Mother, son plead guilty in Mississippi welfare misspending

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A mother and son who ran a nonprofit group and an education company in Mississippi have pleaded guilty to state charges of misusing public money intended to help some of the poorest people in the nation. In court Tuesday, Nancy New and Zachary New acknowledged spending welfare grant money on lavish gifts. Those included first-class airfare for John Davis, executive director of the state Department of Human Services from 2016 to 2019. Nancy New and Zachary New agreed to testify against others in what the state auditor has called Mississippi’s largest public corruption case in decades. Davis is among those facing state charges.