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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The board approved the change without discussion.

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

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

Stream all episodes here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That all changed when Bonds had a coffee epiphany. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Are you, as many, disillusioned with the current state of college football?

Join the club.

You don’t like the transfer portal because your favorite player this season might score his touchdowns for your arch-rival next year?

I feel you.

You say you don’t care for the NIL because you don’t think 20-year-old quarterbacks should make twice as much money as college presidents and heart surgeons? 

You are not alone.

You liked it far better when college players mostly played for the love of the game and not for the almighty dollar?

Boy oh boy, do I have two teams for you: Army and Navy.

Take your pick. Both are undefeated. Both are nationally ranked. Neither pays its players. Neither recruits players from the transfer portal. The Army Black Knights and the Navy Midshipmen are true student-athletes. They go to class and make their grades or they don’t play. Many were honor students, if not valedictorians, at their high schools. They don’t leave school after three years to go to the NFL. No, they become military officers and serve their country after four years of a rigorous, world-class education. 

Army, ranked No. 23, defeated East Carolina 45-28 Saturday to move to 7-0. No. 25 Navy clobbered Charlotte 51-17 to move to 6-0. 

I should tell you that my appreciation for Navy and Army football goes back all the way to childhood, when the annual Army-Navy football game was required viewing at my daddy’s house. He served in the Navy in World War II, so we cheered for the Midshipmen. Then, in our backyard after the game, I imagined I was Navy quarterback Roger Staubach, throwing passes to my brother, who was Navy halfback Joe Bellino. Both were Heisman Trophy winners. Both then served their country. Staubach delayed his Hall of Fame NFL career four years, serving as a Naval officer, including one year in Vietnam.

The six-plus decades since have been mostly lean times for both Army and Navy. Most blue-chip college football prospects dream of playing in the NFL, not fighting for their country. That both Navy and Army would experience this amazing resurgence just as college football has been turned upside down by NIL and the transfer portal seems almost far-fetched. 

But maybe it shouldn’t. While most college football teams’ rosters now experience a yearly fruit basket turnover, Army and Navy rosters don’t change except for graduates being replaced by new recruits.

“This is how we build our team here, and it’s how college football teams over the course of the history of college football history have built their teams,” Army coach Jeff Monken told reporters. “Recruit high school players, retain them in your program, develop them and hope you can put a team together that can win. That’s just how we do it here.”

You will hear TV commentators say that playing college football is like a full-time job. If that’s the case, Army, Navy and Air Force players are working three full-time jobs. They play their sports. They take a heavy, heavy academic load that does not allow for easy grades. And they also learn to be soldiers.

For the all-time best description of the rigorous schedule athletes face at the military academies, do yourself a favor and purchase author John Feinstein’s book “A Civil War.” In it, you will learn that the easiest two hours of each day for Army and Navy players are the time they spend at practice. Their days begin long before sunrise and end after required study late, late at night, if not into the wee morning hours.

The legendary Ole Miss All American Barney Poole played on national championship teams at Army before returning to Mississippi to play at Ole Miss. I called Barney in 1998 before a trip to West Point to cover a Southern Miss-Army game. I was taking my 12-year-old son and wanted to make sure he saw all the sights. Barney, one of the nicest men I’ve known, told me all of what my son and I should see, and then he said, “You show him all that, but you makes sure to also tell him, it’s a lot prettier from the outside looking in than it is from the inside looking out.”

How so, I asked, and Barney replied, “West Point isn’t for everybody. Those young men go through hell and back. Believe me, I know.”

Mississippi is represented on both the Army and Navy teams. Chance Keith, a former Biloxi High player, is a senior defensive back at Army. Sophomore tight end Jake Norris of Madison Central and freshman cornerback Noah Short of Madison-Ridgeland Academy both play for Navy.

Navy plays host to Notre Dame this Saturday. Army has an open date before playing Air Force on Nov. 2. Most college football players visit home or enjoy some down time during an open date. Bet on this: Most Army players will play catch-up on their studies and make up for any drills they might have missed because of football.

The annual Army-Navy game is slated for Dec. 14 this year. There’s also a chance the two teams will meet the week before in the American Athletic Conference championship game. The top two teams in that league play for the championship. Currently, that would be Army and Navy.

Wouldn’t that be something?

The post Tired of NIL and transfer portal? Consider pulling for Army or Navy appeared first on Mississippi Today.

At 3 p.m. on a sunny Wednesday in Cleveland, like clockwork, parents streamed into the children’s room of the Robinson Carpenter Memorial Library with their kids in tow. The year has just started for schools in the area, and everyone is in search of a book. 

A lot of things in a library change over time. The books on the shelves are crammed with copies of whatever’s in demand and new copies of old favorites. The technology is updated, and the kids grow up. But one thing that has been a constant in Cleveland’s public library is Youth Services Librarian Bobbie Matheney. 

Matheney, a native of nearby Merigold, has worked in the Bolivar-County Library System since 2006. After working part time at the Merigold branch to help her elderly parents, Matheney landed a job at the Cleveland branch where she has worked for 17 years. Known for her fun outfits and bright personality, she is affectionately known by community members and patrons of the library as Mrs. Bobbie. 

Though she never imagined being a librarian, she quickly realized her passion for the job. 

“I’ve always been a people person. I got into being a librarian as a part timer, and started to enjoy it. My director told me that I finally had found my calling after working different jobs as a receptionist throughout the years,” she said. “I think it was my calling, also. I love what I do.”

Her desk is in the children’s room of the library, flanked by walls of colorful books. Next to her desk is a pair of rocking chairs, where she does story hour and show and tell with preschool and homeschooled kids on Friday morning. For young children, she says, reading is important to helping with their learning abilities. 

“Reading to babies helps because they’re listening. Believe me, kids are listening to you,” she said. “You might not realize it, but reading to them while they’re young, it helps their vocabulary. It, you know, it keeps them alert. It’s just the beginning of the learning process for children.” 

Families entering the library break up this conversation. As one child uses his library card for the first time, Matheney explains to him all the things he can do with it, and the money he’s saving by checking out books instead of buying them. 

Kids leaving with books is Matheney’s favorite thing about her job — but it’s not always easy. 

“There are those non-readers and helping them to find something on their level is challenging, because we can go through books and books and books, and it’s like, nope, nope, nope, nope,” she said. “So, it’s challenging trying to get the reluctant readers books that they might enjoy, but when they finally say yes, I celebrate.”

The Bolivar County Public Library System, at one point, operated eight libraries across the county. Three are still open — Rosedale, Merigold, and the main branch in Cleveland where Matheney works. While the role of the library has changed over time, it’s still an important community pillar in Cleveland, often going beyond just providing books for the city’s roughly 10,500 residents. 

“The library has changed in order to provide more information to the community. You would be surprised by the information that we provide for people that come in,” Matheney said. 

People come to the library for tax forms, voter registration forms and sometimes even to find phone numbers. Community elders often visit the library for help with electronics and electronic services. Some services, though, like the databases offered through the library, are underused. The library, Matheney said, is a learning and resource center. 

While most of Matheney’s work in youth services is with younger children, she also has a passion for working with teenagers. One of her fondest memories working at the library is when she operated the Teen Advisory Group, or TAG. 

“This was a group of teenagers that would come in and volunteer and plan different programs for the library,” she said. “The library is considered a safe place. I like to give teenagers something positive to do — they might not want to read a book or use the computer, but it was a safe place.”

TAG began with one teenager and at its height grew to a regular group of about 17. The goal was for the program to be something positive kids could participate in. TAG dissolved due to COVID, but it’s something Matheney wants to get started again. The library hosts teen game day every Wednesday at 3:30. And while it can be hard to get teens into the library, Matheney says you have to start somewhere. 

“A lot of people focus on a lot of people participating in a program,” she said. “If you can touch one person — that means a lot.” 

Cindy Williamson, her predecessor as youth services librarian, has worked with Matheney on and off nine years. She says Matheney is good with both kids and adults. 

“She’s just a very personable person. She’s a firecracker and just always has a smile on her face,” she said. 

Matheney couldn’t guess how many kids she had seen pass through the library during her time there. One of the highlights of her job, she said, is having the chance to watch people grow up. 

“It’s good to see some of the patrons who started out as kids coming in here,” she said. “It’s good to see them grow into adults, and it’s good for them to stop by and say, ‘Mrs. Bobbie, I just stopped by to see if you were still working here.’ Sometimes, I have to take a second look at them like — ‘who is this child? Who is this?’ You know, because they’ve grown up.”

A long-time pillar in one of the community’s most important institutions, Mrs. Bobbie is well known and well loved in Cleveland. In turn, she wants to be thought of as someone who loves everyone, too. 

“Bobbie loves everybody. That’s how I want to be thought of,” she said. “Mrs. Bobbie loves everybody.”

READ ALSO: Libraries see disconnect between use and popularity

The post Cleveland librarian found her calling matching kids with books appeared first on Mississippi Today.

People’s opinion of public libraries is as high as ever, but that isn’t translating into library visits and usage.

Annual reports from the Mississippi Library Commission show that library circulation per capita — that is, the number of library materials being circulated per person in a library’s given patron population — declined over five years. 

State libraries saw about a 43% decline in materials being checked out from the library between 2018 and 2022, the latest year for which figures are available, with a slight rebound from the 2020 pandemic period.

Mississippi’s numbers mirror a national trend. Physical library visits have been decreasing for years, dropping sharply because of the pandemic. Today, more people are visiting than during the pandemic, but still not as many as before 2020.

At the same time, public opinion of libraries remains high. A 2024 survey from YouGov  found that 85% of respondents had a favorable opinion of public libraries, 47% said they should get more funding, and 53% said public libraries were very important to the community. A 2023 report from the American Library Association found that 54% of Gen Z and Millennials had visited a library in the past year.

“It’s wide open for libraries to be a true community hub,” said Kristina Kelly, public relations coordinator for the Mississippi Library Commission.

Kelly believes one reason some people don’t visit libraries is because they don’t know what services are offered. 

Libraries offer a wide variety of services and resources. “We do address problems that patrons have that go beyond reference, beyond literacy,” said David Muse, branch manager of the G. Chastaine Flynt Memorial Library.

And Mississippi’s literacy rate ranks among the lowest in the nation.

Much of the recent media attention on libraries is on book bans. The American Library Association found that censorship in public libraries increased by 92% in 2023. State law in Mississippi prohibits public and school libraries from working with digital content vendors that offer “sexually oriented materials.”

Mississippi’s libraries have other issues that keep people away. For example, several libraries in the Jackson/Hinds system are in disrepair due to lack of funding and years of neglect. Three libraries are closed, and one of them, the main Eudora Welty Library, is set to be demolished and turned into a greenspace. 

“The state should evaluate creative ways to support library infrastructure so that the physical spaces remain open, whether that is putting more authority into the hands of the library systems themselves, increasing state-level funding, or even creative solutions like establishing revolving loan funds for library facilities or opening other similar government programs to library systems,” said Peyton Smith, board chairman of the Jackson/Hinds library system 

Libraries allow patrons to access a variety of materials from DVDs to plant seeds. For many people it’s the only way they can access the internet. BroadbandNow ranks Mississippi 45th in internet coverage, speed, and availability. 

People can use apps like OverDrive, Hoopla, and more to browse ebooks, videos, and music through their local library. Libraries also offer programming for all ages. 

Verna Myers, a 77-year-old retired teacher, has been going to the library for over 70 years. She reads to the children every Wednesday. “You can get everything here – DVDs, CDs, movies, books. You can get a lot of material that we could not get.”

Angel Walton, 22, says library programs expanded her horizons. “The library introduced me to so many different activities that I didn’t know people from Mississippi could have the opportunity [to do],” she said.

The post Libraries see disconnect between use and popularity appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A state-funded project to upgrade an already well-paved north Jackson cul-de-sac that runs by a Mississippi lawmaker’s house will go forward, a group of officials who oversee the project said on Thursday. 

Rebekah Staples, the director of the Capitol Complex Improvement District’s Project Advisory Committee, said at the group’s latest meeting that the project to repave the road near the legislator’s home and four other projects the Legislature allocated money for will proceed “as quickly as possible,” though some of the details are still being worked out. 

“I respect the Legislature and the governor passing the law,” Staples said. “We’re here to follow the law.” 

A Mississippi Today investigation revealed that House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, a Republican from Senatobia, helped steer $400,000 in state taxpayer funds to repave Simwood Place in Jackson, where he owns a house.

Simwood Place, located in the affluent LoHo neighborhood of northeast Jackson, is roughly one-tenth of a mile long, with only 14 single-family homes.

State lawmakers and the local Jackson City Council member who represents the area previously told Mississippi Today they did not ask state leaders to allocate money for the Simwood Place project. Lamar has declined to answer specific questions about the Simwood project but said any “innuendo of wrongdoing is baseless.” 

A spending bill passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves routed projects through the CCID committee. The advisory committee is housed in the Department of Finance and Administration.

DFA is the primary agency responsible for state government financial and administrative operations, including employee payroll, employee insurance and maintaining state buildings. However, the Legislature has also tasked the agency with overseeing some operations of the CCID.

Jackson City Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay is a member of the CCID committee and said she wants the five projects earmarked by the Legislature to proceed, but she does not want the committee to neglect the other projects they are currently overseeing.  

The CCID is funded through a 9% sales tax diversion and recommends to DFA and other state leaders which projects to fund. Efforts to expand the CCID and establish a separate court system within it have drawn outcry from several Jackson citizens and officials who view it as a state takeover of the more affluent areas of Jackson and claim the state otherwise gives the city few resources.

READ MORE: ‘Trey Way’: Millions in taxpayer funds flow to powerful lawmaker’s country club and Jackson neighborhoods

Liz Welch, the director of DFA, said at the meeting that the projects the committee has prioritized and the projects the Legislature has appropriated money for will run concurrently with one another. 

“We will not let these projects languish,” Welch said. “That’s not what we do. We’re going to come up with an internal process, and of course, we will discuss it with the advisory committee. But we’re going to do both.” 

It’s unclear exactly when DFA and the CCID committee will solicit bids for the project, but Staples and Welch said they hope to provide a substantive update to the rest of the committee by its next meeting on January 16.

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