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In celebration of Mississippi Today’s sixth anniversary, we’re taking a look back at some of our top stories through the years. Today, I wanted to share a story I reported in 2017 on a House committee chairman declining to take up the proposal to make domestic violence the 13th ground for divorce in Mississippi, although we later gave an update that the House passed domestic violence provisions under an amendment to a bill.

We’ve been reporting on these issues for years now. Our ongoing coverage and publicity of these issues holds lawmakers and public officials accountable. It’s not something we’re going to stop writing about — in fact, we published an analysis about the state’s “irrevocably broken” marriage laws during the current legislative session back in February.

We published this series on domestic violence that highlighted the broken systems and laws in Mississippi that leave our citizens vulnerable. All of this reporting is made possible by readers like you that share our vision of a better informed Mississippi capable of change. The longer we are supported by our readers, the more continued coverage we are able to provide.

Since we are a nonprofit, donations allow us to dig deeper into the stories that matter most to you by providing funding for everything that happens behind the scenes and fueling special projects that bring our readers greater insight into the issues that matter the most.

To our current members: Thank you for being a part of our mission.

To our readers who are not yet members: Thank you for your readership and engagement. We hope you will celebrate our sixth anniversary with us by joining our passionate member community by creating a donation. Will you help us reach our goal of 60 new members in the next six days?

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take a look at the last six years


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Kayleigh Skinner joined the Mississippi Today team in January 2017 as an education and legislative reporter and advanced to a senior staff member in her four years with the company. Skinner most recently served as deputy managing editor before assuming the role of managing editor. Kayleigh has a bachelor’s in journalism from the School of Journalism and New Media from the University of Mississippi. Before joining Mississippi Today, Kayleigh worked at The Hechinger Report, Chalkbeat Tennessee, and The Commercial Appeal. She has appeared on MSNBC, NPR, and BBC Newsday Radio to discuss her reporting.