2 dead in Washington and Mississippi as severe weather slams large parts of the country

Widespread showers and thunderstorms will continue Wednesday, with more than 50 million under alerts from the Ohio Valley to the Mid-Atlantic and as far south as the Gulf Coast.


March 12, 2026, 9:39 AM EDT / Updated March 12, 2026, 12:10 PM EDT

By Patrick Smith and Kathryn Prociv


Two people were killed in Washington and Mississippi, and hundreds of thousands are without power across the country as severe weather causes havoc across the nation.

Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue said that the person died in the city of Monroe, northeast of Seattle, when a tree fell on their vehicle. "Unfortunately, this incident turned out to be fatal for the only occupant in the vehicle," the fire service said on Facebook.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency reported one death and three injuries in Lawrence County, as well as storm damage to homes.

The severe West Coast weather comes as many parts of the country were hit by storms, including at least 27 tornadoes in the Midwest alone, in the last 48 hours. An elderly couple from Lake Village, Indiana, was killed Tuesday night, and multiple others were hospitalized as a result of tornadoes and a powerful long-track thunderstorm that lasted more than seven hours.

The Newton County Coroner's office confirmed that Edward L. Kozlowski, 89, and his wife, Arlene Kozlowski, 84, were killed when a tornado struck their home.

The National Weather Service office in Chicago preliminarily confirmed two tornadoes touched down in Illinois and Indiana on Tuesday, one of them rated EF-3 on the six-step Enhanced Fujita scale, meaning it had sustained wind speeds of 136 to 165 mph.

Hundreds of homes were damaged in Indiana, authorities said, with dozens completely destroyed. The NWS said that hail as large as 6 inches wide was found in Illinois.

A damaged vehicle lies upside down Wednesday in the aftermath of a powerful storm that ripped through the day before in Aroma Park, Ill.Nam Y. Huh / AP

2 churches vote to leave denomination

Photo courtesy of First United Methodist Church.

First United Methodist Church in Louisville, Miss., is one of two congregations whose members voted to withdraw from The United Methodist Church in March

2 churches vote to leave denomination




By Heather Hahn
April 3, 2018 | UMNS

Members of two Mississippi congregations led by the same pastor have chosen to leave The United Methodist Church.

At First United Methodist Church in Louisville, Mississippi, 175 people present voted to withdraw their membership from the denomination, six voted to remain and one was undecided. All 22 people gathered at nearby Bevil Hill United Methodist Church voted to leave.

The congregations’ vote on March 25, Palm Sunday, follows two large Mississippi Conference churches — The Orchard in Tupelo and Getwell Road in Southaven — exiting the denomination in 2017.

In all four cases, lead pastors expressed growing frustration with The United Methodist Church’s ongoing debate around how accepting the church should be of homosexuality.

“We feel like the direction of the church and the ability of the church to deal with the issues that it’s facing has deteriorated over a long period of time,” said the Rev. Mike Childs, the pastor of the two Louisville congregations. The churches are about 95 miles northeast of Jackson.

Childs said the votes' timing at the start of Holy Week was not intended as any kind of statement. It was set by the conference so five conference officials could attend.

The votes only mark the beginning of a process that could lead to the congregations’ departure.

“Both churches are still continued as United Methodist churches of the Mississippi Annual Conference with the Rev. Mike Childs as their appointed pastor,” said the conference’s Bishop James E. Swanson Sr. in a statement to the conference.

“Neither church has officially been closed as a United Methodist church,” the bishop added. “The results of those called church conferences only begin the process of discerning the viability of the churches and their future with The United Methodist Church.”

Righteous Defiance in Mississippi

VICE News 

Published on Jun 1, 2016


A Mississippi law that protects individuals, businesses, and even government employees who refuse to provide services for gay weddings will go into effect July 1.

The controversial legislation is one example of a spate of so-called "Religious Freedom" laws that carve out legal protections for people who object to gay marriage on religious grounds. The Mississippi law covers a range of professions who don't want to provide their services to members of the LGBT community, from therapists, to adoption services, and wedding DJs.

Critics of the law say it discriminates against an LGBT minority in an overwhelmingly Christian state. But supporters argue the law is necessary to protect Christians from a rising tide of anti-Christian discrimination and a growing cultural hostility across the United States to personal religious beliefs.

Read "Democrats Shout 'Shame!' as Republicans Overturn Vote to Prevent LGBT Discrimination” -http://bit.ly/1VwLbTD

Read "Judge Orders Mississippi School District to Desegregate, Ending Decades-Long Fight” -http://bit.ly/1Wx0sVr

Watch "Heritage and Hate: Mississippi’s State Flag” - http://bit.ly/1JOVsQ9

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Mississippi School District Fined Over $7,500 for 'Proselytizing Christianity' After Minister Prays at Event

BY SAMUEL SMITH , CP REPORTER
July 21, 2015|1:58 pm

(PHOTO: FACEBOOK/NORTHWEST RANKIN HIGH SCHOOL)

Northwest Rankin High School in Flowood, Rankin County, Mississippi.



A U.S. Federal District Court has fined Mississippi's third largest public school district $7,500 after a minister opened up a districtwide honors assembly with a prayer invocation, an act that violated a 2013 court settlement that ordered the district to stop "proselytizing Christianity."

U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves has for the second time ordered the Rankin County School District to stop allowing prayers to be held at school events. The judge has also banned the distribution of Bibles on school campuses.

The school district was ordered to pay a student plaintiff from Northwest Rankin High School in Flowood, who was represented by the American Humanist Association, $2,500 because the student attended an assembly at Brandon High School in May 2014 that began with a prayer led by local Methodist pastor the Rev. Rob Gill.

The assembly, which was not mandatory, was designated to honor all of the district's students who scored higher than a 22 on their ACT college tests.

The school district was additionally ordered to pay the student $5,000 because the lawsuit exposed that the school district allowed Gideons International to hand out Bibles to fifth graders at nearby Northwest Rankin Elementary School in October 2014.

Along with the $7,500 in fines, the school district will also have to pay the student's legal fees, an amount that will be determined at a later date. Reeves also threatened the school district with a $10,000 fine for any future infractions of the order.

The school district first came under legal fire when the same Northwest Rankin High student took the school district and the school's then-principal, Charles Frazier, to court in 2013 for forcing him to attend a series of assemblies that promoted Christianity.

The school district and the student then agreed on a settlement in which the district admitted it violated the student's First Amendment rights by forcing him to attend such assemblies, and also paid his legal fees.

But after being notified about Gill's prayer to start the honors ceremony in 2014, the AHA filed a motion accusing the district of being in contempt of court for failing to uphold its end of the settlement.

Although lawyers for the school district argued that Gill's prayer did not violate the 2013 orders or the student's First Amendment rights because attendance at the assembly was optional, Reeves did not side with the school district's arguments.

"The district's breach did not take very long and it occurred in a very bold way," Reeves wrote in his judgement. "Its conduct displays that the district did not make any effort to adhere to the agreed judgment."

In his summary, Reeves accused the school district of trying to indoctrinate students with Christianity.

"It deliberately went out of its way to entangle Christian indoctrination in the education process," the judge argued. "From the accounts detailed in the record, it appears that incorporating religious script and prayers with school activities has been a long-standing tradition of the district."

Rankin County Superintendent Lynn Weathersby said in a statement issued through school board attorney Fred Harrell that despite the court's ruling, students and teachers will continue to pray. However, district staff will have to adjust in order to comply with the ruling.

"As long as there is testing in schools, we believe that teachers, principals and students will continue to pray," Weathersby stated. "That being said, the school district will certainly abide by the order of any court to the best of its ability and will take whatever action necessary to make sure that all principals and teachers are updated on the current status of the law and that order."

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Medgar Evers’ Murder: 50 Years Later

By Kate Bubacz
Jun 12, 2013 6:00am

It has been 50 years since the shocking slaying of Medgar Evers. The civil rights activist and NAACP field secretary fought for equality on many levels, from organizing voter drives and protests against discrimination, to calling for legal investigations into school segregation and the lynching of Emmett Till.

Evers was returning from a meeting when he was gunned down by a white supremacist in the driveway of his Mississippi home. His death, coming just hours after a speech on civil rights by President John F. Kennedy, sparked a national outpouring of mourning and outrage.

Civil Rights Activist and NAACP Field Secretary Medgar Evers poses for a portrait circa 1960 in Jackson, Miss. (Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images)

Medgar Evers being interviewed by CBS Reports producer William ‘Bill’ Peters. The segment titled ‘Testament of a Murdered Man,’ conducted in the summer of 1962, was originally broadcast on June 12, 1963. (Getty Images)

Deputy Chief J.L. Ray (r) arrests Roy Wilkins (l), executive secretary of the NAACP, and Medgar Evers (c), NAACP field secretary who are picketing outside of a Woolworth’s department store in Jackson on June 1, 1963. (Bettmann/Corbis)

The hole in upper right of picture was made by a 30-30 caliber bullet which mortally wounded Medgar Evers, state field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Jackson, Miss., on June 12, 1963. A bullet passed through Evers into the window, which reflects the car where Evers was when he was shot in the back. (AP Photo)

White policemen wear hardhats and carry double-barrelled shotguns as they block mourners demonstrating at the funeral of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers, Jackson, June 15, 1963. (Express Newspapers/Getty Images)

In this June 15, 1963, file photo, mourners march to the Jackson, Miss., funeral home following services for slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. (AP Photo)

In this June 26, 1963, file photo, attendees at a memorial service for Medgar Evers sing a hymn at the Boston Commons in Boston.(AP Photo)

Mourners file past the open casket of Medgar Evers in Jackson, Miss., prior to funeral services for the slain integration leader. (AP Photo)

Charles Evers comforts his brother’s wife, Myrlie, at the funeral of her husband, slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. (Flip Schulke/CORBIS)

In this June 13, 1963, file photo, Myrlie Louise Evers, widow of civil rights activist Medgar Evers, leans down to kiss her late husband’s forehead.(AP Photo)

Mourners stand solemnly beside the casket of civil rights leader Medgar Evers at the Meridian train station. A WWII veteran, he was buried with full honors in Arlington Cemetary. (Flip Schulke/CORBIS)

Byron De La Beckwith was arrested for murder within weeks of Evers’ shooting. His first trial ended with a divided jury. With the persistence of Myrlie Evers, Beckwith was convicted and jailed in 1994.



Myrlie Evers recounts the conversation husband Medgar Evers had with her before his assassination on Good Morning America here.

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5 Tax-Friendly States for Retirees 2011

by Mary Beth Franklin
Friday, July 1, 2011

Where's the best state for you to retire? Here's a good place to start your search: These five impose the lowest taxes on retirees in the contiguous U.S., according to our research. All these retiree tax heavens exempt Social Security benefits from state income taxes. Many of them exclude government and military pensions from income taxes, too, or offer blanket exclusions up to a specific dollar amount for a wide variety of retirement income.

Although relocating to an income-tax-free state such as Florida or Texas may sound appealing, sometimes the best retirement destination is a state that imposes an income tax but offers generous exemptions for retirement income.

Once you narrow your search to a few key states, zero in on local taxes. Municipalities can impose hefty property taxes or other assessments, or they may layer local sales taxes on top of statewide levies. Federal taxes? If you claim the standard deduction, they'll be the same no matter where you live. But if you itemize your deductions, you'll be able to write off real estate taxes and state income taxes, reducing your federal tax bill and easing some of the pain.

#1 Wyoming

State Income Tax: None
State Sales Tax: 4%
Estate Tax/Inheritance Tax: No/No

Thanks to the abundant revenues that Wyoming collects from oil and mineral companies, its residents have one of the lowest tax burdens in the nation, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit research group in Washington, D.C. There is no state income tax. The state sales tax is 4%, and counties in the Equality State can only add up to 1% in additional levies -- a very low ceiling. Plus, prescription drugs and groceries are exempt from state sales taxes. For most property, only 9.5% of market value is subject to tax, so a home worth $100,000 is taxed on $9,500 of assessed value.

#2 Mississippi

State Income Tax: 3%-5%
State Sales Tax: 7%
Estate Tax/Inheritance Tax: No/No

Mississippi offers a sweet income-tax deal for retirees. It not only exempts Social Security benefits from state income taxes but also excludes all qualified retirement income -- including pensions, annuities, and IRA and 401(k) distributions. Remaining income is taxed at a maximum 5%. In addition, the Magnolia State is home to some of the lowest property taxes in the nation. Residential property is taxed at 10% of assessed value, and seniors qualify for a homestead exemption on the first $75,000 of value. The statewide sales tax is 7%, and counties and cities may add up to 3% to the state rate. But prescription drugs and health care services are exempt.

#3 Pennsylvania

State Income Tax: Flat rate of 3.07%
State Sales Tax: 6%
Estate Tax/Inheritance Tax: Yes/Yes

True to its Quaker roots, Pennsylvania extends a friendly hand to retirees. It offers unusually generous exclusions from state income tax on a wide variety of retirement income. Pennsylvania does not tax Social Security benefits or any type of public or private pensions. Nor does it nick distributions from 401(k)s, IRAs, deferred-compensation plans or other retirement accounts. Remaining income is taxed at a low, flat rate of 3.07%. Food, clothing and medicine are exempt from state sales taxes. Property taxes can be high in the Keystone State, especially near larger cities, but rates vary widely. One caveat for the wealthy: Your heirs won’t get off so easily. Pennsylvania is one of the few states to have both an inheritance tax, paid by the heirs, and an estate tax -- though it applies only when an estate is large enough to trigger federal estate taxes ($5 million or more).

#4 Kentucky

State Income Tax: 2%-6%
State Sales Tax: 6%
Estate Tax/Inheritance Tax: No/Yes

The home of the Kentucky Derby is a good bet for retirees. It exempts Social Security benefits from state income taxes, and it allows residents to exclude up to $41,110 per person in retirement income from a wide variety of sources, including public and private pensions and annuities. Personal income-tax rates range from 2% to 6%. A 6% sales tax is imposed at the state level only. Homeowners 65 and older qualify for a homestead provision that exempts part of the value of their property from state taxes. The Bluegrass State has an inheritance tax, but immediate family members are exempt.

#5 Alabama

State Income Tax: 2%-5%
State Sales Tax: 4%
Estate Tax/Inheritance Tax: No/No
Alabama is a tax haven for retirees. Social Security benefits, as well as military, public and private defined-benefit pensions, are excluded from state income taxes. Remaining income is taxed at the state's low rates, which range from 2% to 5%. Alabama also has some of the lowest property taxes in the U.S. Homeowners 65 and older are exempt from state property taxes, but some cities assess their own property tax. The only downside is sales taxes. Although the statewide rate is just 4%, cities and counties in the Yellowhammer State can impose their own levies, and together the taxes can add up to a whopping 10% or more in some cities. Food is taxed, but prescription drugs are not.

Visit Kiplinger for more tax-friendly states for retirees.

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GALEN HOLLEY: It’s a small world, even for Catholics and Adventists

Photo (Courtesy) http://nems360.com/view/full_story/5719492/article-Colts--Galen--vs--Saints--Chris--Who-will-win-the-Super-Bowl-?instance=secondary_stories_left_column

by Galen Holley/NEMS Daily Journal Nems360.Com
6 days ago

I get a lot of kidding about being Catholic. I even get some mean-spirited criticism. A year after I started working here one of my critics wrote in. To paraphrase, he said, “I detect, Mr. Holley, a strong, Roman Catholic emphasis on the religion page. You should know that most of your readers aren’t Catholic.”

I’m still scratching my head over that one. In the three years I’ve been here I can count the number of Catholic features I’ve done on one hand.

During my time here I’ve made a lot of friends among the ranks of Northeast Mississippi pastors. Ray Elsberry, the pastor at Tupelo Seventh-Day Adventist Church, is one of them. I liked Bro. Ray the moment I met him. He’s an old-fashioned country preacher, complete with walking cane and suspenders. He’s also a sincere, good-natured man who can laugh at himself.

One of these days I mean to ask Ray, given that Seventh-Day Adventists generally follow such healthy dietary guidelines, how, like me, he’s managed to become so rotund.

When I interview Ray he tends to start almost every sentence with, “Now, don’t take this the wrong way, Galen.” When he says that I know he’s about to lower the boom on the Catholic Church.

Ray will inevitably bring up how pope so-and-so, back in the 300’s, did something awful. I’ll say, “Well, OK,” and Ray and I will both end up laughing.

Perhaps Ray and I get along so well because we both belong to denominations that a lot of people around here think are weird.

When many people hear mention of Seventh-Day Adventists they think of David Koresh, the man whose insanity brought about his own death and those of dozens of his followers when the FBI raided their Texas compound in 1993.

As Ray explains it to me, the Branch Davidians, of which Koresh and his followers were members, are about as far removed from actual Seventh-Day Adventists as members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, many of whom are polygamists, are from actual LDS.

In both cases, the only connection between the groups dates back to a split that happened decades ago, and, in both cases, neither group today has anything to do with the other.

I don’t think Ray and the members of his church are weird. They hold some different beliefs than I do, but, when you stop and think about, most religious people hold some pretty weird beliefs.

Christianity in general makes some pretty outrageous claims. Most of its basic tenets are offensive to the rational mind.

In researching this story I discovered that the place where I attended graduate school, the roof under which I slept for a year, in cozy Takoma Park, Maryland, is the building that formerly housed the world headquarters of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. The denomination’s current headquarters is one Metro stop north, in Silver Spring.

I’m pretty sure, based on the mutual distrust between Adventists and Catholics, that my school had to buy the building through a third party.

I haven’t mentioned a word of this to Ray, so he’s probably reading it now for the first time. It’s a small world, isn’t it Ray, old buddy?

Contact Daily Journal religion editor Galen Holley at 678-1510 or galen.holley@djournal.com

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Hurricane watch issued for coastal La., Miss.

This image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Ida taken at 12:02 a.m. EST Sunday Nov. 11, 2009. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Ida's winds had picked up to 75 mph (120 kph), making it a Category 1 storm. Ida plowed into Nicaragua's Atlantic coast on Thursday as a Category 1 hurricane, damaging 500 homes along with bridges, power lines, roads and public buildings. The hurricane was on a path that would take it through the middle of the Yucatan Channel that separates Mexico and Cuba on Sunday. Forecasters predict Ida will enter the Gulf of Mexico, eventually weaken again to tropical storm strength and possibly brush the U.S. Gulf Coast next week. (AP Photo/NOAA)

By Catherine E. Shoichet
Associated Press Writer / November 8, 2009


Source: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/11/08/ida_becomes_hurricane_as_it_nears_cancun_mexico/

MIAMI—A hurricane watch has been issued for coastal Louisiana and Mississippi as Hurricane Ida begins making its way through the Gulf of Mexico toward the U.S.

Ida could reach the northern Gulf Coast by Tuesday.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Sunday morning that the watch does not include New Orleans and stretches from Grand Isla, La., to the Mississippi-Alabama state line. The watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours.

A hurricane warning remained in effect for parts of the Yucatan Peninsula meaning hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours.

Ida's winds remained at 90 mph (150 kph), making it a Category 1 storm. It was moving toward the northwest at 10 mph (17 kph) and was centered about 75 miles (120 km) northeast of Cozumel, Mexico.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

CANCUN, Mexico (AP) -- Ida grew into a hurricane for a second time as it roared over the Caribbean on a path that could take it between Mexico's resort-studded Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba before heading for the southern United States.

Tour operators and fishermen along Mexico's Caribbean coast, including Cancun, pulled their boats out of the water Saturday in anticipation of rains and winds from Ida's outer bands. But the hurricane appeared unlikely to make direct hits on either Mexico or Cuba, with its forecast track passing over the Yucatan Channel that separates the countries on Sunday.

Cancun's beaches were empty on Saturday as rain began pelting down, but tourists walked the streets under umbrellas or improvised rain ponchos. Most appeared unconcerned.

"We're not too worried. I'll get some good pictures," said Steve Rydgren, a 30-year-old photographer from Seattle, as he arrived in Cancun for a one-year anniversary vacation with his 29-year-old wife Stacy.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Ida's winds had picked up to 90 mph (150 kph), making it a Category 1 storm. Ida plowed into Nicaragua's Atlantic coast on Thursday as a Category 1 hurricane, laying waste to 500 homes and damaging bridges, power lines, roads and public buildings, before weakening into a tropical storm.

Forecasters predicted Ida would weaken over the Gulf of Mexico to tropical storm strength and possibly brush the U.S. Gulf Coast next week. The hurricane center forecast that Ida could strengthen to Category 2 later Sunday.

Realtor Beth Conway, 41, from Sacramento, California, said she was happy just to be in Cancun.

"We don't really care if it's rainy or sunny," Conway said as she gathered her luggage at the Cancun airport. "We were just hoping they weren't going to cancel our flight."

Mexico issued a hurricane warning for parts of the Yucatan Peninsula, from Playa del Carmen to Cabo Catoche, including Cancun and Cozumel. That means hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours. Continued...

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