OurTupelo

So much happening in Mississippi sports and so much upon which to comment. Here goes:

Mississippi State hired Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby as its head coach.

No big surprise here, at least not on this end. Lebby’s name came to mind immediately two weeks ago when Zach Arnett was dismissed. Why? Number one, given this year’s struggles, you had to figure State would go offense, and Lebby’s track record as an offensive coordinator is most impressive.

Secondly, Zac Selmon, the man doing the hiring, came to State from Oklahoma so there was a relationship there. And, thirdly, the best coaching hire State has made in recent history was surely Dan Mullen, a successful offensive coordinator at the time of his hiring.

Lebby, a 39-year-old native Texan, strikes me as a solid hire who could well turn out to be splendid head coach.That said, he faces a massive roster overhaul, not to mention a 2024 schedule that will include these eight SEC games: Georgia, Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas.

True, with the portal and NIL, you can overhaul a college football roster more quickly than ever before. But keep in mind, where the NIL is concerned, State will be bidding for talent against many of the same schools listed in that previous paragraph, not to mention Alabama, Auburn, Oklahoma and others. 

Put it this way: Nick Saban — or Knute Rockne, or Bear Bryant, or Steve Spurrier — would have a difficult time dealing with what Lebby must deal with in the coming months and years.

Ole Miss finished 10-2, Lane Kiffin’s second 10-victory season in three years and his fourth double-digit win season in his last seven years as a head coach.

Kiffin is now 33-15 overall and 20-13 in the SEC at Ole Miss. No Rebel coach since John Vaught has been so successful.

And yet the Rebels, losers to only Alabama and Georgia this season, are ranked behind Missouri, also 10-2, in the College Football Playoff rankings and therefore the bowls’ pecking order. Can someone please explain? I cannot. 

Yes, Missouri played Georgia a lot closer than Ole Miss. But the better comparison is this: Both Missouri and Ole Miss both played home games against LSU. LSU beat Missouri 49-39 Ole Miss beat LSU 55-49. Non-conference? Ole Miss’s 10-2 record also includes a 37-20 road victory at Tulane, the Green Wave’s only defeat. On the same Saturday Ole Miss was handing Tulane its only loss in its last 16 games, Missouri was winning 23-19 against Middle Tennessee State, which finished 4-8. Missouri has not beaten a Top 25 team, while Ole Miss is 10-2 against a schedule that is among the nation’s most difficult.

Just don’t see how Missouri rates ahead of Ole Miss, who might be relegated to a non-New Years Six bowl because of it.

Southern Miss finished 3-9, and Will Hall kept his job but dismissed three assistant coaches.

I’d have kept Hall, too, and I’ll tell you why. Southern Miss played its best football the last month of the season after losing seven straight games. Much like his first USM team in 2021, Hall’s Golden Eagles continued to play hard in the face of extreme adversity. Too, he appears to have recruited well if he can hold the current class together.

Patience has been rewarded before at USM. Bobby Collins was 2-9 in his second season in Hattiesburg. Two of Jeff Bower’s first three Golden Eagles teams had losing records. And it has become increasingly apparent in recent years that Bower deserves a statue in the USM football complex.

Back to Hall: USM’s biggest of several issues in his three years has been the lack of competent quarterback play. True freshman Ethan Crawford showed some promise late this season and incoming freshman John White (Madison Ridgeland Academy) is as accurate a high school passer as these eyes have seen. They would appear to be USM’s — and Hall’s — future.

Delta State’s dream season – and Patrick Shegog’s brilliant Statesmen career – ended with a playoff loss to Valdosta State.

Valdosta scored the game’s last 10 points in the last three minutes for a 38-31 victory and avenged an earlier 49-25 home loss to Delta State.

The Division II playoffs lend much credence to the old adage that it’s really difficult to beat a really good team twice in the same season. In the first round, Delta State avenged its only regular season loss to West Florida. In the second round, the Statesmen were defeated at home by a team they beat soundly on the road back in October. Still, Todd Cooley’s Statesmen has won back to back Gulf South Conference championships, no small feat.

Quinshon Judkins or Shegog?

The C Spire Conerly Trophy will be awarded Tuesday night at Country Club of Jackson, and it appears a two-horse race. Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins, last year’s winner as a freshman, and Shegog, the former South Panola star, are far and away the leading candidates. Judkins rushed for 1,054 yards and 15 touchdowns as a sophomore after rushing for 1,567 yards and 16 TDs last year. Shegog accounted for 41 touchdowns — 32 passing and nine rushing — this season. The most eye-popping Shegog stat: 32 passing touchdowns vs. two interceptions.

No doubt, Judkins has far more professional football potential. Indeed, his punishing running style reminds this writer so much of the great Walter Payton. But this award is not about pro football potential as the note that accompanied the ballots states: “You should choose the nominees who have made the most impact for their team during the 2023 season. Do not take into consideration their NFL prospects, only their collegiate play for the 2023 complete regular season.”

Regardless, either Shegog or Judkins would be a worthy Conerly winner.

The post Opinions on State’s hire of Lebby, on Kiffin, on USM keeping Hall, and the Conerly Trophy appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Update: Incumbent PSC Commissioner Brent Bailey said he will likely not challenge his loss to state Rep. De’Keither Stamps.

After a review of Hinds County election materials Monday, incumbent Public Service Commissioner Brent Bailey said he will likely not mount a challenge of his loss to state Rep. De’Keither Stamps in the Nov. 7 election.

“At this point, it does not appear that we will file a petition to contest the election,” Bailey said late Monday afternoon. “While we will continue the examination process and my team feels that some affidavit and absentee ballots were inappropriately accepted and some box security irregularities have been observed, we have weighed the time and expense of a petition to contest and feel resources would best be utilized elsewhere.”

The commissioner-elect, Stamps, on Monday urged Bailey to help with a smooth transition for the office, which regulates public utilities and sets the rates they can charge customers.

Original story: Incumbent Public Service Commissioner Brent Bailey’s examination of ballots and other materials in his loss to state Rep. De’Keither Stamps resumed Monday, after a judge’s order postponed the probe over Thanksgiving.

Bailey is weighing whether he will contest his loss to Stamps over voting problems in Hinds, the state’s largest county and the largest in the 22-county central PSC district. On Election Day earlier this month, multiple Hinds County voting precincts ran out of ballots or didn’t have proper ballots. There were reports of voters going home without casting their votes, even after some precincts stayed open late amid confusing, dueling emergency judicial orders that night.

The central district PSC race was neck-and-neck, and Stamps, the Democrat, wasn’t declared the winner until a week after the Nov. 7 election. He won by a 2,134 vote margin with 50.4% of the vote — roughly the same margin by which he lost to Bailey, the Republican, in 2019.

READ MORE: Public service commissioner says he’s inspecting election materials after close loss

Stamps has called Bailey’s examination and possible challenge sour grapes on Bailey’s part. The race, particularly in the homestretch and during the long wait for finality, saw much mudslinging and bitter feelings between candidates. Stamps has called for Bailey to concede and help him with a smooth transition for the office. Stamps has noted that he conceded to Bailey in 2019 and moved on, given a similar outcome of votes.

Last week, after Bailey gave notice to Stamps he was examining election materials, Stamps filed for an injunction. He said Bailey failed to provide him a three-day notice of the examination as required. A judge agreed, and delayed the examination until Monday.

In an interview on Monday morning, Bailey said he believes he still faces a deadline of 5 p.m. to legally contest the election, but that the examination can continue regardless. He said he was out of town for a PSC meeting, but had representatives looking over things at the courthouse. He said as of midmorning Monday he had little information from the exam and had not made a decision on a challenge.

“We’re just still evaluating things, exercising our right to examination,” Bailey said. “… Our understanding is that the deadline to contest the election is 5 p.m. today, a hard and fast deadline … I still have not made a determination on that.”

Stamps on Monday afternoon said he had seen nothing during the examination of election materials that would warrant a challenge from Bailey.

“I would be the first one to cry foul — even to my own detriment — if there were something there,” Stamps said. “But some of these boxes he’s talking about — I beat him like 230 to 23. Even take off 20% of the margin, if I’m beating you by that much, I just don’t see anything that could change something.”

Stamps said he has, however, seen something concerning with votes in Hinds County — they are way down from what he believes is “purging” of voter rolls.

“From last time, I’m down over 10,000 votes for me,” Stamps said. “To me, that’s the bigger issue. That’s what’s caused me to be in this situation, and I think that has played a role even in the governor’s race … We wouldn’t even be here having this conversation or this whole rigamarole.”

Stamps said he doesn’t begrudge Bailey for exercising his right to review and potentially challenge the process, but again called on the incumbent to help with a likely transition.

“There is no way a judge could call for a new election and have one by Jan. 1,” Stamps said. “I’m just saying, can you be mature enough to challenge it, and still help with a transition at the same time. We still have to stand up a new office by then and be ready to go. It’s about the integrity of the office and serving people.”

The three-member, elected Public Service Commission regulates public utilities and the rates they can charge customers. If Stamps’ victory stands, the commission will have three new members starting in January: two Republicans and one Democrat (Stamps).

The other two PSC seats were decided in the August primary, with Republican state Rep. Chris Brown winning the northern district seat and Republican challenger Wayne Carr winning the southern district seat.

Current Northern District Commissioner Brandon Presley ran unsuccessfully for governor this year, and Carr defeated current Southern District Commissioner Dane Maxwell in the Republican primary in August.

READ MORE: Stamps declared winner of Central District PSC seat

The post Public Service Commissioner Brent Bailey says challenge of loss to De’Keither Stamps unlikely appeared first on Mississippi Today.

If Mississippians want to qualify to run for state office as a Republican, they’ll first have to open their wallets wider than ever.

Mississippi Republican Party leaders voted last year to increase candidate qualifying fees, the amount a candidate has to pay to run for office, to the maximum amount allowed under state law for all federal, statewide and regional offices in the state.  

Mississippi GOP Chairman Frank Bordeaux told Mississippi Today the fee increase is comparable to the figure the Republican Party in other states requires for their candidates to run for office.

“This increase is a way for us to make sure we can continue to provide quality resources to our Republican nominees,” Bordeaux said. 

The Democratic Party, on the other hand, opted to keep their fees the same as prior years. 

Qualifying fees for all political offices, regardless of party affiliation, were previously spelled out in statute. But state lawmakers in 2022 voted to give political parties a range for how much they can charge candidates and allow the party leaders to choose the specific amount. 

The minimum fee parties can charge gubernatorial candidates, for example, is $1,000, and the maximum amount is $5,000. The Democratic Party opted to keep their fee at $1,000, while the GOP decided to raise the fee to $5,000.

New GOP candidate qualifying fees: 

• U.S. Senator: $5,000 (previously $1,000)
• U.S. Representative: $2,500 (previously $500)
• Governor: $5,000 (previously $1,000)
• Other statewide offices: $2,500 (previously $500)
• Transportation Commissioner: $2,500 (previously $500)
• Public Service Commissioner: $2,500 (previously $500)
• District Attorney: $250 (unchanged)
• State Legislature: $250 (unchanged)

Republican state Sen. Joey Fillingane of Sumrall argued in favor of the 2022 legislation during the legislative session and said at the time that the main reasons for the new law was to give parties more latitude to conduct their primary elections and ensure only serious candidates run for office. 

“I think we had a situation not too long ago where maybe a truck driver put his name on the ballot, didn’t campaign, didn’t really run,” Fillingane said. “He was running his 18-wheeler truck and ended up winning a major party primary for a major office in Mississippi. And I think you can argue that was a direct result of having extremely low filing fees in that particular race.”

Fillingane was referring to Robert Gray, a truck driver who won the 2015 Democratic nomination for governor and was handily defeated by former Republican Gov. Phil Bryant. 

Opponents of the recent legislation believed higher qualifying fees could bar candidates from running for office and deter a competitive democratic system. 

The final version of the bill passed the House 84-31 and the Senate 33-10. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed it into law. 

Bordeaux doubted increased fees would keep candidates from entering the Republican primary because serious candidates are usually able to raise larger amounts of money. He pointed to the state’s recent gubernatorial election, when the Republican and Democratic nominees for the office collectively raised over $17 million this past year. 

This is now the first time under the new law that the state Republican Party has raised its qualifying fees. The new fees will primarily impact the Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race next year, when incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker is up for reelection. 

Wicker, a Tupelo resident, has previously announced he’s running for reelection. But two lower-profile candidates, Republican state Rep. Dan Eubanks of DeSoto County and retired Marine Col. Ghannon Burton, announced they intend to challenge Wicker in the Republican primary. 

The qualification period for the U.S. Senate, according to the Secretary of State’s website, opens on Jan. 2 and closes 10 days later on Jan. 12. 

The post State Republican Party raises fees for candidates to run for some public offices appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves garnered 50.9% of the vote in winning reelection on Nov. 7 — the closest Mississippi governor’s race since 1999.

Reeves garnered 418,233 votes (50.9%), Democrat Brandon Presley received 391,614 (47.7%) and independent Gwendolyn Gray received 11,153 votes (1.4%), according to final county-by-county voting totals posted this week by the secretary of state’s office.

Reeves beat Presley by 26,619 votes — a considerably tighter margin than the governor’s race four years ago, when Reeves defeated Democrat Jim Hood by 45,028 votes to win a first term in the Governor’s Mansion.

The secretary of state’s office did not receive the final results from all 82 counties until this week. Counties have a certain time period after the election to count late-arriving mail-in ballots and affidavit ballots. In the coming days, Watson will certify the results, but the final totals already can be found on the secretary of state’s website.

A Democrat has not won the governor’s mansion in Mississippi since 1999, when Ronnie Musgrove prevailed with a plurality of the vote. Musgrove received 49.6% that year compared to 48.5% from Republican Mike Parker.

In 2019, Reeves won his first term as governor by defeating then-Attorney General Jim Hood 51.9% to 46.8%. While the percentage difference was closer in the 2023 election, Hood won more total votes in 2019 than Presley did this year. Hood received 414,368 votes in 2019, while Presley received 391,614 votes in 2023. In 2019, 63,911 more people voted than this year.

Presley narrowly captured three counties in 2023 that Hood did not win in 2019. Those counties were Lowndes, Grenada and Forrest. The 2023 election marked the first time since 1979 for a Democrat to win Forrest County. But Presley also lost two counties in 2023 that Hood won in 2019. Four years ago, Hood won the counties of Madison and Lafayette. Both those counties flipped to Reeves in 2023.

Those counties, along with Hood’s home county of Chickasaw and Oktibbeha, are the only majority white counties to vote for the Democrat in either election.

RESULTS: Mississippi statewide election 2023

Reeves will be the first Mississippi governor elected to a second term with a smaller percentage of the total vote than he received in winning his first term. It is important to note, though, that Reeves is only the fourth governor elected to consecutive terms. Mississippi governors have only been allowed to serve two terms since the late 1980s.

Also, Reeves received a much smaller percentage of the vote than the winners of the other seven statewide offices — all Republican.

For instance, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, in winning reelection, won 490,956 votes or 60.7% of the total. The Democratic candidates for the other seven statewide posts ran lower profile and lower budget campaigns than their Republican opponents.

Presley, a four-term public service commissioner for the northern district, ran an aggressive campaign, outraising Reeves in 2023. The incumbent, though, came into the election year with a massive campaign war chest that dwarfed that of Presley.

In the first year in which a gubernatorial race could possibly have gone to a runoff, Reeves avoided that historic scenario by just 15,466 votes. Under a new state law, if no candidate for statewide office garners a majority vote, the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff.

Reeves ultimately prevailed by running up large margins on the Gulf Coast, in Presley’s home area of northeast Mississippi, and in certain areas of east Mississippi.

Presley garnered 54,006 votes in Democrat-rich Hinds County compared to 13,634 for Reeves. But despite Presley’s much ballyhooed get-out-the-vote effort in Hinds, Hood still garnered 2,125 more votes in Hinds in 2019 than did Presley in 2023.

Overall, the vote total in Hinds was down 4,182 in 2023 compared to 2019. It is difficult to say whether Hinds County election problems in 2023 caused fewer people to cast ballots. But Hinds had problems with long lines and with some precincts running out of ballots for extended periods of time.

Final results from other statewide races

Lieutenant governor:

Republican incumbent Delbert Hosemann: 490,956

Democrat Ryan Grover: 317,347

Attorney general

Republican incumbent Lynn Fitch: 470,270

Democrat Greta Kemp Martin: 339,948

Secretary of state

Republican incumbent Michael Watson: 481,895

Democrat Ty Pinkins: 328,067

Treasurer

Republican incumbent David McRae: 472,705

Democrat Addy Lee Green: 337,008

Auditor

Republican incumbent Shad White: 474,313

Democrat Larry Bradford: 334,418

Insurance commissioner

Republican incumbent Mike Chaney: 480,514

Democrat Bruce Burton: 329,214

Agriculture commissioner

Republican incumbent Andy Gipson: 467,901

Democrat Robert Bradford: 342,172

The post Final election results: 2023 was the closest Mississippi governor’s race since 1999 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A private, for-profit Texas-based organization is seeking to reopen St. Dominic Memorial Hospital’s behavioral health beds in Jackson, according to state Health Department records. 

Oceans Healthcare has applied to lease St. Dominic’s recently closed behavioral health beds and open its own separately licensed psychiatric hospital in Jackson. Oceans submitted its application in late October. 

In the weeks following St. Dominic’s decision to shutter its 83-bed behavioral health unit in June, advocates worried that people seeking mental health care would end up in jails or without help. Shortly after the closure, two hospitals reported having full beds and were unable to accept any more psychiatric patients. 

Meredith Bailess, senior director of marketing and communications at St. Dominic, referred all questions to Oceans. Oceans officials declined to answer any questions for this story. 

However, a records request revealed that the company has applied to reopen 77 inpatient adult psychiatric beds, with the remaining six licensed but unused. The organization’s application to the state Health Department says that the hospital is prepared to provide the same services to the community that were previously provided by St. Dominic. 

The firm’s application also includes a letter of support signed by Rep. Chris Bell and Rep. Earle Banks, two Hinds County lawmakers, as well as letters of support from St. Dominic executives, including Interim Market President Kristin Wolkart.

“It is no secret that Mississippi is facing a mental health crisis due to a lack of resources,” the representatives’ letter reads. “By approving this project, the Department of Health will enable those in my community and all central Mississippi families in crisis to obtain desperately needed healthcare closer to home.”

Eileen O’Grady with the Private Equity Stakeholder Project researches the impacts of the growing trend of private equity firms investing in health care facilities. O’Grady said while it’s generally a good thing that more behavioral health beds could open in Jackson, she is wary of any private-equity owned organization getting involved in behavioral health care. 

Massachusetts-based private equity firm Webster Equity Partners bought Oceans Healthcare in 2022. Webster Equity was founded in 2003 and is active in the health care industry. The organization’s website says it targets “companies with high-impact growth strategies that deliver the highest quality care.” 

As of June, the total market value of investments managed by Webster was $7.4 billion, according to the firm’s website. 

Private equity firms have shown growing interest in the behavioral health industry in recent years, according to a report authored by O’Grady. But because private equity firms are focused on turning a profit, patients often suffer as a result, her report concluded. 

“When I think about what they do and what the business model is, I think it can be boiled down to basically one thing: Generate the highest return possible over four to seven years,” she said. “Usually that means trying to double or triple their investment over a couple of years … That is a really short period of time to make that kind of money.” 

In order to turn that kind of profit, the firms have to make big cuts. That’s especially risky for behavioral health facilities, where vulnerable people expect to receive treatment. Instead, some private equity firms have hired untrained or unlicensed staff, have failed to hire enough staff or have neglected upkeep of facilities, according to O’Grady.

Laying people off and failing to pay adequate wages can lead to persistent understaffing, which can lead to hiring people with low levels of training, O’Grady said. At behavioral health facilities, this can create dangerous situations. 

She said there are some situations where firms can provide the financial backing needed to improve facilities. 

But she acknowledged that’s not usually the case. If the goal is making a huge profit quickly “in an industry where margins are already very thin, it is not improbable that some combination of those things can happen.”

“Generally speaking, what we’ve seen, especially in the behavioral health space, is alarming,” O’Grady said. “It is probably not a private equity firm’s fault that these hospitals closed, and it is good that they’re reopening, but I don’t think that private equity firms are the right companies to be managing behavioral health hospitals, and if they do, then there needs to be a lot of guardrails to ensure that these facilities are not just used to sort of line the pockets of rich people.”

Oceans has been increasing its presence in Mississippi. The first Oceans hospital in the state opened in Biloxi in 2019, and its second facility opened in Tupelo at the beginning of this year. Oceans’ facilities provide adult inpatient and outpatient mental health services, according to its website. 

Oceans’ application says the hospital will provide Jackson and surrounding communities with multidisciplinary psychiatric treatment for depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia and various other mental disorders. The application estimates that renovation of the unit will be completed at the end of March. 

The post Private equity-backed Texas company seeks to reopen behavioral health beds in Jackson appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Two state officials confirmed to Mississippi Today that state and federal authorities are examining what role, if any, Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey played in the August acquittal of former Capitol Police officer Steven Frederick for DUI.

The sheriff is already under scrutiny with regard to the self-described “Goon Squad” inside his department. Five former deputies and a Richland police officer have already pleaded guilty to the Jan. 24 attack on two Black men, which included a warrantless forced entry, torturing and sexually abusing suspects, using “clean” thrown down weapons, planting evidence, beating suspects to coerce confessions, stealing property, conspiring to create cover stories and obstructing justice. Sentencing is set for federal court in January.

On March 12, Frederick, who has been dating Bailey’s daughter, was charged with driving under the influence after crashing a state-owned Mississippi Department of Public Safety vehicle. A diagram shows he ran over three road signs before stopping in a concrete ditch.

After a breathalyzer test, the trooper said over the radio that Frederick had a blood alcohol level of 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08, according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol video. The ticket listed the level as 0.12.

“Twelve years of my life gone over one stupid mistake,” Frederick told the trooper. “I just lost my f—ing career, man.”

He initially told the trooper he was “trying to clear my head” and had only two beers, but he later admitted he had been drinking liquor, according to Highway Patrol videos obtained by the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, now part of Mississippi Today.

Frederick arrived at the Covington County Jail at 11:49 p.m. Less than an hour later, Covington County Sheriff Darrell M. Perkins ordered Frederick released without bond.

“I released him to Bryan Bailey,” Perkins said. “He told me he carried him [Frederick] to the hospital. He was bruised up.”

At the scene, Frederick had refused medical treatment, according to the Highway Patrol video.

Authorities have learned that after the accident, Bailey contacted a prosecutor, asking what would happen if a trooper didn’t appear for a DUI hearing. The prosecutor replied that, if the trooper failed to appear, the case would be dismissed.

That’s exactly what happened on Aug. 9. Trooper Daniel Loftin failed to appear, and Covington County Justice Court Judge Bobby Wayne Mooney dismissed the case.

Loftin was one of four troopers scheduled for that day in justice court. He was the only one who didn’t appear.

Historically, courts subpoena witnesses so that they will appear to testify, but in more recent years, some courts use email to deliver these subpoenas.

On Aug. 3, Justice Court Clerk Cassidy Booker emailed Troop J Capt. Claude Smith of the Mississippi Highway Patrol, asking him to make sure Loftin and three other troopers appeared at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 9.

MCIR has obtained the email exchanges between Smith and the other troopers. The records show that Smith emailed Loftin about appearing in court and that Loftin received the email.

Neither Loftin nor Sheriff Bailey have responded to requests for comment.

The post Did Rankin sheriff play a role in ex-Capitol police officer’s DUI acquittal? Authorities want to know. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

An unsuccessful candidate for the state Legislature wants to file an election challenge over the Hinds County ballot shortage issues, but she’s worried she won’t have the necessary money to fund the litigation.

Sharon Moman, the Democratic nominee for House District 56, lost her bid for the legislative seat that covers portions of Hinds and Madison counties to a Republican candidate.

She told Mississippi Today that she heard from countless Hinds County voters who tried to vote for her on Election Day, but they simply decided to leave their polling precinct after poll workers told them they had no ballots. 

“The ripple effect with a lack of ballots just continued all day long,” Moman said. 

Moman received roughly 2,564 votes or 33% of the total vote. Her Republican opponent, Clay Mansell, received 5,043 votes, or roughly 66% of the total vote. Mansell declined to comment on a potential election challenge. 

READ MORE: Hinds County ballot shortages cause legal mess on Election Day

The House district is outgoing House Speaker Philip Gunn’s seat and contains a Black voting age population of 27%, according to the Joint Legislative Committee on Reapportionment and Redistricting.  

In Mississippi, Black voters are more likely to support Democratic candidates, while white voters are more likely to vote for Republican candidates, making it extremely difficult for Moman to win the House district. 

But the Jackson suburban area contains a high concentration of college-educated voters, who, nationally, have been more likely to vote for Democratic candidates in recent years. 

“I’m disappointed,” Moman said. “I want to file a challenge because that 33% number I got was just disappointing to see. People are going to incorrectly think it’s not a winnable district for a Democrat or for a woman.”

Numerous precincts in Hinds County ran out of ballots on Election Day, which left some voters waiting in line for hours and caused others to give up and go home. Several voters submitted sworn affidavits to state courts expressing frustration over the fiasco.

The ballot shortages spurred legal action from multiple organizations before the normal poll closing time at 7 p.m., and a chancery court judge ordered all Hinds County precincts to stay open until 8 p.m. to allow more people to vote.

State law allows candidates to file an election challenge over the general election by Monday, November 27.

In an election challenge, the chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court appoints a special judge to provide over the litigation. The special judge would make an initial determination if a candidate should receive any type of relief, but the decision would be appealable to the state Supreme Court.

Though the Hinds County ballot shortage situation is unique, it’s unclear how much say, if any, the state courts would have over Moman’s scenario.

The Mississippi Constitution gives the state House of Representatives exclusive jurisdiction over general election contests with House races. If Moman wants to file such a challenge with the 122-member chamber, state law requires her to do so with the clerk of the House no later than 30 days after the general election.

A House committee would likely be formed to investigate the election challenge, and they could conduct a hearing to receive arguments from both Moman and her Republican opponent on whether they should grant any type of relief.

In either scenario, a candidate would likely have to pay an attorney to spend resources filing briefs, researching case law, paying court fees and securing potential witnesses to testify — funds Moman says she does not have. 

If Moman does not file such a challenge with the clerk by Thursday, December 7, then Mansell will be the new state lawmaker for the district. 

READ MORE: Judge extends Hinds County precinct hours after numerous ballot problems

The post Legislative candidate considers election challenge after Hinds County ballot shortage appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Delta State University faculty senate called on the dean of the liberal arts college to immediately resign last week in a no-confidence vote, citing a failure to advocate for faculty and an ineffectiveness in handling tenure and promotion. 

The 11-3-3 vote by the body elected by faculty to represent their concerns questioned the leadership of Ellen Green, a biology professor who was appointed interim dean in 2020. It is an extraordinary action at Delta State where faculty can’t remember a time the faculty senate writ-large has taken such a vote. 

“There have been allegations of ethical lapses and bias in decision making that raise serious doubts about Dr. Green’s ability to make impartial and ethical choices in the best interest of the college and its community,” the resolution states. 

By Tuesday, it was unclear if Green was going to step down. A university spokesperson said the administration had no comment on the vote, and Green did not respond to an inquiry by Mississippi Today. 

Christopher Jurgenson, a biochemistry professor and the faculty senate president, said that Daniel Ennis, the university president, told him the interim provost, Leslie Griffin, would be handling the administration’s response to the resolution. 

If Green doesn’t resign, “we need a response and a justification,” Jurgenson said. “That’s what I’ll ask for. If I don’t at least get that, I will demand it.” 

At the very least, Jurgenson expects the administration to have a discussion with Green. But it’s still early in the process. 

The two-page resolution comes after reporting by Mississippi Today that included Green’s role in hiring Kent Wessinger, a business consultant, to be the interim co-chair of the music department despite his lack of experience in higher education administration and history of domestic violence allegations. Months earlier, the chair of the department had been killed.

In one instance, Green recommended denying tenure to Jamie Dahman, a music faculty member who other members of administration and Wessinger had taken issue with, on the basis that he had “aggressively pounded the table” during a department meeting, an allegation that was not substantiated by a recording of the meeting or eyewitness accounts. 

READ MORE: ‘How a business consultant with a history of domestic violence allegations took over the Delta State music department’

The resolution also cites a lawsuit from an Iranian art professor who claimed he was discriminated against by the university in part because his department chair, who is Turkish, allegedly wanted to replace him with a fellow Turk. The professor, Mansoor Shams, alleged that as part of an effort to push him out, Green invited him to her office, surprised Shams with his department chair and the Human Resources director, then locked the door until he agreed to resign.  

After a federal judge ruled the case could go to trial earlier this year, Delta State decided to settle as the campus is staring down the prospect of multimillion-dollar budget cuts. 

Jurgenson said that the faculty senate was most concerned with the deposition of Lisa Giger, the HR director, in which she verified some of Shams’ allegations and stated that it is Delta State’s normal practice to not permit employees to consult a lawyer when they are offered non-renewal contracts. 

“The fact that the university was sued, and Ellen was named in the lawsuit isn’t necessarily a big deal because it happens all the time,” he said.  

Taken together, Green’s actions have contributed to a culture of fear at Delta State that must be confronted because most people on campus don’t operate that way, Jurgenson said. Some faculty who were not senators were concerned that Green or other members of administration would target them if a no-confidence passed. 

Jurgenson said he told faculty that “no one is going to lose their job who needs to be here.”

“There was some worry about retaliation, which I don’t think was founded,” Jurgenson said. “I said, ‘Ellen is not a dictator, she can’t do anything to you.’ The culture here has been along the lines of people who have been worried about backlash, but I don’t think under Dan’s leadership it’s like that. The way the university is run right now, it’s about policy.” 

Were Green to resign, it would be the latest turnover to shake Delta State’s administration. In August, the provost, Andy Novobilski, resigned for “family reasons” but has stayed to advise the president, Daniel Ennis. 

But the turnover at the top, Jurgenson said, is a sign that the administration is getting into shape under Ennis and responding to the faculty’s desire for more accountability. He added that turnover among provosts and deans is normal on college campuses, even if that hasn’t been the case at Delta State. 

“Here oddly enough that doesn’t tend to happen,” he said. 

Plus, Jurgenson said the administration asks so much from faculty who are expected to take on extra tasks in departments where key positions have gone unfilled for years or work over the holidays. 

“The administration is always asking us to do things,” he said. “There needs to be some give and take.”

There would appear to be bigger things to worry about than Green’s situation like the impending budget cuts or the accreditor’s upcoming site visit. 

“It’s stressful, I would rather not be dealing with it,” Jurgenson said. “I don’t want to be at odds with administration. I don’t want an administration where we have to do this.” 

Before Green became dean, she was the chair of the university’s science and mathematics division and the president of the faculty senate. 

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Nov. 21, 1934

Ella Fitzgerald, the “Queen of Jazz,” made her debut at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. She had planned to go on stage and dance for Amateur Night, but when the Edwards Sisters danced before her, she decided to sing instead. That break led to others, and she became a sensation after a song she co-wrote, “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” became a major hit in 1938. 

She battled racism, ordered by Pan-Am to leave their flight to Australia. Despite missing two concerts there, she went on to set a new box office record in Australia. She helped to break racial barriers, refusing to perform before segregated audiences. The NAACP awarded her the Equal Justice Award and the American Black Achievement Award. 

Fitzgerald became the first Black woman to win a Grammy. In her music, she innovated with scat singing, sang be-bop, jazz and even gospel hymns. She performed with her own orchestra, the Benny Goodman Orchestra, Duke Ellington and Count Basie, and her Song Book series became a huge critical and commercial success. 

She performed in Hollywood films, and her most memorable take on television came when her voice shattered a glass. When the tape was played back, her voice broke another glass, and the ad asked, “Is it live, or is it Memorex?” 

By the time she died in 1996, she had won 13 Grammy Awards, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement, the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

Mattel has now designed a doll after her, part of the Barbie Inspiring Women Series, which “pays tribute to incredible heroines of their time — courageous women who took risks, changed rules and paved the way for generations to dream bigger than ever before.”

The post On this day in 1934 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

On Monday, the mother of Dexter Wade finally got to tell her son goodbye.

The 37-year-old man, who had been battling mental illness, wandered across I-55 on March 5 when an off-duty officer driving a Jackson police cruiser ran into him and killed him. Jackson police have not released the officer’s name.

Wade’s mother, Bettersten, repeatedly called police to see if they had found her son, who vanished days before his death. They told her they couldn’t find him.

But the family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, said Wade’s wallet, which contained an identification card with his home address, was found in his jeans. “There is no excuse, not even incompetence, for not notifying a next of kin of an identified man’s death,” he said in a statement.

After his death, Wade was buried in a pauper’s cemetery, where graves are marked with numbers instead of names. It wasn’t until August that his mother finally learned what happened. His body was exhumed last week and was buried Monday at Cedarwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Jackson.

The story made national news.

Last month, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba called what happened an “unfortunate and tragic accident,” but at Monday’s memorial service, activist Al Sharpton called what happened a travesty.

“That could have been my son,” Sharpton told those gathered at New Horizon Church in Jackson. “That could have been your son.”

His life “mattered, and we’re going to let it matter all over this country,” Sharpton said. “We’re here to demand Justice for Dexter Wade.”

Crump pointed to the discovery of the wallet as proof “there was a concerted effort to keep the truth and manner of his death from his family.”

Some are calling for a federal investigation, including U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. “The system owes Mr. Wade’s family an explanation for the callous manner in which his untimely death was mishandled,” he said in a statement.

Jackson City Councilman Kenny Stoked apologized Monday to the family, and Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens says his office is reviewing the case.

The debacle was made worse last week when his mother asked to be present when his body was exhumed, but authorities went ahead without her.

In 2019, her 61-year-old brother, George Robinson, died after Jackson police officer Anthony Fox was accused of striking him in the head and slamming him to the ground. Fox, who was named Officer of the Year in 2014, was convicted of manslaughter resulting from culpable negligence and received a five-year sentence.

The Mississippi attorney general’s office is now asking the state Court of Appeals to reverse Fox’s conviction. “Fox could not reasonably have foreseen that death was likely to follow from an everyday effort to subdue a resisting, non-compliant suspect using traditional non-lethal means,” the office wrote.

“They had to exhume [slain NAACP leader] Medgar Evers to get justice” in 1994 when his killer was finally convicted, Crump said. “They had to exhume Dexter Wade to get justice.”

According to the Hinds County coroner’s office, it was about 8 p.m., two hours after sundown, when Wade tried to cross the southbound lanes of I-55 on March 5. The officer struck him, and the coroner ruled the death accidental. The autopsy found meth and PCP in Wade’s system.

Upon seeing the prescription bottle with Wade’s name, the coroner’s office contacted Hinds Behavioral Health Services, which confirmed he was a patient and provided the mother’s name and phone number, according to the coroner’s notes.

But when a deputy coroner tried to call, there was no answer, according to records. But Wade’s mother says she never received a call.

According to records, the deputy coroner checked with Jackson police several times, and when no one claimed the body, Wade was buried July 14 at the Hinds County Penal Farm.

Crump said Wade suffered multiple blunt force injuries to his skull, ribs and pelvis, according to the initial findings by pathologist Dr. Frank Peretti. The crash also severed Wade’s left leg.

“Just keep fighting with me,” his mother told those gathered, “because it ain’t over yet.”

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