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Most everyone at House Speaker Jason White’s tax summit said they support cutting taxes – even eliminating the personal income tax — but there were concerns expressed by many on whether that goal could be accomplished without negatively impacting vital state services.

White’s  chair of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, told the crowd gathered at a Flowood hotel Tuesday for the daylong summit that the upcoming 2025 legislative session is the time to begin the process of phasing out the income tax.

“I believe it is time to make really big transformative changes in our tax system,” Lamar said.

He said eliminating the income tax would make the state more competitive.

On the other hand, Sen. Jeremy England, R-Ocean Springs, said he also supported tax cuts, but said “baby steps” might be needed to ensure funds are available to pay for state services.

Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, the chair of the Senate’s tax writing Finance Committee, cautioned that time might be needed to see the results of previous massive tax cuts passed in 2022 and in 2016 that are still being phased in. Plus, Harkins pointed out that the state and its citizens received about $33 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds that have artificially bolstered state revenue. He said time might be needed to look at the financial condition of the state’s after the impact of those COVID-19 funds had faded.

White, who organized the summit that had more than 500 people registered to attend, stressed that there were no preconceived notions on what the House leadership’s recommendations for tax changes would be during the upcoming session. White said he had the summit as part of an effort to discuss and build consensus on improving the state’s tax structure.

But both White and Lamar have voiced strong support for phasing out the personal income and also for at least reducing the state’s 7% tax on groceries which is the highest of its kind in the nation.

Gov. Tate Reves, who also spoke at the summit at the invitation of White, also spelled out his reasons for supporting the elimination of the income tax.

He said Mississippi “was in the best financial situation … in our state’s history. Because of that there has never been a better time to eliminate the income tax.”

Harkins said eliminating the income tax would take about $2.2 billion out of state coffers. The grocery tax would reduce state revenue by less than $500 million.

Harkins said the state has many needs ranging from transportation infrastructure to shoring up the state’s public pension program that has a deficit of $25 billion.

Beside eliminating the income tax, Lamar said the goals of House leaders in their plan to make “monumental” changes in tax policy are to ensure cities and counties have sufficient revenue and  “to fix” the funding issues at the state Department of Transportation.

Central District Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons, D-Cleveland, and Transportation Executive Director Brad White said the 18-cents-a-gallon gasoline tax and other revenue directed to the agency is not enough. They said the agency needs an additional $480 million a year for road maintenance.

In recent years, the Legislature had provided an additional $1.3 billion to the MDOT in addition to the designated sources of revenue. But they said the agency needed an additional recurring revenue stream instead of having to wait to the end of each session to find out how much extra money the Legislature was providing transportation.

Other speakers included legislative leaders from other states that have worked on tax policy and national tax-cut advocate Grover Norquist. John McKay, executive director of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association, and Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker said the most important issues for companies are work force development and site preparation.

At the end of the day-long summit, White unveiled poll results compiled by nationwide Republican pollster Cygnal. The poll found 64% of Mississippians supported phasing out the income tax over a five year period.

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Attorneys for three men tortured by “Goon Squad” officers called for the censure and removal of Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey during a press conference Monday welcoming the Justice Department’s investigation into the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department. 

Malik Shabazz and Trent Walker, counsels with Black Lawyers for Justice, said they expect the federal investigation will counter the department’s claim in Parker and Jenkins’ lawsuit that abuses were limited to a small cadre of officers and that Bailey was unaware of violent practices.

In January 2023, six law enforcement officers from Mississippi made national headlines when they tortured two Black men, Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker, sexually assaulting them, even shooting Jenkins in the mouth. In March 2024, the officers – former Rankin County deputies Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Daniel Opdyke and former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield – were sentenced collectively to a total of 132 years in federal prison.

An investigation by the New York Times and Mississippi Today found that these incidents were just the tip of the iceberg, and part of a decades-long pattern of police brutality and abuses by law enforcement officials in Rankin County. Last week, the Justice Department announced that it was launching an investigation into the county’s policing practices. 

The attorneys described excessive force as a “systemic problem” linked to Bailey’s lack of oversight.

Walker said Bailey ignored abuses and that for “too long, this has gone on with a wink and a nod and has not been seriously addressed.”

Shabazz said that while the officers’ sentencing and the federal investigation are welcome steps, “justice looks like Rankin County stepping up to censure Bryan Bailey.” 

“There is no other sheriff’s department in America where such vicious criminals as the “Goon Squad” have been [sentenced] to 132 years in federal prison, and their supervisors remain on the job,” said Shabazz. 

The attorney for the sheriff’s department, Jason Dare, declined to comment in response.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is in the process of collecting signatures on a petition demanding that the governor oust Sheriff Bryan Bailey. A successful campaign would require the signatures of 30% of registered voters in Rankin County. That would mean 29,671 signatures. Angela English, president of the Rankin County NAACP branch, said that they almost have enough.

The attorneys also mentioned that Mississippi’s three-year statute of limitations prevents them from prosecuting on behalf of some victims. Among those victims is Samuel Carter. 

In 2016, Rankin County deputies raided Carter’s home in search of drugs. They dragged him into his bedroom, Carter and witnesses said, then beat him and shocked him repeatedly with a Taser. Department records show one of the deputies involved in the arrest triggered his Taser six times during the arrest. That deputy still works for the department.  

Shabazz invited other victims of abuse, witnesses, officers and former officers from Rankin County law enforcement to come forward.  But the sheriff’s office is “underinsured,” he added, and will need to pay more than its liability insurance covers to provide Parker and Jenkins “decent” compensation. The department’s policy is capped at $2.125 million, Shabazz said, with each payout decreasing the amount remaining for future claims.

“What they’re risking is a trial and a jury verdict that could cost Rankin County many millions – 50 million, 60 million,” said Shabazz. “And it’s an unnecessary risk as far as I’m concerned.”

Several lawyers told Carter he can no longer file a lawsuit against the department because the statute of limitations has expired, Carter said. But he hopes the Justice Department’s probe will unearth more cases like his and result in criminal charges for the deputies who have so far dodged accountability. 

“The ones who didn’t deserve what the law did to them, I hope it will come out,” he said. 

Brian Howey and Nate Rosenfield with The New York Times’s Local Investigations Fellowship. contributed to this report

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Bennie Brown, 71 years young, grew up in poverty in Jonestown, 15 miles from Clarksdale in Coahoma County, one of the poorest counties in the poorest state in the nation.

Brown’s earliest memories are of sitting on the front porch with his father, listening on the family radio to St. Louis Cardinals games on KMOX out of St. Louis.

“My dad was a baseball man, loved it,” Brown says. “He’d build a little fire out of leaves and twigs to keep the mosquitoes away and he’d listen to Harry Caray and Jack Buck just about every evening.”

Those St. Louis Cardinals included such remarkable Black ballplayers such as Bob Gibson, Bill White, and Curt Flood. Back then more than 15% of Major League Baseball players were African American, including many of the sport’s brightest stars. Today, only 6.7% of Major Leaguers are Black. The percentage has trended downward for decades.

The No. 1 reason is primarily one of economics. Youth baseball costs money, not only for the equipment. Young Bennie Brown loved the sport almost as much as his dad. When he and his buddies out in the country played ball, they used their caps for gloves, tree limbs for bats and a cheap rubber ball for a baseball. There was no money for gloves or bats. There were no little leagues. There were certainly no travel leagues. 

It has remained that way out in Coahoma County in communities such as Jonestown, Lyon, Lula and Friars Point. But that’s about to change. In Jonestown, But God Ministries (BGM) has partnered with Major League Baseball Players Youth Development Foundation and Brasfield & Gorrie General Contractors to fund a $3 million state-of-the-art baseball/softball complex that will be known as Hope Field.

Coahoma County High School, which has never had a baseball field or softball field, will play their games there. So will organized youth leagues from T-ball on up. The land has been cleared and leveled. Baseball and softball diamonds have been carved. Bleachers, concession stands are under construction. Light poles are about to go up. Construction should be complete by December and ready for play next spring.

“I just can’t begin to tell you how much this is going to mean to our young people,” Brown said. “This has exceeded by wildest dreams.”

“Our boys and girls are going to have a place to play,” says Bennie Brown, who serves as associate community manager of But God Ministries.

The Hope Field baseball and softball facility will soon be a reality, and now But God Ministries is raising money to help fund the recreation leagues that will play games there. To that end, BGM has gathered several of Mississippi baseball’s most successful coaches to take part in a fund-raising dinner event on Thursday night (6 p.m.) at Broadmoor Baptist Church in Madison. Longtime Mississippi State broadcaster Jim Ellis will moderate a baseball discussion with coaching legends Ron Polk, Scott Berry, Mike Bianco and Bob Braddy. Ballpark fare will be served. Admission is $30.

The baseball/softball project is the latest in a long line of BGM projects to improve the lives of poor folks in Coahoma County. BGM already has also spearheaded a medical clinic, a dental clinic, a law clinic, a community center, an economic development center and a Montessori school.

Said BGM executive director Stan Buckley, “One thing I love about this baseball project is that it is something that will affect thousands of children and their families for many years to come. I think of the baseball fields on which I played as a child in Natchez. Those fields are still there and are being used over 40 years after I played on them. There is no telling how many children have played on those fields over the decades. The same will be true of our fields in Jonestown. Many children over a significant period of time will be touched through this project.”

Hope Field really is a dream come true for Coahoma County High School baseball and softball coach Wesley Davis, whose teams have played its home games at dilapidated fields in Clarksdale. 

“The field we have played on had bad lighting, a flat pitcher’s mound, holes all over it and flooded every time it rained,” Davis said. “Plus it was a long way from where most of our players live. Many of these families don’t have transportation. This new facility is going to mean the world to us. I can’t wait.”

Buckley gives much credit for the Hope Field project to Jim Gorrie, CEO of Brasfield and Gorrie, which built the Atlanta Braves’ Trust Park. This will make a long story really short: Gorrie and Buckley met while working on mission trips in Haiti. Buckley asked Gorrie to come see what BGM was working on in the Jonestown area. Gorrie came and was intrigued. When he asked what he could do to help, Bennie Brown mentioned a baseball field. So Gorrie contacted his friends in Major League Baseball, MLB became involved, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Hope Field will have artificial turf in the infield and a Bermuda grass outfield. It will be a regulation-sized field, but will be convertible to smaller T-ball and youth league fields.

It’s the T-Ball and youth leagues that most excite Davis, who believes those leagues will help develop players for his high school teams.

“We’ve got plenty of athletic talent,” Davis says. “They’ve just never had a place to play baseball.”

If Luke Easter were alive, he would surely be smiling. Luke Easter, you say? Easter was a Black baseball pioneer, born in Jonestown in 1915, whose family moved to St. Louis after his mother died when he was 7 years old. Easter grew up to become one of the great power hitters of the old Negro Baseball Leagues, playing for the Homestead Grays in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. Easter called his home runs “Easter Eggs” and he hit many for both the Grays and later the Cleveland Indians after Jackie Robinson broke the color line in Major League Baseball.

Had Easter’s mother not died and his family not moved away from Jonestown, Luke Easter most likely never would have played baseball. There was no place to play.

There will be now.

For tickets to Thursday night’s 6 p.m. program at Broadmoor Baptist Church www.butgodministries.com or call the BGM office at 601–983–1179.

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BATON ROUGE, La. — Mayors from 10 states along the Mississippi River convened in Louisiana’s capital this week to announce a cooperative agreement between the working river’s ports. 

In town for the annual Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative meeting, the mayors also called upon the next U.S. president to prioritize several federal policy changes to support the 105 cities represented by the initiative. 

On Wednesday, mayors from the Midwestern Corn Belt joined mayors from Louisiana to sign the Mississippi River Ports Cooperative Endeavor Agreement. The agreement is the first to ensure cooperation between the inland ports in the heart of the corn belt and the coastal ports of Louisiana that export 60% of the nation’s agricultural products.

Vicksburg, Mississippi, Mayor George Flaggs praised the move in a statement on Friday, adding that he and the other mayors there were paying particular attention to environmental issues along the river such as the ongoing drought.

“This agreement ensures that ports from St. Louis to St. Paul will receive federal designation, a significant step that will bolster commerce and strengthen the economic impact of the entire Mississippi River region,” Flaggs said.

The inland ports between St. Louis and St. Paul were not federally recognized until 2022, said Robert Sinkler, executive coordinating director of the Corn Belt Ports. With the support of the Mississippi River cities initiative, the Corn Belt Ports initiative launched in 2019 to advocate for federal recognition of those ports.

Now, the corn belt and coastal ports will take on commerce-related policy actions together, for the first time in Mississippi River history, said Sinkler. The river moves nearly one trillion dollars in product through its ports annually, according to MRCTI. Maintaining the navigation capability on the river is a key part of the agreement. 

Drought disrupts commerce and drinking water along the Mississippi River corridor

For the third year in a row, the Midwest is under extreme drought conditions, which have led to low water levels that threaten to disrupt barge transports carrying fuel and grain. The 16-month drought spanning from 2022 to 2023 cost the nation $26 billion. The drought of 2012 cost the Mississippi River corridor $35 billion.

Belinda Constant, mayor of Gretna, Louisiana, said that droughts often cost more than floods, but do not qualify as “major disasters” worthy of relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

“We still are not able to capture federal disaster declarations for drought or intense heat,” Constant said. 

While drought is not considered a “major disaster” by FEMA, the president can declare one. President Joe Biden declared a federal emergency last September in Louisiana when the effects of drought caused salt water to intrude up the Mississippi River and threaten drinking water.

FEMA is not set up to provide relief for intense droughts or extreme heat, which are expected to become more extreme, according to the Fifth National Climate Assessment. The federal government does offer support through other agencies, such as farm losses through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Constant asked the next U.S. president to update FEMA regulations to include droughts and extreme heat. Earlier this summer, dozens of labor and environmental groups filed a petition to push FEMA to declare extreme heat and wildfire smoke as “major disasters,” on par with other natural disasters such as floods and tornadoes. 

Constant said the next administration should also create a mechanism to incentivize or compensate manufacturers and farmers who recycle water or reduce water usage during dry periods. 

Louisiana is again dealing with drought. As of Sept. 13, 2024, the saltwater wedge had reached river mile 45, corroding drinking water infrastructure below Port Sulphur and inching toward Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana. Earlier this week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began construction on an underwater sill near Myrtle Grove to help slow the creep of saltwater intrusion for the third summer in a row.

But the drought impacts all communities along the Mississippi River, not just those in southern Louisiana. And 50 cities with a total population of 20 million people depend on the Mississippi River for their drinking water.

“Memphis depends on the health of the corridor to power our international port and fuel our multi-billion-dollar outdoor recreation and tourism industry,” said Paul Young, mayor of Memphis, Tennessee. The tournament fishing industry is worth billions in revenue. 

“It is vital we work to safeguard the Mississippi River together,” he added.

Advocating for the Mississippi River corridor as a whole

The 105 cities represented by inititiuave also called on the next U.S. president to advocate for the corridor both at home and internationally. “We are asking the next president to please work with us to enact a federal Mississippi River program through which we can deploy infrastructure spending at a multi-state scale,” said Hollies J. Winston, mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. 

On the global stage, the initiative has advocated for the Mississippi River corridor at five United Nations climate meetings. Bob Gallagher, mayor of Bettendorf, Iowa, called on the next President to ensure that the nation remains a part of the Paris Agreement to sustain the corridor’s $500 billion in revenue.

“Serving as a past co-chair of MRCTI along with being from an agricultural state, I know firsthand that U.S. participation in the Paris Accord helps us compete and move our commodities and goods across the world to other markets,” said Gallagher. 

Pulling out of the Paris Agreement could trigger tariffs for goods coming from a non-signatory nation. Leaving the international climate accord would place farmers and manufacturers at a potential disadvantage in the global market, said Gallagher.

In 2017, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. In 2021, on President Biden’s first day in office, the U.S. rejoined the international agreement to limit temperature increases.

“We can’t afford to make any policy decisions that will jeopardize the $164 billion in agricultural commodities the Mississippi River makes possible every year,” said Gallagher. 

Mitch Reynolds, mayor of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and the initiative’s co-chair, said that the advocacy work of the initiative is paramount to defending the health of the river and its communities. 

The Mississippi River Ports Cooperative Endeavor Agreement unites the communities along the corridor in a shared commitment to protect, restore and manage the river’s resources sustainably, said Sharon Weston Broome, mayor of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and host of the initiative’s 13th annual meeting.

“We urge the next administration to increase its focus on the river, its impact on the national economy and its continued need for stewardship,” said Broome.

This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation. MRCTI is also a Walton grantee. 

Mississippi Today environmental reporter Alex Rozier contributed to this report.

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Editor’s note: Mississippi Today and the Mississippi Humanities Council cosponsored an event – “Reimagining Statuary Hall” – on Sept. 18 at The Station in Fondren. Several speakers suggested accomplished Mississippians to represent the state in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol. Currently, statues of staunch segregationists Jefferson Davis and J..Z. George represent Mississippi. What follows is Mississippi Today investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell’s pitch from the event.

Medgar Evers dove onto the sand at Normandy. In the weeks following the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944. He joined a million soldiers fighting to expand the beachhead. The Luftwaffe strafed and bombed them, hoping to push them back into the sea.

He was also part of the Red Ball Express, which provided fuel, food and other critical supplies as Allied troops pushed back the German forces.

As Allied forces freed more of France from Nazi occupation, Evers enjoyed life without the color line. He could eat in any restaurant he desired. He even fell in love with a French girl.

After battling the Nazis, he returned to Mississippi and fought racism all over again in the form of Jim Crow, which barred Black Americans from restaurants, restrooms and voting booths. When he tried to vote in his hometown of Decatur, Mississippi, he and other Black war veterans were turned away by an armed white mob.

After graduating from Alcorn College, he worked for his mentor, Dr. T.R.M. Howard, and was involved in passing out bumper stickers across the Delta that read, “Don’t Buy Gas Where You Can’t Use the Restroom.”

In January 1954, he tried to enroll at the University of Mississippi School of Law — only to be turned away. NAACP officials considered taking up his case but were so impressed with him they decided instead to hire him as the first field secretary for the Mississippi NAACP.

He investigated violence against African Americans, including the 1955 assassinations of the Rev. George Lee and Lamar Smith, who were killed because they helped Black Mississippians register to vote.

He worked with Dr. Howard on the lynching of Emmett Till and helped find new witnesses.

The economic threats and violence became so great that Dr. Howard and others left Mississippi, but Medgar Evers stayed.

He helped James Meredith enroll at Ole Miss, and he logged 40,000 miles a year traveling the roads, sometimes flooring it past 100 to escape those hell-bent on harming him. 

His telephone rang at all hours with threats. Some were short and emphatic: “We’re going to kill you, N-word.” Others described how they planned to torture him.

Evers told a CBS reporter, “They say I’m going to be dead soon, that they’re going to blow up my house, that they’re going to blow my head off. If I die, it will be a good cause. I’m fighting for America just as much as the soldiers in Vietnam.”

After the white mayor of Jackson chastised the civil rights movement in Mississippi in spring 1963, Evers won his FCC bid for “equal time” to respond. He talked on television about the mistreatment of Black Mississippians and in so doing he became even more of a target. The Evers’ home was firebombed.

Hours after President Kennedy told the nation that the grandchildren of those enslaved are “not yet freed from the bonds of injustice,” Evers was shot in the back as he stepped onto his own driveway in Jackson, Mississippi. His wife, Myrlie Evers, heard the shot, ran outside, saw the blood and screamed. When the children heard the scream, they ran outside and saw their father.

“Daddy, get up,” his 8-year-old daughter, Reena, said. “Daddy, get up.”

He never did.

On Evers’ birthday in 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act

Three decades later, his family finally saw his assassin convicted.

“All I want to say is, ‘Yay, Medgar, yay!’” Myrlie Evers declared as she wiped away tears. “My God, I don’t have to say accused assassin anymore. … what he failed to realize was that Medgar was still alive in spirit and through each and every one of us who wanted to see justice done.”

That justice inspired others. To date, 24 men have been convicted in civil rights cold cases.

A year after Evers’ killer went to prison, Myrlie Evers became chairman of the national NAACP and helped rescue the civil rights organization from the brink of bankruptcy.

She continues to break boundaries. She became the first lay person to deliver the inaugural invocation at Barack Obama’s second inauguration.

She cheered when Mississippi removed the Confederate emblem from the state flag, and she told me the reason we keep repeating its history is we don’t know our history.

Putting Medgar Evers in Statuary Hall would honor a fallen soldier in the war against hate and would help ensure that we know our history so that we don’t repeat it.

READ MORE: Other Southern states removed white supremacist statues from Washington. Will Mississippi?

READ MORE: J.Z. George’s descendant advocates for removing the statue of the Confederate icon from the nation’s Capitol

READ MORE: Mississippi’s Jefferson Davis statue has new neighbor in U.S. Capitol: Arkansas civil rights leader

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Editor’s note: Mississippi Today and the Mississippi Humanities Council cosponsored an event – “Reimagining Statuary Hall” – on Sept. 18 at The Station in Fondren. Several speakers suggested accomplished Mississippians to represent the state in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol. Currently, statues of staunch segregationists Jefferson Davis and J..Z. George represent Mississippi. What follows is Mississippi Today sports columnist Rick Cleveland’s pitch from the event.

I have spent a lifetime writing about football, primarily Mississippi football. I have watched and written about many of the greatest football players to ever play the sport. And I am here to tell you Walter Payton of Columbia and Jackson State is easily the greatest all-around football player I have ever seen or ever hope to see.

You don’t have to take it from me. The National Football League is the most popular and easily the most successful sports organization on Earth. Since the league began, tens of thousands have played and coached. And here’s the deal: The most cherished award the NFL gives is known as the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which recognizes excellence both on and off the field. At first, the award was known just as the NFL Man of the Year. Payton himself won it in 1977. Shortly after Walter’s untimely death in 1999, the league renamed the trophy as a tribute to Walter’s incredible work ethic, his football greatness and his legacy as a giver, a humanitarian.

Now then, choosing just two people to represent Mississippi in the National Statuary Hall Collection is an incredibly difficult task. That said we can do a whole lot better than we have. Mississippi has the highest percentage of Black population in the United States. To have two Confederate leaders, champions of slavery, representing us in the U.S. Capitol is nothing short of appalling. Mississippi’s two statues should be of people who represent what we do best. They should represent the best of Mississippi, not the worst. We do many things exceedingly well, including writing books, making music and playing sports.

You could argue — and I will — that we excel at nothing more than we do football. Mississippi has produced more NFL players per capita than any other state. And it’s not just quantity; it’s quality. We have produced more Pro Football Hall of Famers per capita than any other state, as well.

Our football heroes, Black and White, have emerged mostly from small towns. Walter Jerry Payton, nicknamed “Sweetness,” grew up in Columbia and came along at the cusp of integration. Walter was part of the first integrated football team at Columbia High School. In many ways, Columbia was a microcosm of Mississippi society as it pertains to integration: Black kids and White kids were playing organized sports together for the first time, working together, sweating together as teammates and being all the better for it. The late Maurice Dantin, a political leader and a candidate for governor, was a lineman on that first integrated team. He was, as he put it, one of seven White guys, blocking for four Black guys. Maurice told me: “The first time I saw Walter I was like everybody else. I was astounded. He did things on the football field I could never have imagined. Off the field, he was a good guy, a regular guy, a great teammate.” The two, Payton and Dantin, were friends for life.

That happened in small towns across Mississippi. Sports, football especially, showed the way. We were better for it. It says something about Mississippi a little more than half a century ago that Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Southern Miss, the three major football colleges in the state, did not recruit such a remarkable talent. I was a neophyte sports writer in Hattiesburg at the time. We had a Columbia correspondent, an elderly woman named Eva B. Beets, who called in the Columbia results every Friday night. I’ll never forget her rich, melodious Southern voice. “Rickey,” she’d drawl, “you are not going to believe what that Payton young’un did tonight…” In his last high school game, Walter scored six touchdowns, and on the last one he ran the last 35 yards backwards. Nobody could catch him.

Well that was it for the coaches at historically white universities. They weren’t about to have their first Black football player be a showboat drawing attention to himself. It remains singularly the dumbest thing I have ever heard. You can teach a player how to run forward and then hand the ball to the referee after scoring a touchdown; you can’t teach him how to score six touchdowns. Walter led the nation in scoring and set an NCAA scoring record at Jackson State. With the Chicago Bears, he scored a remarkable 125 touchdowns and handed the ball to the official after nearly every one.

Walter became the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, but he also excelled as a blocker, a receiver, a passer, a kick returner and even as a punter and kicker. He would have been a helluva strong safety, too. I once asked the great linebacker D.D. Lewis of Mississippi State and the Dallas Cowboys who was the hardest guy he ever had to tackle. D.D. didn’t hesitate. “Walter Payton, by far,” he answered. “It hurt. I mean, it really hurt. Trying to tackle Walter was like trying to tackle a 215-pound bowling ball.”

D.D., as any player who played with or against Walter, had the utmost respect for No. 34. Walter Payton was the epitome of what any athlete should strive for: Uncommon ability, superhuman work ethic, beloved teammate.

I’ll be honest with you. I don’t know who Mississippi’s two statues in the U.S. Capitol should be. I do know there are so many great choices other than what we have. And I believe Walter Payton, the greatest to ever do what Mississippians do best, should be strongly considered.

READ MORE: Other Southern states removed white supremacist statues from Washington. Will Mississippi?

READ MORE: J.Z. George’s descendant advocates for removing the statue of the Confederate icon from the nation’s Capitol

READ MORE: Mississippi’s Jefferson Davis statue has new neighbor in U.S. Capitol: Arkansas civil rights leader

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Healthcare professionals and advocates are gearing up for the 10th Annual Mississippi Perinatal Quality Collaborative (MSPQC) Statewide Conference, a landmark event celebrating a decade of commitment to improving perinatal care in Mississippi. The conference, themed “A Decade of Dedication: Enhancing Perinatal Outcomes in Mississippi,” will take place on September 26-27, 2024, at the Sheraton Flowood: The Refuge Hotel & Conference Center.

Monica Stinson, MSPQC Program Manager, emphasized the importance of collaboration: “We invite all healthcare professionals and stakeholders in perinatal health to join us in committing to the ongoing work of improving care for mothers and newborns across Mississippi.”

This two-day event offers a comprehensive program. The Preconference Day on September 26th provides training opportunities for hospital teams, while the Full Conference on September 27th runs from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., featuring expert speakers, informative sessions, and networking opportunities.

Kim Sheffield, NNP-BC, MSPQC Neonatal Clinical Improvement Advisor, highlighted the impact of their efforts: “We have seen remarkable outcomes from our collaborative efforts. Our shared commitment to quality improvement has truly made a difference in maternal and neonatal care in Mississippi.”

The conference will highlight ongoing projects facilitated by MSPQC focusing on developing, disseminating, and implementing best practices in clinical settings that care for mothers and infants. Attendees will hear firsthand accounts from peers about their successful project implementations, offering valuable insights, lessons learned and practical knowledge. This event is not only a reflection of past work in the field, but also a critical opportunity to discuss future strategies and innovations in maternal and neonatal care.

To learn more about the Mississippi Perinatal Quality Collaborative and how to get involved, contact Monica Stinson at mspqc@msphi.org.

The Mississippi Perinatal Quality Collaborative is a program of the Mississippi Public Health Institute, dedicated to pursing excellence in maternal and infant health for all families in the state.

The post Ten Years of Advancing Maternal and Infant Health: The 10th Annual Mississippi Perinatal Quality Collaborative Conference appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Justice Department announced Thursday that it had expanded its investigation into the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department where a self-described “Goon Squad” of deputies has been accused of torturing people for nearly two decades.

Investigators will seek to determine if the suburban Mississippi sheriff’s department engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional policing through widespread violence, illegal searches and arrests or other discriminatory practices.

“Since the Goon Squad’s sickening acts came to light, we have received reports of other instances where Rankin deputies overused Tasers, entered homes unlawfully, bandied about shocking racial slurs, and deployed dangerous, cruel tactics to assault people in their custody,” Kristen Clark, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, said during a press conference.

Rankin County came to national attention last year after deputies, some from the Goon Squad, tortured two Black men in their home and shot one of them, nearly killing him. Six officers pleaded guilty and were sentenced to federal prison in March.

An investigation by The New York Times and Mississippi Today later revealed that nearly two dozen residents experienced similar brutality over two decades when Rankin deputies burst into their homes looking for illegal drugs.

During the press conference Thursday, Todd Gee, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, noted that journalists “have compiled harrowing” details of torture and abuse of Rankin County citizens.

He also recalled hearing first-hand accounts of alleged abuse from “men and women, old and young alike,” during community meetings in Rankin County.

“If the Justice Department determines this is a pattern or practice, we will seek remedies,” Gee said.

In a statement on Facebook, the sheriff’s office wrote that it would “fully cooperate with all aspects of this investigation, while also welcoming DOJ’s input into our updated policies and practices.”

Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey has sought to distance himself from the brutality of his deputies, saying he was never aware of any of these acts.

But some of the deputies who pleaded guilty said during their sentencing hearings that they were rewarded for their use of violence or that they modeled their behavior on those who supervised them.

In some cases, residents who accused deputies of violence filed lawsuits or said they lodged complaints with the department. 

The Times and Mississippi Today identified 20 deputies who were present at one or more of the incidents. They included several high-ranking officials: an undersheriff, detectives and a deputy who became a local police chief.

The investigation marks the 12th pattern or practice investigation into law enforcement misconduct by the current administration. Justice Department officials said previous investigations in other cities were followed by a reduction in use of force by the local officers.

Trent Walker, the lawyer for Eddie Parker and Michael Jenkins, said his clients are “exceedingly happy” about the investigation into the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department and hope the department is held to account “for its long and storied history of brutality, discriminatory policy and excessive force.”

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