TATE REEVES

Mississippi's human services director says the state has seen a consistent increase in the number of families accepting public assistance for child care since lawmakers banned abortion in almost all circumstances.

As Brett Favre became ensnared in media attention for his connection to Mississippi’s sprawling welfare scandal, Gov. Tate Reeves’ brother suggested the state official investigating the case praise the retired NFL quarterback.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has defeated two primary challengers to clinch the Republican nomination for a second term.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves barely acknowledges his two challengers in next week’s Republican primary.

Tuesday is primary day in Mississippi.

The Democrat trying to unseat Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is pushing hard to tie the Republican incumbent to tens of millions of dollars in welfare misspending that happened while Reeves was lieutenant governor.

Families around the U.S. are scrambling to navigate new laws that prohibit their transgender children and teenagers from accessing gender-affirming care.

A year after the U.S. Supreme Court rescinded a five-decade-old right to abortion, 25 million women of childbearing age now live in states where the law makes abortions harder to get.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves traveled to Alabama for a Republican fundraising event as people in his state were still reeling from death, injury and destruction from back-to-back storms.

Mississippi is tough political territory for Democrats.

Financial documents show no sign that Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has fulfilled his pledge to give away campaign donations from people charged with misspending welfare money in the state’s largest public corruption case.

An Associated Press analysis has found that many of this year’s statehouse proposals to restrict gender-affirming care for youths are identical or very similar to some model legislation.

Three residents of Mississippi’s capital city say their rights are undermined by a new state law that would create a court inside Jackson with judges who are appointed.

Mississippi is violating its own constitution with a law that requires some judges to be appointed rather than elected in the state’s majority-Black capital city and its surrounding county.

The NAACP warns that “separate and unequal policing” will return to Mississippi’s majority-Black capital under a state-run police department.

President Joe Biden pledged during his visit to a Mississippi town ravaged by a deadly tornado vowed that the federal government is “not leaving” until the area is back on its feet.

The majority-white and Republican-led Mississippi Legislature is taking final steps to expand the territory of a state-run police department inside Jackson.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has signed a bill that will restrict electric car manufacturers from selling vehicles in person unless they open franchised dealerships.

After years of refusing to expand Medicaid benefits for new mothers, Republican officials in more than a half-dozen states are reversing course.

Indiana Republican state Senators are advancing a proposal to ban all gender-affirming care for children and teens under 18.

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has signed a bill to ban gender-affirming care in the state for anyone younger than 18.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is doing an abrupt about-face on an issue Democrats have been hammering him on this election year.

People in Mississippi's majority-Black capital city say the mostly white state Legislature is trying to encroach on their rights of self-government.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is confirming he plans to sign a bill to ban gender-affirming care for anyone younger than 18.

A Mississippi sheriff says a lone gunman killed six people including his ex-wife and stepfather at multiple locations in a small, rural town near the Tennessee state line.

A former University of Mississippi chancellor says Republican Gov. Tate Reeves spoke privately with him years ago about the benefits of expanding Medicaid to people in low-wage jobs.

TikTok will be banned from all Mississippi-issued government devices and the state’s network.

Much of the focus on politics in 2023 will be on the emerging presidential race.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the water in Mississippi's capital city is now safe to drink, following months of sampling at a water treatment plant overwhelmed by late August flooding.

Mississippi expects 5,000 more births each year as a result of the Supreme Court ruling denying abortion rights.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced it is investigating whether Mississippi state agencies discriminated against the state’s majority-Black capital city by refusing to fund improvements for its failing water system.

Congress is investigating the crisis that left 150,000 people in Mississippi’s capital city without running water for several days in late summer.

The Democratic mayor of Mississippi's capital is facing a leadership test as the city struggles to consistently produce clean drinking water.

The NAACP on Tuesday accused Mississippi of discriminating against Black residents by denying badly needed federal funds for drinking water infrastructure in Jackson and instead diverting money to largely-white communities that needed it less.

Years before he became Mississippi governor, Tate Reeves served as the state's treasurer and had a hand in delaying funds for water system repairs in the capital city of Jackson.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan has returned to Mississippi’s capital city to meet with Jackson officials about the city’s troubled water system.

A boil-water advisory has been lifted for Mississippi's capital, and the state will stop handing out free bottled water on Saturday.

After nearly seven weeks of being forced to boil their water before drinking it or using it to brush teeth, people in Mississippi’s largest city are being told that water from the tap is safe to consume.

The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says he wants Mississippi’s capital city to receive “its fair share” of federal money to repair a troubled water system.

Black business owners in Mississippi’s capital say the city’s broken water system poses dire costs for their bottom lines.

Mississippi's capital city is struggling with its water system.

Officials in Jackson, Mississippi, say restoration of water pressure continues at a long-troubled water plant.

For at least the third time in a dozen years, portable toilets are parked outside the ornate Mississippi Capitol because Jackson’s water system is in crisis.

The White House says the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency will visit Mississippi's capital city on Friday as local, state and federal officials deal with a water system crisis.

People are waiting in lines for water in Jackson, Mississippi, after the partial failure of the the city water system.

Water has caused a crisis in Mississippi’s capital city.

Severe storms that brought damaging winds, heavy rains and flash flooding to parts of the Midwest and the South are being blamed for the deaths of three people, including two children in Michigan and Arkansas.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves says he is declaring a state of emergency after excessive rainfall worsened problems in a water treatment plant in the capital city.

To Democrats championing the White House’s student loan forgiveness plan, it was the long-awaited delivery of one of President Joe Biden’s campaign promises.

When the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that established a right to abortion, it sparked legal changes and court challenges in states nationwide.

If the Supreme Court follows through on overturning Roe v.

Mississippi is ditching a state song that’s based on the campaign tune of a former governor who pledged to preserve segregation.

Mississippi is the latest Republican-led state to ban election offices from accepting donations from private groups for voting operations.

Mississippi is on the verge of retiring a state song with racist roots, two years after it surrendered a Confederate-themed state flag.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has signed a bill to limit how race can be discussed in classrooms.

A bill advancing in Mississippi says anyone could cite religious objections to avoid a public or private employer’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate.

The Republican-controlled Mississippi House has divided largely along lines of race and party in passing a bill that would limit how race can be discussed in classrooms.

Mississippi is accustomed to being first in worsts.

Mississippi will join the majority of states in allowing medical marijuana.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in letters to seven governors, is reaffirming the need for members of their states' Army and Air National Guards to get the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine or lose their Guard status.

Mississippi lawmakers are sending their governor a bill that would create a medical marijuana program for people with serious medical conditions.

Abortion activists are protesting in Mississippi’s capital as the state takes center stage in a pivotal U.S. Supreme Court case that could end a nationwide right to abortion.

Mississippi has executed a man who pleaded guilty to killing his estranged wife and terrorizing their family.

Republicans are blasting President Joe Biden, threatening lawsuits and going as far as to call for civil disobedience to block his new vaccination mandates.

Republicans are blasting President Joe Biden, threatening lawsuits and going as far as to call for civil disobedience to block his new vaccination mandates.

President Joe Biden has gone from waging war on the virus to a war on the unvaccinated.

Louisiana communities battered by Hurricane Ida are now dealing with the possibility of weeks without power in the stifling, late-summer heat.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday that state and local emergency responders conducted 20 rescues from flooded areas in the state’s three coastal counties.

A rural county in Mississippi is being overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases, two weeks after it hosted a big fair that drew thousands of visitors.

The government of Australia’s most populous state has reported a daily record 390 new locally-acquired COVID-19 infections and warned that the high infection rate would continue for days.

For months, President Joe Biden has laid out goal after goal for taming the coronavirus pandemic and then exceeded his own benchmarks.

Mississippi is facing the end of a federal boost for unemployment benefits.

Illegal drag racing has exploded in popularity across the U.S. since the coronavirus pandemic began, with sometimes deadly consequences.

Demand for the coronavirus vaccine has fallen off in some places around the United States to the point where some counties are turning down new shipments of doses.

Voting mostly along party lines, the U.S. Senate on March 24, confirmed Levine to be assistant secretary of health. She becomes the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation. (Caroline Brehman/Pool via AP, File)Voting mostly along party lines, the U.S. Senate has confirmed former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be the nation’s assistant secretary of health. She is the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation. She won confirmation by the Republican-majority Pennsylvania Senate.

– Mississippi will increase the lowest monthly welfare payments in the nation under a bill signed into law Wednesday by the state's Republican governor. The payments in Mississippi have been $146 for a family of two, $170 for a family of three and $194 for a family of four. AdEven with the increase, the Mississippi welfare payments will still be only a fraction of the federal poverty level, according to the liberal-leaning Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Brandon Jones, a Democratic former Mississippi House member and current policy director for the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund in Mississippi, called the increase long overdue. “This $90 increase gets Mississippi off the bottom and is desperately needed by struggling families throughout the state."

Voting mostly along party lines, the U.S. Senate on March 24, confirmed Levine to be assistant secretary of health. She becomes the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation. (Caroline Brehman/Pool via AP, File)Voting mostly along party lines, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be the nation’s assistant secretary of health. She is the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation. She won confirmation by the Republican-majority Pennsylvania Senate.

Henry McMaster remains firmly opposed to the Medicaid expansion. The bump in federal funding would last two years for the states that join the Medicaid expansion. Laura Kelley this year called for legalizing medical use of marijuana and using the tax revenue to pay for expanding Medicaid. "It’s a nonstarter, and we will continue to oppose the liberal wish list item of Medicaid expansion,” he said. Kay Ivey left open the possibility of expanding Medicaid at some point in the future, but there are no plans to do so.

Tate Reeves signs the first state bill in the U.S. this year to ban transgender athletes from competing on female sports teams, as supporting lawmakers gather behind him, Thursday, March 11, 2021, at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. Tate Reeves signed a bill Thursday to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls or women’s sports teams. “This law is a solution in search of a problem, and legislators in Mississippi have not provided any examples of Mississippi transgender athletes gaming the system for a competitive advantage because none exist,” David said. In a statement Thursday, Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Christiana Holcomb praised the Mississippi law. AdRepublican legislators who pushed the bill gave no evidence of any transgender athletes competing in Mississippi schools or universities.

Tate Reeves decided to eliminate mask requirements, limits on seating in restaurants and most other binding restrictions. AdAlabama’s state health officer on Friday advised residents to keep following standard infection-prevention recommendations even though the governor is letting the state’s mask mandate expire next month. AdThe National Retail Federation, the largest retail trade association in the U.S., issued a statement Wednesday encouraging shoppers to wear masks. McDonald’s cook Cornejo, 43, said the end of Texas’ mask mandate next week alarms her because several of her co-workers already were lax about keeping their faces covered. Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, said individuals who wear masks still risk infection from unmasked shoppers and diners.

Eric Holcomb received his COVID-19 vaccine shot Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the opening of the state’s first mass vaccination clinic. Holcomb wore a face mask in the front passenger seat of an SUV while getting the shot of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine at the drive-through clinic. Ad___TORONTO — Canada is getting a fourth vaccine to prevent COVID-19, approving the Johnson & Johnson shot that works with just one dose. Canada has pre-purchased 10 million Johnson & Johnson doses, with options to buy another 28 million. The U.S. approved the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last month.

– Mississippi is on track to become the first state this year to enact a law banning transgender athletes from competing on girls or women's sports teams. Tate Reeves said Thursday that he will sign a bill that the Republican-controlled Mississippi Legislature has passed. AdRepublican legislators who pushed the bill gave no evidence of any transgender athletes competing in Mississippi schools or universities. A Mississippi mother with a transgender daughter spoke Thursday during the Human Rights Campaign news conference. AdSupporters of bills such as the one in Mississippi argue that transgender girls, because they were born male, are naturally stronger, faster and bigger than those born female.

– The Mississippi House voted Wednesday to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls' or women's sports teams in the state's schools and universities. Mississippi is one of more than 20 states with lawmakers proposing restrictions on athletics or gender-confirming health care for transgender minors this year. The House voted 81-28 to pass Senate Bill 2536. The Republican-controlled state Senate passed the bill 34-9 on Feb. 11, with five senators not voting and four voting “present." During the Senate debate, nobody asked whether any transgender athletes are competing in Mississippi.

Giving the vaccine to teachers and other school staff “will help protect our communities," Pennsylvania Gov. The Department of Health and Human Services has ordered all states to make teachers, school staff, bus drivers and child care workers eligible for shots. In Wisconsin, teachers will get priority when the state receives its first shipment of about 48,000 doses of the J&J vaccine, health authorities said. In Texas, where teachers have been battling to gain access to shots, state officials on Wednesday ordered vaccine providers to begin administering shots to school workers. “The more people we can get the safe and effective vaccine, the faster we can return to a sense of normalcy,” Michigan Gov.

More than two weeks have passed since the cold wave shut down the main power grid in Texas, leaving millions in freezing homes, causing about 50 deaths and disabling thousands of public water systems serving those millions. AdFour public water systems in Texas remained out of commission Wednesday, affecting 456 customers, and 225 systems still have 135,299 customers boiling their tap water, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Also, 208 of the state’s 254 counties are still reporting public water system issues. Jackson's water system has not been able to provide a sustainable flow of water throughout the city since the mid-February storms, city officials say. She said Jackson’s water system “needs to be fixed, not patched.”“That’s the issue now — poor maintenance for far too long," Hanlin said.

It marked the first annual contraction for the country’s economy since 1998, when it was in the midst of a crippling financial crisis. In comparison, the federal government previously said 38% of people would receive two doses by the end of June. Still, that’s 700,000 doses on hand, when the state is getting 200,000 doses this week, rising to 223,000 next week. AdBharat Biotech has already signed an agreement with Brazil to supply 20 million doses of the vaccine by September. ___COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s mask mandate will continue until a “critical mass” has been reached of people who have received the coronavirus vaccine, a spokesperson for Ohio Gov.

Tasha Arevalo, right, laughs with Joseph Butler while eating at Mo's Irish Pub, Tuesday, March 2, 2021, in Houston. Greg Abbott announced that he is lifting business capacity limits and the state's mask mandate starting next week. The Lone Star State will also do away with limits on the number of diners who can be served indoors, said Republican Gov. She added: “We are not where we need to be yet, but we’re getting there, San Francisco.”Mississippi Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s virus policies, and many people are ignoring mask requirements and other measures, said group leader Erik Kiilunen.

(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)MEXICO CITY — Mexico reported a near-record 1,707 confirmed coronavirus deaths Wednesday, as the country runs out of vaccines. Ad___THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:Spain surpasses 60,000 confirmed virus deaths. Dr. Fauci suggests watching Super Bowl at home with household to avoid spreading coronavirus. British officials say Oxford study backs up their decision to delay second vaccine shot for up to 12 weeks. ___MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Nicaragua’s government says it has approved Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for emergency use.

FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2021, file photo, Drivers wait in line at a mega COVID-19 vaccination site set up in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Some of them carried signs decrying the COVID-19 vaccine and shouting for people not to get the shots. California surpasses 40,000 coronavirus deaths. ___BALTIMORE — Baltimore public health officials are canceling some COVID-19 vaccination appointments scheduled for next week after overbooking hundreds of first-dose appointments. ___ROME — The Italian Medicines Agency known has approved the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for persons older than 18.

The coronavirus vaccines have been rolled out unevenly across the U.S., but some states in the Deep South have had particularly dismal inoculation rates. In Georgia, the state’s rural health system has been decimated in recent years, with nine hospital closures since 2008, including two last year. Local health departments have become the primary vaccine providers in some locations, as officials work to add sites where doses can be administered. Officials in all four states also said some health care workers — among the first groups eligible for a vaccine — are choosing not to get inoculated. Mississippi officials said Thursday that they will open an additional drive-thru site for vaccinations soon in the state's largest county.

(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)BEIJING — China says it is now treating more than 1,000 people for COVID-19 as numbers of cases continue to surge in the country’s north. ___AUSTIN, Texas — Texas has distributed more than 1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. State health officials say Texas had more than 14,000 COVID-19 patients in hospitals and its death toll has passed 30,000. ___COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina will now allow medical students, retired nurses and other qualified professionals to administer the COVID-19 vaccine. ___MADRID — Spain reported 35,878 confirmed coronavirus cases and 201 new deaths from the coronavirus.

Members of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Honor Guard prepare to raise the new Mississippi State flag at the Capitol in Jackson, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. Tate Reeves signed a law that created the new state flag with magnolia at the center, six months after the state retired the last state flag in the U.S. that included the Confederate battle emblem. The law retiring the old flag also specified that the commission's proposed new flag would go on the Nov. 3 ballot for a yes-or-no vote. The Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups have waved the Confederate battle flag for decades. A few dozen people demonstrated on the south steps of the Mississippi Capitol in support of reviving the old flag.

State health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey urged residents to continue wearing masks, practicing social distancing and washing their hands frequently. Health care officials are currently vaccinating health care workers, first responders and those living in long-term care facilities —all people in the highest-priority groups for getting doses. In the first phase, priority was given to health care workers and residents and staff at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Cuomo says hospitals need to do a better job of vaccinating the health care workers who are eligible now. Only health care workers and nursing home residents and staff members are currently being vaccinated in New York.

State health data have shown that church services have caused a significant number of outbreaks in Mississippi. For now, Highland Colony — a majority-white church in a Jackson suburb — is still holding in-person services. Joy Sartain, 89, was wearing a mask sitting in a section of seats roped off for vulnerable populations as she attended a recent Highland Colony service. Anderson has not returned to in-person worship, instead doing virtual services and daily prayer calls. I think it is a very, very unsafe method,” he said of in-person worship.

(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)TOKYO — The number of new coronavirus infections in Japan's capital have topped 600 in a day for the first time. ___THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:About 50% of Americans will take the new coronavirus vaccine, according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey. Canada health regulators approve Pfizer’s vaccine, days ahead of possible approval in the United States. India’s health ministry says some coronavirus vaccines are likely to receive licenses in the next few weeks. ___AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas state official who has been critical of measures ordered by Gov.

Romero says Pima County reported had a record-high 944 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, and hospitals in southern Arizona are on the verge of a crisis. Earlier Tuesday, state health officials reported 10,322 new known coronavirus cases and 48 additional deaths around Arizona. Colorado has been hit with a substantial spike in COVID-19 cases, with one in 41 residents believed to be contagious. Andy Beshear announced 4,151 more virus cases statewide and 35 additional virus-related deaths. They wrote a letter to Reeves on Nov. 24 calling for another statewide mask mandate.

Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico said in imposing a two-week stay-at-home order. Nevada Democratic Gov. In Montana, where cases are up more than 16% in the past week, Democratic Gov. Democratic Gov. Some economists say the crisis has been falsely portrayed as a choice between the economy and public health.

Hong Kong and Singapore say they have agreed to a bilateral air travel bubble, re-establishing travel links as coronavirus infections in both cities decline. -- Maryland will reduce indoor operations for bars and restaurants from 75% to 50% in response to rising coronavirus cases and increased hospitalizations. Maryland also reported 1,338 new coronavirus cases Tuesday — the seventh straight day of at least 1,000 cases. ___WASHINGTON — The U.S. has surpassed 1 million new confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of November. The El Paso County sheriff’s office says two of the employees were hospitalized over the weekend as coronavirus cases surged at the facility.

India reports 36,470 new coronavirus cases, the lowest in more than three months in a continuing downward trend. NEW DELHI — India’s tally of confirmed coronavirus cases is moving closer to 8 million, with 43,893 new cases reported for the latest 24-hour period. The total reported Wednesday includes the highest single-day number of cases for the Indian capital of New Delhi — 4,853. He says confirmed coronavirus cases are overwhelmingly the result of community transmission, noting that 92% of officially confirmed infections can’t be traced to a known case. Italy’s total confirmed cases rose to 564,778 and the death toll reached 37,700.

(AP Photo/Anupam Nath)LONDON — Ireland’s government is putting the country at its highest level of coronavirus restrictions for six weeks in a bid to combat a rise in infections. The board members hail from top California top universities and medical providers, along with state and local public health officials. ___AUSTIN, Texas -- Health officials in Texas have reported 4,319 COVID-19 hospital patients, the most since Aug. 28. Khan’s remarks come amid a slight increase in COVID-19 cases and deaths in recent weeks. Pakistan also reported 440 new confirmed cases, raising its total cases to 323,452 since February when Pakistan reported its first case.