In Legal Terms

Happy New Year! What I mean is, Happy “ Fiscal “ New Year. Our state starts a new year with new laws. We’ll learn about those new laws from MPB’s legislative reporter – Will Stribling. We’ll learn what laws didn’t pass also.The Mississippi Public Service Commission, on June 13, 2024, approved a new area code to be assigned to the same area occupied by the 662 code. The new area code is 471. Existing 662 customers will keep their current telephone numbers, but new customers, or requests for additional lines, may be assigned the new 471 area code once it’s activated. Further updates will be announced as the implementation process begins in late 2025 or early 2026.We had Public Service Commissioner, for the Northern District, Chris Brown on In Legal Terms April 9th. You can listen to that podcast to learn more about the Public Service Commission.You can find out vehicle information by listening to MPB’s Auto Correct. On recent broadcast/podcasts Germaine Flood and Master Mechanic Coach Charlie Melton talked about 2 bills that recently passed the Mississippi legislature:House Bill 0349 Squatted vehicles; prohibit modifications to motor vehicle which raise front fender a certain height above the rear fender. bans vehicles with front fenders that are four or more inches higher than rear fenders.Senate Bill 2695 Driver's education; revise certain provisions related thereto.If you’re interested in finding out what our Mississippi House and Senate members are up to you can read or watch them online. https://www.legislature.ms.gov/ is the website to read about measures.Now, if you want power yourself – you can register to vote. The Mississippi Secretary of State’s website has a wealth of information about registering to vote. October 7th is the deadline for registering to vote in the November general election.AUGUST 7th            Qualifying Period Begins. First day candidates may file petitions and/or qualifyingstatements for the offices of County School Board, Municipal Separate School DistrictTrustee, Special Municipal Separate School District Trustee or Consolidated/ConsolidatedLine School District Trustee. Think about it. Could you see yourself on your county’s school board?ILT Podcast about voting rightsILT Mobile sports betting podcast

MPB Think Radio’s In Legal Terms with expert host attorney Adam Kilgore.We’ve got our most popular topic on the show today – Estate Planning. Everyone will die at some point. If you want a say on what happens to your property after you die, now is the time to make plans. Our guest Elizabeth Wynn from Kyle-Wynn and Associates will give us tips. If you’d like to read up on estate planning, Kyle-Wynn’s website has a resources tab with pdfs with information on HIPPA, trusts, veteran’s benefits and Medicaid information. https://www.mpbfoundation.org/ has a link and information about creating a will. There’s also information about leaving a legacy and planned donations.About 1 in 9 people (10.9%) age 65 and older has Alzheimer’s dementia. The percentage of people with Alzheimer’s dementia increases with age. 33.4% of people age 85 and older have Alzheimer’s dementia. People younger than 65 can also develop Alzheimer's dementia. Although prevalence studies of younger onset dementia in the U.S. are limited, researchers believe about 110 of every 100,000 people age 30 to 64 years, or about 200,000 Americans in total, have younger-onset dementia. https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf

Youth Court can deal with Children in Need of Supervision, Delinquent Children, and Neglected and/or Abused Children. That takes some special finesse that our guest possesses – attorney Chad King from Thompson Addison. (Who was also our guest for In Legal Terms: Adoption 2024 Tuesday, June 25, 2024)A podcast of interest: In Legal Terms: Foster Care Tuesday, March 21, 2023 with guest: Andrea Sanders, Commissioner for Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services.Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (CPS)The State of Mississippi Judiciary; Administrative Office of Courts has a great website with authoritative information and links to many aspects of our Youth Court in Mississippi.Families of at-risk or delinquent youth can get help from the Mississippi Department of Human Services Division of Youth Services.Do you need a quick gift for a loved one? How about you print off a copy of the Mississippi Voter Registration Application and gift it with an envelope and a stamp.

How has your year gone? A year ago we had a newly elected Representative to the Mississippi House on the show to see what his hopes, dreams and plans were. We’re welcoming back Representative Justis Gibbs to see how’d that go?In Legal Terms: new legislator Justis Gibbs Tuesday, November 14, 2023ECM Legislative Roster Mississippi Legislative Roster Electric Cooperatives of Mississippi in the Apple Store and Google Play StoreIt took a month and a day, but we now have elected State Sen. Jenifer Branning as the Mississippi Supreme Court Justice for District 1, the Central District with a difference of 1,440 votes. While we’re waiting for the next election cycle, now is the time to register to vote. Have you moved? Remember to register, you need to fill out the paper application and turn it into your Circuit Clerk’s office. If you don’t have access to a printer to download and print the application, maybe give your Circuit Clerk’s office a call and see if they will mail you one.We’re only in a lull in elections for a minute! The primary and general election will take place in 2025 for Jackson’s mayor and municipal races. Mississippi Voter Information Guide 2024 and MS Secretary of State 2020-2030 Elections CalendarIn Legal Terms: Celebrating 10 years and Professor Gershon Tuesday, April 16, 2024

We’re at the end of the year, which is also almost the beginning of the year, so as an early holiday present – let’s talk about taxes!! I think the name of the game is to push taxes to some other time, but we’ll let our guest tell us some strategies that might work for you. We’ve got attorney Samantha Moore from Butler Snow to talk tax and estate planning with us.What are some things you might need to pay taxes on that you wouldn’t think you have to pay taxes on? ScholarshipsGambling and Fantasy football winningsFound Property Prizes based on your quality of workCanceled Debt BarterIn Legal Terms: Medicaid Tuesday, April 23, 2024Giving Tuesday: MPB Foundation

We can think of ethics as the principles that guide our behavior toward making the best choices that contribute to the common good of all. Who decides what’s ethical or not? Let’s find out from our guest Tom Hood, Executive Director, Mississippi Ethics Commission.What do they do?    The Mississippi Ethics Commission has four main areas of authority under four separate laws:The Ethics in Government Law – prohibits public officials and employees from having economic conflicts of interest.The Open Meetings Act – requires governmental boards and commissions to meet in public, unless they enter executive session by following a specific procedure for limited reasons.The Public Records Act – ensures the public can inspect and copy most government documents.The Campaign Finance Law – authorizes the Ethics Commission to issue advisory opinions to candidates about the use of campaign funds.What do they Don't DoUnethical Personal Conduct Criminal Activity ElectionsJudgesGeneral Questions of Government LawLawyer EthicsU.S. House Ethics Committee Chairperson is our own Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., The Ethics Committees are unique among all House and Senate committees in that they are bipartisan committees. On February 3, 1993, the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch, issued by the Office of Government Ethics for codification at 5 C.F.R. Part 2635, replaced the many individual agency standard of conduct regulations with a uniform set of standards applicable to all employees of the executive branch.Because they are intended to answer questions about the ethical conduct of more than a million individuals employed by more than 100 different Federal agencies, the Standards of Ethical Conduct are detailed.

What does Mississippi have to do with getting to the Moon? What are the laws concerning the Moon? We’ll find out with the help of our guest Michelle L.D. Hanlon, Executive Director, Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law and Co-Founder, President & CEO of For All Moonkind In 1971, Apollo 14 was the third Moon mission of the U.S. Apollo space program, but the flight was unique in one way: tree seeds were taken on the flight to later germinate “Moon Trees”! When selected for the Apollo 14 mission, Astronaut Stuart Roosa was allowed to carry approximately 500 tree seeds with him into space. The species selected were sycamore, loblolly pine, sweetgum, redwood, and Douglas fir, taken from lots of seeds collected at two U.S.F.S. Institute of Forest Genetics (I.F.G.) stations, the southern station in Gulfport, Mississippi, and the western station in Placerville, California. Mississippi State University proudly displays its Sycamore Moon Tree on campus near the Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field, the home playing venue for the Mississippi State Bulldogs football team. A Sycamore was planted at Camp Iti Kana, a Girl Scout camp near Wiggins, Mississippi. There’s is located near the camp flagpole.A “Moon Tree” was planted on the grounds of Bayou Academy in Cleveland, Mississippi in late May 2024. As a seed, the Sweetgum traveled 270,000 miles around the moon aboard the Orion spacecraft in 2022.NASA Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi is contributing directly to the agency’s effort to land the first woman, the first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon – for the benefit of all humanity. Work at the nation’s largest – and premier – propulsion test site will help power SLS (Space Launch System) rockets on future Artemis missions to enable long-term lunar exploration and prepare for the next giant leap of sending the first astronauts to Mars.Michelle's inspiration: Star TrekLiz's thoughts about items left on the moon: Salvage OneAdam remembered The Expanse (tv show and book series)

This time of year, some folks start to celebrate Christmas or Thanksgiving. That’s up for debate. What isn’t up for debate is hunting seasons. It depends on where you are, what you’re hunting, and what you’re using to hunt. Learn with us about Mississippi’s rules and regulations with Lt. Ricky Barry from the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks.Folks can hunt White Tailed deer and squirrel, rabbit, possum, racoon, bobcat just now. But it’s not quail season yet. Check our podcast information for the link to the 2024-2024 hunting seasons schedule found on the Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks website to know where and how and who can hunt just now.There’s a terrific website that’s easy to follow and find what you’re looking for – in my opinion. For the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and parks: mdwfp.comThe Tuesday before Thanksgiving: November 26th GENERAL and SPECIAL RUNOFF ELECTION DAY: Polls open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m. On this Saturday, November 16th Absentee Voting: Circuit Clerks’ Office must be open from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. What will be voted on? The Mississippi Supreme Court Central District and the contested Mississippi Court of Appeals race.

Our guests are Nathan Blevins, the Deputy Commissioner of Community Corrections.Terri Maranoci, Community Corrections DirectorCecil Lott, Community Corrections Associate Director with the MS Board of Parole 239 North Lamar Street, Suite 501, Jackson, MS 39201 (601) 576-3520(601) 576-3528Information about parole in Mississippi, including the current Parole Board Members, Parolee Search, and Victim Parole Notification.MS Department of CorrectionsThe Community Corrections division is responsible for the following agency functions:​​Community Work CentersRestitution CentersTechnical Violation Centers​Interstate CompactProbationParoleIntensive Supervision ProgramEarned Released SupervisionTransitional Housing ServicesDo you need a ride to the polls today?WLOX reports that Lyft and Uber are offering 50% off rides to polling stations on Election Day as part of its voting access program. Lyft users can take advantage of the discount by preloading the code VOTE24 into their app until November 5.BlackNatchez.org is offering rides to the polls on Tuesday to anyone who lives in Adams County and needs one. For more information or to arrange a ride in Adams County, call Chakatria Fitzgerald at 318-719-0801; Adams County Supervisor Angela Hutchins at 601-807-0790; and the Rev. Maurice Irving at 601-807-6324.University of Mississippi Voting Engagement Ambassadors, is set for Tuesday, Nov. 5 to help students travel to polling locations in Lafayette County. Any student who is registered to vote in Lafayette County can use the shuttles for free.The Mississippi Secretary of State’s office has a complaint form online if you need to report a violation. I’ll have that link on our podcast information. Should you have any questions, please contact the Elections Division at (800) 829-6786.To report a violation of your voting rights, intimidation, or suppression of your voting rights you can report it by: filing a report online with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Voting Section or calling 1-800-253-3931According to usa.gov: You have the right to cast your vote in private. There is no law against asking someone who they are voting for. But you do not have to share that information with anyone if you do not want to.MPBonline.org will have election results as the come in. MPB Think Radio will begin national election coverage at 6pm tonight. At 7pm, when our Mississippi polls close, we’ll add our local election results as they come in to the National Election Coverage. MPB News Director Teresa Collier will report our results.