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(AP) — One of the people being sued by the Mississippi Department of Human Services over allegations of misspending welfare money has filed a separate lawsuit against Gov. Austin Garrett Smith filed the suit Wednesday and described himself in court papers as “politically powerless.” Smith's suit says Reeves should sue Republican former Gov. The ongoing suit seeks to recover more than $20 million of the roughly $77 million in welfare money that the state auditor said had been misspent between 2016 and 2019, during Bryant's second term as governor. Smith is a nephew of former Mississippi Department of Human Services executive director John Davis. The Democratic nominee for governor, Brandon Presley, said Reeves is tainted by the welfare misspending that occurred when Reeves was lieutenant governor and had power to oversee how the Department of Human Services was operating.

Persons: JACKSON, Tate Reeves, Austin Garrett Smith, ”, Reeves, Phil Bryant, “ Reeves, Jim Waide, Shelby Wilcher, Governor Reeves, Smith, Brett Favre, Shad White, John Davis, Bryant, Smith's, ” Waide, Brandon Presley, Presley, Todd Reeves, White, Favre, “ Tate Reeves, ” Presley, Clifton Carroll Organizations: Mississippi Department of Human Services, Gov, Republican, of Human Services, NFL, University of Southern, Davis, Democratic Locations: Miss, U.S, Bryant, The State, Mississippi, University of Southern Mississippi, “

All three states lean heavily Republican in federal elections, yet Democrats currently control the governorship in two out of the three. As usual, we are rating these races on the following scale: Safe Republican, Likely Republican, Lean Republican, Toss-Up, Lean Democratic, Likely Democratic and Safe Democratic. The race moving in the Republican direction is Louisiana, which we’re shifting from Likely Republican to Safe Republican. But for now, we’ll keep it at Likely Republican. That may be in tune with Kentucky voters, who, despite the state’s Republican lean, rejected a 2022 ballot measure that would have enhanced the state’s ability to outlaw abortion.

Persons: There’s, Andy Beshear, Democrat John Bel Edwards, Republican Tate Reeves, Edwards, Jeff Landry, Shawn Wilson, Edwards –, Landry, Donald Trump, Stephen Waguespack, John Schroder, Sen, Sharon Hewitt, Hunter Lundy, Lundy, he’s, polluters, Wilson, Mason, Dixon, that’s, Republican Reeves isn’t, Brandon Presley, Phil Bryant, Brett Favre, Favre, Reeves hasn’t, drumbeat, Reeves, Democrat hasn’t, Jim Hood, Presley, Elvis Presley, Beshear, Steve Beshear, Daniel Cameron, Mitch McConnell, Joe Biden, Kentuckians, Cameron, He’s, Trump Organizations: Republicans, Democrat, Republican, Lean Republican, Lean Democratic, Democratic, Safe Democratic, Safe Republican, Louisiana Safe Republican, Republican Party, Republican Governors Association, Mississippi, NFL, University of Southern, Public Service Commission, Kentucky Lean Democratic, Gov, Beshear, Kentucky, Democratic Governors Association Locations: Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, In Mississippi, Landry, Lundy, Brandon, Federal, University of Southern Mississippi, Cincinnati

(AP) — The last Republican who lost a general election for Mississippi governor is endorsing the Democratic nominee in this year's race. “It’s a big deal for me as a former Republican member of Congress and as a former Republican nominee for governor to vote for a Democrat,” Parker said. Parker was the Republican nominee for governor in 1999, and lost a close race to Democrat Ronnie Musgrove, who was lieutenant governor. The 1999 governor's race had to be decided in the Mississippi House because neither Musgrove nor Parker fulfilled the two requirements to win the race, which also had two little-known candidates. Republicans have controlled the Mississippi House since 2012.

Persons: JACKSON, Brandon Presley's, Mike Parker, Presley, Tate Reeves, “, ” Parker, Brandon Presley, he’s, Brandon, ” Presley, Black, Parker, Ronnie Musgrove, Reeves, Clifton Carroll, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, ”, Donald Trump, Trump, Musgrove, Gwendolyn Gray, Republican Haley Barbour, Barbour, Republican Phil Bryant Organizations: Republican, Mississippi, Democratic, U.S . Rep, Gov, Democrat, Republicans, Democrats, GOP, U.S . House, Trump, Mississippi House Locations: Miss, Mississippi, Summit

☆ A judge dismissed a Wisconsin politician's defamation suit against a newspaper, but the legal fees may still shutter the paper.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-19 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Wisconsin politician filed a defamation suit against a local newspaper, and the suit was dismissed. A troubling trendThe Wisconsin case isn't the first and likely won't be the last dubious defamation case brought on by a politician. His latest $475 million defamation suit against CNN was dismissed last month. Ron DeSantis, a 2024 presidential candidate along with Trump, hailed it as a way to target "legacy media defamation practices." Phil Bryant filed a defamation suit against a local newspaper whose Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporting tied him to a major welfare scandal in the state.

Persons: Cory Tomczyk, Tomczyk –, –, Tomczyk, Shereen Siewert, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Phil Bryant Organizations: Wausau Pilot, Service, The New York Times, Republican, Times, CNN, Washington Post, Florida Republicans, Gov, Trump, Freedom, Press, of Columbia Locations: Wisconsin, Wall, Silicon, Wausau , Wisconsin, Florida, . Wisconsin

☆ Report on Anti-Gay Slur Could Put Local News Site Out of Business
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Jeremy W. Peters | More About Jeremy W. Peters | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Other prominent Republicans have followed his lead, including Devin Nunes, the former Republican congressman Mr. Trump hired to run his social media network, Truth Social. Mr. Nunes has sued several outlets, including The Washington Post and CNN, for publishing stories that were unfavorable to him. For small local news organizations, many of which are barely getting by financially, the suits threaten to put them out of business. This case, he added is not a “he-said/she said” matter but “a ‘three-said,’ and more.”Through his lawyer, Mr. Tomczyk declined to comment on the case. The lawyer, Matthew M. Fernholz, said his client was “categorically denying that he used the word,” or any derivative of it, during the meeting.

Persons: Devin Nunes, Trump, Nunes, Phil Bryant, Tomczyk, ”, Rodney Smolla, Matthew M, Fernholz Organizations: Republican, The Washington Post, CNN, Wausau, Vermont Law School Locations: Mississippi, Wisconsin

☆ Can Brandon Presley Help Mississippi Break from the Past? - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Mr. Presley, 45, is one of three elected members of the state Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, and is the former mayor of Nettleton, a small town in the bright-red northeast section of Mississippi. His most effective tactic is his unrelenting attack on Mr. Reeves and the welfare scandal that has swirled around him and the previous Republican governor, Phil Bryant. At the same time, the state was rejecting a large majority of requests from families for Mississippi’s meager $170 a month in welfare payments. Mr. Reeves was lieutenant governor when all this was going on, and several people at the center of the scandal have been his friends and supporters. That was all Mr. Presley needed.

☆ Brett Favre files motion to dismiss lawsuit in Mississippi welfare fraud case
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Laura Strickler | Laura Strickler Is A Washington-Based Investigative Reporter With The Nbc News Investigative Unit. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Attorneys for former NFL star Brett Favre filed court papers in Mississippi on Monday seeking to dismiss a civil lawsuit against him tied to a state welfare fraud scandal. Favre was sued in May by the state welfare agency after he received $1.1 million in federal welfare funds intended to lift children out of poverty in the poorest state in America. Favre’s attorneys say that he and his organization, Favre Enterprises LLC, repaid the funds and that Mississippi officials are to blame for the misspending. "Mr. Favre never had any control over how Mississippi spent its welfare funds. Six people have been charged in what state and federal officials call a massive fraud scheme to misspend state welfare funds, including the former director of the state welfare agency, who is cooperating with the FBI and federal prosecutors.

☆ Brett Favre told Mississippi governor he would not ‘take No for answer’ over volleyball stadium, court filing shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Dilanianmug.Jpg | Ken Dilanian | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Phil Bryant on Sept. 4, 2019 about funding the volleyball center at the University of Southern Mississippi’s main campus in Hattiesburg. “Use of these funds (is) tightly controlled,” Bryant texted Favre on July 28, 2019, according to the filing. Favre also secured $3.2 million for a drug company in which he had invested, according to court records. Favre has also denied wrongdoing through his lawyer, who acknowledged that the ex-Packer has been interviewed by the FBI. He added that Favre behaved honorably and never knew the state grants he was seeking were from the federal welfare program.

☆ Former Mississippi Governor Denies Wrongdoing in Welfare Scandal
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( Cameron Mcwhirter | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, seen in 2021, denies he acted improperly in a matter involving the funding for a new volleyball facility at a college in the state. Lawyers for former Mississippi Gov. The suit names Mr. Favre and others, but doesn’t name Mr. Bryant. His motion filed Friday is in response to a subpoena that Mr. Bryant is seeking to quash.

A key figure in Mississippi’s welfare spending scandal has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges under an arrangement that signals he may be cooperating, according to court records. John Davis directed Mississippi’s welfare agency while it doled out millions of dollars in federal welfare money to projects investigators now say were improper, including a new volleyball facility requested by former NFL quarterback Brett Favre that benefited his daughter. Phil Bryant, who has consistently denied that he was aware that federal welfare money was being used for the projects, in violation of state and federal laws. Favre has also denied wrongdoing through his lawyer, who acknowledged that Favre has been interviewed by the FBI. There is no indication Favre is a target of the investigation, and he says he did not know the state grants came from federal welfare funds.

The welfare funds in question were part of the $86 million Mississippi is given each year by the federal government to lift families out of poverty. The state auditor uncovered $77 million in misspent welfare funds in February 2020. The text messages, which were part of a filing by New's attorney, do not establish that Favre knew the public funds discussed were welfare money. The newly released text messages indicate Bryant, a Republican, was much more involved in the project as governor than previously known. She would pay Favre $1.1 million in state funds directly and he would do a few radio ads.

The Mississippi state auditor said Favre never gave the speeches and demanded the money back, with interest. In an interview with the website Mississippi Today, Bryant said he never knew the grants came from welfare money. The former head of the state welfare agency, John Davis, has pleaded not guilty to state charges of bribery and conspiracy, and law enforcement officials say the investigations continue. Favre defended himself in a series of tweets last year against allegations from White, the state auditor, that he accepted state money for speeches he never intended to give. Marcus Dupree, a former college football star, also received $370,000 in welfare funds, which prosecutors say partly went to fund his horse ranch.

☆ Mississippi banned most abortions to be the 'safest state' for the unborn. Meanwhile, one in three Mississippi kids lives in poverty.
▼ + stars: | 2021-11-26 | by ( Sarah Fowler | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Mississippi lawmakers said the ban on most abortions after 15 weeks makes Mississippi 'the safest state in the country' for the unborn. "We've had so many state leaders who have talked about wanting Mississippi to be the safest state in the country for unborn babies. It's even higher for kids: one in three Mississippi children live in poverty. Each of the women has dedicated their life to helping Mississippi women and families. More than 100,000 Mississippi children should be eligible, but in 2019 – the most recent year for which there's data – just 20,900 benefited from the program.

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