Mississippi

MS Senate redistricting plan prompts NAACP request for court intervention, redrawn maps

Published

10 months ago

May 1, 2025

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MS Senate redistricting plan prompts NAACP request for court intervention, redrawn maps

Plaintiffs agree to pushed back special election schedule

The NAACP and Mississippi residents are challenging the state’s proposed redistricting plan, arguing it doesn’t adequately address Black voter dilution.
Plaintiffs argue the state’s plan fails to create sufficient Black majority districts and retains a white incumbent in a key district.
The plaintiffs have agreed to a revised special election schedule proposed by the state, which allows more time for the court to review the plans.
The federal court panel will decide on the redistricting plans, with a possible appeal to the Supreme Court.

A federal three-judge panel should reject proposals submitted by the State Board of Election Commissioners to redraw several Senate districts in the Desoto County area, Lawyers representing the NAACP and several Mississippians argued on April 29.

In the filing, attorneys said the state’s latest proposal to remedy Black voter dilution in the Northwest corner of the state falls short of the goal, which was mandated by a 2024 federal court order to redraw legislative districts and create several Black majority districts.

Among other arguments, plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote the panel should reject the election commissioners’ proposal on the grounds that it is the Legislature tasked with redrawing its lines, and the court already rejected the Legislature’s proposal.

“Any suggestion that the SBEC’s own assertions of ‘the State’s interests’ should receive deference or ‘flexibility’ as the court considers which plan to approve…is simply wrong,” plaintiffs’ attorneys argued.

In December 2022, the NAACP and several state voters filed a lawsuit claiming the Legislature’s 2022 redistricting diluted Black voting power, violating federal law. In 2024, the panel agreed and ordered the Legislature to propose a new map creating new Black majority districts.

The panel is comprised of U.S. District Court judges Daniel Jordan III and Sul Ozerden and U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Southwick.

In the 2025 Legislative Session, lawmakers passed district changes for the House and Senate, resulting in several amended districts and the creation of two Black-majority districts with no incumbent.

Once the Legislature sent its new plan to the court, the NAACP challenged the redraw in the Northeast Mississippi and Desoto County areas but not the Hattiesburg-area district changes.

Attorneys representing both parties gave arguments for and against the Legislature’s plan in mid-April at the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse. Those arguments were based on whether the new districts in Northeast Mississippi and the Desoto County area realistically created an opportunity for Black voters to elect a candidate of their choice.

Plaintiffs’ challenges to state’s new redistricting proposal

The defendants last week submitted their new plan, which would, if approved by the panel, create a Black majority district in Senate District 2 and maintain a slight Black majority district in Senate District 11.

The new plan does not create any Senate districts without an incumbent or place any existing lawmakers into the same district.

Plaintiffs said in their filing the state’s new proposal for Senate District 11 does provide an opportunity to remedy Black voter dilution but not in Senate District 2. They also argued their plan for SD 11, the North Delta district, would be better.

“The evidence on balance shows the State Senate candidates preferred by Black voters are likely to be defeated in that district,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote.

Also, by keeping a white incumbent in Senate District 2, David Parker, R-Olive Branch, the state’s new plan further reduces the chance of Black voters electing a candidate of their choice, they said.

The plaintiffs also argued the state’s new plan does not conform to key elements of the Legislature’s proposal such as including an open Black majority district in Desoto County.

Plaintiffs agree to new special election schedule proposed by state

In their filing, the plaintiffs agreed to a secondary proposal set forth by the election commissioners to push back the special election schedule but not change the date for voters to cast ballots.

This would give the panel a little more than two weeks from now to consider both the state’s and the NAACP’s proposals. If either party objects to the panel’s ruling, they could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

If approved by the panel, the new schedule would be:

May 12 – Deadline to share detailed maps and address libraries with local electionofficials.
June 2-9– Qualifying period.
June 13 – Deadline for State Executive Committee to submit names of qualifiedcandidates.
June 21 – Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) absentee voting begins for primary election.
August 5 – Special Primary Election Day.
September 2 – Special Primary Runoff Election Day.
September 20 – UOCAVA absentee voting begins for general election.
November 4 – Special General Election Day.

Grant McLaughlin covers the Legislature and state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.

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Mississippi

Former federal attorney faces arson charge after two fires in Fondren

Published

1 hour ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Former federal attorney faces arson charge after two fires in Fondren

A former federal attorney was arrested and charged with arson for two fires in Jackson, Mississippi.
The fires damaged a building and a dumpster at the Yana Club of Mississippi, a recovery community nonprofit.
The suspect, George McDowell Yoder III, has a history of previous arrests and was suspended from practicing law in 2022.

A former federal attorney was arrested and charged with arson after a building and dumpster were set on fire Friday, Feb. 27, in the Fondren area of Jackson, authorities said.

Jackson Fire Department Chief of Investigations Charles Felton said firefighters responded around 12 a.m. Friday in reference to a reported building fire and dumpster fire at Yana Club of Mississippi located at 555 Hartsfield Street.

Felton said fire crews arrived and found two separate fires in the Fondren neighborhood that caused damage to the Yana Club and the dumpster.

No injuries were reported.

After the fires were extinguished, a fire investigator was called to the scene. Investigators spoke with Capitol Police, who had a suspect detained.

Felton said the Jackson Fire Department Arson Division arrested George McDowell Yoder III, a former federal attorney, and charged him with first-degree arson of Yana Club and third-degree arson of the dumpster.

In 2021, WDAM TV reported Yoder had been a special assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi from 2009 to 2011. Yoder also ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Mississippi Court of Appeals in 2016.

According to a 2023 article by the Laurel Leader Call, Yoder was arrested in 2021 for residential burglary and faced multiple charges from 2021 to 2023. Yoder was also arrested in 2023 for arson charges, the outlet reported.

Documents from the Supreme Court of Mississippi also indicate that Yoder was admitted to the practice of law in the state in 1999 but later suspended in 2022 from practicing law for three years.

Court records show Yoder was found to be accepting fees from clients, abandoning them and then failing to deposit their retainers into a trust account. Yoder “commingled” his personal money with those of his clients and performed little to no work on a Madison County criminal case he was hired to resolve.

Jackson fire officials also said that a fire did not occur Friday morning at The Pig & Pint, a barbecue business located next to Yana Club.

Yana Club of Mississippi, a nonprofit organization, is described via their Facebook page as a “recovery community” that serves individuals seeking help with addictions.

The organization confirmed at 10:23 a.m. Friday via a social media post that the Yana Club building will be closed due to damages sustained from the fire.

“Due to the safety of our members, we will be closed through the weekend,” the organization stated. “We are working with [the] fire department and insurance to determine the best course of action. The building is currently deemed unsafe for meetings to be held. We will be in touch with updates when we have them.”

Pam Dankins is the breaking news reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Have a tip? Email her at pdankins@gannett.com.

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Mississippi

Renowned New York dance instructor visits Mississippi to recruit for summer program

Published

13 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Renowned New York dance instructor visits Mississippi to recruit for summer program

LAUREL, Miss. (WDAM) – A world-renowned dance instructor from New York visited Laurel Thursday to conduct a special class and do some recruiting for a prestigious summer dance program in the Big Apple.

Melanie Person, who is co-director of the Ailey School in New York, taught a master ballet class Thursday morning at Laurel Middle School.

It’s part of a three-day residency in the Magnolia State, organized by the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience in Meridian.

She’ll teach two other classes Friday in Meridian before hosting an audition Saturday for a prestigious summer dance program at the Ailey School.

“I typically tour in about six to eight cities in the U.S., and I recruit dancers to come to our summer intensive, so part of this weekend, in one of the classes, I will be accepting students to come to New York for our five-week summer intensive,” Person said.

“We accept the dancers we like, and we see if they are able to come. The decision to come to New York for the summer is a big undertaking for families, so we just hope that they can do it.”

Registration is required for that audition, which will be held at the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience.

To do that, click HERE.

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Mississippi

No. 12 Mississippi State’s Balance Shows Again in Road Win at Georgia Tech

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

No. 12 Mississippi State’s Balance Shows Again in Road Win at Georgia Tech

Mississippi State has won plenty of different ways during this 15-1 start, but Wednesday night in Atlanta felt like one of those games where the Bulldogs reminded everyone why they’ve looked so steady all month.

It wasn’t perfect, and it wasn’t stress‑free, but the 8-3 win over Georgia Tech was the kind of road win that shows a team knows exactly who it is and what buttons to push when things get a little weird.

Alyssa Faircloth set the tone again, even on a night when she didn’t have her cleanest beginning. She gave up a game‑tying homer in the second, shrugged, and then basically disappeared Georgia Tech’s lineup for the next three innings.

Eight strikeouts in nine batters the second time through the order, back‑to‑back innings striking out the side. The only real hiccup came on another leadoff homer in the sixth, and by then she’d already done the heavy lifting.

And while Faircloth was settling in, the lineup did what it’s been doing all year: spreading the damage around.

Des Rivera wasted no time, jumping on the first pitch of the second inning and sending it out. When Georgia Tech tied it, Nadia Barbary answered immediately with a solo shot of her own. It wasn’t loud or flashy, but it was the kind of response good teams make without thinking.

The middle innings were more about pressure than power. Barbary worked a walk, Kiarra Sells split the gap for an RBI double, and Anna Carder did her job with a sac fly. Suddenly it was 4-1, and Mississippi State had the game exactly where it wanted it with Faircloth cruising, the lineup stacking quality at‑bats, and the defense staying clean.

The seventh inning, though, is where the Bulldogs turned a solid win into a comfortable one. Sells homered again, and then Rivera and Tatum Silva kept the inning alive long enough for Morgan Bernardini to drop the hammer. Her three‑run shot to center didn’t just put the game away; it capped off the kind of night she’s been stringing together for a week now. She’s 7‑for‑11 during her four‑game hitting streak and looks like a hitter who’s seeing everything in slow motion.

Peja Goold handled the final outs, picking up her second save and slamming the door on a Georgia Tech team that kept trying to make things interesting late.

What stands out most about this win isn’t the four homers or the 11 strikeouts or even the 15-1 record. It’s how routine it all felt.

Mississippi State went on the road, took a couple of punches, and never looked rattled. Rivera homered. Barbary homered. Sells homered. Bernardini homered. Faircloth dominated. Goold closed. It was the same formula, just in a different ballpark.

Now the Bulldogs head to Clemson for a weekend that should tell us even more about who they are. But if Wednesday night is any indication, they’re traveling with a lineup that can hurt you anywhere and a pitching staff that doesn’t mind carrying the load when needed.