A federal judge will decide whether to approve another injunction to prevent state appointments to a new, separate court system in Jackson set to go into effect in two weeks.
U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate said Tuesday he plans to rule on the injunction and other pending court motions before Jan. 1, 2024, which is when the Capitol Complex Improvement District court will be created through House Bill 1020.
Wingate heard arguments about the injunction in a NAACP lawsuit on behalf of Jackson residents that is challenging the court appointments required under the law. The injunction seeks to prevent Chief Justice Michael Randolph from appointing one judge and Attorney General Lynn Fitch from appointing two prosecutors to the Capitol Complex Improvement District court.
Brenden Cline, who is representing the plaintiffs, called HB 1020 “a comprehensive overhaul of the criminal justice system in Jackson” and a change in status quo for the city’s voters.
They won’t get to elect judges from their community who can be held accountable like other communities across the state do, he said. Plaintiffs also argue that the legislation dilutes the voting power of Jackson residents and stigmatizes them, sending the message that they are unfit to have a say in their own local government.
Cline also argued that HB 1020 has discriminatory impact on the majority Black city, had discriminatory intent by the Legislature and that the plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm to their voting rights and their 14th Amendment rights.
He emphasized that the plaintiffs are challenging state officials’ appointments to, not the creation of, the CCID court.
The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in September that creating the CCID court would be allowed under the state constitution. It also ruled that appointing four temporary judges to Hinds County Circuit Court was unconstitutional.
Rex Shannon, who is representing the defendants from the attorney general’s office, said the plaintiffs don’t have standing and the burden is on them to prove discriminatory intent and risk of actual, imminent harm.
Voting rights are not an issue in this case, he said, and nothing in HB 1020 affects the plaintiffs’ voting rights. Shannon added that the legislation doesn’t change the way judges are elected in Jackson and Hinds County, nor did it remove elected judge positions.
Shannon also emphasized that not every action or intent behind the legislation is racist, including how judicial appointments would be made and how the CCID court would function.
He also said the plaintiffs have assumed the Legislature was not acting in good faith when crafting and passing HB 1020. Shannon asked whether any legislative act relating to Jackson could be seen as discriminatory based on the city’s racial makeup.
Shannon argued that blocking creation of the CCID court would prevent lawmakers from addressing Jackson’s ongoing public safety and criminal justice issues.
The city is in need of additional resources, he said, and the Legislature is providing them by supporting the Capitol Police and establishing the court to handle the force’s increase in cases, rather than adding additional cases to the Hinds County Circuit Court, which is experiencing a backlog, he said.
“That shouldn’t be controversial at all,” Shannon said about the state’s interest in Jackson as the capital city and its efforts to address crime there.
In his rebuttal, Cline asked whether the state could have funded the existing Jackson and Hinds County criminal justice system rather than creating a new one. He said the assumption is that the Legislature would have to write a blank check, but the city’s delegation and local leaders over the years have requested funding that the Legislature has not approved.
Chief Justice Randolph’s place in the lawsuit was brought up again in court.
Randolph was a defendant in the lawsuit up until September when Wingate removed him under judicial immunity, paving the way for Randolph to proceed with judicial appointments. As of December, Randolph has not appointed any judges to the CCID or temporary judges to work in the Hinds County Circuit Court.
The plaintiffs proposed a workaround to block Randolph’s judicial appointments even though he is no longer part of the lawsuit.
Those motions and others, including a request from the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene, are awaiting a ruling from Wingate. He said Tuesday that he would address them in an elongated opinion.
Melvin Jones, a 64-year-old native of Cleveland, was in his 30s when he was diagnosed with diabetes. He knew he was at an increased risk because of his family history.
In 2013, at 54 years old, Jones had two toes on his right foot removed and would later lose the big toe on his left foot. He didn’t know it then, but he had peripheral artery disease, or PAD, a condition where plaque builds up in peripheral arteries – those that do not supply blood to the heart or brain – and restricts circulation. Without treatment, a patient will continue to need further amputations and will die young.
One doctor told Jones he would likely need to amputate his entire foot – but Jones, whose condition made him retire early from his job at Baxter Pharmaceuticals, was resolved not to let that happen.
“I thought ‘I don’t want that,’ and me and the doctor were through,” Jones said. “It would have changed my life. I already can’t drive my truck no more.”
But many diabetics in rural Mississippi don’t have access to the care Jones went on to receive to avoid further amputations. Diabetes and the cardiovascular problems it causes are often asymptomatic at first, or symptoms are obscure. A lack of specialists coupled with some of the lowest social determinants in the country leave regions like the Delta prone to late detection of diabetes and a high rate of amputations.
Now, Jones goes to cardiologist Dr. Foluso Fakorede’s Cleveland clinic, Cardiovascular Solutions of Central Mississippi, for regular wound care from a nurse practitioner who travels to the clinic every Thursday from Oxford.
His life is different now, but he’s thankful he can still move around and hasn’t had to undergo a major amputation, which, for legs, is characterized as any cut above the ankle joint.
Mississippi is the only state with every county represented in what is called the “diabetes belt” of the U.S., which spans an upward arc from the deep South to Appalachian states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fakorede said academic institutions should be investing in the region through medical research, but it’s not an attractive market.
“I’ll make the argument that it should be,” he said. “Because these people were never given the chance to catch up. And now we’ve left them to suffer in isolation and in pain.”
With 14.8% of its adults diagnosed with the disease, Mississippi is second only to West Virginia in prevalence.
Uncontrolled diabetes, which runs rampant in rural and underserved areas, can lead to blindness, kidney failure, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart attacks, strokes and gangrene.
Mississippi, one of 10 states that has not expanded Medicaid, is the fifth highest uninsured state. In Bolivar County and several other Delta counties, at least one in five residents have medical debt in collections.
About one in three diabetics over the age of 50 will develop PAD, which often goes undiagnosed and untreated in medical care deserts like the Delta.
When it is caught, doctors often have an “amputation-first” mentality, which results in the loss of limbs and early mortality – despite the fact that a procedure exists to clean out the arteries of a PAD patient and restore blood flow to extremities.
Within five years of an amputation, diabetics stand a good chance of being dead. Nationally, Black patients are four times more likely to suffer diabetes-related amputations than white patients.
“It’s a death sentence,” Fakorede said, “and it’s very often preventable.”
The procedure capable of decreasing a PAD patient’s odds of amputation by 90% is called an angiogram, an invasive diagnostic imaging test that detects arterial blockages. Revascularization is the therapeutic procedure that cleans out those arterial blockages.
Jones received five angiograms and revascularization procedures in both his legs over the course of the last two years.
The number of angiograms a diabetic patient with PAD will need depends on a number of risk factors such as age, race, hypertension, heart conditions and habits such as diet and tobacco use.
In the U.S., more than half of patients never receive an angiogram or revascularization procedure before a major amputation.
At his Delta clinic, Fakorede, the only cardiologist in Bolivar County, estimates that the number of amputees who never had an angiogram is close to 90%.
Dr. Foluso Fakorede follows up with patient Joann Moore at Cardiovascular Solutions of Central Mississippi in Cleveland, Miss., Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. Credit: Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today
Fakorede, who was born in Nigeria and spent his teenage and young adult life in New Jersey, struggled to justify moving to Mississippi and opening his own clinic. He knew nothing about the place and had never operated his own business. But when he saw how great the need was in the Delta for a procedure he was skilled at, he knew his mind was made up.
“You walk through Walmart or Kroger here,” Fakorede said, “and I promise you you’ll see someone who has had a limb taken off or a dialysis catheter around their neck.”
In the end, Fakorede said the Delta proved to be far more similar to his hometown in Nigeria than he thought. They are regions that, for the majority of residents, reflect nothing of their country’s wealth – despite the rich resources they provide that contribute to that wealth.
“That is actually what made me stay – that similarity,” he said.
In the Delta, Fakorede explained, there are a number of socioeconomic factors that contribute to what he calls “the perfect storm” and leave people at a greater risk of chronic and life-threatening conditions.
Studies have shown that the body’s inflammatory response to chronic stressors like poverty, food deserts and unemployment – all of which pervade the Delta – can accelerate diseases like PAD.
Fakorede believes that a large part of the problem is inadequate screening measures. The United States Preventive Services Taskforce, or USPSTF, is the governing body that doctors look to for recommendations on who to screen for which conditions.
The USPSTF has not endorsed a screening for PAD, despite the fact that the five-year mortality for undiagnosed or untreated PAD patients is higher than that of breast cancer and prostate cancer, and studies have shown minorities are disproportionately affected.
“That is atrocious,” Fakorede said. “These patients have existed for decades. We know that this disease is destroying them because it’s taking them out of the workforce. It’s taking them out of their homes. They’re ending up in caskets early on.”
Meanwhile, Ozempic shortages are sweeping the nation as doctors prescribe the FDA-approved, weekly Type 2 diabetes medication to patients without diabetes for weight loss.
In Mississippi, nurse practitioner KC Arnold, director of the Ocean Springs Diabetes Center, witnesses the shortage daily.
“Every single day I’m getting a call: ‘hey, my pharmacy can’t get this,’” Arnold said. “In all my years of helping people with diabetes, this has been the biggest challenge for me to help people get what they need.”
Arnold’s facility is nurse practitioner owned and run – a rarity in Mississippi, where restrictive and expensive collaboration agreements limit the freedom with which nurse practitioners can operate.
Ozempic has a weight-loss version called Wegovy, but it isn’t covered by Medicare, so doctors will sometimes prescribe Ozempic in its place. The Mississippi Board of Nursing has guidelines that prohibit nurse practitioners from prescribing the weight loss drugs off label. But that rule doesn’t apply to doctors.
Arnold says she supports insurance companies covering a drug that addresses obesity. But until that happens, doctors shouldn’t be prescribing Ozempic to patients for weight loss.
“I can’t get the medicine for my patients with Type 2 diabetes,” she said. “Insurance needs to change to help people with weight – I’m all for that – but right now my patients with diabetes need medicine they’re not getting.”
And the drug isn’t just prescribed to people with diagnosed obesity. Chelsea Handler, a comedian and host of the 2023 Critics Choice Awards, joked that “everyone’s on Ozempic” in Hollywood.
Many insurance companies don’t cover drugs prescribed off label, but those who can afford it are paying premiums out of pocket.
“You know who ain’t getting it?” Fakorede said. “We ain’t getting it here in the Delta. There are people who are not even diabetic who are getting it in the Upper East Side in New York. Socioeconomic status matters.”
Dr. Foluso Fakorede takes a call from a professional in wound care while at Cardiovascular Solutions of Central Mississippi in Cleveland, Miss., Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. Credit: Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today
Mississippi’s alarming rate of diabetes plays a significant role in another of the state’s abysmal health statistics: leading the country in infant and maternal mortality.
Pregnancy tends to highlight the socioeconomic disparities of diabetes since some women receive Medicaid coverage for the first time during pregnancy, according to maternal-fetal specialist Dr. Sarah Novotny.
“Often, pregnancy is the first time women have access to health care insurance,” Novotny, who serves as division director of maternal-fetal medicine at University of Mississippi Medical Center, said. “So, a lot of times patients are coming into pregnancy with very poorly controlled diabetes because they didn’t have access to pre-pregnancy care.”
In pregnancy, diabetes can be separated into two categories: women who already had diabetes, whether it be Type 1 or Type 2, and then became pregnant, versus those who developed gestational diabetes during pregnancy.
Women who have preexisting diabetes and become pregnant are at risk of developing vascular problems, high blood pressure, renal problems and retinopathy. Gestational diabetes doesn’t carry the same risks for the mother. Both conditions carry increased risks such as abnormal growth and birth defects for babies.
Women who develop gestational diabetes carry a 50% risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life.
Managing diabetes before conception would go a long way in mitigating the state’s maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity rates, according to Novotny. But at the very least, recognizing and diagnosing diabetes during pregnancy can serve as an opportunity for previously uninsured or underinsured women to improve their quality of life.
In the last three decades, despite all the technological and medical advancements that have been made, diabetics in minority populations have seen worse outcomes.
Turning those statistics around would mean prioritizing tackling inequities in health care and recognizing places like the Delta as meccas for research, according to Fakorede.
“We need to be collaborators,” he said. “We need to be hope dealers. We need to be disruptive in terms of using our positive thinking to address some of the systemic inequities that have plagued these people and this region for decades.”
The high school football season is in the history books, which means it’s time for the best, biggest and fastest to decide where they are going to play college ball. The Cleveland boys discuss National Signing Day, as well as Saturday’s Ole Miss-Southern Miss basketball game at Biloxi, the New Orleans Saints’ playoff hopes (yes, they still have some) and a whole lot more.
For the first time in a court filing, a key defendant in the Mississippi welfare scandal is alleging that former Gov. Phil Bryant was behind the use of welfare agency grant funds for two projects now deemed illegal.
The nonprofit founded by Nancy New, one of the central figures of the scheme, is alleging that Bryant was involved in directing welfare funds towards the construction of a volleyball stadium and a pharmaceutical startup company — two projects former NFL quarterback Brett Favre lobbied officials to support. Favre has also alleged that Bryant supported the nonprofit’s payments to the two ventures.
“Based on the foregoing, as well as evidence that will be presented at trial, Bryant was involved, both directly and indirectly, in directing, approving, facilitating, and/or furthering MDHS’s use of federal grant funds for Prevacus and for construction of the USM volleyball center,” reads a Dec. 12 court filing by Mississippi Community Education Center’s attorney Gerry Bufkin.
Bryant has previously denied involvement in the use of welfare funds for either project. Through his attorney, Bryant declined to answer questions about the allegations made in the Dec. 12 filing. Bryant, who is suing Mississippi Today for defamation, has sent threats to the news outlet for continuing to report this story, including basic updates about public court documents.
The court filing also details how at least some of the welfare money sent to the concussion drug company Prevacus may have actually ended up in the hands of scammers in Ghana.
New is one of eight criminal defendants and 47 civil defendants that Mississippi Department of Human Services is suing in an attempt to recoup $77 million in stolen or misspent federal funds.
Last year, New alleged in a filing that Bryant instructed her to make a $1.1 million payment directly to Favre, but this is the first time she or her nonprofit have alleged Bryant was behind payments to the other Favre projects.
Mississippi Community Education Center’s 81-page answer to the complaint, filed Dec. 12, alleges that Bryant conferred with then-agency director John Davis to channel agency grant funds towards the projects, but that the state has purposefully left the former governor out of the lawsuit. The filing also argues that the welfare department has been exploiting flexibility in federal law around state spending since the inception of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program in 1996.
“By omitting Bryant, and by attempting to disavow Davis, MDHS seeks to distance itself from its 25-year course of performance in relation to TANF and other grant expenditures,” the filing reads.
This is a similar argument to those made by other defendants such as Favre, fitness trainer Paul Lacoste and the nephew of the former welfare director.
The timeline
The latest court filing contains a lengthy timeline of Bryant’s alleged involvement in the Favre projects using texts and documents, most of which have been previously produced in court or published by Mississippi Today.
The relevant messages include texts New has produced between herself and Favre and Bryant; texts Bryant produced between himself and Favre; texts Vanlandingham produced between himself, Bryant and Favre and other associates.
The texts contain gaps that defendant testimony — which has not yet been gathered — may fill. Mississippi Community Education Center’s latest filing contains references to records and unspecified “evidence that will be presented at trial” to back up its claims against the former governor.
The following is an abbreviated timeline of the events as described in the court document. It reflects only Mississippi Community Education Center’s side of the story, and Bryant is not a defendant in the case.
Nov. 1, 1996: Phil Bryant became Mississippi’s State Auditor, the same year Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which replaced the former entitlement cash welfare program with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant.
Jan. 11, 2016: Elected governor four years earlier, Bryant appointed John Davis as the director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
April 20, 2017: Favre first texted Bryant to say that he was working to build a volleyball facility on University of Southern Mississippi’s campus, and “I need your influence somehow to get donations and or sponsorships.”
July 2017: Favre again asked for the governor’s help, texting, “you are the governor and on our side and that’s a good thing.” The governor communicated with Davis, the filing alleges. Davis then met with Favre, New and others at USM, where Davis committed $4 million to the project.
August 2017: USM would not immediately accept the funds. Favre contacted Bryant for help, the filing alleges, then Bryant contacted New. New texted Favre, “Wow, just got off phone with Phil Bryant! He is on board with us! We will get this done!” Days later, USM accepted the grant funds after someone arranged a deal that the university could take $1 million of it for its own improvement projects.
September 2017: Worried about a funding shortfall for the volleyball facility, Favre again contacted the governor, the court filing alleges “based on information and belief.” “I saw the Governor last night,” New texted Favre. “It’s all going to work out.” Soon after, the filing alleges, the welfare agency increased its commitment from $4 million to $5 million.
May 2018: Construction again faced a funding shortfall. Favre reached out to Bryant, texts show. One week later, the project received additional funding. “Good News. I have a little money for the ‘project’ – $500,000!” New texted Favre.
October-December 2018: Favre and Vanlandingham, the Prevacus founder, had been in talks with a Mississippi-based investor group, but the deal fell through after the group asked for 95% shares in the company, with no cash investment, solely for them to use their “political clout” to secure FDA approval. So they reached out to Bryant. They offered him stock in the company. All three, in addition to others, met for dinner at Walker’s Drive-In to discuss opportunities for the company. Mississippi Today has reported on this meeting and the text exchanges surrounding it.
January-June 2019: Days after the Walker’s meeting, welfare officials met at Favre’s house and agreed on a $1.7 million grant for Prevacus. Vanlandingham texted the governor to express his excitement about working with his welfare officials. “1.95M with the Governors help,” Vanlandingham texted another Mississippi official and potential investor, according to the court filing. New began sending payments to Prevacus and Favre informed the governor of the cash flow. Vanlandingham, Favre and Bryant texted continually about Prevacus business developments. Read more in Mississippi Today’s series “The Backchannel.”
June 11, 2019: Vanlandingham met Gov. Tate Reeves, then a candidate for governor, in New Orleans. Discussing the meeting with other Prevacus board members, Vanlandingham said, “I’m meeting the governor and who he’s supporting to take his place in Mississippi. Hoping to keep that non-dilute running our way!!!” Read more in Mississippi Today’s October article.
June 21, 2019: Bryant received a tip about Davis allegedly committing fraud, which he turned over to State Auditor Shad White, effectively forcing Davis out of office.
July 2, 2019:Bryant met with New, the court filing alleges. “MDHS owed reimbursements to MCEC and New told Bryant she could no longer fund Prevacus and volleyball without the reimbursements,” the filing reads.
July 12, 2019:New texted Vanlandingham, “we can send 400k today [but] I will need to let Brett know that we will need to pull this from what we were hoping to help him with [volleyball]….” (MDHS’s civil complaint says the money was delivered on July 16, 2019.)
July 16, 2019: New texted Favre, “I may not be able to assist you in Aug. as we had planned.” Favre responded, “About to see Governor Bryant.” Favre, on his way to see the governor, texted Bryant, “I really need your help with Nancy and Jake.” Bryant responded, “You my man… we are all in….” After seeing Favre, Bryant texted New, “Just left Brett Favre. Can we help him with his project. We should meet soon to see how I can make sure we keep your projects on course.”
July 22, 2019: New submitted a grant proposal to MDHS for $2 million in additional funds to finish construction on the volleyball stadium.
August 8, 2019: Bryant texted New, “Meeting with Brett in a few. Have the proposal and working it through DHS.” Bryant and Favre met. Favre texted New that they had met about something else, and “he only had 15 minutes but he did say at the end that he will get this done with you!!!”
August-November 2019: Bryant, Favre and New worked together to try to usher the volleyball proposal through MDHS, the court filing alleges. “Bryant, using Favre as intermediary, told New how to revise the grant proposal to ‘get it accepted,’” the filing alleges. Favre texted New, “He said to me just a second ago that he has seen it but hint hint that you need to reword it to get it accepted.” Bryant secured a meeting for New and Favre with then-director Christopher Freeze to discuss the proposal. Later on, Bryant told Freeze he supported the project. Read more here.
December 2019: After a meeting between Bryant and New, the court filing alleges, the welfare agency awarded New’s nonprofit three new grants totaling $8.6 million. Bryant texts New, “Did y’all get any Of the new programs from DHS?” New responded, “Yes, we did … Someone was definitely pulling for us behind the scenes. Thank you,” to which Bryant responded with a smiley face emoji.
January 2020: Favre and Vanlandingham discussed offering Bryant a package – either stock or cash – ”that will get him determined to see [Prevacus] through.” After Bryant left office on Jan. 15, 2020, Vanlandingham texted Bryant the next day, “Now that you’re unemployed I’d like to give you a company package for all your help … we want you on our team!!!” Bryant responded, “Sounds good. Where would be the best place to meet.”
Feb. 5, 2020: John Davis, Nancy New and four others “were arrested for spending grant funds as directed, approved, facilitated, and/or furthered by MDHS, including, without limitation, the MDHS Executives, Bryant, and Davis,” the filing reads.
At Jackson State Deion Sanders smiles as he holds the Orange Blossom Classic trophy after winning an NCAA college football game over Florida A&M on Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)
The sports world doesn’t stop spinning during the holiday season. There’s all sorts of news, much of which deserves comment. To wit:
Sports Illustrated names Deion Sanders Sportsperson of the Year.
I don’t even know where to begin with this news. So how about this: Are you freaking kidding me?
Rick Cleveland
Since skipping the SWAC Championship press conference and leaving Jackson State – where he said God had led him – Sanders coached Colorado to a 4-8 record this past season. This he achieved by losing seven of his last eight games after after firing about 50 or 60 inherited student-athletes who only thought they had signed on to play their college football at Colorado.
This he did after firing the offensive coordinator whom he had talked into leaving a job as a college head coach. This he did by blowing a 29-0 halftime lead over a mediocre-or-worse Stanford team in his home stadium.
All this he did while his every move was being filmed for his own documentary purposes. We saw it all here in Jackson at Veterans Memorial Stadium where there were always more TV cameras pointed at Coach Prime on the sideline than there were pointed at the players on the field.
When Deion signed on at Jackson State, I called an old friend who had covered him for years in the NFL. I asked him: What is the most important thing I need to know about Deion Sanders. His answer: Just remember this: “You know how coaches talk about how the word ‘team’ does not include letter ‘I’? Well, you can’t spell Deion without the letter ‘I.’ That’s the main thing you need to know about Deion.”
He was right. With Deion, it’s all about Deion, all the time. He was an unbelievably great athlete. He is a good football coach. Sports Person of the Year? Again, are you freaking kidding me?
Off the top of my head, I can think of, oh, 50 to 60 athletes and coaches more deserving. On a planet where Shohei Ohtani has become the greatest baseball player since Babe Ruth, and the remarkable Patrick Mahomes is the reigning Super Bowl MVP, and Nikola Jokic has redefined the role of the big man in pro basketball, we get the self-proclaimed Coach Prime as Sportsperson of the Year? Seems nothing short of blasphemy.
Fred McNair leaves Alcorn for Texas Southern; Cedric Thomas takes over.
Had heard rumors that McNair, the original Air McNair, might be leaving Alcorn State, but never thought it would happen. This almost seems like someone from the Henry Ford family going to work for Chevrolet.
McNair, simply put, is Alcorn royalty, a star player under Theo Danzy and older brother of the late Steve “Air II” McNair, the greatest player in Alcorn history and later an NFL MVP.
Fred McNair has won big at Alcorn, his alma mater. Credit: Rick Cleveland
Fred McNair leaves after having been Alcorn’s head coach for seven seasons and coaching the Braves to four SWAC Eastern Division championships and two overall SWAC titles. McNair’s Braves were 7-4 last season, tied for the division title and defeated arch-rival Jackson State in McNair’s final game as Alcorn coach.
McNair leaves with an overall record of 48-35, including a sparkling 38-17 record against SWAC opponents. In his final season, the Braves defeated not only in-state rivals Mississippi Valley State and Jackson State but also fierce rivals Grambling and Southern.
Here’s where it gets a little crazy: What cost the Braves the outright division title and a championship game berth was a stunning 44-10 defeat to Texas Southern, 2-7 beforehand, on Nov. 12, the week before the Jackson State game.
TSU’s stunning victory wasn’t enough to save Coach Clarence McKinney’s job. McKinney won 12 games and lost 35 in four seasons at the Houston school.
At 12:21 p.m. Tuesday, Alcorn emailed a press release thanking McNair for his service and including this quote from interim athletic director Robert Raines: “I would like to thank Coach Fred McNair for his many years of service and dedication to Alcorn State University. We worked diligently to extend Coach McNair a multi-year contract that would have placed him in the top tier of the conference for compensation, incentives and additional incentives for assistant coaches. Unfortunately, we could not reach an agreement.”
At 1:24 p.m., another Alcorn press release announced the promotion of Thomas from defensive coordinator to head coach. Thomas, also an Alcorn grad, has also coached at Southern Miss and has head coaching experience at both Mississippi Delta Community College and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Wednesday is National Signing Day.
Every coach in the country will brag about their recruiting “haul” and say they filled their immediate needs and claim victory. Meanwhile, Alabama and Georgia will sign the best recruiting classes and Florida State, Texas and Ohio State will not be far behind. It happens every year. In a not-so-bold prediction, I will tell you it will happen again Wednesday.
The latest 247sports.com recruiting rankings, using verbal commitments, puts Ole Miss by far tops among Mississippi schools at No. 21 nationally. That puts the Rebels 10th among SEC schools. Heading into signing day, State ranks 35th nationally. Southern Miss, at 72nd, ranks tops among Sun Belt Conference schools. It should be noted Ole Miss will fare far better in transfer portal rankings, surely in the top five nationally if commitments hold.
Mississippi welfare officials for years directed federal funds intended to serve the state’s poorest residents to suspicious causes such as a university volleyball stadium, drug rehab for a former pro wrestler, a horse ranch for a former pro football player, and dozens of other things auditors have since flagged.
Text messages obtained by Mississippi Today and a new court filing reveal that the state’s welfare funds may have been lost in another stunning plot: an African heiress gold bar scam.
For the majority of 2019, the federal welfare funds quietly flowed to a pharmaceutical startup with questionable financial prospects. The payments are one component of civil litigation the state is bringing against dozens of people or companies that misspent or improperly received welfare funds.
A pleading filed Dec. 12 in the lawsuit alleges that the company’s founder, a defendant in the case, turned around and sent at least some of that money to an investment group in Ghana, Africa, for a venture that he thought would make him rich but turned out to be a scam.
The founder estimates he lost no more than $30,000 in company funds during a time when the company was greatly funded by a welfare grant, though it’s unclear how much of that amount may have originated from the federal funds. At that time, it would have taken a family of three 15 years to receive that much through the welfare program — a monthly check of $170 — which would have been impossible because the assistance maxes out after five years.
A defense attorney for another defendant recounted painstaking details of the hoax in his lengthy court filing, which alleges former Gov. Phil Bryant was behind the welfare department’s spending, including the intertwining of a drug manufacturing project with a federally-funded anti-poverty initiative. Bryant has repeatedly denied directing any of the welfare spending in question.
Jake Vanlandingham, a neuroscientist from Florida, founded a pharmaceutical startup called Prevacus in 2012 with the idea of developing a drug to treat concussions. To build up the company, he brought on former NFL quarterback Brett Favre, who himself suffered from concussions and used his platform as a famous athlete to raise awareness about the issue.
Favre and Vanlandingham would later take the project to then-Gov. Bryant and then secure $2 million in welfare funds through an economic development partnership that Bryant has tried to distance himself from since arrests in early 2020.
But before all that, the scientist became involved with an inventor who appears to have led him into a movie-like investment scam.
According to texts obtained by Mississippi Today, Vanlandingham began consulting with a man named Don Martin around 2017 to find additional funding and investors for Prevacus. Martin was based in Columbus, Ohio, and had his own concussion-related “smart helmet” venture.
He told Vanlandingham he was working on a deal with an investor named Daniella who owned land in Africa worth hundreds of millions that she was trying to sell to the government. Martin, now 71, told Mississippi Today last week that he met the supposed investor, a wealthy heiress from Ghana, when she reached out to him on Facebook.
Simultaneously, Vanlandingham said he was working to secure patents in China, to which he said he owed hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Through 2018, Martin had promised to secure an investment of $1 million out of the Ghana deal for Prevacus. That prospect, however far-fetched, was enticing to Vanlandingham, who said he needed the money to leverage an additional $2 million from the U.S. Department of Defense.
But after months of stringing the scientist along, Martin finally told Vanlandingham he would have to first put up $25,000 to help pay for a “geological analysis” for the land that Martin said his overseas investor required.
Vanlandingham tried to find the money, but the scientist’s contacts had dried up and he was experiencing deep personal financial problems, according to the texts. He was forced to sell his family’s home to pay the taxes for Prevacus, he said, and ask his mom for a loan to get into a rental. Martin tried to put him at ease by saying things like, “I know what we are doing is pleasing to God.”
Vanlandingham tried to get Favre to secure the $25,000 through an investment in Prevacus from one of his fellow professional athletes, but they wouldn’t bite.
Then Favre suggested they ask the then-Mississippi governor for help and offer him stock in the company. Bryant bit. The men met with several others for dinner in Jackson at Walker’s Drive-In in late December of 2018.
Days later on Jan. 2, 2019, the scientist and Favre met with then-welfare agency director John Davis and nonprofit operator Nancy New. There, they struck a deal — which Bryant denies facilitating — to push $1.7 million in federal welfare grant funds to Prevacus.
“Davis conferred with Bryant concerning using MDHS grant funds to benefit Prevacus,” alleges the court document filed Dec. 12 on behalf of New’s nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center. “Bryant, Davis, and other MDHS Executives directed, approved, facilitated, and furthered the use of MDHS grant funds … to benefit Prevacus.”
Bryant, who is suing Mississippi Today for defamation and has sent threats to the news outlet for continuing to report this story, declined through an attorney to answer questions about this story or respond to allegations in the latest court filing.
The concept was for Prevacus to locate its clinical trial site and eventually the drug manufacturing plant at Tradition, a real estate development and medical corridor on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Bryant would later become vice president of the venture, and the developer, Joe Canizaro, said he paid Bryant on retainer for consulting services for years after he left office.
The grant money for Prevacus didn’t come through instantaneously. “Is the grant submitted now? Have you been pre-approved? Are you confident funds will be within 48 hours?” Martin texted anxiously. “I need to update the attorneys.”
Vanlandingham assured Martin he’d secured the grant from Mississippi and the money was on its way. Martin said he was at peace “Knowing all is good and the communication with the grant lady is specific to distribution date.”
Vanlandingham had held Martin off for months as the hopeful inventor badgered Vanlandingham for some portion of the $25,000. But once Prevacus’ first payment of $750,000 in Mississippi welfare money came in mid-January 2019, Vanlandingham almost immediately wired an unspecified amount to Martin’s company ACTEX, texts show. “Wire sent your way. Make us proud,” Vanlandingham texted Martin on Jan. 23, 2019.
Vanlandingham texted another public official, Leonard Bentz, the director of South Mississippi Planning & Development District, formerly an elected public service commissioner for the southern district, who was at the meeting with Bryant in December.
“Hey brother lots of good stuff happening for us. 1.95M with the Governors help. We are excited. Good time to get investors!!!” Vanlandingham wrote in a never-before-published text. Bentz did not respond to this text. While he initially expressed enthusiasm about potentially finding funding for Prevacus at the Mississippi Development Authority, it wasn’t too long until Bentz stopped responding to Vanladingham altogether. Bentz said he was unaware welfare agency grant funds were used on the venture.
“I don’t think the governor and them have as much involvement as everybody’s making it out to be,” Bentz told Mississippi Today last week. “It is what it is, if those people who were managing those funds didn’t do right, then it sounds like the criminal justice system is going to get them for not doing right.”
Bentz added that if the concussion drug, which Prevacus has since sold to another company, ends up being legitimate, he still wants the manufacturing facility located in Mississippi. “Tell them we’d love to sit down with them,” he said.
For two weeks after Vanlandingham sent the funds to Martin, nothing happened until Martin explained “there is serious political unrest” in Ghana where his contact was located. He told Vanlandingham that Daniella was unsafe because there had been a rash of kidnappings of wealthy people in her region. Martin often discussed the plan to fly the wealthy heiress to the states, though he denied to Mississippi Today ever having a romantic relationship with the woman.
“The plan is first focus to get her to me safe,” Martin texted.
A week or so later, Martin broke the news to Vanlandingham that Ghana Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia had been in a serious car accident that killed his driver — a story news outlets widely reported but was later debunked. Another two weeks later, Martin said Daniella was in critical condition with malaria and depression. “They say she may not make it,” Martin said.
Vanlandingham sent another wire. “Bless you Jake! Daniella is better thanks to your thoughtfulness,” Martin responded. A month later, Martin asked for another $500, because “the government did not accept” the initial payment.
“This is it for me,” Vanlandingham responded. “I’m worried shitless this is a scam. I have until April 9th to pay 300k to China.”
By mid-April, Vanlandingham was saying, “I’m dead man … I owe 336k a week ago.”
But Martin had good news: their multi-million dollar payment was approved and ready to process, they just needed “a legal permit to the holding bank” which the government required “to meet compliance on source of monies.”
They were just short $4,000. The same day, April 18, 2019, New’s nonprofit sent Prevacus another $500,000.
The texts show Vanlandingham sent Martin another wire the next day. “Money cleared,” Martin texted, and Vanlandingham responded, “I’m counting on u brother.”
When Favre asked Vanlandingham for an update on Prevacus’ finances, the scientist responded, “Not much still pushing the African money.”
Then the attorney on the ground in Ghana who they were allegedly working with to close the deal asked for a $1,000 stipend. Martin relayed his message: “Please try your best and get me the 1k to survive on I have no one here.”
In mid-May, Prevacus received another $250,000 in Mississippi grant funds. About a week later, Martin offered more good news: he could increase his investment in Prevacus to $1.5 million “if you can wire $5k to me today or pay to accelerate.” Vanlandingham sent another wire.
“Man I’m stoked. … It’s our time!!!” Vanlandingham texted. Then, after receiving no money four days later, “Yo, my brother. I’m dying!!!”
Around the same time, the court filing shows that Vanlandingham was updating Prevacus investors about “clinical patient intake site at Tradition,” telling them, “A great deal of this has been funded with the help of folks in Mississippi including the Governor.”
In early June, Martin again told Vanlandingham they needed more money to close. Daniella had found two more parcels that the government wanted to add to the real estate deal, but Vanlandingham would have to put up another $8,000 in closing costs.
“What if we don’t?” Vanlandingham asked. Martin responded, “Wow…if we don’t then according to the attorney the government can get ugly and take the land.”
A few days later, Vanlandingham said he secured another investor and sent another wire to Martin. “Make us proud brother,” he texted.
A couple weeks later, the story went that there was a hold up at the bank. While the attorney, who they called Steven, was trying to wire the money, “the Ghana Media Coalition against illegal small-scale mining came up to Steven seeing the wire was a great deal of money stopping to question him…holding him until yesterday.”
“A friend of the Minister and Steven’s is putting up $17k for attorneys fees to clear Steven and release the wire,” Martin said.
Vanlandingham responded, “This sounds positive at some level?”
Now, Martin said, they needed to find an additional $18,000 to release the hold.
Vanlandingham began researching what are called “4-1-9” fraud schemes and found an article on the website for the U.S. Embassy in Ghana describing a scenario eerily similar to what he was experiencing.
The website states, “The goal of the criminal is to delude the target into thinking that he is being drawn into a very lucrative, albeit questionable, arrangement.”
Vanlandingham texted Martin a link to the article, explaining that he’d been looking into this “fraud stuff” where “it’s always ‘urgent’ and there’s always just ‘one more’ payment.”
Martin, whom the Dec. 12 court filing described as “unflappable”, responded by acknowledging the existence of such schemes — “Yes – there is…Steven told me all about it” — but then appeared to try to distract from the issue by describing in detail an unrelated illegal mining operation.
“…especially regarding the Chinese national at the heart of illegal mining in Ghana, … Nicknamed as the “galamsey queen”, … who was arraigned in Ghana in 2017 for engaging in illegal small-scale mining at Bepotenten in the Amansie Central District in the Ashanti Region, was later deported in December 2018 by the government,” Martin wrote.
A few days later, Vanlandingham began talking about involving the FBI “if this gets hung up much longer.”
When he suggested this to the lawyer in Ghana, Vanlandingham received the response, “You can report to FBI like you said am not scared sir am not a criminal if us every thing is for real you will regret thinking other wise.”
But the scientist proceeded with them earnestly. “Worse still, Martin had begun proposing unusual transactions,” the court filing reads. “For example, Martin told Vanlandingham that ‘[w]hen Steven wires to Prevacus $2k, you will wire back the $2k to same source he sent from then you will wire me 4500 … and I will wire him 4500 – closing same day.’”
The deal was falling apart, but Martin said Daniella had a backup plan: “the gold bars her father gave her before he died she is trying to sell … she sent me a Video.”
“So to be clear as of now we are betting on selling gold bars for me just to get my money back?” Vanlandingham texted.
The same day, on July, 16, 2019, Favre texted Gov. Bryant about funding for another pharmaceutical product he said New had promised to support but had apparently dropped. “Hey Governor we are in a little bit of a crunch. … Jake can explain more but bottom line we need investors and need your direction.”
“Will get with Jake.. will help all I can,” Bryant responded.
Also the same day, Prevacus received another $400,000 in Mississippi welfare money. New had told Vanlandingham, “I will need to let Brett know that we will need to pull this from what we were hoping to help him with [volleyball]….”
That evening, Favre visited Bryant. On his way, Favre texted Bryant, “I really need your help with Nancy and Jake. I’ll be mowing your lawn for years after this!!”
“You my man… we are all in..” Bryant responded.
After seeing Favre that night, Bryant texted New, “Just left Brett Favre. Can we help him with his project. We should meet soon to see how I can make sure we keep your projects on course.”
Favre thanked Bryant and the governor responded that he had scheduled a meeting with New and arranged a call with the White House. “This can help with our concussion project,” the governor wrote.
The court filing points out, “Again, Bryant described Prevacus as ‘our … project.’”
The next day, Martin forwarded the video of the gold bars to Vanlandingham. In it, a man intentionally displays his hand with two large rings on his pinky and ring fingers as another man in a suit bends down to open a gray safe on the floor to reveal the bars.
Vanlandingham reviewed the video and responded, “You-Tube? FBI time?”
The attorney representing New’s nonprofit, who wrote the latest court filing, alleged that Vanlandingham communicated with Favre and Bryant about the Ghana situation.
“Based on information and belief, Vanlandingham spoke to Bryant concerning his investment in Ghana and its importance to Prevacus,” the filing reads.“Based on information and belief, the Prevacus funds that Vanlandingham invested in Ghana included grant funds from the State of Mississippi.”
“Good news,” Vanlandingham texted Martin on July 19, 2019. “I’m pretty good friends with the Governor and he has direct access to Stephanie Sullivan the US ambassador to Ghana. We can run communication through the Governor and get these thieves!!!!”
The latest court filing then highlights the fact that Bryant traveled to Ghana less than a month later in August 2019. Documents obtained by Mississippi Today show, however, that Bryant’s trip to Ghana and bordering Togo was planned beforehand and dealt with strengthening trade ties between Mississippi and West Africa.
“During his remarks, he (Bryant) said, a lot of investors based in Mississippi are interested in doing business in Ghana, the reason for which he is in the country to build an economic and investment bridge to facilitate future trade,” reads a press release from the American Chamber of Commerce-Ghana.
Bryant traveled to Ghana with the CEO of a south Mississippi-based product called Sparta Mosquito Eradicator to discuss selling the company’s product to the country to deal with malaria outbreaks. Vanlandingham’s attorney George Schmidt told Mississippi Today last week that Bryant did not travel to the country on behalf of Prevacus and that the timing of the trip was a coincidence.
While Bryant was in Ghana, though, he continued to consult Favre on how to secure funds from the state welfare agency for the construction of a volleyball stadium at University of Southern Mississippi — another project at the center of the scandal.
“Taking off from Ghana so this may be my last message for a while,” Bryant texted Favre Aug. 16, 2019.
Back in the states, Vanlandingham complained to Martin that, “You have put my (sic) in a fraudulent situation with my company … I gave u company money not returned on my books.”
But Vanlandingham continued to inquire on the sale of the gold bars until Martin finally told him they’d been confiscated. The scientist finally snapped, saying, “Wow. What a joke. You got played. I’ll do fbi myself brother. … Pitiful for me to have been involved … What makes me the most furious is u never raised money for Actex. It also makes me curious to your involvement.”
“U continued to take me down satans road,” Vanlandingham said.
Yet Vanlandingham still kept hoping for something to turn around. Two days later, he texted, “I’m pretty devastated please share any progress. I’m out 120k with nothing to show for it.”
Martin said Daniella reached out to a Greek investor who might be willing to put up the money to release the wire. “Wow!!!!” Vanlandingham responded. “Bring it home brother!!!”
Vanlandingham wired another $1,000, supposedly to match what the Greek investor planned to put up towards the closing costs. But then the heiress told Martin that the investor had backed out, and implored him to find the money himself. “If you really can please do honey because we are at the edge of closing,” Daniella said, according to a message Martin forwarded to Vanlandingham.
“So did I throw away another 1k?” Vanlandingham asked.
When Vanlandingham asked where the money went, Martin responded that “Daniella is tired and not well.”
This went on for several more months, despite Vanlaningham’s stated connections to authorities in Ghana. The game continued even after investigators from the State Auditor’s Office began questioning Vanlandingham as part of the Mississippi welfare scandal. After New and Davis were arrested in February of 2020 on embezzlement charges partially related to the Prevacus payments, Vanlandingham and Martin were still discussing traveling to Berlin to get $300,000 for the scientist out of the Bank of Ghana.
From the texts, it’s hard to discern if Martin, who was at least initially reluctant to alert the authorities, was complicit, or if he, too, was swindled. Asked for comment for the story, Vanlandingham said he would contact his counsel but said by text that “Dons a good guy with interesting technology.”
Vanlandingham’s lawyer, Schmidt, told Mississippi Today last week that his client’s payments to the Ghana deal totaled no more than $30,000. The lawyer said he was unaware those funds originated from the welfare program.
Martin told Mississippi Today by phone last week that he’d fallen for the scam and that he never received a dime from the Ghana investor group. He couldn’t say how much in total he’d received from Vanlandingham, all of which he said he sent to Ghana, and that also he didn’t know the money potentially originated from federal grant funds earmarked for Mississippians. But when Martin finally filed a police report, he estimated his total losses at $500,000.
An incident report Martin provided to Mississippi Today shows he reported the scam to the Powell Police Department in Ohio in May of 2022 and the local police department forwarded the case through the FBI to the authorities in Ghana. “I advised Mr. Martin that this was a known scam and he would not be likely to get his money back,” reads the officer’s report.
By the end, it had gotten worse. Martin said the Ghanaians had threatened to kidnap his daughter, and forced him to max out his credit cards purchasing products like laptops and iPhones for them. The police report shows that even after Martin initially reported the incident, the scammers told him there was a warrant for his arrest and convinced him to send $40,000 to remove the warrant. Martin said he’s in $140,000 worth of credit card debt. He also said he experienced a fire in 2021 and he’s been living in the dilapidated house, exposed to the elements with no heat or water.
“I’m totally broke,” Martin told Mississippi Today on Dec. 14.
Martin is still promoting his helmet invention and company, ACTEX, but he’s never raised the money to develop a prototype. He explained that the main reason he fell for the Ghana hoax, which went on for about three years, is his strong faith in God and the belief that he was created for a purpose.
“The way I looked at it was, God works in unusual ways. See, because ACTEX is dedicated for God’s kingdom. And it’s there to save lives and to help people. That’s part of my mission statement. So I kept thinking, ‘Well, okay.’ Because I prayed about it. (And God said), ‘Yes, this is what I want you to do.’ ‘Yes, yes, yes.’”
Martin still believes that he acted in obedience of the Lord and that “he’ll bless ACTEX and many doors will open.”
Meanwhile, the Mississippi welfare funds allegedly lost to the Ghanaians in the scam have yet to be recovered. New and her son have pleaded guilty to felonies for pushing welfare funds to Prevacus. Vanlandingham and Favre are facing civil charges. Bryant has not faced criminal or civil charges. The criminal investigation is ongoing.
Only three times since the federal government began tracking the labor force participation rate in the mid-1970s have a lower percentage of eligible Mississippi workers been employed than in October.
Mississippi, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, had the lowest labor force participation rate in the nation of 53.9% in October. The national rate was more than 62%.
Mississippi’s lowest monthly labor force participation rate occurred for three consecutive months in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, said state economist Corey Miller, who spoke Monday to the Mississippi State University Stennis Institute of Government/Capitol Press Corps luncheon.
The labor force participation rate measures the number of eligible workers who are employed. A higher labor force participation rate generally means a stronger economy with more people with income to spend thus generating more tax revenue, Miller said. Since 2013, Mississippi has either been 49th or 50th among the states in labor force participation rates. Still, the October rate was troublesome, Miller said.
“Frankly, in my opinion, the rate of 53.9% is startlingly low given current economic conditions,” Miller told the lunch crowd. “While I am admittedly hypothesizing, recent data seem to indicate the lack of population growth in Mississippi is exerting downward pressure on the rate.
“If so, focusing on the lack of population growth in the state is even more paramount, as it is beginning to result in immediate negative economic impact.”
As the population ages, Miller said, fewer workers in the prime employment age (16 to 54) are available to fill the void. But the population in the prime employment age of 25 to 54 is growing nationwide by 1% while decreasing in Mississippi by 2.7%. In other words, there are fewer people in the prime employment age to participate in the workforce.
“Population is another challenge for the state to overcome that involves public policy addressing quality of life issues to ultimately generate a more robust and dynamic economy,” Miller said.
Miller said Mississippi is not unusual among surrounding states in that about 3% of its population routinely migrates out each year. The difference, he said, is that most states, unlike Mississippi, have more people migrating in than out.
Other factors that Miller said might negatively impacts Mississippi’s labor force participation rate include:
Lower educational attainment levels.
The state’s high incarceration rates.
Poor health care outcomes resulting in the highest percentage of disabled people in the nation.
The lower education rates among impoverished minority populations could also be a factor since the state has the highest percentage of Black residents in the nation.
Miller conceded that many of the issues impacting Mississippi’s labor force participation rates require a long-term fix, such as improving the education attainment level. But he said a continuing focus on workforce training could help improve the work force participation rate and better child-care opportunities also might help.
Hinds County election commissioners acknowledged in a public meeting on Monday that they sent the wrong document to the company that printed its ballots, resulting in several polling places not having enough ballots for voters on Nov. 7.
The commission, all of whom are elected Democrats, answered questions from a coalition of civil rights organizations on Monday about what went wrong during the statewide election and how those mistakes could be prevented in future elections. Each of the commissioners present at the meeting on Monday took responsibility for the mistake.
“It was a complete human error,” District 2 Commissioner RaToya Gilmer McGee said. “I hate that the citizens of Hinds County experienced it.”
During Mississippi’s Nov. 7 general election, several Hinds County voting precincts ran out of ballots throughout the day. The county is majority Black, Mississippi’s largest county and a Democratic Party stronghold.
People waited in line for hours to vote as local officials attempted to replenish ballots and deliver them to polling places. It’s unclear how many people left without voting or decided not to travel to polling precincts because of the confusion from the shortages.
State law dictates that county election commissioners supply enough ballots to each polling precinct. The commissioners told the coalition and the public at Monday’s meeting that their mistake in sending the wrong documents mostly impacted “split precincts” in the county.
Split precincts exist when several political boundaries share a single polling place. Different types of ballots must be on hand at the polling precinct whenever there’s a split precinct.
Before each election, the Hinds County Election Commission accesses statewide voter data to determine how many ballots should be distributed, but it sent the wrong voter data to the company it contracted with to print the ballots.
According to several commissioners, there are two types of polling precinct reports: a BP-008 and a BP-009. The BP-008 form discloses how many voters are registered at each precinct. The BP-009 shows how many different types of ballots are needed at each precinct.
Commissioner McGee said the commission sent the BP-008 form to the printing company, not the BP-009 form. When the commission submitted the wrong form, it caused the company to print an inadequate number of ballots for the split precincts.
While the commission acknowledged its mistake caused mass confusion during a competitive statewide election, McGee said better training from the Secretary of State’s office could have prevented the issue.
“The training needs to be different,” McGee said. “As an incoming professional woman, I feel like it was not a great training.”
Secretary of State Michael Watson’s office trains election commissioners in each of the state’s 82 counties. Watson told Mississippi Today in a statement that his office is available to answer questions and will “gladly spend time training those who need additional help.”
“Heading into the 2023 election, all 82 counties received the same training and resources from our office,” Watson said. “No other county experienced the issues we saw in Hinds County.”
Statewide officials have already certified the results of the Nov. 7 election, but Hinds County must conduct an election on Nov. 5, 2024, for a U.S. Senate and the presidential election, which typically attract many voters.
Gov. Tate Reeves also called for a special election in Hinds County in November 2024 for voters to elect a Hinds County Court judge, a local election that could involve split precincts.
District 4 Commissioner Yvonne Horton told reporters after the meeting that she believes the commission can learn from its prior mistakes and conduct the 2024 general election without widespread ballot issues.
However, Horton was vague on what concrete steps the commission was planning to take to prevent the ballot printing error or similar errors from happening in the future.
When asked if the commission, for example, planned to implement an accountability system for someone to review the data the commission sent to a future printing company, Horton offered a conflicting answer.
“No one has said they are going to do that, but I can assure you we are going to do that,” Horton said of an accountability system.
The commission’s next regular meeting will occur next month after a new slate of commissioners are sworn in for a new four-year term.
GREENVILLE – A federal jury has convicted a former Amory High School teacher of sexually exploiting at least seven students over 10 years, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Toshemie Wilson, 48, of Wren, Mississippi, was found guilty of eight counts of using students to produce sexually explicit material in exchange for money and drugs, using his position as an adviser for Technology Students of America to groom students.
A former student told a counselor about the abuse. The counselor reported the information to law enforcement, prompting the investigation, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office and FBI agents uncovered at least 10 other former students who alleged similar conduct and payment for sexually explicit videos, according to the release.
Eight unnamed witnesses testified in court that Wilson approached them to make masturbation videos in exchange for pay between 2005 and 2014, according to the release. They identified a number of places he had them make the videos – the school bathroom, an office space rented specifically for this purpose, and the Amory WalMart bathroom, according to the release. Several of the witnesses stated they were induced to make videos while on out-of-town school trips with the Technology Students of America, the release said.
Following his indictment, Wilson admitted to FBI agents that he had thrown away a hard drive containing a collection of student sexual abuse materials, according to the release.
Wilson also faces a state indictment in Monroe County Circuit Court.
“Once again, hard work and perseverance by federal, state and local investigators and prosecutors has removed from society an individual with a demonstrable sexual interest in children,” U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner said in the news release. “I am extremely proud of Assistant United States Attorneys Parker King and Clyde McGee for their trial work on the case, and thankful for the investigative work of the FBI and the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office…we must all continue to prosecute these offenders to the fullest extent of the law.”
Along with Triniti Grant, a coordinator who focuses on youth impaired driving, they and other educators travel across the state to meet with young adults between the ages of 16 and 20 in schools, community organizations and events to give presentations about seat belt usage, driving under the influence and distracted driving.
With 35 fatal crashes in 2021, Jackson had a rate of 23.4 crashes per 100,000 people, according to a MarketWatch analysis of federal traffic safety and insurance data. Looking at this rate, MarketWatch named Jackson among the most unsafe cities for drivers.
Mississippi had 697 fatal crashes in 2021 – the highest rate in the country at 26.2 deaths per 100,000, according to the Institute for Highway Safety. Nationally, the number of motor vehicle deaths rose 18.3% between 2019 and 2022.
McMillian said the state statistics are a sign that he and the team of educators he is part of have a lot of work to do.
The center’s work is supported by a grant through the Mississippi Office of Highway Safety. Grant and McMillian are assigned to nearly 40 counties across the state that have the highest rates of car crashes, including Hinds County.
Fifty-four percent of Mississippi’s crash deaths involved a single vehicle and over half of the crashes happened in rural areas, according to an analysis by Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a trade group which MarketWatch cited in its analysis.
Other contributors to fatal crashes include a lack of seat belt use and impaired driving.
In Mississippi, 44% of car occupants killed in car crashes used a seat belt compared to 41% who did not use a seat belt, according to the analysis. The national rate of seat belt usage in 2021 was 90% compared to 80% in Mississippi.
Of 456 drivers killed in Mississippi in 2021, 40 died with known blood alcohol content results. The analysis found that BAC was known for just 59% of all fatal car crashes, and reporting rates for BAC vary greatly across the country – 95% in Hawaii compared to 9% in Mississippi.
Grant and McMillian said what young adults know about driver safety and the driving laws varies across the state and can be formed by the adults and peers in their lives as well as popular culture.
He said they may not know about the financial cost of a driving related ticket or fine for speeding, not using a seat belt or texting. She said they may not be aware of the statistics of how many teenagers and young people die in car crashes.
“The goal is to bring awareness because they don’t know,” Grant said. “The real goal is to let them know and maybe, with knowledge, it will change their approach.”
Grant said young people can have a positive influence on their peers and set an example, like making sure that everyone has their seatbelt on before the car starts moving.
Many high schools around the state offer driver’s education programs and there are private driver schools, but not all young people have access to them, McMillian said. He sees the center’s work as a way to bridge the gap in driver’s education.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, drivers were not required to demonstrate their driving skills through a road test to get their license. McMillian said parents have approached him at events to ask about what they can do for their child if they haven’t taken a driver’s education program.
In addition to statistics and videos in their safety education, Grant and McMillian also look for interactive ways to teach young adults about potential consequences of speeding, not using seat belts and driving while under the influence or distracted.
There are “drunk goggles” to simulate blurry vision one would experience while driving with a high blood alcohol content.
A creative way the center is sharing information is through a podcast called Safe Roads Mississippi, which launched in the fall. It will feature experts, people from agencies that focus on road safety and law enforcement and also highlight driving stories of young people.
The center partners with state agencies like the Office of Highway Safety, which are able to recreate a car crash with the help of actors and local first responders.
“Students are able to get a real life experience without it being an experience,” McMillian said.
For more information about the Department of Interdisciplinary Alcohol/Drug Studies Center and its safe driving programs, visit https://www.jsums.edu/iadsc/ or reach out by email at IADSC@jsums.edu or call 601-979-2276.
