OurTupelo

Mississippi has been received tens of millions of dollars in opioid settlements each year since 2022, and the use of those dollars has been mostly a mystery. But a Mississippi Today investigation this summer found that of over $124 million the state has received, less than $1 million has been used by public officials to address addiction. Managing editor Kate Royals and mental health reporter Allen Siegler speak with Tricia Christensen, a nationally recognized leader in overdose prevention and opioid settlement spending from Tennessee, about how this compares to other states and what it means for Mississippians harmed by the overdose epidemic.

If you watched Ole Miss out-score Arkansas 41-35 Saturday night, you know this: Rebel quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, a transfer Division II from Ferris (Michigan) State, can play. He is the real deal. He can run. He can throw. He has the “it” factor.

The Ole Miss roster lists Chambliss  at 6-foot-1, and he might be 6 feet tall in his spikes, which is probably why he played first at Ferris State and not at Michigan or Michigan State. But he runs like a halfback, and throws with accuracy and zip. He makes good decisions, and he makes plays. 

Chambliss led Ferris State to the Division II national championship last year throwing for a gazillion yards and running for a zillion more. He produced 51 touchdowns in a single football season, which is crazy good in any league.

But still, it’s a gigantic leap from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to the SEC. Chambliss has played before more fans in two SEC games than he did in his entire career at Ferris State, located in Big Rapids, Michigan, in the west central part of the state. The Ferris State stadium is called a field and seats about 6,000, although that many seats are rarely needed.

Chambliss played well in relief duty a week earlier when Ole Miss starter Austin Simmons suffered an ankle injury at Kentucky. Making his first SEC start against Arkansas, he threw for 353 yards and a touchdown and ran 62 yards and two touchdowns. He was, in a word, terrific. Lane Kiffin will have an interesting decision to make when Simmons regains his health. It won’t be easy to sit Chambliss back down.

The guess here is we might see Chambliss set a trend across college football. It wouldn’t surprise me if there aren’t a lot more DII players who make the jump. This much I know: There have been plenty of DII players in the past, some right here in Mississippi, who could have played at the next level. 

Exhibit A would be Josh Bright, the splendid Delta State quarterback, who led the Statesmen to the 2000 DII national championship and won the Conerly Trophy in the process. Bright ran coach Steve Campbell’s option offense to perfection, running and passing for more than 1,000 yards. Asked Sunday whether Bright could have played in the SEC, Campbell, who has since coached at several Division I schools, laughed before answering. “You know he could have, you saw him” Campbell said. “Not a doubt in my mind. He was a no-brainer. All you had to do was watch him.”

But you don’t have to take it from Campbell – or me. Back then, I happened to be working on a book with legendary Ole Miss coach John Vaught, who watched on TV as Bright put up 63 points in the national championship game. Said Vaught of Bright, “He damned sure could have played quarterback for me,”

Said Campbell, “We had some other players who could have played at the highest level. Rico McDonald, a running back on that championship team, could have played anywhere in the country.”

At least two other recent Delta State quarterbacks likely could have played big-time college football. Most recently, Patrick Shegog, almost exactly the same size as Chambliss, threw for 32 touchdowns and only two interceptions in 2023, leading the Statesmen to 10 wins. He, too, won the Conerly.

Scott Eyster, a four-year DSU starting quarterback, was a four-time finalist for the Conerly Trophy, a three-time All-American. He threw for 128 touchdowns in four years. That’s all. Ron Roberts, one of his DSU head coaches, is now the defensive coordinator at Florida and has also coached Baylor and Auburn. I texted Roberts Sunday morning, asking if Eyster could have played at the SEC level. “No doubt,” Roberts answered, and then he mentioned that Seth Adams, who played behind Eyster at DSU and transferred to Hinds Community College, eventually wound up starting at quarterback for Ole Miss.

Eyster, now the principal at Bay High in Bay St. Louis, says he has no regrets about his Delta State career, but knows in his heart he could have played DI football. He said he was contacted by Mississippi State about the possibility of transferring. “But back then, I would have had to sit out a year and there was no NIL money,” Eyster said. “It wasn’t worth it. Plus, I loved Delta State. They were good to me there. I have to admit, I’d be a lot more tempted now that you don’t have to sit out a season when you transfer and there’s all that NIL money.”

Fast Freddie McAfee could have played for anybody, too, when he helped Mississippi College to a DII national championship. Indeed, he did play for five different teams in a 16-year NFL career. Vicksburg native Malcolm Butler played his college football at DII West Alabama, before he became famous for making a Super Bowl-saving interception for the New England Patriots. 

Campbell, the national championship coach of Bright at Delta State, once played on a DII national championship at Troy State. He well remembers blocking a linebacker named Jessie Tuggle, who played at DII Valdosta State, before a long career with the Atlanta Falcons.

“Everybody should remember who Jessie Tuggle was,” Campbell said. “His name is on the stadium in Atlanta. He was a load.”

Tuggle probably was overlooked by the SEC powerhouses because he stood only 5 feet, 11 inches tall, which is still three inches taller than Sam Mills, the linebacker who is in both the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers halls of fame. Mills played his college football at Division III Montclair State.

“Here’s the deal,” Steve Campbell continued. “There are great players at every level of college football, especially at the skill positions. It would not surprise me at all if you see more players moving up a level with NIL and the portal.”

The expected rising costs for health insurance could give Democratic candidate Scott Colom a line of attack in next year’s election against incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.

It is an issue that will hit tens of thousands of Mississippians right dab in their faces and in their pocketbooks when they go to renew their health insurance policies later this year and see how much their monthly premiums have increased.

Colom, a longtime district attorney from Columbus, can hammer Hyde-Smith for the rising costs. After all, the rising costs could be traced directly to Hyde-Smith and her allies if the Republican-led U.S. Congress and President Donald Trump do not act to prevent the increase in health insurance premium costs for about 285,000 Mississippians who purchase coverage through the Affordable Care Act exchange or marketplace.

Unless Congress acts before the end of the year, the price of the marketplace’s health insurance policies will increase an estimated $480 annually in Mississippi, according to KFF, a national group that conducts health care research. And based on other factors, such as inflation, the increase could be significantly more.

While the enhanced federal assistance helps primarily lower income people or the working poor, the end of the enhanced federal assistance also could mean more affluent Mississippians who depend on the marketplace policies would no longer be eligible for any federal help.

During the administration of former President Joe Biden, lawmakers passed legislation to enhance the federal aid provided to people who purchase insurance through the ACA marketplace. Lower income people already received some help with the cost of the marketplace policies as an important part of the Affordable Care Act, but the Biden-era legislation increased the amount of help. And under the Biden legislation, wealthier people would be eligible for federal assistance if their health insurance costs more than 8.5% of their total earnings.

Hyde-Smith, like other members of the Mississippi congressional delegation, voted against the enhanced federal assistance for the marketplace policies.

In the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill passed earlier this year, Trump and the Republican Congress were careful to ensure that the cuts to Medicaid and other programs would not go into effect until after the 2026 midterm election, when Colom is challenging Hyde-Smith.

But Congress did not take any action in the One Big Beautiful Bill to ensure that the enhanced federal marketplace assistance did not end before the 2026 elections, leaving rising health care costs as an issue for Colom and others.

Mississippi will be hit particularly hard by the end of the federal aid for the cost of marketplace policies.

Participation in the marketplace by Mississippians has increased 242% in recent years since the enhanced federal assistance program was enacted, according to KFF. Only Texas has seen a greater increase at 255%.

Unsurprisingly, the states where the participation has increased the most are all red states that in most cases have not expanded Medicaid to provide health insurance for primarily the working poor, with the federal government paying the bulk of the costs. In states where there is no Medicaid expansion, data shows that the working poor flocked to the exchange to garner health insurance.

It should be pointed out that the end of the enhanced federal assistance for marketplace policies will hurt not just those having to pay the higher premiums for the marketplace policies, but the state of Mississippi as a whole. Hospitals and other medical providers, already struggling, will be forced to provide more uncompensated care or pass those costs on to other Mississippians who do have health insurance.

Despite those health care issues, Hyde-Smith will be a heavy favorite to win reelection in Mississippi, where a Democrat has not won a U.S. Senate election since 1982.

But if Colom can connect rising health insurance costs to Hyde-Smith, that could be a powerful issue.

Of course, Hyde-Smith and the Republican Congress have until the end of the year to act and prevent people from having to pay more for marketplace plans.

On a warm Sunday afternoon in August, Nelson “Andy” Wade arrives at Cooper Down in Terry, Mississippi, where a parade of trucks towing horse trailers, cars filled with families and food vendors arrive from across the state for a horse appreciation day.

A strong breeze cools the shade under large oak trees, and makes lounging and visiting with friends a more pleasant time as the heat of the day rises.

Wade makes the rounds, chatting with friends old and new. He stops kids riding horses to ask how they’re doing. He asks about the horses. He smiles and waves, laughing and telling stories before heading towards the fencing of the oval track where drivers train and race harness horses called Standardbreds.

Along the way, Wade spots a mechanical bull, promptly pulls off his boots and hops on. He rides with glee and to the amusement of the small crowd gathered to cheer him on. The crowd records his joy on cell phones held high. Eventually, he’s thrown off, but is all smiles. He accepts a few hugs as his reward, puts on his boots, then encourages the children to try their hand at bull riding.

“I love this,” he said, waving an arm to indicate the festivities around him. “I especially love seeing these kids out here riding. There’s a lot of our youth that come to shows like this and the horse races that are interested in horses, but they don’t even have a horse. Their parents and not any of their family members have horses.”

Wade wants to help kids in his community – especially those of color – learn equestrian skills as another way for them to get into college. He has made it his mission.

“Here I am, a cowboy, rancher, horse trainer, horse racer and a licensed official for the United States Trotting Association. I’m an equestrian consultant, calf roper, steer wrestler and do workshops to train our youth. If I could put all that on a business card, know what would be in the boldest print? 

“I’m a mentor,” Wade said.

“So I thought, you know what. I’m going to try and do everything I can to change that,” Wade said, before waving down two young men galloping across the green sward to chat them up. He asks if they’re enjoying themselves, about the horses they ride.

“What I do is try and pair these kids with someone that has horses. They get an opportunity to learn how to train, ride and care for them. If they’re really serious about what they’re doing, I make it possible for them to get their driver or jockey license, compete on a professional level. And for the ones not interested in that, we find activities for them too.” 

Wade walks back to the fence at the oval track, hitching up a booted foot to resume sharing his mission.

“Kids can also get involved in sports clubs like 4-H, learn a respectable trade like being a farrier, earning them a good living. It’s really about equestrian and agricultural activities, because it can get them a college scholarship. My own son is going to college on a rodeo scholarship, getting a full ride, if you know what I mean,” he said, smiling broadly.

Wade mentions a program for youth he’s starting with Rep. Rickey Thompson, a Democrat from Shannon. He hopes to help them “get started on the right path.”

“My path was out of love and necessity. Necessity as in making a living. I want to be a model of success to these kids so that they not just dream of success, but to have success,” he said. “I want to be for them what Lane Frost was for me. He was my bull riding idol. I loved that guy. He was awesome. Not only was he a great cowboy, he was a great person. He always took the time to stop and talk with kids. That made a big impression on me. I never forgot it.”

Finance leaders, mayors of several major Deep South cities and others will attend DELTA FEST conference in Jackson next week, which planners are calling an “economic activation festival” to map a 10-year plan for economic prosperity in the Deep South.

The free three-day event, held from Sept. 16-18 at the Environmental Learning Center in south Jackson, was organized by HOPE Enterprise Corporation and Yancey Consulting. It will include presentations and support from other major financial institutions like Capital One, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs.

The idea for the festival, HOPE CEO Bill Bynum said, was developed following the 2024 election as a way to empower people in communities across the Deep South.

“Last November, it was clear that we were at a very critical point in the country and that there were going to be changes in the economic policies going forward,” Bynum told Mississippi Today. “But we’d also seen over the years that we know what it takes to ensure that people in places like in the Delta, in the Alabama Black Belt, in south Jackson, in Central City in New Orleans could navigate these economic shifts, these political shifts, these crises.

“So we reached out to our investors, to our board, to our team here at HOPE and our allies and said, ‘It’s time to create a new paradigm where everyday people in the South have the tools they need to prosper,” Bynum continued. “Delta Fest is not just a forum, it’s not just a conference. We see it as a strategy, a vision.”

An opening ceremony will take place on Sept. 16 and will be hosted by comedian Rita Brent and feature musical performances by Benjamin Cone with members of the Mississippi Mass Choir and the Jackson State Sonic Boom Pep Band. Later, there will be a fireside chat with music executive and Jackson State University professor Cortez Bryant. 

The next two days are dedicated to sessions broken into three tracks: Ownership, Entrepreneurship and Community Infrastructure. One will feature Jackson Mayor John Horhn along with the mayors of Birmingham, Montgomery and Little Rock. They will be joined by other local and national leaders, policymakers, creatives and entrepreneurs to share ideas, resources and information.

Bynum said he expects that by the end of the festival, there will be “some clear direction, some clear tools that people can put to use to start to advance a prosperous economy.”

“This isn’t just ideas and platitudes, this is really around, ‘What can people pick up right now to do and build within their entrepreneurship, ownership and community infrastructure?’” said Lisa Yancey, the founder and president of Yancey Consulting. “Anything that we want to materialize, anything that we want to manifest isn’t outside of us. It is already within us … We just need to activate it.”

Editor’s note: Bill Bynum serves on the Deep South Today board of directors. Several of the Delta Fest sponsors and speakers are Mississippi Today donors. Donors do not in any way influence our newsroom’s editorial decisions. For more on that policy or to view a list of our donors, click here.

The Mississippi Supreme Court has set the execution of a man who kidnapped and murdered a 20-year-old community college student in north Mississippi 30 years ago. 

Charles Ray Crawford, 59, is set to be executed Oct. 15 at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, after multiple requests by the attorney general’s office. 

Eight justices joined the majority opinion to set the execution, concluding that Crawford has exhausted all state and federal legal remedies. Mississippi Supreme Court Justice T. Kenneth Griffis Jr. wrote the Friday opinion. Justice David Sullivan did not participate. 

Last fall, Crawford’s attorneys asked the court not to set an execution date because he hadn’t exhausted appeal efforts in federal court to challenge a rape conviction that is not tied to his death sentence. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up Crawford’s case. 

A similar delay occurred a decade ago, when the AG’s office asked the court to reset Crawford’s execution date, but that was denied because efforts to appeal his unrelated rape conviction were still pending. 

After each unsuccessful filing, the attorney general’s office asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to set Crawford’s execution date. 

On Friday, the court also denied Crawford’s third petition for post-conviction relief and a request for oral argument. It accepted the state’s motion to dismiss the petition. Seven justices concurred and Justice Leslie King concurred in result only. Again, Justice Sullivan did not participate. 

Crawford was convicted and sentenced to death in Lafayette County for the 1993 rape and murder of North Mississippi Community College student Kristy Ray.  

Days before he was set to go to trial on separate aggravated assault and rape charges, he kidnapped Ray from her parents’ Tippah County home, leaving ransom notes. Crawford took Ray to an abandoned barn where he stabbed her, and his DNA was found on her, indicating he sexually assaulted her, according to court records. 

Crawford told police he had blackouts and only remembered parts of the crime, but not killing Ray. Later he admitted “he must of killed her” and led police to Ray’s body, according to court records. 

At his 1994 trial he presented an insanity defense, including that he suffered from psychogenic amnesia – periods of time lapse without memory. Medical experts who provided rebuttal testimony said Crawford didn’t have psychogenic amnesia and didn’t show evidence of bipolar illness. 

The last person executed in Mississippi was Richard Jordan in June, previously the state’s oldest and longest serving person on death row. 

There are 36 people on death row, according to records from the Mississippi Department of Corrections.  

This was a Friday night in 1978. Malcolm White, who planned to settle in New Orleans, was visiting Jackson. His Booneville buddy, the late Michael Rubenstein, then a popular Jackson TV sportscaster, suggested they dine at The Mayflower Cafe. And dine they did.

“The place was packed and there was a line waiting outside, and it seemed everyone knew everyone, and of course everyone knew Rube,” White remembers. “The fish was fantastic, the vibe even better. Everybody seemed to be smiling and laughing between bites. I looked a couple tables over and there sat Miss Eudora (Welty), herself, and of course she was having as much fun as everyone else. It just felt like home. It was definitely my kind of place. I had a similar experience at the old Cerami’s at the Reservoir the night before. But that night at The Mayflower I thought to myself, ‘Hmmmm, Jackson, this is a place I could live.’”

Forty-seven years later, White, who became Jackson’s arts and entertainment engine, has never left.

I moved to Jackson a year later, taking a job at The Clarion Ledger with no plans to make Jackson a permanent home. I had similar experiences at The Mayflower. Back then, The Mayflower stayed open until hungry people quit coming in, often well after midnight. We would put the finishing touches to the sports section around midnight and head to the ’Flower for redfish, oysters or soft-shell crab and something cold to drink. Lots of times, we already had eaten the blue plate lunch there, too. Mr. Mike (Kountouris), the longtime owner and an unforgettable character, took care of us. Friday nights were like homecoming. I am not telling you The Mayflower kept me in Jackson all these years, but I am telling you it has been an integral part of my life. It has been for so many. And Friday nights remain like homecoming.

What brings this all to mind this week was The New York Times listing of America’s Top 50 restaurants of 2025. The Mayflower Cafe made the list, along with such nationally renowned restaurants as Emeril’s in New Orleans, Sunny’s Steak House in Miami, and several of the newest, hippest restaurants in food meccas such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

What sets The Mayflower apart on this week’s list: It opened its doors at the corner of Roach and Capitol 90 years ago. The next oldest restaurant of the Times’ Top 50 is Emeril’s, which opened in 1990. Clearly, The Mayflower endures. Indeed, Malcolm’s father and my dad were Mayflower regulars as far back as the early 1950s. Mississippi governors, political leaders, movers and shakers were regulars even before that. 

But it wasn’t so long ago we regulars feared The Mayflower’s days were numbered. Jerry Kountouris, Mr. Mike’s son who took over for him, was ready to retire and nobody in the Kountouris family wanted to continue the restaurant business. Jerry, who had somehow guided The Mayflower through the pandemic that closed so many restaurants across America, put the business up for sale. For the longest time there were no takers. On more than one occasion, Jerry confided he was ready to close the place.

Enter former Jackson Mayor Kane Ditto and business partner Mart Lamar, who bought the building and convinced Hunter Evans and Cody McCain, owners of the popular and award-winning Elvie’s in Belhaven (which made the same New York Times list in 2022), to run the restaurant. The “new” Mayflower, which kept so much of what made the old Mayflower so special, opened for business in August of 2024. It took all of a year for it to be named one of America’s top 50 restaurants.

Said Ditto, “I just thought it would be devastating for downtown Jackson, especially the west side, if The Mayflower closed. It would have been. I am just so happy we were able to keep it going, and I am happy for this recognition from The New York Times. It is richly deserved.”

It had to be a difficult balancing act for Evans, a James Beard Best Chef finalist, and McCain to decide what to keep of the old place and what to change. Perhaps the best move was to retain many of the people: wait staff, cooks, bussers and security. The menu has remained much the same, from the delectable onion rings to Redfish Jane. So have the sauces. The prices are higher, yes, but surely you have been to the grocery store lately.

Says Evans, “The hardest part was I felt like I had to explain to the old guard that we were not trying to come in here and make it about us and change everything. Our main goal was to preserve the history and story of The Mayflower. We thought the best way to do that was to renovate the dining room with some necessary changes. We didn’t just show up with new ideas and say, ‘Forget the old Mayflower.’ I called old regulars, I asked them about the menu and what they ate, I went to the Department of History and Archives. We care a lot about The Mayflower, everyone who has made this a part of their lives and the significance of this restaurant to our community.” 

Was there added pressure because of the place’s rich history?

“There was a little pressure, for sure, but we also understood what it would take to usher The Mayflower into the next 100 years as well as thrive in our community,” Evans answered. “That is why this recognition is so rewarding. We were able to help share this story that started so long ago. We are a small part in the life of this restaurant but we were able to share the story of this institution to the world.”

There are welcome menu additions such as the feta-brined fried chicken and Trout Amelia. There’s now an oyster bar and a happy hour. Oh, and yes, you need not leave the restaurant to use the restrooms, which are shiny and new and clean. Maybe it was part of the charm of the old Mayflower that, when nature called, you went outside, around the side of the building and up a narrow, dreary stairway to perhaps the most spartan toilets imaginable. I will always remember what my wife said one time, returning from the ladies’ room: “If I ever decide to commit suicide, I know just the place.”

So many memories and stories: 

• Of so many Mayflower nights with the late author and pal Willie Morris, who charmed everyone in the place and who almost always was the last customer to leave before they locked the doors behind him. When paying his tab, Willie once also wrote a check for $10,000 to my then 6-year-old son, and in the memo line he scribbled: “FOR BOOKS!” Willie usually ordered spaghetti, took it away in a to-go box and shared it with his cat, Spit McGee, sometime before dawn. To this day he remains the only person I ever knew to order spaghetti at The Mayflower.
• Of sitting in a booth with my family when the then-Governor and his wife stopped by to chat. The governor went on and on, as politicians do, as we put our dinner on pause. Finally, he left. Said my 3-year-old daughter: “Just who does he think he is?” Out of the mouth of babes…
• Of many lengthy lunches with the late Gov. William Winter who loved The Mayflower almost as much as he loved Mississippi. Every lunch was a history lesson. That’s where he told me about the Southeastern Conference’s first office being just down Roach Street on the 13th floor of the Standard Life Building. As a result of that lunch, a historic marker now marks the spot one block from the front door of The Mayflower.
• And this from Sandra Stevens Burns on Facebook: “My late husband, Warren Burns, was missing, in an Alzheimer’s haze. He was found standing in front of his beloved Mayflower, having walked there from Woodland Hills. When asked how he found it, he grinned and said, ‘I could smell the rolls.’”

For years, I had a long-running bet with Mr. Mike, who always grumbled about the sad state of the old King Edward Hotel, a crumbling home for pigeons and vagrants, just down Capitol Street from The Mayflower. Mr. Mike bet me he would die before the King Edward was either torn down or refurbished. As I often told him, it was a bet he couldn’t win because if he won I couldn’t pay him. He won. Mr. Mike died in 2005. The King Edward reopened as a Hilton Garden Inn in 2009. Mr. Mike was right. He usually was.

His beloved Mayflower Cafe will celebrate its 100th birthday in 2035. I am placing no bets but surely hope to be there. And I hope the soft-shells are in season.

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.

I’m a retired pediatrician and current medical educator. I’ve dedicated my life to caring for patients, training the next generation of physicians and advocating for healthcare access.

I also happen to live with a disability and use a wheelchair. For me, Medicaid is much more than a policy issue—it’s personal.

Despite the passage of the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the most significant reductions in Medicaid funding will not take effect for at least two years, giving Congress an opportunity to correct its own mistake. Congress should mitigate the impacts of this legislation to help ensure patient access to care.

Beyond providing care for half of America’s children, Medicaid covers older adults, those in between jobs and people living with disabilities. Many of the people I’ve worked with – although not technically “disabled” – are still unable to work full time due to undiagnosed health conditions, limited access to employment and other barriers. Medicaid is often the only safeguard standing between them and disaster.

I often reflect on my early experience as a pediatrician during the rollout of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in the late 1990s. Until then, I had assumed most children had coverage, but when my clinic began accepting CHIP, I saw just how many families had been previously left behind.

That moment showed me just how essential healthcare advocacy is in my profession, which is why I strive to instill a passion for advocacy in the next generation of doctors.

Medicaid plays an outsized role in states like Mississippi where 60% of its recipients live in a rural area. In these underserved areas, Medicaid keeps clinics open and doctors caring for patients. Cutting the program now, when Americans and our healthcare systems are already struggling, would be heartbreaking.

Pediatric practices like mine will struggle to provide access, diagnoses and treatments might come later and at increased cost, and families will lose access to preventive care that keeps children out of the hospital.

My decades of work in Mississippi, particularly with children facing chronic conditions, have shown me how essential Medicaid remains.

Now, I’m deeply disappointed that the national conversation has shifted from expanding Medicaid access to protecting its survival.

After years working with civic and medical leaders to broaden Medicaid coverage, I now find myself forced to defend the program’s very existence.

Beyond providing for children, Mississippi nursing homes depend on Medicaid more than almost any other state, with nearly three in four residents enrolled in Medicaid. Cuts to the program would result in fewer staff and reduced services while placing a larger strain on facilities. Furthermore, even though seniors and people with disabilities make up just 35% of enrollees, they account for 66% of total Medicaid spending, illustrating the program’s role in supporting these vulnerable groups.

Although the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has been signed into law, implementation of Medicaid cuts still hangs in the balance. For example, of the nearly $1 trillion that is currently expected to be cut, the most impactful provisions won’t take place until 2027 or 2028, such as caps on provider taxes and state-directed payments, which help keep rural clinics open and operating.

Congress has ample time to reverse course and put patients first. Before the full severity of these cuts are implemented, lawmakers should roll back harmful cuts and changes to Medicaid to safeguard all Americans, as well as the hospitals and health systems that children, families and seniors depend on.

Bio: Dr. John Gaudet is a native Mississippian who has practiced pediatrics in Hattiesburg for many years. Since retirement, he has been involved in medical education, helping to train the next generation of physicians.

University of Mississippi announced it has terminated an employee due to “hurtful, insensitive comments” made on social media regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk, CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA and political far-right activist.  

University Chancellor Glenn Boyce released an official statement on the university’s social media pages Thursday stating that an unnamed employee was terminated after Kirk was fatally shot Wednesday while speaking on the Utah Valley University campus. 

“The comments run completely counter to our institutional values of civility, fairness and respecting the dignity of each person,” the statement said. “We condemn these actions and this staff member is no longer employed by the university.” 

The university did not identify the employee in its statement. It’s just one instance among many Thursday where educators at schools across the country were criticized or fired for their comments about Kirk after his death. 

The employee referred to actions that “reimagined Klan members like Kirk” have taken, ending the post with, “So, no, I have no prayers to offer Kirk or respectable statements against violence.”

Mississippi State Auditor Shad White, a vocal critic of what he calls “woke” initiatives in higher education, shared a post on X that may have alluded to an employee at the university and what was re-shared on social media. 

“To Ole Miss, did an Ole Miss employee just repost this insane reaction to Charlie Kirk’s murder? Answer,” White wrote. 

The attached photos to White’s post names Lauren Stokes, executive assistant to the vice chancellor of development at the university. She also has been publicly identified in other media. Stokes could not be reached for comment.

White’s post also shows the alleged reshared post that reads, ““For decades, yt [white] supremacist and reimagined Klan members like Kirk have wreaked havoc on our communities, condemning children and the populace at large to mass death for the sake of keeping their automatic guns.”

Neither university officials nor White’s office responded to Mississippi Today’s request for comment. 

Kirk was scheduled to appear at Ole Miss on Oct. 29, part of his “The American Comeback tour,” sponsored by his organization. 

It’s another high profile instance where White has used his platform to call out university employees and higher education leaders in the state for their beliefs he says are antithetical to conservative policy. 

In 2020, he pushed for a University of Mississippi professor to be fired after he stopped going to work for two weeks to protest racial inequality. More recently, he’s criticized Tommy Duff, former IHL board member, for his involvement in IHL policies surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion and other topics.  Both are considering a run for governor.