Category Archives: Mississippi

Tropical Storm Bertha expected to weaken as it moves toward US

Posted on by

Storm warnings stretch from Florida to Louisiana as Bertha brings heavy rain, flooding risk and possible tornadoes

Tropical Storm Bertha strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday but was expected to weaken this week as it chugs closer to the US, potentially bringing coastal flooding and heavy rain from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana.

Those areas along the northern Gulf coast were under a tropical storm warning through Wednesday and could see rain and flooding into Thursday morning, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. New Orleans also was under a tropical storm warning.

Continue reading...

What happened to Nolan Wells? Family seeks answers two weeks after 18-year-old’s death

Posted on by

Investigation continues after college freshman was found dead on Mississippi island after 4 July boat trip with friends

Two weeks after Nolan Xavier Wells was found dead, his family is still searching for answers.

On 4 July, Wells, an 18-year-old Mississippi college freshman, and a group of friends took a boat out to Horn Island, a barrier island a few miles off the Mississippi Gulf coast.

Continue reading...

Family pleads for answers in death of young Black man in Mississippi

Posted on by

Body of Nolan Wells, 18, found after he traveled to Horn Island over Fourth of July weekend with three white friends

A mother on Friday pleaded for anyone to come forward with information about what happened to ⁠her son, Nolan Wells, a young Black man whose body was found on an island off the coast of Mississippi after he traveled there over the Fourth of July weekend with three white friends.

“We just want ⁠to know what happened and ⁠why our baby ​didn’t come home,” Christine Wonsley, choking back tears, said at a news conference about her son.

Continue reading...

At least 25 people die in US as record heatwave scorches swaths of country

Posted on by

More than 20 states reported temperatures above 100F as heat dome sits over eastern US during holiday weekend

At least about two dozen people have died amid the perilous climate crisis-driven heatwave that has scorched swaths of the US with record temperatures.

As a huge heat dome sits over the county’s eastern half, extreme heat gripped millions of people in the days leading up to the US’s semiquincentennial on Saturday – and beyond it. More than 20 states experienced have reported stifling temperatures more than 100F (38C), marring celebrations. And more than 140 million people remained under active heat alerts across the US on Sunday.

Continue reading...

One-year-old killed and woman injured after Mississippi police shoot at car

Posted on by

Child was fatally shot and his mother’s friend is wounded after Senatobia police responded to shoplifting call

A one-year-old boy is dead and another person wounded after a northern Mississippi police officer shot at a vehicle while responding to a shoplifting call, according to authorities and the child’s grandfather.

Kohen Wiley, the slain child, was in the car at the center of the shooting on Sunday alongside his mother and her friend, said Marquell Bridges, a local community advocate.

Continue reading...

Lab monkeys on loose after Mississippi crash were disease-free, university says

Posted on by

Three monkeys remain at large and are being searched for, officials said after initially reporting they were infectious

A group of monkeys being transported on a Mississippi highway that escaped captivity on Tuesday after the truck carrying them overturned did not carry a dangerous infectious disease, a university has said.

The truck was carrying rhesus monkeys, which typically weigh around 16lb (7.7kg) and are among the most medically studied animals on the planet.

Continue reading...

Potentially diseased lab monkey on the loose after truck crash in Mississippi

Posted on by

Several rhesus monkeys escaped after the interstate crash, but all but one were reportedly ‘destroyed’ by late Tuesday

A group of potentially diseased lab monkeys escaped after a vehicle crash on a main interstate highway in Mississippi.

A truck carrying rhesus monkeys was involved in a wreck on Interstate 59 on Tuesday afternoon, according to a Facebook post from the Jasper county sheriff’s department.

Continue reading...

Four people arrested after shooting in Mississippi town that left six dead

Posted on by

Three charged with murder and one with attempted murder following shooting in Leland after school football game

Three people have been arrested on murder charges – and a fourth person on an attempted murder charge – in a weekend shooting that left six dead and more than a dozen injured in a small Mississippi town, the FBI announced on Monday.

Teviyon L Powell, 29, William Bryant, 29, and Morgan Lattimore, 25, have been charged with capital murder, while Latoya A Powell, 44, has been charged with attempted murder in the mass shooting, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Jackson field office said.

Guardian staff contributed reporting

Continue reading...

Gun used in Emmett Till’s lynching is on display at museum 70 years later

Posted on by

Mississippi museum announces display on anniversary of boy’s murder, a pivotal moment in civil rights movement

The gun used in the lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till is now on display for the public to see, 70 years after the killing.

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History unveiled the .45-caliber pistol and its holster during a news conference on Thursday, which is the 70th anniversary of Till’s murder.

Continue reading...

Novelist Greg Iles, ‘master of southern US gothic crime-writing’, dies aged 65

Posted on by

Author of Natchez Burning trilogy had battled blood cancer for decades, according to his literary agent

Greg Iles, the Mississippi author of the Natchez Burning trilogy and other works, has died. He was 65.

Iles died on Friday after a decades-long battle with the blood cancer multiple myeloma, his literary agent, Dan Conaway, posted on Saturday on Facebook.

Continue reading...

Eastern US swelters from heatwave as high temperatures affect half of country

Posted on by

Heat and humidity are stretching east from the Mississippi River valley, and some areas could see heat indices of 120F

The eastern half of the US is facing a significant heatwave, with more than 185 million people under warnings due to intense and widespread heat conditions on Monday.

The south-east is likely to endure the most dangerous temperatures as the extreme heat spread across the region on Monday, spanning from the Carolinas through Florida. In these areas, heat index values (how hot it feels once humidity is accounted for) are forecast to range between 105 and 113F (40.5 to 45C).

Continue reading...

Ryan Coogler attends Sinners screening in Mississippi town where film is set

Posted on by

Director, composer and actor appeared at event in Clarksdale attended by hundreds after community petition

Hundreds of people packed inside a local auditorium on Thursday to see the hit film Sinners, set in their community and steeped in Mississippi Delta culture.

The special screening of the blockbuster horror film included an appearance by director Ryan Coogler and was made possible by a community petition.

Continue reading...

Trump is jailing immigrant families again. A mother, father and teen tell of ‘anguish on a daily basis’

Posted on by

Family incarceration has been revived after Biden – and Jade, Jason and Gabriela are speaking out about their distressing treatment in Texas

When Jade and her family first arrived at the detention facility in Karnes county, Texas, she wasn’t really sure what to think.

“I guess I was confused and scared,” said the 13-year-old. Her parents were doing their best to reassure her that everything would be OK, but she knew they were in danger of being deported.

Continue reading...

Mississippi orders deletion of race and gender databases in state libraries

Posted on by

Library commission says state ‘in dire shape’ and has ‘had a reconsideration of everything with regard to’ Doge

The Mississippi library commission, which offers services such as specialized research assistance to libraries in the state, has ordered the deletion of two research collections: the race relations database and the gender studies database. The collections were stored in what’s called the Magnolia database, which is used by publicly funded schools, libraries, universities and state agencies in Mississippi.

The commission’s executive director, Hulen Bivins, confirmed the deletion to the Guardian, and said: “We may lose a lot of materials.”

Continue reading...

Severe storms and tornadoes hit US south and midwest, killing at least seven

Posted on by

White House approves Tennessee’s state of emergency request as further fatalities expected to be confirmed

Violent storms and tornadoes have torn across the US south and midwest, killing at least seven people and downing power lines and trees, smashing homes and upturning cars across multiple states.

The outbreak of storms and tornadoes has resulted in at least seven deaths in Tennessee and Missouri, with further fatalities expected to be confirmed. One of the victims has been named: a 68-year-old man named Garry Moore who was a fire chief in Cape Girardeau county, Missouri. At least a dozen injuries have also been reported from the storms.

Continue reading...

Monster storm system in US south kills at least 35 people

Posted on by

Several people killed in Kansas dust storm while scattered tornadoes cause fatalities in Missouri

Violent tornadoes ripped through parts of the US, wiping out schools and toppling semitractor-trailers in several states, part of a monster storm that killed at least 35 people as more severe weather was expected.

In western Kansas, a dust storm was reported to have killed eight people as high winds produced blowing dust over the interstate, causing collisions of more than 71 vehicles on the I-70.

Continue reading...

Firing squad could become Idaho’s main execution method if governor signs bill

Posted on by

State senate passes bill as its sponsor suggests shooting someone is more effective and humane than other methods

Firing squads could become Idaho’s primary execution method under a bill headed to the governor’s desk this week.

The Idaho senate passed the bill on Wednesday, and if signed by governor Brad Little, it will take effect next year.

Continue reading...

Tropical Storm Rafael gains intensity in Caribbean as it nears Cuba

Posted on by

Storm expected to reach hurricane status but should weaken before it hits the US Gulf coast

Tropical Storm Rafael has grown more powerful in the Caribbean Sea and is poised to reach hurricane strength on Wednesday, carrying the risk of damaging wind and rainfall. But it should weaken as it approaches the US Gulf coast, where several states have not been hit by a hurricane in November, according to records maintained since the early months of the US civil war.

Portions of the Florida Keys could see tropical storm conditions starting on Wednesday night, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Continue reading...

Some US states have firearm death rates comparable to countries in conflict, report says

Posted on by

Mississippi’s firearm-related violence rate nearly double that of Haiti, which is plagued by political and gang strife

A new report by the Commonwealth Fund finds some US states have firearm death rates comparable to countries in conflict, and even states with the fewest firearms deaths are far higher than peer developed democracies.

For instance, Mississippi’s rate of firearm-related violence (28.5 per 100,000 people) was nearly double that of Haiti (15.1 per 100,000) in 2021, when mercenaries assassinated the country’s president, unleashing a fresh round of gang warfare which pushed the country into a state of civil war.

Continue reading...

Three people killed in Mississippi in shooting after high school football game

Posted on by

Shooting, preceded by a fight among some of the men, near Lexington early Saturday also left eight people wounded

Three people were killed and eight others were wounded in central Mississippi early Saturday when at least two people fired guns at a group of several hundred people who were celebrating a high school football team’s homecoming win at an outdoor trail several hours after the game had ended, authorities said.

The mass shooting near the community of Lexington was preceded by a fight among some of the men at the celebration, but deputies had not yet learned what sparked the fight, said Holmes county sheriff Willie March.

Continue reading...