Agency swats down prospect of mosquito flag for Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi will not put a huge mosquito on its new state flag.

The state Department of Archives and history says Tuesday that a design featuring the blood-sucking insect had slipped through the screening process and should not have been among the finalists posted online Monday.

Mississippi recently retired the last state banner with the Confederate battle emblem widely condemned as racist.

A nine-member commission will recommend a replacement that cannot include the Confederate symbol.

Officials say a typographical error caused the giant mosquito, surrounded by a circle of stars, to advance in the selection process.

The mosquito design has since been zapped.

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