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- 10/10/25 The biggest tourist attraction in Mississippi—the Vicksburg National Military Park — is still open despite the government shutdown. Two thousand dollars a day are being donated by the nonprofit group Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park and Campaign to keep the park open while numerous other national parks and attractions in Mississippi have been closed since October first. Keeping the park open is vital to the local economy: the park attracts over 400,000 visitors a year who spend $27.1 million per year in Vicksburg and the surrounding area according to the National Park Service.
- 10/10/25 The Vicksburg Police Department’s National Night Out observance will be next Tuesday, October 14th at the football field on Baldwin Ferry Road (across from Vicksburg Junior High.) The event will run from 5 -7:30 p.m. with free food, horseback rides, and a dj. You’ll get to mix and mingle with Vicksburg police, firemen, and highway patrolmen and other local heroes.
- 10/9/25 Airports across the nation are crippled by the government shutdown today. Thousands of flights are grounded and some control towers have gone completely dark. Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport, however, has so far not been affected.
- 10/9/25 Mississippi’s chief medical officer Dr. Dan Edney told the Board of Health yesterday that despite the government shutdown the state will be able to continue WIC (benefits for Women, Infants and Children) through October and probably into early November. Dr. Edney added, “And the shutdown better be over by then.” Dr. Edney also confirmed a staff reduction of about 150 federally funded workers at the State Department of Health because of the shutdown that started 8 days ago.
- 10/9/25 Mayor Willis Thompson put Vicksburg in the headlines this week with his comments at a panel discussion of mayors at the Mississippi College School of Law. Thompson talked up Vicksburg as a leader in innovation and technology and praised the public-private partnerships under the umbrella of MCITy—(the Mississippi Center for Innovation and Technology in Vicksburg)— and ERDCWERX. Mayor Thompson also emphasized that clean streets and clean neighborhoods help attract investment.
- 10/8/25 20-year-old Eric Jones of Warren County survived his fall onto a running saw at SWS Sawmill Monday, but he lost his left arm and is facing a long road to recovery at UMMC. Jones was saved by the quick response of his co-workers and Fire Medic Zach Hearn and others. His former employers at Divine Donuts have opened a Go Fund Me account to help with his expenses. You’ll find it at GO FUND ME … “Support Eric Jones’ Road to Recovery” click this link.
- 10/8/25 Judge Toni Terrett has lowered the boom on two bond companies. When Joseph Banks and Jamario Shorter failed to show up for their drug case, Judge Terrett ordered Banks’ bond company to forfeit $80,000 and Shorter’s to pay $50,000.
- 10/8/25 Deontre Smith‘s parole for aggravated assault, shooting into a motor vehicle, and shooting into a dwelling has been revoked by Judge Terrett after Smith failed to meet a probation appointment, left the state and got arrested in Oklahoma on traffic and drug charges. The judge sentenced him to 3 years behind bars and two years of probation.
- 10/7/25 A 20-year-old employee of SWS Sawmill fell onto an operating saw yesterday and survived with “significant injuries.” He was reportedly bleeding heavily when Fire Medic 30 arrived and started life saving measures. The young man was taken directly to UMMC where at last word he was in stable condition.
- 10/7/25 The Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen passed a new speed bump ordinance yesterday. It specifies the procedure for a neighborhood to get a speed bump installed: 75% of residents on a particular street will have to sign a petition form (available from the city clerk,) the Public Works Department will conduct a traffic study to verify that the location meets all their guidelines and then it’ll have to be approved by the mayor and aldermen. Under the new ordinance, a speed bump can be removed by going through that same process in reverse, but only after the speed bump has been in place for two years.
- 10/7/25 Congressman Bennie Thompson has announced a $245,000 federal grant to support the Warren County Children’s Shelter. The award is from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration of Children and Families.
- 10/6/25 31-year-old Elizabeth Nelson of Vicksburg was killed in a collision on I-20 near the 23 mile marker in Hinds County Friday. Elizabeth Nelson’s Honda passport was hit by an 18-wheeler. The truck driver was uninjured.
- 10/6/25 Two women were shot to death and a man was shot but survived Thursday night in Jeff Davis County. The shootings happened on Clem Road near Highway 541. Sources say the Jeff Davis County Sheriff’s Department knows who did it, but haven’t apprehended the suspect yet.
- 10/6/25 October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And Mississippi is a BREAST CANCER HOTBED. The state has the second-highest breast cancer mortality rate in the nation, behind only Washington, D.C. The Mississippi State Department of Health says breast cancer claims the lives of about 400 Mississippians annually and is more likely to kill women of color than white women. The Health Department says that more than a quarter of Mississippi’s women do not receive regular screening that could save their lives. This is among the lowest rates of screenings nationally.
- 10/6/25 Lieutenant-Governor Delbert Hosemann was in his home town Friday —in Vicksburg for the Governor’s Conference on Tourism. Hoseman said a new Vicksburg National Military Park Visitor and Interpretive Center will be “the biggest project we have in tourism” and he predicted it would increase the park’s yearly visitation total from the current 400 thousand a year to 700- or 900,000. Hosemann also said the state needs a full time Tourism Department. The legislature passed a bill creating a Tourism Department last year but the governor vetoed it. Hosemann indicated he’ll try again in the next session.
- 10/6/25 There’s still barge traffic on the Mississippi River but the barges passing Vicksburg aren’t as heavily loaded. That’s because the channel is getting shallower as the river level drops. The river level was at 9 feet Friday and is expected to be at 6 feet by the last week in October. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is federally mandated to maintain a 9-foot channel. The Yazoo Diversion Canal’s water level is also low, so tour boats that normally dock downtown are putting in south of Vicksburg at LeTourneau.
- 10/6/25 Another Yazoo City Police Chief has quit. Chief Terry Gann, announced he’s retiring and going back to Arkansas. Gann is the ninth police chief to resign the job in the past 8 years.
- 10/3/25 Magee Middle School and Magee High School were locked down at midday yesterday after multiple gunshots were heard by School Resource Officers. Magee police say it turned out to be an inebriated man shooting a gun on his own property. Todd C. Allen was charged with discharging a firearm in the city limits.
- 10/3/25 At Redwood Elementary School, a 4-year-old boy slipped through an opening in a fence during recess and went to play in a creek bed down a 30-foot embankment behind the school. He was the child of a Vicksburg Firefighter. The little boy was found about an hour later playing in the mud. The Vicksburg Warren School District issued a statement saying, “A Redwood Elementary Student was briefly unaccounted for during recess but was found safe and unharmed.”
- 10/3/25 There’ll be lots of things to do tomorrow in Vicksburg. The Bicentennial Fall Family Fair is happening from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Key City Park on Fisher Ferry Road. Admission is free. Activities, obstacle courses, carnival games, live music, a vendor fair, face painting, a cartoonist, cornhole competitions, and a kickball match between the Vicksburg Fire Department and the Vicksburg Police Department. There’ll be free t-shirts for the first 300 people to show up. There’s also a playground, mini golf, and restaurants. Meanwhile, the annual Old Courthouse Museum Fall Flea Market will run from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. at 1008 Cherry St.
- 10/2/25 Per the Press Release from The Vicksburg Police Department, Zane Bearrick was taken into custody on September 26 after he was identified as the suspect in an incident that occurred at Wyatt’s Gym. On September 29, he appeared before Judge Angela Carpenter and a $200,000 bond was set. He was bonded out on Monday by a family member.
- 10/2/25 Mayor Willis Thompson says local government is affected by the federal government shutdown that started Wednesday. In a written statement, the mayor says “Federal discretionary grants for local projects will be on hold.” Mayor Thompson also says the shutdown interrupts government benefits such as WIC, Head Start, and SNAP. In addition, he says, “There are also many federal employees in Vicksburg who would be out of work until the government is functioning again.” (We should mention that the Army Corps of Engineers, ERDC employees and park rangers are not ‘out of work’—they’re still required to work, they just won’t be getting paid till the shutdown is over.)
- 10/2/25 Friends of the Vicksburg National Military Park say they can keep the park open during the shutdown IF they can get permission from the National Park Service. For more information, visit: www.friendsofvicksburg.org.
- 10/1/25 There’s a movie being filmed in Vicksburg throughout the month of October and the producers with 13 South Productions have put out a call for extras. The movie is titled Before Daylight, and is based on Little Minister, a book by the author of Peter Pan. It’s described as the story of a small town’s struggle to keep pace with a changing economy. If you’d like to volunteer as an extra, email: [email protected]
- 10/1/25 A house at 1110 Mundy caught fire early yesterday morning. Vicksburg firemen got the blaze under control, but a lot of damage had already been done and it was declared a total loss. There was reportedly evidence that squatters had been living in it.
- 10/1/25 State Auditor Shad White wants to help ICE arrest illegal immigrants in Mississippi. White says two of his employees volunteered to be trained by ICE to help with immigration enforcement if ICE should find itself short-handed in Mississippi.
