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Jackson’s homeless shelters opened additional beds ahead of a potentially devastating ice storm to protect vulnerable residents from the freeze.

But advocates say it would not be enough to serve the city’s entire unhoused population – some of whom will weather the storm outside in tents, tarps and sleeping bags. 

It’s not just homeless people in open-air encampments who will be left in the cold: Jacksonians with poorly insulated homes — as is common across the Southeast — may also need to seek refuge, further straining shelter capacity across the city. In other parts of Mississippi, churches and social services groups started opening shelters Friday as a winter storm with snow, freezing rain and sleet started moving across parts of the state Saturday.

Jackson’s roughly 250 shelter beds, operated by Stewpot Community Services, Shower Power, Gateway Rescue Mission and the Salvation Army, will accommodate the homeless or unstably housed during the coming week’s freezing temperatures, according to Melvin Stamps, the planning director for the Central Mississippi Continuum of Care. 

But the number of available beds is in flux, with advocates reporting that two of the year-round centers, the men’s shelter at Gateway Rescue Mission and the adult shelter at Salvation Army, are full or near capacity. The Salvation Army typically charges a boarding fee, but it waives that cost during inclement weather.

During past weather events, the city of Jackson has opened a temporary shelter at the Johnnie Champion Community Center, often called Champion’s Gym, near Jackson State University. With more than 100 beds, the building offers the largest capacity of any shelter in the city.

It will not be open during this storm because the heaters need to be replaced, according to city officials. An additional city facility that has been used as a temporary shelter, the Jackson Police Training Academy on Charles Street, is also not in sufficient condition to open. 

Nic Lott, the city’s spokesperson, said the building and maintenance department is working to secure new heaters. “We would love to use the facility, but the heaters need to be replaced and there’s a process we’re going through to get that done,” he said. 

Shower Power, which has operated at Champion’s in the past, opened 75 beds on Saturday at its building on South Commerce Street. 

Stewpot offers beds at two shelters, a men’s facility and a facility for women and children, all year round. On Friday, it opened an additional 30 beds at its downtown Opportunity Center – usually a day center – in anticipation of the falling temperatures. 

The city announced in a press release that the American Red Cross would be offering shelter, but as of noon on Saturday, the nonprofit was not affiliated with any shelters in Jackson or in the state of Mississippi, according to its online map.

“We probably won’t have enough inventory to be able to support the number of beds that may need that warming space,” said Stamps from Continuum of Care, which is composed of several organizations working to reduce homelessness. “Now, I think it would have been OK if Champion’s Gym was open.” 

While some homeless people in the Jackson area will attempt to weather the ice storm, Stamps said he anticipates the vast majority will attempt to seek shelter. Earlier this week, his organization conducted a survey of the number of homeless people in Jackson and found 123 people living at roughly 50 encampments throughout the city. 

“It’s all about establishing a positive rapport with them so that when a situation like this occurs, it’s not like we’re trying to poke and prod,” Stamps said. “We already have relationships.” 

Even so, the number of people outside who will attempt to seek shelter is likely higher, as point-in-time counts often fail to accurately capture how many homeless people live in a community. 

For the people who don’t seek shelter, advocates and outreach coordinators like Dee Dee Barlow Moore say the coming days will be life-threatening. Last month, a homeless man died of hypothermia after opting to sleep outside a building in downtown Jackson — mere blocks away from a shelter. 

“So many of them, in their minds, equate shelter to confinement and to so many horrible, traumatic things in their past,” she said. 

Another reason people avoid the shelter: Their dogs can’t come with them. 

Teresa Renkenberger, the founder of Shower Power, said she wishes it were possible to accommodate pets, but it is too disruptive.

“They would fight and bark, and trust me, I want to take them,” she said. 

To help the folks outside, she said they will be making repeated visits with sleeping bags and even pet food. And if people do choose to go to Shower Power, Renkenberger promises warmth: She said they recently finished installing blown-in insulation to complement two 5-ton heaters inside the large sleeping area.

Moore has also been visiting encampments throughout the city – collections of tents on streets in a mostly deserted industrial area close to downtown Jackson or groups who congregate behind chain retailers in the city’s northern limits – to pass out camping gear and other supplies. 

“But the ones that are the diehards, that truly believe that they can make it through anything, I ordered some of these camping mats that are insulated,” she said. 

That’s in addition to doling out what Moore estimates is three cars-worth of thermal blankets, tarps, hats and gloves, and sleeping bags. She is also planning to pass out propane camping heaters. 

Chemical hand warmers in particular can save lives, she said. 

“I’ve had one guy that literally didn’t die from hypothermia because his entire encampment pooled all of those together,” she said. “He had fallen in the mud and all they saw was his shoes sticking up. They got 20 to 30 HotHands and covered him in it until AMR got there.” 

Belonging to a group can help in other ways, too, Moore said. Some people who don’t want to go to shelters will pool funds they have made from panhandling to buy motel rooms. But for that to work, at least one person in the group must have identification — leading to the sometimes fatal resort of staying outside. 

“The wet and the cold is what will kill them,” she said. 

It’s not just the ice that can lead to death. The winter months in Jackson are known as “fire season,” due to the number of homes — abandoned or otherwise – that ignite, said Jeremiah Howard, the Hinds County coroner who also works as a volunteer firefighter in the tiny town of Pocahontas. 

The city of Jackson will sometimes see multiple fires in one night, Howard said. One cause of the repeated blazes: Homeless people seeking shelter inside abandoned houses and lighting fires to stay warm. 

Moore said she’s recently started passing out hand sanitizer to people living in encampments so they can safely start fires, as she’s seen too many people try to light tires to stay warm, then breathe in toxic smoke. 

“They come out looking like they’ve been rolling in soot,” she said. “But they’re trying to survive.” 

Another reason for the fire season: Drafty windows and poor insulation that force residents to heat their homes through unsafe methods, such as multiple space heaters or the oven. 

Jill Buckley, Stewpot’s executive director, said the extended freezing temperatures mean a higher likelihood that people will face financial hardship from trying to stay warm.  

“It’s a cascade of events that starts here and now and will take months to recover from,” she said. 

In one scenario, Buckley described a resident’s gas usage going up because they’re relying on the oven to stay warm, leading to a higher bill the next month. 

“Then you have to figure out how to pay your regular bills,” she said. “Or something happens with your plumbing, you can’t afford to get the plumber out, and JXN Water charges you thousands of dollars.” 

Buckley said her coordinators will keep going out to make sure people know they have a place to get warm. 

“They’re making that decision when it’s 54 degrees outside,” she said. “It might be a different decision when it’s 32 degrees outside.” 

Warming shelters in Jackson 

Stewpot Community Services, 601-353-2759

• Opportunity Center, 845 West Amite St.
• Matt House Shelter for Women and Children, 355 Livingston St. 
• Billy Brumfield Men’s Shelter, 1244 South Gallatin St.

The Salvation Army, 601-982-4881

110 Presto Lane

Shower Power, 769-610-6296

836 South Commerce St. 

Gateway Rescue Mission, 601-353-5864

410 South Gallatin St. 

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is accusing Mississippi coach Pete Golding of tampering with transfer player Luke Ferrelli and said Friday he has forwarded evidence to the NCAA.

“If you tamper with my players, I’m going to turn you in. It’s just that simple,” Swinney said during a news conference. “I’m not out to get anybody fired, but there has to be accountability and consequences for this type of behavior and total disregard for the rules.

“If this happened in the NFL, which is an actual league with rules, they would be fined, they would take draft picks, they hit the cap, whatever,” Swinney continued. “This is such a terrible example for young coaches in this profession. … To me, this situation is like having an affair on your honeymoon.”

Ferrelli, a former linebacker at California, entered the transfer portal on Jan. 2 and committed to Clemson four days later. Ferrelli subsequently enrolled, began classes, and began attending meetings and workouts, Swinney said.

Ferrelli reentered the portal on Jan. 22 and committed to Ole Miss.

“You can’t sign with the Browns and practice a week, and then the Dolphins call you and say we’re going to give you a little more money and you say, ‘See ya, boys,’ and go play for the Dolphins. That’s not the real world,” Swinney said.

Ole Miss athletic officials did not respond to Swinney’s allegations when contacted on Friday by The Associated Press.

NCAA vice president of enforcement Jon Duncan said in a statement that the association “will investigate any credible allegations of tampering and expect full cooperation from all involved as required by NCAA rules.”

Swinney alleged that Golding maintained contact with Ferrelli after the linebacker had enrolled at Clemson, even texting, “I know you’re signed, but what is your buyout?”

When Swinney found out about it, he said he initially told Clemson general manager Jordan Sorrells that he wanted to give Golding “some grace” because the Rebels’ coach was newly promoted after Lane Kiffin left for LSU over Thanksgiving weekend.

Swinney asked Sorrells to tell Ole Miss officials “that we know what’s going on, and if he doesn’t cease communication, I’m going to turn him in. I really thought that would be the end of it, but it wasn’t.”

Swinney said Ferrelli’s agent confirmed that Golding had continued reaching out to the player, so Clemson officials asked for copies of the text messages.

“The agent communicated that if we were to add a second year at $1 million to the already agreed-upon deal with Luke, then they would gladly give us whatever we need to turn Ole Miss in,” Swinney said. “Jordan, appropriately, said, ‘No, we’re not doing that.’”

Clemson athletic director Graham Neff said the university’s main reason for making the allegations public was to spur changes to the college football calendar and related rules — or lack thereof — that have contributed to upheaval across the sport.

“The NCAA was surprised a school was willing to come forward as directly and transparently as we were,” Neff said. “We need to look real hard at how we got here, but (also) how to get out of it.”

Neff added that Clemson was exploring its legal options.

“This is not about a linebacker at Clemson,” Swinney added. “I don’t want anyone on our team that doesn’t want to be here.

“It’s about the next kid and about the message being sent if this blatant tampering is allowed to happen without any consequences.”

Swinney also called the January transfer portal window “stupid,” saying it causes “flat-out extortion in some cases” because players and schools are making major decisions during “such a short period of time, right in the middle of when people are trying to play bowl games, playoff games, et cetera.”

If the system is not reformed, Swinney warned, there will be unintended consequences for players who transfer among multiple schools while chasing short-term financial payouts — particularly if they don’t make it to the NFL.

“We’re going to have some screwed-up 30-year-olds … that have no degrees, that have spent their money, that can’t play football anymore and aren’t connected to anything,” Swinney said.

Correction, 1/24/2026: This story has been updated to correct the author’s byline.

The 1967 bombing of the Beth Israel Congregation was far from a solitary act. The attack on Mississippi’s oldest synagogue came as part of a reign of terror by the nation’s most notorious Ku Klux Klan.

The newest attack on the house of worship, which happened this month, shows that “history repeats itself,” said Lindsay Baach Friedmann, South Central regional director for the Anti-Defamation League. “The question is not whether we are teaching the next generation, but what are we teaching them?”

The FBI has charged Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19, of Madison, with burning the synagogue in the predawn hours of Jan. 10. According to federal court documents, Pittman referred to it as “the synagogue of Satan” — a term used by followers of Christian Identity, a white supremacist religion that teaches that Adam and Eve were white, that non-whites are “mud people” and that Jews are the offspring of Satan.

What makes the latest attack scary is “there are a lot more of him out there,” said Rabbi Valerie Cohen, who served Beth Israel from 2003 to 2014.

During the Civil Rights era, the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan became the most violent white supremacist organization in the U.S., responsible for at least 10 killings in Mississippi. They were also responsible for dozens of church bombings as well as the bombings of the homes of civil rights and Jewish leaders.

The White Knights rose to the fore after the University of Mississippi enrolled its first Black student in 1962. By 1964, the Klan group boasted more than 90,000 members.

When news came in early 1964 that civil rights workers planned to “invade” Mississippi that summer, Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers told his Klansmen, “The events which will occur in Mississippi this summer may well determine the fate of Christianity for centuries to come.”

He urged them to get their guns ready.

“When the black waves hit our communities, we must remain calm and think in terms of our individual enemies rather than our mass enemy,” he told them. “We must roll with the mass punch which they will deliver in the streets during the day, and we must counterattack the individual leaders at night.”

Then he advised them, “Any personal attacks on the enemy should be carefully planned to include only the leaders and prime white collaborators of the enemy forces.”

On the first day of summer 1964, Klansmen killed three young civil rights workers, who were investigating the Klan’s burning of a Black church in Neshoba County. A deputy jailed Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman and released them into the hands of waiting Klansmen, who shot them to death and hid their bodies in an earthen dam.

Forty-four days later, FBI agents discovered the buried bodies. By killing the trio, the White Knights meant to send a message not just to those in the movement, but across the nation, about who held power in Mississippi, who could do as they pleased and who needed to live in fear.

Between June and October 1964, Mississippi saw the bombings of at least 48 Black churches, homes and “freedom houses,” according to records kept by the Council of Federated Organizations, an umbrella group for civil rights organizations.

That same year, the White Knights began to regard Jews as their major enemies, just as the Klan had done in the 1920s. Klansmen embraced the views of Christian Identity, which teaches that white people are the true Israelites and that Jews are imposters.

On Sept. 18, 1967, the White Knights bombed the Beth Israel synagogue, the opening salvo of the White Knights’ campaign against the Jews.

A month later, the White Knights suffered their biggest setback when a U.S. District Court jury convicted seven, including Bowers, on federal conspiracy charges for the 1964 killings of the three civil rights workers. They received prison time up to 10 years, but they initially remained free on appeal bonds.

The violence continued.

On Nov. 15, 1967, the White Knights bombed the home of the Rev. Allen Johnson, a Black Methodist member and NAACP leader in Laurel, where Bowers lived. Four nights later, a bomb ripped through the home of civil rights activist Bob Kochtitzky in Jackson.

Two days before Thanksgiving, the White Knights bombed the home of Rabbi Perry Nussbaum, leader of the Beth Israel congregation in Jackson.

More attacks followed in 1968, including the bombings of Black churches and a synagogue in Meridian.

After Meridian police determined that Klan bomber Thomas Tarrants was behind the synagogue bombing and others, a shootout took place between him and officers. He somehow survived, but his companion, Kathy Ainsworth, was killed.

After the death, Bowers wrote to an officer involved in the shootout and questioned why he would protect the Jews, calling them “the synagogue of Satan.”

Tarrants went to prison for the bombing. While there, he underwent a religious conversion that he later wrote about in his book, “Consumed by Hate, Redeemed by Love.”

Tarrants, now president emeritus of the C.S. Lewis Institute, became friends with the Rev. John Perkins of Jackson, who was beaten in jail by law enforcement for his involvement in the civil rights movement.

The latest burning of Beth Israel “is not just an attack on a building — it is an assault on human dignity, on faith and on the sacred truth that every person is made in the image of God,” said Elizabeth Perkins, co-president of The John & Vera Mae Perkins Foundation.

“My father has always said that reconciliation is born where truth and love meet,” she said. “That belief still stands. We grieve with Beth Israel. We stand with Beth Israel. And we commit ourselves again to the long, holy work of justice, reconciliation, and peace. Hate will not have the last word. Love will.”

Secretary of State Michael Watson says that strengthening Mississippi’s notoriously lax campaign-finance laws will be his top legislative priority this year. 

Attempts to tighten Mississippi’s campaign spending laws have sputtered in recent legislative sessions. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have been reluctant to consider any reform. But Watson, a Republican who helps administer the state’s elections, said recent criminal corruption allegations against local officials have renewed his push. 

“This is not just a political issue,” Watson said. “This is a crime-fighting issue.” 

A federal grand jury last year indicted two county sheriffs in the Mississippi Delta on charges of corruption linked to an alleged drug-trafficking scheme. The two have pleaded not guilty, though court documents allege that undercover law enforcement agents bribed the officials through campaign donations. 

READ MORE: Want to launder some money? Just use your Mississippi campaign account

Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens and former Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba are also fighting federal bribery charges, where law enforcement agents accuse them of accepting bribes in the form of campaign donations. They have pleaded not guilty. 

Watson’s proposal would require local and state candidates to file reports online, cap cash donations to political candidates at $1,000 and transfer enforcement authority from the Mississippi Ethics Commission to both the Secretary of State’s office and the Attorney General’s office.

If a candidate does not have reliable access to the internet or is unable to operate a computer, they can send a facsimile copy or a letter of their report to the Secretary of State’s office, who will then upload the report online. 

READ MORE: Campaign finance transparency bill faces uphill battle in Mississippi Legislature

The secretary of state said he has worked with Sen. Jeremy England, a Republican from Vancleave, and Attorney General Lynn Fitch in crafting a bill. 

MaryAsa Lee, a spokesperson for Fitch, told Mississippi Today in a statement that the Attorney General’s Office was proud to work with Watson and legislative leaders on the bill, and Mississippians deserve to control their own elections. 

“Together, we have created a package of reforms that will close the loopholes that allow outside, special-interest dark money to flow into Mississippi elections,” Lee said. “We are hopeful that this year the Legislature will make these reforms.”

Mississippi’s current law has a confusing, conflicting enforcement system that gives some responsibilities to the secretary of state’s office, the attorney general’s office and the Ethics Commission. 

The new proposal would task Watson’s office with investigating violations and Fitch’s office with prosecuting them if a crime has occurred. The only time the Ethics Commission would step in is if the secretary of state’s office was involved in alleged violations. 

England is the author of the legislation, and the lieutenant governor’s office has referred the measure to the Senate Elections Committee, which England leads. 

The Jackson County lawmaker said he’s hopeful the Legislature will pass the measure because it’s important for the state’s elections to be as “transparent as possible.” 

The state Legislature kicked off its current session with a heavy focus on school choice, or expanding K-12 options beyond traditional public schools. 

Those conversations, and related policies, address a broad swath of policies such as expanding charter school accessibility and using public funds to pay for private-school tuition. Both chambers want to expand school choice in Mississippi over the next three months, but they don’t agree on how. 

Mississippi Today education reporter Devna Bose and political reporter Michael Goldberg have been at the state Capitol reporting on those and other education policy discussions since the session began. 

On Jan. 16, Bose and Goldberg answered questions from readers on Reddit and Facebook. The following are some highlights from those conversations.

If you want to be alerted about future AMAs with our reporters, sign up here.

Some questions have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: We were promised that charter schools would thrive where districts were performing poorly. How have charter schools scored over the last few years compared to the public schools near them?

Q: Why are lawmakers singling out Copiah County School District and Hazlehurst City School District, and FORCING a school board consolidation?

Q: Will private schools be required to accept all students who want to attend? Will private schools have public financial reports so taxpayers can see where their money is going?

Q: How are private schools that receive funding originally allocated to public schools going to be held accountable? Why are they not held to the same methods (state tests and accountability model) that public schools use?

Q: Is HB 2, the House’s school choice bill, constitutional?

As Mississippi braces for a powerful winter storm, charitable organizations are expanding services and encouraging residents to take early precautions. 

Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday announced a state of emergency through Jan. 30 in anticipation of prolonged freezing temperatures and possible  sleet, freezing rain and ice, which were expected to begin in parts of the state Friday night and continue through next week. 

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency has a list of warming shelters on its website. The agency also encourages Mississippians to prepare for the winter weather by preparing an emergency supply kit. 

Hannah Maharrey, executive director of Good Samaritan Health Services in Tupelo, said the organization has spent the last week working to ensure that unhoused people are aware of the severity of the impending storm and have a plan to seek shelter. Though the nonprofit is accustomed to communicating about severe weather in the summer, preparing for cold and ice of this magnitude is a “new experience,” she said. 

The organization has helped several people this week to obtain identification cards, a requirement for some area shelters.  

She encourages people to be proactive about seeking shelter, and for those who don’t, to seek medical attention as soon as possible if they experience health problems from the frigid temperatures. 

“Don’t wait until it’s too late,” she said. 

In Alcorn County in the northeastern corner of the state, A Place of Grace is serving hot meals three times a day and setting up accommodations for people to stay overnight at the Gospel Tabernacle Church in Corinth. Kelly Thornton, the organization’s executive director and cook, said the nonprofit is working with local emergency management services to transport people to the church, where she and others set up at least 50 cots and mattresses. 

The organization is planning to continue these services until at least Feb. 2. Thornton said she expects roads to close and recommends people in the area call the organization early, at 662–287-7737, if they need transportation to the shelter. 

Thornton, who lived through the Mississippi Delta Ice Storm of 1994, said the early reports of the looming cold front feel reminiscent of it. 

“It kind of caught people unaware,” she said. “We knew something was coming. I don’t think they really predicted the magnitude of what it turned out to be.”

Roderick Gordon, the director of the North Delta Planning and Development District Area Agency on Aging, said meals originally scheduled for delivery this weekend or early next week to homebound seniors were being  distributed Friday to ensure people are prepared for the storm. 

Schelika Chisolm, who runs Salvation Army of Tupelo, said her shelter will be operating with special rules for the winter storm and the following week, during which temperatures are expected to drop below freezing. However, the food pantry will only be open during its regular hours: weekdays 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Special rules include allowing people to stay in the shelter during the day, rather than requiring them to leave at 8 a.m. and return at 4 p.m. As of Friday afternoon, the shelter only had six beds available, out of 61. 

“We are going to provide meals and beverages, shelter, cold weather supplies like blankets, gloves and hats,” she said. 

Her team will be out in the community checking on people as soon as it’s safe to do so, Chisolm said.

“Once the roads are clear, we take our canteens (trucks) out, and we try to find those areas where maybe the lights are out, and we distribute hot meals and things of that nature,” Chisolm said. “So, that will be part of the second phase once the storm passes a little bit.”

Robin Boyles, chief program planning and development officer of Delta Health Center, said the county will host warming shelters at the Bolivar County Expo Center in Cleveland and the Bolivar County Courthouse in Rosedale. Delta Health Center has nonperishable food items available any time in drop boxes outside its Mound Bayou, Indianola, Moorhead, Hollandale, Leland, Greenville and Rolling Fork locations. 

If people would like to help A Place of Grace’s efforts, Thornton said the organization is accepting food donations to the church at 1624 Glover Drive, Corinth, Miss. 

Jackson’s third-party water manager said it doesn’t expect any major service disruptions this weekend as a winter storm approaches Mississippi.

“JXN Water has completed winterization efforts across its operations and is prepared for the upcoming cold weather,” the utility said in a statement on Thursday. “System facilities are being actively monitored, and crews are ready to respond if issues arise as temperatures drop. At this time, JXN Water does not anticipate widespread service impacts related to cold weather conditions.”

In 2021, many in the capital city went weeks without running water after a winter storm impaired O.B. Curtis, Jackson’s main treatment plant. Cold weather has frequently jeopardized the city’s ability to deliver water to residents, including in 2010, 2014 and 2018.

Not only was equipment at the treatment plant exposed to the cold conditions, but aging, undersized distribution lines throughout the city often break during fluctuating temperatures.

Since taking over the system in 2022, the private utility has winterized O.B. Curtis to withstand cold conditions. The utility is also much better equipped to respond to line breaks, JXN Water spokesperson Aisha Carson told Mississippi Today.

JXN Water now has a mapping system in place which makes it easier to identify breaks, Carson explained. She added that the utility is nearly fully staffed in both of its treatment plants as well as its repair crews, compared to having just a quarter of positions filled during the 2022 water crisis. Moreover, the thousands of repairs to leaks and broken valves JXN Water has made in the last couple years should put it in a “better position” to address service issues, Carson said.

Utility say it can’t make Jackson’s next debt payment

U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate called a last-second status conference on Friday after JXN Water manager Ted Henifin again alerted the court of ongoing financial troubles.

The utility won’t be able to make Jackson’s next debt payment of $1.5 million due on Mar. 1, Henifin wrote in a letter. JXN Water has sought a rate increase for nearly the past year, saying it lacks funds to pay its contractors or make sewer repairs. Because JXN Water must first advertise any rate change for 30 days beforehand, there isn’t enough time for the utility to accrue the necessary revenue by the Mar. 1 due date, the letter said.

In response, Jackson City Attorney Drew Martin told the court it was JXN Water’s responsibility to make the payments as the debt belongs to the water system. The city made the last payment of $5 million in December on behalf of the utility. Mississippi Today reached out to city officials to ask if Jackson would be able to take on the next payment, but did not hear back by this publication.

If the city is unable to make future debt payments, it could be subject to losing sales tax revenue, the utility said.

In his letter, Henifin said the only way JXN Water could make the March payment is if it receives $54 million in reallocated EPA funding by mid-February. In the fall, the city convinced Congress to redirect that money from $450 million originally set aside for capital projects.

Lakeisha Pannell loves being sober.

Pannell, 44, has been at Grace House, a transitional sober living housing program for women in Jackson, since October. Pannell was sent there after she got out of prison. She began using drugs at age 14, and her addiction led to her losing communication with her family.

“I went to prison and caught that charge, and I got five and a half years over my head. So yeah, I got to get myself together,” she said, adding that she also wanted to be there for her granddaughter. 

Now in recovery, Pannell says she has changed a lot. She’s happy to be sober, though she struggles finding work because of the felony on her record.

“I’m glad I’m doing my recovery because I was going down a bad road. Now that I’ve stopped my drug use I’m better now. I’m doing a whole lot different.”

Pannell, along with several other people impacted by addiction, visited the Mississippi Capitol on Thursday for Mississippi Recovery Day.

Mississippi Recovery Day allows those impacted by addiction to share their stories and advocate for policies that support recovery. 

This year’s event was co-sponsored by End It For Good, a Mississippi-based non-profit that advocates for a health-centered approach to addiction rather than a strategy focused on criminal justice.

Christina Dent is the founder of End It For Good. A conservative Christian and foster mother, Dent changed her views on addiction after meeting the biological mother of one of her foster children.

“She had been struggling with an addiction for many years, and through getting to know her and seeing her, I realized she is a mom like me, who loves her son just as much as I love my sons.” 

Dent and her fellow advocates see addiction as a medical issue, not a moral or criminal justice one, and want policies that address it that way. Prior events focused on specific policies such as decriminalizing fentanyl testing strips and expanding access to Narcan. Both of those policies are now law.

Several other organizations sponsored the event, such as United Way of the Capitol Area and Mississippi Harm Reduction Initiative.

The Mississippi Senate formally recognized Recovery Day in the Senate Chamber. The attendees had a little over an hour to tour the Capitol, network and meet with their legislators before a press conference on the inner rotunda steps. After the press conference and lunch, some gathered at the All Recovery Meeting to share their experiences and connect with others.

Like Pannell, several attendees were either residents or graduates of Grace House. Emilee Shell is the director of Grace House and is a graduate of Grace House herself.

Last year, Grace House submitted a proposal to the Mississippi Opioid Settlement Advisory Council, but did not make the final list of recommended projects that the council shared with the Legislature. Shell hoped for Grace House to be reconsidered and to talk to lawmakers about increased access to detox programs and recovery residences. 

“People that are in recovery are some of the hardest workers, the biggest go-getters if you just give them a chance,” she said.

Like Pannell, Jerica Hill, 36, is a resident at Grace House who was inspired to get sober because of prison.

“I had a son. He’s six years old right now, and when I lost custody of him and went to prison and everything, that’s when I realized I need to get sober,” she said.

Hill said her addiction also caused her to lose communication and trust with the rest of her family. She said that being sober is great, and that “you can actually really enjoy life.”

Stacey Spiehler, 45, fell into addiction after a traumatic childhood and several complicated pregnancies as an adult. Several members of her family struggled with addiction.

“I didn’t know how to handle my emotions. I didn’t know how to handle my fear. I didn’t know how to handle anything,” she said.

“There was one day where it was either a big bottle of vodka or a gun,” Spiehler said, and she chose the vodka.

Her addiction led to her becoming homeless. Over the next several years, she went to Matt’s House Shelter for Women and Children, brief stints in Brentwood Behavioral Health and St. Dominic Hospital, her mother’s house, a rehab in Chicago, Harbor House Chemical Dependency Services and finally Grace House.

She said Grace House was an important part of her recovery.

“Without that stable, kind of, floor to sit down on, chill out on, relax on and be around a whole lot of other women who had just beaten the same thing that I did, without that, I don’t know where I’d be,” she said.

She graduated from the University of Mississippi last year as a Lyceum Scholar and is president of the board for Families as Allies. She’s close with her family and ex-husband, and is an advocate for children with disabilities because of her son, who has autism and cerebral palsy.

Spiehler wants more lawmakers to listen to and understand people impacted by addiction. 

“We need kind, compassionate, informed paths to recovery,” she said.

During the press conference, legislators thanked the attendees for their advocacy and talked about supportive policies, and people impacted by addiction spoke in favor of health-centered approaches and non-traditional paths to recovery. 

“That’s the goal, a healthy thriving life, and we want to celebrate every step that a person takes that gets them closer to that healthy, thriving life,” Dent said.

In his speech, Rep. Fabian Nelson, a Democrat from Byram, highlighted last year’s success in passing a state law that increased access to Narcan, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

He told the attendees their presence in the Capitol was important. “We need you here to come here and talk about what is important to you because that’s the way that we get things done,” he said.

This year, Nelson is trying again to push a bill to take hypodermic syringes off of the drug paraphernalia crime list, which would allow for needle disposal programs.

Rep. Sam Creekmore, a Republican from New Albany, talked about a bill he authored to have state-funded clinical trials for ibogaine, a drug that could be used to treat opioid use disorder and mental health issues. The bill recently passed in the House and is now in the Senate.

“What it does is bring some of the most treatment-resistant, hardest-hit Mississippians into the kind of gold-standard they deserve for FDA-approved medical research,” he said.

Katie Scheel of Columbus credited medical cannabis with helping her recovery and making her healthier, calmer and a better mother. She spoke out against House Bill 1195, which would restrict medical marijuana advertising.

“I wanted to show y’all that these guys have a mom that is present because of medical cannabis,” she said, with one child in her arms and the other by her side.

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.

One of the most dangerous pronouncements to come out of Washington in recent weeks was the decision to pause all federal funding for child care.

After a sleepless weekend for everyone connected to child care in Mississippi – parents, center owners and directors and staff – updated federal rules governing the receipt of these funds have now been released. According to the federal Office of Health and Human Services, funds are paused for certain states. Mississippi is not one.

However, Mississippi families are currently experiencing problems with the reenrollment process required by the state Department of Human Services to receive funding for child care. There is confusion related to the acceptance of paperwork to reenroll. Some child care providers indicate there are eligible children who were enrolled receiving funding and others not.

Mississippi has a finite amount of money allocated by the federal government which is placed by the state Department of Human Services in a child care payment program.

The state could allocate additional funds to the program as legislators did in the 2025 session. The $15 million allocated by the state is more than in the past, but a token amount when considering the total needed. Since the Department of Human Services is not utilizing the federal funding it could to serve all qualifying children, a system has been developed that accepts applicants based on the date they tried to enroll and not those recently attempting to reenroll. The current number of children reported on the waiting list is almost 20,000.

As a non-traditional student myself, I would not have been able to attend college without access to child care. A divorced mom of a 3-year-old, my attendance at the University of Arkansas would have been impossible without the campus child care program. Without money saved from a job I quit so I could attend school full-time and without family support, I would still be in the Arkansas Delta watching the cotton grow and employed in a low wage job.

This was over 50 years ago, and I would like to think the investment in my education paid off. Today’s investment in educating non-traditional students is even more important given the need for well-trained individuals in all fields of engineering, medicine, science, business, education and the list goes on. Child care is a critical part of the equation that equals success.

Some child care programs do not accept federal funding and rely solely on tuition payments to remain operational. In Mississippi, however, it is estimated that just over 50% of child care programs receive some level of federal funds, in addition to tuition payments provided by parents. As centers strive to operate, they plan and budget using funds from both tuition payments and the Department of Human Services programs. Without a stable income, it is impossible to project how and if monthly bills will be paid.

The federal funds are restricted for use by working families whose incomes fall below established eligibility financial thresholds and/or students who attend school and work. Children in foster care and those who have a ruling indicating they need special services are also eligible.

Families must submit income documentation annually and provide several documents specific to the child at enrollment and reenrollment. These documents are listed on the state Department of Human Services website.

Families with incomes higher than those who qualify for federal funds are still at risk of being impacted by the lack of federal/state support. Child care centers must pay the bills that are due and salaries must be paid regardless of cash flow. All employers and families utilizing child care should voice concerns to state legislators and the state Department of Human Services. All families can be impacted when child care centers close because of lack of funding.

In Mississippi, state funds are available that could be allocated to assist working families by keeping centers open so people can work. Currently, there are approximately 20,000 eligible children on the wait list who could be served if Human Services utilized funds already earmarked for working families and those in training.

Recruiting businesses to come to our state has proven to be successful. What measures will be taken to make this a state young families choose to live or stay in to fill the new positions? Without a family-friendly response from state leadership, child care centers will close, care for certain age groups will disappear and providers will leave the profession, creating an even greater access crisis for parents.

No child care means no workers. No workers means no production. A pause or lack of child care can also interfere with training and schooling, delaying non-traditional students’ ability to get a job.

Bio: Cathy Grace is the early childhood specialist at the North Mississippi Education Consortium. She has worked in the early childhood field for over 50 years as a first -grade teacher, consultant to state and nonprofit agencies and child care programs. Grace taught early childhood education at four state universities and retired from Mississippi State University as professor emerita. She also directed the planning and implementation of public kindergarten while employed at the Mississippi Department of Education. She has worked in Washington as an early childhood advocate and presented research numerous times at state, regional and national conferences. 

Tougaloo College has named three finalists in its search for a new president. Donzell Lee, the current president, will complete his term in June. 

The finalists are: 

• Elfred Anthony Pinkard, former president of Wilberforce University, a private historically Black university in Ohio
• Archie Tucker II, president of Push Pull Solutions, a consulting firm based in Texas specializing in higher education marketing and philanthropy
• Corey Wiggins, federal co-chair of the Delta Regional Authority 

Each finalist is slated to participate in forums with students, faculty and alumni.  After the sessions, constituents will submit a written evaluation of each finalist. 

Tougaloo, a 157-year-old, private historically Black college located in north Jackson, has been on the hunt for its 15th college president for nearly a year. In June, the college’s presidential search committee held community listening sessions for faculty, alumni, board of trustees and students after hiring WittKieffer, a Chicago-based consulting firm to help lead the search. 

In a November letter addressed to constituents, Blondean Davis, chair of the presidential search committee, said the search committee received 114 applications for the role at Tougaloo. WittKieffer consultants and committee members reviewed and screened each submission before identifying 12 candidates to move to first round interviews. In December, committee members selected final candidates for the role and to schedule campus visits. 

“I’m extremely pleased with the process and think we have three highly qualified candidates,” Davis told Mississippi Today. 

In February, WitKieffer plans to gather constituents’ evaluation responses and present them in a formal report to the search committee. The committee will meet to discuss the firm’s report and make recommendations for the candidates to have a final interview with Tougaloo College’s board of trustees in March. The board will then decide whether to offer a contract.