I’ve been sitting on hold for what undoubtedly is a world’s record, but I’ve put so much time in I hate to hang up. The music they are playing over and over is about to get on my last nerve, but I’m afraid to turn it down very low.

A day after the massive tax cut bill championed by Republican Speaker Philip Gunn passed the House, a member of his leadership team took bold action.

Here’s a word for you – semiquincentennial.

The old legal maxim is that everything which is not forbidden is permitted. Many public-health experts apparently have their own version of this rule -- whatever is not forbidden must be mandated.

I have always had this thing for the Egyptians. Actually, I adore all history, but the people of long-ago Egypt especially caught my attention, still does.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Georgia Tuesday to push their party's bill to federalize U.S. election procedures on terms favorable to Democrats. "We are going right to the belly of the beast, or ground zero, for voter suppression, voter subversion and obst…

STARKVILLE — As the 2022 regular session of the Mississippi Legislature moves forward, the question of the future of medical marijuana in the Magnolia State remains in limbo. Lawmakers appear in agreement on a plan to move forward on the issue, but Gov. Tate Reeves has other ideas.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann believes a plea to Mississippians’ better angels ultimately will lead to Medicaid expansion.

Listening to Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn the top issue for Mississippi’s future is eliminating the personal income tax.

For the last year, we've heard one commentator after another tell us that American democracy is in crisis. The source of that crisis, we are told, is a hard core of the Republican Party that believes the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and that Joe Biden, therefore, is not a legi…

The turning of the calendar page always prompts reflection, and seldom more so than this year.

STARKVILLE — When retired federal prosecutor James B. Tucker died on Dec. 28 at the age of 82, the cause of justice and the rule of law in Mississippi lost a mighty warrior. Tucker was a trusted, impeccable source for me in the 1980s when I covered a copious number of public corruption tria…

What the heck – is 60 really the new 40? Not that I’m 60 – (maybe, maybe not), but what an interesting speculation. I remember when even 40 years old was ancient, don’t you? Hmm, that would mean that 80 is 60 and 100 is 80 – Good Grief!

The Democratic Party's problem with Hispanic voters is worse than leaders think, according to a new assessment by the highly regarded strategist Ruy Teixeira. That conclusion is particularly important because Teixeira wrote the influential 2002 book "The Coming Democratic Majority," which c…

An early fight between the legislative leadership and Gov. Tate Reeves could be brewing if he vetoes a medical marijuana bill as he said he would do if it does not meet his specifications.

You probably missed Pope Francis’s chiding Christmas message to his senior clerics where he urged them to cast off prideful armor and embrace humility.

I sat at the piano playing scales, which I did not really enjoy. Who loves playing scales? I wanted to play the little songs in my book, but scales? Really? Mama Ball told me it was important so I dutifully practiced.

It did not happen in the last presidential election despite incumbent President Trump’s devious plot to overturn his defeat.

Voters in California and Massachusetts have directly passed laws regulating the conditions in which pigs, hens, and calves are housed in industrial agriculture production facilities that may prove to be the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come for farmers, producers and consumers in the rest of t…

If you want to understand the world we occupy -- the challenges we face, but more important, the failures we endure -- forget for a moment that this is a day in late December 2021. Think instead that it is October 1943.

First and most importantly, McKee Ranch survived the year.

Join with me in a New Year’s prayer that we and our loved ones can stay out of hospitals and their emergency rooms during 2022.

The Mississippi Legislature waits on no holiday. It meets on Marin Luther King Jr. Day, on Valentine’s Day, Fat Tuesday and Good Friday. On occasion it has been in session on Easter Sunday.

Christmas is the one time of the year when we want all to be right with the world.

STARKVILLE — With super majorities in both houses of the Mississippi Legislature, the reveal of the state’s new congressional redistricting plan by Republican leaders drew predictably partisan reviews and criticisms from Democrats.

Imogene’s request …

Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Gov. Tate Reeves have had a roller coaster relationship during the period their political careers have overlapped.

“Transparency in government is critical to its integrity.”

Missy pads along the hardwood floors at my daughter’s house sniffing here and there as she checks out her new digs for a few days. I think she enjoys visiting as much as I do, but she is definitely a warm weather girl.

President Joe Biden has the misfortune to be president at the moment when corporate America has decided to get together and gouge American consumers.

"If we make it through December" Is the title of an October 1973, Merle Haggard song. Here are the lyrics, in part:

President Joe Biden and Capitol Hill Democrats are racing to pass their massive social spending bill, known as Build Back Better, before Christmas. Maybe they'll succeed, and maybe they won't -- a lot depends on whether Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin hops on board. But no one should have any i…

STARKVILLE — One of the more meaningful events during the observances last week of the 80th anniversary of the Dec. 7, 1941, attacks on Pearl Harbor was the commissioning of the U.S. Navy’s newest guided-missile destroyer USS Daniel Inouye.

"Back in the old days we didn’t write so meanly to each other,” wrote Wyatt Emmerich, publisher of the Northside Sun and president of Emmerich Newspapers.

Northern District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley cited the red letters in the Bible (those of Jesus) as he spoke of the need to use some of the billions in Mississippi’s federal funds to ensure all Mississippians have access to high-speed internet and safe public water systems.

The clouds hang heavy on this sultry day while my cold weather gear dangles in the closet until another chilly blast makes me reach for a sweater, but today the temperatures and calendar are at odds.

“The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity, hope for pardon, the hope of peace with God, hope for glory, because at the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor, and was born in a stable so that 33 years later He might hang on a cross.” --J.I. Packer

At times, you might have been forgiven for thinking that oral arguments over the Dobbs case were being held before the Health and Human Services Committee of the Pennsylvania state Senate, or some other legislative body.

One theme of Democratic control of Washington has been frustration, especially among the party's progressive wing and its cheerleaders in the media, that Democrats have not been able to enact their progressive dream agenda from the 2020 campaign. Dreams such as nationalizing the administrat…

Downtown Meridian-

Mississippi residents would enjoy a significant financial boost if they only had a $1 for every time Gov. Tate Reeves advocated eliminating the personal income tax so that the state could compete with Texas, Florida and Tennessee.

Standing in line at the pharmacy. Watched a man pay $900 for a monthly prescription. Must absolutely need that medicine. Wondered what sacrifices he and his family make to pay that much.

Remember when Joe Biden ran for president in what commentators called the “centrist” lane of the Democratic primaries? The idea was that a “moderate” like Biden, unlike rival Bernie Sanders, would not push radical plans to completely change American society. That would reassure non-progress…

It was cold last Tuesday morning. The weather we have all longed for finally arrived and I rather enjoyed seeing my breathe in front of my face as I walked to the garage.

STARKVILLE — The global Covid-19 pandemic produced more than physical and emotional illness, suffering, and death over the last two years. The virus also brought global economic paralysis that impacted the global supply chain and created historic worker shortages.

Mississippi State University President Mark Keenum grabbed headlines over his comments in a meeting of the Post-Secondary Board recently. “Got a 17 on your ACT? Mark Keenum doesn’t want you at Mississippi State,” screamed a Mississippi Today headline.

The state House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation in 2008 to restore voting rights to all Mississippians convicted of felonies, except for those convicted of murder or rape.