OurTupelo

Among the Mississippians honored on Veterans Day are 28 Medal of Honor recipients. Among those is Van T. Barfoot.

After a day dodging land mines, facing tanks and taking prisoners, U.S. Army Col. Barfoot led his squad to victory against German forces in Italy in 1944. His actions that day earned him a Medal of Honor as told in the graphic novel from the Association of the United States Army.

The book is part of a series called Medal of Honor, which tells the stories of Army veterans who’ve received the highest honor in the U.S. Armed Forces for valor from the Civil War to the present.

According to Joseph Craig, director of AUSA’s book program, over half a million people read the first six volumes.

Craig wrote that Bartfoot’s life was “exciting and inspiring — a classic WWII hero’s tale full of action.”

Barfoot’s story began in Edinburg, an unincorporated community in Leake County in east central Mississippi, where he was one of eight siblings. He enlisted in the Army in 1940. In 1943, he began fighting in Europe as part of the 3rd Platoon, Company L, 3rd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Division.

On May 23, 1944, Barfoot’s unit was facing off against German forces near Carano, Italy. Alone, Barfoot navigated across a minefield to the enemy’s left flank. He took out a machine gun nest with a hand grenade, killing two Germans and wounding three. He then entered a German trench, where he killed two more soldiers and took the remaining ones as prisoners.

Barfoot and his men then took control of more German positions. He reorganized his men and consolidated their new ground.

Later that day, three German tanks launched a counterattack. Barfoot single-handedly disabled the first tank with a bazooka, then killed three of the tank’s crew. The other two tanks fled. Barfoot’s group advanced and destroyed an abandoned German artillery piece. Later, he helped two wounded men cross 1,700 yards of enemy territory to reach safety. 

In total, he killed seven Germans and captured 17 that day.

Barfoot received a Medal of Honor on Sept. 28, 1944, in Épinal, France. He continued serving in the Army, fighting in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Later in his career, he worked as a senior national adviser to the Army National Guard. He retired from the Army in 1974 as a colonel.

He received national attention in 2009 when his homeowners association in Virginia tried to force him to take down the flagpole in his yard. The association backed down after the dispute reached national headlines, with public opinion mostly on Barfoot’s side.

Barfoot was 92 when he died in 2012.

Each book in the Medal of Honor series is made by professional comic book writers and artists, with vetting by historians. They’re part of AUSA’s educational mission.

People can read them online for free, and AUSA premium members can order paperback collections at the end of every year.

A basic membership is free, and paid memberships contribute to AUSA’s mission of supporting the U.S. Army.

“We get a great response from the public, including many suggestions for people to feature in new issues,” Craig said. “I have also heard from a few relatives, which is particularly rewarding.”

Mississippi will begin distributing up to 65% of food assistance benefits for the month of November to recipients, the Mississippi Department of Human Services announced Monday. 

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are distributed on a rolling basis between the 4th and 21st of each month. Recipients who were scheduled to receive SNAP benefits earlier this month but have not yet due to the federal government shutdown will begin receiving partial assistance as early as today, the agency said in a press release. Others will receive their benefits on their regularly scheduled date.

Mississippi is distributing up to 65% of SNAP benefits to recipients in accordance with guidance from the United States Department of Agriculture, the federal agency that administers the program, said the state Department of Human Services in a statement. Full benefits will be distributed once the federal government approves their release. 

“Benefit amounts have been set by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, not MDHS,” the statement said.

Beneficiaries in Mississippi receive $183 on average in food assistance per month, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Partial benefits for the average beneficiary would amount to a loss of about $65 in aid in November. 

“The hardworking families in Mississippi who already struggle to make ends meet and have tight budgets that include SNAP help are relying on them to ensure wellness in their homes,” Dr. Patricia Tibbs, the president of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, previously told Mississippi Today.

Confusion over how states should distribute the benefits has mounted in the past week after the Trump administration contested a court order directing the federal government to issue full benefits. 

New food assistance benefits have not been issued to Mississippians since Nov. 1. Food assistance has continued to flow in past shutdowns, but the federal government said Oct. 24 that it could not use emergency funds to pay for the program, spurring a legal battle over the paused benefits.

Federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ordered the federal government on Oct. 31 to use emergency funds to continue funding the program after more than two dozen states sued the Trump administration over its refusal to issue the benefits. 

The federal Department of Agriculture initially told states to distribute no more than half of November’s SNAP benefits, before later revising that guidance to instruct states to issue up to 65 percent of benefits. A federal judge in Rhode Island then ordered the agency to fund the program in full. 

The Trump administration released guidance Nov. 7 indicating it was “working towards implementing” full benefits, even as it appealed a court ruling. Twenty states, including New York, California and North Carolina, began to issue full benefits, but after a stay of the order, the administration ordered states to “undo” the issuance of full benefits and warned it would penalize states that proceeded. 

A federal judge then temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ordering states to roll back full SNAP payments. On Monday, the administration returned to the Supreme Court in another attempt to halt full funding for food assistance. 

The federal government shutdown, now reaching 41 days, is the longest in U.S. history, but Congress appeared closer than ever to reaching a resolution on Monday. That latest development came after eight senators broke ranks with Democrats and joined Republicans in a vote to fund the government through Jan. 30 Sunday night. The legislation still needs to pass the House in order for the shutdown to end.

About 1 in 8 Mississippians — over 350,000 people — receive food assistance through SNAP. More than 67% of participants are in households with children, and about 41% are in households with older adults or adults with a disability. In four Mississippi counties, over a third of residents rely on the program to purchase food, according to a report from WLBT. 

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has previously said he will not move for Mississippi to bridge the gap in the food assistance program until the federal shutdown ends, even though pediatricians and some state legislators urged the governor to do so. 

“There is sadly no simple way for state government to just step in and pay the hundreds of millions of dollars in harm that this shutdown by the Washington Democrats is causing,” he wrote in a social media post Oct. 27. 

The day before benefits were paused, Reeves requested a waiver from the federal government to restrict the use of food assistance benefits to purchase sugary food and drinks. If approved, the changes would take effect in 2027. 

Other changes to SNAP benefits are set to take effect this month as a result of federal budget legislation President Donald Trump signed into law in July. The law increases the existing work requirement’s upper age limit from 54 to 65 and extends the requirement to people who were previously exempt: veterans, those facing homelessness and young people aging out of foster care. There is still a caregiver exemption, but to qualify, parents must have children younger than 14 — down from age 18.

Recipients do not have to do anything to receive their benefits, according to the press release from the state Department of Human Services. They should ensure all household and requested information is up-to-date, complete and scheduled interviews and register for a ConnectEBT account. 

Thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Jackson to take in the sights, sounds and tastes of the 82nd National Folk Festival. The event took place Friday through Sunday, featuring performers in a wide range of musical genres, plus visual arts and food. The National Council for the Traditional Arts works with host communities to produce the festival around the country, and this was the first one in the Deep South. Jackson will host the 83rd and 84th National Folk Festivals in 2026 and 2027. Organizers intend for this to lead to a locally produced festival after the three-year run of the national event.

The U.S Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a Mississippi case involving the counting of mail-in ballots received after Election Day, a case that could have a ripple effect nationwide. 

The justices agreed to take up an appeal from Mississippi after a panel of three judges appointed by President Donald Trump on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that the state law allowing ballots that arrive shortly after Election Day to be counted violated federal law.

Mississippi is among 18 states and the District of Columbia that accept mailed ballots received after Election Day as long as the ballots are postmarked on or before that date, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In this case, the Republican National Committee and the Libertarian Party of Mississippi sued Secretary of State Michael Watson, the official who administers elections. They argued that Congress alone can set a date by which voters must make their choice, not individual states.

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office is defending Watson in court, arguing that the five-day window after Election Day does not provide additional days for voters to cast a ballot. Rather, it’s simply an extra cushion for election workers to count the ballots. 

“Under federal law, election day is the day for voters to conclusively choose federal officers. Voters make that conclusive choice by casting — marking and submitting — their ballots by election day,” Fitch’s office wrote in court papers. 

The litigation created an unusual scenario where Fitch and Watson, both Republicans, had to fight their own political party in court to defend Mississippi’s law. 

U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr., a George W. Bush-appointed judge, initially ruled last year in Gulfport that there was no conflict between the state law and federal laws. But the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit later reversed him. 

The U.S. Supreme Court has not set a date for oral arguments, but it would likely be argued during the spring. The Court would then likely issue a ruling in the summer of 2026. 

Mississippi Today’s Michael Goldberg, Geoff Pender and Taylor Vance break down last week’s special legislative elections, where Democrats gained three seats. Goldberg complains of a dearth of election-night pizza.

President Donald Trump finally found a line he would not cross when it comes to ignoring existing laws while carrying out his agenda.

And the line that he believes was constitutionally uncrossable was continuing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the government shutdown. In the president’s mind, it was a bridge too far to provide food assistance to poor people while a congressional stalemate halted most government services.

During his presidential tenure, Trump has challenged a litany of laws. He  argued he did not have to fund certain programs even though there were laws passed by Congress mandating those programs be funded.

After Congress and Mexico refused to provide money for a border wall in his first term, Trump shifted funds from other programs to begin work on the wall.

During this term, he has made himself judge, jury and executioner, killing people he said were drug dealers in international waters without providing any evidence. 

He has taken it upon himself to demolish the East Wing of the White House, though many would argue there are guidelines – even laws – he should follow in making such substantial changes to the nation’s most iconic building.

Just last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on whether he could usurp the constitutional authority of Congress and impose tariffs on his own.

Heck, he has even hinted at running for a third presidential term despite constitutional provisions clearly preventing such an effort.

During the shutdown that started at the beginning of October, Trump has found money to ensure that members of the military were paid, though there are questions of whether that is legal. Yet, no one challenged the paying of the troops. Most thought that was a good thing.

The list goes on and on of times when Trump, in the view of many, took actions contrary to existing laws. It should be pointed out that courts often cited his broad presidential powers in allowing him to avoid adhering to those laws.

But providing food assistance to about 43 million low-income Americans – about 40% of those being children – is the time when Trump said it would be illegal for his administration to act. He suddenly became a strict adherer of the law.

Never mind that some even argued that discontinuing the program during a government shutdown is illegal.

After all, never in the long and sordid history of government shutdowns has any other president stopped the food assistance program.

When lawsuits were filed, the Trump administration took the step of arguing in court that the program should be discontinued.

And after federal judges ruled that the program should be at least partially funded, Trump has sent mixed signals on whether his administration would follow the judicial order.

In Mississippi about 385,000 people  – 12.13% of the population – receive SNAP benefits, with about 163,000 of those recipients being children. Mississippi has the nation’s 20th highest percentage of its population receiving SNAP benefits, according to numbers provided earlier this summer by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the program. It is surprising the percentage is not higher since Mississippi has the nation’s highest percentage of people living in poverty.

According to USDA numbers, 67% of the benefits in Mississippi go to families with children and 41% are distributed to families with members who are elderly or disabled.

The monthly benefit in Mississippi averages about $180 per person.

A substantial number of needy Mississippians depend on the program.

Yet, no member of the Republican leadership in Mississippi – on the state or federal level – has made a public statement to gently argue to their fellow Republican in the White House that stopping the food assistance program might not be the right course of action.

As the shutdown in the program loomed, Gov. Tate Reeves to much fanfare announced he was asking for federal permission to ban recipients from using the benefits to purchase sugary soft drinks and food. But it was crickets from the governor when it came to asking the president to continue SNAP, even as pediatricians and lawmakers called on Reeves to help hungry Mississippians.

Unlike some other states, Mississippi has taken no action to provide state funds as a substitute for the loss of federal SNAP benefits during the shutdown.

In Congress, no member of the Mississippi congressional delegation spoke up for their constituents who depend on SNAP. Mississippi U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith were silent.

If Trump said the program could not be continued, it must be so, they reasoned.

People in some U.S. states are able to buy groceries with federally funded SNAP benefits, while those in other states — including Mississippi — are still waiting for November food aid that is delayed by a protracted legal battle over the federal government shutdown.

“If you need more food resources during this shutdown, we encourage you to reach out to the food bank that serves your local area to locate food assistance near you,” the Mississippi Department of Human Services said in an Oct. 24 press release. The department had not updated that statement on its website by Saturday.

The Trump administration initially said last month that it would not fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for November because of the shutdown. The twists and turns since have exacerbated uncertainty for the nearly 1 in 8 Americans who receive monthly SNAP benefits to spend at grocery stores and farmer’s markets.

On Friday, some states began issuing full monthly SNAP benefits to people, a day after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to provide the funds.

But Friday night, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily paused that judicial order to allow time for an appeals court to decide whether to issue a more lasting halt. Jackson acted because she handles emergency matters from Massachusetts.

How are SNAP recipients faring?

Nearly 42 million Americans receive SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, for help buying groceries. Most have incomes below the poverty line, which is about $32,000 for a family of four.

An individual can receive a monthly maximum food benefit of nearly $300 and a family of four up to nearly $1,000, although many receive less than that under a formula that takes into consideration their income.

The delay in payments has led to a surge in demand at food banks and pantries across the country, as well as long lines for free meals or drive-thru giveaways.

Some states have provided emergency funding to food banks to help them respond to the increased need. Some states also used their own dollars to fund direct payments to people while the federal benefits were in limbo.

In Mississippi, leaders of the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics are calling on Republican Gov. Tate Reeves to put state money toward food aid. He has not publicly responded.

“Families already struggling to make ends meet will be forced to choose between food, utilities, and medicine,” chapter President Dr. Patricia Tibbs and Vice President Dr. David Reeves wrote in a public letter to the governor in late October. “Hospitals and clinics will inevitably bear the burden of increased malnutrition and preventable illness. Our children, the future of this state, will suffer the most.”

Where have people already received benefits?

Whether SNAP beneficiaries see money on their electronic benefits transfer cards depends on where they live.

In Hawaii, Oregon and Wisconsin, officials worked quickly after a judge ordered full benefit payments Thursday to instruct their EBT providers to process the full payments.

“We moved with haste once we verified everything,” Joseph Campos II, deputy director of Hawaii’s Department of Human Services, told The Associated Press.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, said state employees “worked through the night” to issue full November benefits “to make sure every Oregon family relying on SNAP could buy groceries” over the weekend.

Officials in California, Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington also confirmed that some SNAP recipients were issued their full November payments on Friday.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, said more than 250,00 households that missed their regular monthly SNAP payment during the first week of November received their full amount on Friday. The remaining beneficiaries would receive their November funds on their regularly scheduled dates later this month — if distribution does not remain blocked by legal challenges.

The Trump administration said in a legal filing with the Supreme Court that “there is no ready mechanism for the government to recover those funds” that already have been distributed.

How long might residents elsewhere wait?

Before Jackson ordered a pause, Colorado and Massachusetts had said SNAP participants could receive their full November payments as soon as Saturday. New York had said access to full SNAP benefits should begin by Sunday. New Hampshire had said full benefits should be available over the weekend.

And Arizona, Connecticut and Minnesota all had said that full SNAP benefits should be accessible in the coming days.

Whether people actually will receive those benefits on their EBT cards remains unclear.

For peoples in some other states, the wait appears likely to extend into next week. Numerous state officials said they had been waiting for further guidance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP.

What has been holding up November benefits?

Because of the federal government shutdown, the Trump administration originally had said SNAP benefits would not be available in November. After two judges ruled the administration could not skip November’s benefits entirely, the administration said it would use an emergency reserve fund containing more than $4.6 billion to provide partial benefits in November.

A judge on Thursday said that wasn’t good enough, and ordered other funds to be used to make the full monthly payment. The Trump administration appealed, asking a higher court to suspend any orders that require it to spend more money than is available in the contingency fund. That is what led to Jackson’s temporary hold issued late Friday.

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Mississippi Today Health Reporter Gwen Dilworth and Editor-in-Chief Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson contributed to this report, as did Associated Press reporters from across the U.S.

After months of uncertainty over its future, an online resource for tracking the financial cost of weather and climate disasters throughout the United States has been revived.

The U.S. Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database was previously managed by a team at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. Since 1980, the program has been responsible for analyzing wildfires, tornadoes, winter storms and other disasters that cause at least $1 billion in damage. But it was retired in May, one among several NOAA products and services to get shuttered by President Donald Trump’s administration this year. 

Now, a nonprofit called Climate Central, which communicates climate change science and solutions, has hired the scientist who led the project at NOAA, Adam Smith, and has taken on the responsibility of compiling and releasing the latest data.

In the first six months of 2025, there were 14 disasters with damages costing just over $101 billion in total. Many of them occurred throughout the Mississippi River Basin. Mississippi, where storms have caused $1.8 billion in damage, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee were among the hardest hit by severe storms and tornadoes, which caused just over $40 billion in damage. 

The January wildfires in Los Angeles resulted in approximately $60 billion in damages — making it the most expensive wildfire on record. 

Zachary Labe, a climate scientist at Climate Central, said they brought back the database because they “were hearing from every single sector how important this data is for decision-making and understanding areas that are increasingly at risk for billion-dollar disasters.” 

Among those who have typically relied on the database are policy makers, researchers, and local communities. It’s especially important for planning disaster relief and emergency management efforts “because they can focus resources on areas that are seeing big trends in the number of billion-dollars disasters,” Labe said.

Bryan Koon, president and chief executive officer of the consulting firm Innovative Emergency Management, said the analysis is helpful. His company works with government agencies and other organizations to help with disaster preparedness, response and recovery. 

“These kinds of data sets are very important in the broad scope, at least from my perspective, for trend analysis,” Koon said. 

In states like Missouri, for example, he said his company and other interest groups can analyze previous billion-dollar disaster data on tornadoes and their frequency over the past decade or two. That information can be used to inform how insurance companies write their policies, how buildings are designed and how notification systems are structured.

“I want to make sure that we, as a nation, wrap our arms around as much information about these things as we can so that we communicate the threat of future disasters for Americans,” Koon said.

The Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative — a cooperative of more than 100 communities between Minnesota and Louisiana — pushed the Trump administration to keep the database open, according to executive director Colin Wellenkamp.

“It was a critical database that showed us where costs associated with disasters were most impactful. What sectors of the economy were hit the hardest by a disaster? Whether it be intense heat, flooding, drought, forest fire, named storm event or otherwise,” Wellenkamp said.

From a cost-benefit analysis standpoint, said Wellenkamp, the database can tell cities, counties and states how to spend resources on mitigation to avoid incurring similar costs from future disasters. But industries like manufacturing, construction and agriculture also want to see the data, he said. That’s because the database’s financial impact analysis includes physical damage to commercial and residential property, losses associated with business interruption and crop destruction, damage to electrical infrastructure and more.

Other stakeholders that see the value of the database are both the insurance and re-insurance industries.

Franklin Nutter is the president of the Reinsurance Association of America, one of the largest trade groups in the country. The goal of reinsurance is to provide insurance for the insurance companies, stabilizing the industry and playing a role in “the financial management of natural disaster losses,” according to the association’s website. 

“It’s like an iceberg: the public is made aware of the impact of extreme weather by seeing the graphics (the tip of the iceberg) but most commercial users value the underlying data (the body of the iceberg),” said Nutter by email.

While the billion-dollar disaster data is valuable to financial stakeholders, Nutter said he believes its greatest value comes from providing “public awareness of the increasing extreme weather risk.”

There are many factors that come together to make a billion-dollar disaster — such as weather, infrastructure, population and location. Labe said that the number of events has been increasing since 1980. 

“It’s very likely that 2025 will not be the costliest year on record when we look at the statistics, but it definitely falls into this long-term increasing trend,” he said.

Climate Central is not the only organization trying to pick up the pieces of a resource that was shut down by the federal government or is at risk. 

Last month, amid growing concerns over the future of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative announced it would be partnering with a nonprofit called Convoy of Hope to provide aid within 72 hours of disasters for communities along the Mississippi River. 

But Wellenkamp said there aren’t many states that can afford the response and recovery efforts from a billion-dollar disaster.

“These (initiatives) are not meant to be permanent solutions,” Wellenkamp said. “These are not meant to replace federal capacity. They are meant to put our cities in a relatively secure position until the federal questions are answered. And the sooner that those answers come, the better.”

For many, the answers will require data. 

“Just because the federal government decided they’re not going to do it anymore doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing,” Koon said.

This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation.

Most Mississippi public universities saw an increase in student enrollment for the fall semester compared to last year, according to an annual data report the Institutions of Higher Learning board released Monday. For regional institutions like Delta State University and Mississippi University for Women, that growth means victory. 

Overall, the state’s public institutions saw a 2.7% increase in enrollment with more than 81,961 students on campuses this fall compared to 79,817 students enrolled last year. 

The W, located in Columbus, had the largest enrollment increase of the eight public universities: 8.1% or 2,371 students. That’s the university’s largest enrollment growth in over a decade. 

“We had increases in both new students and in continuing students, so recruitment and retention strategies are having a positive impact,” Nora Miller, president of The W, said in a press release. 

Delta State, another regional institution located in Cleveland, enrolled 2,791 students this fall — a 5.2% increase from 2024. The university also had its highest freshman enrollment growth since the pandemic: a 38% increase from fall 2024. 

“This milestone reflects the exceptional value of a Delta State education, the dedication of our faculty and staff, and the growing confidence families place in our mission to transform lives through innovative, student-centered learning,” Delta State President Dan Ennis, said in a press release. 

Delta State also enrolled 18% more transfer students this year than in 2024, and has 33% more first-time graduates, according to the university. 

For Delta State, that growth occurred after years of  declining enrollment. 

Last year, the university cut $3 million from its budget, which included more than a dozen faculty layoffs and reductions to 21 academic programs. This year, as Delta State celebrates its centennial, administrators said they are focusing on increasing enrollment through intentional recruitment and admissions marketing.

“That kind of momentum signals that more students and families are seeing the value of a Delta State education and the opportunities it provides,” university officials said in a statement to Mississippi Today. 

Two of the state’s flagship institutions, University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University, saw another year of record-breaking student enrollment. Ole Miss had the largest number of students this fall: 25,222. Mississippi State’s enrollment grew by more than 400 students this semester, totaling 23,563. 

The state’s third largest public institution, the University of Southern Mississippi, enrolled 13,191 students, only 0.2% more than last year. 

For the state’s historically Black universities, Mississippi Valley State University had the highest increase in student enrollment, 3.2%, or 2,276 students. Jackson State’s enrollment by 2.2% this fall, totaling 6,464. 

Alcorn State University, an HBCU near Lorman, was the only state institution that saw a slight decline in enrollment, falling to 2,900 students this fall from 3,000 in 2024. 

Edward Rice, vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, said the university plans to do an audit to assess enrollment over the last five years. The goal is to develop data strategies to improve student retention and assess admissions applicants. 

Rice expressed disappointment in the enrollment decline but said the university’s enrollment team hopes to expand Alcorn’s footprint with a new outreach campaign to target prospective students in neighboring states. 

“As we look ahead to the upcoming freshman class, our focus will be strategic and centered on student support and success as well as enhancing our onboarding process to better support incoming students,” Rice said.