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Legislative leaders have opted not to produce a budget recommendation to serve as a guideline for the upcoming 2024 session.

Normally, the 14-member Budget Committee, which includes outgoing House Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, develops a budget recommendation before each session begins in January. But during Wednesday’s meeting, Budget Committee members adjourned without adopting a budget recommendation.

House Pro Tem Jason White, R-West, who is expected to be elected by the membership as speaker in January, said the committee opted not to develop a budget recommendation because there was not an official revenue estimate agreed to by the Budget Committee and Gov. Tate Reeves.

“We didn’t have an agreement on a number,” said White.

READ MORE: Governor, legislative leaders deadlock on how much money the state has to spend next year

An initial step in developing a budget is for the governor and Budget Committee to agree in November on the amount of revenue expected to be collected during the upcoming fiscal year to fund the budget. Reeves wanted a revenue estimate of about $118 million more than supported by the Budget Committee.

Both White and Hosemann said Wednesday they anticipate legislative appropriators will begin work in January on separate budget proposals from the House and Senate using the revenue estimate supported by the Budget Committee. Hosemann said he hopes to meet with Reeves before he releases his budget proposal — due Jan. 31 — to discuss with him using the lower number.

At the very least, Hosemann said, “I would hope that (agreeing on a revenue estimate) would be worked out before March with the governor.” March is essentially when work will begin in earnest on developing a budget to fund state services, such as education, health care and law enforcement.

Reeves has said he supports the higher budget recommendation — $7.64 billion — because it would make it easier to pass in the 2024 session his plan to phase out the state income tax, which accounts for a little less than one-third of total state general fund revenue.

Hosemann again reiterated Wednesday current collections do not support the higher estimate supported by Reeves. The lieutenant governor pointed out that for three of the first five months of the current fiscal year, revenue has met the current estimate only because of interest earnings. Without those earnings, Hosemann said, revenue collections would be below the amount projected by the 2023 Legislature to fund the budget for the current fiscal year.

Hosemann added that he, like the governor, wants to consider tax cuts during the upcoming session. He said he would like to consider reductions in the income tax and the 7% tax on groceries. But he discounted efforts to pass legislation to totally eliminate the income tax sometimes in the future, saying it made sense to work each session to try to make incremental tax cuts.

Hosemann said through such incremental cuts, “it could be eliminated in 10 years, faster than what is being proposed” by the governor and others in past legislation.

This is the first time in recent history that the Budget Committee will not develop a budget recommendation. Before the 2003 session, then-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and the Budget Committee did not agree on an estimate, but the committee still offered a budget recommendation.

Still, the recent posturing between the governor and legislative leaders most likely not derail work to pass a state budget. At some point in March or near the end of the session, the legislative leaders most likely will meet and hash out a revenue estimate and work to pass a budget. The governor in March will have no official role in developing that estimate. At that point, the governor will have the option to veto or sign those budget bills into law.

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The Jackson Public School District unveiled its adjusted school consolidation plan Tuesday night, adding one elementary school and removing four from its initial list released earlier this fall. 

In October, JPS district leadership introduced a plan to close 16 school buildings because of declining enrollment in the district. The district has lost around 9,500 students between the 2015-16 and 2023-24 school years, about a third of its population. The district has also previously consolidated schools.

The following school buildings are on the updated closure or consolidation list:

• Dawson Elementary School
• G. N. Smith Elementary School
• Lake Elementary School
• Lester Elementary School
• Marshall Elementary School
• Obama IB Elementary (delayed to 2025)
• Raines Elementary School
• Shirley Elementary School
• Sykes Elementary School
• Wells APAC Elementary (delayed to 2025)
• Chastain Middle School
• Whitten Middle School
• Wingfield High School

Clausell Elementary School, Green Elementary School, and Key Elementary School were removed from the list after feedback from the community about enrollment from local neighborhoods and programming at the schools, according to Superintendent Errick Greene. 

“We got feedback on many of these schools, if not all of the schools, most of them,” Greene said.

READ MORE: After series of community meetings, JPS parents still seek more information on proposed school closures

Oak Forest Elementary School was also removed from the list and replaced with Marshall Elementary School. The district did not respond to a request for comment on this move by press time.

Greene said the consolidation of Obama and Wells Elementary schools with the middle schools they feed to (Northwest IB and Bailey APAC respectively) will be delayed one year to allow for renovations at Bailey APAC Middle School to be completed.

Greene elaborated on plans for closed school buildings, identifying three categories buildings will be sorted in: sale/lease, redevelopment, or demolition. He outlined plans for the creation of a Facilities Repurposing Advisory Committee which would make recommendations to the board for each building. A consultant would run the advisory committee and apply for private and public funding to aid in redevelopment efforts.

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson has also offered to help the district identify federal funds that could be used to help repurpose closed buildings.

Board President Ed Sivak expressed concern that the repurposing efforts will be sidelined after the board votes on the proposal later this month and said he wants specific goals and plans for the advisory committee.

“I’ve heard that this will take a long time,” he said. “I’ve heard numbers as long as a decade, that it will take a decade to redevelop this number of properties. We can’t use that as an excuse to not act with urgency.”

When asked about possibly laying off teachers, Greene said the district does not expect many, if any, teachers or school support staff to be laid off because of the amount of turnover the district sees each year and the number of teachers on emergency licenses. Greene said layoffs are more possible for principals or assistant principals. He also restated that the district is planning to reduce the size of its central office in proportion with the consolidation efforts. 

Cynthia Thompson, the board member for Ward 6, also brought up renaming high schools in south Jackson to give students a new common identity, something Greene said the district is exploring but did not have concrete recommendations for at this time.

“The whole time my children were matriculating through JPS schools, south Jackson, Wingfield in particular, was not being represented (on the school board),” Thompson said. “I just want to publicly say that and let it be on the record that I know it, I recognize it, I see it, and I have felt it before I ever sat in this seat. I just hate that we have gotten to this place where it’s almost too late to do anything with it except what we need to do. And if we are going to do that, the only way I can see of right-sizing it to make it be fair is for the entire south Jackson to come together.” 

The post Jackson Public School District adjusts plan to consolidate or close several schools appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Smith County residents could soon have a hospital again.

Covington County Hospital and South Central Regional Medical Center, both led by CEO Greg Gibbes, in a Dec. 5 press release announced plans to open a hospital in Raleigh in the fall.

The facility in which the new Smith County Emergency Hospital would operate previously housed Patients’ Choice Medical Center of Smith County, an acute-care facility that has been shuttered for months. 

The facility did not notify the state Department of Health’s Office of Licensure of its closure, according to the agency. Inspectors arrived to survey the facility on May 15 and found it closed. 

It’s not clear when the Smith County facility changed hands. As of September, the Health Department had no certificate of need application in process for the Patients’ Choice facility to reopen. According to Covington County Hospital’s director of marketing David Culpepper, who sent out the press release announcing plans for the Smith County hospital, the lease agreement for the facility has been finalized.

Smith County residents have been without a hospital ever since the Patients’ Choice closure. The nearest services are miles away in neighboring counties — Rankin, Scott, Jasper, Simpson, Covington and Jones. 

It’s not clear when, if ever, the facility operated an emergency room. When it was most recently in operation, Patients’ Choice had 29 general acute care beds, 10 of which were in a geriatric psychiatric unit. 

The new hospital plans to provide 24-hour emergency services every day, as well as observation care and outpatient services such as radiology and lab work. 

The new hospital would be part of South Central Regional Medical Center’s partnership with multiple rural community hospitals, including Covington in Collins, Simpson General Hospital and Magee General Hospital in Mendenhall. 

“The best part of the story is that neighboring rural hospitals are providing the solution; not someone from out of town or out of state, who’s out of touch,” Gibbes said in the release. “Our independent rural hospitals are partnering together to create a solution for a neighboring community that has a need.”

The hospital leadership has not yet applied for rural emergency hospital status. 

An increasing number of Mississippi hospitals are applying for the new federal designation, which was rolled out a year ago. Just a handful of hospitals across the country have been approved thus far. 

The hospital designation is meant to increase financial viability for hospitals that serve rural community and struggle with their bottom line — though it means less services than typical for a fully-operational hospital, it often means keeping hospitals open in communities that need them. 

To qualify for monthly stipends from the federal government and increased insurance reimbursement rates, hospitals have to end inpatient services and transfer emergency room patients to larger hospitals within 24 hours.

“When minutes may be the difference in saving someone, this new Rural Emergency Hospital will be a lifesaver for Raleigh, Smith County, and surrounding communities,” Gibbes said in the press release. “This partnership will not only play a critical role in delivering healthcare but will also create new high-paying jobs in the community.” 

Gibbes told Mississippi Today in August that leadership at his Magee hospital was considering the designation as an option, though a decision had not yet been made. 

Renovations at the Smith County facility  — which will include a new emergency department, new radiology and imaging suite, new laboratory, and new admissions area — are expected to begin in early 2024. The hospital is projected to open in the fall.

UPDATE: This story has been updated to reflect the status of the lease agreement for the hospital.

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The Oak Grove Warrior defeated Starkville in an exciting Class 7A State Championship game to cap a huge weekend of high school football. Warrior coach Drew Causey, who hasn’t slept much since, joins to discuss the big game and his second state title. The Clevelands also discuss the college football playoffs, the Ole Miss-Penn State Peach Bowl matchup and a whole lot more.

Stream all episodes here.

The post Podcast: Oak Grove state championship coach Drew Causey joins the podcast. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

More than a year after President Joe Biden nominated Scott Colom to fill a vacant federal judicial seat in north Mississippi, the prosecutor’s nomination still appears stalled in the U.S. Senate.

Fresh off winning reelection to a third term as the district attorney in Clay, Lowndes, Noxubee and Oktibbeha counties, Colom has not withdrawn his nomination, and Biden has not put forward a new nominee. 

But beyond the nomination being referred to a Senate committee for consideration, no federal official has offered major updates on the status of the pending nomination.

A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the status of the judicial seat. Colom also declined to comment.

The reason for previous gridlock over Colmon’s elevation to the federal bench is opposition from Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi’s junior U.S. senator. 

A spokesperson for Hyde-Smith, a Republican from Brookhaven, did not respond to a request for comment. But she previously said she opposes Colom’s nomination because of progressive organizations supporting his initial campaign for district attorney.

George Soros, a New York billionaire who backs some criminal justice reform efforts, gave money to Mississippi Safety and Justice, a political action committee that supported Colom’s 2015 race for district attorney. Soros did not contribute to Colom’s personal campaign.

Colom later wrote to Hyde-Smith in a letter that he never requested the donation from Soros and did not know he contributed to his campaign until a news outlet reported it.

Despite the senator’s opposition, a bipartisan group of former Mississippi politicians and current officials in Washington still publicly support the nomination. 

“Congressman Thompson believes there is no other qualified person than Colom and highly recommends him,” Yasmine Brown, press secretary for U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, said in a statement. “If there are any problems with the nomination, Congressman Thompson is sure they can be solved.”

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from Tupelo, and the state’s senior U.S. senator, returned a blue slip for Colom and his office recently told Mississippi Today that he still supports the nomination.

The New York Times also reported that former Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, the person who first appointed Hyde-Smith to the Senate, and former Republican Gov. Haley Barbour also support the prosecutor’s elevation to the federal bench.

Hyde-Smith is able to thwart the nomination because of a longstanding tradition in the U.S. Senate that requires senators from a nominee’s home state to submit “blue slips” if they approve of the candidate.

If both senators don’t submit a blue slip, the nominee typically does not advance to a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, could upend the blue slip tradition and ignore Hyde-Smith’s opposition by conducting a confirmation hearing for Colom.

A spokesperson for Durbin’s office did not respond to a request for comment, but his office told Mississippi Today in April that Durbin is “extremely disappointed” in Hyde-Smith’s decision to block Colom.

A native of Columbus, Colom is a Democrat and the first Black prosecutor in the circuit court district, winning that seat in 2015 by defeating the long-serving incumbent Forrest Allgood.

He ran unopposed for reelection 2019 and won reeleection in November by capturing more than 56% of the total votes cast, according to results from the Secretary of State’s office.

Colom was nominated in October 2022 by Biden to replace U.S. District Judge Mike Mills of the Northern District of Mississippi who is stepping down from full-time service on the federal judiciary.

Mills, who is still hearing cases, has previously said he would like for a replacement to get confirmed soon so he could begin overseeing a reduced number of cases — and, he said, so he can spend more time touring with his band.

The post Despite bipartisan support, Scott Colom’s federal judicial nomination still stalled in Senate appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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The state and attorneys representing two men on death row are in conflict about whether legal options still exist for them to challenge their convictions or to proceed with their executions. 

In court documents, attorneys from Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office said Willie Jerome Manning and Robert Simon Jr., who have each been on death row for 30 years, have exhausted their legal options at the state and federal level, so it’s time to set their executions. 

But attorneys representing them from the Office of Post-Conviction Counsel disagree, saying the men’s post-conviction relief petitions are still making their way through the court system and note that the Supreme Court, by law, is not required to set an execution if there is pending litigation. 

“If a death-row inmate whose state and federal remedies have been exhausted could create an impediment to setting an execution date simply by filing another successive PCR motion, the State could never carry out lawful death sentences,” Fitch’s office wrote in its motion to set Manning’s execution. 

On Monday, a spokesperson from Fitch’s office cited statute and case law, saying those determine the number of appeals a person is entitled to, and the courts ultimately decide whether someone has exhausted all of their legal remedies. 

It would appear the court and even the AG’s office already did decide these two death row inmates haven’t exhausted them.

Last week, all nine justices of the Supreme Court agreed that it would not set Manning’s execution date until his post-conviction relief petition is reviewed. With the state’s Dec. 29 deadline to respond to Manning’s petition and his attorney’s 15-day deadline to respond, the earliest his execution could take place is mid January 2024. 

In an April hearing for a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s lethal injection protocol that Simon has joined, the state recognized Simon was pursuing post-conviction relief. 

“Until that habeas (post-conviction) petition is filed and resolved, the State would not move for execution in his case,” Special Assistant Attorney General Gerald Kucia told U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate. 

A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office did not comment specifically about how attorneys from the office determined that dates should be set for Manning and Simon despite ongoing legal action. 

One remaining avenue for relief is clemency from Gov. Tate Reeves, who during his first term in office has not granted it to anyone. 

Simon, now 60, was convicted with co-defendant Anthony Carr, who is also on death row, of killing the Parker family in Quitman County in 1990. Simon and Carr broke into the home of Carl and Bobbie Jo and their two children while the family was at church. They shot the family members when they returned home and set the house on fire. 

Simon and Carr received death sentences for killing the Parker parents and 12-year-old Gregory. Simon was separately convicted for the murder, kidnapping and sexual battery of 9-year-old Charlotte and received a life sentence. 

In October, the Mississippi Supreme Court appointed the attorneys from the Office of Post-Conviction Counsel to represent Simon, and his attorneys said he has a constitutional right to effective assistance of post-conviction counsel and to file a successive petition for relief because his previous post-conviction legal team was ineffective. 

Over the years Simon has had multiple attorneys, including one who was disbarred. Others moved out of state or no longer work on capital murder cases. 

His attorneys say previous legal teams didn’t retain an expert to evaluate Simon’s mental health and they failed to seek funding for a proper post-conviction expert to delve into Simon’s history of trauma, head injuries and exposure to toxins. 

Experts were also not hired to determine whether Simon is intellectually disabled under the U.S. Supreme Court case Atkins v. Virginia, which prevents the execution of intellectually disabled people, according to court records. 

He had previously been scheduled to be executed in May 2011, but a federal appeals court ordered a stay to determine whether Simon was mentally incompetent from a brain injury and memory loss from a fall, according to court records. The Mississippi Supreme Court later rejected Simon’s claim. 

Simon’s attorneys on Nov. 21 filed a successive petition for post-conviction relief and raised claims about his mental competency and whether he can be executed, ineffective post-conviction counsel and a lack of experts to evaluate his mental health and present potential mitigating evidence. 

“Simon has never had the opportunity to challenge the ineffectiveness of post-conviction counsel—until now,” the petition states. 

Based on the claims raised, Simon’s attorneys are asking for his death sentence to be reversed. 

Manning, now 55, was convicted of shooting Mississippi State University students Tiffany Miller and Jon Steckler in 1994. He has maintained his innocence. 

Two days after asking for an extension to respond to Manning’s September post-conviction relief petition, Fitch’s office asked the Supreme Court to set an execution date and dismiss his successive petition. 

Manning’s attorneys said in court records that state law provides a remedy for newly discovered evidence, and that the state was wrong to say that the statute prohibits successive post-conviction relief petitions. 

His petition documents discoveries of new evidence about recanted and testimony by witnesses and questionable firearms evidence used in his case. 

Manning has been allowed to test additional DNA and run additional analyses since 2013, when a stay was ordered for his execution, but in court documents the state argues that those results have been inconclusive and he is now exhausted his legal options. 

The post Do these death row inmates have legal options to avoid execution? State AG’s office and defense attorneys disagree appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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The Mississippi Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Feb. 6, 2024, in a case challenging the constitutionality of providing public funds to private schools.

The Supreme Court will hear an appeal by the state of an October 2022 ruling by Hinds County Chancery Court Crystal Wise Martin who found it unconstitutional to provide public money to private schools.

The state, led by the office of Attorney General Lynn Fitch, is appealing Wise’s ruling.

The lawsuit was filed in 2022 by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Democracy Forward, and the Mississippi Center for Justice on behalf of Parents for Public Schools, a Jackson-based nonprofit. The lawsuit was filed after the Mississippi Legislature in the 2022 session provided $10 million in federal funds to private schools.

The lawsuit pointed out Section 208 of the Mississippi Constitution states that public funds could not be given to a school “not conducted as a free school.”

In its entirety, Section 208 reads, “No religious or other sect or sects shall ever control any part of the school or other educational funds of this state; nor shall any funds be appropriated toward the support of any sectarian school, or to any school that at the time of receiving such appropriation is not conducted as a free school.” 

The state has argued that the appropriation is constitutional because the Legislature appropriates the money to the Department of Finance and Administration that then would disperse it to the private schools.

“The state cannot avoid compliance with our Constitution simply by delegating the power to disburse appropriated funds to an executive agency,” Martin wrote.

READ MORE: Politicians want private school vouchers, but not a vote to amend constitution to allow them

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Stewpot Community Services was started over 40 years ago by people like you and me who saw a growing need in Jackson and decided to work together to respond. One of our greatest strengths is that we are, and always have been, locally owned. 

Last month we received a great honor: we were one of only 38 organizations in the United States to receive a leadership award from the Jeff Bezos Day 1 Families Fund. The Day 1 Families Fund focuses its giving toward the needs of homeless families with children. They take their vision from the inspiring words of Mary’s Place in Seattle: ensuring “no child sleeps outside.”

Stewpot has a long history of serving families experiencing homelessness, which is one reason why we were invited to apply.  We opened our first shelter for women and children, Sims House, in 1984, and, over time, operated as many as five shelters at once. In that long history, we have helped thousands of homeless families with children find and maintain stability. And it has always been work that we have done together, as a community, neighbor reaching out to neighbor. 

We are excited about the Day 1 award because it helps us do some new and impactful things. For instance, the city of Jackson currently has no transitional shelter for families with children. We were reminded during COVID how critical transitional shelter can be for a family to achieve stability since for some, a longer runway is the key to success. So, we will use Day 1 funds to help fill that critical gap in our area. 

Additionally, the Day 1 gift stretches over five years, which means we can play the long game. We can establish creative partnerships that will leverage the funds for bigger impact. We can evolve with emerging needs. The field of possibilities opens up with Day 1’s multi-year commitment. 

However, the Day 1 funds do not undergird the other essential ministries of Stewpot. Through four decades of growth and change, we now provide an array of important services to people in need: a Community Kitchen, a Food Pantry, Meals on Wheels, a Clothing Closet, a day shelter, a men’s shelter, after school and summer camp programming for  kids and teens, a Legal Clinic, Chapel, and with our partners, HeARTworks art and St. Dominic Community Health Clinic. Between 400-500 people visit our campuses every day to find help and hope. 

In the midst of our many struggles as a city, we should all feel proud of the recognition our homegrown effort has received by a national, high-profile foundation.  You and I should be proud of the “compassionate, needle-moving work”  we’ve done to help families experiencing homelessness as well as grateful for the opportunity to expand on that work. 

But you and I are still being called upon to help feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, and care for the at-risk child right here in our own city.  The vast majority of Stewpot’s work still needs our support to continue. 

So let us not grow weary in doing good. Some of our neighbors still struggle mightily, and we want them to know that we will not leave them to struggle alone. To find out more about what your gifts support, or to volunteer, visit our website at www.stewpot.org. We’re still in this work together…as people of faith, meeting needs, in our community.

The post Stewpot Community Services accepts leadership award appeared first on Mississippi Today.