EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS | The Greenwood Commonwealth

House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton speaks to reporters following adjournment on the first day of the legislative session at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Jan. 4, 2022. Gunn favors the complete elimination of state personal income tax, reduction of the grocery tax and an increase of the state sales tax on most items. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

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Income-tax phaseout up for debate in long-poor Mississippi
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS - Associated Press
Sat,02/19/22-8:09AM , 355 Reads
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi is accustomed to being first in worsts: It's one of the poorest, unhealthiest states in the nation, with public schools that are chronically underfunded. Some Republican leaders say a good way to boost the state's fortunes would be to phase out its income tax.
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FILE -Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, left, and David Blount, D-Jackson confer following adjournment at the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. Mississippi legislators are working on proposals to fund state government for the year that begins July 1. The Republican-controlled House and Senate on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022 passed the first draft of budget bills for schools, health care, transportation and other state services. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

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Mississippi legislators push 1st round of budget proposals
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS - Associated Press
Thu,02/17/22-4:42PM , 377 Reads
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators are working on proposals to fund state government for the year that begins July 1.

The Republican-controlled House and Senate on Thursday passed the first draft of budget bills for schools, health care, mental health services, foster care, transportation, courts and other state services.
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Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland speaks with reporters about visiting several communities and sites in Mississippi to honor individuals and events that advanced the Civil Rights Movement, while standing outside the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

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Interior secretary tours civil rights sites in Mississippi
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS - Associated Press
Tue,02/15/22-6:59PM , 308 Reads
JACKSON, Miss.
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Michael Floyd Wilson, an inmate who escaped from the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, is shown in custody in this photo provided to media outlets by the Harrison County Sheriff's Office, taken after he was captured Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. Wilson, who was convicted of multiple crimes, including the killing of two men escaped on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022. (Harrison County Sheriff's Office via the AP)

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Escapee captured, some Mississippi prison staff suspended
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS - Associated Press
Tue,02/15/22-1:35PM , 379 Reads
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi inmate who escaped from prison over the weekend was captured Tuesday in a county where he had been convicted of murder, and about a dozen prison employees were suspended because the staff waited more than a day to tell the state Department of Corrections he was missing, department officials said.
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