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(Democratic Candidate Kenny Johnson answers questions from a registered voter while filing to run for Forrest County Sheriff at Forrest County Circuit Court.) "Soon I hope to be the 'People's Sheriff!" Kenny Johnson has entered the race for Forrest County Sheriff demanding a rematch to the race he unsuccessfully competed for 4 years ago. This time, Johnson, who has over 20+ years as law enforcement, has leveled the playing field by running as a Democrat, the way in which he's voted his entire life. Johnson says this race however is bigger than politics and is more about all the people of Forrest County as his supporters are now describing him as "The People's Sheriff!" Speaking exclusively with Hattiesburg News, Johnson says he intends to make Forrest County, "A county for everybody" in which "everybody has a seat at the table and everybody's voice is heard." Johnson, like many candidates kicking off their campaigns this year, says it's time to move Forrest County forward. "This race is not about how bad one individual is doing as an elected official, but how much better we can be doing as a community as a whole," Johnson said, reflecting on his time as a law enforcement at the Sheriff's Department. Forrest County is a great place to live, play, and work. We've made tremendous progress as a county but there's way more progression still to be made!" the democratic candidate exclaimed. Making this race more serious and much more interesting is the fact that Johnson is now a democratic candidate, leveling the playing field in which he previously ran as a independent, losing to a big running well financed republican machine. “I’m humbled by the gravity of the historic opportunity to serve as the First African American Sheriff in the place where my heart lies, Forrest County. I simply desire to make a change in the community that I love tremendously. My ticket say democrat but my blood bleeds Forrest County. I'm a people's guy. Soon I hope to be the People's Sheriff!" an excited Johnson told Hattiesburg News. If Johnson wins, he will be only the second African American to win a county wide election, behind Judge Carol Jones Russell who was the first African American to be elected to a county wide position. Will Forrest County elect its first African American Sheriff? Now, sticking true to who he is running as an actual democrat, this race is a toss up at best.

Hattiesburg's Former First Lady Johniece DuPree moments after filing to run for public office at the Forrest County Circuit Clerk's Office in Hattiesburg, MS. "My main goal as election commissioner is protecting the right to vote!" All smiles. For the first time in her life, Hattiesburg's first African American First Lady has decided to run for political office, making this decision another historic moment given the fact that her husband, Dr. Johnny DuPree, served as Hattiesburg Mississippi's first African American Mayor for 16 consecutive years, becoming the longest serving mayor in Hattiesburg's history. A famous quote reads, "Behind every great man there's a great woman!" That quote serves true to Johniece DuPree, as she has been the secret weapon behind her husband's successful political campaigns and whom yesterday, filed to run for Forrest County Election Commissioner District 2 to replace current Forrest County Election Commissioner Katie McGee who's not seeking re-election. Mrs. DuPree is not the first First Lady to serve in a political office. Dating back since Oliver Hazard Perry Jones served as Hattiesburg's first mayor in 1865, the first First Lady to hold a political office was First Lady D. W. Holmes, who was provisionally appointed to serve as Mayor of The City of Hattiesburg after her husband, Mayor D. W. Holmes was killed in office by a drunk driver on December 18, 1950. However, Mrs. DuPree is the 1st First Lady of Hattiesburg to actually run for a political office. Making the occasion even more historic, given the fact that Mrs. DuPree served as the first African American First Lady, is her purpose for running in which she tells Hattiesburg News is to ensure the equal right to vote for all citizens of Forrest County, especially African Americans; a right that had to be federally enforced by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on June 16, 1965, not only after then Forrest County Circuit Clerk Theron C. Lynd refused to allow black people to register to vote but also because the United States District Court refused to grant an injunction to let black people register to vote in Forrest County, Mississippi. This case, United States of America, Appellant, v. Theron C. Lynd, Circuit Clerk and Registrar of Voters of Forrest County; and the State of Mississippi, Appellees, 349 F.2d 785 (5th Cir. 1965), set precedent and changed American history by enforcing the right that all African Americans could freely register to vote without discriminations anywhere in America including in the deep South, and more specifically in Forrest County, a county named after the founder & first Supreme Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan, Nathan Bedford Forrest. According to former first lady, she is running to preserve that freedom that blacks actually got only 58 years ago, compared that to the fact that America itself is 247 years old. Reflecting on that history, Mrs. DuPree tells Hattiesburg News, "My main goal as election commissioner is protecting the right to vote!" Asked how she plans to protect the right to vote, she says she will introduce her 3 V strategy: "Voter Education, Voter Registration, & Voter Participation." Asked by Hattiesburg News how she will explement her strategy, she softly whispered, "Well, God's willing, we have to win this election first!" Mrs. DuPree went into great detail about how humble she is by the opportunity to seek public office to continue serving the people in her community. "Although this is my first election, I'm in love with the great people for Forrest County. I'm in love with helping people. I'm in love with serving people. I'm humbled and excited that God has blessed me with this opportunity to continue to do what I love to do best, helping all God's children," candidate DuPree passionately expressed. A very well respected pillar in the community, Mrs. DuPree is poised to run unopposed. Her passion to ensure the freedoms that so many have sacrificed their lives to make possible, made her actions yesterday, filing immediately after the Martin Luther King holiday, that much more significant. Mrs. DuPree was accompanied by her daughter, Dr. Monica DuPree, a university professor, and her husband, Mayor Emeritus Dr. Johnny DuPree, a decorated public servant. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook @TheHattiesburgNews.

The Martin Luther King Community Development Cooperation isn't having a Martin Luther King Day parade, but it is having a big Martin Luther King Weekend. Here's the lineup sponsored by the organization: Saturday, January 14 5K Healthy You Walk/Run Sawmill Square Mall, Laurel Registration starts at 7:00am. The event kicks off official at 8:00am. Sunday, January 15 Memorial Service Morning Star Baptist Church The event kicks off at 6:00pm Monday, January 16 MLK 2023 Annual Prayer/Scholarship Breakfast Sanderson Farms Headquarters 127 Flynt Road, Laurel, MS The event kicks off at 8:00am. The MLK Community Development Corporation’s Annual Scholarship Banquet, which has been conducted over the years, has been an evening of celebration and awareness that showcased the young people and the MLK CDC’s Annual Prayer Breakfast has been a time of prayer and focusing on community togetherness. This year, the group will combine the activities and allow the young people to be showcased during its Annual Prayer Breakfast/Scholarship Event that will be held at 8 a.m. on , Dr. King National Holiday, at the Sanderson Farms Headquarters on Flynt Road. Bishop Stafford J.N. Wicker will be the keynote speaker at this year’s event. The theme for this year is “The Color of Unity.” The event will include youth presentations, speeches about unity and working together and live music and entertainment. Throughout the years, the group has obtained prominent speakers for this important occasion that also includes the showcasing of young talented students from within the community. Among the previous keynote speakers for this event are Mississippi Supreme Court Judge Leslie King, former Hattiesburg Superintendent James Bacchus and Forrest County Justice Court Judge Gay Polk-Payton, Former Hattiesburg Mayor and state candidate Johnny Dupree and the Jefferson Davis County Justice Court Judge Ronald “Ronnie” Barnes. This year’s speaker at the Prayer Breakfast/Scholarship Event will be the Right Reverend Stafford J.N. Wicker, the Presiding Bishop of the Eighth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (which consists of the AME Churches in the states of Mississippi and Louisiana). James said the MLK CDC is encouraging all residents to participate in its activities. Anyone needing more information concerning the list of events being sponsored by the MLK CDC can contact any member of the committee or call Rev. Jerry James Sr. at 601-480-1954.

"To say no trauma (died} of natural causes, nah! We're still waiting on stuff to come in!" says Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict in new exclusive one on one interview. In one of the biggest high profile missing person cases in Mississippi, longtime respected Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict speaks out in an exclusive interview, after the community was shocked and outraged when the media begin reporting a statement released from his office that Johnnie Bennett, 50, the reported missing father of 8, who was found dead on the banks of the Bouie River on Sunday, December 4, 2022, died of natural causes and ruled NO foul play involved. Here's what we know based on investigation reports, family members, and witnesses familiar with the case: A few days before Thanksgiving, Tuesday, November 22, 2022, Johnnie Bennett was reported missing to the Hattiesburg Police Department by his wife, Allison Pugh, who claimed in her report, no one had last seen Johnnie in over 2 weeks since Friday, November 4, 2022, since leaving the hospital. She claimed she was immediately court ordered to mandatory rehab in Jackson, MS after she and her new born baby tested positive for drugs and hadn't seen her husband since leaving the hospital for rehab. Allison stated she tried reaching Johnnie several times, but he didn't answer her calls or respond to her text messages once in rehab. When she couldn't reach Johnnie, she claimed she reached out to a friend name Ronnie Martin, whom they had been living with, in which he told her that he hadn't seen Johnnie since they had an argument. It was later discovered the argument was over how Johnnie was treating Allision, according to Ronnie. Allison claimed she was kicked out of rehab and left Jackson, MS from rehab on Friday, November 18, 2022 and instead of going back home to Ronnie's house were she had been previously living, she instead went back to her parents home in Petal, MS. According to family, Allison told a family member on Saturday, November 19, 2022 during a facetime call that Johnnie had just left and went to work and everybody was doing fine when the family member called to speak to Johnnie so that Johnnie's one year old daughter could wish him a happy birthday, which would have been the following day, Sunday, November 20. The next day, Sunday, November 20, 2022 on Johnnie's Birthday, Allison "hacked" his Facebook account and posted a "Happy Birthday" post to Johnnie, shockingly, never mentioning Johnnie was missing or that she hadn't heard from him since Friday, November 4. A month later after he was reported missing, Johnnie's body was found on Sunday, December 4, 2022 on the outskirts of Hattiesburg, Mississippi by local residents in a community known as Glendale, while they were out fishing in the Bouie River. The residents discovered what they thought was a manakin from a distance, then thought perhaps it was a white person as they got closer, only to discover it was the missing dad of 8, Johnnie Bennett. Forrest County Deputy Coroner Lisa Klem issued a statement a few days later that sent shockwaves through the community; there was "no foul play" involved in Johnnie's death and he died of "natural causes." The coroner also noted that Johnnie's body had been in the river for weeks as the body began to decompose, but shockingly, said he didn't drown. By the 1,000's, the community was outraged. How did Johnnie end up in the Bouie River? If he didn't drown, how then did Johnnie actually die? With so much confusion in the community, Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict speaks out during an exclusive one on one interview with Johnnie's oldest son, Derrian Moye, the University of Southern Mississippi's 'Hometown Hero' Lifetime Achievement Honoree, in which the longtime coroner explains he can't rule out foul play or professionally say Johnnie died of natural causes and pleads with the public for help. We begin our special investigative report with this exclusive interview with the coroner and the victim's eldest son as both search for answers of what really happen to Johnnie Bennett.

The Ray E. Foundation which hosts the Hattiesburg Juneteenth Celebration every year has canceled the celebration that was to take place tomorrow, Saturday, June 18, 2021 at Vernon Dahmer Park, as it's expected to be horrible weather. The weather includes thunderstorms and possible tornados. Yesterday, President Joe Biden made Juneteenth an official federal holiday of Independence for African Americans. This is a developing story.

"This will be the greatest honor of my life as President of the United States!" exclaimed President Joe Biden moments before he signed Juneteenth as a federal holiday. Juneteenth is the day that African Americans celebrate as their independence day, the day that the United States rode to Texas to enforce the President's order to free the slaves. Juneteenth was first celebrated outside of Texas in Hattiesburg, MS and is the oldest celebration in the history of Hattiesburg. It's founder was Marian H. W. Reed. Each year, Marian's son, Rev. Ray A. Smith, through the Ray E Foundation, continues her legacy and organizes the event in Hattiesburg each year. Notable, Former Assistant Director & Former Host of Juneteenth, Derrian "Mr. Hattiesburg" Moye, said this is a long standing victory for his family and the community. Collectively his family oversee the black history celebrations throughout the city, as his organization, Hattiesburg Management Group, oversees the Black History celebrations in February and his uncle, Rev. Ray A. Smith, organizes Juneteenth in June. "I spoke with Uncle Tony earlier today to congratulate him on Juneteenth being an official holiday. I know the hard fought struggle that he's had to endure nationally to make this day happen, he and the National Juneteenth organization, in which he is a board member. I think Aunt Marian would be proud to see her son carry her legacy on each and every year, bringing our community together!" said Moye. Vice President Kamala Harris made clear that Junenteeth is not the end of slavery. Slavery ended 2 1/2 years early. Juneteenth was first celebrated 156 years ago as black slaves in Texas claimed their freedom. It wasn't until 6 months later that the 13 amendment was ratified to end slavery. The Vice President said, "We must learn and teach our children our history. It's apart of American History." Vice President Harris also noted that we are standing "footsteps away from were Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation," giving very historical context to the moment. President Biden said that signing this bill means "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning!" He also noted this is the first national holiday since four decades ago when Martin Luther King Jr. was consecrated a federal holiday. He went on to say that, "Hate doesn't go away it hides" but "great nations don't ignore painful moments, they embrace them." Biden signed the bill into law and gave the first pen to Rep. Sheila Jackson, the author of the bill that made Juneteenth law. Hattiesburg Juneteenth Celebration is schedule to take place this Saturday at Vernon Dahmer Park.

The biggest race in the Pinebelt was Hattiesburg's Mayoral Race between Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker and Challenger Lakeylah White. More than 6,000 people voted for Toby reelecting him to his second term. In Laurel, Mayor Johnny Magee is won his re-election but came very close to a run-off against Miranda Beard. Here's the result of Tuesday's election: Hattiesburg: (I) Toby Barker- Mayor (R) Jeffrey George- Ward 1 (R) Carter Carroll- Ward 3 (I) Dave Ware- Ward 4 Laurel : (D) Johnny Magee- Mayor (I) Jason Capers- Ward 1 (D) Shirley Keys- Jordan- Ward 7 Bay Springs: (I) Donald E. Brown- Mayor Beaumont: (I) Scotty Dailey- Mayor Collins: (D) Bob Shoemake Columbia: (R) Mike Smith- Board of Alderman Ward 4 Ellisville: (R) Lynn Buckhaults- Mayor (R) Ola Mitchell- Alderman At Large (R) Jeffrey Williams- Alderman Ward 2 Heidelberg: (I) David Taylor II- Mayor New Augusta: (I) Steve Spicer- Mayor Purvis: Roger Herrin- Mayor Richton: (R) Michael Ruffin- Mayor Sandersville: Robert White- Mayor State Line: Willie Miller- Mayor Soso: Ralph Cahill Jr.- Mayor Sumrall: William Lofton- Mayor Lamar Reed- Alderman Ward 1 Pam Graves- Alderman Ward 3 Darrell Hall- Alderman Ward 4 Waynesboro: (I) Kevin Stevens- Alderman At Large (I) Tim Cochran- Alderman Ward 1 (I) Albert Busby- Alderman Ward 2 (I) Tammie Wilson- Alderman Ward 3 (I) Michael Norsworthy- Alderman Ward 4

Strange as the weather is in the south, you can now expect rain everyday this week, the weekend and the start of next week every single day expect Friday. However, Friday makes up for rain as it's forecasted to be at least 90 degrees. Wednesday, showers and thunderstorms likely with a high near 88. Then on Thursday, there's a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms with a high of 89. Thank God It's Friday, as the saying goes, as there is no rain but there is plenty of heat as the high is expected to be around 90 degrees. Going into the weekend, Saturday is a 20% chance of rain but getting hotter with highs around 91 degrees. Sunday showers increase to a 40% chance of showers yet still hot with highs around 90 degrees. Moving into next week, Monday there's a 30 % chance of showers with a high of 90 degrees. Then Tuesday, there a likely chance of more showers with a high of 91 degrees. You can always check weather 24 hours a day by visiting www.thehattiesburgnews.com/weather to get the latest updates.

GREENVILLE, Miss. (AP) — A Black woman, for the first time, will become a chief federal judge in Mississippi. Court officials said in a news release Monday that U.S. District Judge Debra M. Brown will become the chief judge of the state’s northern judicial district during a ceremony Friday in Greenville. She will receive the gavel from U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock , who remains on the federal bench but is ending a seven-year term in the top spot in the district. Brown was nominated to the federal bench in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama. She will be the first Black woman to serve as a chief judge in either of the state’s two federal court districts.

In a major step toward returning to pre-pandemic life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people on Thursday, allowing them to stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings according to the Associated Press. “Today is a great day for America,” President Joe Biden said during a Rose Garden address heralding the new guidance. “If you are fully vaccinated, you no longer need to wear a mask,” he said, summarizing the new guidance and encouraging more Americans to roll up their sleeves. “Get vaccinated — or wear a mask until you do.” The guidance still calls for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters, but it will help clear the way for reopening workplaces, schools, and other venues — even removing the need for social distancing for those who are fully vaccinated. “We have all longed for this moment — when we can get back to some sense of normalcy,” said Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said at an earlier White House briefing. The CDC and the Biden administration have faced pressure to ease restrictions on fully vaccinated people — those who are two weeks past their last required COVID-19 vaccine dose — in part to highlight the benefits of getting the shot. The country’s aggressive vaccination campaign has paid off: U.S. virus cases are at their lowest rate since September, deaths are at their lowest point since last April and the test positivity rate is at the lowest point since the pandemic began. Walensky said the long-awaited change is thanks to the millions of people who have gotten vaccinated and is based on the latest science about how well those shots are working. “Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities -– large or small — without wearing a mask or physically distancing,” Walensky said. “If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic.” The new guidance is likely to open the door to confusion, since there is no surefire way for businesses or others to distinguish between those who are fully vaccinated and those who are not. Walensky and Biden said people who are not fully vaccinated should continue to wear masks indoors. “We’ve gotten this far — please protect yourself until you get to the finish line,” Biden said, noting that most Americans under 65 are not yet fully vaccinated. He said the government was not going to enforce the mask wearing guidance on those not yet fully vaccinated. “We’re not going to go out and arrest people,” added Biden, who said he believes the American people want to take care of their neighbors. “If you haven’t been vaccinated, wear your mask for your own protection and the protection of the people who also have not been vaccinated yet.” To date about 154 million Americans, more than 46% of the population, have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and more than 117 million are fully vaccinated. The rate of new vaccinations has slowed in recent weeks, but with the authorization Wednesday of the Pfizer shot for children ages 12 to 15, a new burst of doses is expected in the coming days. “All of us, let’s be patient, be patient with one another,” Biden said, acknowledging some Americans might be hesitant about removing their masks after more than a year of living in a pandemic that has killed more than 580,000 in the U.S. and more than 3.3 million people worldwide. Just two weeks ago, the CDC recommended that fully vaccinated people continue to wear masks indoors in all settings and outdoors in large crowds. Walensky said evidence from the U.S. and Israel shows the vaccines are as strongly protective in real world use as they were in earlier studies, and that so far they continue to work even though some worrying mutated versions of the virus are spreading. The more people continue to get vaccinated, the faster infections will drop — and the harder it will be for the virus to mutate enough to escape vaccines, she stressed, urging everyone 12 and older who is not yet vaccinated to sign up. And while some people still get COVID-19 despite being vaccinated, Walensky said, that’s rare. She cited evidence that those infections tend to be milder, shorter and harder to spread to others. If people who are vaccinated do develop COVID-19 symptoms, they should immediately put their mask back on and get tested, she said. There are some caveats. Walensky encouraged people who have weak immune systems, such as from organ transplants or cancer treatment, to talk with their doctors before shedding their masks. That’s because of continued uncertainty about whether the vaccines can rev up a weakened immune system as well as they do normal, healthy ones. The new guidance had an immediate effect at the White House, which has taken a cautious approach to easing virus restrictions. Staffers were informed that masks are no longer required for people who are fully vaccinated. And Biden, who was meeting with vaccinated Republican lawmakers in the Oval Office when the guidance was announced, led the group in removing their masks Thursday afternoon. First lady Jill Biden, who was traveling in West Virginia, told reporters that “we feel naked,” after the guidance, as she and her party removed their face coverings. Then she paused. “I didn’t mean it that way!”

3 weeks away for what is scheduled to be one of the most interesting elections yet as the voters of Hattiesburg will decide who controls the Hattiesburg City Council. The city council controls all of the money for Hattiesburg, the city's policies, and amending or creating new laws for the city. This is interesting because for the first time since the council was created, there's a slight possibility that 4 out of the 5 city council members could be African Americans. For the record, although Hattiesburg is a majority African American city, the city council has always been controlled by the minority, in this case, white Americans. But that could all change which would be huge depending on if either 1 out of the 2 African American candidates win their election on June 8. Who are they? Picasso Nelson who is running in Ward 3 against City Council President Carter Carroll and Ken Chambers who is running in Ward 1 against Councilman Jeffrey George. Ken Chambers has a greater chance of winning than Picasso Nelson because more African Americans live in Ward 1 than in Ward 3. However, Nelson is not completely out of the race although him defeating the current city council president would be a huge upset. Chambers poses the greatest threat to the current status quo and perhaps is the reason he's been targeted. First, George filed papers asking he be disqualified by the Democratic Party but they decline which led him to challenge Chambers in court. The special appointed judge allowed Chambers to still run which was a blow to George losing his challenge in court and now must face Chambers in the general election on June 8. Then Chambers was abruptly arrested and his mugshot was blasted on all local media. People we spoke with in the community of all races viewed this as an attempt to make Chambers look bad to voters. He was arrested on a secret indictment according to our sources from a charge from years ago. The charge is a dispute over $500 with one of his friends which doesn't warrant a secret indictment according to judicial experts. According to a source, Chambers name doesn't appear on Forrest County indictment list which is why it is under federal review by the Justice Department to see if Chambers was racially targeted violating his Civil Rights or was it an attempt to suppress or illegally influence the upcoming election. If either Chambers or Nelson can get more people to come out and vote for either one of them, that mean the agenda in Hattiesburg shifts dramatically with more funding going to the local school district, black communities, and the rise of more black businesses.

The Mississippi Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a life sentence for a man convicted of a marijuana possession charge because he had previous convictions and those made him a habitual offender according to the Associated Press. Allen Russell, 38, was sentenced to life in Forrest County in 2019 after a jury found him guilty of possession of more than 30 grams (1.05 ounces) of marijuana. In Mississippi, a person can be sentenced to life without parole after serving at least one year in prison on two separate felonies, one of which must be a violent offense. Russell was convicted on two home burglaries in 2004 and for unlawful possession of a firearm in 2015. By law, burglary is a violent offense in Mississippi, whether or not there is proof that violence occurred. That was not the case when Russell was sentenced for home burglary in 2004. Then, burglary was only considered a violent crime if there was proof of violence. The law changed in 2014. In his appeal, Russell argued that a life sentence constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment and is grossly disproportionate” to his crime of marijuana possession. The Court of Appeals disagreed in its majority opinion, stating that Russell’s life sentence is in accordance with Mississippi law. Russell is not being sentenced solely for having marijuana, but for being a habitual offender, the judges said. But several dissenting judges argued that the court can — and should — make exceptions. “The purpose of the criminal justice system is to punish those who break the law, deter them from making similar mistakes, and give them the opportunity to become productive members of society,” Judge Latrice Westbrooks wrote. “The fact that judges are not routinely given the ability to exercise discretion in sentencing all habitual offenders is completely at odds with this goal.” Russell was given two concurrent 15-year sentences after pleading guilty to burglary in April 2004. The charging documents in those cases indicate the two burglaries involved the same house and occurred two days apart. He served a little more than eight and a half years, and was released from prison in February 2014. Russell pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon as a convicted felon in October 2015. He was sentenced to 10 years but was only required to serve two. He was then arrested on November 29, 2017, for possessing marijuana. Under Mississippi law, possession of between 30 and 250 grams (1.05 and 8.8 ounces) of marijuana can carry a punishment of up to three years in prison, a $3,000 fine, or both. Russell was found with five bags of a leafy green substance. Two of the bags, weighing around 44 grams (1.55 ounces), were tested by a lab and confirmed to be marijuana. Earlier this year, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a criminal justice bill into law that expands parole eligibility for some people, but not habitual offenders. Senate Bill 2795 will become law July 1.