The Other Side: Mississippi Today's Political Podcast

Angie Calhoun of Puckett became an advocate for medical marijuana after her teenage son suffered a debilitating illness and standard pharmaceutical treatments didn't work — and brought horrible side effects. Calhoun is now chairwoman of the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association. Like many others, she is waiting to see whether state lawmakers will re-enact a medical marijuana program after the state Supreme Court shot down the one voters overwhelmingly passed in November. Calhoun said she hopes Mississippi's politicians will observe the will of the people.

State Rep. Chris Bell, a Democrat from Jackson who filed a bill to restore voting rights to a man who was convicted of felonies, joins Mississippi Today Editor-in-Chief Adam Ganucheau to discuss how Mississippi has fallen behind in changing its voting laws.

Mississippi Today journalists Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender discuss this week's state Supreme Court hearing of oral arguments in Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler's challenge of the Initiative 65 medical marijuana program passed by voters in November. The pending court decision on whether Initiative 65's placement on the ballot was unconstitutional has major implications for Mississippi voters' rights to amend the state constitution.

Tray Hairston, a founding board member of Mississippi Today and an attorney at Butler Snow, joins Editor-in-Chief Adam Ganucheau for a conversation to mark the newsroom's fifth anniversary. Tray and Adam talked about where Mississippi Today has been and where it's headed, and they also talked discussed race and politics and journalism in Mississippi.