Jackson, Mississippi, mayor facing federal bribery charges trails challenger in mayoral election results
The federally indicted mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, is trailing his opponent in the city’s Democratic primary runoff. Unofficial vote totals show state Sen. John Horhn leading two-term Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba 18,493 to 6,246, according to the city clerk’s office. Although absentee votes have not yet been counted, Horhn declared victory in the race. Lumumba, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens II and Jackson City Councilman Aaron Banks are facing charges of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery, honest services wire fraud and money laundering, the Justice Department announced last November. All three have pleaded not guilty. An indictment alleged the three Democrats accepted payments, including $50,000 for the mayor’s reelection campaign, from two people they thought were real estate developers looking to build a hotel near the city’s downtown convention center. It turns out they worked for the FBI. ‘MISSISSIPPI MUSK’: STATE AUDITOR’S MOGE REPORT FINDS $400 MILLION IN GOVERNMENT WASTE “Residents have been, you know, told a narrative that should – that should give them every reason for us not to be here, right? And we’re trying to make it clear that that’s not who we are,” Lumumba said Friday, according to the Associated Press. Lumumba and Horhn faced off in a Democratic mayoral primary once before in 2017. In that race, Lumumba defeated Horhn outright, earning 55% of the vote. The winner of this race will advance to the June 3 general election. “People are ready for something different,” Horhn recently said. “They are ready for change; they’re ready for leadership; they’re ready for better streets; they’re ready for less crime; they’re ready for more opportunities.” Lumumba, son of the late Republic of New Afrika leader Chokwe Lumumba, released a video statement last year denying ever accepting a bribe and calling the indictment a “political prosecution” intended to “destroy [his] . . . reputation.” CAPITAL CITY DEMOCRATIC MAYOR, PROSECUTOR INDICTED IN UNDERCOVER BRIBERY STING “Jackson residents, it is with great disappointment that I come before you. My legal team has informed me that federal prosecutors have, in fact, indicted me on bribery and related charges,” he said. “There is no coincidence, and its timing being just before the upcoming mayoral race. My legal team will vigorously defend me against these charges. Again, while I am disappointed, I am not deterred, so I ask for your patience and your prayers during this process. Thank you.” The three officials were in a bugged room on a yacht in Broward County, Florida, negotiating what they believed to be the developers’ payments when they were caught, according to the local Mississippi Clarion-Ledger. One undercover agent reportedly asked the officials to move forward a deadline for an “SOQ,” or statement of qualifications, required for the planned hotel development, and Lumumba reportedly went ahead and made a phone call. Another agent then handed the mayor five checks worth $50,000 total. After returning to Mississippi, the funds were reportedly deposited in the mayor’s campaign account, according to the paper. Fox News Digitals’ Charles Creitz and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
EPA fires or reassigns hundreds working on ‘environmental justice’
President Donald Trump’s administration is firing or reassigning over 450 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency as part of a larger push to eliminate “environmental justice” programs. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the employee moves on Monday, saying 280 staffers were being fired, and 175 others would be reassigned. The cut roles were in the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, the Office of Inclusive Excellence, and EPA regional offices. “EPA is taking the next step to terminate the Biden-Harris Administration’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Environmental Justice arms of the agency,” a spokesperson told Axios. Zeldin explained at a Monday press conference that tax dollars put toward environmental justice issues were widely misspent. MEXICO IS POISONING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IN A BORDER CRISIS ALMOST NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT “The problem is that, in the name of environmental justice, a dollar will get secured and not get spent on remediating that environmental issue,” he said. The firings come the same week that Zeldin launched talks with Mexico about eliminating sewage contamination that flows over the border from Tijuana to pollute California’s coastlines. MEXICAN SEWAGE GUSHING INTO NAVY SEAL TRAINING WATERS IS US’ ‘NEXT CAMP LEJEUNE,’ VETS WARN Zeldin visited San Diego to discuss the issue on Tuesday, noting that one of the affected areas is the training grounds for Navy SEALs. “The Americans on our side of the border who have been dealing with this… for decades, are out of patience,” Zeldin said Tuesday. “There’s no way that we are going to stand before the people of California and ask them to have more patience and just bear with all of us as we go through the next 10 or 20 or 30 years of being stuck in 12 feet of raw sewage and not getting anywhere.” EPA CHIEF TAKES ON MEXICAN ‘SEWAGE CRISIS’ FLOWING INTO US WATERS WHERE NAVY SEALS TRAIN “So we are all out of patience,” he continued. “There’s a very limited opportunity. We’re in good faith, both on the American side and also on the Mexican side, what’s being communicated by the new Mexican president is an intense desire to fully resolve this situation.” Zeldin said that he met with Mexican officials for about 90 minutes Monday night to discuss the sewage spewing into U.S. waters — and relayed that the Mexican environmental secretary wants to have a “strong collaborative relationship” with the U.S. to end the pollution. “I will be speaking with the chief of staff to the Mexican environmental secretary to ensure that over the course of the coming days, over the course of the next couple weeks, that we are able to put together a specific statement from both countries on a mutual understanding of what Mexico is going to do to help resolve this issue,” he said. Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
‘Kill Me Too’: Woman begs terrorist after husband shot in Pahalgam terror attack, told to ‘Go Tell Modi’
Karnataka tourist Manjunath was killed in a terrorist attack in Pahalgam while his wife and son survived and pleaded to die with him.
Pahalgam terror attack: EaseMyTrip announces free rescheduling of flights from…
EaseMyTrip Founder and Chairman Nishant Pitti announced on Wednesday that they have extended free rescheduling and cancellation waivers for all bookings until April 30.
Pahalgam Terror Attack: Who were the 26 victims? Full list here
Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde confirmed that five of the victims were from the state.
Delhi: Fire breaks out at timber market in Kirti Nagar, no casualties reported so far
According to the Delhi Fire Services Department, the fire broke out at a furniture unit in Kirti Nagar’s Timber Market. The fire call was received at approximately 12:22 PM, and 10 fire tenders were dispatched to the scene.
Financial hardships shutter East Texas hospital 14 months after reopening
Residents in Trinity County will now have to travel 30 miles to access the closest hospital.
Texas man convicted of killing ex-classmate set to be executed
Moises Mendoza was convicted of murder in 2005 for killing a Farmersville woman and later burning her body.
School districts stay quiet as lawmakers push to limit when they can sue the state
School leaders have privately criticized a bill that would make it harder to contest their performance ratings in court. But they did not testify against it to avoid lawmakers’ ire.
Young Americans sour on congressional Democrats, new poll finds
Fewer than one in three young Americans approve of the job President Donald Trump and Congress are doing, according to a new national poll from the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics. But while the approval ratings for Trump and congressional Republicans have mostly stayed consistent since the start of the president’s first administration eight years ago, the 50th Harvard Youth Poll indicates that approval ratings for Democrats in Congress among Americans aged 18-29 have nosedived. According to Harvard’s annual spring survey, which was conducted March 14-25 and released on Wednesday, the approval rating for congressional Democrats stands at 23%, down from 42% in the spring of 2017 at the start of Trump’s first term. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING “In that same period, approval of Congressional Republicans has held steady, inching up slightly from 28% to 29%,” the poll’s release notes. And the approval rating for Trump, who next week marks 100 days into his second tour of duty in the White House, stands at 31% in the new survey. AMERICANS WEIGH IN ON TRUMP’S TEASING OF A THIRD TERM The release highlights that Trump’s numbers are “virtually unchanged from the 32% reported in Spring 2017 and the 29% recorded in Fall 2020.” Harvard’s survey is the latest to indicate troubling numbers for the Democrats. The confidence rating for Democrat leadership in Congress stood at a record-low 25% in a Gallup poll conducted April 1-14 and released last week. That’s nine points below the previous low of 34%, which was recorded in 2023. Fueling the drop in confidence in the Democrat congressional leadership was a 41-point plunge among Democrats questioned in the Gallup survey. DEMOCRATS FAVORABLE RATINGS DROP TO RECORD LOWS National polls conducted in February by Quinnipiac University, and last month by CNN and by NBC News, indicated the favorable ratings for the Democratic Party sinking to all-time lows. The Democratic Party is in the political wilderness after November’s election setbacks, when Republicans won back control of the White House and the Senate and defended their fragile House majority. And Republicans made gains among Black and Hispanic voters as well as younger voters, all traditional members of the Democratic Party’s base. Democrats have become increasingly angry and energized in response to Trump’s aggressive and controversial moves in slashing the federal government and upending long-standing national since returning to the White House three months ago. That anger is directed not only at Trump and Republicans but also at Democrats. Many in the party’s base feel their leaders in Congress haven’t been effective or vocal enough in pushing back against the president. According to the Harvard poll, only 15% say the country is headed in the right direction, with just over half (51%) saying the country’s on the wrong track. And just one in four surveyed said the current state of the country is better now under Trump than it was during former President Joe Biden’s single four-year term in the White House. Forty-one percent said things were better off under Biden, with 14% saying they see no difference and 17% unsure.