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Like most of America, the Clevelands watched college football all day and all night on the first day of 2024. The takeaway: Washington quarterback Michael Penix stole the New Year’s Day show. Meanwhile, Ole Miss will be in the hunt in 2024.

Stream all episodes here.

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UPDATE: The Mississippi Department of Public Safety gave the all-clear for the state Capitol shortly before 11 a.m. on Wednesday after sweeping the building following a bomb threat early in the morning.

“The building was thoroughly searched, and no explosives or suspicious equipment were found,” DPS spokeswoman Bailey Martin said. “This is an ongoing investigation and there is no further threat to the Capitol or surrounding buildings.”

Capitol staffers were being turned away from the building early Wednesday morning after a bomb threat, Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell confirmed to Mississippi Today.

Mississippi’s was one of five state capitols to receive a bomb threat Wednesday morning. News outlets in Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky and Michigan reported similar threats, with some reports that they came from an email to secretary of states’ offices. Authorities in Georgia said the threat proved a “hoax” and gave the all clear for people to return to the capitol building there.

“It’s likely nothing, but we are going through our normal protocols,” Tindell said. This included closing entrances, turning away staff and blocking off streets around the building in downtown Jackson. Tindell said the building was being swept by explosive-detecting dogs.

Secretary of State Michael Watson’s office declined comment and deferred questions to DPS.

There was a heavy police presence around the Capitol on Wednesday morning. Police blocked both roads and sidewalks in a one-block radius around the building, and some Capitol staff stood on the lawn away from the building. The closed roads were causing some traffic backup on West Street and High Street as people were arriving downtown for work between 7 and 8 a.m.

Further information on the nature of the bomb threat was not immediately being provided by authorities.

DPS Deputy Commissioner Keith Davis said authorities were notified about the threat about 6:45 a.m. Wednesday. He said anyone with business at the Capitol on Wednesday should check for delays by visiting legislature.ms.gov for updates.

In a statement DPS said, “The Mississippi Department of Public Safety was notified earlier this morning of suspicious activity in and around the Mississippi State Capitol … Standard emergency procedures are being followed and conducted. At this time, no further comment will be made and additional information will be provided when possible.”

Wednesday marks the second day of the 2024 Mississippi legislative session. On Tuesday the Capitol was packed with lawmakers who were being sworn in, family and legislative staff.

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Republican Rep. Jason White of West won the election on Tuesday to become the new speaker of the House of Representatives, ushering in a new chapter of political power at the Mississippi State Capitol.

The 122-member chamber unanimously elected White by acclamation, and he was the only person nominated for speaker. His election to one of the most powerful positions in state government was not a surprise, but it still represents a shift in legislative politics.

“I look forward to working with all of you for the betterment of Mississippi,” White said in a speech to the House on Tuesday. “Many of us here, we see things from very different perspectives, different viewpoints. But I also know we love this state and want to do what’s best, what’s right for her people.”

White, 50, was first elected to the House in 2011 as a Democrat, but he quickly switched to the Republican Party the following year. He represents portions of Attala, Carroll, Holmes and Leake counties and previously led the House Rules Committee and the House Management Committee. 

The new speaker replaces Philip Gunn, a Republican from Clinton, who announced last year that he would not seek another term for his House seat. White was one of Gunn’s top lieutenants and most trusted advisers over the past three terms.

The speaker is not a statewide office position, but it carries power and influence similar to a statewide post. The speaker appoints committee leaders in the House and helps drive policy decisions during a legislative session.

One of the largest questions looming over the 2024 legislative session and now White, who represents a rural district, is if he will openly push for the Republican-dominated chamber to consider expanding Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act to the working poor who do not have health insurance.

White has expressed in blunt terms that the state’s Republicans have not had a frank and open discussion about Medicaid expansion.

In his speech to the House members on Tuesday, White told his colleagues to keep an “open mind” when examining Mississippi’s health care system, whose rural hospitals have consistently eliminated services and raised alarm bells on their long-term survival. 

Still, the new speaker stopped short of backing a specific proposal for addressing the health care crisis. He did, however, appear to get out in front of some anti-expansion rhetoric.

“We need to find ways to ensure that the folks who are working have some basic level of health care that keeps them in the workforce and out of the emergency room,” White said. “I’m not talking about a government handout. I’m talking about provider-led solutions that the state will foster and facilitate.”

Other policy priorities the speaker outlined were changing portions of Mississippi’s public school funding formula, generally reducing government spending, and reforming the way the Legislature writes the state budget. He vowed to allow members the chance to read each and every budget bill before they were asked to vote on them — a standard practice in the Capitol for the past several years.

White’s address to the House chamber represents a notable break from the past 12 years of Gunn’s speakership, who became notorious for his tight grip on legislative decisions and using his power to ram legislation through the Capitol.

“Now, it’s time to be here,” White said. “What does that mean? That means working with your colleagues in the House both within your caucus and across the aisle. That means considering ideas and positions you may not have considered or thought through before.” 

The Democratic members did not put a candidate forward for speaker or contest White’s nomination, and many Democrats stood on Tuesday for an extended ovation following White’s speech.

Rep. Robert Johnson III, a Democrat from Natchez who is expected to become the House Minority Leader, told Mississippi Today that he believes the Democratic caucus will have a good working relationship with White, though Johnson still has questions about some of White’s policy proposals.

“Jason has always been open and honest,” Johnson said. “I’m encouraged, and I think we’ll work well together.” 

The House on Tuesday also elected Rep. Manly Barton, a Republican from Moss Point, to serve as the speaker pro tempore, who presides over the House when the speaker is absent and often serves as a key advisor to the speaker. 

Barton was first elected to the House in 2011 and sworn into office in 2012. He represents portions of George and Jackson counties and previously chaired the House Local and Private Committee.

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Sen. Dean Kirby, a Republican from Pearl, will serve another four-year term as “the senators’ senator.”

Kirby, who was first elected to the Senate in 1992, was selected unanimously Tuesday on the opening day of the 2024 session by the 52 members of the Mississippi Senate to serve as the Senate president pro tempore. His selection as the Senate’s second-in-command was not a surprise, and he faced no opposition.

Kirby, who is an insurance agent, has served the past four years in the post. The Senate pro-tem is a constitutionally created position, and second in the line of succession to the governor, behind the lieutenant governor but ahead of the speaker.

“It is an honor to serve as pro-tem,” Kirby said. “I appreciate the confidence other senators have placed in me. As you know, being elected pro-tem is to serve as the senators’ senator. I have worked hard to try to be that. Maybe that is why I did not have any opposition.”

Kirby also said he has enjoyed working with Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, whom he referred to as “a workaholic” who makes his job easier. The lieutenant governor presides over the Senate.

The pro-tem is normally a close ally of the lieutenant governor, and Kirby has certainly served that role for Hosemann, who was elected to his second term in the post in the November general election. While Kirby, as others have, referred to the pro-tem as the senators’ senator who serves as a voice for Senate members, traditionally the lieutenant governor has influence over who is selected for the post. And this year, Kirby had the backing of Hosemann as he did four years ago.

Besides presiding over the Senate in the absence of the lieutenant governor, the pro-tem also chairs the Senate Rules Committee and oversees much of the day-to-day operation of the Senate staff.

On Tuesday, Kirby was placed in nomination by fellow Rankin County senator, Republican Josh Harkins. His nomination was seconded by Democratic Sen. Hillman Frazier of Jackson and Republican Sen. Brice Wiggins of Pascagoula.

Harkins said Kirby’s “character, his integrity his enthusiasm … make him a great candidate for this position.”

In seconding the nomination, Frazier said: “In this body you have two types of horses: the show horse and work horse. The show horse does stuff for attention. Sen. Dean Kirby is, in fact, a work horse. He works very hard to get things done … He puts policy over personal politics. He is respected by this body.”

Kirby has held multiple key positions during his long tenure, including chairmanships of both the Finance and Public Health committees.

But he said serving as pro-tem “is the best thing I have ever done. Being the president pro-tem has been the highlight of my career.”

PODCAST: Sen. Dean Kirby talks in late 2019 about serving in Senate leadership role

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The new year began without creation of a separate, state-run court in Jackson that some lawmakers lobbied as a solution to crime and advocates see as a threat to residents’ civil and voting rights. 

Under House Bill 1020, the Capitol Complex Improvement District Court was supposed to be established Jan. 1, but at the 11th hour a panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary administrative stay until the end of the week, Jan. 5.

“The NAACP stands firm in our belief that this legislation is inherently undemocratic,” the organization, who sued on behalf of several Jackson residents, said in a Monday statement. 

“We will continue to do everything in our power to fight for Jackson residents’ rights to have control over their own institutions and live free from state-driven discrimination.”

The NAACP appealed after U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate issued his order the evening of Dec. 31 in which he rejected requests to block the court’s creation through a preliminary injunction. 

Wingate wrote the plaintiffs failed to show that they were in “actual or imminent danger” of experiencing concrete or particular injury from the CCID court’s establishment or appointments of a judge and two prosecutors to that court.

Attorneys from the NAACP have argued in court hearings and filings from throughout 2023 that the CCID court prevents local voters from voting for judges and prosecutors from the community who would be accountable to them and can be held accountable by local officials. 

The state’s attorneys have said in court and filings that residents’ voting rights would not be affected by the court’s creation, and that none of the plaintiffs has or plans to appear before the CCID court. 

A majority of the majority-white, Repubclican-controlled Legislature passed HB 1020 during the previous session, seeing it as a solution for Jackson’s crime and a way to bolster public safety. Many Black lawmakers and those who represent the majority-Black Jackson and Hinds County spoke out against the legislation and its approach to crime and public safety. 

The state Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Randolph is directed under the law to make appointments to the CCID court, which to date have not been made. 

Under the law, Randolph also was empowered to appoint temporary judges to the Hinds County Circuit Court. He was prevented from doing so under a temporary restraining order Wingate approved in May and, because up until September, he was still a defendant in the lawsuit against HB 1020. 

The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled these appointments unconstitutional in a state lawsuit against HB 1020. Like Wingate, the justices ruled that creation of the CCID court did not violate the state constitution. 

To date, Wingate has not ruled on several other motions before him regard HB 1020, including a request from the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene in the lawsuit. 

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The Mississippi River drains more than 40% of the continental U.S. – just how much trash does it take along with it?

That’s what a group of researchers and environmental advocates wanted to find out when they began a litter analysis of a handful of cities along the river a few years ago. This fall, they released what they’re calling the “first-ever snapshot of the state of plastic pollution along the Mississippi River.”

Between 2021 and 2022, volunteers from St. Paul, Minnesota; the Quad Cities area in Iowa and Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; Greenville and Rosedale, Mississippi; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; logged trash they found into the University of Georgia’s Debris Tracker app. The study came on the heels of a 2018 commitment from mayors along the river to reduce plastic and trash.

Although many people might think oceanside cities bear the responsibility to keep plastic and trash out of the water, the Mississippi River can act as a funnel for that trash from the heart of the country to the Gulf of Mexico.

The study was also meant to raise people’s awareness of the river’s role in keeping other waters clean, said Jennifer Wendt, plastic waste reduction campaign manager for the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative — the mayors’ group that worked on the study. 

For example, a piece of litter that someone tosses on the ground in Missouri could theoretically make its way through storm drains, to tributaries, to the Mississippi, to the Gulf and then to the ocean.

“It may not look like a plastic beverage bottle by the time it gets to the ocean, but it’s still there,” Wendt said.

Here’s what to know about the study results, what’s next for reducing plastic and trash along the river and how you can keep plastic out of important waterways.

What was the top trash found in the Mississippi River?

About 80,000 litter items were logged during the study’s data collection period.

Plastic was the top material found in and around the river, making up 75% of the total trash. Paper and lumber was next at 9%, followed by metal at 7%, glass at 5%, and personal protective equipment like masks at 2%.

The top 10 most commonly found items included:

• 11,278 cigarette butts
• 9,809 food wrappers
• 6,723 beverage bottles
• 5,747 foam fragments
• 4,239 hard plastic fragments
• 4,210 paper and cardboard items
• 3,882 plastic bags
• 3,640 aluminum or tin cans
• 3,260 foam or plastic cups
• 3,149 film fragments 

Other notable finds include 825 masks, 480 items of clothing and shoes and 291 pieces of fishing gear.

In an optional survey after logging the trash they found, participants were asked if they cleaned it up. Close to three-fourths said yes.

What do the results tell us about litter habits?

People may not know that cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, a type of plastic, Wendt said. They can take up to 10 years to decompose. And cigarettes can also leach other toxic chemicals into the water, according to the report.

Another intriguing finding was the amount of plastic beverage bottles and aluminum cans found, Wendt said — both of which are recyclable. 

She noted that of the cities that took part in the study, only one of their states, Iowa, has a so-called “bottle bill,” in which people pay a five-cent deposit when they purchase a beverage container and get a five-cent refund if they return the container to a store or redemption center. Bottles were lower down on the litter list in the Quad Cities than in other places.

Legislation like that “is not very popular politically,” Wendt said, “but it does work.”

Some states along the river prohibit local bans of plastic bags, she pointed out.

What’s next for keeping plastic out of the river?

River-wide data collection has wrapped up, but Wendt said the next step is carrying out city-specific projects to reduce plastic pollution.

Those include providing funds to underserved neighborhoods in St. Louis and Baton Rouge so they can pursue what they see as integral to reducing waste, like installing water-filling stations, or developing a curriculum for schools to teach about recycling.

The mayors’ group will continue to work with the University of Georgia to do a comprehensive assessment of waste management in a few cities, Wendt said, and they’re also planning to work with cities that don’t have recycling programs to provide people a way to recycle.

Wendt maintained that while recycling is part of the solution, it’s not the only solution.

“(The discussion is) moving in the right direction, from ‘Oh, we just need to clean up litter…’ to, ‘Oh, we actually need to reduce the source if we’re going to have any real impact,’” she said.

What can people do to reduce plastic into waterways?

The biggest step people can take is to stop using plastic bags, Wendt said. That also goes for single-use plastic water bottles, she said, except for those who need to drink out of them because of water contamination.

Beyond that, talk to local retailers and see if they’d be willing to ask customers if they want a bag instead of assuming they do, she said, and ask if restaurants could switch to sustainable materials for carryout containers and leftovers. Consumers can push retailers to make changes like this, she said, though she acknowledged it works best when people approach retailers as a group.

Nationally, Wendt said more attention is needed for the role the Mississippi River plays in carrying plastic and trash.

When she attends events about reducing plastic, representatives from coastal cities are often the only ones at the table.

“There’s this whole rest of the middle of the country that needs a little bit of focus,” she said.

This story, the last in a three-part series, published in partnership with the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, part of Mississippi Today, is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, funded by the Walton Family Foundation.

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Rev. Charlton Johnson only joined Together for Hope as leader of its Delta region in September, but he began thinking about Medicaid expansion long before that. 

Together for Hope, an organization that works with people in the poorest counties in the country, has ramped up its efforts advocating for Medicaid expansion in Mississippi. The nonprofit hosts summits all over the states to bring together faith leaders, medical experts and health care advocates to raise awareness about Medicaid expansion. The policy, which would provide health insurance for an additional 200,000 to 300,000 Mississippians, would greatly improve health care access for the communities they work with, according to the organization.

But Gov. Tate Reeves remains steadfast in his opposition, despite support from a majority of Mississippians, and has derisively referred to Medicaid expansion as adding more people to “welfare rolls.”

Mississippi is one of only 10 states that has not expanded Medicaid. Over its first few years of implementation, research shows expansion would bring in billions of dollars to Mississippi and help the state’s struggling hospitals.

Johnson, who was born in Greenville and who has worked as a chaplain for hospitals in Memphis and Jackson, acknowledges its financial benefits. But expansion is about more than that, according to Johnson — it’s really about helping your neighbor.

Johnson spoke with Mississippi Today about the need for Medicaid expansion, and what the Governor’s refusal to consider the policy says about morality in Mississippi. 

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. 

Mississippi Today: Talk to me a little bit about what Together for Hope is and what it does for people who have not heard of it.

Rev. Charlton Johnson: It is a coalition with its focus on fighting rural, persistent poverty. Persistent poverty is defined as an area that has been under the federal threshold for poverty for consistently 30 years, and in Mississippi alone, we have 53 counties that meet that definition of persistent poverty. We are a national group, so I’m serving what we call the Delta region, which comprises the poorest counties in Mississippi, in Arkansas and Missouri; some parishes in Louisiana; Illinois — basically along the Mississippi River.

MT: Can you explain a little more in detail what the organization does, specifically?

Johnson: We serve as a bridge for grassroots organizations and what we call grass-top organizations that are trying to find ways to make an impact on the ground. For instance, there is this group that we partner with out of the Delta called Hands for Hope. They have tried to intervene with the food scarcity in that area because they don’t have a lot of grocery stores and fresh foods. Most people do their grocery shopping at Family Dollar or Dollar General. Now, they have a space where they receive fresh foods, like a distribution. Our job is making that connection between the community and that organization. A lot of grassroots organizations have a mission or idea of how they want to help the community, but they don’t always have the resources to turn something around.

MT: What kind of work does Together for Hope do around Medicaid expansion?

Johnson: It’s largely advocacy, with hosting the summit. Expansion has not been framed the right way. That was even mentioned in our last staff meeting, that we almost need to just pull it back from saying Medicaid expansion versus just starting to meet those who are in the gap. There are so many people who are in that void of not being able to receive health care. 

As a chaplain in hospitals, I’ve seen people use the emergency room as their primary care physicians, or they can’t go to the doctor and get sick enough they end up in the ER. That’s because people don’t have insurance. Seeing that was an awakening moment for me — it was when I began to recognize that people are not just running in here because they’re sick. It’s because the hospital has become their only option.

MT: I’m sure you were hearing about expansion long before starting this job. How do you think we have been talking about expansion, and how do you think we should be talking about it?

Johnson: Before coming into this role, I heard conversations about the need to expand Medicaid, which came while President Obama was in office. But there was so much resistance from red states to support that kind of initiative. People were trying to do their best to tear it apart. And Mississippi, of course, being the red state that it has long been, did not accept monies to help make this program more robust in Mississippi. So to hear Governor Reeves saying that he still isn’t interested in expanding Medicaid, to me it is just continuing the talking point that I heard from people who share his political ideology. When I heard that this organization Together for Hope was out there trying to help people better understand how it helps, not just people but the community as a whole and to also fight poverty, I wanted to be on the front lines.

MT: I’m wondering how you, as a pastor, square red states that are really religious with this resistance to helping some of the most vulnerable people in the state?

Johnson: I have a hard time. As a person of faith, it’s so hypocritical to me, because when you look at the 10 commandments, Jesus teaches that all of those commandments can be boiled down to two. The first is loving God, but the second one is loving your neighbor as yourself. And if I love my neighbor, then I recognize that we have a mutual interest in each other doing well. 

That’s not something that I readily see in a hospitality state like Mississippi. So that’s hard for me to square for myself personally, but I also recognize that we’re all at different places in our walk of faith. I think if you’re Christian, you walk the walk of Christ long enough at some point, it changes your heart, and it begins to alter the way you see those around you, so I have hope that one day they’ll see that change. 

But until that day, it just means that those of us who do see the need for change, need to not only be vocal, but need to be out front with doing those acts of compassion, of grace and mercy.

MT: If you were to explain what Medicaid expansion is to someone who wasn’t familiar with it, or someone who opposes it, what would you say about the policy and its significance? 

Johnson: I’ve been holding on to a passage in Psalms 23 which says that “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.” It’s not that we don’t have something to fear, but Christ is with us. Christ is with the hurting. And to say that we are Christ’s followers means that we need to follow Christ to where those who are hurting to help, to offer grace, to offer support.

And I see access to health care as a means of offering grace to people, or expanding Medicaid, bridging the gap — whatever phrase people want to put to it. 

MT: Together for Hope advocates for expansion because of their work in communities of poverty, as I understand it, so can you talk a little bit about the connection between poverty and poor health outcomes?

Johnson: If people are not getting the medical care they need, the health disparities are going off the charts. People are dying unnecessarily because they don’t even have the option of going to the doctor when they need it. When they get sick, they have to just muster through it and hope that they’ll be okay. And I don’t think that’s what it means to live in a community. 

MT: If Mississippi continues to forgo expansion, what are the consequences for the communities you work with?

Johnson: Those health outcomes will continue to get worse and worse is the short answer. But I don’t think that robs compassionate people of ingenuity. We’re going to find a way to help people. 

Expansion seems the most logical way that it can be done, but if we have to find an I’ll-climb-the-mountain-side way of helping people with health care access, we will. 

The post Q&A: Rev. Charlton Johnson on seeing Medicaid expansion not as a financial issue, but a moral necessity appeared first on Mississippi Today.

All Mississippi appellate judges up for reelection in 2024 plan to seek another term on the state’s two highest courts.

Four justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court and three judges on the Mississippi Court of Appeals told Mississippi Today they intend to qualify for a new eight-year term in office. 

Below are the judges who plan to campaign next year for reelection:

Mississippi Supreme Court 

Justice Jim Kitchens (Central District)

Justice Dawn Beam (Southern District)

Justice Robert Chamberlin (Northern District) 

Justice James Maxwell (Northern District)

Mississippi Court of Appeals 

Judge Latrice Westbrooks (District 2)

Judge Jack Wilson (District 3)

Judge Joel Smith (District 5)

The qualifying period for the appellate offices opens on Jan. 2 and closes at 5 p.m. on Feb. 1, according to the Secretary of State’s office.  Judicial offices are nonpartisan, so candidates do not participate in a party primary. All candidates will appear on the Nov. 5, 2024, general election ballot. 

To run for either of the two courts, a candidate must be at least 30 years old, a qualified elector in their respective district, a licensed attorney and a state citizen for at least five years, according to the secretary of state’s office. 

Judges on Mississippi’s two highest courts do not run at-large. Instead voters from their respective districts elect them.

The nine members of the Supreme Court are elected from three districts: northern, central and southern. The 10 members of the Court of Appeals are each elected from five districts across the state. 

The judges are elected in staggered terms, so not all 19 seats of the two courts are up for election each cycle.

The two courts hear appeals from chancery and circuit courts across the state. The Supreme Court is the court of last resort, meaning its orders cannot be appealed to another state court. 

The Supreme Court, in recent years, has issued rulings that invalidated the process for voters to place initiatives on a statewide ballot and gave the governor more power to veto specific items from appropriations bills. 

The court next year is expected to rule on a case that questions whether the Legislature can appropriate tax dollars for private schools.

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