The Mississippi Supreme Court’s confirmation of a 12-year prison sentence for an African American man who carried his mobile phone into a county jail cell is being slammed as a brutal example of racial injustice. Even one of the justices who joined in the unanimous ruling said that while the sentence is legal, the prosecutor and trial judge could...

More than two dozen Mississippi inmates sued the state Tuesday, saying understaffed prisons are “plagued by violence” and inmates are forced to live in decrepit and dangerous conditions. The federal lawsuit follows an outbreak of violence that killed five inmates and left an undisclosed number of others injured between Dec. 29 and Jan. 3. The suit was filed the same…

Mississippi’s prison system signed a 90-day contract to shift 375 inmates from the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman to a nearby private lockup, saying it doesn’t have the guards to safely keep the inmates in state custody in the wake of recent violence. The state and CoreCivic announced the contract Thursday, a day after it was signed. The inmates...

The leader of Mississippi’s underfunded prison system was pleading with lawmakers for money to hire more guards and pay them better in 2012 when he warned, “I see trouble down the road.”

One of two prisoners believed to have escaped from one of several Mississippi prisons recently rocked by violence is back in custody, authorities said early Sunday. The Mississippi Department of Corrections tweeted just before 3:30 a.m. that David May was in custody. Further details weren’t immediately released. Gov. Phil Bryant on Saturday said via Twitter that he directed “the...

Mississippi’s outgoing prisons chief said Friday that at least some of the five killings of inmates since Sunday stem from gang violence, as guards struggle to maintain control of restive inmates. “These are trying times for the Mississippi Department of Corrections,” Commissioner Pelicia Hall said in a statement hours after an inmate was found stabbed to death in his...

Retired Chicago priest Father George Clements — famous for marching with Martin Luther King Jr. and being the first Catholic priest to adopt a child – passed away Monday, according to a family spokesperson.

Flu activity is picking up across the country, indicating an earlier start to this year’s flu season, particularly in the South and in the West, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The uptick doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a bad season — flu is notoriously unpredictable — but some clues from earlier this year point...

A Mississippi company is recalling more than 86 tons of chicken fried rice because it may contain bits of plastic. Ajinomoto Foods North America Inc. of Oakland, Mississippi, reported the problem after customers complained, according to recall notice Friday from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Democrats are riding high after unseating GOP Gov. Matt Bevin in Kentucky and winning back majorities in both chambers of Virginia’s General Assembly in Tuesday’s elections. Much as was the case in 2018, when Democrats took back the majority in the House, Democrats’ gains were concentrated in largely white, middle-to-upper income suburbs, NBC News reported. However, the results weren’t as...

President Donald Trump went after Democrats on Friday, claiming that the House impeachment inquiry was part of a planned attempt to illegitimately remove the president from office, attacking his 2020 rivals in his first campaign rally since the House voted to formalize the impeachment inquiry, NBC News reported. “First they engineered the Russia hoax,” Trump said, “then the Mueller witch...

The latest Nation’s Report Card is painting a dismal picture of math and reading achievement among American fourth and eighth graders despite a few bright spots. Students in the nation’s capital, which faced multiple scandals in its public school system last year, made significant gains in both reading and math this year, according to the National Assessment of Education Progress....

Kevin McAleenan, the acting Homeland Security secretary, is challenging a subpoena to appear before a congressional committee to discuss terrorism threats to the U.S. on the day before he’s set to leave office. Kevin McAleenan sent a letter to House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson on Friday saying he was surprised and disappointed to get the subpoena a day earlier....

A new bulletproof memorial to Emmett Till was dedicated Saturday in Mississippi after previous historical markers were repeatedly vandalized. The brutal slaying of the 14-year-old black teenager helped spur the civil rights movement more than 60 years ago. The 14-year-old African American teen was kidnapped, beaten and killed in 1955, hours after he was accused of whistling at a white...

Blue Bell said in a statement that a customer reported finding a plastic tool in their ice cream and the company says an investigation found the broken tool was accidentally added during production.

Military officials are investigating after 32 parachuting soldiers were injured _ four badly enough to require hospitalization _ when 87 jumpers were blown into trees during a night training exercise in Mississippi. Injuries during training jumps are fairly common, but the scale of this accident is fairly rare, Col. Christopher Landers, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry...

A guitar given to B.B. King for his 80th birthday has sold for $280,000 at an auction of items from the blues legend’s estate.

Their final game at the World Cup had been over for several minutes, and every member of the U.S. team and coaching staff were still lingering together on the court. They were ready to go home. They just weren’t ready to go their separate ways. For USA Basketball, summer ended Saturday with an 87-74 win over Poland in the seventh-place...

Walmart said Tuesday it will discontinue all sales of handgun ammunition and sales of short-barrel rifle ammunition that can be used with military-style weapons, following two “horrific” shootings at Walmart stores this summer. It will also stop all handgun sales in Alaska, marking its complete exit from the handguns category.

A measles outbreak concentrated in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in New York City is over, meaning an emergency order mandating vaccines will be lifted, health officials said Tuesday.