OurTupelo

Households in the contiguous United States will pay thousands of dollars more for energy through 2040 because of federal policy changes since President Donald Trump returned to office such as canceling new clean energy projects, according to modeling released Friday by a nonpartisan think tank.

The Energy Innovation analysis found that households will pay an average of $6,500 more for energy, cumulatively through 2040. In five states, households will pay roughly $9,000 more: Oregon, Mississippi, South Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming.

The California-based think tank said there will be more demand for natural gas for electricity because the administration is canceling new wind, solar and hydrogen projects and there will be more gasoline demand for transportation because Trump and Congress are revoking policies that incentivized efficient and lower-emissions vehicles. Higher demand increases prices.

Energy prices are elevated in many countries. The International Energy Agency said after Russia invaded Ukraine, record prices were observed between 2022 and 2024 in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan and Korea. In many countries, the rise has outpaced income growth and inflation since 2019, including the European Union and the United States.

In some areas of the U.S., demand from data centers is being blamed. The Iran war has sent oil and gasoline prices sharply higher, too. The Energy Information Administration expects residential U.S. customers to pay about 18.6 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2027, compared to 17.3 cents in 2025 and 18.2 cents in 2026.

The independent research firm Rhodium Group has also examined the issue, saying in April the U.S. has entered a new period of rising electricity prices. It cited increasing price volatility in natural gas, which is increasingly used to generate power; needed grid improvements; inflation; storm recovery and wildfire mitigation; and shifting policies.

Absent significant policy action, electricity prices likely will continue their significant rise over the next five years, the firm said.

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said Wednesday that lowering electricity prices remains a top priority and Trump is unleashing reliable energy like coal and natural gas to reverse the damage Democrats did to the grid by increasing clean energy. A 2025 Department of Energy report, mandated by Trump, warned of increasing blackouts if the U.S. continued closing coal and natural gas plants.

“Joe Biden created a grid crisis; President Trump is fixing it,” Rogers wrote in an email. “If the Democrats had their way, these costly and unreliable renewable energy projects would still be failing our grid and our communities.”

The Republican president prioritizes fossil fuels to produce electricity, unlike Biden, who saw clean energy as a climate solution. The conservative Institute for Energy Research said in December that blue states have high rates because they have embraced aggressive renewable mandates, 100% carbon-free targets, premature coal and nuclear retirements and restrictions on natural gas infrastructure. It said high electricity prices are not an inevitability; they are a choice.

Analysis examined impact on states solely from federal policy changes

It focused on the sweeping package of tax breaks that slashed funding for clean energy tax credits, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, Trump signed; environmental rollbacks, including clean air and power plant rules and the revocation of a scientific finding that underpinned the U.S. fight against climate change; the loosening of fuel economy standards and blocking of California’s novel rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035; and federal actions to stop wind, solar and hydrogen projects.

These changes will result in annual household energy costs rising in every state in the contiguous U.S., plus job losses in 47 of 48 states and losses to the gross domestic product in 46 states, Energy Innovation said. It’s projecting 37,000 additional premature deaths from air pollution, $72 billion in additional healthcare costs and more than 9 billion tons of additional carbon pollution because of the environmental rollbacks. The analysis did not include Alaska or Hawaii because key federal data is not available for those two states, said Robbie Orvis, senior director for modeling and analysis.

“Across pretty much every state, things are worse. The outlook now is worse for states and the affordability crisis will be worse because of the combined set of policies,” Orvis said.

Climate Justice Alliance legislative director Mar Zepeda said her Washington, D.C., electric bill increased $200 in the past month. Zepeda blames electricity demands from data centers, and said federal “affordability” policies only exacerbate this.

“They may call it affordability, but affordable for whom and at what cost? Not for regular people,” Zepeda said in an email.

White House says the think tank is partisan

Rogers said it is “irresponsible” to classify Energy Innovation as nonpartisan because its employees have donated to Democrats and worked with Democrats on climate policy.

Spokesman Silvio Marcacci said Energy Innovation works with policymakers who want to cut emissions and lower bills, regardless of party. He said multiple Republican-led states have used their tool designed to model policies affecting energy use and emissions. Much of their data comes from government sources, including the EIA.

Rogers also said states led by Democrats that have embraced aggressive renewable mandates see higher energy costs, notably California and New York. She said this proves Republican policies are working.

However, in the Energy Innovation analysis, three of the five states facing the highest costs have Republican governors. Its research has found that states with high levels of wind and solar generation, including Republican-led Iowa and Oklahoma, have experienced the lowest rate increases.

The average price residential customers pay for electricity increased during Biden’s term and has continued to rise under Trump, according to EIA data.

Oregon households’ annual energy spending slated to increase the most

The modeling projects federal policy changes will increase annual energy spending in Oregon by $840 per household in 2035 and $1,200 per household in 2040, with a cumulative $9,300 increase from 2026 to 2040 — the highest of any state.

The Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board advocates for residential utility customers. Executive Director Bob Jenks called those numbers “frightening” because Oregon already has an energy affordability problem. He cited steep rate increases as utilities make upgrades and data centers use more power.

As costs rise, Jenks expects utilities to disconnect more customers who can’t afford their bills.

Jenks said wind and solar are essential for affordable electricity, and he wants the federal government to partner with states to develop the energy they need.

“We’re trying to optimize among the resource options we have, and they’re trying to take things away and raise the costs,” he said.

RULEVILLE – A nonprofit that supports organizations that advance social justice is enabling the expansion of the Fannie Lou Hamer Digital Driving Tour as the country commemorates the 109th anniversary of the civil rights icon’s birth.

The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation awarded $25,000 to the “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America” project to support research and the production of 12 new tour stops and multimedia resources, highlighting historic locations connected to Hamer’s grassroots organizing, voting rights work, civic participation, food justice and community empowerment.

Each location will include short documentary-style videos, archival audio, historical photographs, news articles and immersive digital resources that make Hamer’s story more accessible.

The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation earlier invested in the award-winning documentary film “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America” that aired on PBS and WORLD Channel in 2022 and supported community engagement.

“Monica Land’s acclaimed documentary film ‘Fannie Lou Hamer’s America’ helped bring her aunt Fannie Lou’s story to national audiences through rare archival footage and speeches,” Foundation President and CEO Jonathan Logan said in a news release. “The driving tour is the perfect complement to the film, allowing even more people to learn about the people and places that shaped Hamer’s life and work.”

The original 10-location driving tour was part of the film’s “Find Your Voice” K-12 curriculum. Land and videographer and editor Tommy Kirkpatrick of CommonHouse Productions produced a relaunched tour in August with 12 short videos featuring archival footage, photographs and historical materials with sites in Mississippi and Atlantic City. 

The driving tour is available on the film’s website and features additional resources, and their YouTube Channel. 

Born on a plantation in rural Mississippi on Oct. 6, 1917, Fannie Lou Hamer was a voting rights advocate, humanitarian and community organizer who became one of the most powerful voices of the Civil Rights Movement. 

The Logan Foundation supports organizations that advance social justice through investigative journalism, documentary film and arts and culture. 

The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation is a Mississippi Today donor.

As autumn begins to take hold in north Mississippi, leaves are falling onto roads still littered with tree limbs and other debris from last winter’s torment, state officials said. 

Over eight months since Winter Storm Fern, the Mississippi Department of Transportation said its “massive” debris cleanup effort will likely last until Halloween. Officials in three counties – Lafayette, Union and Tishomingo – estimated they amassed roughly 2.5 million cubic yards – one cubic yard is about the size of a dishwasher – of debris in those places alone. 

CLICK HERE: Mississippi Today’s disaster guide

Federal dollars are slowly arriving to assist Mississippi’s local and state recovery efforts. As of late September, the Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded nearly $200 million in public assistance grants to Mississippi, roughly half of the $416 million the state reported in damages, data from the agency shows. 

In a state much more accustomed to flooding, tornadoes and hurricanes, the January storm was one of Mississippi’s deadliest natural disasters of the 21st century. The last comparable event, most in the state say, was the Great Ice Storm of 1994. Thirty people died, largely from a mix of house fires and hypothermia. Many more suffered with limited access to food and water, stranded in dark homes along roads too dangerous to drive on. 

In the following months, residents and public officials underscored the state’s lack of preparedness for winter disasters, Mississippi Today reported. They pointed to days-long waits for water, food and generators, as well as the many critical facilities – such as hospitals, drinking water systems and prisons – that lacked sufficient back-up power.

State officials have since pointed to tangible solutions, such as storing resources in north Mississippi, improving disaster aid and maintaining trees near power lines. But they also argued there isn’t much more Mississippi can do to mitigate a once-every-30-year event. 

Now in October, discussion of Fern has largely melted away. 

In June, the Mississippi Public Service Commission held a two-day summit in Tupelo focused on lessons learned from the storm. The idea, Northern District Public Service Commissioner Chris Brown said, was to leave better prepared for the next bout of brutal cold weather. 

“Preparation is wisdom, we owe that to the people we serve,” Brown said after quoting Proverbs 27:12: “ A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple passeth on and are punished.” 

While the summit elicited some specific suggestions – largely calls for more generators – it was unclear how those ideas would be executed. Brown’s office did not respond to multiple calls about possible next steps. 

At the event, held in a Tupelo High School auditorium, meteorologist Matt Laubhan underscored that the next large winter storm could hit any year. 

“There’s no guarantee it’s 30 years from now when we have the next one of these,” Laubhan told the couple dozen people in attendance. “It easily could be this next year.  There’s no magic thing that keeps it being that spread out.

“Knowing your weaknesses today, it’s necessary to fixing tomorrow.”

‘You can’t prevent the weather’

Overall, interviews with north Mississippi lawmakers revealed a sense that little could be, or even needed to be, changed to better handle future winter storms.

“As far as legislation, I mean, you can’t prevent the weather,” Rep. Clay Deweese, a Republican from Oxford, said. “An ice storm, the event we had up north is just… Do you need to be prepared? Sure, you do. But that’s just not really very predictable.”

Rep. Sam Creekmore, a Republican from New Albany, echoed the sentiment. 

“I’m not sure legislatively what we need to do to help better prepare Mississippi than what we’ve already done,” he said. “I mean, it’s not going to prevent the storm.”

Lawmakers reiterated the infrequency of such an event, arguing it’s hard to fund mitigation against a once-every-30-year event.

“ I think there’ll be lessons learned, and there will be takeaways, and there’ll be improvements,” said Sen. Daniel Sparks, a Republican from Belmont. “But it’s hard to turn around then and legislate based on the outlier.”

‘You can’t do nothing’

While Mississippi officials underlined the infrequency of winter storms of Fern’s magnitude, climate experts agreed there’s no telling when another event will hit the state.

“I wouldn’t say put your money on that you’re going to see more of these events next year or the year after, but you will eventually,” said B.J. Baule, a climatologist at the Southern Regional Climate Center at Texas A&M University. “So being prepared, having that capacity, knowing where the vulnerabilities are is important.”

David Holt, a geography professor at the University of Southern Mississippi who specializes in climate and resilience, called it “foolish” to rely on the once-every-30-year frequency in predicting future winter storms. 

“To fall back on saying we’ve got another 30 years before we have another Fern come along, it’s naive at best,” Holt said. 

Scientists are still studying whether any link between climate change and winter storm intensity or frequency exists, such as with flooding or extreme heat. But climate variability, researchers say, has increased. There’s less certainty today over how often an event like Fern might occur than there was in 1994, Holt and Baule agreed. 

“ The reality is we can’t predict if we’re going to have a colder winter or a hotter winter,” Holt said. “We can estimate or give you statistical probabilities, but we can’t guarantee it. But what we can guarantee is that we expect there to be greater variability.”

It’s more likely a similar event happens sooner than 30 years from now because of increasing temperatures that lead to more moisture and more precipitation, including ice, Holt said.

“My professional gut opinion is that it feels like it’s more likely to happen again sooner than later because we just see this variability,” he said. 

While temperatures have risen in Mississippi over the last century – although not as much as in other parts of the country – residents and officials have noticed a string of harsh winter events in recent years, such as in 2021 and in 2023. 

 ”North Mississippi has been impacted by a winter weather event consistently  over the last five years,” said Beau Moore, a public information officer for Lafayette County. “ As our weather patterns are changing, we need to also have (more) resources available in north Mississippi.” 

Baule explained that, more recently, the Arctic is warming faster than the equator, leading to more north-to-south jet streams. That phenomenon brings cold fronts farther south, such as what Mississippi saw with Fern. Baule said data is insufficient to make a definite connection, but the trend “could be attributable to climate change.”

New warehouse in north Mississippi?

One potential fix officials are discussing, aimed at reducing delivery times for resource requests, is to build a new warehouse in north Mississippi to store items like food, water, tarps and cots. 

“I would like to have MEMA have a warehouse in north Mississippi with some materials on hand for a rapid response,” Sen. Chad McMahan, a Republican from Guntown, said.

Moore told Mississippi Today that Lafayette County officials are looking to do just that. He said the county is talking with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency about securing funds for the project – estimated to cost around $2 million. 

“They’ve been good talks, good conversations, it’s just sometimes these items take time to get done,” he said.

MEMA confirmed it was in discussions with Lafayette County.

“We prepositioned personnel and supplies before Winter Storm Fern and would certainly not hesitate to move materials to the Lafayette County location if it is deemed necessary for a particular event,” Scott Simmons, the agency’s director of external affairs, told Mississippi Today.

A permanent disaster loan program?

Another solution to improve preparedness is to make a recently created emergency loan program permanent, some lawmakers said. 

In April, the Legislature created a temporary revolving loan program to help cities and counties hurt by Winter Storm Fern while they awaited federal assistance funding. While technically a loan, the 3% interest rate only kicks in if an applicant doesn’t receive the same amount through FEMA’s Public Assistance grants. 

As of Oct. 1, the state had awarded $79 million in loans to over 20 cities and counties.

Creekmore said he would support a permanent version of the program that can quickly kick in once a disaster strikes. The temporary program is set to expire in July 2027. 

“It’d be nice to have that kick in and give these people peace of mind,” Creekmore said, calling the program a “saving grace” for areas hit by the winter storm. “We’re fortunate we were in session to do that (right after Fern).” 

Deweese, who introduced the House’s version of the program, said a permanent loan program is “something we may need to look at.”

Fortifying the electric grid

Winter Storm Fern took out power for roughly 300,000 residents, or more than one in 10 Mississippians, state officials estimated in the disaster’s aftermath. 

Keith Hayward, the general manager of the Northeast Mississippi Electric Power Association, said the utility’s biggest obstacle to restoring power was the amount of fallen trees and limbs that stood in the way. 

“I equate it to a F2 or F3 tornado that basically went across our whole system,” Hayward said, adding it took three weeks before every customer’s lights were back on.

After the last comparable winter storm in 1994, the utility more aggressively trimmed the hanging limbs and vegetation in its rights-of-way, or the areas around power lines and poles. Legally, the utility can tackle vegetation up to 30 feet away from power lines, Hayward said. 

Another utility manager, Sean McGrath of the Alcorn County Electric Power Association, said increasing power companies’ easements would help prevent outages. Most power outages are caused by fallen trees or vegetation originating on private property, McGrath said.

“ I think we need to look at possibly changing easement law and giving us the opportunity to cut a hazardous tree when the homeowner doesn’t necessarily want that tree cut,” he said. “ If you really want to look at hardening your infrastructure, it starts with your easement laws.”

Hayward agreed some private property owners are making outages worse.

“ When you have a community that loves their trees and has a tree board and their tree that they’ve been trimming on for 30 years, is four foot thick and falls across a three-phase line and breaks 10 poles, what are you going to do?” he asked.  

Sparks, the senator from Belmont, said while he would entertain the idea it would be hard to pass legislation limiting private property owners’ rights. 

“That’s going to be super tough,” Sparks said. 

Another question officials raised after Fern is whether it makes sense to put power lines underground so they’re not susceptible to disasters like winter storms or tornadoes. While underground lines are more resilient to storms, they’re also significantly more costly to build. 

In his area, Hayward said subdivisions built since the 1990s are required to build their lines underground. But in rural areas, where one line may stretch over 20 miles to reach just a few homes, the price tag usually isn’t worth it, he added, especially because the utility has to pass those costs on to its ratepayers. 

In Oxford, Mayor Robyn Tannehill said new lines there have been built underground for the last 20 years. Tannehill said the city’s goal is to bury other, older lines, but after Fern she isn’t sure how soon Oxford can afford to do so.

Shifting responsibility to locals

During the last legislative session, north Mississippi lawmakers criticized state agencies for not doing enough to prepare for Winter Storm Fern. But one Coast senator argued that it’s local officials who need to be ready to take on more responsibilities, especially as the federal government tries to overhaul FEMA. 

Earlier in the year, a council appointed by President Donald Trump – including former Gov. Phil Bryant – released a list of recommended changes to FEMA, which followed Trump’s statements that he wished to get rid of the agency altogether. While the recommendations didn’t go that far, they did call for shifting responsibilities away from FEMA to state and local governments. 

Sen. Scott DeLano, a Republican from Biloxi involved in much of the state’s disaster legislation, said he expects the new version of FEMA to send grants to counties so local officials can handle more storm responses without outside assistance. When that transition happens is just a matter of time, the senator said. 

“ What we do know is they’re going to push more responsibilities down to the locals,” DeLano told Mississippi Today. “ The time of the mayors calling MEMA and saying, ’Where’s my water truck, where are my generators, where are my tarps?’ That’s gone.”

But that process will require more resources and training at the local level, he added. Winter Storm Fern was a perfect example. 

“ When you look at what happened in the winter storm event, the reality is there were a lot of communities that had not faced that type of widespread disruption, and a widespread demand for response in many, many, many years,” DeLano said.

He said there should be better protocols to ensure critical facilities like water systems, hospitals and prisons have backup power, calling that the “lowest hanging fruit.” 

“There were things that may have fallen through the cracks over the years that we should certainly use as lessons learned,” DeLano said.

Sitting in a corner of a parking garage underneath the Hinds County Courthouse is an electric golf cart with chrome wheels, white stitching on black seats, and a gray seal on four sides bearing the name of the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office and its former leader, Jody Owens. 

The vehicle turned up next to a back door to the courthouse sometime after June 29, when Owens pleaded guilty to a federal corruption charge and resigned.

In the three months since, Owens’ appointed successor, Brad McCullouch, said his staff can’t find records showing when the lithium-battery-powered cart was purchased, how much it cost or where it came from. The golf cart could now play a role in a state audit looking into the finances of the district attorney’s office. 

State funds were not used to purchase the golf cart, said Marcy Scoggins, spokesperson for the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration. And the vehicle also does not appear on Hinds County’s inventory. 

Owens told Mississippi Today in August that he bought the golf cart for community engagement purposes, including parades and tailgating with staff at Jackson State University football games. 

“On the record, just to be clear, the golf cart has never been on a golf course,” Owens said. He couldn’t remember when, which funds he used or how much he paid. 

Dirt in the tread of the tires suggests the golf cart was used. But Mississippi Today could not find any pictures on the office’s social media accounts of the vehicle. 

If the golf cart was purchased for more than $5,000, it would have been subject to procurement laws in Mississippi, said Billy Morehead, a Mississippi Christian University accounting professor and past member of the Mississippi Public Procurement Review Board. 

Without knowing where the money came from, Morehead said, it is difficult to determine which government entity — the state, Hinds County or the DA’s office — would have been responsible for following those requirements. 

In Mississippi, DA’s offices are funded through a combination of state, county and self-generated revenue, subjecting their spending to a patchwork of accountability. 

The golf cart is made by a manufacturer called Vivid EV, according to a label on the dashboard. The company’s website appears to be defunct. 

Mississippi Today hasn’t been able to independently determine what the DA’s office paid for the cart and whether it exceeded the threshold for county bid requirements. Online golf cart reselling sites list various models made by Vivid EV starting at a little over $8,000. 

Soon after being appointed by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, McCullouch said he was alarmed by the lack of financial documentation in the DA’s office. In a written response in September to a public records request from Mississippi Today, McCullouch said his office did not find any bids, invoices, requisitions or receipts documenting the golf cart’s purchase. 

McCullouch said he would not release any records, if any exist, about the golf cart, citing a state attorney general’s opinion that allows DAs to withhold records that are part of active criminal investigations. McCullouch declined to elaborate.

Regardless of how the golf cart came to be in the DA’s possession, Morehead said a record of it should exist in an inventory log. 

Neither the state auditor’s office nor the Department of Finance and Administration has such a log for the Hinds DA’s office. Mississippi Today obtained Hinds County’s asset inventory through a public records request, but it did not include a listing for the golf cart. 

“I’m not sure exactly the source of funds, but it didn’t come through our purchasing,” said Hinds County Administrator Lynn Seals, who added that golf carts do not have to be registered in Hinds County. 

If Owens used self-generated funds to buy the golf cart, state or county officials would not have had oversight. DAs can use self-generated funds for a range of law enforcement activities.

It’s common for law enforcement agencies in Mississippi to have golf carts. The Hinds County Sheriff’s Office, for example, uses golf carts to patrol the state fair. 

Nevertheless, Morehead questioned why a DA would need a golf cart. In Hinds County, prosecutors work on the fifth floor of the courthouse, taking an elevator to attend trials happening in courtrooms below. 

“Where is the DA trying to go?” he asked. 

Owens, a Democrat, was elected Hinds DA in late 2019. He frequently pushed for more funding for the office, including state appropriations to purchase electronic case management software and hire additional prosecutors. 

In 2023, Owens was among several Jackson officials who were ensnared in a wide-ranging FBI probe into corruption in Mississippi’s capital city. He is set to be sentenced in November. 

Tempers flared Thursday at a packed redistricting hearing at the Mississippi Capitol, where a large majority of speakers criticized what they said was a power grab aimed at diminishing Black political power and further entrenching Republican dominance over state politics. 

The hearing in Jackson capped off a slate of often fiery public hearings that began in August, and included stops in north Mississippi, the Delta, east Mississippi and the Gulf Coast. A Republican-dominated committee listened to speakers who shared their views on whether Mississippi should redraw its electoral maps, a move that could reshape the state’s political representation for years to come. 

Republicans control the state Legislature and currently hold three out of the state’s four seats in the U.S. House, but they could potentially redraw maps to further strengthen their grip on Mississippi’s political offices.  

Mississippians arrived at the Capitol Thursday wielding placards, megaphones and shirts emblazoned with the phrase “I FIGHT FOR VOTING RIGHTS.” A smattering of pro-redistricting attendees wearing signature red blazers of the Mississippi Federation of Republican Women were sitting in the front row, but opponents of redistricting dominated the crowd. 

Many speakers pointed out the state’s sordid history of racial discrimination, and the committee’s composition reflected the intertwined nature of racial and political polarization in Mississippi. The committee, handpicked by legislative leaders, consists of 16 Republicans, all but one of whom are white, and four Democrats, all of whom are Black. 

Walter Boone, a Jackson resident, urged lawmakers not to further continue a historical pattern of policymaking that harms Black residents, and sign their names to what he called “the Mississippi Plan 2.0.”

“The proponents of redistricting talk and stand on a supposed high ground of race neutrality,” Boone said. “But we already know that in Mississippi the most perfectly race neutral laws were used intentionally to disastrous racial effect. Race neutrality in language does not matter if the end result is that Black Mississippians are not fairly represented. And this is where we’re headed.”

A large contingent of Democratic lawmakers sat in the audience, including House Democratic Leader Robert Johnson of Natchez. In an episode that reflects the division sparked by the redistricting push, Johnson sparred with the very first speaker of the evening: Republican State Auditor Shad White. 

White said he had heard lawmakers might not redraw Mississippi’s congressional maps in a special session expected this fall. But he urged the Legislature to do so in the future, specifically to target Rep. Bennie Thompson, the state’s only Black member of Congress and only Democrat.

“The Delta has been at the bottom of far too many rankings for far too long, and the Delta deserves better leadership than Bennie Thompson,” White said. “I’m telling you there’s a silent majority of people who want better representation for the Mississippi Delta.” 

The crowd booed, and Republican Sen. Dean Kirby, the committee chairman, threatened to adjourn the hearing.

As White began walking toward the exit, Johnson stood up and asked whether it was against the committee’s rules for a speaker to make comments that disparaged another person. Johnson said White told him the Delta needed better leadership. Johnson said he then told White he had “failed us as state auditor” and White responded that he was the “best auditor Mississippi has ever had.”  

The pair wagged their fingers at each other, and Johnson said he criticized White for prosecuting “poor city clerks” instead of recovering money misspent by state officials. White then “clipclopped away,” Johnson said. 

White, a likely Republican candidate for governor, later said he came to voice an opinion that none of his potential rivals were there to offer. 

“No Republicans thinking of running for governor showed up except me, and I thought it was important for the committee to know that room of activists did not speak for all the people of this state,” White said. “They hurled insults and maybe a couple of four-letter words, but I’m not backing down from standing up for Mississippi, even when it’s a fight.”

The Republican-led effort to redistrict also reignited concerns from opponents that hard-won progress to increase Black representation in Mississippi since the Jim Crow era would be eradicated.

Brooke Floyd, a Jackson resident, said her grandfather was a prominent Black educator and school administrator during the Jim Crow era, and later became a doorman for the state House after integration. She said there was a direct connection between the eradication of Black political power and many of the state’s problems.

“It looks like being one of the poorest states in the union while refusing to raise the minimum wage,” Floyd said. “A state with one of the highest Black maternal and infant mortality rates.” 

Those who spoke in favor of redistricting at the hearing said the consideration of race in drawing electoral maps was no longer justified given Mississippi’s efforts to overcome its past, and that the state should instead move toward a “color blind” approach.   

Connie Davis, a resident of Rankin County, said she supported efforts to redraw maps drawn in an effort to meet “racial targets.”

“The government must treat people as individuals and not racial categories,” Davis said. “The scales of justice should not favor anyone unjustly. The laws are applicable to everyone, regardless of their race. All of us here today should want fair representation under the law. That is in our beautifully written, colorblind constitution.”

Down the street from Capitol earlier on Thursday, opponents of the mid-decade redistricting push gathered on the lawn in front of the Mississippi Supreme Court Building for a rally organized by the ACLU. 

Attendees held signs that said “NO JIM CROW MAPS.” 

Amir Badat, the Southern states director for the voting rights organization Fair Fight, said Mississippians across the state showed up at the hearings to voice their opposition, and that lawmakers should act accordingly. 

“This is where all of our voices come together, and we are not going to let any of them be ignored,” Badat said.

Attendees later streamed into the Capitol, chanting  “Leave our maps alone.” Seconds before a large group filed into the lobby, megaphones in hand, Sen. Kirby, the committee chairman, slipped into a nearby elevator and disappeared until the hearing started. 

The hearing was held in a room at the Capitol that quickly filled, and some attendees were forced to sit in an overflow area outside. Shortly before the hearing got underway, Johnson, the House minority leader, hinted at future litigation.

“This is testimony,” Johnson said. “And at some point it may be evidence. So let’s make sure we’re heard.”

The redistricting push in Mississippi and elsewhere was set in motion by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Callais decision, which removed protection for majority-minority districts and cleared the way for state legislatures to redraw political lines for partisan advantage. Republican leaders believe the court’s decision ended the practice of allowing race to be considered when drawing political maps.   

Now that the legislative joint committee has finished holding public hearings, the full Legislature is expected to convene in a special session this fall to redraw at least state legislative maps. 

That wouldn’t impact this November’s federal election, but Mississippi lawmakers are likely to target Thompson’s seat with redistricting before he’s up for reelection again in 2028.

In a statement, Nancy Loome, president of the public education advocacy group The Parents’ Campaign, said redrawn maps would elevate the importance of party primaries as general election campaigns become less competitive.   

“In the past, this type of redistricting has yielded gerrymandered districts that heavily favor one party or the other, which tends to make Mississippi’s general elections less meaningful and participation in the primary election of paramount importance,” Loome said in a statement. 

After the nearly three-hour hearing concluded Thursday night, Mississippi Today asked Kirby how the public feedback might influence the imminent redistricting process. 

“I appreciate everyone expressing their opinion. We came to listen, and we did,” Kirby said. “This committee is going to do what the courts tell us to do.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Christa Pike was in critical condition but receiving “lifesaving care” at a hospital, her lawyers said Thursday, a day after she survived a failed attempt to execute her for the 1995 murder during what Tennessee’s governor called a “deeply disturbing” procedure.

Pike was taken to the hospital Wednesday night after she received a double dose of the drug Tennessee uses to execute prisoners but survived. Her lawyers said they were told her condition is critical, but they didn’t know specifics.

“Christa is alive right now. We don’t have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment,” attorney Randy Spivey said during a news conference. “But we know she is alive right now and receiving lifesaving medical care.”

Attorney Steve Ferrell said Pike feared there would be complications with the lethal injection because of a lifelong blood disorder that made it tough to get needles into her veins.

“Throughout her life, she’s explained to us that she had trouble having blood drawn,” Ferrell said.

Spivey said he counted at least seven needles that were used in her left arm alone.

“Ms. Pike was not just cooperative but was helping to instruct the people placing the IV lines” as to where they might put them,” Spivey said. “She told them over and over, please try higher on my shoulder.”

Pike’s lawyers said the failed execution amounted to “torture,” and they called for her death sentence to be commuted.

An execution fails

The state tried to execute Pike by lethal injection, but neither the initial nor backup dose of pentobarbital killed her and she was still snoring when the execution chamber’s microphone was cut off more than an hour into the attempt. She was later taken to a hospital for treatment.

At one point during Wednesday night’s execution attempt, she asked prison officials if her arm was supposed to feel that way, though it’s unclear if it was after the first dose entered her body, as officials don’t share that information. Later, more than an hour after the process began and nearly 30 minutes after a backup dose of pentobarbital was administered, she could be heard snoring loudly.

On Thursday, Republican Gov. Bill Lee indefinitely postponed Pike’s execution and Tennessee’s lone remaining one that had been scheduled for this year. He also ordered an independent review of what happened, calling it “deeply disturbing.”

But Pike’s lawyers said such a review would be insufficient.

Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for a murder she committed at age 18. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.

An appeals court stopped the lethal injection an hour before it was scheduled to begin, but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that stay hours later.

It was the second time this year that Tennessee was unable to complete an execution, though in the other case, officials couldn’t find a suitable vein for an IV line so the drugs weren’t administered.

May Martinez, whose daughter was murdered by Pike and her boyfriend and who traveled to Nashville to watch the execution, told NBC News that “it was a mess.”

Governor halts another 2026 execution

The failure, which one death penalty expert described as unprecedented, led Gov. Bill Lee to order a review and to indefinitely postpone Pike’s execution and Tennessee’s lone other one that had been scheduled for this year. It also reignited the debate over the state’s execution procedures, including its single-drug lethal injections.

“There are very few answers this morning. It’s very early,” Lee told reporters Thursday at an unrelated event, noting he had received no updates on Pike’s condition. “The people of our state deserve to have those questions answered.”

He called what happened “deeply disturbing” and said it appeared prison staff followed procedure.

Pike, 50, had been scheduled for execution Wednesday morning for the killing she committed at age 18 and would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. An appeals court stopped the execution an hour before it was to start, but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that stay hours later.

Officials gave Pike two doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys said in court filings late Wednesday. The drug has been used in executions in multiple states and by the federal government, but there have been concerns raised about the potential for “unnecessary pain and suffering.”

The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement that it “followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office.”

Tennessee changed its execution method two years ago

Tennessee announced in 2024 that it was switching from a three-drug series for lethal injections to the single drug pentobarbital. That came more than two years after the state abruptly halted the execution of Oscar Smith and acknowledged it had failed to ensure its lethal injection drugs had been tested properly.

Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said what Pike experienced is “singular and unparalleled” in that she survived long enough to be moved to a hospital.

Seven other people have survived medical problems due to an execution team’s failure to access a vein to administer lethal injection drugs, but no one has stayed alive after receiving the drugs used in such executions, she said.

Executions in the U.S. have fallen sharply since the beginning of this century amid growing public opposition and concerns about the costs and the drugs used. But the number of executions nearly doubled last year behind a record increase in Florida.

Pike would have been the 30th person executed in the U.S. this year.

Pike was awake in the execution chamber

Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber, Pike described herself as at peace.

When asked if she had any last words, Pike said several things, including, “I’m at peace. I’m ready to be free. … This is a happy day.”

But she remained awake, and at one point complained about the feeling in her arm. The chamber’s curtains were closed, suggesting it had been five minutes since the first dose was administered. But they were reopened three minutes later.

An hour after officials first raised the curtains, witnesses reported that a second dose of pentobarbital was administered. Pike could still be heard snoring behind a closed curtain until the microphone was cut off almost 30 minutes later.

Lawyers for Pike filed an emergency motion with the Tennessee Supreme Court seeking to immediately halt and stay the execution, saying she was in “unnecessary agony” and the procedure violated her right to be executed free of cruel and unusual punishment. They also filed motions with two other courts.

Last May, Tennessee officials called off the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and killing three people in 1994, after executioners tried for over an hour but failed to find a suitable vein for a backup IV line.

Pike didn’t deny her role in the killing

Pike and her boyfriend were convicted of the fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a classmate. The killing stoked fears of Satan worship because of a pentagram carved on Slemmer’s body.

Pike’s boyfriend wasn’t eligible for the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of the killing and received a sentence of life in prison. He was denied parole last year.

Pike didn’t dispute that she helped kill Slemmer, but supporters argued that Pike’s age at the time of the murder, her mental illness and her allegations of severe sexual abuse should be considered. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder after the killing.

“It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done,” she once said.

__

With contributions from Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Ed White in Detroit; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; Hallie Golden in Seattle; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.

A north Mississippi farm worker died of extreme heat exposure in early September amid one of the hottest summers in recent state history. 

Obed Azahel Hernandez Perez, a 24-year-old man from Mexico, died Sept. 8 from prolonged heat exposure while harvesting sweet potatoes, according to Chickasaw County Coroner Larry Harris. In an email, Harris said the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the incident.

OSHA began an inspection on Sept. 9 into a worker heat-related death at Alexander Farms LLC, a Vardaman sweet potato farm owned by Ryan Alexander near the Chickasaw County and Calhoun County border. It’s the first death inspection conducted by Mississippi’s only OSHA office that was listed as heat-related this year. 

An OSHA Eastern Regional spokesperson said in an email to Mississippi Today that she was unable to immediately respond to questions about the incident. 

Mississippi has some of the most dangerous working conditions in the country. In 2024, workers in Mississippi died at a higher rate than anywhere except Wyoming, according to the most recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data. 

This year was Chickasaw County’s hottest summer since 2011, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The temperature in nearby Calhoun City reached a high of 98 degrees Fahrenheit, according to federal data. 

When Mississippi Today called Alexander Farms, an employee acknowledged the death but said she wouldn’t get into the details before hanging up the phone. The company didn’t respond to an email asking what Hernandez Perez’s job was, how long he had worked there and how the farm protects employees from heat-related dangers.

An Alexander Farms job application on the U.S. Department of Labor website says that the company planned to hire 117 seasonal farm workers this fall. The farm worker responsibilities include “all duties involved in planting, growing and harvesting corn, soybeans and sweet potatoes.” 

On the application, listed duties include stooping and kneeling to pick vegetables, removing weeds, carrying bags of potatoes weighing up to 50 pounds and driving trucks and tractors. Alexander Farms lists the pay at $12.50 per hour, with a deduction of $1.15 per hour for immigrant workers who stay in company housing. 

The job’s start date was about two weeks before Hernandez Perez died. Debbie Berkowitz, a former chief of staff for OSHA, told Mississippi Today that heat-related deaths are common when seasonal employees first begin their jobs. 

“They’re not acclimated to do this work in high heat,” Berkowitz said. 

Both the federal and Mississippi governments have few heat protections for workers. In 2024, the Department of Labor proposed a federal rule that would’ve required companies to provide their employees with shade or air-conditioning, cool drinking water and regular rest breaks whenever the felt temperature was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit. It also would’ve required employers to acclimate new workers to high heat conditions and create plans to quickly spot heat illnesses.

Two years after the rule’s initial proposal, OSHA has yet to finalize workplace heat standards. Last November, U.S. Rep. Mark Messmer, a Republican from Indiana, proposed a bill to ban OSHA from ever implementing it. 

Jordan Barab, a former deputy assistant secretary for the federal agency, told Mississippi Today that national workplace heat regulations could have saved Hernandez Perez’s life. 

“If that had become a standard and the employer was in full compliance with that standard, that worker would likely be alive today,” he said. 

Some states implement their own workplace heat standards, but Mississippi isn’t one of them. The state uses federal workplace health standards and is one of five states that doesn’t have its own labor enforcement agency. 

Other Mississippians, experiencing health effects tied to increasingly hot summers,  may have died of heat exposure on the job, according to Barab. Berkowitz said it’s common for heat-related workplace deaths, like Hernandez Perez’s, to be undercounted. Workers exposed to high temperatures can die with little public notice and no follow-up investigations. 

“There’s no press, nobody knows about it,” Berkowitz said.

Harris, the Chickasaw County coroner, said Hernandez Perez’s body has been transported back to Mexico.

Mississippi Development Authority Director Bill Cork is stepping down after nearly three years leading the state’s economic development agency. 

Gov. Tate Reeves called Cork’s sudden departure a “retirement.”

During Cork’s tenure, Mississippi has seen over $65 billion in investments, mostly from data centers, and the creation of 23,000 jobs. Over Reeves’ two terms as governor, the state has seen a total of $85 billion in investment.

Paul Jerrod “P.J.” Waldrop, the current deputy director and chief operating officer of MDA, will lead the agency. He is the fourth person Reeves has appointed to the job. Reeves has struggled over two terms to keep a permanent, Senate-confirmed director in the position. Cork was his longest serving director by a matter of months.

Unemployment, labor force participation decline

In August, Mississippi’s unemployment rate continued to decline from 3.6% in July to 3.4%. It was one of eight states that saw significant decreases in the unemployment rate, with the rest remaining relatively unchanged. 

But Mississippi’s labor force participation also dropped.

The total number of non-farm employees was up slightly month over month and year over year. However, the size of the overall civilian labor force and labor force participation rate decreased. The seasonally adjusted labor force participation rate dropped to 54.7% down from 55.7% a year before, the lowest rate since April 2024. Mississippi’s labor force participation rate is second-lowest in the country, behind West Virginia.

Unemployment was down in the Gulfport-Biloxi, Hattiesburg and Jackson Metro areas month over month and year over year at 3%, 2.9% and 3% respectively, accompanied by decreases in the civilian labor force in all three areas.

Companies get low marks on clean energy

A Sierra Club report gave Entergy Mississippi an “F” and Mississippi Power a “C” for their transition to clean energy sources. Both grades referenced increasing demand partly driven by the state’s economic growth, led by data centers, and customer demand.

Both Entergy and Mississippi Power’s parent companies are seeing exceptional growth thanks to data centers. Southern Power Company, of which Mississippi Power is a subsidiary, saw 49% higher usage year to date according to its recent earnings presentation. 

At the recent meeting of the Southern States Energy Board, Gov. Reeves said that the state is taking an all-of-the-above approach and not relying on any single source of energy.

Other news

• A developer is looking to put a $6-billion data center campus on 800 acres in Jefferson Davis County. Eagle Rock Partners held a public meeting this week to talk to residents and answer community questions. The company said construction is set to begin in 2027. 
• The Joint Legislative Budget Committee is meeting on Thursday and Friday. Senators and representatives are hearing from 11 agencies on their proposed spending as work begins on a budget for the 2028 fiscal year. The final budget will be determined during the upcoming legislative session. So far, the Office of Workforce Development requested a $7 million budget, up by $3 million to meet the “urgent” need for trained workers, and the Health Department requested level funding for the upcoming fiscal year.
• The median sale price of a home in Mississippi is one of the lowest in the nation, around $260,000, compared to over $380,000 nationally. However, the state has not been immune to increasing housing prices. Housing prices in the Golden Triangle are up by nearly $70,000 based on data from the Commercial Dispatch. 
• The Ole Miss and LSU game brought in nearly $109 million for Oxford alone, according to Visit Oxford. A typical home game brings in $30 million to $70 million. 
• The state will use $8.5 million in federal money to increase its short-term workforce training and support its implementation of Workforce Pell Grants at community colleges. The federal financial aid program was expanded last year to cover program costs for eligible short-term workforce education. It’s part of Mississippi’s larger push to encourage Mississippians to pursue jobs that are currently in high demand.
• Natchez officials are evaluating a potential data center at the old International Paper mill.

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he plans to nominate Jackson-based labor and employment lawyer Todd Butler to a Mississippi-based opening on the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. 

“The wonderful people of the Great State of Mississippi (one of my favorites!), and the rest of the Fifth Circuit, can count on Todd to protect the Constitution and the Rule of Law,” Trump said on social media. 

Butler has spent the last 17 years practicing with the Jackson-based law firm Phelps Dunbar, according to his LinkedIn profile, and he previously clerked for Judge Leslie Southwick, whose seat he would fill if confirmed. Southwick recently took senior status. 

Butler graduated from Mississippi State University and Mississippi College (now Mississippi Christian University) School of Law, and both Mississippi’s Republican U.S. senators, Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, support him. 

“Todd Butler is an excellent pick for the federal bench,” the two senators said in a joint statement. “He believes in interpreting the law as it is written, pursuant to the text and original meaning of the Constitution — exactly the quality that should characterize a jurist.”  

The Senate Judiciary Committee will likely schedule a confirmation hearing for Butler in the coming months. The court hears federal appeals from Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

Mississippi death row inmate Devin Allen Bennett is expected to appeal his 2003 conviction for his infant son’s death linked to shaken baby syndrome. 

On Wednesday, the Mississippi Supreme Court unanimously allowed him to go to the Rankin County Circuit Court to seek post-conviction relief based on what the court considered newly discovered evidence: recently undermined expert testimony in a California case. 

The evidence is laid out in a Sept. 14 letter from Bennett’s attorney Krissy Nobile from the state Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel. She wrote to the court about post-conviction relief granted for Jason Harley Moore, a California man who was convicted in 2014 for the death of his infant daughter from abusive head trauma, the updated term for shaken baby syndrome. 

“Mr. Moore, like Devin Bennett, was accused of child abuse after he sought medical care for his child,” Nobile wrote. “In both cases, the child’s condition followed a short fall from a bed, which was the explanation both men provided, and which treating doctors rejected as insufficient to explain the child’s condition.” 

In August 2000, Bennett was watching his son, Brandon, who Bennett said fell from a carseat and onto the floor, hitting his head and side, according to court records. The child initially appeared stable, his father said, but his breathing later changed and stopped. Bennett told local law enforcement he tried to wake up Brandon and then took him to a hospital. From there, Brandon was transferred to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he died. 

Dr. Bonnie Woodall, the pediatrician working in the UMMC emergency room, evaluated Brandon’s injuries and ordered tests. She consulted the chairman of neurosurgery, Dr. Andrew Parent, who also examined the infant. They diagnosed the infant with shaken infant syndrome.

Both doctors testified as medical experts at Bennett’s 2003 trial. Prosecutors argued he shook Brandon and threw him on the ground, relying on shaken baby syndrome and the autopsy performed by the late pathologist Dr. Steven Hayne and Dr. Michael West, a Hattiesburg dentist who billed himself as a bite mark expert.

Hayne and West have been involved in a number of cases that have been overturned, including other shaken baby syndrome cases and ones with bite mark evidence.   

Woodall testified that Brandon’s injuries were consistent with shaken baby syndrome, but also that bruises on the infant could have been from resuscitation and transportation. Similarly, Parent testified that shaken baby syndrome was the most likely diagnosis based on retinal hemorrhages he found in Brandon, a majority of which are associated with shaken baby syndrome. 

Following testimony, Bennett was convicted and sentenced to death in February 2003. 

In appeals and post-conviction, his attorneys have argued that Bennett is “factually innocent” based on changes in scientific consensus about shaken baby syndrome and short fall injuries. 

In Moore’s case in California, the court found testimony of the prosecution’s medical witnesses has since been “undermined by scientific developments since trial and, thus, constitutes false evidence[.]” In early September, the California appeals court sent his case back to the trial court for the prosecution to decide whether to re-try or release him. 

That case cites how in 2020, the American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledged that “short falls can be fatal and that there is no pattern of injury unique to” abusive head trauma. 

Nobile listed Moore’s case as one of nine in recent years “emphasizing the scientific unreliability of the (shaken baby syndrome) hypothesis.” 

Others in Mississippi have been convicted of murder in shaken baby syndrome deaths, including Tasha Shelby, who is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the death of her fiance’s son, and Jeffrey Havard, sentenced to death and later resentenced to life without parole for the death of his girlfriend’s infant daughter. Some of their attorneys have raised issues with the science – or lack thereof – behind the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome. 

Generally, there are time limits to appealing a conviction and people can’t file additional motions raising claims that have already been decided or brought up. The state Supreme Court found exceptions in Bennett’s case when it allowed him to seek post-conviction relief in the trial court.