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Like some middle schoolers, La’David Hall never thought about going to college. Back then, anything beyond high school wasn’t part of his plan. 

That changed when Hall, a seventh grader at the time, heard a career coach speak at an assembly about careers in nursing, engineering, teaching, law and medicine. 

“We never really had people talk to us about our futures or careers,” said Hall, now a junior at  O’Bannon High School in Greenville. “I remember leaving school that day curious and thinking like, “‘Yeah, I can see myself doing any of those things.’” 

The 2021 event marked the start of Delta State’s participation in Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, a federal, grant-funded program that aims to help students attending high-poverty schools prepare for education and careers after high school. 

The program is one example of efforts across Mississippi to help disadvantaged students in rural areas navigate higher education and careers after high school.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded Delta State a $15 million grant to prepare students across the Mississippi Delta for college through programs and resources including summer camps, mentoring, academic support and trips to the Cleveland campus. 

In 2019, before Delta State earned a federal GEAR UP grant, Mississippi State University was awarded a $28 million GEAR UP state grant to work with Greenville, McComb and Meridian school districts. Two years later, completed applications for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA, increased by about 4% among the participating high schools.

Only about 73.4% of Mississippi’s graduating high school seniors completed FAFSA applications in 2025, according to estimates from the National College Attainment Network, a national organization that advocates for federal and state policy issues around college affordability and support services. Completing the federal application is considered a key indicator that a student will enroll in college. 

Now, Jackson Public Schools is also participating in GEAR UP. In August, JPS officials announced the district secured a $10.67 million GEAR UP federal grant. The grant will go toward serving 2,000 middle schoolers across six schools — Blackburn, Brinkley, Cardozo, Kirksey, Lanier and Peeples — over seven years. JPS is partnering with local colleges and universities, museums and education-based organizations to provide mentoring, summer camps, career exploration programs and parental college financial guidance workshops. 

About 52% of JPS graduating senior class of 2025 enrolled in college, said Jana Williams, the district’s college and career readiness manager. Supporting the participating middle schools with graduation-based career coaches will help students envision opportunities beyond high school and provide guidance on the academic and financial steps needed to pursue them, she said. 

“It’s about exposure,” Williams said, “seeing their eyes open up and providing them the  opportunity to learn more about college.” 

Helping students see higher education as a viable option

When the Delta State program began, about 43% of students surveyed in Delta communities believed they could attend college, said Sha’Ketta Davis Drungole, executive director of the university’s Mississippi Delta GEAR UP Partnership. Now, program data indicate that 64% of students plan to attend. 

“I have seen growth and development in the way they present themselves, the way they talk about college or careers in their thought processes, the way they engage with each other as students,” Drungole said, “and it’s just really heartwarming to see.”

Delta State’s GEAR UP program has served more than 4,600 students and provided 88,500 hours of services including parent workshops, teacher training and college visits to students, Drungole said. 

The program also provides staff and advisers to offer training for teachers in Delta-area school districts and to help students understand how to apply for college and how to transition to college after high school. 

Glenda Lollis-Hawkins said her daughter Laroya, a senior at Cleveland Central High, has gained money management skills such as budgeting through attending GEAR UP summer camps. The program also offers parents access to resources that help with financial aid applications and understanding college admissions. 

“GEAR UP not only educates the child but [also] the parent about the importance of advancing your career past high school,” Lollis-Hawkins said.

“GEAR UP’s workshops help me parse through the important information,” she said. “They let us know about the ACT, the deadlines and finances when it comes to college.” 

Uncertain federal funding for GEAR UP may put such programs at risk. The Trump administration has proposed budgets that would eliminate funding for GEAR UP, but Congress has pushed back and rejected the request. 

Funding for the program is not guaranteed even if states or school districts were previously awarded grants, said Brandi Lyndall, director of college access strategy and statewide outreach at Get2College, a college access program of Woodward Hines Education Foundation.

For now, the program is helping Mississippi students and their families prepare for higher education. 

Hall, the O’Bannon High School student, said his curiosity led him to ask his parents questions about college. He wanted to know how to apply. He also asked his mother how she got her nursing degree and her master’s degree in social work. Hall’s father, who did not attend college, encouraged him to keep up with his studies.  

Hall has attended science and entrepreneur summer camps at Mississippi Valley State University over the past few summers. He has toured Mississippi State University’s campus in Starkville. He has also talked with his high school advisers about applying to college. He is now looking beyond his hometown for potential careers such as becoming a teacher, mortician or funeral director. 

“It’s just a new world out there for me,” Hall said.

Mississippi’s environmental regulators released details this week on a set of penalties against SpaceXAI for violating state water pollution laws by starting construction on its Southaven data center facilities without needed permits. 

The company first announced the potential fines to investors two weeks ago, speculating the amount could reach as much as $6.1 million. 

To limit pollution from construction reaching public bodies of water, state law requires companies to first obtain a permit. Without proper protections, rain, for instance, can carry debris and chemicals off construction sites and pollute natural habitats, drinking water systems and recreational areas, federal regulators warn. 

Earlier this year, SpaceXAI  – through its subsidiary, MZX Tech LLC – asked the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality for permits allowing construction within its growing Southaven footprint, which includes a power plant as well as land to build a $20 billion data center facility called MACROHARDRR. 

But during a July meeting between MDEQ and MZX Tech, “it became apparent” the company had already begun construction on the land in question, impacting about 30 acres, MDEQ records show. 

On July 16, a day after the meeting, MDEQ staff visited Southaven and confirmed the infractions. The agency sent two notices of violation to MZX Tech on Aug. 10, both of which “will be subject to the maximum statutory penalty” of $25,000 for each day construction continues without the needed permits, MDEQ wrote. 

“The Company is cooperating with MDEQ and is in discussions to resolve the matters through a single agreed order,” SpaceXAI wrote in its Oct. 22 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

It’s unclear where the $6.1 million figure came from. Based on the $25,000-per-day figure, it could suggest the violations lasted for several months. But MDEQ declined to say if the amount was accurate, citing its policy not to comment on pending enforcement matters.

At one of the MZX Tech properties, a former Southaven training facility that neighbors Horn Lake Creek, MDEQ staff found that “no steps have been taken to protect stormwater infrastructure at the site,” and that there was a lack of protection against “fugitive dust emissions.” 

At the 2400 Stateline Road property, the site for MACROHARDERR, the staff found “no controls around storm inlets.” The MDEQ inspectors noted that, while construction appeared to have started around the beginning of 2026, the property’s last construction storm water permit expired in 2023. 

MDEQ responds to federal judge about its turbine exemptions

Last week, a federal judge found that MDEQ had misinterpreted federal clean air statutes when allowing SpaceXAI to run 69 temporary natural gas turbines without a permit. U.S. District Court Judge Debra Brown included the opinion in her ruling against a motion to dismiss the NAACP’s April lawsuit against the data center company. 

MDEQ relied on a federal Clean Air Act exemption intended for mobile generators, and SpaceXAI’s turbines clearly did not meet that criteria, Brown reasoned. That distinction is a key focus of the NAACP’s argument against the company. 

The agency responded to the order in a statement to Mississippi Today on Wednesday. 

“MDEQ is aware of the Court’s order and takes seriously all opinions by a federal court,” agency spokesperson Jan Schaefer said. “Nonetheless, MDEQ is not a party to that case and the order is not binding upon the agency.  Furthermore, that litigation is ongoing and subject to appeal so it is not final at this point.  

“MDEQ always seeks to make sure our policies are in compliance with state and federal law and will do the same here once that litigation concludes.”

The agency first told the Elon Musk-owned company last year that it could run the generators without a permit because the units are “affixed to a portable unit (i.e., a flatbed trailer)” and are therefore considered mobile. 

Brown, though, disagreed. She argued that, given the size of the generators and the fact they aren’t “self-propelled or intended to be propelled” while operating, the federal exemption for mobile sources can’t apply.

Whitney Lipscomb, the general counsel for the Republican Attorneys General Association, announced Thursday that she is running for Mississippi secretary of state next year in the Republican primary. 

“I am more convinced now more than ever that Mississippi needs leadership with unwavering conservative convictions, a deep desire to make a difference and the ability to get things done,” Lipscomb said at a press conference at the Mississippi Republican Party headquarters in Jackson. 

While this is her first time running for office, Lipscomb has spent much of her career in Republican politics and government. 

Lipscomb was deputy chief of staff and an attorney for then-Gov. Phil Bryant. She served as deputy attorney general for about five years under Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who is running for governor next year.

“I have spent my career in the fights that matter to Mississippi because I love this state,” Lipscomb said, citing her work under Bryant and Fitch, both of whom were seated in the front row during her announcement.

The secretary of state’s responsibilities include overseeing state elections as well as managing business formations and managing state-owned land. Lipscomb said her top priorities are cutting red tape for business owners and protecting “every lawful vote” in elections. 

“We’re going to continue to protect the integrity of Mississippi’s elections. If people do not trust elections, they won’t trust their government,” Lipscomb said. “Process matters and the rules must be followed. We are seeing exactly how important that is right this very moment.”

Lipscomb’s campaign committee filed its initial paperwork in May.

Shuwaski Young, the Democratic nominee for secretary of state in 2023, has said that he is running again for the position next year as a Republican. No Democratic candidate has announced a run for the office. 

Current Secretary of State Michael Watson is running for lieutenant governor next year. Current Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann is term-limited.

As Democrat Scott Colom narrowly leads incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith in a race for U.S. Senate, it appears Mississippi will see a partisan legal fight over thousands of affidavit ballots that will decide the outcome.

Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Mike Hurst vowed at a Thursday press conference to “fight like hell” to ensure that only “legally cast” ballots are counted and that the process to review and count the outstanding ballots is aboveboard. 

READ MORE: Thousands of affidavit ballots outstanding in Mississippi Senate election. Campaigns prepare for legal fight

“Let me be clear: This race is far from being over,” Hurst said. “Right now, we estimate that there could be approximately 20,000 outstanding ballots left to be counted.” 

Hurst said, without providing evidence, that the areas where a large number of affidavit ballots remain outstanding are traditional Republican-leaning areas of the state. When asked if he would name those specific counties, he declined. 

The razor-thin margin of votes between Hyde-Smith and Colom in a state considered a Republican stronghold has sent shockwaves across the nation, but it remained too close to call on Thursday. Only 1,764 votes separated the two candidates. The Associated Press reported that Colom led 466,226 to 464,502, with 96% of the vote counted.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the fundraising arm of the Senate GOP, sent letters to circuit county clerks and election commissioners asking them to preserve and set aside affidavit ballots. 

Kyle Kirkpatrick, former head of the elections division at the Mississippi secretary of state’s office, questioned on social media how productive that exercise would be because once affidavit ballots are scanned, it is “impossible to determine” what voter that ballot was associated with. 

Jacquelyn Lopez, an attorney at Elias Law Group who is representing the Colom campaign, wrote its own letter to circuit clerks and election commissioners saying that the NRSC’s demands violate state law.

“There is no basis whatsoever in Mississippi law for creating or maintaining records that would allow any accepted ballot to be linked to any particular voter’s identity,” Lopez wrote.  “Doing so would violate voters’ constitutional rights.”

PODCAST: When will we know who won Mississippi’s Senate midterm election?

Election attorneys, voting rights advocates and reporters from around the globe have descended on Mississippi over the past 48 hours, scrambling to make sense of what remaining ballots were left, when they would be counted and how Colom found himself in striking distance of pulling off a victory in a state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in over four decades.  

Fair Fight Action, a voting rights advocacy organization, said the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic election attorneys from Elias Law Group have deployed hundreds of volunteers and local lawyers across all 82 counties to oversee the final rounds of counting. 

Mississippi has no automatic recount law. A recount would happen only if a court ordered it. For that to happen, a campaign or political party would have to file a lawsuit against a county or county election commission. 

A state judge would likely hear the case on an expedited basis, and the lower court’s decision would be appealable to the Mississippi Supreme Court. 

After the election results are certified, campaigns can conduct ballot box examinations, which can be used as evidence in a lawsuit. The dispute over which affidavit ballots are accepted and rejected would likely be the subject of litigation. 

If a court fight ensued, it could be a disjointed, chaotic process. Mississippi law does not establish a system for challenging ballots on a statewide scale, only on a county-by-county basis. 

The Republican Party chairman declined to say in which specific county he’s considering filing a lawsuit, but he referenced Hinds County, Mississippi’s largest county and a Democratic stronghold, as a likely option. 

“It’s no surprise that this is a traditionally Democratic county, and I don’t think it’s any surprise that this election commission, in particular, has had a number of issues in the past that frankly are not just Republican issues, but even Democratic election commissioners have complained about how the electoral system in Hinds County has operated,” Hurst said. 

The press conference displayed the awkward and surprising position the state GOP currently finds itself in, a Deep South state that has consistently sent Republicans to the U.S. Senate for the last four decades. 

For the first time in a generation, an incumbent Republican senator in Mississippi running for reelection has been caught flat-footed and put on the defensive after Black voters turned out in droves and many Republican voters crossed over to vote for Colom. 

Hurst, who also serves as general counsel for the Republican National Committee, acknowledged that Democratic candidates did “pretty well” around the country and this was the closest Senate race that reliably conservative Mississippi has had in a “very, very long time.” 

Though he claimed that Hyde-Smith would ultimately win the election, Hurst said he would accept the results of the election if the votes show Colom lawfully won.

Voters have until Nov. 10 to correct issues related to presenting a voter ID at their local circuit clerk’s office, which is also the same date election officials have to count late-arriving mail-in ballots that were postmarked by Election Day.

WASHINGTON — There are just four races for U.S. Senate and governor that The Associated Press has not yet called as of Thursday.

Contests in Alaska, Kansas and Mississippi have narrow margins with votes still outstanding even as the scale of Democrats’ midterm victory across the country comes into focus, ensuring the party will control the House and the Senate next year.

LIVE: 2025 Mississippi election results

In the House, 35 races in which party control of the seat is at stake have yet to be called.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidate to close the gap.

In Mississippi’s Senate race, Democrat Scott Colom has seen his lead of a few dozen votes over Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith grow to 1,145 votes with 96% of ballots counted.

Several thousand provisional ballots are expected to be counted in the race, and the state has until Nov. 10 to resolve those ballots. Those votes will be decisive. In 2022, the state counted about 5,700 provisional ballots. Mississippi does not have an automatic recount process, but a challenger can seek a court order for one.

The AP also has not called Alaska’s Senate contest between incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola, who had a 637-vote lead over Sullivan with an estimated 74% of votes counted. Peltola had 48.2% of the votes, to Sullivan’s 47.9%. Under Alaska law, if neither candidate gets more than 50% of the votes then it goes to ranked-choice tabulation.

Also in Alaska, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins has a 20-percentage-point lead over Republican Bernadette Wilson in the governor’s race. Kreiss-Tomkins had 49.2% of the vote with an estimated 74% of the ballots counted.

Like the Senate contest, the governor’s election advances to another round if no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes.

In Kansas, Democrat Cindy Holscher has less than a 1-percentage-point lead over Republican Ty Masterson in the governor’s race. Holscher’s 7,045-vote lead with an estimated 99% of votes counted comes after Democrat Adam Hamilton became the first member of his party to win a Senate seat in the state in nearly a century.

Holscher and Masterson both serve in the state Senate, where the Republican serves as its president.

DeSoto County voters elected the county’s first Black circuit and chancery court judges to newly created positions from last year’s redistricting efforts. 

John Hughes, a Southaven attorney and Walls Municipal Court judge, received 61% of the vote to become a circuit court judge. Gwen Baptist, a Southaven attorney, received 51% of votes to become a chancery judge, according to unofficial results. 

On Wednesday, both recognized how their wins made history and thanked supporters. 

Hughes said it was humbling to be both the first Black municipal judge and circuit judge to be elected in DeSoto County. 

“All citizens deserve a court that balance(s) fairness with the temperance of justice and compassion, when within reason,” Hughes wrote on his campaign Facebook page. “I am proud to be your humble public servant and neighbor.”

The circuit court is responsible for felony criminal prosecutions, which includes trials and sentencing. It also handles civil claims over $200 and hears appeals from the county and justice courts. 

Throughout her campaign, Baptist shared her family’s generational roots in DeSoto County and her connection to land, including a few videos of her on family land. In a message to supporters after Election Day, she said her father and grandfather had to conduct legal business outside the courthouse during the state’s Jim Crow era, but the win gives her the privilege to walk through the doors and serve from the bench.

“This victory is both a profound professional honor and an opportunity to honor my father, recognize the sacrifice of those who came before me and carry forward their legacy through service,” she wrote on Facebook.

The chancery court is responsible for wills and estates, adoption, child custody, divorce, guardianships and conservatorships. The court can also approve final domestic abuse protection orders. 

The only countywide Black official in DeSoto is Sheriff Thomas E. Tuggle II, who was elected  in 2023. 

The milestone comes several months after a federal lawsuit challenged the creation of the majority-Black subdistricts that eventually elected Baptist and Hughes.  

Last year, lawmakers redrew state court districts using the most recent 2020 U.S. Census data. In DeSoto County, one of the fastest growing counties in the state, lawmakers created the two majority-Black subdistricts in parts of Horn Lake and Southaven. Black residents make up over a third of the county’s population. 

U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock on Aug. 13 denied efforts by four DeSoto County residents, including county Supervisor Robert Foster, to prevent subdistrict of voters from electing the two countywide judges.

Foster argued that a small section of voters discriminated against white residents and that voting should be opened across the entire county. In her ruling, Aycock said the evidence presented at trial did not clearly point to race as the justification for the drawing of the judicial maps.

In the DeSoto case, Aycock ruled that just because race was referenced when the Legislature created the subdistrict and statistics show that it created a majority-Black subdistrict, it didn’t necessarily mean it was an unconstitutional gerrymander. 

She also noted that Rep. Dan Eubanks, a Republican from Walls, had testified that the Legislature added one circuit court judge and one chancery judge because the county needed help with the case backlog that stemmed from its growing population. 

Foster filed the lawsuit after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais struck down a portion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that enabled the drawing of majority-minority districts. In Callais, the high court rejected Louisiana’s second majority-Black congressional district, finding it relied too heavily on race and calling it an “unconstitutional gerrymander.”

That ruling has led to worries that Republican-led states would try to eliminate majority-Black and Latino electoral districts. Some state lawmakers have called for the state’s only majority-Black congressional district to be eliminated.

Republican states including Mississippi began redistricting efforts after the Callais decision. The state Senate formed a redistricting study committee that traveled across the state to hear from residents. 

Redistricting is also expected to be taken up during the 2027 legislative session that starts in January. 

DeSoto County previously faced a lawsuit that alleged its 2022 electoral map diluted Black voting power in county office elections and called for creation of majority-Black districts. In June, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, finding the plaintiffs didn’t provide enough proof that maps were drawn to intentionally dilute Black voting power.   

Local election officials on Thursday continued processing thousands of outstanding absentee and affidavit ballots as the nation watched to see who will win Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race.  

The razor-thin margin between Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democratic challenger Scott Colom has already shocked many across the nation, but it remained too close to call on Thursday. Colom led by 1,764 votes with nearly 1 million cast.

A likely legal fight over the count also continued brewing on Thursday.

Colom’s campaign said he is clearly on track to win, and the voting rights organization Fair Fight said the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic election attorneys from Elias Law Group have deployed hundreds of volunteers and local lawyers across all 82 counties to oversee the final rounds of counting. 

LIVE: 2026 Mississippi election results

The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent a letter on Thursday to county election commissioners and circuit clerks in Mississippi, demanding they separate and preserve all affidavit ballots cast. 

“As the democratic process continues to play out, we are committed to ensuring that every single lawful ballot is accurately counted and the voices of all Mississippians are heard,” said NRSC Regional Press Secretary Samantha Cantrell. 

The letter demands that election officials preserve a wide range of records, pointing to future litigation.  

The state Republican Party was set to address reporters in a press conference in Jackson later on Thursday.

How many votes are left to count?

Secretary of State Michael Watson on Wednesday said that 3,600 outstanding mail-in absentee ballots could be processed, though realistically not all of these ballots will reach local election workers by the statutory Nov. 10 deadline. 

Between 14,000 and 18,000 affidavit ballots remain outstanding throughout the state, according to Lisa Ross, a local voting rights attorney who is leading the effort to monitor election officials processing the remaining ballots. 

Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Mike Hurst told reporters on Thursday afternoon that Republicans believe there could be as many 20,000 outstanding ballots, including mail-ins, absentees and affadavits. He said the election wasn’t over, and Republicans were deploying resources across the state.

Election attorneys, voting rights advocates and national reporters have descended on Mississippi over the past 48 hours, scrambling to make sense of what remaining ballots are out, when they would be counted and how Colom found himself in striking distance of pulling off a victory in a state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in decades.  

At a breakfast event in Jackson on Thursday morning, Colom greeted a throng of jubilant volunteers and said he had little doubt the race was breaking in his direction. 

“Anybody out there that does an analysis knows where this is going. The affidavit (vote) is always moving in Democratic favor in Mississippi,” Colom said. “You look at the ballots that are left, it’s going in our favor, absolutely.”

Spokespeople for Hyde-Smith’s campaign did not immediately offer a comment about where the number stood on Thursday. 

The Associated Press showed about 10% of the vote remained uncounted in Hinds County, the most populous area of the state and a Democratic stronghold. Election officials in Hinds County have said they expect the review of remaining ballots, most of which are absentee and affidavit ballots, to take days. 

Ballots also remained uncounted in areas along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and in the Jackson suburb of Rankin County, both areas Hyde-Smith won. 

Colom did not speculate how long it would take for the remaining ballots to be counted, but said he is confident “Mississippi has decided to go in a new direction.” 

“I’m proud of the lawyers that we’ve got, the organizers we have that are on the ground making sure the law is followed, and that you know we do what we can,” Colom said. “I’m very excited where we are.”  

Election lawyers descend on Mississippi

Lauren Groh-Wargo, Fair Fight’s CEO, said in a statement that “Mississippians turned out in historic numbers” and that the organization would work to “defend the will of the people.” 

“Right now, Scott Colom is ahead, and we are confident that when the votes are tallied, he will be Mississippi’s next U.S. Senator.”

Semafor congressional reporter Nicholas Wu reported on Thursday that the U.S. House Black Caucus’ political arm is “aggressively fundraising for recounts in Mississippi” and a congressional race in North Carolina. 

Mississippi has no automatic recount law. A recount would happen only if a court ordered it. For that to happen, a campaign or political party would have to file a lawsuit against a county or county election commission. 

A state judge would likely hear the case on an expedited basis, and the lower court’s decision would be appealable to the Mississippi Supreme Court. 

After election results are certified, campaigns can conduct ballot box examinations, which can be used as evidence in a lawsuit. The dispute over which affidavit ballots are accepted and rejected would likely be the subject of litigation. 

If a court fight ensued, it could be a disjointed, chaotic process. Mississippi law does not establish a system for challenging ballots on a statewide scale, only on a county-by-county basis. 

How Democrat Colom pulled ahead of a GOP senator

The razor-thin margin has national pundits wondering how a Democrat is on the cusp of managing a stunning upset in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat in over four decades or elected a Black person to the chamber since Reconstruction. 

Colom managed to crack the GOP’s iron grip on the state by turning out large numbers of Black voters, flipping several crucial swing counties blue and convincing Republicans to cross over and vote for him. 

The most surprising feat was Colom winning DeSoto County, a reliably Republican stronghold in a Memphis suburb, by seven percentage points, something Democrats would have viewed as unthinkable last year. 

In 2020, Hyde-Smith won the county with 56% of the vote, while Democrat Mike Espy got 40%. Now Colom has flipped the script and carried the county by 51%, while Hyde-Smith trails at 45%. 

Colom also tempered his losses in Harrison County, a populous coast county that has swamped statewide Democratic candidates over the last decade and become a red firewall for the state GOP. 

In 2020, Hyde-Smith trounced Espy in Harrison County by 17 percentage points. This year, only four percentage points separate Hyde-Smith and Colom. 

The Democratic nominee also managed to flip Lafayette and Madison counties, two majority-white, affluent areas of the state that have become swing areas in recent elections. Brandon Presley, the Democratic nominee for governor in 2023, lost those two areas, but Colom narrowly won them 

Colom said he dramatically overperformed a “generic Democrat” in counties across the state and believed Hyde-Smith’s negative ads had backfired because he visited so many voters in person. 

A federal judge sentenced former Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens to 41 months and former Jackson City Councilmember Aaron Banks to 45 months on Thursday, nearly two years to the day after federal prosecutors brought bribery charges against the two and Jackson’s mayor at the time, Chokwe Antar Lumumba.

As he handed down Owens’ sentence, U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III described his decision as “somber” but said Owens still had a bright future. 

“I actually think the future you have in front of you is better than the one that you were going down,” said the judge, who also ordered Owens to pay a $100,000 fine.

Jordan called Owens the “ringleader” of a bribery scheme spawned by an undercover FBI operation in Jackson in 2023.

Owens told the judge he had tarnished his family name. 

“When a case says ‘United States versus Jody Owens,’ what I want you to know is my son is Jody Owens, my father is Jody Owens, my great-grandfather is Jody Moncure,” he said. 

Owens apologized to his parents, his wife, his children, his former employees in the Hinds DA’s office and to the court. He did not offer an apology to the people of Hinds County. 

As the president of the Jackson City Council, Banks said he had a responsibility to protect the public trust. 

“The people of Jackson deserved better from me,” he said. 

Other Jacksonians ensnared in the case have yet to be sentenced, including former Jackson City Councilmember Angelique Lee and Owens’ cousin, Sherik “Marve” Smith.

The proceedings began with lengthy arguments from Lumumba and Banks over their presentencing reports, which judges use to help determine what punishment a defendant gets.

Owens, Banks, Lumumba and their attorneys sat together on the right side of the courtroom. The gallery was sparse, and Lumumba’s supporters left shortly after the judge took the former mayor’s objections to the presentencing report.

Lumumba, who attended Thursday’s hearing, contested the government’s recommended prison time, which Jordan will consider when he sentences the former mayor on Nov. 20. The judge foreshadowed that hearing when he said on Thursday that Lumumba could face between 37 and 46 months in prison.

Federal prosecutors indicted Owens, Lumumba and Banks on Nov. 7, 2024, after years of investigating suspected wrongdoing in Jackson. Mississippi Today previously reported that the capital city caught the attention of federal authorities during a yearslong conflict between Lumumba and the Jackson City Council over the selection of a garbage collection vendor. 

No charges ever arose from that matter. Instead, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a sting operation in 2023 and deployed two undercover FBI agents to pose as out-of-state real estate developers seeking to build a convention center hotel in downtown Jackson. 

Owens wound up going into business with them, serving as an intermediary to Lumumba, Banks and other Jackson officials, according to the federal indictment. 

The DA was a registered agent for the developers’ company in Mississippi, organized a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, fundraiser for Lumumba on their behalf, and used his campaign account to pay off Lee’s campaign debt to a local printing company, allegedly in exchange for her future vote.

Owens also gave Banks a $10,000 bribe and hired Banks’ daughter for an internship at the DA’s office that prosecutors asserted was funded by the purported developers.

The three former Jackson officials and a federal prosecutor appeared at times to relitigate the nature of the scheme. 

As Jordan evaluated Lumumba’s objections, the judge noted the mayor had taken a $50,000 bribe from Owens in exchange for moving up the city’s bid deadline. 

“The ask was to move the date of the RFQ,” Jordan said, referring to so-called requests for quotations, which is part of the project bidding process. 

Not so, responded Dave Fulcher, the federal prosecutor leading the case. 

“That is a strawman that has been set up by Lumumba’s counsel,” he said. “The bribery scheme was not, ‘We need him to move the RFQ.’ The bribery scheme was, ‘We need him involved.’” 

Owens was elected district attorney in 2019. His family has helped develop parts of southern Hinds County. 

Gary Kohlman, an out-of-state attorney representing Owens, called the portrayal of Owens in the presentencing report “unsettling” and asked the judge to consider that Owens was a complex person as evidenced by the dozens of supportive letters written by his family and friends. 

“It can’t be, in other words, that he led some complete double life for 40-something years doing all the work he did,” Kohlman said. 

“I totally accept that and agree,” Jordan responded. “Almost every defendant that comes in here, I can find something good in them.” 

But the judge noted that Owens discussed a bribery scheme with the faux developers the very first time he met them in person. 

“This happened before any jets, before any liquor was bought or any other entertainment was provided,” the judge said. “And during this meeting, he never said, ‘This was wrong, we can’t do this, I’m the DA.’ But he did tell the agents ‘if you want it, it’s yours.’” 

Banks, who was deemed indigent by the federal judge, represented Ward 6 in south Jackson from 2017 to 2025. A political organizer, he started working for the city during Lumumba’s father’s mayoral administration in 2013.

In the months before being drawn into the scheme, Banks told the judge, he was in the throes of “a season of personal desperation.” 

He said he had gone into debt assisting residents during the Jackson water crisis in 2022 and was stressed about raising money to run for mayor. 

“He was blindly motivated by his desire to become mayor of Jackson and unseat Lumumba,” said his court-appointed attorney, Carlos Tanner. “And that’s incredibly unfortunate.”

Banks and some of his family members cried as he walked out of the courtroom. He received a longer sentence than Owens in part because he had previously been convicted of two DUIs. He must also pay a $15,000 fine.

Tanner argued this was unfair, asserting that Banks played a smaller role in the bribery scheme than other participants, some of whom he asserted have not faced criminal prosecution. 

“The number of crimes that were committed in this episode are astounding,” he said.

Jordan said it would be hard to overstate the extent of the corruption in this case but that he would spare the public the most salacious details.

Before sentencing Banks, the judge suggested broader wrongdoing that might not yet be public. He referred to an incident, detailed in a presentencing report, in which Banks apparently promised to help an unknown person with city business if sent money by CashApp.

“I don’t think this is a one-time event based on what I’ve seen and read,” he said.

UPDATE, 11/5/2026: Added more photos, information about sentencing of Jackson City Councilmember Aaron Banks and more details from court hearing.

Tens of thousands of Mississippians covered by Affordable Care Act marketplace health insurance will face higher premiums and fewer options during this year’s open enrollment period, experts say. 

This is the second consecutive year of double-digit premium increases nationally. The average benchmark premium will rise 23% in Mississippi in 2027, according to KFF data. Last year the state saw a 37% increase in the average premium. 

Many marketplace customers are eligible for income-based subsidies that are expected to help shield them from premium increases. In 2027, the income range for a single person to qualify is roughly $16,000 to $64,000 annually. 

But even those that qualify already face significant premium increases after enhanced subsidies that made insurance more affordable for more than 22 million Americans expired in December 2025. A large share of Mississippians switched to plans with higher out-of-pocket-costs last year after those subsidies expired. 

“It’s the same story we had last year,” said Michael Minor, who leads the Hernando-based Get Covered Mississippi, a statewide, faith-based coalition that helps connect Mississippians to health insurance options. “People are already struggling.”

Open enrollment began Sunday and will continue through Jan. 15. 

Nationally, average premiums will increase 13%. Health insurance plans across the board are seeing rates rise due to inflation and increasing healthcare costs, said Matthew McGough, a policy analyst at KFF. 

Marketplace premium costs are also affected by the downstream effects of the expiration of subsidies that made health insurance more affordable for customers, McGough said. Because more enrollees, and especially healthier people, dropped their coverage, the remaining group of people is smaller, sicker and more costly to insure. 

McGough said he expects marketplace enrollment to continue to decline into 2027. 

“To what extent, I think that remains to be seen,” he said. 

Mississippians will also see fewer options when they shop for plans. Two insurers previously offering plans on the state’s marketplace will not offer plans in 2027: Cigna Healthcare and Molina Healthcare. Three plans, UnitedHealthcare, Oscar Health and Ambetter from Magnolia Health, will continue offering coverage. 

The more limited options for coverage comes at the same time as a temporary freeze on new broker registrations as a part of a federal anti-fraud crackdown and decreased funding for navigators who provide assistance to people shopping for and enrolling in health coverage through the marketplace.

“Together, consumers are potentially going to have less choice and a more difficult time finding avenues to sign up,” McGough said.

Some lawfully present immigrants will lose eligibility for federal financial assistance for marketplace plans in 2027, including refugees and asylees without a green card and people on work visas, among others. Others, including lawful permanent residents, or “green card” holders, will still be eligible for subsidies. 

Declining marketplace enrollment in Mississippi

When Congress first authorized expanded subsidies for marketplace plans in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mississippi was one of the states that benefitted the most from the increased federal support, in part because state lawmakers, for over a decade, have chosen not to expand Medicaid. 

Marketplace enrollment peaked in 2025 with over 300,000 people enrolled in plans statewide. 

With the enhanced subsidies, marketplace premiums for people renewing their coverage in 2026 more than doubled on average, according to KFF. Mississippi saw one of the steepest declines in coverage. 

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said enrollments have since dropped by half. He said as of Oct. 28, enrollments fell to 135,000 people among the three insurers that will continue to offer plans next year. He said the two plans leaving the marketplace next year have few remaining beneficiaries.

Mississippi’s declining marketplace rolls may also have been impacted by federal efforts to eliminate fraud. 

The Trump administration in September cancelled 315,000 “unauthorized” policies covering more than 760,000 people nationwide, claiming fraud and improper enrollment. A small number of people were errantly disenrolled and later reinstated. 

Marketplace insurers reported that over 2,500 members were disenrolled in Mississippi, said Beth Reiss, communications director for the Mississippi Insurance Department.

Efforts to revoke the charter of a Canton school are on pause for at least a month.

On Monday, Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Tametrice Hodges-Linzey granted SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy a temporary restraining order against the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board. School leadership requested the order on Oct. 30, four days after the board voted to revoke its charter for severe financial mismanagement.

This is the first time the state is revoking a school’s charter — and navigating an appeal of that decision — since 2013, when Mississippi’s charter school law went into effect.

SR1 school leadership is appealing the board’s decision and filed its restraining order request in Hinds County chancery court because the authorizer board is based in Jackson. Jamie Travis, the school’s attorney, argued in the recent court filing that authorizer board staff should not be allowed to start the process of revoking the school’s charter while an appeal is pending. 

The board voted on Oct. 26 to revoke the school’s charter. The authorizer board mandated that the school cease operations by the end of the year. 

Read more: Dysfunction put Canton school’s charter at risk

Travis contended in the Oct. 30 court filing that authorizer board members did not adequately prove mismanagement. He said the board was unwilling to wait on the school’s latest audit, which came out Oct. 7. Instead, the board held a hearing in May to determine whether to revoke the school’s charter. The audit lacked serious findings and would clear up concerns about the schools’ finances, Travis said. Travis also argued that the authorizer board did not provide enough technical support to charter school leaders.

Travis also argued in the court filings that the authorizer board is driving away students and staff before an appeal can be heard. He described an Oct. 28 incident as an example of interference by the board. 

That day, Lisa Karmacharya, the authorizer board’s executive director, showed up at the school during an internal staff meeting. Tamu Green, the school’s chief executive officer, opened the door for Karmacharya, but she had not been invited, Travis said. 

Authorizer board policy mandates close-out procedures start within a day of the vote to revoke a school’s charter, and board staff must hold meetings to close out school finances and provide information to parents and staff. State law and agency policy also allows authorizer board staff to conduct on-site inspections of schools. In an interview Wednesday with Mississippi Today, Travis disputed whether state law supports unannounced on-site visits.

School officials must also secure financial records and schedule time for school finance team members and charter authorizer board staff to review the closed-out records. There must be a separate meeting between staff of the authorizer board and school to discuss the details of the school’s operating status.

School officials must also provide contact information for parents and staff so the authorizer board can notify them about the school’s operating status. Board policy requires notifying parents and staff within five and 10 days, respectively. However, SR1 charter school officials did not provide the necessary contact information by the agency’s deadline, according to Karmacharya. 

Karmacharya told Mississippi Today on Wednesday she felt it was important that school staff gain clarity about the authorizer board’s decision to revoke the school’s charter.

Dorlisa Hutton, the school’s vice president, did not respond to a request for comment. She hung up the phone when Mississippi Today contacted her Wednesday. Green did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hodges-Linzey will need to rule on whether to overturn the authorizer board’s decision to revoke the school’s charter.

Appeals of agency decisions made after administrative hearings, or judicial reviews, are limited to certain criteria in Mississippi. Travis, on behalf of SR1 CPSA, must prove that the authorizer board’s decision was arbitrary, capricious, unsupported by fact, exceeded the agency’s authority or violated the school’s constitutional rights.