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A hyper-realistic video shows John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln playing video games. Another, of Michael Jackson dancing in a fast-food restaurant, has over 25.3 million views on TikTok.

But in Louisiana, two middle-school boys created artificial-intelligence generated nude images of their female classmates. It’s becoming nearly impossible to tell a real video from one generated by AI, and the technology can be used for nefarious purposes far beyond entertainment.

A bill proposed in the Mississippi Legislature would make it illegal to create such deepfakes in the Magnolia state. 

Sen. Bradford Blackmon, a Democrat from Canton, has reintroduced a bill to give Mississippians the right to their image, name and voice. The Mississippians’ Right to Name, Likeness and Voice Act would enact penalties for using a person’s image in AI-generated content without their consent.

“This is not theoretical. These are real kids, real classrooms facing real consequences from fake content,” said Blackmon. 

Last year, a former Mississippi teacher pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography after he was accused of creating explicit videos of his students using AI.

In 2024, Mississippi passed two laws that regulate AI use. One addressed using deepfakes in political campaigns and the other other classifies AI images of children as child exploitation.

The rapid improvement of AI and growing concerns around deepfakes have led to piecemeal legislation across the country. But the federal government wants to dictate AI regulation, over fear state regulations would hinder the technology’s development. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last year that pushes for a consolidated national approach to AI regulation and allows the U.S. attorney general to challenge state AI laws. 

In the meantime, Blackmon said he would “rather be proactive than reactive” when it comes to regulating AI in Mississippi.

Other news: layoffs in Southaven, childcare access and unemployment data

• November data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that unemployment was up slightly in three metro areas across the state. This followed national trends and unemployment remained lower than the nationwide rate of 4.3%. Gulfport-Biloxi unemployment was 3.6% in November, up from 3.1% the previous year. Hattiesburg and Jackson were both at 3.5%, up from 3.1% in November 2024. December state unemployment data will be released next week. 
• Dozens of workers abruptly lost their jobs after xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, bought the Southaven warehouse where they worked. Temporary workers at the GXO warehouse say they learned they would be laid off a day before Gov. Tate Reeves announced xAI’s $20-billion investment.
• Mississippi Today’s Sophia Paffenroth recently wrote about the challenges Mississippians have finding affordable child care. There are around 20,000 families on a waiting list for child care vouchers and last year a record number of child care centers closed. Mississippi has continually struggled with a low labor force participation rate and studies have shown that available and affordable child care increases the rate among parents of young children. 

The state’s two K-12 education bodies are asking lawmakers for only slight increases in their budgets for the coming fiscal year.

The Mississippi Department of Education is asking for a $33 million, or 1% increase, to its $3.31-billion budget. Many of the agency’s spending priorities are directed to classrooms, not administration, and aimed at continuing improvement in education, State Superintendent Lance Evans told legislators.

“We won’t be satisfied until we lead the nation,” he said during a Senate Appropriations Committee meeting on Jan. 14.

A new adolescent literacy initiative would build on a 2013 literacy act — which established a third-grade reading gate and helped Mississippi gain national attention for improvement. Expanding the program to higher grades would cost $9 million. That money would add assistant directors, regional coaches and literacy coaches to support teachers and comprehensive statewide professional development. A similar math initiative would cost $3.48 million, the agency said, which would fund coaches’ salaries and travel, screeners and statewide training.

The agency wants to continue its new virtual teaching program, which would cost $2.1 million. The program, called the Mississippi REACH Remote Synchronous Teaching Initiative, is one of the agency’s attempts to respond to the teacher shortage affecting swaths of Mississippi schools. It puts educators, based in rooms at Mississippi Public Broadcasting, on classroom screens throughout the state. 

The education agency is also addressing teacher shortages by investing in its workforce. Officials want to spend $3.5 million on the Mississippi Teacher Residency Program and more than $500,000 on training for school leaders and superintendents. 

Another classroom initiative is $3.6 million that would be directed to expanding the state’s early childhood programs. 

The money would fund 33 early learning coaches to serve 40 collaboratives — a state and taxpayer funded pre-K program established by the Legislature in 2013 that created education partnerships in communities across Mississippi. It would also serve 33 state-invested pre-K programs — a similar program with less red tape that doesn’t require collaboration with Head Start centers — throughout the state, about 494 classrooms in total. 

Other funding initiatives include college-and-career readiness programs, equipment for driver education, the administration of state and federal tests, and support for the office of accreditation to better monitor compliance. 

The state’s student funding formula accounts for $2.974 billion of the agency’s total request for next year, compared to its $2.965-billion formula appropriation this year. The $9-million decrease is due to lower enrollment and fewer students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, agency officials said during their meeting with the Senate Appropriations Committee last week.

MDE also wants to pay for more school attendance officers, or truancy officers. The department is requesting additional funds to add capacity for SAOs across the state, as well as to fund more early childhood education employees.

The charter authorizer board, tasked with approval and overseeing the state’s charter schools, has only marginally raised its request compared to what it was appropriated this year. For the coming year, the board is asking the Legislature for $1,403,231, or a $3,321 increase.

The increase is due to slightly higher salary costs, which officials said were due to employing people with higher degrees. 

Lisa Karmacharya, director of the board, told Mississippi Today that the agency’s priorities remain the same this year as they’ve been for years past: quality oversight, support and accountability for the state’s charter schools.

Alcorn State University has resumed operations after being locked down for several hours Thursday morning. 

An update posted to Facebook around noon notes that Alcorn was among several historically Black colleges and universities that received emailed threats. The post does not provide details about the nature of the threats.

“There is no ongoing threat, and the campus is secure,” the statement read.

The post notes that some security precautions remain in place, and that access to the campus is restricted.

University officials would not provide additional information Thursday morning.

The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning’s Board of Trustees, which had a regularly scheduled meeting Thursday morning, went into closed session to discuss matters including security and personnel plans related to the situation at Alcorn. The board gave no statement about Alcorn when they returned to open session and adjourned the meeting.

In February of 2022, most HBCUs in Mississippi locked down and pivoted to virtual classes after receiving bomb threats. Other HBCUs across the country also reported bomb threats that day, which was the first day of Black History Month. That year, the spate of bomb threats prompted the American Council on Education and other organizations to ask Congress to support and protect HBCUs from such “acts of terror.”

The incidents continued. There was another wave of threats against HBCUs in September.

On Thursday, other HBCUs including Morris Brown College and Morehouse University in Atlanta, Savannah State University in Georgia, Wiley University in Marshall, Texas, also received threats, according to news reports. It is unclear how many schools also received threats Thursday, and whether the incidents are connected.

A video obtained by Mississippi Today confirms oral and documented accounts that a guard at the Rankin County Adult Detention Center punched an inmate so hard that he broke the inmate’s jaw.

The video, captured by security cameras inside the Rankin County jail, shows guard Jordan McQueary striking an inmate, Dustin Rives, during his 2022 stay in the jail. Medical records show that Rives, whose jaw was fractured, did not receive treatment until 25 days after the incident, by which time he had developed a deep infection that required surgery.

McQueary is still employed by the department and was honored in 2024 for his “outstanding” work in the jail. He declined to comment and redirected reporters to the department’s attorney.

Mississippi Today and The New York Times previously uncovered allegations of widespread violence in the jail involving the use of favored inmates, known as “trusties,” as enforcers, and a culture of brutality condoned and encouraged by top officials.

The Justice Department has been investigating the patterns and practices of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jail, since its deputies’ 2023 shooting of a Black man. Mississippi Today and The Times documented a reign of terror by deputies for nearly 20 years.

When the publications asked the department for this video in August, they responded, “The requested date is beyond the record retention date for videos and, upon best information and belief, such video is not available for production.” It was one of 10 videos the publications requested in 2025 and did not receive. The department did not respond to multiple requests for its retention schedule.

“There is a public interest in prosecuting crimes, and there is a public interest in purging people who commit crimes from their jobs,” said Matt Steffey, a professor of criminal law and evidence at the Mississippi College School of Law. In the absence of a criminal investigation or a lawsuit, while there may not be a legal requirement for the department to retain video evidence beyond their retention schedule, “They should, as a matter of sensible administration of a public body,” Steffey said.

Mississippi Today obtained the video from Rives’ family, who acquired it through an attorney’s office.

Jason Dare, the attorney for the sheriff’s department, said McQueary’s “single slap in response to Rives (1) calling a female jailer a “b****”, (2) threatened to punch her,  then (3) raising his right fist to follow through with his threats” appeared to be constitutionally permissible, and that Rives received medical attention within five minutes of the incident and was X-rayed within 24 hours. 

Rives’ complaint acknowledged that a nurse had checked his vitals soon after the incident, and that he had been X-rayed. A report written 17 days after the incident by a nurse in the jail says Rives was being given Naproxen, which is used to manage pain. Medical records show that he was not taken to the hospital until 25 days after the incident. 

McQueary, the guard in the video who is seen punching Rives, has been named in complaints or federal lawsuits by at least nine inmates who allege he assaulted them.

While being held in the male detox cell on July 18, 2022, Rives began “yelling and screaming that he wanted his medicine,” McQueary wrote in his report.

Rives wrote in a complaint he filed a month later that when he went to the restroom, he was urinating blood. “I yelled for help and officers and trustees came cursing and threatening me,” he wrote. “I turned to point at blood.” Rives said the medication he was asking for included his antidepressants, antibiotics and pain medicine. 

The video shows a group of guards and a trusty rushing to the cell. A shouting match ensues.

McQueary quoted Rives as saying to a female guard, “Shut up, bitch, before I punch you in the face.” Rives admitted to using that language, but said it was directed at the male trusty who accompanied the guards, not the female guard. 

McQueary then lunges and punches Rives in the face, knocking him to the ground. 

On reviewing the incident, David Fathi, the director of the National Prison Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, said punching a detainee could only be justified in self-defense, which was not the case according to the guard’s own report.

“There is no indication that when the incident started, the detainee was doing anything other than yelling and screaming,” Fathi said. “Putting aside the way he was expressing himself, asking for medicine is a reasonable and appropriate request. They could have had someone from medical talk to him, or they could have just left him alone. Instead, the officers escalated the situation into what ended up being a very dangerous use of force.”

About a minute and a half after punching Rives, McQueary can be seen escorting him away with his hands behind his back. Rives’ pants have been pulled down, exposing his genitals. “I was begging them to pull up my pants,” Rives wrote. “They laughed and said they wouldn’t.”

“If his pants had been pulled down, they should have pulled them back up before parading him through the jail in front of other people,” said Fathi. “That kind of gratuitous humiliation is completely unjustifiable.” 

Jail incident reports show that instead of being taken to a hospital, Rives, whose jaw was fractured, was strapped into a restraint chair overnight and then locked in an isolation cell for 25 days. “I got real sick,” he said.

By the time he was hospitalized, medical records show, his jaw was infected and required surgery, including the removal of a tooth.

Rives was one of eight inmates who filed grievances in the jail between 2018 to 2022, describing assaults by guards or trusties.

Rives’ grievance file shows that a supervisor closed his complaint three days after he filed it, saying the department had provided a “satisfactory response,” which included scheduling a medical appointment for Rives and informing him of his right to press criminal charges against McQueary after he was released from the jail. The report does not indicate whether McQueary was disciplined or questioned about the incident. 

Rives said the department never contacted him again.

He also said his broken jaw never fully healed. “They’re still hurting people,” Rives said. “I just want to make sure that can’t happen again.” 

After a hiccup in a long-anticipated trial about the misuse of Mississippi’s federal welfare funds, the judge has continued the trial until Feb. 23.

The trial for Ted “Teddy” DiBiase Jr., the only defendant yet to face a jury in the seemingly never-ending Mississippi welfare fraud case, began Jan. 6. During the second week, on Jan. 14, the lead defense lawyer in the case fell ill, causing U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves to pause the proceedings.

Later, the defense team argued for a mistrial, saying it was unclear when lead attorney Scott Gilbert would be able to return to the courtroom. Reeves ruled Wednesday a mistrial was not necessary, that DiBiase’s other lawyers could handle the case moving forward, and that the existing jury could remain intact.

DiBiase is facing 13 criminal counts including conspiracy, wire fraud, theft of federal funds and money laundering within a broader alleged scheme to raid the state’s federal public assistance agency. He received roughly $3 million in federal funds from the agency through what prosecutors call  “sham contracts,” while DiBiase argues he was a lawful contractor. 

At the time Reeves paused the trial, the defense was still in the process of cross-examining former Mississippi Department of Human Services Director John Davis, who was instrumental in pushing funds to DiBiase and his family members. Auditors questioned roughly $100 million in welfare spending under Davis’ leadership.

MORE TRIAL COVERAGE:

Defense for ex-wrestler seeks mistrial in welfare fraud case

DAY 7: Trump faith initiative drove decision to hire wrestler, ex-welfare chief testifies in fraud trial

DAY 6: Wrestler carried out welfare-funded workshops in broad daylight, defense testimony asserts

DAY 5: Welfare director texted wrestler who was his high-paid aide about ‘money bags,’ testimony shows

DAY 4: Feds ask disgraced former welfare director ‘million-dollar question’: Why? Loneliness and love

DAY 3: Wrestler’s multimillion dollar ‘self-help curriculum’ helped crack open a wider welfare scandal

DAY 2: Opening statements in welfare scandal trial paint former director as villain who doled out millions over infatuation

DAY 1: 83 witnesses could enter the ring in Mississippi welfare scandal trial

TRIAL PREVIEW: Ex-WWE wrestler faces feds in first – and potentially only – criminal trial in Mississippi welfare scandal

In addition to star witness Davis, the jury has heard from a former inspector general with the welfare agency, David Barton, and two officials from the federal agencies that oversee the safety net programs DiBiase allegedly raided – the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families.

The prosecution first called Davis on Jan. 9 in its effort to build a case – using many long, sentimental text messages between Davis and DiBiase – alleging the wrestler ingratiated himself with the then-welfare director in an attempt to strike it rich off the federal public assistance program. 

The defense began questioning Davis on Jan. 12, displaying documents and social media posts to assert that DiBiase intended to carry out the services he was contracted to provide. Davis’ testimony supported many of Gilbert’s points, such as the fact that the men did not try to conceal what they were doing.

Another lawyer representing DiBiase, Eric Herschmann, alleged during his argument for a mistrial Tuesday that Gilbert’s cross-examination of Davis was so effective, the prosecution was considering the possibility of exposing his inconsistencies on the stand during its redirect.

Herschmann argued that bringing a new lawyer up to speed on the case, which involves 6 million pages of records, would be impossible to do in a short period of time. He also claimed the parties have identified 100 witnesses who could be called during the trial.

Mississippi received low marks for its infant and maternal mortality rates and high marks for declining HIV, syphilis and congenital syphilis rates on its public health report card for 2025. 

State Health Officer Dr. Edney celebrated Mississippi’s improved state ranking — rising to 48th in the country in America’s Health Rankings, up from 49th last year at a press conference Wednesday. 

“The health of our population is not great, but it’s better than it was,” Edney said.

America’s Health Rankings analyze 99 health measures and is released annually by the United Health Foundation — the philanthropic arm of UnitedHealth Group, the most profitable health care company in the U.S. The state’s annual report, which reviews the state’s health indicators and highlights areas of progress and those in need of improvement, is produced by the Mississippi Department of Health and the Mississippi State Medical Association. 

Mississippi has the highest rate of premature death, or deaths that could be prevented with timely and effective health care, in the nation. However, the estimated years of life lost to preventable deaths in the state declined this year. The report card estimates that about 190,000 years of life were lost before age 75 due to preventable deaths, like smoking-related deaths or deaths related to untreated chronic illnesses, in 2025.

Many of these lost years of life were tied to infant deaths, Edney said. He said lowering the state’s infant mortality rate — which is higher than anywhere else in the nation — is the Mississippi State Department of Health’s top priority. The agency declared a public health emergency over the infant mortality rate last year. 

Mississippi also has high rates of preventable deaths connected to heart disease, hypertension, obesity and diabetes and higher rates of firearm deaths than any other state in the country. 

High obesity rates — impacting 40% of adults — are a significant driver behind the state’s high rates of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and preterm births, Edney said. Heart disease is the state’s leading cause of death. 

“As we work to improve obesity, you will see all these other indicators improve as well,” Edney said. 

Mississippi saw notable progress in some areas of public health. There has been a reduction in opioid-related overdose deaths in the state for several years, Edney reported, bringing the state to the 10th lowest opioid overdose rate in the nation in 2024. HIV, syphilis and congenital syphilis rates also fell.

“Believe me, Alabama is looking over their shoulder at us today,” said Edney. Alabama ranked 47th in the state health rankings, outperforming Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. 

Mississippi has long led the country in child vaccination rates, but remained in third place in 2025, the same ranking as last year, following a 2023 federal ruling that decreed parents can opt out of vaccinating their children for school due to religious beliefs. 

Public Health and Human Services Vice Chair Rep. Kevin Felsher, a Republican from Biloxi, said constituents can expect to see lawmakers focus on legislation to support cancer and diabetes screenings and proactive health care for Mississippians. 

Felsher proposed legislation this session to require health insurance plans to cover at-home colon cancer screening tests.

“Our goal, make no mistake about it, is to make Mississippi’s health care system what Mississippi’s education system has become,” Felsher said. 

Edney said the health department supports legislation to create the Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Panel, which would review the deaths of infants up to one year of age independently from the agency’s Child Death Review Panel and establish strategies to prevent infant deaths. 

“Mortality reviews really inform our work,” he said. “It tells us what’s wrong and where the pain points are and what we need to do to do better.”

Two former school superintendents and a consultant have pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit embezzlement. They face up to five years in prison. 

Earl Jo Nelson, as superintendent of Clarksdale Municipal School District and later Leake County School District, and Mario Willis, as superintendent of Hollandale School District, paid each other tens of thousands of dollars in school funds for consultant services that were never rendered from November 2021 until at least June 2023, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

During that time frame, Hollandale School District sent nearly $100,000 to companies to benefit Nelson. Additionally, Clarksdale Municipal School District sent about $25,400 and Leake County School District sent about $23,400 to companies to benefit Willis.

While superintendent, Willis also sent $250,000 to a company owned by Monekea Smith-Taylor, a St. Louis-based teacher, for consulting services that were not actually provided. She would then meet Willis in person and pay him, often exactly half of what she had been paid, in cash.

Nelson and Smith-Taylor pleaded guilty during an appearance before U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock on Tuesday, according to the release. Willis pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy charge during his October court date. 

The trio has not been sentenced. Aycock scheduled a sentencing hearing for later this year. 

The state auditor’s office and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General are investigating the case. 

“Thank you to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for helping us bring this case to a close,” State Auditor Shad White said in the release. “My office will continue to work with prosecutors to deliver record results for taxpayers.”

School districts with two or more outstanding audits will either be put on probation or lose their accreditation under a temporary rule change the Mississippi Board of Education approved Thursday.

Before, school districts could have missed filing four consecutive annual audits before they faced losing accreditation. Other consequences remain in place, which include possibly blocking the drawing down of federal funds and being prevented from applying for more.

The temporary rule change is an urgent response to concerns about the finances at Mississippi’s school districts. 

In November, the Mississippi Department of Education took over Okolona schools because of the district’s dire financial situation. The district was unable to make payroll because of low cash reserves. The state took over Wilkinson County schools on Thursday for academic issues, but agency officials also noted difficulty parsing the district’s financial documents. 

Okolona and Wilkinson are among 47 school districts that have failed to file one or more financial audits — a finding department officials had previously brought before the board.

When asking the state board to approve the temporary rule change, top compliance and accountability officials at the state education department argued that late financial reporting can compromise public welfare.

“It’s not being a few days late or it’s not for being a couple of months late,” Paula Vanderford, chief accountability officer at the Mississippi Department of Education, said during the state board meeting. “We’re talking about having outstanding audits where there’s no information within the agency regarding their financial status.”

Temporary rules can go into effect immediately upon filing with the Mississippi Secretary of State, unlike permanent rule changes, which would require the education department to wait at least 25 days to gather public comments as well as a more thorough filing.

“In November, we sounded the alarm about this, and in 60 days we have action,” state Board of Education Chairman Matt Miller said Thursday about addressing the backlog of school district financial audits and preventing additional state takeovers of school districts. “This is the action I envisioned we’d take.”

“To those out there who I will not name who say we’re not doing anything about it,” he said. “This is something we’re doing about it.”

Up-to-date audits not only give state education leaders insight into school district finances, they also are required under federal law. 

Districts that miss one financial audit would face more frequent monitoring and check-ups by state education department officials and may receive agency approval to draw down some state administered funds per federal guidance.

Other factors have also contributed to a backlog of school district’s on-time financial audit submissions, including a shortage of approved auditing firms. Also, some school districts can’t afford the audit firms’ rates.

The Mississippi Office of the State Auditor sent out a December memo that requires audit firms to provide written justification to the director of audits prior to preparing new reports. The auditor’s office also agreed to prioritize school audits before the March 31 deadline.

At the Thursday state Board of Education meeting, Vanderford and Kym Wiggins, chief operating officer for the education department, stressed the importance of early intervention to prevent further state takeovers. That can be a challenge.

“There is such a profound lack of skilled persons to do that work,” Wiggins said. “There is a tremendous need for capable assistance. We’re trying to figure out here in our office how we can build that infrastructure here to provide those supports at the district level beyond just our regular annual certification.”

The agency’s Office of School Financial Services has also agreed to increase its availability to school districts that need technical assistance.

Does the agency have the capacity to handle more monitoring and intervention? “We feel this is important, necessary work and we always manage to get it done,” Vanderford said.

Update January 21, 2026: The Mississippi House of Representatives passed 111 to 1, with 10 representatives not voting yea or nay. It now moves to the Senate. 

The Mississippi Legislature took steps early this week to change how elected officials spend tens of millions of opioid settlement dollars, money that state leaders have said can be spent on any public purpose.

Attorney General Lynn Fitch and state lawmakers created plans over the past four years to allow for roughly a third of Mississippi’s opioid funds to be spent on non-addiction expenses. That portion of the settlements, money won in lawsuits against companies that contributed to thousands of Mississippi overdose deaths, is split evenly between the Legislature and 147 local governments. Most states do not allow any opioid settlement money to be spent on anything unrelated to addiction. 

Over three years since Fitch’s office received the first check, the Legislature hasn’t spent the money it deemed discretionary yet. But at Tuesday’s meeting held by the House Public Health and Human Services Committee, lawmakers approved a bill to create a pathway to fund mental health clinical trials related to a drug called ibogaine. 

Republican Committee Chair Sam Creekmore of New Albany said he expects the state to appropriate $5 million of this money to fund the trials with Mississippi residents. Creekmore, the bill’s lead sponsor, has been encouraging his fellow lawmakers for months to use state dollars to study the psychedelic drug’s mental health treatment potential. 

In August, he invited speakers from across the country to encourage Mississippi to invest in the trials that examine how the drug could address opioid use disorder, traumatic brain injuries, post traumatic stress disorder and other mental health conditions. 

While some preliminary studies have indicated ibogaine could be helpful for treating these ailments, a review of available evidence says past ibogaine trials related to opioid addiction had “high risk of bias.” The drug has also been linked with severe side effects, such as cardiac arrhythmias. Some scientists say that risk can be mitigated by taking magnesium simultaneously. 

At Tuesday’s meeting, Department of Mental Health Medical Director Dr. Thomas Recore said he didn’t think ibogaine would be a “miracle drug” for all mental disorders.

“I’m in support of this proposal, that we continue to investigate this medicine as a potential for several of these options,” he said. 

Clinical trials are usually funded by private groups or federal organizations under the National Institutes of Health. But Arizona and Texas have passed bills to use public dollars for ibogaine studies, and Creekmore said Mississippi’s potential investment may help make the studies stronger. 

“If we can work together, that’s a really good start for this potentially world-changing drug,” he told his fellow committee members. 

The bill does not explicitly call for using opioid settlement funds. Instead, it says funds will be “specifically appropriated by the Legislature to the department for the purpose of this act.” After the meeting, Creekmore said he thinks the settlement dollars that can be used for anything would be the best funding source for the trials.

John Read, the Republican House Appropriations A Chair, told Mississippi Today on Wednesday that it would make sense to look at using opioid settlement funds for Creekmore’s proposal. But he said there would likely be other legislators with ideas for how to spend the dollars they control. 

“Everybody wants to get their hands on it,” he said.

Creekmore’s ibogaine bill tasks the Mississippi State Department of Health with creating a state partnership with a university, a pharmaceutical company and a hospital. If the trial makes a profit, it says the state will get 20% of the profits. 

The bill also instructs the partnership to apply for two special designations from the Food and Drug Administration. One is a process that expedites drug development for treatments that have a “clear advantage over available therapy,” and the other allows people to transport Schedule 1 drugs, like ibogaine, legally across state lines. 

State lawmakers may soon be making changes around how the local opioid settlement money gets spent as well. In September, a Mississippi Today investigation found that much more of this money had been used for routine government expenses than addressing addiction. 

Some cities and counties shifted their spending to address addiction after the investigation, but others are still looking to use money for unrelated purposes. In October, Creekmore said he would propose a bill to encourage local government leaders to use money to prevent and treat opioid addiction in the 2026 regular legislative session. 

After Tuesday’s committee meeting, Creekmore said he submitted that legislation before the deadline to file bills. He said it should be available for the public to see shortly. 

The opioid settlements require roughly two-thirds of Mississippi’s money to be spent on addressing addiction, and those funds have also been unspent over the past three years. A state advisory council solicited and made recommendations on funding for opioid-related grants last fall, and the Legislature will decide which of those applications to approve later this session. 

The state Department of Health stands by fluoridation as a step in treating public drinking water supplies, officials with the agency told Mississippi Today on Tuesday.

Last week, the state Public Service Commission unanimously passed a resolution advocating for the “removal of sodium fluoride additives in drinking water.” Water systems began using fluoride as a treatment measure to prevent tooth decay in 1945.

Drinking fluoridated water reduces cavities by 25%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has called the practice one of the greatest public health interventions of the 20th Century.

“MSDH encourages the use of fluoride for it’s health benefits, primarily for oral health,” Greg Flynn, a spokesperson for the agency, said.

But a growing movement — championed by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — has seen places around the country remove fluoride from the treatment process. Last year, Utah became the first state to ban the practice.

“Mississippians deserve to know what is being added to their drinking water and why,” said Central District Public Service Commissioner De’Keither Stamps, who introduced last week’s resolution. “This resolution is rooted in transparency, safety and affordability. We want to help water systems reduce avoidable chemical costs while ensuring families have confidence in the quality of the water coming into their homes.”

In a handbook on water fluoridation, the Health Department’s Bureau of Water Supply states its position more firmly.

“While it is understood, based on peer-reviewed scientific research, and years of experience that (water fluoridation) is safe and effective, some public water systems within Mississippi choose to discontinue fluoridation, contrary to the guidance of public health professionals,” the handbook says. “In many cases, decisions are made by (water system) officials without receiving appropriate factual information or notifying customers of the public water supply about the loss of this public health benefit.”

Opponents also point to toothpaste with growing amounts of fluoride as a reason to stop using the additive in drinking water. But toothpaste isn’t a replacement for water fluoridation, the bureau adds in the handbook.

Neither the state nor federal government require water systems to use fluoride in their treatment.

In 2001, the Mississippi State Board of Dental Examiners came out in support of statewide fluoridation in drinking water systems. Its counsel, Westley Mutziger, told Mississippi Today the board hasn’t reviewed its stance on the matter.

Flynn, with MSDH, said two systems in Mississippi have completed the process of discontinuing fluoride treatment: Sunrise Utility Association, which serves 5,998 people in Forrest County, and the town of Louise, which serves 870 people in Humphreys County. As of last December, another 26 systems serving a combined 275,000 people were in the process of abandoning fluoride in their water treatment, according to MSDH:

• City of Brandon, serving 31,548 people in Rankin County.
• City of Greenville, serving 29,602 people in Washington County.
• City of Flowood, serving 27,997 people in Rankin County.
• Bear Creek W/A – West, serving 26,012 people in Madison County.
• City of Ridgeland, serving 24,459 people in Madison County.
• Bear Creek W/A – East, serving 18,120 people in Madison County.
• City of Cleveland, serving 16,392 people in Bolivar County.
• North Lamar W/A, serving 12,778 people in Lamar County.
• Diamondhead Utilities – North, serving 12,577 people in Hancock County.
• City of Brookhaven, serving 12,513 people in Lincoln County.
• City of Bay St. Louis, serving 9,284 people in Hancock County.
• City of Richland, serving 7,000 people in Rankin County.
• City of Philadelphia, serving 6,921 people in Neshoba County.
• Crystal Springs W/S, serving 5,961 people in Copiah County.
• Macon Electric and Water Department, serving 5,174 people in Noxubee County.
• City of Waynesboro, serving 4,850 people in Wayne County.
• Eudora Utilities Association, serving 3,712 people in DeSoto County.
• City of Sardis, serving 3,439 people in Panola County.
• City of Water Valley, serving 3,380 people in Yalobusha County.
• City of Poplarville, serving 3,334 people in Pearl River County.
• City of Collins, serving 2,921 people in Covington County.
• Sharon Water Works, serving 2,843 people in Jones County.
• Town of Ackerman, serving 1,594 people in Choctaw County.
• Town of Monticello, serving 1,400 people in Lawrence County.
• Town of Inverness, serving 895 people in Sunflower County.
• Ellisville State School #1, serving 750 people in Jones County.

While the state doesn’t require fluoride in water treatment, it does require a water system to take certain steps before discontinuing the practice: 1) meeting in person with MSDH’s Bureau of Public Water supply, 2) giving a 30-day public notice, 3) the governing body holding a vote, 4) another public notice of the final decision, and 5) continuing to inform customers that the system has stopped using fluoride in its water treatment.