Some of this mornings top stories:
With Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signing one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, another legal battle is brewing. The Center for Reproductive Rights in New York, which represents Mississippi's only abortion clinic in Jackson, plans to file a lawsuit soon. The group successfully challenged a Mississippi law passed last year that banned abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, and it expects a federal judge to strike down the new law which prohibits abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, or about six weeks after a woman becomes pregnant. Bryant says he's ready for the court battle.
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The man arrested for robbing a bank in Ellisville this week has been linked to a holdup on the Mississippi coast. Clifford Montague was arrested in Memphis. On Monday, investigators say he robbed a branch of Bancorp South in Ellisville. And police say he's wanted for a holdup last month at the Navigator Credit Union in Gautier. Montague is also a suspect in a third bank robbery in Pace, Florida earlier this month.
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A new study in the American Journal of Medicine reveals that guns killed more children in 2017 than on-duty police officers and active-duty military. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University found that in 2017, nearly 25-hundred children lost their lives because of guns, while about 12-hundred police and military service members died in active duty. The study said most of the children, 61 percent, were killed in an assault. Nearly a third died by suicide. Nearly 41 percent of the deaths were among black children, and 86 percent were boys.
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The effort to move a confederate statue at the University of Mississippi is gaining steam. Interim Chancellor Larry Sparks said in a statement to the university community yesterday that school officials agree with a plan to move the statue from University Circle. The Department of Archives and History has been notified of the school's plans to move the statue, but Sparks said it may be a while before things really get going.
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A big day for college basketball fans in Mississippi. Three of our teams are playing NCAA tournament games, and it starts with Ole Miss taking on Oklahoma, tipping off just before noon in the South Regional in Columbia, South Carolina. Then this evening, Mississippi State plays Liberty in the East Regional in San Jose, California. And later tonight, in Starkville, in the opening round of the NCAA women's tournament, State takes on Southern University. In Hattiesburg last night, Southern Miss beat Nicholls State 77-to-71 in the Women's Basketball Invitational. They'll host North Alabama Monday night. And William Carey won its opening game in the NAIA tournament in Kansas City, beating Peru State 95-to-89. They'll play Mid-America Christian in the second round later today.
About eight-and-a-half billion dollars will be wagered on this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament. The American Gaming Association expects 47 million American adults to lay down bets during the tournament. Forty million Americans are expected to fill out a bracket. The AGA says the bettors are favoring Duke to win it all. It also says two-point-four million people will bet illegally with a bookie.
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1 in 5 office mugs may contain fecal matter. That's according to a research study from TotalJobs who say those shared mugs are germ-filled because at least 25-percent of people don't wash their hands after using the bathroom at work. The study also says that people who eat at their desk are more likely to get sick because the average office desk has 400 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. A doctor enlisted by the research company says people should constantly use wipes or hand gel before eating anything at their work desk. Also, regularly wash bottles and do not leave them out overnight.
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Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke says she had two brain aneurysms. Clarke said in an essay for The New Yorker that she was diagnosed with a life-threatening hemorrhage in 2011 and had to have brain surgery, and that she was left with a small growth that doctors warned could burst at any time. The growth had doubled in size by 2013 and Clarke had to have surgery again, and spent a month in the hospital recovering. She says she has since healed beyond her "most unreasonable hopes," and wants to share her story to help others.