Brandon Presley announced on Tuesday that his campaign will begin airing a new ad on more than 20 radio stations that have predominantly Black audiences, the first such ad of the 2023 election cycle from the Democratic nominee for governor.
The ad, a six-figure purchase, criticizes incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves for his ties to the welfare scandal, his opposition to Medicaid expansion and his inaction on eliminating the state’s grocery tax — common themes of Presley’s campaign.
“Let me tell you about the man that is our governor,” the ad’s narrator says. “He looks down on us. Thinks Mississippians have no good sense. Was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. And has spent his entire time as governor looking out for his big-shot friends instead of us. That’s Tate Reeves.”
Presley’s campaign has aired several ads this year, but the new ad will be the first one it has purchased to communicate directly to Black voters, who make up about two-thirds of Mississippi Democratic Party’s base. For the Democratic nominee to have a chance at an upset in November, he will have to draw high Black voter turnout.
Ron Owens, Presley’s campaign manager, said in a statement that the Democratic nominee’s campaign decided to invest in ways to connect with Black voters because there is “so much at stake in this election.”
“This November, Mississippians will reject Tate Reeves because he’s had four years and done nothing to help hardworking families get ahead,” Owens said.
Reeves has previously aired TV ads touting economic investment in the state, signing legislation into law that bans transgender youth from participating in public school athletics and tying Presley to the national Democratic Party.
In this edition of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Dr. Andrea Hickerson, Dean of the School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi.
In this interview, Hickerson talks about her first year as dean, the future of the school, the effect of A.I. on journalism and the direction journalism is headed.
With the November general election less than two months away, no agreement has yet been reached for one or more debates between Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley.
But in an emailed response on Thursday, the Reeves campaign said, “We are looking forward to debating Brandon Presley, and working on plans as we speak.”
Michael Beyer, a spokesman for Presley, said the Presley campaign has agreed to a debate invitation from WJTV television in Jackson and television stations across the state owned by Gray Television, including WLBT in Jackson, WDAM in Laurel, WTOK in Meridian and WLOX in Biloxi.
Beyer said other entities have approached the campaign about possible debates or forums, ranging from union groups on the Gulf Coast to the Mississippi State Stennis Institute of Government/Capitol Press Corps to other television stations. Beyer said the campaign most likely would accept some of those invitations.
When asked about the possibility of debates at a Thursday news conference in Hattiesburg, Presley responded: “No update on debates. It’s obvious the governor is hiding out. He doesn’t want to debate. It’s going to take a search team to find him. He won’t even show up in his own TV commercials to talk to the people of Mississippi. So, I highly doubt he’s going to have the guts to stand toe-to-toe with me in a debate. His ads that he’s running are bald-faced lies, and he doesn’t have the guts to stand on a stage and look me in the face and say these lies and so he won’t agree to any debates. He’s scared and he knows he’s scared.”
Earlier this year on social media, Reeves, considered the front-runner for reelection on Nov. 7, challenged California Gov. Gavin Newsom to a debate on gun rights. At the time Presley said Reeves should focus on debating him.
There have been debates, in most cases multiple debates, in every Mississippi gubernatorial campaign since at least 1987 with the exception of one. In 2015, Phil Bryant, running for reelection, did not debate his Democratic opponent. In that year, the Democrats surprisingly nominated a long haul truck driver Robert Gray, who had no political experience. Bryant easily defeated Gray.
More than 16,000 Mississippians were dropped from Medicaid in August during the latest round of the agency’s disenrollments.
The pandemic-era federal regulations that prevented state Medicaid agencies from disenrolling beneficiaries ended in May. Since then, Medicaid divisions all over the country are reviewing their rolls for the first time in three years.
August’s numbers bring the agency’s total number of disenrollments thus far to 68,626 people. Before unwinding began, the agency’s enrollment exceeded 900,000 people for the first time in the agency’s history.
Most concerningly, most of those who were disenrolled — 54,366 people or 79% — have not been kicked off because they’re ineligible. Instead, there were issues with their paperwork – it was either not turned in on time or was incomplete. That could mean some people have been kicked off Medicaid even though they’re still eligible.
It’s unknown how many of the procedural disenrollments have been children. Children are most at risk of losing benefits during the unwinding process, federal research predicts, and many of them may still be eligible. Kids in low-income families comprise more than half of Mississippi’s overall Medicaid beneficiaries.
“These are not good numbers,” said Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. “It’s very concerning to see … people, likely children and parents by and large, losing Medicaid for red tape or procedural reasons.”
From June to July, 18,710 kids were unenrolled from Medicaid, when the first wave of disenrollments took place.
Mississippi Today has requested to interview an agency official about the unwinding data, but the requests were not granted.
New enrollment numbers show that from July to August, another 12,882 children were dropped, bringing the agency’s total of children dropped since unwinding began to 31,592.
Mississippi Medicaid’s monthly unwinding reports do not say what number of terminations were children, but Mississippi Medicaid spokesperson Matt Westerfield confirmed that most of these disenrollments are due to unwinding.
The agency’s ex-parte rate, or automatic renewal rate, remains low. Westerfield previously told Mississippi Today that the agency wants to increase those rates, but August numbers show that of the 70,069 people up for renewal, only 10,817 were renewed on an ex-parte basis.
That’s on par with the previous data release, which shows that of the 75,110 people up for renewal in July, 12,188 were renewed ex-parte.
The agency in August requested permission from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for “four additional flexibilities that would reduce procedural disenrollments while increasing ex-parte renewals.” According to Westerfield, some were approved, while discussions continue about the others.
The agency’s backlog of beneficiaries to review also keeps growing. In June, about 5,000 renewals were not reviewed. About 15,000 additional reviews went uncompleted in July and another 10,000 in August.
As unwinding continues for the next several months, the burden on the state’s already crumbling health care infrastructure grows. One report puts nearly a half of the state’s rural hospitals at risk of closure.
State Republican leaders have adamantly opposed expanding Medicaid to the working poor, which research shows would bring in billions, though presumptive incoming House Speaker Jason White recently indicated he would consider expansion. His predecessor Philip Gunn largely led the effort to oppose the policy change.
The Deep South is changing—and nowhere is that change more evident than in Mississippi. From shifting demographics to economic development, the state’s growing communities are proud, actively engaged hubs for tomorrow. But complex challenges remain—on criminal-justice reform, educational opportunity, climate change, and so much more.
On Nov. 30, Mississippi Today, in partnership with The Atlantic, will convene local leaders, policy makers, and journalists in Jackson to highlight the regional issues influencing the national dialogue and the importance of local journalism.
The event will be in person at The Faulkner, 518 E. Capitol St., in Jackson, and streaming virtually. Doors open at 9 a.m. The program runs from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. For questions, email events_audience@theatlantic.com.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Service Act. Credit: War Department.
With the Nazi army sweeping across Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Service Act, which required all men between 26 and 35 to register for the military draft. The decision also meant that Black men — unlike in the past — could join all branches of the U.S. military.
“America stands at the crossroads of its destiny,” Roosevelt declared. “Time and distance have been shortened. A few weeks have seen great nations fall. We cannot remain indifferent to the philosophy of force now rampant in the world. We must and will marshal our great potential strength to fend off war from our shores. We must and will prevent our land from becoming a victim of aggression.”
In December 1941, Japanese air forces bombed Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor, and the nation was thrust into war. With this attack on America, men, both Black and white, flooded recruitment centers to sign up.
Everyone over the age of 6 months should get the latest COVID-19 booster, a federal expert panel recommended Tuesday after hearing an estimate that universal vaccination could prevent 100,000 more hospitalizations each year than if only the elderly were vaccinated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 13-1 for the motion after months of debate about whether to limit its recommendation to high-risk groups. A day earlier, the FDA approved the new booster, stating it was safe and effective at protecting against the COVID variants currently circulating in the U.S.
After the last booster was released, in 2022, only 17% of the U.S. population got it — compared with the roughly half of the nation who got the first booster after it became available in fall 2021. Broader uptake was hurt by pandemic weariness and evidence the shots don’t always prevent COVID infections. But those who did get the shot were far less likely to get very sick or die, according to data presented at Tuesday’s meeting.
The virus sometimes causes severe illness even in those without underlying conditions, causing more deaths in children than other vaccine-preventable diseases, as chickenpox did before vaccines against those pathogens were universally recommended.
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID has ticked up modestly in recent weeks, CDC data shows, and infectious disease experts anticipate a surge in the late fall and winter.
The shots are made by Moderna and by Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, which have decided to charge up to $130 a shot. They have launched national marketing campaigns to encourage vaccination. The advisory committee deferred a decision on a third booster, produced by Novavax, because the FDA hasn’t yet approved it. Here’s what to know:
Who should get the COVID booster?
The CDC advises that everyone over 6 months old should, for the broader benefit of all. Those at highest risk of serious disease include babies and toddlers, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with chronic health conditions including obesity. The risks are lower — though not zero — for everyone else. The vaccines, we’ve learned, tend to prevent infection in most people for only a few months. But they do a good job of preventing hospitalization and death, and by at least diminishing infections they may slow spread of the disease to the vulnerable, whose immune systems may be too weak to generate a good response to the vaccine.
Pablo Sánchez, a pediatrics professor at The Ohio State University who was the lone dissenter on the CDC panel, said he was worried the boosters hadn’t been tested enough, especially in kids. The vaccine strain in the new boosters was approved only in June, so nearly all the tests were done in mice or monkeys. However, nearly identical vaccines have been given safely to billions of people worldwide.
When should you get it?
The vaccine makers say they’ll begin rolling out the vaccine this week. If you’re in a high-risk group and haven’t been vaccinated or been sick with COVID in the past two months, you could get it right away, says John Moore, an immunology expert at Weill Cornell Medical College. If you plan to travel this holiday season, as he does, Moore said, it would make sense to push your shot to late October or early November, to maximize the period in which protection induced by the vaccine is still high.
Who will pay for it?
When the ACIP recommends a vaccine for children, the government is legally obligated to guarantee kids free coverage, and the same holds for commercial insurance coverage of adult vaccines. For the 25 to 30 million uninsured adults, the federal government created the Bridge Access Program. It will pay for rural and community health centers, as well as Walgreens, CVS, and some independent pharmacies, to provide COVID shots for free. Manufacturers have agreed to donate some of the doses, CDC officials said.
Will this new booster work against the current variants of COVID?
It should. More than 90% of currently circulating strains are closely related to the variant selected for the booster earlier this year, and studies showed the vaccines produced ample antibodies against most of them. The shots also appeared to produce a good immune response against a divergent strain that initially worried people, called BA.2.86. That strain represents fewer than 1% of cases currently. Moore calls it a “nothingburger.”
Why are some doctors not gung-ho about the booster?
Experience with the COVID vaccines has shown that their protection against hospitalization and death lasts longer than their protection against illness, which wanes relatively quickly, and this has created widespread skepticism. Most people in the U.S. have been ill with COVID and most have been vaccinated at least once, which together are generally enough to prevent grave illness, if not infection — in most people. Many doctors think the focus should be on vaccinating those truly at risk.
With new COVID boosters, plus flu and RSV vaccines, how many shots should I expect to get this fall?
People tend to get sick in the late fall because they’re inside more and may be traveling and gathering in large family groups. This fall, for the first time, there’s a vaccine — for older adults — against respiratory syncytial virus. Kathryn Edwards, a 75-year-old Vanderbilt University pediatrician, plans to get all three shots but “probably won’t get them all together,” she said. COVID “can have a punch” and some of the RSV vaccines and the flu shot that’s recommended for people 65 and older also can cause sore arms and, sometimes, fever or other symptoms. A hint emerged from data earlier this year that people who got flu and COVID shots together might be at slightly higher risk of stroke. That linkage seems to have faded after further study, but it still might be safer not to get them together.
Pfizer and Moderna are both testing combination vaccines, with the first flu-COVID shot to be available as early as next year.
Has this booster version been used elsewhere in the world?
Nope, although Pfizer’s shot has been approved in the European Union, Japan, and South Korea, and Moderna has won approval in Japan and Canada. Rollouts will start in the U.S. and other countries this week.
Unlike in earlier periods of the pandemic, mandates for the booster are unlikely. But “it’s important for people to have access to the vaccine if they want it,” said panel member Beth Bell, a professor of public health at the University of Washington.
“Having said that, it’s clear the risk is not equal, and the messaging needs to clarify that a lot of older people and people with underlying conditions are dying, and they really need to get a booster,” she said.
ACIP member Sarah Long, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, voted for a universal recommendation but said she worried it was not enough. “I think we’ll recommend it and nobody will get it,” she said. “The people who need it most won’t get it.”
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
Mississippi’s infant mortality rate reached a five-year high in 2021, according to the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The death rate of babies under one year of age rose from 8.3 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2020 to 9.39 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2021, the most recent year for which data is available. Nationally, the rate remained relatively stable from 2020 to 2021.
A total of 330 Mississippi babies died before their first birthday in 2021.
Mississippi continues to have the highest rate of infant mortality of any state at nearly twice the national average of 5.44 infant deaths per 1,000.
The report does not break down specific causes of death by state, though Mississippi’s infant mortality review committee will release a report with more details.
“These numbers are extremely concerning, but we will have to wait on the Fetal Infant Mortality Review Committee reports to determine the causes of increased mortality rates. I suspect that we will see that the COVID-19 pandemic, high rates of congenital syphilis, and the issues of poverty and access to care had a detrimental effect on infants in the state,” State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney said in an emailed statement to Mississippi Today.
The committee releases reports annually.
In the six years ending in 2021, Mississippi saw a 900% increase in babies born with syphilis – a sexually transmitted disease that is passed to an infant during pregnancy. The disease can cause miscarriages and death, and children that survive can have major malformations and life-long complications.
The state Health Department responded by adopting a regulation that mandates physicians test pregnant people for the disease. Before that, Mississippi was one of only six states in the nation that did not require syphilis screenings in pregnancy by law.
Nationally, the leading causes of infant mortality are: congenital malformations; disorders related to short gestation and low birthweight; Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID); unintentional injuries and maternal complications.
Dr. Anita Henderson, the past president of the Mississippi chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said she is “very concerned” by the latest numbers.
“Black babies are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday compared to white babies. There are several preventable causes of death that are increasing, especially here in Mississippi. Our Sudden Unexpected Infant Death rate includes accidental suffocation and Mississippi, sadly, has the highest SUID rate in the nation,” according to the 2020 data, she said.
Henderson also pointed to several other drivers of the problem: the state's high rate of premature birth, its maternal health provider shortage and the difficulty low-income women have in receiving timely prenatal care.
“Presumptive eligibility for moms on Medicaid would facilitate timely access to prenatal care for that critical, first trimester OB visit. Over half of the counties in Mississippi do not have an OB or a delivering hospital,” she said. “Lack of access is dangerous and potentially deadly for Mississippi moms and babies.”
If a state offers presumptive eligibility, a low-income pregnant woman who is pregnant and seeking medical services will be presumed eligible for Medicaid coverage and the medical provider can provide prenatal care and be reimbursed by Medicaid – presumably allowing her to receive prenatal care earlier. Mississippi does not currently have presumptive eligibility for pregnant women.
Mississippi is also one of only 10 states that has not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, leaving hundreds of thousands of Mississippians without health insurance. It is one of only three states that has neither expanded Medicaid or provides pregnancy presumptive eligibility as of 2020, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
This legislative session, lawmakers approved extending health care coverage for mothers on Medicaid to one year after giving birth. Moms had previously only been covered for 60 days postpartum. Proponents of the extension said there is a direct link between healthy mothers and healthy babies.
The Mississippi Delta saw some of the highest rates of infant mortality in the state in 2021 at 13.7 infant deaths per 1,000 births, according to state Health Department data. The rate represents 32 babies who died – the highest rate for the area since 2017.
As early as this week, four temporary judges could be appointed to the Hinds County Circuit under House Bill 1020.
U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate read an abbreviated opinion from the bench Wednesday finally dismissing Supreme Court Justice Michael Randolph from a lawsuit brought by the NAACP on behalf of Jackson residents challenging the judicial appointments Randolph is directed to make under the law.
Randolph has been unable to make the appointments because of a temporary restraining order that has been in place since May. Now that he is no longer part of the lawsuit, he can proceed with those appointments.
“He is commanded and must obey,” Wingate said about Randolph making the appointments as HB 1020 dictates.
This decision comes several months after Wingate issued a June opinion dismissing Randolph from the lawsuit under judicial immunity – a legal principle that shelters judges from civil lawsuits when they perform judicial acts. Randolph’s attorneys argued the appointments under HB 1020 are a protected act, while the plaintiffs disagreed.
The plaintiffs also argued that the chief justice’s dismissal from the lawsuit only applied to his ability to appoint temporary circuit court judges, but not the appointment of one judge to the Capitol Complex Improvement District court court created by HB 1020. The plaintiffs asked for Wingate to clarify his order, which the judge did Wednesday.
FILE – U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate smiles, Aug. 19, 2022, in Jackson, Miss. On Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, Wingate ruled that the Meridian Public School District can come out from under federal supervision in a decades-old desegregation lawsuit. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
From the bench, Wingate said he stands by his June order and has expanded it to address Randolph’s appointment of a CCID judge, saying that is also a covered judicial act.Under HB 1020, that appointment would not have to be made until January 2024, which is when the CCID court would be created.
He didn’t accept the plaintiff’s argument that because the CCID is an inferior court like a municipal court, its judicial appointments would need to be made by the municipality’s governing body, such as the city council. Instead, Wingate said the CCID court is more of a “hybrid court” that resembles a municipal court but has differences crafted by the Legislature that set it apart.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs still seek to block any judicial appointments from happening. Last week, they explained a potential workaround to Wingate.
With Randolph no longer on the lawsuit and bound by a restraining order, the plaintiffs are asking Wingate to approve a request to amend the lawsuit complaint by adding several defendants: two state officials, the five unknown court appointees and two yet-to-be-known prosecutors appointed to the Capital Complex Improvement District court by the attorney general.
The next step would be for Wingate to approve a temporary restraining order preventing the four yet-to-be-known circuit court appointees from assuming office.
Attorneys for the defendants, including the public safety commissioner, Capitol Police chief and attorney general, have objected in written motions and in the courtroom to the plaintiff’s requests.
Attorney Rex Shannon, who represents the defendants, said the court can’t issue a restraining order if the parties are unknown, which would make it impossible to be able to properly serve and process them. He also said that the plaintiff’s proposed method of notifying the appointees of the restraining order through a legal notice in the Clarion Ledger would not be sufficient.
Mark Lynch, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the need to maintain the status quo, prevent any harm to the plaintiffs and urgent nature remain, which is why Wingate should approve the motions to amend the complaint and issue the new restraining order.
“We don’t have to wait long to find out who the John and Jane does are,” Lynch said.
Wingate said he will decide on those rulings and several other outstanding ones – including a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene in the case – after he issues his full, official order about Randolph.
A separate state challenge of HB 1020 is ongoing, but the state Supreme Court has not issued a ruling. It has been two months since oral arguments took place.
