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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday refused for now to block enforcement of a Mississippi law aimed at regulating the use of social media by children, an issue of growing national concern.

The justices rejected an emergency appeal from a tech industry group, NetChoice, that is challenging laws passed in Mississippi and other states that require social media users to verify their ages. The court had been asked to keep the law on hold while a lawsuit plays out.

There were no noted dissents from the brief, unsigned order. But Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote to say that NetChoice could eventually succeed in showing that the law is indeed unconstitutional.

Kavanaugh said he nevertheless agreed with the court’s decision because the tech group had not shown it would suffer legal harm if the measure went into effect as the lawsuit unfolded.

NetChoice argues that the Mississippi law threatens privacy rights and unconstitutionally restricts the free expression of users of all ages.

A federal judge agreed and prevented the 2024 law from taking effect. But a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in July that the law could be enforced while the lawsuit proceeds.

It’s the latest legal development as court challenges play out against similar laws in states across the country.

Parents and even some teenagers are growing increasingly concerned about the effects of social media use on young people. Supporters of the new laws have said they are needed to help curb the explosive use of social media among young people, and what researchers say is an associated increase in depression and anxiety.

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch told the justices that age verification could help protect young people from “sexual abuse, trafficking, physical violence, sextortion, and more,” activities that Fitch noted are not protected by the First Amendment.

NetChoice represents some of the country’s most high-profile technology companies, including Google, which owns YouTube; Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat; and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.

NetChoice has filed similar lawsuits in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Ohio and Utah.

Mark Sherman and Lindsay Whitehurst of The Associated Press reported from Washington.

Change occurs so quickly in the 250th year of our nation’s existence sometimes we feel the need to call timeout, survey the rapidly shifting landscape and wonder: What next? What in Hades happens next?

We have a former Fox Network weekend host in charge of our military. We have a former professional wrestling promoter heading up the Department of Education (which she wants to scrap entirely). We have an anti-vaccine advocate leading the Department of Health and Human Services. Hard to tell these days who are our allies and who are our enemies. Few of our traditional allies trust us anymore. Our president creates, then delays, then reduces and then increases tariffs so often we can’t keep up. 

Indeed, what the heck comes next? 

Well, stop the presses. Now we know what’s next: Cage fighting on the White House grounds, UFC style. Trump has indicated he wants it to happen. His close friend Dana White, CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), says unequivocally this is going to happen. Paramount, which has been so much in the news lately, will televise it. Millions of dollars will be made. Eyes will be blackened! Brains will be concussed!! Blood will flow!!! Ratings will soar!!!! MAGA!!!!!

Ancient Rome had the Colosseum and gladiators fighting to the death for the entertainment of the emperor. Washington will have cage fighting, no holds barred, at the White House, heretofore a National Historic Landmark so designated for its significance to American history, architecture, arts and culture. At least there will be no lions in the White House cage. Or will there be? Perhaps alligators.

The target date is July 4, 2026. As Trump put it in a speech in Iowa: “We’re going to have a UFC fight, think of this, on the grounds of the White House. We have a lot of land there. … We’re going to have a UFC fight, championship fight, full fight.”

Yes, he really did say we have a lot of land there, leaving out the obvious. It doesn’t take much land for a caged-in, 746-square foot UFC octagon. Besides, there’s not enough room for a golf course, which Trump might prefer.

U.S. presidents have dabbled in sports before, though not quite the way Trump, who owns 17 golf courses worldwide, has immersed himself in golf. Trump in his second term reportedly has played golf on a quarter of the days he has been president, costing taxpayers roughly $70 million in travel and secret service expenses.

Previous presidents have not been quite so active, although Nixon installed a bowling alley in the White House basement. Eisenhower added a putting green on the White House lawn. Clinton added a jogging track to the White House grounds. Obama loved to play pick-up basketball. Most all recent presidents have been huge sports fans. But, at least to my knowledge, Trump is the first UFC aficionado in the White House.

Which brings to my mind this question: Which president would have been best at UFC? My money definitely would be on sturdy Teddy Roosevelt, who boxed at Harvard and sparred at both boxing and judo while president. He was a fitness freak. He also found time as president to save college football, although I’m not at all sure President Teddy would fancy what college football has become.

There are other president-athletes to consider. Abe Lincoln was a champion amateur wrestler and would have had a decided advantage in reach over most presidents. Gerald Ford was a Michigan football star who played on two national championship teams and was the Wolverines’ MVP as a senior. Ford was in the trenches, a center on offense and a linebacker on defense. This was back before facemasks. Clearly, he was a tough guy.

William Howard Taft, our 27th president, was a varsity heavyweight wrestler at Yale. In retrospect, it seems a shame sumo wrestling wasn’t popular in the early 20th century. Taft, 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing just over 350 pounds, would have been a natural.

On the local front, you don’t have to read Mississippi Today daily to know that Mississippi’s current political leaders often follow President Trump’s lead. Indeed, there seems a highly competitive contest to see which Mississippi politico can get the tightest grip on Trump’s coattails. They all want to follow Trump’s blueprint and make Mississippi great again.

With that in mind, can UFC fighting at the Governor’s Mansion, right there on Capitol Street, be far behind?

Think of the possibilities. For starters, how about Shad White vs. Andy Gipson? Who you got?

Clarification: This column was updated to reflect that the United States of America is in its 250th year of existence.

Baristas serve pie as the walls shake with noise at Urban Foxes coffee shop near downtown Jackson. It’s nighttime, and the 88-year-old house with hardwood floors and lots of windows is now a venue for an alternative music show where local artists shred electric guitar against recordings of cicadas and static.

T-shirts for Mississippi band Filth Eternal sit on a merch table next to a used copy of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Audience members wear orange paper wristbands. Outside, artists smoke cigarettes and pull equipment out of cars. After the show ends, all proceeds are donated to the Animal Rescue Fund of Mississippi.

The July 25 show was one of many in Jackson’s DIY scene. Jackson DIY is decades-old and encompasses a wide range of alternative music genres, including punk, metal, noise and hardcore, as well as independent publications, like zines.

DIY stands for “do-it-yourself.” According to Lucy Isadora, one organizer of Jackson DIY shows, the style is characterized by a lack of industry influence on artists. Local people organize shows and post flyers to Instagram. Isadora often hosts traveling artists at her house. Bands split money made from shows, which generally have an entry fee of $10 to $15.

Isadora has booked bands like Alien Nosejob at the bar and restaurant CS’s and annually organizes the punk show Brisket’s Birthday Bash to honor her dog, Brisket. 

“Obviously, my dog does not go to his birthday party because it’s a punk show, and, like, that’s not really fun if you’re a dog,” Isadora said. “But, every year that we’ve done it, we’ve been able to raise a decent amount of money for animal shelters.”

Arin, who goes only by her first name, started attending Jackson DIY shows two years ago and now covers the scene in her publication JXN Underground. She also books performances and hosts local artists on her podcast. She said traveling bands love Jackson once they play a show.

“I guess it’s that old Southern charm, but they’re always so pleased to be here. And I think it works out well that way, because this scene is so small,” Arin said. “It’s very intimate. Everybody really does know everybody.”

Though local and tight-knit, Jackson’s DIY scene has attracted bands from as far away as Poland. Punk artists have been playing in Mississippi’s capital city for decades. 

J.D. Burns has attended punk and hardcore shows in Jackson for over 20 years. Arin called him an “old head.” 

Burns said some of his first shows were at a “really seedy, kind of dangerous bar” called W.C. Don’s. He explained how, unlike today, Jackson punk bands in the early 2000s had a reputation for being rowdy and intoxicated.

“They were much more bratty, drunk, older people, not quite street punk, not mohawks and chains and leather jackets, but just gnarly, gnarly people,” Burns said.

Bands used to appear in weekly show bills released by the Jackson Free Press, now known as the Mississippi Free Press.

Churches also served as DIY venues in the Jackson area in the early 2000s, when there was a boom in Christian metal and hardcore. Since the bands were Christian, churches allowed them to play.

W.C. Don’s and many of the old bars are closed, and churches no longer have metal shows, Burns said. Now, bands advertise themselves on Instagram, and many of today’s venues, like Sunflower Oven and Urban Foxes, allow fans of all ages.

“Right now, Jackson has the best, most diverse scene that it’s had in a long time, maybe ever,” Burns said. “We can also acknowledge that it’s all based on experience.”

The flyer for the July 25 DIY show at Urban Foxes depicted a black cat in an ornate flowery frame with the headline: “A Night of Noise Benefitting Animal Rescue Fund of Mississippi.” The show was pay-what-you-can, and attendees were invited to donate shelter supplies such as cat food instead of money.

Four artists played: Raven Weather, that which waits beyond sleep, INDOLE and The Sky Imposed its Will ….

The acts belong to the experimental noise genre, where artists integrate noises that are sometimes thought of as nonmusical into their work. 

Before the first set, INDOLE, whose stage name refers to an aroma chemical found in both feces and flowers, sat by the front steps.

Show attendees could also pull zines from Landmass Library, which is run by Isadora and distributes free DIY publications. 

One zine, written by a punk ER doctor, discusses what to expect when visiting the emergency room. Other zines focus on immigrants’ rights, queer issues and Black Lives Matter – topics Isadora said “are really important to me but are getting squashed by the current administration.”

Many of the night’s music artists belonged to multiple projects at once. Burns, who runs the noise project “that which waits beyond sleep,” is also in the band Kicking. 

“Please put in your article that I think everyone should start a band,” Isadora said. “And, even if your band sucks, I will come see your band at least once. But, if you suck, I might not come back again.”

Isadora bought a guitar so she could learn to play for Hammer and the Tools. She is left-handed, but, initially, had mistakenly bought a right-handed guitar. She gave that guitar to Arin, who is now learning to play. 

Arin explained that, for people interested, the best thing to do is just go to a show.

“I certainly didn’t know that I was going to be doing all this when I went to my first show,” Arin said. “I was just trying to get out of the house, so it can really open up some doors that you might not even consider.”

Correction 8/14/2025: This story has been updated to show that J.D. Burns is also in the band Kicking.

This year marks what would have been Emmett Till’s 84th birthday, and 70 years since the Black teenager was kidnapped and lynched in Mississippi. The Two Mississippi Museums and the Emmett Till Interpretive Center are holding events dedicated to Till and the impact of his death, inspired by the anniversaries. 

The side-by-side museums in Jackson – the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Museum of Mississippi History –  continued a tradition of conducting tours on Till’s birthday, July 25. Visitors sat in the center of the civil rights museum, where a guide recounted Till’s story and its impact on the Civil Rights Movement. People could also enter a small gallery to watch a documentary about his life.

DeSean Dyson, a Jackson native, said he considers Till’s life essential to his own work. His job takes him around the U.S. to promote peace and justice initiatives.

“It’s very important to me, as I have a 10-year-old, a 12-year-old and a 16-year-old, that they stay rooted and connected to this history,” said Dyson, a former educator who took his sons to tour the museums. 

He said teachings about Till should emphasize his humanity.

“Like, it’s really important how we frame Emmett’s death as being inspiring to a generation, but Emmett’s life mattered a lot,” Dyson said.

Michael Morris, director of the Two Mississippi Museums, said he wants people to understand the broad context of Till’s life and death.

“I hope visitors learn about not just the fact that he was murdered, which is important, but also the fact that his life really did stimulate, encourage, inspire a lot of youth his age to become a part of the modern Civil Rights Movement,” Morris said.

Longtime civil rights activist Hezekiah Watkins of Jackson volunteers at the civil rights museum in various roles, often speaking about his life story. In 1961, he was just 13 when he was arrested at Jackson’s Greyhound bus station. Authorities thought he was part of the Freedom Riders, a racially integrated group of young people who rode interstate buses through the South to challenge segregation. Watkins and the Freedom Riders were sent to the Mississippi State Penitentiary and housed on death row.

Watkins recounted that when he told his mother he was joining the Civil Rights Movement, she used Till’s death as a warning: “She said, ‘You remember me telling you about Emmett Till?’ She said, ‘The same thing that happened to Emmett will happen to you.’

“I guess I really didn’t care,” Watkins said, “because I didn’t know that we was living in bondage … I didn’t know we was living as slaves, per se.”

In August 1955, 14-year-old Till traveled from Chicago to the Mississippi Delta to visit his cousins. Till and other young Black people went to buy snacks one day at Bryant’s Grocery & Meat Market in the tiny community of Money. Till’s cousin Simeon Wright later said he heard Till whistle at the white storekeeper, Carolyn Bryant, as they left.

Days later, a group that included Carolyn’s husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam kidnapped Till from the home of Moses Wright, Till’s great-uncle. They beat Till, shot him and dumped him in the Tallahatchie River, using barbed wire to attach a 75-pound cotton gin fan to him. His body was discovered three days later, decomposed beyond recognition except for his father’s ring on one of his fingers.

Mississippi authorities wanted a quick burial, but Till’s mother Mamie Till-Mobley requested his body be returned to Chicago. After seeing the horrific condition of her son’s corpse, she insisted on an open-casket funeral so the world could see what had happened. 

Jet magazine published a photo of Till’s mutilated body at his funeral, launching the killing into an international news story. Weeks later, an all-white jury in Mississippi acquitted Milam and Bryant of murdering Till. Outrage over the injustice of the case helped launch the Civil Rights Movement, inspiring many Black people to openly oppose Jim Crow.

Today, the courthouse where Till’s killers were acquitted is restored and is a National Park Service site. The restoration was done by the Emmett Till Memorial Commission, formed in 2006 by Jerome G. Little, the Tallahatchie County Board of Supervisors’ first Black president.

The commission was dedicated to remembering Till and healing racial division. It went on to become a nonprofit organization and establish the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner. 

The center is hosting a Till commemoration Aug. 28-30 at Mississippi Valley State University’s Walter Roberts Auditorium.

Benjamin Saulsberry is the museum’s public engagement and education director. He said the impact of Till’s death is still felt today by people who remember the terrible events of that hot Mississippi summer.

“We’re talking about people who are still alive with us, people who were lawmakers or about to become lawmakers themselves … and in turn, their ideologies and their spaces have helped – or in some ways maybe not helped — shape the world that we live in today,” he said.

The three-day commemoration will focus on Till, his mother and the impact of Till’s lynching in the Delta. The programming includes a theatrical performance, an award-winning biographical exhibit and panels with people discussing their accounts of watching Till’s story. Registration for the commemoration is on the center’s website.

Saulsberry hopes visitors come away from the commemoration knowing more about Till and the Delta, that they feel inspired to continue learning and that they know they can create change in their own lives.

He acknowledged Till’s death was a tragedy, but said people should remember the action it inspired. 

“And I want to be clear that it marks the 70th year after his murder, but also marks the 70th year of Mrs. Mamie Till making the decision she made that would help basically, bring us to another part of the Civil Rights Movement,” Saulsberry said. “It’s the 70th year anniversary point of recognition where Mr. Moses Wright stands up in that courtroom and points directly at Milam and Bryant, knowing he was putting his own life at risk.” 

Hard to believe the Mississippi football season opens later this month. Not so hard to believe is that the Clevelands have looked ahead at the schedule and picked the five most interesting high school and college football games on the schedule. A hint: You don’t have to wait long for one some of the most intriguing games, both high school and college.

Stream all episodes here.

Morgan Freeman had a simple message for people attending the Mississippi Early Learning Alliance’s inaugural fundraising luncheon on Tuesday. 

When asked what advice he’d give to an 8-year-old in Mississippi with big dreams, Freeman said just three words: “Get a book.”

Freeman, an Academy Award-winning actor, headlined the “Big Voices for Little Children” fundraiser for the alliance, which is dedicated to improving early learning and child development outcomes. 

More than 200 advocates, politicians and local leaders attended the luncheon, including Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and blues musician Bobby Rush. The event was hosted at the Two Mississippi Museums in downtown Jackson and primarily sponsored by TrueCare, a nonprofit created by Mississippi hospitals as an alternative to traditional managed care.

The luncheon comes at a critical time for early learning in Mississippi and on the heels of statewide reading gains that have garnered national attention. That wasn’t lost on speakers at the event, including Freeman. 

Executive director Biz Harris opened the fundraiser by underscoring how important successful early education systems are to the state’s success as a whole. 

“Every single day in Mississippi, nearly 100 new babies are born,” she said. “That’s 100 new beginnings — 100 new chances for our state to make the future a little stronger and a little brighter.”

She listed a number of initiatives aimed at improving early learning in Mississippi, including Hosemann’s task force on families and children and the successful passage of a bill that guarantees six weeks of paid parental leave for state employees. 

Harris also detailed her personal struggles with child care — struggles that almost prevented her from accepting her current job. 

Almost a decade ago, she was offered a position by SonEdna, the organization founded by Freeman that helped launch the alliance. It was her dream job, she said, but she couldn’t find child care for her 2-year-old son. After calling every local program, Harris said, she pieced together a child care plan for her son, but it wasn’t ideal. For nine months, her son bounced between programs. 

“He was safe, he was cared for, he was learning, but that constant transition shaped his development and comfort with new situations in ways that we still see him struggle with as a sixth grader,” she said. “I share this because what babies experience in those early years matters so much. It affects their education and their health for the rest of their lives.”

Freeman said his own education in Greenwood influenced his trajectory as an actor and advocate for children’s education, which led to his role as polyester-clad Easy Reader on education children’s television show “The Electric Company” in the 1970s.

As people ate lunch, Freeman recounted stories from his childhood and shared his love of reading.

“When I was 8 years old and living in Chicago, I had a library card,” he said. “My first book that didn’t have pictures was ‘Black Beauty.’ So there I was, reading, reading, reading. And my penchant for adventure came from those books.”

Freeman regaled the audience with other personal tidbits, too, like his version of a perfect day in Mississippi (“riding horses”) and what kind of student he was in school (“a teacher’s pet”). 

But he kept coming back to reading.

“There are marvelous things in books,” Freeman said. “You can learn anything in the world. … All of the things I’ve done — flying, sailing, acting — are because of books.”

President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced his nomination of James Maxwell and Robert Chamberlin, two Mississippi Supreme Court justices, to vacant federal judicial seats in northern Mississippi. 

Pending Senate confirmation of the nominations, Gov. Tate Reeves will appoint two state high court justices temporarily, then special elections will be held in November of 2026.

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, his social media platform, where he said the two justices, if confirmed, would uphold the Constitution and the rule of law. Both Chamberlin and Maxwell, through the state Administrative Office of the Court’s public information officer, declined to comment.

The two nominations will go before the U.S. Senate for confirmation. Both of Mississippi’s Republican U.S. senators, Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, commended Trump for nominating the two jurists and said they supported their confirmation. 

“I want to thank President Donald Trump for his nomination of two solid and experienced jurists for the U.S. District Court,” Wicker said in a statement. “I wholeheartedly support Justice Chamberlin and Justice Maxwell and look forward to their speedy confirmation.”

Maxwell earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Mississippi. Former Gov. Haley Barbour in February of 2009 appointed Maxwell to the state Court of Appeals. Maxwell was elected to the post in 2010 and reelected in 2014. Former Gov. Phil Bryant appointed him to the state Supreme Court in January 2016. He was later elected to an eight-year term in November of 2016 and reelected in 2024.

Chamberlin earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Mississippi. He first served as a state circuit court judge for 12 years in the 17th Circuit District. In 2016, he was elected to an open seat on the state Supreme Court and reelected in 2024. 

Before becoming a judge, Chamberlin was a member of the state Senate for five years, representing DeSoto County. 

Chamberlin and Maxwell will replace U.S. District Judges Michael Mills and Sharion Aycock, both of whom decided to take senior status in recent years. 

It’s unclear who Reeves might appoint to fill the vacancies. He has previously filled judicial vacancies on the state Court of Appeals with prosecutors or circuit court judges with prosecutorial experience, such as the appointments of Judge John Weddle and Judge John Emfinger.

LaQuita Glasper said living at Blossom Apartments the last few weeks has felt like being in jail. 

On July 23, JXN Water disconnected service to the complex in south Jackson, leaving about 20 families without access to running water. Now, the residents have orders to vacate.

Hundreds more Jacksonians could be forced from their homes if the private water utility continues a crackdown that has already led residents in two apartment complexes to flee. 

“We’re not gonna be able to move and pick up in five days,” Glasper said Saturday as officials scrambled to temporarily restore water and deal with the fallout. “We need more time.”

The utility has remained mum about the specific properties where it plans to discontinue service next, though concerned residents are encouraged to call JXN Water 601-500-5200 to get a status update on their property.

Glasper, 44, has lived at Blossom with her mother for four years. She said she doesn’t invite visitors because of safety concerns.

She said she has her eyes set on another complex, The Park at St. Andrews. But that apartment is also behind on its water bill, according to JXN Water.

The utility previously released a list of 15 complexes that had delinquent water bills of more than $100,000, plus 141 total accounts across the city are considered past due. Some of the properties have signed on to a payment plan. The utility said it has declined to name the complexes that have refused and could be at risk of shutoffs, “to avoid triggering confusion or panic among tenants.”

But advocates and caseworkers for low-income and homeless Jacksonians are bracing.

“This is in some ways starting to feel like a practice run,” said Jill Buckley, director of Stewpot Community Services, which is using a federal emergency housing grant to help Blossom residents relocate. 

Mayor John Horhn secured a federal judge’s order last Friday temporarily restoring water to Blossom until Wednesday. Because the complex is a low-income housing development, oversight agency Mississippi Home Corporation stepped in, labeling the property unsafe and forcing residents to leave. 

 ”It really been like a horror movie. It kind of reminds me of Hurricane Katrina. People are running here and there trying to get water,” said Chante Robinson-Baxter, another Blossom tenant. She receives disability payments and has lived at the complex for 13 years.

Mississippi Home Corporation Director Scott Spivey, who has headed the agency for a decade, said it was the first time in his tenure it exercised this authority.

“I would love to say that there’s never going to be a next time but there’s going to be a next time,” Spivey said Tuesday.

Many of the low-income residents of these apartments have paid their water bills, combined with their monthly rent. The utility shut off water to residents at Blossom, claiming its owner owes $422,000, on July 23, followed by another south Jackson complex, Chapel Ridge, on Aug. 1. 

“I’ve just been pleading my case with JXN Water, ‘Please don’t displace these residents,’ because they’re doing what they’re supposed to do,” said Allison Cox, director of the Jackson Housing Authority, which administers federal housing vouchers to residents in Jackson, including one who lived at Blossom. 

JXN Water’s policy is to post signs notifying residents of impending shutoffs. But the utility’s spokesperson, Aisha Carson, said Blossom’s property manager removed the notices, “leading to confusion and misinformation among residents.”

Cox and JXN Water have been in constant contact, so she knows how much of a moving target the shutoffs have become. One day, she gets word that a complex might lose service. The next, the owner has signed a repayment agreement. 

“It’s changing all the time,” Cox said.

Tenants and advocates met Tuesday evening at Stewpot to discuss their options. If anything, the Blossom situation has demonstrated how community partners can mobilize to address shutoffs in the future. 

Tonia Cowart, a local real estate agent and Stewpot’s housing navigator, said she uses all available resources – secretary of state’s office filings, county tax records, news reports and her own eyes – to vet units before placing her clients there. 

“My best work is done with boots on the ground, and I get up and go see, and I do this on a daily basis,” Cowart said.

Before JXN Water released the names of the 15 delinquent apartment complexes, though, she wouldn’t have known not to refer people there. 

Mississippi Today reached out to the 15 complexes on the list of highest delinquent accounts. The only response came from The Park at St. Andrews, with manager Reuven Oded saying the complex has been dealing with the Jackson water “saga” for years and tried unsuccessfully to resolve the issue.

“We are hopeful that now that the Federal Receiver is in place we will have all billing and usage matters resolved in the very near future,” Oded said in an email.

Blossom Apartments owner Tony Little’s troubles with JXN Water, including hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of charges he says are impossible, began more than a year ago. Little said he doesn’t have enough money to cover the bill.

“The bill is simply not correct, but today we’re talking about displaced tenants … It’s the actual people who are on the ground that we have to protect,” Little said. “This is no longer just about who’s right and who’s wrong.”

Carson said that while she cannot speak on individual accounts, JXN Water is now implementing two systems for transparency. 

Starting in September, the utility will be publishing a list of the 15 complexes with the largest outstanding balances, and it is also allowing call center staff to respond to requests for information on accounts if the resident can provide proof that they live in a particular complex. 

“We’re making this decision because tenants have to know ahead of time whether or not their apartment complex owner is behind on their water bill,” Carson said. “We want to be able to point them towards the source of truth about it.”

Jackson reporter Molly Minta and editor Anna Wolfe contributed to this report.

Katie Blount, who oversaw the opening of two state history museums in 2017 and helped coordinate a redesign of the state flag in 2020, said Tuesday that she will retire next year as director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Blount joined the department in 1994 as public relations coordinator. She worked as assistant to the director and deputy director for communication before being named director in 2015. She is the second woman to hold the job. Charlotte Capers led the department from 1955 to 1969.

“Embracing complex stories draws audiences and earns the trust of partners in a position to pour resources into Mississippi,” Blount said in a press release.

She said she will retire June 30, the end of the current state budget year. Blount said the department’s employees deserve credit for telling the state’s story and preserving history.

In recent years, the department has repatriated ancestral remains and burial objects to Native American tribes. It also has worked on projects including stabilization of the Windsor Ruins and revitalization of the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians, both in southwestern Mississippi, and development of a new Vicksburg Civil War Visitor Center set to open in 2028.

The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Museum of Mississippi History are under one roof in downtown Jackson and are collectively called the Two Mississippi Museums. They opened during the state’s bicentennial celebration.

After legislators voted in 2020 to replace a Confederate-themed state flag that had been used since 1894, Blount joined Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and then-House Speaker Philip Gunn in a ceremony to retire the old flag to the museums.

A commission to design a new flag met that summer at the two museums, choosing a magnolia surrounded by stars and the phrase, “In God We Trust.” The design went on the November 2020 ballot, and voters overwhelmingly ratified the choice.

Reuben Anderson, a former Mississippi Supreme Court justice who chaired the flag commission and is a past president of the Department of Archives and History Board of Trustees, said in a statement to Mississippi Today on Tuesday that his message to Blount is: “Just a Big Thank You for all you have done for the Museum the City of Jackson and Mississippi.”

In June, Blount received a lifetime achievement award from the American Association for State and Local History.

Spence Flatgard, current president of the Archives and History board, praised Blount’s work.

“Katie is universally respected by her peers and state leaders,” Flatgard said in the department’s press release. “Her love for public service and for Mississippians has helped us tell our story to schoolchildren and to presidents.”

It took Tommy Duff precisely 20 seconds to invoke the outsider businessman who rose to power with no experience holding elected office. Duff would have mentioned President Donald Trump even sooner had he not paused a few seconds to wait for applause to hush. 

Trump, Duff exclaimed before a room full of Republican insiders at a hotel in Rankin County on Monday night, has surpassed his 200th day in office. He said the changes Trump has brought about are self-evident, and the impact of the administration’s agenda is as direct as the president at its helm. He said Trump is someone who says “this is what we’re doing, and then does it.”

“And I think the thing that appeals to me the most about President Trump and watching his policies is the fact that he’s an outsider,” Duff added. “He looks at things in a different perspective. He thinks that if we’ve operated this way for so long, why don’t we change? Because maybe what we’ve been doing has not been working.” 

In what Duff’s advisers characterized as the first political speech of his life, the billionaire tire baron on Monday outlined some of the challenges he believes Mississippi must tackle, and the “vision” he has for doing so. That vision was largely short on policy specifics.

In a sit-down interview with Mississippi Today in June, at an event with business leaders in July, and at a “Lincoln-Reagan-Trump” dinner on Monday, Duff has hinted at the broad outlines of what could become a gubernatorial campaign agenda. But Duff has largely done so without offering specific policy proposals, citing the nearly 27 months remaining until Election Day in 2027. 

Duff, 68, Mississippi’s richest man, again stopped short of formally announcing a run for governor in 2027, but he has said publicly he is considering entering the race. 

His speech on Monday was not a divergence from his recent public appearances, as his remarks did not shed light on where he stands on a wide range of ongoing public policy debates in Mississippi, including the intra-party Republican fights on school choice and Medicaid expansion.

But he expanded on his prior calls for Mississippi to get serious about fixing its brain drain problem. Mississippi has seen a large share of its college graduates flee to other states in search of, among other priorities, lucrative jobs. 

Keeping more Mississippi-educated college students and offering the job opportunities that may incentivize them to stay, along with improving the state’s labor force participation rate, will set the stage for what Duff sees as the state’s central challenge: overtaking other Southeastern states in the race for economic investment. That should involve increasing economic activity in Mississippi in areas of the state that are losing population, such as the Delta, Duff said. 

“We’re doing great in education. I am so proud of our educational advances and what we’re doing, and I give great tribute to the leaders of Mississippi for that,” Duff said. “We are doing great as a state as far as our economic activity, but there are pockets of our state that are just desperate for assistance, desperate. How can we continue to grow our state?” 

Education and economic development were the dominant themes in a speech that ran just under 30 minutes. 

Duff, who with his brother is reportedly worth a combined $7 billion, said he supported the Legislature’s “reduction” of the state income tax. In 2025, Mississippi’s Republican majority passed legislation that will gradually eliminate the tax over several years. 

But Duff also used the occasion to draw historical parallels that could prove helpful later. By the second minute of his remarks, he had mentioned not only Trump, but Kirk Fordice, who entered Mississippi’s 1992 gubernatorial race as a businessman and political outsider. Fordice rode that political image to the governor’s mansion, becoming the first Republican governor in Mississippi since Reconstruction.

For Fordice and other Republicans, Rankin County has been a key GOP stronghold. 

Duff spoke in Flowood at the Sheraton’s The Refuge, the same hotel where incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves celebrated his reelection in 2023. 

The event, which organizers said was sold out, charged $100 for individual tickets. Tables cost $1,000, with the priciest tier landing at $10,000 for access to a VIP sponsor reception and two VIP tables. State legislators mingled with local party officials and lobbyists inside a cavernous ballroom. Outside, a bar overlooked the hotel golf course. 

Duff’s political action committee promoted fundraising for the event, with proceeds going to the Rankin County Republican Executive Committee. 

Duff keynoted a speaking program that included at least one of his potential rivals for the governor’s mansion: Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson.

Gipson, 48, a former state lawmaker, lawyer, and Baptist minister, has already thrown his cowboy hat in the ring for the governor’s race. Gipson, who has served in state government for 17 years, delivered the invocation on Monday, informing the crowd that a higher power had made clear Mississippi’s biggest problem had nothing to do with public policy. 

“You saw our greatest problem was not education. Our greatest problem was not financing. Our greatest problem was not health care. Our problem was sin,” Gipson said.  

The speakers also included Secretary of State Michael Watson, seen as a likely candidate for lieutenant governor in 2027. Watson introduced Duff, highlighting his business success as an exemplar of both the American Dream and a Republican Party that venerates individualism. 

“He could clock out, but he hasn’t because he cares. And I think that’s an important piece of being an elected official, not that he is one, but just in case,” Watson said. “We believe it’s good to celebrate freedom, rugged individualism, hard work, entrepreneurship and success. We celebrate the positive things happening in Mississippi and America right now, and we celebrate that the American Dream is alive and well.” 

When Duff took the stage, he cast the story behind his business empire in a less individualistic light, pointing out that he had help along the way. 

“I went about a year without a paycheck. But luckily, I lived at home, and mom and dad took care of it. But we worked and we had fun, and as we grew, I learned a lot of things. One is that I’m not that important. The culture and the people are what’s important.” 

With respect to the current culture war, Duff’s remarks were short on red meat, though Duff did mention an episode from years ago when he and his brother Jim were asked by a Forbes Magazine reporter whether they had a DEI policy (the answer was no). 

Duff also mentioned his eight-year stint on the state Institutions of Higher Learning Board, claiming to have helped improve the financial health of the state’s higher education system. Duff has also done that through private donations – he and his brother have donated about $50 million to Mississippi universities.

Duff’s remarks also drew from a conversation he reported having with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. The men each spoke at a July 28 summit hosted by Mississippi Today and Deep South Today. 

Duff said Dimon asked him why only just over half of Mississippi adults eligible to work are working, as shown by a labor-force participation rate that lags most other states. Duff, who through his companies employs thousands of Mississippi residents, said the answer is a lack of well-paying jobs.

That sentiment seemed to be shared by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who, in another private conversation with Duff, reportedly nudged him to bring more of his company’s jobs to the state. 

“She said, let’s talk about how you’re going to have more (employees). Let’s talk about what other businesses you can put in our state. And I stopped, and I said, this lady really learned from Donald Trump,” Duff said. “She really understands things, because she approaches it in a different manner.”