OurTupelo

A capital murder investigation helped lead to unrelated federal charges against former Noxubee County Sheriff Terry Grassaree and his deputy that involved the sexual abuse of a jailed woman.

On Tuesday, Grassaree pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI when he denied receiving nude photos and videos from a woman locked in his jail. He faces up to five years in federal prison when he is sentenced Aug. 7.

His former deputy, Vance Phillips, pleaded guilty last year to bribery, which experts say could have been the perks the woman received, including a contraband cellphone. No date has been set for his sentencing.

District Attorney Scott Colom said Thursday he would like to see serious punishment for Grassaree for such abuse. “This doesn’t need to be a slap on the wrist,” he said.

He said the discovery of this abuse began with a capital murder case. In 2015, Kristopher Haywood died in a convenience store attack in Macon when someone blasted the 28-year-old twice in the head with a shotgun.

A Noxubee County grand jury indicted Jonathan Shumaker, his girlfriend, Elizabeth Layne Reed, and Justin Williams and his brother, Joshua, on capital murder charges. Shumaker was also found in possession of a shotgun and charged with possession of a firearm by a felon. (These charges were dropped last year after an audio recording surfaced that exonerated them.)

But when Colom inherited the case as the new district attorney in 2016, he said he discovered the evidence and some of the witnesses contradicted the description of what happened.

Three years later, as he prepared for trial, he said his office interviewed Reed, who shared that deputies had been having sex with her inside the jail, “but you’re not going to do anything about it.”

Colom promised that he would.

He said he reached out to federal authorities in 2019 for assistance out of concern that it might be difficult to investigate law enforcement in such a small county. 

He said his office took the lead. One of his workers messaged Deputy Phillips from Reed’s Facebook page a photograph of a positive test for pregnancy.

“That’s how we got Vance to corroborate that Reed was telling the truth about the unlawful sex,” Colom said. “We knew we had a serious problem then.”

Any sex that an officer has with someone behind bars is a felony under Mississippi law and carries up to five years in prison. The maximum penalty under federal law is also five years.

There is no way for those behind bars to give consent, Colom said. “They’re in a vulnerable situation. Their liberty and freedom can be used against them.”

Reed told Colom’s office that the sex began with Phillips after he began transporting her to doctors’ visits. He first took her to his trailer to have sex and then had sex with her while the female correctional officers were at lunch, Colom said.

The encounters also took place in deputies’ offices, the interrogation room and even the evidence shed, he said.

The deputy continued to demand sex with her on an almost weekly basis between May 2017 and October 2019, according to a lawsuit she filed against Noxubee County and the sheriff’s office. “Reed, under the coercion of Phillips’ authority and her incarceration, acquiesced in Phillips’ demands.”

Another deputy, Damon Clark, who gave her cigarettes and a touchscreen cell phone, took her up front to a shower, where “he laid me on the floor [and] got on top of me,” she told authorities.

Clark has never been charged. “I never coerced Reed into sex,” he wrote in his response to the lawsuit, but he never answered whether he had sex with her.

Reed told authorities that one other deputy digitally penetrated her and another groped her and “sexted” her.

Colom said their investigation into sexual abuse corroborated much of what Reed alleged. It was then, he said, “we realized we had a serious problem with the Noxubee County Sheriff’s Office under the regime of former Sheriff Terry Grassaree.”

Their investigation showed Grassaree knew about his deputies’ activities, but rather than referring the matter to authorities, he sought to “get in on the action himself,” Colom said.

Reed’s lawsuit said Grassaree demanded “a continuous stream of explicit videos, photographs and texts” from her in jail. She also alleged in the lawsuit that Grassaree touched her in a “sexual manner.”

The county settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.

Colom said he decided to turn over his investigation to federal authorities with the agreement they would prosecute since they could pull far more potential jurors. Getting enough people to serve as jurors has long been a problem in Noxubee County, which has a population of less than 10,000, much less finding impartial jurors, he said.

On July 13, 2020, an FBI agent interviewed Grassaree, who denied that he received nude photos and videos from Reed in jail.

Two years later, reporters from the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today and The New York Times began asking Colom about the case. Colom responded that he was waiting for federal authorities to prosecute as they agreed. Afterward, he contacted federal authorities again and told them reporters had reached out to him, asking questions.

In October 2022, a federal grand jury finally indicted Grassaree and Phillips.

Colom said federal authorities “never gave me a good reason for why they took so long.”

He said even more troubling in his investigation was the discovery of “illegal activities” by the sheriff’s office “that were unrelated to sex.” There have been no indictments in that case.

Noxubee County residents already have a lot of skepticism toward law enforcement, he said, “so when you actually do have corruption, it has to be aggressively handled. We can’t have police forces where the people we are trusting to protect and serve are only concerned about themselves and their own illegal agendas.”

He still hopes federal authorities will prosecute, he said. “It would send a strong message to the citizens in Noxubee County that you care about them.”

Asked if his office could bring state charges now, he said that was impossible because “the statute of limitations has run.”

Federal authorities have a five-year statute of limitations, but the statute of limitations in Mississippi is only two years.

Colom said he didn’t move sooner because federal officials “had agreed to prosecute the charges and kept telling me they were going to do something.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Jackson responded Thursday, “The Department of Justice follows the facts, law, and principles of federal prosecution when determining how to proceed in an investigation and what charges, if any, can be filed. Federal agents and prosecutors will continue working hard every day to hold public officials in Mississippi, like Sheriff Grassaree, accountable for corrupt use of their office and efforts to mislead investigators.”

Former U.S. Attorney Michael Hurst, who served from 2017 to 2021, said prosecuting public corruption was one of his top priorities, especially when it involved law enforcement who “violated their oath and victimized our citizens.”

He said if the U.S. attorney’s office had sufficient evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to prosecute, “we prosecuted them, no matter who they were, period. In many instances, federal prosecutors are the last line of defense in our society of ensuring that our citizens are protected, their rights are upheld, and that criminals — especially corrupt public officials — are held accountable.”

The post ‘This doesn’t need to be a slap on the wrist,’ DA says of Noxubee County case appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Isabella Rosario Blum was wrapping up medical school and considering residency programs to become a family practice physician when she got some frank advice: If she wanted to be trained to provide abortions, she shouldn’t stay in Arizona.

Blum turned to programs mostly in states where abortion access — and, by extension, abortion training — is likely to remain protected, like California, Colorado, and New Mexico. Arizona has enacted a law banning most abortions after 15 weeks.

“I would really like to have all the training possible,” she said, “so of course that would have still been a limitation.”

In June, she will start her residency at Swedish Cherry Hill hospital in Seattle.

According to new statistics from the Association of American Medical Colleges, for the second year in a row, students graduating from U.S. medical schools were less likely to apply this year for residency positions in states with abortion bans and other significant abortion restrictions.

Since the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, state fights over abortion access have created plenty of uncertainty for pregnant patients and their doctors. But that uncertainty has also bled into the world of medical education, forcing some new doctors to factor state abortion laws into their decisions about where to begin their careers.

Fourteen states, primarily in the Midwest and South, have banned nearly all abortions. The new analysis by the AAMC — a preliminary copy of which was exclusively reviewed by KFF Health News before its public release — found that the number of applicants to residency programs in states with near-total abortion bans declined by 4.2%, compared with a 0.6% drop in states where abortion remains legal.

Notably, the AAMC’s findings illuminate the broader problems abortion bans can create for a state’s medical community, particularly in an era of provider shortages: The organization tracked a larger decrease in interest in residencies in states with abortion restrictions not only among those in specialties most likely to treat pregnant patients, like OB-GYNs and emergency room doctors, but also among aspiring doctors in other specialties.

“It should be concerning for states with severe restrictions on reproductive rights that so many new physicians — across specialties — are choosing to apply to other states for training instead,” wrote Atul Grover, executive director of the AAMC’s Research and Action Institute.

The AAMC analysis found the number of applicants to OB-GYN residency programs in abortion ban states dropped by 6.7%, compared with a 0.4% increase in states where abortion remains legal. For internal medicine, the drop observed in abortion ban states was over five times as much as in states where abortion is legal.

In its analysis, the AAMC said an ongoing decline in interest in ban states among new doctors ultimately “may negatively affect access to care in those states.”

Jack Resneck Jr., immediate past president of the American Medical Association, said the data demonstrates yet another consequence of the post-Roe v. Wade era.

The AAMC analysis notes that even in states with abortion bans, residency programs are filling their positions — mostly because there are more graduating medical students in the U.S. and abroad than there are residency slots.

Still, Resneck said, “we’re extraordinarily worried.” For example, physicians without adequate abortion training may not be able to manage miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, or potential complications such as infection or hemorrhaging that could stem from pregnancy loss.

Those who work with students and residents say their observations support the AAMC’s findings. “People don’t want to go to a place where evidence-based practice and human rights in general are curtailed,” said Beverly Gray, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University School of Medicine.

Abortion in North Carolina is banned in nearly all cases after 12 weeks. Women who experience unexpected complications or discover their baby has potentially fatal birth defects later in pregnancy may not be able to receive care there.

Gray said she worries that even though Duke is a highly sought training destination for medical residents, the abortion ban “impacts whether we have the best and brightest coming to North Carolina.”

Rohini Kousalya Siva will start her obstetrics and gynecology residency at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., this year. She said she did not consider programs in states that have banned or severely restricted abortion, applying instead to programs in Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, and Washington, D.C.

“We’re physicians,” said Kousalya Siva, who attended medical school in Virginia and was previously president of the American Medical Student Association. “We’re supposed to be giving the best evidence-based care to our patients, and we can’t do that if we haven’t been given abortion training.”

Another consideration: Most graduating medical students are in their 20s, “the age when people are starting to think about putting down roots and starting families,” said Gray, who added that she is noticing many more students ask about politics during their residency interviews.

And because most young doctors make their careers in the state where they do their residencies, “people don’t feel safe potentially having their own pregnancies living in those states” with severe restrictions, said Debra Stulberg, chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Chicago.

Stulberg and others worry that this self-selection away from states with abortion restrictions will exacerbate the shortages of physicians in rural and underserved areas.

“The geographic misalignment between where the needs are and where people are choosing to go is really problematic,” she said. “We don’t need people further concentrating in urban areas where there’s already good access.”

After attending medical school in Tennessee, which has adopted one of the most sweeping abortion bans in the nation, Hannah Light-Olson will start her OB-GYN residency at the University of California-San Francisco this summer.

It was not an easy decision, she said. “I feel some guilt and sadness leaving a situation where I feel like I could be of some help,” she said. “I feel deeply indebted to the program that trained me, and to the patients of Tennessee.”

Light-Olson said some of her fellow students applied to programs in abortion ban states “because they think we need pro-choice providers in restrictive states now more than ever.” In fact, she said, she also applied to programs in ban states when she was confident the program had a way to provide abortion training.

“I felt like there was no perfect, 100% guarantee; we’ve seen how fast things can change,” she said. “I don’t feel particularly confident that California and New York aren’t going to be under threat, too.”

As a condition of a scholarship she received for medical school, Blum said, she will have to return to Arizona to practice, and it is unclear what abortion access will look like then. But she is worried about long-term impacts.

“Residents, if they can’t get the training in the state, then they’re probably less likely to settle down and work in the state as well,” she said.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

The post Medical residents are increasingly avoiding states with abortion restrictions appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Nightmare Fuel appeared first on Mississippi Today.

About a year and half ago, on the heels of Jackson’s infamous water system failure, advocates and politicians from Mississippi began publicly questioning the funding mechanisms that are supposed to support such systems.

In October 2022, U.S. Reps. Bennie Thompson and Carolyn Maloney wrote Gov. Tate Reeves, grilling him over an apparent disparity in how federal infrastructure funds were allocated to Jackson versus other parts of the state.

Then days later, the Environmental Protection Agency’s civil rights office opened an investigation into two state agencies — the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Mississippi Department of Health — in response to the NAACP’s claims of discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI prohibits discrimination — based on race, color or national origin — in providing federal assistance.

On Monday, though, the EPA announced it had ended the probe after finding no evidence the agencies had short-changed Jackson’s water system. In its investigation, the EPA looked at the funding amounts and racial demographics of cities that received water funding from MDEQ and the Health Department and determined there was no correlation between the two factors.

“The evidence overwhelmingly shows that the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality did everything right,” MDEQ Executive Director Chris Wells said in a press release following the EPA’s announcement.

The two agencies are in charge of disbursing funds from the EPA called “state revolving loan,” or SRF, funds, which are meant to help cities make infrastructure improvements. MDEQ handles SRF funds related to wastewater infrastructure, while the Health Department handles SRF funds for drinking water.

But the claims against the agencies were only part of the 2022 complaint the NAACP filed with the EPA. The federal agency did not address another complaint: The group also focused on the state Legislature, which has denied attempts in recent years by Jackson to raise money for its water system, such as creating a new 1% tax.

Click here for the EPA’s full responses to MDEQ and Health Department.

The post EPA absolves MDEQ, Health Department of discrimination in funding Jackson water appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Frank Bordeaux announced on Wednesday that he will not seek reelection to his post and endorsed former U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst to succeed him. 

Bordeaux, an insurance executive, wrote on Facebook that he’s had a great tenure as the party’s chairman, but it was time to “pass the torch” to a “new leader with a fresh perspective.” 

“We’ve seen a lot of success,” Bordeaux said. “We’ve elected more Republicans in the last few years to local, state, and federal offices than at any point in history. With every election, we’ve gained seats and put more conservatives in positions to improve the lives of Mississippians.” 

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves in September 2020 backed Bordeaux, a longtime Coast resident, to replace former GOP Chairman Lucien Smith, a move that likely proved crucial to the governor transforming the Coast into a political firewall of support during the 2023 statewide election. 

Reeves in a Wednesday social media post thanked Bordeaux for his service and backed Hurst to become the new leader of the party.

“He has done an outstanding job raising funds for the Party as the Chairman of the United Republican Fund,” Reeves said of Hurst. “And I look forward to working with him to continue to grow the MSGOP and increase our capacity to get conservatives elected to every level of government.”

It’s typical for a sitting Republican governor, as de facto head of the state party, to pick a new chairman. While the executive committee technically elects a GOP chairman, a governor’s choice is typically installed by acclamation. There has been no major executive committee challenge to a Republican governor’s chairman nomination in recent history.

The MSGOP annual convention begins Friday, and the change in leadership is expected to be voted into place this weekend. The Friday kickoff of the convention includes an address by national RNC Co-Chair Lara Trump, former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law.

Hurst in a Wednesday statement reiterated he has Reeves’ support.

“I want to thank Gov. Tate Reeves for his support, Chairman Frank Bordeaux for his incredible leadership, and the staff of the MSGOP, who have all raised our party to new heights and have achieved so much for our conservative principles over the last number of years,” Hurst said.

“Our future is bright in Mississippi and, if elected chairman, I hope I can play a small role in making our state and our party even better in the future,” Hurst added.

READ MORE: Lucien Smith out as MSGOP chair; Gov. Reeves backs Gulf Coast businessman to replace him

Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann in a statement Wednesday said: “Being chairman is a tough, uncompensated job which takes a significant amount of personal time. Frank’s leadership through part of the pandemic and the recent statewide election has been pivotal to bringing organization, unity, and success to the Republican Party across the state. We appreciate his service and look forward to continuing his efforts under the guidance of Mike Hurst.”

Hurst has been involved in state and national Republican politics for years. He is currently a partner in the Phelps Dunbar law firm’s Jackson office. Hurst served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi under President Donald Trump’s administration from 2017 to 2021, and previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney. 

Prior to his presidential appointment, Hurst was the founder and director of the Mississippi Justice Institute, a division of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. He also previously served as a legislative director and counsel to then-U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, and served as counsel to the Constitution Subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.

Hurst’s wife, Celeste Hurst, was elected last year to the state House District 77 seat, representing Madison, Rankin and Scott counties.

The post MSGOP Chair Bordeaux stepping down. Mike Hurst endorsed as successor appeared first on Mississippi Today.

We are into the second week of May, which means the college and high school baseball seasons have reached the point where every pitch matters. At present, Mississippi State is a likely 2-seed, Southern Miss is a 3-seed and Ole Miss is on the outside looking in. The Rebels, however, can change that this weekend when No. 1 ranked Texas A&M comes to Oxford. Also, Tyler gives the lowdown on all the high school baseball playoff action.

Stream all episodes here.

The post Podcast: It’s crunch time in both college and high school baseball. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A Palestinian-American activist is pressing charges against U.S. Rep. Mike Ezell of Mississippi for allegedly assaulting her on Capitol Hill.

Ezell, who is currently running for reelection, was shown in a video posted Tuesday with Sumer Mobarak, a member of a feminist political advocacy group based in California called Code Pink.

One of the activists can be heard asking Ezell about the Israel-Hamas war and whether he thinks Israel should accept a ceasefire proposal or if he wants “this genocide to continue?”

Another person off-camera asks: “You want the killing of my people, my Palestinian people?”

“Oh, why don’t you shut up?” Ezell says in response. “Knock it off!” He then appears to reach out with his hand and knock the cellphone filming him to the ground.

The Palestinian-American, identified as Mobarak, has filed an assault complaint against Ezell, according to Code Pink. U.S. Capitol Police told the Associated Press that they are looking into the incident.

“These China-backed protesters want to harass and intimidate Members of Congress into ending our support for Israel and our opposition to Hamas terrorists,” Ezell said in a statement. “I will not be harassed or intimidated by the Chinese Communist Party, Hamas, or their supporters, and I will continue standing with our Israeli allies against terrorism.”

Code Pink says on its site that “China is not our enemy.” According to a 2023 New York Times investigation, the group—which describes itself as a “feminist grassroots organization working to end U.S. warfare and imperialism, support peace and human rights initiatives”—once criticized China’s human rights record but has more recently supported Beijing’s internment of mostly Muslim Uyghurs.

Ezell was Jackson County sheriff before he was elected to the U.S. House seat in south Mississippi in 2022. He is seeking reelection this year as the Republican nominee and faces Craig Elliot Raybon, who was unopposed for the Democratic nomination, in November.

The post Activist pressing charges against U.S. Rep. Ezell after confrontation over Israel-Hamas war appeared first on Mississippi Today.

HATTIESBURG — A pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Southern Mississippi ended after an hour, with the roughly 50 students and faculty who silently held signs facing no counter-protesters or arrests — a sharp contrast to the demonstration five days earlier at the University of Mississippi. 

According to a social media post, the ad hoc group, called USM for Palestine, were calling on the university to divest if it is invested in Israeli companies, echoing demands made by students across the country in the wake of the Israel-Hamas War. A university spokesperson said information about USM’s investments would not be available by press time. 

“All members of the University community conducted themselves peacefully and respectfully,” Nicole Ruhnke wrote in an email. 

It marked the second pro-Palestine protest at a Mississippi university since students at Columbia University set up an encampment about two weeks ago with protests touching over 40 campuses across the country. On May 2, police broke up a similar protest at the University of Mississippi after some 200 of mainly white, male counter-protesters heckled, chased and threw food-related items at pro-Palestinian students. 

Videos of the Ole Miss protest went viral, and the university has said it is investigating the conduct of at least one student. The Phi Delta Theta fraternity expelled from membership a student who was filmed making monkey noises at a Black female student protester. 

At USM, there are significantly less Greek students, but the specter of what could happen seemed to haunt campus officials. About 20 minutes before the protest was slated to start, the university police chief, Rusty Keyes, was already patrolling Shoemaker Square, the campus free-speech zone.

Keyes pulled aside a legal observer from the Mississippi Center for Justice to say the students would only be allowed to protest for an hour because they had not followed university policy.

“Now, I’m not happy with them,” Keyes told the legal observer. “They have to go by the rules. I have the ability to (approve) time, manner and place, okay? … That’s my authority, off the policy.”

“If we’re going to do this … it’s going to be right there so I can protect them,” he added, gesturing to a patch of grass next to a brick building to the side of the square. “There’s a lot things they could’ve done to make it a lot easier on theirselves (sic). And the policy works with them. But they’re doing everything in their power to work against it. If they would just work, they can have everything they want. But they gotta go by the policy. That’s why policies and laws are in place. It’s to protect everybody. And I’m going to make sure everybody is protected.” 

Then Keyes asked how many people were going to show up, before gesturing at a photographer on the other side of the fountain. 

“They called this photographer, they called that photographer,” he said, “and that shows right there — I mean, what’s your intent, you know?” 

“Their intent is just to exercise their free speech,” the legal observer replied. 

“I hope so,” Keyes said. “I hope so. I want to provide that for them. But they’ve got to go by my instructions for their safety, okay? And then this ends at 1 o’clock, okay? By 1 o’clock. And they gotta disperse.” 

When Mississippi Today tried to talk to Keyes, he said he wasn’t commenting for the university and asked a reporter to delete her recording. 

A few feet away, Sirena Cantrell, the dean of students, stood with her arms crossed. Student groups aren’t typically allowed to hold events during finals, she noted, so the protest wasn’t fair. And she was concerned that what happened at Ole Miss could happen at USM, especially because the police were stretched thin preparing for graduation. Since the protest was silent, she hoped it would be pointless to counter-protest. 

“We had actually asked the group not to do this, cause of finals weeks,” she said.

Cantrell added she had tried to talk with a student from USM for Palestine, but it wasn’t productive, which was, she added, “unfortunate.” 

“I didn’t really have a discussion with her,” Cantrell said. “I just told her the policy, and she said ‘okay,’ and then I never heard from her again.” 

By 12 p.m., officers had stationed themselves at all four corners of the fountain. Police cars blocked off the sidewalks to prevent people from walking too close to the protesters. 

Students wearing keffiyehs began to trickle in, holding signs that said “Save Gaza,” “Nothing Justifies Genocide” and “Humanity Above Politics.” After speaking to Keyes, they shuffled over to the grass. 

The protest was so silent, chirping birds could be heard over the water fountain. So could the laughter of a group of mostly male students who stood to the side. 

“Because if Israel sees their signs, they’ll stop shooting at Palestine,” one of the students said to snickers. He wore a blue ball cap, a gray shirt and gave his name as Tim, then “Binky.” 

Rumors about the protest had been all over social media, “Binky” said, and he had been looking forward to it. But so far, he was disappointed. 

“I kind of wanted it to be wild,” he said. “I was excited to watch them look stupid.” 

“I think there’s no sense in yelling at each other, though,” responded his friend, who wouldn’t give his name. Cantrell, he added, had told them “we can’t raise havoc, just like they (the protesters) couldn’t.” 

“The stuff at Ole Miss got taken too far,” another added. “It was funny but like, some of the shit was way too far.” 

The protest was only supposed to last an hour, someone else said, and they all started laughing again. 

“That’s gonna stop what’s going on over there,” he said. “An hour of sign holding.” 

The silent protest was an attempt to follow university policy and avoid replicating the confrontational atmosphere of Ole Miss’ protest, said Willem Myers, a 22-year-old social work major who was acting as USM for Palestine’s spokesperson. 

Though they hadn’t anticipated the Keyes’ restrictions, Myers noted the mood was calmer than at a protest he attended at Tulane University in New Orleans, where police broke up an encampment and arrested 14 people, including him. Myers had to get permission to leave the city, where he lives, to be on campus that morning for an exam. 

The goal was to support Palestinians, said Myers, who is Jewish. He disagrees with the idea that Israel “speaks for or is in the best interest of the Jewish people.”  

“What we’re seeing overwhelmingly from people who are on the frontlines and who are in Rafah is that they are emboldened by and given hope by the actions of student protesters throughout the world right now,” he said. “The fact is that we don’t exist in a vacuum, we’re not an island here at USM or in Mississippi. We’re part of the larger U.S. imperialist project, and we are firmly standing against it … to have it on record that USM students do not stand with the ongoing genocide and violence against Palestinians.” 

At 1 p.m., the protest was over. Students clapped briefly, then started packing up. 

As police watched, a white student in a blue shirt walked up to them. He asked what “the rules” were and why he wasn’t allowed to talk to the protesters, “because it’s a public university.” 

“If you want to communicate with them, wait till they leave,” Keyes responded. “We just want to keep this area safe.” 

Though the student, a 23-year-old finance major who declined to give his name, was friends with the group that was making jokes, he said he actually wanted to have an open dialogue with the protesters. He would’ve liked to ask what their “end goal” was. 

He said he already knew their answer would be a ceasefire, but he wasn’t sure that was possible in the Middle East where, he said, “it’s built into their culture not to like each other.” 

But it’s like that here, too, he said. In America, political beliefs are becoming more polarized due to “Big Tech” and misinformation. Though he identifies as a conservative, is in a fraternity and plans to vote for Donald Trump, the student said he also opposes the military industrial complex — but where else, except for a protest like this, would he have an opportunity to actually talk with people on the other side? 

“I guess I do,” he said, when asked if he agreed with the protesters. “I guess I do, in a way. I think I saw a big sign that said ‘‘ceasefire.’ Yeah, I do agree with that. I agree with a ceasefire. Of course. Why would I want more people to die?” 

The post Pro-Palestinian protest at University of Southern Mississippi ends without confrontation appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi is collecting enough money to fund the current year’s budget passed by the Legislature in 2023 — largely due to interest earnings on federal COVID-19 money — but tax collections remain sluggish.

April’s revenue, just released by the staff of the Legislative Budget Committee, was $6.87 million or 0.65% over the estimate. But actual tax collections were $1.3 million below the estimate.

The reason total revenue for April was above the estimate is the interest earnings the state is garnering on its surplus money. For the month of April, interest earnings were $8.2 million above the estimate, thanks to the unprecedented amount of surplus money largely from federal COVID-19 spending and because of high interest rates.

Through April, the first 10 months of the fiscal year, interest earnings are $93.4 million above the estimate. Interest earnings are more than half of the total collections above the estimate of $185.8 million for the year.

For the fiscal year to date, revenue is .39% or $24.7 million above the previous year. Without interest earnings, the state would be collecting less revenue that it did the previous year.

The sluggish collections report for April was released just as the Legislature was finalizing a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1.

For the upcoming fiscal year, the budget, including all state support funds, will be $7.28 billion or $583.2 million more than was budgeted for the current fiscal year. That number excludes the use of surplus funds to pay for one-time construction projects throughout the state.

Kindergarten through 12^th grade education will receive $246 million or 8% of the increased funds while universities will receive an additional $60.8 million or 7.5% more than they received for the current year. Community colleges will receive an additional 18% or $53 million.

The Legislature is in an unusual position of being able to make record expenditures even as revenue collections appear to be slowing, thanks, in large  part to COVID-19 relief funds and other federal funds.

But many legislative leaders said during the just completed session that they will continue to monitor collections that could impact budgeting in future years if the trend continues.

For the year, state income taxes are down $131.2 million or 6.6%. That, according to state Economist Corey Miller, is attributed at least in part to the $525 million income tax cut that currently is being phased in over a four-year period. Sales tax collections are up $71.7 million or 3.2%.

The post State revenue is sluggish, but interest from federal COVID-19 money is buoying budget appeared first on Mississippi Today.

As sheriff, Terry Grassaree stoked fear into the citizens of Noxubee County by imitating his idol, wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

On Tuesday, the 61-year-old former law enforcement officer spoke in a soft voice to District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III as he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI when he denied that he made a jailed woman take and share sexually explicit photos and videos of herself.

He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on Aug. 7.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Purdie told District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III that Grassaree lied to an FBI agent on July 13, 2020, about making a woman behind bars take and share nude photos and videos in exchange for favorable treatment, which included making her a jail trusty.

After she texted the photos from a contraband cell phone, he responded, “Butt is great” and “Body looks perfect.”

Standing next to his attorney, Abram Sellers of Jackson, Grassaree admitted all of what Purdie had said was true.

Grassaree was also charged with destroying evidence and wire fraud. If he had pleaded guilty to all of his charges, he could have faced up to 90 years in prison.

But his story goes far beyond what the former sheriff pleaded guilty to on Tuesday.

The Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today and The New York Times highlighted Grassaree in its series, “Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs,” which showed how sheriffs can rule like kings in rural counties. They answer to no one and typically face little press or prosecutorial scrutiny.

The investigation published April 11, 2023, revealed that the allegations of wrongdoing against Grassaree have been far more wide-ranging and serious than his federal charges suggest. The investigation included a review of nearly two decades of lawsuit depositions and a previously undisclosed report by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.

At a minimum, the documents detail gross mismanagement at the Noxubee County jail in Macon that repeatedly put female inmates in harm’s way. At worst, they tell the story of a sheriff who operated with impunity, even as he was accused of abusing the people in his custody, turning a blind eye to women who were raped and trying to cover it up when caught.

Over nearly two decades, as allegations mounted and Noxubee County’s insurance company paid to settle lawsuits against Grassaree, state prosecutors brought no charges against him or others accused of abuses in the jail. A federal investigation dragged on for years and finally led to charges in fall 2022.

In a 2020 lawsuit, Elizabeth Layne Reed accused two deputies, Vance Phillips and Damon Clark, of coercing her into having sex. She said the men gave her a cellphone and other perks in exchange for sexual encounters inside and outside the jail. Deputies even put a sofa in her cell.

According to her lawsuit, Grassaree knew all about his deputies’ “sexual contacts and shenanigans,” but the sheriff did nothing to “stop the coerced sexual relationships.” 

Grassaree has previously denied any knowledge of what his deputies were doing. “Are you a boss?” he asked. “Do your employees tell you everything they do?”

Instead of intervening, the lawsuit alleged, the sheriff “sexted” her and demanded that she use the phone the deputies had given her to send him “a continuous stream of explicit videos, photographs and texts” while she was in jail. She also alleged in the lawsuit that Grassaree touched her in a “sexual manner.”

The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount.

No date has been set for the sentencing of one of those deputies, Phillips, who pleaded guilty last year to bribery, which experts say could have been the perks the woman says she received. Prosecutors asked for his sentencing to be postponed “pending a resolution of another criminal matter,” an obvious reference to Grassaree’s case.

The other deputy, Vance, wasn’t charged. “I never coerced Reed into sex,” he wrote in his response to the lawsuit, but he never answered whether he had sex with her.

Under Mississippi law, it is a crime for officers to have sex with those behind bars, and the felony carries up to five years in prison.

Nearly two decades ago, Grassaree faced allegations of rape inside the jail that he supervised and lawsuits claiming that he covered up the episodes. At least five people, including one of his fellow deputies, accused him of beating others or choking them with a police baton.

In 2006, after Grassaree and his staff left jail cell keys hanging on a wall, male inmates opened the doors to the cell of two women inmates and raped them, according to statements the women gave to state investigators. One of the women said Grassaree pressured her to sign a false statement to cover up the crimes, according to the state police report.

About a year later, in a lawsuit, four people who had been arrested gave sworn statements accusing Grassaree of violence. Two of the people said he choked or beat them while they were in his custody. A third said he pinned her against a wall and threatened to let a male inmate rape her.

All told, at least eight men — including four deputies and Grassaree himself — have been accused of sex abuse by women inmates who were being held in the Noxubee County jail while Grassaree was in charge.

Now, 18 years after a woman first said that he pressured her to lie about being raped, the former sheriff faces possible prison time.

The post Ex-Mississippi sheriff admits lying to the FBI appeared first on Mississippi Today.