Monthly Local News(January)

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• 1/28/2026  The private schools are open today in Vicksburg—classes as usual at Porters Chapel and Vicksburg Catholic. But public schools are closed. The Vicksburg Warren School District, still affected by power outages and hazardous driving conditions, called off class for today but announced that all schools will be open regular hours tomorrow. In Madison Parish, public schools are scheduled to reopen on Monday, February 2nd, while private schools resumed classes today. President Trump has signed the FY 2026 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill. That bill includes $49 million for the Yazoo Backwater Pumps and $21.9 million for Arkabutla Lake dam repairs, among other appropriations. It also contains $3 million for Greenville Harbor and $2.4 million for Vicksburg Harbor, plus $32 million for Delta Regional Authority.

• 1/27/2026  Public and private schools in Warren, Issaquena and Sharkey Counties, and Madison Parish are closed today because of power outages and/or driving conditions. Daytime highs for the next few days will be in the 40s but nighttime lows will return to the 20s and below. A 20% chance of rain and snow is predicted Thursday night and Friday, with temperatures in the teens. Governor Tate Reeves has called out the National Guard to help with ice-storm recovery.  Their role will be debris cleanup, traffic control  and  delivering resources to rural areas. To request the National Guard’s help, Reeves says to go through Emergency Management at the county level. A 66-year-old man whose car stalled in Bolton Saturday night, was apparently walking for help in the extreme cold weather Saturday night and Sunday morning. His body was found Sunday morning in a driveway. His death was classified as weather-related. In Tishomingo County, an ice-laden tree collapsed onto a mobile home killing a 73- year-old man in his bed. Another death that may or may not have been weather related happened in Jefferson County where a house fire took the life of 22-year-old Jacob Bohannon early yesterday. The cause of that fire is still under investigation. In Yazoo City, two people who were recently in a relationship were both shot Sunday. Police say the man, shot in the head, died. The woman, shot in the leg, survived. Identities haven’t been released yet.
• 1/26/2026 A Vicksburg man, identified as 22-year-old Jacob Bohannon, died in a house fire in Jefferson County at around 5 a.m. this morning. According to Jefferson County deputies, Bohannon was one of six people in the house; the other five escaped. The cause of the fire, which occurred on the coldest morning of the year, is still under investigation. Warren county had 7,400 ENTERGY customers without power as of this morning. Icy roads and subfreezing temperatures have hampered restoration efforts, with some outages caused by broken trees and limbs that fell over the weekend.  Warren County was among the hardest-hit areas in the state. About 55,000 customers were without power across Entergy’s entire Mississippi service territory. In northern Louisiana, about 100,000 customers area without power. Over 2,600 Entergy linemen and contractors are working to restore power, but progress in some areas is slow due to safety concerns.

Customers are urged to treat all downed lines as energized and report them to 1-800-9OUTAGE.

• 1/22/2026  Vicksburg Police have made two arrests in connection with the murder of Jeremy Bailey on Bowmar Avenue Monday night.  18-year-old Dangelo Frazier and 29-year-old Sidney McDaniel are both being held on million dollar bonds. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen this week approved a $30,000 expenditure to get the Vicksburg Municipal Airport appraised…as if they’re getting ready to sell it.  They also authorized a $9,000 payment to have the appraisal reviewed. And they agreed to  purchase the last privately-owned hanger at the airport for $35,000. That will give the city full ownership of the property. These expenditures align with previous comments by Mayor Willis Thompson about the possibility of an economic development project that might be a million dollar economic development or, he said, maybe even a billion dollar development but they’ve given no  hint of who the potential developer is.

• 1/21/2026  Freezing rain and sleet are expected in Warren and surrounding counties and parishes this weekend as a significant winter storm moves through the region. Icy roads and power outages are a strong possibility because of freezing rain late Friday night with a low temperature in the upper 20s.  Saturday, freezing rain during the day, followed by freezing rain and sleet Saturday night. Even colder Sunday night with a low in the teens. Vicksburg’s third shooting death of the year occurred in the final minutes of Monday night. At about ten till midnight the body of Jeremy Bailey, age 32, was found on Bowmar Avenue. The first two shooting deaths of the year were a husband and wife murder-suicide on South Street, discovered January 5^th.  Vicksburg police have also investigated several street shootings resulting in injuries this month: January 12^th on Grammar Street; January 13^th on Washington Street, and January 13^th on Cherry Street. The Vicksburg Police Department has also been actively investigating multiple reports of shots fired throughout the city where no injuries were immediately reported. 

• 1/19/2026 An arrest warrant has been issued for Demetrius Cormier who failed to appear in Ninth circuit court in Vicksburg for his murder trial last week. Cormier is charged with the murder of 13-year-old Carleone Woodward 3 years ago this month. Today is Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, a federal holiday, so post offices, banks, and the stock market are closed. Unlike past federal holidays, admission to Vicksburg National Military Park is not free. This change was made by President Trump, who ordered federal agencies not to participate in Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black History Month, or Juneteenth, but instead designated June 14th as a free day at national parks. June 14th is Flag Day. It’s also Trump’s birthday. Tens of thousands of middle-income Mississippi families who didn’t have employer insurance were able to afford coverage in recent years only with the help of healthcare subsidies passed by Congress. These subsidies helped offset high premiums from private insurers. Now that Congress has ended the subsidies, many families can no longer afford health insurance.  This will affect hospitals in Mississippi because they’ll have to provide substantially more uncompensated care.
• 1/16/2026  The Vicksburg Police Department has arrested 3 men in connection with the drive by shooting on Washington Street Tuesday that injured one man. Those arrested are:  Jacques Galloway, 23, Lavondre Gailmore, 21, and Arkeem Banks, 18. Police also arrested 40 year old Sedrick Lewis for the shooting at the Aeolian Apartments Tuesday that injured a 16 year old.. Ward I Alderman TJ Mayfield and the Vicksburg police will host a town hall on crime Wednesday, Jan. 28, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Every Occasion Event Center, 1201 Walnut St., Vicksburg. Thirty-year-old Charles Brown was arrested after a traffic stop on Halls Ferry Road Tuesday. Vicksburg police say his car smelled of marijuana, prompting a search that uncovered a handgun, marijuana, crystal meth, oxycodone, and drug paraphernalia. Brown’s bond was set at $150,000. He was already out on bond for a previous drug charge.

• 1/14/2026 A series of shootings in Vicksburg started Saturday when a 17 year old girl was hit in a drive by shooting on North Washington Street but survived.  A hail of bullets found their mark Monday on Grammar Street. A man hit multiple times, was hospitalized and survived. Then another drive-by shooting yesterday once again on Washington Street resulted in serious injuries to one man who was hospitalized in stable condition.  Investigators have said a couple of these were targeted attacks.  22 year old Kaleb Davis of Vicksburg was on the scene at at Blooms Apartments in Tallulah when police were called to stop an altercation.  Davis fled the scene and later led a variety of Louisiana law enforcement departments on a high speed chase. Kaleb Davis wrecked his vehicle near Mound and tried to flee on foot. He was caught and charged with fleeing from a law enforcement official, speeding, aggravated assault on a peace officer, resisting arrest, illegal carrying of a weapon, possession with intent to distribute a Schedule I narcotic and possession of drug paraphernalia. Davis was also charged in connection with the alteration at the Blooms Apartment complex. Next Monday the 19th is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, an official state holiday in Mississippi since 1986.  Schools, banks, the stock market and many government offices will be closed and the mail won’t run because it’s also a federal holiday since 1983. Two states, Mississippi and Alabama, still refuse to have a stand-alone Martin Luther King, Jr. Day so they combined it with Robert E. Lee Day which had been in effect in Mississippi since 1910 and in Alabama since 1901.

• 1/09/2026 Vicksburg High School renamed its basketball gym in honor of former head coach Dellie C. Robinson. Robinson was head basketball coach at Vicksburg High for 25 years ending in 2017. His teams won the district title 7 times and the state championship once. Over his 30 year high school coaching career, Coach Robinson won almost 800 games. A Yazoo County extended family has lost two relatives to gun violence in the last 5 months,  33-year-old Cornelius Stuckey, died after being hit by multiple bullets. His cousin Kenlanda Burns was shot to death by an e boyfriend in September, (That boyfriend later committed suicide). The family said both cousins had told police they were in danger before their murders. The Hinds County Sheriff’s Office is hiring detention officers for the Raymond Detention Center. Interested candidates can obtain an application at the Raymond Detention Center or the Sheriff’s Office on Pascagoula Street in downtown Jackson.

• 01/07/2026 A man putting gas in a company truck was assaulted and carjacked at the Circle K on Clay Street yesterday. The suspect, identified as Christopher Gray, took off in the truck and was later apprehended on I-20 by Clinton police. Gray has already been returned to Vicksburg to face carjacking charges. There was an officer-involved shooting yesterday in Warren County. A deputy sheriff serving a warrant on Bradford Drive got into a scuffle with the subject and the man’s dog jumped in to save his master. The deputy shot the dog but it wasn’t fatal. The dog was taken to a vet and the owner was taken to jail.  Dr. Kelle Barfield was re-elected president of the Warren County Board of Supervisors at this week’s meeting.  Ed Herring was re-elected vice president.  Nkemdili Lewis was re-appointed as county administrator, Blake Teller board attorney and Keith O’Keefe county engineer.  The City of Vicksburg’s Public Works Director has two more days to work. Dane Lovell, who has been with the city for 30 years, is retiring on Friday. A successor has not been named yet.
• 01/06/2026  A husband and wife who lived in the 1300 block of South Street were found dead in their home yesterday when police stopped by for a welfare check. Adam Reed and Daphine Reed, both in their early 50’s, were found shot to death in an apparent murder – suicide.
• 01/05/2026  When the United States hit some of its trading partners with large tariffs in 2025, those trading partners reduced, or in some cases stopped, their purchases of some U.S. crops, such as Mississippi soybeans, cotton, rice and corn. China, the EU, Mexico, and Canada retaliated by shifting to other suppliers like Brazil. This created economic instability that could ruin family farms. But the federal government is coming to the rescue through a new temporary program called the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program. The federal government is now distributing $12 Billion in one-time aid through the Farm Service Agency (FSA.) They’ll pay farmers about $132 per acre of unsold rice, $117 per acre for unsold  cotton, $44 per acre for unsold corn and $30 per acre for unsold soybeans.  Additional details about eligibility and payment timelines are available on the USDA website.
• 01/03/2026  Reporters from Mississippi Today were NOT ALLOWED to attend House Speaker Jason White’s press conference the day before the new legislative session began. Speaker White wouldn’t say why Mississippi Today was banned, so we have no way of knowing if it was because Mississippi Today published a story about White, some state House of Representatives aides and their wives getting a free trip to last year’s Superbowl courtesy of DraftKings while the company was lobbying the legislature to get an expanded sports betting bill passed.
• 01/02/2026  Nineteen states increased minimum wages YESTERDAY to help minimum wage employees cope with rising grocery prices, health care costs and housing expenses. Mississippi was not among them.  22 states including Mississippi still adhere to the federal minimum wage of $7.25.   The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) says that Mississippi’s cervical cancer death rate is now the highest in the nation at 4 deaths per 100,000 population. The only known cause of cervical cancer is the human papillomavirus (HPV). Nearly all sexually active people are exposed to it in early adulthood but the human body clears it within a year or two in most people.  A Pap smear can detect it early. Also, there’s an effective HPV vaccination available.