Mississippi

What Mississippi is doing to keep elections secure

Published

1 year ago

August 6, 2024

What Mississippi is doing to keep elections secure

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The November election is less than 100 days away, and two federal agencies are making a public service announcement to explain that while some cyber attacks are possible, not all pose a threat to the security of your vote.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) jointly released information on DDoS attacks on July 31.

DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service and works by overwhelming websites with traffic, making them inaccessible.

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson says it may sound familiar to you.

“We saw this directly here in Mississippi a couple of years back in an election,” explained Watson.

The DDoS attack happened in 2022 and kept many people from accessing the Secretary of State’s website at different times on election day.

“It was only our public facing website,” noted Watson. “No election information was breached. What we did was harden our system with some new tools to make sure if that’s the attack that happens, we see it. We can tell exactly what’s going on, and we can further defend ourselves from it.”

However, many question the integrity of the ballots being cast and counted.

“When it comes to elections, you don’t want just secure elections,” said Sen. Jeff Tate, former Senate elections committee chairman. “You want the perception of your elections to be secure. Also that’s very important.”

There were already some security measures in place to keep hackers out of the equation in Mississippi.

“Unless you could hack into a plug in the wall, you couldn’t hack into those machines,” said Watson.

In 2022, legislation was passed that adds some back-up security.

“The counties were due for new equipment,” explained Tate. “One of the mandates that we put with this money is that it had to be purchased by 2024 it had to have a paper trail, and it could not have the capability of being hooked up to the Internet. So, not only can it not be hooked up to the Internet, it can’t have the capability of being hooked up to the Internet.”

Secretary Watson notes that election interference will likely come in many forms, including misinformation.

That’s why he is encouraging you to reach out to his office or your local circuit clerk before you go sharing the latest election-related rumor you see on social media.

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Mississippi

Weather-related death toll rises to 25 in Mississippi

Published

7 hours ago

February 2, 2026

Press Room

Weather-related death toll rises to 25 in Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss. (WMC) – In an update Monday on the state’s response to the weekend winter storm, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency announced that two new weather-related fatalities have brought the state’s death toll to 25.

The new confirmed deaths include: one in DeSoto County and one in Sharkey County.

MEMA did not release any further information regarding these deaths.

As of Monday evening, the statewide death toll stands at 25, with Panola County reporting the most fatalities so far.

Tally of ice storm fatalities by county:

Panola (5)
Tate (3)
Alcorn (2)
Tippah (2)
Lafayette (2)
Adams (1)
Benton (1)
DeSoto (1)
Jefferson (1)
Tishomingo (1)
Leflore (1)
Hinds (1)
Sharkey (1)
Union (1)
Warren (1)
Yazoo (1)

MEMA reports that 369 homes, 26 businesses, and 20 farms have been damaged, destroyed or affected statewide since January 24. Those numbers are expected to climb as damage assessments continue.

MEMA also reports that approximately 38,900 outages remain across Mississippi as of Monday, a 78% decrease from the peak of about 180,000 outages.

For more information on the latest damage assessments statewide, click here.

For the latest list of open warming centers and shelters available statewide, click here.

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Mississippi

2 workers injured while restoring power in Mississippi

Published

19 hours ago

February 2, 2026

Press Room

2 workers injured while restoring power in Mississippi

ALCORN CO., Miss. (WLBT) – Two workers were injured while restoring power in Alcorn County, Mississippi, after last week’s ice storm.

Governor Tate Reeves initially said the injuries involved linemen. However, the CEO of the Alcorn County Electric Power Association said only one of the injured workers is a lineman, and that worker is from a Florida-based agency.

The second injured worker is an ACE employee, the CEO said.

The injuries occurred in separate incidents, one on Monday and another on Thursday. One worker suffered a broken arm, the other a broken leg.

The ACE CEO said one worker required surgery, and both are expected to recover.

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Mississippi

Massive great white shark detected by researchers off Mississippi coast in rare Gulf migration

Published

1 day ago

February 1, 2026

Press Room

Massive great white shark detected by researchers off Mississippi coast in rare Gulf migration

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A massive great white shark was patrolling the waters just off Alabama’s coast in January — and now, off the coast of Mississippi.

Around the middle of January, the 12-foot, nearly 1,000-pound female shark, known as “Ernst,” was detected off the coast of Gulf Shores, Alabama, after her satellite tag pinged, researchers said.

That location a few weeks ago marked one of the westernmost points recorded for a great white shark in the Gulf and was considered unusual behavior, researchers told news agency SWNS.

MASSIVE GREAT WHITE SHARK RETURNS TO FLORIDA WATERS AFTER EPIC YEAR-LONG ATLANTIC JOURNEY

The ping placed the shark near the Chandeleur Islands, a chain of barrier islands in the Gulf of America off the coast of Louisiana.

Researchers said the shark’s proximity to shore was notable and that it falls outside what they typically observe for great white sharks in the region.

A 12-foot, nearly 1,000-pound female great white shark named “Ernst,” pictured above, was detected off the coast of Gulf Shores, Alabama — and most recently, off the coast of Mississippi. (SWNS)

OCEARCH, a U.S.-based marine research group, tagged Ernst in October 2025 in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia.

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After the tagging, Ernst began a long coastal migration, traveling thousands of miles from Canadian waters along the U.S. East Coast.

“She cut right over to lower Maine from Nova Scotia, migrated right down the coast, and has moved around Miami and the Keys and all the way beyond the Florida Panhandle,” Chris Fischer, founder and expedition leader of OCEARCH, told SWNS.

The research team is using satellite tags to track Ernst’s movements. (SWNS)

Fischer said Ernst’s movement westward is rare for great white sharks in the Gulf.

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“She has really moved into one of the farther parts of [where] we see them moving west,” Fischer said. “[For] the majority of the sharks, this is pretty far reach.”

Great white sharks are selective about where they travel, he added — tending to move through areas with abundant marine life.

Ernst, pictured here, migrated thousands of miles from Canada down the U.S. East Coast to the Gulf, researchers said. (SWNS)

“It’s kind of unusual to see her so tight to the beach there, which is a great sign for the region because this is a signal that there’s a lot of life and a lot of biodiversity,” Fischer said.

Ernst’s travel log on the OCEARCH site as of Sunday, Feb. 1, indicates the female shark pinged again on Jan. 30, around 6 a.m. that day, south of Horn Island off the Mississippi coast. (Researchers are able to note her location when the tag on her dorsal fin breaches the surface of the water, as noted on the site.)

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“Ernst the shark carries forward [a] spirit of connection, resilience and teamwork that keeps both island life and ocean research moving forward,” the organization says on its site as it continues tracking her.

OCEARCH tracks other great white sharks across the Atlantic and Gulf of America using satellite tags.

The female shark pinged again on Jan. 30.

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Fox News Digital recently reported that Contender, the Atlantic’s largest recorded male great white shark, returned to Florida waters in January 2026, one year after being tagged.

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After traveling as far north as the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the 14-foot, 1,700-pound shark resurfaced in warmer coastal waters, a movement researchers said could be tied to great white shark mating activity.

Kelly McGreal is a production assistant with the lifestyle team at Fox News Digital.

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