#mississippi

#mississippi

The U.S. workweek opened with yet more snow dumping on the Northeast under the tail end of a colossal winter storm that brought lingering misery to parts of the South, where freezing rain left hundreds of thousands shivering without electricity Monday. Authorities reported at least 18 weather-related deaths. Deep snow - over a foot (30 centimeters) extending in a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) swath from Arkansas to New England - halted traffic, canceled flights and triggered wide school closures Monday. Up to two feet (60 centimeters) were forecast in some of the harder-hit places.

The bill has been referred to the House Universities and Colleges Committee for review. If signed into law, the bill would merge the Mississippi Delta and Coahoma community college districts, the East Mississippi and Meridian community college districts, and the Copiah-Lincoln and Southwest Mississippi community college districts by July 2027. The move would reduce the number of community colleges in the state from 15 to 12.

The state saw a 5.53 percent increase, with distance education enrollment rising from 56.1 percent in 2022 to 59.2 percent in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available. The findings are based on an analysis by eLearning Industry, an online learning platform, using National Center for Education Statistics postsecondary data tracking changes in distance education enrollment across U.S. states.

As President Donald Trump on Monday pardoned leaders who tried to overturn his 2020 loss, the US Supreme Court took up the national Republican Party's argument that counting mailed ballots shortly after Election Day violates federal law. Voting by mail has long been a target of the GOP president, who has falsely claimed that the practice fuels voter fraud. This case concerns a Mississippi law that allows mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted as long as they arrive within five business days,

According to newly released American Community Survey (ACS) data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Mississippi homeowners with a mortgage typically pay $1,500-$1,999 annually for homeowners insurance, while those without a mortgage average $1,000-$1,499. Overall statewide costs fall into the $1,000-$1,499 range. Mississippi has 829,682 insured homeowner households in total-401,890 with a mortgage and 427,792 without. Among mortgaged owners, 38,142 less than $100 annually and 38,238 pay $4,000 or more. Among those without a mortgage, 129,731 pay less than $100 and 22,139 pay $4,000 or more.

The brutal combination of rising labor costs, commodity costs, and supply chain disruptions post-pandemic has pushed food prices up by a whopping 31% since 2019, and the threat of the Trump Administration's steep tariffs could make grocery bills even worse. This has had a direct effect on how Americans eat, with Pew reporting that the percent of food insecure households rose by 30% from 2020 to 2023.

In Mississippi, a hidden home equity tax is emerging, affecting nearly 8% of homeowners due to outdated capital gains tax thresholds that fail to account for inflation.