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MAY 4, 1884

Crusading journalist Ida B. Wells, an African-American native of Holly Springs, Mississippi, was riding a train from Memphis to Woodstock, Tennessee, where she worked as a teacher, when a white railroad conductor ordered her to move to another car. She refused. 

When the conductor grabbed her by the arm, “I fastened my teeth in the back of his hand,” she wrote. The conductor got help from others, who dragged her off the train. 

In response, she sued the railroad, saying the company forced Black Americans to ride in “separate but unequal” coaches. A local judge agreed, awarding her $500 in damages. But the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed that ruling three years later. The decision upended her belief in the court system. 

“I have firmly believed all along that the law was on our side and would, when we appealed it, give us justice,” she said. “I feel shorn of that belief and utterly discouraged, and just now, if it were possible, would gather my race in my arms and fly away with them.” 

Wells knew about caring for others. At age 16, she raised her younger siblings after her parents and a brother died in a yellow fever epidemic. She became a teacher to support her family.

The post On this day in 1884 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves says he’s not just facing a Democratic opponent, he’s up against a national cabal of East- and West-coast liberal elites and media.

He repeatedly warned a campaign kickoff crowd Wednesday that “they” are out to get Mississippi.

“My friends, this is a different governor’s campaign than we have ever seen before in our state because we are not up against a local-yokel Mississippi Democrat, we are up against a national liberal machine,” Reeves told a crowd in Richland on Wednesday, at a second campaign kickoff event. “They are extreme. They are radical and vicious. They believe welfare is success. They believe that taxes are good and businesses are bad. They think boys can be girls, that babies have no life, and that our state and our nation are racist.

“They think they can teach all of us Mississippians a lesson,” Reeves said. “They do not like who we are and they do not like what we believe. They look at all we have accomplished as conservatives and they hate it. They see our progress on education and the economy and they want to stop it. You see, a successful, thriving, growing Mississippi does not work for them, not if it is also a God-fearing, family loving and truth-believing, hard-working conservative Mississippi … They want Mississippi to be the butt of their jokes … They want to kick Mississippi around, and you and me are simply in their way.”

Reeves on Wednesday held a campaign rally and lunch at Stribling Equipment in Richland, after having an initial campaign kick-off event Tuesday in Gulfport. About 250 people attended his Wednesday event, including many present and past elected officials, lawmakers and lobbyists and local government and GOP leaders.

The event was near his hometown of Florence and in his home county, Rankin. In the 2019 general election against Democratic former Attorney General Jim Hood he won Rankin County after losing there in the Republican primary and primary runoff that year.

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves kicks off campaign where it’s mattered most: the Gulf Coast

Reeves didn’t mention his Democratic challenger, longtime Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley, by name, but worked to cast the race as a nationalized battle between Republicans and Democrats. This was a winning strategy for him in Mississippi — which has been solidly ruby red in national elections for decades — in his first gubernatorial election against Hood.

“The election that is before us is a question of whether or not we will keep up our momentum in Mississippi,” Reeves said. “The national Democrats have recruited a candidate. They are filling up his bank account. They have sent in experts in far-left politics to run his campaign. They even sent the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, here to check on his progress.”

Reeves was referring to a four-state tour, including Alabama, Arkansas and Florida, by Newsom last month as part of his launch of a new political action committee meant to promote Democrats in GOP-led states. Presley did not meet with Newsom on his visit, but Reeves chided Mississippi media on Wednesday, telling the crowd, “Oh, you didn’t see the news of Gavin Newsom here campaigning? Mississippi media must have left that out.”

When asked about whether Presley met with Newsom during his visit, a Presley campaign spokesman said: “Brandon was in Nettleton attending Palm Sunday services at his home church.”

Reeves in his speech said Mississippi has made great gains in economic development and education, adding, “Today we are building a Mississippi where nobody has to leave.” He repeated the speech’s theme — “this is Mississippi’s time” — many times from the stump.

“I have a message for all those governors in New York and California and Illinois: Mississippi is coming to take your jobs, and we have no intention of giving them back,” Reeves said. He also asked the crowd, “Help us one more time … Let’s defeat the national liberals. This is Mississippi’s moment. This is Mississippi’s time.”

Ruby Ainsworth and Betty Phillips, both Simpson County Republican Executive Committee members, were among the crowd of supporters at Reeves’ Richland event.

“I think he gave an excellent speech, one of the best I’ve ever heard him do,” said Ainsworth. “I think he’s done an excellent job as governor.”

Phillips said: “He has moved Mississippi forward — in all the ways he just said he has.”

Former Mississippi U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper, a Rankin Countian, agreed.

“I’m here today as a highly unpaid political volunteer,” Harper said. “… He has earned the right to be elected another four years.”

When asked how he believes Reeves will do in Rankin County, Harper joked, “I think it will be hard for him to get more than 90% of the vote in Rankin County.”

READ MORE: Brandon Presley campaign reports $1.3 million raised since January

The post Tate Reeves warns Mississippians ‘they’ are out to get them as campaign gets rolling appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi cleared a big hurdle after lawmakers extended postpartum Medicaid coverage this session, guaranteeing low-income women a year of health care coverage after having a baby.

Now experts say that Mississippi needs to turn its attention to what happens before these women give birth. Early prenatal care is vital to healthy moms, babies and pregnancies, but because of the state Division of Medicaid’s policies, it’s unknown if the majority of pregnant Mississippians are getting that care. 

The division, which funds more than two-thirds of births in Mississippi, doesn’t monitor when people go to their first prenatal visit. And the absence of presumptive eligibility in Mississippi creates major delays for people seeking prenatal care. 

Pregnancy presumptive eligibility allows people to receive care when they’re pregnant, even if they’re not on Medicaid. It’s presumed that they qualify, so their providers enroll them and start billing Medicaid, which reimburses providers immediately. 

That means fewer delays when it comes to receiving care. They’re able to go to doctor’s offices and get the care they need quickly, without having to pay out of pocket.

The agency is hoping to eventually track when recipients go to prenatal visits, but Communications Officer Matt Westerfield could not provide a timeline for when that data might be available. And Medicaid Executive Director Drew Snyder has said he won’t take steps to make it easier for expecting mothers to get on Medicaid without legislative action.

Mississippi is one of the most dangerous states in the country to give birth in, and early intervention is key to successful pregnancies, according to Dr. Anita Henderson, former president of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The state’s dismal maternal mortality rate is getting worse, especially for Black people, and Mississippi has the highest infant mortality, preterm birth and low birthweight rates in the nation. 

But as rural health care collapses and hospital closures loom, it’s getting harder to access health care for expecting Mississippians. Neonatal ICUs and labor and delivery units are closing, and county health departments stopped enrolling new maternity patients in 2016.

It’s a dangerous mix following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last summer to overturn abortion rights, which means the state is expecting thousands more pregnancies. 

Care during the first trimester is crucial to a healthy pregnancy and healthy babies, especially for people with conditions that need to be managed like high blood pressure or diabetes.

“I think given the level of health concerns in our population that exists before pregnancy, we know too many people are going to start prenatal care with medical conditions that make that pregnancy high risk,” said Dr. Charlene Collier, an OB-GYN based in Mississippi. “The consequences are always snowballing when a person enters pregnancy with an untreated or complicated medical history.”

When people who are expecting can’t make it to a prenatal visit in a timely manner, the consequences can be deadly — and, often, preventable. 

Collier cited the prevalence of congenital syphilis in Mississippi, which is at an all time high, to stress the importance of early care. She said there’s a limited time frame to prevent complications from syphilis.

Last month, the state health department implemented an emergency order requiring doctors to test pregnant patients for syphilis. Previously, Mississippi was one of six states in the country not to require the testing.

“Now that we’re seeing a rise in congenital syphilis, it’s even more important that people are in prenatal care, getting their blood work done and getting treatment so that infections like syphilis, which is easily treatable with penicillin, can be identified and treated early,” she said. “Any delays increase the chance of a really detrimental infection in a pregnancy.”

Another barrier to timely prenatal care is that it’s complicated to get pregnancy Medicaid coverage. 

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Mississippi is one of 21 states as of January 2020 that doesn’t offer presumptive eligibility for pregnant people, which has significant benefits.

According to a study commissioned with the University of Mississippi Center for Population Studies by the Center for Mississippi Health Policy, preterm births are less likely for low-income people when they live in a state with presumptive eligibility and expanded Medicaid. 

Mississippi is one of only three states in the country that has neither expanded Medicaid nor provides pregnancy presumptive eligibility.

And it takes the Mississippi Division of Medicaid about 24 days to approve pregnancy applications, Westerfield said in November. Until then, uninsured people who are expecting must foot the bills themselves, if a doctor sees them at all.

It’s a tedious process that even top officials in Mississippi are confused by. 

At a recent press conference about Mississippi’s commitment to its “culture of life” following the overturning of abortion rights, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said that the state has presumptive eligibility. But he was referring to hospital presumptive eligibility, which allows hospitals to assume patients’ Medicaid eligibility to provide care. It is not the same thing as presumptive eligibility for pregnant people, which allows them to get care at doctor’s offices just as they would if they were insured. 

Reeves’ spokesperson Shelby Wilcher responded that pregnant women in Mississippi have presumptive eligibility at hospitals. After Mississippi Today clarified hospital presumptive eligibility was not the same thing as presumptive eligibility for pregnant women, Wilcher suggested further questions be directed to the Division of Medicaid. 

She did not respond to a question asking if the governor would support establishing presumptive eligibility for pregnant women. 

“Presumptive eligibility is, intentionally, a very loosely used umbrella term,” said John Dillon Harris, a health care systems and policy consultant at the Center for Mississippi Health Policy. “The question is who is presumed eligible and for what?”

At the last Medical Care Advisory Committee Meeting on Feb 24, Snyder said that the Division of Medicaid wouldn’t utilize pregnancy presumptive eligibility unless directed to by the Legislature. 

Westerfield said in an email that position is to prevent the DOM from paying “providers for services for women who subsequently would not qualify for Medicaid.”

Rep. Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg, introduced a bill this past session to establish presumptive eligibility for pregnant women, but it died after being referred to the Medicaid committee, which met just once last legislative session and only advanced two bills out of committee.

Collier said she recently had a patient who applied for Medicaid but hadn’t yet been approved. The patient delayed getting ultrasounds and other labs out of fear of running up a higher bill even though all her bills would be back-paid once she got on Medicaid. 

“I do think the lack of insurance preceding pregnancy is a major barrier to initiating early prenatal care, particularly getting bloodwork done in a timely manner,” Collier said. 

It’s a paradox — a confirmatory pregnancy test is required to qualify for Medicaid, but many doctor’s offices don’t provide care to people who are uninsured. 

County health departments still offer these confirmatory tests for free, said Liz Sharlot, communications director at the Mississippi Department of Health. 

“In fact, that is the most common reason women come in for the pregnancy tests is to confirm that pregnancy test and receive the confirmation letter to bring to the Regional Medicaid Offices in order to apply for Medicaid benefits during pregnancy,” she said. 

Clinics that specifically serve uninsured and underserved populations such as the Hinds Comprehensive Health Center, where Dr. Jaleen Sims works as an OB-GYN, also provide these confirmatory pregnancy tests at low cost.

It’s not clear how many people are aware these services are offered at low or no cost at places other than primary care doctor’s offices. And if they are aware, transportation can be another issue.

“The patients who live in these areas need a ride or they have to take off work for a full day to drive to Jackson or their closest areas, spend time in the waiting room, have their visit and then drive back,” she said. “By the time you finish with that you’ve missed … a full day of work for the most part.”

According to a report from the March of Dimes, more than half the counties in Mississippi are considered maternity care deserts, with no OB-GYNs, certified midwives or hospitals providing obstetric care.

It also continues to be a challenge to recruit doctors, especially OB-GYNs, to Mississippi and keep them here. Of the five people who graduated from UMMC’s OB-GYN program in 2019, Sims was the only one to stay in Mississippi.

For the doctors who stay, their patient waitlists are long. 

One of the nurses Sims works with had to use her health care connections to get into a doctor’s office. She had just missed her period and called to schedule an appointment, only to be told she had to wait four months. 

“I’ll never judge a person again on coming late to prenatal care,” Sims said the nurse told her.

It’s hard work being pregnant in Mississippi, Sims said.  

“It’s almost like you have this feeling of being defeated,” she said. “It’s like, ‘I’m trying everything that I can to take care of me and to take care of my baby. But I have all these barriers and hoops that I have to jump through just to get to that point.’”

Reporter Isabelle Taft contributed to this story.

The post Mississippi mothers are now guaranteed coverage for a year after giving birth. But they may not get the prenatal care they need. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

To see the clip that inspired this cartoon, click here.

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Brandon Presley, the Democratic candidate for governor, collected around $1.35 million in donations since the beginning of this year, according to his campaign, surpassing fundraising benchmarks set by previous Democratic gubernatorial candidates. 

A news release from his campaign said Presley is now sitting on $1.6 million in total campaign cash, giving the presumptive Democratic nominee more resources to build name ID and buy advertisements in a deeply conservative state. 

“Brandon Presley is receiving overwhelming support from Mississippians because they are ready for a governor who will clean up state government and return power to the people’s hands,” Ron Owens, Presley’s campaign manager, said in a statement. 

State law requires all candidates running for state offices to submit campaign finance reports by May 10. Neither Presley nor incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves have submitted their official reports to the Secretary of State’s office. The Reeves campaign has not yet released an early fundraising total.

Presley’s announcement likely marks the most money a Democratic candidate for governor has raised during the first fundraising period of the year in at least two decades.

A former mayor of Nettleton, Presley raised nearly twice as much as 2019 Democratic nominee Jim Hood, who raised $755,000 within the same period. Johnny Dupree, the Democratic nominee in 2011, raised around $228,000. Ronnie Musgrove, the party’s 2003 nominee, raised $837,696, according to the Associated Press.

But even with the recent influx of campaign funds, the current utility regulator in north Mississippi still faces a steep climb to raise enough cash to put him on a level playing field with the current governor.

Reeves in January reported that he had around $8 million in cash on hand, including $3.5 million that he raised during 2022. 

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves posts sizable 2021 campaign contribution total

A recent Mississippi Today/Siena College poll shows Reeves has an 11-point lead over Presley, but a majority of voters indicated they still want someone other than Reeves to serve as governor.

If either candidate wants to change their popularity among voters, they will likely have to spend a substantial amount of money to improve their standing.

The post Brandon Presley campaign reports $1.3 million raised since January  appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Cleveland boys review the NFL Draft, the dismissal of Mississippi State’s pitching coach Scott Foxhall, Southern Miss’ chances to host the red-hot Atlanta Braves, and what Mississippi lost with the death of the great Ralph Boston.

Stream all episodes here.

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MAY 3, 1898

Septima Poinsette Clark, whom Martin Luther King Jr. called “the mother of the movement,” was born in Charleston, South Carolina.  

As an educator, she studied summers with W.E.B. Du Bois at Atlanta University and later worked with Thurgood Marshall on successful litigation that equalized salaries for Black and white teachers. 

In 1956, after the South Carolina Legislature passed a law that banned state employees from belonging to the NAACP, the school board fired Clark, who lost all her pension, despite 40 years of work. She began conducting workshops at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee and helped establish “Citizenship Schools,” which spread through the Deep South. 

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter awarded her a Living Legacy Award, and three years later, South Carolina honored her with its highest civilian honor. She died in 1987 on the same Johns Island where she originally taught.

The post On this day in 1898 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

GULFPORT — Republican Gov. Tate Reeves formally launched his reelection campaign Tuesday night just yards from the Gulf Coast shoreline, signifying the importance of the region to the state GOP and the political stranglehold the governor has on the area. 

Reeves told a crowd of supporters and state lawmakers gathered at the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center that he wanted to hold his first campaign event in Gulfport because of how strongly the region supported him during his first gubernatorial campaign.

“We’re here tonight because in 2019, y’all fought for us every single day of that campaign,” Reeves, flanked by campaign signs and cheering supporters, told the crowd of about 75. “In 2019, I promised that I would spend every day fighting for the Mississippi Gulf Coast as governor, and that’s exactly what I’ve done.”

The event setting chosen by Reeves, a metro Jackson native, underscores an important reality for the first-term governor: that the state’s “bottom six” counties of George, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River and Stone are his political firewall.

In 2019, facing a formidable Democratic challenger in former Attorney General Jim Hood, Reeves won by just 45,000 total votes. In the bottom six counties alone, Reeves bested Hood by 35,000 votes, leaving a needed margin of victory of just 10,000 votes in the state’s other 76 counties.

Facing two Republican primary opponents and another tough Democratic challenger later this year, the Gulf Coast wins of four years ago will almost certainly remain at top of mind for the Reeves camp.

“Four years ago, we learned early on the momentum that Tate was gaining down here,” Todd Reeves, Tate’s brother who spoke before Reeves took the stage, said at the Tuesday event. “As the results rolled in from the Coast on election night, it not only touched Tate and (First Lady) Elee (Reeves), but it meant a lot to our entire family.”

One reason the Gulf Coast has flocked to Reeves is the symbiotic relationship he has strategically cultivated with the area his entire political career.

During his two terms as lieutenant governor between 2012-2020, Reeves went out of his way to visit the Coast. Long eyeing an eventual run for the Governor’s Mansion, he hosted several town halls and press conferences over those years, typically focused on funding opportunities for the region.

Since he started his term as governor in January 2020, however, the governor doubled down on that focus, sprinkling the region with hundreds of millions in federal grants administered by state agencies that report to him. Though most of those funds must be designated for and spent on Coast-based projects, Reeves has never missed an opportunity to take full credit. In his three-and-a-half years as governor, he has held more than a dozen press conferences in at least eight “bottom six” towns to formally announce the projects before local TV cameras.

“The Coast’s success is Mississippi’s success, and this is another great victory,” Reeves said in a press release just this week announcing that he signed a bill that designates federal grant spending in several Coast towns and counties.

Aiding Reeves’ political prospects on the Gulf Coast this year is the fact that he has a several years head start in the region on his Democratic opponent, Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley. Presley, a northeast Mississippi native, enjoys minimal name ID on the Coast and will need to spend considerable time and money to build up a base of support here.

Politics aside, most of the people who attended the event told Mississippi Today they wanted a governor who plans to grow the state’s economy and wants to improve public K-12 education. 

“If those things happen, it can encourage people outside of Mississippi to look at our state as an opportunity. And I think Tate Reeves has accomplished that,” said Gulfport businessman Dave Dennis, a 2011 candidate for governor.

Because of the area’s strong showing for Reeves, the governor has choked out any serious competition from the area and nearly locked down key supporters.

Secretary of State Michael Watson, a Republican from Jackson County, explored challenging Reeves in the GOP primary by using his hometown roots to chip away at the governor’s Coastal grip.

Instead, Watson bowed out and opted to run for reelection to secretary of state, virtually leaving the governor without any serious threat to the GOP nomination.

“We’re very proud of our governor,” said Mississippi GOP Chairman Frank Bordeaux, a longtime Gulf Coast resident. “We’re proud of the shape that our state’s in, and the Coast has sent a big message tonight that this is his place.”

The post Gov. Tate Reeves kicks off campaign where it’s mattered most: the Gulf Coast appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Memorial Hospital, the largest hospital in Harrison County, began laying off employees on Tuesday. 

The cuts are due to increased costs brought on by the pandemic, according to a statement released by the hospital.

Fewer than 90 people, or 2% of the hospital’s workforce, were laid off, and none of the positions involved direct patient care, according to the statement. No additional layoffs are expected, and no service lines will be shuttered. 

“These difficult steps will help ensure the long-term sustainability of our health system so we can continue to offer the same services to our community,” CEO Kent Nicaud said. “We are committed to providing high-quality care close to home.”

Affected employees can apply for Memorial’s dozens of open positions, the hospital said, and Memorial will offer career placement services. 

Memorial has sustained big financial losses in recent years. Just a year ago, the hospital laid off and demoted several top administrators, citing financial strain prompted by the pandemic. 

It’s the latest hospital to make cuts amid the state’s health care crisis.

Recently, Alliance Healthcare System in Holly Springs ended inpatient care, Singing River in Gulfport suspended obstetric services, and Greenwood Leflore closed its labor and delivery department.

One report puts a third of Mississippi’s rural hospitals at risk of closure, with a half of those at risk of closure within three years. 

The post Memorial Hospital in Gulfport lays off nearly 100 employees appeared first on Mississippi Today.