A Mississippi infant recently died due to complications from COVID-19, the state health department announced Wednesday.
This marks the first pediatric COVID death in the state since February 2022, state epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers told State Board of Health members at their meeting Wednesday. This is the 14th death of a child under the age of 18 due to COVID-19 in the state.
“So it is a reminder that COVID is still out there, it’s still transmitted, and it can still lead to severe complications,” Byers said at the meeting. “So, it’s important for everybody who is eligible to stay up-to-date for vaccinations.”
Byers gave limited details but said the child was under a year old.
“Remember that when we get vaccinated, not only does it protect us, but it also protects those individuals around us who are vulnerable, who may not be eligible for vaccination, or may be folks who are in those higher risk categories,” Byers said.
Pandemic numbers have risen some recently – a normal trend for the winter – but Byers said he was encouraged to see no dramatic spikes in case counts. Hospitalizations have started rising throughout the new year, along with an increase in ICU admissions and use of ventilators.
The health department reported as of Jan. 9, 365 hospital patients had confirmed COVID-19 infections; 50 were in the ICU and 18 were on ventilators. Last January’s peak had about 300 patients in the ICU and over 1,500 hospitalizations before numbers dropped drastically in March.
In its last weekly case count posted Tuesday, the health department reported 5,778 new cases and 15 COVID-related deaths between Dec. 27 to Jan. 2.
Cases last spiked during the summer and dropped during the fall before the current rise. Still, the current case count is about half of last January’s peak of over 10,000 cases in a seven-day period.
But with the rise of at-home testing and less-severe COVID-related symptoms caused by some of the virus’ newer strains, the state’s weekly count only gives some insight to how many cases are occurring statewide.
The health department recommends everyone 6 months old and older receives the vaccine and its boosters. Health officials especially recommend vaccinations for adults 65 and older and anyone with a weakened immune system or underlying health problems.
Four children died from the virus in Mississippi in 2022. One was between 1 and 5 years old and three others were between the ages of 11 and 17.
As President Joe Biden enters his third year in office, Mississippi still lacks his appointments for two U.S. attorneys, two U.S. marshals and a federal judge in the northern district.
Biden made nominations for four of the positions in the fall, but Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith did not return “blue slips” — the longstanding process by which home senators approve the president’s picks before Senate confirmation hearings are held.
Biden will have to resubmit nominations to the new Congress.
One of the appointments in limbo is Todd Gee for the U.S. attorney in the Southern District. If confirmed, Gee will inherit the ongoing welfare fraud investigation, one of the largest public corruption cases in state history. He currently serves as the deputy chief of the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, which prosecutes cases of public corruption, such as bribery of public officials.
Three people connected to the fraud have pleaded guilty to federal charges and have agreed to aid the prosecution in its ongoing probe, which is unlikely to take further shape until a permanent U.S. attorney is in place.
While naming Gee in September, Biden also nominated Michael Purnell, lieutenant and executive officer of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, and Dale Bell, a professional protection officer in the private sector, to serve as the north and south U.S. marshals, respectively.
In October, Biden selected Lowndes County District AttorneyScott Colom to replace U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mills, who entered senior status in 2021. Hyde-Smith and Wicker have not indicated whether they support the nominations.
The president has not selected a U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi.
Biden, who received nearly 540,000 votes in Mississippi, has failed to fill many vacant federal positions across the South and in states with two Republican senators.
“It’s more complicated now than it used to be,” said Trent Lott, Mississippi’s U.S. senator from 1989 to 2007. “You have a Democratic president, you have two Republican senators, and you have a Democratic congressman, only one …The bottom line is, because you’ve got the divided government, it’s kind of slowing down things to a slow walk trying to come up with people that the Democrats like that the senators can accept.”
Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott remembers some of the issue differences he had with the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during a reception for House Majority Whip U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., in Jackson, Miss., Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. However, Lott also recalled how strong their friendship was, and how supportive McCain would be on common issues. Credit: Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press
Lott recalled entering the Senate in the late 1980’s and consulting longtime Republican U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, who told the incoming senator, “Elections have consequences.”
Regardless of party affiliations, if the nominee is qualified, you should vote aye, Lott remembered Cochran saying.
“The atmosphere in Washington these days does not contribute to that kind of atmosphere, quite frankly. It’s very, very partisan, very divided,” Lott said.
The U.S. Southern District has lacked a U.S. attorney for much of the federal welfare investigation, which began when State Auditor Shad White turned over information gathered during his own investigation to federal authorities after making arrests in February of 2020. Former U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst resigned in January of 2021 and interim U.S. Attorney Darren LaMarca has led the office since.
Another empty seat exists on the traditionally conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Appels, which covers Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana and represents the last step before an appeal reaches the U.S. Supreme Court. There are eight district court judge vacancies in these states, none of which has pending nominations.
Across the country there are 87 total judge vacancies and 23 pending nominations.
Mississippi Today sports columnist Rick Cleveland has been named Mississippi sportswriter of the year by the National Sports Media Association for the 14th time in his career.
Cleveland, who covered his first Mississippi sporting event at age 13 and hasn’t stopped for 57 years since, owns the state’s record for number of times having won the award.
A native of Hattiesburg and resident of Jackson, Cleveland has been Mississippi Today’s sports columnist since 2016. A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor’s in journalism, Rick has worked for the Hattiesburg American, Monroe (La.) News Star World, Jackson Daily News and Clarion Ledger as a reporter, editor and columnist.
Rick is among three generations of Clevelands who have covered sports in Mississippi. His father “Ace” Cleveland was a longtime sportswriter and editor at the Hattiesburg American who spent the final 31 years of his career as sports information director at Southern Miss. Rick’s brother Bobby Cleveland was a longtime and beloved outdoors writer for the Clarion Ledger. And Rick’s son Tyler Cleveland has covered Mississippi sports for more than a decade, now serves as Mississippi editor for Scorebook Live.
Cleveland was executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. His work as a syndicated columnist and celebrated sports writer has appeared in numerous magazines, periodicals and newspapers. Rick has authored four books, including a biography of Delta State and Boston Red Sox legend Boo Ferriss and a book spanning the career and legacy of Ole Miss football coach Johnny Vaught.
Rick Cleveland, right, sits with former Gov. William Winter at a book signing. Credit: Liz Cleveland
Cleveland was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2016 and into the Hattiesburg Hall of Fame in 2018. He received the Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence in 2011 and was inducted into the University of Southern Mississippi Communications Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2000, he was honored with the Distinguished Mississippian Award from Mississippi Press Association. He has received numerous other state, regional and national awards for his column writing and reporting.
Joining Cleveland in the 2023 National Sports Media Association honors is broadcaster David Kellum of Ole Miss Radio Network/Learfield, who has now won the Mississippi Sports Broadcaster of the Year award nine times.
Mississippi revenue collections rebounded in December after a sluggish November.
The state collected $666.4 million during the month of December, up from the $610.1 million that was collected in December 2021.
Mississippi revenue collections have been on an uptick since basically the middle of 2020. But in November, revenue collections took a nosedive for the first time since July 2021 when tax collections were less than the amount collected a year earlier in July 2020. In November the state collected $518.8 million in taxes and other revenue compared to $531.9 million in November 2021.
The state revenue report, released monthly by the staff of the Legislative Budget Committee, will be watched closely during the ongoing 2023 session as legislators contemplate another tax cut or possibly a one-time rebate to state taxpayers.
In the 2022 session legislators put in place the phase in of the largest tax cut in state history — about a $525 million cut in the income tax. Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn, among others, are advocating for adding on to the income tax cut during the 2023 session and possibly eliminating what has been the second largest source of state revenue. The income tax accounts for about one-third of state revenue.
According to the most recent revenue report, personal income tax collections were down from $173.8 million in December 2021 to $167 million last month.
The sales tax, a 7% tax on most retail items and the largest source of state revenue, was up from $217 million in December 2021 to $220.9 million last month.
The biggest jump, accounting for much of the growth in the most recent report, came in the corporate income tax collections — up from $129.7 million to $187.3 million when comparing December 2021 to 2022.
The state has been experiencing double digit growth in revenue in recent years. Revenue grew by 9.54% during the fiscal year that ended on June 30 and by an unprecedented 15.9% the previous year.
Through December of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, the state’s growth rate is 9.9%. The state has collected $3.7 billion in revenue through the first six months of the year.
And collections are 13% or $424.8 million above the official estimate through the first six months of the fiscal year. The estimate represents the amount of money the Legislature appropriated for the current fiscal year.
Despite the skyrocketing revenue collections, legislative leaders have adopted conservative official estimates. Because of the conservative estimates, legislators are not spending a significant portion of the revenue collected each year. Those conservative estimates account for a part the nearly $4 billion in surplus funds legislators have as they begin work in the 2023 session.
The Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus on Wednesday presented its 2023 agenda, saying lawmakers should focus on helping “everyday Mississippians,” with health care, education, justice and equity, tackling government corruption and providing basic necessities such as clean drinking water.
“These are common-sense ideas,” said Sen. Angela Turner Ford, D-West Point, chairwoman of the caucus. “… We want to assist in the passage of legislation that improves the quality of life for everyday Mississippians.”
There are 51 Black lawmakers in the 174-member Mississippi Legislature, which is controlled by a white, Republican supermajority.
“We simply do not have the numbers to impact legislation like we would like, but that does not mean we are not working,” said Ford, who noted the group’s agenda was drafted in part from town-hall meetings with communities across the state.
The 2023 caucus agenda includes:
Health care: With Mississippi ranking worst or near-worst in nearly every health category or study, the caucus reiterated its support for expansion of Medicaid to help provide health coverage for the working poor.
“The (legislative leadership) has refused to call that policy up on the floor in the Senate and House for a vote or debate on that important policy,” Ford said. “… With our hospitals facing closure or partial closure, now is the time to act.”
Education: The caucus proposes full funding of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. This funding formula, set in law, is supposed to provide schools statewide with equitable funding to cover basic education needs. But lawmakers have rarely funded the program even though it is law, typically shorting it by hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The caucus also said that in recent meetings with the Mississippi State Department of Education and parents, it discovered many parents and students do not know about services the agency offers, such as 24-hour tutoring, and wants to direct the agency to better disseminate information.
Infrastructure: The caucus agenda says “clean drinking water and high-speed internet are necessities that should be enjoyed by every Mississippian,” and that “the digital divide must be closed.” While the GOP legislative leadership has said it is reluctant to provide more money to the City of Jackson to address its water crisis because it is receiving large amounts of federal money, Ford said the caucus plans to push for more state help.
“People should have clean drinking water,” Ford said. “This is 2023, and that is not something we should have to argue or debate.”
Election reform: The caucus supports removing barriers to voting, and notes “Mississippi was ground zero for instituting the voting rights we have access to today.” The caucus supports early voting and wants to change Mississippi’s Jim Crow era restrictions on restoring the voting rights of convicted felons who have served their time.
Restoring ballot initiative: The caucus supports restoring Mississippians’ right to place issues on the ballot for popular vote. This initiative process was shot down in 2021 by a state Supreme Court ruling on medical marijuana. Numerous legislative leaders have vowed to restore the process, but have failed to do so after arguing over details.
Economic justice and racial equity: The caucus said numerous studies and reports have shown racial and other inequity in state spending and numerous other areas that should be addressed. The caucus supports child care tax credits and tax rebates for families with children, increasing the minimum wage and laws that combat discrimination in hiring, banking and finance and other areas. The caucus agenda calls for passage of “Crown Act” legislation enacted in other states that would forbid hiring or firing based on someone’s hair style, and also calls for Juneteenth to be recognized as a state holiday.
Criminal justice reform: The caucus has for years pushed for criminal justice reform, with some success but much more work needed. Its agenda calls for release of people locked up for non-violent offenses, juveniles sentenced to life without parole. The caucus also wants more reform of habitual offender laws. It continues to push for improved prison and jail conditions and called for simple possession of marijuana to cover civil penalties only, after the state enacted a medical cannabis program.
TANF reform: Mississippi’s welfare scandal should be a call for lawmakers to root out government corruption, and the caucus wants reform in how the state manages the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to ensure it helps the poor people it’s designed to help. Ford said one proposal members have discussed is having an appointed governing board to oversee how the Mississippi Department of Human Services spends the money.
ARPA funding: The caucus wants a say in how remaining federal American Rescue Plan Act pandemic relief money allocated to Mississippi is spent. It wants the Legislature to keep to the intended purposes of the money — including public health, helping communities recover financially, water and sewer infrastructure and broadband access and helping “those counties and cities that did not receive enough funds to complete critical water and sewer projects.”
The caucus noted that much of its agenda has been introduced in previous years and it will continue to discuss its priorities with leadership.
“Our agenda has been crafted with the plight of all Mississippians in mind.”
Days before a federal receiver was set to take control of the Hinds County Detention Facility, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay halting that work.
On Dec. 28, a three-member panel of the 5th Circuit Court granted a stay for the order appointing a receiver and the new injunction, which stays a court order put in place by U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves in April to set standards for Hinds County to fix the jail in Raymond.
In November, Reeves appointed former Baltimore jail warden and criminal justice adjunct professor Wendell France Sr. as jail receiver. France started work then and was set to take full operational control of the jail Jan. 1, but did not due to the 5th Circuit Court order.
A three-person monitoring team that has been documenting conditions and progress at the jail was also ordered to stop work, according to a Dec. 29 order by Reeves. The monitoring team issued its last report Dec. 12, highlighting ongoing issues such as the lack of direct supervision of jail housing units and facility maintenance.
The 5th Circuit Court’s decision comes less than a year after attorneys from the county and U.S. Department of Justice were in Reeves’ courtroom to argue for and against federal receivership.
Hinds County Board of Supervisors President Credell Calhoun said Tuesday he is pleased with the stay. The current board has spent millions to try to bring the jail into compliance, he said, and the county is building a new jail in Jackson that addresses issues with the current jail.
“Everything went back to before the (receivership) order,” he said. “I was disappointed they didn’t wait and continue to let us do what we were doing. We’re doing everything we know and can afford.”
The county has maintained opposition to federal control of the jail through court documents and during the three weeks of hearings before Reeves.
The injunction and receiver orders will be paused while the district court addresses motions for reconsideration and a motion for clarification filed by the government over Section K, a section not included in the new injunction order that said juveniles charged as adults in Hinds County must be held at the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center rather than the jail for adults.
Questions about where to hold juveniles charged as adults came into question after a separate consent decree overseeing the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center was terminated Oct. 13.
Jan. 31 is the deadline for the district court to finish additional proceedings and modifications to the injunction for the jail relating to how juvenile offenders charged as adults are housed.
Calhoun said a full appeal could take time, and within 18 to 24 months, the county expects to finish the first phase of 200 jail beds and amenities. Future phases would bring the jail to 750 beds, he said.
George Bryan: Businessman, philanthropist, visionary, who brought U.S. Women’s Open to West Point in 1999. (Photo courtesy of Old Waverly)
Former Mississippi State athletic director Larry Templeton remembers vividly a crisp, clear fall day back in 1984, when his good friend and former MSU classmate George Bryan took him on an excursion into the backwoods of Clay County near West Point.
Says Templeton, “We were in George’s old Bronco on an old dirt loggers’ road, and George pulled over in the middle of all this wilderness. We got out and George said, ‘The fifth green will be over there and the sixth tee will be just across the way over there.’ I said, ‘George, you got to be kidding me. You are out of your mind. You are smarter than this.’”
Four years later, Old Waverly, one of the grandest golf courses in the Deep South or anywhere, opened, with the fifth green and sixth tee right where Bryan had said they would be. Instantly, Golf Digest rated it as one of the best 100 golf courses in America.
Yes, and 15 years later, Bryan brought the U.S. Women’s Open to West Point and the Golden Triangle. The tournament was attended by 130,000, covered by international media, and telecast around the world. It was a feat that seems even more amazing in retrospect than it did at the time.
“That’s the thing about George, he had vision few people in this world have,” Templeton says. “He could see the possibilities when nobody else saw them and then make those possibilities into realities.”
Rick Cleveland
George Wilkes Bryan Sr., a gentleman, business leader and visionary, died Jan. 6 at his home across the road from Old Waverly. He was 78, and he leaves behind legions of friends and admirers across the country and particularly in the Golden Triangle.
As this writer and others who knew him learned many times over, anything George Bryan had a hand in was going to be first class. Bryan will be remembered as much for his human kindness as for his business successes and his vision. Says Archie Manning, the Ole Miss and NFL football hero, “I can only hope to be as kind to people as George Bryan always was.”
When Manning had first signed with the New Orleans Saints he became friends with Bryan, and Bryan Foods became his first major endorsement as a professional athlete. About that time, Manning was taking up the sport of golf.
“My first tournament was this four-ball at Shady Oaks in Jackson,” Manning says. “I didn’t know much about the game. Some guy across the fairway asked me what kind of ball I was playing. I picked it up and read the writing on it. I said, ‘I’m playing a Bryan Bacon.’”
Bryan began his career at his family’s business, West Point-based Bryan Foods, even before he began attending Mississippi State. He graduated from State with a degree in business administration at about the same time Sara Lee Corp. acquired Bryan Foods. Bryan steadily rose through the ranks in the meat industry, eventually serving as CEO of Sara Lee and chairman and director of the American Meat Institute before retiring in 2000. He made millions. He gave much of it back.
Throughout, Bryan never forgot where he was from or where he received his education. He gave back to West Point, Clay County, Mississippi and Mississippi State.
“It is difficult to overstate the impact of the loyalty and generosity of George Bryan and his family to Mississippi State University,” says MSU President Mark E. Keenum. “… George and Marcia (Bryan’s wife) left an indelible imprint on MSU.”
The Bryans surely did. Says Templeton, “George put his money where his heart was.”
The Bryan Athletic Administration Building, a $5 million facility opened in 1995, was made possible largely due to the generosity of the Bryan family. The Bryan Building houses MSU’s athletic administration offices as well as MSU’s athletic ticket office, the Bulldog Club, media relations, business and student services offices.
Bryan was a philanthropist in other ways. He served as general campaign chairman for the United Way of the Mid-South and as president of the Chickasaw Council Boy Scouts of America.
To know Bryan was to know how he exuded charm and kindness in everyday dealings with those he encountered, be they the cooks in the kitchens of Old Waverly, the wait staff, the golf course workers or the caddies in the 1999 U.S. Women’s Open. Quite simply, he treated others the way he would want to be treated himself – always with a personal touch.
Besides the U.S. Open, Bryan also brought the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship to Old Waverly and the club also has hosted Southeastern Conference golf championships. Bryan also co-founded Mossy Oak Golf Club, another world class golf course, which opened across the street from Old Waverly in 2018.
Bringing the U.S. Open to rural Clay County might well be Bryan’s crowning achievement. World Golf Hall of Famer Judy Bell of Colorado Springs was the president of the USGA when the decision was made to play the U.S. Open in Mississippi.
“George Bryan was a fine, honest man,” Bell says. “When he came to us and made his pitch, he exuded honesty and class. He was so sincere. There were three or four of us who made the ultimate decision and it was unanimous. Everything he said he’d do, he did. It was a special event, a memorable tournament. George made it happen. He was all class.”
So much had to be accomplished to make the ’99 Open a reality. Hundreds of miles of highways had to be expanded to four lanes. New roads had to be built. Motels and hotels had to be expanded and renovated. Parking lots had to be established. All i’s had to be dotted, and all t’s crossed to meet USGA specifications.
The ’99 Open has had lasting ramifications for the Golden Triangle and North Mississippi.
Says Templeton, “I’m not sure that anything has had more to do with the development of North Mississippi than when George brought the Open to Old Waverly.”
Note: This article was first published in Mississippi Today’s weekly legislative newsletter. Subscribe to our free newsletter for exclusive early access to legislative analyses and up-to-date information about what’s happening under the Capitol dome.
Democratic legislative leaders will propose a plan this week to address a problem they say most of their Republican counterparts won’t even fully acknowledge: the Mississippi hospital crisis.
State health officials have warned lawmakers that 38 rural hospitals across the state are in danger of imminent closure because of budget problems. Some of those hospitals are larger regional care centers, such as Greenwood Leflore Hospital.
Even the large metro hospitals are understaffed and struggling to provide adequate care due to rising costs. Physicians and other health care leaders are sounding the alarm about the entire state’s ability to maintain a reliable system of care.
Given the growing urgency of the crisis, Democratic leaders under the dome say they can’t wait around for their Republican counterparts to propose solutions.
“I feel silly trying to explain to (Republicans) why we need to do something about this quickly when the need is right there smacking them in the face every single day,” said Rep. Robert Johnson, the House Democratic leader. “These people have the best possible access to the best possible information about the state, and they’re ignoring it. They’re running away from the problem. The house is fully on fire right now, but it’s fine because Republicans say it’s not really burning.
“I don’t know what they’re waiting on, but this crisis needs to be addressed right now,” Johnson continued. “I don’t know where their plan is, but we have one.”
That plan, shared with Mississippi Today before legislation is filed in coming days, has two key components:
A bill that would appropriate $150 million as a “lifeline” to rural hospitals. The state would send cash directly to the hospitals to help temporarily balance their budgets and fund health care services. Public hospitals that can demonstrate financial hardship would apply for grants from the new fund, which would be administered by the Department of Finance and Administration. This proposal would flow from several funding sources: $135 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds lawmakers haven’t yet spent; $13 million from the state’s Health Care Expendable Fund; and $2 million from the BP settlement fund.
Several bills that would expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, as 39 other states have done. Numerous economists say Medicaid expansion would provide $1 billion in new revenue to the state and help hospitals better cover the rising costs of providing care to poor, working Mississippians. Many Democrats have filed bills to expand Medicaid for more than 10 years, but GOP leaders at the Capitol have deeply dug their heels in opposition to it, claiming without proof that the state cannot afford it and writing it off as a liberal policy of former President Barack Obama.
Rep. John Hines, who authored the rural hospital lifeline bill, said the first bill is intended to help hospitals temporarily until Medicaid expansion, the more long-term solution, is passed. Johnson, who has fought for Medicaid expansion for several years, panned the legislative Republicans who have blocked it.
“The Black man who was president is far enough removed now for Republicans to wake up and realize that every single Mississippian — white, Black, Democrat, Republican — is losing money and might lose out on critical care because of this crisis,” Johnson said. “We’re leaving $1 billion on the table every year while our hospitals close and people die. It’s as simple as that.”
The Republican leaders at the Capitol, House Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, are at odds about how to meet the moment. And in the early days of the session, no Republican appears eager to move quickly to pass a hospital crisis fix.
Gunn, who along with Gov. Tate Reeves is directly responsible for the state’s resistance to Medicaid expansion, proposed in December a one-time, $50-$70 million appropriation for hospitals this year. That was panned by critics and even inspired a statewide newspaper column that bluntly asked: “Will closed hospitals be Gunn’s legacy, too?”
Hosemann, to his credit, has been the one Republican leader who has directly acknowledged the hospital crisis. In December, he said he sought solutions to the crisis “not just for next year, but for the next generation.” He floated several ideas, including expanding a Medicaid program for new mothers — an effort he successfully led in the Senate last year but was killed by Gunn and the House — and increasing Medicaid reimbursements to struggling hospitals.
Hosemann has long been one of few Republican leaders open to discussion of Medicaid expansion, but he said last month it’s not likely lawmakers will tackle that issue this year. He also said it’s not a cure-all.
“I don’t think that’s the answer,” Hosemann said in December. “Even if we had that expansion, (Greenwood Leflore) would not make it, it would still be short.”
After just the first week of the legislative session, key lawmakers and legislative observers are already repeating the refrain: “Don’t expect anything major to gain steam this year because it’s an election year.” Indeed, all 174 legislative seats and all eight statewide offices are up for grabs this November.
But that logic isn’t sitting well with Johnson and other Democratic leaders, particularly as the Mississippi hospital crisis worsens by the day.
“This is quite literally a matter of life and death, and we seem to be the only people in this building united behind providing relief for hospitals and health care for all Mississippians,” said Sen. Derrick Simmons, the Democratic leader of the Senate. “We’re going to push Republicans hard on this. We aren’t elected for three years and a vacation to Jackson during election years.”
Simmons continued: “We’ve got a plan. Here it is. ‘No’ is no longer an acceptable answer from the Republicans standing in the way of addressing this issue. If you don’t like it, and you have a better idea, then let’s hear what the plan is.”
