In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large and Cartoonist Marshall Ramsey sits down with Colonel Cynthia Smith. Col. Smith is the Commander of the 186th Air Refueling Wing which is located at Key Field Air National Guard Base in Meridian, Mississippi.
The 186th Air Refueling Wing provides over 1,100 personnel and eight KC-135R aircraft to Air Mobility Command for worldwide operations and much more. Col. Smith, who is from Meridian, graduated from Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi in 1997, earning a Bachelor of Commercial Aviation with concentrations in both Flight Operations and Aviation Management and joined the Mississippi Air National Guard in 1998.
Colonel Smith talks about the mission of the Guard and reminds us all that the Guard members are our friends and neighbors.
Fans of the rollicking world of rodeo sports can witness the International Pro Rodeo Association’s largest gathering of cowpokes in the country this month, when riders from around the world convene for the first Keath Killebrew Memorial Rodeo in Jackson, Miss.
“It’ll be the second largest rodeo in the world and the largest in the United States,” says Jeremy Smith of Deep South Rodeo, a lifetime rodeo fan and promoter. “We’re drawing cowboys and cowgirls from all over the U.S., Canada and South America, and as far as Australia.” Stakes in the contest will build through the weekend as riders compete for a $100,000 purse.
The fast-paced, action-packed weekend of rodeo events is set for July 28-29 at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. The rodeo will feature traditional favorites like bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling and barrel racing, with Chapel Hart capping the evening July 28 and Drake Milligan closing the event July 29. Individual tickets for both nights range from just $15 to $30 and are on sale now through Ticketmaster.
Spectators will get to enjoy a wide range of entertainment within the rodeo concept, Smith says, including an event known as bull poker in which riders take seats around a card table in the middle of the arena, while a rodeo clown taunts a bull into striking them. “We’ll turn the bull loose, and the last person seated wins the money,” he says. “You won’t see that at any other rodeo around.”
Each night, riders will also challenge their bovine adversaries in a segment of freestyle ultimate bullfighting. The cowboys and cowgirls will face a bull more or less as equals as they try to outwit and outrun them.
Playing the role of rodeo clown is Trent McFarland, a nationally recognized performer who has perfected his entertaining act over a lifetime of rodeo performances. McFarland will play a role in some of the bullfighting events, but will also entertain the crowd between all the riding, roping and wrestling action with themed comedic skits including Talladega Nights, the Wrangler Roadster, Dr. Donothing and His Cowboy Ambulance, the Great Who-Dunn-It Magic Show and more.
Poplarville, Miss., natives Chapel Hart became overnight national sensations in July 2022, when the family trio performed an original song, “You Can Have Him Jolene,” on the audition episode of “America’s Got Talent” season 17. For only the second time in the show’s history, judges Simon Cowell, Sofia Vergara, Howie Mandell and Heidi Klum awarded them with a Golden Buzzer, ushering them straight to the competitive rounds. Country Music Television named Chapel Hart to the 2021 class of Next Women of Country, and they released their third album, Glory Days, in 2023.
Drake Milligan, a country singer who hails from Mansfield, Texas, landed the role of Elvis Presley in the 2017 CMT series “Sun Records,” and placed third in season 17 of “America’s Got Talent.” In September 2022, Stoney Creek Records released his debut album, Dallas/Fort Worth, and landed the song “Sound Like Something I’d Do” in the top 40 of country music airplay in January 2023.
Proceeds from the rodeo will benefit the Keath Killebrew Charisma Award Fund at the Community Foundation for Mississippi, established to help encourage and educate the next generation of Mississippi farmers by awarding scholarships to young men and women interested in working in the agricultural field.
The Keath Killebrew Memorial Rodeo’s namesake, an ambitious Delta farmer, father, husband, artist and entrepreneur, died in a plane crash in December 2021 while scouting for a new farming venture in Paraguay. The lifelong Mississippian farmed cotton, soybeans, rice, peanuts, wheat and watermelon across six counties throughout the Delta and surrounding hills from Senatobia to Flora.
Keath’s curiosity and zeal for life also led him to raise cattle, tend bees and teach welding at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. At age 40, he expanded his passion for capturing the magic of Delta landscapes from photography to painting, a hobby he shared with his wife, licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Alyssa Killebrew, who survives him along with their children. The Killebrew family is spearheading these efforts so his legacy can inspire others.
“Keath truly lived his life like he was preparing for a bull ride,” Alyssa says. “He was always creating new ventures with his businesses and always excited to work hard, and that’s what bull riding and preparing for rodeos is all about. You know you’re gonna get bucked off, and he did many times as he was trying to build a farm operation. But he always got back on and always kept trying.”
Mississippi Today has been recognized in multiple categories of the 2023 Society of Professional Journalists’ Green Eyeshade Awards, a prestigious annual competition that recognizes the best journalism in the Southeast.
“We take great pride that our newsroom is constantly publishing high-impact journalism and working tirelessly to serve Mississippians,” said Adam Ganucheau, editor-in-chief of Mississippi Today. “It’s always rewarding to be honored among not only some of our in-state peers, but also among some really great journalists around the region. These are some much deserved honors for our dedicated team.”
The awards honor journalism published in 2022 and are open to journalists and news organizations from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Mississippi Today won or placed in eight different categories, including the first place prize in the overall digital journalism division.
“Last year was full of big, breaking news stories out of Mississippi like the Jackson water crisis, the fall of Roe v. Wade, and new details on the largest embezzlement scandal in state history. Our journalists covered these events and so much more with empathy and accuracy,” said Managing Editor Kayleigh Skinner. “It’s an honor for this work to be recognized alongside so many other great news outlets in the Southeast.”
Mississippi Today was recognized in the following categories:
Division winner, digital:
• First Place: Mississippi Today – Anna Wolfe, The Backchannel
The U.S. District Court audience saw the gamut of Judge Henry Wingate’s moods over a two-day status conference updating him on the latest with Jackson’s water system.
The tedious proceedings covered a wide range of issues Wingate sought answers to, including water quality and public engagement.
Wingate initially called the conference after City Attorney Catoria Martin relayed in previous meetings that members of the public were concerned with how the system has been handled in the seven months since third-party manager Ted Henifin assumed control of Jackson’s water utility.
At times, the Jackson-native judge was affable, sharing memories of marching with Medgar Evers and serving on a board at Tougaloo College. Other times, he was less patient. Wingate called out Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba multiple times, including over having side conversations and for using his cellphone during proceedings, despite others having their phones out as well.
Advocates and community members, as they told the court, are specifically frustrated over how little communication there’s been between Henifin’s company, JXN Water, and the public about how money has been spent, how contract work has been decided, and Henifin’s persistent statements that the water is safe to drink despite residents seeing discolored and odorous water from their taps.
Rukia Lumumba speaks during a Moral Monday rally, held by the Poor People’s Campaign, outside of the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson, Miss., Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Rukia Lumumba, co-founder of the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition — as well as Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s sister — requested Wingate allow a community ambassador to engage with the court and Jackson water in future decision-making.
“We’re too often only considered after decisions have been made,” she said about public involvement.
Rukia Lumumba, who also is a candidate for House District 72 in Hinds and Madison counties, requested that Wingate make JXN Water subject to public record laws. Despite having control of a public utility and spending government dollars, JXN Water is a non-government entity and has broad authority under Wingate’s order last year. The company isn’t subject to public record or contract procurement laws.
Danyelle Holmes, National Social Justice organizer with the Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign, asked Wingate to release all contracts, salaries and resumes of companies JXN Water has hired thus far.
With a small staff of just five employees, Henifin said his plan is to rely heavily on contracting to carry out the water system rehabilitation.
Based on press releases and events, JXN Water has publicized at least three contracts it’s executed: one with Stantec to repair water line leaks, one with a call center in Rankin County to create a 24/7 helpline, and another with Jacobs Engineering to staff the water treatment plants.
Otherwise, JXN Water has put out little information about its contracts, such as what bids they’ve received, exact terms of the contracts and other details that a government entity would have to share with taxpayers.
Residents also told Wingate they were disappointed that Henifin hired out-of-state companies for contracts and didn’t establish a call center in Jackson. Henifin responded that his priority is to work with qualified companies who can help immediately. He added that he’s worked with local firms whenever possible and will continue to seek work from Black-owned businesses.
Ted Henifin speaks during a press conference at City Hall in Jackson, Miss., Monday, December 5, 2022. Henifin was appointed as Jackson’s water system’s third-party administrator. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Wingate and Henifin continually pointed to the progress that’s been made in a short period: nearly 200 water leak repairs, 90 valves closed and normal water pressure for almost every home. Henifin said some homes in south Jackson still have pressure issues because of their distance from the treatment plant, and that he’s planning to eventually put those homes on the city’s well system.
Water quality
After last month’s status conference when Henifin repeated that the water is safe to drink, residents expressed skepticism to the media and in social media posts, showing images of brown water from their taps.
Color and odor are what Henifin called “secondary” standards, meaning they don’t indicate the water is unsafe to drink. But as Rukia Lumumba told the court Thursday, residents might not know that, and she suggested holding educational sessions to explain the city’s water testing and why it’s safe despite appearances.
“If I’m looking at brown water, I wouldn’t think it’s safe,” Holmes said in her testimony.
Wingate responded that he wouldn’t want to drink that water either.
Federal Judge Henry T. Wingate Credit: Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press
Holmes also argued that, just because water is safe leaving the plant, it doesn’t mean that the water is safe at people’s homes, where aging pipes are more likely to carry lead. In response, Wingate questioned who should be responsible for fixing pipes on private property. Later in the hearing, Martin, the city’s attorney, said that, while the city couldn’t spend its own money to fix pipes on private property, there are federal programs that make such funding available, including $15 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
‘We still have much room for improvement‘
Speakers during the status conference emphasized they wanted Jacksonians to have more involvement in Henifin’s decision-making, and that they felt let down with how little public engagement there’s been from JXN Water in recent months.
Brooke Floyd, director of the JXN People’s Assembly, said she lost pressure or water completely three times in the last month and a half at her northeast Jackson home. She wondered why she hadn’t received a boil water notice, which she’d typically finds on the state Department of Health’s website.
Henifin has tried to overhaul the way the city issues boil water notices. In the past, he explained, the city could only test water pressure from its treatment plants and couldn’t narrow down which parts of Jackson actually needed to boil their water.
Despite establishing a new 24/7 call center — which residents can reach at (601) 500-5200 — Henifin admitted “we still have much room for improvement with communications.” He also said in a press release that JXN Water has a “blind spot” in keeping Latino residents informed.
Dr. Samuel Brown left Merit Health Central in May after nearly two decades delivering babies there, and he said one of the reasons was he no longer felt safe performing C-sections at a hospital with no surgery department.
The south Jackson hospital, which is one of nine Merit Health hospitals in the state, began cutting services last year. One of those was general surgery – another, the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.
“I mean, if you do a surgery and get into somebody’s bowel and you don’t have a surgeon on staff, what are you supposed to do?” Brown, who now lives in Florida, told Mississippi Today. “That’s just common sense … It was risky to operate there.”
Guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say facilities designated as a Level 2 and higher according to its levels of maternal care model should have a general surgeon available at all times for obstetric patients. The same is not required for Level 1 facilities.
At Merit Health Central, no general surgeons are present at the hospital because the surgery department was cut last year. However, it’s unclear whether the hospital is meeting ACOG’s guidelines – participating in this designation is not required, so it’s unknown what level Merit Health Central would qualify as.
The hospital is a level 4 trauma facility, which are generally small, rural hospitals with the commitment to resuscitate and transfer trauma patients to higher-level facilities.
A water tank is placed outside of Merit Health Central in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, August 30, 2022. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Melanie McMillan, the marketing manager for Merit Health, said financial hardships have led the health system to take steps to “reduce duplication” across its five Jackson-area hospitals. This has resulted in “the consolidation of some services – including surgeries – with already existing services at other Merit Health hospitals in the Jackson area.”
The hospital in October ended its operative services, including orthopedics, neurology, urology and general surgery. It closed its burn center – the only such accredited program in the state – in September, and moved its cardiovascular services, neonatal intensive care unit and endoscopy to its facilities in the suburbs.
McMillan said Merit Health Central currently offers labor and delivery services and a well baby nursery. Three obstetricians deliver babies at the hospital.
A 2019 study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology MFM showed among 648,584 cesarean delivery hospitalizations nationwide, surgical errors occurred in almost 2%. The most common were anesthetic errors, errors involving blood vessels and errors involving the bladder.
Brown was disappointed by the decisions being made about the hospital by leadership and the Nashville-based company that owns Merit Health, Community Health Systems.
When the hospital closed the NICU, he was outspoken about the negative impact it would have on high-risk mothers and babies.
“This community is the community that needs doctors … because of obesity and preterm labor, diabetes, hypertension, all that stuff affects pregnancy,” Brown said at the time. “And those are the patients that are going to need high-risk doctors or the NICU. And the fact is, that the NICU is gone. It’s just not a good thing for this community.”
Brown also said an executive with CHS told him the company was not going to put any money into that hospital and would move its profitable operations elsewhere.
McMillan did not respond to Mississippi Today’s questions about the alleged statement.
Merit Health Central, formerly Hinds General Hospital, has long been a health care and employment hub in south and west Jackson — majority-Black neighborhoods that have a higher concentration of people living in poverty than the rest of the city.
According to U.S. Census data, the neighborhood the hospital is located in is 87% Black and 9% white. The median income for families is $29,500.
Merit Health Central incurred just shy of $16 million in net uninsured costs, or the cost of services for which the patient had no insurance coverage, in fiscal year 2022. That is the largest amount of uncompensated care of any Merit Health hospital in the state that year.
GREENVILLE — Hours after yet another Mississippi hospital announced it was laying off workers this year, the leader of a hospital in the Mississippi Delta criticized Republican Gov. Tate Reeves for refusing to expand Medicaid access to the working poor.
Iris Stacker, the CEO of Delta Health Systems in Greenville, spoke at a Tuesday campaign event for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley and said if the federal program covered more people, then the local economy would be more robust.
“We don’t understand why Tate Reeves doesn’t understand why he needs a healthy workforce,” Stacker said.
Hospitals across the state have recently slashed their staff, discontinued medical services or closed their doors permanently because of financial pressures within their organizations.
North Mississippi Health Services in Tupelo announced Tuesday it was laying off employees, cutting their hours and reassigning them to different jobs.
And Delta Health, led by Stacker, last year closed its NICU unit, leaving the Delta region, one of the most impoverished areas in the nation, without a neonatal center.
One of the primary reasons Stacker and other hospital leaders support Medicaid expansion is their belief that it would reduce the amount of uncompensated care that medical workers provide to patients without health insurance.
The 40 other U.S. states that have expanded Medicaid have seen a significant drop in uncompensated care costs post-expansion. Louisiana, which expanded Medicaid in 2016, saw a 55% decrease in uncompensated care costs for rural hospitals.
Last year, Delta Health spent about $26 million on uncompensated care, Stacker previously said. That amounts to about 15% of its total operating expenses.
“We still continue to have uncompensated care every day,” Stacker told Mississippi Today on Tuesday.
The governor’s office and his campaign did not respond to a request for comment, but he has repeatedly objected to the program’s expansion, derisively calling it “welfare” or labeling it “Obamacare.” Instead, Reeves believes a law requiring medical facilities to seek approval from a state agency before they create a new health care center should be eliminated.
Meanwhile, Presley is strongly advocating for Medicaid expansion in his bid to unseat Reeves in November. More than a dozen health care professionals endorsed the Democratic candidate on Tuesday.
Mississippi is one of 10 states that has not passed any form of Medicaid expansion. Economic experts say the remaining states, many in the Deep South, would experience an economic boon if officials expanded the program. Studies show that Mississippi is leaving more than $1 billion in new health care related revenue on the table every year it does not expand.
Medical leaders have pleaded for state leaders to expand the program under the federal Affordable Care Act to draw down on additional funds. If the program were expanded, the federal government would likely cover 90% of the costs while the state contributed a 10% matching rate.
Much like in 2019, Medicaid coverage and access to health care are some of the primary issues between the two leading candidates in this year’s governor’s race.
Attorney General Jim Hood embraced Medicaid expansion throughout the last statewide campaign cycle, but Reeves still captured nearly 52% of the general election vote.
Presley, the current utility regulator from north Mississippi, is hoping the continuing spate of hospital closures will encourage more voters to be receptive to his pro-expansion message during the current election cycle.
Dr. Brett Zepponi, a Delta Health physician, told Mississippi Today that he considers himself a fiscal conservative, but he’s currently planning to vote for Presley because he doesn’t think the Greenville hospital can last much longer without expanding Medicaid coverage.
“For me, it doesn’t come down to a political thing,” Zepponi said. “But it’s more of a people thing. I think Republicans and Democrats both want their family to be taken care of and want their neighbors taken care of.”
The March inspection of the University of Mississippi Medical Center for its burn center designation showed the health system failed to fully meet almost a third of criteria required to host the state’s next burn center, though it was recently deemed qualified to do so anyway.
UMMC communications officials refused to answer Mississippi Today’s questions about the current status of its burn program, including its staff’s training. A Facebook post, however, shows that since the health system’s application to host a burn center was submitted and the subsequent site visit was conducted, more staff have undergone the training required to care for burn patients.
The Mississippi Department of Health said UMMC has submitted a corrective action plan to address the shortcomings, but declined to provide it without a records request. UMMC officials refused to engage with Mississippi Today about such a plan.
The surgeon on the team that performed UMMC’s March site visit said the results of their site visit are not uncommon.
Dr. William Hickerson, who helped establish Memphis’ Firefighters Regional Burn Center and served as the past president of the American Burn Association, said the health system has what it needs to establish a burn center.
“My impression was that they have set things up very well,” he said. “You’re not going to be able to open your doors and say, ‘Bring them (the patients) home.’ This is not the Field of Dreams … You have to have a team approach. Everything has to be in a learned environment, and you start slowly like these guys are and build up now. And I think that that is exactly what we saw and what their plans were that they showed us.”
The Institutions of Higher Learning last month approved UMMC’s request to use $4 million of its own money to create a new burn center. The hospital system will renovate the first floor of the Batson Tower into a new burn unit, with ICU beds and rooms for patients recovering from surgery.
Officials visited UMMC on March 21 to review the health system’s credentials and see if it was qualified to host the state’s next burn center. That team consisted of Hickerson, Terry Collins, a nurse who directs the trauma program for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and Teresa Windham, a trauma system nurse in the state Health Department’s Bureau of Acute Care Systems.
In May, Mississippi Today requested the results of that visit.
Originally, a state Health Department attorney said the survey was exempt from disclosure and cited costs that totaled nearly $20,000 for communications regarding the visit.
The Mississippi Department of Health tried to charge Mississippi Today nearly $20,000 for communications and reports related to its site visit to the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s prospective burn center.
After Mississippi Today asked the department to cite state law that exempted the survey results, however, a Health Department official attached the survey in an email thread.
The results of the survey showed that out of 155 categories, UMMC either “partially met” or did not meet criteria in 46, or 29.6%, of the categories.
Though UMMC was docked in the report for not having an internal burn education plan in addition to lacking certain required staff, policies and procedures, the survey results showed they excelled in team coordination, specifically between its trauma and burn surgeons.
“This cooperative plan is one of the best these reviewers have witnessed,” the report says.
Since the state’s only burn center housed at Merit Health Central in Jackson closed in October, both UMMC and Mississippi Baptist Medical Center have vied for the designation. Despite gaps in both its application to host a burn center and this site visit, UMMC received its approval in April from the Mississippi State Department of Health.
“I’ve been through several hospitals and several reviews, and we don’t come in to rubber stamp anything. It’s to give an honest opinion of what we see the capabilities are, and we report the findings,” Hickerson said. “I know there’s a competition. I’m on neither side. I’m here to give you the facts of what I see.”
A director of an out-of-state burn center and officials with the American Burn Association declined to comment on how UMMC’s site survey results compare to others who have been approved to host a burn center.
State Health Department spokesperson Liz Sharlot responded to questions about UMMC’s qualifications with an emailed statement that included information about the state’s Trauma System of Care and their goal of enabling “access in Mississippi, rather than out of state, for burn patients and their families.”
Mississippi Today found in February that UMMC had sent at least one burn pediatric patient out-of-state for treatment.
“Keeping this goal a priority, MSDH works with entities seeking a burn center designation to ensure that safe and effective care is provided through a well defined operational plan for clinical care and service delivery,” the Health Department’s statement reads. “Such plans may include corrective actions for any deficiencies noted to allow entities to continue to build their burn care programs. This process includes a revisit or focused visit to ensure corrective actions are taken to maintain a burn center designation.”
Hickerson said that it’s common to check in with burn centers a year after their establishment to ensure they’re in full compliance, but as of his March visit, he believes the health system is capable of hosting a burn center.
“The whole aspect is to make sure that you set something up that is going to be safe for the patients,” he said. “Yeah, they didn’t have a complete check. But they had means that they were gonna fix that.”
At the time of the survey, UMMC was still actively recruiting for staff, including nurses, pharmacists, dietitians and psychiatrists. The report also showed that the health center struggled with ongoing burn education and internal training. At the time of its application, which was submitted earlier this year,an internal burn education program was being developed.
The site survey reports that the burn center medical director, Dr. Peter Arnold, has the required criteria to lead the unit, which can be achieved two ways. The first includes being a surgeon with board certification in surgery or plastic surgery and completing a one-year fellowship in burn treatment. The second route is experience in the care of patients with acute burn injuries for two or more years during the previous five years.
However, it’s unclear how Arnold meets those criteria — Arnold has not completed a one-year burn fellowship and has been at UMMC for the past five years, while the state’s only burn center has been housed at Merit.
Furthermore, the survey also says that as burn center director, Arnold did not perform some of the required job duties, including creating policies and protocols for the burn care system and cooperating with trauma care for patient treatment.
At the time of the report, Arnold was not current in Advanced Burn Life Support (ABLS), the standard training for burn patient providers. He was scheduled to undergo this training in April, but UMMC refused to answer questions about whether that training took place.
The health system’s initial application also showed that none of its staffers were ABLS trained, though a Facebook post from May on the University of Mississippi’s Air Care page showed that 48 clinicians and communication specialists had undergone ABLS training.
Additionally, UMMC staff likely attended ABLS training at the Mississippi Trauma Symposium in May in Biloxi.
Arnold said in May at a presentation about the burn center that one of his goals moving forward was to acquire American Burn Association verification for the center.
“We’re designing everything we’re doing to meet the goals of ABA verification,” he said. “It takes two years after you’re established before they’ll come. And so I think, you know, this is obviously a work in progress, but eyes on the prize.”
During this year’s session, the state Health Department was given $4 million by the Legislature to choose the state’s next burn center. Nothing in the law prevents the $4 million from going to more than one hospital.
Baptist Medical Center has also submitted an application to host the state’s next burn center, which includes its burn center director’s qualifications to lead the unit, two ABLS-trained staffers and an internal burn education plan. Its site visit has been scheduled for July 18.
Incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann is crying foul over a flyer he says was disseminated by opponent Chris McDaniel’s campaign that purported to show Hosemann was endorsed by Black Lives Matter.
The move appears to be aimed at white Republican voters in the Aug. 8 GOP primary in a key battleground area: DeSoto County and the Mississippi suburbs of Memphis. Hosemann said it’s “typical of my opponent’s campaign style.” McDaniel’s previous unsuccessful statewide campaigns have been marred by his supporters’ dirty tricks — which at times required law enforcement to get involved and resulted in felony convictions and a jail sentence for one.
Black Lives Matter is a movement which launched a decade ago in response to the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a Black teenager. BLM activists have staged protests nationwide to advocate for defunding police and supporting Black people and communities facing police brutality and unjust interactions with the criminal justice system. The movement has drawn ire from Republicans, who frequently try to discredit BLM ideology and have referred to it as “Marxist.”
McDaniel’s campaign claims it has been trying to verify whether the BLM endorsement is real and “has intentionally not distributed claims we have not directly confirmed that could invoke undue harm to our fellow Republicans.”
But one of his regional campaign chairs posted the flyer on Facebook, as did a state senator who has served as a surrogate for McDaniel on the campaign trail. They have both since deleted their social media posts of the flyer, but it appears to have been widely distributed by McDaniel supporters.
The flyer appears to be computer printed, with a Black power fist BLM logo, and a Memphis address at the bottom for an office suite that is currently a hair salon. Mississippi Today’s calls to the salon, as well as numerous calls and messages to various Memphis BLM groups listed online, were not returned as of this article’s publishing. It does not appear any BLM-affiliated group has publicly endorsed any Mississippi candidates in 2023 elections, and efforts by McDaniel’s and Hosemann’s campaigns to prove or disprove the endorsements have so far proved fruitless.
State Sen. Kathy Chism’s now-deleted Facebook post shows a flyer with a list of Black Lives Matter endorsements. No one to date, including McDaniel’s campaign, can prove the flyer’s legitimacy.
The flyer lists 19 candidates for DeSoto and Tate counties local elections, as well as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley and Hosemann for lieutenant governor.
Hosemann issued a brief statement about the flyer: “This is totally false and a gutless political stunt that is typical of my opponent’s campaign style.”
McDaniel would not comment on the record about the flyer. But campaign spokeswoman Nicole Tardif issued a statement: “Our internal communications surrounding the flyer distributed in DeSoto have been limited to determining its validity. While ‘Delbert the Democrat’ has spent his career taking cheap shots to score political points wherever he sees fit, our team has intentionally not distributed claims we have not directly confirmed that could invoke undue harm to our fellow Republicans.”
But Donnie Abernathy, whom Tardif identified as a regional chair for the McDaniel campaign, posted the flyer on Facebook, as did state Sen. Kathy Chism, R-New Albany, one of McDaniel’s closest allies in the state Senate. Chism has served as a surrogate for McDaniel on the campaign trail, including at a recent event where she championed the return of Mississippi’s former state flag with the racially incendiary Confederate battle emblem in one corner.
Both Abernathy and Chism removed their Facebook posts of the flyer on Wednesday.
Abernathy did not return calls for comment, but in a post about taking it down noted that he received a copy of it from the McDaniel campaign.
“Because the BLM endorsement list was causing so much turmoil, I did decided (sic) to take it down until it can be verified as legit,” Abernathy wrote. “I did receive the screen shot directly from the campaign, but so many people were questioning the legitimacy of the document.”
Chism in a texted response said: “No it did not come from McDaniel Campaign. I found it online.”
Hosemann is not the only candidate angered by the flyer. Republican DeSoto sheriff’s candidate Thomas Tuggle also was listed as being endorsed. Tuggle, who is Black, is a retired Marine and former lieutenant colonel in the Mississippi Highway Patrol who said his campaign “has not and never will be associated with any group that publicly supports defunding the police.”
In a social media post about the flyer, Tuggle said: “I was recently informed of a fake document circulating implying that BLM is endorsing my candidacy. Being that the document’s address is a hair salon, I would find this laughable, but protecting the citizens of this county is no laughing matter … If you have attended our Meet and Greets, you know how fiery I am regarding anti-patriotic and anti-law enforcement groups.
“If the person behind this would spend as much time developing innovative ways to protect our citizens as they put into this amateurish document, we could possibly be a step ahead of the criminal element.”
McDaniel, a four-term state senator from Ellisville, in his unsuccessful bids for U.S. Senate has accused his Republican opponents of being too liberal, or even being Democrats in thin disguises, as he is now doing with Hosemann. He has often been at odds with the state Republican Party proper. As a senator, he has also clashed with the Senate Republican leadership including Hosemann and now-Gov. Tate Reeves, with similar claims they are too liberal.
McDaniel’s fighting with fellow Republicans and the Senate leadership over his long tenure in office has prevented his effectiveness in getting legislation passed. As opponents have noted during this election cycle, McDaniel since 2014 has authored only three bills that passed into law: one recognizing a football team, another congratulating a pageant winner and another declaring a West Nile prevention week.
Hosemann has complaints pending against McDaniel with the state attorney general’s office for what he claims are numerous, flagrant violations of state campaign finance law by McDaniel’s campaign and a now-shuttered PAC he ran. But Mississippi’s campaign finance laws are seldom enforced, and Attorney General Lynn Fitch has not indicated interest in investigating such complaints or enforcing those laws.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch wants to ensure Mississippi authorities are allowed to investigate and gather information on abortions performed out of state on Mississippi women.
Fitch, Mississippi’s first-term Republican attorney general, and 18 other state attorneys general have filed comments in opposition to a proposed change to federal regulations, known as HIPAA, that protects the privacy of people’s health care.
Under the rule change proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services, state agencies would not be able to glean information on an abortion performed in a state where abortion is legal. For instance, if a woman from Mississippi, where abortion is illegal in most instances, traveled to a state where abortions are allowed to receive the procedure, a Mississippi law enforcement agency would not be able to gather information on the procedure under the proposed rule.
Fitch and the other attorneys general, though, argue their states should be able to track that personal health care information. The comments from the attorneys general were submitted on Fitch’s letterhead to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on June 16.
The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountancy Act ensures that patient information remains private. But in the AGs’ comments in opposition to the rules change, they said there always has been an exception for law enforcement and regulatory agencies to investigate possible violations of state law or when such an investigation was to protect the public health.
“The proposed rule defies the governing statute, would unlawfully interfere with states’ authority to enforce their laws, and does not serve any legitimate need,” Fitch and the other AGs wrote. “Relying as it does on a false view of state regulation of abortion, the proposed rule is a solution in search of a problem.”
The proposed rules change comes about a year after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a Mississippi case brought by Fitch and her office, overturned the long-standing Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed a national right to abortion. As a result of the 2022 Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, some states like Mississippi have banned abortions in most instances, while abortion remains legal in other states.
Fitch’s office referred to her written response when asked why she opposes the rule change, since under Mississippi law a woman would not be punished for having an abortion. Mississippi law punishes health care providers for performing abortions. But Mississippi law could not punish a doctor for providing an abortion in a state where the procedure is legal.
The AGs said in their comments the issue of punishing women who receive abortions is “fearmongering” since states are not holding the women who receive abortion liable. Idaho, whose attorney general joined Fitch in opposing the proposed rules change, has passed a law that, according to reports, could criminalize a person who helps “facilitate” an abortion.
The AGs cited as an example an instance where they believed the proposed rules change would interfere with a legitimate investigation.
“Suppose that state officials had reason to believe that an abortion provider deliberately performed an abortion in violation of state law, resulting in serious injury to the woman, and that the provider then falsified medical records and referred the woman to an out-of-state provider to cover it up,” the AGs argued. “State officials would clearly have a basis to investigate that provider for a potential violation of state law.”
The attorneys general reasoned a state might need to gather information from the out of state health care provider in building its case against the doctor who performed the botched, illegal abortion.
“The proposed rule rests on the misguided assumption that it will be readily apparent or ascertainable whether particular ‘reproductive health care’ services are lawfully provided,” the AGs wrote. “But the purpose of investigation is to determine whether lawbreaking has occurred.”
But the proposed rule does seem to provide exceptions to the privacy protections in unusual circumstances. It takes into account that there could be instances where out of state providers would release information to a state like Mississippi through a court order.
When the proposed rules change was announced, HHS Secretary Becerra said, “We believe that this rule will assure that doctors, other health care providers and health plans will not be disclosing individuals’ protected health information, including information related to reproductive health care under certain circumstances.”
Various groups have said that the rule could also impact issues related to gender affirming care. Many states, including Mississippi, have banned the use of gender affirming treatment for minors such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy. The rule, the attorneys general said, could impact those laws if a family from Mississippi, for instance, traveled to another state to obtain such treatment.
“The (Biden) administration may intend to use the proposed rule to obstruct state laws concerning experimental gender transition procedures for minors,” the AGs said.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “most major medical associations” have endorsed a certain level of gender affirming treatment for minors based on the patient’s medical condition.
North Mississippi Health Services is laying off employees, cutting their hours and reassigning them to different jobs.
The health system announced the changes in an internal email to staff on Wednesday, sent on behalf of CEO Shane Spees.
It is unclear how many and what kind of employees are being impacted by the layoffs and reduction in hours. Kim Marlatt, the health system’s vice president of marketing, refused to answer any questions about the decision.
“Financial losses limit the funds available to staff beds, maintain technology and grow services,” the email reads. “To fulfill our mission — our responsibility to the community to continuously improve their health — we must make our own dramatic shift at NMHS.”
The changes are part of a massive “redesign” necessitated by financial losses incurred by the pandemic and a movement in health care toward outpatient care, according to the email.
However, the same email claims that the health system has a “strong balance sheet” and has received an “A” rating for its financial management during the pandemic.
For the next two weeks, the health system will be asking staffers to consider reassignment to different jobs, eliminating jobs and reducing hours.
“These decisions are difficult because those impacted are real people — our teammates and friends,” the email continues.
North Mississippi joins other Mississippi hospitals that have announced layoffs in recent months.
Ochsner Health, which operates dozens of facilities in Mississippi, announced it was cutting hundreds of jobs in May. Memorial Hospital in Gulfport announced layoffs just days prior.
Other hospitals are shuttering service lines in an effort to stay open.
In June, St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson announced it was cutting 5.5% of its workforce and ending its behavioral health program.
One hospital, KPC Promise in Vicksburg, closed last month.
A report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform puts a third of Mississippi’s rural hospitals at risk of closure.
