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Coffee Shop Stop – Lost & Found Coffee Company

Lost+Found Coffee Company @ 248 South Green Street, Tupelo,MS. inside Relics in Downtown Tupelo. Open Monday through Saturday from 10:00am till 6:00pm.

With most any restaurant or coffee house, it’s a balance between atmosphere, menu, and know how. For a coffee shop, Lost & Found has it going on!

You could spend the better part of a day just strolling through both floors of the antique building looking at all the treasures. When your ready for a coffee break, the knowledgeable baristas can help you choose the perfect pick me up!

They have everything from a classic cup of joe to the creamiest creation you could imagine! From pour overs to cold brews. From lattes, mochas, to cappuccino’s, Lost & Found Coffee Company has got ya covered!

So the next time you want to hunt for lost treasures, or find the perfect cup of coffee, Lost & Found Coffee Company has got ya covered! See y’all there!

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Food Truck Locations for Tuesday 9-8-20

Local Mobile is at TRI Realtors just east of Crosstown.

Gypsy Roadside Mobile is in Baldwyn at South Market.

Taqueria Ferris is on West Main between Computer Universe and Sully’s Pawn.

Magnolia Creamery is in the Old Navy parking lot.

Stay tuned as we update this map if things change through out the day and be sure to share it.

Food Truck Locations for 9-1-20

Taqueria Ferris is on West Main between Computer Universe and Sully’s Pawn

Local Mobile is at a new location today, beside Sippi Sippin coffee shop at 1243 West Main St (see map below)

Gypsy Roadside Mobile is in Baldwyn at South Market

Today’s Food Truck Locations

How to Slow Down and Enjoy the Scenic Route

Do you thrive on the unexpected? Are you waiting for the next fire to crop up?

Have you ever noticed that you can plan something so intricately and you are still going to catch the glitches when life throws you a curve ball? It is one of the beauties of life that we can never prepare for. The unexpected. The only difference is our response to the unexpected. Do we have a knee jerk reaction that finds us swerving to gain back control of our life? Or do we instead just go with the flow and decide to embrace the scenic route life decided to take us on? Our response to life can cause us more stress or we can just enjoy it for what it is in that moment of time. I used to thrive on the unexpected. It was part of my career for many years. The never knowing what “fire” was going to sprout up that day and how I was going to need to put it out. Even this week as we launched our newest book in my publishing company. I thought I had it all planned out only to run into major “hiccups” within 72 hours of the launch. I could either stress out or take it in stride. 

Slow and Steady

As my dad retired I watched him take a different approach to life than I had ever seen him take before. I mean, all you have to do is climb up in the cab of his king ranch Ford pick-up and see he is a changed man. He drives slower than anyone should even be allowed to drive out on the roads these days. He knows how to drive, so don’t go yelling at him next time you are stuck behind him. Trust me, my mom does enough yelling for all of us at him about that! He just takes life these days. His sentiments are that he lived in the fast lane his whole life. Rushing to be on time to work, rushing to come home to his family, the constant busy we get entangled with as adults…now, he doesn’t have to be busy and he is going to enjoy that. Truth is, I can’t even be mad at him for that. Now that I am an adult out here rushing from one thing to the next, I totally could use some driving twenty miles per hour in my life some days. Took me getting to nearly forty to even be able to say that though.

The lesson in his wisdom can be heard by all. Some things we lose it over won’t even amount to anything five years from now, yet we gave them so much energy in the moment. All the things we think are so important that we must do and do now. Most will not really matter years from now, yet we poured our soul into them. What would change if we took the time to just enjoy life? To just flow with things as they happened? When hit with something we didn’t expect, we embraced it instead of fighting it? What would happen? I dare say we might have more peace? I probably would be a lot calmer. I probably wouldn’t lose my temper near as much. I probably wouldn’t have anxiety or stress on the daily. I would probably take time to enjoy life more. I certainly wouldn’t yell at the slow driver in front of me.

What about you? Next time you get behind someone driving slowly…take back the name calling and curse words. Maybe take back all of the assumptions that they don’t know how to drive. Maybe use it as a reminder to take a moment, roll down your window, soak in the sunshine. I can promise you that wherever the heck you are going, you will still get there. Maybe that person figured out life and you can use their wisdom too. If they are driving a blue king ranch Ford truck, I can assure you that he is just enjoying his day and he would want you to enjoy yours too. Matter of fact, I wish I had listened to his wisdom a lot more in my earlier days instead of waiting until now. 

See you on down the road…take it easy my friend.

Looking for the Text from Tupelo’s New Mask Order? Here you go.

Here is a plain, searchable text version (most other versions we found were Images or PDF files) of City Of Tupelo Executive Order 20-018. Effective Monday June 29th at 6:00 PM

The following Local Executive Order further amends and supplements all previous Local Executive Orders and its Emergency Proclamation and Resolution adopted by the City of Tupelo, Mississippi, pertaining to COVID-19. All provisions of previous local orders and proclamations shall remain in full force and effect. 

LOCAL EXECUTIVE ORDER 20-018 

The White House and CDC guidelines state the criteria for reopening up America should be based on data driven conditions within each region or state before proceeding to the next phased opening. Data should be based on symptoms, cases, and hospitals. Based on cases alone, there must be a downward trajectory of documented cases within a 14-day period or a downward trajectory of positive tests as a percent of total tests within a 14-day period. There has been no such downward trajectory in the documented cases in Lee County since May 18, 2020. 

Hospital numbers are not always readily available to policymakers; however, from information that has been maintained and communicated to the City of Tupelo, the Northeast Mississippi Medical Center is near or at their capacity for treating COVID-19 inpatients over the past two weeks without reopening additional areas for treating COVID-19 patients. The City of Tupelo is experiencing an increase in the number of cases of COVID-19. The case count 45 days prior to the date of this executive order was 77 cases. That number increased within 15 days to 107, and today, the number is 429 cases. The City of Tupelo is experiencing increases of 11.7 cases a day. This is not in conformity with the guidelines provided of a downward trajectory of positive tests. By any metric available, the City of Tupelo may not continue to the next phase of reopening. 

Governor Tate Reeves in his Executive Order No. 1492(1)(i)(1) authorizes the City of Tupelo to implement more restrictive measures than currently in place for other Mississippians to facilitate preventative measures against COVID-19 thereby creating the downward trajectory necessary for reopening. 

That the Tupelo Economic Recovery Task Force and North Mississippi Medical Center have formally requested that the City of Tupelo adopt a face covering policy. 

In an effort to support the Northeast Mississippi Health System in their response to COVID-19 and to strive to keep the City of Tupelo’s economy remaining open for business, effective at 6:00 a.m. on Monday, June 29, 2020, all persons who are present within the jurisdiction of the City of Tupelo shall wear a clean face covering any time they are, or will be, in contact with other people in indoor public or business spaces where it is not possible to maintain social distance. While wearing the face covering, it is essential to still maintain social distance being the best defense against the spread of COVID-19. The intent of this executive order is to encourage voluntary compliance with the requirements established herein by the businesses and persons within the jurisdiction of the City of Tupelo. 

It is recommended that all indoor public or business spaces require persons to wear a face covering for entry. Upon entry, social distancing and activities shall follow guidelines of the City of Tupelo and the Governor’s executive orders pertaining to particular businesses and business activity. 

Persons shall properly wear face coverings ensuring the face covering covers the mouth and nose, 

1. Signage should be posted by entrances to businesses stating the face covering requirement for entry.  (Available for download at www.tupeloms.gov).

2. A patron located inside an indoor public or business space without a face covering will be asked to  leave by the business owners if the patron is unwilling to come into compliance with wearing a face covering 

3. Face coverings are not required for: 

a. People whose religious beliefs prevent them from wearing a face covering.
b. Those who cannot wear a face covering due to a medical or behavioral condition.
c. Restaurant patrons while dining.
d. Private, individual offices or offices with fewer than ten (10) employees.
e. Other settings where it is not practical or feasible to wear a face covering, including when obtaining or rendering goods or services, such as receipt of dental services or swimming.
f. Banks, gyms, or spaces with physical barrier partitions which prohibit contact between the customer(s) and employee.
g. Small offices where the public does not interact with the employer. h. Children under twelve (12).
i. That upon the formulation of an articulable safety plan which meets the goals of this 

Executive Order businesses may seek an exemption by email at covid@tupeloms.gov 

FACE COVERINGS DO NOT HAVE TO BE MEDICAL MASKS OR N95 MASKS. A BANDANA, SCARF, TSHIRT, HOMEMADE MASKS, ETC. MAY BE USED. THEY MUST PROPERLY COVER BOTH A PERSONS MOUTH AND NOSE

Those businesses that are subject to regulatory oversight of a separate state or federal agency shall follow the guidelines of said agency or regulating body if there is a conflict with this Executive Order. 

Additional information can be found at www.tupeloms.gov COVID-19 information landing page. 

Pursuant to Miss. Code Anno. 833-15-17(d)(1972 as amended), this Local Executive Order shall remain in full effect under these terms until reviewed, approved or disapproved at the first regular meeting following such Local Executive Order or at a special meeting legally called for such a review. 

The City of Tupelo reserves its authority to respond to local conditions as necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens. 

So ordered, this the 26th day of June, 2020. 

Jason L. Shelton, Mayor 

ATTEST: 

Kim Hanna, CFO/City Clerk 

Restaurants in Tupelo – Covid 19 Updates

Thanks to the folks at Tupelo.net (#MYTUPELO) for the list. We will be adding to it and updating it as well.

Restaurants
Business NameBusiness#Operating Status
Acapulco Mexican Restaurant662.260.5278To-go orders
Amsterdam Deli662.260.4423Curbside
Bar-B-Q by Jim662.840.8800Curbside
Brew-Ha’s Restaurant662.841.9989Curbside
Big Bad Wolf Food Truck662.401.9338Curbside
Bishops BBQ McCullough662.690.4077Curbside and Delivery
Blue Canoe662.269.2642Curbside and Carry Out Only
Brick & Spoon662.346.4922To-go orders
Buffalo Wild Wings662.840.0468Curbside and Tupelo2Go Delivery
Bulldog Burger662.844.8800Curbside, Online Ordering, Tupelo2Go
Butterbean662.510.7550Curbside and Pick-up Window
Café 212662.844.6323Temporarily Closed
Caramel Corn Shop662.844.1660Pick-up
Chick-fil-A Thompson Square662.844.1270Drive-thru or Curbside Only
Clay’s House of Pig662.840.7980Pick-up Window and Tupelo2Go Delivery
Connie’s Fried Chicken662.842.7260Drive-thru Only
Crave662.260.5024Curbside and Delivery
Creative Cakes662.844.3080Curbside
D’Cracked Egg662.346.2611Curbside and Tupelo2Go
Dairy Kream662.842.7838Pick Up Window
Danver’s662.842.3774Drive-thru and Call-in Orders
Downunder662.871.6881Curbside
Endville Bakery662.680.3332Curbside
Fairpark Grill662.680.3201Curbside, Online Ordering, Tupelo2Go
Forklift662.510.7001Curbside and Pick-up Window
Fox’s Pizza Den662.891.3697Curbside and Tupelo2Go
Gypsy Food Truck662.820.9940Curbside
Harvey’s662.842.6763Curbside, Online Ordering, Tupelo2Go
Hey Mama What’s For Supper662.346.4858Temporarily Closed
Holland’s Country Buffet662.690.1188
HOLLYPOPS662.844.3280Curbside
Homer’s Steaks and More662.260.5072Temporarily Closed
Honeybaked Ham of Tupelo662.844.4888Pick-up
Jimmy’s Seaside Burgers & Wings662.690.6600Regular Hours, Drive-thru, and Carry-out
Jimmy John’s662.269.3234Delivery & Drive Thru
Johnnie’s Drive-in662.842.6748Temporarily Closed
Kermits Outlaw Kitchen662.620.6622Take-out
King Chicken Fillin’ Station662.260.4417Curbside
Little Popper662.610.6744Temporarily Closed
Lone Star Schooner Bar & Grill662.269.2815
Local Mobile Food TruckCurbside
Lost Pizza Company662.841.7887Curbside and Delivery Only
McAlister’s Deli662.680.3354Curbside

Mi Michocana662.260.5244
Mike’s BBQ House662.269.3303Pick-up window only
Mugshots662.269.2907Closed until further notice
Nautical Whimsey662.842.7171Curbside
Neon Pig662.269.2533Curbside and Tupelo2Go
Noodle House662.205.4822Curbside or delivery
Old Venice Pizza Co.662.840.6872Temporarily Closed
Old West Fish & Steakhouse662.844.1994To-go
Outback Steakhouse662.842.1734Curbside
Papa V’s662.205.4060Pick-up Only
Park Heights662.842.5665Temporarily Closed
Pizza vs Tacos662.432.4918Curbside and Delivery Only
Pyro’s Pizza662.269.2073Delivery via GrubHub, Tupelo2go, DoorDash
PoPsy662.321.9394Temporarily Closed
Rita’s Grill & Bar662.841.2202Takeout
Romie’s Grocery662.842.8986Curbside, Delivery, and Grab and Go
Sao Thai662.840.1771Temporarily Closed
Sim’s Soul Cookin662.690.9189Curbside and Delivery
Southern Craft Stove + Tap662.584.2950Temporarily Closed
Stables662.840.1100Temporarily Closed
Steele’s Dive662.205.4345Curbside
Strange Brew Coffeehouse662.350.0215Drive-thru, To-go orders
Sugar Daddy Bake Shop662.269.3357Pick-up, and Tupelo2Go Delivery

Sweet Pepper’s Deli

662.840.4475
Pick-up Window, Online Ordering, and Tupelo2Go Delivery
Sweet Tea & Biscuits Farmhouse662.322.4053Curbside, Supper Boxes for Order
Sweet Tea & Biscuits McCullough662.322.7322Curbside, Supper Boxes for Order
Sweet Treats Bakery662.620.7918Curbside, Pick-up and Delivery
Taqueria Food TruckCurbside
Taziki’s Mediterranean Café662.553.4200Curbside
Thirsty DevilTemporarily closed due to new ownership
Tupelo River Co. at Indigo Cowork662.346.8800Temporarily Closed
Vanelli’s Bistro662.844.4410Temporarily Closed
Weezie’s Deli & Gift Shop662.841.5155
Woody’s662.840.0460Modified Hours and Curbside
SaltilloPhone NumberWhat’s Available
Skybox Sports Grill & Pizzeria (662) 269-2460Take Out
Restaurant & CityPhone NumberType of Service
Pyros Pizza 662.842.7171curbside and has delivery
Kent’s Catfish in Saltillo662.869.0703 curbside
Sydnei’s Grill & Catering in Pontotoc MS662-488-9442curbside
 Old Town Steakhouse & Eatery662.260.5111curbside
BBQ ON WHEELS  Crossover RD Tupelo662-369-5237curbside
Crossroad Ribshack662.840.1700drive thru Delivery 
 O’Charley’s662-840-4730Curbside and delivery
Chicken salad chick662-265-8130open for drive
Finney’s Sandwiches842-1746curbside pickup
Rock n Roll Sushi662-346-4266carry out and curbside
Don Tequilas Mexican Grill in Corinth(662)872-3105 drive thru pick up
Homer’s Steaks 662.260.5072curbside or delivery with tupelo to go
Adams Family Restaurant Smithville,Ms662.651.4477
Don Julio’s on S. Gloster 662.269.2640curbside and delivery
Tupelo River 662.346.8800walk up window
 El Veracruz662.844.3690 curbside
Pizza Dr.662.844.2600
Connie’s662.842.7260drive Thu only
Driskills fish and steak Plantersville662.840.0040curb side pick up

Honeyboy & Boots – Artist Spotlight

Band Name : Honeyboy and Boots

Genre: Americana

Honeyboy and Boots are a husband and wife, guitar and cello, duo with a unique style that is all their own. Their sound embodies Americana, traditional folk, alt country, and blues with harmonies and a hint of classical notes.

Drew Blackwell, a true Southerner raised in the heart of the black prairie in Mississippi. First picked up the guitar at fourteen, he was greatly influenced by his Uncle Doug who taught him old country standards and folk classics. Later on in high school, he was mentored and inspired to write (and feel) the blues by Alabama blues artist Willie King. (Willie King is credited for bringing together the band The Old Memphis Kings.)

Drew has placed 3rd in the 2019 Mississippi Songwriter of the Year contest with his song “Waiting on A Friend” and made it to the semi finalist round on the 2019 International Songwriting Competition with his song “Accidental Hipster.”

Honeyboy (Drew) can also be found belting out those blues notes as the lead vocalist for the Old Memphis Kings and begins everyday with a hot cup of black coffee!

Courtney Blackwell (Kinzer) grew up in Washington State and comes from a talented musical family. She began playing cello at the age of three taking lessons from the cello bass professor Bill Wharton at the University of Idaho. Her mother was most influential in her progression of technique, tone quality, and ear training. Since traveling around much of the South, she has enjoyed focusing on the variety of ways the cello is used in ensembles. When she plays, you will feel those groovy bass lines making way to soaring leads create an emotional and magical connection between you and her music.

Courtney enjoys working in the studio, collaborating with artists and continuing to challenge the way cello is expressed.

They have opened for such acts as Verlon Thompson, The Josh Abbott Band, Cary Hudson (of Blue Mountain), and Rising Appalachia. 

Honeyboy And Boots have performed at a variety of venues and festivals throughout the southeast, including the 2015 Pilgrimage Fest in Franklin, TN; Musicians Corner in Nashville; the Mississippi Songwriters Festival (2015-2018); and the Black Warrior Songwriting Fest in Tuscaloosa, AL (2018-2019). They also came in 2nd place at the 2015 Gulf Coast Songwriters Shootout in Orange Beach, FL.

They have two albums, Mississippi Duo and Waiting On a Song, which are available on their website, iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby.

The duo also just released their fourth recording: a seven-song EP called Picture On The Wall, which was recorded with Anthony Crawford (Williesugar Capps, Sugarcane Jane, Neil Young). It is now available on Spotify, Itunes, Google Music, and CD Baby.

Who or what would you say has been the greatest influence on your music?

My Uncle Doug, because he began to teach me guitar and introduced me to a lot of great older country music.

Favorite song you’ve composed or performed and why?

“We Played On” because it’s about our family reunions, where we would sit around and play guitar and share songs.

If you could meet any artist, living or dead, which would you choose and why?

Probably Willie Nelson. He’s my all time favorite.

Most embarrassing thing ever to happen at a gig?

A guy fell on top of me while I was performing. I was sitting down. He busted a big hole in my guitar.

What was the most significant thing to happen to you in the course of your music?

Getting to perform at Musicians Corner in downtown Nashville. Probably the biggest crowd we’ve ever been in front of.

If music were not part of your life, what else would you prefer to be doing?

I don’t know, maybe fishing or golf.

Is there another band or artist(s) you’d like to recommend to our readers who you feel deserves attention?

Our friends, Sugarcane Jane. They are a husband/wife duo from the Gulf Shores area. Great people and great artist.


Interested in seeing your own artist profile highlighted here on Our Tupelo?

Simply click HERE and fill out our form!

5 executions in 8 days: Why the death penalty is being used more in the US this year

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Thirty-four men have died by court-ordered executions in the U.S. so far this year, and eight others are scheduled to be put to death by year’s end, including five in the next eight days.

The total for 2025 already far exceeds the number of executions carried out last year — 25 — and could be the highest since 2012, when 43 inmates were put to death, though still far below the modern peak of 98 executions in 1999.

The increase in executions is largely being driven by four states — Florida, Texas, Alabama and South Carolina — that have carried out 76% of this year’s court-ordered killings.

“This is not an uptick of executions nationally — this is really down to just a few states,” said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

Chief among them is Florida, which has already carried out 13 executions after performing just one last year. The increase comes as President Donald Trump has urged governors to expand their use of the death penalty.

“Gov. DeSantis is scheduling all of these executions with complete autonomy and in complete secrecy,” Maher said.

Ron DeSantis’ office has not responded to questions about why the governor is increasing the pace of executions now and whether Trump’s policies are playing a role.

Executions have been carried out this year in AlabamaArizonaFloridaIndianaLouisianaMississippiOklahomaSouth CarolinaTennessee and Texas.

All but one of those states — Arizona — are run by Republican governors.

Here’s a look at the executions scheduled for the rest of the year, by state:

Indiana

Roy Lee Ward is set to die by lethal injection early Friday in the state’s third execution since resuming capital punishment last year.

Ward, 53, was convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne.

Attorneys said Ward is remorseful and has exhausted his legal options after many court battles.

Missouri

Lance C. Shockley is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday.

Shockley, 48, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham outside his home in Carter County in 2005.

Authorities said Graham was killed because he was investigating Shockley for involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident.

Florida

Samuel Lee Smithers is set to receive a lethal injection Tuesday evening.

Smithers, 72, was convicted of killing two women whose bodies were found in a rural pond in 1996. Authorities said he met his two victims — Christy Cowan and Denise Roach — on different dates at a Tampa motel to pay them for sex.

Norman Mearle Grim Jr., 65, is scheduled to be put to death on Oct. 28. He was convicted of raping and killing his neighbor Cynthia Campbell, whose body was found near the Pensacola Bay Bridge in 1998.

Smithers’ and Grim’s executions would be Florida’s 14th and 15th death sentences carried out in 2025, further extending the state’s record for executions in one year. Since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the state’s previous record was eight in 2014.

Mississippi

Charles Ray Crawford is scheduled to be executed Wednesday for kidnapping and killing a college student in 1993.

Crawford, 59, was sentenced to death for fatally stabbing 20-year-old community college student Kristy Ray after abducting her from her parents’ home in northern Mississippi’s Tippah County. Crawford told officers he had blacked out and did not recall killing her.

Texas

Robert Roberson had been scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Oct. 16, but his closely watched case was paused Thursday by Texas’ top criminal court.

Roberson, 58, had been set to become the first person in the U.S. put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.

Prosecutors at Roberson’s 2003 trial argued that he hit his 2-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis and violently shook her, causing severe head trauma that led to her death.

But Roberson says he never abused the girl. A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers believe Roberson is innocent and have sought to get him a new trial.

Roberson’s lawyers and some medical experts say his daughter died from complications related to pneumonia. They say his conviction was based on flawed and now outdated scientific evidence.

Arizona

Richard Kenneth Djerf is set to be executed Oct. 17 by lethal injection for killing four members of a family in their Phoenix home.

Djerf, 55, had pleaded guilty to four counts of murder in the 1993 killings of Albert Luna Sr., his wife Patricia, their 18-year-old daughter Rochelle and their 5-year-old son Damien.

Prosecutors say Djerf blamed another Luna family member for an earlier theft of home electronic items at his apartment and became obsessed with revenge.

Alabama

Anthony Todd Boyd is scheduled to be executed by nitrogen gas on Oct. 23.

A judge sentenced Boyd to death for his role in the 1993 killing of Gregory Huguley in Talladega. Prosecutors said Boyd taped Huguley’s feet together before another man doused him with gasoline and set him on fire over a $200 cocaine debt.

Boyd has long maintained his innocence, saying he never participated in the killing.

Tennessee

Harold Nichols is scheduled to be executed Dec. 11.

Nichols, 64, was convicted of rape and first-degree felony murder in the 1988 death of 21-year-old Karen Pulley in Hamilton County. Authorities said he broke into Pulley’s home, raped her and hit her in the head several times with a board.

Nichols had been scheduled to be killed in August 2020, but the execution was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Donors keep Vicksburg military site open as government shutdown closes most national parks

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Most of Mississippi’s national parks and monuments are closed to visitors because of the federal government shutdown.

An exception is the Vicksburg National Military Park, which initially closed when the shutdown began Oct. 1 but entered an agreement to reopen the next day with donations from the nonprofit Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park. 

While the visitor center, USS Cairo Gunboat & Museum, tour roads and restrooms are all open to visitors, the park is running on limited staff.

Operating the park during the shutdown costs $2,000 a day, said Bess Averett, executive director of Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park.

“We are not a massive nonprofit, so we do have limited resources,” Averett said. “So far, the public has been very generous.”

Keeping the park closed would make it vulnerable to vandalism, relic hunting and more problems, she said. It also would mean turning away visitors, hurting the local economy.

Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home in Jackson. Credit: Ashley FG Norwood, Mississippi Today

The military park is the most visited attraction in Mississippi, according to the local tourism office, Visit Vicksburg.

The federal government shut down after Congress failed to pass a budget for the new federal fiscal year. During a shutdown, essential services continue, including air traffic control and emergency response, but many federal employees are furloughed.

Mississippi Today reached out to most of the national park sites in Mississippi and went to the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home in Jackson to check if they were open. The calls went to voicemail, the emails either bounced back or went unanswered by the time of publication, and the Evers Home was empty.  

The Emmett Till Interpretive Center and the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, both in Sumner, are closed

Visitors can still access the islands on Gulf Islands National Seashore in Ocean Springs, the Sun Herald reported. However, the Davis Bayou Area appeared to be closed. 

All of Mississippi’s barrier islands are “pretty much shut down,” said Ronnie Wentzell, who works for the privately run Ship Island Excursions.

“When I say it’s shut down, it’s only the fact that there’s no security people, there’s no park rangers on none of the islands or going to the islands,” Wentzell said.

The ferry service is still taking people to Ship Island. However, Fort Massachusetts is closed and there are no public accommodations. 

Kim Foster, a spokesperson for Natchez Trace Compact, wrote in an email, “I am happy to report that the Natchez Trace Parkway and many (not all) of its sites remain open during the shutdown.”

Benjamin Saulsberry, pubic engagement and museum education director at the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, poses for a portrait at the center in Sumner, Miss., on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

The parkway is open for travel, with a closure that is unrelated to the shutdown, between milepost 181 and milepost 204, roughly French Camp to Mathiston. Most sections of it are open, but some historic sites and trails are closed “for restoration or maintenance.”

Mississippi Today emailed the National Park Service press office, which responded with a statement that national parks would be “as accessible as possible” during the shutdown.

“Critical functions that protect life, property, and public health will remain in place, including visitor access in many locations, law enforcement, and emergency response,” the statement said.

The National Park Service is keeping most national parks partially open during the shutdown. However, more than two-thirds of its employees are furloughed. 

The National Parks Conservation Association is calling on Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to close all national parks, arguing that keeping them open is a danger to visitors and the parks themselves.

According to the National Park Service contingency plan, limited staff will remain to perform “exempted activities,” such as law enforcement and fire suppression. 

Fort Massachusetts on Ship Island in 2016. Credit: Rory Doyle

Trails, park roads, lookouts and open-air memorials “will generally remain accessible to visitors.” However, there will be no updates on road or trail conditions. Websites and social media will only be updated for emergencies. Parks that collect fees under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act can use those fees to provide basic visitor services.

Parks that don’t have accessible areas won’t operate and will have minimal staff.

“As part of their orderly shutdown activities, park staff will post signs notifying visitors that only basic or no visitor services, maintenance, or other management activities will be conducted, and emergency services will be limited,” the plan read.

Online charter school wants to open in a Mississippi Delta town with sparse broadband access

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BELZONI – When Archway Charter School was first proposed, it was described as providing “bridges to a brighter future.” It was later referred to as a “reprieve” from a slew of failing school districts in the Mississippi Delta. Archway students would engage with ancient texts in virtual reality and be immersed in a classical education that only students in more affluent zip codes could normally access.

The school was described as an opportunity for Belzoni, a community of 1,700 residents in Humphreys County in one of the poorest, most rural and least tech-accessible parts of the state.

Regulators, evaluators and others ask: Can a virtual school succeed there?

The county, where over a fifth of the residents live below the poverty level, ranks 61st in broadband access out of Mississippi’s 82 counties, according to research from Mississippi State University.

Belzoni – pronounced bel-ZONE-ah by locals – rises from fields of soybean, corn and cotton,  more than an hour’s drive northwest of Jackson.

The town first appears in gas station signs and a tall neon one off Highway 49 inviting travelers into “the heart of the Delta.” Ponds beside dirt and paved roads still produce the town’s famous commodity. Belzoni has called itself the “Catfish capital of the world” since 1976. 

Plans for Archway Charter School were first announced in spring 2024, with an initial proposal for grades seven to 12. However, the school has struggled to raise start-up funds since gaining state approval. Financial disclosures have also spelled recent trouble for the company contracted to provide the virtual learning component. 

These facts, including lack of internet access, concerned the state’s third-party evaluator when Archway first sought approval of its charter in October 2024

“I have seen a hybrid model that worked, but not in rural areas where there’s a high rate of poverty and families that may not have access to equipment or resources to be successful,” said Wanda Giulliaume, one of three independent evaluators who issued a recommendation to the board.

Archway Founder David Herndon responded by saying Archway would pay for internet access for students who need it, by potentially “diverting some funds” to get families access to quality internet. School officials would collect that information along with enrollment applications.

He said he is confident students will be able to connect to the internet after conversations with Southeast Cable and other broadband providers. 

But access issues still worry Mississippi Department of Education administrators and local legislators. 

Kym Wiggins, chief operating officer for the state Department of Education, expressed concerns after consulting surveys from districts about students’ access to equipment and broadband.

“There is an access issue,” Wiggins said. “So what do students do when they don’t have access? They do nothing. And they are going to a McDonald’s in a gas station. That’s not a viable option.”

Rep. Timaka James-Jones, photographed Sept. 11, 2025, at a House committee meeting at the state Capitol in Jackson, questions the viability of a virtual charter school in Belzoni. The Democratic lawmaker represents Belzoni. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Tiny communities such as Midnight, Louise and Putnam as well as homes along Highway 12 and Highway 7 lack adequate broadband access, said Rep. Timaka James-Jones, a Democrat from Belzoni.

By the end of the September 2024 Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board meeting, Archway had an approved charter with stipulations before it could open, such as proof of start-up funds.

Once it opens, Archway Charter School is expected to draw $488,817 from Humphreys County School District in the first year to cover some of the $1.4 million in operating costs.

Without a Charter School Program fund and only assumed sources of revenue on its most recently listed budget, Archway has not demonstrated how it will recruit high-quality teachers and finance its operation. Even before the school has opened, Herndon has asked the authorizer board to let Archway expand down to sixth grade. 

“As of today, the school does not have any funds available for operations,” board executive director Lisa Karmacharya wrote in an email Thursday to Mississippi Today. “The school will be required to submit an amended/updated budget to the authorizer (board) in December.”

Now Entering the Delta-verse

On a Friday afternoon in Belzoni, locals congregated on porches, pulled grills and invited friends to shuttered gas stations, leaning up against long-emptied gas pumps with plate lunches and cold beer. One street has shacks with wooden boards for windows and black plastic fluttering under loose roof shingles. Another has a junior high school that can only be glimpsed from behind a chain link fence. Restaurants where families would toast new graduates and fill up on grub in between football games are now vacant with yellowed, sunbeaten signs of the meals they once served. The town’s youngest residents still board yellow buses – and on Friday  nights in the fall, locals still root for the Humphreys County Cowboys. 

For Herndon, the Delta, and particularly Humphreys County, seemed fertile ground for a hybrid school. 

In the application to the Mississippi Charter Authorizer Board, Archway identified 14 Delta districts within a 1.5-hour drive of the future charter with “failing” middle schools. Mississippi law restricts charter schools to districts that earn a D or F on the state accountability system. Humphreys County School District has a D, but nine of the 14 Herndon listed are rated C.

“The vast majority of parents with rising sixth-graders in this district are forced to send their children from successful elementary schools to the district’s only middle school that is failing,” Herndon, the charter school’s executive director, told the board.

A sign in Belzoni, Miss., promotes the town’s connection to catfish growing and processing in December 2023. Credit: Devna Bose/Mississippi Today

While nearly every Delta public school district sees a drop in test scores in middle school, the same phenomenon is true in school districts across the state, including in DeSoto County, Pearl and Pearl River County, among other districts that are labeled A or B in accountability ratings. Nearly a third of Delta region elementary schools received a D or F.

The plan is for Archway to be a hybrid school where each month, students log into virtual learning for 18 days and meet in person for two days for culture building and assessments. On virtual learning days, students will have live classes in the morning and self-paced coursework in the afternoon. On Fridays, students will complete self-paced online coursework all day.

Classes conducted in virtual reality will slowly be introduced to the curriculum as the school grows, Archway’s approved charter application says. The district plans to purchase VR headsets for students and staff.

Virtual charter schools have become more popular since the waning days of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many promising better outcomes for students on a more flexible schedule.

However, research from Stanford University found that online charter students saw less academic growth than their peers in traditional public schools, growing 58 fewer days in reading and 124 fewer in math per year.

Most of the elective courses are also contracted out to an online learning software called Edgenuity, which was investigated by the Los Angeles United School District’s inspector general for poor results for students. Hundreds of Plano, Texas, families pulled their kids from an online school that made use of the software because of its poor quality of instruction. A 2020 Mississippi Today story highlighted concerns by students and parents who couldn’t reach a teacher for help during online courses.

The Florida Connection

Herndon said he based his recent failed proposal to expand to sixth grade partly on recent analysis provided by OptimaEd, the Florida-based company contracted to provide the online education component of the Archway curriculum. 

OptimaEd provides “virtual reality educational experiences” to schools primarily in Florida.

In one example of virtual learning posted to the company’s account on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, Latin students at The Walker School in Florida walk in avatar form across a digital rendering of a Roman villa. In another post, students at another Florida school virtually traipse across the ocean floor to learn about biodiversity.

OptimaEd’s founder is Erika Donalds, a school choice advocate and the wife of U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican.

Adam Mangana, the company’s new CEO replacing Donalds, lives in Mississippi, according to Archway’s application. For the last four years, he’s held executive positions at the Naples, Florida-based company he helped co-found.

Mangana previously founded Midtown Public Charter School in Jackson, led a virtual reality lab at Jackson Prep in Flowood, and served as dean of students at St. Andrew’s School in Ridgeland and headed the Christian-centered St. Benedict School. 

Midtown Public Charter School has noticeably only received Ds or Fs in the state accountability rating since the 2017-2018 school year.

The application also mentioned that several other company employees were Mississippians whose “proximity” allowed for “a truly unique partnership to Archway as it opens and grows.”

A Florida Bulldog investigation documented the recent financial struggles of the education technology firm. While a previous year’s disclosure listed the company’s value between $1 million and $5 million, the company is now valued between $500,000 and $1 million. This coincides with it losing contracts with three Florida charter schools because of accounting errors.

For third-party evaluators, the “classical inspired” education offered by OptimaEd also didn’t clearly align with standards set by the Mississippi Department of Education.

“There is no evidence to support the effectiveness of classical education principles combined with the proposed curriculum,” wrote the third-party evaluators in their final recommendation.

Herndon is the former headmaster of Saint Augustine School, “a classical Christian school” in Ridgeland. 

Matthew Metcalf, the Archway school board president, serves as director of business and financial services for an Idaho-based company that helps found “classical Christian schools” across the country, according to his LinkedIn page. He also formerly led “classical academies” in both Alaska and Minnesota.

Classical Christian schools are private schools with curriculums informed by great works of Western literature and philosophy as well as the Bible. 

The hub-bub about the hub

Herndon plans to establish an in-person hub whereby students can go to join online classes should they be unable to connect to the internet. 

At the most recent board meeting in September, board chair Marcy Scoggins said it would defeat the purpose of a virtual school to depend on an in-person hub.

Archway Charter School is located at Upper Room Fellowship Ministries, off U.S. 49 in Belzoni, Miss. Credit: Leonardo Bevilacqua/Mississippi Today

The hub would be at Archway’s physical address at Upper Room Fellowship Ministries, off U.S. 49 in Belzoni. Third-party evaluators said Archway overrepresented how much classroom space was available at the hub for students, pitching the idea of setting up classrooms in the gym, fellowship hall and auditorium. 

The Boys and Girls Club, which offers after-school programming to school-aged children, occupied the same site up until this past summer. The Humphreys County club expects to have a new location by January.

Despite outlining a goal to enroll 208 Delta students in Archway’s first year, school officials’ applications or compliance check-ins with the board did not include testimony from any local family planning to enroll a child. 

“It is not the best avenue for this rural area for our district, for our county,” Rep. James-Jones said. “It will definitely harm our public school system.”

During the last board meeting in September, two members appointed by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves – Tupelo pastor Jay Carney and Laurel attorney Ben Morgan – were the sole votes in favor of expanding the charter to include sixth grade.

“I think a little differently that we have some flexibility on the front end,” Morgan said. “I want us to be problem solvers, not problem creators.”

Archway is slated to open in August with the condition that it provides proof that it met 40% of its enrollment goal and that all enrolled students have internet access and an amended budget that demonstrates financial solvency.

James-Jones said she has not received a coherent plan guaranteeing her constituents would have access to Wi-Fi if they enrolled a student.

“I understand the focus of the school is education,” she said. “But you have to have the resources to do that.” 

Trump nominates former Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes to US consumer-safety board

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Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes speaks at the Mississippi Aquarium groundbreaking ceremony in Gulfport.

President Donald Trump has nominated former Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes III, also a former longtime state senator, to the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission.

If his nomination is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Hewes would join the commission’s acting chairman, Peter Feldman, who’s currently the lone member of the commission after Trump removed three commissioners appointed during the Joe Biden administration and a fourth commissioner, Republican-appointed, resigned.

The commission is a regulatory agency created by Congress in 1972 “to protect the public against unreasonable risks of injuries and deaths associated with consumer products.” It has jurisdiction over thousands of consumer products “from coffee makers to toys to lawn mowers,” according to its website, although it does not have authority over automobiles, foods, drugs and cosmetics.

Hewes’ nomination came as a surprise to some Washington observers, as Trump in his fiscal 2026 budget proposal had called for eliminating the commission and placing its functions under the Department of Health and Human Services. The proposal called for one person serving as an assistant secretary for consumer product safety. This would require congressional action, but Trump’s firing of three commissioners and the resignation of Republican Douglas Dziak appeared to be a move toward elimination or consolidation without congressional action.

In July, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the reinstatement of the fired Democratic commissioners pending lower court litigation.

If his nomination is approved, Hewes would serve a term through 2031. It remains unclear how the commission would operate without a quorum of three. By statute, the commission can have up to five members, appointed by the president and subject to Senate approval for seven-year terms, with no more than three being of the same political party.

Hewes, in a text message responding to a request for comment on Wednesday, said he was on an airplane and could not immediately talk.

Hewes is a longtime Gulfport real estate and insurance business owner and a songwriter and musician whose songs have appeared in movie soundtracks. He was first elected to the state Senate in 1992 and served until 2012, reaching the second-highest leadership spot in the chamber as president pro tempore in 2008. He ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2011, losing the Republican primary to now-Gov. Tate Reeves.

Hewes was elected Gulfport mayor and served from 2013 to June of 2025, declining to seek another term. He has served as an advisory board member for the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Park Service.

WIC program’s federal funding to last through October amid government shutdown, Edney says

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Funding for a food and nutrition program that serves nearly 70,000 Mississippi caregivers and children is expected to last through October amid the federal government shutdown, State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney said after a Board of Health meeting Wednesday. 

“We have a runway with our current federal funding for all of October, probably early November,” Edney said. “And the shutdown better be over by then.”

This comes a day after state Health Department spokesperson Greg Flynn said if benefits for the Women, Infants and Children program (WIC) program dried up this month, the department would have to look at ways to “shore things up” with state funds. 

These funds make vital services possible for tens of thousands of households statewide, offering breastfeeding support and monthly vouchers for healthy foods to women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or postpartum, as well as infants and children under the age of 5. Roughly 300 WIC-approved grocery stores and pharmacies allow members to use their benefits. 

To stretch federal dollars further, the state Health Department will limit new applicants, Edney said. He added that this could help keep the program afloat for a few weeks. He also said he hopes the use of state funds will not be necessary. 

During the government shutdown, new applicants will only be approved if they fall under “Priority 1” designation, which includes pregnant and breastfeeding women and high-risk infants. However, according to Flynn on Tuesday, officials will not require proof of pregnancy, breastfeeding or a high-risk infant to determine priority status, allowing people to get the help they need while it lasts. 

“Priority 1” applicants will still need to follow the guidelines for approval, including bringing proof of income, residence and identification to their initial WIC appointment. More information about the application process can be found on the state Health Department’s website

Leadership at the state Health Department is encouraging WIC applicants and enrollees to direct any questions to an agent at 1-800-338-6747.

Festival Hispano de Pascagoula: A celebration of heritage, unity and flavor

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Members of the Studio of Dance and Gymnastics perform during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025 at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

PASCAGOULA – Strings of papel picado and flags representing Latin American countries hung above the crowd at the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula, their bright colors and patterns flashing in the sun. Families from across the Gulf Coast gathered at Beach Park in Pascagoula Sept. 20 to celebrate food, music and cultural pride in the open air. 

At the festival, vendors offered tamales, fresh tortillas, empanadas and other dishes. Zona Libre played Latin music as the crowd danced and immersed themselves in the sounds with pride and excitement on their faces. Members of the Studio of Dance and Gymnastics wore colorful cultural outfits as they spun in circles, while older eventgoers spoke about heritage and roots in their native countries.

Members of Zona Libre perform during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Marisel Villegas, of Venezuela, dances to the music of Zona Libre during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

“It feels good to celebrate my culture,” said Nancy Morosky, a Gulf Coast resident originally from Puerto Rico. “I like to be reminded of where we come from, and I want to pass it down to the next generation.”

Pascagoula has one of the largest Hispanic communities on the Gulf Coast. According to the 2020 Census, nearly 15% of its 22,000 residents identify as Hispanic or Latino. In Jackson County, the share is closer to 7%. 

Left: Irene Avalos, 10, and Abby Sandoval, 9 pose for a portrait during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Right: Megan Santamaria and Aitana Garcia wear traditional Costa Rican outfits during the festival. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Main Street Pascagoula and the city organized the event, now in its fourth year.

“We think it is important because we have a large Hispanic community that is all along the Coast of Mississippi, and we just love to bring people together to celebrate that with good food, fellowship and good fun,” said Susannah Northrop, executive director of Main Street Pascagoula. 

Festival goers greet each other, eat cultural food and enjoy the live music during the Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

“There are so many Hispanic people on the Gulf Coast, it is important for us to know our culture,” said Marisol Perez, a Gulf Coast resident originally from Puerto Rico, as she held her 8-month-old granddaughter, Neylan E. Quirindongo. 

Marisol Perez shares a moment with her granddaughter, Neylan E. Quirindongo, during the Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

The event highlighted more than food, music or cultural outfits. It showed how Hispanic families have built a growing and connected community on the Gulf Coast.

As the day neared its end, drums and maracas kept the rhythms in play. The crowd danced, laughed and celebrated their rich culture and heritage under the southern Mississippi night sky. 

Event goers enjoy food and music during the Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Patricia Ramirez prepares food for event goers during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Elote, a popular Mexican dish, is prepared for event goers during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

A Mexican flag hangs on a vendors tent during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Members of Zona Libre perform during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Event goers listen to the music of Zona Libre during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

A dog wears a festive costume during the during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Left: Julian Soria, 6, left, and Ivana Soria, 9, wear outfits inspired by their Mexican heritage during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Right: Luz and Ed Stephens pose for a portrait while attending the festival. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

“Donald Trump ducks” are in place for customers to buy during the Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Items are for sale during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Food vendors representing countries across Latin America lined Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss. during the Hispano de on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

A food vendor wears a shirt representing the country where he’s from, Colombia, during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Jeremias Marte, 7, gets his face painted during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Adriana Lopez, 17, wears a Hispanic Heritage shirt during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Festival Hispano de Pascagoula: Una celebración de herencia, unidad y sabor

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Miembros de Studio of Dance and Gymnastics bailan durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025, en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

PASCAGOULA — Tiras de papel picado y banderas de países de América Latina —con sus colores fuertes y diseños llamativos— brillaban bajo el sol de septiembre y sobre las cabezas de los asistentes al Festival Hispano de Pascagoula. El 20 de septiembre, familias de toda la Costa del Golfo se reunieron para celebrar su orgullo gastronómico, musical y cultural al aire libre.

En el festival, puestos de comida ofrecían tamales, tortillas frescas, empanadas y otros platos. Zona Libre tocaba música latina y la multitud bailaba, inmersa en los sonidos. Sus rostros transmitían orgullo y emoción. Los miembros de Studio of Dance y Gymnastics, luciendo trajes típicos coloridos, daban vueltas mientras que los asistentes mayores conversaban sobre cultura y raíces en sus países de nacimiento. 

Integrantes de Zona Libre actúan durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025, en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Marisel Villegas, de Venezuela, baila al ritmo de Zona Libre durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

“Se siente bien celebrar mi cultura”, dijo Nancy Morosky, una residente de la Costa del Golfo que nació en Puerto Rico. “Me gusta recordar de dónde venimos y quiero transmitirlo a la siguiente generación”.

Pascagoula es hogar de una de las comunidades latinas más grandes de la Costa del Golfo. Según el censo de 2020, cerca de 15% de sus 22,000 residentes se identifica como hispano o latino. En el condado de Jackson, la proporción es de casi 7%. 

Irene Ávalos, de 10 años, y Abby Sandoval, de 9, posan para una foto durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. A la der., Megan Santamaría y Aitana García visten trajes típicos de Costa Rica durante el festival. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Main Street Pascagoula y la ciudad organizaron el evento, que ya está en su cuarto año. 

“Creemos que es importante porque tenemos una amplia comunidad hispana a lo largo de toda la Costa del Mississippi, y nos encanta reunir a la gente para celebrar eso con comida, compañerismo y entretenimiento sano”, dijo Susannah Northrop, directora ejecutiva de Main Street Pascagoula. 

Asistentes se saludan, comen platos típicos y disfrutan de la música en vivo durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

“Hay tantos hispanos en la Costa del Golfo, es importante para nosotros conocer nuestra cultura”, dijo Marisol Pérez, una residente de la Costa del Golfo originaria de Puerto Rico, mientras cargaba a Neylan E. Quirindongo, su nieta de ocho meses.

Marisol Pérez comparte con su nieta, Neylan E. Quirindongo, durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

El evento destacó más que comida, música y trajes típicos. Demostró cómo las familias latinas en la Costa del Golfo han construido una comunidad que crece y que se conecta. 

A medida que el día llegaba a su fin, tambores y maracas mantenían el ritmo. Los asistentes bailaban, reían y celebraban su rica cultura y herencia bajo el cielo oscuro de la noche del sur de Mississippi. 

Asistentes disfrutan de la comida y la música durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Patricia Ramírez prepara comida para el público durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Elote, una comida callejera típica de México, es preparado para el público durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Una bandera mexicana adorna un puesto en el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Integrantes de Zona Libre actúan durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Asistentes bailan al ritmo de la música de Zona Libre durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Un perro luce su mejor gala durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Julia Soria, de 6 años, izq., e Ivana Soria, de 9, lucen trajes inspirados en su cultura mexicana durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. A la derecha, Luz y Ed Stephens posan para una foto durante el festival. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Patos “Donald Trump” a la venta durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Artículos a la venta durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Puestos de comida de distintos países de América Latina ofrecen sus platos en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, durante el Festival Hispano el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Un vendedor de comida viste una camiseta representando su país de origen —Colombia— durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Jeremías Marte, de 7 años, se deja pintar el rostro durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Adriana López, de 17 años, viste una camiseta con la bandera de Puerto Rico en forma de huella digital durante el Festival Hispano de Pascagoula en Beach Park, Pascagoula, estado de Mississippi, el sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2025. Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

So much to discuss, including maybe the worst roughing the passer call in history.

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The Clevelands discuss last weekend and the one coming up, including what appeared to be a routine quarterback sack by the Saints’ Carl Granderson of the Giants’ Jaxson Dart that was somehow called roughing the passer. The Saints, believe it or not, won anyway. Also, the conversation turns to what might have been the last Sanderson Farms Championship and the upcoming weekend in college football.

Stream all episodes here.


Mississippi likely to get $500M for rural health, with governor to set spending

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At least $500 million is expected to flow into Mississippi over the next five years as a part of a major federal investment into rural healthcare. 

The funding aims to offset the disproportionate impact already-struggling rural hospitals are expected to bear as a result of Medicaid spending cuts signed into law by President Donald Trump this summer. 

More than half of Mississippi’s rural hospitals are at risk of closing. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves will decide what to include in the state’s one-time application for the funding, which is due in just over a month.

Reeves did not respond to Mississippi Today’s questions about his plans or priorities for the funds. 

Legislators hold the authority to appropriate money through the “power of the purse.” During a state budget hearing Sept. 24, House Speaker Jason White expressed frustration that they have not been more included in the decision-making process. 

This sets the stage for a possible conflict between the governor and legislators over who has the authority to appropriate the funds, echoing disputes that arose during the distribution of federal COVID-19 aid. 

Cindy Bradshaw, executive director of the Mississippi Division of Medicaid, listens during a meeting of the Medicaid Advisory Committee at the Sillers Building, Friday, July 25, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

“I understand the timeline’s tight,” White said to Mississippi Medicaid Director Cindy Bradshaw. “But I also understand, I think people want to have input on what that looks like if they’re going to be appropriating the money.” 

The state Division of Medicaid and the Department of Health are supporting the governor in crafting the application.

Half of the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program will be distributed evenly among all states with approved applications, amounting to $100 million a year for five years per state if all states apply and are accepted. The other half will be allocated to states based on a variety of factors, including the rural population, the proportion of rural health facilities and the condition of hospitals. 

House Speaker Jason White brings the House of Representatives to order at the beginning of the new legislative session at the state Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025 in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

Health care leaders told Mississippi Today they expect the discretionary funding allocations to benefit Mississippi, where most people live in rural communities and two out of three hospitals are in rural areas. 

“The key takeaway is Mississippi does do really well with this,” said Ryan Kelly, executive director of the Mississippi Rural Health Association, an organization for health professionals and advocates. 

The funding is focused on strengthening access to health care by investing in lasting improvements to preventive medicine, collaboration between health care facilities, workforce development and innovations in care and technology. 

Hospital leaders have warned that the federal cuts could force some rural hospitals to stop some services or close their doors. 

Bradshaw estimated that cuts to state directed payments, which help hospitals offset low Medicaid payments, will amount to a loss of $160 million a year beginning in 2029.

Rural hospitals may also shoulder rising costs of uninsured care if enhanced premium tax credits, which make marketplace insurance more affordable, expire at the end of this year. Over 100,000 Mississippians are expected to lose health insurance coverage if the credits are not extended.

Some advocates caution that the federal investment in rural health care will be too little to offset the losses Mississippi’s rural hospitals will face. 

“It simply won’t be enough,” said Khaylah Scott, a program manager for the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, an organization aimed at improving health policies.

She called the program a “Band-Aid,” noting that it is temporary and will cover only about a third of the estimated losses to federal Medicaid funding in rural areas. 

Bradshaw said the new funding alone may not resolve the challenges facing rural hospitals. 

Greenwood Leflore Hospital is pictured in Greenwood, Miss., on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

“Throwing more money at hospitals I don’t think is necessarily the answer because we’ve done that the last two years and they’re still not thriving,” Bradshaw told legislative budget leaders. 

The application opened in mid-September and states must submit a plan before Nov. 5. The federal government will approve applications by the end of the year. 

“The timing is really tricky and maybe even unfortunate that we have such a short amount of time to be able to submit the application,” Bradshaw said.

Mississippi has moved quickly to solicit input from stakeholders and health leaders.

A survey released at the end of July yielded over 120 responses. Thirteen stakeholders were invited to a closed-door meeting Aug. 28 to present their ideas for the program to representatives from the governor’s office, the Division of Medicaid and the Department of Health. 

The state has not held any public meetings or hearings. Other states, including Louisiana, have held outreach meetings around the state to gain feedback from stakeholders and rural residents. 

The Mississippi Hospital Association was one of 13 organizations chosen to present ideas to the governor. 

“We feel like those funds really need to be focused on the rural hospitals to help them absorb some of the upcoming losses of those supplemental payments that have been so vital in keeping the doors open and keeping access to care alive in those rural areas,” said Richard Roberson, the association’s president and CEO. 

Richard Roberson, Mississippi Hospital Association president and CEO, discusses the impact of what the White House calls “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Wednesday, July 9, 2025, at the Mississippi Hospital Association Conference Center in Madison. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

The association has proposed using the funding for a grant to help rural hospitals cover costs of uncompensated care, improve infrastructure, create programs to recruit and retain health professionals in rural areas, expand the state’s ability to share information between providers and improve telehealth technology. 

The Mississippi Healthcare Collaborative, which represents other hospitals and health care organizations and was also invited to present at the forum, did not respond to a request for comment from Mississippi Today. 

The program will give Mississippi the opportunity to fund “ready projects” the state has been studying the past two to three years, State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney said in an interview with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. 

Department of Health spokesperson Greg Flynn declined to say which projects Edney was referencing, citing the governor’s authority to make final decisions about the application.

Kelly, of the Rural Health Association, said it is difficult to determine how to support rural health care with a large amount of funding. 

“Normally we have to find ways to do things without money,” he said. “Now, it’s like we have to flip on its head what we’ve had to do, and now we have to find a way to spend money – a lot of money. And that’s kind of a challenge.” 

‘We’re going to get drowned’: Mississippians are sitting in the crosshairs of a volatile climate

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GULFPORT – “This is an outdoors person’s state, you know what I’m saying?” Derrick Evans said of Mississippi on a muggy September evening at his office in Turkey Creek. “It’s agricultural, it’s fishing, it’s hunting.”

Yet, Evans said, political priorities in the state, named after the immense river to its west, seem detached from that very culture. 

“A polluted stream, an environmental vulnerability, is actually an abrogation to what we might call the Southern way of life,” he said.

In 2023, a study concluded Mississippi was the most vulnerable state to climate change in the country. The research, done by the Environmental Defense Fund and Texas A&M University, quantified how a litany of social inequities exacerbate frequent natural disasters – such as flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes, heat and drought – not just in Mississippi but across the South. 

Grace Tee Lewis, a Texas-based senior health scientist with EDF and one of the study’s authors, said the region’s history of segregation and underinvestment in public services comes back to bite it when a disaster hits. In a rural state that ranks near the bottom in health outcomes and access to care, for example, a hurricane is all the more likely to sever a sick person’s access to medicine.

Derrick Evans, a community activist and resident of Turkey Creek, talks about the historic area in Gulfport, Miss., on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

“In the South, where you have historical policies that have created a lot of stratification in wealth and resources, I think that contributes to disparities in vulnerability,” Lewis said. “That extends itself to investments in climate – flood mitigation, hurricane preparedness. Often what we see in the Gulf is, they’re the same communities that are getting hit time and again.” 

Lewis and her colleagues’ work echoes similar findings by the federal government. Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Global Change Research Program published reports in recent years linking social disparities in the Southeast to a higher risk of impacts from natural disasters.

The study also said Turkey Creek, the historic Gulfport neighborhood founded by Evans’ ancestors and other freed slaves after the Civil War, sits in the fifth most vulnerable census tract out of over 73,000 in the United States. 

As he walked outside his mother’s house, Evans pointed to just under the roof, showing where the water finally stopped after Hurricane Katrina landed in 2005. While surprised Turkey Creek ranked so highly, he was well aware of its environmental challenges. 

The neighborhood’s settlers, he said, knew how to comport their lives with the surrounding watershed. They built their homes, for instance, on a ridge following the curvature of the surrounding streams. But especially after the city of Gulfport annexed the neighborhood in the 1990s, the watershed slowly devolved into pavement-laden developments.

A view of Turkey Creek in Gulfport, Miss., on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

“Climate resiliency,” Evans proclaimed, “starts with not being ground zero to someone else’s future.”

Over the years, coastal developers and officials replaced wetlands, which naturally absorb water, with concrete slabs that repel flooding onto other property.

David Holt, coordinator of sustainability sciences at the University of Southern Mississippi, explained that coastal cities after Katrina began developing further inland, replacing forested or grassy areas with subdivisions. But in doing so, Holt said, they were “not really thinking about drainage.”

“We get a lot of localized flooding with these new developments,” he said. 

Gulfport officials denied to Mississippi Today that commercialization has harmed the city’s drainage, adding they’ve improved stormwater management standards for new construction. But lifelong Coast residents, like Rose Green in Turkey Creek, said their ditches still regularly overflow, and fear their vulnerability to climate change will only grow without better planning. 

“The water is going to back up,” Green said. “We’re going to get drowned out here.”

Rose Green prepares to give her thoughts on the issues with Turkey Creek in Gulfport, Miss., on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

“We are all in a disaster area”

Leaders and scientists around the world agree greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are warming the planet, leading to more variability in climate trends and a spike in extreme natural disasters. 

“The Southeast faces increasing intensity of climate change impacts including warming temperatures, extreme precipitation events, droughts, sea level rise, and tropical cyclones,” the Environmental Protection Agency says on its website.

In the last 10 years, according to federal weather data, storms in Mississippi caused an estimated $1 billion in property and crop damage. The data, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, directly link those events to 84 deaths and 608 injuries, and indirectly to 19 other deaths and 100 other injuries. 

Half of Mississippi’s counties saw a direct or indirect death linked to a natural disaster in the last decade. 

“ The reality is that we are all in a disaster area,” Holt said. “Every corner of this state can be hit by a natural disaster.”

In many ways, surviving and recovering from disasters comes down to wealth, both on a personal and communal level. 

“Preparedness looks different for people who are low-income,” said Rhonda Rhodes, president of the Hancock Resource Center, which offers disaster counseling on the Coast. “They can’t just go get a hotel at whatever cost, so they’re stuck going to shelters, whether the storm gets here or not. They don’t get paid if they don’t work, they don’t have money for gas. 

“It is a real crisis for families that are low-income to have to evacuate. So a lot of them don’t, which is its own problem.”

The nation’s poorest state, Mississippi is already feeling the financial impacts of climate change more than most states. In 2021, only three states – Louisiana, Florida and Oklahoma – had a higher financial burden than Mississippi paying for home insurance premiums, which have risen as insurers adjust for the risk of increased disasters. 

Last year, amid rising temperatures, a third of Mississippians were unable to pay a recent energy bill, the highest rate in the country.

Over the summer, an Urban Institute study found that, based on average income, Mississippi would have the least fiscal capacity of any state to handle disasters should the Trump Administration follow through with plans to gut the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

“Should more disaster responsibility be pushed to the states, Mississippi would face some unique challenges relative to other states that have a broader set of reserves (for disaster funding),” Sara McTarnaghan, one of the study’s authors, said.

A scramble for mitigation funds

In recent years, governments at every level have shifted their focus to mitigation, or projects that better protect homes and infrastructure from natural disasters. 

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency is overseeing 160 local mitigation projects. Those include safe rooms and sirens to prepare for tornadoes, drainage upgrades to deter flooding, and backup generators for water systems. 

But all of the state’s mitigation efforts are primarily funded with federal programs, and mainly through FEMA. The Trump administration cut one of the agency’s key mitigation programs – the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities fund, or BRIC – earlier this year. Moreover, the recent slew of cuts to EPA grants included $20 million set for a self-sustainable resiliency hub in Jackson. 

For many small, rural areas, federal mitigation dollars are the only path toward funding local climate resilience. Beverly Wright, executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, said recent changes on the national level will disproportionately leave poorer communities in danger going forward.

“The cuts to FEMA are really devastating,” Wright said. “You really see bleak days ahead because Mother Nature is not backing off.” 

A sign warning of flooding in Marks, Miss., on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

In the Delta about 20 miles east of Clarksdale, officials in Marks are worried that flooding could contribute to the outmigration the small city’s seen over the last few decades. 

“In the early spring, it was raining every day,” said Joe Shegog, the town’s former mayor who stepped down from office earlier this year. “A lot of people couldn’t get in or out of their homes unless they used a boat.” 

Since 1980, Marks’ population dropped by over a third, Census data shows, from about 2,200 people to 1,400. The median household income is about $25,000 less than the rest of the state. 

A combination of flash flooding and water from the Coldwater River – which local officials say has gotten worse because of seepage from the Arkabutla Lake north of Marks – has become a regular threat to residents as the city’s drainage infrastructure has aged. 

A large swath of the city and its surrounding areas sit in “Zone A” of FEMA’s flood map, meaning they have high risk. As is the case with much of the Delta, flooding incapacitates Marks’ local farming, a key economic driver in the region and state as a whole. The EDF and Texas A&M study ranked Quitman County, where Marks is located, in the 98th percentile of climate vulnerability in the country. 

A screenshot of a FEMA map showing sections of Marks (in blue) that are in a “high risk” flood zone.

Shegog, who served as either an alderman or mayor in Marks since 1987, said the city’s small tax base can’t fund needed infrastructure improvements. In 2023, Quitman County applied for $5 million from FEMA’s BRIC program to upgrade drainage pumps and shore up levees. 

FEMA didn’t select the project, leading local officials to wonder if Marks just didn’t have enough property value to attract the spending. Velma Wilson, the county’s economic director, said the county planned to reapply before the federal government announced plans to cut the BRIC program in April. 

Similarly, Shegog said it’s hard to attract attention from the state with a dwindling population.

“There’s not as many votes in these small areas,” he said. 

Former Mayor Joe Shegog sits in a church in Marks, Miss., on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

“We can’t do this forever”

In 2024, 63% of American adults were worried about global warming, according to a Yale University poll. In Mississippi, that number was 55%. 

What climate change will look like in the state isn’t a simple answer, explained Holt, the USM professor. While the conditions for hurricanes, for instance, have become more common as the ocean warms, increasing wind shear may also keep them from building and hitting land. What’s more clear, he said, is that the average storms are intensifying more rapidly and they’re coming during a wider span of the year.

“We’re supposed to be all nervous and worried in July and August, not October and November,” he said.

Another complicated trend, Holt explained, is that seemingly opposite extremes are each becoming more common: intense heat and ice storms, heavy rainfall and drought

But while more of the public recognizes the threats of climate change, the language around the issue is still politicized, Holt said. 

Train tracks on in the Turkey Creek area of Gulfport, Miss., on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

“People want to say it’s not climate change, it’s just a natural cycle, or it’s all in God’s plan,” he said. “But the reality is, it doesn’t change anything.”

Holt argued that the economic effects of climate change may be the key to attract the attention of politicians and other decision-makers in Mississippi: If more intense flooding and drought continue to threaten one of its top exports – the state exported $2.3 billion in agricultural products in 2023 – and the federal government continues to cut funding it relies on, what does that mean for the state’s future?

“I think sustainability is an easy argument,” Holt said. “Do you want what we’re doing right now? Do you want to do that in 10 years? If you do, that’s sustainability. Resiliency is (recognizing) we can’t sustain this. We can’t do this forever. We can’t behave like this forever.”