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Asya Branch ,22, a marketing major student at the University of Mississippi was crowned Miss USA on Monday. She is reportedly the first African American to become Miss. Mississippi. Historically, she is the first Miss Mississippi to be crown Miss. USA. Judges says their decision to crown her as Miss. USA were her remarks on how the country in her opinion has lost faith in the media and her support against banning guns, as she believes faithfully in the second amendment. Like many African American kids in Mississippi, she grew up without her father. He was incarcerated for 10 years. That experience led her to meet with Donald Trump and others to advocate for criminal justice reform. Asya, a Trump loyalist, opened up one of Trump famous rallies by singing the Star Spangled Banner. The rally was held in South Haven, Mississippi. She will go own to represent the USA in the Miss. Universe pageant.

Hattiesburg, Mississippi. - One of the most prominent public figure in Hattiesburg calls for everyone to come together after the election of President Elect Joe Biden and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris. Over the weekend, Mayor Johnny L. Dupree posted a statement on his Facebook page to his almost 13,000 followers thanking everyone "regardless of who you voted for." Mayor DuPree went a step further in an effort to bridge everyone together by saying, "Though we look different, we think different, and we believe different, we are still the same." He went on to say, "We are one community, we are one nation, we are one America, we are the United States of America." This was in hopes to unify his community regardless of race, party, gender or beliefs. Dr. DuPree stated, "For the first time, an African American is the Vice President-Elect of the United States," something DuPree can relate to in his own right, as the first African American Mayor of the City of Hattiesburg. He also praised women. "In 2020, America is celebrating 100 years of Women’s Suffrage. We can’t think of a better way to commemorate that 100 years than to elect a woman as the next Vice President of the United States." DuPree said. Mayor DuPree ended his statement by offering prayers for both President Elect Biden and Vice President Elect Harris, as well as for the entire country. No other former or current elected official in the Pine Belt have publicly commented about the biggest election in the United States history.

Joe Biden is officially elected as the 46th President of the United States of America according to CNN,NBC, and the Washington Post after he has received majority of the votes in Pennsylvania. The Associated Press declared Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 Presidential Election. It is now impossible for Donald Trump to win after losing the state of Pennsylvania to Joe Biden. Georgia, Nevada & North Carolina are still counting votes but Donald Trump needed to win in Pennsylvania to try and stay in office because it had 20 votes. Earlier this week, the federal government in anticipation he would win declare a no fly zone over his home in Delaware. The federal government also sent extra secret service agents to his home. Donald Trump has promised a legal fight but he needed to win Pennsylvania for a court to reasonably take any claims made by Trump serious to consider weighing in on the election. Late Friday night, Donald Trump told aides he didn't think he could win anymore after more and more ballots were counted giving Joe Biden a greater lead. Kamala Harris not only becomes the first woman Vice President of the United States but also the first African American Vice President of the United States of America. It is reported by all major news outlets including FOX News that African American votes was the deciding factor of who would be the next president. They overwhelmingly supported Joe Biden. Joe Biden is expected to give a victory speech later today at the Chase Center followed by fireworks. Donald Trump is expected to give remarks around noon or later.

For the first time the Pine Belt Fair has come to Hattiesburg, Mississippi which kicks off today through Saturday, November 14, 2020. As COVID cases continue to rise in Mississippi, mask are mandatory. Even if you don't have a mask, the fair staff will give all participants a mask before entering fair grounds according to Pine Belt Fair Coordinator Ben Pugh. The fair general admission is $10 and includes a lot of exciting and fun areas such as a Petting Zoo, a Magic Show, Lady Houdini Escape Artist, Fearless Flores Globe of Death Motorcycle Show, and White Tigers. This is not to mention the famous Farris Wheel and many fun and thrilling rides. Concession stands will be in full throttle including famous famous funnel cakes among many other delicious mouth watering fair snacks and meals. Kids 4 and under are free. It's only $5 for kids up to 12 years old, military, and seniors. It's $10 for regular adults. Gates open from 12 Noon - 11pm Saturday & Sunday and from 4pm-10pm Monday through Thursday. Gates on from 4pm-11pm on Friday. For more information, please visit www.pinebeltfair.com.

More than likely, Joe Biden will be declared to be the next President of the United States at some point today as he takes the lead in Georgia and Pennsylvania. He also has the lead in Nevada. The Associated Press and Fox News has declared Joe Biden winner of Arizona. With only military votes left to be counted in Georgia and additionally votes to be counted in Pennsylvania, in which officials think will go toward Biden, most networks have already started to prepare to declare Joe Biden the President-Elect at some point today. However, Donald Trump has already stated he will mount legal challenges in which he claims may end up in the Supreme Court in the coming days to hopefully cast out legally casted votes. He is hoping for the same outcome as Bush vs Gore. Most election experts see a steady trend of increasing votes for Joe Biden in Pennsylvania in which will kill any chance for Donald Trump to win making it impossible for him to see a clear path to victory. No winner has been declared yet. It's not over for Donald Trump. Although democrats have won the last 6 of 7 of the last popular vote elections, republicans have found ways to win. This outcome is yet to be determined.

The United States of America federal government is recognizing Joe Biden as the next President of the United States as it issues a No Fly Zone over Joe Biden's home and the Chase Center where he is expected to give a victory speech later today. The FAA in coordination with the United States Military declared Joe Biden's home as a new restricted "National Defense Airspace." The government has also order more secret service as it would in a presidential secret service detail as heavily armed secret service arrived this morning to the soon to be President-Elect. These are the normal protocols that typically take place after a winner is declared. Although Joe Biden hasn't officially been declared the President, the federal government anticipates he will be declared the winner of the 2020 Presidential Race at some point today.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi reported more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases Thursday for the first time since mid-August, after Gov. Tate Reeves instituted a statewide mask mandate. The day of high case numbers comes just two weeks after the Republican governor repealed that same statewide mask mandate, citing declining numbers of virus cases. For most of the last two months, Mississippi has seen lower infection numbers, ranging between around 200 to 800 cases a day. In mid-to-late July, the state was regularly reporting between 1,000 and 1,500 cases a day on average. The count has slowly been rising again. The state health department reported more than 1,300 new cases Thursday. Mississippi has reported a total of more than 108,000 virus cases and at least 3,152 virus-related deaths. COVID-19 hospitalizations were also rising slightly, with 500 people reported to be hospitalized in the state on Tuesday, compared to 393 on Oct. 3. Mississippi’s state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, said Monday that six hospitals have no beds available in their intensive care units. “All of the indicators are starting to turn in an unwanted direction,” Dobbs said Monday during an online news conference. The numbers are drawing concerns from health care professionals around the state. Anita Henderson, a pediatrician in Hattiesburg and president-elect of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, on Thursday tweeted a screenshot of the daily numbers from the state health department. “Mask mandate lifted by Tate Reeves two weeks ago,” she wrote. “We are in for a long hard winter folks.”

Although 100% precincts are reporting, there are about 5,000 absentee votes that won't be counted until tomorrow, Wednesday, November 4, 2020. There are several races in Forrest County but one key big race is for Election Commissioner District 4. That is an interesting race between the current commissioner, Nancy F Bourne-Noble, a democrat, vs the challenger, Monica L. Miller. Another key race is District 87 between Matthew Conoly, David Wayne Morgan, & Joseph "Bubba" Tubb. The winners so far are: 4th Congressional District Steven Palazzo Supreme Court District (Southern Position 3) Mike Randolph Election Commissioner District 1 Gentry Mordica Election Commissioner District 2 Katie Ethel McGee Election Commissioner District 3 Lucretia Sug Jenkins

Despite the Joe Biden Campaign postponing his victory speech this evening ending with planned fireworks in Delaware, he still more than likely will be the next President of the United States of America. Joe Biden currently has 264 votes as reported by Fox News. You only need 270 votes to be the President. He's only 6 votes short. Donald Trump has only 214 votes. He is short 56 votes. Those 6 votes will more than likely come from Nevada in which Joe Biden is currently leading with 75% of the votes reporting. Nevertheless, Joe Biden could still win either Georgia or Pennsylvania. However, Donald Trump can will Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Alaska and still won't have enough votes to win the race. If Joe Biden wins any remaining state that's still being counted, he will become The President-Elect and sworn in as President of the United States in January. Although Donald Trump has already claimed victory while votes are still being counted, Joe Biden has not. Joe Biden has said that every vote has to be counted and has urged his campaign to "play it out to the end," although many networks and insiders are preparing to announce Joe Biden as the winner within the next 24 hours, if not tonight. Donald Trump has already promised a legal challenge and sent his lawyers and family to Minnesota to demand a recount which he can legally do because he's within 1% difference with Joe Biden, although Biden won Minnesota by 20,000 votes. For Trump to win the presidency, he would of have to tear down the "Blue Wall" again, as he did for Hilary Clinton. The Blue Wall, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin, was rebuilt and won by Biden, making it difficult for Donald Trump to have a legitimate path to victory. However, there is no official winner of the 2020 Presidential race. There are still 5 states who haven't reported yet which are Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Alaska, and Nevada. Donald Trump must win all 5 states to continue to be the President of the United States. Only time will tell who will win.

More than 100 million people have casted their votes prior to Election Day. We have around the clock lives results as polls close around the country. Whoever gets 270 votes wins the White House. Below, we will post the states and how many votes they give to either Biden or Trump. (Be sure to refresh your page to get the most updated results to keep up with the race below.) The current race to the White House between Donald Trump vs Joe Biden is: Donald Trump & Mike Pence Alabama (9 votes) Arkansas (6 votes) Florida (29 votes) Idaho (4 votes) Indiana (11 votes) Iowa (6 votes) Kansas (6 votes) Kentucky (8 votes) Louisiana (8 votes) Mississippi (6 votes) Missouri (10 votes) Montana (3 votes) Nebraska (5 votes) North Dakota (3 votes) Ohio (18 votes) Oklahoma (7 votes) South Carolina (9 votes) South Dakota (3 votes) Texas (38 votes) Tennessee (11 votes) Utah (6 votes) West Virginia (5 votes) Wyoming (3 votes) Total Votes: 187 Joe Biden & Kamala Harris Arizona (11 votes) California (55 votes) Colorado (9 votes) Connecticut (7 votes) Delaware (3 votes) District of Columbia (3 votes) Hawaii (4 votes) Illinois (20 votes) Kansas (6 votes) Maine (4 votes) Maryland (10 votes) New Hampshire (4 votes) Massachusetts (11 votes) New Mexico (5 votes) New Jersey (14 votes) New York (29 votes) Oregon (7 votes) Vermont ( 3 votes) Virginia ( 13 votes) Washington (12 votes) Total Votes: 230 Key Senate Races Winners * = New Senator (D) Corey Booker (New Jersey) (R) Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) (D) *John Hickenlooper (Colorado) (R) *Tommy Tuberville (Alabama) (R) Lindsey Graham (South Carolina)

Why is Forrest County Justice Court still ordering evictions kicking families out into the streets despite a federal ban on evictions which mean no evictions can take place until 2021? The Center for Disease Control says it's illegal to evict someone as of September 4. In the middle of the biggest health and economic crisis in the history of the United States, many people lost their jobs and were about to loose their homes as government help ran out. To prevent millions of people becoming homeless, the Center for Disease Control issued a federal ban on all evictions nationwide for renters. According to the Federal Registry, this order went into effect Friday, September 4 and the federal ban on evictions last until December 31, 2020. This means although people can't pay their rent they still can't be evicted from their homes and thrown into the streets. In Mississippi, no landlord can just change the locks or kick someone out event after serving them an eviction notice. That's actually illegal. The only legal way to evict someone from their home, whether it's a house or an apartment, is to take them to Justice Court where they have a right to dispute the evictions before a judge. Then the judge will decide if he/she will order an eviction or not. If the judge orders an eviction, the constable then goes to the home and remove the tenants, another name for people living at the residence. However, that entire process has been halted on a federal level at the direction of the President of the United States by the Center for Disease Control because of a national health crisis. You don't have to have Covid-19 to qualify. All evictions due to non-payment are banned and as of this date, it has not been overruled by a federal court. So then the question remains, "Why is Forrest County Justice Court still evicting people?" and "Why isn't Forrest County Justice Court informing people who have been evicted who come before them in their courts of their rights or the CDC Ban?" as the guidelines require. Anyone who cannot pay their rent must simply print and sign a form from the CDC's website (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/declaration-form.pdf) and give it to their landlords. Upon giving it to their landlords, the landlords in turn are not suppose to file for an eviction with the courts. Even so, the courts are not suppose to execute and order people to be evicted out into the streets as mandated by the federal ban. The Forrest County Justice Court is suppose to be the people's court elected by "the people" in which you're not suppose to even need a lawyer, although sometimes people choose to get legal representation anyway. However, speaking with numerous of sources including victims who wish not to be named, the court has become nothing more than "a rubber stamp for the rich and a hell house for the poor." If you have been evicted despite the ban you can file an appeal with the Forrest County Justice Court, also known as Youth Court located at the Forrest County Youth Detention Center, within 30 days-60 days of the eviction. Once you file an appeal with the court, you eviction is automatically put on hold, which means you can't be put onto the streets, although in some cases landlords have with the Justice Court despite appeals to still execute evictions despite filing an appeal which is illegal. You may also file a complaint against the judge who ordered your eviction by clicking here: https://www.judicialperformance.ms.gov/filing-complaint. You may also contact the CDC who issued the federal ban on evictions by calling:1-800-232-4636. We reached out to Forrest County Justice Court for questions and didn't get a response.

Speaking of elections, Hattiesburg's mayoral race is only months away which is most likely to be the biggest race of 2021 in the Pine Belt and rumors are already surfacing that former Hattiesburg Mayor, Johnny DuPree, Ph.D, could run for his old job again. For months, many people have been waiting to hear if Dr. DuPree will put his name on the ballot. Asking some of the closet people in his camp, a source who was not at liberty to discuss the matter on the record said "it can go either way!" However, it's hard to beat an incumbent, the person who is currently holding the position. It's not impossible, as DuPree was the mayor for 16 years and lost the election to Toby Barker, who is the current mayor, and who is still favorable in some communities. Two key factors will most likely decide the race, just as they will decide the presidential race in less than 3 weeks, which are COVID 19 & Social Justice, as the country is in the middle of the Black Lives Matter movement, in which African American across the country are demanding equality in every facet of American Life. But Mayor Emertius DuPree is no stranger to crisis. He oversaw multiple crisis including the worst natural disaster in the United States history, Hurricane Katrina, not to mention multiple devastating tornados which destroyed the city. He was also mayor during one of the worst economical crisis in American history, The Great Recession. Times change people change environments change and most people always want growth. Everyone wants to go to the next level. No one wants to go backwards or feel as though they are stuck in the past. However, DuPree is no stranger to growth either. Much of the growth of Hattiesburg, including Mid-Town, was developed during his time in office. The Turtle Creek Mall, strip mall, and the Long Leaf Trace were also created during his time in office. DuPree also raised minimum wage was raised to $10 an hour and gave second chances to ex-offenders by hiring a record number of convicted felons, helping to rebuild countless of families throughout the community. DuPree was also nationally recognized for ending homelessness within the City of Hattiesburg. He was the first mayor to create a Homeless Coordinator to address the city's homeless community, helping many to get off the streets. Yes, without questions, he's Hattieburg's most successful mayor winning 4 consecutive terms serving a historic 16 consecutive years, but is everything he's done enough to get him elected as the most powerful person in the City of Hattiesburg? Many of his supporters are excited and remain hopeful although it may or may not be enough to convince him to put his name in the race.