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Brandon Presley, the Democratic nominee for governor, on Thursday called on his political rival, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, to remove himself from any major decisions involving his administration’s ongoing effort to recoup misspent welfare dollars. 

Speaking in front of the Mississippi Department of Human Service’s downtown Jackson building, Presley cited recently released text messages between the governor’s brother, Todd Reeves, and State Auditor Shad White discussing former NFL athlete Brett Favre’s early role in the welfare scandal as a reason why the governor has a conflict of interest with directing the lawsuit.

Presley said that Reeves, who as governor is leading the ongoing DHS lawsuit that continues to probe the misspending, should recuse himself from that effort.

“It seems to me to make sense that when your brother is an undercover lobbyist and an undercover public relations agent, that it makes sense to get yourself out of that investigation to remove any suspicion of this being any more of a family affair than it already is,” Presley said. 

Presley’s Thursday remarks come a week after Gov. Reeves’ campaign released text messages between Todd Reeves and White showing that the governor’s brother coordinated with the auditor on damage control for Favre after an audit revealed in 2020 that the former NFL star received more than $1 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, funds. 

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves’ brother used backchannel to state auditor to help clean up Brett Favre welfare mess

A nonprofit paid Favre $1.1 million in welfare funds for a series of speaking engagements that state officials say the former athlete never actually completed. Favre eventually repaid the money, though auditors say he did not return around $228,000 in interest. 

The texts last week show how, on Favre’s behalf, Todd Reeves facilitated the athlete’s repayment of some of the funds and asked White to make a public statement that “the investigation (shows to this point) Brett has done nothing wrong.” 

White praised Favre in the statement he released the same day: “I want to applaud Mr. Favre for his good faith effort to make this right and make the taxpayers and TANF families whole. To date, we have seen no records indicating Mr. Favre knew that TANF was the program that served as the source of the money he was paid.”

A few weeks later, Todd Reeves texted White, “Just wanted to tell you I appreciate you talking and helping the last couple of weeks.”

Days after the Reeves campaign publicly released the text messages, Presley said he believes Todd Reeves’ involvement could pollute the integrity of the state’s efforts to recoup misspent welfare dollars because the governor is the statutory head of MDHS, the agency leading the lawsuit.

READ MORE: What exactly is Gov. Tate Reeves’ involvement in the welfare scandal?

The governor’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment, but Todd Reeves said in a previous statement that he was simply coordinating efforts to help Favre repay the welfare funds and did not know anything about the “TANF mess.” 

But Presley said on Thursday that he believes the text messages between Todd Reeves and the state auditor could be the tip of the iceberg on text communications that exist between the Reeves family and other people connected to the scandal. 

The Democratic nominee also pushed for an independent investigator, or the attorney general’s office, to comb through Gov. Reeves’ communications with defendants in the the state’s civil litigation or people who have pleaded guilty to crimes connected to the scandal. 

“Why was Todd Reeves setting up conversations about how Tate should spend taxpayer dollars” Presley asked. “Why was Todd Reeves meddling in the state auditor’s investigation, and what influence does Todd Reeves try to exert over other investigations?”

Presley has made the welfare scandal one of the main tenets of his gubernatorial campaign. He will compete against Reeves in the general election on November 7. 

READ MORE: Welfare scandal is big deal to Mississippi voters. But will it play in governor’s race?

The post Brandon Presley calls on Tate Reeves to recuse himself from state’s effort to recoup misspent welfare funds appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Mississippi Department of Education has voided some state test results at 12 schools across the state due to concerns that staff helped students cheat on the exams. 

The Mississippi Academic Assessment Program test measures student performance in English, math, science, and U.S. history. Results for the 2022-23 school year were released last month and showed the state average in most subjects increasing one or two percentage points since 2019.

In total, however, the state threw out 934 tests, an extremely small portion of the nearly 580,000 tests administered in the spring. Tests are identified for possible fraud if they have an extremely high level of similar responses or numerous instances of wrong-to-right answer changes.

The following schools had some portion of their test results voided: 

• Nichols Middle School – Canton Public School District*
• Boyd Elementary School – Greenville Public School District*
• Simmons Junior High School – Hollandale School District
• Simmons High School – Hollandale School District*
• Wilkinson County High School – Wilkinson County School District*
• Dawson Elementary School – Jackson Public Schools*
• Lester Elementary School – Jackson Public Schools* 
• Marshall Elementary School – Jackson Public Schools
• McLeod Elementary School – Jackson Public Schools*
• Peeples Middle School – Jackson Public Schools*
• Wilkins Elementary School – Jackson Public Schools
• Lanier High School – Jackson Public Schools

The number of tests voided at each school varies significantly, ranging from just a few to over 90% of the tests in that subject. Schools with more than 10% of their results voided (noted with an asterisk above) will not receive a letter grade this fall. 

The state education department is sending letters to the parents of students whose test results were vioided and encouraging them to contact their district for additional support. Any high school students whose test results were thrown out will have to retake those exams, as passage is required to graduate. 

Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Errick Greene emphasized in his remarks to the local school board on Tuesday that this is not a district-wide issue, but shared his concern and frustration.

“In this district we will achieve at high levels, but we say that and we believe that while also believing that  … our scholars have the capacity to achieve at high levels and that we don’t need to cheat or blur the lines in order to get ahead,” he said. “And frankly, I really wish we could talk about our other test data which is not implicated in this as proof, as absolute proof that so many of our scholars and educators are winning.”

Here’s what MDE has shared about the investigation into these tests:

• MDE notified school districts on Aug. 15 about irregularities in their districts and gave them 15 days to independently investigate.
• District leaders in Canton and Jackson found evidence of administrators and teachers helping students cheat and took disciplinary action. MDE may pursue additional disciplinary actions, including suspension or revocation of teaching licenses.
• State law also establishes misdemeanor and felony charges associated with helping students cheat on exams or knowingly submitting/certifying false results to MDE. Local district attorneys may prosecute these cases or pass them off to the state attorney general’s office.
• District leaders in Greenville, Hollandale and Wilkinson did not identify any individuals who helped students cheat. MDE is now conducting its own investigation in these districts given the evidence of fraudulent tests.

The Jackson Public Schools district provided additional information about their investigation at the board meeting on Tuesday:

• Educators were found to have violated two sections of the test security rules, which can include viewing test questions early, making copies of test questions, giving hints while the test was being administered, changing answers, or allowing students to change their responses outside of testing time. 
• Of the 43 individuals disciplined, 17 were found to have played a major role and were fired, three received ten-day suspensions for playing a role, and 24 received letters of reprimand for concern about their involvement. 
• Because of the firings, the district is having to consolidate some classrooms or schools. Specifically, Isable and Lester Elementaries will merge some classrooms, which were already sharing some building space. The district is looking to reassign teachers to McCloud Elementary or collapse a few classrooms. Most significantly, Peeples and Whitten Middle Schools will be consolidated into the Peeples campus, since Peeples lost the most staff and Whitten is currently under construction. 
• Moving forward, teachers will not be allowed to administer state test exams to their own students in any subject. Greene shared that this was already the case for high school students, but will be implemented for elementary and middle schools next spring. 

The post What we know about cheating allegations at several Mississippi schools appeared first on Mississippi Today.

News of the death of baseball’s Doug Shanks earlier this week brought back several vivid memories, including the one that follows.

This was a bluebird Delta day, in February in 2010. The previous day’s rainstorm had passed. The ground was soggy, but the sky was cloudless and a deep blue. The bright sun brought warmth, but the air was crisp and cool. It was a splendid day to be alive. Opening Day always is. And, as opening days go, this one was extra special.

Shanks and his Mississippi Valley State baseball assistant coaches were busy, helping their one-man “grounds crew” prepare the soaked field for the season opener. The Delta Devils, who called themselves the Ragamuffins, were scheduled to play Notre Dame. Yes, that Notre Dame, the one that spent more money on its slick baseball media guide than Shanks had in his entire MVSU baseball budget. Notre Dame had spent $60 million on football the previous fall. Valley’s entire athletic budget was $3 million. 

The one-man Valley grounds crew wore a green and white striped uniform, but it wasn’t because green and white are two of the MVSU school colors. No, he was on loan from a nearby prison.

“Hardest worker you ever saw,” Shanks told me. “But we have to have him back at the farm by 4.”

Shanks and his coaches had worked through the night and all morning to make Magnolia Field playable. They stopped only to watch Notre Dame’s luxury bus pull up, and the strapping Fighting Irish players step off in their navy blue jerseys, with gold lettering and green shamrocks on the sleeves. Some wore those bright gold batting helmets. 

Yes, Shanks brought Notre Dame to Itta Bena. I remember telling Shanks it could go on his tombstone.

Notre Dame won that day, 12-4, but there were no losers. 

I remember asking Irish coach Dave Shrage why he would bring his proud program to Itta Bena and a baseball field that guaranteed standing room only crowds because there was almost no place to sit. Shrage said that before he took the Notre Dame job he had been at Evansville and had made a trip down south to play games in Memphis. Rain spoiled that so he called Shanks at MVSU looking for a place to play. Long story short: The two team buses met in Grenada and headed south on I-55 with Shanks promising that he knew every baseball field in Mississippi and would find a dry one.

They wound up playing a double-header at Smith-Wills. Shrage never forgot the effort or the hospitality. That had been the real reason for Notre Dame coming to Itta Bena. Shrage was repaying a favor.

Interesting – isn’t it? –those Valley-Evansville games were played at Smith-Wills Stadium. Shanks, himself, was largely responsible for the stadium being built. As a young Jackson City Commissioner, Shanks had spearheaded the plan to build the stadium and bring a minor league franchise to Jackson, which led to the Jackson Mets coming to Jackson in 1975. What’s more it was Shanks’ idea to bring all Dizzy Dean’s memorabilia to Jackson and create the Dizzy Dean Museum adjacent to Smith-Wills.

Many long-time readers will know the rest of that story: The Dean Museum was a huge part of the genesis of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Museum being built across the parking lot from Smith-Wills. The Dizzy Dean wing of the MSHOF on the second floor remains the highlight of any visit to the shrine.

Shanks was a huge part of all that. Selling Dizzy Dean on the idea of moving his stuff from Wiggins to Jackson was not hard, Shanks once told me. But Pat Dean, Diz’s wife, ran the show. Shanks convinced them both that so many more people would see Diz’s treasures in the state’s biggest city. And they have.

He was a baseball man, Doug Shanks was. His daddy, Fred Shanks, had been the great Boo Ferriss’s catcher at Mississippi State. Doug Shanks was active in youth baseball before and after his successful 15-year stint at Valley as the SWAC’s first White baseball coach. He began the Jackson 96ers, a summer, high school-aged travel team, that became a national powerhouse.

“Doug loved baseball and he lived it,” was the way Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame baseball coach Hill Denson put it, “Mississippi baseball is a whole lot better because of Doug Shanks.”

The post Doug Shanks loved, lived baseball, and his contributions will live on appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Republican Rep. Jason White, heir apparent to the House speakership, said Medicaid expansion, long a bugaboo for the state GOP, will be on the table and at least thoroughly vetted as a solution to Mississippi’s health care crisis next year.

“I think we as Republicans have probably earned a little bit of the bad rap we get on health care in Mississippi,” White said in a Thursday interview with Mississippi Today. “Part of that is that we haven’t had a full-blown airing or discussion of Medicaid expansion. We’ve just said, ‘No.’

“Now, I’m not out here on the curb pushing Medicaid expansion, but we are going to have full discussions on that and on all facets of health care in Mississippi,” White said. “… Right or wrong, we have been wearing the yoke of, ‘Y’all haven’t even considered this or dug down into the numbers.’ And that’s true.”

Mississippi is one of 10 states to refuse federal tax dollars to expand Medicaid coverage to the working poor. Meanwhile, leaders in one of the poorest, unhealthiest states are leaving more than $1 billion a year in federal funding on the table with the refusal, even as people and hospitals statewide struggle. More than half of the state’s rural hospitals are at risk of closure, and even larger hospitals have been forced to slash services for budget reasons.

For a decade, even as hospitals, other state leaders and growing numbers of lawmakers and voters clamor for Medicaid expansion, state Republican leaders have adamantly opposed it, often without giving empirical reasons for their stance against “Obamacare.”

Gov. Tate Reeves and outgoing House Speaker Philip Gunn have been two staunch opponents in recent years, with Gunn refusing even to hold hearings on the proposal.

READ MORE: Former Gov. Steve Beshear: Medicaid expansion changed course of Kentucky history

READ MORE: ‘A no-brainer’: Why former Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe successfully pushed Medicaid expansion

READ MORE: Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards: Medicaid expansion ‘easiest big decision I ever made’

Incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has expressed openness to discussing expansion, but has not pushed the idea with Gunn and Reeves poised to block it. During a tough GOP primary reelection bid this summer, Hosemann was loath to even say the words Medicaid expansion.

But Hosemann, who won his primary and is expected to sail to reelection in the general, plans to hold Senate health care hearings before next year’s legislative session and has also said all issues “will be on the table.”

White, of West, is currently serving as speaker pro tempore and is expected to be elected speaker by his House colleagues in January. He said that as he’s traveled the state this summer helping fellow Republicans get reelected, health care questions and questions about Medicaid expansion have been common from voters.

READ MORE: Poll: 92% of Mississippi voters concerned about hospital crisis, 72% favor Medicaid expansion

White said openness to discuss Medicaid expansion or other ideas does not signal a retreat from conservatism in the ruby red Magnolia state.

“We are about to elect 75-80 Republicans to the (122-member) House of Representatives,” White said. “So whatever comes out on health care will have a conservative spin on it. That doesn’t mean Medicaid expansion is off the table, but it might look different, might smell different if it were done … We all agree that we don’t want to see hospitals closed. We’re fixing to have what I hope is a real, real discussion on changes for health care in Mississippi.”

White said he also wants lots of input from the state’s business community, including the Mississippi Economic Council, on health care issues.

“This is supposed to be about the working poor, right?” White said. “These are people that are getting a paycheck. They have employers, and I want to hear what those employers think … The question is also going to become what are Mississippians, taxpayers, going to demand or expect on health care from the state side of things?”

White said: “We are not going to do something or not do something for lack of discussion and consideration of what’s best.”

READ MORE: Few Mississippi lawmakers outright oppose Medicaid expansion

The post Likely new Speaker Jason White says Medicaid expansion ‘will be on table’ appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Child Left Behind appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Veteran state Rep. Nick Bain, R-Corinth, admitted defeat late Wednesday in his House District 2 reelection effort, becoming the seventh incumbent legislator to lose thus far in this year’s election cycle.

Bain, who was first elected in 2011 as a Democrat, lost by 26 votes — 2,357 to 2,331 — to small business owner Brad Mattox. The Republican primary runoff election was held Aug. 29, but Bain waited to concede the close election until all the late arriving mail-in ballots and affidavit ballots were counted.

Among the issues in the Bain-Mattox contest was the fact that Bain voted along with a large majority of his legislative colleagues in 2020 to remove the old state flag, which included the Confederate battle emblem in its design.

“While these results are not what I wanted, I am grateful that I had the opportunity to serve the people of District 2…,” Bain said on social media. “It was my intent from the beginning to create a legacy that would make my children proud, that would offer all Mississippians an opportunity to rise to the opportunities of the 21st Century, and as it is said, to leave the campground cleaner than I found it.”

Bain switched to the Republican Party before his 2019 reelection campaign and served the past term as Judiciary B committee chair.

Other House incumbents who lost in the party primary elections are:

• Republican Brady Williamson of Oxford who lost in District 10 to Josh Hawkins.
• Republican Perry Van Bailey of Calhoun County who was defeated in District 23 by Andrew Stepp.
• Seven-term Democratic legislative veteran Rufus Straughter of Belzoni who was upended in District 51 by Timaka James-Jones.
• Republican Doug McLeod of Lucedale who was toppled in District 107 by Ronald Lott.
• Republican first-term incumbent Dale Goodin of Richton who was defeated in a District 105 runoff election by Elliott Burch.

Three-term incumbent Philip Moran, R-Kiln, was the only Senate incumbent to lose, being defeated by Philmon Ladner.

Multiple incumbents will face opposition in the November general election. Democrats, though, are not challenging in enough legislative seats to garner a majority in either chamber. Democrats are running enough legislative candidates to erase the Republican two-thirds supermajorities in both chambers, though they are not likely to win enough seats to achieve that goal.

The post House chairman Nick Bain loses by 26 votes, becoming seventh incumbent legislator defeated appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Leaders of the Mississippi Democratic Party are actively courting current U.S. Senate candidate Ty Pinkins to be the party’s nominee for the ongoing secretary of state’s race, according to a source with direct knowledge of the deliberations.

The source, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the party’s internal conversations, said details with Pinkins would likely be finalized within the coming days.

Pinkins is an attorney, Army veteran and native of Vicksburg. He spent much of the last two years aiding Black farmer workers in the Delta who were being paid less money for their work than white visa workers from South Africa doing the same jobs — a legal case that garnered national attention and spurred congressional hearings.

Since January 2023, Pinkins has been actively campaigning as a Democratic opponent against incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, who is up for reelection in November 2024.

READ MORE: Ty Pinkins, Army veteran and Delta advocate, announces U.S. Senate run

A representative for Pinkins did not return a request for comment. Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Cheikh Taylor, the person who would likely be leading discussions with Pinkins, also did not respond to a request for comment.

The state party is being forced to find a replacement for the office because its previous nominee, Shuwaski Young, withdrew his candidacy from the race because he recently experienced a sudden medical event. 

The State Board of Election Commissioners on Wednesday afternoon formally approved a request from the Democratic Party to replace the vacancy left by Young.

READ MORE: State election board allows Democratic Party to pick new candidate for secretary of state

The post Ty Pinkins is asked to fill Democratic Party vacancy for secretary of state appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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

The State Board of Election Commissioners voted Wednesday to allow the Mississippi Democratic Party to replace its candidate for secretary of state after its previous nominee, Shuwaski Young, announced he was withdrawing from the race. 

The three-member commission, comprised of Gov. Tate Reeves, Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Secretary of State Michael Watson, also voted to accept Young’s reason for exiting the race. 

Young announced last month that he intended to drop out of the race because he experienced a “hypertensive crisis” that would have made campaigning over the next several months difficult. 

State law allows for party nominees to withdraw from a general election if the reason is non-political, including medical reasons.

But shortly before the Democratic candidate revealed his place to withdraw from the race, an election official with the secretary of state’s office wrote Young a letter questioning if the candidate met the statutory requirements to run for office, as previously reported by Mississippi Today.

Young claimed the letter questioning his qualifications had no bearing on his final decision to exit the race. Still, it was up to the commission, made up of all Republicans, to determine if Young’s sudden exit was truly medical and not political. 

Watson, the incumbent secretary of state, sent a proxy to the meeting, but his representative abstained from voting because the issue involved Watson’s political opponent. Fitch and Reeves approved Young’s request without any major discussion.

The next step is for the Democratic Party’s executive committee to name a substitute nominee to appear on November’s general election ballot. State law does give the party a deadline for submitting a replacement, but the secretary of state’s office is required to publish a sample of the general election ballot by September 13.

Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Cheikh Taylor did not immediately respond to a request for comment on when the party intends to announce its replacement candidate. 

The post State election board allows Democratic Party to pick new candidate for secretary of state  appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Brandon Presley, the state’s Democratic nominee for governor, stood in front of the gates of the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion last week to lob two major accusations at his Republican opponent, Gov. Tate Reeves, over his connections to the state’s welfare scandal. 

The first allegation was Reeves has accepted nearly $1.7 million in donations from people who have personally benefited from the state’s welfare scandal that Mississippi officials have labeled the “largest public embezzlement scheme in state history.”

The second major claim was that University of Southern Mississippi-affiliated donors began to quickly donate to Reeves after he approved the firing of Brad Pigott, the state’s attorney who initially handled a civil lawsuit to recoup misspent welfare dollars. 

READ MORE: State fires attorney probing former Gov. Phil Bryant in welfare scandal lawsuit

“Today, our campaign is revealing that his rich friends who have benefitted from the largest public corruption scandal in state history and Tate’s efforts to stifle that investigation gave his campaign nearly $1.7 million in return,” Presley said. 

The Democratic nominee claimed most of the contributors who had profited from the scandal were affiliated with the USM Athletic Foundation, which landed $5 million in federal welfare funds to help construct a volleyball stadium. This project and its welfare funding source, reporting has shown, was shepherded by NFL legend and USM alumnus Brett Favre.

To support his corruption claim, Presley’s campaign team distributed a spreadsheet to reporters that listed 54 individuals and companies who were purportedly affiliated with USM and who have donated to Reeves. But a review of those groups and people by Mississippi Today shows that at least 20 of them have no apparent ties to the scandal and have not served on any leadership panel at USM’s athletic foundation.

Presley’s math on the donations is accurate, but his claim that Reeves accepted $1.7 million from people who directly “benefitted from the scandal” is misleading and lacks evidence.

For example, the spreadsheet lists Joe Frank Sanderson Jr., CEO of Laurel-based poultry producer Sanderson Farms, as someone who has benefitted from the welfare scandal and who has donated over $300,000 to Reeves since he first ran for public office in 2003. 

Sanderson is a major USM donor and a top campaign donor to Reeves, but there’s no public evidence to show that he has profited from the scandal that involves at least $77 million of questionable spending, most of which was funneled through the Mississippi Department of Human Services during former Gov. Phil Bryant’s administration.

The campaign’s other serious charge is that donations from USM-affiliated donors spiked by $244,000 after the governor signed off on cutting Pigott loose as the lead attorney in the civil litigation. 

On Presley’s distributed spreadsheet, Mississippi Today tabulated 32 total donations that those contributors made after June 22, 2022, the date Pigott was fired. 

But only about half of those donations occurred between the day after Pigott was fired to the end of the calendar year — a five-month window that would most clearly show if a correlation between Reeves’ campaign donations and Pigott’s termination existed.

The rest of those donations occurred in 2023, when Reeves announced he was running for reelection, arguably the time when any candidate’s donations would spike.  

READ MORE: What exactly is Gov. Tate Reeves’ involvement in the welfare scandal?

While the campaign’s list of donors with known ties to the scandal is inflated, Presley’s decision to highlight the USM Athletic Foundation appears timely and warranted. The state’s civil lawsuit to recoup misspent TANF funds is ongoing, and just last week, DHS attorneys subpoenaed almost 30 current and former members of the athletic foundation, the USM athletic department and the alumni association.

The latest subpoenas, which Front Office Sports first reported, include a handful of names or businesses that also appear in the Presley campaign’s distributed spreadsheet of donors who have allegedly benefited from the scandal.

Without a doubt, there are any number of welfare scandal-related questions Presley could publicly ask of Reeves. Just last week, text messages released by the governor’s campaign to preempt Mississippi Today reporting show that his brother, Todd Reeves, coordinated a damage control strategy with State Auditor Shad White over part of Favre’s early role in the scandal.

Additionally, why does the governor continue to hold on to political donations from Nancy and Zach New, two people who have pleaded guilty to federal crimes connected to the welfare scandal? And what, exactly, was the extent of Reeves’ involvement in his personal trainer receiving more than $1 million in welfare funds?

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves inspired welfare payment targeted in civil suit, texts show

To be fair, Presley has raised many of these questions during the campaign cycle. But why would he put forward a half-baked accusation on USM donors, especially when many of the college’s alumni are part of a crucial voting bloc he needs to win in November? 

Instead, Presley chose to stand in front of the Governor’s Mansion and potentially undermine his long-standing strategy of pairing the governor with the scandal. To outright claim, without evidence, that many USM-affiliated donors are pulling the levers of Reeves’ campaign stretches the truth about a widespread scandal that, no doubt, deserves more facts and answers.

The post Fact check: Brandon Presley’s claim on USM donors benefiting from welfare scandal appeared first on Mississippi Today.