Government Building Named After Tupelo Congressman

JACKSON, Miss. (AP)- A state government building in Mississippi has been named after a Tupelo congressman, who died in 2015.

More than 100 people gathered Thursday in downtown Jackson, to dedicate the Patrick Alan Nunnelee building.

It houses the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.

Nunnelee, who went by Alan, was a Republican from Tupelo.

He spent 16 years in the state Senate starting in 1995, eventually becoming chairman of the appropriations committee.

He unseated a Democratic incumbent in North Mississippi’s 1st congressional district in November 2010, and took office in January 2011.

Nunnelee died in February 2015, after experiencing several months of health problems, including a brain tumor. He was 56.