Mississippi
Mississippi ruling reflects Virginia’s history of felon voter disenfranchisement
A poll worker in Richmond holds an “I Voted” sticker. (Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury)
Republican officials in Virginia and nationwide – recognizing the ongoing shift in racial demographics across America – surely would overhaul their messaging, I reasoned, to become more welcoming toward African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and others.
The GOP would favor increasing voter registration totals, I thought. It would work diligently to persuade more folks to its side with an inclusive, less-accusatory agenda. Gone would be the days of demonizing people of color on conservative mouthpieces like Fox “News.”
After all, gaining just a tiny segment of non-white voters should ensure repeated electoral victories, especially in presidential contests. Such a strategy would allow the party to actually win the popular vote more often this century. There would be no need to manufacture barriers to the ballot box for groups that usually support Democrats.
What a fool I was.
Republicans want to keep power and pretend they’ve earned a mandate, even though in 2022 they garnered a small majority of votes nationwide in the U.S. House of Representatives. Even though at least 29 states have passed 94 restrictive voting laws since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013.
The latest evidence of Republicans erecting hurdles for would-be voters comes from the federal judiciary. In July the “most conservative appellate court” in the country – as Mother Jones put it – reinstated a Jim Crow-era felon disenfranchisement law in Mississippi.
Virginia’s own 1901-02 Constitution mimics the racist precepts in Mississippi’s; they’re a perpetual stain on the commonwealth. We’re the only state that permanently strips voting rights from convicted felons unless the governor restores them. Virginia utilized now-defunct poll taxes and literacy tests, too, that targeted Black voters.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals just upheld a Mississippi law dating to 1890 that permanently prevents residents there from voting if they’ve been convicted of any of about 100 crimes. They include such nonviolent offenses as timber larceny, writing a bad check and bigamy.
The 13-member majority overturned a three-judge panel of its own court that said the law violated the 8th Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Revealing the ongoing politicization of the federal judiciary, all but one of the majority judges were appointed by Republican presidents. Six judges appointed by Democrats dissented.
The law was upheld despite the fact it was adopted as part of a state Constitution designed to maintain white supremacy. “We came here to exclude the Negro,” said Solomon S. Calhoon, the constitutional convention president, more than a century ago. “Nothing short of this will answer.”
Felons in Mississippi are disproportionately Black. However – as I’ve noted previously – Black people and other minorities are treated more harshly than white people are for the same crimes. The Mother Jones article reported that from 1994 to 2017, the law disenfranchised nearly 50,000 people. African Americans comprise 38% of the state’s population – the highest percentage among U.S. states.
Still, it’s curious Mississippi is so vengeful, given Republicans rarely face serious challenges in the state.
The last time the Magnolia State picked a Democrat for president was fellow Southerner Jimmy Carter in 1976. For the U.S. Senate, it last picked a Democrat in 1982. Rep. Bennie Thompson, serving a district including Jackson, the state capital, is the lone Democrat among four members in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“It’s probably the … most racialized state in the nation,” David Lublin, professor and chair of the department of government at American University, told me during an interview. Lublin wrote “The Republican South: Democratization and Partisan Change.”
The post-Reconstruction constitutions in the South aren’t badges of honor, he noted: “These were not adopted for nice reasons.”
That’s putting it mildly.
Lublin said because we live in such a highly polarized nation, both Democrats and Republicans fight “tooth and nail” over any advantage – though Democrats might be on the moral side of the voting rights argument.
“No one likes to give up advantages,” he added.
Here in Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin has restored voting and other civil rights to 7,575 people, his spokesman Christian Martinez said. The state Constitution requires him to make “restoration decisions on an individualized, case-by-case basis,” Martinez told me by email.
Lawsuits have been filed against the administration because of the opaqueness of the process.
Martinez wouldn’t answer whether Youngkin supports a constitutional amendment that would allow automatic restoration. House Republicans killed such a legislative attempt after he took office in 2022.
The total number of restorations by Youngkin is dwarfed by those approved by his predecessors, who made the system more streamlined. Republican Bob McDonnell signed off on more than 10,000. Democrat Terry McAuliffe approved more than 173,000, and Democrat Ralph Northam restored rights to more than 126,000 people.
Is it political, since so many Black and Latino voters support Democrats? Yes.
It’s also the right thing to do to re-engage Virginia residents regarding their citizenship duties. Voting gives people a stake in their communities. Given the racist history of felon disenfranchisement in Virginia, legislators should support the amendment process and allow people released from prison to regain their rights automatically.
I know this is a tough sell for Republican lawmakers, in Virginia and elsewhere, who value power over equity. I’m probably delusional.
Doesn’t mean I’m wrong.
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Another week of the 2025 Mississippi high school football season has come and gone, and High School On SI has all of the latest computer rankings for each classification as of October 27, 2025.
High School On SI’s formula was created using its own linear algebra-based ranking algorithm inspired by the Colley Bias-Free Ranking Method. Colley’s Method was created by Wes Colley, Ph.D., an astrophysicist at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. He devised his algorithm in order to help address the subjectivity and controversy regarding BCS college football selections in the 1990s and early 2000s, using a method that used no subjective variables.
Which teams took the top spot in each division? Here are High School On SI’s latest Mississippi high school football computer rankings, as of October 27, 2025:
1. Calhoun City (7-1)
2. Simmons (7-0)
3. Biggersville (7-2)
4. Stringer (7-2)
5. Nanih Waiya (6-2)
6. Leflore County (6-3)
7. South Delta (7-2)
8. Taylorsville (5-4)
9. Noxapater (5-4)
10. West Tallahatchie (6-2)
11. Bogue Chitto (6-3)
12. Salem (6-2)
13. Ethel (6-3)
14. West Lowndes (4-3)
15. Leake County (4-5)
16. Lumberton (4-4)
17. Byers (5-3)
18. Richton (4-5)
19. Tupelo Christian Prep (5-4)
20. Sebastopol (3-6)
21. Okolona (3-7)
22. Potts Camp (3-4)
23. Shaw (1-6)
24. Falkner (3-5)
25. Vardaman (2-7)
View full Class 1A rankings
1. Wesson (9-0)
2. Baldwyn (8-1)
3. East Webster (8-1)
4. Charleston (5-2)
5. Heidelberg (5-2)
6. Clarkdale (7-2)
7. Bay Springs (6-2)
8. Water Valley (7-2)
9. Loyd Star (8-1)
10. North Side (7-1)
11. Lake (6-3)
12. Myrtle (7-2)
13. Hamilton (6-3)
14. Eupora (6-3)
15. Amite County (6-2)
16. Hatley (6-2)
17. Kemper County (3-4)
18. Mize (3-6)
19. Bruce (6-3)
20. Velma Jackson (4-5)
21. East Marion (4-4)
22. North Forrest (4-5)
23. Enterprise Clarke (2-7)
24. Philadelphia (1-7)
25. Collins (3-5)
View full Class 2A rankings
1. Union (9-0)
2. Raleigh (8-1)
3. Noxubee County (6-3)
4. Kossuth (6-2)
5. West Marion (6-3)
6. Choctaw County (5-4)
7. Magee (6-2)
8. Hazlehurst (4-3)
9. Presbyterian Christian (6-3)
10. Tylertown (6-3)
11. Quitman (5-4)
12. Aberdeen (5-4)
13. Winona (4-4)
14. Belmont (6-3)
15. Seminary (4-5)
16. Yazoo County (5-3)
17. Humphreys County (5-4)
18. Booneville (4-5)
19. North Panola (4-4)
20. Jefferson Davis County (3-5)
21. O’Bannon (5-3)
22. Coahoma County (3-5)
23. Franklin County (4-5)
24. Independence (4-4)
25. Thomas E. Edwards (4-4)
View full Class 3A rankings
1. Columbia (9-0)
2. Senatobia (8-1)
3. Kosciusko (8-1)
4. Louisville (6-2)
5. Clarksdale (6-1)
6. McComb (7-1)
7. North Pontotoc (7-1)
8. Leake Central (7-2)
9. New Albany (7-2)
10. Rosa Fort (6-1)
11. Pass Christian (8-1)
12. Forest (7-2)
13. Corinth (6-2)
14. Itawamba Agricultural (6-2)
15. Poplarville (5-3)
16. Choctaw Central (6-2)
17. Morton (5-3)
18. Greenwood (6-3)
19. Shannon (6-3)
20. Newton County (5-4)
21. West Lauderdale (4-4)
22. Mendenhall (4-4)
23. Greene County (6-3)
24. Forrest County Agricultural (5-3)
25. Richland (5-4)
View full Class 4A rankings
1. West Point (8-0)
2. Brookhaven (6-2)
3. New Hope (6-2)
4. Lanier (9-0)
5. South Jones (7-2)
6. Sumrall (6-3)
7. Holmes County Central (6-3)
8. Cleveland Central (4-3)
9. Lafayette (4-4)
10. Purvis (5-3)
11. Vicksburg (5-3)
12. Stone (5-3)
13. Pontotoc (4-4)
14. Northeast Jones (4-4)
15. Laurel (2-6)
16. Florence (3-5)
17. Natchez (3-5)
18. Vancleave (3-5)
19. Wayne County (2-6)
20. North Pike (1-7)
21. Provine (2-7)
22. East Central (1-7)
23. Caledonia (1-7)
24. Columbus (1-7)
View full Class 5A rankings
1. Picayune (7-1)
2. Warren Central (6-2)
3. Ridgeland (7-1)
4. South Panola (5-3)
5. Grenada (6-2)
6. West Jones (7-2)
7. Lake Cormorant (6-2)
8. Terry (7-1)
9. Hattiesburg (6-2)
10. Callaway (5-4)
11. Center Hill (4-4)
12. Neshoba Central (4-4)
13. Pearl River Central (4-3)
14. Greenville (4-4)
15. Pascagoula (3-5)
16. Saltillo (3-6)
17. Canton (3-5)
18. Hancock (3-5)
19. George County (3-5)
20. Gautier (3-5)
21. Olive Branch (1-7)
22. Forest Hill (1-8)
23. Long Beach (1-7)
24. Jim Hill (1-8)
View full Class 6A rankings
1. Ocean Springs (7-1)
2. Tupelo (8-1)
3. Oxford (7-1)
4. Starkville (6-2)
5. D’Iberville (7-1)
6. Gulfport (6-2)
7. Petal (6-3)
8. Oak Grove (6-3)
9. Germantown (5-3)
10. West Harrison (6-3)
11. Hernando (6-2)
12. Horn Lake (5-3)
13. Northwest Rankin (5-3)
14. DeSoto Central (6-3)
15. St. Martin (6-3)
16. Clinton (4-4)
17. Madison Central (4-4)
18. Brandon (3-5)
19. Pearl (3-5)
20. Southaven (3-5)
21. Biloxi (2-6)
22. Meridian (2-6)
23. Lewisburg (2-6)
24. Harrison Central (1-7)
25. Murrah (1-8)
View full Class 7A rankings
Mississippi
Tornadoes rip through Mississippi Coast cities, damaging homes and popular Mexican restaurant
Two tornadoes touched down in Mississippi Coast cities Sunday morning as a system of strong thunderstorms moved over the Deep South.
The twisters were confirmed by 10:45 a.m. and caused minor damage in Pascagoula and Gautier, Jackson County Emergency Manager Earl Etheridge told the Sun Herald. The cities are east of Biloxi, both less than an hour from Mobile, Alabama.
No injuries were reported, but at least one home in Pascagoula was damaged and a popular Mexican restaurant in Gautier felt a tornado’s wrath while workers were inside preparing for the Sunday lunch crowd.
Video from resident John Adams, submitted to WLOX-TV, shows the storm touching down at Aztecas on Highway 90 near Gautier-Vancleave Road. Cars stopped on the busy thoroughfare as the twister spun up debris. Many turned around and began driving away from storm, the video shows.
The tornado tore apart some of the concrete patio at Aztecas and pushed cinder blocks from the large building onto cars in the parking lot. Nobody was injured and the workers inside are all safe, the restaurant confirmed.
Aerial footage shows the restaurant’s roof was damaged, and shingles were ripped from their places on awnings.
Rubble and dirt piled up in the outdoor dining areas, with many tables and chairs scattered and pushed over in the wreckage, video from WLOX-TV shows. An apartment complex in Gautier also suffered damage from one of the tornadoes.
The major storms were over by noon, and all weather warnings had expired. The National Weather Service in New Orleans warned that some strong storms and possible watersports east of the Mississippi River were possible through 1:30 p.m.
In New Orleans, the system brought strong thunderstorms earlier Sunday morning. There was a brief power outage in the Mid-City area, but Entergy has not said if it was related to weather.
For the second consecutive week, Texas Longhorns fans were forced to hold their breath and hope for the best as they watched their team brace for overtime.
However, this week’s matchup against the Mississippi State Bulldogs seemed particularly stressful. This extra anxiety could’ve been caused by the fact that Texas fans recognized how much it would take for their team to emerge victorious.
Their win was an unlikely one, and previous SEC matchups help demonstrate just how rarely comebacks like this take place.
With a little over twelve minutes left in the fourth quarter, the scoreboard read 38-21, and the Longhorns trailed the Bulldogs by 17 points.
Two unanswered touchdowns and a field goal later, the game was tied, and Texas had created its second consecutive overtime situation.
Quarterback Arch Manning suffered an overtime injury, but backup quarterback Matthew Caldwell and a lights-out last-stitch effort by the Texas defense helped them secure a 45-38 win, defying the odds.
According to ESPN research, the last time an SEC team came back from a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter and won the game was back in 2013. The South Carolina Gamecocks were the ones to pull off the comeback against the Missouri Tigers, ultimately finishing 27-24 in two overtimes.
That means it has been 12 years since an upset of this level took place.
Several contributors helped make the win possible, including wide receiver Ryan Nibblet. Niblett returned a kick for 79 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter, helping lead Texas to this historic victory.
The other fourth-quarter touchdown took shape as a pass from Manning to wide receiver Emmett Mosley V, and kicker Mason Shipley was responsible for the field goal that helped close the 17-point gap.
Sure, it might not be a good sign for the Longhorns that it took overtime to get the job done in Starkville, but they escaped their four-week road stint with a winning record.
If history continues repeating itself, a comeback of this magnitude might not take place for an SEC team this decade.
“I told the team I don’t know if I’ve ever been more proud of a football team,” Texas Head coach Steve Sarkisian said.
Having it under their belts could help them establish momentum headed into their home matchup against Vanderbilt next week, and given how hot the Commodores have been recently, the Longhorns could use all the momentum they can find.
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