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The Legislature wasted little time Thursday appropriating at least $350 million to entice a partnership of automakers and technology companies to locate a $1.9 billion green energy plant in Marshall County in north Mississippi.

The plant — a joint venture of Paccar Inc., Cummins Truck Holdings, and Germany-based Daimler Truck Holdings, and China-based Eve Energy — will build batteries to power electric commercial vehicles and possibly for industrial use. The names of the companies involved in the project were not unveiled until after the Legislature on Thursday passed the incentive deal.

Gov. Tate Reeves said the plant, which will located at the Chickasaw Trail Industrial Park on a 500-acre site located near the Tennessee state line, would provide the largest payroll commitment ever offered for a new Mississippi project. The plant is slated to employ 2,000 people by 2031 with an average salary of $66,000, including supervisory level positions.

“I can’t imagine a better way to kick off the new year…” Reeves said. “This historic investment by these industry-leading companies will enshrine our state at the forefront of the automotive industry for years to come and create 2,000 good-paying jobs in the process. Today’s announcement further demonstrates to the world that Mississippi is a top destination for business.”

Only two senators and one House member voted against the project. While Democrats had complaints about the project, they all voted for it.

READ MORE: In 2023, Reeves limited state business with China. Today, he’s requesting state funds for a Chinese company.

The session began Thursday at 9:30 a.m. and was completed by mid-afternoon. House Speaker Jason White and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, had worked out an agreement to move the legislation quickly through the process. Work will continue tomorrow in the regular 2024 season, though various sources indicate the governor will call another special session next week for an additional economic development project.

While debate was limited, Rep. Robert Johnson, a Democrat from Natchez who serves as House minority leader, unsuccessfully offered two amendments. One amendment would have mandated that 70% of the employees be Mississippians, and another that the companies involved in the project commit to support the local community. Johnson said that the community service requirement was placed on the casinos when they moved into the state in the 1990s.

Johnson called it “abhorrent” that there was not a mandate to require most of the workers to be Mississippians since state taxes were being spent to lure the plant to Mississippi.

The amendments failed, with most of the Democrats in the House voting for them and most Republicans, who enjoy a supermajority, voting against.

Sen. David Jordan, a Democrat from Greenwood, lamented that the project was being recruited to the state, but still nothing was being done to support the Mississippi Delta.

Senate Appropriations Chair Briggs Hopson, a Republican from Vicksburg, said studies indicate the project could draw employees from some Delta counties.

“We must do something for the people who live on the west side of I-55,” said Rep. John Hines, a Democrat from Greenville, referring to the Delta.

READ MORE: ‘They’re being totally ignored’: Lawmakers say Gov. Tate Reeves isn’t focusing economic development in majority-Black regions

Bill Cork, who recently was named as executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority by Reeves, though his appointment is still pending Senate confirmation, said the “goal (for the companies building the plant) is to enter the zero emissions environment” for commercial vehicles.

The Legislature passed three bills with sparse debate to commit the at least $349 million for the project. Those funds will go into a variety of areas, such as for site preparation, jobs training and infrastructure, including a major interchange on the west side of the plant on U.S. Highway 72 with another likely in the coming years on the eastern side of the plant. The money will help purchase additional land, making the total site 1,700 acres. The additional land will be available for ancillary companies that might locate in the area to support, the battery plant.

The Legislature also passed $489 million in bonds to finance the project through multiple years, though the goal is to use surplus funds to pay for the project and not incur or limit the debt from having to issue bonds. In addition to the $349 million incentive package, the state also has committed to build an additional $127 million eastern interchange in future years if traffic from the new plant and any ancillary companies reaches a certain level.

The plant also will receive some local tax breaks as well as an exemption on corporate taxes for 10 years and on sales and use taxes during construction and for 12 months post construction.

The three primary companies partnering in the project — excluding the China-based company — have agreed to repay funds if certain benchmarks and commitments are not met.

The plant is slated to be in production by 2029 and have at least 2,000 employees by 2031.

READ MORE: Reeves asks lawmakers to appropriate $350 million in state funds to Marshall County EV battery deal

The post Lawmakers pass $350 million deal to lure major green energy plant to north Mississippi appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A few of Mississippi’s health outcomes are improving, but the state has a long way to go in others, according to State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney. 

Surrounded by white coats, Edney gave an update on the steps of the Capitol rotunda on Thursday about Mississippi’s public health outlook, drawing from personal experience as a health care provider from the Delta.

“I have earned the gray hair on my head practicing medicine in west Mississippi,” Edney said. “I know what regular folks are up against in our communities, trying to have appropriate access to high quality care.”

Edney, flanked by posters with various health data points from the state’s newest health report card, said it’s not all bleak — Mississippi has both made strides and fallen behind in the past year. 

“I did want to share with you some good news,” he said. “It’s better than it was, compared to a year ago.”

Human immunodeficiency virus, tuberculosis and obesity rates are trending down, according to the 2023 State Health Report Card, which was unveiled Thursday by the Mississippi State Medical Association and the Mississippi State Health Department. The state’s diabetes ranking has also improved to 48th in the country.

Edney drew particular attention to the lower obesity rates. While Mississippi is still 45th in obesity rates, he said the lower numbers will result in decreases across the board, including in hypertension, diabetes and vascular and maternal health.

“We will see powerful dividends 10 years from now with population health,” he said, regarding the improvements. “We cannot take our foot off the accelerator.”

Though the report card notes that Mississippi has the highest vaccination rate in the nation, that may soon change. Last year, a federal judge ruled that parents in Mississippi can opt out of vaccinating their children for school for religious beliefs. As of September, the state has approved 1,800 religious vaccine exemptions for school children. 

The state remains dead last in the nation for infant mortality, which Edney said combined with the state’s abysmal maternal morbidity rates are the “driving force” of his agency’s work. And while there have been some positive results in congenital syphilis, the crisis is ongoing.

The leading causes of death remain heart disease, malignant neoplasms and accidents, and the latter actually trended upward this past year. 

Edney said malignancies cost his father his life. He died at 54 from colon cancer, a preventable illness. The state’s health issues all have solutions, Edney said, but the agency can’t do the work alone. 

“We’re proving that public health, science and policy works in partnership,” he said. “When our elected leaders are part of that partnership, then it works powerfully. If we choose the right policies for our people, we will see us move off the radar from having the highest rate of preventable death (in the country).”

MSMA president, Dr. John Mitchell, said there’s another effective way to help stem the state’s health crisis.

“One such way would be to expand access to health care to working Mississippians,” Mitchell said. 

Medicaid expansion will be a top issue of this legislative session, as it has been for many years. The policy, which has been adopted by most other states, would expand Medicaid eligibility to the working poor in Mississippi. Researchers estimate between 200,000 to 300,000 Mississippians fall into a “coverage gap,” which means they make too much to qualify for Medicaid currently but can’t afford insurance on their own. 

In most cases, uninsured Mississippians don’t have access to preventative health care. Many rely on emergency rooms for help, where they cannot be turned away because of lack of insurance. Edney said access to preventative care for all Mississippians is integral to combatting Mississippi’s poor health. 

“I will continue to preach that until Mississippians, and that’s everyone, have appropriate access to medical care … we will continue to suffer with these outcomes which none of us are proud of,” Edney said. 

The post ‘Better than it was’: Mississippi health report card shows mixed results appeared first on Mississippi Today.

About 12,000 customers, largely in west and south Jackson, are seeing low to no water pressure after this week’s winter freeze, third-party manager JXN Water reported Thursday morning.

JXN Water subsequently issued boil water notices to those customers in the following areas:

• 39209 – West Jackson along the 49 corridor
• 39204 – West/Central Jackson along 49 corridor to Pearl River and south on east side of 55 between 55 and the Pearl River
• 39212 – South Jackson
• 39272 – South Jackson
• 39170 – South Jackson

Those parts of the city have historically seen the most pressure issues because of their distance from the water treatment facilities, where water enters from the Pearl River and gets sent out for consumption.

Ted Henifin, head of JXN Water, said the demand for water was 40% higher by Wednesday afternoon than on a typical day, and that the plants were “using up pretty much all the margin in our system.” He attributed the issues to pipe breaks in the distribution system, but he also suspected delays with fixing leaks on private properties, which are outside of JXN Water’s authority.

“Last Christmas’ (of 2022) outage, we learned that a lot of private property plumbing that broke wasn’t getting repaired quickly,” Henifin said.

In addition, JXN Water said “deliberate” misinformation in social media posts about the water system’s condition led to “isolated pressure issues.” The social media posts, JXN Water said in a Wednesday news release, claimed that the city’s water treatment plants would shut down and that residents should prepare by filling up bath tubs and jugs.

The press release said those posts were directly causing an increase in water demand.

When asked why he thought it was deliberate, Henifin called the messaging “well crafted” and that it cited JXN Water staff as a source. He also called the timing “suspect” because the system was already under stress.

He added that JXN Water was working with law enforcement agencies to find the original source of the posts and determine if there was any “malicious intent.” JXN Water declined to say which agencies Henifin was referring to.

Overall, compared to the Christmas 2022 event, which led a citywide boil water notice lasting nearly two weeks, Henifin said the weather conditions this week weren’t much different, but that the city has responded better by having 14 crews to make repairs versus just the two the city had in 2022.

“I think our estimation is we would’ve lost the system, probably (Tuesday night) without the crews and without the plants and the condition they’re in today,” he said.

Henifin added that it may take “a day or two” to restore pressure, and asked customers to minimize water use over the next day.

Jackson Public Schools, which closed its schools this week due to icy conditions, announced that it would shift to virtual learning on Thursday because of the pressure issues. Henifin said he recommended that JPS continue virtual learning on Friday, too, because the issues wouldn’t be resolved by then.

The drinking water disruptions, a familiar occurrence for Jacksonians this time of year, come just after the state Mississippi State Department of Health issued a citywide boil water notice after detecting E.coli in the city’s supply. JXN Water disputed the test results, and ultimately the Health Department lifted the notice after just a day. MSDH also issued a notice for Flowood’s water system after finding E.coli, but lifted that one after two days.

UPDATE 1/18/24: This story has been updated to include screenshots of the social media posts JXN Water said were deliberately promoting misinformation.

The post Jackson sees 12,000 lose water pressure, JXN Water takes aim at misinformation appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Thank the Lord for those who fix our homes’ busted pipes.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Saving Our Pipes appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Days after Republican Gov. Tate Reeves pledged to be a governor for all Mississippians, several Democratic lawmakers said Reeves uses his power to invest in certain parts of the state while ignoring others.

The governor demonstrated his favoritism just this week, the legislators said in a Wednesday interview with Mississippi Today, when Reeves called a special session to ask lawmakers to spend $350 million in state funds to finalize an economic development deal in north Mississippi’s Marshall County.

READ MORE: Reeves asks lawmakers to appropriate $350 million in state funds to Marshall County EV battery deal

The legislators say none of the state’s recent economic projects have gone toward communities west of Interstate 55, an area where the Mississippi Delta and population hubs of Black citizens are located, or to the state’s capital city.

“Not taking anything away from Marshall County, but I do believe the impact of having 1,500 or 2,000 jobs west of I-55 would change the whole status of this state,” Democratic Rep. John Hines of Greenville said.

The Delta remains one of the most impoverished places in the nation. The region’s hospitals are at risk of closing, and its citizens are continuing to leave for other areas of the state and other states, according to U.S. Census data.

The Democratic officials argue that economic investment like the Marshall County project would give a major boost to west Mississippi, an area struggling to survive.

Rep. Robert Johnson III, the Democratic leader of the House, believes the Delta and southwest Mississippi, despite disinvestment, has an educated workforce that can staff major industries and an infrastructure system to transfer any goods produced — if only state leaders would give the area a chance. 

“You’ve got I-55 to the east, you’ve got the largest river in the country to the west and you’ve got railways to go back and forth,” Johnson said. “It makes more sense to develop jobs in that area where you’ve got an infrastructure in place.” 

The multibillion-dollar project on the table this week is, instead, scheduled to be constructed at the Chickasaw Trails Industrial Park near the Tennessee state line, where half of the state’s proposed investment is planned to go toward infrastructure development. 

The Mississippi Development Authority, the economic agency directly under Reeves’ control, recently invested around $1.1 million in the Chickasaw Trails center, as well as over $15 million in 12 other industrial parks. None of those sites are located in the Delta, Hinds County or in west Mississippi.

“At the end of the day, you look at the population west of I-55, and that’s almost one-fourth of the state’s population,” Democratic Rep. Bryant Clark of Pickens said. “And they’re being totally ignored.”

Corey Custer, deputy chief of staff to Reeves, said in a Wednesday statement that the governor supports investing in all areas of the state, including the Delta, Hinds County and communities west of I-55.

“Private companies — not state government — determine which sites best meet their needs,” Custer said. “This project will help strengthen our state’s economy, which is a benefit to all Mississippians. Gov. Reeves will continue to use every tool at his disposal to bolster every region of our state.”

This is the second type of economic package that Reeves has called on lawmakers into a special legislative session to finalize. In November 2022, he signed legislation into law that gave money and tax incentives to benefit a Steel Dynamics expansion in Columbus, also located in northeast Mississippi.

The governor, at a Tuesday press conference, said the public can expect more state economic development projects to be announced in the future, though he did not give a specific timeline or disclose which areas of the state would be impacted. 

Democratic Reps. Fabian Nelson of Jackson and Daryl Porter of Summit said on Wednesday if the governor pledges to unify the state along partisan and racial lines, then he should follow through and implement an economic plan that includes all areas of the state.   

“It’s been said that Mississippi is open for business, but I think we need to define what part of Mississippi is open for business,” Nelson said.

READ MORE: In 2023, Reeves limited state business with China. Today, he’s requesting state funds for a Chinese company.

The post ‘They’re being totally ignored’: Lawmakers say Gov. Tate Reeves isn’t focusing economic development in majority-Black regions appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Battery appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The bitter 2023 election between Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley was the most expensive governor’s race in Mississippi’s history, according to campaign finance reports filed last week.

Documents filed with the Secretary of State’s Office show that Reeves spent $12.7 million last year, and Presley spent $13.1 million, totaling around $25.8 million spent between the two candidates. Excluding outside political action committees, the 2024 race shattered spending records in prior gubernatorial campaigns.

The most expensive governor’s race before the 2023 election was the 2003 race between Republican Haley Barbour and Democrat Ronnie Musgrove, when Barbour pumped $11.3 million into the race and Musgrove spent $7.7 million — collectively $19 million spent. 

The candidate who spends more money on a campaign typically has a higher likelihood of prevailing at the ballot box, such as the case with Barbour in 2003. Presley, however, spent more money than Reeves, and the Democrat still lost with just 47.7% of the vote. 

The campaign cycle left Reeves with $23,000 in his main campaign account and Presley with $172,000. But Reeves still has around $1.9 million in a “legacy” account, which he can spend however he sees fit or even pocket the funds. Reeves’ legacy account, which was created before state campaign finance law changed in 2017 to implement tighter spending requirements, has steadily accrued interest earnings since 2018.

The latest reports also show Secretary of State Michael Watson, Attorney General Lynn Fitch and State Auditor Shad White — all of whom are rumored to be eyeing a run for governor in 2027 — with a substantial amount of campaign funds on hand. 

Here’s how much money Mississippi’s other seven statewide officials have on hand as of last week: 

• Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann: $211,000 
• Secretary of State Michael Watson: $1.09 million 
• Attorney General Lynn Lynn Fitch: $1.8 million 
• State Auditor Shad White: $1.95 million 
• State Treasurer David McRae: $121,000
• Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson: $217,000
• Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney: $248,000 

The post The Reeves-Presley 2023 campaign was the most expensive governor’s race in state history appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Mississippi State Health Department hired an outside contractor a little over a year ago to assess how well the state responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The answer, according to the report: pretty well.

But this counters a previous report from a nonprofit that ranked Mississippi’s response last in the nation.

The new report highlights the state’s strong suits — use of data visualization, targeted vaccination clinics for underserved populations and consistently working and communicating with state and local agencies. It also lists areas for improvement, which include investing in its workforce, maintaining public information campaigns during long-term COVID-19 recovery and unifying its purchasing process.

Mississippi’s COVID-19 response, led by the state Health Department, was officially from March 2020, when the first cases of coronavirus were identified in Mississippi, until November 2021, when Gov. Tate Reeves’ state of emergency declaration expired.

And while the state-contracted report deemed Mississippi’s response to COVID-19 widely “a success,” another report by the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund released in 2022 ranked Mississippi’s pandemic response last in the country.

“Due to the magnitude of the pandemic, it is likely recovery efforts will be ongoing,” the new report reads. “The recovery from COVID-19 cannot be solved by one single entity, and the responsibility is on the entire State of Mississippi to address these gaps.” 

The new 198-page report goes into great detail in every pandemic response category, offering both suggestions for improvement and highlighting the state’s strengths in each area.

Drive-thru testing and vaccination sites were deemed one of Mississippi’s strengths because they “allowed for safe and efficient mass testing and vaccination.” It also noted the support the Mississippi National Guard provided at these sites, and highlighted the state’s success in vaccinating its most vulnerable populations. 

But the report took issue with delays in setting up those sites, which the contractor chalked up to a “lack of coordination.” Contributing to these delays were staffing issues, brought on in part by mixed messages about working from home early on in the state’s response, travel challenges, long-hours and insufficient time off. The report recommends investing in the state Health Department’s workforce with competitive wages and training opportunities. 

The state agency has long struggled with staffing — State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney said in June that the agency was experiencing a vacancy rate of over 40% across departments.

The contractor said while the state consistently and equitably shared information, it was harder to stay informed when the COVID-19 response transitioned into long-term recovery. 

Data visualization was also a strong suit — during the state’s response, efficient usage of data and other technologies helped the state communicate and make decisions. However, the report notes the huge requests made of the state’s epidemiologists, an already strained staff.

The state performed well in the health equity category. Its homebound vaccination program and multiple-language outreach resources were especially praised. The report recommends that the state expand its translation services.

And while the report determined the state didn’t lose any money on fraudulent purchases, like other states and hiring a contractor to assist with submitting reimbursements worked well, the state health department’s procurement process was not unified and more robust documentation within the finance department were recommended.

The Mississippi Public Health Laboratory was generally lauded in the report, though the contractor noted it needs more resources and supplies were limited during the state’s pandemic response, and that the lab should be involved in agency drills and exercises moving forward.

The report’s findings, which will be used to improve emergency planning, are the result of research that began in November 2022, assessing the thousands of people involved with the state’s pandemic response, including employees of the health department, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, Mississippi Department of Human Services, the Mississippi State University Extension Service, the Board of Animal Health, the National Guard and the Department of Environmental Quality, as well as private contractors. 

Mississippi was one of the first states during the first year of the pandemic to ease masking and public crowd restrictions. Shortly after Reeves lifted the state’s mask rules, while delta wave cases skyrocketed, he said CDC indoor masking recommendations were “foolish.”

Reeves made it clear a few months ago that his opinion on masking hasn’t changed. In August, when COVID-19 cases briefly surged, Reeves issued a press release encouraging Mississippians to avoid succumbing to “fear” and said he would not be reinstating a mask mandate.

Since the start of the pandemic, 15,172 Mississippians have died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mississippi’s total deaths per 100,000 people is 438.2. The national rate is 292.2, as of January 2024.

The post Report highlights strengths, weaknesses of Mississippi’s pandemic response appeared first on Mississippi Today.

It is the question I get asked most no matter where I go: at a civic club, the barber shop, a tavern, the golf course, the grocery store or just about anywhere else.

Goes like this: So, how do you really feel about name, image and likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal?

Here’s the truth: I hate the combination of the two. I despise what the two, together, have done to college sports, which is rip away the foundation of what the college sports experience was supposed to be about, both for participants and for spectators. Simply put, for me, it is not as much fun as it once was.

I hasten to add, that is not because some athletes are making hundreds of thousands of dollars or that some are becoming rich before they even know what to do with the riches. Ever since college sports became a TV-fueled multi-billion dollar industry, I have believed the athletes should share in the spoils.

Just not this way, with the right to play musical schools on an annual basis depending on who offers the most money. It’s free agency without guidelines and without a salary cap – and really, without any regard for education. The richest schools will get the best players, and the poor will get the hell beat out of them.

I was talking the other day with a wealthy fan of one of our Mississippi universities. He has done really well financially and has always supported his school’s teams and facilities, donating significantly. But he has drawn a line where the NIL is concerned. This is what he told me: “I am not about to donate tens of thousands of dollars to a collective so our star running back can go out and buy himself a Porsche and then drive it off next year to Tuscaloosa or Baton Rouge for a better deal.”

But it’s happening everywhere. In 2019, 6.5% of all Division I football players had transferred at least once. This past season, more than 20% had. More than 2,100 Division I players have entered the portal this year. That figure will continue to rise. To say it doesn’t always work out for those who enter the portal is an understatement. In 2022, of all the college basketball players who entered the portal, nearly 20% wound up without a college scholarship anywhere.

Sports participation teaches many life lessons, one of which is that perseverance and hard work in the face of disappointment will pay off in the end. The portal teaches the opposite. Used to be that if you were a second teamer and weren’t getting on the field or court as much as you desired, you buckled down and worked harder. Now? “Screw this,” they tell the coach, “I’m going in the portal.”

College coaching has changed forever. Tough love is out. Coaching on eggshells is in.

“There’s no holding players accountable,” a retired college basketball coach told me. “Used to, you could use the bench as a motivator. Now, they’ll just leave.”

Here, the biggest news in this football portal season has been Ole Miss running star Quinshon Judkins moving from on to Ohio State after two seasons in Oxford.

Regular readers of this column know how I feel about Judkins’ football abilities and performance. His blend of vision, power, balance, quickness, toughness and speed remind me of my favorite football player ever, Walter Payton. The great linebacker D.D. Lewis once told me Payton was the most difficult to tackle he ever faced. “It hurt to tackle Payton,” D.D. said. “It was like trying to tackle a 215-pound bowling ball.”

Judkins runs like that. When he gets tackled, it hurts the other guy worse than him.

Now, he’s a Buckeye after providing 34 touchdowns and more than 3,000 yards from scrimmage in two seasons at Ole Miss. All indications are that Judkins shopped his availability around the country and that, in the end, he will make less money at Ohio State than he was making at Ole Miss.

Then there’s the case of Will Rogers, the ex-Brandon and Mississippi State quarterback, who had planned to transfer to Washington, this past season’s No. 2 team in the country. But Kalen DeBoer, the Washington coach, has taken the Alabama job and Rogers is back in the transfer portal. 

Fans have had to adjust, too. In 2020, Malik Heath caught the only two Mississippi State touchdowns in a 31-14 loss to Ole Miss. A year later, Heath made just one catch in another Egg Bowl loss to Ole Miss. In 2022, Heath entered the portal and switched sides. He played for Ole Miss, making five catches for 80 yards in the Egg Bowl. State got the last laugh, winning 24-22. Heath, 0-3 in Egg Bowls, now plays for the Green Bay Packers.

Such a switch of allegiances would have been unthinkable in the old days. Not now.

It will take some time to adjust. Not sure I ever will.

The post Trying to make sense of NIL and the transfer portal, like it or not appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The arctic temps in mid-Mississippi bring back some memories, plus college basketball update, a look at the NFL playoffs, an homage to Nick “The GOAT” Saban, the college coaching merry-go-round, and Wilson Furr’s PGA Tour debut.

Stream all episodes here.

The post Podcast: Remembering a frigid day in Chicago with Walter Payton and his sweet mama, plus a whole lot more. appeared first on Mississippi Today.