Heather Harrison

Well, I guess I’m officially old. A high-school page said, “Excuse me, ma’am” as we passed each other on the Mississippi Senate’s secret stairs. At least he was polite!

Bill Criminalizing Mail-Order Abortion Pills as 'Drug Trafficking' Heads to Governor Mailing abortion drugs to patients would be a crime under a bill passed by the Mississippi Legislature.

NEW: A Mississippi bill criminalizing mail-order abortion pills as "drug trafficking" is headed to the Missisisppi governor's desk after passing both the House and Senate.

@heatherharrison.bsky.social reports: www.mississippifreepress.org/bill-crimina...

Teacher Pay Raise Legislation Revived by Mississippi House in Surprise Move A teacher pay raise is back in the realm of possibility in the Mississippi Legislature as the House revived the effort by amending a bill.

A teacher pay raise is back in the realm of possibility in the Mississippi Legislature, as the Mississippi House—in a surprise move—revived the effort by amending a bill that was originally about replacing federal ethics requirements with state requirements for school counselors.

Teacher Pay Raise, Mandatory Online Campaign Finance Filing Among Bills Dead in Mississippi Legislature Bills to enact a teacher pay raise and force all political candidates to file campaign finance documents online died in the Mississippi Legislature.

Rep. Shanda Yates: “If you’re a candidate running for office, you need to learn how to use the damn internet!”

Read @heatherharrison.bsky.social's latest report for @mississippifreepress.org on the bills that died at the Mississippi Legislature this week:

Teacher Pay Raise, Mandatory Online Campaign Finance Filing Among Bills Dead in Mississippi Legislature Bills to enact a teacher pay raise and force all political candidates to file campaign finance documents online died in the Mississippi Legislature.

Mississippi was on the verge of finally requiring political candidates to file campaign finance reports online in a searchable database—instead of on paper.

The Mississippi House killed it.

Rep. Becky Currie: "I have filed on paper for 19 years and I don’t want to do (it) online. I just don’t."

People often ask me if I drew the “short end of the stick” since I cover the Legislature. HELL. NO. This is my dream job, even if some of the rhetoric in this building causes me to lose my sanity. I wouldn’t have left the best small town in the South (Starkville) if I didn’t love my job.

Y'all I'm laughing so hard. Mississippi Sen. Daniel Sparks, R-Belmont, rose for an announcement on the Mississippi Senate floor and said, "I'd like to announce my disappointment." Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann replied, "It's shared by all." 👀

Legislators ask me where I’m from and my default response is “Mississippi Free Press” as if I was born in our office on South Congress Street 😂
And then I’m like “Oh, you wanna know where I’m FROM from. I was raised in Hazlehurst and now live in Brandon.”

It Only Tuesday

It Only Tuesday https://theonion.com/it-only-tuesday-1819569397/

Classroom Cellphone Ban, Other Mississippi Senate Education Bills Dead in House Hopes for legislative action on banning cellphones in classrooms and increasing funding for gifted students appear dead in the Mississippi House.

Hopes for legislative action on banning cellphones in classrooms, providing health insurance for school board members and increasing funding for gifted students appear dead in the Miss. House. House Education Committee Chair Rob Roberson says the committee has had its last meeting of this year.

Mississippi may soon criminalize illegal immigration under State law, with felony prison sentences for undocumented immigrants entering the state.

www.mississippifreepress.org/undocumented...

Mississippi won’t expand Medicaid this year because of federal Medicaid funding cuts under Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.

www.mississippifreepress.org/medicaid-exp...

Mississippi public schools may soon have to set aside time for students to pray and read the Bible and other religious texts under the Mississippi Open to Religion Act, which the Mississippi House passed on Feb. 11.

buff.ly/n6z7CxW

A mail-order abortion pill ban passed the Mississippi House, defining it as felony drug trafficking that would carry one to 10 year prison sentences for providers.

buff.ly/I52iD4M

Hopes for legislative action on banning cellphones in classrooms, providing health insurance for school board members and increasing funding for gifted students appear dead in the Miss. House. House Education Committee Chair Rob Roberson says the committee has had its last meeting of this year.

Pro tip: Read this fantastic explainer by @heatherharrison.bsky.social and @ashtonpittman.bsky.social to get up to speed on Phil Bryant’s attempt to keep his defamation lawsuit against Mississippi Today alive. It’s not easily understood via one-liners on social media.

One major national org said they weren't aware of the bill, others didn't respond or had no comment.

And she was asking as recently as today, 6 days later.

5 years ago, all of them would've had statements out within an hour of passage.

One concern with this bill: It bans the mailing of "abortion-inducing drugs."

But it doesn't specify which drugs that includes (typically mifepristone and misoprostol).

One Democrat suggested it could ban Plan B. The bill's author, Celeste Hurst, said it won't ban Plan B, but the wording is fuzzy.

Here's what's surprising: This bill passed last Wednesday.

We are only the second news organization to report on it other than Magnolia Tribune.

No abortion rights organization has commented on it.

And @heatherharrison.bsky.social couldn't get any major pro-abortion rights groups to comment.

Mail-Order Abortion Pill Ban Passes Mississippi House A mail-order abortion pill ban passed the Mississippi House, defining it as felony drug trafficking that would carry one to 10 year prison sentences for providers.

NEW: Providers who mail abortion pills to Mississippi could soon be prosecuted as felony drug traffickers under an amendment Mississippi House Republicans added to a drug trafficking bill at the last minute.

The amended bill passed amid loud dissent from outraged Democrats.

Fannie Lou Hamer’s is Medal of Freedom Now Displayed at Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Fannie Lou Hamer’s posthumously-awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom is now on display at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.

Just before Biden left office in January 2025, he honored Fannie Lou Hamer, who died in 1977, with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom. That medal now sits in a glass display case at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. Hamer’s family donated the medal to the museum last October.

I don't think I understand your question. From my story, "Then-President Joe Biden announced on June 26, 2023, that the state would receive $1.2 billion for high-speed internet infrastructure across the state through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program."

Broadband Access Could Expand to ‘Every Area’ of Mississippi After Federal BEAD Approval Mississippi is one step closer to having internet access in every area of the state after the federal government approved a broadband expansion plan.

Mississippi is one step closer to having internet access in “every area of the state that still lacks access to high-speed internet” after the federal government approved the state’s broadband expansion plan, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Tuesday.

Undocumented Immigrants Entering Mississippi Could Face Imprisonment Under Bill Passed in State Senate Mississippi may soon criminalize illegal immigration under State law, with felony prison sentences for undocumented immigrants entering the state.

Mississippi Sen. Angela Hill admitted that it is “rare” for a person to illegally come into the state by boat or plane but said that “we know that it does happen.”

Undocumented Immigrants Entering Mississippi Could Face Imprisonment Under Bill Passed in State Senate Mississippi may soon criminalize illegal immigration under State law, with felony prison sentences for undocumented immigrants entering the state.

“We’re making it a crime for a person to come into MS, not through a proper port of entry, but to come into MS directly from another country,” MS Sen. Angela Hill, said. “If someone comes into MS through the Gulf of America and not through a port of entry, this would create a state crime, a felony.”

Undocumented Immigrants Entering Mississippi Could Face Imprisonment Under Bill Passed in State Senate Mississippi may soon criminalize illegal immigration under State law, with felony prison sentences for undocumented immigrants entering the state.

Mississippi may soon criminalize illegal immigration under State law and allow the Mississippi Department of Public Service to collect identifying information about any undocumented immigrants in the state.

Medicaid Expansion Dead in Mississippi Due to Trump Cuts, Top Republican Says Mississippi won’t expand Medicaid this year because of federal Medicaid funding cuts under Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.

“… There is a reason why—it’s funding, it’s the money aspect of it. The Big Beautiful Bill changed funding. I don’t see it happening, and those states that have expanded will probably be going back to their regular programs before expansion,” Mississippi Sen. Kevin Blackwell told me.

Medicaid Expansion Dead in Mississippi Due to Trump Cuts, Top Republican Says Mississippi won’t expand Medicaid this year because of federal Medicaid funding cuts under Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.

Medicaid expansion isn't going to happen in Mississippi this year because of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Senate Medicaid Committee Chairman Sen. Kevin Blackwell, a Republican, told me last week.

Well, my Starkville Public Library card expired. We had a good five year run, even after I stopped living there 😅 I guess it’s time to finally get a Brandon Public Library card!

Thanks for the blue check, @bsky.app!

Please verify my Mississippi Free Press colleagues too: @donnerkay.bsky.social
@trjackson.bsky.social
@kimberlygriffin.bsky.social
@heatherharrison.bsky.social
@nickjudin.bsky.social
@illanireland11.bsky.social