OurTupelo

Joslin Napier. Carlos Collins. Bailey Mae Reed. 

They are among Mississippi domestic violence homicide victims whose family members carried their photos as the governor signed a bill that will establish a board to study such deaths and how to prevent them. 

Tara Gandy, who lost her daughter Napier in Waynesboro in 2022, said it’s a moment she plans to tell her 5-year-old grandson about when he is old enough. Napier’s presence, in spirit, at the bill signing can be another way for her grandson to feel proud of his mother. 

“(The board) will allow for my daughter and those who have already lost their lives to domestic violence … to no longer be just a number,” Gandy said. “They will be a number with a purpose.” 

Family members at the April 15 private bill signing included Ashla Hudson, whose son Collins, died last year in Jackson. Grandparents Mary and Charles Reed and brother Colby Kernell attended the event in honor of Bailey Mae Reed, who died in Oxford in 2023. 

Joining them were staff and board members from the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the statewide group that supports shelters and advocated for the passage of Senate Bill 2886 to form a Domestic Violence Facility Review Board. 

The law will go into effect July 1, and the coalition hopes to partner with elected officials who will make recommendations for members to serve on the board. The coalition wants to see appointees who have frontline experience with domestic violence survivors, said Luis Montgomery, public policy specialist for the coalition. 

A spokesperson from Gov. Tate Reeves’ office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Establishment of the board would make Mississippi the 45th state to review domestic violence fatalities. 

Montgomery has worked on passing a review board bill since December 2023. After an unsuccessful effort in 2024, the coalition worked to build support and educate people about the need for such a board. 

In the recent legislative session, there were House and Senate versions of the bill that unanimously passed their respective chambers. Authors of the bills are from both political parties. 

The review board is tasked with reviewing a variety of documents to learn about the lead up and circumstances in which people died in domestic violence-related fatalities, near fatalities and suicides – records that can include police records, court documents, medical records and more. 

From each review, trends will emerge and that information can be used for the board to make recommendations to lawmakers about how to prevent domestic violence deaths. 

“This is coming at a really great time because we can really get proactive,” Montgomery said. 

Without a board and data collection, advocates say it is difficult to know how many people have died or been injured in domestic-violence related incidents.

A Mississippi Today analysis found at least 300 people, including victims, abusers and collateral victims, died from domestic violence between 2020 and 2024. That analysis came from reviewing local news stories, the Gun Violence Archive, the National Gun Violence Memorial, law enforcement reports and court documents. 

Some recent cases the board could review are the deaths of Collins, Napier and Reed. 

In court records, prosecutors wrote that Napier, 24, faced increased violence after ending a relationship with Chance Fabian Jones. She took action, including purchasing a firearm and filing for a protective order against Jones.

Jones’s trial is set for May 12 in Wayne County. His indictment for capital murder came on the first anniversary of her death, according to court records. 

Collins, 25, worked as a nurse and was from Yazoo City. His ex-boyfriend Marcus Johnson has been indicted for capital murder and shooting into Collins’ apartment. Family members say Collins had filed several restraining orders against Johnson. 

Johnson was denied bond and remains in jail. His trial is scheduled for July 28 in Hinds County.  

He was a Jackson police officer for eight months in 2013. Johnson was separated from the department pending disciplinary action leading up to immediate termination, but he resigned before he was fired, Jackson police confirmed to local media. 

Reed, 21, was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Water Valley to live with her grandparents and help care for her cousin, according to her obituary. 

Kylan Jacques Phillips was charged with first degree murder for beating Reed, according to court records. In February, the court ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial, according to court documents. 

At the bill signing, Gandy said it was bittersweet and an honor to meet the families of other domestic violence homicide victims.

“We were there knowing we are not alone, we can travel this road together and hopefully find ways to prevent and bring more awareness about domestic violence,” she said.

A federal three-judge panel will rule in coming days on how political power in northwest Mississippi will be allocated in the state Senate and whether any incumbents in the DeSoto County area might have to campaign against each other in November special elections.  

The panel, comprised of all George W. Bush-appointed judges, ordered state officials last week to, again, craft a new Senate map for the area in the suburbs of Memphis. The panel has held that none of the state’s prior maps gave Black voters a realistic chance to elect candidates of their choice. 

The latest map proposed by the all-Republican State Board of Election Commissioners tweaked only four Senate districts in northwest Mississippi and does not pit any incumbent senators against each other. 

The state’s proposal would keep the Senate districts currently held by Sen. Michael McLendon, a Republican from Hernando and Sen. Kevin Blackwell, a Republican from Southaven, in majority-white districts. 

But it makes Sen. David Parker’s district a slightly majority-Black district. Parker, a white Republican from Olive Branch, would run in a district with a 50.1% black voting-age population, according to court documents. 

The proposal also maintains the district held by Sen. Reginald Jackson, a Democrat from Marks, as a majority-Black district, although it reduces the Black voting age population from 61% to 53%.  

Gov. Tate Reeves, Secretary of State Michael Watson, and Attorney General Lynn Fitch comprise the State Board of Election Commissioners. Reeves and Watson voted to approve the plan. But Watson, according to meeting documents, expressed a wish that the state had more time to consider different proposals. 

Fitch did not attend the meeting, but Deputy Attorney General Whitney Lipscomb attended in her place. Lipscomb voted against the map, although it is unclear why. Fitch’s office declined to comment on why she voted against the map because it involves pending litigation. 

The reason for redrawing the districts is that the state chapter of the NAACP and Black voters in the state sued Mississippi officials for drawing legislative districts in a way that dilutes Black voting power. 

The plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU, are likely to object to the state’s newest proposal, and they have until April 29 to file an objection with the court

The plaintiffs have put forward two alternative proposals for the area in the event the judges rule against the state’s plans. 

The first option would place McLendon and Blackwell in the same district, and the other would place McLendon and Jackson in the same district. 

It is unclear when the panel of judges will issue a ruling on the state’s plan, but they will not issue a ruling until the plaintiffs file their remaining court documents next week. 

While the November election is roughly six months away, changing legislative districts across counties and precincts is technical work, and local election officials need time to prepare for the races. 

The judges have not yet ruled on the full elections calendar, but U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Southwick said at a hearing earlier this month that the panel was committed have the elections in November. 

Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed the legislature’s certificate of need reform bill Thursday, arguing it unlawfully attempted to circumvent an ongoing court case by granting a certificate to a single psychiatric hospital in Jackson. 

The state’s law, which requires medical facilities to apply for a “certificate of need” from the Mississippi State Department of Health before opening or adding new services, aims to lower costs and increase the accessibility and quality of health care by avoiding duplication of services. 

A Senate amendment to the bill would have granted a new certificate of need to Oceans Behavioral Hospital Jackson and put to bed a legal dispute with Merit Health Central over the amount of charity care the hospital must provide. 

For-profit, Texas-based Oceans reopened St. Dominic’s Health’s shuttered mental health unit last year. 

Merit Health, which also operates a psychiatric unit in Jackson, sued Oceans last March, arguing it violated the law by using a workaround to skirt a health department requirement that it provide more free or low-cost care than it planned to in its application for a certificate of need. In the lawsuit, attorneys for Merit argued that Oceans not providing a sufficient level of charity care would have a “significant adverse effect” on Merit by diverting more low-income patients to its beds. 

“The proposed amendment smacks of both imprudent legislative favoritism towards the entity that will receive the CON, as well as bald prejudice to the other market participants,” Gov. Reeves wrote in his veto message. “In either case, awarding a CON by legislative fiat is bad public policy.”

Most of the bill was focused on making it easier for medical facilities to make capital improvements and require the University of Mississippi Medical Center seek state approval before opening educational facilities outside of Jackson. The final version of the bill also mandated that the health department study uncompensated care rates in psychiatric hospitals, such as the beds at the center of the Oceans lawsuit.

The governor said he would sign the bill if the carve-out for Oceans was removed.

In a statement to Mississippi Today, Oceans CEO Stuart Archer said his company remains committed to providing behavioral health care in the state.

“Oceans is fulfilling that commitment to the residents of Jackson and communities across Mississippi, and we will continue to fight for our hospital’s ability to provide care,” he said.

Rep. Sam Creekmore, R-New Albany and chair of the Public Health and Human Services committee and author of the House’s proposal, told Mississippi Today he was disappointed but not surprised by the governor’s veto. While he did not disapprove of the provision granting a certificate of need to Oceans, he suspected it might draw scrutiny from the governor. 

He said he has asked the governor to include certificate of need reform as a topic in his call for a special session to pass a bill this year.

“I think it’s very important for our rural hospitals especially to get this done now,” he said. 

The legal battle over care at the psychiatric unit housed at St. Dominic’s Health has now been ongoing for over a year. 

The state health department, which is tasked with overseeing the certificate of need process, recommended approval of Oceans’ application in December 2023, but said the hospital would have to provide 17% free or low-cost medical care to low-income individuals – more than the two percent it proposed in its application. 

But rather than adhere to the state’s stipulation for charity care, Oceans and St. Dominic’s filed for a change of ownership, bypassing the state’s requirement altogether and instead qualifying to open under St. Dominic’s existing certificate of need. 

Merit Health then sued Oceans, arguing that the change of ownership violated the state’s certificate of need law. St. Dominic’s and the State Department of Health are codefendants in the case. 

Earlier this month, a Hinds Chancery court judge ruled that Oceans’ change of ownership was legal, but that the health department exceeded its authority by not undergoing certificate of need review and ruled that the agency must complete the review within 120 days.

The health department appealed the case to the Supreme Court in March, requesting a stay. The court has yet to rule on the appeal. 

Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, chairman of Public Health and Welfare, introduced the Oceans-related amendment and said it, along with the requirement that UMMC seek state approval before opening educational facilities outside of Jackson, sought to develop and improve upon medical services in the capital city.

On the Senate Floor, he also said it aimed to put an end to the legal battle. 

“There’s a lawsuit pending trying to say that the transfer was improper,” he said March 12. “The transfer was proper. What we hope to do with this is moot the lawsuit.”

A spokesperson for Merit Health said charity care provisions should be equitable to ensure hospitals can treat people with the greatest health needs. 

“We will continue to support changes to CON regulations that improve access to healthcare and reduce barriers to healthcare delivery for all providers,” she said.  

St. Dominic’s and the state health department declined to comment on the ongoing litigation. 

Certificate of need legislation shapeshifted over the course of the session. During the process, the Senate removed several key provisions of the bill originally approved by the House of Representatives, including those that would have streamlined the law’s appeals process and freed certain in-demand health care services – including substance use treatment and outpatient hospital dialysis units – from being required to acquire a “certificate of need” from the state to open. 

Mental health reporter Allen Siegler contributed to this story.

Coach Lindy Callahan, who in his 97 years on this planet touched and influenced more lives than could ever by calculated, passed away quietly Wednesday at his home in Gulfport.

In his adopted hometown and far beyond, Callahan was a giant in high school athletics.

Born on Christmas Day, 1927, in Vicksburg, Lindy Gene Thomas Callahan turned out to be a gift to Mississippi sports: an athlete, a coach and finally an administrator who dedicated his professional life to improving the lives of young people.

“Lindy showed the rest of us how to do it,” is the way Mike Justice, a highly successful football coach soon to be inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, put it. “As a high school coach and athletic director, he was the best of the best.”

“Everything Lindy Callahan did in life, he did with the utmost class,” said Don Hinton, a former coach and executive director of the Mississippi High School Activities Association.

In 1963, Coach Callahan broke my 11-year-old heart. The undefeated Hattiesburg Tigers, my favorite team, played his undefeated Gulfport Commodores at Milner Stadium in Gulfport on what is now Lindy Callahan Field. When those 1963 HHS Tigers took the field, they really did look like the LSU Tigers, both size-wise and in school colors. More than a dozen of them went on to play Division I football, including Ed Morgan, a future Alabama Crimson Tide halfback and Hattiesburg mayor who scored an early touchdown to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead. Final score: Gulfport 33, Hattiesburg 7. Gulfport, a much smaller team in physical size and numbers, turned Hattiesburg every which way but loose. That was part of a 35-game Gulfport winning streak and another streak of 42 consecutive victories in the old Big Eight Conference. Over Callahan’s last six seasons as Gulfport football coach, his teams won 54 and lost five.

Lindy really was one of those coaches who, as the late Jake Gaither described, could take his’n and beat your’n or take your’n and beat his’n. As an administrator, he hired splendid coaches, including Hall of Famer Bert Jenkins, the remarkably successful Gulfport basketball coach, the best I ever covered at any level in any sport.

That’s why Callahan is a member of nine different halls of fame, five on a national level and four more on a regional level. Put it this way: Any hall of fame he’s eligible for, he is in. In 1995, the MHSAA instituted the Lindy Callahan Student-Athlete Awards, college scholarships that annually are presented to 16 deserving Mississippi high school seniors.

His legacy goes far beyond all that. Callahan spearheaded the creation of the Mississippi-Alabama High School All-Star Game. He created guidelines and policies that athletic directors around the state still use today. For 57 years, he and Coach Leo Jones directed the Gulf Coast Coaching Clinic,an invaluable resource for coaches across the Deep South. Said Justice, “If you wanted to learn how to coach, that’s where you went.”

Although Callahan was born in Vicksburg, the son of a railroad engineer, he grew up in Meridian. There, he lived  across the street from athletic fields that would shape his life. He was a football and baseball star, recruited to Ole Miss by football coach John Vaught and baseball coach Tom Swayze.  He played both sports collegiately and often credited Vaught and Swayze with teaching him the organizational and leadership skills he would use professionally.

Two years ago, a book tour took co-author Neil White to a stop in Gulfport where Callahan showed up along with many of his former players. The bond between the old coach and his former players, now with gray hair themselves, was unmistakeable, an absolute joy to witness. Although his legs were failing him, Lindy’s mind was as sharp as any 20-year-old. Every time a former player referred to him as “Coach,” his eyes brightened and his lips curled into a smile.

All who knew Callahan know that as dedicated as he was to his professional life, he took the most pride in his family. He and his wife of 71 years, the former Ann Fincher, were the parents of three, grandparents of five and great grandparents of 10, all of whom called Coach Callahan “Papa.”

Callahan often referred to himself as “Lucky,” as in “Lucky Lindy,” And his really was a storybook life, even near the end. The ambulance that carried him from hospital to home, where he wanted to live his final days, detoured by Milner Stadium and Lindy Callahan Field for one last glance at a place he dearly loved. As fate had it, the stadium gates were open and the ambulance circled the track – one last victory lap for a champion.

Mississippi Today is pleased to announce that Allen Siegler has joined the newsroom as a mental health reporter.

Mississippi consistently ranks as one of the most underserved states in the nation when it comes to mental health resources, and access to those resources is a major issue. The state recently emerged from years of federal oversight aimed to ensure Mississippians had adequate access to community based services. Mississippi Today will use this beat to shed light on the current state of community based resources and other areas of mental health.

Mississippi is also set for a windfall of hundreds of millions of dollars in opioid settlement money, and Siegler will lead coverage examining how those monies are spent — both at the state and local levels.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of the Mississippi Today team and continue the great mental health reporting others here have produced,” said Siegler. “Through digging deep into the state’s biggest mental health problems and relying on the strengths of my coworkers, I hope to serve Mississippians as well as I can.”

Before joining Mississippi Today, Siegler reported on public health for the nonprofit newsrooms Mountain State Spotlight, an investigative outlet in West Virginia, and Healthbeat, a startup with bureaus in Atlanta and New York City. At those newsrooms, he covered health topics ranging from substance use disorder, health care systems, and dangerous workplaces. 

Originally from San Diego, Allen studied applied epidemiology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, graduating with a Master of Public Health degree in 2022. 

“I am thrilled to welcome Allen to the newsroom and so excited to have a dedicated reporter covering mental health,” said Kate Royals, Mississippi Today’s Community Health Editor. “He is experienced in nonprofit newsrooms and is a fantastic journalist, as evidenced by his work at outlets in Atlanta and West Virginia. With the stigma around mental health and the lack of access to care in the state, we are overdue for good journalism that will shed light on the challenges — and the potential solutions — in this area of health care.”

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.

Making hard decisions is never fun. No one wakes up excited to deliver news that will upset people, especially not in a city that’s already been through so much.

But leadership isn’t about winning popularity contests. It’s about doing what needs to be done — even when it’s uncomfortable, even when it makes you the villain in someone else’s story. If taking the heat today means a better tomorrow for Jackson, I’ll take it.

I’ve seen what failure looks like up close. I stood in the water plants when the system collapsed. There were no doors on critical buildings, and exposed pipes in below freezing temps. I’ve watched as the people of this city lined up for bottled water when they should have been at Christmas dinner. And I’ve spent the past two and a half years trying to make sure that never happens again.

That’s why we’re asking for a modest rate increase. I know how that sounds. No one likes to hear the words “higher bill,” especially in a place where too many are already stretched thin. But the truth is, the system can’t run on yesterday’s rates. It takes over $80 million a year to operate Jackson’s drinking water system responsibly. When we stepped in, the city was trying to run it on just $15 million to 18 million per year over several years. That’s not sustainable. It’s not safe. And it’s not fair to residents who deserve reliable service.

We’ve done the analysis. We’ve looked at every line item. We’ve streamlined operations and improved collections. We’ve reduced the base charge for the lowest- income customers on SNAP. This isn’t about spending more. It’s about spending what it actually costs to keep water flowing.

And no, we can’t just use federal funding to fill the gap. Of the much-talked-about $800 million in federal funds (in reality $600 million), only $150 million was flexible and available for operations—and most of that is gone with nearly $75 million going to fix extensive water leaks that needed to be repaired to restore pressure to residents. The rest is earmarked for specific infrastructure projects and cannot be used for day-to-day costs like staff, water treatment chemicals or power bills. We’ve been transparent about that from the beginning.

These federal funds are essential, but they’re not a substitute for sustainable, recurring revenue. A one-time grant doesn’t keep a system running year after year. The only way to do that is by charging what it actually costs to deliver water service — nothing more, nothing less.

I’ve heard the questions from the City Council and others. Why not just cut costs? Why not collect from everyone who owes? We’re doing both. Collections are up. Our systems are tighter. But even with perfect collections, we’d still face a massive shortfall.

The gap is not about wasteful spending. It’s about the true cost of running a water system that works. And when you’re facing that kind of gap, raising rates can’t be a political decision. It has to be a business decision — grounded in real data, responsible analysis and a clear-eyed view of what it takes to serve this city well. This is about financial sustainability, not short-term optics.

If we implement this rate structure now, we’ll be on track to reach full financial stability by 2029. That means balanced budgets, three months’ worth of cash reserves and meeting every debt obligation. No bailouts. No Band-Aids. Just a water system that works, day in and day out. That’s the goal. And it’s within reach if we have the courage to act now.

Cities across the country are facing the same challenges — aging infrastructure. rising costs. tough trade-offs. The difference is that some choose to kick the can down the road.

We’ve seen where that leads. Jackson has already lived through what happens when tough choices are avoided for too long. We can’t afford to do that again. This time, we’re facing the facts. We’re taking the hits. And we’re making the call.

So yes, I’ll be the bad guy if it means better for Jackson. I didn’t grow up here. But over the two years I’ve been here, I’ve come to love this city deeply — its food, its music, its humor and most of all, its people. I’ve sat in churches, broken bread in neighborhood restaurants and listened to people who want nothing more than to see Jackson thrive.

That’s why I want better for this place — not as a detached manager, but as someone who now feels personally connected to the soul of this city — its people.

This isn’t just about fixing pipes and balancing budgets. It’s about protecting the dignity of a city that deserves better, and helping ensure that the people who’ve stuck with Jackson through its hardest days can finally see it rise. It means families can turn on the tap and trust what comes out. It means we never again see the chaos and fear of a city without water. That’s the job. And I’m here to do it.

Ted Henifin was appointed by the federal court in November 2022 to serve as the interim third-party manager of JXN Water. Henifin has more than 30 years of management experience in public utilities, most recently as the general manager of the Hampton Roads Sanitation District, which serves 1.7 million people in the Virginia Beach, Va., area. Henifin is focused on stabilizing operations, rebuilding infrastructure and restoring public trust in Jackson’s water system.

Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed a bill Thursday that would help stabilize hospitals, calling it the “Grady Twin” of a bill he vetoed in March. 

Lawmakers made some changes to the previously vetoed legislation in a new bill, but kept much the same. Reeves cited many of his same concerns this time around, including alleged contradictions and the loom of a deficit. 

The bill, authored by Senate Medicaid Chairman Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, sought to make several changes to the Medicaid program – from mandating providers screen mothers for postpartum depression to requiring the agency to cover a new sleep apnea device. 

Blackwell did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. 

Arguably the largest impact of Senate Bill 2386 would have been that it called for locking in place supplemental payment programs that have been a lifeline for hospitals – but which are unreliable as they vary from year to year, according to Richard Roberson, CEO of the Mississippi Hospital Association.

That fluctuation makes it difficult for hospitals to plan what services they can offer. 

“The supplemental payment language was intended to offer better budget predictability as hospitals move through these uncertain times and instructed the Division (of Medicaid) to maximize federal funding,” Roberson said. “… Hospitals, like other businesses, need stability to continue to serve their communities effectively.”

Supplemental payment programs bring in around $1.5 billion federal dollars to Mississippi hospitals each year. 

Reeves said in his veto statements for both bills that locking the payment program in place is in contradiction with another of the bill’s mandates, which would change the program to allow out-of-state hospitals that border Mississippi to participate in the program. 

“It is logically nonsensical for Senate Bill 2386 to, on the one hand, freeze the MHAP, while on the other hand, mandate that the Division open the program to include an additional hospital.”

But Roberson said the language of the bill would not prohibit the programs from growing – it would merely clarify what hospitals need to do to get paid. 

Reeves again said the bill “seeks to expand Medicaid.” The bill brings forth code sections related to eligibility requirements, but it doesn’t call for expanding the Medicaid population by increasing the income threshold, which is what is typically referred to as Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

Thursday’s vetoed bill was hospitals’ last recourse for stabilizing their budgets via legislation. 

Richardson says the Mississippi Hospital Association has now turned its sights toward the Division of Medicaid to secure hospitals’ payment programs without the help of the Legislature. 

“With or without Senate Bill 2386, we are hopeful the Division will work to stabilize the model,” Roberson said. 

Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill into law Thursday to limit kratom purchases to people 21 and older and outlaw more potent forms of the herbal substance in Mississippi. 

The law will take effect July 1.

House Bill 1077, authored by Rep. Lee Yancey, a Republican from Brandon, institutes fines for people under 21 who buy or possess kratom and retailers that sell it to them. 

It also bans synthetic kratom extracts, or products that contain high concentrations of 7-hydroxymitragynine, one of the chemical components in kratom that binds to the same receptors in the brain as opioids. Kratom extracts are considered more dangerous than “pure” forms of the herbal substance because of their higher potency. 

The bill protects children and makes kratom safer in Mississippi, but could have gone further to entirely ban the substance, said Yancey. 

“There are some people who depend on it who are trying to get off of other opioids,” he said. “This is something that might be a step down from that and I would hope at some point they could get off of this as well.”

Any ordinances that have been adopted by municipalities or counties to regulate or ban kratom will remain in effect, and municipalities will have the option of instituting local restrictions on sales of kratom in the future. 

More than thirty counties and cities in Mississippi already restrict or ban kratom products at the local level. 

Critics of kratom, which can be found widely in gas stations and tobacco or vape shops, argue that it is a highly addictive and dangerous drug that produces stimulant- and opioid-like effects. But advocates argue it is an effective tool for treating opioid use disorder, chronic pain and depression. 

House Bill 1077 was one of four proposed by Legislators this year to regulate kratom. A bill in the Senate authored by Sen. Angela Turner-Ford, D-West Point, sought to schedule synthetic kratom extracts as a controlled substance, but died in the House. Two other proposals in the House died after they were not brought up for a floor vote.  

Dr. Jennifer Bryan, the president of the Mississippi Medical Association, urged lawmakers to schedule all forms of kratom – pure and synthetic – as a controlled substance at a House Drug Policy hearing at the Capitol Jan. 28, calling kratom “the next phase of the opioid crisis.” 

State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney also spoke in support of criminalizing the drug given its highly addictive qualities.  

But kratom advocates argue it has significant health benefits and that criminalizing the drug would be dangerous for people who depend on it for pain management or to satisfy drug cravings, and could create a dangerous underground market for the substance. 

Christina Dent is the founder and president of End It For Good, a nonprofit advocating for a shift away from a criminal justice approach to drug use. The group has advocated against banning kratom outright, though Dent said she supports age restrictions and banning synthetic kratom.

“We need to respond in a way that acknowledges the potential risk and sets regulations around that but does not just push it into the free-for-all of an underground market,” she said.  

Legislators have tried unsuccessfully to pass legislation regulating the sale of kratom in recent sessions. The House passed a bill in 2022 to make kratom a Schedule I drug and a bill in 2023 to ban kratom extracts, but both died in the Senate.

“It feels good to get something done on kratom,” Yancey said. 

Child care providers, parents, children, legislators and advocates gathered outside the state Capitol Thursday to call on Mississippi to use unspent welfare funds and resume accepting child care certificate applications.

Last month, the Mississippi Department of Human Services announced it will temporarily stop accepting new applications, redetermination applications and “add a child” applications for the child care certificate program for certain families as the result of the loss of COVID-19 relief funds. The hold, started March 31, will continue indefinitely. The program provides child care vouchers to eligible families, often with a co-payment fee.

MDHS explained that without the COVID-19 relief funding the number of families with child care certificates is more than it can support long term. When asked how long the hold would last, chief communications director Mark Jones explained the hold would end when the number of children with certificates dropped below 27,000 children and $12 million in monthly costs.

The week before the hold began, on March 28, 36,186 children had child care certificates. 25,300 of them fit into one of the MDHS’s priority categories. 10,800 did not.

The Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative, Child Care Directors Network Alliance, Mississippi Delta Licensed Child Care Providers, and Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable organized Thursday’s gathering and  press conference to implore MDHS to tap into unused TANF funds to book the child care payment program.

“DHS has about $156 million in money from prior grant years that has gone unspent,” said Carol Burnett, MLICCI’s executive director, at the press conference.

The child care payment program gets funding from federal and state sources. It received $127 million from the Child Care Development Fund in fiscal year 2024, as well as $7 million in state appropriations, and $25.9 million transferred from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families grant. 

That $25.9 million is 30% of the state’s annual TANF grant money transferred into funds for child care certificates. It is the maximum amount they’re allowed to transfer under federal law. The state also spends 85% of its money from the child care development fund on certificates, when federal law requires them to use at least 70%. 

MLICCI and others want MDHS to add to that by spending current and carryover TANF funds on child care subsidies for families that qualify for child care certificates. According to a memo MLICCI prepared, this method does not require legislative action, has no  spending limit, and is already used by other states.

Under the current hold, families can apply and get their certificates renewed if they fall in one of the following six categories: on Temporary Assistance for Needy FamiliesTANF or transitioning off of TANF, homeless, with foster children, teen parents, deployed military, orand with special needs. The Division of Early Childhood Care & Development will continue paying for certificates for all families until their certificates expire. 

In a statement, MDHS’ chief communications officer Mark Jones said “MDHS understands these concerns and reaffirms its commitment to support child care, transportation, education, and other needs of families who need to return or remain in the workforce. Our aim is to ensure our approaches are sustainable.”

Burnett, parent KyAsia Johnson, state Rep. Zakiya Summers, D-Jackson, and multiple child care providers talked about the toll the hold has taken on child care centers and families. They also stated the importance of child care to sustain the state’s workforce, keep child care providers afloat, and educate young children. 

They also urged citizens to contact the state’s political leadership to get their attention.

“This decision is putting people like me in an impossible situation,” said Johnson, a child care provider and parent. “What am I supposed to do without child care?”

Each provider spoke about how they had to explain the hold to parents, many of whom have had to pull their children out of day care. Cantrell Keyes, director of Agape Christian Academy World in Jackson, had five families pull their children out of her center. “More than half of my school tuition comes from CCPP,” she said.

Rep. Summers called on MDHS to lift the hold on child care applications, use the extra TANF funds, and communicate better with parents and providers. 

“Right now, thousands of Mississippi children might lose child care, not because the need has disappeared, but because the agency has made a choice,” she said.

The hold on child care certificates comes at a time when many child care providers and parents are struggling to stay afloat amid high costs, high turnover and high demand.

Deloris Suel, who owns Prep Company Tutorial Schools in Jackson, said, “Child care is in crisis. We’re not heading for crisis, we’re in crisis.”