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A handful of recipients accounted for a substantial share of the first round of federal awards to boost rural health in Mississippi, according to an analysis of funding conducted by Mississippi Today. 

Memorial Health System, based in Gulfport, received the largest share of funds — more than $15 million for 12 projects, while a consortium of hospitals in south central Mississippi received more than $13 million for seven projects. Together, the hospitals accounted for over a quarter of $104 million in grants announced by Gov. Tate Reeves on Sept. 14. 

Across all recipients, the grants will fund 167 projects to strengthen cybersecurity defenses, replace outdated computers and technology, expand access to diagnostic testing and health screenings, create new service lines and telehealth programs, implement AI-driven software and install back-up generators.

The first round represents more than half of the nearly $206 million allocated to Mississippi as a part of the initial year of the five-year, national $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program. The initiative was designed to blunt the impact on struggling rural hospitals of federal spending cuts Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law in July 2025. 

Richard Roberson, president and CEO of the Mississippi Hospital Association, said though the initial awards spanned the state, disparities emerged in the areas and institutions allocated funding. 

There were never any targets for awards in certain counties or regions of the state, Reeves said.

“This was never going to be a top-down approach,” he said. “But rather, it is a bottom-up approach where every individual application that we received was judged on its own merit.”

An independent review panel scored proposals using a rubric that graded whether applicants’ planned to address a quantifiable need in rural healthcare and submitted a plan for implementation, budget and tracking outcomes. The panel’s recommendations were then vetted by the Mississippi State Department of Health. 

The review panel also considered how to distribute funds to ensure statewide impact and avoid duplication with other programs, according to funding notices.

Greg Flynn and Andrea Dilworth, spokespeople for the Health Department, did not respond to Mississippi Today’s questions about the application review process. Shelby Wilcher, a spokesperson for the governor, also did not respond to Mississippi’s questions.

Awards made to Memorial Health System, a public not-for-profit system, alone account for a seventh of the funds allocated for the entire state as a part of the initial three grant programs. The awards, totaling over $15 million, will fund projects that include a mobile MRI program, computer system upgrades for chemotherapy orders, new IT systems and expanded access to diagnostic testing and imaging services. It will also fund AI-enabled virtual primary, behavioral and chronic disease care services in Stone, George, Hancock, Jackson and Pearl River Counties. 

The health system operates three hospitals in Gulfport, Biloxi and Wiggins, and an array of clinics. It is jointly owned by Harrison County and the city of Gulfport.

President and CEO Kent Nicaud said in a written response to Mississippi Today that the organization made significant efforts to identify areas of need, including reviewing patient encounters to identify the services rural patients were often leaving their communities to receive, and submit thorough, actionable proposals for the grants. The health system enlisted the help of a national firm and a consultant to assist with the process. 

“This was never simply about pursuing grant dollars,” Nicaud said. “We were asking, ‘If we have an opportunity to rethink how care is delivered in rural South Mississippi, what can we do that will still make a difference five or 10 years from now?’”

Nicaud said that access to diagnostic testing and imaging are limited in Stone County, which has elevated rates of breast cancer and high mortality from heart disease, forcing many patients to travel outside of their communities for care. 

He added the health system’s proposals were designed to be scalable, and system administrators plan to share data and best practices learned from the initiatives with providers that want to implement similar projects in their communities. 

Nicaud serves as board chairman for the Mississippi Healthcare Collaborative, a statewide coalition of healthcare providers formed in 2024. He has contributed significantly to Reeves’ previous political campaigns, which he said did not impact how Memorial fared in the application process. 

“I did not discuss Memorial’s applications or funding requests with Governor Reeves, his office, or any state agency,” Nicaud said. 

A consortium of hospitals in south central Mississippi helmed by Gregg Gibbes also received a large portion of the initial grant awards — over $13 million for seven projects in Covington, Jones and Simpson counties. Gibbes is the CEO of South Central Regional Medical Center in Laurel, Covington County Hospital in Collins, Magee General Hospital and Simpson General Hospital in Mendenhall. Gibbes did not respond to Mississippi Today’s request for comment.

Delta Health Center, a Mound Bayou-based federally qualified health center with 17 locations, received over $5 million for five projects. The health center’s plans for the money include a 24/7 urgent and critical response center in Rosedale, patient monitoring and mobile community health workers and strengthening cybersecurity infrastructure. Robin Boyles, a spokesperson for the health center, did not respond to Mississippi Today’s request for comment. 

Baptist Memorial Health Care, which operates 14 hospitals in Mississippi, received one award worth about $1.5 million. Baptist Memorial Hospital-Calhoun, located in north central Mississippi, received the award to modernize critical IT infrastructure at Baptist hospitals in Kosciusko, Carthage, Yazoo City and a nursing home in Calhoun. 

The hospital system submitted six proposals, together worth $17.9 million, said Keith Norman, the vice president of government relations and chief community relations officer, in a written statement to Mississippi Today.

“Although we anticipated receiving a larger share of the $104.2 million available in the first funding round, the clearer criteria and lessons from the initial process should help us strengthen future proposals and expand services in communities that did not receive funding,” Norman said. “We value every community we serve, and our patients deserve equal access to modern facilities and enhancements across the state.”

Board of Health members’ organizations receive awards

Several healthcare organizations helmed by Mississippi Board of Health members received awards. The Board of Health oversees the operations of the Mississippi State Department of Health, the agency that oversaw the selection process.

Lampton Medical Associates, P.A., a Magnolia-based medical clinic led by Board of Health member Dr. Lucius Lampton, received over $2 million to modernize electronic medical records for 50 rural Mississippi healthcare practices. Lampton served as board chair until July, when Dr. James Chaney assumed the role. 

Lorie Till, the CEO of Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center, was appointed to the board by Reeves in July. She also serves as president of the Delta Health Transformation Council, a regional collaboration of hospitals and clinics. 

Both organizations received rural health awards. Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center received about $2 million for three projects to modernize IT infrastructure, support a maternal health initiative and create a cardiology imaging and reporting network. The Delta Health Transformation Council received $3 million to expand access to robotic-assisted surgery in the Delta. 

Flynn and Dilworth, spokespeople for the Health Department, Lampton and Till did not respond to questions from Mississippi Today about efforts made to prevent conflicts of interest during the application review process. 

Technology leads spending

Roberson said roughly two-thirds of the awards announced Sept. 14 will go to hospitals or affiliated clinics, according to his analysis. The remaining third includes federally qualified health centers, private clinics and urgent care centers, dental, vision and surgical specialists, pharmacies and assisted living facilities. 

Roberson said while the proportion allocated to hospitals is substantial, it does not align with the funds’ original intention of supporting rural hospitals facing cuts. 

“The billions of dollars of cuts to hospital payments are going to have a dramatic impact, and it’s going to hit rural hospitals particularly hard,” he said. 

In Mississippi, federal cuts are expected to reduce provider payments by about $100 million annually beginning in July 2028, according to the Mississippi Division of Medicaid’s strategic plan published in July. 

Close to half of the funds awarded are for projects focused on technological improvements. A slightly smaller portion is set to fund infrastructure projects, and a much smaller amount is earmarked for telehealth initiatives. Officials will soon also announce awardees for several other grant programs, including $16.8 million for four grant programs aimed at addressing critical healthcare workforce shortages in rural communities and $14 million to create calm, therapeutic units at hospital emergency departments to improve crisis mental healthcare, Reeves said at a recent press conference.

Roberson said he would like to see more of the funds awarded to capital improvements, like helping rural hospitals struggling to replace equipment, add new services on-site or replace HVAC systems. These types of projects are likely to have a more lasting impact than technology investments — which can quickly become outdated — for small hospitals with slim margins, he said. He acknowledged that some of the allowed funding uses, like one that bars new construction, are dictated by federal guidelines. 

“I’m hoping that in the future, we can see more funds shifting to things like capital improvements because those are things that can make a bigger difference over time,” Roberson said. 

Khaylah Scott, a program manager at the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, said she is grateful the funds are being deployed to improve healthcare in rural areas. But she noted that the federal funds will expire in five years, and they won’t expand health insurance to the thousands of Mississippians struggling to afford coverage. 

“It might mitigate or lessen the blow, but the blow is still coming,” Scott said. 

Correction 9/25/26 — This story has been updated to reflect that Memorial Health System is a not-for-profit health system.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Scott Colom on Thursday called for a temporary ban on new data centers in Mississippi. 

“The reality is, the consequences of data centers in Mississippi are already here. We’re seeing it in our power bills. We’re seeing it where we live. We’re seeing it where we pray,” Colom said at a press conference.

Colom, who is challenging incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith has a list of conditions that he would want met before proceeding with any new data center construction in the state. It includes having data centers pay their own way and more transparency about the deals. He said this would give the state a chance to study the impacts of data centers and come up with regulations. 

While artificial intelligence and data centers have come up in midterm elections in other states, and have already become an issue for Mississippi’s statewide elections next year, they have not been a driving issues in Mississippi’s congressional races to date. Data center development decisions have been made at the state and local levels, with Republican Gov. Tate Reeves being a leading advocate for them. A recent poll from Pew Research Center found that over half of Americans believe data centers are mostly bad for the environment. 

Data centers in Mississippi have come under increasing scrutiny. In the small town of Walls, hundreds of people showed up to a planning meeting this week in opposition to rezoning for a potential data center. Since 2024, the state has seen an influx of projects, part of the historic investment building data centers nationwide to power artificial intelligence. Mississippi has seven data center projects under construction and local leaders are interested in bringing more. 

A few states have passed temporary bans on data centers. New York announced a one year moratorium on data centers and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott paused new data center approvals until the state completes audits of the state’s power grid. 

Colom said Hyde-Smith has not signed on to the Ratepayer Protection Act, a bill designed to protect customers from paying for upgrades to the grid that data centers need.

“She refuses to provide any oversight,” Colom said, “And then last week we learned why she has refused to do it. The AI data center Super PAC is running ads on her behalf.”

Leading the Future, a super PAC funded by Greg Brockman, president of OpenAI, and prominent venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, is spending $2 million to support Hyde-Smith and three other Republican Senate candidates. The group has cautioned that too much government regulation of AI will slow down innovation and adoption, as has President Donald Trump. 

“The senator’s campaign has no involvement in the outside group’s ads. Senator Hyde-Smith shares the concerns of Mississippians and wants to make sure that families come first, that local resources are protected, and that data centers are only built once those standards are met,” said Jake Monssen, Hyde-Smith’s campaign manager.

Two Capitol Police officers who shot a 25-year-old Jackson man said in recorded statements played Thursday for a jury that they had no choice but to kill him in self-defense.

Steven Frederick Jr. and Michael Lamar Rhinewalt told investigators that on Sept. 25, 2022, they stopped a Jeep Grand Cherokee that matched the general description of a car suspected in auto burglaries after the vehicle ran two red lights.

READ MORE: Two former Capitol Police officers go on trial on manslaughter charge

After their unmarked police car boxed in the Cherokee driven by Jaylen Lewis, he rammed the police vehicle behind him and then gunned the Cherokee to flee, Rhinewalt said. “I felt like he was going to run us over.”

As a result, Rhinewalt fired two bullets into the front of the windshield, he said. “I was in fear of my life and in fear of the life of my fellow officer.”

Jurors heard the recordings on the second day of the manslaughter trial of Frederick and Rhinewalt, who are both white. They were part of the crime suppression Flex Unit of the Capitol Police involved in the death of the Black man.

The jury could begin deliberations as soon as Friday.

Rhinewalt said they asked Lewis to “show his hands,” but he didn’t. “We could see he wasn’t showing hands.”

He speculated that Lewis was holding a gun, and it fell out of his hand after he was shot. “His right hand was lying next to the gun,” Rhinewalt said.

Frederick said he stepped to the right of the Cherokee and fired two shots that apparently hit the driver’s side window.

Frederick became emotional. “He’s got kids like I do,” he said. “He’s got parents like I do.”

READ MORE: Capitol Police face federal lawsuit in fatal shooting

During the interview, Rhinewalt suggested the two Glocks and AR-15 in the Cherokee were stolen, but Capt. Dennis Weaver of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation testified that authorities found no evidence the guns were stolen.

Asked by defense lawyers if he knew of any evidence that contradicted the officers’ description of the events leading up to the death, Weaver said no.

Although authorities found bags of marijuana in the Cherokee, toxicology reports by the Mississippi Crime Lab found no evidence that Lewis had any drugs in his system, Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Ariane Andorfer testified Thursday.

She told jurors that Lewis’ death was a homicide and that he was killed by a bullet that struck the top of his head.

“Your conclusion was that this is a homicide, not whether it was justifiable or not, is that right?” Rhinewalt’s lawyer, J. Scott Gilbert, asked her.

“That’s right,” she replied.

Selena Hayes testified she was with Lewis that night when a car pulled in front of them. She said all she saw was a bright light and a white man with hair holding a gun.

In a recorded interview that night, she told investigators, “We looked up and Jaylen said, ‘S—.’”

She testified that Lewis backed into a car behind them that she didn’t know was there and then Lewis tried to drive away.

She told investigators that night that her reaction was “Oh, my God, what’s going on? Stop.”

Asked if she saw Lewis with a gun in his hand, she said no.

After gunfire rang out, she ducked, she said. “My head was down and when I looked up, I saw Jaylen.”

“What was his condition?” Special Assistant Attorney General Luke Williamson asked.

“He had a gunshot wound,” she replied.

Asked when she first realized that law enforcement officers were in front of them, she replied, “I didn’t know they were police until I got out of the car.”

Under cross-examination, Frederick’s lawyer, Merrida Coxwell Jr., stood in front of Hayes and asked her to estimate how far away the man in front of the car was. When he stepped back to about 10 feet, she agreed that was an estimate of the distance.

He asked her if she saw the officers’ reflective gear that bore the word, “Police.” She replied no.

He asked her if she saw blue lights that night. She replied no.

Coxwell quoted from her interview with investigators, where she was asked if she saw the blue lights and she replied, “When we stopped.”

Asked about this apparent contradiction, she responded that by that point she knew the car in front of her was a police car but that she didn’t know that at the time.

Williamson asked her if she told investigators that Lewis “didn’t try to run over anybody. He tried to get away.”

She replied yes. “Anybody should try to get away when they see a gun.”

A drug task force in Mississippi is urging people to avoid kratom after authorities found packages of the substance while investigating the deaths of two University of Mississippi students.

The warning Tuesday came despite no “confirmed information” that kratom contributed to either death, Lafayette County Metro Narcotics said in a news release. The students were found Monday afternoon in different locations, one on campus and the other off campus, a university spokesperson said.

The university on Thursday identified the students as Aidan Hamilton, a freshman from Englewood, Colorado, and Robert Strang, a junior from Atlanta. The school said in a statement that their families “have asked for privacy as they grieve.”

U.S. health officials and states have increasingly scrutinized kratom, an herbal extract that acts as a stimulant at low doses and a sedative at high doses, over the past decade. Kratom is legal at the federal level, but some state and local governments have banned the substance and federal authorities have issued warnings about its risks.

Toxicology reports aren’t yet available

Two state agencies were working to expedite toxicology reports for the students, Gov. Tate Reeves said in a statement Wednesday.

“Mississippi is praying for the families and friends of the two Ole Miss students during this incredibly difficult time,“ Reeves said.

Authorities said they had no evidence the deaths were connected but noted the kratom found at the scenes was sold at a retail store. Officials did not name the store or say whether any criminal charges would be filed.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we encourage everyone to avoid kratom and any other medication or substance that was not prescribed to you or obtained from a trusted, regulated source,” the task force’s news release said.

Kratom is extracted from a tree native to Southeast Asia

It is used in capsules, powders and liquids that are often sold in gas stations or smoke shops. Proponents say that in its pure form, kratom is a safe, natural herbal supplement that can help manage pain, anxiety and depression and ease the effects of opioid withdrawal.

Doctors who treat addiction, however, say people can quickly become dependent on it, leading to withdrawal symptoms. A U.S. Food and Drug Administration webpage is blunt: Don’t use it.

The agency says it carries the risk of serious adverse effects, including liver toxicity, seizures and substance use disorder.

In rare cases, it’s been associated with deaths, though kratom was usually used in combination with other drugs in those cases, and the contribution of kratom in the deaths is unclear, the agency says on its website.

A trade organization has pushed back

Mac Haddow, with the American Kratom Association, said the FDA and states that have banned kratom are conflating the natural product with synthetic and chemically manipulated ones, which are associated with adverse effects and even deaths.

Haddow, a senior fellow on public policy with the association, said he’s heard numerous people tell lawmakers over the years how kratom has improved their lives.

“Some believe it saved their lives because it allowed them to get off of opioids,” he said.

Podcast host Joe Rogan and Cindy Crawford’s late son, Presley Gerber, have talked about their experiences using kratom.

Last year, the FDA recommended a ban on products with concentrated levels of 7-hydroxymitragynine, a chemical found in only trace amounts in natural kratom.

Mallory Pullman, managing director at Mississippi Poison Control, said she’s seen an increase in such concentrated products in recent years, and consumers may not be able to distinguish them from natural kratom.

“Until you know what product you’re working with, whether it’s kratom or some of these highly concentrated derivatives, you really have to be careful about buying a product and just taking it arbitrarily,” she said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

Eleven states have banned kratom

Others, including Mississippi, have regulated it, in part by requiring people to be 21 or older to buy it. Both the city of Oxford and Lafayette County, where the University of Mississippi is located, have bans in place.

North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong signed a bill this month restricting the sale of kratom products after declaring kratom a public health crisis this summer and calling a special legislative session to address it. The state has had 50 deaths associated with kratom since 2019, according to the governor’s office.

Despite the bans and restrictions, use of kratom in the U.S. has increased, according to researchers at the University of Michigan and Texas State University.

In a paper published this year, they found kratom use in the U.S. was at an all-time high, with more than 5 million people saying they had used it in their lifetime. The group includes more than 100,000 young people ages 12-17.

“Policy changes regarding kratom and 7-OH products are needed in all states if we are serious about protecting our children,” the study’s main researcher, Sean McCabe, said in a statement in the University of Michigan News.

___

Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed.

Attorneys for the family of Nolan Xavier Wells on Thursday released the state’s autopsy report and recovered information from his cellphone, raising more questions about what led to his death, including evidence of deleted messages and a lack of water in his lungs, airway and stomach. 

Digital forensic experts hired by Wells’ family examined his phone, including images, videos and social media apps to create a timeline providing more information about what led to his death on Horn Island, where his body was found on July 6. 

Earlier this week, a Jackson County grand jury declined to bring criminal charges relating to the death of the Black teenager. Based on the condition of his body, location and position, the group concluded that he likely drowned. Wells’ parents said the grand jury findings did not provide clarity. 

“This mystery still needs to be investigated,” Ben Crump, the national civil rights attorney representing his parents, said in a Thursday online news conference. “We cannot simply close the chapter, wash our hands of it, put a bow on it and say, ‘Nothing to see here.’”

Garrett Discovery, the Florida firm Wells’ parents hired, extracted information to track the location of Wells’ phone and SnapChat messages sent to it between July 4, when he went to Horn Island, up to when the forensic experts collected his phone.

GPS showed how Wells, 18, went to a McDonald’s the morning of July 4 before going to a friend’s house. By 10:30 a.m., his phone showed it was on a boat that traveled to Horn Island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where it remained for several hours. 

Andrew Garett, CEO of the digital forensics firm, said the phone data shows Wells last used the device on the boat around 2:20 p.m. He chose to remain on the island, according to friends, and was last seen that afternoon. Around 4:30 p.m., his friends returned to the mainland with Wells’ phone on the boat. 

His parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, retrieved his phone from his friends the next day and had it in their possession since then. Early on, they noticed few pictures or videos from the day on his phone, even though he commonly took them. They wondered if any had been deleted. 

Garrett confirmed Thursday that there was evidence some messages sent to Wells were deleted. 

He also talked about how experts worked on Wells’ phone, including having to manually extract SnapChat messages because the programs typically used to do that were not compatible with the version of the app on the phone. 

The additional amount of time that took them led the experts to prepare a preliminary report that the grand jury reviewed. Once the extraction was done, it provided a final report to the grand jury including SnapChat conversations from Wells’ phone. 

Liza Park, a member of the family’s legal team, explained the process that led to phone extraction. She and Garrett pushed back against public comments about that process by District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath. In the video statement, McIlrath said her office was the one accused of “(refusing) to cooperate and/or obstructed a mutual examination.” 

But in reality, saying that led some people to believe it was the family who walked away from an agreement, Garrett wrote in a Wednesday letter to Crump provided to reporters. During the news conference, Park clarified that Wells’ family never kept the phone away from the district attorney’s office and law enforcement. 

Conversations about holding a mutual examination of the phone began after July 15, when the family, its legal team and McIlrath met at her office in Jackson County. After that, they said the state changed its parameters, most notably by selecting the location of the phone inspection, which the legal team says would have prohibited the family being there. 

During the news conference, Crump’s team also released the state’s autopsy report, which it had not seen until Wednesday evening. They said it will be posted on his firm’s website. 

Park read from the three-page report and highlighted the finding of two contusions on the back of Wells’ head noted on a diagram. Crump’s team continues to ask what caused those injuries and whether they contributed to Wells’ death. 

Dr. Roger Mitchell, who was hired by the family to do the independent autopsy, will speak at a future news conference about findings from both of the autopsies, Crump said. 

The state’s report also showed no signs of fluid in Wells’ airway, lungs or stomach. Park said water is typically present in those areas in drownings. 

The family and legal team have called for the investigation to remain open and for officials to release the state’s autopsy and law enforcement investigative file. They are also asking for independent review by the U.S. Department of Justice. 

If additional evidence is uncovered, it can be brought before a different grand jury at a later time to decide whether criminal charges could be brought and who to indict. 

Mississippi’s college board paid $330,000 to Debra Mays-Jackson, a former Jackson State University administrator, to resolve a sex discrimination lawsuit that challenged the 2023 presidential search process and decisions trustees used to select former President Marcus Thompson. 

The college board did not admit any liability as part of the settlement, and Mays-Jackson, the former JSU vice president and chief of staff, agreed not to apply for another job at Jackson State or any other public universities governed by the college board. 

Mississippi Today obtained the six-page agreement through a public records request. 

“Dr. Mays-Jackson is pleased to have this lawsuit behind her,” her attorney Lisa M. Ross said. “There is more work to be done” to protect public employees from discrimination and retaliation, she said. 

John Sewell, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, said the college board authorized the settlement with Mays-Jackson in closed session at its Aug. 20 meeting. 

Mays-Jackson sued IHL for sex discrimination in 2023, the same day trustees selected Thompson as Jackson State’s president. Thompson resigned as president in May 2025 after a little more than a year in the position. 

The Mays-Jackson agreement is the latest settlement stemming from employment disputes during Thompson’s tenure. In June, Jackson State agreed to pay Linda Rush, former interim vice president of enrollment management, $150,000 to resolve a sex discrimination lawsuit. Rush alleged that Thompson passed her over for a promotion and that she was later fired because of her age and sex. 

Rush also agreed not to seek employment at Jackson State or any other public university. Jackson State and Thompson did not admit any wrongdoing. 

The IHL board, Thompson and JSU also settled a lawsuit with former faculty senate president Dawn Bishop McLin after she was placed on leave pending termination in fall 2024. The settlement agreement returned McLin to her job as a tenured professor, restored roughly $38,000 in research grants McLin lost after her termination, and paid her $10,000 for summer school courses she would have taught while she was on leave.

Another lawsuit from Thompson’s tenure remains pending. Jerome Tinker, an alumni engagement officer in JSU’s Alumni Affairs office, sued Thompson and the university in federal court in December after he was passed over for the office’s director position. 

In his lawsuit, Tinker accuses Thompson of retaliating against him because he had reported alleged misconduct involving former JSU President Thomas Hudson, who resigned in 2023. 

Ross, who is also Tinker’s attorney, declined to comment on his lawsuit. Pope S. Mallette, Thompson’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The state’s capital is about to be buzzing with all things bookish, as readers and writers descend on downtown Jackson on Saturday for the 11th annual Mississippi Book Festival.

Chris Kelly, who co-founded the JXN Book Club over the summer, is “beyond excited” for this weekend’s events. He and the club’s other co-founder, Kimar Cain, hosted the festival team at its first meeting in July and are eager to serve as unofficial event ambassadors.

“It’s like being Walmart greeters,” Kelly said. “We want to be a cheerful, thoughtful presence that builds excitement and keeps people engaged.” 

The book festival has grown from a one-day lawn party into a major economic and cultural engine for Jackson, drawing more than 8,000 book lovers and providing a counter-narrative to negative stereotypes. It has also spurred year-round educational programs to develop Mississippi’s next generation of writers.

This year’s lineup features former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Kate McKinnon, hip-hop boss Rick Ross, fiction icon George Saunders and a multitude of Mississippi’s own.

Kenzie Ragland, a Nashville transplant who founded the “JXN Book Girlies” book club in 2024, is especially eager to meet McKinnon.

She plans to attend the festival with a couple dozen other “Girlies.”

“Last year was my first year at the festival,” Ragland said, “and I was pleasantly surprised at how big it was.”

Ragland is most looking forward to returning to “Author’s Alley,” the festival’s big tent where independent authors and artists set up shop and sell their stories. “Getting to meet so many incredible lesser-known authors,” Ragland said, was a festival highlight and reason to return. 

The book club hosts an online forum for its virtual membership, broken down into nine genre-specific groups. Ragland says each group hosts over 20 readers, with more popular genres, such as fantasy, meeting more regularly. 

A culture showcase for Mississippi

With thousands of book lovers converging on the capital city, the festival is a major economic driver.

Liz Brister, president of Downtown Jackson Partners, said the festival is just what the region’s economy needs, proving that Jackson can showcase Mississippi culture for crowds from around the country and the world.

Though Mississippi is often “typecast in negative ways,” Brister said, “we should pat ourselves on the back” for what the festival says about Mississippi. “It demonstrates to visitors and residents the creative and literary spirit unique to our state.”

Ellen Daniels, the festival’s director, noted the event’s growing diversity of authors and panels. 

Lauren Rhoades hosts an online monthly book club featuring authors connected to the South. It is on Rooted Magazine, an online platform featuring stories about what it means to call Mississippi home. Rooted runs a monthly column by Joseph Brown, a state prison inmate who has “been fighting his wrongful conviction on Parchman’s death row for more than thirty years.”

Rhoades, who came to Jackson in 2013 with AmeriCorps, now helps oversee grants for the state Arts Commission, one of the festival’s sources of funding. She is returning to the festival for the second year in a row to discuss her 2025 memoir, “Split Baby,” which chronicles the fractures of a childhood torn between two very different homes. 

While the festival understandably features many writers who draw on the South’s literary heritage, there are also events such as a panel presented by the LGBTQ Fund of Mississippi that delves into the search for belonging, friendship and self-discovery. 

Another panel called “Fathers and Sons” features award-winning journalist Tom Junod and portrait photographer Beowulf Sheehan, both of whom have recent works involving the theme of fatherhood.

Mississippi Today will also present a discussion featuring renowned analysts of the ongoing role of race in our country. The panel, called “the Soul of America,” will be aired on CSPAN.

‘A last frontier for civil discourse’

In today’s polarized political climate, “book festivals serve as a last frontier for civil discourse,” Daniels said. “There really is something for every audience.” 

The book clubs described above provide a snapshot of the kind of engaged readers the festival brings together. However, the festival’s impact is increasingly felt in many developing writers’ lives well beyond the main event.

Tonja Murphy, the festival’s community engagement director, stressed that one of the biggest changes has been in the festival’s growing devotion to the practice of writing. 

When Murphy took on her full-time role in 2022, she was tasked with developing a new initiative called “Turn the Page,” which brings authors into public schools across Mississippi. She said the program helps students find their literary voice by bringing in engaging authors who practice creative writing with them. 

“Some of our schools are hours from Jackson, so not all students can get to the festival,” Murphy said. “Turn the Page really grew out of the festival’s own kids’ programming, when we stepped back and asked, what would it look like to take this to children across the state?”

Now in its fourth year, the program has reached classrooms from kindergarten through high school. “You know you’re doing something right when the schools regularly ask you, ‘Can we get on next year’s list?’,” Murphy said.

While Turn the Page was initially funded out of the festival’s budget, it now has its own annual fundraising campaigns, Daniels said. “Turn the Page has funders who are totally dedicated to its mission.” 

Writing workshops for all ages have become central to the festival. This year’s event has four kids’ workshops, ranging from prose and creative writing to arts and crafts, in addition to a handful focusing on different genres and skillsets for youth and adults.

“Some of our country’s greatest writers are from Mississippi,” Murphy said. “Who’s to say that a child that attends one of our programs isn’t our next literary giant?”

In a state where adult literacy rates are still among the poorest in the nation, the wide reach of programs like Turn the Page is shaping Mississippi’s own storytelling future.

That such an initiative emerged from the book festival, whose programming has grown and become more diverse in recent years, signals that the book festival is nurturing new generations of readers and writers.

Internationally acclaimed author John Grisham will speak at Mississippi Today’s 10th Anniversary Celebration on Oct. 7 in Jackson.

Grisham will deliver the keynote address as the nonprofit newsroom marks a decade of mission-driven reporting and focuses on new ways to provide news coverage that serves communities across the state.

The celebration is sold out. Tickets are still available for Mississippi Today’s second annual “All In on Mississippi” summit on Oct. 8 beginning at 1 p.m. at the Two Mississippi Museums.

“John Grisham has won fans worldwide with his Mississippi-centric stories that are built around universal themes of accountability and the pursuit  of justice,” said Emily Wagster Pettus, editor-in-chief of Mississippi Today. “We are grateful to him for speaking at our event as we celebrate journalism that focuses on exposing systems that work – or don’t work – for the people of this state.”

Grisham’s remarks will frame an evening examining the impact of independent journalism while looking ahead to the challenges and opportunities facing communities across Mississippi and the region.

The event will also feature a fireside chat with Laurene Powell Jobs, founder and president of Emerson Collective, and Darren Walker, president of Anonymous Content, moderated by Bill Bynum, founding CEO of HOPE and Deep South Today board member. 

About John Grisham

John Grisham is the international bestselling author of more than 50 consecutive No. 1 novels that have been translated into nearly 50 languages. His recent books include “Framed,” “Camino Ghosts” and “The Exchange: After the Firm.” Grisham has been honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction and twice awarded the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, and his narrative voice remains one of the most recognizable in modern literature.

Grisham was raised in Southaven and was educated in Mississippi, culminating in a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. He managed a private law practice in Southaven for nearly a decade and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1983 to 1990. His experiences inside local courtrooms directly inspired his 1989 debut novel, “A Time to Kill.”

Grisham serves on the board of directors for both the Innocence Project and Centurion Ministries, two national nonprofit organizations dedicated to exonerating the wrongfully convicted.

Mississippi Today 10th Anniversary Celebration

Taking place at the Two Mississippi Museums on Wednesday, Oct. 7, the celebration will honor public service journalism through an evening of conversation, music, storytelling and immersive experiences that showcase the newsroom’s work.

Guests will hear accounts of the newsroom’s impact while getting a look at Mississippi Today’s vision for the future. The celebration is made possible through sponsorship from Carol and John Palmer, Collaborative Resources and Solutions LLC, The McMullan O’Connor Fund and the Mississippi Press Foundation. 

‘All In on Mississippi’ summit

On Thursday, Oct. 8, Mississippi Today will host the second annual “All In on Mississippi” summit, focused on innovative solutions, economic opportunity and community impact.

Presented with support from JPMorgan Chase, the Foundation for the Mid South, Centuri, Butler Snow, Operation Shoestring, Mississippi Center for Justice, and Brown Bottling Group, the summit will bring together leaders from business, education, workforce development, philanthropy and journalism for conversations about Mississippi’s future.

Featured sessions include:

• Boots on the Ground: Mississippi Industry, AI and the Future of Work.
• A New Era for Apprenticeship Programs in Mississippi.
• The Literacy Launching Point and What Comes Next.
• Mississippi on the National Stage.

Additional speakers and agenda details can be found at summit.mississippitoday.org. 

Tickets and sponsorships

Celebration tickets are sold out.

Tickets for the “All In on Mississippi” summit are $25.

Organizations interested in sponsorship opportunities can contact sponsorships@mississippitoday.org.

Registration, sponsorship information and the latest event updates are available at: summit.mississippitoday.org.

LEAKESVILLE — Mississippi LIFT is taking educational resources on the road as part of an effort to reach families in rural communities, including a recent stop in Greene County. 

More than half of Mississippi children under age 5 live in rural areas, according to MS LIFT’s 2025 Needs Assessment and Strategic Plan. The organization is working to expand access to resources in rural and low-resourced areas through its Resource and Referral Network, including mobile units. 

Jayden Duplessis, a program associate with MS LIFT’s mobile team, recently brought Unit 4 to the Leakesville Public Library, where families could access toys, books and learning materials. 

“My goal is to reach out to those rural areas and set up more community events so they can know about the resources as well,” Duplessis said. 

Duplessis said families can use MS LIFT’s lending library to check out toys, books and learning materials for children up to age 12 at no cost. Items can be borrowed for up to 14 days. 

The Resource and Referral Network also provides families and child care professionals with access to services including printing, laminating and computers.

Duplessis joined MS LIFT in February and estimated that she has taken the mobile unit to more than 20 events. She said many families she meets are learning about the program for the first time. 

“Some people know, most people don’t,” Duplessis said.

She said families are often surprised to learn what is available through the program. 

“I love seeing … kids’ eyes brighten up to see all the toys and fun activities that we have,” Duplessis said. “I love to see the family members smile because they get very happy, like, ‘We never knew we had this resource available.’” 

MS LIFT’s Resource and Referral Network also helps families find child care and other services and provides support and professional development for child care providers. 

Duplessis said bringing the mobile units into communities can introduce families to resources they may otherwise not know about. 

“I hope that they can take away the fun experience and hopefully just the warmth and love from actually knowing that you do have these resources available in your community,” she said. 

Families can find upcoming MS LIFT activities and locations through the event calendar on the organization’s website. 

When University of Mississippi Medical Center administrators heard that some students were struggling to afford food and other necessities, they stepped up to help.

They held a food drive in August to collect items for a pantry to benefit medical and nursing students. Then UMMC opened a food pantry on Sept. 1, offering groceries and personal care products such as shampoo, laundry detergent pods and toothpaste. 

“Every student’s financial situation is different,” said Jonathan Nutt, director of student services at UMMC. “The hope is to serve any student who needs it.” 

Some students have little family financial support, and the demands of their academic programs can make it difficult to work enough hours to cover living expenses, Nutt said. 

Students across the state — and the nation — are facing similar challenges as costs for housing, groceries, transportation and other living expenses increase. A 2023 Hope Center for Basic Needs survey found that 59% of college students lack access to at least one basic need such as housing and transportation. Of students surveyed, 41% reported experiencing food insecurity. 

Such struggles are prevalent among students from low income backgrounds, the report notes. 

College students’ costs pile up

At the University of Southern Mississippi, staff and volunteers distributed more than 890 pounds of food, hygiene products and other items to 94 people who visited the Eagle’s Nest Food Pantry during the first week of classes in August. 

Last school year, the Eagle’s Nest recorded 2,785 visits, 81% of which were by students. Sirena Cantrell, dean of students and associate vice president of student affairs, expects another busy semester. 

“We’re beginning to see more students than ever,” Cantrell said. “Students are telling their friends that this is a campus resource. Faculty and staff are also sharing it with students they see are in need.” 

At Mississippi State University, some students rely on Bully’s Pantry while learning to budget and manage their cost of living, said Hali Hollman, who volunteered at the food pantry from 2023 to 2025 before graduating with the class of 2026.

“We are juggling all kinds of expenses and also having to balance our classwork, extracurriculars, work and thinking about our future,” Hollman said.

Tuition and fees have increased at several Mississippi universities over the past two years. 

• In-state tuition at the University of Mississippi rose 3.8%, from $9,412 in 2023-24 to $9,772 in 2024-25. Out-of-state tuition and fees rose 6% from $26,980 in 2023-24 to $28,600 in 2024-25. 
• In-state tuition at the University of Southern Mississippi rose 4% from $9,618 in 2023-24 to $9,998 in 2024-25. Out-of-state tuition and fees rose by 3.3% from $11,618 in 2023-24 to $11,998 in 2024-25. 
• In-state tuition at Jackson State University fell by 1.4% from $9,090 in 2023-24 to $8,965 in 2024-25. But out-of-state tuition and fees increased 18.3%, from $10,110 in 2023-24 to $11,965 the next year. 
• At MSU, in-state tuition and fees have increased from $9,815 in 2023-24 to $11,095 this year. in 2024-25. Out-of-state tuition and fees increased from $26,580 in 2023-24 to $30,086 this year. The university estimates a total in-state cost of $26,295 for a full academic year. For out-of-state students, costs run up to $45,000 a year.

The costs of college textbooks and supplies have remained steady while food and student housing have increased in recent years, according to federal data. 

A growing need on Mississippi college campuses 

Amid rising costs and living expenses, visits to Delta State University’s food pantry, the Statesman’s Shelf, more than doubled in recent years from 672 visits in 2023-24 to 1,672 in 2025-26. 

Tuition at Delta State has remained flat in recent years, but the costs of food and on-campus housing increased 3.6% between 2023-24 and 2024-25. Those expenses have increased 2.4% for off-campus students, according to federal data.

Lacking transportation can also make it difficult for Delta State students to reach off-campus grocery stores, said Brandi Lovin, a Statesman’s Shelf volunteer coordinator. For example, when damage from Winter Storm Fern forced the campus to remain closed in January, the food pantry remained open. The icy roads and downed trees and power lines made it difficult to leave campus during the first few days. 

The Statesman’s Shelf staff served 416 people in January, about half of them during the winter storm. The demand also helped relaunch Okra Threads, a campus clothes and resources closet that opened this semester, Lovin said.

The closet, originally called Okra Suits, provided business attire to students for career fairs, presentations, job interviews and special events. The resource expanded this semester to include everyday clothing items, shoes and accessories.  

Helping students secure food and other necessities supports their efforts to earn a degree and enter Mississippi’s healthcare workforce. 

“Food insecurity and basic needs access is an issue everywhere,” Nutt said. “We just want to ensure we are preparing our students for their careers and that they can eventually serve the health needs of Mississippians.”