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Note: This column is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a new platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here. 

Roger Wicker of Mississippi was so upset about Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine that he went where few modern politicians are willing to go: 1940s Germany.

“The free world deserves better than this modern-day Adolf Hitler,” the U.S. senator from Mississippi told the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly in February 2022. “If Vladimir Putin’s recent words and deeds have a haunting familiarity, it is because they are directly out of that Nazi madman’s notebook.”

Fast-forward three years to today: President Donald Trump is warming America’s relationship with the very dictator Wicker likened to Hitler. He is whitewashing the Ukrainian invasion that endangers millions of Europeans and long-standing U.S. allies. He’s reversing generations of U.S. foreign policy that Wicker and other Republicans worked hard to build.

You can see it on his face: Wicker is battling some intense personal struggles over Trump’s dangerous foreign policy positions.

It’s one thing to stay silent because of party loyalty, to fear political repercussions over menial political rhetoric. But what we’re witnessing the past few days is far from menial.

Trump is forging a disturbing shift of world power, and Americans of all political persuasions are fearful over what long-standing, bipartisan-supported policies he will upend next and wondering if our legislative branch elected officials will have the fortitude to check his unprecedented oversteps.

What will it take for Wicker, one of America’s most powerful leaders on the international stage, who took an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” to stand up to the president on behalf of his country and the world?

If you’re scouring Washington for such a brave leader, Wicker is as well positioned as anyone.

The Pontotoc native serves as the new chairman of the all-powerful Senate Armed Services Committee. He has long been one of America’s closest friends of Ukraine and staunchest enemies of Russia. As Trump presents the most outward hostility toward Ukraine and friendliness to Russia of any prominent U.S. leader since Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Wicker has become a target of cameras.

In late February, as Trump began to show new signs of Russian allegiance, reporters caught Wicker in the Capitol hallway. Careful not to criticize Trump, Wicker said Putin “is a war criminal who should be in jail for the rest of his life, if not executed.” Mississippi’s senator showed no fear in calling out the Russian strongman, but he sure appeared too afraid to criticize his own president who is playing directly into Putin’s hand.

Trump has unleashed a bevy of attacks in recent days on Ukraine, an important ally to America and to NATO countries who share a continent with Russia. Trump publicly humiliated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a petty and contentious West Wing public meeting. He halted U.S. military aid to Ukraine as its own military struggles to defend its country against further Russian invasion and assault. He paused the flow of CIA intelligence to Ukraine as it faces unprecedented and sophisticated attacks. His defense secretary Pete Hegseth stopped U.S. offensive cyber operations against Russia. And he is planning to revoke temporary U.S. legal immigration status for about 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the conflict with Russia.

As European allies scramble to clean up Trump’s mess and publicly back Ukraine, Wicker is thus far refusing to use his foreign policy expertise and platform to point out that Trump is ignoring fundamental realities: that Russia is one of America’s most dangerous adversaries, and handing Putin any semblance of victory in Ukraine could threaten human rights and basic freedoms around the world.

Ten years ago, Wicker co-founded the Senate Ukraine Caucus with the stated mission to “strengthen the political, military, economic, and cultural relationship between the United States and Ukraine.” For years, he has been among the most publicly supportive lawmakers regarding sending U.S. aid to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia. In 2022, he co-authored a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley asking them to expedite shipments of military equipment to Ukraine. His office has issued at least a dozen press releases since 2022 touting his support of America’s boosts for Ukraine.

“Our goal now should be to maximize U.S. interests through Ukrainian victory and deter further Russian aggression, including against our NATO and our non-NATO allies,” Wicker said on the Senate floor in March 2023. “I will continue to focus on providing the Ukrainians with everything they need to achieve battlefield gains faster and hasten Ukraine’s victory.”

Contrast these pro-Ukraine positions from Wicker — countless, on-the-floor, on-the-record, uber-public comments — with recent comments from Trump and his administration, and it’s no wonder Wicker’s face the past few days appears struck with fear and consternation.

Trump in February raised alarms across the world when he called Zelensky a “dictator without elections,” claimed he was doing a “terrible job” and suggested he was responsible for the start of the war. Trump has also argued in recent days that Zelensky shouldn’t be part of peace negotiations because he “doesn’t have the cards.”

Then, all hell broke loose when Zelensky visited Washington on Feb. 28 to formally finalize a mineral deal between Ukraine and the U.S. that would help aid the country’s fight against Russia. 

That morning, Wicker warmly greeted Zelensky, offering up his hand and a supportive message that he posted on social media: “Today, several U.S. senators had the opportunity to meet with President Zelensky to discuss Ukraine’s future and the mineral deal brokered by President Trump. This is a huge step forward in securing mutual prosperity and peace for Americans and Ukrainians.”

Zelensky then went to the White House, where things devolved in historic fashion. Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance sharply questioned Zelensky in front of rolling cameras, and the leaders screamed at each other. Trump accused Zelensky of not being grateful for the U.S. aid, and said he was “gambling with World War III.”

Shortly after the outburst, Wicker deleted his earlier social media post warmly welcoming Zelensky to Washington. That post removal has drawn criticism across the political spectrum.

Say what you want about Roger Wicker, but the man knows foreign policy. 

He knows that the United States’ steadfast support for Ukraine boosts our own national security and supports our NATO allies in Europe — allies that are within much closer range of Russian aggression than we are.

He knows that Russian regaining control of Ukraine could provide our enemies with geographic leverage that could more easily open the door to new foreign powers attacking traditional U.S. allies in Europe and beyond.

He knows that a powerful Russia, alongside their extremely rational allies China, Iran and North Korea, could reset the modern world order that works to uphold peace and fair elections around the world.

We can be sure Wicker knows all this because he’s publicly said it — countless, countless times. But another thing Wicker also must know: Trump’s recent actions have drawn high praise from the Kremlin.

This weekend, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov praised Trump’s “common sense” aim to end the war in Ukraine. Kremlin officials also over the weekend commended the U.S., with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying the United States’ “rapidly changing” foreign policy configurations “largely coincides with our vision.” 

“There is a long way to go, because there is huge damage to the whole complex of bilateral relations,” Peskov said. “But if the political will of the two leaders, President Putin and President Trump, is maintained, this path can be quite quick and successful.”

Someone should check Ronald Reagan’s grave to ensure he hasn’t spun his casket all the way to the surface.

For what it’s worth, several of Wicker’s Senate Republican colleagues have found the backbone to challenge Trump’s unsettling Ukraine-related actions this week.

But Wicker — the eternal friend of Ukraine, the steadfast defender of America’s interests in Europe and beyond, the foreign policy wonk who knows the biggest threats to our nation and to the rest of the world run through Moscow — has gone underground since the Oval Office explosion on Feb. 28.

In his only public statement so far this week, Wicker didn’t acknowledge Trump’s unacceptable actions. Instead, he worked to diffuse tensions and, in doing so, tried to put words in the president’s mouth — possibly the greatest political risk imaginable given the president’s constant flip-flopping.

“I would then remind those within the sound of my voice and those reading the record that our president, President Trump, has said, ‘The government of the United States of America supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace,’” Wicker said, quoting a draft of the mineral deal that hasn’t yet been signed. “… I’ve had fights with my roommates over time. We got over it. I’m even told sometimes there are family fights. It’s regrettable when they spill out into the front yard. But friends get over it. Friends decide to move on. And I think we’re seeing that process today. I hope to heaven that that is the case.”

In reality, Wicker could hold a lot more than mere hope that Trump will stop cozying up to Putin and Russia — he holds more power than just about anyone else in the world to call out Trump and other Putin sympathizers who are trying to dismantle the world order.

All Wicker’s constituents have, however, is hope alone — hope that our senior senator and one of America’s most powerful leaders does something more than hope before it’s too late.

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What happened in Oxford on a wild Wednesday night was not a case of fourth-ranked Tennessee playing poorly. It wasn’t a case of Tennessee shooting erratically from the field, missing free throws or losing key players to injuries or foul trouble.

No, this was a case of – for at least one memorable night – Ole Miss just being better. This was a case of an Ole Miss senior, Jaemyn Brakefield, on Senior Night, playing his best half of basketball of his college career and lifting the unranked Rebels to a scintillating, 78-76 victory over the talented Vols, easily one of the nation’s best teams.

Tennessee shot the ball well. Indeed, it would be difficult to count the number of times a Vol would swish a long three-pointer just when it seemed as if Ole Miss had grabbed the momentum. Foul trouble? No Tennessee player was charged with more than three fouls. This Ole Miss team makes its living by stealing the basketball and forcing turnovers. But Tennessee committed only eight turnovers. Ole Miss even out-rebounded the Vols, an upset if there ever was one.

Bottom line:  Ole Miss just beat Tennessee, just outplayed the Vols, handing them their sixth defeat against 24 victories. “Give coach (Chris) Beard and his staff credit,” Tennessee  coach Rick Barnes said.”I thought he had his guys much more ready to play than I did.”

That surely looked to be the case. 

So now, under second-year coach Chris Beard, the Rebels own two victories over Top 5 teams. On Jan. 15, the Rebels somehow won 74-64 at then No. 4 Alabama. The Rebels now stand at 21-9 overall and 10-7 in the Southeastern Conference heading into their last regular season game Saturday at No. 5 Florida, which will be coming off a 99-94 victory at Alabama.

Make no mistake, a 10-7 record in this year’s SEC just means more than usual. This is the best and deepest the league has ever been. This year, it’s the best league in the country. There are no free passes, no sure victories. You play well, you have a chance to win. You play poorly, you get embarrassed, which easily could have happened Wednesday night.

Tennessee looked ready to step on the accelerator nearly midway through the second half. Felix Okpara slammed in a dunk to give the Vols a 56-49 lead with 10 minutes, 39 seconds remaining. But that’s when the Jaemyn Brakefield Show began. The Jackson native scored all 19 of his points over the last 10:24, starting with a layup to cut the Tennessee lead to five.

In all, Brakefield scored 19 of the Rebels final 29 points. Over the course of his career, the Duke transfer has often settled for deep perimeter shots, instead of penetrating and getting to the basket for higher percentage shots. Not this night. All but one of his field goals came from inside the paint, including the game-winner, which came with just seven ticks remaining.

All season long, the Rebels’ bugaboo has been rebounding. In the SEC, the Rebels have been out-rebounded seven per game, which makes that 10-7 league record all the more implausible. So how did they slay Tennessee? With an offensive rebound when they needed it most, of course.

Ole Miss had the ball working for a last shot. Sean Pedulla launched a 3-pointer with about nine seconds to go, which hit the front of the rim and then the back of the rim and then hung in the air seemingly forever. Rebel senior Davon Barnes, who did not score in the game, kept the ball alive, batting it off the backboard. Brakefield then snared it and made the put-back. The Pavilion was bedlam. Tennessee managed one last shot, but Igor Milicik missed.

Brakefield was clearly the hero, but he had so much help. Dre Davis, still another senior, provided a double-double, 13 points, 10 rebounds and also three assists before fouling out. Malik Dia also provided 13 points while taking just seven shots. Fifth-year senior Matthew Murrell scored 12. Pedulla and Jaylen Murray both handled the ball well against Tennessee’s ball-hawking defense.

Said Ole Miss coach Chris Beard of Tennessee, “I think they might be the best team in college basketball. They were No. 1 for a long time. They have several all-conference players, a couple NBA players and a Hall of Fame coach…”

After it was all over and Ole Miss fans had converged, dancing and celebrating on the court, Beard stood on team’s bench, surveying the scene. Later, he said, “…Tonight something came over me and I said to myself let’s just enjoy this for a quick second. I wanted to smell the roses for a quick second. I couldn’t see the players, so I stood up where I could see them.”

He saw Brakefield in the middle of all the bedlam and sought him out for a most meaningful victory hug. 

Who knows what happens from here? Ole Miss plays at No. 5 Florida Saturday. Next week, it’s the SEC Tournament at Nashville, then the NCAA Tournament. Really, who knows? But Ole Miss is 2-0 in March and the Rebels have already had a taste – no, a great big bite – of March Madness.

The post Vols did not play poorly; Rebels, Brakefield were just better appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Mississippi Legislature on Thursday honored longtime, award-winning journalist Emily Wagster Pettus for her decades of legislative news coverage.

The Senate and House passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 505 honoring Pettus. The resolution notes, “Emily steadfastly continued to cover Mississippi news, telling citizens across the state and nation about events far and wide and helping to strengthen our democracy.” It also praised her fair, balanced coverage and said, “Emily always took time to mentor and share her knowledge of Mississippi politics with new reporters sent to the Capitol to cover the daily activity of the Legislature and state leaders.”

Pettus recently left the Associated Press where she served as Mississippi Capitol correspondent. She formerly worked for the Clarion Ledger and the Vicksburg Evening Post.

“It was an honor and a privilege to cover the Legislature for 31 regular sessions and no telling how many special sessions — and let me tell you they are not all that special,” Pettus told lawmakers during a ceremony in the state Senate, where she received a standing ovation.

Pettus noted she has covered the administrations of five governors, six lieutenant governors and four speakers of the House.

“Thank you for your service, and we will sorely miss you,” Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann told Pettus on the Senate floor.

Sen. Hob Bryan of Amory on Thursday said, “Her reporting has always been fair and accurate. I don’t think anyone reading her reporting had any idea of her political views, just the way it used to be.”

Sen. Hillman Frazier of Jackson, in his 45th year in the Legislature, said he’s seen many reporters at the Capitol, “But none stood out to me more than Emily … Thank you for a job well done.”

Pettus, addressing the Senate on Thursday, urged lawmakers to support open government and transparency for the public and said, “The decisions made here are important to people who never set foot in this building … It was a privilege to be the eyes and ears of the public here.”

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Mississippi Today health reporter Gwen Dilworth was selected as a 2025 fellow for the Health Coverage Fellowship at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Dilworth is one of 13 health and science journalists from around the world who will make up this year’s class.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be a part of this year’s fellowship class and learn from both incredibly presenters and fellow cohort members,” Dilworth said. “I’m looking forward to bringing what I learn back home to strengthen our coverage of health issues in Mississippi.”

Fellow Mississippi Today health team member and reporter Sophia Paffenroth was selected as a fellow last year.

“Gwen has done amazing work during her time at Mississippi Today, and I’m incredibly excited for her to be able to deepen her knowledge and skills through this fellowship,” said Kate Royals, Mississippi Today’s health editor. “I can’t wait to see what new ideas and information she comes back with.”

The fellowship is designed to help media improve its coverage of critical health care issues. Fellows will hear from more than 75 health officials, practitioners, researchers and patients. It also brings journalists out to watch firsthand how the system works, from walking the streets at night with mental health case workers to visiting labs that make stem cells and vaccines.

The nine-day program will focus on a series of pressing issues, including preventing future pandemics, treating mental illness, rooting out racial and ethnic inequities, redressing homelessness and rethinking later-life care.

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A bill to license and regulate professional midwifery died on the calendar without a vote after Public Health Chair Hob Bryan, D-Amory, did not bring it up in committee before the deadline Tuesday night. 

Bryan said he didn’t take the legislation up this year because he’s not in favor of encouraging midwives to handle births independently from OB-GYNs – even though they already do, and keeping them unlicensed makes it easier for untrained midwives to practice. The proposed legislation would create stricter standards around who can call themselves a midwife – but Bryan doesn’t want to pass legislation recognizing the group at all.

“I don’t wish to encourage that activity,” he told Mississippi Today.

Midwifery is one of the oldest professions in the world. 

Proponents of the legislation say it would legitimize the profession, create a clear pathway toward midwifery in Mississippi, and increase the number of midwives in a state riddled with maternity health care deserts. 

Opponents of the proposal exist on either end of the spectrum. Some think it does too much and limits the freedom of those currently practicing as midwives in the state, while others say it doesn’t do enough to regulate the profession or protect the public.

The bill, authored by Rep. Dana McLean, R-Columbus, made it further than it has in years past, passing the full House mid-February. 

As it stands, Mississippi is one of 13 states that has no regulations around professional midwifery – a freedom that hasn’t benefited midwives or mothers, advocates say.

Tanya Smith-Johnson is a midwife on the board of Better Birth Mississippi, a group advocating for licensure. 

“Consumers should be able to birth wherever they want and with whom they want – but they should know who is a midwife and who isn’t,” Smith-Johnson said. “… It’s hard for a midwife to be sustainable here … What is the standard of how much midwifery can cost if anyone and everyone can say they’re a midwife?”

There are some midwives — though it isn’t clear there are many — who do not favor licensure.

One such midwife posted in a private Facebook group lamenting the legislation, which would make it illegal for her to continue to practice under the title “midwife” without undergoing the required training and certification decided by the board.

On the other end of the spectrum, among those who think the bill doesn’t go far enough in regulating midwives, is Getty Israel, founder of community health clinic Sisters in Birth – though she said she would rather have seen the bill amended than killed. Israel wanted the bill to be amended in several ways, including to mandate midwives pay for professional liability insurance, which it did not.

“As a public health expert, I support licensing and regulating all health care providers, including direct entry midwives, who are providing care for the most vulnerable population, pregnant women,” she said. “To that end, direct entry midwives should be required to carry professional liability insurance, as are certified nurse midwives, to protect ill-informed consumers.”

The longer Mississippi midwives go without licensure, the closer they get to being regulated by doctors who don’t have midwives’ best interests in mind. 

That’s part of why the group Better Birth felt an urgency in getting legislation passed this year. 

“I think there’s just been more iffy situations happening in the state, and it’s caused the midwives to realize that if we don’t do something now, it’s going to get done for us,” said Erin Raftery, president of the group.

Raftery says she was inspired to see the bill make headway this year after not making it out of committee several years in a row. 

“We are hopeful that next year this bill will pass and open doors that improve outcomes in our state,” she said. “Mississippi families deserve safe, competent community midwifery care.”

The post Legislation to license midwives dies in the Senate after making historic headway appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Voters from 15 Mississippi legislative districts will decide special elections this November, if a federal court approves two redistricting maps that lawmakers approved on Wednesday. 

The Legislature passed House and Senate redistricting maps, over the objections of some Democrats and DeSoto County lawmakers. The map creates a majority-Black House district in Chickasaw County and creates two new majority-Black Senate districts in DeSoto and Lamar counties. 

“What I did was fair and something we all thought the courts would approve,” Senate President Pro Tempore Dean Kirby told Mississippi Today on the Senate plan. 

Even though legislative elections were held in 2023, lawmakers have to tweak some districts because a three-judge federal panel determined last year that the Legislature violated federal law by not creating enough Black-majority districts when it redrew districts in 2022.

The Senate plan creates one new majority-Black district each in DeSoto County and the Hattiesburg area, with no incumbent senator in either district. To account for this, the plan also pits two incumbents against each other in northwest Mississippi. 

READ MORE: See the proposed new Mississippi legislative districts here.

The proposal puts Sen. Michael McLendon, a Republican from Hernando, who is white, and Sen. Reginald Jackson, a Democrat from Marks, who is Black, in the same district. The redrawn district contains a Black voting-age population of 52.4% and includes portions of DeSoto, Tunica, Quitman and Coahoma counties. 

McLendon has vehemently opposed the plan, said the process for drawing a new map wasn’t transparent and said Senate leaders selectively drew certain districts to protect senators who are key allies. 

McLendon proposed an alternative map for the DeSoto County area and is frustrated that Senate leaders did not run analytical tests on it like they did on the plan the Senate leadership proposed. 

“I would love to have my map vetted along with the other map to compare apples to apples,” McLendon said. “I would love for someone to say, ‘No, it’s not good’ or ‘Yes, it passes muster.’”

Kirby said McLendon’s assertions are not factual and he only tried to “protect all the senators” he could. 

The Senate plan has also drawn criticism from some House members and from DeSoto County leaders. 

Rep. Dan Eubanks, a Republican from Walls, said he was concerned with the large geographical size of the revised northwest district and believes a Senator would be unable to represent the area adequately.

“Let’s say somebody down further into that district gets elected, DeSoto County is worried it won’t get the representation it wants,” Eubanks said. “And if somebody gets elected in DeSoto County, the Delta is worried that it won’t get the representation it wants and needs.”

The DeSoto County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday published a statement on social media saying it had hired outside counsel to pursue legal options related to the Senate redistricting plan. 

Robert Foster, a former House member and current DeSoto County supervisor, declined comment on what the board intended to do. Still, he said several citizens and business leaders in DeSoto County were unhappy with the Senate plan. 

House Elections Chairman Noah Sanford, a Republican from Collins, presented the Senate plan on the House floor and said he opposed it because Senate leaders did not listen to his concerns over how it redrew Senate districts in Covington County, his home district. 

“They had no interest in talking to me, they had no interest in hearing my concerns about my county whatsoever, and I’m the one expected to present it,” Sanford said. “Now that is a lack of professional courtesy, and it’s a lack of personal respect to me.” 

Kirby said House leaders were responsible for redrawing the House plan and Senate leaders were responsible for redrawing the Senate districts, which has historically been the custom. 

“I had to do what was best for the Senate and what I thought was pass the court,” Kirby said. 

The court ordered the Legislature to tweak only one House district, so it had fewer objections among lawmakers. Legislators voted to redraw five districts in north Mississippi and made the House district in Chickasaw County a majority-Black district. 

Under the legislation, the qualifying period for new elections would run from May 19 to May 30. The primaries would be held on August 5, with a potential primary runoff on Sept. 2 and the general election on Nov, 4.

It’s unclear when the federal panel will review the maps, but it ordered attorneys representing the state to notify them once the lawmakers had proposed a new map. 

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Judges for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals raised questions this week about the high court’s qualified-immunity doctrine, which critics say has long protected bad law enforcement officers.

The 5th Circuit panel of judges ruled that qualified immunity won’t protect a Jackson police detective in a case where she wrongfully arrested an innocent man.

“We readily acknowledge the legal, social, and practical defects of the judicially contrived qualified immunity doctrine,” Judge Don R. Willett wrote in a 2-1 decision, “but we are powerless to scrap it … [as] middle-management circuit judges.”

On Feb. 13, 2020, someone shot Nicholas Robertson, who knocked on the door of Avery Forbes’ home in Jackson and died there.

Two months later, police arrested Samuel Jennings on an unrelated charge. He told police that Desmond Green told him that he had killed Robertson.

The accusation stunned Green, who told police he didn’t know Robertson, much less take part in his murder.

Despite that, Detective Jacquelyn Thomas and Hinds County prosecutors encouraged the grand jury to indict Green, who was jailed without bond, with armed robbery being the underlying felony that elevated it to capital murder. He spent nearly two years behind bars for a crime he did not commit.

Two years later, Jennings recanted, and Green was finally freed from jail after 22 months. In his lawsuit, he alleges that Thomas used the statement of a jailhouse informant high on drugs, manipulated a photo lineup and withheld evidence from a grand jury that would have shown he was innocent.

“There was no evidence showing I was involved, so why was I arrested?” Green told Mississippi Today. “My life was on the line the whole time, and I was never allowed to speak to the judge until two years later. I lost time that I’ll never get back.”

Thomas asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed on the basis of qualified immunity, a legal doctrine created in 1967 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which determined that Jackson police officers who arrested ministers who entered a whites-only waiting room were immune from litigation because the officers were acting in “good faith.”

U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves declined to dismiss the lawsuit.

That doctrine “means persons wronged by government agents cannot sue those agents unless the Supreme Court previously found substantially the same acts to be unconstitutional,” Reeves wrote. “A cynic might say that with qualified immunity, government agents are at liberty to violate your constitutional rights as long as they do so in a novel way.”

He called for juries, not judges, to rule on whether officers were guilty of bad acts. “Congress’s intent to protect citizens from government abuse cannot be overridden by judges who think they know better,” he wrote. “As a doctrine that defies this basic principle, qualified immunity is an unconstitutional error. It is past time for the judiciary to correct this mistake.”

Thomas appealed Reeves’ ruling to the 5th Circuit, saying she was “immunized against reasonable mistakes.”

In his statement to Thomas, Jennings said Green confessed that he killed Robertson and moved his body, but evidence showed a much different set of facts: Robertson was shot at one location and, still conscious, arrived at a different location where he was later found dead, wrote Willett, who was appointed by President Trump.

In addition, Robertson was with another man besides Green shortly before the shooting, Willett wrote. 

“Accepting Green’s allegations as true,” he wrote, “Detective Thomas had information which would have undercut any reasonable belief that Green murdered Robertson.”

In March 2022, Samuel Jennings recanted his statement to Thomas, saying he was “just high” and trying to get out of jail. Jennings said he initially pointed to the first photo in a photo lineup, only to have the detective steer him instead to the fifth photo, which was Green.

“This method of identification, if true, is the very type of ‘unlawful’ and ‘suggestive’ identification for which we have previously denied qualified immunity,” Willett wrote.

A month later, prosecutors remanded Green’s capital murder charges to the files, and he was released from jail.

A year later, Green sued Thomas and the city for malicious arrest and prosecution “without probable cause.” Green alleged that the detective withheld evidence from the grand jury that would have shown his innocence.

Thomas insists that she deserves qualified immunity because a grand jury indicted Green. The 5th Circuit judges disagreed.

“Green’s pleadings are sufficient to suggest Detective Thomas materially tainted the grand jury proceedings,” Willett wrote.

They concluded that Thomas wasn’t entitled to qualified immunity on Green’s Fourth Amendment false arrest and 14th Amendment due process claims, but they did grant her qualified immunity with regard to the claim of malicious prosecution.

“Qualified immunity does not protect government officials ‘who knowingly violate the law,’” Willett wrote. “Based on the allegations in the complaint, Detective Thomas falls into that camp.”

Tupelo attorney Jim D. Waide III, who is representing Green, called it “encouraging” that the 5th Circuit would “largely follow the very thorough opinion that Judge Reeves wrote. There are obviously judges on the 5th Circuit that disagree with qualified immunity as much as Judge Reeves does.”

Sheridan A. Carr, special assistant to the Jackson city attorney, said the 5th Circuit did reaffirm the federal commitment to qualified immunity.

“While we respect the court’s ruling, we believe the evidence will ultimately support Detective Thomas and the City, and we expect a favorable outcome as the legal process continues,” Carr responded by email. “This ruling was made at the motion to dismiss stage, where the court was required to accept the plaintiff’s allegations as true without considering any evidence or the full context of the case. We remain confident that a more complete and accurate picture will emerge after the facts have been fully developed through discovery.”

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Germantown, Ridgeland, Canton and Raymond all won State Championships, showing how the power has shifted in Mississippi high school hoops. Plus we get up to date with college basketball, college baseball and the amazing Konnor Griffin story.

Stream all episodes here.

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A panel of House lawmakers kept alive the effort to legalize mobile sports betting in Mississippi, but the bill does not appear to have enough support in the Senate to pass.

Hours before a Tuesday evening legislative deadline, the House Gaming Committee inserted into two Senate bills the language from a measure the full House passed last month to permit online betting. The legislation would put Mississippi on track to join a growing number of states that allow online sports wagering.

But the House Gaming Committee had to resort to the procedural move after its Senate counterpart declined to take up its bill. Senate Gaming Chairman David Blount, a Democrat from Jackson, said he does not support the measure, prompting frustration from House Gaming Chairman Casey Eure, a Republican from Saucier. Eure said he implemented suggested changes from the Senate after lawmakers couldn’t agree on a final proposal in 2024.

“This shows how serious we are about mobile sports betting,” Eure said. “I’ve done everything he’s asked for … I’ve done everything they’ve asked for plus some.”

In a February 88-10 vote, the House approved a new version of the Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act, which Eure said was reworked to address concerns raised by the Senate last year. The new version would allow a casino to partner with two sports betting platforms rather than one. Allowing casinos to partner with an extra platform is designed to assuage the concerns of casino leaders and lawmakers who represent areas where gambling is big business.

Last year, some lawmakers raised concerns that gambling platforms would have no incentive to partner with smaller casinos, and most of the money would instead flow to the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s already bustling larger casinos.

Other changes include a provision that prevents people from placing bets with credit cards, a request from the Senate to guard against gambling addiction.

Blount said there were growing concerns in other states that have legalized online sports betting, including over what consumer protections can be put in place and the impact legalization could have on existing gambling markets.

READ MORE: House panel approves casino tax increase, a shot over bow on blockage of online sports betting

“This is a different industry than any other industry because it is subject to forces outside of the control of the folks who are in this business,” Blount said. “And so what I think we need to do as a state, and we have done this for decades, is we have provided a stable regulatory environment, regardless of who is in the legislature, regardless of who the governor is, without a lot of drama.”

The proposal would levy a 12% tax on sports wagers, with revenue reaching all 82 counties via the Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund. Eure said he believes the state is losing between $40 million and $80 million a year in tax revenue by keeping mobile sports betting illegal.

Proponents also say legalization would undercut the influence of illicit offshore sports betting platforms.

Since the start of the NFL season this year, Mississippi has recorded 8.69 million attempts to access legal mobile sportsbooks, according to materials presented to House members at an earlier committee meeting. That demand fuels a thriving illegal online gambling market in Mississippi, proponents have said. Opponents say legalization could devastate the bottom line of smaller casinos and lead to debt and addiction among gamblers.

Mobile sports betting is legal in 30 states and Washington, D.C., according to the American Gaming Association.

The House panel inserted the mobile sports betting language into SB 2381 and SB 2510. The bills now head to the full chamber for consideration.

The post Mississippi lawmakers keep mobile sports betting alive, but it faces roadblock in the Senate appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A bill to help poor women access prenatal care passed a committee deadline at the eleventh hour after a committee chairman said he wouldn’t bring it up for a vote. 

The policy was signed into law last year, but never went into effect because of administrative hiccups. 

Last week, Senate Medicaid Chair Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, told Mississippi Today that he would not be taking up the House’s bill to fix the issues in the program, calling it “his prerogative as chairman.” 

However, on deadline day, Blackwell called the bill up in his committee. It passed unanimously and without discussion. It will now move on to the floor vote in the Senate, where it passed with overwhelming support last year. 

Blackwell declined to comment on why he changed course. 

Blackwell had previously added the policy to another Medicaid bill, but was criticized by House Medicaid Chair Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg, for attaching her legislation to what she called a “$7 million laundry list of unrelated lobbyist requests.”

In addition, the policy in Blackwell’s tech bill included language that the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services – the agency charged with overseeing state Medicaid programs – denied last year. 

Presumptive eligibility for pregnant women allows low-income women who become newly eligible for Medicaid once pregnant to receive immediate coverage as soon as they find out they’re pregnant – even if their Medicaid application is still pending. The program is especially effective in states that have not expanded Medicaid.  

Mississippi is currently one of only three states with neither expansion or presumptive eligibility for pregnant women. 

An expectant mother would need to fall under the following income levels to qualify for presumptive eligibility in 2025:

The post Key lawmaker reverses course, passes bill to give poor women earlier prenatal care appeared first on Mississippi Today.