• Several restrictive abortion measures passed by conservative lawmakers could be a valuable asset for Democrats in next year's elections, members of both parties say. 
• Laws like that in Alabama that outlaws virtually all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest, have prompted President Donald Trump, other Republican leaders, and lawmakers seeking reelection next year to distance themselves from the measure.
• Moderate Republicans could continue to distance themselves from such measures as election day draws nearer. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A flood of laws banning abortions in Republican-run states has handed Democrats a political weapon heading into next year's elections, helping them paint the GOP as extreme and court centrist voters who could decide congressional races in swing states, members of both parties say.

The Alabama law outlawing virtually all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest, is the strictest so far. Besides animating Democrats, the law has prompted President Donald Trump, other Republican leaders and lawmakers seeking reelection next year to distance themselves from the measure.

Their reaction underscores that Republicans have risked overplaying their hand with severe state laws that they hope will prod the Supreme Court, with its ascendant conservative majority, to strike down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion. It also illustrates the way that those statutes are forcing the GOP to struggle over how to satisfy its core anti-abortion supporters without alienating the vast majority of voters averse to strictly curbing abortion.

The Alabama law is "a loser for Republican candidates in Colorado, without question, and in many other swing parts of the country, because it's extreme," David Flaherty, a Colorado-based Republican consultant who's worked on congressional races around the country. "It's only going to widen the gender gap."

Brian Fitzpatrick, a Vanderbilt Law School professor and former aide to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said there are many "women, moderate women who are going to be scared that this right that they thought they had for the last 40-some years is going to be shelved" and they will be motivated to vote.

GOP Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Susan Collins of Maine, both seeking reelection next year, said the Alabama ban goes too far by eliminating exceptions for pregnancies involving rape or incest. A 2005 survey by the Guttmacher Institute, which backs abortion rights, found about 1% of women said they had abortions because of rape or incest.
Democrats see the statutes as a way to weave a broader message about Republicans.

"You use it as an example of what they do when they're unchecked," said Rep. A. Donald McEachin, D-Va., a leader of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Democrats' campaign organization. "I think it drives moderate Republicans away from their party."

Read more: Prosecutors in Georgia and Utah say they won't enforce abortion laws in their states

Democratic presidential contenders are competing to lambast the Alabama law, which allows exceptions when the mother's health is endangered. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., called it an "existential threat to the human rights of women," while former Vice President Joe Biden said GOP hopes of striking down Roe v. Wade are "pernicious and we have to stop it."

Campaign Facebook and Twitter accounts of Democrats seeking reelection next year, such as Sens. Doug Jones of Alabama and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, are littered with posts attacking the harsh restrictions. "The people of Alabama deserve to be on the #rightsideofhistory — not the side of extremists," Jones tweeted.

Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Ohio have enacted or neared approval of measures barring abortion once there's a detectable fetal heartbeat, which can occur in the sixth week of pregnancy, before a woman may know she is pregnant. Missouri lawmakers approved an eight-week ban.

Read more: Abortion bans are popping up all around the country. Here are the states that have passed new laws to challenge Roe v. Wade in 2019

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that of the country's 638,000 abortions in 2015, almost two-thirds were performed within the first eight weeks of pregnancy. About 1% were performed during or after the 21st week.

Spotlighting the perilous political territory Republicans are navigating, an April poll by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found that Americans support Roe v. Wade by 2-1. A Gallup poll last year found that 57% of adults who described themselves "pro-life" nonetheless said abortion should be legal if the pregnancy results from rape or incest.

The focus on the state measures has also stolen GOP momentum on abortion. Until now, congressional Republicans had spent much of this year forcing Democrats onto the defensive, goading them into blocking bills aimed at curbing the rare abortions performed late in pregnancies and misleadingly accusing them of supporting infanticide.

"Obviously, the attention has shifted," said Sarah Chamberlain, president of the Republican Main Street Partnership, which represents dozens of moderate GOP lawmakers. She said while her group doesn't think Democrats' focus on the harsh laws has gained traction, "We are talking about that and how it's going to play in our districts."

Some Republicans say the Democratic drive will have minimal impact because the abortion issue drives relatively few voters from each party. Others say GOP candidates should accuse Democrats of extremism by opposing bills restricting abortions late in pregnancy and, if they wish, cite their support for exempting rape and incest victims.
Democrats have "never seen an abortion they don't like," said David O'Steen, executive director of the National Right to Life Committee.

Added Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP campaign arm: "We're not Alabama state representatives, we're United States senators. And each of us has to make our positions known."

Yet the laws have generated energy among abortion-rights groups, which held more than 500 demonstrations and other events this past week. "We will power this movement into 2020. There will be political consequences," said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., distanced themselves early last week from the Alabama statute. They were joined Wednesday by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who told The Associated Press, "My position remains unchanged for 25 years. I'm opposed to abortion except in cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother" being in jeopardy.
___
Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Elana Schor contributed to this report.

SEE ALSO: Pope Francis compares abortion to 'hiring a hitman' as several US states attempt to restrict the procedure

DON'T MISS: Here's the latest point in pregnancy you can get an abortion in all 50 states

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NOW WATCH: Fox News pundits are using white supremacist language tied to 'The Great Replacement' conspiracy theory

• Kampgrounds of America have fired an employee in Starkville, Mississippi, after a cellphone video filmed on Sunday showed her pulling a gun on visitors to the campground. 
• The footage shows the employee, who has not been publicly named, holding a piston while speaking with Jessica Richardson, who posted the video, and her husband, Franklin, at Oktibbeha County Lake in Stakville.
• Richardson said she and her husband were told to leave because they didn't have a reservation at the campground. They said they were later told they didn't need a reservation to visit the lake.
• Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.

A manager of a Mississippi campground has been fired after she was filmed pulling a gun on a black couple while telling them to leave the area because they did not have a reservation.

Kampgrounds of America spokesman Mike Gast told INSIDER that an employeefrom KOA in Starkville, Mississippi, was fired after a cellphone video filmed on Sunday went viral.

The footage shows a woman, who has not been publicly named, holding a pistol while speaking with Jessica Richardson, who posted the video, and her husband, Franklin, at Oktibbeha County Lake in Starkville.

"RACISM IS ALIVE AND WELL!" Richardson, of Macon, said in a Facebook post about the video. "Today was a beautiful day so my husband (who's a vet), our 2-year-old dog, and myself, decided to Google a lake to visit and have a picnic. We found a lake located in Starkville, MS, and decided to visit. Not five mins later a truck pulls up and a white lady screams at us, she then jumps out of her truck with a Gun."

Richardson told the Washington Post that she and her husband, who is an Army National Guard Sergeant, were having a picnic and thinking about possibly renting a cabin when they were approached by the employee.

In video of the incident, Richardson said the woman in a KOA shirt pulled out a gun while telling her and her husband that they needed a reservation to be on private property owned by Starkville Kampgrounds of America. 

Read more:A gun-carrying man was caught on video shouting racial epithets at a group of young demonstrators after his girlfriend yelled at them to get off the road

The woman can then be seen putting the gun into her pocket as she spoke with them. 

"Time stopped. Everything stopped. I was confused as to what was going on. It's not like we posed a threat to anybody out there walking our dog. There's nothing harmful about that," Richardson told The Post. "The fact that she used 'get, get' like we were a dog. You say get, get to a stray dog that's on your porch."

On the way out of the park, Richardson said another campground employee, who turned out to be the woman's husband, told them they didn't need a reservation to visit the lake.

KOA said in a statement that the employee had been fired.

"Unfortunately, the campground employee felt it necessary to display a firearm during the interaction with the two individuals and their dog," the statement provided to INSIDER said. "Kampgrounds of America does not condone the use of a firearm in any manner on our properties or those owned and operated by our franchisees. The employee involved in the incident has been relieved of her duties at the Starkville KOA."

INSIDER has contacted Jessica Richardson for comment on the incident.

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• Congressional aides are more racially diverse than ever before

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• The Plant Based Foods Association and Upton's Naturals Co., a vegan meat maker, sued Mississippi's governor and commissioner of agriculture and commerce in federal court on Monday. 
• The lawsuit alleges that a labeling law effective July 1 in Mississippi violates the First Amendment right to free speech.
• The labeling law restricts companies from using descriptors such as "meatless meatballs", "hot dogs", "jerky", and even "veggie burgers."
• Read more on Markets Insider. 

The fight over what to call plant-based meat alternatives is ramping up. 

On Monday, the Plant Based Foods Association and Upton's Naturals Co., a Chicago-based vegan meat maker, sued Mississippi's governor and commissioner of agriculture and commerce in federal court. They allege labeling restrictions in the state that keep them from using descriptors such as "meatless meatballs", "hot dogs", "jerky", and even "veggie burgers" violate their First Amendment right to free speech. 

Mississippi's labeling law went into effect July 1. It could make using the word "meat" or any terminology associated with meat to describe plant-based foods subject to criminal penalties. 

"It creates a logistical nightmare and huge cost," Michele Simon, the executive director of the Plant Based Foods Association, a trade group, told Markets Insider in an interview. For companies such as Upton's Naturals, which clearly marks its products as "100% Vegan," it could mean that to sell in Mississippi, it would have to print new region-specific labels. 

In a statement, the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce said it was obliged to enforce the law. 

"It is unfortunate the plaintiffs have resorted to litigation without reviewing our proposed rules, or offering comments to those proposed rules," said Commissioner Andy Gipson in a statement on Twitter. "A food product made of insect-protein should not be deceptively labeled as beef. Someone looking to purchase tofu should not be tricked into buying lab-grown animal protein. Words mean something." 

Other states including Arkansas, Louisiana, and Wyoming have passed similar laws about what can be labeled meat.

The animal protein industry isn't the only one protected by states — in Wisconsin, the dairy lobby has campaigned heavily against alternative dairy products and how such products are labeled. The dairy industry contends that words such as "butter" and "milk" don't belong on vegan products, Bloomberg reported.

The Plant Based Foods Association has also fought against big dairy. The group has 147 company members, according to its website, including Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, Oatly, Morningstar Farms, and Tofurky. 

The stakes are high for plant-based alternative companies, many of which are privately held. Analysts have said that the plant-based meat alternatives industry, which is currently worth an estimated $14 billion, could grow to $140 billion in the next ten years.Recently, the popularity of Beyond Meat's blockbuster IPO — it's now trading up more than 500% — has shown that there is demand for such products on the market and in kitchens across the US.

But much of that growth relies on converting meat eaters to try the product, and hopefully swap it for at least some of their animal-protein consumption. It's a trend that has grown lately as even companies such as Tyson Foods launched plant-based meat alternative products as well as blended products which contain both meat and vegetables. 

"In the past these types of products have been aimed at a niche audience," Simon said. "But what's really exciting about what's happening right now is that these products are broadening their scope, audience, by going mainstream."

This shift means companies need to be able to clearly convey the nature of the product. But it may be an uphill battle — overall meat consumption has increased in the US and abroad. Not being able to tell consumers what to expect from plant-based products is worrying to companies like Upton's Naturals. 

If a company has a vegan product that is designed to remind the consumer of bacon but they can't use the word bacon, "what words are they going to use?" said Simon. "It will create more confusion in the marketplace, not less." 

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NOW WATCH: Brazil spent an estimated $300 million on a World Cup stadium that now sits nearly abandoned

• A Mississippi gubernatorial candidate is currently facing widespread backlash over his controversial decision to bar a female reporter from covering him for a day without bringing along a male colleague.
• Republican state representative Robert Foster told Mississippi Today's Larrison Campbell that she could not join his campaign for a ride-along day on the trail.
• He said he and his wife follow the "Billy Graham Rule," in which Christian men avoid ever being alone with women other than their wives, "to avoid any situation that may evoke suspicion or compromise of our marriage."
• Professor Joanna Grossman, a prominent scholar and expert on employment and gender discrimination law, told INSIDER that Foster banning Campbell from covering him alone doesn't violate federal anti-discrimination law Title VII.
• Title VII only covers discrimination within an employer-employee relationship.
• But Grossman added that the blanket policy Foster described in his tweets of not being alone with another woman in following the Billy Graham rule "would violate several different laws" in the context of his current position as a state representative. 
• Under the Equal Protection clause, government officials like state representatives and governors "cannot treat people differently on the basis of sex without an important governmental interest," Grossman explained. 
• Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.

A Mississippi gubernatorial candidate is currently facing widespread backlash over his controversial decision to bar a female reporter from covering him for a day without bringing along a male colleague because of his Christian beliefs — but his policy of never being alone with a woman who isn't his wife could violate federal law. 

Republican state representative Robert Foster caused an uproar by citing his Christian faith to tell a female reporter, Mississippi Today's Larrison Campbell, that she could not join his campaign for a ride-along day on the trail unless a male colleague accompanied her. 

In a Tuesday column for the site, Campbell said the Foster campaign told her they couldn't allow her to report on the campaign for a day alone "because they believed the optics of the candidate with a woman, even a working reporter, could be used in a smear campaign to insinuate an extramarital affair."

In a series of Wednesday and Thursday tweets, Foster said it wasn't just optics but also his Christian beliefs that he refused to be alone with another woman, writing, "the liberal left lost their minds over the fact I choose not to be alone with another woman. They can't believe, that even in 2019, someone still values their relationship with their wife and upholds their Christian Faith."

Read more: A Mississippi GOP candidate for governor cites his Christian faith in barring a female reporter from covering him unless she's accompanied by a man

Foster further explained that he and his wife "made a commitment to follow the 'Billy Graham rule,'" named for the late Evangelical pastor Billy Graham who urged Christian men to avoid being alone with women other than their wives, and "to avoid any situation that may evoke suspicion or compromise of our marriage," he said.

Both Foster and Campbell appeared on CNN's "New Day" to discuss the situation, with Foster asserting, "my truck, my rules" in defense of his position. 

But Foster's truck isn't exempt from federal anti-discrimination laws.

Professor Joanna Grossman, the Ellen K. Solender Endowed Chair in Women and the Law at Southern Methodist University Law School and a leading expert in gender discrimination law, told INSIDER in a Thursday email that while denying Campbell the chance to ride along with his campaign may not constitute workplace discrimination, following the "Billy Graham rule" could cause problems in his current job — and down the line if he became governor.

Foster isn't the first politician to come under scrutiny for invoking the so-called "Billy Graham rule" in the workplace. Vice President Mike Pence, an evangelical Christian, said in a 2002 interview that he too has a personal policy of never dining alone with a woman who is not his wife, Karen, and never attending events with alcohol served without her.

But Grossman wrote for Vox in 2017 that Pence and others like Foster who abide by this personal policy could be illegally discriminating against their female employees under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which establishes anti-discrimination protections in the workplace for "protected characteristics," including sex.

Grossman said in the piece that under Title VII, "an employer cannot set the terms and conditions of employment differently for one gender than for the other" and "employers are also not permitted to base employment decisions on gender-based stereotypes."

Read more: Sheryl Sandberg says 60% of male managers are afraid to have a one-on-one meeting with a female employee

Grossman explained to INSIDER that the particular case of Foster banning Campbell from covering him on the trail without a male colleague isn't a violation of Title VII, because the law only regulates discrimination within employer-employee relationships and not professional relations between political candidates and reporters. 

"To the extent this situation involves him as a candidate, it may not run afoul of any anti-discrimination laws. It's still wrong, misguided, and unfair, however," she said.

But Grossman added that the blanket policy Foster described in his tweets of not being alone with another woman in following the Billy Graham rule "would violate several different laws" if it means he refuses to meet alone with his female employees in his current job solely because of their sex.

Under the Equal Protection clause, government officials like state representatives and governors "cannot treat people differently on the basis of sex without an important governmental interest and a substantial relationship between the means chosen and the end served," Grossman told INSIDER. 

In a Thursday appearance on CNN, Campbell charged that Foster was treating her "as a sexual object first and a reporter second," and Grossman agreed that even if men in positions in power feel the need to abide by the Billy Graham rule for religious reasons, normalizing antiquated stereotypes about gender roles harms ultimately women in the workplace.

"The troubling part of this story is that the very 'rule' itself is founded on the assumption that women exist to titillate and tempt men, even in a professional setting in which they simply seek to do their jobs," Grossman added. "Equality is foreclosed by a system predicated on that assumption."

Read more:

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After 2 Japanese medical schools stopped rigging entrance requirements to favor men, women immediately outperformed them

SEE ALSO: 'One might say you persist': Elizabeth Warren says she's not discouraged by sexism in politics as she seeks to make history in 2020

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• Much of the Mississippi Delta has been submerged under feet of water for months. At the flooding's peak, water spread in an area over twice the size of New York City.
• Storms, like Hurricane Barry, have exacerbated the flooding. Some farmers told us that recent storms have caused waters to rise even further.
• Farmers in the area aren't able to plant in their flooded fields, forcing them to delay planting crops in an already difficult year because of the trade war with China.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

VICKSBURG, Mississippi — Tropical Storm Barry did not ravage Louisiana to the extent that forecasters initially predicted, but its compounded effects have made this year the worst in nearly a century for farmers in the Mississippi Delta.

Heavy rains and storms since February have caused the Mississippi River to swell. At the brink of Barry's landfall, the river posed the risk of "life-threatening inundation" in Louisiana and southwest Mississippi.

While Barry did not bring the wrath that was originally predicted, the increased flooding in the Delta has ruined farmers' harvest this year. Videographer Nathan Willis traveled rural Mississippi to see for himself, and talk with farmers who've won't be planting this year for a recent episode of "Business Insider Today".

The worst flood since 1927

Randy and Victoria Darden glide across the water, 6 feet above what should be a healthy field of soybean crops.

As winter turned to spring this year, they watched water seep into the fields and turn their family farm in Vicksburg, Mississippi, into a lake. Months later, the flood has not receded. In fact, the Dardens say, after recent storms, the waters actually rose.

"I won't have any income coming in this year," farmer Randy Darden told "Business Insider Today.""All I've got is expenses going out. Normally, I grow somewhere around $600,000."

Randy has lived on the L & R Farms for half a century. This is the first time he won't plant anything at all. Instead of a tractor, father and daughter travel their farm by boat and four-wheeler.

And they worry about what the flood will leave behind.

"Normally I would be out here anywhere from hip-high to higher soybeans," Randy's daughter, Victoria Darden, said. "To walk here and see all these weed growing is really frustrating, and it makes me mad. We'll be picking up this trash that has floated up from who knows where, probably for the rest of the year. "

Much of the Mississippi Delta has been flooded since February. At its peak, the water spread across 550,000 acres, inundating homes, businesses, and farmland across five counties — an area twice the size of New York City.

This year, flooding is plaguing agriculture far beyond the Delta.

Since late winter in 2018, unusually heavy rain, storms, and tornadoes have flooded land across the Midwest and the south, forcing farmers to delay planting crops like soybeans and corn in a year that many were already hurting because of the trade war with China.

Read more:China's 'soybean diplomacy' may delight Trump, but US soybean farmers are far less optimistic

So far, President Donald Trump has declared a major flood-related disasters in 11 states, freeing up financial relief for those affected.

This year's flood along the Mississippi River is the longest lasting ever, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

By comparison, the Great Flood of 1993 affected mostly states north of Arkansas. It cost the federal government more than $4.2 billion in direct assistance.

The Mississippi Flood of 1927 mostly hit states south of Missouri. It caused about $1 billion in damage.

This year, both regions flooded.

As the Mississippi swelled with water from the north, everything traveled downriver, keeping the water levels high for months here in the Delta.

'This is a man-made problem'

Efforts to fight the rising waters go back to 1941, when Congress approved the Yazoo Backwater Project to help prevent floods like the one in 1927. The government built levees, drainage structures, and canals. There was also a plan to build pumps that could drain floodwaters from places like the Darden's farm.

Because of delays and other challenges, those pumps never got built.

In 2008, the EPA officially vetoed construction of the Yazoo Pumps, saying it would threaten wetlands and wildlife. Today, you'll see signs across southern Mississippi demanding the pumps.

"If we had the pumps, we wouldn't have this problem," farmer David Johnson told "Business Insider Today".

"I personally farm 3,000 acres, give or take, here in the lower Delta. I will not harvest a single acre this year. I'm going to lose money this year. It's all flooded. This is a man-made problem."

Meanwhile, the financial toll is mounting.

"When the farmers hurt then everyone hurts, from the bank that can't make a crop loan, to the agricultural equipment dealer that can't sell equipment, to the seed and feed supply person that can't sell us seed or fertilizer for those crops," Mississippi's Sharkey County commissioner Paul Hollis told "Business Insider Today". "It's a real trickle-down effect."

The $30,000 the Dardens poured into fertilizer last fall is gone. And this water will cost the family even more as it recedes, eroding the land and affecting soil quality.

Johnson said that he'll receive some income from insurance proceeds, but that amount will not replace the profit he'd make from his harvest.

Like Johnson, other farmers' compensation for a lost harvest isn't enough.

"Even with crop insurance, it's kind of like a Band-Aid. It really doesn't get you back to home," Hollis said. "We'll end up losing money because you still gotta make rent. You still gotta pay a landlord."

With much of this year's planting delayed or canceled altogether, commodity prices have climbed. Prices for corn and soybeans have surged since May, shortly after a USDA report showed crop growers were very behind schedule.

Only about half of expected corn crops were planted by mid-May, compared to almost 80% the year prior. Similarly, only a fifth of the soybeans were planted, compared to more than half in 2018. Since then, farmers have caught up somewhat, but both crops are still behind where they were expecting to be.

After a slight rise during Tropical Storm Barry in late July, floodwaters have just begun to recede, but they probably won't be completely gone for months, according to local government officials.

Meanwhile, for Victoria, the flood has altered her relationship to the place she considers both her home and her livelihood.

"You feel just mad, upset, heartbroken. The emotions are just a roller coaster," Victoria Darden said.

"It is very frustrating when you live somewhere that is normally just perfectly fine and some unnatural disaster happens like this and you feel so isolated. I can't stay on this farm more than a day."

SEE ALSO: The 6 deadliest hurricanes in US history

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NOW WATCH: Most hurricanes that hit the US come from the same exact spot in the world

• U.S. immigration officials raided seven Mississippi chicken processing plants Wednesday, arresting 680 mostly Latino workers in the largest workplace sting in at least a decade.
• The raids happened just hours before President Donald Trump was scheduled to visit El Paso, Texas, where a man linked to an online screed about a "Hispanic invasion" was charged in a shooting that left 22 people dead.
• Mississippi is the nation's fifth-largest chicken producing state and the plants' tough processing jobs have mainly been filled by Latino immigrants eager to take whatever work they can get.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

MORTON, Miss. (AP) — US immigration officials raided seven Mississippi chicken processing plants Wednesday, arresting 680 mostly Latino workers in the largest workplace sting in at least a decade.

The raids, planned months ago, happened just hours before President Donald Trump was scheduled to visit El Paso, Texas, the majority-Latino border city where a man linked to an online screed about a "Hispanic invasion" was charged in a shooting that left 22 people dead.

About 600 US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents fanned out across the plants operated by five companies, surrounding the perimeters to prevent workers from fleeing.

In Morton, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of the capital of Jackson, workers filled three buses — two for men and one for women — at a Koch Foods Inc. plant.

Those arrested were taken to a military hangar to be processed for immigration violations. About 70 family, friends and residents waved goodbye and shouted, "Let them go! Let them go!" Later, two more buses arrived.

A tearful 13-year-old boy whose parents are from Guatemala waved goodbye to his mother, a Koch worker, as he stood beside his father. Some employees tried to flee on foot but were captured in the parking lot.

Workers, including Domingo Candelaria, who could show they were in the country legally were allowed to leave the plant after agents searched the trunks of their vehicles.

"It was a sad situation inside," Candelaria said.

Mississippi is the nation's fifth-largest chicken producing state and the plants' tough processing jobs have mainly been filled by Latino immigrants eager to take whatever work they can get. Chicken plants dominate the economies of Morton and other small towns east of Jackson.

Based in Park Ridge, Illinois, Koch is one of the largest poultry producers in the U.S, with operations in Mississippi and five other states. The company didn't respond to telephone calls and emails seeking comment.

Read more:Trump's ICE raids on thousands of immigrants are 'a big show to scare people' and won't solve anything, immigration experts warn

Matthew Albence, ICE's acting director, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday in Pearl, just down the road from the Koch plant, that the raids could be the largest-ever workplace operation in any single state. Asked about their coinciding with Trump's visit to El Paso, Albence responded, "This is a long-term operation that's been going on." He said raids are "racially neutral" and based on evidence of illegal residency.

The companies involved could be charged with knowingly hiring workers who are in the county illegally and will be scrutinized for tax, document and wage fraud, Albence said.

Bill Chandler, executive director of the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, called the "terrible" raids "another effort to drive Latinos out of Mississippi," and he blamed Trump for fanning racism with his past incendiary comments about immigrants.

"This is the same thing that Trump is doing at the border with the Border Patrol," he said, referring to the increased crackdown on migrants coming into the US.

Major immigration raids were common under President George W. Bush, including one at a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, in 2008 that resulted in about 400 arrests. President Barack Obama avoided them, limiting workplace immigration efforts to low-profile audits.

Trump resumed workplace raids, but the months of preparation and hefty resources they require make them rare. Last year, the administration targeted a landscaping company near Toledo, Ohio, and a meatpacking plant in eastern Tennessee. The former owner of the Tennessee plant was sentenced to 18 months in prison last month.

On Wednesday, a hangar at a Mississippi Air National Guard base in Flowood, adjoining the Jackson airport, was set up to process those who were detained. Employees formed seven lines, one for each workplace raided, with fingerprint scanners and document printers at each interview station.

Cooling misters blew in front of fans, and 2,000 catered meals were ordered.

Agents who arrived at the Morton plant passed a chain-link fence with a sign that said the company was hiring. Workers' wrists were tied with plastic bands and they deposited personal belongings in clear plastic bags.

"This will affect the economy," Maria Isabel Ayala, a child care worker for plant employees, said as the buses left. "Without them here, how will you get your chicken?"

Other companies targeted in the raids included Peco Foods Inc., which has plants in Bay Springs, Canton and Sebastopol; PH Food Inc. in Morton; MP Food Inc. in Pelahatchie and Pearl River Foods Inc. in Carthage.

"We are fully cooperating with the authorities in their investigation and are navigating a potential disruption of operations," Peco, based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, said in a statement. The company added that it participates in E-Verify, a government program to screen new hires for immigration status.

No one answered the phone at Pearl River Foods. A woman who answered the phone at PH Food declined to comment or identify herself. A telephone listing could not be found for MP Food.

___

Amy reported from Pearl, Mississippi. Associated Press reporter Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.

SEE ALSO: Immigrants have rights when ICE comes to arrest them, but experts warn this only goes so far

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• Photos taken after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in Mississippi showed detainees' children, some as young as 4 years old, huddling together.
• In a planned action, roughly 600 US immigration officials raided several food-processing plants throughout the state and arrested 680 mostly Latino employees, The Associated Press reported.
• The children were left alone, but people volunteered to take them to a gym, the reporter who took the photos said.
• The gym's owner told INSIDER that it had "everything we need" after people donated food and supplies, adding that all the children were reunited with a guardian by Wednesday evening.
• In a statement to INSIDER, an ICE spokesman did not confirm the reports but said the detainees "were advised ... to let ICE officers know if they had any children who were at school or childcare and needed to be picked up."
• The spokesman also said the detainees were allowed to use cellphones to "make arrangements for the care of their children or other dependents."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Striking photos taken by a local journalist after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in Mississippi showed the children of detainees huddling together.

In a planned action, roughly 600 US immigration officials raided several food-processing plants in the state and arrested 680 mostly Latino employees, according to The Associated Press. The owners and employees had been implicated in a federal criminal investigation, the report said.

"It was a sad situation inside," Domingo Candelaria, a worker at one of the plants, told the AP.

Alex Love, a reporter for the local CBS affiliate WJTV, tweeted photos of some of the children whose guardians were taken by immigration officials to a military hangar for processing.

"Many are left scared & crying after coming home from school & being locked out without their parents," Love said.

Love said that people volunteered to take the children to a gym to spend the night and donated food and drinks.

ICE's acting director, Matthew Albence, told the AP that the raids were a "long-term operation" and described them as "racially neutral."

In a statement to INSIDER, Bryan Cox, ICE's southern region communications director, said he could not confirm the reports because "ICE was not present."

"What I can say is that every law enforcement agency in the nation arrests persons who may be parents when those persons commit arrestable offenses, and this agency has taken and is continuing to take extensive steps to take special care of situations," Cox said.

Cox said the detainees "were advised ... to let ICE officers know if they had any children who were at school or childcare and needed to be picked up."

He added that the detainees were allowed to use cellphones to "make arrangements for the care of their children or other dependents" and that officials were instructed to inform nearby schools of the operation.

Jordan Barnes, the owner of Clear Creek Fitness, where the children were being housed, told WJTV he was arranging for food and transportation for the children.

"I understand the law and how everything works and everything needs to have a system," Barnes said. "But everybody needs to hold the kids first and foremost in their minds, and that's what we've tried to do here."

Barnes told INSIDER that the children were between 4 and 15 years old and that they were all reunited with a guardian by Wednesday evening. He added that the gym had "everything we need" after people donated supplies.

SEE ALSO: Immigration officials arrested over 600 mostly Latino workers in Mississippi food processing plants, the largest raid in at least a decade

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• The state of Mississippi proposed a new regulation Thursday that reverses an earlier law banning plant-based foods from using words like "burger" or "hot dog" on labels. 
• The proposal is a step in the right direction for companies such as Upton's Naturals, which sued the state, as well as Beyond Meat. Both make plant-based meat products and use words associated with meat to describe them on labels. 
• Many states have passed laws banning plant-based food companies from using words associated with meat or dairy. Even in states where no laws have been passed, companies like Beyond Meat have come under fire for labels. 
• Read more on Markets Insider. 

It may soon be legal to call a veggie burger a veggie burger in Mississippi. 

That's thanks to a new regulation proposed late Thursday by the Mississippi Department of Agriculture that reverses an earlier labelling law that made it a crime for vegan companies to use words like "burger""bacon" and "hot dog" on products not derived from animal protein. 

The change is the result of a First Amendment lawsuit brought against the state by Upton's Naturals and the Plant Based Foods Association, with the Institute for Justice. Upton's sued the state of Mississippi saying that the regulation violated its First Amendment right to label food in a way consumers understand. 

Upton's filed the lawsuit because "business have the right to tell the truth," said Justin Pearson, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, in an interview with Markets Insider. "Customers understand that foods labelled as meatless do not contain meat." 

The new rule is a win for companies such as Upton's and Beyond Meat, which make plant-based meat alternatives and rely heavily on converting meat eaters to be regular consumers. The market for plant-based meat is currently $14 billion in the US, and analysts say it could grow to be $140 billion in a decade. 

Beyond Meat's IPO performance — shares rose as much as 800%— and numerous high-profile partnerships with fast food chains show that there is significant demand for the products.In addition, a number of large, traditional food companies have gotten in the plant-based game, including Tyson Foods, Hormel Foods, and Kellogg. 

But as demand has boomed, so has the number of states pushing back on the words companies use to describe plant-based protein products. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Wyoming have passed laws similar to the one in Mississippi about labeling plant-based meat. 

What words can be used on plant-based products is up for debate even in states were no laws have been passed. In Wisconsin, the dairy lobby has campaigned heavily against plant-based milk and pushed back on companies using words such as "butter" and "milk" on vegan products,  Bloomberg reported.

While the regulation proposed in Mississippi doesn't impact any other pending litigation, "our hope is that this will help to convince other state governments to do the right thing," Pearson told Markets Insider. 

In addition, he said that there's about a month before the regulation will be enacted by the state and becomes a final regulation. In that time, the Mississippi Department of Agriculture could change its mind, Pearson said, adding that he does not expect that to happen. 

"This new ban was created solely to prevent competition and we're very happy that it looks like that ban will be going away," Pearson told Markets Insider.

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• Christina Malone-Brown was born at 9:11 p.m. on 9/11, weighing 9 pounds and 11 ounces.
• Dad Justin Brown joked that his family should play the lottery.
• Mom Cametrione Malone-Brown said her daughter's birth brought lightness to a day shadowed by the 2001 terror attacks.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A Mississippi couple welcomed a 9-pound, 11-ounce baby into the world on 9/11, at 9:11 p.m.

The Commercial Appeal reported Christina Malone-Brown was born by cesarean section at Methodist Le Bonheur Hospital in Germantown, Tennessee.

Christina's father, Justin Brown, says bystanders joked his family should play the lottery. He said the doctor kept saying "Oh my goodness, I've got a 9/11, 9/11, 9/11."

Read more: Some Instagrammers are using the 9/11 tragedy to promote brands, products — and themselves

A photo of the baby shows her asleep in a hospital bed for infants, wires connected to her torso and a blue elastic band wrapped around her head. ABC 7 reported that baby Christina is receiving some extra oxygen in NICU because of a minor lung issue, but she is expected to be okay.

Her mother, Cametrione Malone-Brown, said her baby girl brought a spot of light to a day darkened by memories of the 2001 terror attacks.

"You find triumph, you find a piece of joy from a day that's so drastic and still hurts," she said.

Patient coordinator Rachel Laughlin said she's never seen such a birth in her 38 years of working in healthcare.

"It just makes her a even more special little girl that she already is," Laughlin told ABC 7.

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• The city of Southaven, Mississippi, argued in a legal brief that a man who was fatally shot by police in 2017 had no constitutional protections because he was an undocumented immigrant.
• Ismael Lopez was killed in 2017 after Southaven officers arrived at the wrong door to execute a warrant. After a commotion, they shot Lopez in the back of his head, according to state investigators.
• Attorneys for Lopez's family have filed a civil lawsuit over the shooting, and are seeking $20 million in damages.
• An attorney for the city has denied that Lopez was protected by the Fouth Amendment and 14th Amendment, which protect against unreasonable searches and seizures and guarantee equal protection under the law.
• The Supreme Court has ruled multiple times that any person on US soil — no matter their immigration status — is protected by the Constitution.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Two years ago, police officers arrived at a Mississippi home in the middle of the night to execute a warrant. But they knocked on the wrong person's door, a commotion ensued, and they shot the homeowner in the back of the head, state investigators said.

Now, the city of Southaven has argued in a legal brief that the man, Ismael Lopez, was not protected by the US Constitution because he was an undocumented immigrant.

"It is the most absurd thing in the world," Aaron Neglia, a lawyer for Lopez's wife, told Insider. "What [they're] saying is that because this man is undocumented, it's okay to kill him?"

Read more: Police use-of-force is a leading cause of death among young men of color, study says

Attorneys for Lopez's family have filed a civil lawsuit over the shooting, and are seeking $20 million in damages for Lopez's widow, Claudia Linares. They have argued that Lopez was the victim of one of the worst police shootings in recent memory — akin to Walter Scott, an unarmed black man who was shot in the back in 2015 while he ran from a white police officer.

But the city, the Southaven Police Department, and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation have alleged that the officers opened fire on Lopez after he pointed a .22-caliber rifle at them — an allegation Lopez's lawyers deny.

Immigrants — both documented and undocumented — are protected by the Constitution

An attorney for Southaven who wrote the legal brief argued that Lopez, due to his immigration status and criminal history, had no rights under the Fourth Amendment or 14th Amendment. The amendments protect against unreasonable searches and seizures, and guarantee equal protection, respectively.

"Ismael Lopez may have been a person on American soil but he was not one of the 'We, the People of the United States' entitled to the civil rights invoked in this lawsuit," attorney Katherine Kerby wrote. "Ismael Lopez had insufficient connections with the United States of the type, dignity, and caliber required to attain standing for Fourth or Fourteenth Amendment protection."

Read more: 11 things you didn't know about the US Constitution

In fact, immigrants — both documented and undocumented — are protected by the Constitution, as is anyone on US soil.

The Supreme Court has affirmed these protections before, such as in the landmark 1982 case Plyler v. Doe, which held that immigrant children are protected under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and therefore can't be barred from attending public schools.

"Where they say, 'We the people,' they don't say 'residents' or 'citizens.'"

Kerby also argued in her brief that Lopez's criminal history— he was charged in the 1990s with domestic violence and driving under the influence — precluded him from constitutional protections.

"Ismael Lopez was a convicted felon for a crime of violence while in the United States and a fugitive from justice in violation of the his terms of probation with an outstanding warrant for deportation as well as being a felon in possession and an illegal alien in possession of a firearm at the time he opened his door to the knock of the described Southaven police officers,"

Neglia told Insider that nothing from Lopez's history gave Southaven police the right to arrive at the wrong door and kill the person inside.

He added that he believed Kerby's legal brief was akin to a "hate manifesto" and said she was warping the true meaning of the Constitution.

"Every human being on American soil has constitutional rights. It's very clear in the Constitution — where they say, 'We the people,' they don't say 'residents' or 'citizens.' They say 'people," Neglia said. "The US Supreme Court has made it clear that any individual on American soil, regardless of how they entered America, has constitutional protections."

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• Mississippi elects its governor Tuesday night, in a contest that is the first competitive statewide race in well over a decade. 
• Despite a serious challenge from the state's four-term Democratic Attorney General, DDHQ has called the race in favor of the favored Lieutenant Governor. 
• This page will have live, constantly updated results all night until the last votes are in.
• Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves wss favored in this race, but Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood had been a stronger contender in polling than Mississippi's red-state reputation would lead you to believe. 
• Hood was first elected attorney general in 2003 and has been in office for four consecutive terms. He is an unconventional Democrat as a pro-life, pro-firearm public official. 
• Pay special attention to Hinds County, the most populous in the state, where Jackson is.
• In 2016, Hillary Clinton won 71% of the vote there. Harrison County on the Gulf of Mexico is a large population center where President Donald Trump outcompeted Clinton 2 to 1.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

UPDATE: DDHQ has called the race in favor of Lieutenant Gov. Tate Reeves. 

On Tuesday night, one of the most consequential races is in Mississippi, where Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood is running against Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves to win the governorship.

Polls are closed, and we'll have live, up-to-the-minute data on the results of the election streaming in thanks to our partner DDHQ.

Among the reddest-of-the-red states, this Mississippi election has proven surprisingly close. Hood was first elected attorney general in 2003 and has been in office for four consecutive terms. He is an unconventional Democrat as a pro-life, pro-firearm public official. 

Despite being traditionally safe GOP territory, the state has merited visits from Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump. Though polling is scant, one reason for the national attention is a Mason-Dixon poll conducted October 17 to 19 that put support for Hood at 43% and Reeves at 46%. 

The geography of the state is unique in that while just one in five people live in rural areas in the US overall, 51% of people in Mississippi live in such regions.

As far as larger population centers, three counties are worth keeping an eye on:

• Hinds County in the west, where Jackson is
• Harrison County on the Gulf of Mexico, where Gulfport and Biloxi are 
• DeSoto County in the northwest, which contains suburbs of Memphis, Tennessee.

The latter two counties broke for Trump over Hillary Clinton by 2-to-1 margins in 2016 and were be large sources of support for Reeves, while Hinds county was be Hood's nexus of support. It was not enough to put the Democrat over the top in this ruby red state. 

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• A homeless man seeking shelter from the cold smashed a number of windows so he could be arrested and taken to jail, Mississippi authorities said.
• The man had previously asked jail officials if he could stay there, but deputies told him it wouldn't be possible due to liability reasons.
• "He said, 'I will make you lock me up then,'" Sheriff Travis Patten told the Natchez Democrat, adding that the man then broke a number of courthouse and sheriff's office windows.
• The man was arrested, and jail records show he has been charged with destroying property.
• The sheriff says the case highlights the county's dire need for a homeless shelter.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A homeless man in Mississippi deliberately smashed a number of windows with his elbow so he could get arrested and taken to jail so he could escape the cold, according to the Adams County Sheriff's Office.

The man had previously asked jail officials if he could stay inside and seek shelter, but deputies told him he couldn't stay there unless he was in custody, due to liability reasons, the Natchez Democrat reported.

"He said, 'I will make you lock me up then,'" Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten told the newspaper.

The man then proceeded to do just that, breaking windows in the nearby courthouse and sheriff's office, Patten said.

"He walked out of the jail behind me here. He walked over to the courthouse and he took his elbow, and he elbowed out several of the windows that you see broken over there now," Patten told WDAM. "He walked back into the lobby and picked up a plant. Threw it on the floor and the table that it was sitting on; he used that table to smash out both windows."

'If there was a shelter he would not have to have committed a crime'

The Adams County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

WDAM identified the man as 43-year-old Clamekus DeNorris Johnson, who was arrested after smashing the windows. Jail records show that Johnson has been charged with destroying property.

"Now, am I condoning him tearing up county property? Absolutely not," Patten told WDAM. "But when you put people in desperate situations, during desperate times, they do desperate things."

Patten added that Adams County has no homeless shelter, and the incident has highlighted the dire need for one.

"If there was a shelter he would not have to have committed a crime to have been able to get out of the cold, and could have also had a hot meal," Patten told the Natchez Democrat.

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• An outbreak of violence at three Mississippi prison facilities has left 5 inmates dead in the past week. Two more are missing.
• The violence, which began Dec. 29, was reportedly provoked by gangs and has prompted a statewide lockdown of prisons, according to the state Department of Corrections.
• As officials are working to quell the violence, critics have noted the state's troubled history of inhumane prison conditions, including a lawsuit citing filthy, unsafe conditions and lack of medical care. 
• Visit Insider's homepage for more. 

Five inmates have died this week and two more are missing after an outbreak of violence this week at several Mississippi correctional facilities. 

The missing inmates, both convicted of aggravated assault, were reported in the early hours of January 4 during an emergency count at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, according to the Clarion Ledger, which first broke the news of the violence. One of the men has since been recaptured, but other remains at large, the Ledger reported early on January 5. 

Their escape came on the heels of a week of inmate deaths and injuries at three different prisons beginning with the death of an inmate at South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville, according to the Ledger. This was followed by a death at Chickasaw County Regional Correctional Facility in Houston, and a total of three deaths at Parchman, the Ledger reported. The media outlet has also noted numerous allegations of injuries reported by family members of the incarcerated, although the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) had not yet responded to a request for comment. 

An investigation is underway to determine the exact cause of the violence, according to a press release from the state department of corrections, but the government says that it has confirmed much of the turmoil is related to gang activity. More detailed information has been withheld due to security concerns.

"There is a lot of misinformation fanning the flames of fear in the community at large, especially on social media," Commissioner Pelicia E. Hall said in a statement. "Cellphones are contraband and have been instrumental in escalating the violence."

Mississippi's prison system has a troubled history reflected in prior lawsuits and investigations

The current spate of violence follows a fraught history for Mississippi's correctional justice system. The Washington Post reported that on Dec. 31, in the midst of the violence, a federal judge ruled that constitutional violations had been resolved at another prison in the state, East Mississippi Correctional Facility. A privately-run prison, that facility had been charged with denying medical and mental health care to inmates, as well as subjecting them to filthy and inhumane conditions, according to a 2013 lawsuit by the ACLU and other civil rights groups. 

Since then, ProPublica and the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting have teamed up to report on the prison system across the state, which has one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation. 

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• Mississippi police say two men have been arrested after they allegedly used superglue to attach the winning numbers onto a lottery ticket and tried to cash it in.
• The men were both arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit a felony and uttering a counterfeit instrument over $1,000
• CNN reported that lottery officials with the Mississippi Lottery Corporation realized the ticket was fake and called police.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Two Mississippi men allegedly used superglue to attach the winning numbers onto a lottery ticket so they could cash it in for $100,000.

The Flowood Police Department told CNN the men had signed the ticket and presented it to the Mississippi Lottery Corporation, but lottery officials realized it was fake and called authorities.

Local media reports published pictures of the fake ticket, which appears to have a strip with the "winning numbers" laid across the middle of the ticket.

WJTV reported that the men, 47-year-old Odis Latham and 48-year-old Russell Sparks, were both arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit a felony and uttering a counterfeit instrument worth more than $1,000. Latham was also charged with false identification.

The station reported that both men were set to appear in court on Tuesday.

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• Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency ahead of predictions that the Pearl River will rise to 38 feet and flood its banks near Jackson.
• Gov. Reeves called the projected event "the third worst flood" in Mississippi history.
• Parts of the area are under evacuation orders as the river threatens more than 2,400 structures.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency Saturday amid predictions that a river running in the area around the state capital of Jackson could burst its banks and spark widespread flooding.

Forecasters believe the Pearl River will crest at 38 feet Sunday evening to levels not seen in decades, following days of torrential rains across the Southeast. Reeves said the state should prepare for "the third worst flood" in its history.

"This is a historic, unprecedented flood," Reeves said via Twitter.

Parts of Jackson and suburban Ridgeland were under evacuation orders, and some people had already filled trucks with furniture and other belongings to get out. Reeves said more than 2,400 homes and other structures in and near Jackson could either be inundated or isolated by the rising waters. That includes 1,925 structures in Hinds County, 461 in Rankin County and 31 in Madison County.

"I cannot stress to you how important the next 24 to 48 hours is for the people who are going to be affected," Reeves said. He signed an emergency declaration to speed up spending for flood response and recovery. More than 96,000 sandbags had already been distributed by Saturday. The National Guard, the Highway Patrol and other high-water rescue teams were on standby, Reeves said.

"Have a plan to protect yourself and a plan to protect your loved ones," Reeves said.

Although the sun was shining Saturday in central Mississippi, Reeves and Mississippi Emergency Management Agency director Greg Michel said people in low-lying areas should not be complacent about leaving because the river was expected to crest at night and remain high for days, with rain in the forecast for Sunday and Monday.

"Do not wait until water gets into your house to evacuate," Michel urged.

Officials were bracing for what could be the worst flooding in Jackson since 1983. Nicholas Fenner, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, said the Pearl River crested at 43.2 feet on April 17, 1979 — its highest level. The second-highest level occurred May 5, 1983, when the river got up to 39.58 feet. He also said there was between $500 million and $700 million worth of damage in 1979, which saw 15,000 people evacuated.

The area is currently under blue skies, but Fenner warned residents against complacency.

"Even though the weather has improved, the water will be rising soon. Don't get lulled into a false sense of security," he said.

Meanwhile, the Ross Barnett Reservoir is approaching capacity, which led officials to announce that they would begin slowly releasing water at 6 p.m. Saturday. WLBT-TV reported the move is an attempt to keep flooding to a minimum downstream, and to allow extra time for residents to get to higher ground.

John Sigman, manager of the Pearl River Water Supply District, had a phone conference with the National Weather Service and the Army Corp of Engineers on Friday. They said that areas north of the main lake have crested and were beginning to fall and described that as good news.

The crest at the reservoir is now expected Sunday morning. Officials told the television station they are holding their outflow right now at 65,000 cubic feet per second and will hold there for 48 hours, giving people downstream time to get out.

SEE ALSO: Painfully slow hurricanes, deadly heat, and cities without water: What the climate crisis will look like in the next 10 years, according to experts

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NOW WATCH: How an automatic floodgate is helping communities against natural disasters

• In addition to its Democratic presidential primary, Mississippi is holding primaries for US Senate and House elections on March 10.
• Mike Espy easily won the Democratic primary for US Senate to face Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith this November. 
• Polls closed in Mississippi at 7 p.m. local time and 8 p.m. ET — follow along for results here. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Polls closed in Mississippi at 7 p.m. local time and 8 p.m. ET — follow along for results here. 

Mississippi US Senate Democratic primary results:

Mississippi House primaries:

What's at stake?

Cindy Hyde-Smith, who was elected to the US Senate in a 2018 special election, is running unopposed in the Republican primary for a full term. Hyde-Smith's US Senate seat is rated likely or solid Republican by most major election forecasters, including the Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball.

On the Democratic side, former US Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, who ran against Hyde-Smith in the 2018 special, won the Democratic nomination to face Hyde-Smith again. 

All four of Mississippi's House Representatives – three Republicans and one Democrat — are running for re-election, with GOP Reps. Michael Guest of Mississippi's third district and Steven Palazzo of the fourth district easily beating back multiple primary challengers from within their own parties. 

Catch up on live coverage from today's primaries

Head over to our main post to see the results of all six presidential primaries and caucuses taking place today, and see full results for the Democratic primary in Mississippi here.  

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Former VP Joe Biden has won the Mississippi Democratic presidential primary, Insider and Decision Desk HQ project.
• Polls just closed in Mississippi at 7 p.m. local time and 8 p.m. Eastern Time. 
• We'll have up-to-the-minute live vote counts and results happening in real-time updating automatically.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Former VP Joe Biden will win the Mississippi Democratic presidential primary, Insider and Decision Desk HQ project. Polls closed at 7 p.m. local time and 8 p.m. Eastern Time, follow along for live results here. 

Mississippi Democratic primary results:

Catch up on live coverage from the primary:

Pre-primary: 

• POLL: Biden shattered Bernie's momentum, with skeptical Democrats increasingly satisfied with Biden as nominee
• The Michigan primary is Bernie Sanders' last chance to show he has a shot at becoming president
• Here's who Joe Biden is reportedly considering for top positions in his administration as he touts a 'Return to Normal' plan
• Candidates who've dropped out of the presidential race are endorsing either Biden or Sanders. Here's whose side they're on and why.

Head over to our main live results post to catch up on today's primaries. 

Here's how Democrats will elect their presidential nominee over the next several months

What's at stake in the primary?

Mississippi allocates a total of 36 pledged delegates to the convention. Twenty-three are allocated between the state's four congressional districts, with thirteen at-large and PLEO delegates allocated at the state level. 

As in most other states, candidates must earn over the minimum threshold of 15% of the vote in a given district or statewide to earn any delegates. 

Who did the polling say was ahead?

A Data for Progress poll of Mississippi released on March 8 showed 77% of likely Mississippi Democratic primary voters supporting former VP Joe Biden compared to 22% who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders. The poll, conducted from March 4 to 7, had a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points. 

Biden was heavily favored to win Mississippi due to his sweeping Super Tuesday victories in similar Southern states where black voters make up a substantial proportion of the Democratic primary electorate, including Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee. 

According to FiveThirtyEight's primary election forecast, Biden has a 99 in 100 (99%) chance of winning the most pledged delegates out of Mississippi compared to 1 in 100 (0.7%) chance for Sanders. 

Join the conversation about this story »

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• The governor of Mississippi on Tuesday signed an executive order that effectively overrode safety measures implemented by other officials during the coronavirus outbreak.
• Gov. Tate Reeves' order classified businesses including gun shops, department stores, and real-estate offices as "essential." It also urged employees to work from home "to the extent feasible."
• It advised citizens to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people but said that "this does not apply" to places such as offices, airports, and grocery and department stores.
• Reeves has encouraged working from home and social distancing but resisted calls for more stringent measures. On Monday, he said that "Mississippi's never going to be China,"according to the Jackson Free Press, likely referring to the lockdown measures in large parts of China.
• Reeves' executive order led some businesses in the Jackson area to reverse their work-from-home plans, the Free Press reported.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The governor of Mississippi on Tuesday issued an executive order overriding local officials' responses to the coronavirus outbreak and classifying a wide range of businesses — including gun shops, department stores, home-repair services, mass transit, Uber and Lyft services, and real-estate offices — as "essential."

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has closed public schools and declared a state of emergency in the past two weeks. As of Thursday, Mississippi had reported more than 370 coronavirus cases and at least five deaths.

The executive order urged employees to work from home "to the extent feasible" but also said many types of business were necessary for maintaining community, public health, and the economy.

The order advised citizens to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people but said that "this does not apply" to places such as offices, airports, and grocery and department stores.

The order overrode several public-health measures that local authorities had called for. It said that "any order, rule, regulation or action by any governing body, agency or political subdivision of the state that imposes any additional freedom of movement or social distancing limitations on Essential Business or Operation, restricts scope of services or hours of operation of any Essential Business or Operation, or which will or might in any way conflict with or impede the purpose of this Executive Order is suspended and unenforceable during this COVID-19 State of Emergency."

On Friday, the Mississippi State Department of Health recommended that restaurants suspend dine-in services. Several local governments followed suit.

Reeves' order allows restaurants and bars to continue serving dine-in customers, provided they take appropriate social-distancing measures.

Several towns had also imposed evening curfews, which as a restriction on freedom of movement could be superseded by Reeves' order if they prevent "essential" businesses — like taxi and delivery services — from operating at those times.

On March 16, Chokwe A. Lumumba, the mayor of Jackson, closed several civic buildings, including the city hall, the Jackson Free Press reported. But as the executive order exempts offices from having to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people, the buildings might have to reopen.

The Free Press reported on Tuesday night that several businesses in the Jackson area had canceled their work-from-home plans.

Reeves has largely encouraged social distancing, and in a Facebook post on Wednesday he urged businesses to "allow every worker that can to work from home." But he has resisted calls for a strict statewide lockdown — similar to those imposed in some parts of China, where the number of coronavirus cases has dropped significantly.

The Free Press reported that Reeves said in a Facebook Live session on Monday: "Mississippi's never going to be China. Mississippi's never going to be North Korea."

The MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Tuesday described Reeves as "untroubled" by the coronavirus outbreak, a characterization he called "a dangerous lie."

"Because we pray and reject dictatorship models like China they say we are 'untroubled,' undermining our warnings and pleas to stay home,"he said in another Facebook post.

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• State unemployment systems are overwhelmed across the US due to a massive surge of laid-off workers filing for benefits.
• Budget cuts, poor staffing, and old technology are key problems hobbling state safety nets nationwide.
• "We haven't made the investments that we would need to be agile and effective enough to absorb what we're seeing," labor expert Heidi Shierholz told Business Insider.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

More than 10 million people filed for unemployment benefits in the last two weeks of March. It's an unprecedented spike in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic which has shut down wide swaths of the American economy.

That surge has overwhelmed unemployment systems across the US. Phone lines are overwhelmed and government websites are crashing, leaving many laid-off workers uncertain of when they'll receive some of the most generous  benefits there's ever been.

Many of the problems can be traced to poor staffing, budget cuts, and antiquated technology dating back several decades ago, according to Heidi Shierholz, a labor expert and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute.

"These programs have been drastically underfunded for decades," Schierholz told Business Insider. "We haven't made the investments that we would need to be agile and effective enough to absorb what we're seeing."

In Florida, The Tampa Bay Times reported the state has racked up a backlog of over 500,000 applications with many more likely on the way.

Yet Gov. Ron Desantis said at a press conference on Monday that state officials hoped to process around 80,000 claims for the week, a pace that will certainly leave many waiting for critical government aid.

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New Jersey also had similar problems, and one more rooted in technology. According to the Bergen Record, the state still uses a system constructed in the 1980s to administer claims and send out checks to the unemployed.

"We literally have a system that is forty-plus years old," Gov. Phil Murphy said at a recent press conference. New Jersey state officials are vowing to speed up hiring to handle the crush of claims.

Shierholz pointed out these unemployment benefits will serve a crucial function tiding laid-off workers over during the pandemic — at a moment when they need to stay home, commit to social distancing and keep the virus from spreading.

"These programs are the lifeline for millions of people that will make sure they can make it while we shut down the economy," she said.

Unemployment aid has never been more generous, but its also never been harder to access

In the recent stimulus law signed by President Trump, lawmakers opted to add $600 per week onto every state's benefits to tide over newly unemployed Americans for up to four months. Eligibility was also expanded to include contract workers and self-employed workers.

A previously passed coronavirus package gave states around $1 billion in extra funding to shore up their unemployment systems.

The number of Americans seeking those benefits is unparalleled. For the week ending March 28, Labor Department data showed that around 6.6 million people winded up filing for unemployment.

That's over 31 times more compared to the final week of February, when 215,000 claims were recorded.

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The federal government oversees unemployment systems, though it leaves their administration to each state and gives them significant discretion setting benefit levels and eligibility rules. That's created a patchwork of regulations that differ from one state to another.

In the decade since the Great Recession, nine states cut the maximum weeks that workers are allowed to draw benefits, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In some, the situation is more dire for jobless workers.

Fewer than one in 10 unemployed people in Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina and South Carolina receive government aid, the CBPP said in its analysis on state-level readiness for recessions.

"People will suffer at a time like this needlessly," Shierholz said. "It's not abstract. It's people not being able to provide for their families because these systems are down."

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• At least six people are dead in Mississippi as strong tornadoes and severe storms moved across the South on Sunday evening. 
• The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch across 11 counties in central Mississippi until 9 p.m. local time on Sunday. 
• According to the NWS, Birmingham, Ala., Montgomery, Ala., Huntsville, Ala., Columbus, Ga., and Atlanta, Ga. are all major population centers at moderate risk of severe storms. Over 9.4 million people live in those areas.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

At least six people are dead in Mississippi as strong tornadoes and severe storms swept across the South on Sunday evening. 

According to Weather.com, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) confirmed that six people have died after several tornadoes struck the state on Sunday, including three deaths in Jefferson Davis County, one death in Walthall County, and two fatalities in Lawrence County.

A tornado also hit Monroe, Louisiana, a city with about 50,000 people, on Sunday morning. Video from the event posted to Facebook by local Tyrone Dickens show trucks overturned and houses completely flattened by strong winds.

Video posted to Twitter showed trees toppled in Covington County, Mississippi. 

Paul Sheffield, the emergency management director in Jones County, Mississippi told Weather.com that several people in the county were seriously injured.

According to Weather.com, damages were also reported across Louisiana, including in Kingston.

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch across 11 counties in central Mississippi until 9 p.m. local time on Sunday. 

The service also warned of moderate risk of severe thunderstorms across eastern Mississippi into much of Alabama and Western Georgia. 

"An outbreak of severe thunderstorms is likely through tonight, with the greatest threat expected across parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia," the service said. "Strong tornadoes, widespread damaging winds, and large hail are all possible." 

According to the NWS, Birmingham, Ala., Montgomery, Ala., Huntsville, Ala., Columbus, Ga., and Atlanta, Ga. are all major population centers at moderate risk of severe storms. Over 9.4 million people live in those areas.

According to CNN, over 95 million people across nearly 20 states in the southeast face severe weather threats on Sunday and through Monday.

According to USA Today, an NWS meteorologist warned that the tornadoes would be "violent" and "catastrophic" in a Facebook live stream.

The NWS says that storms are predicted to continue spreading through Alabama and Georgia overnight and into the northeast overnight.

According to poweroutage.us, a site that tracks power outages in the US, over 470,000 people across Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, Kentucky, and Mississippi reported outages on Sunday evening.

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