Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize winning author, dead at 88

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Toni Morrison, the first African American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in literature, died late Monday. She was 88. As news of her death was announced Tuesday, tributes began to flood social media:
Stacey Abrams, former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate:
Toni Morrison was a towering intellect, a brilliant scribe of our nation’s complex stories, a heartbreaking journalist of our deepest desires, and a groundbreaking author who destroyed precepts, walls and those who dared underestimate her capacity. Rest well and in peace. Angie Thomas, bestselling author:
I’m writing in her honor today.

Mississippi Roundup

Clarion Ledger: 2 dead, suspect, officer injured in Walmart shooting

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Clarion Ledger: Two people were killed and two people were injured in a shooting at the Walmart in Southaven, Mississippi, Tuesday morning, according to authorities:
The suspect was confronted by two officers. One officer was shot but was saved by his bulletproof vest. The other officer shot the suspect twice and the suspect was taken into custody. The suspect was taken to Regional One Medical Center. The wounded Southaven officer was taken to DeSoto Baptist Hospital where he is recovering, The Commercial Appeal reported. The suspected shooter was also an employee at the Walmart until Monday, The Commercial Appeal reported. Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite described the suspect as a disgruntled worker
Read Mississippi Clarion Ledger’s Harold Gater’s complete article here.

President approves disaster declaration for eight Mississippi counties

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Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that federal disaster assistance has been made available to Mississippi to assist recovery efforts in areas affected by severe storms and flooding in April. President Donald Trump declared Thursday that a major disaster exists in Mississippi as well as Kansas and South Dakota. All three disasters are related to severe weather. The announcement comes on top of disaster declarations already approved for flooding that has left 500,000 acres underwater in the Delta. In Mississippi, Thursday’s declaration is being directed toward Clarke, Clay, Itawamba, Kemper, Monroe, Oktibbeha, Warren and Yazoo counties.

Mississippi Roundup

Millsaps announces honorary degree recipients: Jon Meacham, Jesmyn Ward, Dr. Lamar Weems

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Mississippi author Jesmyn Ward, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham and Dr. Lamar Weems will receive honorary degrees at the Millsaps College May 11 commencement. “This is an incredible group of individuals, and we are excited about the opportunity to recognize and honor their contributions to our state and nation,” said Millsaps College president Dr. Robert W. Pearigen, in a news release. “The insight and skill they bring to our political discourse, our health care systems, and our literature are immeasurable.”

Ward, who grew up in DeLisle, is an associate professor of English at Tulane University and a novelist, essayist, and memoirist. Her novel “Salvage the Bones” won the National Book Award in 2011, and her novel “Sing, Unburied, Sing” was recognized with the award in 2017; she is the only woman to have won the National Book Award twice, notes the release by Millsaps. Ward also received a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant in 2017.

Mississippi Roundup

Clarion Ledger: ‘Boyz n the Hood,’ Emmett Till film director John Singleton has died

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Clarion Ledger: John Singleton, the Oscar-nominated director and screenwriter behind films like “Boyz n the Hood” and “Poetic Justice,” has died after being taken off of life support following a stroke earlier this month, the Associated Press reported Monday. He was 51. Singleton was set to direct a movie about Emmett Till who was killed in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly flirting with a white woman. “It is with heavy hearts we announce that our beloved son, father and friend, John Daniel Singleton will be taken off of life support today,” Singleton’s family said in a statement via his spokesperson earlier Monday. “This was an agonizing decision, one that our family made, over a number of days, with the careful counsel of John’s doctors.” 
Read the Clarion Ledger complete article here.

Mississippi Roundup

New Jersey governor bans Mississippi flag from state park because of Confederate emblem

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NJ.COM: When the flags from every state in the union went up in Liberty State Park Friday as part of an annual tradition, one is missing: Mississippi’s. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy ordered that state’s flag not to be raised because of its nod to the Confederacy, NJ Advance Media has learned. “The Confederate symbol displayed on the Mississippi State flag is reprehensible and does not reflect our values of inclusivity and equality,” Murphy said in a statement. The Associated Press later reported that Gov. Phil Bryant said in a statement Friday that “I’m disappointed in Gov. Murphy’s actions. As I have repeatedly said, the voters of Mississippi should decide what the state flag is or is not.”

Read the completed article posted on NJ.com here.

Mississippi Roundup

Alcorn State University names alumna Felecia M. Nave next president

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In a unanimous decision, the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees named Felecia M. Nave the next president of Alcorn State University on Wednesday. Nave, a 1996 graduate of Alcorn State with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, is currently Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for North Carolina Central University in Durham, N.C. She received her master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Toledo in Ohio. Nave will take the reins at Alcorn State on July 1. “Dr. Nave has many years of experience as a leader in higher education,” said Trustee Shane Hooper, in a news release. “Through positions of progressive responsibility, Dr. Nave has provided leadership in every facet of the university, including academic program offerings, research activity, budget management, fundraising activities and student services, including recruitment, financial aid and student success.

Eleven Mississippi counties eligible for disaster relief, FEMA announces

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency sent out a notice Tuesday that eleven counties are now eligible for disaster relief for damages caused during tornadoes, flooding and other severe weather in southern Mississippi. The counties are: Clarke, Covington, Forrest, Greene, Jasper, Jones, Marion, Newton, Perry and Wayne. Those counties are eligible to receive reimbursement for costs to repair or replace facilities through the Public Assistance and Hazard Mitigation Grant programs. President Donald Trump signed a disaster declaration on Feb. 14 to designate these areas as adversely affected from the storms occurring Dec. 27 through Dec 28, 2018.

Mississippi Roundup

Prosecutor’s actions in Flowers case ‘troubles’ Supreme Court justices

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By all accounts, U.S. Supreme Court justices were mostly in agreement Wednesday when they heard arguments in a Mississippi death row case. Though the case before the justices isn’t about guilt or innocence, but rather whether the prosecutor wrongly dismissed black jurors, most seemed – in the words of the Washington Post – “deeply troubled” by the actions of the prosecutor, District Attorney Doug Evans. Even Justice Clarence Thomas, known for not asking questions, interrupted three years of silence during oral arguments. Several media outlets that were present Wednesday reported that the justices seemed likely to rule in favor of Curtis Flowers – on death row for the 1996 slayings of Bertha Tardy, Carmen Rigby, Robert Golden and Derrick Stewart. According to a report in the Clarion Ledger:
After six trials for the same crime, a death-row inmate from Mississippi reached the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday and appeared headed for yet another chance. 
The justices spent an hour debating whether Curtis Flowers’ conviction in 2010 for the execution-style murders of four people in Winona, Miss., was tainted by a prosecutor’s rejection of potential black jurors.

New York Times: Hip-Hop artists give the Supreme Court a primer on rap music

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Four years ago, a group of hip-hop artists took their free speech argument to the U.S. Supreme Court in defense of a Mississippi rapper who was suspended from school over lyrics he posted online. The Clarion Ledger reported in 2015: They’re standing up for Taylor Bell, who four years ago was a Mississippi high school student in the Itawamba School District. He was disciplined for posting a rap song with explicit lyrics about some coaches alleged to have acted inappropriately toward female students. In their brief, the rappers urge the justices to hear an appeal from Bell. The high court declined to hear the case.