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Former Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Edwin Lloyd Pittman, who served in multiple state elected offices, including all three branches of government, has died.

A news release from the state Supreme Court announced Pittman, who served as chief justice of the Supreme Court from 2001 until 2004, died earlier this week at his Ridgeland home. He was 89.

Pittman was elected to the state Senate in 1964 representing his hometown of Hattiesburg. He went on to serve in the state elected offices of treasurer, secretary of state and attorney general. He served as attorney general from 1984 to 1988 before running unsuccessfully for governor.

After losing the gubernatorial bid in an ultra-competitive Democratic primary that included other statewide elected officials and a past governor, Pittman came back to capture a seat on the state Supreme Court in 1989.

“Chief Pittman provided exemplary leadership to the Mississippi Judiciary as chief justice,” said former Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr., who served with Pittman on the state’s highest court “His accomplishments for efficiency, transparency and access to justice had a profound effect on our legal system. He championed the establishment of (shorter deadlines for hearing cases … brought rule changes to allow cameras in the courtroom and improved access to justice for the poor and disadvantaged, to name a few.

“The court system today is better for his untiring efforts and dedication to duty.”

As chief justice, Pittman was credited with making the Supreme Court more transparent, posting dockets and oral arguments online, according to a court press release. He also led the effort to put in place regulations to allow news cameras in the courtroom at a time when only a handful of states were allowing them. Pittman worked to garner public funding to provide access to the judiciary for the needy.

Pittman said at the time, “We have to recognize the fact that we in many communities are frankly failing to get legal services to the people who need it … It’s time that the courts help shoulder the burden of rendering legal services to the needy in Mississippi.”

In 2011, former Gov. Haley Barbour awarded Pittman the Mississippi Medal of Service.

 “The people of this state have honored me with a wonderful trip through life,” Pittman said at the awards ceremony.

Current Chief Justice Mike Randolph said, “Even though he served in all these important government positions, he never lost his common touch. I regret that I didn’t get to serve with him. I hope that when I’m done, that I will be as well thought of as he was.”

Randolph, also from Hattiesburg, now holds the post on the court that was held by Pittman.

“He was a consummate politician and public servant. He’s an important figure in Mississippi’s history,” said U.S. Court of Appeals Judge James Graves. Graves was the third Black Mississippian to serve on the modern Supreme Court. Earlier in Graves’ career, he was hired to a position in the Attorney General’s office by Pittman.

Pittman was last in public view when he was asked by then-Attorney General Jim Hood to look at the legality of a frontage road being built in Rankin County to provide easier access to busy Lakeland Drive for a small neighborhood where then Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves lived.

The end result of the controversy is that the access road was not built.

After retiring from the Supreme Court, Pittman joined a law firm in Madison County.

The post Former Chief Justice Pittman, who served in all three branches of Mississippi government, dies appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A group of nonprofits in and around the capital city are teaming up to build new green spaces in Jackson, looking to offer environmental benefits such as limiting both flooding as well as a phenomenon known as “heat islands.”

Dominika Parry, a Polish native, founded the Ridgeland-based 2C Mississippi in 2017, hoping to raise awareness around climate change impacts in the state. The group has attempted relatively progressive ideas before, such as bringing climate curriculums to public schools and establishing the state’s first community solar program. 

With a lack of political appetite, though, those projects have struggled to get off the ground, Parry explained – “I realized that no one in Mississippi talks about climate change,” she told Mississippi Today. But she’s confident that the green spaces initiative will have a meaningful environmental impact. 

In one project with the Farish Street Community of Shalom, 2C Mississippi is building green spaces along the historic Farish Street in downtown Jackson. The groups recently acquired $1.5 million through the Inflation Reduction Act for the idea. 

A 2020 study in Jackson from consultant CAPA Strategies identified “heat islands,” or urban areas that absorb more heat because they have fewer trees and bodies of water. The study found that at times during the summer, parts of downtown were over 10 degrees hotter than areas around the edge of the city. 

The idea for the spaces, which will go in courtyards between Amite and Griffith Streets, includes new trees, vertical gardens, and a maintained grassy area for gatherings and events like the neighborhood’s Juneteenth celebration (renderings of the project from 2C Mississippi are shown below). Parry said they’ll start to plant the trees in January and have the whole spaces done sometime next year. Then, she plans to monitor the impacts, including on the energy needs of surrounding buildings. 

Dorothy Davis, Shalom’s president, said that the new tree canopy will give shelter from the simmering temperatures that brew over the city concrete. It’s a concern in an area where, Davis said, many live without reliable or even any air conditioning. Over a few weeks this summer, as an extension of the 2020 study, she and a group of local students measured the heat index along Farish Street, which Davis said never dipped below 100 degrees. 

“It wasn’t surprising because I’ve been in Mississippi all my life, I know how Mississippi heat is,” said Davis, who has been in Jackson since 1963. “But it was very concerning because we have a lot of elderly people in this area especially.”

According to the National Weather Service, which has temperature records dating back to 1896, five of the top 10 hottest years in Jackson have occurred in the last 10 years. 

In addition to the Farish Street project, 2C Mississippi is also working on building “microparks” around west Jackson. Voice of Calvary Ministries, another local nonprofit, partners with the city of Jackson to eliminate blight, and, along with some other groups, is working to restore and build new homes in about 150 properties around West Capitol Street near the Jackson Zoo. 

“We have a lot of lots that we can really do some reinvestment in, not just with housing, but the parks,” said VOCM’s president and CEO Margaret Johnson. “I think we can offer something new and different to an impoverished area of the city.” 

Johnson explained that the area is near a flood zone, and the microparks are a preemptive measure to reduce risk as well as the financial burden of flood insurance. 

Many of the lots have been abandoned for years, she said, often after people moved away or an owner died without a family member coming to take care of the property. With no one to tend to the land, it deteriorates, turning into an eyesore. 

“It seems to be more concentrated in west Jackson than some other parts of the city,” Johnson said, adding that the area doesn’t have a real park for children to play in or for people to get together. “There hasn’t been any real, new construction in west Jackson, of any significant level, in the last, 20, 25, 30 years.”

So far, VOCM and 2C Mississippi have picked about six neighboring lots on Louisiana Avenue to turn into microparks, which Parry said will be done by the end of 2025. The groups also plan to hold a community meeting Oct. 15 to invite residents’ feedback. Johnson hopes they can eventually expand the idea to other parts of Jackson.  

 “I think once we do this and people see it, we can go to other parts of the city and do the same thing,” she said. “So, I think this is just the start of something great for the city of Jackson.”

The post Plans to build Jackson green spaces aimed at tackling heat, flooding and blight appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The head of Mississippi Medicaid told lawmakers on Thursday that the agency is working with the federal government to get approval of a new law that allows uninsured, low-income women short-term Medicaid coverage while they wait for their application to be approved.

The program, called presumptive eligibility for pregnant women, has been hailed as a way to get pregnant women earlier access to prenatal care in states that have not expanded Medicaid and to mitigate bad health outcomes for mothers and babies.

Mississippi is one of 10 states in the nation not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. 

Mississippi lawmakers wrote in the bill that women must provide proof of income before qualifying for presumptive eligibility, which is potentially at odds with federal regulations. 

“CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) does not like proof of income or proof of pregnancy,” Medicaid Executive Director Drew Snyder said Thursday in an annual legislative budget meeting. “To the current federal administration, a person’s word should be sufficient to get the temporary pregnancy coverage … I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to come to a resolution that is faithful to the state law and satisfies federal expectations.”

It’s not clear whether the state agency will be able to negotiate the details with the federal government or whether the Mississippi Legislature will need to rewrite the law during the 2025 legislative session.

Following the meeting, Snyder quickly left the building and refused to answer questions from a reporter about the status of the program. Mississippi Today has been allowed to communicate about pregnancy presumptive eligibility with the Division of Medicaid solely through email exchanges.

House Bill 539, spearheaded by Medicaid Chair Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg, would allow low-income pregnant women to get prenatal care while waiting for an official Medicaid application to be approved. The way the bill is written, these women would need to bring proof of income, such as a paystub, to their doctor’s office. 

Federal guidelines, however, state that while the agency may require proof of citizenship or residency, it should not “require verification of the conditions for presumptive eligibility” – which are pregnancy and income. 

“It is my understanding that the Division of Medicaid is currently working with CMS for approval of our presumptive eligibility law, specifically with the language around proof of income,” McGee told Mississippi Today. “This is part of the process and I am optimistic that it will be approved.”

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, tasked with approving or denying the state’s plan for implementing presumptive eligibility, has until Oct. 9 to make a decision. 

CMS declined to comment on the status of Mississippi’s state plan amendment.

A spokesperson for Medicaid told Mississippi Today via email the agency is moving forward with implementation of the program despite the federal government’s concerns.

The Division is accepting applications from health care providers and conducting eligibility determination training sessions – the final requirement for providers before they can begin treating women under the new policy. Nine medical providers have had their applications approved so far, according to the Division of Medicaid. 

The Division hosted a training for participating Federally Qualified Health Centers Thursday and will be hosting a training for participating hospitals Oct. 10 and 11, according to a participating provider. 

In addition to the nine providers that have been accepted, the University of Mississippi Medical Center – the state’s largest public hospital and largest Medicaid provider – told Mississippi Today it submitted its application on Thursday. 

Below is a list of the nine providers that have been approved to participate as of Sept. 25: 

• Physicians & Surgeons Clinic – Amory
• Mississippi Department of Health, Dr. Renia Dotson – County Health Dept. (Family Planning Clinic)
• Family Health Center – Laurel
• Delta Health Center, Inc (Dr. H. Jack Geiger Medical Center) – Mound Bayou
• G.A. Carmichael Family Health Center Providers – Belzoni, Canton, Yazoo City
• Coastal Family Health Center, Inc. – Biloxi 
• Delta Health System – Greenville
• Delta Medical Group – Women’s Specialty Clinic – Greenville
• Southeast MS Rural Health Initiative Inc. – Women’s Health Center – Hattiesburg

Gwen Dilworth contributed to this report.

The post Proof of income requirement may delay program to help low-income pregnant women get care appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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Lexington Police Department engaged in excessive force, illegal searches and sexual harassment, the Justice Department concluded in a report released Thursday.

 “Lexington is a small, rural community but its police department has had a heavy hand in people’s lives, wreaking havoc through use of excessive force, racially discriminatory policing, retaliation, and more,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a press conference Thursday.

She said these police officers in Lexington “routinely make illegal arrests, use brutal and unnecessary force, and punish people for their poverty — including by jailing people who cannot afford to pay fines or money bail. For too long, the Lexington Police Department has been playing by its own rules and operating with impunity — it’s time for this to end.”

The 47-page report discusses excessive force, searches without legal cause and sexual harassment of women. It also discusses the unlawful jailing of those who owe fines or can’t afford bond.

The Justice Department’s investigation also “uncovered that Lexington police officers have engaged in a pattern or practice of discriminating against the city’s Black residents, used excessive force, and retaliated against those who criticize them,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.

He also criticized the town’s approach to fines and fees by arresting and jailing people who can’t pay fines. “Being poor is not a crime, but practices like these amount to punishing people for poverty,” he said. “People in that community deserve better, and the Justice Department is committed to working with them, the City, and the Police Department to make the City safer for all its citizens.”

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said that “public safety depends on public confidence in our justice system,” and that has been undermined by these civil rights violations.

U.S. Attorney Todd Gee for the Southern District of Mississippi compared the Lexington jail to the debtors’ prison in Charles Dickens’ novels.

Police have the authority to enforce the law, but they shouldn’t “act as debt collectors for the city, extracting payments from the poor with threats of jail,” he said. “No matter how large or small, every police department has an obligation to follow the Constitution.”

For instance, he said, police arrested a local man who was fined $224 for public profanity and had to pay $140 before they would release him from custody.

Another man was jailed for four days because he refilled his coffee without paying for a second cup. Another was jailed for two weeks for stealing packets of sugar from a gas station. His bail? $1,249, which he couldn’t afford.

Police have imposed $1.7 million in fines in one of the nation’s most impoverished areas, he said. “That’s $1,400 for every man, woman and child in town.”

Overall, Black residents, who make up 75% of the population, are 17.6 times more likely to be arrested than white people, he said.

He harkened back to six decades ago when people were arrested in Holmes County for their involvement in the civil rights movement.

In 2022, then-Lexington Police Chief Sam Dobbins was caught on an audio recording using racist and homophobic slurs. He bragged that he had killed 13 people in the line of duty, shooting “one n—- 119 times.”

He was fired the next day, and a Black police chief replaced him.

Despite that, the discriminatory practices that Dobbins initiated “continued unabated,” Clarke said.

Abuses by Lexington police have included using stun guns “like a cattle prod,” she said. One Black man, already being held down by three officers, was Tased eight times, and another was shocked 18 times until he was covered in his own vomit.

Clarke said one in every four Lexington residents have been arrested by police, and some of those are being arrested in retaliation for criticizing police or filming them.

One of those was Jill Collen Jefferson, whose legal nonprofit, JULIAN, has filed two lawsuits on behalf of Black residents accusing the police of mistreating them, was jailed June 10, 2023, after filming a traffic stop from her car on a public street.

The misdemeanor charges against her — resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, failure to comply and blocking a public roadway for filming a traffic stop — were eventually dismissed.

Jefferson applauded the department, praised the survivors’ courage and called the findings an “incredible victory.” She vowed to work with the National Police Accountability Project to help bring reforms to Lexington and other police departments across the nation.

Clarke said both the city and police officials are cooperating with them to make reforms. Lexington police have yet to comment on the report.

Clarke noted that half of America’s police departments have 10 or fewer officers. Lexington has 10.

“No city or town is too large or too small,” she said, for the Justice Department “to safeguard the rights that every American enjoys.”

The post Justice Department says Mississippi town violates residents’ rights appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland met Wednesday with law enforcement officials in Mississippi, days after the Justice Department announced it was widening its investigation into a local sheriff’s office where a group of deputies known as the “Goon Squad” has been accused of brutalizing residents for two decades.

He called the Goon Squad’s acts “a betrayal of their community, a betrayal of their profession and a betrayal of their fellow officers.”

Rankin County came to national attention last year after officers from a self-described “Goon Squad” tortured two Black men in their home and shot one of them, nearly killing him. Six officers were sentenced to federal prison in March, and last week, the Justice Department announced a probe into the county’s policing practices.

Garland’s visit was part of a tour he said he is making to each state as attorney general, and  reiterated the Justice Department’s commitment to working with local officials, deputies and the community to conduct a comprehensive investigation into violations of civil rights committed by law enforcement. 

He also discussed various efforts by the Justice Department throughout the state, including their work to reduce violent crime, curb interstate drug trafficking and investigate police departments accused of misconduct. 

He touted the Justice Department’s convictions of drug traffickers funneling narcotics from California to Mississippi and $300,000 in funding to enhance the state’s forensic science capabilities.

He credited the department’s work with helping to reduce homicides by nearly 12% across the U.S.

After addressing the press, he spoke with representatives from federal agencies along with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, the Jackson Police Department, the Department of Public Safety for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, as well as sheriffs from Hinds, Warren, Lauderdale, Adams and Harrison counties.

Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey, who has denied any knowledge of the Goon Squad’s operations, was not among those present.

Justice Department investigators are seeking to determine if the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional policing through widespread violence, illegal searches and arrests or other discriminatory practices.

This review, known as a pattern or practice investigation, is expected to probe department records and practices to determine whether the agency has allowed routine abuses to occur. The investigation would not seek criminal charges for individual officers, but could result in a lawsuit against the department designed to force reforms and federal monitoring.

An investigation by The New York Times and Mississippi Today detailed the stories of nearly two dozen residents who said that Rankin deputies had burst into their homes, restrained the residents and brutalized them in search of illegal drugs.

According to dozens of interviews with victims and witnesses, the deputies waterboarded people, beat them and used Tasers to shock them in the groin and face. The accusations are supported by medical records, photographs of injuries and department records tracking deputy Taser use.

At least 20 Rankin County deputies were present during these incidents, reporters found, including the former undersheriff, high-ranking detectives and a deputy who later became a local police chief. 

Five deputies and a local police officer were convicted for their role in torturing Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker last year, but so far, no other deputies have been criminally charged.

In a statement on Facebook last week, the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department wrote that it would “fully cooperate with all aspects of this investigation, while also welcoming DOJ’s input into our updated policies and practices.”

The Rankin County NAACP is collecting signatures for a petition calling on the governor to remove Mr. Bailey from the office. Rankin County NAACP chapter president Angela English said they are close to the nearly 30,000 signatures required.

“He has allowed his deputies to carry out criminal activities without any repercussions,” she said. “In any other leadership capacity, someone would have lost their job or accepted responsibility for their actions and resigned. He has done neither.”

The post Attorney General Merrick Garland calls Goon Squad’s acts ‘a betrayal of their community, a betrayal of their profession’  appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Gov. Tate Reeves said Wednesday that he is appointing a district attorney in northeast Mississippi to become a judge on the state Court of Appeals.

John Weddle of Saltillo will succeed former Judge Jim M. Greenlee of Oxford, who retired June 30.

Weddle will step down from his current job and begin serving on the 10-member court on Oct. 14.

Weddle has practiced law since 1995 and has been district attorney since 2015 in Alcorn, Itawamba, Lee, Monroe, Pontotoc, Prentiss and Tishomingo counties. He was previously an assistant district attorney for the seven counties.

Weddle also previously served as public defender in Lee County and municipal court judge in Tupelo.

“His years of legal experience and public service make him an excellent addition to the court,” Reeves said.

Weddle earned a bachelor’s degree from Mississippi State University and a law degree from the University of Mississippi.

Reeves will call a nonpartisan special election for Nov. 3, 2026, to fill the final half of the eight-year Court of Appeals term that expires at the end of 2030. Weddle can choose to run in that race.

The post District attorney John Weddle appointed as judge on the Mississippi Court of Appeals appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Undefeated and fifth-ranked Ole Miss prepares for its SEC opener, as Mississippi State and Southern Miss suffer increasingly frustrating losses. Plus, the Saints crash back to earth and the Braves head into the biggest series of the season against those loathe some Mets.

Stream all episodes here.

The post Podcast: Ole Miss stays hot, hot, hot appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Editor’s note: This press release was drafted and released by the National Press Club and is republished with permission.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Press Club is honoring Mississippi Today — a nonprofit, non-partisan newsroom based in Jackson, Mississippi — with its highest honor for press freedom, the John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award. 

Mississippi Today is currently involved in a legal case to protect privileged documents used in producing a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation and named in an ensuing defamation case brought by the state’s former governor. The case has wide-ranging implications for press freedom in the United States, including journalist-source protections. 

“In a country that holds freedom of the press as one of its core rights, it is shocking that any court — let alone the highest one in a state — would require reporters to hand over their sources simply because the governor was upset to be caught red-handed misusing federal welfare funds,” said Emily Wilkins, president of the National Press Club. “Mississippi Today’s reporting shined light on a critical issue impacting thousands of Americans, and we hope this award both honors their work and draws attention and support for their case.” 

Mississippi Today is an authoritative voice on politics and policy in the state of Mississippi and produces essential coverage on education, public health, justice, environment, equity, and more. 

The outlet won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for its investigation into a $77 million welfare scandal that revealed how the state’s former governor, Phil Bryant, used his office to benefit his friends and family. 

Bryant then sued Mississippi Today and its CEO Mary Margaret White in July 2023, claiming that the series defamed him. Editor-in-chief Adam Ganucheau and reporter Anna Wolfe were added as defendants in May 2024, according to an editor’s note on the outlet’s website.

On June 6, 2024, Mississippi Today appealed a county judge’s order to turn over privileged documents in relation to the defamation lawsuit. The Mississippi Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the newsroom’s appeal.

“Ours may be a Mississippi case, but the ramifications absolutely could impact every American journalist who has long been granted constitutional protections to dutifully hold powerful leaders to account,” Ganucheau said. “But this fight is not just about protecting journalists and our sources. We’re also fighting to ensure every single American citizen never loses a fuller understanding of how leaders truly operate when their doors are closed and they think no one is watching. As we continue to stand up for press freedom everywhere, it’s truly humbling to be recognized by the National Press Club in this way.”

A team of attorneys is representing Mississippi Today in its case: Henry Laird at Wise Carter; and Ted Boutrous Jr., Lee Crain, Sasha Duddin, and Peter Jacobs at Gibson Dunn. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is also providing legal support.

The John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award is named for a former National Press Club president who fervently advocated for press freedom. By selecting Mississippi Today as the domestic honoree, the Club and the Institute are committing to monitor and support this precedent-setting case for the First Amendment protection of reporters’ privilege. 

The National Press Club will confer the 2024 Aubuchon awards, along with the Neil and Susan Sheehan Award for Investigative Journalism during its annual Fourth Estate Award Gala honoring Axios’ Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen on Nov. 21 in Washington, D.C.   

The gala dinner is a fundraiser for the Club’s nonprofit affiliate, the National Press Club Journalism Institute, which produces training to equip journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire civic engagement. Tickets and more information for the event can be found here.

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