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Mary Moss was certain she was going to die. 

“I felt it deep inside, nagging. It wouldn’t let go,” said Moss, while tidying up after finishing a client’s nails at Dolph’s Nail Salon & Spa, located at 1041 Lake Village Circle in Brandon.

“I’m a 20-year respiratory therapist and I have great care for my patients. When COVID hit, I fell into a deep, deep depression. I just knew I would contract this disease and die because of it. So much so, I got all of my important papers in order. As much as I love what I do, I knew then, I needed a way out.”

Moss goes about her nail salon gathering the items she’ll need for her next client. She reflects for a moment.

“I talked to my husband about options. I credit him with pushing me. I went to technical college, got the training it offered and…, honestly, there was YouTube,” Moss says with a chuckle. “I’m not kidding. YouTube is your friend.” 

“So, I started doing nails in a private space my husband created for me. I scaled back my hospital hours and started doing nails for longer hours. But… COVID,” she said, shaking her head. “We were socially distancing, remember? In spite of my fear of contracting COVID and dying, I went back into the hospital. I needed the money. There were bills to pay, and I was making good money. It was hard to turn it down. I worked four, 12-hour shifts every two weeks.”

“And then, we lost my nephew to an asthma attack. Justin Dolph Clark. He was 23 years old. After that, I started working less and less at the hospital, and doing more nails. My salon is named after him.”

“I have to tell you, I love it. It’s therapeutic for me. The creativity, chatting with clients, the laughter we share, is so calming. This is the best job I’ve ever had and truthfully, it’s the only job I’ve ever really loved. Don’t get me wrong, I love being a therapist and I’m good at it, too. But this is my dream job. When you love, love, love what you’re doing, you find happiness.”

Appointments can be made by contacting Moss by text at (601) 813-9755 or email at dolphsnailsalon.square.site. She takes appointments Wednesday through Friday from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. and on Saturday from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.

The post Dolph’s Nail Salon & Spa is a dream born from heartbreak appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Post-pandemic absenteeism is declining in Mississippi schools, but kids are still missing more school than the pre-COVID days. At many schools, more than a third of all students are missing 18 days a year or more. 

Nationwide, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to mark the point when absenteeism rates in public schools went from bad to worse. The numbers tell the same story in Mississippi. Though the pandemic is a causal factor, educators identified a myriad of reasons — from anxiety to socioeconomic struggles — as to why Mississippi’s public school students seem to be missing more school. 

The Mississippi Department of Education defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10% of the school year or more — this works out to roughly two days a month, or 18 days in a year. In the 2022-23 school year, at nearly half of all school districts in Mississippi, 25% or more of the student population was chronically absent. 

“Research says chronic absenteeism could impact students from reaching early learning milestones, can be a predictor for early dropout prior to graduation, and overall poor academic performance,” Armerita Tell, the Mississippi Department of Education’s director of the Office of Compulsory School Attendance and Dropout Prevention, said in an email. “The outcomes are not typical for all children, but the research points to the aforementioned top outcomes.” 

In Mississippi, statewide absenteeism levels peaked in the 2021-2022 school year at 28%. Those numbers fell to 23.9% the following school year, indicating progress. But despite this recovery, those numbers do not come close to pre-COVID years like the 2018-2019 school year, when 13.1% of students were chronically absent. 

Jasmine Thornton serves as managing director of Family and Community Engagement for RePublic Schools, which operates four charter schools in the Jackson area. After ReImagine Prep saw absenteeism rates near 40% after the 2022-23 school year, she spearheaded an effort to understand the reasons for such high rates of absenteeism and to find solutions to combat it. 

One thing that became apparent was the pandemic had exacerbated the challenges that working class families faced in making sure their kids were making it to school. 

“What I noticed is that coming out of COVID — because we serve working class families — a lot of kids became latchkey kids a little earlier,” she said. 

Latchkey kids is a colloquial term to describe students who enter or leave home unaccompanied, most commonly because their parents are at work. ReImagine Prep serves students between fifth and eighth grade. 

“Parents were going to work earlier than kids were going to school. So, we were entrusting that 10-year-olds are responsible enough to get themselves up and get themselves on the bus as well as younger siblings — that’s a lot of responsibility,” she said.

There is a well-established connection between socioeconomic status and chronic absenteeism. ReImagine primarily serves students from economically disadvantaged families. 

Thornton also cited other factors, like reduced enthusiasm among some children for attending school as a result of heightened social anxiety. Because of COVID-19, many students lost the caregivers who would usher them out the door in the morning. 

To address high rates of chronic absenteeism and to try to mitigate the outcomes associated with it, educators and administrators at ReImagine Prep are exploring a myriad of options, like Saturday school. 

“We’ve had to be very creative. We started this whole, ‘You missed instruction? You just don’t get to miss it — you got Saturday school’,” she said. “I’m conducting home visits on chronically absent kids.” 

In those home visits, Thonrnton often learns that food disparities or access to the right clothes can be what keeps kids at home. For kids who miss the bus in the morning, the school will run a second bus, when possible. Though official numbers have not been released, Thornton said ReImagine Prep has reduced chronic absenteeism by about 20%, to nearly 20% in the 2023-24 school year. 

Union Public School District in east central Mississippi served 965 students in the 2022-23 school year. The district saw increases in absenteeism after the pandemic but posted the lowest absenteeism rate in the state in the 2022-23 school year at 10.78%. 

While being a relatively small district helps, Superintendent Tyler Hansford pointed to other factors, like a large number of veteran teachers and strong community ties, that help make such numbers possible in his district.

“If we have a student that’s absent, most of the time, the parents will reach out to the teacher ahead of time and say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna be out for whatever reason.’ And the teachers make sure that they’re taken care of,” he said. “It’s really just about those relationships that I think our staff members have with our school community and community at large.”

Hansford noted that the district ties attendance to participation in extracurricular activities like sports and other school activities, as a means of incentivizing students to attend. The front offices call families to check in on students who have been absent — more often than not, absences are health related.

Though the pandemic had a significant impact on attendance at Union Public School District, he believes that open communication channels between the school and families was the key to bouncing back so quickly. 

Jerica Thames, principal of Union Middle School, which posted a 6.20% abseteeism rate in the 20-22-23 year, was a teacher during the pandemic. She says that the pandemic had a significant hand in reminding parents in her classroom why it’s important for kids to be in the classroom, after they had to shoulder some of the burden of teaching for a while. 

“That’s when they found a new respect for teachers, because they had to do a lot of teaching at home,” Thames said. “So they knew as well that the best place for their child to be was in the classroom.” 

Statewide, the Mississippi Department of Education is continuing its push for more awareness among both parents and educators regarding the role that absenteeism plays in the success of their students through regularly holding regional training and programming.

The post Pandemic is just one factor in chronic absenteeism appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Outside of the Hinds County Chancery Court building Monday morning, Raymond residents opposing a solar farm development walked up and down the sidewalk with signs saying “Say No To Big Solar.” Inside the building, the Board of Supervisors voted to approve the project.

A few dozen of the residents against the solar farm made it inside the board’s meeting room, most of them wearing green shirts that said “Not in my backyard #NIMBY.” Many of the same faces at Monday’s meeting were also at the Hinds County Planning Commission meeting last month, where the commission voted not to recommend the project, titled “Soul City Solar,” to the Board of Supervisors.

The vote was 3 to 2 in favor of Soul City. Supervisors Robert Graham, Tony Smith and Wanda Evers, whose district is where the project will be, voted for the proposal, while Supervisors Deborah Butler-Dixon and Bobby “Bobcat” McGowan voted against.

The company in charge of the project, Virginia-based Apex Clean Energy, said it plans to begin construction next year and have its panels operating by 2027. Since 2021, the company has worked with private landowners between Raymond and Bolton to enter into lease agreements to house the solar panels, which will take up just under 6,000 acres. The company says Soul City will produce 396 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power 95,000 homes. That power production would make Soul City the largest solar development in Mississippi.

Apex also says the project will create about $150 million in county tax revenue over the initial 30-year lifespan of the facility, in addition to 10 full-time jobs and 400 construction jobs. Last November, the Hinds County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of an ad valorem tax agreement for the project. Brian O’Shea, director of Public Engagement for Apex, said the agreement saves the company money in the long-term, but didn’t have an exact percent. (Hinds County officials weren’t available Monday to provide the terms of the agreement).

Paulette Robinson, who said her home is adjacent to where the new panels will be, told the Board of Supervisors at Monday’s meeting that she and other neighbors of the project area only found out about the proposal last month when Apex held a local public meeting.

“I understand the need for those (tax) dollars in Hinds County,” Robinson said. “I also understand that solar is the energy of the future. But not at the expense of the residents that make up the county.”

Robinson and others, including Raymond Mayor Isla Tullos, asked the board to delay the approval to provide time to establish clearer rules and guidelines for solar developers to follow.

“Your no vote would be for the purpose of setting a one-year moratorium (on the project),” Tullos said. “During this one-year period, you will be leading our state in developing best practice guidance for solar development.”

At both Monday’s meeting and the Planning Commission meeting last month, a vast majority of Raymond residents attending were against the solar farm. Opponents to the project said there was a petition going around with over 1,100 signatures (an online version of the petition has close to 800 signatures).

And their concerns are far from just about the short notice they received about the proposal: A number of Raymond residents have talked about the potential for toxic chemicals to leach from the solar panels, as well as fears about increased heat near the facility and impacts to the local wildlife.

But experts, including those from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center, have largely denounced theories that solar panels have any harmful impacts to humans.

“Photovoltaic (PV) technologies and solar inverters are not known to pose any significant health dangers to their neighbors,” the North Carolina center wrote in a 2017 paper. “The most important dangers posed are increased highway traffic during the relative short construction period and dangers posed to trespassers of contact with high voltage equipment.”

While research from 2016 supports the belief that solar panels increase nearby temperatures, an article about the study says the effect can’t be measured 100 feet from the power source. O’Shea, from Apex, said Soul City will be at least 300 feet from any neighboring occupied property.

At last month’s Planning Commission meeting, Apex representatives said Soul City would include a “nature corridor” to allow wildlife to move freely through the project area. Local opponents remained skeptical though, arguing that installments could disrupt habitats for nearby species like deer, black bears and birds.

Another study from 2016 estimated that utility-scale solar farms kill tens of thousands of birds per year nationwide. The Audubon Society, though, says that photovoltaic panels, the ones Soul City would include, do not pose such a risk, and that the long-term benefits of using renewable energy outweigh any concerns for birds.

Smith, who represents District 2, said his research didn’t back up the concerns that opponents were relaying, and that the he supported something that was going to lower energy costs.

“I pay a lot of money for energy, and if this is something that can lower the cost of energy, I’m okay with it,” he said.

Apex said it plans to sell the energy it produces through the MISO power grid, which manages energy transmission through a regional marketplace.

Brent Bailey, the former Central District Public Service commissioner, spoke in favor of the project on Monday, saying it would increase access to clean and cost-effective energy, as well as add local revenue for infrastructure in schools.

“Nearly 40 large utility-scale solar farms have been approved for construction and operation in Mississippi,” Bailey said to the board, before making a quip about the opposing attendees’ green shirts. “These communities did not say, ‘Not in my backyard,’ they said, ‘Yes, in my backyard.’”

After the meeting, one of those in the green shirts walked up to Bailey, pointing a finger and said, “You don’t live here. I do.”

McGowan, District 5 supervisor who was one of the two votes against the project, said the decision should come down to whether or not those in Raymond want it.

“Why do we want to put something in somebody’s area that they don’t want to be in the area?” he asked. “I don’t get that.”

Allison Lauderdale, a Raymond resident and organizer of the opposition to Soul City, recently set up a GoFundMe to raise money for legal funds to fight the project in case it was approved. Lauderdale told Mississippi Today after the vote that she plans to file an injunction and has 10 days to do so.

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It’s well known that Mississippi teens give birth at one of the highest rates in the nation. But how does this affect the lives of adolescent mothers? 

A recent study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham looked at how, statistically, teen motherhood may not be a universally negative life event. Rather, teenage mothers from more privileged backgrounds face a greater “opportunity cost,” which is the loss of potential economic gain, compared to their less-advantages peers.

That’s due to a simple fact about what it means to have and to lose access to higher education, a good-paying job and quality healthcare. Teen mothers from higher-socioeconomic backgrounds have more opportunities and therefore more to lose, the study says. It also goes to show that teen mothers from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds face greater barriers to getting an education than just childbirth, said Joseph Wolfe, a sociology professor who worked on the study that analyzed longitudinal data spanning thousands of women across the 20th century.

“One of the many things associated with not having lots of opportunities” is teen birth, Wolfe said. “It can’t affect the opportunity cost if there are no opportunities.”

Wolfe added that childbirth, on its own, likely didn’t prevent a low-income teen mother from graduating college if she was never going to be able to afford tuition. 

Therefore, policies that solely aim to reduce teen birth, such as sex education, may not be as effective in increasing educational attainment for these mothers as ones that reduce the cost of college, combat generational poverty or increase the availability of childcare or well-paying jobs in economically deprived areas of the state, Wolfe said. 

“We no longer have the kind of society where the village is going to come in and help you raise your kid,” Wolfe said. “We really do need to have social structures that are … available freely for anyone who wants to use it.” 

In fact, Wolfe added, an approach to solving teen birth that only focuses on sex education may be more likely to benefit women from wealthier backgrounds for whom teen childbirth is one of the only barriers they face on their path to college.

“Those are the individuals that would actually have the resources to implement what a sex education would ask them to implement,” Wolfe said.

This is especially true when a college degree remains the door to good-paying jobs, the study noted. 

At the same time, teens across Mississippi face a dearth of accurate information and available resources to help prevent teen pregnancy, said Hope Crenshaw, the executive director of Teen Health Mississippi.

“We don’t dictate or we don’t narrate how much information people get if they are living with cancer,” Crenshaw said. “We give them all the information. We tell them about dietary options, we tell them about medicine, we tell them about support groups. When it comes to this (teen pregnancy), why are we regulating information?” 

Crenshaw works with teens across the state, and she said they have a range of perspectives on what it would mean for them to have a child as a teenager and the “opportunity cost” it might pose for them. Some are excited about the idea; for others, it wasn’t a choice, or the person they thought would help raise their child decided not to commit. 

“They don’t necessarily see it as, ‘if I have a child, I can’t do these things,’” Crenshaw said. “They’re trying to balance them both and that can be difficult.” 

This is especially the case for teen parents who are not white and from a lower socioeconomic background, Crenshaw added. Due to implicit bias, they are less likely to be taken seriously by adults in the medical system. They are more likely to live in a healthcare desert or to struggle to find childcare. 

Even so, Wolfe noted that teenage mothers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds may also be more likely to have a family network that can help them raise their child. 

“The implications of having a child are way different for different families,” he said. 

As society has become even more stratified, that has become even more true, according to the study, which looked at longitudinal data on women across generations from 1922 to 1984. 

“The world opened up for some women,” Wolfe said. “It should have opened up for everybody.”

In the post-World War II baby boom era, teen births were “common and unremarkable.” It was permissible for schools to expel pregnant students. A teen birth was almost twice as likely for women as earning a college degree. 

“In the 50s and 60s, who cares if you have a teen birth because your husband is going to be your bridge to (a higher) social class,” Wolfe said. 

After the social movements of the mid-20th century, that began to change, the study found. The U.S. became more economically stratified, a country of “diverging destinies.” The Food and Drug Administration approved the first oral contraceptive, and teen births dropped for those who could access it. 

By the 1990s, teen births were “an indicator of social class,” Wolfe said. 

A number of policies exacerbated this. In the information economy, a college degree became more salient, but the cost of tuition began to rise as states pulled back funding for higher education. And welfare reform resulted in some states withholding previously available child care benefits from teen mothers.  

Still, opportunities for adolescent mothers have grown across the board. The study found that millennial teen mothers were more likely to have a college degree than women from the silent generation, those who became teenagers in 1950, who did not have a teen birth.

The post Teen moms from wealthier backgrounds may face greater ‘opportunity costs’ than low-income teen moms, study finds  appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Despite a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court ensuring the availability of the abortion medication mifepristone, most abortions will remain illegal in Mississippi.

The nation’s highest court in a unanimous decision struck down a lawsuit attempting to limit availability of mifepristone, which is widely used to induce abortions. But use of the drug remains illegal in Mississippi and 13 other states that have near total bans on abortion.

“Unfortunately abortion remains illegal in Mississippi whether by medication or other means,” said Rob McDuff, of the Mississippi Center for Justice and the attorney for the last abortion provider that remained in the state before the Supreme Court overturned the national right to an abortion in 2021.  “However, the Mississippi law banning abortion specifically states that a woman cannot be prosecuted for having an abortion.  Anyone who helps her might be prosecuted, but not the person who has the abortion.”

Technically, a woman could receive the abortion pill from an out-of-state provider through the mail and it could prove difficult for the state to pursue any prosecution. PBS News Hour reported studies found that at the end of 2023, about 8,000 women a month in states where abortions were banned were receiving the abortion pill via mail from states where abortions are legal and providers who perform them are protected by state law from prosecution.

State Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office did not answer questions about the most recent Supreme Court ruling. Fitch filed the lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which was the 1973 landmark case that guaranteed the national right to an abortion.

While Fitch’s office did not respond to questions about the most recent Supreme Court ruling, in the past Fitch has attempted to force the Biden administration to provide to her office or other law enforcement medical information on women who leave Mississippi for abortions.

McDuff said the Center for Justice is willing to represent for free anyone who is prosecuted under the state’s abortion laws.

While state law bans most abortions in Mississippi and there is no clinic providing abortions, a 1990s’ state Supreme Court ruling said abortions were legal under the Mississippi Constitution. That ruling, which would theoretically trump state law, has never been reversed by the current Supreme Court.

A lawsuit by anti-abortion groups is seeking to have the 1990s’ opinion reversed.

Mississippi Rep. Zakiya Summers, D-Jackson, said she does not know if it would be feasible to introduce legislation based on the most recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling ensuring the availability of the abortion pill.

“It would be DOA,” she said. “The (Republican) majority does not want to touch anything dealing with abortion. They have been given their marching orders.”

Summers said she will continue to focus on trying to pass legislation guaranteeing access to contraceptives, which she says is a different issue than what was decided in the most recent Supreme Court ruling on the abortion pill.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

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A trade association with members like Google and X filed a federal lawsuit to block the state’s new bipartisan internet safety law.

The Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act, or House Bill 1126, requires social media services to verify the ages of their users and bans digitally-produced or modified images of child pornography. The bill is named after Walker Montgomery, a Starkville teen who took his own life after being the victim of a sextortion scheme.

Under the new law, minors cannot sign up for social media websites without their parent’s permission. Social media sites cannot advertise “harmful material” to minors or collect, sell or share their personal information. 

The law takes effect July 1. 

Last week, trade association NetChoice filed a lawsuit in federal court against the state to block it. In a press release, NetChoice called the new law a violation of Mississippians’ privacy and freedom of speech. They warned that the bill would open the door for censorship and put users’ personal information at risk.

“Parents and guardians are best situated to control their family’s online presence. HB 1126 usurps the parental role and seizes it for the State,” the lawsuit reads.

NetChoice is a trade association of tech companies that advocates for free speech and expression on the internet. It is a major lobbyist against government regulation of social media. Its members include major online companies such as Etsy, X and Google.

Walker Montgomery’s story inspired Jilil Ford, R-Madison, Fabian Nelson, D-Jackson, and Larry Byrd, R-Petal, to work on the bipartisan bill.

Nelson did not comment on the lawsuit, but defended the bill. “Our motivation behind this legislation was not to infringe upon anyone’s rights. Our motivation with this legislation was to protect our children,” he said.

Nelson emphasized the need for legislation that keeps up with technological advancements. He was also personally touched as a father of three by Montgomery’s story. 

“Sitting quietly while things like this happen makes us worse than the perpetrators,” he said.

Mississippi is one of several states to pass a law requiring social media users to verify their ages. NetChoice launched lawsuits across the country opposing them in the name of preserving freedom of speech.

American Civil Liberties Union Staff Attorney Vera Feilman was also critical of the law, saying, “Such age-verification laws rob users of anonymity, pose privacy and security risks, and could be used to block some people from being able to use social media at all.”

The ACLU filed an amicus brief supporting NetChioice’s lawsuit in Arkansas over a similar bill.

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Karissa Bowley and her family say they support all efforts to find justice for the late Dau Mabil, despite implications by others to the contrary. 

“Dau was special before he ever married me,” his widow told reporters in a Friday press conference. “I’m just here, missing him.”

Mabil — a 33-year-old Belhaven Heights resident who had been one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan and came to Jackson in 2000 –dissappeared March 25. He was seen on video surveillance on Jefferson Street between Fortification and High streets, and at one point went to the Museum Trail to check on corn he planted. 

Bowley searched for her husband with others. “The whole ordeal has been frustrating and tragic,” she said. “I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”

Three weeks after his disappearance, a fisherman spotted a body floating in the Pearl River near Lawrence County, more than 50 miles away. By April 18, a preliminary autopsy had revealed the body belonged to Mabil. The Lawrence County sheriff said there was no evidence of foul play. Her family said Friday that authorities told them they are waiting on toxicology tests before finalizing the official autopsy.

Bowley said it wasn’t unusual for Dau to leave without his phone and his identification.

Texts contained in court records reveal a strained relationship between Bowley and Mabil. Bowley complained that Mabil was “drinking a lot,” and Mabil complained that Bowley “does not know how to control her emotions.”

Bowley’s brother, Spencer, responded Friday, “No marriage is perfect, and theirs wasn’t either.”

But he said the allegation that Bowley or the family had anything to do with Mabil’s disappearance is simply false.

He said some claimed on social media that Bowley contacted police just 30 minutes after Mabil disappeared or that she waited until the next day. He said both claims are entirely false.

Bowley said there is a void where her husband once was. “Grief is your body, mind and spirit saying no,” she said, “but the reality is still there.”

After the state finishes its investigation, official autopsy results will be released to Bowley and Mabil’s brother, Bul, according to a court order. 

Bul Mabil recently won the right to have an independent autopsy performed on Dau’s remains.

Bowley’s family said they support all efforts by Bul Mabil and others to find justice.

“I’m feeling very deeply the loss of Dau. I keep pushing for justice for Dau,” Bowley said. “He’s a person I care to honor the rest of my life.”

The post Dau Mabil’s widow, her family say they seek justice for him appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Today is pleased to announce that Gwen Dilworth has joined the community health team at Mississippi Today.

Dilworth is a native of Durham, North Carolina, and most recently completed a fellowship at The Times-Independent in Moab, Utah, where she covered local government and Southeast Utah’s mining industry. Before that, she worked at Innocence Project New Orleans where she advocated for people serving long sentences for nonviolent crimes.

“Gwen is not only a fantastic writer but an impressive investigator with a diverse skill set and a knack for ensuring accuracy,” said Kate Royals, community health editor at Mississippi Today. “Mississippi is lucky to have her here.”

Dilworth also served as a fact checker for Boyce Upholt’s book “The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi” and freelanced for local news publication The Mid-City Messenger in New Orleans.

“It is a privilege to have the opportunity to cover a beat that is so important and connected to Mississippians’ daily lives,” said Dilworth. “I’m thrilled to be joining a team of passionate and talented journalists covering critical topics in the state with thoughtfulness and care. I’m looking forward to learning from and being a part of such a vibrant and welcoming community.” 

Dilworth will report on the intersection of health and criminal justice, among other areas of the health beat.

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