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NESHOBA COUNTY FAIR — Republican Gov. Tate Reeves at the Neshoba County Fair gave conflicting answers to reporters on how seriously he views Mississippi’s worsening hospital crisis and what he’s proposing to fix the problem.

Reeves, running for a second term, initially indicated that hospitals around the state laying off employees and slashing medical services was not a real campaign issue, but he later said there’s “no doubt” state leaders should do more to improve health care infrastructure. 

Mississippi Today initially asked the first-term governor last week what his reaction was to hospitals and medical facilities laying off employees. The governor chuckled, didn’t substantively respond and brushed off the question. 

“I’m shocked that you decided to take the position of the CEO of the Hospital Association today,” Reeves answered. “The fact of the matter is we know that my opponent can’t talk about my record. He can’t talk about what he believes in, so he’s making up all these things that don’t make any sense.” 

But another reporter later asked the governor how he believes the state Legislature should address the burgeoning issue, prompting a more serious answer from the Republican official. 

“We’ve got to have more availability of health care throughout our state, we’ve got to have more accessibility to health care throughout our state and we’ve got to make sure that we can make health care more affordable throughout our state,” Reeves said. 

Much like in 2019, Medicaid coverage and access to health care are some of the primary issues between the two leading candidates in this year’s governor’s race. 

And while medical infrastructure in the state has been fragile for several years, it’s gotten increasingly worse during the current statewide election cycle. 

Almost half of Mississippi’s rural hospitals could close in the near future, according to a newly updated report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.

Here is a list of hospitals that have recently announced layoffs or cuts to services: 

• North Mississippi Health Services in Tupelo announced last month it was laying off employees, cutting their hours and reassigning them to different jobs.
• Ochsner Health, which operates several facilities in Mississippi, announced in May it was cutting hundreds of jobs.
• Memorial Hospital in Gulfport announced layoffs just days before the Oschner announcement.
• In June, St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson announced it was cutting 5.5% of its workforce and ending its behavioral health program.
• KPC Promise, a hospital in Vicksburg, closed last May. 
• And Delta Health last year closed its NICU unit, leaving the Delta region, one of the most impoverished areas in the nation, without a neonatal center.

Reeves told the press on Thursday that he believes bringing “better, more higher-paying jobs” that provide private insurance to employees, not Medicaid, can improve access to health care. He believes certificate of need, or CON, laws requiring medical facilities to seek approval from a state agency before they create a new health care center should be eliminated.

Presley, currently north Mississippi’s utility regulator, has repeatedly hammered the first-term governor at campaign events for his response to struggling hospitals, often saying that the governor is “twiddling his thumbs” while hospitals lose more revenue.

“Tate Reeves doesn’t give a damn about the Greenwood Leflore Hospital,” Presley told reporters Wednesday night in Greenwood. 

The Democratic candidate believes one of the main ways hospitals can stay afloat is for state leaders to expand Medicaid coverage to the working poor, something the GOP-dominated Legislature and Reeves have resisted for years.

Most hospital administrators have pushed for state leaders to expand the federal program, though they acknowledge the policy wouldn’t be a panacea. 

Iris Stacker, the CEO of Delta Health System in Greenville, said last month she supported Medicaid expansion because it would reduce the amount of uncompensated care that medical workers provide to patients without health insurance. 

Mississippi is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid. The 40 other U.S. states that have expanded the program have seen a significant drop in uncompensated care costs post-expansion. Louisiana, which expanded Medicaid in 2016, saw a 55% decrease in uncompensated care costs for rural hospitals.

Economic experts say the remaining states, many in the Deep South, would experience an economic boon if officials expanded the program. Studies show Mississippi is leaving more than $1 billion in new health care related revenue on the table every year it does not expand.

Medical leaders have pleaded for state leaders to expand the program under the federal Affordable Care Act to draw down on additional funds. If the program were expanded, the federal government would likely cover 90% of the costs while the state contributed a 10% matching rate. 

Reeves is expected to defeat John Witcher and David Hardigree in the GOP primary on Tuesday. The winner of the party primary will compete against Presley, the only Democratic candidate, in the Nov. 7 general election.

The post How seriously is Gov. Tate Reeves taking Mississippi’s hospital crisis? It’s unclear  appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday released a new TV commercial labeling a Tuesday ad from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley as “100% false.” 

Presley’s Tuesday ad claimed that while Reeves has been in statewide office for several years, he helped steer millions of welfare funds “to help his rich friends.” The governor’s new ad pushes back on that assertion and says Reeves had “nothing to do with the scandal.” 

“It all happened before he was governor,” Reeves’ ad said of the welfare scandal. “Tate Reeves has supported the prosecution to find the truth. And Democrat Brandon Presley, he doesn’t care about the truth.” 

Several people have pleaded guilty to federal and state crimes connected to the welfare money scandal, mostly stemming from how millions of federal funds disbursed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services were mishandled.

Investigators and prosecutors have not alleged Reeves committed a crime related to the welfare scandal, nor have they indicated they’re investigating him in connection to the scheme that has so far led to several people pleading guilty to federal and state crimes. 

But text messages previously obtained by Mississippi Today indicate Reeves inspired the state’s welfare agency in 2019 to indirectly pay Paul Lacoste, a fitness trainer, on a contract he received from a nonprofit in 2018 to provide a statewide boot camp program.

Lacoste told John Davis, the former MDHS director who has pleaded guilty to state and federal crimes, that Reeves had selected a date and location for a 2019 meeting about appropriating funds for Lacoste’s exercise program.

“Tate wants us all to himself!” Lacoste wrote at the time.

Two days after meeting, Davis asked his deputy to find a way to push a large sum of money to a nonprofit without triggering a red flag in an audit, to reimburse the organization for funding Lacoste’s boot camp. Davis called the project “the Lt. Gov’s fitness issue.”

Reeves’ office has denied he had any involvement in the scandal and labeled the communications with Lacoste as “inconsequential conversations.”

More recently, Lacoste said that it was former Gov. Phil Bryant, who directly oversaw the welfare agency during the scandal, that directed the welfare agency to work with Lacoste.

Since Reeves has been governor, his administration, through MDHS, has pursued civil litigation to recoup misspent dollars from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, including $1.3 million from Lacoste. 

However, current MDHS Director Bob Anderson, with the governor’s approval, fired the initial attorney, former federal prosecutor Brad Pigott, who was handling the civil suit. 

Pigott, at the time, claimed he was terminated because of political reasons, though Reeves and welfare agency leaders have rejected those allegations. 

After Reeves’ Thursday ad, Presley’s campaign, in a news release, said the governor’s campaign was being disingenuous with the public by claiming he bears no responsibility for what state officials have described as the largest public embezzlement scheme in state history. 

The Democratic candidate’s campaign highlights that the misspending occurred while Reeves was lieutenant governor and, as leader of the Senate, could have pushed lawmakers to conduct more robust oversight hearings of the state’s welfare agency. 

“Tate Reeves will do or say anything to hide his role in the largest public corruption scandal in state history, where Tate Reeves blocked the investigation into $77 million lost, squandered, and stolen taxpayer dollars to protect his rich friends who received illegal payments for a horse ranch, a volleyball stadium, and even his personal trainer received a million dollars,” Presley spokesperson Michael Beyer said in a statement. 

The rapid response to Presley’s ad from the governor’s campaign likely shows how much money Reeves is willing to spend on advertising throughout the election cycle and how hard he’ll work to push pack on efforts tying him to the scheme.

This is now the fourth ad Reeves’ campaign has pushed out this year. His previous ads have highlighted his advocacy for banning trans youth from competing in athletics programs, his efforts to recruit industries to the state and his administration’s response to natural disasters.

The post Gubernatorial TV war: Tate Reeves airs ad responding to Brandon Presley welfare scandal ad appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Election Genie appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A state political action committee created last month by a Wisconsin political operative has received more than $885,000 from out-of-state super PACs to help state Sen. Chris McDaniel in his bid against incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann.

The Invest in Mississippi PAC was created in July by Thomas Datwyler of Wisconsin, who had been listed as a campaign treasurer and consultant by the McDaniel campaign. The PAC had failed to file a campaign finance report with the Mississippi secretary of state’s office by Tuesday’s deadline, but filed one Wednesday afternoon.

Invest in Mississippi has been running hundreds of thousands of dollars in ads, mainly attacking Hosemann, and appears to have spent more on the race than McDaniel’s campaign has over the last month.

Invest reported the donations it received included:

American Jobs and Growth PAC, Washington, D.C. — $200,000

Defend US PAC, Washington, D.C. — $110,000

Fund for a Working Congress, Annapolis, Maryland — $150,000

Save Our Constitution PAC, Cincinnati, Ohio — $425,000

The donors appear to be dark-money super PACs, which have been pumping millions of unsourced dollars into campaigns across the country. Fund for a Working Congress helped pump millions into an Oklahoma congressional race last year, outspending the candidates themselves. Save Our Constitution PAC is reported to be backed by Illinois billionaire Richard Uihlein.

McDaniel had created his own PAC that received $475,000 in dark money from an out of state group and then funneled funds to his campaign. But his campaign and PAC returned the money, and he shut the PAC down, after Hosemann complained to the attorney general that the donations violated state law.

READ MORE: Hosemann outraises McDaniel in Lt. Gov. race, continues accusations of law violations

McDaniel did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday about his campaign finances or the new PAC. Datwyler also did not respond to a request for comment.

McDaniel has declined to say what interest out-of-state dark money groups have in Mississippi’s lieutenant governor’s race or his campaign or why they would pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into the fray.

The Invest PAC reported it spent more than $440,000 during July, most of that appearing to be media buys.

READ MORE: Chris McDaniel, Lynn Fitch show that Mississippi might as well not have campaign finance laws

McDaniel’s campaign, which has struggled to raise money from Mississippi donors, reported it raised only $167,000 for the same period, and spent $288,000.

A state PAC aiming ads against McDaniel, True Conservatives Mississippi PAC, also reported its campaign finances. It reported raising $272,000 and spending $259,000 for the month. The PAC’s largest donations were $100,000 from Friends of Mississippi Hospitals and $75,000 from the Republican State Leadership Committee Mississippi PAC in Washington, D.C.

Hosemann has complaints with the state attorney general’s office alleging McDaniel and his PAC have violated state campaign finance and reporting laws. Mississippi has weak campaign finance and ethics laws, and nearly nonexistent enforcement or investigation of violations.

The post Out of state PACs dump dark money into McDaniel’s lieutenant governor’s race appeared first on Mississippi Today.

TUPELO — A Tupelo defense attorney recently subpoenaed Lauren Smith, a candidate running for the state Legislature, to testify in a criminal case involving a Democratic member of the Tupelo City Council for allegedly violating an election statute. 

Documents filed in Lee County Circuit Court show Jim Waide, attorney for Tupelo Councilwoman Nettie Davis, subpoenaed Smith, a Republican candidate for a state Senate district in Lee County, to testify at Davis’ Aug. 14 criminal trial. 

Waide declined to comment on the subpoena, but he has previously told the Daily Journal he strongly objects to District Attorney John Weddle’s efforts to prosecute Davis, a civil rights veteran, over allegedly violating a somewhat obscure election law. 

A  grand jury indicted Davis in 2021 after a video surfaced of her soliciting donations for a raffle intended to award cash prizes to people who voted in the city of Tupelo’s municipal general election. 

Weddle, a Republican, alleges Davis’s comments violated a law that prohibits anyone from offering “any prize, cash award or other items of value to be raffled, drawn for, played for or contested for in order to encourage a person to vote or to refrain from voting in any election.”

The video did not record Davis advocating for any specific candidate or a particular political party.

The penalty for violating the statute is only a misdemeanor and carries no jail time. But the stakes for Davis politically are much higher because the law calls for sitting public officials to be removed from office if convicted.

While state prosecutors are preparing to take Davis’ case to trial, an attorney specializing in election law and Smith’s opponent, incumbent Sen. Chad McMahan, believe the Senate candidate appears to have admitted on video to also skirting an election law. 

Smith testified before the Mississippi Republican Party Executive Committee in a Feb. 16 hearing that she has lived in the northern Mississippi town of Saltillo since at least 2018. However, she voted at a Tupelo business address for part of that time.

Her public voting record shows she voted under the Tupelo address, located in a different Senate district, in the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 congressional primary election. Still, Smith, at the hearing, insisted she lived in Saltillo during that time.  

“I want to point out that I might have used the address to vote outside of my district, but it was merely a place of convenience,” Smith said at the hearing. “It was where we had a sawmill, we had our place of business.” 

State law requires Mississippians to register to vote in the precinct where they live, and section 97-13-35 of the Mississippi Code states anyone “who shall vote out of the district of his legal domicile” shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned in the county jail for no more than one year or be fined no more than $1,000, or both.

Smith denies the allegation she committed voter fraud or violated any of the state’s election laws, though she does not dispute she voted under the Tupelo address while she lived in Saltillo. 

Smith told Mississippi Today she did not know why Waide, a longtime criminal defense attorney, subpoenaed her, but she will “gladly go” to court and testify.

It’s unclear why Waide is seeking Smith’s appearance in court, but he could be attempting to paint a picture that state prosecutors in the area are selectively prosecuting certain cases of election law violations and ignoring others. 

Weddle also declined to comment on the subpoena, though he could, in theory, file a motion with the court objecting to Smith’s testimony. 

A district attorney’s office typically does not handle misdemeanor offenses, though Weddle ultimately decided to present Davis’ case to a grand jury. 

Weddle has not issued any public statement about Smith’s scenario, but two days after the video of Davis’ raffle comments circulated online, he issued a statement saying he would investigate the video thoroughly. 

“I take election fraud seriously, and I am dedicated to handling this matter and any other violations aggressively,” Weddle said at the time.

The post Lauren Smith, candidate who voted outside precinct, asked to testify in separate election violation case appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Pamela Grimsley was in a race against time to help her only child, Nathan Cox, get out of jail.

It was a year ago that the west Tennessee resident learned from a family member that he was detained at the Alcorn County Correctional Facility. Cox’s bail was set for $100,000, but Grimsley knew she didn’t have the money to bring him home to await trial. 

Through letters, Cox talked about the possibility of taking a plea deal, but she hoped he would wait for trial to prove his innocence. This summer she was hopeful because Cox seemed to be doing better and was talking more with his attorney. 

Then that hope faded. Last month, the 33-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse against his child and was sentenced to 40 years with 20 years suspended to avoid the possibility of a conviction by a jury and a life sentence by a judge. 

Throughout his time in jail, Grimsley was most concerned about her son’s mental health. Cox shared that he was depressed. She worried he wouldn’t make it to trial, and now that he has been convicted, she fears even more that he won’t survive prison. 

“His mental state will not handle prison,” Grimsley said in an interview two weeks after her son’s conviction. “Something bad’s going to happen.” 

Cox, a first time offender, has been at the Alcorn County jail since 2020 but now he is in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections waiting to see if he will remain there or be moved to another facility. He had been working as a car mechanic before he was arrested.

In 2021, the average number of days people were held at the Alcorn jail was around eight months, according to the most recent data compiled by the MacArthur Justice Center and the University of Mississippi School of Law. 

Clay Nails, Cox’s court-appointed attorney since 2020, pointed out factors that kept his client in jail for years. Cox faced a high bond and delays in his case due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on the court system, Nails said. 

“This is an example of the wheels of justice not turning fast enough and not because of the fault of individuals,” the Corinth attorney said in a June interview. 

Nails had hoped that a trial could take place during the summer or fall court term and ultimately the case would be resolved sometime this year. 

During early court proceedings, Cox pleaded not guilty to one charge of causing bodily harm to his child. 

In 2019, when he was home alone with the then-infant, Cox called for help because the child was unresponsive. The state medical examiner’s office found the injuries to be trauma from shaking or hitting, which Nails said are injuries commonly known as “shaken baby syndrome.” 

For decades, subdural bleeding, retinal bleeding and brain swelling have been associated with the diagnosis. Shaken baby syndrome doesn’t always lead to death, but complications can include brain damage and related conditions. 

As reported in Mississippi Today’s series “Shaky Science, Fractured Families,” scientific bases of shaken baby syndrome are coming under scrutiny. Signs of impact may have come from different causes, and associated injuries such as retinal hemorrhage have been seen in infants who died from meningitis or obstructed airways. 

Nails had said he wanted to explore the case law and evolving scientific understanding of shaken baby syndrome. He secured an expert and was awaiting medical imaging of the child’s injuries for the expert to review. The goal was to explore whether there was another explanation for the child’s injuries. 

Nails said the child has cognitive damage and is visually impaired from the injuries they sustained as an infant. 

Cox had concerns about his ability to receive a fair trial because of the injuries, Nails said. 

If there were a higher chance he would be found guilty, he wanted to know how much time he could face in prison. Nails told him, in child and elder abuse cases, juries and judges tend to convict and hand down long sentences, and Cox could potentially face life in prison. 

Cox thought about it and told Nails he wanted to change his plea to guilty and take a deal. 

Because of the guilty plea, Nails was not able to challenge shaken baby syndrome as the cause of the child’s injuries or raise doubts about Cox as a suspect. 

The district attorney’s office argued the person responsible for hurting the child is Cox since there were no witnesses to anyone inflicting the trauma, while Nails said he wanted to consider the child’s mother as the one responsible. 

Cox believed himself to be the father of the child, but Nails said a paternity test has not been given to confirm that. Grimsley has questioned whether her son is the child’s father. 

“He was just looking for love in all the wrong places,” Grimsley said about Cox’s relationship with the child’s mother, who she believes contributed to Cox’s detention. 

Plea agreements are made by prosecutors and are meant to encourage a guilty plea, and they can come with reduced charges or lighter sentences. A guilty plea is recorded publicly, but the negotiation often happens outside of the courtroom. 

First District Attorney John Weddle said plea offers are made on a majority of his office’s cases, and it’s up to the defendant whether to accept or reject them. 

In Cox’s case, the prosecution was under the impression that he wanted to go to trial until Cox expressed through his attorney that he was interested in changing his plea.

To come up with a plea officer, Weddle said multiple factors are considered, including the severity of the crime, the minimum and maximum sentences of a crime, evidence and how a jury would react. 

“Normally on plea negotiations we try to do something close to what a judge would do,” he said. 

A 2023 report by the American Bar Association’s Plea Bargain Task Force found evidence that there can be a “powerfully coercive impact” on a defendant’s choice to take a plea deal rather than go to trial, which can result in a longer sentence. 

Grimsely said the guilty plea doesn’t seem fair, especially because her son has maintained innocence. In his most recent letter before his conviction, Cox said he would be going to prison for something he didn’t do. 

She said he is safe at the Alcorn County jail, but she worries what may happen to him in prison, especially if other inmates learn he was convicted of child abuse. 

Although Cox received a 40-year sentence, he may only serve a fraction of that time. Under Senate Bill 2795 passed in 2021, people sentenced for violent offenses are eligible for parole after having served half of their sentence. 

With 20 years suspended from his sentence, that would mean Cox could have 10 years to serve in prison. He already has a little over three years served from jail that would bring the sentence down to around six and a half years, Nails said. The potential for time off due to good behavior could reduce Cox’s sentence more, his attorney said.

Cliff Johnson is director of the MacArthur Justice Center said people can remain in jail for years before trial in Mississippi due to systemic problems. 

District attorneys have control over the indictment process, and there is no time limit on how long someone can spend in jail before indictment, Johnson said. Judges also play a role in getting a case to trial, he said, because they can determine whether someone is being held too long pretrial. 

“If district attorneys aren’t vigilant moving cases to trial and circuit judges don’t take seriously the presumption of innocence, the system doesn’t work and people wind up serving lengthy sentences without ever being found guilty by a jury,” Johnson said. 

The American Bar Association Plea Bargain Task Force found some people plead guilty for reasons that don’t have to do with factual or legal guilt. They may change their plea so they don’t have to remain jailed and unable to work or take care of their children. 

Three years spent in jail pretrial isn’t extraordinary considering that there have been people who have spent longer. 

In 2021 Mississippi jail data shows one of the longest jail stays across the entire state was for Duane Lake, who spent six years in the Coahoma County jail before a jury acquitted him of capital murder in 2022. 

Grimsley said songwriting was a form of therapy for Cox when he was in jail. He has a gift for playing the guitar, singing and writing songs – some of which he sent to his mother. 

Once Cox is moved to a prison facility, Grimsely said she plans to get her car repaired and visit him. 

Since learning about his conviction, she’s felt sick and doesn’t eat and sleep much. Cox has said he is okay, but Grimsley thinks he may be saying that for her sake. 

She can’t imagine that he’s handling it well. 

The post Inability to pay a $100,000 bail kept a Mississippi man in jail for three years. After taking a plea deal, a mother worries her son won’t survive in prison  appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s campaign far outraised his main opponent, longtime state Sen. Chris McDaniel in the home stretch before Tuesday’s primary.

Hosemann continued his call for an attorney general’s investigation into McDaniel’s campaign finances, and after news reports, filed a complaint questioning McDaniel’s residency and whether he has voted illegally. The lieutenant governor’s race is the most hotly contested statewide contest for the Aug. 8 party primaries, and the race has seen much mudslinging and negative campaigning in recent weeks.

“My opponent has been referred for criminal prosecution for his repeated illegal campaign finance reports,” Hosemann said in a statement. “Now, it appears doubtful that he lived in his district, which means he voted illegally. Voting is the cornerstone of our Constitution. I call upon the attorney general and the district attorney of Jones County to investigate this alleged illegal activity and determine before Aug. 8 whether the voters of Mississippi have been misled and its election laws violated.”

McDaniel did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Hosemann reported raising $302,000 for July, and having more than $2 million cash on hand at the end of the month. McDaniel reported raising $168,000 for the period and having $307,000 on hand.

Hosemann starting in March has filed complaints with the attorney general’s office claiming McDaniel and a now-shuttered PAC he created violated campaign finance laws numerous times. One major issue: McDaniel’s PAC received $475,000 from a secretive Virginia dark-money nonprofit corporation. The PAC then funneled $465,000 of it to his campaign.

State law limits such corporate donations to $1,000 a year to a candidate or PAC. So the donation was $474,000 over the legal limit.

READ MORE: Chris McDaniel, Lynn Fitch show that Mississippi might as well not have campaign finance laws

McDaniel’s PAC initially hid some of these transactions with incomplete, inaccurate reporting to the secretary of state’s office. But eventually, after questions from Mississippi Today, he first chalked it up to “clerical errors.”

READ MORE: Secretary of State candidates vow sweeping campaign finance reform, enforcement

Then, eventually, McDaniel said Mississippi’s campaign finance laws are improper but he doesn’t have time to mount a legal challenge, so his campaign returned the money to his PAC. McDaniel said his PAC then returned the money to the dark money group, and he shut down the PAC.

But, by his own reporting, McDaniel’s defunct PAC did not return $15,000 of the over-state-limits money, and has offered no accounting for what happened to it.

This statewide election cycle has seen several claims of campaign finance law or reporting requirement violations in several races. It has also shown what appears to be a reluctance by Attorney General Lynn Fitch – the only statewide officer with clear authority to enforce campaign finance laws – to address or investigate complaints. This has prompted secretary of state candidates, including incumbent Michael Watson, to call for reform.

Mississippi’s campaign finance, lobbying and ethics laws and reporting requirements are weak, and contained in a piecemealed patchwork of confusing – some conflicting – laws passed over many years. The secretary of state’s office and Ethics Commission have for years said they lack enforcement or investigative authority. Most often, campaign finance violations go unchecked, leaving the state political system open to the corrosive influence of special interest money.

Hosemann’s new claims about McDaniel’s residency stem from media reports that began with a column by Greenwood Commonwealth editor Tim Kalich. Kalich reported that a former reporter for the paper now lives in McDaniel’s hometown of Ellisville. The former reporter, through observation and checking city water records, questioned whether McDaniel has in recent years really lived at the house he claims as his residence.

Kalich said McDaniel’s campaign responded that the house is still his family’s residence, but is infested with black mold and having to undergo renovations, forcing the family to sleep elsewhere temporarily. Kalich said the reporter has noticed no work going on at the house, and that water records show nearly no usage for years.

Other questions have recently been raised about a new state PAC that is running ads against Hosemann. Invest in Mississippi PAC was created by Wisconsin-based political consultant Thomas Datwyler, who McDaniel’s campaign has listed as its treasurer. The new PAC appears to have spent at least tens of thousands of dollars on ads in recent weeks. But as of Wednesday, the PAC had not filed a campaign finance report that was due Tuesday, according to Secretary of State Michael Watson’s office.

Datwyler, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, has a history of running afoul of Federal Election Commission campaign finance rules with several congressional candidates.

McDaniel as a state senator was once a vocal champion of stricter campaign finance laws and transparency for the public on sources of political money. But his PAC and campaign finance reports have defied logic and math, and after filing amended, amended-amended and termination-amended reports, it’s still unclear exactly how much money he has raised and from where it came. His PAC and campaign finances mark the largest secret and over the legal limit donation to a state campaign in Mississippi.

The post Hosemann outraises McDaniel in Lt. Gov. race, continues accusations of law violations appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Harrison County School Board approved a change to its dress code policies last month that requires students to dress according to the gender they were assigned at birth, the Sun Herald first reported.  

Multiple changes were made to the dress code in the middle and high school student handbook for the 2023-24 school year, including three new items related to the gender of the student. They state “boys must wear shorts or pants” and “girls must wear dresses or skirts or shorts or pants.” The third section says attire must be consistent with the gender in the school district’s permanent record, or a student’s birth certificate. 

The same language is also included in the elementary student handbook for this year. 

The superintendent of the district, Mitchell King, and other district representatives did not respond to requests for comment. 

Earlier this year, the district made headlines for refusing to allow a transgender student to wear a dress to her graduation ceremony, resulting in a lawsuit by the ACLU. The complaint said the student wore “dresses, skirts, and other traditionally feminine clothing” throughout her high school career without issue. A judge declined to intervene in the case, and the student missed the graduation ceremony. 

The district’s move also comes on the heels of several efforts to restrict the rights of transgender people in Mississippi. The Legislature passed a law in 2021 to ban trans women and girls from competing on teams that align with their gender and another this year to prohibit gender-affirming health care for trans minors. 

In June, the University of Mississippi Medical Center dissolved its clinic that provided health care in an inclusive environment to LGBTQ+ individuals. The clinic had been under scrutiny by lawmakers for providing gender-affirming care to trans minors.

READ MORE: What to know about gender-affirming care in Mississippi

Rob Hill, Human Rights Campaign Mississippi state director, called on the school district to repeal this policy. 

“Every kid should feel safe and welcome at school,” Hill said. “Transgender kids deserve the opportunity to grow up knowing that they are valued and respected for who they are. This harmful policy will only further alienate and endanger kids across Harrison County who are already struggling with so many challenges today. The school district should reconsider its decision and repeal this damaging and discriminatory approach.” 

The post Gulf Coast school district adopts dress code targeting trans kids appeared first on Mississippi Today.

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Bolton, who chaired a special committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, said the criminal indictment Tuesday of former President Donald Trump is an important step in preserving America’s democracy.

The charges announced Tuesday afternoon against Trump “are consistent with those the Select Committee referred to the Special Counsel last year, and successful prosecutions will not only bring accountability but also help prevent something like Jan. 6th from ever happening again,” Thompson, a Democrat, said.

“Jan. 6th was a test of American democracy, but the fair trials of those responsible will further demonstrate this nation’s commitment to the rule of law and hold accountable those who attempted to undermine it.”

Thompson, the second Black person to represent Mississippi in the U.S. House since the 1800s, was selected by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi to head the special bipartisan committee formed to investigate the Jan. 6 riots and the efforts to overturn the election results where Joe Biden defeated Trump. Many national pundits credited the investigatory work done by the Thompson committee with leading to the charges filed Tuesday by Special Counsel Jack Smith against the former president.

Trump was indicted on four separate charges related to Jan. 6 and the attempt to overthrow the election.,

Those charges are, according to NBC news:

*Conspiracy to defraud the United States.

* Conspiracy to impede the Jan. 6 congressional proceedings.

* A conspiracy against the right to vote and to have that vote counted.

* Obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct and impede, the certification of the electoral vote.

In a statement, Thompson said, when chairing the committee, he “was moved by the courageous testimony of four brave police officers who came to the defense of the Capitol and American democracy on Jan. 6, 2021. Those heroes asked us for something in that hearing: Hold those responsible for that deadly attack accountable.”

“And, at the end of its investigation, the bipartisan Jan. 6th Select Committee turned over to the Justice Department its evidence of an extensive plot by the ex-president to overturn the presidential election on Jan. 6th and prevent the peaceful transfer of power,” Thompson said.

Thompson, who worked in the 1960s to help register people to vote, told CNN before his special committee began its work in June 1922, ““I want, as an African American, to be able to say to the world that I helped stabilize our government when insurrectionists tried to take over.”

The post Bennie Thompson committee started investigation leading to Trump charges appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have set the odds on how many football games college and NFL teams will win this season. The Cleveland boys discuss whether the Mississippi teams and the New Orleans Saints will beat the odds.

Stream all episodes here.

The post Podcast: Over or under? Let’s look at the odds on Mississippi football teams. appeared first on Mississippi Today.