DELBERT HOSEMANN

While the focus was on the Lone Star State, Jackson, Mississippi continues to suffer from storm-related issues as well. "I know residents are trying to understand this process and be patient — they just want to see water," Lumumba said. While city officials argued in the press, Jackson residents and many others posted their frustrations with the situation on social media. "The entire city of Jackson, Mississippi, either has no water or is under a boil water alert. Jackson, Mississippi, has been without water for a week."

Mississippi is seeing the largest outbreak of COVID-19 among legislators in any state. That works out to about 1 in 7 Mississippi legislators. Among those testing positive in the heavily Republican body are the GOP presiding officers, House Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. But around the Mississippi Capitol, not wearing a mask or wearing one pushed below the chin was a bipartisan activity in recent weeks. In Georgia, at least seven state legislators are known to have tested positive.

At least eight Mississippi lawmakers have tested positive for the coronavirus after working for weeks in a Capitol where many people stood or sat close together and did not wear masks. Mississippi's lieutenant governor has tested positive for the new coronavirus, his spokeswoman said Tuesday, hours after Republican Gov. Governor Delbert Hosemann came two days after the other top leader in the Mississippi Legislature, Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn, 57, announced his own positive test for COVID-19. They were tested for the coronavirus after he came into contact with a lawmaker who tested positive last week. Democratic Rep. Bo Brown of Jackson announced a positive test result in the last several days.

Mississippi is retiring the last state flag in the U.S. that includes the Confederate battle emblem. Mississippi's was the last state flag to include the design. Make no mistake: The Confederate flag isn't anywhere close to being gone from the South. But even Castello is surprised by how demonstrations over police brutality became a wave that seems to be washing over generations of adoration for the Confederate battle flag by some. To some, the Confederate battle flag with its red background, blue X and white stars is a down-home symbol of Southern heritage and pride.

Larry Eubanks of Star waves the current Mississippi state flag as he sits before the front of the Capitol, Saturday, June 27, 2020, in Jackson, Miss. While a supporter of the current flag, Eubanks says he would hope lawmakers would allow a proposed flag change to be decided by the registered voters. Mississippi is on the verge of changing its state flag to erase a Confederate battle emblem that's broadly condemned as racist. Mississippi has the last state flag with the Confederate battle emblem a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars. White supremacists in the Mississippi Legislature set the state flag design in 1894 during backlash to the political power that African Americans gained after the Civil War.

In this April 25, 2020 photograph, a small Mississippi state flag is held by a participant during a drive-by "re-open Mississippi" protest past the Governor's Mansion, in the background, in Jackson, Miss. This current flag has in the canton portion of the banner the design of the Civil War-era Confederate battle flag, that has been the center of a long-simmering debate about its removal or replacement. Mississippi has the only state flag that includes the Confederate battle emblem a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars. In my mind, our flag should bear the Seal of the Great State of Mississippi and state In God We Trust, Hosemann said. Walmart announced Tuesday that it would stop displaying the Mississippi flag because of the Confederate emblem.