Phil Bryant: School funding formula ‘a 1992 model’

JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — Mississippi lawmakers will consider more than $275 million in incentives starting Thursday for a Hinds County tire plant and a Gulfport shipyard that could cumulatively invest more than $1.5 billion and […]

Mississippi lawmakers can expect to be pulled in opposite directions this year on a big-dollar question of whether to expand Medicaid.

Gov. Phil Bryant and fellow Republicans who lead the House and Senate say they oppose expansion because they believe the state can’t afford to put millions more dollars into the federal-state health insurance program for the needy.

On the other side, health advocates say Mississippi – one of the poorest states in the nation – can’t afford to turn down billions of federal dollars that would come with expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, the federal health care law that President Barack Obama signed in 2010. Hospitals and other providers want lawmakers to consider the economic benefits that could come from an influx of money from Washington. […]

Voters will select a successor to the late Sen. Alice Harden on Feb. 5.

If no candidate wins a majority, a runoff will be held Feb. 26.

Gov. Phil Bryant set the election dates Tuesday. Candidates, who will run without party labels, must qualify by Jan. 7. Senate District 28 covers parts of Hinds County. […]