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Delta State University has launched a new program to help STEM teachers in the Delta.

The Collaborative for Rural STEM Education program provides resources and professional development. Its funding comes from a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

This year’s program has 22 teachers from 12 districts, including Clarksdale Municipal School District and the Holmes County and Sunflower County Consolidated school districts.

Each teacher receives specialized training and resources based on a needs assessment. They’ll also receive support throughout the year and stipends for travel and lodging each summer.

“The need for STEM teachers in the Delta is crucial due to their relevance in today’s society and

workforce,” project director Jessica Hardy  said in a statement.

Teachers and instructors spoke highly of the program and its potential.

“The power of this program is in the growth of teachers and their capacity to develop and enhance not only STEM content, but also STEM dispositions and skills in students,” said faculty instructor Daphne Smith, 

Said Yazoo County Middle School teacher Melanie Hardy: “I am honored to have been selected to study alongside so many outstanding Mississippi Delta educators, and I look forward to implementing all of the resources provided by the CRSE into my middle school math and science classes.”

The program will run throughout the year until summer 2025. 

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First things first: Jackson Prep baseball phenom Konnor Griffin, 18 years young, will become approximately $7 million richer when he signs a Major League contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates one day soon.

The Pirates made Griffin, the national high school player of the year, the ninth pick of Sunday night’s MLB Draft about 55 minutes into the proceedings. It might have seemed more like three hours to those in attendance at a draft watch party at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. As the first eight drafted players, all college players, were announced, the tension mounted among the scores of Griffin’s family, friends, teammates and classmates in attendance. Konnor Griffin, dressed in a dapper grey suit, clasped and unclasped his hands while seemingly staring a hole through the TV screen. Kevin Griffin, his father, kept a stoic face, but his legs twitched, belying his nerves. Dendy Hogan, Konnor’s girlfriend, silently prayed.

Then at 6:55 p.m. came the news: The Pirates had picked Konnor Griffin, and the crowd thundered its approval in a startling, prolonged explosion of noise. Immediately, Konnor and Kevin Griffin stood and embraced. Behind them, Griffin’s Jackson Prep teammates hooted, hollered and high-fived, several in tears.

“I saw my name, but I couldn’t hear a word,” Konnor said, minutes later. “We’re recording it at home. I’ll hear it later.”

In the several minutes between virtually every earlier pick, the Griffin family retreated to a more private room for phone calls with agent, Joey Devine of Excel Sports. Sources told this reporter the Griffins turned down an offer from a team that drafted several notches above the Pirates because that team wanted him to sign for far less money than the slot value. Behind-the-scenes negotiation is common before and during the draft.

In the end, everyone in the building was thrilled. Griffin, as predicted, was the first high school player picked. And he was picked by what appears to be an up-and-coming Pirates team that has improved its record dramatically in 2024. The Pirates boast several outstanding young players, including Paul Skenes, the 2023 No. 1 overall pick, who has instantly become one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Despite Konnor Griffin’s enormous talent, his path likely will take longer than Skenes’ meteoric rise. Skenes, 22, pitched three years of college baseball, the third for national champion LSU. Griffin, recently turned 18, reclassified from the Class of 2025 to 2024, completing four years of high school in just three years in order to fast-track his baseball career. He will need at least a couple years — maybe more — of minor league seasoning to make it to The Show. He is expected to begin his pro career at Bradenton, Fla., playing for the Pirates’ Class A Bradenton Marauders in the Florida State League. Griffin had signed to play college baseball at LSU, but Baton Rouge seems a highly unlikely destination now.

The best Mississippi comparison to Griffin in recent years is probably Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley, picked by the Braves in the first round (41st pick) as an 18-year-old in 2015. For the next four years Riley, who had signed to play college ball at Mississippi State, worked his way through the Braves’ farm system, step by step, until his promotion to the Major League team in 2019. He has since become a two-time National League All-Star.

The good news: Konnor Griffin already knows the lengthy task ahead — and relishes it.

“I’m ready to work,” he said. “I’m ready to do what it takes. This is the starting line. I’ve got a journey to the Big Leagues ahead of me.”

Sunday’s MLB Draft was a reward for many years of hard work, and nobody knows that better than Kevin Griffin, the father who pitched hundreds of hours of batting practice and hit countless ground balls and fly balls for his middle son to field. “That’s what makes this so special,” Kevin Griffin. “I know how hard Konnor has worked.”

As Kevin Griffin talked to reporters, the TV above him flashed the news that former Madison Central star Braden Montgomery was the No. 12 draft pick of the Boston Red Sox and is expected to sign a contract for the slot value bonus of $5.5 million. 

When a reporter pointed that out to Kevin Griffin, he responded, “That’s just awesome. What does that tell you about Mississippi baseball, and the quality of baseball in the Jackson metro area? Two of the first 12 picks are from right here. It’s a tired act when people around the nation downplay the quality of competition in Mississippi.” 

It really is, and with the No. 15 pick, the Seattle Mariners chose Mississippi State pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje. Surprisingly, State’s slugging outfielder Dakota Jordan, projected as a top 30 draft prospect, fell out of the first two rounds. The draft continues today with rounds 3-10. Rounds 11-20 will take place Tuesday.

Over the course of these three days, many dreams will be realized, others dashed. Konnor Griffin lived the first part of his dream Sunday night. He seems more than ready to pursue the second part sooner rather than later.

The post For young Konnor Griffin, MLB Draft night could not have gone much better appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Editor’s note: This is a breaking and developing story. It will be updated.

Former President Donald Trump appeared to have blood on his face and was rushed to a hospital by the U.S. Secret Service following an apparent shooting during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

A spokesman for the Secret Service said Trump was safe after “an incident,” and a Trump campaign spokesman said the former president was “fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility.”

Numerous national news reports on Saturday evening indicated the suspected shooter was deceased, a rally attendee was deceased, and at least one more attendee was rushed to the hospital following the incident.

A nation closely following the 2024 presidential election — including Mississippi’s elected officials and other prominent public figures — responded to the news on Saturday evening.

State Rep. Robert Johnson of Natchez, the Democratic leader of the Mississippi House: “We need to find a way to become less strident, less divisive. This kind of atmosphere is not good for our country.”

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Delta State University is still working out the number of faculty it needs to lay off after the college board last month approved the president’s plan to achieve financial sustainability.

The regional college in the Mississippi Delta had initially planned to let its more than 200 faculty know on July 1. But the president, Daniel Ennis, wrote in an email a few weeks ago that he can’t finalize the number of layoffs until he knows more about the shape of the four new interdisciplinary degrees that will replace the 21 programs the university is shuttering.

This means faculty will learn whether they need to start looking for new jobs for the 2025-26 academic year on a case-by-case basis around the start of the fall semester — a delay that Ennis wrote is necessary but regretful.

Other considerations for layoffs, Ennis wrote, include if faculty will be needed for general education courses or to teach students who are currently enrolled in degrees the university plans to stop offering, like English, history and mathematics.

“We are working throughout the summer to finalize next steps,” Ennis told Mississippi Today through a university spokesperson.

The cuts come as Delta State has been struggling amid the region’s population decline to keep its tuition-dependent budget in the black — a situation likely to be exacerbated by increased competition among the eight public universities for the declining number of high school graduates going to college.

Last month, the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees approved Delta State’s proposal to close 21 programs the university selected through an academic review process that weighted metrics like total enrollment and awarded degrees more heavily than departmental profits or enrollment growth and decline.

Initially, some faculty were relieved to see in the IHL board book that just 16 faculty would be “affected” in four programs — music, art, languages and literature, and chemistry.

But Ennis wouldn’t say why faculty would be laid off from those four departments and not others, or if 16 is the total number of faculty that will be laid off considering some have already departed from the institution.

In total, about $750,000 needs to be cut from the payroll, Ennis previously told Mississippi Today. Seventeen staff have already been laid off, and 49 vacant positions were left unfilled.

Faculty have been working over the summer to write plans for the four new degree programs that will replace the deleted 21: Visual and performing arts, humanities and social science, digital media and secondary education.

Ennis said these four programs will be introduced to faculty in the fall through a curriculum review process, with the goal of implementing the programs by January 2025.

The post Number of faculty layoffs at Delta State still in flux appeared first on Mississippi Today.

MONTICELLO — Even with an adjusted proposal to tackle flood risk in Jackson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers still faces a steady flow of opposition downstream along the Pearl River.

“Let me assure you that Louisiana and Mississippi will sue you,” Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven, told a panel of Corps officials Thursday night. “We will be in court fighting over you destroying our recreation, our way of life, our wildlife, our fishing and hunting and recreation. We will be in court.”

Last month, the Corps released a new draft environmental impact statement as part of the process for selecting a plan to create flood control in Jackson. The report suggested that a plan that would cost anywhere from $487 million to $655 million may be the most justifiable under the agency’s cost-benefit analysis.

The agency is receiving public feedback on the report until Aug. 6 after recently extending the deadline. The Corps will then use feedback from the public, as well as other government agencies, to craft a final EIS. The agency’s timeline projects a final decision in December from Michael Connor, the assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works .

Over the last decade or so that Rankin and Hinds County officials have pushed a flood control plan known as “One Lake,” officials and residents downstream have shouted back. They argue that the plan, which would relocate a dam and widen the Pearl River near Jackson, would disrupt the river’s downstream flow and, thus, also the wildlife and industries that rely on it.

In its June report, the Corps suggested that One Lake may have too large of a price tag to justify. However, the report also says that “Alternative D,” which includes similar components as One Lake, may be the most justifiable based on the agency’s cost-benefit analysis.

Alternative D would create a smaller lake (about two-thirds the size) than what the One Lake plan would, and decrease mitigation costs by avoiding potential hazardous waste sites along the river. Alternative D also includes the option of elevating homes and voluntary buyouts for some of those in the floodplain.

Regardless of the differences, though, those in Monticello on Thursday still saw the fundamentals of what they’ve spent years protesting: a lake that, to some degree, is being advertised as recreation for those in the Jackson metro area.

“What’s this going to do to my paper mill?” Scotty McCloud asked the panel. McCloud has spent the last 44 years working at the local Georgia Pacific paper mill, one of the largest employers in the area. He argued that, if the mill doesn’t get the right quantity of water at the right temperature, not only would the mill suffer but so would Lawrence County as a whole.

Troy Constance, an environmental expert for the Corps, said that the agency’s modeling of the remaining flood control proposals shows minimal impact to the Pearl River’s flow once it reaches Monticello.

“We’re not seeing huge changes very far from (where the proposed weir, or dam, would go),” Constance said, adding later that the models the Corps used were some of the best he’d work with in his 39 years on the job.

Others in the audience, such as Alton Letchworth, argued that the Corps’ cost-benefit analysis didn’t make sense.

“You could buy out every home in the flood area, and you wouldn’t use half the money that you’re going to spend on this,” Letchworth said.

So far, the federal government has made $221 million available for the flood control project, meaning if Alternative D were selected, the project would still need another $266 million to $434 million in funding. Moreover, the local sponsor for the project — in this case the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District — would be responsible for 35 percent of those costs, or $170 million to $229 million.

Constance replied to Letchworth that Alternative D would have a wider impact in terms of flood control than simply just offering buyouts, which would vary in success depending on the participation rate of property owners.

Earlier, though, a Corps official clarified how the agency calculates a project’s potential benefits: while at least 50 percent of the benefits have to come from flood control, additional benefits from recreational opportunities can be included in the agency’s analysis. Constance explained that the benefits of damming the river — which is what separates Alternative D and One Lake from other options the Corps is considering — would be recreational, not flood control-related.

Columbia Mayor Justin McKenzie and others argued, despite the Corps’ hydrological models, that the weir would harm those downstream similarly to what they saw after the Ross Barnett Reservoir was built in the 1960s.

“I do think there’s some responsible ways to do (this project) without creating a weir,” McKenzie said. “I don’t want any of my tax revenue to be spent on recreation of the lake in Jackson.”

Another possible impediment to the project is the Pearl River map turtle.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Pearl River map turtle as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act, estimating that only 21,000 of the species remain in existence. The Pearl River map turtle’s habitat, the agency says, includes the Pearl River system in Mississippi and Louisiana.

“The science that the Service has gathered on the Pearl River map turtle indicates it could become endangered in the near future,” said Fish and Wildlife Biologist Luke Pearson in a press release. “These native freshwater map turtles are at risk and need our help. Working with state fish and wildlife agencies and our partners to conserve them is a priority.”

According to the Corps’ draft EIS, Alternative D is “likely to adversely affect but not likely to jeopardize the continuing existence of” the turtles. During Thursday’s meeting, Corps officials said they are still consulting with the USFWS on potential impacts to animals listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and that the agency’s advice will be incorporated into the final EIS.

“(The project) would require some excavation for the banks (along the Pearl River), and those turtles have been known to rely on those banks,” Brandon Davis with the Corps said.

For more information on how to submit comments before the Aug. 6 deadline or on the draft EIS, visit the Corps’ project website here.

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JXN Water confirmed to station WLBT this week that it shut off drinking water for an apartment complex in the city that was late on paying its bills, but declined to tell Mississippi Today how many total accounts have been suspended so far.

The third-party utility, which was established in 2022 through a federal court order, said it began shutting off water connections for not paying water bills in March. But when asked if it had a number of how many accounts or connections were shut off for overdue bills, JXN Water declined to say.

“No, as in we are not releasing that number,” Aisha Carson, a media spokesperson for JXN Water, told Mississippi Today on Thursday. “We’re not talking about it publicly.”

The complex that JXN Water did comment on was The Gardenside Apartments, a property just west of State Street on Northside Drive. Management with the complex didn’t respond to a request for comment, but an advertisement on Apartments.com says Gardenside contains 144 units with rent for one-bedroom apartments starting at $749.

The advertisement also reads: “Water, Sewer and Trash included!”

The complex’s website listed just two vacancies as of Thursday afternoon.

JXN Water told WLBT that it made “repeated attempts” to collect on Gardenside’s past due bills. The TV station reported that complex owes $149,000 and has not made a payment since 2017.

“That company that owns (Gardenside) owns more than one apartment complex in Jackson,” Carson said. “None of their accounts are current, and they have not been responsive to our requests at all.”

The registered agent for Gardenside on the state’s business registry database is Moshe Weber. The address listed for Weber in the Mississippi Secretary of State’s website matches one listed for a New York Life insurance agent with the same name in Brooklyn, New York. Weber did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In April, JXN Water told WLBT that five apartment complexes, not including Gardenside, owed over $1.8 million in water bills. All five were owned by out-of-state companies.

Carson wouldn’t specify what other complexes are at risk of having their water shut off, but said some have reached out to JXN Water to work out payment plans since the April news.

“We are actively enforcing our severance process for apartment complexes that are more than 90 days behind (on their water bill),” she said.

In a Wednesday press release, JXN Water said it will send a property manager multiple notices before beginning the severance process. The utility also encouraged tenants in Jackson apartment complexes to ask their property management companies whether their accounts with JXN Water are current.

If you live in Jackson and have had your water shutoff due to your apartment complex not paying its bill or for any other reasons, reach out to us at info@mississippitoday.org.

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As of Friday, five of the six locations where Mississippi’s prisons are located are under a National Weather Service heat advisory.

And the Mississippi Department of Corrections has no clear timeline as to when it will install air conditioning to bring relief to inmates and staff.

“We are continuing to explore our options to provide air conditioning where possible; however, there is no timetable for that installation at this time,” MDOC spokesperson Kate Head wrote in an email. 

One woman incarcerated at the women’s prison at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl said relief from the heat is hard to come by and the temperatures inside are worse than outside without any shade or trees. The woman asked not to be named for fear of retaliation. 

“It’s actually worse (in) here,” she said Tuesday. “The heat just hits you in the face.” 

The heat index, also known as what temperature feels like on the body, takes into account humidity and air temperature. Friday’s advisory was said to expect index temperatures up to 110.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who are at an increased risk of heat-related illnesses include those without access to air conditioning, those over the age of 65 and people with chronic conditions – populations that include incarcerated people. 

Last year was the incarcerated woman’s first summer at the prison, and she witnessed people pass out or experience seizures because of the heat. 

Head, the MDOC spokesperson, wrote in an email that the department is taking steps to mitigate the heat by providing incarcerated people with water, ice and fans. 

This is similar to what has been done in previous years, but some incarcerated people have said that distribution of ice isn’t always regular or enough to support hundreds of people and that fans move hot air around. MDOC did not respond to these concerns Friday. 

Air conditioning installation has been completed at the women’s prison at CMCF in the church, school and dining areas, the incarcerated woman said. Several weeks ago it was completed in her housing zone, she said, but the AC there has not been turned on. 

Tuesday evening, the prison superintendent visited the building where the incarcerated woman lives and told residents the air conditioning would not be turned on for the foreseeable future because it requires a part that is on backorder, the woman said. 

The woman has also seen how three emotional support dogs trained by seminary students are moved to air conditioned areas and provided pools of water to stay cool. She doesn’t understand how the animals get access to the relief but she and the other women don’t. 

“We get the short end of the stick on everything,” she said, in reference to how the men at CMCF already have AC and the dogs in the women’s prison get access to it. 

MDOC did not respond to questions about the air conditioning and the dogs’ access to it.  

Last year as air conditioning was installed at three-fourths of the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Commissioner Burl Cain estimated that by sometime in 2025, AC would be coming Parchman’s Unit 29, South Mississippi Correctional Institute in Leakesville and other facilities, so long as funding was available to support those upgrades. 

“It just takes a good while to get it all done,” he said in an April 2023 interview with Missisisppi Today. “That’s just the way the funding is.” 

At Parchman, the heat index was above 130 degrees –  within the extreme danger category where a person’s risk of heat-related illness is likely – for 25 of the past 72 hours, according to the National Weather Service records. 

On four separate instances Wednesday afternoon, the heat index reached 185 at Parchman, according to weather data. 

Pictures from Parchman’s Unit 29, which doesn’t have air conditioning, shows how men have secured 8-inch fans purchased from the commissary to the bars of their cells and placed their mattress on the floor beneath the fan, which some have told advocates is how they get relief from the heat. 

The majority of Parchman has had air conditioning since last summer, but Unit 29 is part of the group of prisons that are expected to get AC sometime in the future. 

At all prisons, an 8-inch fan is available to buy from the commissary for $29.95, which is among one of the most expensive on the prison’s commissary list compiled by The Appeal. 

Even if an incarcerated person has a job, Mississippi prison industry jobs can pay between 20 cents and $1.30 an hour, which falls within an estimated national average calculated by the Prison Policy Initiative. The group also estimated regular prison jobs nationwide have an estimated range of 14 cents and 63 cents an hour. 

Privately operated Eastern Mississippi Correctional Facility has AC including in its housing units, but family members told advocates that since the end of May, the air conditioning has not been functional. 

The maximum daily temperatures in Meridian, where the prison is located, have been above 90 degrees since the end of May, according to the National Weather Service. 

Meridian is also under a heat advisory, and within the past three days, the highest heat index was 107 degrees – 95 degrees at 75% humidity, which is in the danger category for heat-related illnesses. 

Management and Training Corp. spokesperson Emily Lawhead said technicians have diagnosed problems with air conditioning units and will install new units when they arrive. 

“We’re working hard to get all AC units back online as soon as possible,” she wrote in an email. 

In the meantime, Lawson said cold water and fans are available, and Gatorade is provided to staff and incarcerated people for them to stay hydrated. Swamp coolers are cooling the air in areas where AC units are waiting to be repaired, she said Friday. 

Heat in prison is a national issue that Families Against Mandatory Minimums, which represents incarcerated people and their families, and One Voice United, a group representing corrections staff, have teamed up to address. 

The Safer Prisons, Safer Communities campaign is highlighting a nationwide crisis through overcrowding, understaffing and deteriorating conditions that make prisons unconducive to rehabilitation and create poor conditions for incarcerated people, prison staff, families and communities. 

Andy Potter, executive director of One Voice United and a former Michigan corrections officer, recognizes prison infrastructure can be old and it can be expensive to install air conditioning.

But he said it’s not enough for incarcerated people and the corrections staff to rely on fans, water bottles and Gatorade to stay cool. The incarcerated and staff do not have the freedom or ability to seek relief in a similar way as those not in a prison system can do, Potter said. 

Daniel Landsman, vice president of policy for FAMM, said air conditioning can help decrease incidents of violence and fatalities, which research has found increases with heat. 

“Heat is just going to make all the things we are experiencing in our prison system worse,” he said. 

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