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Katie Blount, who oversaw the opening of two state history museums in 2017 and helped coordinate a redesign of the state flag in 2020, said Tuesday that she will retire next year as director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Blount joined the department in 1994 as public relations coordinator. She worked as assistant to the director and deputy director for communication before being named director in 2015. She is the second woman to hold the job. Charlotte Capers led the department from 1955 to 1969.

“Embracing complex stories draws audiences and earns the trust of partners in a position to pour resources into Mississippi,” Blount said in a press release.

She said she will retire June 30, the end of the current state budget year. Blount said the department’s employees deserve credit for telling the state’s story and preserving history.

In recent years, the department has repatriated ancestral remains and burial objects to Native American tribes. It also has worked on projects including stabilization of the Windsor Ruins and revitalization of the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians, both in southwestern Mississippi, and development of a new Vicksburg Civil War Visitor Center set to open in 2028.

The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Museum of Mississippi History are under one roof in downtown Jackson and are collectively called the Two Mississippi Museums. They opened during the state’s bicentennial celebration.

After legislators voted in 2020 to replace a Confederate-themed state flag that had been used since 1894, Blount joined Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and then-House Speaker Philip Gunn in a ceremony to retire the old flag to the museums.

A commission to design a new flag met that summer at the two museums, choosing a magnolia surrounded by stars and the phrase, “In God We Trust.” The design went on the November 2020 ballot, and voters overwhelmingly ratified the choice.

Reuben Anderson, a former Mississippi Supreme Court justice who chaired the flag commission and is a past president of the Department of Archives and History Board of Trustees, said in a statement to Mississippi Today on Tuesday that his message to Blount is: “Just a Big Thank You for all you have done for the Museum the City of Jackson and Mississippi.”

In June, Blount received a lifetime achievement award from the American Association for State and Local History.

Spence Flatgard, current president of the Archives and History board, praised Blount’s work.

“Katie is universally respected by her peers and state leaders,” Flatgard said in the department’s press release. “Her love for public service and for Mississippians has helped us tell our story to schoolchildren and to presidents.”

It took Tommy Duff precisely 20 seconds to invoke the outsider businessman who rose to power with no experience holding elected office. Duff would have mentioned President Donald Trump even sooner had he not paused a few seconds to wait for applause to hush. 

Trump, Duff exclaimed before a room full of Republican insiders at a hotel in Rankin County on Monday night, has surpassed his 200th day in office. He said the changes Trump has brought about are self-evident, and the impact of the administration’s agenda is as direct as the president at its helm. He said Trump is someone who says “this is what we’re doing, and then does it.”

“And I think the thing that appeals to me the most about President Trump and watching his policies is the fact that he’s an outsider,” Duff added. “He looks at things in a different perspective. He thinks that if we’ve operated this way for so long, why don’t we change? Because maybe what we’ve been doing has not been working.” 

In what Duff’s advisers characterized as the first political speech of his life, the billionaire tire baron on Monday outlined some of the challenges he believes Mississippi must tackle, and the “vision” he has for doing so. That vision was largely short on policy specifics.

In a sit-down interview with Mississippi Today in June, at an event with business leaders in July, and at a “Lincoln-Reagan-Trump” dinner on Monday, Duff has hinted at the broad outlines of what could become a gubernatorial campaign agenda. But Duff has largely done so without offering specific policy proposals, citing the nearly 27 months remaining until Election Day in 2027. 

Duff, 68, Mississippi’s richest man, again stopped short of formally announcing a run for governor in 2027, but he has said publicly he is considering entering the race. 

His speech on Monday was not a divergence from his recent public appearances, as his remarks did not shed light on where he stands on a wide range of ongoing public policy debates in Mississippi, including the intra-party Republican fights on school choice and Medicaid expansion.

But he expanded on his prior calls for Mississippi to get serious about fixing its brain drain problem. Mississippi has seen a large share of its college graduates flee to other states in search of, among other priorities, lucrative jobs. 

Keeping more Mississippi-educated college students and offering the job opportunities that may incentivize them to stay, along with improving the state’s labor force participation rate, will set the stage for what Duff sees as the state’s central challenge: overtaking other Southeastern states in the race for economic investment. That should involve increasing economic activity in Mississippi in areas of the state that are losing population, such as the Delta, Duff said. 

“We’re doing great in education. I am so proud of our educational advances and what we’re doing, and I give great tribute to the leaders of Mississippi for that,” Duff said. “We are doing great as a state as far as our economic activity, but there are pockets of our state that are just desperate for assistance, desperate. How can we continue to grow our state?” 

Education and economic development were the dominant themes in a speech that ran just under 30 minutes. 

Duff, who with his brother is reportedly worth a combined $7 billion, said he supported the Legislature’s “reduction” of the state income tax. In 2025, Mississippi’s Republican majority passed legislation that will gradually eliminate the tax over several years. 

But Duff also used the occasion to draw historical parallels that could prove helpful later. By the second minute of his remarks, he had mentioned not only Trump, but Kirk Fordice, who entered Mississippi’s 1992 gubernatorial race as a businessman and political outsider. Fordice rode that political image to the governor’s mansion, becoming the first Republican governor in Mississippi since Reconstruction.

For Fordice and other Republicans, Rankin County has been a key GOP stronghold. 

Duff spoke in Flowood at the Sheraton’s The Refuge, the same hotel where incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves celebrated his reelection in 2023. 

The event, which organizers said was sold out, charged $100 for individual tickets. Tables cost $1,000, with the priciest tier landing at $10,000 for access to a VIP sponsor reception and two VIP tables. State legislators mingled with local party officials and lobbyists inside a cavernous ballroom. Outside, a bar overlooked the hotel golf course. 

Duff’s political action committee promoted fundraising for the event, with proceeds going to the Rankin County Republican Executive Committee. 

Duff keynoted a speaking program that included at least one of his potential rivals for the governor’s mansion: Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson.

Gipson, 48, a former state lawmaker, lawyer, and Baptist minister, has already thrown his cowboy hat in the ring for the governor’s race. Gipson, who has served in state government for 17 years, delivered the invocation on Monday, informing the crowd that a higher power had made clear Mississippi’s biggest problem had nothing to do with public policy. 

“You saw our greatest problem was not education. Our greatest problem was not financing. Our greatest problem was not health care. Our problem was sin,” Gipson said.  

The speakers also included Secretary of State Michael Watson, seen as a likely candidate for lieutenant governor in 2027. Watson introduced Duff, highlighting his business success as an exemplar of both the American Dream and a Republican Party that venerates individualism. 

“He could clock out, but he hasn’t because he cares. And I think that’s an important piece of being an elected official, not that he is one, but just in case,” Watson said. “We believe it’s good to celebrate freedom, rugged individualism, hard work, entrepreneurship and success. We celebrate the positive things happening in Mississippi and America right now, and we celebrate that the American Dream is alive and well.” 

When Duff took the stage, he cast the story behind his business empire in a less individualistic light, pointing out that he had help along the way. 

“I went about a year without a paycheck. But luckily, I lived at home, and mom and dad took care of it. But we worked and we had fun, and as we grew, I learned a lot of things. One is that I’m not that important. The culture and the people are what’s important.” 

With respect to the current culture war, Duff’s remarks were short on red meat, though Duff did mention an episode from years ago when he and his brother Jim were asked by a Forbes Magazine reporter whether they had a DEI policy (the answer was no). 

Duff also mentioned his eight-year stint on the state Institutions of Higher Learning Board, claiming to have helped improve the financial health of the state’s higher education system. Duff has also done that through private donations – he and his brother have donated about $50 million to Mississippi universities.

Duff’s remarks also drew from a conversation he reported having with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. The men each spoke at a July 28 summit hosted by Mississippi Today and Deep South Today. 

Duff said Dimon asked him why only just over half of Mississippi adults eligible to work are working, as shown by a labor-force participation rate that lags most other states. Duff, who through his companies employs thousands of Mississippi residents, said the answer is a lack of well-paying jobs.

That sentiment seemed to be shared by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who, in another private conversation with Duff, reportedly nudged him to bring more of his company’s jobs to the state. 

“She said, let’s talk about how you’re going to have more (employees). Let’s talk about what other businesses you can put in our state. And I stopped, and I said, this lady really learned from Donald Trump,” Duff said. “She really understands things, because she approaches it in a different manner.”

A new restaurant at the former Sun-n-Sand Motor Hotel in downtown Jackson says it will serve up comfort food in partnership with a state program that provides support to Mississippians who are legally blind.

Hen & Egg was founded by the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration, the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services and Chef Nick Wallace. 

The old Sun-n-Sand is a midcentury modern structure that’s a short walk from the Capitol. The hotel operated from 1960 to 2001 and was a longtime gathering spot for state legislators and lobbyists, as well as civil rights activists. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History designated it a state landmark in 2020.

Hen & Egg opened to the public Tuesday with operating hours of 7 a.m.-7 p.m Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays. The restaurant has an event space on the second floor.

Wallace, who was born and raised in Mississippi, has been featured on several cooking shows, such as “Chopped” and “Top Chef.” He runs Nissan Cafe in the Two Mississippi Museums in downtown Jackson, also in partnership with the Department of Rehabilitation Services. 

Wallace said when the department reached out three years ago to ask him to join the project at the old Sun-n-Sand, it was easy for him to agree. 

“They’re very honest people, and they just want the best for Mississippians,” he said Monday.

The restaurant is part of the Business Enterprise Program, which provides support and opportunities for Mississippians who are legally blind to become food service vendors. 

By state and federal law, vendors who are legally blind get priority to operate vending facilities in state-owned and federally-owned buildings.

Hen & Egg’s vendor is Eddie Turner, a Brandon resident who is also the vendor for the Roy M. Wheat Galley at Naval Air Station Meridian and the Micro Market at the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

Turner, who has been blind his entire life, credits the program with helping him and others make a living and be independent. 

“I just can’t say enough about it. It’s just a great program,” Turner said. “There’s a lot of blind people across the country that benefit from it.”

Dorothy Young is director of the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation for the Blind, which runs the Business Enterprise Program. Young said Hen & Egg was also the idea of the state Department of Finance and Administration.

“The Department of Finance and Administration … wanted to revitalize a lot of state agencies around downtown, and this was just one of the buildings that they invested in,” she said.

The Sun-n-Sand fell into disrepair in the years after it closed. The state bought the building in 2019, demolishing most of it to create a parking lot for state employees. After outcry from preservationists, the commercial part of the hotel was restored in 2021 and turned into a meeting and event space, and now the restaurant. 

Editor’s note: This Mississippi Today Ideas essay is published as part of our Brain Drain project, which seeks answers to Mississippi’s brain drain problem. To read more about the project, click here.

I am a son of Jackson. My roots run deep – cultivated over Sunday dinners at my grandmother’s house in Presidential Hills, life lessons in my mother’s salon on Bailey Avenue, visits to Fire Station 21 where my father worked and childhood adventures in Richwood Estates.

Jackson has never just been a place to me. It’s memory, rhythm and resilience. It’s where I first learned that community isn’t theoretical. It’s lived out daily through perseverance and love. I’ve always loved this city. But like many with ambition and vision, I left.

After graduating from high school and briefly attending community college, I enrolled in Mississippi State’s Building Construction Science program. That experience changed my trajectory. Through design studios, collaborative projects and field visits to cities like Miami and New York, my perspective expanded. I began to see what was possible beyond the bounds of Mississippi.

After graduation, I followed opportunity to cities where innovation in construction was thriving. I joined teams in markets actively investing in infrastructure, encouraging creative solutions and supporting inclusive leadership. In those environments, I sharpened my technical abilities, broadened my worldview and grew both professionally and personally.

Still, Jackson was never far from my mind. I came back often – for birthdays, holidays or just to surprise my parents. With each visit, though, I saw more signs of decline –  crumbling streets, aging infrastructure, a growing sense of resignation. The energy I remembered – the drive, the optimism – was dimming. Jackson felt tired. And too many of its people had stopped believing.

My decision to leave wasn’t just about chasing ambition. It was about necessity. In Jackson, the professional landscape – especially in fields like construction and program management – offered limited pathways for innovation or growth. Entrepreneurial opportunities were hard to find and even harder to sustain. But what worried me more than the visible decay was the emotional toll: a creeping hopelessness that tomorrow might not be better than today.

Between 2012 and 2022, I worked across the country – New York, San Diego, D.C., Atlanta and Lawton, Oklahoma – managing construction and real estate development projects. Each city challenged me in new ways. I adapted to different cultures, built new friendships and navigated fast-paced environments. I met my wife in New York, married in 2019 in San Diego, and in 2021, we welcomed our daughter and launched my business in Atlanta.

By many measures, life was full and successful. But something was missing.

During an extended visit home during the pandemic, I found myself buried in Zoom meetings that started at 7:30 a.m. and didn’t end until well after 7:00 p.m. I was physically present, but mentally detached – consumed by work. Over evening conversations with my parents, something shifted. I began asking different questions. What’s the point of success if it’s experienced in a silo? What value does achievement hold if not shared with the people who shaped you?

I missed Sunday dinners. I missed HBCU tailgates and SEC game days. My parents were aging, and I could feel time speeding up. My wife and I began to think seriously about where we wanted to raise our daughter – not just physically, but spiritually and culturally. We wanted her to grow up surrounded by family, faith and familiarity.

In the fall of 2022, we returned home to Jackson.

Some say you can’t change a system from within. Others argue that real change only happens when you’re inside it. I believe both are true. And I’ve seen what happens when forgotten neighborhoods are met with vision, capital and collaboration. They transform. I’ve seen abandoned buildings become cultural anchors and neglected corridors reborn as centers of pride.

That’s what I want for Jackson.

I didn’t come back to fix everything. No one person can. But I returned with a strategic vision and a commitment to be part of something bigger than myself. Through my firm, Richardson & Richardson (RxR), I’m working to help Jackson confront its biggest challenges – blight, failing infrastructure and fragmented development – by facilitating public-private partnerships and empowering local talent.

My mission isn’t just to complete projects. It’s to restore belief in ourselves, in our neighborhoods and in what this city can become.

To my surprise, returning has been revitalizing. Jackson’s professional landscape is more alive than I expected – full of builders, creators and entrepreneurs with the courage to take risks. There’s a scrappy energy here, driven by the reality that we have to make our own way. But there’s also a closeness that large cities can’t replicate.

Here, my name matters. It opens doors in ways no LinkedIn connection ever could. Opportunities have a way of finding me based on my parents and grandparents’ decades old relationships. This is my village.

Yes, I left. But leaving gave me the tools, clarity and conviction to return with purpose.

This city raised me. Now, I want to help raise it.

Terrance Richardson is a Jackson native, son of Pastor Charles and Gwendolyn Richardson, a husband to Sharay Richardson and father of two girls, Noa and Adia Richardson. He is a program management and construction professional with a passion for revitalizing urban communities.

Maria was seven months pregnant with her now 12-year-old child when she slipped on the greasy floor of a Koch Foods poultry plant in Morton. She fell over, got back up, and resumed working. She had 40-pound boxes of freshly packed chicken to carry roughly seven minutes from the line to the frying area.

The further along in her pregnancy, the harder it was to do her job – and the more scared she was for herself and her baby. She asked to be moved to a less intensive position for the rest of her pregnancy. Her supervisors refused.

She says they asked her to present a doctor’s note before they allowed her to take more bathroom breaks than the one per shift granted to all workers.

“They don’t move you to another position, even if you have a fever, even if you’re crying,” Maria said. “Because they say, ‘It’s your job, you already know your job.’” 

So she kept clocking in at 6 a.m. until she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant. 

Six years after Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on seven Mississippi poultry plants brought national attention to an industry that had profited from undocumented labor for decades, more than a dozen current and former immigrant workers told Mississippi Today that deteriorated working conditions persist for undocumented employees as well as those with work permits or green cards. Most interviews were conducted in Spanish, with some workers’ first names changed and their last names not used because they feared retaliation and deportation.

ICE detained 680 mostly Latino workers in the August 2019 raids. The year prior, Koch Foods settled a class action lawsuit for $3.75 million. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charged the company with sexual harassment, national origin and race discrimination as well as retaliation against Latino workers at its Morton plant.

Following the raids, three plant managers and human resources staff were sentenced to up to two years of probation for knowingly “harboring illegal aliens.” 

Years later, loopholes persist. Several workers told Mississippi Today it is still possible to find employment in the chicken plants without work authorization, often using fake papers or a contractor.

This practice isn’t unique to Mississippi. In 2024, nationally, around 23% of workers in the meatpacking industry were undocumented and 42% were foreign-born, the American Immigration Council told Wired Magazine. Undocumented immigrants represent 4.6% of the U.S. employed labor force.

“They seek out the most vulnerable workers, who are not going to complain and not going to demand better conditions,” said Debbie Berkowitz, a former policy adviser for Occupational Safety and Health Administration and worker safety expert who has written about the poultry industry. 

Before obtaining a work permit in 2021 and finding employment in a Tyson plant, Gabby worked for two other poultry processing companies under a fake name. She paid a U.S. citizen $1,700 to use the person’s Social Security number and name at work.

Koch Foods, her first employer, hired her in 2006 through a third party. The only form of identification required was that Social Security number. 

Her contractor, a single person who operated through word of mouth, didn’t provide her with a contract – only paying her cash. When he held her pay for over a month, Gabby complained to plant managers. They said her salary wasn’t processed through the plant’s payroll department and they were not accountable.

“The first thing most people think is, if I speak up, ICE is going to come for me,” Gabby said. “The last thing you want to do is create problems. What you want to do is work.” 

In order to keep her job, she had to lie and maintain a fake identity. She lived in fear of being found out.

“You go to work with fear, you go with shame,” she said.

Working with fake papers can make getting a doctor’s excuse for missed days nearly impossible. Maria was able to get six weeks of unpaid maternity leave with a doctor’s note because she worked under her real name, but other pregnant women needed a doctor who agreed to forge their fake name on medical records.

Gabby says she was fired from her job at Koch Foods because she gave the contact information of a willing doctor to other undocumented workers. Koch Foods didn’t answer multiple requests for comment on allegations made by workers.

Past the limit

Across all assembly lines, the piece rate – the number of chickens that workers handle per minute –  directly affects the likelihood of developing pains or muscle and bone injuries, a study funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found. Only the evisceration line speed, or the phase where chickens are killed, is federally regulated. Piece rate is determined mainly by the job-specific line speed and staffing level.

The same study found that 81% of U.S. poultry plant workers had an “unacceptably high” risk of musculoskeletal disease. To mitigate that risk, authors recommended increasing staffing levels and decreasing line speeds.

But several workers said line speeds were used to increase pressure on employees. Miguel, an 18-year Koch Foods employee, claims he was pushed to resign within months by a supervisor who continuously increased line speeds as punishment.

He started in 2000 in the debone section, cutting chicken parts from hanging carcasses, then became a lead person. For an additional $1 per hour, he was watching over two lines of 30 workers in total. He says he was demoted by this new supervisor who took a dislike to him.

The supervisor would single him and another employee out, place them on another line and speed it up. 

“He told me he wanted us to do double duty: What four people were doing, he wanted two to do,” Miguel said.

After three failed attempts to report the situation to managers, Miguel quit and found work in construction. Koch Foods did not provide comment on how line speeds are set and managed at the plant. 

Every worker interviewed described as routine hostility from supervisors and managers, harassment and arbitrary punishments targeting immigrant workers. 

“I feel like it doesn’t matter if you speak English or not, they’re going to look at you ugly. They treat you wrong just because they feel they have that authority, that they’re the boss,” said Sofi, a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. She started working at Koch Foods in February and quit after four months.

Injured and fired

Annual employee turnover averages 65% but ranges as high as 150% in poultry plants nationally, according to a survey by the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association. Over half of employees last less than three months on the job. 

Employees told Mississippi Today that almost anything can be grounds for termination. Half of the dozen workers interviewed said they witnessed or experienced layoffs following an injury on the job.

Repeating the same motions hundreds of times a day, for years, can lead to chronic pains and eventually injuries. Maribel, a 17-year Koch Foods employee, tucked chicken wings for eight years with an overstretched tendon in her hand. With the pain on her mind, she says she was terminated in March after she requested to not be moved to the more intensive deboning section, where workers handle large metallic scissors.

Idalia, a green card holder, says Tyson Foods fired her after she reported a dislocated shoulder with a doctor’s note in 2023. She marinated chicken, a job that requires repetitive hand and arm movements. She now works for Koch Foods, where she packs boxes of chicken with growing pain in her hand from knocking her hands against tape dispensers and frozen chicken six days a week.

Poultry plants are required to report injuries needing treatment beyond first aid or resulting in lost work days to OSHA. Lost work days must also be reported to the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission.

Mississippi law states that all injured workers, regardless of immigration status, are entitled to workers’ compensation, and medical and wage loss benefits, even if they get fired following the injury.

However, undocumented workers are less likely to claim the benefits, due to a lack of information and fear that drawing attention to themselves could lead to deportation.

Several employees told Mississippi Today that some plants found a way around reporting injuries to OSHA.

A bad fall on his hips in a Koch Foods plant injured Miguel enough that he couldn’t work for two weeks. While recovering, he came in every day, clocked in and out at his regular hours, pretending to be working as usual. For the entirety of his shift, he sat in the rest area.

His managers said it was the only way he could get paid while he was injured.

Three workers interviewed said they witnessed injured employees sitting all day in the cafeteria or their supervisor’s office. Koch did not respond to a request for comment.

“I think not wanting folks to report is an OSHA question, and then not wanting folks to get access to medical care and disability benefits is a money question,” said Angela Stuesse, author of  “Scratching Out a Living: Latinos, Race, and Work in the Deep South,” based on years of ethnographic research in Mississippi’s poultry region.

Exposed to hazards

Ninety-one severe injuries were reported in Mississippi’s poultry plants in the last 10 years, and 35 workers suffered amputations. Poultry workers nationally suffer occupational injuries and illnesses six times more often than other workers, according to 2016 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But the prevalence of injuries in the industry is not a natural consequence of handling dangerous machines, tools or chemicals. Berkowitz argues it is the result of companies purposefully cutting corners to save money.

“All injuries are preventable,” she said. “It’s all about profits, and they’re making huge profits.”

Tyson Foods, the biggest chicken producer in the U.S., reported $16.4 billion in chicken sales in 2024. 

The sanitation shift, which takes place at night and is mostly staffed by undocumented workers, is the most dangerous, Berkowitz says. Workers clean the blood and guts out of machines, using high pressure hoses and corrosive chemicals. But some poultry companies use sanitation subcontractors to clean their plants, escaping some liability for what happens on the shift.

“This is really a way to outsource their obligation to protect workers,” Berkowitz said.

Although company employees still oversee operations, subcontractors are responsible for hiring workers and providing them adequate equipment and training.

Quality Service Integrity, a sanitation company contracted by Tyson Foods, was fined $10,000 in June 2024 for making workers pay to replace their damaged protective equipment, like chemical suits and safety glasses, in a Tyson plant in Carthage – a violation of OSHA standards. 

The same investigation also found that the plant did not have an infirmary or a person trained to perform first aid.

Baldomero Orozco, an employee with a work permit who cleaned Tyson’s Carthage plant at night, had filed a complaint against Quality Service Integrity to OSHA before the inspection.

“We have strict policies in place across all facilities to ensure full compliance with all applicable workplace regulations,” a Tyson Foods spokesperson told Mississippi Today in a statement. Quality Service Integrity did not reply to a request for comment. 

The same year, Orozco filed another complaint against Peco Foods in Sebastopol, his previous employer, claiming they charged him for tools and other equipment required for the job. He told Mississippi Today he spent roughly $150 on tools alone. 

“The company didn’t take responsibility for anything for us,” he said. “We had to buy our tools, the wrenches, everything you use to remove a screw.”

Peco Foods had previously been fined $6,000 in May 2023 for failing to replace workers’ equipment at no cost.

Enforcement failures

Occasional citations might be one-time victories for workers, but Orozco says they do not lead to long-term improvement.

“When OSHA came by, things did calm down, more or less. But after a couple days, the same things started happening, because OSHA never followed up on the case,” he said.

Quality Service Integrity’s operations with Tyson in Carthage have not been inspected again since the citation was issued.

OSHA’s data reveals that inspections in Mississippi’s poultry plants are scarce. Tyson Foods plants were not inspected for four years before Orozco’s filing. Koch Foods was inspected twice in the past five years.

A report published by a federation of labor unions in April stated it would take 243 years for Mississippi’s seven OSHA inspectors to visit every workplace once.

“Most workplaces never see OSHA unless a complaint is filed, or a worker is killed, or there are very serious injuries that are reported,” Berkowitz said in an email.

Nine of the 20 inspections performed by OSHA in Mississippi’s poultry plants in the past five years were initiated by a worker complaint. Mar-Jac poultry plants were inspected three times following the death of a worker in three years – and fined $163,759 in 2023 after the death of a 16 year-old on the job.

“OSHA’s top priority for inspection is an imminent danger –- a situation where workers face an immediate risk of death or serious physical harm,” a Department of Labor spokesperson said. Second priority goes to fatalities or accidents where three or more workers are hospitalized. Employee complaints come next, the spokesperson said. 

OSHA typically does not give advance notice of an inspection, except in certain specific situations. But when OSHA inspectors come unannounced, plant managers can refuse to let them in and ask them to come back with a warrant. 

Maria, who resigned from her job at Peco Foods in Sebastopol after she broke her spine in a car accident in December 2022, is unable to work today. Because she got injured on her way to work, she was eligible for workers’ compensation. But she never claimed it, in fear of upsetting her employer.

“I was scared,” she said. “What if they call the police or ICE on me?”

Awaiting surgery in hopes of getting fully back on her feet, Maria struggles to make ends meet for herself and the three children she’s raising alone. 

“I don’t have a work permit, I’m just another immigrant, but I fight. I fight every day to raise my children. I don’t depend on the government,” she said.

Leonard Bevilacqua contributed to this report.

Lili Euzet, a French trilingual reporter, joined Mississippi Today for a 10-week fellowship through the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Teresa Buck steadies her hand as she aims a screwdriver toward the frame of what’s to become a bedroom wall. 

In north Jackson’s Broadmoor neighborhood early Saturday morning, Buck and more than a dozen volunteers, mostly women, drilled away at fresh lumber, laid glue and lifted frames, following the blueprints for Buck’s future home.

Hopefully by the new year, she will be crossing the threshold of her new house built by Habitat for Humanity, something the 32-year-old has been waiting for since she first applied last fall. 

“ I’m getting nervous because I’m fixing to be on my own,” Buck said. “I’ve never been on my own.”

Buck isn’t new to the Habitat for Humanity model for homeownership. Her mother purchased her first home from Habitat for Humanity in 1999, and they’ve been living in Jackson’s Midtown neighborhood nearly her entire life. She said that by buying a home on her own, she’s taking a leap of independence. Buck has three children and wants to set an example. 

“ I want to learn how to be responsible so I can show my kids how to learn to be responsible and not to depend on somebody else,” she said.

Choosing to build in Jackson wasn’t a hard decision for her, she said. She wants to remain close to her mother and keep her children at the same schools.

“This is my home. I know the crime and stuff is bad, but this still is my home,” Buck said. “I love Jackson. I was born and raised here, and I don’t want to leave Jackson.”

Merrill McKewen, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Mississippi Capital Area, said that one of the missions of the nonprofit organization is to improve the living conditions for families and create successful homeowners. Habitat operates in the Hinds, Madison and Rankin counties, and since its formation nearly 40 years ago, it has built more than 660 homes. 

“Every morning at least 2,500 people wake up in a safe, decent, affordable house because of Habitat,” McKewen said. 

This work means transforming blighted properties and empty lots and offering 30-year, zero interest mortgages on them. McKewen stresses that Habitat for Humanity is an economic engine and doesn’t give homes away for free. Homeowners spend up to 80 hours working on their home and at least 125 “sweat equity” hours volunteering.

“It’s a passion to help my brothers and sisters in Christ get a chance to fulfill a dream. It’s something that they qualified for, worked for, and that they take the responsibility for. That’s why it’s a hand up, not a handout,” McKewen said.

She said it’s rare that a homeowner faces foreclosure and has to move, but it happens.

“My saddest day on the job is when I have to go stand in court in front of a judge to have them evicted, or sometimes they just abandon the house,” she said. “As tragic as that is, we then take the house, refresh it, bring it up to the standards of which we’re building now, and sell it to another qualified Habitat homeowner.”

In recent years, Habitat for Humanity has built 28 houses in the Broadmoor neighborhood where Buck will live, and McKewen said the work will continue. Placing Habitat builds in the community encourages neighbors to invest into their own homes. She hopes that impact can be felt for generations to come.

“I would like to buy 15 blighted properties or receive them if people bless us. If we could get 15 properties in the Broadmoor area, we could probably get close to the commitment I made pre-COVID, which was to impact 100 houses in the area,” McKewen said.

In building her first house, Buck said she hopes to impart a legacy for her children. She wants them to grow and thrive in the city that she loves, all while living in a safe neighborhood. She already imagines herself on her porch or watching her children play at the nearby park. 

“This will be my property in 30 years that I can call my home,” Buck said. “This is going to be mine, and I could leave it for my kids if they want it.”

Mississippi hospitals could lose up to $1 billion over the next decade under the sweeping, multitrillion-dollar tax and policy bill President Donald Trump signed into law.

READ MORE: Hospitals see risks in big federal tax law that shrinks Medicaid spending

READ MORE: Medicaid cuts could be devastating for the Delta and the rest of rural America

Mississippi Today’s politics and government team breaks down the week’s news, including the special legislative primaries held across the state and the Magnolia State’s exposure to any slump in EV sales and production. Also, Ole Miss has a new study out about college students’ online gambling habits as lawmakers consider making “mo-bile” sports betting legal.

As Mississippi lawmakers are set to again consider legalizing mobile sports betting, the University of Mississippi has completed a new study offering a snapshot of the gambling habits of college students across the state. 

The survey — for which results were shared with Mississippi Today before publication — of nearly 1,600 Mississippi college students shows that almost 60% of students who reported gambling in the last year said they placed online bets on “legal” sportsbooks.

This indicates that a potentially large number of students are finding ways to place bets on legitimate platforms, not just illicit betting sites, even though mobile sports betting remains illegal in Mississippi, according to one of the study’s coauthors.    

“Our students are showing similar patterns to those identified by the NCAA and seen nationally, including that legality doesn’t make a difference with college students,” said Dan Durkin, an associate professor of social work.

The survey did not ask about the use of illicit betting platforms because most students either don’t know or don’t care whether or not the practice is illegal, Durkin said. The researchers plan to create a variable before publication that reflects illegality, he added.

College campuses have become hubs of activity for sports betting and, increasingly, gambling addiction. This has prompted calls for research into mobile sports betting’s growth and impact on young adults. 

As more states began to legalize online betting and concern over addition grew, the NCAA surveyed students and found that many young adults were wagering on sports despite age, geographic and legal restrictions on betting. 

Mobile sports betting statewide has remained illegal in Mississippi, largely due to fears that legalization could harm the bottom line of the state’s casinos and increase gambling addiction. In 2024, illegal online betting in Mississippi made up about 5% of the national illegal market, which is about $3 billion in illegal bets in Mississippi, proponents said that year. 

The new University of Mississippi study, conducted by Durkin, Hannah Allen, Nicholas McAfee, George McClellan and Ronald Rychlak in conjunction with the University of Mississippi’s William Magee Institute for Student Wellbeing, also found that 32% of students reported using family members or friends to place bets over the past year. About 18% reported placing bets in person at casinos, 15% bet online through a sportsbook outside the U.S. or Canada and another 15% place bets with illegal bookies. 

Mississippi residents have placed, according to some analysts, billions of dollars in online sports bets through illicit offshore betting platforms. But the new survey results show that young people in Mississippi have found a way to place online bets on legitimate platforms as well. They might be doing this by using tools such as virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access betting sites. 

Some students told Durkin that their peers learned how to use VPNs after Mississippi enacted a law in 2023 requiring age verification for pornographic sites, prompting some pornography companies to block access to their sites in the state. 

There are just under 80,000 students enrolled at Mississippi’s eight public universities and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. That translates to somewhere between 4,700 and 6,400 Mississippi students facing serious gambling issues currently, Durkin said, using a range of state and national estimates on gambling-related “harm.” This can include psychological distress, debt, and dips in academic performance. 

Of those, 20%–30% may eventually develop a gambling disorder, though gambling disorders can often take time to develop, Durkin said. Those are his estimates, not figures included in the survey.

In the survey, a majority of students who bet on sports had no or a low risk for “problem gambling,” but 10% had a moderate risk for problem gambling, and 6% met criteria for problem gambling.       

The survey looked at gambling across the board. About 39% of students gambled in the past year, with lottery (18%), card games (17%), and sports betting (16%) as the most prevalent types of gambling. Gambling was more prevalent among students who were male, white, lived off campus, participated in athletics, were involved in Greek life and had higher GPAs, the survey found.  

READ MORE: ‘A casino in every pocket’: Mississippi illegal online sports betting thrives as legalization stalls

Zooming in on sports betting, the most prevalent way to bet was online through a sportsbook. 

The most common sports to bet on were the NFL football (62%), college football (53%), college men’s basketball (48%), and NBA basketball (46%). Typical monthly spending ranged from $0-$6,000, with an average of about $100 per month. 

Favorable regulatory and technological shifts have led to rapid growth for the U.S. online gambling market in recent years. But the industry continues to be undercut by illegal operators. Online gross gaming revenue in the U.S. topped $90 billion in 2024, $67 billion of which went to unlicensed players, according to research commissioned by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, a group that lobbies against illegal gambling.

Changing state regulations have kicked off a lobbying blitz in states such as Mississippi. 

The Mississippi House in 2023, 2024 and 2025 passed legislation legalizing online betting, but it has died in the Senate.

Some form of sports betting is legal in 40 states, though only 20 have full online betting with multiple operators, according to Action Network, a sports betting application and news site. Some states have only in-person betting, and some only have a single online operator. Mississippi permits sports betting, but it only allows bets made in person at casinos or bets made with apps on mobile devices while inside casinos. 

Mississippi House Speaker Jason White, a Republican, has been one of the state’s most vocal proponents of mobile sports betting. He has indicated that his caucus will again push to legalize online betting during the 2026 legislative session.

Durkin said if Mississippi does legalize online betting, the legislation should include funding for addiction treatment paid for with a tax on gambling companies. Several states, such as Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, allocate tax revenues collected through gambling to addiction resources.  

“They should consider modelling our state after what other states have done and include in their legislation money to attend to these problems,” Durkin said. “They need to tax the people who are causing the problems to fund fixing them.”

A new grassroots movement is developing that would allow public money to follow what we’ll call the “recreator,” or a person who participates in recreational activity.

It makes sense. Why should a person be forced to provide his or her hard-earned money to support local and state park systems if they are not using them?

Would you like to take your kids to Disneyland, but you’re worried about how much it will cost your family? That’s OK, the government can give you back some of the tax money you paid to keep your town’s public parks open and subsidize your trip. You don’t use those local parks much anyways, and you could argue you’d personally get more out of the Disney trip.

Or, instead of paying for the parks with your tax money, take it to help purchase a gym membership or in-home exercise equipment — maybe even a backyard swing set. Instead of paying for public libraries, your tax funds could be used to purchase the books you want to read.

These ideas, of course, should read as extremely unserious. As much as we may like to pay lower taxes or have the public subsidize our vacations and lifestyle habits, most would agree a family trip to Disneyland or these other expenses would be an egregious use of money intended to improve our communities.

But these exact ideas are being increasingly touted by state leaders as part of the argument used by those supporting vouchers or even tax credits to provide public funds to allow students to attend private schools.

They argue that the tax dollars intended to boost public school should instead be spent by the parents of the students and not the government. After all, it’s their money. The parents of students should be able to use those funds to educate their children anyway they see fit.

To go a step further, the “school choice supporters,” as they call themselves, also contend that there should be no accountability for the schools or other entities receiving those education dollars. Trust in the parents is apparently the only accountability that the government needs.

Never mind the wild possible scenarios that could play out. Let’s say parents get mad because their child’s grades are slipping. The parents with a voucher to a private school tell the administrators they are transferring little Johnnie unless little Johnnie makes certain grades. The easy solution for the school administrators could be to give little Johnnie that grade demanded by the parents so that the school can continue to collect the public education dollars.

This “parents know best” argument neglects the important fact that there are many taxpayers who are paying to support the public schools who have no children. Taking this argument to the extreme: perhaps people who do not have school-age children should be able to keep their funds rather than funding schools where they have no personal connection.

That counter argument, of course, is also ridiculous and ignores the premise that was established at our nation’s founding. Americans don’t pay taxes for individual purposes. They pay taxes for the common or societal good.

The primary goal of taxes is to ensure a better school system not just for one student, but for the general public.

The goal of taxes is not to provide a good park in your neighborhood or a smoothly paved road in front of your own house — though that does seem to be the goal of some Mississippi lawmakers recently — but to provide good, safe public spaces and an adequate transportation system for all of us.

Granted, those goals are not always achieved, especially in many communities across Mississippi. But if there is no tax money to pay for public schools, public parks, public libraries, public law enforcement, we all suffer. Better public schools in particular can only build a better community, a better economy and a better state.

People want to live in areas where there are good schools, good parks, good libraries, good transportation systems and other public services.

If we pull tax revenue out of the coffers they were intended to support, what are we left with? It’s worth considering what our public school system — and our communities in the present and future — would look like with even fewer public resources.