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PERKINSTON — The calls kept coming as floodwaters spread across Stone County. Tim Davenport and Michael Graham had never responded to a natural disaster before, but they had something many stranded residents needed: a boat. 

According to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, the remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur caused widespread flooding across South Mississippi June 18, damaging homes, businesses, roads and public infrastructure. Preliminary damage assessments identified 121 homes and 34 roads affected in Stone County, and MEMA established a Red Cross shelter at Stone County Middle School in Wiggins. 

Davenport, 25, and Graham, 22, both grew up in Stone County and said they felt compelled to help as the floodwaters rose.  

“I’ve lived in Wiggins my whole life,” Graham said. “I’ve never seen the water like that in Wiggins.”

The longtime friends spend most weekends boating local rivers and both work on towboats along the Mississippi River, giving them confidence on the water even though neither had ever participated in disaster response. 

“You don’t expect water to come up like that,” Davenport said. “And it just all happened so fast. I mean, half of the people there didn’t have boats. And we just, it’s something we do every weekend.” 

As the flooding worsened, Davenport said they posted on Facebook offering assistance and soon began receiving requests from across the county. 

“We were just going from pretty much call to call, whoever called us,” Davenport said. “We’d just go and see if we could get to them.” 

Davenport said someone also connected the pair with the United Cajun Navy, a disaster response organization that helps coordinate volunteers during natural disasters. 

“When stuff like that happens, (the United Cajun Navy) helps with really anything recoveries (related),” Davenport said. “They’re real supportive in situations like that.” 

Davenport estimated they responded to more than 15 calls, checking flooded homes, rescuing about a dozen pets and helping neighbors navigate one of the county’s worst flooding events in recent memory.

During one rescue, Davenport said a homeowner entered a house with more than 4 feet of water inside to retrieve his dogs but became trapped. 

“We had to kick the door in to get him back out of the house,” Davenport said. 

Davenport said many owners waited anxiously for them to return with their pets. 

“A lot of the people who owned the dogs that we saved were waiting on us to get back with the dogs, and they were all very emotional when we got back with their pets,” Davenport said. 

He said helping reunite families with their pets became one of the most rewarding parts of the experience. 

“Dogs are like family,” Davenport said. “It’s basically another family member out there stranded. We were just trying to help people get their belongings and pets back.” 

For Graham, volunteering was simply about using the equipment and experience they already had to help their community. 

“Just knowing I had the ability to do it and had the equipment to do it,” Graham said. 

After the floodwaters receded, the United Cajun Navy asked Davenport and Graham whether they wanted to continue volunteering with the organization. 

“We told them, yeah, because, I mean, it was honestly a bad situation,” Davenport said. “We talked about it, and we enjoyed doing it.” 

Graham said he hopes they can help again if another disaster strikes. 

“If they call me, I’ll be there, ready to go,” Graham said. 

The union representing dozens of Jackson bus drivers and other transportation workers issued a 72-hour strike notice Friday, even as the union said it would continue trying to reach an agreement with MV Transportation, the Texas company under contract to run JTRAN.

If both sides cannot reach an agreement by Sunday, the union plans to go on strike at 4 a.m. on Monday, according to a statement released Friday by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1208.

“We care about our riders whom we transport each day and do not want this strike to happen,” the local’s president and business agent, Charles Tornes Jr., said in a statement.

Union members voted last month to authorize a strike.

JTRAN represents a lifeline for low-income and disabled Jacksonians who use the bus to get to work, medical appointments or the grocery store. Though JTRAN is a publicly funded service, its unionized employees work for MV Transportation, which calls itself the largest privately-owned transportation company in America. 

The two sides have been negotiating a collective bargaining agreement out of public view since a previous version expired in December. The union has been seeking competitive pay raises, while MV Transportation has proposed a number of changes to JTRAN, including new safety policies and the ability to hire drivers without commercial licenses to operate smaller vehicles for on-demand “microtransit” services.

But in late May, tensions came to a head after the union learned that Mayor John Horhn and his administration were presenting the city council with a plan drafted by MV Transportation that would trim 20% of JTRAN’s roughly $9 million budget.

The cost-cutting proposal would eliminate two fixed routes, cease Saturday service and shorten the work day by two hours. It would also use the city’s existing fleet of paratransit vehicles to expand the microtransit services, raising concerns among a vocal contingent of disabled riders who rely on JTRAN.

The union, which has more than 60 members, previously went on two-week strike in September 2024 over job security, job safety and what it called “unfair treatment.”

Joseph Cranney is a reporter with the Deep South Today Investigative Reporting Center in collaboration with The New York Times. Mukta Joshi is an investigative reporter at Mississippi Today. She is spending a year as a New York Times Local Investigations fellow examining immigration and criminal justice issues. 

Nearly a month after police in Mississippi shot and killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley outside Walmart in Senatobia, department officials released a brief report Friday about the shoplifting call that led to the fatal encounter.

But the two-page report — obtained by Mississippi Today through a public records request — contains almost no details of what happened. It does not describe how many officers were present, name the officers who responded or explain why the call escalated into gunfire.

The official incident report, a document that would typically include such details along with officers’ narratives, states only that the department responded to the Walmart shortly after 1:30 p.m. involving alleged shoplifting of baby clothes and a large pack of Pampers Easy Ups diapers. At 2:04 p.m., Senatobia police were alerted that shots were fired, according to the department’s call logs.

Vellesiya Wiley, Kohen’s 20-year-old mother, said later that her child was seated on her lap in the front passenger seat when officers fired three or four shots at their Ford Fusion, striking the toddler in the chest, and Wiley’s 22-year-old friend in her arm and thigh. The police report makes no mention of that, stating only that the vehicle was impounded shortly before 4:30 p.m. It also doesn’t say if there were any witnesses to the shooting.

In its own statement, the Tate County Sheriff’s Office, which was also on the scene, said without referring to any agency that an unnamed officer fired at an “oncoming vehicle.”

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, shared a photo July 2 showing the car’s front passenger window was shot out. Crump said it was evidence that police fired at the vehicle when they were beside the car and not in harm’s way. The photo also appears to show a bullet hole through the windshield, on the passenger side.

In a Facebook post about three hours after the shooting, the Senatobia Police Department acknowledged that a shoplifting call “led to officers discharging their firearms.” The department pledged “full transparency.”

But the police department and the state’s public safety department, which is investigating the incident, have declined repeated requests from community activists and the media to release footage of the encounter. So has Walmart, even though its stores generally have sophisticated surveillance systems.

A Walmart representative, Hannah Henderson, said company policy dictates that Walmart only share surveillance footage with law enforcement while an incident is under investigation. “We continue to work closely with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations and defer additional questions to them,” Henderson said.

In the past three years, Senatobia police have, on average, responded to more than one call per day to the Walmart on U.S. Highway 51, according to call logs provided to Mississippi Today in response to a public records request. A roster of employees shows that the department has 11 patrol officers.

Unlike other notable police shootings in recent years, bystander video of the incident has been sparse. So far, local media have only reported on one video clip recorded by a witness. It captured the car driving away after the shooting and shows three law enforcement officers standing in the area.

Lt. Shane Howell said Friday that Sgt. Hunter Foster was placed on administrative leave two days after the incident. Authorities haven’t said if Foster fired his gun, or if other officers fired theirs.

Legislative leaders are close to finalizing a deal on reforming Mississippi’s youth court system and expect Gov. Tate Reeves to call them into a special legislative session soon, according to multiple lawmakers and negotiators involved in the discussions. 

It’s unclear how wide-ranging the reforms to the court would be and when exactly the special session would take place, though several legislators speculate it will happen later this month. Reeves’ office did not respond to a request for comment.

READ MORE: State court office will follow judge orders on youth court access, while legal conundrum around secrecy remains

The reason for the special session is that lawmakers debated a youth court reform bill during their 2026 regular session. The reform package also contained a measure extending the “repealer” in existing law on how confidential youth court records can be shared between courts, state agencies, attorneys and law enforcement. 

When a repealer, or sunset clause, is included in a state law, the law or a section goes away on a specified date unless the Legislature votes to reenact it.

Because the Legislature didn’t pass a measure extending the repealer, those confidentiality measures and other youth court laws expired. 

The state Supreme Court issued an order earlier this month that state officials said will allow youth court business to proceed as usual. That order expires on July 24, but the Court could extend that order. 

Gov. Tate Reeves on Friday appointed an interim steward to lead the Hinds County District Attorney’s office until a Nov. 3 special election can fill the vacancy left by the resignation of District Attorney Jody Owens, who pleaded guilty last week to federal conspiracy charges.

Brad McCullouch, a Madison County resident, has worked as an assistant district attorney in Hinds County since 2023. Owens pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges and resigned from office June 29. 

The governor announced on social media that he had appointed McCullouch, saying he chose an internal candidate to minimize any disruptions. 

“Everyone knows the criminal justice system in Hinds County is far from perfect, but I am convinced the rank-and-file assistant district attorneys who serve Hinds County do an admirable job prosecuting criminals,” Reeves wrote on Facebook. 

Under state law, the governor must call an election to fill a vacancy in the office of a district attorney. 

Hours before Reeves made the announcement, McCullouch appeared before a federal judge for a hearing on conditions at the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond, which is already over capacity.

Problems at the jail are among an array of challenges McCullouch will now face as the interim district attorney. 

McCullouch said the office would review if people arrested for nonviolent offenses but who have not been indicted could be released. He said that of the 219 unindicted people in Raymond, over 50 are being held on nonviolent offenses. 

“There’s still fertile ground” for reducing jail overcrowding, he said. 

McCullouch is the first white man to lead the district attorney’s office since Ed Peters retired in 2001. Hinds County is majority Black.

Miles from the Mississippi Gulf Coast on a remote island whose beauty of clear beaches and white sand dunes was immortalized by famed American artist Walter Inglis Anderson, Nolan Xavier Wells’ young life came to an end. 

How and why are among the many unanswered questions that remain after the 18-year-old from Ocean Springs was last seen on the Fourth of July and his body found two days later off Horn Island. 

What happened? How did the young Black man end up in the water? Was there foul play involved? Family members and their legal team have said they have received limited information, and speculation has circulated on social media. 

A state autopsy has been completed but its results, including a cause of death and toxicology, have not yet been released. The family’s attorney Ben Crump has called for an independent autopsy which is underway in Washington D.C. A funeral service is being planned. Black filmmaker Tyler Perry has offered to pay for the burial, and former quarterback Colin Kaepernick paid for Wells’ second autopsy. 

His parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, made their first public comments Friday on “Good Morning America,” and then spoke at an afternoon press conference in Harlem, New York, joined by Crump and the Rev. Al Sharpton. 

“We just want to know,” Christine Wonsley said during the news conference as she started to tear and her voice shook.

“We just want to know what happened and why our baby didn’t come home … We want it to be an honest, thorough investigation. That’s all we’re asking for.”

What was happening on Horn Island? 

Photos and videos of the July 4 get-together show multiple boats docked at Horn Island, some carrying young adults who drank beer and spiked seltzers in water reaching below their shoulder blades. Wells, a wide receiver for Southwest Mississippi Community College, arrived with a group of high school friends, who were mostly white, but did not return with them. Investigators have said he stayed behind, reportedly telling his friends he wanted to talk to a woman.  

He planned to get a ride with another boat off the island. Witnesses told authorities Wells was last seen near the island around 3 or 4 p.m.

When he didn’t come home, that promoted 911 calls and a missing person’s report by one of his friends and his mother. That kicked off land and air searches involving two sheriff’s offices, a state agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Park Service and a volunteer search and rescue organization called the United Cajun Navy. 

A park ranger found Wells’ body off the northwest part of the island, and he was identified through dental records. Those records are a way to make an identification when other methods such as fingerprints and DNA are not available. 

His disappearance and death have raised flags from his family, their attorney Crump, community members and beyond, including whether race was a factor. 

Wells’ parents question why he would separate from the group and leave his phone and keys on the boat. During the news conference, his mother said they suspect videos and photos from July 4 are missing from his phone and SnapChat because Wells was known to take them often.

Dylan Johnson-Whitfield, a Biloxi High graduate, had already been out to Horn Island twice this summer when he heard about Wells’ disappearance. Johnson-Whitfield, who was not on the island on July 4, said he kept thinking: “the worst things happen to the best people.” 

Johnson-Whitfield knew Wells. They played for rival football teams. He remembers Wells’ smile and talent on the field for Ocean Springs High. Johnson-Whitfield said that the football players from Mississippi Gulf Coast high schools, which are in close proximity, all were familiar with each other.

Lately, he’s noticed a change in his community. Even shy friends have spoken out about a need for transparency from local law enforcement. Johnson-Whitfield said a lot of young people who were at Horn Island are afraid to speak up – afraid their statements will get them investigated or thrust into the media spotlight.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office is handling the investigation and is asking witnesses to come forward. 

Allegations have spread on social media about Wells being involved in an argument or altercation. On Friday, Crump cited a video in which a male can be heard saying: “Give me my freaking phone, what are you doing.” The legal team believes that voice was Wells. Mississippi Today has reviewed the video, which was taken from a boat and pans to show other boats parked and a sandbar where people stood on and waded nearby.

Sheriff John Ledbetter issued a statement Tuesday asking people to refrain from spreading unverified information. 

“Our thoughts, prayers, and condolences remain with Nolan Wells’ family during this difficult time,” Ledbetter said. “We respectfully ask the public to extend compassion and privacy to his loved ones as investigators continue working diligently to determine exactly what occurred.”

Johnson-Whitfield expects more supervision at the island and a crackdown on underage drinking. He said he hopes law enforcement will start answering some of the questions that continue to swirl around Wells’ death. He also hopes that Wells’ friends speak up about what happened – and the family can get closure.  

Horn Island is the largest of the Mississippi-Alabama barrier islands and is a designated wilderness area. The island is 4.2 square miles with a mixed terrain of sand dunes and beaches, sea oats and saw palmetto groves and pine trees. The island is undeveloped except for a small ranger station near its center and has no utilities and no commercial ferry service. It is reachable either by private boats or charters. 

The barrier island is “the spot” for teens and early 20-somethings during the summer months because it’s a place away from adult and police supervision, Johnson-Whitfield said. Underage drinking can be common, and friend groups link up in larger groups, which isn’t always the case in Gulf Coast communities. Most house parties get busted when they get too big in the area, he said.

Johnson-Whitfield also said the island is a natural paradise and a departure from urban landscapes and city noise.

“As soon as you get there, all you see is white sand, clear water and nature,” he said. “There aren’t any buildings, traffic or crowds.”

What we don’t know

A picture of how Wells ended up in the water and died is not clear, as investigators have released limited information and autopsy results have not been shared publicly. 

Ledbetter did not respond to a request for comment Friday, including whether Horn Island has been secured as a crime scene. 

The sheriff’s office has not said who was on Horn Island when Wells remained behind and whether he knew them. It is not known where on the island he was seen after his friends left, or if he was in the water.

The park service operates Gulf Islands National Seashore, including patrolling the barrier islands. Gulf Islands National Seashore Superintendent Rick Clark said in a Friday statement that the park service was part of the recovery of Wells’ body, but he did not answer questions about how rangers patrolled Horn Island on July 4. 

Crump said Friday that Wells knew how to swim and was in shape as an athlete. 

Ledbetter has also not said what the water around Horn Island was like, including whether people are discouraged from swimming there. 

Brian Trascher, national vice president of the United Cajun Navy, said the volunteer organization has been in contact with Wells’ mother since he was reported missing. Volunteers canvassed the island by boat and aircraft until he was found. 

Trascher said he hopes an investigation will provide answers about what happened to Wells, focusing on how Wells got into the water. If he struggled or needed help, Trascher wonders how others around Wells wouldn’t notice. 

“There were so many people around that somebody would have noticed a distressed swimmer … But with so many sets of eyeballs you would think with just scanning around, you would see someone with their hands up in the air,” he said. 

The family’s legal team echoed this sentiment during the Friday afternoon news conference. 

The northwest tip of Horn Island is somewhere people like to visit because it has a nice beach and the water is clear. But the area is also known for rip currents, including one that was strong on July 4, Trascher said. 

The Park Service, Coast Guard and various federal and state agencies issued safety messages about water, boat and heat safety. For the Gulf Coast beaches and barrier islands, authorities caution people about interacting with marine life and the presence of rip currents and drop offs. 

“There are rip currents even the strongest swimmers can’t break out of,” Trascher said. 

Reporting contributed by Geoff Pender

“Voter Voices” is a series of people sharing their thoughts on voting rights, the state’s history of voter suppression and the new gerrymandering push embroiling Mississippi, the South and the nation after the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Louisiana case gutted the federal Voting Rights Act’s requirements for majority Black districts.

One of the first things Ed Godfrey was taught when he came to Mississippi in the 1960s to help register voters was to sleep with his feet towards the outside wall of a house so that if a bomb went off it would take out his feet and not his head. 

It took 30-40 years before he was able to sleep with his head against an outside wall.

“It was a lot of stress. But at the same time, you felt like you’re doing something. I’ve never felt in my life, since then, that I’ve done as important a thing. It’s something that needed to be done,” Godfrey, who now lives in the Northeast, said of the eight months he spent in Mississippi with the National Council of Churches.

As a college student in Wisconsin, Godfrey was inspired to come to Mississippi by the marches from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama.

One of Godfrey’s main projects was trying to get Black farmers elected to their local Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service committees. The service was a federal program with committees that were in charge of surveying cotton fields in their areas and telling farmers how many acres of cotton they could plant. 

According to Godfrey, white farmers were often given a higher allotment than Black farmers. 

“It really limited their ability to make a living on their land,” Godfrey said.

But with the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, organizers saw an opportunity to increase Black participation and representation. Godfrey worked alongside civil rights activist Benjamin Brown to campaign for Black candidates. But they were ultimately unsuccessful. Almost 10 years later in 1976, there were only three Black members out of over 900 members statewide.

“What the white power structure did was they ran an opposing group of Black farmers and sharecroppers who just happened to be deeply in debt to some of the large white farmers. And so they split the Black vote and eventually we did not get anyone on the board,” Godfrey said.

Godfrey sees the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Louisiana vs. Callais that weakened the Voting Rights Act and plans for redistricting as efforts to make sure less people are represented in government.

“They’re trying to bring it back now. You know, to my mind it’s so discouraging to see the whole thing all over again,” Godfrey said.

It will be at least several months before a federal judge, for the second time, decides whether Mississippi’s three state Supreme Court districts violate the Voting Rights Act and deprive Black voters.

After the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Louisiana v. Callais decision, rolled back protections for racial discrimination in redistricting, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision from U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock that the court districts diluted Black voting strength. 

The 5th Circuit sent the case back to Aycock for additional legal arguments and to determine how the case should proceed, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling. 

Aycock on Tuesday ordered that both the plaintiffs and defendants should conduct a new phase of evidence and information collection and said she would hold a new evidentiary hearing at a later date. After the evidentiary hearing, she would likely enter a new order finding whether the district lines violate federal law.

The U.S. magistrate judge helping manage the case, Jane Virden, on Friday ruled that discovery must be completed by Sept. 24 and that Aycock could order additional briefings from the parties. 

While the court case has played out, there remain two vacancies on the nine-member Mississippi Supreme Court, leaving seven justices to rule on cases before them.  

Judges Robert Chamberlain and James Maxwell left the state court in 2025 to become federal judges in northern Mississippi. Gov. Tate Reeves has not yet appointed temporary replacements for the two vacancies. 

Justice David Ishee from the Southern District has also not been able to qualify for reelection this November because of Aycock’s previous order, which prevented the state from using the maps in any election. Now that an appeals court has reversed her order, state officials would have to reopen qualifying or hold a special election. 

Ishee told Mississippi Today he still plans on qualifying for reelection. 

“I’m ready to go across the street and qualify whenever I can,” Ishee said. 

Reeves, House Speaker Jason White and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann have all said they would like to redraw the state Supreme Court districts. The governor has specifically said he wants the Legislature to redraw the districts before the 2027 election cycle.  

The litigation started in 2022 when a group of Black voters and politicians sued, alleging that the state Supreme Court districts violated the Voting Rights Act. Aycock issued a 2025 order agreeing with the plaintiffs. 

While Aycock considered adopting a new map for the districts, the U.S. Supreme Court upended redistricting guidelines in April 2026 with its Callais ruling.

Mississippi Today Ideas is a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share their ideas about our state’s past, present and future. Opinions expressed in guest essays are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of Mississippi Today. You can read more about the section here.

For many Mississippians, the late Sen. Thad Cochran’s legacy is measured in roads, buildings, research centers and federal investments that changed communities across our state. But one of his most enduring accomplishments — the Delta Health Alliance — began with a simple idea: if Mississippi was going to improve the health of its residents, it had to start in the Mississippi Delta.

Few places in America have faced the persistent challenges found in the Delta. Generations of residents have struggled with limited access to healthcare, high rates of chronic disease, poverty and educational barriers. These challenges were not isolated problems. They were interconnected, reinforcing one another and limiting opportunities for entire communities.

Sen. Cochran understood that reality. Working alongside leaders from the Delta Council, he helped champion a vision that would eventually become Delta Health Alliance. The goal was not to create another short-term program or pilot project. The goal was to build an organization capable of bringing together universities, healthcare providers, community leaders, educators and local residents around a shared mission: improving quality of life in the Delta.

That vision began to take shape in 2001 and gained real momentum in 2006 when Delta Health Alliance received its first major federal grant through the Delta Health Initiative. The investment was significant, but what mattered most was the philosophy behind it. Rather than addressing a single issue, Delta Health Alliance recognized that healthier communities require more than healthcare alone.

Over the past two decades, that philosophy has proven remarkably effective.

What started as a health-focused initiative has grown into a regional organization working across healthcare, education, workforce development and community revitalization. Programs have expanded access to healthcare in underserved communities. Early childhood education initiatives have helped prepare young children for success in school. Workforce training programs have connected residents to careers and strengthened local economies.

More importantly, those efforts have produced measurable results.

In Washington County, the Deer Creek Promise Community helped support educational improvements that coincided with the Leland School District improving from an F-rated district in 2016 to a B rating by 2025.

Nearby, the Hollandale School District improved from a D rating to a B during the same period. For children enrolled in DHA’s Head Start and Early Head Start programs, gains in kindergarten readiness have helped ensure that more students begin school prepared to learn and succeed.

Healthcare outcomes tell a similar story. The Leland Medical Clinic has become a model for rural healthcare delivery, achieving the lowest rate of uncontrolled diabetes among Federally Qualified Health Centers in the Mississippi Delta and one of the lowest rates among all Federally Qualified Health Centers in Mississippi.

In 2025, that success helped drive a $10 million investment to expand the clinic’s services, bringing physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and dental care to residents who previously had limited access to those services.

These accomplishments did not happen because of a single grant, program or initiative. They are the result of years of partnership, trust and sustained investment in communities that too often have been overlooked. They demonstrate what can happen when leaders commit to addressing the root causes of challenges rather than simply responding to their symptoms.

Yet the true measure of Delta Health Alliance’s success is not found in grants awarded or programs launched.

It is found in the parent who no longer has to travel hours to access healthcare. It is found in the child who enters kindergarten ready to learn. It is found in the student who graduates with a clearer path toward college or a career. It is found in communities that have gained resources, partnerships and renewed confidence in their future.

Perhaps the most important lesson from the Delta Health Alliance story is that meaningful change takes time. The challenges facing the Mississippi Delta were not created overnight, and they cannot be solved overnight.

Progress requires long-term commitment, strong partnerships and the willingness to invest consistently in people and communities.

That is precisely what Delta Health Alliance has represented for the past 20 years.

As we look toward the future, there is still work to be done. Health disparities remain. Educational challenges persist. Economic opportunities must continue to expand.

But the impact made over the past two decades demonstrates what is possible when leaders commit to a shared vision and stay focused on long term impact.

The Mississippi Delta remains one of America’s most challenged regions. It is also one of its most resilient.

The story of Delta Health Alliance is ultimately a story about that resilience, and about what can happen when communities are given the resources, support and opportunity to build a better future for themselves.

Karen Matthews has served as president and chief executive officer of Delta Health for nearly two decades. Matthews holds a PhD in health services and health sciences from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, a master’s from the University of Memphis and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Mississippi. She is a native of rural Mississippi and life-long resident of the South, dedicating her life to community-based research and sustainable improvements to services that eliminate health disparities in impoverished, rural communities.

For months, Katie Shappley was in denial about her symptoms. Despite difficulty breathing and odd tingles in her left arm, the daughter of a “hard-headed farmer man” didn’t go see a doctor until her headaches were bad enough to call off of work. 

When she finally went in, Shappley, who works in physician credentialing at the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Columbus, remembers the nurse practitioner being alarmed by her blood pressure reading. It was well above the normal range, which should be less than 120 over 80 mm Hg.

Shappley didn’t think she could have high blood pressure, which had shown up in her older family members in their 50s and 60s. She ate healthy, had given birth to her second son and ran around after two young kids. She was only 30 years old. And she’s not the only one. 

In recent months, a spate of studies have highlighted increasing rates of high blood pressure in younger people, with people living in the South and who identify as Black at greater risk. Mississippi already leads the nation in rates of high blood pressure, a leading contributor to maternal deaths and a growing concern for young women.

In March, researchers from the University of New Mexico presented findings at the American Cardiology Conference showing that deaths related to high blood pressure increased fourfold for young women in the last two decades. Mortality rates were higher for women in the South relative to the rest of the United States, and for Black women relative to women of other racial groups. On July 3, a team at Northwestern University published their study that analyzed disparities in high blood pressure between Black and white first-time mothers. 

“Hypertension is a silent killer, and it’s called that for a reason,” said Sandra Melvin, executive director of the Ridgeland-based Institute for the Advancement of Minority Health. 

People who have high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, might not realize why they’re feeling more tired than normal, getting headaches, feeling pain or swelling in their extremities or experiencing blurry vision. Even those symptoms might not show up for the first year while blood vessels are already being damaged, she explained. 

“People get used to working when they feel tired,” Melvin said. 

Blood pressure education

Dr. Barry Bertolet is one of Shappley’s doctors and a Tupelo-based cardiologist who has been practicing for over 30 years. Recently, he has seen an increase in younger patients with high blood pressure.

He tells patients to consistently check their blood pressure numbers. Two numbers make up these readings. The top number, the systolic pressure, measures the pressure of blood against arteries when your heart is active and pumping. The bottom one is called diastolic pressure, measured when your heart is resting between beats.

Anything 120 over 80 mmHg is an elevated blood pressure, he explained. Readings above 130 over 80 mmHg is stage one high blood pressure, and above 140 over 90 mmHg is where he would recommend getting started on medication. 

As blood pressure increases, it can impact blood vessels in several ways, Bertolet explained. The innermost layer of a blood vessel is only one cell thick. When the heart is pumping blood too fast, it can damage those cells. If the body senses an injury, it will send repair materials to the site – but their presence narrows the channel, potentially making matters worse. 

The force of the blood can also damage the connection points between blood vessels, when they branch off of one another. These repeated strains build up over time, harming the heart, brain and kidneys and leading to increased risk of strokes, heart failure and dementia. 

“If people were to put their dime on something that’s going to make the biggest impact, because it does affect a multitude of systems across the body, this has a big bang for its buck,” he said. 

With the University of New Mexico study, where young adults were defined as people from the ages of 25 to 44, researchers found that Mississippi led states in the 90th percentile for high blood pressure-related mortality, Bertolet told Mississippi Today. 

“We’re the worst state for young women having hypertension and then dying of that hypertension,” Bertolet said.

Health experts recommended that people follow these steps to maintain healthy blood pressure:

• Focus on lean meats, fruits and vegetables, and reduce salt
• Increase movement — it can be as simple as walking 
• Reduce amount of alcohol intake and smoking
• Reduce stimulants, including excessive caffeine and drugs such as adderall 
• Check blood pressure at least annually, and monitor at home with a blood pressure cuff, if necessary 

High blood pressure after pregnancy

At 30, Canton office manager Natasha Keys was confronting high blood pressure for the first time. She was pregnant with her son, Cedarian. She calls her son her “miracle baby” because her pregnancy was so fraught. 

Keys had never had blood pressure problems before, she said, but once she got pregnant, she saw a shift. In her third trimester, the numbers “skyrocketed,” she said. High blood pressure changed the trajectory of her pregnancy, and forced her into decisions that she didn’t want to make. 

At times her systolic blood pressure, the top number, reached into the 300s. A number that high is dangerous and very rare, Bertolet said, while the 200 range is more common for women experiencing preeclampsia or eclampsia. Key’s baby needed to come out early, but she said healthcare providers told her natural methods, which Keys had wanted, weren’t going to work. 

“Everything that I didn’t want, I had to get,” she said. “I got the epidural. I ended up having a C-section.”

Keys remembers being in the hospital, her mother sitting beside her, and being afraid that she wouldn’t survive the pregnancy. 

“I’m saying to myself, ‘Am I gonna make it? Am I going to see my son?,’” Keys said.

Through the difficult journey, Keys leaned on her support network, including her mother and the doula she connected with through Magnolia Medical Foundation, Kashuna Watts. 

Watts has been a practicing doula for almost 13 years and has seen an increase in young clients with high blood pressure, including ones as young as 15 and 24 years old. She started training to be a doula after one of her best friends died a day after giving birth from postpartum preeclampsia, a life-threatening condition related to high blood pressure. Now, she provides educational support for new mothers and specializes in high risk pregnancies like Keys’. 

“Natasha never experienced hypertension before pregnancy,” Watts said. “So, they don’t realize that it’s a thing. Even if you have no history of hypertension or preeclampsia, it still can happen to you.”

She wants new moms to know that postpartum preeclampsia can happen up to three months after giving birth, and advocates for them to know what their own “normal” is. If you’re seeing a spike, especially if it’s 20 points higher than baseline, it’s time to speak up, she said. 

Landscape for treatment options evolves

Treatments for high blood pressure are better tolerated than they were a few decades ago, said Keith C. Ferdinand, a heart specialist and professor of medicine at Tulane University. 

For people looking to manage their blood pressure, Ferdinand recommends engaging in lifestyle changes first, then following up with medication, if needed. He likes the DASH diet, which emphasizes lean meats and fruits and vegetables high in potassium, which can help lower blood pressure. He acknowledged these foods can be more expensive, and pointed to frozen vegetables as a budget-friendly alternative to fresh ones. 

“Blood pressure begets blood pressure,” he said, encouraging young people with normal blood pressure to get it checked once a year. “It doesn’t stay. It rises.”

Ferdinand, who is from New Orleans, isn’t surprised that studies have found an increase in high blood pressure and associated mortality, with a bigger jump in the South. He pointed to factors like the “Southern Diet,” which tends to be high in sodium and fried foods. He also said young people may be unaware of their blood pressure numbers.

Another study identified marker of uncontrolled blood pressure is not having a regular source of medical care, Ferdinand said. With insurance costs rising and Medicaid becoming more inaccessible, it will be harder for people to maintain consistent care. Meanwhile, reductions in social safety net programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will make it harder for families to purchase healthy foods, he said. 

Melvin also pointed to the systemic barriers facing communities with fewer green spaces where they can exercise, or who live in food deserts where fresh produce may require reliable access to transportation to reach. 

Outside of lifestyle changes, common methods of managing high blood pressure focus on medications, which can vary by stage of the condition. While many of these strategies are still effective, Bertolet said few new medications have emerged in the past two decades.

Two and a half years ago, Shappley underwent a relatively new procedure called renal denervation, which uses sound or radio waves to destroy kidney nerves that increase blood pressure. Bertolet introduced it to her, explaining that it can help people with high blood pressure resistant to medication, which Shappley had. 

For her it was transformative, and allowed her to bring her blood pressure down to the normal range. She’s now nearing 40 and is finding that her medication can keep her blood pressure under control when previously it couldn’t. 

Shappley now recognizes that she was being stubborn and said she should have gone for treatment earlier — if not for herself, then for her family. 

“If you ignore it and you don’t accept it, then you won’t be around for the people that love you,” she said.

She knows intimately how this can happen. Shappley said her father didn’t take his medication consistently after suffering a heart attack and undergoing open heart surgery. He started fainting, but only went to seek medical help after a faint-induced fall hurt his arm. By then, it was too late for doctors to address the blood clot that had formed in his heart, and he died at the age of 60. 

“My dad ignored his problem, and now I don’t have him,” Shappley said. 

Living with high blood pressure

Since giving birth almost a year ago, Keys has made lifestyle changes including watching her diet, and she still takes medications to address her blood pressure. Life has moved on, she’s taking classes in information technology and business administration, working, taking care of her young child. 

But she still gets emotional when recalling the challenges of her pregnancy. 

“I try to tell everybody, ‘Hey, having high blood pressure isn’t a joke,’” said Keys, who is watching a friend enter her pregnancy with elevated blood pressure. “Having those high numbers, it just was scary.”

With summer rolling in, doctors have warned Keys that heat can be dangerous for her blood pressure and her thyroid disease. She doesn’t spend much time outdoors during the day. 

She’ll be making an exception soon, though. For Cedarian’s first birthday, she wants to take him to the water park to splash around and spend time together as mother and miracle son.

This story was produced with support from the Sarah Yelena Haselhorst Fund for Health Journalism.