OurTupelo

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A conservative federal court on Friday said Mississippi cannot count mail-in ballots that arrive shortly after Election Day, although the decision was not expected to affect the Nov. 5 election.

While the appellate judges firmly asserted that counting late ballots violates federal law, even if those ballots are postmarked by Election Day, the judges stopped short of an order immediately blocking Mississippi from continuing the practice. Their ruling noted federal court precedents have discouraged court actions that change established procedures shortly before an election.

The ultimate outcome may be negligible in most elections in heavily Republican Mississippi, however the case could also affect voting in swing states.

The three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a July decision by U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr., who had dismissed challenges to Mississippi’s election law by the Republican National Committee, the Libertarian Party of Mississippi and others. The appeals court order sent the case back to Guirola for further action, but the issue may wind up at the Supreme Court.

The appeals court said its ruling Friday would not be returned to a lower court until seven days after the deadline for appealing their decision has passed — which is usually at least 14 days. That would put the effect of the ruling well past Nov. 5.

UCLA law professor Richard Hasen wrote on his election law blog that the appeals court ruling was a “bonkers opinion” and noted that “every other court to face these cases has rejected this argument.”

Republicans filed more than 100 lawsuits challenging various aspects of vote-casting after being chastised repeatedly by judges in 2020 for bringing complaints about how the election was run only after votes were tallied.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley praised the ruling for upholding “commonsense ballot safeguards” and said voters deserve “a transparent election which ends on November 5th.”

Mississippi is one of several states with laws allowing mailed ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The list includes swing states such as Nevada and states such as Colorado, Oregon and Utah that rely heavily on mail voting.

In July, a federal judge dismissed a similar lawsuit in Nevada. The Republican National Committee is asking the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to revive that case.

Guirola wrote that Mississippi’s law does not conflict with federal election laws. The suit challenging the Mississippi law argued that the state improperly extends the federal election and that, as a result, “timely, valid ballots are diluted by untimely, invalid ballots.”

Guirola disagreed, writing in July that “no ‘final selection’ is made after the federal election day under Mississippi’s law. All that occurs after election day is the delivery and counting of ballots cast on or before election day.”

Although the Mississippi challenge was led by Republicans and Libertarians, there is bipartisan support for the Mississippi practice. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch is defending the state’s top election official. Secretary of State Michael Watson a defendant in the case. Both are Republicans.

The members of the appellate panel that reversed Guirola were judges James Ho, Stuart Kyle Duncan and Andrew Oldham, all nominated to the 5th Circuit by former President Donald Trump.

The post Federal court says Mississippi can’t count late ballots but the ruling doesn’t affect Nov. 5 vote appeared first on Mississippi Today.

There are adages about sewing that make one smile.

“Sewing isn’t just a hobby, it’s a way of life.”

“Sewing is my happy place.”

“Sewing is like magic, but with fabric.”

All true for Annette Olowo-Ake, who with her husband Mike, owns and operates Perfect-Fit Alterations, located in the Fondren District in Jackson. The business sits tucked just west of North State Street on Mitchell Avenue. 

For 34 years, Olowo-Ake has made magic with needle, thread and fabric, whether she brings a teenager’s glam dress dream come true from a photograph to altering the length of a tee shirt to an emergency popped zipper fix or broken button. She admits, she really is in her happy place. 

Walk into her alteration shop and be immediately greeted with a smile.

“My grandmother taught me to sew,” said Olowo-Ake. “I was an accounting major. And yes, I had an accounting job,” she shares with a slight eye roll. “But I kept drifting back to sewing. I realized I loved my sewing more. So, here I am.”

“One thing accounting taught me, though, was how to manage money.”

“My husband and I started out with no loans of any kind. You know what we did? We saved our income tax checks and each time, we would buy one piece of equipment. We paid ourselves a salary. But that was it. No dipping into the bank account for frivolous things.”

“Over time and different locations, we built up a following. We built up a business,” she says proudly. “This place here was originally my husband’s shop. I was over on Old Canton Road. But as the years passed, as we got older, we simply decided to just have this one. And it’s been a blessing.”

Covered in bits of thread and wearing more varied sizes of pins in her work smock than a pin cushion, Olowo-Ake doesn’t miss a beat, from taking measurements for a party dress, writing up a customer’s requests, answering the phone and shouting out a greeting to a previous customer who “didn’t want to hold you up, I just stopped by to say, hi.”

“She’s good people and a good, good friend,” said Dr. Jim Aron, checking on clothing he’d previously dropped off and needing broken buttons replaced on a pair of slacks. 

“I’ve known him since he was a med student driving a beat up old truck,” said Olowo-Ake, taking a pair of slacks from the doctor. “It’s a little over 30 years, ’bout as long as I’ve been here. All of his children are doctors now. That’s how long we’ve known each other.”

The two hug and the doctor heads on his way as another customer enters the shop, and is greeted by name.

It’s obvious Olowo-Ake is truly wielding magic with fabrics and threads. She’s creating, making memories, friends and repeat business.

“This is an art I learned from my grandmother. It’s kind of sad really, because it’s a dying art. Kids today seem to be more interested in their phones. It’s a new age, though. I don’t fault them. Times change.”

Perfect-Fit Alterations is located at 538 Mitchell Ave. in the Fondren District in Jackson.

Shop hours: Monday – Friday, noon – 5 p.m. Closed: Saturday and Sunday.

The post Perfect-Fit Alterations. A Fondren District fixture for 34 years appeared first on Mississippi Today.

“We’re open for business,” Northern District Public Service Commissioner Chris Brown said, a sentiment he repeated throughout the PSC’s “Nuclear Summit” on Tuesday.

Brown and his colleagues – Central District Public Service Commissioner De’Keither Stamps and Southern District Public Service Commissioner Wayne Carr – are in their first term after last year’s statewide elections saw a complete turnover in the PSC. The PSC oversees a broad range of public utility issues, such as electric generation, power bills, water infrastructure, among many others. 

As the world looks towards alternative energy forms to balance an increased demand with the need to limit carbon emissions, the PSC is hoping to move Mississippi ahead of the curve. 

“We think nuclear’s our future,” Brown said during a Wednesday Senate hearing. 

The PSC’s “Nuclear Summit” hosted several speakers from the industry as well as representatives from utilities serving the state that are looking to expand nuclear generation. 

“Economic development in the future is going to go to places where you have affordable and reliable power,” Stamps said during the summit. “And one of the most affordable and reliable power sources is nuclear.” 

One speaker, Kirk Sorenson of Flibe Energy, talked about the prospects of opening a new nuclear plant in Tishomingo County at the Yellow Creek site. The Tennessee Valley Authority started, and later abandoned, work on a nuclear plant there in the 1970s. Sorenson said Flibe has been leasing the site for the last five years and has spent a quarter of a billion dollars on improvements, although it’s unclear what the timeline for a Yellow Creek nuclear plant would be (getting approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission can take up to five years, although Congress recently passed a bill to speed up the review process). 

In 2023, 76% of Mississippi’s generated energy came from natural gas, much higher than the 43% for the country as a whole. The state’s two largest power producers are the Grand Gulf nuclear plant in Port Gibson, owned by Entergy, and the Victor J. Daniel plant in Moss Point, owned by Mississippi Power, which uses both coal and gas. 

Mississippi Power initially planned to close Plant Daniel’s coal units in 2027, a move clean-energy advocates celebrated, because the plant was producing excess power. However, the company is now delaying the closure to sell energy to Georgia. At Grand Gulf, Entergy upgraded the plant’s power in 2012 to make it the country’s largest single-unit nuclear power plant in the country. The plant is licensed to run until 2044. 

Earlier this month, state lawmakers advocated for bringing more nuclear power to the state during a Senate committee hearing, the Clarion Ledger reported. Industry representatives advised lawmakers tax incentives were one of the ways to attract more nuclear development in the state.

Nuclear power isn’t considered renewable because its required fuel, such as uranium, is a finite resource, but its generation doesn’t yield any carbon emissions. Compared to renewable energy like wind and solar, nuclear plants can run more consistently and use up less space. However, nuclear power comes with much higher upfront costs and more government restrictions because of safety concerns. On top of that, the United States doesn’t have any permanent storage facilities for nuclear waste.

‘We’re not anti-solar’

During interviews with Mississippi Today, all three commissioners maintained that they weren’t against solar power, saying they believe in an “all of the above” approach to sourcing energy.

Brown, a former state lawmaker and the current PSC chairman, took exception to media and advocacy groups painting the commission as “anti-solar.” 

“We’ve approved every solar generation plant (that’s come before the PSC),” he said. Electric generating facilities in the state have to get approval from the PSC. “Just because you ask questions doesn’t make you anti-anything. Our goal is just to ask questions our constituents are asking.”

Brown referenced a “Solar Summit” the PSC held in August, similar to other fact-finding sessions the agency has held around certain topics. The “Solar Summit,” though, didn’t include any speakers from the solar industry, as the outlet Floodlight reported. And unlike the “Nuclear Summit,” much of the session’s airtime was instead filled with skepticism around what the industry might mean for Mississippi.

One of the speakers, for instance, was state Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson, who has no background in the energy field. Gipson spoke for about an hour and theorized over the threat that new solar facilities could pose to farmland.

“How much solar do we need as a state?” Gipson asked. 

As of 2023, solar power made up less than a percent of the state’s electric generation, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, compared to 4% nationally. Overall, when including sources like wind and hydropower, renewables made up 21% of the country’s energy mix, compared to under 3% for Mississippi. 

A major point of disagreement between the PSC and solar advocates is that of incentives. The last PSC, led by former commissioners Brandon Presley and Brent Bailey, added incentives under the state’s net metering rule, which requires the two state-regulated energy companies – Entergy Mississippi and Mississippi Power – to reimburse customers for self-generated renewable energy. Gov. Tate Reeves criticized the move, calling on state lawmakers to reverse the rule. 

This spring, just over a year after the new rule went into effect, commissioners Brown and Carr voted to suspend incentives for low-income customers as well as for schools looking to put in solar panels.

The two commissioners argued that such incentives create a cost shift against people without solar panels, although it’s unclear whether that’s come close to happening in Mississippi, a state with relatively few net metering customers.

“No one has ever given me anything my entire adult life,” Carr told Mississippi Today, also panning recent federal programs pushing for more solar generation. “I don’t feel like that because ‘Big Brother,’ so to speak, says that we should be helping out an industry, I don’t agree with that… We’re not against solar. If you want to do it, pay for it.” 

Renewable advocates like Monika Gerhart pushed back on that point. Gerhart, executive director of the Gulf States Renewable Energy Industries Association, argued that the state government gives out economic incentives to different industries all the time, including recently for Amazon as well as an electric car battery plant. 

“Mississippi has historically provided a pretty good economic incentive for industries that it was interested in,” she said. “I don’t see this as being that different, that you attract a developing industry because you know there will be dividends.” 

The PSC is also looking to create an “overarching state law” around approving solar facilities, Stamps said during the summit, to create a consistent process for every county to follow. During Wednesday’s Senate hearing, Brown said that the agency will be asking for new regulations dealing with solar plants, including around decommissioning facilities. 

“I think that solar is a useful tool, but it does need some guardrails,” he told the lawmakers. 

The post Mississippi’s new PSC energized by nuclear power, tepid over renewables appeared first on Mississippi Today.

”Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.” – President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

”Hold my beer.” – Gaslighting

The post Marshall Ramsey: Gaslighting appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday shared with members of the Mississippi Senate’s Government Structure Committee that he was able to successfully streamline some of Arkansas’ government services without firing or laying off workers. 

Hutchinson, who served as governor of Arkansas from 2015 to 2023, said he wanted to make restructuring state government a component of his legacy when he left office, and the reforms he made to the system have largely remained intact. 

The two-term GOP governor recalled a recent conversation he had with an Arkansas lawmaker about the restructuring. Hutchinson asked the senator what the reaction has been to the reforms, and the legislator replied that it’s largely flown “under the radar.” 

“And I said, ‘That’s the best answer I could ever have,’” Hutchinson said. “That means nobody’s trying to dismantle it. They’re accepting it as the way we do business in government today and I’m hopeful that it’ll be a lasting impact.” 

When he began the effort to consolidate government functions, Hutchinson said he formed an advisory board to make recommendations. When he formed the board, he gave it three goals: promote efficiency and savings, increase managerial control and improve the delivery of services to taxpayers. 

When he adopted the board’s recommendations, Hutchinson said he was able to reduce the state government workforce by 5,000 employees by instituting a flexible hiring freeze and deciding not to replace the jobs of certain positions once workers retired. 

Hutchinson also consolidated various state boards and commissions, which he believes reduced the amount of money taxpayers were spending on rent for government offices. 

Hutchinson mounted a brief, unsuccessful presidential bid earlier this year. He dropped out of the Republican primary in January. His testimony was part of a hearing the Senate Government Structure Committee conducted on restructuring Mississippi’s government.

The post Former Arkansas Gov. Hutchinson gives Mississippi lawmakers tips on streamlining government  appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The University of Mississippi’s plan to replace an administrative division dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion with one focused on access won approval by its governing board last week. 

The formal OK from the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees came two months after Chancellor Glenn Boyce announced the Division of Access, Opportunity and Community Engagement in a campus-wide email. 

Boyce wrote the goal was to redouble the university’s efforts to help more students attend and graduate college amid the looming enrollment cliff facing Mississippi’s institutions of higher learning.

“We are steadfast in our commitment to the transformative power of higher education, and now is the time to prioritize our efforts to broaden access to higher education,” he wrote on Aug. 16. 

The new division takes the place of the university’s Division of Diversity and Community Engagement. It will cost $1.5 million to implement and bring together four different campus offices that focus on community engagement, inclusion and cross-cultural engagement, disability services, and equal opportunity and regulatory compliance, according to the IHL board book. 

A university spokesperson said Ole Miss did not have an additional comment on the changes beyond Boyce’s August statement. 

In the last year, most universities in Mississippi have made similar changes to their diversity offices, even though state lawmakers have yet to pass a ban on state spending on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. 

Unlike its counterparts, Ole Miss ran its changes through IHL, which oversees all eight of the state’s public universities. The University of Southern Mississippi renamed its diversity office the “Office of Community and Belonging.” Last November, Mississippi State University opened its new Division of Access, Opportunity and Success. 

In higher education, DEI traditionally refers to a range of administrative efforts to comply with civil rights laws and foster a sense of on-campus belonging among those populations.

During the IHL meeting, Casey Prestwood, the associate commissioner for academic and student affairs, read a description of the new division. Earlier in the meeting, the IHL board had approved the diversity division’s closure when it voted on the consent agenda. 

“UM’s goal is to better align resources to prioritize student persistence, success, and graduation,” Prestwood read. “To achieve this, UM needs to enhance its focus on expanding access to higher education, particularly for students facing limited resources, minimal family experience with higher education, and other barriers.” 

The board approved the change without discussion.

The post IHL approves Ole Miss diversity division closure appeared first on Mississippi Today.

So much to discuss with the great Mo Williams: His JSU basketball team, his marvelously talented sons, growing up in Jackson, his NBA basketball career, playing with Lebron, playing against Allen Iverson, NIL, the transfer portal … and so much more.

Stream all episodes here.

The post Podcast: McDonald’s All American, All-SEC, NBA All-Star, NBA champion, Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer…Mo Williams joins the Crooked Letter podcast. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Jackson, Miss. — “Gaslight” casts an eerie glow of suspense at New Stage Theatre, where a Victorian house of flickering lamps and shifting shadows feeds a haunting sense of unease that feels like a button-glove fit for Halloween. 

Its timely tuck in the midst of an election season seems fitting, too, as the psychological manipulation at the story’s heart — a husband’s willful intent to unsettle his wealthy wife’s sense of reality and drive her mad — resonates in an age of misinformation, deepfakes, foreign influence attempts and oft-repeated lies that can spread like wildfire across social media.

“Gaslight” by Steven Dietz, based on the original 1938 play by Patrick Hamilton, has its regional premiere at New Stage Theatre, with an Oct. 22 opening and performances through Nov. 3.

The acclaimed original spawned a host of incarnations, including the hit American play “Angel Street” and classic British and American films (both named “Gaslight”) in the 1940s. The acclaimed American version snagged two Oscars, for Best Actress Ingrid Bergman and Best Production Design, and was nominated for five others, including Best Picture.

“Gaslighting” first emerged as a verb in the mid-20th century, describing deception similar to that in the drama, but reached its zenith in current times as a broader shorthand for misleading someone for personal gain and in 2022 became Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year.

The thriller’s newer, concise version moves the drama from London to 1880s-era New York, and gives the women in the story, the wife and two maids, more agency, as well other updates in a suspenseful story that unfolds over a single night in the stifling confines of a gloomy Victorian house on the East Side. Underscoring enhances a film noir-like atmosphere.

“It’s not the typical melodrama, where the white knight comes in and saves the damsel in distress,” said Drew Stark, who plays Jack Manningham, the husband whose charm may hide an undercurrent of greed and secret, sinister intent. “Villains are always fun, but the idea is not to play ‘I’m an evil villain’ with a twirling mustache of the melodrama era. But, to try to really focus on what I want, even though it’s different from what other people want and perhaps what society wants,” he said of his character’s goal to unravel his wife’s sanity and land her in a mental institution.

Hannah Elizabeth Freeman of Brandon, a recent transplant from Kansas City, Missouri makes her New Stage debut as Bella Manningham, a relative newlywed only a few years into her marriage with Jack and still very much in love. “She tries so hard to make him happy. She wants to be happy, desperately. She is orphaned at this point in her life. Her dad has passed away, and her mother was sent away. So, she’s fairly isolated and Jack is her lifeline and connection to the outside world.” 

Her guiding line is Bella’s statement, “I live forever now in a world of doubt, not knowing what’s real and what I have invented.” Throughout, she is desperately trying to figure out what is real and who to trust. “It’s a psychological thriller, so it’s perfect for Halloween. … I think people will really feel like it’s the perfect time of year to go on this ride with Bella.” Even if audiences know the story on the front end, cast and crew hope they will revel in the fun as clues pop up and the mystery unfolds.

Ward Emling has the role of Sgt. Rough, a retired British detective who had worked with the New York City police early in his career and just cannot let go of an unsolved murder from his early days as a young officer on the New York police force. “I come into their tenuous world, and stir it up a bit,” he said of Sgt. Rough, who shows up at the house on this fateful evening, with a quest to prove his theory about the crime. He also soon sees the need to lift up Bella, give her strength, gain her trust and even win her over to help. He also manages to inject a bit of levity into this dark, tension-filled situation. Malaika Quarterman as the loyal senior maid, Marquita Levy as the sassy, younger maid, and Keith Allen Davis Jr. and Jacob Heuer as police officers, complete the cast.

“It’s interesting that the term ‘gaslighting’ was not a term until after Patrick Hamilton’s play — that it gave rise to the psychological term,” said New Stage Theatre Artistic Director Francine Thomas Reynolds, who also directs this production. New adaptations of the story that draw out the women characters find more relevance in contemporary times. “How do you deal with manipulation? How do you come through it? … I think people will recognize the tactics of belittling someone and invalidating someone.”

“These conditions, these situations certainly exist today — someone wanting money, and using charm to get money,” Reynolds said. Bullying and the use of drugs and emotional control to target vulnerabilities and render people, often women, more pliable also resonate in today’s headlines.

In a broader, societal context, the illusion vs. reality question finds parallels, too. “In looking at the play, I saw a lot of relation to misinformation,” Reynolds said. “We hear things and are told things and we’re told we need to believe them. What’s real news? What’s fake news?

“In an age when we have so many choices for information, what’s real and what’s not is really hard to decipher.”

Performances of “Gaslight” are at 7 p.m. Oct. 23-26, 29, 31 and Nov. 1-2, 2 p.m. Oct. 27 and Nov. 3, and 1 p.m. Oct. 30 at New Stage Theatre, 1100 Carlisle St., Jackson, Miss. Tickets are $35 each with discounts for seniors, students and military. Call 601-948-3533 ext. 223 or visit www.newstagetheatre.com for tickets or more information on the production.

The post Illuminating psychological thriller ‘Gaslight’ opens at New Stage Theatre appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Volcano appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Paul Bonds will tell you, “growing up, I didn’t even like coffee. I’d drink it a little in college, not for the taste of it, but mainly to keep me awake.”

That all changed when Bonds had a coffee epiphany. 

“I had a great cup of coffee from a roaster who used to be in business in Jackson about 15 years ago. There was a coffee tasting. I tried an African blend and really liked it. It had a light, fruity flavor that I really enjoyed. After that I was kind of hooked and started trying different roasters around the country,” said Bonds, at his BeanFruit Coffee Company in Flowood. 

“After that, I started trying to roast coffee beans at home, just for myself. I thought I got pretty good at it. So now and then, my friends would be sort of my guinea pigs. I began talking to my friends about coffee this and coffee that until their eyes glazed over.”

“One of those friends asked me if I’d ever thought about going into some kind of coffee business. My immediate reaction was an emphatic no. But you know what? The idea stuck with me. So much so that I bought a roaster, nothing fancy,” He said, smiling and shaking his head at the memory. “Nothing fancy, just a simple, little cheap roaster and started roasting coffee beans in my garage.”

The BeanFruit Coffee Company name derives from the product itself. The coffee bean is actually a fruit called a coffee cherry. When ripened, they are picked from the coffee plant. Within those coffee cherries are seeds called peaberries. To the naked eye, they look like little beans.

The aromas of roasting coffee beans and brewing coffee fill the senses at the BeanFruit Coffee Company. The noise from various machinery grinding and roasting coffee beans is a fitting backdrop.

 Not only is Bonds importing coffee beans from around the world, his company also ships nationally and internationally. Baristas-to-be are trained on the particular coffee brewer their business uses, coffee brewers and memorabilia is sold, and there is training on how to maintain the equipment. 

“After a while, I’d take bags to the Farmer’s Market. Wouldn’t you know, I gained a following. That following grew and I started to pick up cafes and restaurants as clients, and began selling online. In 2012, I went full time. Who’d have thought, all this from a friend asking one question I couldn’t shake.” 

The post Paul Bonds – an evolution from a dislike for coffee to coffee drinker and coffee entrepreneur importing and exporting around the globe appeared first on Mississippi Today.