YP – 6 Mississippi Electoral Voters vote Trump and Pence in 2020 presidential race
The function of the electoral college was performed today as electoral voters casted their ballots in representation of all 50 states, including Mississippi. The state has six electoral voters that represent the two U.S. Senate seats and four Congressional seats.
This year’s electors included: Frank Bordeaux, Franc Lee, John Dane III, Terry Reeves, Bruce Martin, and Johnny McRight.
For Mississippi it was a “winner take all” day. The majority of Mississippians voted for President Donald Trump and Vice Pence Mike Pence to remain in office.
There were 113,000 new voters in Mississippi who cast a ballot in the General Election. Overall 1.3 million Mississippians voted this year, which is 400,000 more than the 2016 election and the largest turnout ever.
WLOX – Rep. Palazzo: Election fraud fight not over despite SCOTUS rejecting Texas lawsuit he supported
After Friday’s unanimous decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a Texas lawsuit that would have overturned election results in four states, disenfranchising millions of voters in the process, one of that lawsuit’s supporters vows that the fight against alleged election fraud isn’t over.
“Many south Mississippians, myself included, have repeatedly expressed their deep concerns of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election,” U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo, a Republican representing Mississippi’s fourth congressional district, said in an emailed statement to WLBT. “It is unfortunate the Supreme Court chose not to take up the case, but that does not mean this fight is over. At the end of the day, my goal is to restore voter confidence and trust in our electoral system.”
Palazzo is one of 126 House Republicans, three from Mississippi, who signed an amicus brief supporting the Texas lawsuit which sought to delay Monday’s electoral vote in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin because the suit claimed voting procedures in those states violated their own laws.
YP – Mississippi healthcare officials receive first doses of COVID-19 vaccination
On Monday, healthcare officials in Mississippi received the state’s first rounds of the COVID-19 vaccination. The state has been given 25,000 vaccinations in this first delivery. They are expected to go to frontline healthcare workers first, then the most at risk, eventually being made available to the public by the beginning of spring.
Of those individuals to receive the first five vaccines was State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs who said the shot felt like a butterfly or small sting.
Others who received the first vaccines are State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers, Health Protection Director and Senior Deputy Jim Craig, Sonja Fuqua, RN with the Community Health Center Association of Mississippi, and Dr. Leandro Mena of the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
MSDH daily COVID-19 reporting
Today MSDH is reporting 1,648 more cases of COVID-19 in Mississippi, 5 deaths, and 218 ongoing outbreaks in long-term care facilities. The total of #covid19 cases for the year is now 181,095, with 4,204 deaths. Case details and prevention guidance at https://t.co/YCv9xPyJDk pic.twitter.com/Un9C5uG6Nt
— Mississippi State Department of Health (@msdh) December 14, 2020
WDAM – South Mississippi mayor dies from complications of COVID-19
The mayor of a South Mississippi city has died after being hospitalized due to double pneumonia just weeks after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
Wiggins Mayor Joel Miles died Sunday at Memorial Hospital in Gulfport after developing complications from the virus…
…Miles, who was elected as mayor of Wiggins in 2013, had been hospitalized at George Regional Hospital in Lucedale but was transferred to Memorial Hospital on Friday in the hopes that he could get more specialized care.
YP – State Auditor: Widespread Problems Uncovered in Holmes County School District Audit
Taxpayers in Holmes County footed the bill for an “adults only,” “B.Y.O.B.” party and overpaid a former district superintendent by thousands of dollars. These findings and others come as part of a routine audit by the Office of State Auditor Shad White.
“This audit reveals widespread problems,” said Auditor White. “The public school students of Holmes County and the taxpayers are the victims here. As a product of public schools myself, my office remains committed to uncovering and stopping this sort of misspending.”
Wicker talks College name, image, likeness bill
Senator Roger Wicker speaks on Can Congress trust the NCAA on NIL in our N.I.L Era.
ROLL CALL – Palazzo campaign spent money on array of household services, home improvement
Rep. Steven Palazzo has spent about $230,000 from his campaign fund since 2010 on car expenses, purchases associated with home upkeep, reimbursements to himself, payments to his brother and other questionable costs, a CQ Roll Call review of Federal Election Commission reports found.
The Mississippi Republican acknowledged in November that he is the subject of an investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics into alleged improper use of campaign funds from his Palazzo for Congress campaign committee.
Federal law prohibits members of Congress from using campaign funds for personal use and if that public trust is proven to be violated, it can result in sanctions from the House Ethics Committee and, in more severe instances, prosecution by the Department of Justice. Former California Rep. Duncan Hunter is headed to prison in 2021 for converting campaign funds to personal use.
In March, the Campaign Legal Center, a non-partisan watchdog group, filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics requesting an inquiry into Palazzo’s spending.
WLOX – Vote split on whether to remove Confederate statue from outside Harrison Co. Courthouse
The statue of a Confederate soldier will stay outside the Harrison County Courthouse for now after a split vote by the board of supervisors Monday morning.
The vote – split 2-2 – left supervisors in a deadlock, which means the statue will stay in its current location for the time being.
Before the vote, discussions were made as to whether or not the statue should remain in place or be moved to a new location.
Magnolia Tribune
