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September 11, 2026
**Vicksburg’s public transportation system, NRoute, is facing a financial crisis. NRoute began as a city department in 2006 and became an independent public utility 6 months later, funded by the city, county, state and by rider fares. Board members told city officials this week they are struggling with unpaid bills, canceled employee insurance, and rising insurance costs on a fleet much larger than the service currently uses. NRoute has 22 buses, but only about five or six are operating, and some have not been used in years but are still insured. The agency has also been without a full-time director since January, when longtime executive director Evelyn Bumpers retired. NRoute needs about $400,000 to operate for the next year, while the city’s budget includes about $200,000. Officials are also discussing whether a Port Gibson transit group could help operate the service. Mayor Willis Thompson says the city recognizes the need for public transportation, but questions whether NRoute can continue under its current structure.
**Gas prices are rising with the national average for regular at $4.27 a gallon, according to AAA. In Mississippi, the average price is around $3.80 a gallon. President Trump this week predicted a big drop soon…
Trump: “I would say this: shortly, but right after the election, because they’d like to have it that way, but right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward, they’re gonna be tumbling down, and we’ll get ‘em down, I think, for gasoline we’ll get ‘em below two dollars a gallon.”
Reporter: “But not until after the midterms?”
Trump: “I think it’s gonna take a little bit longer than the midterms.”
**25-year-old Robert Ward got caught by Vicksburg police with a felony amount of marijuana in his car. He pled guilty this week, promised in a letter to the judge to make better decisions in the future and Judge Toni Terrett let him off with a 6- year suspended sentence and no jail time.
September 10, 2026
**The Warren County Board of Supervisors lowered property taxes for the 2027 fiscal year from 119.91 mils to 117.91. However, that lower millage rate will bring in more money, not less, because property valuations have increased over 11 percent. The Supervisors passed a budget this week of just over $54 million…a spending increase of more than $4 million. Part of that increase will go to help county employees keep up with the rising cost of everything: Minimum pay for county workers will go up a dollar-fifty–to $16.50 an hour.
**The Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen is keeping the millage rate the same in fiscal 2027– at 35.88 mills. But that’ll bring in 6.3 percent more money in the coming fiscal year than it did this year because of the rise in valuations. The city revealed in their public hearing this week that general fund revenue in the upcoming budget will be over $38 million, some $3 million more than this year. The city is required to finalize the new budget by September 15.
September 9, 2026
**State Senator Briggs Hopson says it’s been a good 20 years, but he’s leaving state politics — at least for now. Hopson, who represents part of Warren County and surrounding areas, says he will not run for reelection to Mississippi Senate District 23, a seat he has held for nearly five terms. Hopson says he also considered a run for Attorney-General, but decided not to enter that race either. Hopson’s current term ends in January 2028.
**Alex Monsour has let it be known that he’s going to run for the District 23 State Senate seat that longtime Senator Briggs Hopson is vacating. Monsour served 8 years as a Vicksburg alderman and 10 years in the state House of Representatives.
**Claiborne County Sheriff Edward Goods is asking promoters to stop holding large outdoor events after Deputy Terrian Bailey was killed following the Hermanville Day Festival. There’s no law against the festivals, but Sheriff Goods says they are a danger.
**Claiborne County Sheriff Edward Goods says his department needs safer patrol cars after deputies responded to the deadly shooting outside the Hermanville Day Festival in vehicles with so many problems it’s a risk to drive them. Goods and Deputy Ricardo Yates told the Claiborne County Board of Supervisors that the department has only three vehicles in good working order. The discussion grew heated, and Sheriff Goods said he was surprised there was any reluctance at all. Two supervisors volunteered to turn their county vehicles over to the sheriff’s department. The board then voted to lease eight vehicles from Enterprise — four for the sheriff’s department and four for other county officials.
September 8, 2026
**Claiborne County Deputy Sheriff Terrian Bailey, age 45, was shot and killed in the line of duty shortly after midnight Monday morning. Bailey was shot as he and other deputies were responding to a disturbance at Michael Dean’s Convenience Store on Highway 18 in Hermanville. People had gathered there after a Labor Day Weekend festival. Deputies responded and Bailey was shot while helping disperse the crowd. One other person was wounded. The MBI is leading the investigation. There’s a reward of up to $25,000 for information related to the case.
**Two vehicles collided head-on last night on Fisher Ferry Road near Shady Grove. Two people were seriously injured and transported to UMMC by helicopter.
**A driver fleeing a Warren County Deputy lost control of his vehicle and ended up in a ditch at Paxton and old Highway 27. He received minor injuries and was arrested on several traffic-related charges. The chase began because his vehicle had no license plate.
September 7, 2026
**A tragedy on the Yazoo Canal was narrowly averted yesterday when a ski boat carrying three children and their uncle hit a barge parked just south of the Vicksburg waterfront. A local man, Javier Brown, hurried to the scene in his outboard boat and started pulling the ski boat to shore but it began to sink. Brown got the family safely onto his boat and brought them to shore. One child and the adult were taken to the hospital by ambulance, and the other two children were taken by private vehicle.
**Miss Texas Regan Hutsell was Crowned Miss America 2027 in West Palm Beach Florida, last night. The new miss America Regan Hutsell is a former Radio City Rockette, and a ballerina dancer. Miss Mississippi Jane Granberry, also a dancer, finished in the Top 11. Earlier in the week, Granberry won a Preliminary Evening Gown Award, which earned her a $3,000 scholarship.
**Madalyn Sullivan, Miss Mississippi’s Teen, finished as first runner-up in the Miss America’s Teen finals Saturday night. She won a $9,000 scholarship for that overall finish. She also won a $1,500 scholarship for winning the Evening Wear Preliminary competition Tuesday night.
September 4, 2026
**Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney says short-term health insurance policies are not good replacements for comprehensive coverage — but for some people, he says, they may be better than going without insurance at all. Chaney says more than 200,000 Mississippians have left the Affordable Care Act marketplace this year after federal subsidies were allowed to expire at the end of 2025.
**Miss Mississippi contestants are racking up wins this week at the Miss America and Miss America’s Teen competitions in West Palm Beach, Florida. Miss Mississippi Jane Granberry and Miss Mississippi’s Teen Madalyn Sullivan have both won evening gown competitions, and Sullivan has also won in two other categories. The Teen finals are Saturday night, and the Miss America finals are Sunday night.
**Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is looking into a deputy-involved shooting in Claiborne County. Deputies went to serve a warrant on 19-year-old Lorenzo Dvontay January in Pattison on an aggravated assault charge. Authorities say January went out a side window and pointed a gun at deputies, and deputies opened fire. January later called the sheriff’s department and said he had been shot in the foot.
**Alderman T.J. Mayfield is teaming up with Mississippi Votes and other organizations for a National Voter Registration Day event in Vicksburg. Residents of Vicksburg and Warren County are invited to the Main Street Pavilion Tuesday, September 15th, from 6 until 8 p.m. The event will include free food, voter education, voter games, and music from DJ Country Que.
September 3, 2026
**Belzoni police have arrested a third person people in the shooting death of Humphreys County High School football player JaKamryn Price August 21st after a game. The latest arrest was J’Quandarius Winn. Previously charged in the case were Jaronksi Watson and Jayden Holmes. And the investigation is ongoing.
**After a wave of gun violence in Simpson County, Friday’s Mendenhall-Magee rivalry game at Tiger Field in Mendenhall will look different. Tailgating is banned, a clear-bag policy will be enforced, extra lighting will be added, and the game will start at 8 so spectators can leave earlier. Security will be provided by the Highway Patrol, Magee and Mendenhall police, Simpson County deputies, and Homeland Security.
**A 38-year-old New Orleans school teacher met a 16-year-old Monroe, Louisiana, runaway on-line, picked her up in Vicksburg and took her to his home where he paid her for sex. The teacher, Aaron Terod Johnson, has been sentenced by a New Orleans judge to 33 years in jail followed by a lifetime of supervised release.
**A 16-year-old has been charged as an adult following a shooting Tuesday evening in Yazoo City. Police identified the suspect as Darryn Love. The victim survived.
**If you happen to be in Jackson and need a chat with Jackson Police, even if it’s something routine, the Jackson Police Department is advising you to call 911 even if it’s not an emergency. They’ve offered no explanation.
September 2, 2026
**Vicksburg’s governing body, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, has served notice that the property tax rate for the fiscal year starting October 1st will stay the same as this year at 35.88 mills. That means you’ll pay the same as this year unless the assessed value of your property is higher; and the Board is expecting valuations to go up to the tune of $655,000. There’ll be a public hearing on the budget next Tuesday at 5:30 at the Robert M. Walker Building on Walnut Street.
**Miss Mississippi Jane Granberry is in West Palm Beach, Florida, this week, competing for the Miss America crown. Granberry was crowned Miss Mississippi in Vicksburg in June and is now one of 52 contestants with the winner to be crowned Sunday night on the Miss America Organization’s YouTube channel. Miss Mississippi’s Teen, Madalyn Sullivan, is also competing this week. The Teen finals will be Saturday on PageantVision.
September 1, 2026
**Mayor Willis Thompson has signed an agreement with Mission Primary Care Clinic that gives City of Vicksburg employees and their families a health and wellness clinic of their own, at a set price the city can budget around, and with a provider based right here in Vicksburg. The agreement was executed during a special called meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Monday. Coverage extends to all city employees, their spouses and their dependent children ages 2 to 18, along with dependent full-time college students through age 26. Care will be provided at Mission Primary Care Clinic’s facility at 1901 Mission 66. The city will pay a flat all-inclusive rate of $150 per eligible person for a visit in the first year, plus a $15 administration fee for vaccinations and a $2,000 monthly medical directorship fee. The rate is $155 in a second year and $160 in a third year if the contract is extended. The flat rate gives the city a predictable cost for employee care rather than a bill that swings with utilization.
**The City of Vicksburg got a $5million appropriation from the 2021 legislature for work on a Levee Street Truck Route—a project that didn’t meet the rules for that particular funding. At a special called meeting yesterday, 5 years later, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen passed a Memorandum of Understanding that took that money out of limbo. They agreed to use the $5million for work on Clay and Washington Streets.
** Russell Sumrall is the winner of the 2026 Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur Bootcamp Business Plan Competition. Sumrall, who started Elite Disposal, gets a $1,500 Business Plan Competition Grant perhaps more importantly many new business contacts and a lot of free publicity for Elite Disposal.
**The Vicksburg Police Department has donated two police vehicles to small towns. One to the Bolton Police Department and the other to Durant. A Vicksburg Police news release said “Law enforcement is bigger than one department or one community. When agencies work together and share resources, we strengthen our ability to serve and protect.
**Ever heard of Vernell Niket Jones of Vicksburg? The police department is searching for his next of kin. Please give police a call if you know where to find them.
