geography or gerrymandering?
Republicans helped solidify their hold on the U.S. House when GOP legislators in key states drew new congressional maps after the 2010 Census. But was it geography or gerrymandering that gave Republicans an edge in state after state?
Our view: Sales-tax holiday for guns is nothing more than political pandering
Tuesday, the Mississippi House of Representatives passed a bill that would create something called “The Second Amendment Sales-Tax Holiday” because, well, let’s face it, we simply cannot have too many guns and bullets.
House OKs bill to create 3 elite strike forces
JACKSON — Mississippi could be one step closer to setting up a trio of elite state law-enforcement strike forces. House members passed House Bill 749
GOP weighs undoing veterans pension cuts
House Republican leaders Monday unveiled a plan to reverse a recently passed cut to military pensions as the price for increasing the government’s borrowing cap, but it received a rocky reception from skeptical conservatives.
Miss. House seeks to end self-destruct switch
A figurative self-destruct switch is turned on at many state agencies in Mississippi.
No time bombs are ticking in the office buildings that overlook the Capitol. But laws that authorize many agencies specify a date that the law will be repealed and the agency will cease to exist.
Pa. couple advertises home as ‘slightly haunted’
Between the mysteriously banging doors, the odd noises coming from the basement, and the persistent feeling that someone is standing behind them, homeowners Gregory and Sandi Leeson are thoroughly creeped out by their 113-year-old Victorian.
House passes welfare drug-testing bill
The Mississippi House engaged in a contentious four-hour debate Wednesday before voting largely along party lines to pass a bill that would require drug testing for some people applying for welfare.
Gunn: Teachers deserve salary increase
Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn on Monday repeated his support for an across-the-board teacher pay raise this year.
But the Republican said it will be weeks before lawmakers will know how much money is available to put into raises.
A home for the holidays: Habitat for Humanity makes a dream come true, just in time for Christmas
The old, sentimental Christmas standards about home have never had more meaning for Tiffany and Terry Boykin of Columbus. Perry Como’s “Home for the Holidays” and Bing Crosby’s “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” seem to carry a deeper message this time around.
On Christmas morning, the Boykin family will wake up in a new house, one they have worked hard on, alongside Columbus-Lowndes Habitat for Humanity volunteers.
Senate showdown over military sexual assault bill
WASHINGTON — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has secured public support from nearly half the Senate, but not enough votes, for her proposal to give victims of
Calif. town putting roof over wounded GI’s head
LANCASTER, Calif. — When Jerral Hancock came home from the Iraq war missing one arm, with another that barely worked and a paralyzed body that
House votes to cut $4B a year from food stamps
WASHINGTON — The House has voted to cut nearly $4 billion a year from food stamps, a 5 percent reduction to the nation’s main feeding
New owner of unfinished Columbus mansion has big hopes for property
Last week, Rick McGill, a local real estate agent, was driving Highway 45 North with one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding a cell phone to his ear.
Rubio warns Obama could act to legalize immigrants
WASHINGTON — Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio warned Tuesday that if Congress doesn’t pass immigration overhaul legislation, President Barack Obama may act on his own
Obama signs student loan deal
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama signed into law Friday a measure restoring lower interest rates for student loans, pledging the hard-fought compromise would be just
Four bodies pulled from wreckage of Conn. plane crash
EAST HAVEN, Conn. — Four bodies have been recovered from the site of a plane crash in a residential Connecticut neighborhood, a fire official said
Demolition begins on Ohio house in kidnapping case
With several swipes from the arm of an excavator and a smattering of applause from spectators, demolition began this morning on the Cleveland house where three women were held captive and raped over a decade.
Time to take a bite out of food stamps?
Food stamps look ripe for the picking, politically speaking.
Texas contractor razes house, but the wrong one
FORT WORTH, Texas — A demolition company has mistakenly torn down a three-bedroom home in North Texas rather than the condemned building next door. David