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Since the U.S. and Israel began attacking Iran, every place Delana Karimi-Tavakol’s family previously lived has been bombed.

Karimi-Tavakol is an Iranian-American who lives in Jackson. Both sides of her family are from Iran. Though none of her relatives live there now, some of her friends and family members’ friends have been impacted.

She was among those protesting Thursday with Mississippi for a Just World, at the corner of Woodrow Wilson and North State Street in Jackson, to oppose the Trump administration’s ongoing attack on Iran.

The group’s “Stop the War on Humanity” protest opposes the attack on Iran, what the group believes is the inhumane treatment of Palestinians and the crackdown on immigration in the United States.

The protesters said the attack on Iran is aggressive and unconstitutional. They’re also concerned that underprivileged Black and brown people in the U.S. military will be most at-risk in a ground invasion, and that the money spent on the war could be used to improve the lives of U.S. citizens.

“It’s an endless war that is going on on humanity, and so we wanted to bring attention to that,” said Candace Abdul-Tawwab, co-founder and executive director of Mississippi for a Just World.

The group is asking supporters to sign a petition. Faridah Abdul-Tawwab, director of research and education for the group, called on Mississippians to call their congressional representatives to urge them to vote in favor of a war powers resolution requiring congressional approval for President Donald Trump to continue the war.

“If an action, if an initiative, if a policy, if it supports human dignity, we’re asking Mississippians to support it,” Abdul-Tawwab said.

“And if it’s an assault on human dignity, if it somehow undermines human dignity in any way, shape or form, whoever supports it … we’re asking that you oppose it on the grounds of a shared humanity.”

Early Saturday, the U.S. and Israel launched joint attacks against Iran as part of a military campaign the U.S. is calling Operation Epic Fury. In retaliation, Iran has launched attacks against U.S., Israeli and allied targets in the region.

The conflict has spread across Persian Gulf states, with no clear end in sight.

The death toll in Iran is over 1,230. Among the casualties were Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, several top government officials and at least 175 people at a girls’ school. Six American service members were killed in Kuwait on the second day of the conflict.

On Wednesday, Republicans in the Senate voted down a war powers resolution that would have required the president to get Congress’ approval before taking further action against Iran. The House voted down a similar resolution Thursday. 

While Karimi-Tavakol said she opposes the regime and wants Iran to be free, she doesn’t believe foreign intervention is the right path. She echoed the belief that the money spent on this conflict would be better spent on U.S. domestic issues such as health care, education and infrastructure.

“As a Mississippian, if you have any issues at all with your quality of life around you, then you have a problem with the U.S. war machine, because it is taking money straight out of your pocket … and into bombs to kill other people,” she said.

She also expressed concern about the loss of human life, ecosystems and culture.

“We’re losing our medicines. We’re losing our biodiversity. We’re losing our histories. We’re losing our heritage every time a bomb falls,” she said.

Karimi-Tavakol said many other Iranian-Americans in Mississippi are against their protest.

While she said she can’t speak for them, she thought some people, including a lot of Iranian-Americans, were “engaging in a kind of black-and-white thinking where either you’re against the Iranian government or you’re against the U.S. and Israel.”

She wore a pair of gold earrings with the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom,” written in Persian. She wore them because she believes these things should be central, and they aren’t in war. The slogan originates from a Kurdish women’s movement and was popularized after the murder of Mahsa Amini, whose suspicious death in 2022 inspired a protest movement in Iran.

“If you support women, if you support life, if you support freedom, then you oppose this war period,” Karimi-Tavakol said.

Mississippi fourth-graders’ academic gains have garnered national attention over the past decade. Now, lawmakers say they want to push students even further — especially in math. 

Mississippi fourth graders’ average math scores on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress were higher than their peers in at least 18 other states and in 20 other states in reading — a dramatic rise from the state’s standing a decade ago.

Experts say the big gains in fourth grade reading were in large part due to the 2013 Literacy-Based Promotion Act, a state law that raised literacy standards and established a reading “gate,” a test that third graders have to pass to advance to fourth grade. The legislation focused on reading, but math scores started rising around the same time. 

However, despite the state’s national standing, the proficiency rates are middling. Just 38% of fourth-graders were proficient in math in 2024, and 32% in reading. 

By middle school, those rates falter even further: 22% of Mississippi eighth graders scored NAEP Proficient or better on the 2024 math national assessment. It’s an improvement from 9% in 2000, but still lower than the national average. In reading, 23% of Mississippi eighth graders scored at or above NAEP Proficient in 2024, which is slightly lower than pre-pandemic averages. That average is also lower than in 27 other states.

This year, state leaders are trying to prevent that drop-off and sharpen their focus on math.

Senate Bill 2294 would expand the state’s existing literacy act into higher grades and establish a math framework that would involve interventions similar to those that contributed to the state’s celebrated gains in reading. That framework would be Mississippi’s first statewide math initiative. (The bill’s original language, which was entirely replaced by the House Education Committee, would have required computer science courses for high schools.)

A portion of the bill dubbed the “Mississippi Math Act” would establish Moving Mathematics in Mississippi (M3), a framework that would require supports such as math coaches in all schools, prioritizing grades 2-6, screeners and targeted interventions and establishing a cut-off score on the state’s fifth-grade math assessment to ensure students are ready to take algebra classes.

“I think our reading success is something people talk about because it’s been a national topic of conversation across the country,” said Grace Breazeale, a K-12 researcher at policy advocacy organization Mississippi First. “It’s not that math has necessarily been cast to the side over the past two decades — we have seen improvement — but there’s still a lot of room for improvement as well.”

The math push, in particular, is in line with the Mississippi Department of Education’s shift toward economic development and workforce fortification. The department has recently reworked the standards by which schools are rated with a new focus on career and technical education. The state Board of Education approved the new accountability standards in November. 

Lawmakers say focusing on math will boost the state’s economy and pave the way for higher employment rates. 

“We’ve got to change the culture in our schools,” said Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford. She authored a Math Act bill in her chamber, but the House killed it. “Instead of kids saying, ‘I’m bad at math,’ they should be saying, ‘I can do this.’ When we change that, we’re going to change the jobs our kids are able to go into and the careers they choose.”

Adapting the Alabama model for math gains

Boyd remembers what it was like to look down at a sheet of math problems, wrought with frustration. Decades later, Boyd said, that feeling returned when her daughter came home with math homework and asked her to help.

“ I don’t want a child to feel that way,” she said. “I don’t want any parent to feel that way.”

That’s why Boyd has championed the math act in her chamber. 

The bill was drafted with direction from the Mississippi Department of Education and with an eye toward other states that have implemented similar acts. Alabama, in particular, was a model, Boyd said. 

Alabama established a math act in 2022 aimed at improving K-5 math proficiency through intensive student interventions and teacher training, among other things. Subsequently, Alabama is the only state where average fourth grade math NAEP scores were higher in 2024 than in 2019. There was no significant change in average NAEP scores for Mississippi fourth graders.

Latrenda Knighten, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, has been watching Alabama’s progress closely. 

“They were one of the first to make that commitment and stick to it, and you’ve seen that incremental change,” she said. “Slow and steady wins the race. That is because they thought about what the students needed and what the teachers needed.”

Mississippi Education Department officials say the act’s framework, Moving Mathematics in Mississippi, would build on work the department is already doing, and similarly to the 2013 literacy act, it’s centered around collecting data, identifying struggling students and coaching teachers.

The math efforts would be concentrated in grades 2-6, said Wendy Clemons, the agency’s chief academic officer. 

“Really focusing on those grades, we feel, will make a difference,” she said. “Obviously our state made a very focused, laser-like investment in K-3 literacy. My belief is that much of our tremendous success has to do with that commitment.”

The department already deploys coaches to the most vulnerable districts and schools and hosts a statewide math conference for educators, but teachers say they want and need more support, Clemons said. 

“We worked with the department really closely on this,” said House Education Committee Vice Chairman Kent McCarty, a Republican from Hattiesburg. “They’ve been implementing math coaches in districts throughout the state since 2023. We got a lot of data from them about where that’s worked, and we felt like the best thing we could do is expand on what they’re already doing.”

The act won’t establish a “gate” but it would put more focus on the fifth grade state math assessment. If students perform poorly on the test, parents would be notified, and an individualized plan would include specific steps to help that child improve their math proficiency. 

And there’s more to come. Lawmakers, including Boyd, say they’d like to see even more added to the bill, like more support for parents and more math training for education students.

On the right track for improving math instruction

Experts say there are some essential components to successfully teach math.

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Knighten’s organization, identifies five “strands” that should be part of math education for teachers and students: conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, strategic competence, adaptive reasoning and productive disposition.

And the Mississippi Department of Education’s standards, which establish a roadmap for K-12 mathematics education, are based on the council’s standards. The agency allows districts to choose their own curriculum from seven selected “high-quality instructional materials.”

There are also four cornerstones to math education in Mississippi, Clemons said. It needs to be cohesive, on grade level, data-driven and include standards-aligned lessons. 

During Mississippi’s literacy push, lawmakers had the same goal of establishing consistency across districts. 

“We picked this one way that science said works, and we went with it,” Boyd said of literacy instruction. “Training and everything was done with literacy coaches to really make sure we were teaching in one way. So when children moved from district to district, there was a consistency.”

A big part of the math bill would be deploying more coaches to districts across the state to underscore the importance of the standards and applying them uniformly. 

“We haven’t had the investment in mathematics as we have in literacy,” Clemons said. “We just haven’t been able to say, ‘This is what’s gonna make the difference. This will provide a lot more capacity, both at the state level and in the district levels, to provide that support to teachers and to students.’”

Knighten said Mississippi officials are on the right track.

“Math has always been a stepchild, for want of a better explanation. You hear people say they want to focus on math and reading, but when you look at the numbers, we spend more on literacy … so I’m excited to hear about what your state is doing.”

Changing the culture around math

If state leaders want to see math gains, David Rock, dean of education at the University of Mississippi, recommends starting at the college level.

“Everyone seemed to come together on literacy and did the training for pre-service teachers, and the results are there,” he said. “I want to see the same focus and passion on the math side.”

After the 2013 literacy act, college education students were required to take more literacy education classes to graduate. The same needs to happen for math, Boyd said, to combat a culture of fear around math among students and teachers. 

It’s a self-perpetuating cycle: Students who aren’t confident in math don’t want to teach it. Fewer well-trained math teachers means fewer students who have a robust math education. 

“I realize there are people who have math anxiety,” Rock said. “To overcome that, we need to provide more training and opportunity to our pre-service teachers.”

In addition to ramping up math training for teachers, some lawmakers are also interested in enshrining specific math standards in state law, establishing a math “gate” and promoting a single curriculum for math instead of letting districts choose one.

“What I’ve heard from my body is they want more than what we’ve just put in the act,” Boyd said. “It’s a work in progress.”

It’s important to get the bill right, she said — not only for the success of the state’s education system, but Mississippi as a whole. 

“There are so many jobs that are just not available to somebody if they don’t have a solid math background,” Boyd said. “We’ve got to increase these math scores because it opens up a world of opportunity.”

A bad state revenue report for February could give legislators cause for concern as they begin work in earnest on the budget for the year that begins July 1.

While revenue, primarily state tax collections, appears to remain stable through the first seven months of the fiscal year, February was troublesome. Collections for the month were $65.3 million below the estimate, a shortfall of or 13.3%. The estimate is important because it represents the amount of money legislative leaders say will be available to budget for education, health care, law enforcement and other public services.

The state’s financial experts are fond of saying one month of collections does not make a trend. Several factors, such as late reporting or even the late January ice storm, could have played a role in the subpar collections for February.

But still, the February report comes at an inopportune time. If it is a start of a trend, that could mean collections could be down for the coming fiscal year. If legislators believe that is the case, they might want to re-adjust the estimate for the coming year and spend less money.

That could be a bad omen for the prospects of the teacher pay raise – as much as $5,000 per year – that legislators have been touting and dangling in front of public education advocates.

It would be up to Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, as chair of the Legislative Budget Committee this year, to decide whether to set in motion the process to possibly reduce the estimate, resulting in less money for a teacher pay raise and other items.

It is not farfetched to surmise that the war with Iran that threatens to spike gas prices, and inflation could lead to an economic slowdown and lower revenue collections.

At the very least, revenue collections already have slowed dramatically from the post COVID-19 pandemic, when the state had unprecedented spikes in collections.

Through February, seven months into the current fiscal year, state revenue collections are $99.5 million above the official estimate adopted by legislative leaders upon the recommendation of the state’s financial experts, such as the state economist, treasurer, tax commissioner and others. That is 2.1% above expectations.

Through February, based on data recently released by the staff of the Legislative Budget Committee, revenue collections are a modest $76.4 million more than the amount collected during the same period one year ago, up 1.6%.

Those numbers are a far cry from the unprecedented 15.9% or nearly $1 billion increase in revenue from July 1, 2020, until June 30, 2021, followed by a 9.4% increase for the following year. Those collections allowed legislators to build a more than $2 billion surplus that they still maintain.

A number of factors helped lead to those unprecedented collections.

Perhaps the biggest factor was the billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funds that poured into the state and spurred the economy, resulting in greatly enhanced consumer spending.

Another factor was the inflation that came as a result of the boost in consumer spending that occurred after a period during the pandemic when people were not shopping and in many instances consumer goods were not available. The return of shoppers coupled with a still-recovering supply chain helped spur the inflation. It happened across the world after the pandemic.

And while it might sound counterintuitive, inflation can be good for the Mississippi government’s bottom line. Inflation actually leads to revenue growth for the state.

Mississippi is heavily dependent on sales tax revenue. If prices increase, that results in more sales tax revenue for the state. This is especially true when grocery prices increase since Missisisppi is among the handful of states that tax groceries. In Mississippi, when the price of eggs goes up, that means more state tax revenue.

But revenue collections have slowed in recent years. The state actually collected 0.83% less revenue for the past year than for the prior one.

To collect less revenue than in the previous year is an unusual occurrence in the history of the state. But it happened two years ago.

Collections were looking much better for the current year – at least until February came along.

The Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would create a pathway for Mississippi to study the therapeutic potentials of the psychedelic drug ibogaine, possibly moving it a step closer to becoming law.

Republican House Public Health and Human Services Chairman Sam Creekmore’s bill, which tasks the Mississippi State Department of Health with creating a research collaboration to develop and run clinical trials to study the drug, passed the Senate with all but Sen. Kathy Chism, a Republican from New Albany, voting in favor. 

It says the Legislature will appropriate the money to the state health department for the research, and it requires collaboration partners to provide matching funds.  

In the past, Creekmore proposed using $5 million of opioid settlement money – money state and localities have received from pharmaceutical companies that contributed to thousands of Mississippi overdose deaths –  to study the drug. Sen. Josh Harkins, a Republican from Flowood, said that was still the plan on the Senate floor Thursday, but the bill doesn’t specify how much money the state will use to study ibogaine. 

“I think this takes a responsible approach,” Harkins said.

Mississippi representatives and senators have been aiming to use state money to study ibogaine research for months. Over the summer, Creekmore hosted a hearing for advocates and people who’ve used ibogaine as a medical treatment to share their thoughts with lawmakers. 

States including Texas and Arizona have set aside state money to fund ibogaine clinical trials.

“We’re trying to tie our research into their research so we can have a multiplier effect,” Harkins said. 

Health providers have shown interest in the sub-Saharan African compound for centuries, but the risk of deadly cardiac arrhythmias deterred many from using it. The U.S. classifies ibogaine as a Schedule I drug, a status the Drug Enforcement Administration gives substances that it says have no accepted medical uses.

In recent years, some researchers and cultural figures have expressed interest in the drug’s potential to treat mental disorders such as opioid addiction, traumatic brain injuries and post traumatic stress disorder. 

A 2024 Stanford study examining 30 veterans with mild traumatic brain injuries indicated that ibogaine helped relieve some symptoms of mental disorders, although it didn’t include a comparison group. It indicated that taking ibogaine with magnesium decreased the risk of severe cardiac events. 

Scientists who’ve analyzed ibogaine studies say it’s unclear if the drug is effective at treating mental disorders such as opioid addiction, pointing out that previous research has had “high risk of bias.” The U.S. already has multiple approved effective medications for treating opioid addiction, including two researchers consider to be the “gold-standard.”

Harkins and Creekmore have said that’s why this type of legislation is necessary — to create better studies while using Mississippi participants for the trials. 

“It ensures Mississippi shares in the benefit of this new drug if the reality ever occurs,” Harkins said. 

Before the legislation passed, the Senate approved an amendment by Harkins to clean up the bill’s language. The amended bill returns to the House, which could seek final negotiations or agree with the Senate’s changes and send the bill to the governor’s desk.

The trial over whether the district map drawn to elect multiple DeSoto County officials violates the Voting Rights Act by diluting Black voting strength is over and now rests on the judge’s ruling.

A federal lawsuit filed in September 2024 says the 2022 DeSoto County electoral map dilutes Black voting power in county office elections. The offices in question are positions on the boards of supervisors, education and election commission, plus the offices of constable and justice court judge.

The two-week trial ended Wednesday in the federal courthouse in Oxford. It is not yet clear when Senior U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson will issue a ruling.

The ACLU of Mississippi, along with the Legal Defense Fund and Harvard Election Law Clinic, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., the DeSoto County NAACP and two voters from the county. The plaintiffs are seeking special elections under a new redistricting plan.

“All voters in Mississippi should have a fair shot at being able to elect who they want to represent them in the state Legislature, in the Mississippi Supreme Court and in DeSoto County,” said Joshua Tom, legal director of ACLU of Mississippi.

The lawsuit was filed against DeSoto County Circuit Clerk Dale Thompson and the DeSoto County Election Commission. The DeSoto County Board of Supervisors, which ultimately adopted the district map, declined to comment.

Mike Hurst, state Republican Party chairman, is representing DeSoto County in the case. Hurst told MPB the case is nothing more than, “Democrats are mad they can’t win an election in DeSoto County because it’s a Republican county.” 

DeSoto County, located just south of Memphis in northwest Mississippi, has been one of the state’s fastest growing counties for years. The Black population of DeSoto also has been growing and now represents more than 30% of the total population of 190,000.

None of the 25 county offices determined by the map is held by a Black person. However, DeSoto County does have a Black sheriff elected countywide, Democratic Black state legislators elected from majority-Black districts and a Black Republican House member elected from a majority-white district. The lawsuit does not impact legislative districts.

This is not the first federal lawsuit in recent years over whether Mississippi’s electoral maps violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

In 2025, a federal three-judge panel ruled that the map for state legislative elections violated the Voting Rights Act. The panel ordered the state to create three new majority-Black legislative districts and hold special elections.

As a result of the lawsuit, special elections were held in November. One winner of those special elections was Democrat Theresa Gillespie, who became the first Black woman to represent DeSoto County in the state Senate.

Before the special elections, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch appealed the judges’ ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking them to limit who can sue to enforce the Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court did not stop the elections from being held under the new legislative maps.

Last year, a federal judge ruled that the current map for electing Mississippi Supreme Court justices dilutes the power of Black voters. The case was appealed to the U.S. 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals. The 5th Circuit has delayed its ruling pending a ruling in a Louisiana case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule later this year on Louisiana v Callais – a case that could weaken or repeal Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which has been federal law since 1965 and has played a key role in the election of minority candidates throughout much of the South.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling could impact the final outcome of the DeSoto County case and the case involving the Mississippi Supreme Court districts.

People who worked closely with Elayne Hayes-Anthony remember her as a devoted educator and pioneering broadcast television journalist who taught and mentored a generation of Mississippi communications professionals. She died Thursday morning.

Hayes-Anthony also achieved numerous firsts during her career. She was the first educator and Black person to serve on the state’s association’s broadcasters board of directors. She was also the first Black woman news anchor on WJTV Channel 12.

For Sen. Hillman Fraizer, a Democrat from Jackson and a classmate of Hayes-Anthony, witnessing her history-making journey spurred immense pride to be from Jackson. 

“She inspired so many young girls and boys who saw that they could go on and do the same thing she did for journalism and communications,” Frazier said. “She is a role model, and folks appreciate her service and dedication to the university.”

Hayes-Anthony was “known for her unwavering commitment to student success and academic excellence,” the university stated in a news release. “She mentored countless aspiring journalists and communications professionals while helping strengthen JSU’s legacy as a leading historically Black university.”

Hayes-Anthony was also “deeply committed” to students’ success and “to the advancement of journalism and media education at Jackson State,” Interim President Denise Jones-Gregory said in a statement. “Her leadership in the classroom, within her department and across the institution helped shape generations of communicators and storytellers.”

Hayes-Anthony grew up in Jackson and graduated from Jim Hill High School. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Jackson State University. She was a television news anchor for four years before earning a doctorate in organizational communication and broadcast law from Southern Illinois University. 

Hayes-Anthony’s roles at Jackson State included serving as head of the Department of Mass Communications.

Her career included teaching at Belhaven University as a tenured professor and serving as the chair of the university’s communications department. She was a member of an education task force appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican who served from 2004 to 2012. Barbour also appointed Hayes-Anthony to the State Board of Health in 2007. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, who served from 2012 to 2020, reappointed her to a six-year term in 2013.

Hayes-Anthony “led always with intellect, creativity and integrity,” Dr. Lucius M. Lampton, chairman of the Mississippi Board of Health, said in a statement. “The Board of Health and our agency will miss her gracious presence. I also will miss her dear friendship.”

Longtime journalist Jimmie Gates’, who wrote for the Clarion Ledger for 40 years,  said his memories of Hayes-Anthony began in the classroom. He recalled how, as a communications student at Jackson State University in the late 1970s, he found her passion for journalism and storytelling inspiring. It left an impression on him as he entered the professional world. . 

Almost 40 years after he graduated from the historically Black university, Gates said, Hayes-Anthony remember him from her classroom and praised his work at the Clarion Ledger in front of colleagues and journalists at a regional National Association of Black Journalism conference in 2023. 

Over about 50 years, Hayes-Anthony “has been instrumental at preparing Jackson State students for the professional journalism world,” said Gates, president of the Jackson Association of Black Journalists. “We students, those who have graduated and work locally or in the state, owe her a debt of gratitude. I would not be the professional I am today and I owe that to her. I am truly saddened by her loss.” 

Jackson Mayor John Horhn said in a statement that the city lost a trailblazer who “returned home to pour her knowledge back into this community.” 

“Her leadership at Jackson State, from the classroom to the president’s office, reflected her commitment to excellence,” Horhn said. “Jackson is better because she chose to live, work, and lead here.” 

Attorney Lisa Ross first met Hayes-Anthony as a communications student at Jackson State in the 1980s. As a professor, Hayes-Anthony had high expectations and wouldn’t hesitate to let students know when they didn’t meet them, Ross said. 

Ross started her career as a print journalist in Mississippi, California and Tennessee. She said she often called Hayes-Anthony for job advice. Even after leaving journalism to pursue a career in law, Ross said, she still called Hayes-Anthony for mentorship and motivation. 

“She would work past 5 p.m. to find her students a job or internship. I couldn’t ask for a better friend and constant confidant than Dr. Anthony,” Ross said. “Her former students will work to ensure her contributions are remembered and celebrated.” 

Hayes-Anthony didn’t achieve “her dream” of becoming president of Jackson State, but Ross said she was grateful to witness her serve as the university’s temporary acting president in 2023.

Ronnie Agnew, general manager of New Jersey Advance Media, said his heart dropped when he first heard the news about Hayes-Anthony’s passing. He recalled when Hayes-Anthony first called him asking if her journalism students could tour the Clarion Ledger newsroom when he was the publication’s first Black executive editor.

“That call started a relationship I never knew would go any further beyond that moment,” Agnew said. “From then on, we worked so closely together all the way up until her death.” 

When Agnew left the Clarion Ledger to join Mississippi Public Broadcasting in 2011, Hayes-Anthony, then at Belhaven University, asked him to teach a journalism class as an adjunct professor at the private college in 2014.  That next year, she moved on to Jackson State University, where she asked Agnew to serve as the board chair to the journalism advisory board for eight years. 

“She didn’t settle for anything other than her best,” Agnew said. “That was Elayne. She built the journalism department at Belhaven from scratch. Her legacy and commitment to the craft of journalism, service to her community and students will live on.” 

After months of calls from advocates to reform Mississippi’s opioid settlement distribution process, the state Legislature has proposed changes to better ensure more than $400 million of lawsuit money will be used to prevent overdose deaths. 

The Senate and the House offered bill amendments Tuesday that would change how the state and its local governments can spend about $421 million from lawsuits against some of the country’s largest corporations. The Legislature, with the help of a state advisory council, is distributing most of those funds, but about $63 million of that is going directly to 147 local governments. 

Mississippi joined all other states and the District of Columbia to accuse the drug companies of dangerous business practices that led to unprecedented rates of drug overdose deaths. The state started receiving money in 2022 but spent less of it to address addiction than anywhere else in the U.S.

That spending delay has been caused by multiple issues Mississippi Today investigated over the last year. The newsroom found that Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch allowed for as much money as possible to be spent on issues other than addiction, and local governments were using millions of it on general expenses. Mississippi Today also found that some state advisory council members could benefit from grants they helped assess. 

Mississippians who’ve struggled with addiction, family members of those who died of overdoses and public health experts have decried the way state and local officials managed money paid out for the harm done to those who suffered. 

The amendments in both chambers addressed these issues before an important legislative deadline. In the House Public Health and Human Services Committee meeting, Republican Chairman Sam Creekmore passed an amendment that would shift how local governments could spend the portion they control.

The New Albany lawmaker proposed changing Fitch’s arrangement so that the local governments couldn’t deposit settlement payments into a general expense account and prevent them from using the money on anything other than additional overdose prevention efforts. Creekmore’s amendment prioritizes addiction treatment, harm reduction and recovery efforts for these local dollars.

Additionally, that bill now requires using money Fitch designated for the Legislature’s general fund to contract with a third-party group that can help the state government better distribute hundreds of millions of state dollars. It’s a reform members of the opioid settlement advisory council have called for and Fitch has indicated she’s open to.

The bill still does not require local governments to report their spending. Creekmore told Mississippi Today Wednesday morning should it pass, the third party would ensure they comply with the new rules. 

“We’re honoring people’s lives to save other lives,” Creekmore said. “It’s blood money.” 

On the Senate side Tuesday, Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford, also amended a bill addressing Mississippi’s opioid settlement laws. She proposed strengthening the advisory council’s ethics and conflict of interest prevention rules at the Senate Judiciary A Committee meeting, reviving language from a bill that died earlier in the legislative session.

Boyd’s reforms also include giving the Legislature more authority to override recommendations from the advisory council, a power Tricia Christensen, an opioid settlement expert, cautioned lawmakers against using. Boyd did not respond to calls and voicemail asking about her amendment. 

Fitch’s office has not responded to multiple emails asking for her thoughts about possible opioid settlement legislative reforms since the session began in January. 

Creekmore said he expects himself, Boyd and four other state lawmakers to iron out the details of House and Senate proposals during a conference committee meeting later this month. He said he hasn’t had much communication with senators about this bill, but he thinks they’ll be amenable to his proposals. 

Creekmore said he may also suggest more changes before trying to send the legislation to the Governor’s desk.

“The bill’s got a lot of work still to be done.”

A federal appeals court has declined to reverse the bribery conviction of former Hinds County interim sheriff Marshand Crisler. 

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court affirmed his conviction. A U.S. District Court jury convicted Crisler of accepting bribes and providing ammunition to a convicted felon. The court sentenced him to 2 ½ years, which Crisler is serving at FCI Beckley in West Virginia. 

He is expected to be released next year. 

The charges stem from his 2021 campaign for Hinds County sheriff. Crisler had been serving as the interim leader and was up against a dozen candidates who vied to fill the position after the death of Lee Vance. 

Federal prosecutors said Crisler accepted $9,500 worth of bribes in exchange for favors for a former campaign supporter. That man, Tonarri Moore, testified at Crisler’s trial where it was revealed that he had been working with the FBI as an informant. Moore recorded conversations from in-person meetings and phone calls that were used as evidence against Crisler. 

In his appeal, Crisler argued the federal government played on his relationship with Moore to entrap him and alleged the FBI directed Moore to get Crisler to accept bribes using money that agents provided. The 5th Circuit panel rejected the entrapment argument. 

“By instructing Moore to approach Crisler, the government did no more than provide him with an opportunity to commit the crimes at issue here,” the court wrote. 

The appeals court said trial evidence demonstrated he was “ready and willing” to participate when he asked Moore for campaign money during their first meeting, continued to meet with Moore and told the man multiple times how much money he wanted. 

Federal agents began investigating Crisler in September 2021 when Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided Moore’s home and found drugs and firearms. An FBI agent called to the home went through Moore’s phone and saw Crisler had called a day earlier. 

That was when the agent asked if Moore was bribing Crisler. Moore said no, so the agent asked  if he would do it. Moore agreed and wore a wire to meetings with Crisler in Jackson and around Hinds County. 

Between September and November 2021, Moore made several requests of Crisler and money was exchanged. He asked Crisler to move a cousin to a different part of the Hinds County Detention Center, to get Moore a job with the sheriff’s office and to let Moore know if law enforcement was looking into him, according to trial testimony and court records. 

“There was ample evidence supporting the jury’s conclusion that these were promises to be influenced or rewarded in connection with Crisler’s official business,” the court wrote. 

Moore was sentenced by the same district court to four years in prison for being a felon in possession of ammunition. He also appealed his conviction, which was denied by the same appeals court last year. Moore is also expected to be released next year. 

A south Mississippi lawmaker who proposed legislation aimed at getting firearms out of the hands of domestic violence abusers chose not to bring the bill up for a vote in the Senate in the face of opposition from the National Rifle Association.

The bill is dead this session, but Sen. Brice Wiggins, a Republican from Pascagoula, has vowed to try again next year.

On the Senate floor, he moved on Feb. 12 without a single senator asking why to have his bill recommitted to the Judiciary B Committee, noting he was aware members of the chamber had received an alert from the NRA about the legislation. The NRA-ILA, the organization’s lobbying arm, also posted about his bill earlier that week, encouraging people to contact their Mississippi senator to oppose it. 

Wiggins said he has been an NRA member and that he votes for every Second Amendment bill that comes through the state Legislature. But he said the gun lobby’s action and opposition of the legislation shows how there’s been a loss of common sense.

Senate Bill 2339 would have criminalized firearm and ammunition possession for people who are the subject of a domestic violence protection order, bringing state law in line with federal law. The bill also would have removed guns and ammunition from people convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors. 

“This bill is for and supported by domestic violence survivors, advocates and people who understand that domestic violence is an epidemic in the state of Mississippi,” Wiggins said on the Senate floor in February.  

To punctuate that point, he said the state has the highest overall gun death in the country. 

The same morning the bill died, Pearl police responded to a call at a home where a man assaulted a woman, leading to an hours-long standoff. After using a breaching tool to get inside and arrest the man, SWAT team members found 10 firearms. 

Wiggins also cited statistics gathered by Mississippi Today showing that at least 300 Mississippians, including victims, abusers, law enforcement and children – died from domestic violence incidents between 2020 and 2024. Most of them involved firearms. 

He said the bill was based on a 2024 decision in USA v. Rahimi. In an 8-to-1 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court found there is a longstanding tradition of temporarily disarming those who pose a credible threat to others, as long as there is due process. The high court also ruled doing so did not violate the Second Amendment. 

The court includes three justices appointed by President Donald Trump, Wiggins noted, and the court reversed a decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is known as one of the most conservative in the nation. 

Over 30 states have laws prohibiting gun possession for those convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors, according to the Giffords Law Center, an organization led by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who survived a shooting assassination attempt. 

State lawmakers failed to take action on most domestic violence legislation this session, including several that sought to establish a public online system displaying information about people convicted of two or more domestic violence offenses. Meanwhile, Mississippi residents continue to die or be injured in domestic violence incidents, especially those involving firearms. 

Since the beginning of the year, nearly a dozen people have died in domestic violence incidents, which includes violence between people in relationships with each other and family members, according to records tracked by Mississippi Today. 

People also continue to file domestic abuse protection orders. In the first two months of the year, at least eight people have asked for protection from domestic abuse in Hinds County, according to a count of petitions and orders from justice court reviewed by Mississippi Today. 

A Hinds County Justice Court judge granted an emergency, 10-day protective order for a woman who sought protection from her husband’s grandson. The young man said he had a gun and threatened to shoot her in the head, according to the petition. 

“We need to have this discussion in Mississippi,” Wiggins said. “We’re going to work — at least I am – to get us something that could actually be good for the citizens of Mississippi and not violate (the Second Amendment).”