Mississippi
Mississippi lawmakers talk school consolidation, closures in state
Mississippi debates school consolidation plans
Mississippi weighs district vs. school closures to cut costs as lawmakers debate impact on communities and students.
Stringr
Legislators unpacked the details of one of the most contentious words to echo around the Capitol in the past few years: consolidation.
Mississippi representatives met on Thursday, June 4, to discuss, specifically, the consolidation of K-12 schools and districts throughout the state.
Committee Chair Rep. Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, warned that districts with fewer than 1,000 students were likely the first on the list. Mike Kent, an interim deputy superintendent with the department of education, suggested that the state could see a return to one-room schoolhouses in some areas.
Mississippi Department of Education Superintendent Lance Evans laid out two options that the Legislature and school districts could consider: consolidation of school districts and within them. The state has generally preferred to combine school districts in the past, eliminating extra administrative roles while retaining all of the schools, staff and operational costs associated with each district.
This option can be easier and more favorable among community members, Evans said, but the real savings come with the consolidation of two or more schools into a single building. Kent, who served as the Madison County superintendent for nearly a decade, echoed Evans’ endorsement of a school consolidation approach.
In his time in Madison County, Kent told the committee that he closed East Flora Middle School and “immediately saved $1.3 million.” The district didn’t need to pay the operational costs associated with the school, he said, and those savings are recurring.
Districts could also stand to make money after consolidation, he added, by selling those properties. Those property sales aren’t guaranteed, though, as evidenced by the 14 Jackson Public Schools buildings that remain unsold as of June 2026. The district has sold only two of its closed schools, according to its website, with a third under contract.
Legislators have had consolidation discussions for years at the Capitol, sounding alarms among those who fear the dissolution of their community without a school as an anchor point.
“Consolidation has been such a dirty word for most people. They think we’re trying to tear their community down,” Roberson said. “And the truth is, if the school is what’s holding it together right now, more than likely you’ve got bigger problems. We don’t need to let the children in these areas be harmed by the fact that the adults can’t figure out how to get this together.”
Consolidation needs to happen, Kent said, but it is a lengthy process that won’t begin to affect people for at least a few years.
He referenced the genesis of legislative-mandated consolidation in 2012, pointing out that it took at least two years for any action to begin. In some cases, he said, those two years weren’t enough. Evans suggested that the Legislature develop a 10-year plan for consolidation to ensure enough time for study and consultation with districts.
The path of least resistance, Evans said, might involve telling districts that consolidation will have to happen among their schools and turning control of the process over to them. That would likely involve more community input and take politics out of the discussion, a factor that Roberson said is crucial to the success of a consolidation plan.
“When we were looking at this in Oktibbeha County … I’m not going to deny this, it was tough,” Roberson said of his own experience with consolidation. “There was a lot of push and pull, and the grownups that were involved in the politics really made this worse. There were dynamics that had to do with Democrats and Republicans, racial demographics that do come into play with this, but once you get past all the political push and pull … it was hard for you not to come to the table and say, ‘Oh, this makes sense.’”
Putting politics aside, Roberson said, consolidation stems from a simple discussion about numbers. The most important of those is 66,000, which is approximately how many public school students Mississippi has lost in the past 10 years, according to data from the department for education.
Fewer students, Evans said, means districts have less money, based on the student funding formula, and need to cut down on costs. The most lucrative cost-saving measures come from closing schools.
One upside of consolidation, he said, is that larger schools and districts have more money to spend on things such as sports teams, advanced classes and dual enrollment programs. Rep. Kenji Holloway, D-Carthage, said that there were smaller schools in his area that could benefit from joining larger schools with resources they wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise.
Roberson’s preliminary 1,000-student benchmark is one idea that the committee will consider as it develops a guide for consolidation throughout the state. That number would put 27 of Mississippi’s 135 districts on notice for consolidation in the coming years. Another seven districts have just over 1,000 enrolled students.
Many of those districts are in the Delta, which has experienced the sharpest population decline in the state over the past several years.
Bea Anhuci is the state government reporter for the Clarion Ledger. She has covered Mississippi politics since the start of 2026. Email her at banhuci@usatodayco.com.
Mississippi
GPS data tracks boat Mississippi teen Nolan Wells was on before he went missing
GPS data from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, obtained by CBS News, tracks the movements of the boat that carried Nolan Wells to Horn Island on July 4. Wells was found dead after going missing following an outing on the island.
The vessel left a dock at approximately 9:56 a.m. that morning and arrived at Horn Island at 11:14 a.m. CBS News has previously reported that Wells was not on the boat when it departed the island.
According to the GPS data, the boat left Horn Island at 4:31 p.m. and returned to its original departure dock. It then traveled into Fort Bayou around 5:52 p.m. before returning to the dock at 6:06 p.m.
Later that evening, the boat went to the Fort Bayou boat launch at 7:19 p.m., according to the MSDMR report. From there, it traveled over land — presumably towed by a vehicle — to the Biloxi, Mississippi, residence of the boat’s owners.
The MSDMR report indicates that the boat’s owner, his mother and one other individual who was reportedly with Wells on the day of the incident have cooperated with the investigation.
The department’s report ends on July 5, following notification that the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office would take over as the lead investigative agency.
Wells, 18, was last seen on July 4 on Horn Island, where he had taken a boat trip with friends to celebrate the holiday, officials said. Wells traveled to the island with his friends but did not return to the mainland with them that afternoon, Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter has said.
He was last seen on the island at 3 p.m., according to attorney Ben Crump’s office. His mother reported him missing later that night and a search began.
His body was discovered July 6 off the coast of the island, which is about 10 miles south of the Mississippi mainland, following a search that involved the U.S. Coast Guard, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and the National Park Service.
Dental records confirmed the body was Wells, Jackson County coroner Bruce Lynd told CBS News. An autopsy took place on July 7, Lynd said, but the results were not immediately made public. Wells’ body was flown to Washington, D.C., for an independent autopsy, according to Crump.
Wells’ parents have said they don’t believe their son would’ve stayed behind on the island by choice when his friends left by boat.
“No, he wouldn’t. Nolan always stays with the group,” Elmore Wonsley, Nolan’s father, told “CBS Mornings” last week. “If you be with me, you come back with me. So that I don’t understand, and with me being a parent, if I was in that situation, I would have told them, ‘You’re going to get back on this boat with me because I don’t want to answer to your parents if something happens to you.’”
When directly asked if he believed Nolan was left behind on the island, his father responded, “Yes. I don’t believe he decided to stay on the island by himself. It just doesn’t — that’s not his character.”
Wells went to Ocean Springs High School and was a rising sophomore on Southwest Mississippi Community College’s football team. Crump said Wells was a good swimmer.
Mississippi
How permanent daylight saving time would impact Mississippi
Permanent daylight saving time in New Jersey
House approves permanent DST: NJ gets later sunsets year-round but darker winter mornings; sunrise could be ~8:25 a.m.
Are Americans finally done changing the clocks twice a year? Congress moved a step closer to ending the ritual after the U.S. House passed legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent.
It hasn’t been approved by the Senate yet, but it did pass the House with broad support (308-117). If it passes the Senate, it could be signed by President Donald Trump or become law without his signature, unless he vetoes it.
Trump has previously backed ending twice-a-year time changes.
“I am going to work very hard to see The Sunshine Protection Act signed into Law. It’s time that people can stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’” he wrote in a May Truth Social post.
A few versions of the Sunshine Protection Act were introduced in Congress. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Florida, introduced the one that’s gaining ground last year.
Here’s what to know about daylight saving time and the move to change it.
What is daylight saving time and why do we use it?
Daylight saving time is the practice of setting clocks forward an hour from March until November in an effort to gain more sunlight during the summer months.
According to the Library of Congress, it was first enacted in 1918 as a fuel cost-saving measure during World War I.
Daylight saving time became federal law under the Uniform Time Act of 1966. Under the law, some states can opt to exempt themselves from daylight saving time.
Would Mississippi keep daylight saving time year-round?
In 2021, the Mississippi Legislature passed a law saying the state plans to stick with daylight saving time year-round. But that only takes effect if Congress changes the federal law to let states adopt it all the time. A bill updating the effective date died in committee in the 2026 session.
Nineteen states, including Mississippi, are ready to make daylight saving time permanent if Congress changes the law to make the twice-a-year time shift optional, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
How later sunrises would affect Mississippi
Sunrise and sunset times in summer would look the same.
But the period from November to March would be different. The amount of daylight would be the same, just shifted an hour later than usual.
Mississippi could expect the latest winter sunrises around 7:59 a.m. in mid-January. The earliest sunsets would shift from about 4:46 p.m. in early December to 5:46 p.m., according to timeanddate.com.
Why permanent daylight saving time failed before
Yes. Congress did drop Daylight Saving Time before.
The move failed in 1974 after parents worried about kids going to school before dawn, risking more vehicle crashes.
Some parts of the country, like Michigan or Indiana, don’t see sunrise until after 9 a.m. with the permanent daylight saving time.
When clocks fall back in 2026
Clocks will “fall back” from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, unless Congress changes the law.
Daylight saving time ends on the first Sunday in November each year, under current law. That’s when we get back that missing hour of sleep from the spring time change.
Does Mississippi change clocks twice a year?
Yes. Mississippi, which is in the Central time zone, observes daylight saving time.
What time is it in Mississippi?
Visit timeanddate.com to see the current time in Jackson.
Which states don’t observe daylight saving time?
Most of the U.S. participates in daylight saving time except for Hawaii and most of Arizona. The Navajo Nation in the northeast corner of the state does participate.
Bonnie Bolden is the Deep South Connect reporter for Mississippi with USA TODAY Network. Email her at bbolden@usatodayco.com.
Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. Keep up with her on X @melinakh and Instagram @bymelinakhan.
Mississippi
Mississippi teen accused of killing elderly couple had worked for them before shooting: family
A teenager in Mississippi knew the elderly couple he’s accused of killing before sparking a standoff with law enforcement, according to new testimony in court.
Cordarius Hobbs, 17, is charged with killing 74-year-old Billy Blair and his 71-year-old wife Virginia Carol Blair during a home break-in on June 3 in Mendenhall, Mississippi.
Family members of Hobbs testified during the Thursday preliminary hearing that he knew the couple.
Family members testified that Hobbs did work for the Blairs for things like cleaning around the house before the alleged shooting, according to WAPT.
Billy Newsome, Hobbs’ grandfather, said he believes his grandson was called to work on the day of the alleged shooting but believes he’s innocent.
“My grandson used to work for the man, why you gone rob a man that you work for,” Newsome said. “Why you gone stay there that long and you know the police out there, and then you gone wait until everybody gets there to run, it just ain’t adding up, something just ain’t right here.”
On June 3, three contractors installing a generator at the Blairs’ home discovered Carol Blair’s car door open with several guns on the seats around 10 a.m., prompting them to call the Simpson County Sheriff’s Department for a welfare check at 11:30 a.m, according to a Mississippi Bureau of Investigation investigator.
By noon, the investigator said that officers arrived and were met with shots fired at them, starting a nearly two-hour-long standoff.
Hobbs was captured after trying to run away from officers, the official said, adding that the teen was unarmed when he was caught.
Carol Blair was found in a bedroom curled in the fetal position and had three gunshots to the back of her head. Bill Blair was found lying on his back in the kitchen with three gunshot wounds to his face.
The state investigator said three firearms were found inside the home as well as 280 shell casings, all owned by Bill Blair.
Hobbs’ defense attorney, Zachary Vaugh, argued that there’s a lack of direct forensic evidence connecting the teenager to the shooting.
“There was nothing to say he’s a principal, he’s the one that pulled the trigger on these things,” Vaugh said. “One of the things alone was, one of the victims was shot twice on one side of the head and once on the other. I think that’s pretty compelling that somebody else may have been in there. There’s a lot of things that are possible, just a tremendous amount of things.”
“When you have an officer say there’s no one that can identify him at the time of the shooting, I just don’t see how that adds up,” he said.
Hobbs is charged with two counts of capital murder and one count of burglary, in addition to 10 other charges. He was denied bond.
In a statement on Facebook, the couple’s family previously said, “We are crushed in spirit, bruised, and brokenhearted, but we are not alone.”
Jason Busby, who was friends with the couple, remembered them as being extremely selfless when speaking with WLBT.
“The man would’ve given you the shirt off his back, his wife is the same, and they’re just great people. It’s just a tragedy,” Busby said. “Everybody around here is still in shock. They were just good people.”
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