The Other Side: Mississippi Today’s Political Podcast Mississippi Today

Mississippi Today's political team shares their biggest surprises of the 2023 legislative session, breaking down major issues that lawmakers are debating (or not debating) in the final days of the session.

Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, outlines the Senate plan to tweak the Mississippi Adequate Education Program funding formula for K-12 education, then fully fund it for the first time in more than a decade. The issue is now before the House, where the GOP leadership, along with the governor, has voiced skepticism about the plan. But DeBar said he’s talked to rank-and-file House members and believes there is widespread support for it.

Mississippi Today's political team speaks with Rep. Ed Blackmon, a Democrat from Canton who has served 41 years in the Legislature. Blackmon shares his perspective on several controversial bills authored in 2023, as well as his decades of civil rights works and career legacy.

Mississippi Today's political team breaks down three major bills still very much pending in the 2023 legislative session — two of them very much expected, and the third a major surprise that no one saw coming.

Mississippi Today's political team breaks down an eventful 2023 legislative session that has produced controversial legislation, high drama and deep tension between lawmakers — a session far from the sleepy one many observers predicted a few weeks ago. 

Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender talk with Rep. Zakiya Summers, D-Jackson, about how legislative leaders are trying to address issues dealing with crime and water in Jackson without getting input from lawmakers who represent the capital city. She laments how legislation is taking power from Jackson residents and their elected representatives and is causing more harm than good.