This year, Mississippians tuned into news about how federal funding cuts would affect child care and colleges. They also continued to follow news on the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department and the death of Jimmie “Jay” Lee. Read the top stories of 2025 below.

Mississippi libraries ordered to delete academic research in response to state laws

The Mississippi Library Commission ordered the deletion of two research collections that might violate state law, a March 31 internal memo obtained by Mississippi Today shows. One of the now deleted research collections focused on “race relations” and the other on “gender studies.”

Mississippi 2025 special elections: See the results

Democratic candidates on Nov. 4 gained three Mississippi legislative seats, which included toppling a Republican incumbent in a special general election.

First Jacksonian exiled under new ‘squatters law’ claimed she’d scored one of the city’s many forfeited fixer-uppers

Latasha Chairse has a bizarre story. Equipped with a copy of someone else’s property deed, some elbow grease and a deluded interpretation of the state’s tax forfeiture process, Chairse claimed she thought she was acquiring one of Jackson’s many abandoned homes. Instead, the mother of three became the first squatter in Jackson exiled under a 2025 state law.

Three killed in UMMC helicopter crash

Three crew members aboard an AirCare helicopter from the University of Mississippi Medical Center died in a crash in remote Madison County near the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Trump once hailed WWII vet Medgar Evers as a ‘great American hero.’ Now the US Army has erased him from a section on the Arlington National Cemetery website

The U.S. Army purged the section that had lauded the late Army sergeant and civil rights leader, who was assassinated by a white supremacist in Jackson in 1963. The decision to erase Evers came after an executive order by Trump to eliminate all Diversity, Equality and Inclusion programs.

Jimmie ‘Jay’ Lee’s remains believed to be found

A gold necklace with Jimmie “Jay” Lee’s name on it was found with human remains in Carroll County, but authorities did not publicly confirm if the remains belonged to the missing University of Mississippi student and well-known member of Oxford’s LGBTQ+ community. 

‘You’re His Property’: Embattled Mississippi sheriff used inmates and county resources for personal gain, former inmates and deputy say

In Rankin County, incarcerated trusties allegedly cleaned chicken houses, fixed cars and installed flooring for the benefit of Sheriff Bryan Bailey and his associates.

Mother drives 45 minutes for day care. Another pays more than her rent. Welcome to Mississippi’s child care crisis

A dozen parents from across the state told Mississippi Today about summer child care plans for their toddlers and elementary school-aged children. They shared a mix of anxiety about finding care and frustration with existing options.

‘We should all be worried’: Trump order threatens funding for Mississippi’s colleges cultural centers and programming

For nearly three decades, a little-known federal agency has provided millions of dollars in support and funding to Mississippi’s colleges and universities museums, to libraries and to cultural institutions, including the Margaret Walker and COFO Civil Rights Center at Jackson State University. 

Leaders at the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University warned of funding risks as Trump targeted the Institute of Museum and Libraries.

FBI arrests multiple law enforcement officers in sprawling Mississippi Delta drug conspiracy takedown

Twenty people, including 14 law enforcement officers, across the Mississippi Delta and Tennessee were arrested Oct. 30 by the FBI in a drug conspiracy takedown after a sprawling years-long investigation, federal authorities announced.