Author: Kerry Wilkins

A massive ice storm is slated to hit the Southern and Midwestern regions of the US starting Monday through Wednesday, according to NBC News. The Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas will be at the eye of the storm, but a wave of cold air is expected to move across the center of the country all the way to Nashville, Tennessee and even up to West Virginia, hitting hard as it goes with freezing rain and accumulating ice. The Midwest was hit starting Monday as well, with a mix of freezing rain and ice coating the Ohio River Valley along with…

The death toll from tornadoes that ravaged the US over the weekend rose to 33, according to local media. More than 60 tornadoes hit eight states from Arkansas to Delaware on Friday night. At least 15 weather-related casualties were reported in Tennessee county. Other deaths were reported in Alabama, Illinois, and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, Arkansas, where the mayor said more than 2,000 buildings were in a tornado’s path. At least 52 people have died since March 25 in tornadoes across eight states. According to the National Weather Service, the tornado was a high-end EF3 twister with…

President Joe Biden will establish a national monument honoring Emmett Till, the Black teenager from Chicago who was abducted, tortured and killed in 1955 after he was accused of whistling at a white woman in Mississippi, and his mother, a White House official said Saturday. Biden will sign a proclamation on Tuesday to create the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument across three sites in Illinois and Mississippi, according to the official. The individual spoke on condition of anonymity because the White House had not formally announced the president’s plans. Tuesday is the anniversary of Emmett Till’s birth in…

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who popularized beach bum soft rock with the escapist Caribbean-flavored song Margaritaville and turned that celebration of loafing into an empire of restaurants, resorts and frozen concoctions, has died. He was 76. “Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” a statement posted to Buffett’s official website and social media pages said late Friday. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.” The statement did not say where Buffett died or give a cause of death.…

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — Political leaders in the Mississippi River area are looking to form a multistate compact to manage threats from climate change, water pollution and drought-affected regions elsewhere. “Twenty million people drink from the Mississippi River and its tributaries every day, including me and my family,” said Colin Wellenkamp, executive director of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative. With the world’s fourth-largest basin, the Mississippi River supports more than 400 species of wildlife, has led to more than 350,000 jobs and generates more than $21 billion in annual tourism, fishing and recreation spending, according to the nonprofit…

The U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation Wednesday into alleged civil rights violations by police in a majority Black Mississippi city, stepping in following accusations that officers used excessive force and arrested people without justification. The federal probe will focus on numerous reports from residents of Lexington, a city of about 1,600 people some 65 miles (100 kilometers) north of the capital of Jackson. The lawsuit claimed officers targeted Black drivers with illegal roadblocks, retaliated against people for recording police activity, committed sexual assault and even made arrests of people for using profanity. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who leads…

Clinical social worker Shalonda Carlisle has noticed that teens she speaks with often “don’t feel comfortable talking to their parents” about issues that affect them. “What I noticed is that when I talk to teens, they don’t feel comfortable talking to their parents,” she told the Mississippi Free Press. “They don’t feel like their parents are active listeners and want to understand them and do better.” Carlisle is the creator of the Teen Suicide Summit, which held its second annual event at Tougaloo College on Sept. 30. Teens, parents and mental-health professionals from across Mississippi gathered to discuss topics like…

Police have arrested two suspects in the on-campus shooting death of Jackson State University student Jaylen Burns in Columbia, Miss., and Ellisville, Miss. Burns, 21, was killed on Sunday, Oct. 15 at an on campus apartment complex while trying to break up a fight, his father, Jason Burns, said. JSU police announced the first arrest at a press conference Thursday after Jones College Campus Police arrested Joshua Brown, a JC student, on Wednesday and turned him over to the JSU Police Department. Brown is charged with murder and possessing a weapon on school property. “We received a call late last night from Jones College campus police…

JACKSON, Miss. — Jackson police are investigating a drive-by shooting that killed a 34-year-old man. According to Sam Brown, public information officer for the Jackson Police Department, the 34-year-old was shot this morning near the I-20 ramp at Highway 80. Brown said officers found the unidentified man in a wrecked vehicle with multiple gunshot wounds to the body. The victim was transported to a local hospital, where he was rushed into surgery before succumbing to his injuries. The identity of the victim is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. Source : warp

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Activists in Mississippi’s majority-Black capital city are trying to join a federal lawsuit against the city for violating standards for clean drinking water, even as they say the Black judge presiding over the case is stirring racial division. The activists from the Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign and People’s Advocacy Institute filed court papers Wednesday asking to intervene in the federal government’s lawsuit against Jackson. During a news conference Wednesday, activists said they spoke for residents in the 80% Black city who want more say over reforms to the water system. “We feel like our lives are…