Free Republic

District Attorney Trent Kelly, a Republican, will win a special-election runoff in Mississippi’s 1st District by a nearly 2-1 margin Tuesday night, succeeding the late Rep. Alan Nunnelee, The Associated Press projects. With just over half of the vote in, Kelly was leading Democrat Walter Zinn, 69 percent to 31 percent, the AP reported.

On Wednesday, Corrections Commissioner Marshall Fisher approved immediate suspension without pay of a correctional officer charged in a kidnapping, armed robbery and homicide that occurred in Jackson on Saturday morning. Fisher learned after Andre Kennedy's arrest that Kennedy is one of 520 officers working at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County. Kennedy, 22, was hired in January 2014. He is charged with capital murder, robbery and kidnapping in a case involving an Eastover homeowner. His partner in crime was shot and killed in what police are calling justifiable homicide. Hinds County Coroner identified the deceased suspect as 23-year-old Edwin...

Thad Cochran's camp batted down rumors last year of a romance between the senator and longtime aide Kay Webber, the New York Times reports, amid criticism that Webber had joined Cochran on 28 taxpayer-funded trips to 45 countries costing more than $150,000. Now, in a one-sentence statement, his office confirms that Cochran, 77, put a ring on it on Saturday during a private family ceremony in Gulfport, Miss., the Clarion-Ledger reports. Cochran's wife of 50 years—photographed by an anti-Cochran blogger in a nursing home last year—died in December at 73 after suffering from dementia, the Washington Post reports. A Cochran...

The Republican combat veteran of Iraq and district attorney running in the June 2 special election for Mississippi-1 leads Democrat Walter Hunter Zinn Jr., 54 percent to 37 percent, according to a May 28 Townhall/Gravis poll of 509 likely voters. Trent Kelly, a colonel in the Mississippi National Guard, is the choice for 77 percent of Tea Party voters and 69 percent of voters opposed to abortion rights, said Doug Kaplan, the managing partner of Gravis Insights, the Florida-based polling company that conducted the poll. The poll carries a 4 percent margin. Among voters, living in households with at least...

As a public service, we try to track the progress, or lack thereof, of the latest top-down education reform concocted by elites and insiders—Common Core. We are aided immeasurably by the Heartland Institute which publishes updates on Common Core’s setbacks and advances in School Reform News. In the May issue, we learn that: • The governor of Mississippi vetoed a commission on Common Core; • “Ohio may soon give certain school districts the option of creating their own exams;” and • Montana parents went to court to repeal Common Core. Meanwhile, parents fighting Common Core still face uphill struggles in...

The Mississippi senator’s previous wife died in December.Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran married his longtime executive assistant, Kay Webber, over the holiday weekend, according to a report from the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss. The 77-year-old Republican wed Webber, who has worked for him since 1981, in a private ceremony in Gulfport, Mississippi, on Saturday. Cochran’s staff, which had denied any knowledge of an impending wedding as recently as last week, released the news in a one-sentence statement. Webber is also 77. Story Continued Below Cochran’s previous wife of 50 years, Rose Cochran, died last December. She spent the final 13 years...

Campus Reform reports that a former active-duty Marine who served two combat tours in Iraq and is diagnosed with combat-related PTSD was suspended from Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi after he requested to meet with a non-Muslim counselor in the school’s Office of Counseling and Disability Services.

U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., has married longtime aide Kay Webber. In a statement released Monday, Cochran's office said the marriage took place privately Saturday in Gulfport. Spokesman Chris Gallegos says Webber, Cochran's executive assistant, has worked for him since 1981. The 77-year-old senator's former wife, Rose Cochran, died in December at age 73 from dementia after living in a nursing home for 13 years.

In an exclusive interview with Campus Reform, the former active-duty Marine who served two combat tours in Iraq said his suspension came after he requested to meet with a different counselor in the school’s Office of Counseling and Disability Services. Rawls, who is diagnosed with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), was originally paired with a female counselor who wore traditional Muslim dress during his initial visit to the office. -snip According to Rawls, his attempts to meet with staff members to discuss the school’s policy about changing counselors were repeatedly ignored and it wasn’t until a recent meeting with administrators that...

A Hancock County sheriff’s deputy escaped a brutal attack by three men Monday night thanks to the help of a K-9 named Lucas. Investigators believe had it not been for his four-legged partner’s intervention, the deputy likely would have been killed. The incident occurred around 10 p.m. at a rural rest stop near Pearlington, Mississippi, less than five miles from the Louisiana border, when Deputy Todd Frazier noticed a blue Lincoln Town Car with no license plate occupied by a single individual who was sitting completely in the dark, The Sun Herald reported.

PEARLINGTON -- A Hancock County lawman narrowly escaped an attempt on his life during a roadside stop Monday night on U.S. 90/Chef Menteur Highway, when three men attacked him from behind and tried to carry him off into a wooded area. Sheriff's Chief Investigator Glenn Grannan said it appears the attackers intended to kill the deputy as they fought for his sidearm and tried to carry him off the roadway. "It seems like they were trying to take him back to the woods," Grannan said while on the scene early Tuesday. "They were going to dispose of him. They were...

A Mississippi manhunt is underway in Hancock County. It kicked into action Monday evening after a sheriff's deputy was beaten in a traffic stop, according to an account in The Sun Herald. The stop happened in Pearlington. An unidentified officer pulled over a blue Lincoln Towncar with a black top and a lone driver around 10 p.m. on Old Highway 90, police said. The deputy reportedly smelled marijuana as he approached, and then was startled by two men who burst out of the nearby woods and attacked him, Hancock County Sheriff Ricky Adam said. "They roughed him up, but the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) applauds the passage of the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on Thursday after a week of debate and consideration by both parties. Sen. Cruz introduced or cosponsored more than a dozen amendments that were successfully adopted by the committee. “Congress’ first priority is to provide for the national defense and ensure our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines have everything they need to defend our freedom,” said Sen. Cruz. “I am grateful for the committee’s support for my amendments, including measures that will ensure...

Abram Wade “Pete” Franklin, 29, of Hattiesburg has been arrested in connection to the deaths of two Hattiesburg police officers. HATTIESBURG, MS (WDAM) - A fifth suspect has been arrested in connection to the fatal shooting of two Hattiesburg police officers last Saturday. Agents of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) have charged Abram Wade “Pete” Franklin, 29, of Hattiesburg. Information developed during the continuing investigation of the killing of Hattiesburg police officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate led to obstruction of justice charges against Franklin. Franklin is being held in the Forrest County Jail awaiting his initial appearance in...

OLIVE BRANCH, Miss.– Thirteen candidates are looking to fill the state congressional spot once held by Alan Nunnelee who passed away last year from brain cancer. The Circuit Clerk for DeSoto County said a runoff election was bound to happen, which would cost taxpayers about $52,000. The Mississippi Secretary of State said on Tuesday voter turnout has been low in all 21 counties that make up District 1.

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — Marvin Banks' drug use and drinking had worsened in recent years and he was hearing voices in his head. His mother said she had hoped he would get help. He didn't, and now he is charged with capital murder in the deaths of two police officers in Mississippi. His girlfriend and brother are charged as accessories and a friend faces an obstruction charge. Banks' mother, Mary Smith, said when she saw the booking photos of her 26-year-old son, she knew something was off....

Authorities have arrested four people in the shooting deaths of two Mississippi police officers over the weekend, but the sheriff of Milwaukee County — more than 900 miles away, in Wisconsin — says there’s a fifth culprit on the loose. Suspect description: African American, slender build, salt-and pepper-hair, last seen wearing a blue power tie and sounding professorial. His alias: President Barack Obama. Less than 24 hours after Officers Benjamin J. Deen, 34, and Liquori Tate, 24, of the Hattiesburg Police Department were gunned down during a traffic stop, Milwakuee County Sheriff David A. Clarke linked the deaths to events...

In response to this weekend’s slaying of two police officers in Hattiesburg, Miss., U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch issued a statement expressing grief over their loss and reassuring law enforcement nationwide that the Department of Justice “stands in solidarity” with them. Officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate were shot and killed during a routine traffic stop late Saturday night. Marvin Banks and Joanie Calloway were charged with two counts of capital murder. Two others were arrested and charged over the weekend in relation to the shooting: Curtis Banks for being “accessory after the fact” and Cornelius Clark for obstruction of

Mississippi Subway 'sandwich artist' has been fired after she created a social media firestorm Sunday by posting messages applauding the deaths of two police officers killed in the line of duty. After Benjamin Deen, 34, and Liquori Tate, 25, were killed on Saturday night about 30 miles away in Hattiesburg, Laurel woman Sierra 'C-Babi' Mccurdy posted a message while wearing her uniform. She wrote: 'Two police officers shot tonight in Hattiesburg,' followed by 'GOT EM' and a gun pointed at the words as well as a laughing emoji.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)HATTIESBURG, Miss. - A law enforcement official says four people have been arrested and two of them have been charged with capital murder in the fatal shootings of two Mississippi police officers during a weekend traffic stop in Hattiesburg. Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, tells The Associated Press that 29-year-old Marvin Banks and 22-year-old Joanie Calloway have each been charged with two counts of capital murder, and Banks' 26-year-old brother, Curtis Banks, has been charged with two counts of accessory after the fact of capital murder. An additional arrest was made Sunday. 28-year-old Cornelius...