Some of the top MS stories from this morning:
An investigation continues into a deadly New Year's Day shooting in Lamar County. The sheriff's office has identified the victim as 29-year-old Jordan Wing of Hattiesburg. He was shot in the head around 6 a.m. at the Belmont Apartment Homes complex and died later at the hospital. No motive or suspect information has been released.
There are few details available yet as Jackson police investigate the city's first apparent homicide of 2019. It happened last night in the 11-hundred-block of West Pearl where an unidentified man was found shot to death. He was wounded in the upper body, but early on, police weren't able to provide any motive or suspect information.
The sheriff's office in Harrison County is continuing to investigate the Christmas Day discovery of human remains in the Desoto National Forest. The remains were found by a hunter, and then recovered the following day by the Harrison County coroner. The Mississippi Crime Lab is also working the case in an effort to confirm the person's identity and cause of death.
It's only the second day of the new year and another election season is already getting underway in Mississippi. This is the first day of qualifying for state and county elections that will take place later this year. Candidates will be filing paperwork to run for a myriad of offices including that of governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. Qualifying ends on March 1st.
Eight Mississippi counties are named in a state of emergency proclamation signed by Governor Phil Bryant on New Year's Day. Bryant believes they’ll need state assistance in recovering from the recent bout of severe weather, including flash flooding and a tornado. Counties included in the emergency proclamation are Clarke, Covington, Forrest, Jasper, Jones, Lauderdale, Perry and Wayne.