Gov. Tate Reeves has appointed Bill Cork as the new executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, the state’s economic development agency.
Cork replaces Laura Hipp Mayer, who served as the agency’s interim executive director since August 2021. The agency has been without a permanent director since 2021, when former director John Rounsaville resigned after the state investigated sexual misconduct allegations against him.
“We are committed to expanding our economy, driving further growth, raising wages, and bringing in more jobs for the people of Mississippi,” Reeves said in a Thursday statement announcing the appointment. “This team will be key to accomplishing that mission, and I have the utmost confidence in them.”
Cork previously served as the deputy director of the agency. Before working in state government, he worked at the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission, the Texarkana Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Sempra Energy Solutions, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
“The invitation to lead this amazing group of professionals, as part of Gov. Tate Reeves’ leadership team, is truly humbling,” Cork said in a statement. “I look forward to serving the great state of Mississippi in this new role and building upon the amazing momentum we are achieving together.”
Mayer, a former staffer for Reeves during his time as lieutenant governor, recently left MDA to become the assistant commissioner for external relations at the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning.
Reeves’ appointment of Cork will go before the Mississippi Senate for confirmation, but he can serve as the leader of the state agency until the confirmation hearing.
Nearly seven months after an Indianola police officer shot an 11-year-old boy in the chest during a domestic call, a Sunflower County grand jury decided not to indict him after hearing evidence from the attorney general’s office, according to a Thursday statement from the office.
Meanwhile the child’s mother, after finally seeing the body camera footage from the shooting is asking for it to be released publicly.
“Watching that footage was nothing I was prepared for emotionally, but it was something I had to do,” Nakala Murry, the mother of Aderrien, said Wednesday during a press conference in Grenada. “I feel disgusted, outraged and emotionally damaged, but in all of those feelings I feel blessed. This has been a process of fighting for justice for my son.”
The early morning of May 20, police were called to the Murry home because the father of her younger child had come there and his behavior was worrying. Officer Greg Capers, one of the officers standing in the doorway, fired his weapon as Aderrien entered the room, hitting the boy in the chest.
Murry, her attorney and supporters have been calling for Capers to face criminal charges, but the grand jury did otherwise..
Michael Carr, who is representing Capers, said Thursday his client is relieved and the attorney is glad the grand jury was able to review the facts of the case and the law and find that there was no criminal intent.
But the Murrys’ attorney, Carlos Moore, said he will continue to press for justice in light of the grand jury decision.
“While the grand jury has spoken, we firmly believe that there are unanswered questions and that the shooting of Aderrien Murry was not justified,” he said in a Thursday statement. “We are committed to seeking justice for Aderrien and his family, and we will persist in our efforts to ensure accountability through the civil legal process.”
Until last week, Nakala Murry had not been able to see Capers’ body camera footage, Moore said.
Arguments for and against the release of the body camera video have played out in a federal lawsuit Murry filed in May against Capers, the city and Police Chief Ronald Sampson.
The city and police chief asked for the video to be sealed from public view to protect Aderrien’s privacy, but his name has been public since the shooting.
Moore filed a motion to compel the release of the video, which a judge approved last week but with restrictions: Nakala Murry, Moore and his legal team could view it, but they would not be allowed to share the video or any description about it publicly.
Although they are not able to release the video, the city can.
“I am here to demand the city of Indianola release it to the public,” Moore said Wednesday.
That day, Moore filed an objection to U.S. Magistrate Judge David Sanders’ order, making it clear that they wanted to be able to disseminate the body camera video and talk about it. Moore wrote that the evidence should have been filed with the circuit clerk’s office – making it a public record.
That order will be appealed, Moore said. He said there is no set timeline of when the district court judge would make a ruling, but he hopes they will rule in his client’s favor and side with the public.
Carr previously told Mississippi Today that the shooting was an accident and that body camera footage would show that. Capers thought the person he shot at was the adult man they were called about, not a child, according to court records.
Sgt. Greg Capers of the Indianola Police Department. Credit: Photo courtesy of Carlos Moore
After the shooting, Capers was placed on paid administrative leave and later that leave was changed to unpaid leave. Capers went before the Board of Aldermen most recently in November to ask for his job back, but his return has not been approved, the Enterprise-Tocsin reported.
Carr said Thursday that the aggravated assault charge is likely to be dropped as a result of the grand jury’s ruling.
While the past months have been difficult, Nakala Murry said, she is hopeful. Aderrien is doing better with the help of counseling and support from family and friends, and he sees how his mother is standing up for him.
She said she prays that the right thing is done, and that what happened to her son can serve as an opportunity to hold officers accountable.
“Every day is a fight, but it’s one I’m willing to take,” she said.
UPDATE 12/14/23: This story has been updated to reflect action of Sunflower County grand jury.
We have known for more than two years that powerhouse football programs Texas and Oklahoma would join the Southeastern Conference. We’ve known for eight months the process was going to fast-forward to begin with the 2024 season.
We knew it was going to make already brutal conference football schedules even more challenging. We knew it make for a league where, truly, only the strongest will survive.
Now the first conference football schedule — the one to be played next fall — has been released, and reality hit with the force of a sleekly muscled 245-pound linebacker with sprinter’s speed, which probably should be the league’s trademark because there are so many of them.
Rick Cleveland
Despite having known for two years what was coming, the announcement was still staggering. In this new SEC, coaches will earn their tens of millions, and unless they are very good at what they do, they will earn it for only a short period of time. Actually, they can be very good at what they do and still not win enough games to remain employed.
Welcome to the SEC, Jeff Lebby at Mississippi State. Your first four conference games are these: Florida, Texas, Georgia and Texas A&M. Good luck with that.
No snickering over there, Ole Miss. During one October-November stretch, the Rebels will play LSU, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Georgia and Florida. Survivors next will play the Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving night. Yes, I know, the schedule says they will play on Saturday, Nov. 30, but that’s subject to change and my sources say it will almost surely will. Egg Bowl tailgating will still include turkey and dressing.
All around the league, filthy rich coaches must be shaking their heads and asking, “Did I really sign on for this?”
Consider the case of Florida coach Billy Napier, who will be coaching to keep his job that pays him $51.8 million over seven years. The Gators, who finished 5-7 this past season, will conclude the 2024 season with these five games: at Georgia, at Texas, LSU at home, Ole Miss at home and then at Florida State. Might as well play in the NFC South. Come to think of it, the NFC South might be easier.
Seriously, Florida might want to rethink the idea of opening a schedule with Miami and closing it with Florida State, while playing an eight-game conference schedule in the new SEC in between. Put it this way: Unless Florida drastically improves, that Florida State game on Nov. 30 will be Napier’s last as a Gator. Florida will pay him millions not to coach, and the Gators then will pay millions to another coach to try and survive the SEC minefield.
Even Kirby Smart, whose Georgia teams have won 41 of their last 43 games, might glance ahead at the 2024 schedule and shudder. His Bulldogs will play road games at Alabama, at Texas and at Ole Miss. The home games aren’t much easier.
In the new SEC, there will no longer be eastern and western divisions. All 16 teams will be lumped together. There will be an SEC Championship Game, which will match the two teams with the best conference records.
Everybody else will get a much needed rest.
Old-timers, such as this one, can remember when Mississippi State annually ended its season with Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Ole Miss. We sports scribes called it Murderer’s Row. Now, in this first expanded SEC season, the Bulldogs don’t play Alabama, Auburn or LSU. And yet, the Bulldogs’ schedule is more difficult than ever. It won’t get easier any time soon. Bama, Auburn and LSU are still out there and will return.
Listen: The new SEC with Oklahoma and Texas includes four of the top 10 the current AP Top 25 poll. It includes five of the top 11, six of the top 12 and seven — seven — of the top 13.
Early projections were that the additions of Texas and Oklahoma would escalate SEC revenue to a point that by 2028 each school will receive $100 million in SEC revenue each year, up from nearly $50 million currently.
That may be. But they are for damn sure going earn it.
A plan championed by Gov. Tate Reeves to draw down more money for the state’s hospitals has been partially approved by the federal government.
Thanks to the stamp of approval, hospitals could receive payments within weeks.
For years as hospitals across the state have struggled, health care experts and hospital leaders have been asking for help, most calling for Medicaid expansion. Instead, at a press conference announcing his plan in September, Reeves doubled down on his opposition to expansion and pitched a plan to draw more federal money to hospitals.
According to Reeves’ office, the changes are estimated to infuse the state’s hospitals with nearly $700 million in total.
The plan relies on two changes to hospital Medicaid reimbursements that increase supplemental payments to hospitals. This is extra money hospitals receive to offset low reimbursement rates from Medicaid and for uncompensated care, or money hospitals lose caring for people who are uninsured.
The component of that plan approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which reimburses hospitals for low Medicaid payments at an average commercial rate for services, will generate approximately $600 million, according to the press release. It’s not clear what average commercial rate (state, regional or national) the plan utilizes to yield these results — Mississippi has a low average commercial rate, according to experts.
The second component of the plan, which modifies another form of supplemental payments, has not yet been approved.
“This plan is going to strengthen our state’s healthcare system and I’m glad that we could get it done for the people of Mississippi,” Reeves said in a press release. “This is the product of meetings with a range of medical professionals and healthcare leaders, and I’m truly thankful to all of them for helping to get us to today.”
Experts say the reforms will bring more money to the state’s hospitals, but it won’t insure more people in Mississippi, one of the most uninsured states in America. Additionally, the hospitals that appear to benefit most from the plan appear to be larger facilities, not the small rural hospitals feeling the stress of the health care crisis most acutely.
Former state hospital association director Tim Moore previously told Mississippi Today that Reeves’ proposals do “nothing to help the low-wage earners in Mississippi who do not have the disposable income to pay for medical care.”
Researchers estimate the Medicaid expansion, by increasing the wage level that Mississippians would be eligible for Medicaid, would insure 200,000 to 300,000 people who currently don’t qualify for Medicaid but don’t make enough to pay for marketplace insurance.
While emergency rooms cannot turn down patients regardless of their insurance status, doctor’s offices and clinics can. That means one of the only ways uninsured people can receive health care in Mississippi, one of the unhealthiest states in the country, is through emergency care. Preventative care, though, is inaccessible.
At the press conference, Reeves encouraged the population of Mississippians without health insurance to get a job or a better job and derisively referred to expansion as “welfare.”
In other states that have adopted similar measures, experts say the policy reforms make the biggest difference when combined with Medicaid expansion.
The federal government is still considering the second proposal. It’s not clear why the plan is being considered separately.
The changes are retroactively effective beginning July 1, so the Mississippi Division of Medicaid will deliver the first round of payments to hospitals in the coming weeks, according to the press release.
The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board is considering revoking the charter of a Canton school that opened its doors in August due to low enrollment.
SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy was approved in 2020 with plans to serve 150 students in its first year between kindergarten and first grade. But the school reported an enrollment of 12 students to the Mississippi Department of Education earlier this fall and told Mississippi Today this week that number has risen to 15. School leaders also said the school currently has six full-time teachers and 11 employees overall.
The organization that operates the school, SR1 (Scientific Research), was founded by Tamu Green in 2005 and collaborates with public and private partners to decrease disparities in Mississippi, specifically among minorities. The group applied to open a school in 2017, 2018 and 2019 but was denied.
Charter schools are free public schools that do not report to a school board like traditional public schools. Instead, they are overseen by a local governing board and held accountable by the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board. They have more flexibility for teachers and administrators when it comes to student instruction.
Traditional public schools and charters both receive funding based on the number of students they serve, but the method of calculating enrollment can vary between the schools. Traditional public schools are funded based on enrollment in the previous school year, while new or expanding charter schools get state dollars based on their projected enrollment since the number of grades they serve is changing.
For SR1, the projected 150 students resulted in a public funding allocation of $940,000 for the 2023-24 school year. If charter schools do not enroll the anticipated number of students, the excess funding they received is subtracted from their allocation for the next year.
The authorizer board voted in October to begin the revocation review process, which allows the board to review a school’s paperwork and daily functioning, working with schools on goals to address issues. This is the highest level of intervention in Mississippi’s charter school system, as it can lead to a charter being revoked if goals are not met.
At the meeting Monday, board members discussed some elements of the plan submitted by the school and decided to reevaluate the status of the charter at the March board meeting. Board members also set a goal that the school has 100 students by the March meeting, either currently enrolled or committed for the 2024-25 school year.
While school leaders say they are actively working to recruit more students, authorizer board members said in discussion Monday they were concerned about the school’s continued ability to operate when funded at the appropriate level next year.
Leaders for the school said in a statement that they do not expect financial issues in the 2024-25 school year because they have saved much of the extra money they received this year, allowing them to continue operating smoothly when the education department adjusts their funding.
The statement also addressed recruiting new students and said the school is advertising using social media, direct mailers and print media. It added that the school’s initial recruitment efforts were hampered by “uncertainties surrounding its opening,” but now have more staff devoted to recruitment.
The school is currently building a new campus to focus on incorporating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) into the classroom experience, according to an article shared by school leadership. In the interim, the school is currently operating at the St. Paul AME Zion Church, according to the address listed on the authorizer board’s website.
Editor’s note: SR1 has previously advertised on Mississippi Today’s website. Advertisers do not influence Mississippi Today’s editorial decisions.
Lauren Jones, co-founder and executive director of Mom.ME., talks about mental health services in Mississippi, and she shares her personal story of dealing with postpartum mental health issues.
Mississippi health news you can’t get anywhere else.
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We’re nearing Christmas and Ole Miss basketball is undefeated. Nevertheless, Mississippi State, with freshman sensation Josh Hubbard, is ranked higher despite two losses and Southern Miss is playing better with two straight victories. Meanwhile, Mississippi will be a decided underdog in the Mississippi-Alabama high school all-star game Saturday in Hattiesburg.
Most of Mississippi’s Republican statewide officials and its two U.S. senators have endorsed Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency, according to an article published by Politico on Monday.
Seven out of the state’s eight statewide officials endorsed the former president. The only statewide official who is not endorsing Trump’s campaign is Republican Secretary of State Michael Watson. Watson’s office told Mississippi Today that the secretary of state is planning to stay neutral because he will help administer the state’s election.
U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican who faces reelection next year, told Mississippi Today in a statement that he supports a “return to the strong and effective economic, national security, and border security policies our nation enjoyed under President Trump.”
U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican from Brookhaven, announced her endorsement of Trump in an April social media post, saying, “Trump has been attentive to the needs of Mississippi.”
“Therefore, I am endorsing Donald J. Trump for another term in the White House and will be working to assist him in winning the Republican nomination for President in 2024,” Hyde-Smith said.
The endorsement signals the former president’s tight grip on the Magnolia State. The Iowa caucuses, the first Republican primary test of the year, is Jan. 15. Mississippi’s GOP primary will be held on March 12.
