Hodding Carter III, a Mississippi newspaperman and award-winning television journalist who kept Americans informed about the Iran hostage crisis as State Department spokesman, has died at age 88. His daughter Catherine Carter Sullivan confirmed he died Thursday in North Carolina. Carter was no relation to President Jimmy Carter, but both rose through Southern Democratic politics. Hodding Carter III was a civil rights activist as well as a journalist at his family’s Delta Democrat-Times in Greenville, Mississippi. He later anchored television programs and steered the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. He also ran the John S. Knight and James L. Knight Foundation.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) A former chief of staff for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency won't appear on the ballot for a Mississippi Public Service Commission post because she failed to meet an in-state residency requirement, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Alabama and Mississippi closed government offices on Monday for Confederate Memorial Day as efforts have stalled to abolish or rename Confederate holidays. Legislation has been introduced in the ongoing Alabama legislative session to remove, alter or rename Confederate-related holidays, but this effort has so far gained little traction. Several Southern states have ended or renamed Confederate holidays. Louisiana in 2022 removed Robert E. Lee Day and Confederate Memorial Day from the list of state holidays. Georgia in 2015 renamed Confederate Memorial Day to “State Holiday.” Arkansas in 2017 ended the practice of commemorating Lee and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the same day.
Republican lawmakers in Missouri are pushing for a state takeover of the St. Louis police department. Supporters cite high violent crime rates as a reason for such action. But data suggest neither state nor local control may make much difference in stemming homicides. Criminologist Richard Rosenfeld has compared the rise in homicide rates in St. Louis to that in Kansas City, which already has state control of its police. Though St. Louis has a slightly larger increase, he found no statistically significant difference. Republican officials in Mississippi and elsewhere also have acted this year to take control over some functions in Democratic-led cities.