Mississippi’s three Republican U.S. House members have joined state Attorney General Lynn Fitch in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate the presidential election in four swing states, which would effectively throw the presidential election to Donald Trump.

Michael Guest of the 3rd District and Trent Kelly of the 1st District, both attorneys and former district attorneys, are among the 106 Republican U.S. House members who filed a motion on Thursday in support of a lawsuit seeking to throw out election results in Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. On Friday, U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo, who represents the 4th District, joined the lawsuit as the number of Republican U.S. House members signing a friend of the court brief grew to 126.

The lawsuit was filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is under indictment on security fraud charges and is also the subject of an additional FBI investigation related to alleged abuses of his office to help wealthy donors. The lawsuit is viewed as a longshot effort at best by most legal experts, including many Republicans.

But in a statement, Guest said: “I understand that many sacrifices and changes have been necessary to protect individuals during this pandemic. However, there is no situation, including a pandemic, that offers any elected officials a legitimate reason to disregard the Constitution of the United States or the constitutions of individual states. The bill of complaint prepared by Attorney General Paxton calls attention to many irregularities that justify review by the Supreme Court, and my colleagues and I offer this amicus brief for its consideration. If the court finds that these elected officials overstepped their constitutional duties and, therefore, tainted their states’ elections, we must focus on restoring the integrity of the electoral process that was found to be undermined.”

The Paxton lawsuit, among other issues, claims changes were made to the election process in those states without the approval of their legislatures. But many of the main changes that have been cited by Trump supporters, such as expanding early voting in Pennsylvania, were approved by that state’s Republican Legislature.

And other changes were not confined to those four states. For instance, in Texas, where the lawsuit originated, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed an executive order extending early voting to make it easier to vote during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In joining 17 other attorneys general in supporting Abbott, Fitch said: “I have also joined my colleagues from other states to defend the fundamental principle that courts do not write election law. They interpret them. When courts seek to do otherwise, they violate the separation of powers that is critical to our democracy.”

The attorneys general from more than 20 states have filed a brief opposing the effort of Abbott and Fitch to have millions of ballots thrown out.

When asked about the lawsuit recently and Fitch’s role in the legal action, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said: “We certainly appreciate her active nature in filing a friend of the court or amicus brief.” But others disagreed.

“I wonder how Mississippi would feel if the attorney general of PA (Pennsylvania) tried to throw out their votes in a legal Mississippi election? The courts and history will have the final say about this aiding an attempted presidential coup,” state Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, posted on social media.

Even many Republicans questioned the lawsuit.

“I believe the case itself represents a dangerous violation of federalism and sets a precedent to have one state asking federal courts to police the voting procedures of other states,” said U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican.

The lawsuit maintained with no evidence that Biden had “less that one in a quadrillion” chance of winning the four states. Pre-election polls favored Biden to win all four states.

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COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 2,327 new cases

By Alex Rozier and Erica Hensley | December 11, 2020

We are bringing you the latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates, as well as testing data charts and other helpful interactive maps and graphs.

This page was last updated Friday, December 11:

New cases: 2,327| New Deaths: 41

Total Hospitalizations: 1,286

Total cases: 175,282| Total Deaths: 4,124

Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. Since then, he has added a total of 54 individual county mask mandates, covering half of the state. State health officials encourage widespread masking and credit the original mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.

All data and information reported by the Mississippi State Department of Health as of 6 p.m. yesterday

Weekly update: Wednesday, December 2

After a record reporting of 2,457 new cases on Wednesday, the current seven-day average of 1,605 is now far past Mississippi’s summer peak. 

During a news conference yesterday, Gov. Tate Reeves denied that Mississippi had hit a new record for case spread, even though the rolling average had already surpassed the previous high of 1,381 in the summer. 

On Wednesday, the state health department issued new guidelines on distancing, recommending that people avoid all social gatherings with people outside of their home or nuclear family.

Mississippi also hit a new high for confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations on both Sunday and Monday, with the rolling average having increased 68% since the start of November. The rolling averages for ICU patients and people on ventilators are up 45% and 88%, respectively, in that time. Total hospitalizations, which includes suspected and confirmed cases, are still below the record set in August. 

Thirteen major hospitals are without ICU capacity, according to this week’s health department numbers. Currently, 86% of the state’s ICU beds are full — including 96% capacity among the highest level COVID-care centers — and COVID-19 patients are filling 30% of those spots.

On the county level, Choctaw (17% increase in the last week), Kemper (15%), Rankin (14%), Jefferson (12%) and Stone (12%) counties saw the sharpest rise in cases this last week. 

The Delta continues to accumulate the most cases per capita out of anywhere in the state. Of the 15 counties with the highest rates, 11 are in the Delta. 

The state health department reported 128,746 people have recovered. 

Click through the links below to view our interactive charts describing the trends around the coronavirus in Mississippi:

View our COVID-19 resource page for more information about coronavirus in Mississippi.

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The post Marshall Ramsey: Train Chaser appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Gov. Tate Reeves said in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that his Christmas parties — the subject of broad public criticism this week — would adhere to his own executive mandates regarding mask-wearing, social distancing and “minimizing risk” of COVID-19 spread.

But photos published in a British tabloid showed partygoers at the Governor’s Mansion just a few hours later on Wednesday night doing the opposite of what is recommended in Reeves’ orders, huddling in close circles without masks and not maintaining six feet of distance.

Included in the photos are Anne Hall Brashier, Reeves’ deputy policy director, and Drew Snyder, who Reeves appointed to run the state’s Division of Medicaid. Neither were wearing masks as they stood within six feet of other guests.

As COVID-19 statistics in Mississippi continue to set new records almost by the day, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs and the health department have warned Mississippians to avoid holiday gatherings beyond closest family and to avoid any groups beyond school, work or “essential gatherings.”

Dobbs called the holidays a “perfect storm” for “explosive outbreaks” of COVID-19 and warned, “We will see deaths, absolutely, around holiday gatherings.” Health officials warn that Mississippi hospitals are overloaded with patients as pandemic cases spike to record levels.

READ MORE: Partying in the pandemic: Gov. Reeves says mansion parties will adhere to COVID-19 orders.

Sitting next to Dobbs at the press conference on Wednesday, Reeves said he respects state medical officials and considers them “confidants,” but doesn’t always agree with them. He said he believes Mississippians want some “normalcy” after 10 months of the pandemic and that holiday gatherings can be held safely.

When pressed on Wednesday afternoon about why he was holding the Christmas parties while medical experts recommend that Mississippians avoid such events, Reeves said parties and public tours at the mansion “allow us to send a message to the people of Mississippi that you can return to life as somewhat normal, but you’ve got to do it in a way that minimizes risk.”

Reeves’ executive order, which he announced and signed on Wednesday, requires mask-wearing in public in Hinds County, where the Governor’s Mansion is located. It also suggests that residents follow Centers for Disease Control and Mississippi State Department of Health guidelines, including: “Wearing a face covering while in public spaces whenever it is not possible to maintain a minimum of six feet of social distancing from persons not in the same household” and “maintaining social distancing (at least six feet) between persons not in your household.”

Click here to see the photos and the story in the Daily Mail. 

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COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 2,283 new cases

By Alex Rozier and Erica Hensley | December 10, 2020

We are bringing you the latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates, as well as testing data charts and other helpful interactive maps and graphs.

This page was last updated Thursday, December 10:

New cases: 2,283| New Deaths: 42

Total Hospitalizations: 1,241

Total cases: 172,955| Total Deaths: 4,083

Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. Since then, he has added a total of 54 individual county mask mandates, covering half of the state. State health officials encourage widespread masking and credit the original mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.

All data and information reported by the Mississippi State Department of Health as of 6 p.m. yesterday

Weekly update: Wednesday, December 2

After a record reporting of 2,457 new cases on Wednesday, the current seven-day average of 1,605 is now far past Mississippi’s summer peak. 

During a news conference yesterday, Gov. Tate Reeves denied that Mississippi had hit a new record for case spread, even though the rolling average had already surpassed the previous high of 1,381 in the summer. 

On Wednesday, the state health department issued new guidelines on distancing, recommending that people avoid all social gatherings with people outside of their home or nuclear family.

Mississippi also hit a new high for confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations on both Sunday and Monday, with the rolling average having increased 68% since the start of November. The rolling averages for ICU patients and people on ventilators are up 45% and 88%, respectively, in that time. Total hospitalizations, which includes suspected and confirmed cases, are still below the record set in August. 

Thirteen major hospitals are without ICU capacity, according to this week’s health department numbers. Currently, 86% of the state’s ICU beds are full — including 96% capacity among the highest level COVID-care centers — and COVID-19 patients are filling 30% of those spots.

On the county level, Choctaw (17% increase in the last week), Kemper (15%), Rankin (14%), Jefferson (12%) and Stone (12%) counties saw the sharpest rise in cases this last week. 

The Delta continues to accumulate the most cases per capita out of anywhere in the state. Of the 15 counties with the highest rates, 11 are in the Delta. 

The state health department reported 128,746 people have recovered. 

Click through the links below to view our interactive charts describing the trends around the coronavirus in Mississippi:

View our COVID-19 resource page for more information about coronavirus in Mississippi.

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One huge problem exists writing about Petal native and football legend Ray Perkins, who died Wednesday three days after his 79th birthday: Where the heck do you start? There’s just so much to tell…

You could begin with the fact that as an NFL coach he hired both Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick, and both those pro football masterminds consider Perkins a mentor. Or you could begin with the fact that as a player, he starred for both Bear Bryant and Don Shula. Bryant called Perkins the best offensive player on two Alabama national championship teams.

“He’d have been our best player on defense if we had put him over there,” Bryant said.

Or you could start with the fact that he caught passes from Joe Namath and Snake Stabler in college, and then caught passes from Johnny Unitas and Earl Morrall in the pros. Or that he drafted and coached the great Lawrence Taylor with the New York Giants. Perkins famously went to North Carolina to scout Taylor. They talked for a few minutes and Taylor asked Perkins: “Don’t you want to watch me work out?” Perkins responded: “That would be a waste of your time and mine. I’ve seen enough.”

Or we could start where it all started for Perkins, which was at Petal High School or in the service station right across the street. For all his four years of high school, Perkins, a carpenter’s son, opened the Sinclair gas station at 6 a.m. before he went to school. He also worked on his school lunch break so the owner, Marcus James, could go eat his lunch. And then he would close the station after he finished practicing whatever sport he was playing late in the afternoon or early evening.

“I was 14-years-old when Mr. James, who was like my second father, gave me the keys to the station,” Perkins once told me. “Here I was, just a kid, and he was trusting me with his livelihood. He taught me about work ethic and about responsibility. And I made enough money to buy my first car, a 1955 Ford Fairlane. Mr. James co-signed the note.”

Perkins could take a car engine apart and put it back together. Same with transmissions. One problem: More often than not, his clothes were soiled with grease and oil when he went to school, which led to his nickname, “Grease.”

Mike Garren, who now lives in Pearl, was a high school teammate of Grease Perkins.

“He was a gifted athlete, but he still worked at it harder than everyone else, too,” Garren said. “He had the speed to run around you, but most times Ray would just run flat over you. He was so strong.”

Bryant sent his trusted lieutenant, Dude Hennessey, over to scout a big, strong back from Lumberton who everybody in the South was recruiting. Lumberton happened to be playing Petal that night. Hennessey went back and gave his report to the Bear, who signed Perkins instead of the other guy. Bear didn’t regret it, either. Alabama was 30-2-1 for Perkins’ three varsity seasons.

You should also know that years and years later when Bryant stepped down at Bama, Perkins took his place. Talk about filling big shoes – can you imagine? Somebody had to be that guy. Perkins was 32-14 in four years as head coach at Alabama. That was between stints as head coach of the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Bucs.

Our careers – mine and Perkins’ – intersected many times over the years. I covered him when he coached as an assistant at Mississippi State in 1973, when he was the head coach at Bama (1983-86) and later when he coached in the 1996 Super Bowl as offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots. I knew him then as a non-nonsense, often taciturn coach.

Later on, I got to know him much better. Perkins had retired and was living off the fifth tee at the Hattiesburg Country Club. We had played some golf together, and then I got a tip, in 2010, that Perkins was coaching junior high as a volunteer at Presbyterian Christian in Hattiesburg. So I drove down to Hattiesburg for a practice to check it out. And there was Perkins, who had played and coached in Super Bowls, teaching 13- and 14-year-olds where to line up on defense. He had once coached people such as Lawrence Taylor and Phil Simms, and now he was coaching kids who didn’t yet shave.

Why, I asked him?

“If I wasn’t doing this, I’d probably be on the golf course or doing something else that didn’t amount to anything,” Perkins replied. “If I can take a couple hours each day and contribute something to these kids’ lives, why shouldn’t I?”

I remember thinking: These kids have no idea who that old man is and what he has achieved. Perkins laughed when I told him that.

“It’s just as well,” he said. “I think I get as much out of it as they do. I’ve found that I really get a kick out of working with a boy on something one day, and then watching him do it a whole lot better the next. These are good kids. I enjoy making them feel better about themselves.”

A few years later, Perkins, then in his 70s, came out of retirement and coached Jones Junior College for a couple seasons. Again, here was a guy who had coached at the highest levels in packed stadiums and on national TV, now coaching before hundreds. Jones went 14-5 over those two seasons, shared the Mississippi Juco South Division title one year and then won it the next.

Perkins seemed to be having more fun then than he had as a coach for the New York Giants. I told him that post-game when we sat in his small, humble office. Replied Perkins: “This is better, more fun, more rewarding. It’s because of these kids. It’s because I am watching them grow.”

You could tell he meant it. And he said this: “If I died right here, in this office, drawing up plays and coaching football, that would be like heaven to me.”

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Gov. Tate Reeves on Wednesday expanded orders limiting gatherings statewide after catching criticism for hosting Christmas parties for politicians and supporters at the Governor’s Mansion as COVID-19 cases soar and top health officials advise against such events.

Reeves said his parties will be carefully structured for social distancing and safety and that he respects state medical officials, considers them “confidants,” but doesn’t always agree with them. He said he believes Mississippians want some “normalcy” after 10 months of the pandemic and that holiday gatherings can be held safely.

The state health department and state health officer have recently advised Mississippians not to attend holiday parties beyond closest family, and warned holiday socializing will bring more cases and deaths as Mississippi’s health care system is overtaxed.

But Reeves said parties and public tours at the mansion “allows us to send a message to the people of Mississippi that you can return to life as somewhat normal, but you’ve got to do it in a way that minimizes risk.”

Still, as MSDH reported a record-setting 2,746 new cases on Wednesday, Reeves expanded statewide his order limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people indoors and 50 outdoors when social distancing can’t be practiced. Until Wednesday, 54 counties had been under such executive orders and under orders to wear masks inside public places. He did not expand the mask mandate beyond specific counties with highest cases of COVID-19, although state medical experts have also urged him to do so.

The new orders also added and removed some counties from the list of those under a mask mandate, bringing the total to 61 of 82 counties.

Vaccines available by next week

A day after the first fully vetted vaccine shots were distributed in the United Kingdom, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said that 25,000 doses of the new Pfizer vaccine will be available for Mississippi’s frontline healthcare workers next week. The following week, he expects the state will have enough vaccines for all nursing home residents and employees.

But the vaccine will likely not be available for the general public until the spring or summer as the COVID-19 spread regularly sets new peaks both nationally and statewide. Mississippi’s rolling seven-day average for new cases, now at 1,927, has reached a new record in six of the last nine days, and is up 40% in the last week and a half.

Recent numbers, layered with the concurrent cold season and winter holidays, have health officials begging the public to take new levels of precaution.

“I think as a society we’ve let our guard down, we’ve become more comfortable with certain things,” Dr. Alan Jones, assistant vice chancellor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said at a press conference last week. “It’s not the super-spreader events or some of the things we saw in the (summer peak). It’s smaller gatherings where people feel safe. Those events are not safe.”

Wednesday’s executive order also put forth new restrictions on indoor sporting events; at schools, crowds are limited to the lesser of four spectators per student participant or 250 ticketed spectators. Other indoor arenas will be limited to the lesser of 10% seating capacity or 1,000 attendees.

Reeves also announced that Mississippi Emergency and Management Agency Director Greg Michel, who regularly joins the governor and Dobbs at press conferences, had tested positive for the virus, and Michel did not appear at Wednesday’s briefing.

The 61 counties now under a mask mandate are: Adams, Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clarke, Clay, Coahoma, Copiah, Covington, Desoto, Forrest, Franklin, Grenada, Harrison, Hinds, Holmes, Itawamba, Jackson, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Kemper, Lafayette, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lee, Leflore, Lincoln, Lowndes, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, Montgomery, Neshoba, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Panola, Pearl River, Perry, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Rankin, Scott, Simpson, Stone, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, Union, Washington, Webster, Winston, Yalobusha and Yazoo Counties.

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COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 2,746 new cases

By Alex Rozier and Erica Hensley | December 9, 2020

We are bringing you the latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates, as well as testing data charts and other helpful interactive maps and graphs.

This page was last updated Wednesday, December 9:

New cases: 2,746| New Deaths: 24

Total Hospitalizations: 1,222

Total cases: 170,672| Total Deaths: 4,041

Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. Since then, he has added a total of 54 individual county mask mandates, covering half of the state. State health officials encourage widespread masking and credit the original mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.

All data and information reported by the Mississippi State Department of Health as of 6 p.m. yesterday

Weekly update: Wednesday, December 2

After a record reporting of 2,457 new cases on Wednesday, the current seven-day average of 1,605 is now far past Mississippi’s summer peak. 

During a news conference yesterday, Gov. Tate Reeves denied that Mississippi had hit a new record for case spread, even though the rolling average had already surpassed the previous high of 1,381 in the summer. 

On Wednesday, the state health department issued new guidelines on distancing, recommending that people avoid all social gatherings with people outside of their home or nuclear family.

Mississippi also hit a new high for confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations on both Sunday and Monday, with the rolling average having increased 68% since the start of November. The rolling averages for ICU patients and people on ventilators are up 45% and 88%, respectively, in that time. Total hospitalizations, which includes suspected and confirmed cases, are still below the record set in August. 

Thirteen major hospitals are without ICU capacity, according to this week’s health department numbers. Currently, 86% of the state’s ICU beds are full — including 96% capacity among the highest level COVID-care centers — and COVID-19 patients are filling 30% of those spots.

On the county level, Choctaw (17% increase in the last week), Kemper (15%), Rankin (14%), Jefferson (12%) and Stone (12%) counties saw the sharpest rise in cases this last week. 

The Delta continues to accumulate the most cases per capita out of anywhere in the state. Of the 15 counties with the highest rates, 11 are in the Delta. 

The state health department reported 128,746 people have recovered. 

Click through the links below to view our interactive charts describing the trends around the coronavirus in Mississippi:

View our COVID-19 resource page for more information about coronavirus in Mississippi.

The post COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 2,746 new cases appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippians turned out to vote in record numbers in 2020, according to final certified numbers released recently by the secretary of state’s office, though Mississippi’s record turnout still lagged behind most other states.

In this year’s election, 1,313,894 Mississippians voted. Total turnout this year broke the previous record of 2008, when 1,289,865 voted in the election between former President Barack Obama and John McCain, the 2008 Republican nominee for president.

President Donald Trump captured the most votes of any candidate running in a contested election in Mississippi with 756,789 votes, or 57.6%. McCain was the previous top vote-getter with 724,597 votes in 2008.

In Mississippi’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race, Mike Espy garnered the most votes ever for a Democrat running for statewide office in a losing effort on Nov. 3 to incumbent U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith.

Espy won 578,806 votes, or 44.1%, against Hyde-Smith. The previous record vote-getter on the Democratic side in Mississippi was Obama in 2012, when he captured 562,949 votes in his re-election bid. In Mississippi that year, Republican Mitt Romney won 710,746 votes.

Before Espy’s 2020 record, former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove received the most votes for a Democrat running for a Senate seat with 560,064 votes, of 45%. Musgrove was running in a special election against Republican Roger Wicker.

Hyde-Smith received 709,539 votes, or 54.1%, on Nov. 3. She received more than 47,000 fewer votes than Trump and ran 3.5 points behind the president.

Prior to final votes being tabulated, Secretary of State Michael Watson had surmised in late November that while Mississippi had a strong turnout, it was not a record turnout.

“I think we will eclipse our number from 2016 of total votes cast, but I don’t think it will be as much as we expected,” Watson said at the time. “…I don’t think it is going to be a huge increase over 2016.”

But after record numbers of absentee ballots had to be counted in populous counties, the final numbers show that turnout not only eclipsed 2016 totals but also set a new record.

“I am incredibly proud of the extraordinary voter turnout this year,” Watson said.

PODCAST: Secretary of State Michael Watson discusses 2020 elections.

Dave Wasserman, a statistician and U.S. House editor for the Cook Political Report, tweeted that there was an 8.6% increase in voter turnout over 2016, which was a relatively light turnout election in Mississippi, and a 1.3% swing against Trump in the state when compared to 2016.

While the most people in the history of the state voted on Nov. 3, turnout still was relatively low when compared to the nation. Turnout of eligible voters was 66.7% nationwide in 2020, according to Statista. Mississippi was in the bottom 10 states with 60.4% turnout.

While the compilation of turnout for 2020 is still in the early stages and could be revised, it most likely still will reflect a record turnout for the nation. The previous modern-era record turnout, percentage-wise, occurred in 1960 when 62.8% of the eligible voters participated. In the 1800s, there was higher estimated turnout, but during that time more than half of the population, including women and some minorities, were barred from voting.

In advance of the 2020 election, the Espy campaign said to win it would need a record turnout among African American voters who are more inclined to vote Democratic in Mississippi. While information on the 2020 election is still being compiled, Joe O’Hern, Espy’s campaign manager, told Mississippi Today he believes Espy achieved that record turnout among Black Mississippians.

“You probably saw historic Black turnout this cycle,” said O’Hern. “… Even with nobody thinking Biden was going to win Mississippi, you probably saw historic Black turnout.”

That turnout helped Espy achieve lofty numbers for a Mississippi Democrat, but not enough for him or Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to win the state.

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