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Delta State University appears to have never had a policy on academic freedom, a core tenet of higher education that ensures faculty will not be disciplined for conducting research that could be considered controversial. 

The lack of such a policy, which free speech experts called “very unusual,” was discovered over the summer by a faculty member who realized the oversight could have imperiled the university’s upcoming reaccreditation, according to emails obtained by Mississippi Today. 

The faculty senate president immediately started drafting a new policy at the request of an administrator overseeing accreditation. 

But over the summer, discussions hit a hitch on a clause that said free speech cannot disrupt the university’s functioning. The faculty senate wanted to include an exception for civil disobedience, given the Mississippi Delta’s storied legacy of civil rights protests, and the provost, who stepped down last month, did not. 

That exception did not make it into the final version of the policy, which was released to the campus today. 

The policy development comes as Delta State faculty are working to start the university’s first-ever chapter of the American Association of University Professors. The advocacy organization’s famous 1940 statement on academic freedom forms the basis of many academic freedom policies at colleges nationwide. 

Academic freedom in higher education is a hot-button issue across the country and at Delta State where there was public outcry earlier this year over the appointment of an interim band director who made transphobic comments on a now-deleted podcast. 

But the real reason for these policies, experts say, isn’t the flashy moments when faculty members express far-right or far-left political opinions in the classroom or off-campus. It’s to ensure research that challenges powerful or corporate interests, like gender-affirming care or the risks of pesticides, is protected. 

“When faculty don’t have those academic rights, we can’t have that marketplace of ideas, that free inquiry that advances our whole society,” said Laura Beltz, a policy director for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which studies free-speech policies in higher education. 

Delta State administrators who worked on the new policy recognized this, emails show. 

“As you know, teaching “difficult” topics is not the main reason to have an Academic Freedom policy,” Josie Welsh, an associate provost overseeing reaccreditation, wrote to Christopher Jurgenson, the faculty senate president, on June 22. “The primary purpose of such a policy is to protect faculty whose research findings challenge fundamental teachings (e.g. Earth revolving around the sun and not the sun revolving around Earth).” 

Welsh and Jurgenson did not respond to inquiries from Mississippi Today. 

Still, Welsh wrote she had checked the two previous reports the university had submitted to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges — a regional accreditor that upholds educational standards — and there was no mention of such a policy. 

This is significant because without accreditation, Delta State students likely wouldn’t be eligible for federal financial aid or use their degree to go into certain professions. 

“Long story short, for decades now we have been cobbling together bits and pieces of other policies to argue that we have a policy on Academic Freedom,” she wrote. “Why we did that instead of just adopting a standard policy on Academic Freedom I do not know. Let’s fix that.” 

The discovery meant that Delta State was likely the only public university in Mississippi without such a policy. The state’s seven other public universities all have academic freedom policies online or in faculty handbooks, Mississippi Today found. 

Though the university had been working to create an academic freedom policy in the spring, a looming accreditation deadline in the fall meant it was vital to write one immediately, Welsh added. 

Artificial intelligence, she mused, could help. 

“This immediate need highlights the ways that AI technology can be used in a positive manner,” she wrote. “We certainly don’t want to adopt the first CHATGPT-generated Academic Freedom policy; however, AI tools could be very useful in generating a policy appropriate for Delta State.”  

Jurgenson got to work right away. He had a draft the next week. 

A month later, the sticking point arose shortly after news broke about the university hiring Steven Hugley, the interim band director, despite disparaging comments he’d made about trans people and women on a podcast. 

Jurgenson had added an exception for civil disobedience, after the faculty senate, an elected group of professors who represent their departments, spent 45 minutes discussing the issue. 

Civil disobedience is the act of peaceful, but unlawful, political protest. It has played a significant role in the history of Delta State, most notably in 1969, when dozens of the first Black students at the predominantly white institution were arrested and sent to Parchman after they held a sit-in outside the president’s office. 

It was a unique request. Beltz told Mississippi Today she had never heard of faculty asking an exception for civil disobedience. 

Andy Novobilski, the provost, took issue with this inclusion. 

“The term ‘Civil Disobedience’ describes a non-violent action by a person or group of persons who knowingly break rules with the willingness to suffer the consequences of their actions to bring about a greater good,” he wrote on July 26. “Somewhere along the way, the concept has forgotten the consequences portion.” 

The disagreement seemed to stem from two views of the role of higher education in Mississippi. The faculty senate was calling back to a largely bygone era when institutions like the private, historically Black Tougaloo College were nodes of political activism in the state. Novobilski was reminding them of the hard reality that universities are also nonprofit entities with rules and regulations. 

That same day, Jurgenson replied that the goal was simply to ensure faculty would still have a job if, hypothetically, they were arrested at an unlawful protest, adding that “given Mississippi’s history with civil rights, telling the faculty they cannot exercise academic freedom in the form of civil disobedience will be met with resistance.” 

Novobilski doubled down.

“Delta State does not condone the breaking of laws and certainly won’t change that by writing it into policy,” he wrote back. “The statement condoning civil disobedience is not appropriate.” 

That night, Jurgenson conceded, agreeing it was a “bad look” for the university to endorse illegal behavior. 

It would have been tricky for Delta State to create a civil-disobedience exception to the free speech policy that did not implicitly pick-and-choose which rules are allowed to be broken and in what way, said Kristen Shahverdian, a program coordinator with PEN America, a nonprofit that promotes free expression. 

“It’s really hard for a university to say, this thing that happened that clearly broke XYZ rule, we’re gonna say that that is okay, but this other thing that also broke the same rule is not okay,” she said. “These policies need to be instituted in a viewpoint neutral way.” 

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Ninety percent of likely Mississippi voters said they are concerned about the Mississippi welfare scandal and government corruption in general, according to a new Mississippi Today/Siena College poll.

Of numerous issues polled, it’s nearly top of mind for voters, trailing only the state’s hospital crisis.

But despite Democratic challenger Brandon Presley’s efforts to lay the scandal and corruption at incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves’ feet, it doesn’t appear to be providing him much separation. Reeves leads Presley in head-to-head polling by 11 points.

But when asked which of the two candidates they believe will do a better job of addressing corruption and the welfare malfeasance, the split is narrow: 45% choosing Presley to 43% Reeves.

Editor’s note: Poll methodology and crosstabs can be found at the bottom of this story. Click here to read more about our partnership with Siena College Research Institute.

At least $77 million in federal money meant to help the poorest of the poor was stolen, misspent or directed to wealthy, politically-connected people between at least 2017 and 2020. One of the large expenditures was for a volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi, a project championed by Reeves’ friend and supporter former NFL quarterback Brett Favre.

Eight people have been criminally charged, seven have pleaded guilty and 47, including Favre, are being sued by the state to recover money. State and federal probes continue.

Voters have been bombarded by Presley’s claims of Reeves’ involvement in the scandal and Reeves’ counterclaims.

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

For weeks, Presley has aired a TV advertisement alleging: “Under Tate Reeves, millions were steered from education and job programs to help his rich friends.”

Reeves quickly responded with his own ad that counters Presley’s claim.

“Tate Reeves had nothing to do with the scandal,” the Reeves ad narrator says. “… It all happened before he was governor.”

But past reporting reveals several ways the scandal has touched Reeves.

Mississippi Today reported this week that Gov. Reeves’ brother coordinated with state Auditor Shad White on damage control for former NFL star Brett Favre after an audit first revealed in 2020 that the athlete had received more than $1 million in welfare funds, according to text messages the governor’s political campaign released Thursday.

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

And records obtained by Mississippi Today indicate that then-Lt. Gov. Reeves in 2019 met with the head of the state welfare agency — who has pleaded guilty to charges in the scandal — about Reeves’ friend and fitness trainer Paul Lacoste.

Lacoste at the time had secured a contract to receive $1.4 million in welfare funds for a fitness program. But most of the money had not come through. Communications records indicate that changed after Reeves met with the welfare chief. The welfare director texted his deputy at the time and asked him to find a way to send a large sum of welfare money to a nonprofit without triggering a red flag in an audit so the nonprofit could fund Lacoste’s fitness camp. The welfare director in the text referred to the program as “the Lt. Gov.’s fitness issue.”

Reeves, who took office as governor in 2020, has also faced questions about his firing of the attorney the state had initially hired to probe the welfare spending and sue to recover money. In July 2022, after the lawyer subpoenaed the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation for communications with former Gov. Phil Bryant, Bryant’s wife Deborah, and former NFL star Brett Favre over $5 million in welfare dollars spent on a volleyball stadium, Reeves’ administration abruptly fired the attorney.

Pigott said his firing was a politically motivated response to him looking into the roles of former Republican governor Bryant, the USM Athletic Foundation and other powerful and connected people or entities Reeves and others didn’t want him looking at. 

Reeves has called Presley’s attempts to tie him to the welfare scandal “mental gymnastics” and said, “The bad actors in this case have been sued by the Reeves administration.”

Only 9% of voters polled between August 20-28 said they were not concerned about the scandal and government corruption, with 1% not knowing or refusing. The poll surveyed 650 likely Mississippi voters and has a margin of error of 4%.

The Mississippi Today/Siena College Research Institute poll of 650 registered voters was conducted August 20-28, 2023, and has an overall margin of error of +/- 4.0 percentage points. Siena has an ‘A’ rating in FiveThirtyEight’s analysis of pollsters.

Click here for complete methodology and crosstabs relevant to this story.

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An overwhelming majority of Mississippians are concerned about the state’s hospital crisis, and voters by a large margin favor Medicaid expansion to provide health care for the working poor.

A new Mississippi Today/Siena College poll shows 92% of likely voters surveyed are concerned about the hospital crisis, with 70% saying they are “very concerned.”

Expansion of Medicaid — one widely proposed solution to the hospital crisis — is favored by 72%, opposed by 23%, with 5% not answering.

Editor’s note: Poll methodology and crosstabs can be found at the bottom of this story. Click here to read more about our partnership with Siena College Research Institute.

A recently updated study shows nearly half of the rural hospitals in Mississippi — a poor, unhealthy state already lacking in health care — are struggling financially and at risk of closure. Most medical and hospital officials in the state favor expanding the state-federal Medicaid program, using federal money to provide health care to the working poor and help flagging hospitals cover uncompensated care.

READ MORE: At least three Mississippi hospitals aim to end inpatient services, convert to rural emergency status

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley’s campaign has focused on the hospital crisis and expanding Medicaid as a key plank in his platform.

Incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has given conflicting answers to whether he believes the state’s hospital and health care crisis is a serious campaign issue this year, and he opposes Medicaid expansion. Reeves and other state GOP leaders have blocked Medicaid expansion, equating it to welfare, for the last decade as most other states adopted it and as support for it has grown among Mississippi Republicans.

Yet when respondents of the recently released poll were asked whether Reeves or Presley “will do a better job addressing the Mississippi hospital crisis,” the two candidates were tied at 44% each.

Mississippi Today asked Reeves at the Neshoba County Fair in late July what his reaction was to hospitals and medical facilities laying off employees. The governor chuckled, didn’t substantively respond and brushed off the question. 

But minutes later, asked a similar question, Reeves said: “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 has adamantly opposed Medicaid expansion for years. He said solutions to the state’s health care woes include providing Mississippians with better jobs and allowing more free-market competition in medical services in the state. Reeves said he wants lawmakers to remove regulations on hospitals.

Presley recently said of Reeves: “Where have you been for 12 years? You were lieutenant governor for eight. You’ve been governor for four. If all of these ideas were great, why haven’t you gotten them done, partner?”

Forty states have expanded Medicaid. Expansion has been blocked in Mississippi primarily by Reeves and outgoing House Speaker Philip Gunn.

At times Presley has said he will expand Medicaid on his first day in office. But that would not be possible and it is questionable about whether he could do it under any circumstance without legislative approval. In recent days, Presley has said “on day one I will take action to expand Medicaid and save our hospitals.”

Speaking to a legislative panel recently, Republican Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said, “We’re going to have some very severe problems within the very near future. I’m talking about in six to 24 months, we’re gonna have some hospitals that close.”

Chaney told legislators his office is contracting with a group to study the issue and offer possible solutions.

Mississippi Today/Siena College polling has tracked support for Medicaid expansion since early 2023. Some results:

January 8-12: 80% support, 70% of Republicans support

March 6-8: 75% support, 59% Republicans support

April 16-20: 60% support, 52% of Republicans

June 4-7 (likely GOP primary voters only): 52% support, 35% oppose, 13% not sure

The Mississippi Today/Siena College Research Institute poll of 650 registered voters was conducted August 20-28, 2023, and has an overall margin of error of +/- 4.0 percentage points. Siena has an ‘A’ rating in FiveThirtyEight’s analysis of pollsters.

Click here for complete methodology and crosstabs relevant to this story.

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A new Mississippi Today/Siena College poll shows incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is leading Democratic nominee Brandon Presley by 11 points ahead of the November general election.

The poll, which surveyed 650 likely Mississippi voters between August 20-28, found 52% of respondents would vote for Reeves, while 41% would support Presley. Six percent of respondents were undecided, and 1% said they were not going to vote. 

Editor’s note: Poll methodology and crosstabs can be found at the bottom of this story. Click here to read more about our partnership with Siena College Research Institute.

The recent poll remains consistent with similar Mississippi Today/Siena College polls conducted earlier this year. Every poll the newsroom has conducted with the nation’s top pollster has shown Reeves leading.

In January, the polling showed Reeves with a 4-point lead head-to-head over Presley: 43% to 39%, with 14% undecided. A poll in April showed Reeves led Presley by 11 points: 49% to 38%, with 6% undecided.

The latest poll shows the same 11-point spread as the April poll, but the most recent results show Reeves capturing a majority of the electorate for the first time this year.

The poll also surveyed favorable and unfavorable sentiments for both candidates, with the governor having a relatively high unfavorability rating and Presley having a sizeable problem with name recognition.

Reeves was 46% favorable to 49% unfavorable, with 5% saying they didn’t know enough about Reeves to say. Presley was 38% favorable, 29% unfavorable and 35% didn’t know enough about Presley. 

Despite Reeves’ unfavorability and Presley’s name recognition problems, both political parties indicated some level of excitement about the upcoming race.

Forty percent of Democrats indicated they were “very excited” about the race and 32% responded they were “somewhat excited” about the race, indicating 72% of Democratic voters show some measure of excitement about the race. 

For the GOP, 29% of respondents said they were “very excited” about voting and 41% indicated they were “somewhat excited,” totaling 70% of Republicans who recorded some level of enthusiasm in the upcoming election. 

And while Reeves is enjoying some measure of excitement from his base, the voters appear to support issues that he’s either not addressing on the campaign trail or is outright rejecting. 

Around 92% indicated some level of concern about rural hospital closures, 90% said they had some measure of worry about the state’s welfare scandal, 70% believed transgender athletes competing in women’s athletics is a serious issue and 72% believed the state’s leaders should expand Medicaid to the working poor. 

Presley and Reeves will compete in the general election on Nov. 7 against Gwendolyn Gray, an independent candidate, who did not garner a traceable percentage in the August poll.

The Mississippi Today/Siena College Research Institute poll of 650 registered voters was conducted August 20-28, 2023, and has an overall margin of error of +/- 4.0 percentage points. Siena has an ‘A’ rating in FiveThirtyEight’s analysis of pollsters.

Click here for complete methodology and crosstabs relevant to this story.

The post Poll: Tate Reeves leads Brandon Presley by 11 points in governor’s race appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Sept. 1, 1975

School teacher Marva Collins took $5,000 from her retirement fund and opened the low-cost Westside Preparatory School on the second floor of her home in Chicago. She started with four students, including her own daughter, and began welcoming students that others had labeled “unteachable.” Her success led newspapers such as the Chicago Sun-Times and the Washington Post to write about her. 

“In the one room that is Westside Prep, 30 children from 4 to 14 years old sit side by side delving into the sciences, mathematics, literary classics,” the Post wrote. “A 5-year-old is engrossed in the Canterbury Tales. A 9-year-old gives Nietzsche a critical read. A 12-year-old ponders the intricacies of Rabelais. These are not the children of Chicago’s intellectual elite. Most are fresh off the streets of one of the city’s toughest, predominantly black ghettos, and many of them couldn’t even read before Marva Collins got her hands on them.” 

Many of her students went on to graduate from Ivy League schools. “Kids don’t fail,” she declared. “Teachers fail, school systems fail. The people who teach children that they are failures — they are the problem.” 

In 1981, CBS aired a made-for-TV movie about her life, starring Cicely Tyson and Morgan Freeman. Within a decade, she was training 1,000 teachers a year on her methods of helping students to love to learn and to think critically. She remained an inspirational figure, appearing in Prince’s video, “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.” 

After George H.W. Bush was elected president, he asked her to become Secretary of Education. She declined the offer, preferring to continue to influence the lives of students, one by one. In 2004, she received a National Humanities Award. She died in 2015.

The post On this day in 1975 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Today is profiling members of Jackson’s 2023 Change Collective.

Jamie Rasberry is the director of policy and strategic partnerships for the Mississippi Alliance of Nonprofits and Philanthropy. Rasberry attributes where she is in life to an isolated upbringing, out of which grew an insatiable curiosity about the people and places in the world around her.

“So, I grew up in Kosciusko on my family’s farm. Way out in the country like that, my exposure to other people was just people who worked for my family. I went to a small private school that doesn’t even exist anymore. I didn’t really know any other world but the one I lived in.

“Oh, you know, I’d hear things, but I didn’t really know what they meant. One was, ‘Black is beautiful. Tan is grand. But white is the color of the big boys man.’”

“Our communities were divided racially. I knew other people different from me existed, but that was it. I certainly wasn’t taught about the Civil Rights movement or the why of it in school. It wasn’t talked about at home. I just didn’t know. Basically, I grew up in a bubble.”

“My first real exposure to a lot of people of color was when I attended Delta State. One day I see these Black girls playing cards and they looked like they were having so much fun. I found out the card game was called Spades. I found out, too, that I wanted to learn how to play. I watched these young women, listened to them and kind of marveled at how they just simply accepted me. There was no me/them. It was just people my age … it was the beginning of a turning point in me.”

“I realized we’re the same. I started to ask myself questions. Why are we so divided? Thinking back on that private school I went to and what I wasn’t taught, and how those around me … how I had no one around me that could explain it. They didn’t have answers either. It all just made me curious. It made me question everything.”

“The Delta didn’t do it for me. So, I came to Jackson, went to college here. I worked with people of color, and you know, at first, I wouldn’t say that those I was around were friends exactly. I can say we were acquaintances. And I couldn’t just ask these questions about race when I wasn’t comfortable with it myself.”

“It was years before I could find people that I could trust and that I could talk to about it. And I mean, not just point me to the truth, but felt comfortable talking to me about it. I needed to understand. From my early 30s, it was 10 years of curiosity and wanting to know. I read a lot of books, watched a lot of documentaries. I learned you have to put it through your own filter and be honest with yourself. And that’s where I think a lot of people get jammed up. They can’t be honest with themselves that “

“I moved to Jackson and was involved in ministry. I lived right over there in Mid-Town. I got to know and care about my neighbors there. We’d all hang out on the front porch, play dominoes together, laugh and talk. We all wanted the same things, just a good life. I thought, you know, some people are lucky enough, well, blessed enough to experience that. It just opens up the world for you.”

“I’ve gone from a total not knowing, to curiosity and having my eyes opened to transitioning to the justice side where I can do something about the injustices out there. Because there’s still a lot of folks that just refuse to recognize the divisiveness and how that causes conflict and problems. I used to be uncomfortable saying, white privilege. Until I understood the responsibility that I had to use it to actually benefit other people.” 

“I’m committed. I’m committed to be better and make a better way for my daughter. I understand this is just not about me. My daughter is biracial. It’s about her too, and the things that she’ll face in her life just because she’s biracial that I never had to face. There are already assumptions about her, and bias towards her. I have to be her advocate.” 

The post Photo profile: Jamie Rasberry appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Gov. Tate Reeves’ brother coordinated with state Auditor Shad White on damage control for former NFL star Brett Favre after an audit first revealed in 2020 that the athlete had received more than $1 million in welfare funds, according to text messages the governor’s political campaign released Thursday.

Todd Reeves, Favre’s friend, had also arranged conversations in early 2020 with Gov. Reeves so that Favre could ask for the governor’s help in funding the University of Southern Mississippi volleyball stadium, one of the centerpieces of the ongoing welfare scandal.

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

Meanwhile, attorneys for the state auditor’s office and the attorney general’s office have fought for eight months to withhold these texts from Mississippi Today, who originally requested them. The state argued as recently as Wednesday the texts are part of their investigative file in the welfare case, and publicly releasing them could harm the ongoing welfare scandal investigation.

But on Thursday, as Mississippi Today prepared its story about the withheld records, the Reeves campaign released what they say are the text messages in question. 

After Mississippi Today reached out to Todd Reeves and Gov. Reeves’ campaign for comment about the texts and the state’s argument that they are evidence in an ongoing investigation, the Reeves campaign did not respond to the inquiry but instead sent out a media release chastising the news organization for covering the story. Todd Reeves also gave his own quote for the campaign’s release.

“I’ve been friendly with Brett for years, and always heard great things about Shad,” Todd Reeves said in a press release Thursday, distributed by his brother’s gubernatorial campaign. “I didn’t learn anything about this TANF mess or Brett’s dealings with the state until it was front page news. When Brett was considering repaying the funds, he asked me if I could help him get in touch with the auditor to coordinate that–so that’s what I did. I helped money get back in the right hands, not the wrong hands, and I think that’s what most people would have done. Brett believed he had done nothing wrong, and I helped convince him to return the money anyway. Those are the texts in question. I know Mississippi Today is willing to lie about us, so I just wanted to get the truth out.”

Mississippi Today cannot verify if the Reeves campaign released all of the texts sought by the litigation because the news outlet has not been allowed to view the requested records. The Reeves campaign did not respond to follow-up questions about the completeness of the records they released on Thursday, and the attorney general’s office declined to comment.

The news organization first filed a public records request for texts between White and Todd Reeves in December 2022. Additionally, the request also included any of White’s messages or emails that made reference to Todd Reeves. Mississippi Today was denied the records and filed suit against the auditor’s office in January 2023.

Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Crystal Wise Martin reviewed the texts in private, on Mississippi Today’s request, to determine if the documents were, in fact, exempt from public release. 

“They obviously relate to the DHS investigation,” Judge Martin said during a hearing Wednesday, after she had seen the records. “There’s no question about that.”

Special Assistant Attorney General Rex Shannon, representing the auditor’s office for the state, argued against releasing the texts on Wednesday, saying:

• “Their disclosure may harm that investigation by chilling similar communications in the future.”
• “The records in question reveal and confirm the identity of a potential witness.”
• “The records in question would potentially disclose investigatory techniques and or the results of those techniques.”
• “The records in question, if publicly produced, would potentially impede or jeopardize any prosecution of certain individuals that may result from the DHS investigation.”

White has said several times previously that he has turned over all welfare investigation-related material in his possession to the FBI. While the Mississippi Department of Human Services has sued Favre in its ongoing civil case, overseen by Gov. Reeves, Favre has not faced any criminal charges.

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

In the early days of Gov. Reeves’ current term, Favre used Todd Reeves as a way to communicate with the governor. Favre, who endorsed Gov. Reeves in his election months earlier, was hoping the governor would help him find public funding to pay for the completed construction of a volleyball stadium at University of Southern Mississippi. Favre had made a guarantee to the university. If he didn’t find the funding somewhere, Favre would have to pay out of his own pocket. According to texts previously released, Todd Reeves would facilitate lines of communication for the athlete.

“Brett, you aren’t bothering me at all and please always feel free to reach out to me anytime,” Todd Reeves texted Favre, according to a previously released text Favre forwarded to Gov. Phil Bryant on Jan. 26, 2020. “I will help any way I can. I will be glad to set something up with Tate. Tell me kind of what the plan in place for funding is/was. Did Gov Bryant mention maybe trying to get it as part of a bond bill for the University?”

At this time, the USM project had already received at least $5 million in funding from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which is supposed to provide monthly cash assistance to very poor families, through a nonprofit run by Nancy New.

Within days and weeks of Favre’s communication with the Reeves brothers in early 2020, the auditor would arrest the two top welfare officials who had been working with Favre and the volleyball project would be outed as part of a sprawling scheme to misuse tens of millions of welfare funds. 

White had taken a strong stance against the widespread corruption at MDHS leading up to the May 2020 release of his annual audit, which questioned almost $100 million worth of spending. 

But in a press conference describing some of the more egregious findings, White did not draw attention to Favre, whose welfare payment, listed under Favre Enterprises, was tucked in a bullet list on page 18 of the 104-page report. Still, the revelation made national news.

Two days later, Favre repaid $500,000 of the $1.1 million and promised the auditor he would return the additional $600,000 in installments in the coming months. First, the texts show, White sent Todd Reeves the address of where to send the money, then they arranged for an agent to pick up a check at the office of Favre’s agent.

“If possible, Brett would like you to say something along the lines of “the investigation (shows to this point) Brett has done nothing wrong and the monies he is paying back for commercials and Psa’s is from his own good will,” Todd Reeves texted White on May 6, 2020.

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.”

The last text Todd Reeves produced Thursday was a message he sent the auditor in September of 2020.

“I think Brett is working to get some more money sent in,” Todd Reeves said. “He’s had some reporters start hounding them again. I’m sure they have contacted your office. He’s just asking not to be thrown under the bus as he is working within the timeline.”

But Favre did not return the remainder of the funds until White issued him an official demand more than a year later in October 2021. By that time, the auditor said Favre also owed $228,000 in interest. 

Mississippi Today’s December 2022 records request to the auditor’s office asked for text messages and emails to examine how Todd Reeves, potentially on Favre’s behalf, may have communicated with White during this time period.

“We’re here arguing about the records that belong to the people of the state of Mississippi,” Henry Laird, Mississippi Today’s attorney, told the judge on Wednesday. “These are not the auditor’s records. These are Mississippi’s records. And unless there is an exemption that allows the auditor to say they shouldn’t be produced, they should be produced.”

Judge Martin did not rule whether to release the texts Wednesday. On Thursday, as she continued to decide how to rule and before Mississippi Today published its story about the hearing, the Reeves campaign chose to publicly release texts between Todd Reeves and White.

“While Mr. Reeves has the right to release his text messages, the State Auditor’s Office has not and will not release information regarding a potential or ongoing investigation to protect the integrity of an investigation,” Fletcher Freeman, a spokesperson for the auditor’s office, said in a statement Thursday. “The men and women of the State Auditor’s Office have worked tirelessly to hold those who steal taxpayer’s dollars accountable, and we will continue to work with prosecutors and our federal partners to do so.”

Acknowledging that the texts might not, on their face, appear to be part of an investigative file, Shannon, the state attorney, provided the judge in Wednesday’s hearing with auditor’s office press releases that relate to the content in the texts. Those included a release in May of 2020 about Favre repaying some of the $1.1 million in TANF funds he received; a release in October of 2021 about the auditor demanding the repayment of TANF funds from several people, including Favre for the remaining funds White said he owed; and a release about several guilty pleas in the case.

Mississippi Today’s records request asked for messages sent between Feb. 1, 2020, and June 1, 2020. In this timeframe, White made initial arrests in the welfare fraud case (Feb. 5), Mississippi Today published a story first uncovering that welfare funds had been used to build the volleyball stadium (Feb. 27), and White released his annual audit (May 4), which first revealed the direct welfare payment to Favre. The records request also asked for messages sent between Sept. 1, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2021. In this timeframe, the welfare agency released its commissioned forensic audit, which provided more details about the misspending and prompted White to issue the official demand for repayment from Favre.

In response to a separate request to Gov. Reeves for his texts with Favre prior to becoming governor in 2020, the governor’s office said it was not “in possession or control of any public records responsive to your request.” Before 2020, Reeves served as lieutenant governor in the Mississippi Senate. Generally speaking, lawmakers have used the legislative exemption in the Public Records Act to withhold records from reporters.

Asked about the volleyball stadium at Neshoba County Fair in the summer of 2022, Reeves suggested he didn’t support the idea of using any taxpayer funds to build sports facilities.

“Look I don’t know all the details as to how that came about,” he said. “What I do know is that it doesn’t seem like an expense that I would personally support for TANF dollars. I don’t even like the state building stadiums with general tax dollars.”

However, Favre and Bryant seemed confident Tate Reeves would help.

On election day in November 2019, Favre texted then-Gov. Bryant, “I know it’s Election Day and you are probably busy but while we know who our Governor is presently not to mention arguably the most popular and influential I want to stay on your radar. If our guy wins I’ll feel better about things but if the other guy wins I feel like Nancy and I can forget our vision for Southern Miss.”

“That’s one reason I have been pushing Tate so hard,” Bryant responded. “He has to win. Then we set up a meeting on Wellness Center at USM.”

Gov. Reeves did win, and in late January of 2020, Todd Reeves set up a phone call for Favre and the governor to discuss funding. About a week later, as White was preparing to make arrests, Favre expressed his desire to take Gov. Reeves to see the volleyball stadium, texting, “and it would only be us. I want you to see what your (sic) trying to help me for.”

It’s unclear if Gov. Reeves actually pushed to include funding for the facility in a legislative or other kind of appropriation, but his brother certainly gave Favre the impression that he would.

“I think the angle Tate is looking at is a bond bill according to Todd his brother,” Favre texted Bryant on Feb. 7, 2020, as the fallout from the arrests was still materializing.

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

The post Gov. Tate Reeves’ brother used backchannel to state auditor to help clean up Brett Favre welfare mess appeared first on Mississippi Today.

It had been six months since Yakebau “Ya Ya” Cortez Head, 31, was shot and killed in Lexington. The car had been taken into police custody to process potential evidence, and she got the car back in July. 

“I broke down because all I could feel is my son,” Mayfield said. 

She worries the Lexington Police Department isn’t conducting an adequate investigation into her son’s death. 

Mayfield said neither the local investigator nor the chief has called her. Family members have an idea of who is responsible for her son’s death, but she said those people haven’t been arrested. 

On top of that, life insurance coverage Mayfield had for her son was denied based on information the Lexington Police Department provided, implying her son played a role in his death. 

All these circumstances together have led her to mistrust the local police department, Mayfield said. 

“I want justice,” said Mayfield, who is from Lexington but lives in Kosciusko. “… I feel like I can get some closure, but there is nothing I can look forward to.”

Family members who live in town went to the shooting scene and saw a man they recognized get into a car nearby that drove by. Mayfield said both of the people in the vehicle knew her son.

Chief Charles Henderson did not respond to requests for comment, including whether any suspects have been identified, charges have been filed or arrests have been made.  

Mayfield said she has had better communication with a detective from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, who she said updated her on some of the evidence that had been processed. An agency spokesperson confirmed MBI is assisting Lexington police in the investigation of Head’s death, but declined to comment further. 

Head was buried March 4 at Zion Cemetery in Lexington. Mayfield remembers over a hundred people who attended the funeral, which she said is a testament to Head’s impact in the city. 

“My son did so much for people in Lexington,” she said. “Regardless of what was going on, he was that type of person.”

Head, who was between jobs, still gave children from the community toys and haircuts and offered money to help them stay off the streets, Mayfield said. Before he died, he gave some of his clothes and shoes to someone who needed them. 

His laugh and smile were contagious. She said he had a good heart, and Head would say that regardless of what people do to us, we have to love in return. 

Mayfield knew her son was not perfect and had prior criminal convictions, including being part of the youngest in a group of men who robbed a grocery store 14 years ago. But he didn’t deserve to die and be shot in the back, she said. 

Jill Collen Jefferson, an attorney with the civil rights organization Julian, has filed a federal lawsuit alleging the Lexington police has subjected Black residents to excessive force, intimidation and false arrests for over a year under two police chiefs: Henderson and his predecessor, Sam Dobbins, was fired after a recording surfaced of him using racist and homophobic language. 

She has heard from people in the community who, like Mayfield, are family members of crime victims and have had difficulty seeking help from the police department and have felt frustrated about investigations. 

Jefferson said you have a police department not only accused of misconduct against residents but also one that doesn’t seem to act when there are legitimate crimes to investigate.

She expected to receive about $40,000  – $20,000 through general insurance coverage and $20,000 under accidental coverage, which covers homicide deaths. 

To investigate the claim, Mayfield’s insurance company reached out to the Lexington police and asked whether the beneficiary, Mayfield, was a person of interest in Head’s homicide and whether Head contributed to his own death by participating in a riot or committing a crime. 

Henderson wrote “unknown,” about Mayfield being a person of interest and Head’s participation in a riot, according to a copy of the insurance claim investigation shared with Mississippi Today. 

Mayfield said she was never questioned as a person of interest and she was not in Lexington the night of Head’s shooting. She doesn’t understand how police could say her son was participating in a riot because there was not one happening when he arrived at his girlfriend’s house. 

For the last question, Henderson hand wrote that Head was a “felon in possession of (a) firearm/possession of (a) controlled substance (felony).” 

Mayfield was told by police that drugs were found in a bag in her son’s car and a gun was recovered from a shirt pocket. But she notes that the insurance company’s question wasn’t what was in his possession or his criminal history, but whether Head was committing a crime or fleeing the police at the time of his death. 

Days after Henderson provided those answers, Mayfield received a letter from the insurance company saying the accidental death benefit was denied based on information from the police.

Henderson did not respond to a request for comment about the information he provided. 

Mayfield reached out to Lexington City Attorney Katherine Riley and Mayor Robin McCory about revising and resubmitting the information provided to the life insurance company. They have not responded to her or Missisisppi Today’s request for comment. 

Seth Pounds, director of risk management and insurance at Mississippi State University’s College of Business, said once someone dies, insurance companies often seek information such as police reports or medical records to see if the death is covered under the beneficiary’s policy. 

“Any time there’s a homicide and a life insurance claim, usually the law enforcement will have the most relevant investigative (information),” he said. 

Pounds said it’s common for insurance companies to rely on law enforcement reports because of the assumption that they are trustworthy or unbiased. 

Mayfield also applied to the state’s victim compensation program. Under state law, compensation is not available under several circumstances, including if the victim has a previous conviction or is under supervision by the Mississippi Department of Corrections within five years prior to death or injury. 

Mayfield said Head’s prior convictions are why her application was denied.  

Of the $3.66 million in compensation funds distributed in 2022, only 7.8% of all claims were denied because the victim or person who applied on the individual’s behalf had a previous conviction, said Debbee Hancock, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, which oversees the compensation program. 

Head’s daughters, age 11 and 8, understand that their father is gone and are holding up the best they can, she said. 

Recently, one of the girls woke up in the middle of the night screaming for her father, and asked her grandmother to “go undead my daddy.” Another time, one of the girls said she wanted to be dead like her father so she could see him again, Mayfield said. 

Mayfield said she had a special bond with Head because she had him at 16, so they grew up together. Head was also close with his mother’s siblings because he and Mayfield lived with them and his maternal grandmother. 

August was difficult because Head would have celebrated his 32nd birthday. Last week, people showed love for him on Facebook and some visited his gravesite to leave balloons, Mayfield said. 

His death magnifies another loss. Mayfield’s former partner, Milton Mayfield Jr. – whom Head called daddy – was shot and killed in 2002 in Lexington. Someone was arrested for his death but not convicted, Tracie Mayfield said.

“It hurts 21 years later to see the same thing happening,” she said. 

Mayfield knows her problems with the Lexington police go beyond her son’s homicide investigation and life insurance.

She is aware of concerns expressed by Black residents about policing in the city and ongoing legal action against the city and police department. 

In June, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clark of the Civil Rights Division visited  Lexington to meet with residents and talk about the Justice Department’s commitment to addressing civil rights issues, including law enforcement accountability. 

“The Department of Justice is taking what is happening in Lexington very seriously,” Jefferson said.

Mayfield knows her son is gone, but she still finds herself waiting for him to call just like he did multiple times a day or walk through her door. 

Holiday family gatherings are coming up and Mayfield is usually the one who hosts. She doesn’t know how to feel about celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas without her son. 

“I don’t even know how I am going to put up decorations,” she said. “I don’t know how I’m going to feel.”

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