By SARAH SMITH
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – The Mississippi House has halted a push to require that universities fly the state’s Confederate-themed flag.
Republican Rep. William Shirley of Quitman persuaded the House last week to withhold a tax break from universities that don’t fly the flag. But a committee chairman pledged to kill the bill by not bringing it up for a vote. Quitman tried to attach the proposal to two higher-education budget bills on Monday, but the House narrowly rejected that effort.
All eight of Mississippi’s public universities stopped flying the flag, which prominently features the Confederate battle emblem, angering flag supporters.
Shirley says universities should be required to fly the state flag, regardless of what symbols adorn it, if they take state money.
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