Mississippi
State of Mississippi argues it cannot create new Black voting districts by 2025 session
Mississippi state leadership is arguing that legislative district boundaries currently violating federal voting laws should remain in place for another year.
The Mississippi State Board of Election Commissioners is asking the Mississippi U.S. Court for the Southern District for more time before holding special elections in light of a ruling that Mississippi’s 2022 redistricting plan diluted Black voting power and violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act. They argue they simply cannot hold those elections before 2025, as currently demanded by the court.
The suit was initially filed by the Mississippi Conference of the NAACP against the state election commission in 2022.
The court is now demanding the state to create three Black majority districts and hold special elections to vote in two new members of the Mississippi Senate and one in the Mississippi House of Representatives by 2025.
In response, the state election commission, consisting of Republicans Gov. Tate Reeves, Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson and Attorney General Lynn Fitch said the state should give the Legislature a chance to redistrict the state during the 2025 legislative session and then hold special elections.
Read about July 2 ruling Federal court orders Mississippi to create more Black districts by 2025, asks for elections
“Defendants respectfully maintain that the only sound way for the Mississippi Legislature to be afforded its well-established first opportunity to redraw districts is to give it a reasonable amount of time following the commencement of the 2025 Regular Legislative Session (on January 7, 2025) and that any elections for affected districts should follow promptly after that,” the response reads. “Given fundamental limitations on a court’s equitable authority (particularly this close to an election) and other relevant considerations (practical, political, logistical, and legal) no more expeditious remedy is available.”
Rob McDuff, director of the Impact Litigation Initiative at the Mississippi Center for Justice, told the Clarion Ledger Thursday that the state would continue to block voting rights for Black people if that election is held next fall.
“The federal court has made it clear that the creation of these districts is necessary to enforce the Voting Rights Act, and as the court indicated that needs to be done as soon as possible,” McDuff said. “Otherwise, people’s right to vote will continue to be denied.”
McDuff added that because there won’t be any elections in 2025, the 2024 election cycle is the perfect time to both do this to ensure Black people are properly represented in Mississippi and for election workers.
“Doing it now means higher turnout, and it makes life a lot easier for the election officials that are required to put on these elections,” McDuff said.
Legislative redistricting occurs every 10 years after the federal census. In 2022, lawmakers voted to approve the new redistricting plan. In the suit filed in 2022, groups representing the NAACP argued that Black voters were piled into districts and their voting strength was diluted because of it.
The state has a Black population of about 38%. As of 2024, there are 42-Black majority districts in the 122-member House (34.4%) and 15 Black majority districts in the 52-member Senate (28.8%).
From 1965 until the mid 2010s, the federal government oversaw the state’s redistricting plans. The 2022 redistricting was the first time in state history since the Voting Rights Act that it was allowed to fully decide its own plan. Previously, A federal judge drew the congressional districts in 2002 because legislators could not agree on a map, and again in 2011 because legislators felt they didn’t have enough time to do it during session.
MSOS Communications Director Liz Jonson told the Clarion Ledger that Watson is not issuing any comment on the case because of the ongoing litigation.
As of the time of publication, the court had not issued a response to the state’s request.
Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.
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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.
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 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.
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