Mississippi

CNN host Jake Tapper pressed Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves on if he thought President Joe Biden was "legitimately and lawfully elected."

"Nobody likes a mask," the GOP West Virginia governor said. "But, for crying out loud, we could be a little more prudent for 30 more days or 45 more days or whatever it took for us to get on rock-solid ground."

It's not yet time to throw away the hand sanitizer or burn your masks. But it is long past time to reopen America.

Local mask mandates are in effect in some areas, while some states such as Texas and Mississippi have abandoned these guidelines.

As a handful of U.S. states ditch mask mandates amid the ongoing COVID pandemic, health officials in California have doubled down, even suggesting the use of more than one covering.

"We're going to do the smart thing in West Virginia," Governor Jim Justice said, noting that he'd continue to follow the advice of experts.

According to data from the COVID Tracking Project, Mississippi saw a 62.4 percent increase in cases over a seven-day period. On February 23 the state was reporting an average of 358.3 new cases a day, but this number has since increased to 581.9, as of Tuesday.

"When President Biden said that we were all Neanderthals, it struck me as someone who needs to get outside of Washington, D.C., and actually travel to Middle America," Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, who recently lifted the statewide mask mandate, said in response to the president's remarks.

The public health official said "now is not the time to pull back" as some governors relax COVID restrictions.

Workers and customers at some retailers, including Target, CVS and Walgreens, are required to wear face coverings despite the rule change.

President Joe Biden said that "the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking" while discussing the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in Texas and Mississippi on Wednesday.

President Joe Biden's federal mask mandate will still have authority over places like courthouses, airports and public transportation in states that have recently rescinded their mask mandates.

Residents of Jackson, Mississippi, are still without access to clean water more than two weeks after severe winter weather ravaged through the South.

The administration is urging people to continue wearing masks and observing other COVID-19 prevention measures, even as some states move toward loosening—or all together ending—restrictions that were put in place to slow the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

"It is against the advice of our health experts, and it is premature," Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said.

Texas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are among the states where restrictions were eased this month.

Steven Palazzo is being investigated by The Office of Congressional Ethics for allegedly misusing campaign funds to conduct repairs on a $1.2 million riverfront home.

Texans will no longer be required by the state to wear masks as of March 10, and Mississippi is doing so on Wednesday.

The cold weather has caused at least 13 water mains to burst, and more ruptures are expected as the ice melts.

Nearly 100,000 Mississippi residents were without power by noon local time on Friday.

Officers in Jackson, Mississippi, say Kiajuana Levy followed Yolan Lee for 10 miles before shooting him in the chest.

Rep. Dan Eubanks also introduced a bill to ban employers from mandating COVID-19 vaccines for their staff.

The girl was shot in the hand with an AR-15 assault rifle on Sunday at a home in Holly Springs in Mississippi.

On January 9, 2021, Mississippi experienced its highest-ever daily number of COVID-19 cases, with 3,203 new cases reported.

Some hospitals in South Carolina were reported to be confused over who is eligible and who to prioritize for vaccination.

Arizona, which had the country's highest number of average daily cases per 100,000 people in the past week, is among the states that has administered the least number of vaccinations.

Reports of a "possible explosive onboard" a United Airlines flight led to it being diverted en route from Jackson, Mississippi, to Houston.

I see every type of person come in the store; from those coming in for their 18th birthday to couples holding hands and shopping together at 80.

"We are making Mississippi prisons safer for inmates and Corrections officers by stopping the flow of contraband," said Burl Cain, MDOC Commissioner.

"We didn't follow what Dr. Thomas Dobbs and Dr. Fauci had recommended for us to do, which was socially distance, no gathering of 50 or more individuals. I have the same concerns today with respect to this Christmas party," said Mississippi Representative Christopher Bell.