MS Free Press: “Mississippi’s history board should remain free from political interference, historians from across the state are telling House lawmakers, asking them to oppose Senate Bill 2727.  The bill, which Mississippi senators passed on a partisan 34-14 vote earlier this month with only Republican support, would grant the governor and lieutenant governor control over appointments…

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram: “A Louisiana police officer was killed over the weekend following a mask dispute at a New Orleans high school, police say. Friday night, a man — later identified by multiple news outlets as 35-year-old John Shallerhorn — tried to enter a basketball game at George Washington Carver High School without wearing a mask,…

Sun Herald: “Mississippi’s voter identification requirement could be at risk if the state Supreme Court strikes down the medical marijuana initiative approved by voters in November. After all, the same process employed to put medical marijuana on the ballot was used in 2011 to enact a mandate that Mississippi voters must have a government-issued photo…

Buzzfeed News: “BuzzFeed News spoke with more than three dozen people, including more than two dozen former students, their friends, and their relatives, who described or corroborated instances of sexual harassment and misconduct on campus, in Cawthorn’s car, and at his house near campus. Four women told BuzzFeed News that Cawthorn, now a rising Republican…

The Progressive Pulse: “This morning, the Finance Committee of the North Carolina House approved House Bill 107, which, among its largely technical provisions, would make two significant changes to state unemployment insurance policy:  it would reinstate work search requirements for individuals making non-COVID-19-related unemployment insurance claims, and  it would hold the base tax rate for employers…

NY Times: “The Deep South is not generally known for its labor agitation, which is why it might come as a surprise for some to learn that it is in Alabama where workers have mounted one of the largest and most aggressive efforts to unionize Amazon in recent memory. More than 2,000 workers at a fulfillment center…

Slate: “On Tuesday, the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, expelled four churches. Two were voted out for employing pastors convicted of sexual crimes involving minors. But the other two—Towne View Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Georgia, and St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky—were found to be out of step with the SBC for…

Vanity Fair: “Texans hit with astronomical bills—even if they did everything they could to conserve energy—have plans whose electricity prices are not fixed and instead tied to variable wholesale prices. Obviously, that means that when demand increases, their bills rise, with the goal, according to architects of the system, being to “balance the market by encouraging consumers…

NBC News: “Texas Democrats conceded that Republicans won the state’s turnout battle in the 2020 election by staying in the field despite the coronavirus pandemic, while the state’s Democrats relied on digital and more unreliable telephone contact with voters. According to a post-election report provided in advance to NBC News, the party lost its “most powerful and competitive advantage”…

AP: “President Joe Biden’s White House is giving its support to studying reparations for Black Americans, boosting Democratic lawmakers who are renewing efforts to create a commission on the issue amid the stark racial disparities highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. A House panel heard testimony Wednesday on legislation that would create a commission to examine…