Things To Know Thursday, March 16

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - If you missed a few of the most important headlines and need to play catch up, no worries. WLBT has gathered some of the top stories from our website to get you up to speed.

1. Mississippi governor vetoes 2 bills on health insurance

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Wednesday that he has vetoed two bills dealing with insurance because he thinks they would increase the cost of health care. “One is a bad idea, and I can’t see myself supporting it. One is a good idea that just includes some correctable mistakes,” the Republican governor said in a statement. Reeves said the “bad idea” was in Senate Bill 2224, which would have given the state insurance commissioner the ability to set rates for all health insurance. He said Senate Bill 2262 would have made changes to the prior authorization process that insurance companies use to tell providers whether a procedure or drug is covered. Reeves said he liked that the proposal would have required insurance companies to give quicker answers, but the bill would have had “unintended consequences.”

2. Vehicle believed to belong to missing Miss. woman found burned

A burned vehicle believed to belong to a missing Hinds County woman was discovered Wednesday, with the woman still not located. According to a tweet from Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones, Ebony Owens, 36, of Edwards, Mississippi, was reported missing the same day by her family. A burned vehicle believed to belong to a missing Hinds County woman was discovered Wednesday, with the woman still not located. According to a tweet from Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones, Ebony Owens, 36, of Edwards, Mississippi, was reported missing the same day by her family.

3. New state superintendent of education questioned by Senate committee, no confirmation vote taken yet

The man selected to be over Mississippi’s public education system was questioned for more than an hour by a Senate education subcommittee Wednesday. They’ll get the final say on confirming him. “We will not be voting today,” noted Sen. Chris Johnson in his opening remarks. A Senate vote is still needed to confirm Dr. Robert Taylor in his role as State Superintendent. The hearing gave Senators the chance to ask questions... some to the chair of the board of education on the hiring process. “What we’re getting from PEER is that there was no set cut-off,” said Sen. Angela Hill in her questioning. “There was no set way to score it was basically not a mathematical scoring system.” Full story here.

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