The NAACP has filed a lawsuit (pdf) against Mississippi over two bills signed into law to combat the capital city’s high crime rate by giving state officials more control over law enforcement. Last week, Gov. Tate Reeves signed House Bill 1020, establishing an independent, state-controlled judicial system for the 17.5 square mile Capitol Complex Improvement…

JACKSON, Miss.—Law enforcement officers in central Mississippi carried toddlers out of a flooded day care center after storms dumped rain that caused creeks to overflow, and forecasters said the threat from heavy downpours was spreading Thursday. The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department posted a video on Facebook of deputies walking through brown, knee-deep water Wednesday to take children…

PEARL, Miss.—Large fans hummed noisily Thursday to try to dry out the carpet at The Exchange Church, a day after storms rapidly dumped several inches of rain and pushed water into the one-story brick building in central Mississippi. Bryant May is lead pastor of the Southern Baptist congregation in the Jackson suburb of Pearl. He…

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts has directed the marshal of the Supreme Court to launch an investigation to determine the source of the leak of its draft opinion on its pending Roe v. Wade case to Politico. In a statement on May 3, the nation’s top court confirmed the majority draft opinion was authentic but…