Featured
Max and Israel Makoka Were Waiting for a Hancock High School Bus. ICE Took the Brothers Instead.
Hancock County, Mississippi, high school students Max and Israel Makoka are supposed to be at school, with Israel only weeks away from graduation. But while waiting for a school bus, ICE took and detained the brothers over a paperwork issue neither they nor their host family knew about.
ALL RECENT STORIES >
RECENT News
Mississippi Supreme Court Revives Ex-Gov. Phil Bryant’s Defamation Lawsuit Over Welfare Scandal Reporting
The Mississippi Supreme Court has revived former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant’s defamation lawsuit against nonprofit news site Mississippi Today over its welfare scandal reporting, putting the case on track to go before a Madison County jury.
Culture
Alumni and Community Leaders Outline Their Top Qualities for Mississippi University for Women’s Next President
Mississippi University for Women alumni, staff and Columbus city officials spoke to IHL board members on April 14 on what they wanted to see in their next president.
Voices
Editor’s Note | We Unknowingly Published an AI Column by a Fake Author. Here’s What Happened.
The editorial team at the Mississippi Free Press discovered we published a column written by a fake author using artificial intelligence. Here’s what happened and what we’re doing to prevent this from happening in the future.
Award-Winning MFP JournaLism
Mississippi Free Press Awards Roll: 108 Honors for MFP Team, 8 for YMP, Since 2020
As of July 25, 2025, our team is up to 108 national and U.S. regional awards and finalist nods since we launched in late March 2020.
More STORIES
Person of the Day | Thalia Vrantsidis: Starkville Professor Examines Why People Gravitate to Easy Answers
Mississippi State University Assistant Professor of Psychology Thalia Vrantsidis won the Psychonomic Society’s 2025 Best Article Award last November for her paper delving into why…
Denise Jones Gregory Named 14th President of Jackson State University
The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning named Dr. Denise Jones Gregory as the 14th president of Jackson State University on April…
Museum Reopening Restores Perry County History
More than two decades after Hurricane Katrina disrupted Perry County’s historical museum, the county is set to reopen the space April 18 in Runnelstown, restoring…
Jackson’s Lemuria Books Staff Surprised Owner With Mississippi Writers Trail Marker at 50th Anniversary Event
While Lemuria’s employees learned the Jackson, Mississippi, bookstore was set to be added to the Mississippi Writers Trail in January, they kept the news under…