The State’s Top 10 Stories of 2014

Here’s a look at Mississippi’s top 10 news stories of 2014:

SENATE ELECTION

The 2014 campaign for one of Mississippi’s U.S. Senate seats is the state’s top story of 2014. It was a hard-fought and bizarre race that gained national attention, with Republican Thad Cochran nearly losing the seat he had held since 1978. A tea party-supported challenger, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, received hefty financial support from groups that see Cochran as a big spender who’s insufficiently conservative. Police arrested four McDaniel supporters and charged them with participating in a plot to take unauthorized photos of Cochran’s bedridden wife, Rose, who lived in a nursing home because of dementia; images of her were briefly posted online in an effort to discredit the six-term senator by accusing him of having an affair.

Cochran denied any impropriety. One of the men accused in the plot, attorney and local tea party leader Mark Mayfield of Ridgeland, later took his own life. McDaniel edged Cochran in a three-person primary June 3, and some of his supporters ended up locked inside the Hinds County Courthouse after vote counting had ended late that night. Cochran rallied to defeat McDaniel in the June 24 runoff, but McDaniel refused to concede and filed a lawsuit weeks after the election, claiming improper votes had sullied the outcome. A circuit judge ruled McDaniel waited too long to file the lawsuit, and the Supreme Court agreed. Cochran won the Nov. 4 general election. Rose Cochran died Dec. 12, not long before GOP leaders said Cochran would return to his former post of power, the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee.

TORNADOES

Twenty-three tornadoes ripped through Mississippi on April 28, killing 14 people and leaving their biggest destruction in Louisville and Tupelo. In Winston County, home of Louisville, 10 people were killed and 391 buildings were destroyed. Walls were ripped off the local hospital, Winston Medical Center. In Tupelo, homes were flattened and trees were uprooted. Two days before Christmas, tornadoes struck in Marion and Jones counties, killing at least four people.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Autumn 2014 was a time for clanging cowbells and chanting Hotty Toddy as Mississippi State and Ole Miss had their best football seasons in generations. The Bulldogs spent weeks as the top-ranked team in the nation, ending the regular season with only two losses. Ole Miss fans tore down the goalposts and marched them through town after the Rebels knocked off Alabama in Oxford, and the Rebs ended the regular season with three losses. Alcorn State won the SWAC championship, and Delta State boasted a 9-2 record.

CORRECTIONS CORRUPTION

On Nov. 5, Christopher Epps retired the job he had held for 12 years as commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The next day, Epps and a former state lawmaker, Cecil McCrory, appeared in federal court in Jackson and pleaded not guilty to corruption charges. Indictments say the two men were involved in a scheme that allegedly provided Epps with luxury vehicles, an upscale home in a gated community outside Jackson and a beachside condominium on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Prosecutors say that starting in 2007, Epps steered prison-services contracts toward companies with which McCrory was affiliated as owner or consultant. They are set for trial in early April.

ECONOMY

Mississippi’s economy struggled in 2014. The state continued to have among the highest unemployment rates in the nation. Casinos lost some of their luster, with Harrah’s closing in Tunica County and Margaritaville closing and going into bankruptcy in Biloxi. The biofuel company, KiOR also went into bankruptcy and shut its plant in Columbus. Costs continued to climb for Mississippi Power Co.’s electrical generating plant in Kemper County. An expansion at the Nissan plant in Canton offers a bright spot.

GAY RIGHTS

A federal judge overturned Mississippi’s ban on same-sex marriage, but put his own order on hold while the state appeals his decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is scheduled to hear arguments in early January. A gay-rights group, Human Rights Campaign, conducted $310,000 advertising and public relations campaign, “All God’s Children,” featuring Mississippi residents talking about their love and respect for their gay relatives. The Legislature enacted a law that says the government can’t put a substantial burden on religious practices, and critics said the law could lead to discrimination against gays and lesbians.

ABORTION

A law that could have closed Mississippi’s only abortion clinic was blocked. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reconsider its earlier ruling that the 2012 law is unconstitutional. The law would have required physicians at the abortion clinic to obtain admitting privileges at a Jackson-area hospital. Hospitals would not grant the privileges to the out-of-state physicians.

EDUCATION

A group successfully petitioned to put an initiative on the November 2015 ballot, to require legislators to fulfill their own promises to fully fund an education budget formula. Late in 2014, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves joined his fellow Republican, Gov. Phil Bryant, in saying the state needs to distance itself from the Common Core academic standards.

CIVIL RIGHTS

Mississippi marks the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer, when civil rights activists worked in the state to register black voters. The state in 2014 also, for the first time, required voters to show government-issued photo identification at the polls. Supporters said voter ID protects the integrity of elections, while critics say it’s a solution in search of a problem because there has been little evidence of people trying to masquerade as others to cast ballots.

MARINE RESOURCES CORRUPTION

Former leaders and employees of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, including ex-director Bill Walker, were sentenced after being convicted on corruption charges.