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2C Mississippi, a Ridgeland-based nonprofit focused on climate resilience in Mississippi, recently joined a national lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency after the government terminated over $20 million in grant funds for the organization.

In February, the lawsuit says, the EPA followed directives from President Trump to cut federal spending by terminating grants for a variety of environmental justice and climate resilience projects. Lawyers from a number of groups, including the Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice, filed the complaint in federal court in Washington D.C. on June 25. The complaint asks for full funding of the roughly 350 awarded grants impacted by the EPA’s cuts.

The Ridgeland organization, federal data shows, was set to receive about $20.5 million for two projects in Jackson: $20 million for a self-sustainable “resilience hub” and $500,000 to complete a “microparks” project aimed at tackling flooding and blight in the city. 2C Mississippi, one of the over 20 plaintiffs from around the country, received just $300,000 of those funds so far.

In a March memo the EPA sent to 2C Mississippi, the agency wrote, “This EPA Assistance Agreement is terminated in its entirety effective immediately on the grounds that the award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.”

Dominika Parry, who founded the nonprofit in 2017, called it a “nearly impossible task” to obtain the $20 million elsewhere for the resilience hub, a concept she said is growing around the country, such as in New Orleans. The idea, she explained, is to provide shelter both during emergencies but also during general times of need.

“ This is a place where people can come, stay overnight, have access to energy, be in healthy conditions,” Parry said.

Features would include a tornado shelter, 150 beds, showers and charging stations, as well as job training and community spaces. Parry added the facility would be self-sustainable with an independent well water system as well as solar panels with battery storage. Working with Jackson nonprofit Voice of Calvary Ministries, Parry secured a site for the hub at a former church in west Jackson.

The microparks project, which she discussed with Mississippi Today last year, seeks to take on both blight and flooding by turning dilapidated properties in flood zones into communal green spaces with public art and gardens. Despite having already selected the locations and cleared the land for the parks to live in, Parry said she’s had to pause the project since the EPA’s termination. She was optimistic that funding could come from elsewhere, but it’s unclear how long that would take.

Without the grant money, Parry’s unsure if her organization as a whole can survive. Already, she said, she’s had to start working for free as well as reduce her employee’s salaries.

“Losing that funding is a pretty existential change to our functioning,” she said.

In a separate project, 2C Mississippi secured a $1.5 million federal grant for a recently unveiled green space on Farish Street.

“So far we’ve been incredibly grateful and lucky that we were able to keep delivering and build trust, and now the idea we are going to go and tell people we don’t have the funds, that weighs on me,” Parry said. “People in Jackson have been promised many, many things that never happened.”

Other Mississippi groups whose grants were terminated include the Gulfport-based Steps Coalition and Jackson State University. Steps Coalition, according to federal data, received just $122,000 of a $500,000 grant to engage residents in local land-use and leadership training. JSU received about $60,000 of $100,000 from two EPA grants to train water technicians, support grant writing in underserved communities, and provide water to a garden at Blackburn Middle School in Jackson.

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a 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.

On the evening of April 5, my phone and our community’s emergency siren both started screaming at once, jarring my husband and me to our feet. I clicked my phone and heard an automated voice begin to speak, warning of a tornado near Oxford. 

My husband, emergency bag in hand, called for the dogs to follow as we hurried down the stairs to our “safe place,” a windowless storage room in the basement. Even there, we could see angry bursts of lightning and hear the siren as it continued to wail. 

My family — as do others across the state — knows how to respond to the severe storms and dangerous tornados that interrupt our lives, often with devastating results. 

In the past, the federal government, through FEMA, has also responded. But now the Federal Emergency Management Agency is threatened by an administration that wants to overhaul it. President Trump has said he wants to “fix a terribly broken system” by shifting emergency disaster response to the backs of the states. 

Together with Congress, we need to insist, as we’ve repeatedly done in the past, that the executive branch work alongside us when disaster strikes our communities. 

*

The Trump administration is not the first to downplay its role in providing emergency relief to Americans during disasters. President Calvin Coolidge took a similar stance during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. 

That year, months of persistent rain combined with runoff from melting snow pushed levees that had been engineered to constrain the Mississippi River beyond their limits. Beginning in mid-April, levees from Illinois to Louisiana began to crumble, and as they did, waves of turbulent water flooded fields and swept through towns. 

While numbers hint at the destruction –hundreds of souls lost, hundreds of thousands of people displaced and thousands of square miles flooded — they don’t reflect the agony or suffering of those whose lives were capsized during the flood.

*

In late April of 1927, President Coolidge created a commission, headed by Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, to respond to the massive flooding that had by then spread across at least seven states. Unwilling to allocate any federal money to the effort, Coolidge instead called on the American public to donate $5 million. 

Hoover, an engineer by training, leveraged the public’s donations with the capacity of the American National Red Cross. Their volunteers provided food, clothing, medical care and temporary housing to those whose homes were destroyed. 

Meanwhile, the president stood steadfast, refusing to use federal tax dollars to provide relief. 

Or rebuild bridges or roads that had been swept away. 

Or invest in future flood-control efforts.

Newspapers up and down the Mississippi River Valley criticized President Coolidge’s insistence that the states absorb the cost of rebuilding their communities while also bracing for seasonal floods that would occur again. 

“It seems obvious,” wrote the Memphis Commercial Appeal, “that neither the head of the nation or any one of his responsible advisors realizes either the nature or the immensity of the problem.” 

The paper went on to question how a nation as wealthy as the United States could impose the “burden of tremendous loss, sacrifices, agonies and destruction,” on individual states. 

In Jackson, the Clarion-Ledger also questioned the government’s response, particularly since President Coolidge had repeatedly refused to witness the flooding in person. “Not a dime has the government appropriated. The truth of the matter is that it has been necessary to school President Coolidge day by day a bit more towards the realization of the immensity of the catastrophe.”

The public and Congress continued to demand that the federal government assume a new responsibility for its citizens, one that included disaster relief, recovery and prevention. 

Eventually, Coolidge struck a deal with Congress and in May 1928, Congress enacted the 1928 Flood Control Act. The law authorized the Corps of Engineers to design and construct projects that would control flooding on the Mississippi River and the Sacramento River in California. 

The new law also ended the philosophy that regional disasters were solely the responsibility of the states. Instead, it acknowledged that the wealth of the country would be used to alleviate the suffering of its citizens. 

In 1950, the Federal Disaster Relief Act created the pathway for states to ask the president for federal help during crises.  This was followed by the establishment of FEMA in 1979.

*

So far this year, more than 60 people have lost their lives due to tornados in the United States, including at least seven people in Mississippi. Though storms have uprooted trees, flooded streets and caused property damage in Oxford, our community has largely been spared the heartache these deadly tornadoes caused elsewhere. 

We don’t know what the future holds for FEMA. In April, President Trump appointed former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant to a council charged with recommending changes that may overhaul the agency. 

But as tornado season rolls into hurricane season, we know that the destruction caused by these severe storms is more than any of us can bear alone. We must insist that the federal government keep its sleeves rolled up and support our communities during times of disaster.

Bio: Shirley Wimbish Gray lives in Oxford. A retired writing instructor and science editor, she writes about what is often overlooked or forgotten, particularly in the American South. Her recent essays have appeared in Earth Island, Brevity Blog and Persimmon Tree. 

Before he became a Hall of Fame football coach and won 297 games, Mike Justice played on Mississippi’s first integrated high school football team in Fulton. Justice talks about that and a lot more.

Stream all episodes here.

In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Marshall Ramsey tours the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument with Reena Evers-Everette.

For more videos, subscribe to Mississippi Today’s YouTube channel.

Mississippi’s crop of elite young golfers has become so accomplished in recent years it takes something especially special to raise this longtime observer’s eyebrows.

And then someone comes along and does what 18-year-old Jake Moffitt of Ripley did recently in the State Amateur Championship played at Grand Bear Golf Club in Saucier. Hold on to your visors, folks: Playing on the difficult Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course measuring over 7,100 yards, Moffitt, a Southern Miss signee, shot 21-under par for 72 holes and won by a whopping 10 shots over runner-up Jackson Cook of West Point. Cook, a two-time Mississippi junior champion, has signed to play at Mississippi State.

Both Moffitt’s 72-hole score and his victory margin set State Am records. Moffitt’s final round of nine-under-par 63 – 10 pars, 7 birdies and an eagle – was just one off the Grand Bear course record of 62, shot by 10-time PGA TOUR champion Steve Elkington in a Champions Tour tournament in 2022.

When the PGA TOUR held its first round of tour qualifying at Grand Bear two years ago, the winning 72-hole score was 280 – 13 shots worse than what young Moffitt just shot.

Says accomplished, 42-year-old Belden amateur Joe Deraney, who shot 3-under at Grand Bear and finished in a tie for eighth place, “Twenty-one under par on that golf course is an amazing score. He lapped the field. And I can’t tell you how good that final round 63 was. To shoot that score under fire when he held the lead and all the pressure was on him is really, really something.”

Yes, it is, and it qualifies Moffitt to play in the U.S. Amateur Championship at the famed Olympic Club’s Lake Course in San Francisco. That’s a far cry from his hometown course, a nine hole track called Pine Hill Country Club where Moffitt says he plays “95 percent of my golf.” And it’s not bad for a country kid, with a decided Hill Country accent, who took up the game of golf five years ago at age 13 when he was looking for something he could do for fun during the Covid pandemic.

Before that, Moffitt played all the team sports, especially baseball where his usual position was third baseman. Once he began to play golf, he was hooked. And he got better fast, breaking 80 within a few months of beginning to practice and play regularly.

“What I love most about golf is that it’s an individual sport,” he said. “It’s all on you and you are depending on you, yourself, the whole time. It’s a game where you are always trying to reach perfection but you never can. Every shot, every practice shot, the goal is to get better. I like that.”

Moffitt led Ripley to three Class 4A state championships and won the individual championship himself all three times. Earlier this year, he won the Oxford Country Club Invitational, making birdies on the last three holes to come from behind and beat Deraney.

In April, he qualified for a PGA Korn Ferry Tour event, the Club Car Championship in Savannah, Georgia. So of course, he shot 66 and made the field and missed a week of school.

He shot 78 and 76 and missed the cut but says, “It was about as much fun as I have ever had on a golf course.”

Southern Miss golf coach Eddie Brescher, who has finished as runner-up in the State Am three times himself, began recruiting Moffitt three years ago, and Moffitt committed over a year ago.

“We could see his potential three years ago, and he’s gotten a lot better since then,” Brescher said. “We are trying to do in golf what Southern Miss has done in baseball and that’s compete on a national basis. We’re headed in the right direction and signing Jake is a big step. His game has no weaknesses and he’s only going to get better. He’s a humble country boy who doesn’t mind hard work and can really, really play this  game.”

The U.S. Amateur will be played Aug. 11-17 at Olympic, which has hosted so much golf history, including the 1966 U.S. Open when Arnold Palmer lost a seven-shot lead and then the playoff to Billy Casper. Moffitt says he knows little about Olympic but does know the rough will be high and the greens will be lightning fast, as is the case for all USGA events.

Says the 18-year-old from rural northeast Mississippi, “I can’t wait.”

President Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated Baxter Kruger to become Mississippi’s new U.S. attorney in the Southern District and Scott Leary to become U.S. attorney for the Northern District. 

The two nominations will head to the U.S. Senate for consideration. If confirmed, the two will oversee federal criminal prosecutions and investigations in the state. 

Kruger graduated from the Mississippi College School of Law in 2015 and was previously an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District. He is currently the director of the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security. 

Sean Tindell, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety commissioner, oversees the state’s Homeland Security Office. He congratulated Kruger on social media and praised his leadership at the agency. 

“Thank you for your outstanding leadership at the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security and for your dedicated service to our state,” Tindell wrote. “Your hard work and commitment have not gone unnoticed and this nomination is a testament to that!” 

Leary graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Law, and he has been a federal prosecutor for most of his career. 

He worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Tennessee in Memphis from 2002 to 2008. Afterward, he worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Mississippi in Oxford, where he is currently employed. 

Leary told Mississippi Today that he is honored to be nominated for the position, and he looks forward to the Senate confirmation process. 

Two former Democratic candidates in Mississippi will be running for office under different affiliations. 

Ty Pinkins, a former Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2024, announced recently that he would run as an independent candidate for the U.S Senate in 2026. Shuwaski Young, a former Democratic candidate for Congress and Mississippi secretary of state, announced that he will campaign as a Republican for secretary of state in 2027. 

The announcements from the two politicians come in an election cycle where the Democratic Party is trying to make inroads in a state dominated by Republicans. 

Pinkins, a Rolling Fork native, unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker in 2024. 

The Delta resident in a recent blog post attributed the lack of support from the state Democratic Party and Democratic officials as part of the reason for his poor performance. Pinkins wrote that certain party leaders were “gatekeepers” who attempted to block him from advancing in politics.

“Gatekeeping is how the party protects its fragile status quo — by silencing anyone who might disrupt it,” Pinkins wrote. “Candidates who challenge convention or dare to ask hard questions are often ignored, undermined, or outright punished.”

If he qualifies to run for the seat, he will challenge incumbent U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who has announced she is running for reelection and has the endorsement of President Donald Trump. 

Scott Colom, a state prosecutor in the Golden Triangle area, is considered a likely candidate in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, but he has not publicly announced his plans. 

Young, a Neshoba County native, has worked in various roles at the California Democratic Party, the Department of Homeland Security under President Barack Obama’s administration, and the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office under former secretaries Eric Clark and Delbert Hosemann.

The Democratic Party nominated Young for secretary of state in 2023, but after the Daily Journal and Secretary of State Michael Watson’s office raised questions about Young’s residency, he withdrew from the race due to medical reasons.

Other candidates who are considering running for secretary of state are Republican state Sen. Jeff Tate of Meridian and Republican state Sen. Joel Carter of Gulfport. Current Secretary of State Michael Watson has not announced his plans, but is widely considered a top contender for lieutenant governor. 

Candidates for U.S. Senate and other congressional offices can begin qualifying in January, and candidates for Mississippi’s statewide elections can begin qualifying for those offices in January 2027. 

John Horhn finally became mayor of Jackson Tuesday, after his fourth run for the office, more than $300,000 in campaign donations and too many church visits to count.

Horhn is the 54th mayor of Jackson. His inauguration marks a shift in leadership from a young progressive visionary to a seasoned moderate who promises to restore basic services, tackle blight and bring back economic development. 

Horhn, 70, took the oath of office at 11 a.m. at the downtown Jackson Convention Complex following a prayer service led by eight religious leaders of different denominations. Council members, including the newly elected Kevin Parkinson of Ward 7 and Lashia Brown-Thomas of Ward 6, were also sworn into office. 

The day concludes with an evening gala featuring performances from blues musicians Willie Clayton and Bobby Rush. 

A longtime state senator representing parts of northwest Jackson and southern Madison County, Horhn has pledged to reorganize a dysfunctional City Hall, create a comprehensive plan, and work with developers to bring more business to Jackson. 

The challenges are great: Jackson is the fastest shrinking capital city in the country, and many residents have lost faith in the city’s leadership to respond when they call with problems, much less fix systemic issues such as blight, economic divestment or Jackson’s relationship to the state government. 

But Horhn will have the support of a coalition of city leaders representing real estate, restaurants, unions, city contractors and nonprofits. With their backing, Horhn rode to election, winning 3 to 1 in the Democratic primary runoff over outgoing Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and facing no serious opposition in the general election. 

Check back for updates to this developing story.  

12:34 PM

‘We understand that no one in their right mind would want to take this job’

“But because of our combined love for Jackson,” Mayor John Horhn said in his inaugural address, referencing his wife, Lydia Gail Horhn. “We decided that we’re gonna do this.”

Horhn said he’s putting together a team he’s asking to do three things:

• Move: “And by that I mean, let’s get some things done. Let’s not push paper on one side of the desk to the other.”
• Think: “That we approach solving problems in our city in a logical and well-reasoned fashion. Thinking through problems is what we need more of, as opposed to passing the buck. And we have kicked the can down the road long enough.”
• Pray: “If we don’t believe in something that is a higher power than ourselves, then we are in trouble.”

12:15 PM

‘This speech won’t be long, because my iPad just died’

In his inaugural address, Jackson’s new mayor John Horhn spoke directly to the state’s top leaders.

“You gentlemen lead the state,” Horhn said to Gov. Tate Reeves and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. “And you’re doing everything you can, I believe, to lead it to greatness. And we in the city of Jackson, the capital city, look forward to working with both of you gentlemen.”

He said that he’s met with leaders in Washington, who told him, “We want to help Jackson, just tell us what you need.”

12:02 PM

After Horhn, Jacksonians take their own oath

After John Horhn took the oath of office, becoming Jackson’s 54th mayor, Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Crystal Wise Martin asked inauguration attendees to emulate the Mississippi Mass Choir – which minutes earlier delivered a powerful rendition of “We Praise You” – while taking the people’s oath of support for the mayor and city council.

“I want you to give a resounding ‘We will,’ just like you were listening to the Mississippi Mass Choir,” Martin said.

“Together, we will shape a Jackson that reflects the strength of pride and the promise of its people,” she said, followed by a pledge of service to Horhn and council members; the crowd returned.

After, the Mississippi Mass Choir sang “The Promise,” with the repeating refrain, “I’m ready.”

11:35 AM

Lumumba returning to law, office empty

As Jacksonians filed into the downtown convention center Tuesday morning to watch Mayor John Horhn take the oath of office, a notable face was missing from the crowd.

Former Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said at a press conference Monday that he would not be able to attend the inauguration because he had to go to work. Before becoming mayor in 2017, Lumumba led a local law firm, Lumumba and Associates. 

A visit to the address listed for the firm at 440 N. Mill Street Tuesday morning showed a building that appears to have been deserted for some time. A large crack in the front door’s glass was covered with poster board and a pot of fake purple flowers. 

There were no cars in the parking lot. Multiple calls to Lumumba and a number listed on a piece of paper taped to the inside of the front door were not returned. A call to the number for the law office on Google yielded a busy signal.

11:18 AM

Former Jackson Mayor Kane Ditto recognizes longest serving council member

“I’d like to take just a moment of personal privilege here to acknowledge my good friend Kenny Stokes. And the reason I’m doing this to him is because he was on the city council when I was mayor,” said former Jackson mayor Kane Ditto, garnering a laugh from the audience.

Councilman Kenny Stokes is the longest serving member of the current Jackson City Council. He and Ditto both took office in 1989, and Ditto served until 1997.

11:25 AM

Gov. Reeves: “The state stands ready to work with Mayor Horhn”

Gov. Tate Reeves, the Republican governor of Mississippi who served as a foil to Jackson’s Democratic leadership in recent years, pledged a “renewed commitment” to progress in the capital city, calling it vital to the future of the state in a speech during Mayor John Horhn’s inauguration Tuesday. 

“I want everyone to know the state stands ready to work with Mayor Horhn and the city of Jackson,” Reeves said. “We may not always agree on everything, and that’s OK, but what matters most is we keep our eye on the bigger picture.” 

Those shared goals include clean water, better schools, safer neighborhoods, good jobs and more opportunity for every Jacksonian, Reeves said, commending Horhn for stepping up to what he called “a big job.” 

“Our capital is more than a geographic center,” Reeves said. “It is a cultural hub, an economic driver and a symbol of who we are as a state. For Mississippi to reach our full potential, we need Jackson to succeed.” 

From his experience working with Horhn in the Legislature, Reeves, who served as lieutenant governor from 2012 to 2020, said he knows Horhn possesses a deep love for Jackson and a vision for its future. 

“He’s been a tireless advocate for the capital city in the state Senate, and I dare say no one can speak more authoritatively on that fact than someone who had to deal with his passion daily for years,” Reeves said, garnering chuckles from the crowd before adding, “someone such as myself.”

When former Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba was in office, some politicos in Jackson felt it would be impossible for Reeves, a conservative, to work with a mayor who had pledged to make the city the most radical in the country, an observation that Reeves seemed to reference toward the end of his speech.

“I believe in what’s possible if and when we work together,” he said. “Not as what many politicos and even some of our constituents may see as a mutually beneficial adversary, but as partners.”

But the inability to work together went beyond optics: In 2022, Reeves blamed the water crisis on what he deemed “the “absolute and total incompetence of this mayor and his administration.” 

After Reeves spoke, U.S. Congressman Bennie Thompson quipped the audience had just heard “all the good stuff” the state’s other leaders said they would do for Jackson. Then he addressed Horhn.

“Mayor, I know at some point you’ll go looking forward to collect,” he said.

11:03 AM

‘This is your city, too,’ Bennie Thompson says

U.S. Congressman Bennie Thompson spoke first at the inauguration of Jackson Mayor John Horhn. Thompson endorsed Horhn during the April Democratic primary runoff.

“This is what we do in a democracy,” said Thompson, who chaired the House Select Committee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the nation’s Capitol. “We settle our differences at the ballot box. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. But we don’t tear the place up. … I’m pleased that we can stand as a community to commemorate this iconic event and bear witness to another beginning, a newly elected administration, a new vision, a new energy and a renewed commitment to build the city of Jackson.”

10:47 AM

Faith renewed and restored after inaugural prayer service

Jackson clergy said they felt hopeful after the inaugural prayer service held this morning for Mayor John Horhn. 

John Allen, associate pastor at Anderson United Methodist Church, said the prayer service reinvigorated the community’s faith in its elected officials.

“This kind of thing brings renewal,” he said. “It helps us to renew our faith, and also when we’re actually praying over the mayor and over the city, it kind of reinvigorates a renewal in our faith and the person that we’ve elected, but also in God in orchestrating all of that.”

Domini Henry, pastor at Central United Methodist Church, said that a leader’s faith in God helps build the community’s trust in them as a leader. 

“When we see them exemplifying faith, and when we see them trust Him, then it helps us put our trust in them and that leads to more positive things happening for the city, because the leadership has placed themselves in God’s hands for guidance,” Henry said. 

He said that though the prayer service was for one day, clergy should continue to come together and support the mayor in his journey as an elected official.

“This is just a mark of what we ought to continue to do,” Henry said. “This just shouldn’t be a one day thing. We should continue to circle around our mayor as clergy and as leaders to pray and uplift him and the city.”

10:05 AM

City of Jackson’s website sporting new look

Before John Horhn officially took office Tuesday morning, the city of Jackson’s website was already sporting a new look, complete with a new logo, a new slogan and a form inviting users to “follow us for update (sic) now!” 

The new home page includes photos of Jackson City Hall and Horhn sitting in front of the building’s historic marker. The website’s former logo, which showed a colorful rendering of the city’s skyline, has been replaced with one inspired by the city’s official flag and a new slogan, “the city with vision and results.” 

Under former mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, some Jacksonians expressed frustration with the city’s website, which was migrated to a new platform toward the end of last year. While the website had a host of information – from city council agendas and meeting minutes to a weekly schedule – it was often hard to find through the search function. 

As of Tuesday, the city’s homepage is the only part of the website that appears to work. When a user tries to access the council meeting minutes, a message stating “this page either doesn’t exist, or it moved somewhere else” is returned. But Jacksonians can still access those pages via the Internet Archive. 

8:21 AM

Local clergy pray over mayor John Horhn

A banquet hall at the Jackson Convention Center in downtown Jackson transformed into a church sanctuary Tuesday morning as local clergy gathered to pray over incoming Mayor John Horhn.

“Prayer is warfare, and we came to do battle,” said Jerry Young, pastor of New Hope Baptist Church. “We came here to fight for the city of Jackson, Mississippi.”

Hundreds packed into the hall for Horhn’s inaugural prayer service. Ten leaders from churches and temples across the city came together to pray for the city of Jackson. They prayed for key issues in Jackson, such as equity and justice, the city council, and for healing.

After more than 10 months closed due to mold, asbestos and issues with the air conditioning system, Thalia Mara Hall has officially reopened. 

Outgoing Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba announced the reopening of Thalia Mara Hall during his final press conference held Monday on the arts venue’s steps. 

“Today marks what we view as a full circle moment, rejoicing in the iconic space where community has come together for decades in the city of Jackson,” Lumumba said. “Thalia Mara has always been more than a venue. It has been a gathering place for people in the city of Jackson. From its first class ballet performances to gospel concerts, Thalia Mara Hall has been the backdrop for our city’s rich cultural history.” 

Thalia Mara Hall closed last August after mold was found in parts of the building. The issues compounded from there, with malfunctioning HVAC systems and asbestos remediation. On June 6, the Mississippi State Fire Marshal’s Office announced that Thalia Mara Hall had finally passed inspection. 

“We’re not only excited to have overcome many of the challenges that led to it being shuttered for a period of time,” Lumumba said. “We are hopeful for the future of this auditorium, that it may be able to provide a more up-to-date experience for residents, inviting shows that people are able to see across the world, bringing them here to Jackson. So this is an investment in the future.”

In total, Emad Al-Turk, a city contracted engineer and owner of Al-Turk Planning, estimates that $5 million in city and state funds went into bringing Thalia Mara Hall up to code. 

The venue still has work to be completed, including reinstalling the fire curtain. The beam in which the fire curtain will be anchored has asbestos in it, so it will have to be remediated. In addition, a second air-conditioning chiller needs to be installed to properly cool the building. Until it’s installed, which could take months, Thalia Mara Hall will be operating at a lower seating capacity of about 800. 

“Primarily because of the heat,” Al-Turk said. “The air conditioning would not be sufficient to actually accommodate the 2,000 people at full capacity, but starting in the fall, that should not be a problem.”

Al-Turk said the calendar is open for the city to begin booking events, though none have been scheduled for July. 

“We’re very proud,” he said. “This took a little bit longer than what we anticipated, but we had probably seven or eight different contractors we had to coordinate with and all of them did a superb job to get us where we are today.”

On his last day as mayor of Jackson, Chokwe Antar Lumumba recounted accomplishments, praised his executive team and said he has no plans to seek office again.

He spoke during a press conference outside of the city’s Thalia Mara Hall, which was recently cleared for reopening after nearly a year of remediation. The briefing, meant to give media members a peek inside the downtown theater, marked one of Lumumba’s final forays as mayor.

Longtime state Sen. John Horhn — who defeated Lumumba in the Democratic primary runoff — will be inaugurated as mayor Tuesday, but Lumumba won’t be present. Not for any contentious reason, the 42-year-old mayor noted, but because he returns to his private law practice Tuesday.

“I’ve got to work now, y’all,” Lumumba said. “I’ve got a job.”

Thalia Mara Hall’s presumptive comeback was a fitting end for Lumumba, who pledged to make Jackson the most radical city in America but instead spent much of his eight years in office parrying one emergency after another. The auditorium was built in 1968 and closed nearly 11 months ago after workers found mold caused by a faulty HVAC system – on top of broken elevators, fire safety concerns and vandalism.

“This job is a fast-pitched sport,” Lumumba said. “There’s an abundance of challenges that have to be addressed, and it seems like the moment that you’ve gotten over one hurdle, there’s another one that is waiting in the shadows.” 

Outside the theater Monday, Lumumba reflected on the high points of his leadership instead of the many crises — some seemingly self-inflicted — he faced as mayor. 

He presided over the city during the coronavirus pandemic and the rise in crime it brought, but also the one-two punch of the 2021 and 2022 water crises, exacerbated by the city’s mismanagement of its water plants, and the 18-day pause in trash pickup spurred by Lumumba’s contentious negotiations with the city council in 2023. 

Then in 2024, Lumumba was indicted alongside other city and county officials in a sweeping federal corruption probe targeting the proposed development of a hotel across from the city’s convention center, a project that has remained stalled in a 20-year saga of failed bids and political consternation. 

Slated for trial next year, Lumumba has repeatedly maintained his innocence. 

The city’s youngest mayor also brought some victories to Jackson, particularly in his first year in office. In 2017, he ended a furlough of city employees and worked with then-Gov. Phil Bryant to avoid a state takeover of Jackson Public Schools. In 2019, the city successfully sued German engineering firm Siemens and its local contractors for $89 million over botched work installing the city’s water-sewer billing infrastructure.

“I think that that was a pivotal moment to say that this city is going to hold people responsible for the work that they do,” Lumumba said. 

Lumumba had more time than any other mayor to usher in the 1% sales tax, which residents approved in 2014 to fund infrastructure improvements.

“We paved 144 streets,” he said. “There are residents that still are waiting on their roads to be repaved. And you don’t really feel it until it’s your street that gets repaved, but that is a significant undertaking.”

And under his administration, crime has fallen dramatically recently, with homicides cut by a third and shootings cut in half in the last year.

Lumumba was first elected in 2017 after defeating Tony Yarber, a business-friendly mayor who faced his own scandals as mayor. A criminal justice attorney, Lumumba said he never planned to seek office until the stunning death of his father, Chokwe Lumumba Sr., eight months into his first term as mayor in 2014.

“I can say without reservation, and unequivocally, we remember where we started. We are in a much better position than we started,” Lumumba said. 

Lumumba said he has sat down with Horhn in recent months, answered questions “as extensively as I could,” and promised to remain reachable to the new mayor.