OurTupelo

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.

“I am happy to still have my two little ones as they have kept me alive,” a French widow wrote to a group of women in Mississippi more than 100 years ago. Anna Laborde’s husband had been killed in World War I, as had her brother. Her mother had also recently died. Although her children, she wrote, had kept her alive, they were too young to lighten her heart “in the moments of sadness that often come.”

It is one of 13 World War I letters written to the members of the Woman’s Book Club of Oxford, now archived at the University of Mississippi Libraries. When students at the university translated the letters from French to English this past year, they did not simply complete a class assignment. They uncovered the story of a family that in France had become a war statistic. In Mississippi, they recovered a piece of history. Their work reminds us that the value of a university education cannot always be measured in salaries or job placements in the workforce.

I discovered the handwritten letters several years ago as I researched the history of the book club, of which I am a member. Other than dates and a few words that I could recognize, I had no understanding of what the letters contained. In fact, I assumed they were business correspondence, likely confirming the club’s participation in a relief program known in the United States as the Fatherless Children of France, coordinated through the Army Orphanage, a French nonprofit organization.

I knew that for several years the Oxford women contributed $36.50 a year, the equivalent of 10 cents a day, to help a French woman feed and clothe her child. But it was not until the students recently translated the letters into English that I began to understand how the letters did more than acknowledge the club’s financial contributions.

The World War I letters preserved evidence of the friendship that developed between women on two continents. The women wrote about their children and in one, Madame Laborde expresses concern for the brother of a club member who is serving with American troops in France. In another, she writes about the Allies’ victory as the war ends. “Truly, I am glad the war is over, but it is a new heartbreak for me,” she said. “One’s heart hurts so much when one sees some return and not others. At least, thanks to the brave Americans who wanted to join us, the country was saved.”

The students, enrolled in a graduate-level French translation class, had unlocked a source of history and cultural understanding that otherwise had been largely inaccessible. 

Trustees of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board recently moved toward a new funding model that could tie public support for state universities to graduation rates, student retention and workforce outcomes. Part of the proposal outlines how universities could earn additional dollars by producing graduates who earn competitive wages and align student success with the state’s workforce needs.

Such a formula raises an important question. What would become of those university programs whose full value cannot be measured in terms of salary and immediate job placement?

It’s fair for our leaders to ensure that public funds advance the state’s economy. We need teachers, healthcare workers, engineers, computer scientists and other skilled professionals. We need our university graduates to earn well-paying salaries so they can build lives in Mississippi rather than move elsewhere.

But a model that assigns value primarily on the basis of whether a degree program can be mapped to high-paying jobs overlooks the value of other work that universities perform – preserving records and history, interpreting cultures and helping us understand lives beyond our own.

The students who translated the letters from Madame Laborde had to know more than French vocabulary and grammar. They had to understand French culture as it existed in 1918. The word veuve, for example, literally means widow.

When Anna signed herself “Madame Veuve Laborde,” she was doing more than reporting that her husband had died. She was evoking the public identity and respect associated with a woman whose husband had been killed in war.  Elsewhere in the letters she wrote that she and her children “are also considered heroes among the fallen.” To translate her signature fully, the students had to understand not only the meaning of a word, but the social context in which she used it. 

Their translation led me to pause and think about a war I knew little about, to think about it in terms of families and people and not just battles and victories. The humanities help us develop the empathy we need to understand people whose experiences are different from our own. 

Certainly, Mississippi needs to find ways to counteract the “brain drain” that leads too many graduates of our universities to move out of state. But we also need to value the university programs that help our students whose work increases our knowledge and our understanding of other cultures, places and experiences.

Madam Lamborde’s letters had largely sat inaccessible in the university archives for more than a century. With the translations the students provided, her voice can now be heard again. That, too, is a return on Mississippi’s investment in higher education.

Shirley Wimbish Gray lives in Oxford. A retired writing instructor and science editor, she writes about what is often overlooked or forgotten, particularly in the American South. Her recent essays have appeared in Earth Island, Brevity Blog and Persimmon Tree. More information can be found on her work  at her website, (shirleywimbishgray.com.

Mississippi brothers James and Tommy Duff again made Forbes’ list of the top 400 richest Americans.

The billionaire brothers are the two wealthiest people in Mississippi, and they each saw their net worth rise from $4.1 billion last year to $4.5 billion, according to Forbes. They ranked 380 on the list.

The Duff’s also made Forbes’ global billionaire ranking, with James coming in at 978 and Tommy at 982.

The global list was topped by Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX founder, with a current net worth of nearly $948 billion. Musk was the single largest overall political donor of the 2024 US election cycle, forking over hundreds of millions of dollars to support President Donald Trump. He later led Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, before leaving the administration in May of 2025.

Tommy Duff, 69, and Jim Duff, 65, built a multi-billion-dollar business empire that started as a small tire shop founded by their father. Southern Tire Mart, which is based in Columbia, now sells over 4 million new tires and 2.5 million truck tire retreads each year, Forbes said. The Duff brothers also cofounded and co-own Duff Capital Investors, a holding company with total revenue of $6 billion from more than 20 businesses.

Tommy Duff has been a political power broker in Mississippi and a philanthropist. He served an eight-year stint on the board of the state Institutions of Higher Learning, first appointed by then-Gov. Phil Bryant, and has been a major contributor to many Republican campaigns in Mississippi.

He has said he is considering running for governor in 2027, but has not announced a decision.

A group representing mayors from 10 states along the Mississippi River said they’re seeking regulation to help conserve water and “navigate the fast-growing AI data center economy.”

The plan that the Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative announced Wednesday is to push in other states regulations modeled after legislation recently passed in Missouri, which bans the “mass exportation” of water. State lawmakers from Mississippi, Louisiana and Minnesota have committed to introducing similar bills, MRCTI said.

“As droughts persist and intense heat expands, the need to secure our water resources will only become more acute,” Sen. Derrick Simmons, a Democrat from Greenville, said at a press conference in Natchez during the group’s 15th annual meeting. “I am proud and eager to introduce a version of the Missouri bill that was enacted into law last year, and I hope to accomplish the same thing for Mississippi and get us closer to realizing a Mississippi River Compact.”

The group is modeling its Mississippi River Compact after the Great Lakes Compact, a 2008 agreement which Simmons said has kept the lakes’ water resources “secure and intact.” If enough states pass the export ban, the group can then push a federally recognized agreement through Congress, Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman said at the news conference.

“With last year’s passage in Missouri and now three more states committing to move the legislation forward, we only need three more states to move us to the congressional level,” Hoffman said.

Missouri’s 2025 legislation requires anyone withdrawing water from the state and exporting it more than 30 miles outside the state to have a permit. The law does not apply to bottled water or packaged water intended for single use.

MRCTI is a coalition, formed in 2012, made up of nearly 200 cities along the Mississippi River. Blytheville, Arkansas, Mayor Melisa Logan said Wednesday that 75% of the group’s member cities have been approached about hosting AI infrastructure. While usage amounts vary greatly, some research estimates that large data centers can use about 5 million gallons of water per day, largely for cooling, or the equivalent water use of a town of at least 10,000 people.

Every morning for a week, the fifth-graders in Hannah Bagwell’s science class at Florence Elementary School check on the apples.

Under their watchful eyes, three apples — one whole, one halved, one sliced — will decay. The students will take notes, predict what will happen and analyze the success of their guesses the next day. Bagwell uses the lesson to introduce the students to the scientific method. It’s a unique way to teach the idea, and she’s found it’s the most successful. 

“Science is so real-world, so having hands-on experiences really helps the students see that science is everywhere,” she said. “It’s hard for them to think about in theory, but when they see it in practice, it makes it more relatable to students.”

Teachers across subjects use all kinds of supplies and methods to teach students — think building toothpick-and-straw contraptions in physics class to prevent falling eggs from cracking, or using shaving cream for a sensory word spelling experience in kindergarten. 

But these nontraditional items have become harder to access, according to some Mississippi teachers. 

The Mississippi Department of Education rolled out a new digital platform this year for the Education Enhancement Fund, or procurement card program. The program, which was established in 2012, gives every K-12 public school teacher $748 a year — around $25 million in total — to buy supplies for their classrooms. But educators have long said they get the money, traditionally in the form of a physical card, too late for it to be useful. 

To make the process easier for teachers, the agency switched to ClassWallet this year, a digital platform that allows teachers to purchase supplies online from pre-approved vendors. Teachers can also file for reimbursement for purchases from vendors that are not included, and local vendors can apply to join the marketplace.

“The decision to move to the digital platform … was driven by frustration we were hearing from teachers by way of business managers,” said Kymberly Wiggins, the state education agency’s chief operating officer. “This was not a decision made in a vacuum. We heard pretty sound concerns that drove us to examine the way we were delivering those funds.”

According to Wiggins, the change has been successful. More than 35,000 teachers are using the program, she said, thousands more than at this point last year. 

They are also spending more money. Last year, in the first month of activating the cards, teachers spent $8.5 million of the $25 million allocated for the program. This year, they spent almost $10.5 million in the first month. 

“We’ve come a long way,” said Lance Evans, Mississippi Superintendent of Education at a state board of education meeting Thursday. “We’re excited about where we are.”

But educators say the new platform forces them to plan lessons far ahead and makes it more difficult to buy uncommon teaching supplies and subscribe to online teaching modules. 

“I haven’t tried to be reimbursed because it’s not a ton of money,” Bagwell said, of the apple experiment. “The new process is definitely more complicated than just going to the grocery store. For someone who is not thinking weeks in advance, especially when it comes to a science investigation, I’m going to have to spend more of my own money now.”

Wiggins said the agency is trying to respond in real time to teachers’ concerns. People work over the weekend to approve teachers’ purchases, she said, and they’re accepting more nontraditional items, such as a convection oven for a science class or fidget spinners for special education students. 

Out of 70,000 transactions, the agency has only rejected 448, she said. 

“We are aware of those niche kinds of specialized teacher populations,” Wiggins said. “We see the program working because they’ve spent half the funds, but we know there are areas we can gain some efficiencies.”

‘Another rock in the road’ with ClassWallet

Katie Erwin is one of those educators who requires unique supplies. The Yazoo City High School librarian says the ClassWallet online marketplace offers beaucoup books, but it’s missing what she really needs: Book repair equipment.

She would typically buy those through Amazon, but her account is frozen because it’s linked to her old physical EEF card. Erwin has two options, and she’s not pleased with either: She could buy the supplies elsewhere and file for reimbursement, but she’s uncomfortable linking her bank account. Or she could request that another vendor is added to the marketplace, but she’s not sure how long that would take. 

For now, she’s stuck borrowing supplies from teachers and relying on her principal to help her get what she needs.

Read more: Mississippi teachers say new state-mandated process for buying classroom supplies is ‘insane, cumbersome, frustrating’

“It’s just another rock in the road with this new system, another something to go around,” Erwin said. “I feel like I have very little control or say over where I buy from or what I buy. It almost feels like I’m being doubted. 

“If I say the library needs something, it needs it.”

State officials weigh a solution

Erwin has run into another problem frustrating educators across the state: Paying for subscriptions. 

Previously, educators were able to use their physical cards to pay for subscriptions to teaching platforms or teacher supply magazines. The new ClassWallet marketplace doesn’t account for subscriptions. Teachers have no choice but to pay out of pocket and file for reimbursement, which many prefer not to. 

Erwin, for example, subscribes to her local newspapers and keeps them in the library for students. Other educators, such as music teacher Michelle Cook in Laurel, need subscriptions for curriculum. 

Cook has for years subscribed to a music magazine, ordering songs for students that come with a digital download, making it easy to project lyrics onto her screen. The subscription is about $150 a year. 

As the only music teacher at her elementary school, she has the same group of students from year to year. She uses the subscription to keep the songs fresh, keep her class fun. 

Now, without being able to pay for the subscription with state funds, she’s going to reuse old songs. 

“Some of the kids might remember it,” she said. “It’s just been frustrating. I would love to be able to get access to the stuff I need.”

Bagwell, the science teacher, is splitting a subscription to a science video service with other science teachers at her school. One teacher pays $300 for the subscription at the beginning of the year, and the others send her their share via Venmo. 

Ronald Jeri, a Spanish teacher at West Jones High School, relies heavily on subscriptions to teach his students. The platform Señor Wooly, for example, allows his students to watch educational videos, answer questions and learn how to correct their mistakes. 

Jeri estimates he spent around $400 on subscriptions each year. In early August, he said he wasn’t sure what he would do this year. 

“I’m hoping that in the following weeks, somebody will try to correct this huge mistake,” he said. 

Wiggins said the agency is aware of educators’ issues paying for subscriptions and acknowledged reimbursement is currently their only option — but it may not be for long. 

State Education Department officials hope to introduce a hybrid model for the program in the future, she said. Part of the $748 in EEF funds would go to a physical card that teachers could use for subscriptions or last-minute supplies at their local store. 

Agency officials deployed a new feature on Aug. 31 that allows businesses enrolled in the direct pay program to be paid directly from ClassWallet. That way, teachers don’t have to file for reimbursement. Currently, 20 vendors are enrolled. 

Wiggins wants to hear from more teachers in the future to improve the program. 

“Our thought was not ever making this a more cumbersome, complicated process,” she said. “We had little to no visibility into what teachers were purchasing. For us, this has been really informative to establish benchmarks about what teachers need. 

“We just continue to listen to all feedback and figure out how to make this experience as efficient as possible for teachers while also finding the balance of being good stewards of $25 million in state funds.” 

Erwin, though, wishes educators were more involved in the process from the start. 

“Where’s our voice in all of this?” she asked. “Are we being consulted before the big decisions are being made, or are people just throwing Band-Aids at us afterwards?”

HATTIESBURG — Hattiesburg is one of the most crucial areas in Mississippi’s redistricting fight this year, and dozens of its voters packed a room on Thursday night to say they’re opposed to it. 

Only a handful of the many people who addressed the Joint House and Senate Redistricting Committee said that they support efforts altering congressional and state legislative districts. The vast majority said they’re against it because they believe it would waste taxpayer dollars and diminish Black voting power.

“I ask you don’t disenfranchise the citizens that voted for you,” Deanna Douglas said. “Listen to us and please don’t do this.” 

Thursday’s hearing was the sixth in a slate of eight public hearings the committee is holding across the state.

Hattiesburg will be a crucial area in redistricting and would likely determine whether the Republican Party can achieve a two-thirds supermajority in the Senate. 

Lawmakers redrew legislative boundaries in 2022 to create two majority-white Senate districts in Forrest County, the county where Hattiesburg is located. Sen. Chris Johnson and former Sen. John Polk, two white Republicans, represented that area. 

But a federal three-judge panel determined in 2024 that lawmakers diluted Black voting strength in the Pine Belt area and ordered the Legislature to redraw maps. The Legislature followed the court order and in 2025 made one of the districts majority Black. Sen. Johnny DuPree, a Black Democrat, won the seat in a special election later that year. 

The Callais vs. Louisiana U.S. Supreme Court decision removed protection for majority-minority districts and cleared the way for Republican-controlled state legislatures to redraw political lines in their favor. But Forrest County voter Kennen Walker said on Thursday night that he wanted DuPree to continue representing the area. 

“I’m against mid-decade redistricting because I don’t want to lose representation we just voted for,” Walker said. 

Gov. Tate Reeves is expected to call a special legislative session before the end of the year for lawmakers to redraw legislative districts. Will Spradling said he wants the committee to draw districts that elect more Republicans, so that lawmakers enact more conservative policies. 

“Mississippi should be as conservative as states like California are progressive,” Spradling said. “No matter how these lines are drawn, these citizens will have their vote.”  

A few people, including Petal Alderman Drew Brickson, asked legislators to specifically draw maps in a way that keeps the nearby town of Petal fully intact and not split between legislative districts. 

The committee will conduct two more hearings: One on Sept. 22 at Gulf Coast Community College in Gulfport and another on Oct. 1 at the state Capitol in Jackson. Both will start at 6 p.m.

The public can also submit written comments to the committee by emailing ted.booth@peer.ms.gov. 

Four-term incumbent Republican Rep. Michael Guest faces a challenge from a Democratic farmer from Shubuta and a Libertarian real estate investor from Meridian for the 3rd District congressional seat in central Mississippi.

The challengers are coming at Guest from the left and right with criticism of Guest’s support of, and lack of pushback against, Trump administration policies.

Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional District covers central portions of the state, such as the GOP stronghold of Rankin County, and stretches from the Louisiana border in the west to rural Alabama border towns in the east.

Democrats are leading in many congressional race polls across the country, and are favored to reclaim a majority in the House. But the 3rd District in Mississippi has been a GOP stronghold. Yet, if Republicans are to stand a chance at retaining their razor-thin majority in the chamber, defending territory in areas like Mississippi’s 3rd District is critical.

Guest, who was first elected in 2018, is running for a fifth term in office after sailing to general election victories three times. In 2024, he survived a primary challenge from the right that went to a runoff but ran unopposed in the general election. He ran unopposed for the Republican nomination this cycle.

The race also features Libertarian candidate Erik Kiehle of Meridian. Kiehle, a businessman in property management and a volunteer firefighter, said he is “a strong believer in America First.” He has criticized incumbent Republicans’ support of “U.S.-Israel military integration” and has called for an end to foreign wars and a halt to spending on wars in Ukraine and Iran along with an end to aid to Israel. He said he would push for a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget and end deficit spending. He supports mass deportation and a ban on Muslim immigrants.

Guest serves as chair of the House Ethics Committee, and also serves on the Homeland Security and Appropriations committees. In August, NOTUS reported that Guest, whose chairmanship on the Ethics Committee includes enforcing compliance of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, violated the insider trading and transparency law. Guest’s Democratic opponent, Michael Chiaradio, and the Mississippi Democratic Party have highlighted the story in social media posts.

Guest, the outlet said, was more than six months late disclosing three stock sales made by a family trust fund owned by his wife involving shares of the oil giant Chevron, the lodging platform Airbnb and the cosmetics company e.l.f. Beauty. A spokesperson for Guest said he “does not have any decision-making role” in the trust and “was not consulted on these, or any other, transactions made by the trust.”

Otherwise, Guest has run a steady, low-profile campaign, appearing at local events hosted by the Mississippi Federation of Republican Women and with U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who is also on the ballot this year. He has emphasized his endorsement from President Donald Trump and his work helping enact the administration’s agenda.

“Under President Trump’s leadership and with a conservative Congress we have restored law and order in our country, rebuilt our military and respect around the world, cut taxes, and secured the border,” Guest told Mississippi Today.

Guest also holds a massive financial advantage, outraising Chiaradio by a nearly 5-to-1 margin, as well as maintaining significantly more cash on hand, Federal Election Commission reports show.

Chiaradio, a first-time candidate for Congress originally from New Jersey, is a former baseball player turned farmer living in rural Mississippi. He traveled the country while playing baseball at Eastern Nazarene College, and after playing in the inaugural season of what became the Empire Professional Baseball League, he launched a professional softball league in Satsuma, Alabama.

He also has professional experience working for a government contractor that provides administrative services for health care agencies.

He came to Mississippi in search of a lifestyle that would suit his interest in farming. In 2023, he purchased a house on several acres of land in Shubuta.

A constituent of Guest, Chiaradio said he grew weary of watching the four-term incumbent act as a rubber stamp for Trump and the national Republican agenda. When he saw Guest’s name alone on his 2024 ballot, Chiaradio decided he would supply political competition himself.

“Michael Guest is the only name on my ballot,” he recalled. “My God, I could step up and stand up to this guy. And who the heck is going to do it if not me?”

Chiaradio ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination. He told Mississippi Today he believes a localized message built around economic frustration can unite both disaffected conservatives and a fractured Democratic Party. His policy agenda includes expanding safety net programs to offer universal childcare and food assistance.

Chiaradio launched his campaign with the help of Zee Cohen Sanchez, a strategist who worked on U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ surprisingly strong challenge to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s shock upset of a powerful New York Democratic incumbent in 2018.

Sanchez, who is no longer with the campaign, had earlier said she believed a successful challenge to Guest would cost over $1 million. Chiaradio has fallen well short of that sum, raising just under $140,000 in total contributions.

On the campaign trail, Guest has criticized Chiaradio’s hiring of Sanchez and, by extension, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the progressive firebrand from Vermont.

“The far-left ideology promoted by Bernie Sanders and other Democrat radicals is the last thing we need representing the people of Mississippi in Congress,” Guest said.

The general election is on Nov. 3.

In a Wednesday court filing, University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce continued to defend his firing of former university employee Lauren Stokes over a social media post she made following the death of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

This is the latest legal development in Stokes’ First Amendment lawsuit that she filed against Boyce in October in response to her firing. U.S. District Judge Glen Davidson dismissed the lawsuit in March on the grounds that Stokes’ failed to make a plausible First Amendment violation claim.

Following the dismissal, Stokes filed an appeal in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that Davidson had improperly dismissed her lawsuit.

In his response, Boyce argues that Stokes’ complaint fails to allege a violation, that the chancellor is entitled to qualified immunity and the district court was correct in its dismissal of the lawsuit.

“She failed to plausibly allege that her interest in speaking on social media outweighed the University’s interest in promoting efficiency in the workplace.” Boyce’s filing states.

Boyce argues that the attention drawn to the university and the “disruption to the University’s operations” only stopped after Stokes was fired and he, as chancellor, issued an apology statement.

Read more: Former Ole Miss employee contends in appeal of dismissed lawsuit that Chancellor Glenn Boyce caved to hecklers

Boyce’s lawyers stated that the chancellor testified “he did not terminate Stoke’s employment based on his personal opinion about the viewpoint expressed in her Instagram post,” but he fired her due to the disruption and impact that it had on the university’s operation and reputation.

The filings also argue that Boyce has qualified immunity in his personal capacity. The filing largely mentions the Pickering test, a legal standard that courts use to determine whether the law was clear enough that a reasonable official would have known what they were doing was illegal.

“Even if Stokes could state a plausible First Amendment claim, the qualified immunity defense prevents pursuit of that claim against the Chancellor in his individual capacity,” Boyce’s response states.

On July 23, University of Mississippi faculty members J.T. Thomas, Wendy Goldberg and Graham Pitts, along with a freedom of speech organization, filed amicus briefings, or “friend of the court” briefings, in support of Stokes.

Next, Davidson will determine whether an oral argument is necessary. Stokes’ lawyers requested one, while Boyce’s said it was not necessary.

Stokes served as the executive assistant for Charlotte Parks, UM vice chancellor for development. Following Kirk’s death, Stokes reposted a social media comment critical of Kirk’s activism to her private Instagram account. By the next morning, Stokes was terminated from her position and the university released a statement condemning Stokes’ actions.

The state college board plans to name the next president of the Mississippi University for Women by early spring 2027.

The board of trustees for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning announced the plans Thursday. The board also formed a committee of six trustees to oversee the national president search with support from a search firm that has not yet been selected. 

The search committee members are:

• Teresa Hubbard, chairwoman
• Amy Arrington
• Jerry Griffith
• Charlie Stephenson, IHL board vice president
• Gregg Rader 
• Steve Cunningham, IHL board president 

Cunningham said he chose the search committee members in part because of their proximity to MUW, their familiarity with the university and ties to Columbus and the surrounding region. Once selected, the search firm will help develop a timeline and candidate profile incorporating feedback gathered from MUW stakeholders during previous listening sessions, he said. 

The board aims to keep stakeholders updated throughout the process, Cunningham said. A group of MUW alumni and Columbus residents asked trustees to disclose a timeline and details about how the board will conduct the leadership search. Some people have also suggested names of leaders they want IHL trustees to consider to lead the university.

“It always works out better when you can involve the constituency groups in this whole process,” Cunningham said. “They’re a really big part of that portion of the search because they’re boots on the ground on the campus, and they know what’s needed.” 

The board is expected to issue a request for proposals for search firms within the next few weeks, Cunningham said. 

Nora Miller, who had served as MUW’s president since 2018, retired on June 30. Scott Tollison, the university’s former provost and executive vice president of academic affairs, has served as interim president since July 1. 

Read more: Will MUW’s next president be an alumna?

In April, the trustees held listening sessions for MUW stakeholders to gather feedback from the public on preferred traits for the W’s next leader. At the listening sessions, some speakers suggested Sally Burchfield Doty, who graduated from the W’ in 1988 and directs Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi. Doty, who lives in Brookhaven, also served in the state Senate from 2012 to 2020. 

In August, the Citizens Coalition for MUW and Mississippi School for Mathematics and Sciences sent the college board a letter endorsing another alumna, Doris Taylor of the class of 1977, who is a biotechnology researcher. 

Neither suggestion makes Doty or Taylor an official candidate in the search. Candidates must apply for the role to be considered.

Coalition chairman Bruce Hanson said the group will continue to engage alumni, students, faculty and the community to become involved in the leadership search process. 

 “We will continue to work on strategy to ensure the best candidate gets the job and can support our region and institutions and our community at large,” Hanson said. 

While the group endorsed Taylor as a potential candidate, a national search can open up the possibility for additional strong candidates to lead the university, said Keith Gaskin, former mayor of Columbus and coalition member. 

Gaskin said he wants trustees to move quickly with the search process because he’s grown weary of recent legislative proposals and discussions about merging MUW with Mississippi State University and moving the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, a residential school for gifted high school juniors and seniors, to Starkville. But it’s important to find the right pick for MUW’s next leader, he said. 

“My hope is that we find a strong leader who can support and serve this region,” Gaskin said. “That’s the most important thing that matters to me.” 

When it was announced in 2024 that Amplify Cell Technologies would build a $1.9-billion electric vehicle battery plant in Marshall County, Mississippi leaders heralded it as one of the state’s largest economic development projects ever and approved up to $482 million in state incentives.

“This historic investment by these industry-leading companies will enshrine our state at the forefront of the automotive industry for years to come and create 2,000 good-paying jobs in the process,” Gov. Tate Reeves said.

But production, originally slated to start in 2027, is now delayed indefinitely. This is after the state has spent at least $107 million on the project. 

However, state economic development leaders say the company hasn’t defaulted on any terms of the agreement for incentives yet.

“The joint venture partners agreed to finish building out the facility while delaying the timing for installing the manufacturing capacity. At this time, the production start date is uncertain,” Cummins, one of the partners in Amplify, announced during its first-quarter earnings call in May. The company attributed the decision to changing demand in the market.

Almost four months later, the company could not share a timeline for when production would start. 

“The production timeline is being adjusted to reflect today’s market environment. We thus have no additional information to share at this time,” a representative for Daimler Trucks, another partner in Amplify, told Mississippi Today on Tuesday. 

A series of delays

The May announcement is just the latest project setback.

Initially, the company said production would begin in 2027, but in October 2025 the company pushed the start of production to 2028. Then in April, the company laid off 73 of a total of 100 employees at the Byhalia factory. 

This is a change from a year ago when the company was celebrating hiring 100 employees and then-CEO Kel Kearns told the Memphis Business Journal that the project was on schedule for production in late 2027.

The Mississippi Development Authority said the company remains in compliance with its contractual obligations with the state for the taxpayer-funded incentives. 

According to the memorandum of understanding between the state and the company, Amplify has until 2031 to create 2,000 jobs and make a $1.9-billion investment. If the company fails to meet its contractual obligations, it could have to repay the state up to $232 million. 

“MDA has determined that Amplify Cell remains in compliance with its contractual obligations. Should that status change, the agency will take appropriate action consistent with the agreement,” MDA said in April. The agency confirmed on Wednesday that the statement is still accurate. 

Incentives for a ‘historic investment’

In 2024, Reeves called the project the “single largest payroll commitment of any major project and the second-largest economic development project.” 

At the time, the joint venture between Cummins, Daimler Trucks and PAACAR aimed to be one of the largest commercial battery cell manufacturing companies in the U.S. 

During a 2024 special session, the Legislature approved up to $482 million in incentives for the project, including hundreds of millions in bonding and over $100 million in direct appropriations.

State funds were to go to site preparation, workforce training and infrastructure projects, such as adding an interchange on U.S. Highway 72. In addition, the company also received other local and state tax incentives, such as a 10-year exemption from the state’s corporate income tax. 

State economic development leaders say the deal remains on track. 

“State incentives associated with the project are performance‑based and time‑bound, and the company’s compliance is evaluated as the project advances. MDA has determined that Amplify Cell remains in compliance with its contractual obligations. Should that status change, the agency will take appropriate action consistent with the agreement,” MDA said in a statement.

It was one of the state’s largest economic development incentives packages according to data from the nonprofit Good Jobs First. 

It passed the Legislature in a day with only two senators and one House member voting against it. 

“My basic reason for voting ‘no’ was it’s corporate welfare,” said Sen. Kathy Chism, a Republican from New Albany. She contrasts that with what she sees as a lack of incentives and tax breaks for the state’s small businesses.  

“I have an issue with state tax dollars going to a Chinese company,” Chism said, referring to EVE Energy, a Chinese company that has 10% ownership in Amplify. In June, the Department of Defense designated EVE as a “Chinese military company.”

A changing market for electric vehicles 

Turbulence in the EV market has led to manufacturing delays and cancellations across the U.S. 

Since 2022, $18.3 billion of announced EV manufacturing investment has been canceled according to data from Atlas Public Policy, a data and policy research group. 

The volatility of the current market is due to a multitude of factors, such as demand lagging behind supply, uneven growth and the expiration of clean vehicle tax credits under the Trump administration. 

According to Atlas’ EV Hub, medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicle sales declined significantly year over year, falling from 63,428 vehicles in the first half of 2025 to 43,292 vehicles in the first half of 2026, a decrease of 31.8%.

Some EV battery plants have pivoted to producing batteries to meet the rising demand for power and battery storage from data centers. In June, Amplify did not comment when asked by the Indiana Business Journal whether the factory had been considered for an alternative use. 

“Limited construction will continue to ensure that the joint venture remains well positioned for the future while maintaining flexibility,” Daimler said in its first quarter earnings call in May.

Production at the Amplify Cell Technologies battery plant in Marshall County, once slated for 2027, is delayed for an unspecified amount of time according to the companies behind the venture.

Announced in 2024, the $1.9-billion investment was expected to create 2,000 jobs. At the time, it was one of the state’s largest economic development projects. The Legislature passed an almost half-a-billion dollar economic incentive package for the company to cover things such as workforce training and site improvements. 

Amplify said that it is adjusting its production timeline and the Mississippi Development Authority said the company remains in compliance with its agreements for the state incentives. The company plans to complete construction on the facility this year but will not reach manufacturing capacity yet. The state has spent over $100 million on the project so far.

The manufacturing facility was supposed to produce batteries for commercial electric vehicles, but the Trump administration’s roll back of EV incentives has disrupted the market. Companies are still trying to adjust but experts say they expect the EV market to continue to grow. 

Trump administration helps announce new factory

On Tuesday, Gov. Tate Reeves alongside members of the Trump administration announced Hitachi Energy is investing over $500 million to build a transformer factory in Copiah County. 

Federal officials celebrated the company’s investment. They said that it is a part of the administration’s goal to make America the global leader in energy production and to bring back American manufacturing jobs. 

“This is about America’s determination to build the infrastructure to win the intelligence race, to power the next generation of American manufacturing and to bring prosperity and affordability to American citizens,” said U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, chairman of the National Energy Dominance Council.

More news

• General Atomics is investing $87 million in Shannon. This is the second expansion that the defense company has announced this year in Mississippi, bringing its total new investment in the state to $112 million. 
• Gov. Reeves announced over $104 million in federal money for projects to improve rural health care in the state. The money is from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program to aid rural hospitals across the country and in Mississippi as they face existential financial challenges. 
• Residents of Walls are wondering if a data center might be coming to their small town. A rezoning application to convert over 1,000 acres from agricultural to light industrial use is stirring up push back from some residents. Walls is not far from Southaven, where Elon Musk’s SpacexAI has generated national controversy over its data centers and power plant. 
• On Wednesday, the state House Select Committee on Property Tax met to discuss property taxes and the cost of car tags. Some legislators have said they want to find a way to reduce the tax burden on residents. But on Wednesday, the committee focused on gathering information on the fragmented system of property taxes and car tag collections across the state.