Jackson Free Press

In 1942, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government has the right to regulate economic activity in the case of Wickard v. Filburn.

Roscoe Filburn, who was a farmer in Ohio, grew more wheat on his land that the government permitted. The government had set limits on wheat production during the Great Depression to drive up wheat prices. Filburn was not selling his excess wheat; he was using it to feed his chickens.

The Supreme Court ruled that Filburn's wheat growing reduced the amount of wheat he would buy for chicken feed on the open market, and because his wheat growing affected interstate commerce, the government could regulate how much he grew. The court ordered Filburn to destroy his crops and pay a fine.

Simpson's L-1 Contract
Hood's re-election campaign claims that Steve Simpson used his former position as commissioner of the Department of Public Safety to secure his consulting contract with a national driver's license kiosk company. Simpson extended L-1's contract through DPS to $5.9 million so that L-1 could build 51 electronic kiosks in Mississippi. Simpson renewed the contract 13 days before stepping down from DPS. He said that in June he signed a contract to work as a consultant for L-1 while conducting his campaign for attorney general. L-1 specializes in driver's licenses and license kiosks for Department of Motor Vehicles throughout the country, including Mississippi.

"My agreement prohibits me from doing any work in Mississippi, since they were a vendor of DPS at the time I was commissioner. They both agreed that I should not do any work on behalf of the state," Simpson said last month, adding that if elected state attorney general, he would terminate his consulting contract with L-1.

Robbie Bell
Robbie Bell is the mother of George Bell III who is serving a life sentence for killing his girlfriend Heather Spencer Sept. 11, 2007. Robbie Bell came under intense fire because she did not call the police after her son attacked and killed Spencer in her house. The mother was initially arrested as an accessory, but authorities had to drop the charge due to the laws requiring evidence that an accessory took "affirmative" action to further a crime. Her actions—or non-actions—have sparked a conversation about whether Mississippi should pass a Good Samaritan law.