Mississippi News Notes: Week Ending Mar 12, 2015

Both of these bills are now dead:

House Bill 738 would have required Attorney General Jim Hood to get approval from an oversight commission before starting cases that would seek more than $250,000 in damages and legal fees. The bill previously passed by a margin of one vote but was held for more debate.

House Bill 1386 would have set aside more than $50 million for road and bridge improvements. The money would have come from a settlement with British Petroleum for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The bill passed by a margin of 81 votes but was held as lawmakers debated where in the state to focus the repairs.

The Governor of Mississippi announced he is supporting Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz.

This endorsement comes on the day Cruz visited the Magnolia state before Mississippi’s primaries.

Cruz made a stop at Berry’s Seafood in Florence, MS Monday afternoon. Cruz was scheduled to speak in the Pine Belt on Monday but canceled that appearance Sunday because of an illness.

Gov. Phil Bryant has ordered for flags to fly at half-staff in honor of Former First Lady Nancy Reagan.

Reagan died Sunday at the age of 94 from congestive heart failure at her Los Angeles home. Former President Ronald Reagan died on June 5, 2004.

The executive order on the flags was issued Monday.

He said the First Lady was known for her elegance and her “Just Say No” to drugs campaign.

Bryant asked for all U.S. flags and state flags to be flown at half-staff on all buildings belonging to the State of Mississippi and other areas under its jurisdiction. The flags should be lowered immediately and will remain that way until Sunset on the day she is laid to rest. http://wjtv.com/2016/03/07/gov-brya...

The Mississippi Department of Education has awarded a $1.2 million grant for math teachers in public schools.

The grant has been given to the University of Mississippi Center for Mathematics and Science Education. It will fund a development initiative that will help 120 math teachers across the state over the next three years.

The initiative is called Creating Continuity and Connections across Content of C4 Project. The goal is to improve students achievement in math from kindergarten to eighth grade

- See more at: http://www.newsms.fm/math-teachers-...

Jackson County supervisors on Monday afternoon voted to keep flying the state flag on county property and at county buildings.

The vote was 4-1.In a resolution, they referred to a previous statewide vote 2001 to keep the flag and said that until the state addresses the issue, the county will continue to fly the flag.

Board President Melton Harris, who is black, strongly opposed the vote. The others, who are white, Barry Cumbest, Troy Ross, Ken Taylor and Randy Bosarge voted for it. Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/news/local...

Pearl River County: Where Do My taxes Go:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5...

Melanie Sojourner:

Republicans in MS Congressional District 3...

We've all been so focused on the presidential race we haven't discussed the House races.

Harper has one of the worst conservative scores of all House Republicans. He has not been fighting for us.

He'll win by a landslide today because, everyone knows he's name and no one has discussed his record. It's time we do so! He is a part of the DC problem! https://www.facebook.com/sojournerf...

 

 

Last week the Mississippi House passed a bill that would allow any licensed U.S. physician who has examined a child to grant a medical exemption from the vaccines required for school and licensed day cares.

To stay alive, the bill must pass out of Senate health committee by March 22 and be considered by the full Senate by March 30.

Current law requires exemptions to be submitted by Mississippi-licensed pediatricians, family physicians and internists, who have examined the child, and approved by the health department’s district health officers, who are licensed physicians. The health department has said it is willing to work with out-of-state physicians.

Mary Jo Perry, co-director of Mississippi Parents for Vaccine Rights, said that the state’s laws are out of step with practices in the rest of the country and add unnecessary hurdles for parents and physicians. http://djournal.com/news/docs-vacci...

The latest fascination by the Tupelo City council with the possibility of a downtown entertainment district would likely stir relatively little concern or controversy did it not include legal strolling around with alcoholic beverages in certain areas.

Tupelo, in various guises, has flirted with that idea for many years, but has never fully embraced the concept.

A bill in the Mississippi Legislature, if approved by the Senate and signed by Gov. Phil Bryant, would allow Tupelo to have an entertainment district.

The bill passed the state House last week, and it must pass the Senate in identical form before it goes to the governor for his signature.

If approved, the designation of a leisure and entertainment district would allow customers to walk out of establishments with alcoholic beverages. It also could foster the sale of liquor and mixed drinks at festivals. http://djournal.com/opinion/our-opi...

Crews are working across the city of Jackson, making repairs on streets that have been backlogged since 2007.

The utility cut repairs are part of the Operation Orange Cone initiative that addresses problem areas on roads in the city.

“This is Jackson’s 1 percent dollars at work,” said Mayor Tony T. Yarber. “In coming weeks, Jackson citizens will see the City break ground on a number of projects included in the City’s infrastructure improvement plan.”

Operation Orange Cone was launched in 2015 as part of the Yarber Administration’s push to address the condition of the city’s streets and eliminate the presence of orange cones throughout the city where potholes exist.

While this initiative was first discussed in relation to the 1% Sales Tax program, it is part of the City’s Bold New Infrastructure Improvement Program. http://www.msnewsnow.com/story/3141...

The Department of the Navy and Mississippi Power, a Southern Company subsidiary, broke ground March 2 on a large-scale solar facility at Naval Construction Battalion Center (NCBC) Gulfport.

The facility will have roughly 13,000 panels, providing enough electricity to supply the equivalent of 450 homes. To be installed on 23 acres of base land, the facility will generate up to four megawatts of direct current power once operational. Mississippi Power estimates grid connection by the end of 2016. http://www.navy.mil/submit/display....

Mississippi

MS01: Incumbent freshman Republican Congressman Trent Kelly defeated challenger Paul Clever 89-11. Kelly will meet Democrat Jacob Owens in the general election.

MS02: Neither party's candidate was opposed. Incumbent Democrat Congressman Bennie Thompson will face Republican John Bouie in the general election.

MS03: Incumbent Republican Congressman Gregg Harper defeated challenger Jimmy Giles. Democrat Dennis Quinn defeated Nathan Stewart 66-34. Unofficial results show Harper, who was first elected, with a wide lead over Giles (89-11), a beekeeper. Giles is also a white supremacist and supporter of Donald Trump. Both men are Pearl residents. In November, Harper will face the winner of a Democratic primary Tuesday between Dennis C. Quinn and Nathan Stewart, as well as Reform Party member Lajena Sheets. http://www.wapt.com/politics/gregg-...

MS04: Neither party's candidate was opposed. Incumbent Republican Congressman Steven Palazzo will face Democrat Mark Gladney in the general election.

A South Carolina lawmaker, who should stay out of Mississippi’s business, is joining other black leaders in calling for Mississippi to change the last state flag that includes the Confederate battle emblem.

Democratic Rep. Justin Bamberg spoke Tuesday to more than 200 people at a change-the-flag rally outside the Mississippi Capitol — an event organized by attorneys suing Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant in federal court. The suit asks a federal judge to declare the flag an unconstitutional vestige of slavery.

"If your governor needs to see an example of what it means to lead as governor, maybe he should look at South Carolina's very own Republican governor, Nikki Haley," said Justin Bamberg, who is from the same hometown as Haley. http://www.gulflive.com/news/index....

A bill that would cut state revenues by $575 million over the next 15 years is on its way to the House.

S.B. 2858, otherwise known as the Taxpayer Pay Raise Act of 2016, eliminates the corporate franchise tax, reforms the state’s self-employment tax and creates a five percent flat individual income tax.

The bill is aimed at cutting the state taxes by about 575 million dollars over the next 15 years and was passed by the Senate by a vote of 38 to 10, yesterday.

Republican Senator Joey Fillingane of Sumrall is the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee. He says cutting the taxes would allow for greater state revenue growth in the form of sales taxes. http://www.mpbonline.org/blogs/news...

The Mississippi state flag no longer flies at the Oregon Capitol.

The flag was removed from the Capitol's Walk of Flags display, which included all 50 states and the flags of Oregon's nine federally recognized Native American tribes.

The presiding officers in the Oregon House and Oregon Senate sent a letter to their counterparts in Mississippi to notify them of the action this week. http://www.wlox.com/story/31442495/...

Local legislators are working on bills that focus on the area they represent and are facing a legislative deadline in April.

Both Sen. Sally Doty and Rep. Becky Currie have bills and efforts concerning the new baseball complex in Lincoln County. The deadline for local and private bills that are not revenue bills in the Mississippi Legislature is April 15. Sen. Sally Doty said local and private bills have extended deadlines to allow action to be taken throughout the session. Generally, Doty said, these types of bills are handled in the last week or two of session. Doty said she is working on bills to do with tax credits affecting historic efforts downtown, King’s Daughters Medical Center and the new baseball complex.

Committee will make Recommendation on Senator Melanie Sojourner's seat on Monday

From Melanie Sojourner on FaceBook:

Thank you, again to everyone who has been keeping up with and praying for us throughout our election challenge process.
The court proceedings have concluded and the committee is scheduled to render a recommendation to the full Senate on Monday when they gavel in at 4:00.
Our quest has always been for the committee to determine that all votes counted in this election were cast according to the laws of our state. If they were not that they use the case laws upheld in our judicial system as a bases for determining the rightful winner.

From day one, Dearing has proclaimed that he believe the election workers did no wrong doing and that they did everything according to the law.
This is not surprising seeing how when Dearing subpoenaed myself and my witnesses for depositions the five poll workers mysteriously just happened to be there. During the deposition Dearing himself went to the back of the room and had a whisper conversation with these ladies. His attorney acted as if they didn't know who invited them to be there. But, on the witness stand one of the ladies said Dearing's attorney is who ask them to be there.

By the admission of Dearing's attorney, and as proven by the testimony of the Bude poll workers themselves, they willingly did NOT follow the law. They admitted assisting voters, while they voted their ballots, in a manner that previous court rulings call a "radical departure from mandatory provisions". These rulings have resulted in having the votes in those precincts removed from the election count.
The laws of our state matter. Lord only knows, when I didn't file a campaign report on time because, I lost my home in a tornado, I received public scrutiny delivered by the Sec of State for a year and had to pay a fine 10 times greater than what these poll workers have currently had to pay.
Whatever the wishes of the Senate may be, I will absolutely respect them. Regardless of the outcome I will continue to fight for our conservative beliefs against those who have allowed our state to be named the most corrupt in America.

Sen Melanie Sojourner: EDUCATION... my position and a few FACTS you should know.

From FaceBook:

 

I've been quoted saying, "I don't believe public education is a constitutional right. I believe it is a privilege paid for on the backs of hardworking Mississippians."
And I strongly believe we have an obligation to make sure every child has access to a quality education.

Education should focus on the needs of students and teachers. And parents should have choices in what's best for their children.

I have faith in teachers and principals. We should empower them and give them the resources needed to teach. We must get Jackson and DC bureaucrats out of their classrooms and allow them to do their jobs. They know what is best for our children.
In the past four years I've supported the bills that are now funding education at the highest level in state history. Including, the states 2nd largest teacher pay raise.
Out of every dollar you pay in state taxes roughly 45 cents goes to K-12. It jumps toroughly 60 cents when you include colleges and universities.

I believe this shows the commitment lawmakers and taxpayers have to education. But, the legislature has a responsibility to be accountable with your money.
During the past 8 years the administration portion of student cost has risen by 47%. While the instructional portion has only risen by 6%.
This is INEXCUSABLE. More money is simply not the answer. Getting money to the right places is. Money without education reform is not going to address our needs.

Also, I have supported every appropriations bill to fund our colleges and universities the past four years. I've just only supported borrowing money for them when it was responsible to do so.
I'm committed to our children. To our teachers and the future of education in our state. But, I'm also committed to the taxpayers and we must manage education responsibly.

MEME REPORT:
THE MARTIAN

Sen Melanie Sojourner: I disagree with those advocating for change to the state flag of Mississippi.

From FaceBook:

 (Natchez, MS.) - Senator Melanie Sojourner today released the following statement regarding calls to do away with Mississippi's official state flag.

"I disagree with those advocating for change to the state flag of Mississippi.

The tragedy in South Carolina was a horrific and senseless act that displayed the very worst of mankind. I was deeply saddened by the tragedy. But more importantly, my heart was moved by the love and kindness of those who faced this evil and forgave. The example of Christian love shown by the victims and their families should stand above all other lessons we hope to learn from this tragedy.

But we should not allow this tragic event to be used to promote political agendas. We are only empowering the actions of those with ill-intent if we allow them to hijack symbols with one original meaning and use them for another meaning that promotes the purpose hate and evil. Yielding to evil, no matter the political intention, only perpetuates the problem.

Mississippi has dealt more openly on the issue of race than any other state in the country and we have the scars to show for it.

We do a terrible disservice to future generations when we refuse to be honest about our history and when we allow others who neither know nor care about our people to be the self-appointed arbiters of what is and is not a civilized discussion on the topic.

The people of Mississippi understood this clearly when we decided this issue in 2001 in a referendum, and the people chose to keep the current flag.

The will of the people of the state was made very clear. As an elected official I support that decision.”

No MSGOP Unity Yet: Sen Sojourner & McDaniel Slam MSGOP Election Tactics

Melanie Sojourner

My disdain for those, so called Republicans, who still stand by Cochran's side grows stronger day by day. Despicable.
All I have done, since even before I ran for office, was fight to advance the Republican cause.
The actions of Republicans who stood by Cochran while Haley orchestrated this madness are the ones responsible for the split in the party. Not those of us who have been constantly fighting for the conservative principles and the constitution. [Original FaceBook Post]

Chris McDaniel

To all the so-called Republicans who defend this behavior in defense of Thad, you should be ashamed.
This article is illustrative of everything that is wrong with the GOP establishment. A Barbour bragging about receiving $350,000 from a Democrat donor?
From the article:
"Up to this point, at least, Parker’s contributions haven’t triggered significant backlash within the GOP. In Mississippi, the McDaniel campaign assailed Cochran for accepting outside support from both Parker and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as for actively courting Democratic and independent voters in the state’s open Republican primary system

Article from June 2014 Politico:

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