The committee tasked with advising the Mississippi Division of Medicaid met Friday for the first time in a year and a half.
The meeting in Jackson was a primer on Medicaid programs and provided a financial update for new members, most of whom were appointed in 2024 but have not yet participated in a meeting.
The Medicaid Advisory Committee offers expertise and opinions to the state Medicaid program about health care services. It is made up of doctors, hospital executives, managed care organization representatives and other Medicaid stakeholders.
Medicaid Advisory Committee members during a meeting at the Sillers Building, Friday, July 25, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
It includes two members of the recently formed Beneficiary Advisory Council, a group of Medicaid members and their families who advise Medicaid on their experience with the program.
New federal policy seeks to heighten the role that beneficiaries play in shaping Medicaid programs and policy by mandating that members of the council serve on the Medicaid Advisory Committee. Ten percent of the group must be composed of beneficiaries or their families, a proportion that will rise in the coming years.
Both committees are mandated by the federal government to meet quarterly.
The last Medicaid Advisory Committee meeting, formerly known as the Medical Care Advisory Committee, was held on Dec. 8, 2023.
Meetings were first set back in 2024 because state leaders, who were formerly charged with selecting members, were slow to make appointments. A meeting scheduled for October was postponed after former executive director Drew Snyder announced his resignation.
Medicaid Advisory Committee members during a meeting at the Sillers Building, Friday, July 25, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Meetings were then delayed further while the agency worked to sort out a discrepancy between state law and new federal guidelines, which mandated that committee appointments be made by the executive director of Medicaid and include members of the then-unformed Beneficiary Advisory Council. The new guidelines took effect this month.
State lawmakers proposed language in several bills earlier this year during the legislative session that would have conformed state law to federal regulations. Two such bills were vetoed by the governor.
Medicaid Executive Director Cindy Bradshaw said the agency decided to “honor the language” of the vetoed bills, conforming to federal guidelines without updating state law.
Medicaid Advisory Committee members during a meeting at the Sillers Building, Friday, July 25, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
The committee’s recommendations have played a crucial role in crafting state Medicaid policy in the past. In 2023, the advisory group’s recommendation contributed to the Legislature’s passage of extended Medicaid coverage for new mothers.
Mississippi schools will get millions in previously-promised federal education grants after all.
The Trump administration announced Friday that it was releasing the money, which totals billions nationwide and pays for English language instruction, adult literacy and teacher professional development, among other things.
When the federal government announced its decision to “review” the grant funding on June 30, the original amount was more than $6 billion, including $68 million in Mississippi. Later, the Trump administration unfroze $1.3 billion in grants that pay for afterschool programs, which totaled about $17 million in Mississippi.
Since then, $51 million was still on hold in the state.
The freeze had prompted lawsuits and calls from Congress, which appropriated the money in a bill signed this year by Trump, to release it. School districts in Mississippi were scrambling to deal with with the freeze at the eleventh hour, just weeks away from the start of school.
Spokespeople for the Mississippi Department of Education said they received notice from the national education department on Friday afternoon about the grants. The funds will be awarded beginning Monday, the state agency said.
“We are relieved to learn that the U.S. Department of Education will release the funds that Congress committed to states,” said Lance Evans, state superintendent of education, in an emailed statement. “These funds are essential to providing education services to the students of Mississippi.”
Mississippi universities and community colleges could lose a combined $32.5 million in federal research funding under the Trump administration, according to a new report published by The Center for American Progress.
A new analysis released o Wednesday by the national left-leaning nonprofit think tank found that during President Donald Trump’s first six months, federal agencies — primarily the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation — have canceled more than 4,000 grant awards worth an estimated $7 billion at over 600 colleges and universities across the country as of early July. Between $3.3 billion to $3.7 billion in research grants have been targeted.
Data for the analysis was pulled from DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services list of terminated grants and the U.S. Treasury Department’s Bureau of Fiscal Spending. The report looks at terminated grants, not grants that were paused or “frozen,” according to the analysis.
Mississippi colleges and universities could lose $32,513,961 in federal research grants and funding cuts under the Department of Government Efficiency, according to the report. Mississippi State University would take the biggest hit, losing more than $25.6 million.
Earlier this year, Mark Keenum, president of the university, penned a letter of concern over the federal administration’s executive order to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts linked to research funding, student aid and other school operations, calling the potential loss “catastrophic” to the university.
In a statement sent to Mississippi Today, Keenum said the institution has been working with state lawmakers and federal agency leaders to help recover funds that were threatened.
“We are deeply appreciative of the help of our Mississippi congressional delegation as they work to preserve MSU research programs and ameliorate cuts to our institution’s benefit. U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith worked particularly hard on the Senate Appropriations Committee to win concessions for our outstanding Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish research,” Keenum said. “I am proud of the way our faculty, staff, and students remained focused and disciplined in their reactions to these challenges. Because of that, we continue to serve as our state’s premier research and development hub.”
Terminating millions of dollars in research grants at universities could strip schools and their communities of resources and job opportunities, Greta Bedekovics, co-author of the analysis and associate director of democracy policy at the national think tank, said in a statement.
“These data show that no institution, big or small, is safe from being targeted, and all states are suffering the consequences of cuts,” Bedekovics said. “The future success of many universities and colleges, their reputations, and their ability to attract talent is on the line.”
Historically Black colleges and universities, as well as public land grant universities have also been affected, with more than two-thirds of all land grant universities and nearly half of HBCUs targeted for funding terminations, according to the report.
The state has two land grant universities — Mississippi State University and Alcorn State University, the state’s oldest land grant university, which is targeted for $272,369 in cuts. Alcorn is also an HBCU, as is Mississippi’s Jackson State University targeted for $1,436,982 in cuts and Mississippi Valley State University with $59,962.
Mississippi’s capital city community colleges — Holmes Community College and Hinds Community College — could collectively lose $666,000. The University of Mississippi is targeted with a cut of $1,957,108. William Carey University, a private college in the state’s southern region, stands to lose $1.3 million.
While the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education have focused primarily on Ivy League schools and other elite institutions, colleges of all types in all 50 states have received sweeping cuts to research funding.
“Americans will feel the damage of these cuts on the economy and their impacts on the United States’ competitive edge for decades,” said Will Ragland, co-author of the analysis and vice president of research at the think tank.
Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here. Additionally, Mississippi Today is proud to have moved its offices to downtown Jackson in early June. Read more about our decision here.
When Kumar Bhavanasi purchased the historic Deposit Guaranty Building and adjacent Pinnacle Building in downtown Jackson recently, it affirmed a message of optimism that many of us have been communicating for a while.
In the two high-rise structures, Bhavanasi, a developer from New Jersey, saw the vast potential of Mississippi’s central business district and burgeoning residential neighborhood. It mirrored the vision of Jackson residents and many others across the state who see the potential lying in wait. In so many ways, our downtown is an artist’s canvas, just beginning to be painted.
“There is something beautiful about a blank canvas,” an author wrote. “It’s the paint that changes its meaning and the hand that creates the story. Every piece begins the same, but in the end they are uniquely different.”
Liz Brister Credit: Courtesy photo
Downtown is, indeed, different from any other place — in Jackson, in Mississippi and in the nation. Two hundred years of history have helped make it so. We are a center of government, a business hub, a political seat, a residential quarter, an arts and entertainment venue and a gathering place. Downtown Jackson is the capital of Mississippi, a title that is not likely to ever change.
Given all that, the question of whether to put every effort into making downtown better than it’s ever been over two centuries has already been answered. The wheels to make that happen — to transform downtown into a paragon — already are moving. And now it’s augmented by fresh, imaginative leadership at City Hall.
Consider:
Safety, once an issue here, has been dramatically improved with the expansion of Capitol police in downtown. With a new headquarters near the state Capitol, more patrols and greater communication with businesses and residents, these officers have sent a message that downtown will be secure. With our new mayor now in office, we expect that to improve even more with the help of Jackson police. Citizen confidence is our goal, and we will bolster that further with additional security measures to be announced soon.
Residential space, which has transformed many downtowns in neighboring states, is being expanded in Jackson to accommodate the increasing numbers of people who see our downtown as a unique and safe place to live and work. That includes developer Bhavanasi’s planned apartments for the 18-story Deposit Guaranty Building with its beautiful early 20th century architecture. Currently, about 700 people call downtown home. With more residents will come more ancillary businesses such as a grocery store, new restaurants and entertainment sites. We are a growing neighborhood in the center of Jackson.
New quality-of-life projects to enhance our capital district and truly make it “Mississippi’s Downtown” are moving quickly. Construction of a new state park just north of the historic Old Capitol Building and overlooking our renowned Two Mississippi Museums is underway. Meanwhile, major improvements are being planned for Smith Park, one of the oldest city parks in America and a jewel in the heart of downtown. A few blocks away, construction is wrapping up on Jackson’s all-new, state-of-the-art planetarium, which is expected to attract residents from across the state and beyond. And Thalia Mara Hall, home to the International Ballet Competition, will soon re-open its doors with more improvements as the district’s arts anchor.
These are just a few of the efforts and projects underway to make downtown Jackson a reflection of who we are as Mississippians.
For me, it’s been a 35-year commitment to this city that led to Downtown Jackson Partners as its new president. The sense of pride and ownership in Jackson that I feel is something I want to encourage and cultivate in others. Our future rides on an expectation that we will thrive.
A vibrant capital city is tantamount to a dynamic state. Downtown is at the heart of it all. Downtown belongs to each of us. Downtown is our canvas to paint.
Liz Brister is president of Downtown Jackson Partners, a legislatively authorized business improvement district representing downtown property owners, and focused on growing, enhancing and promoting the district for businesses, residents and visitors.
FBI Jackson announced Thursday 10 arrests were made and 50 grams of methamphetamines as well as over 400 grams of fentanyl were seized as part of Operation Summer Heat, a national effort to combat violent crime during peak summer months.
The federal agency also called for more collaboration from local communities and agencies.
Special Agent in Charge Robert Eikhoff said 40% of Mississippi’s law enforcement agencies do not provide information to the National Incident Based Reporting System. In 2023, the FBI reported that 73.2% of law enforcement agencies nationwide reported their data to NIBRS.
The FBI can only assist agencies where it sees a need.
Winston County and the city of Louisville were chosen for a targeted operation due to increased criminal activity. In Winston County, with a population of less than 17,500, the national reporting system data shows crimes against people increased by 130% from 2020 to 2023. In 2024, 104 crimes were reported by the Winston Police Department and 99 were reported by the Winston County Sheriff’s Department.
Eikhoff wants local agencies to report data to the national system to understand what “communities are experiencing” and to help become “partners” with federal law enforcement.
The FBI created the system in the 1980s, but it didn’t become the official crime data tracker until 2021. It tracks 44 more offense types than the previous tracker, includes demographic data, and location categories like hotel or school, among other data that provides context to crime.
The last reporting system only listed the most serious offense from each reported crime. It now includes every offense committed as part of a crime.
A recently passed Mississippi law mandated that all local agencies report numbers to the FBI data base by Dec. 31, 2025. A previous version of the law would deprive state funding from law enforcement agencies that didn’t report data. As early as 2013, the Department of Justice has offered grant money to help agencies report their data.
Former Byram Police Chief Luke Thompson was part of the initial meetings to help law enforcement agencies report their data to the National Incident Based Reporting System, in 2017. He was surprised to learn that Mississippi tracked domestic violence fatalities from statewide newspaper coverage.
In 2025, the FBI is hoping to collaborate with other local agencies that might lack the equipment and budget to investigate crime.
“If we don’t have that relationship, then we can’t have that conversation and express to them what resources are available through us,” Eikhoff said.
Rural counties and financially struggling law enforcement agencies don’t always have the tools and manpower to investigate serious crimes. The consequences can be low clearance rates and low morale.
The mean annual wage for police and sheriff’s patrol officers in Mississippi was $42,900 in 2023, which is among the lowest in the country. Old equipment and proper training requires higher police budgets than some rural cities and counties offer.
“We appreciate the FBI and the resources that you gave us to make these arrests,” said Louisville Police Chief Sean Holdiness. “Hopefully, we can get back to normal.”
Although violent crime has decreased over the last three years, the FBI announced the existence of at least 200 gangs operating in Mississippi. They estimate that 20 national gangs are operating in Mississippi today. They include “neighborhood gangs.”
“These neighborhood gangs, they’re younger, they’re not driven wholly by the financial gains that you get from the national gangs,” said Eikhoff.
Eikhoff brought up a shooting that he estimates had over 100 rounds.
“That is what got our attention,” he said.
Mississippi has the highest gun death rate in the United States. The overall gun death rate increased 66% from 2013 to 2022. In October 2024, a federal jury convicted a Mississippi man for trafficking over 60 weapons from Belzoni to Chicago.
No specific number of guns were reported seized yet as part of Operation Summer Heat in Mississippi. In Kentucky’s recent Summer Heat operation, 82 guns were seized.
“The fact that someone’s carrying a weapon in and of itself is something that we have to be very mindful of in terms of constitutional rights,” Eikhoff said.
Welcome to Mississippi Marketplace, our new roundup of economic and business news from around the state. This week we’re focusing on the artificial intelligence boom in Mississippi.
Amazon is building two data centers in Madison County. An eight-building complex is coming to Meridian. An Elon Musk affiliate recently bought a power plant in DeSoto County, near Memphis.
Katherine Lin
The companies behind the data centers will invest $20 billion, an unprecedented amount, contributing to local government revenues and creating new jobs.
A data center owned by Amazon Web Services, front right, is under construction next to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Berwick, Pa., on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey) Credit: Associated Press
But with the AI boom underway, more data centers are in the works around the country. BlackRock estimates that investment in data centers and AI chips could reach $700 billion a year by 2030.
What do you think Mississippi’s role will be in the AI boom, and what can the state be doing to take advantage of it? Let us know what you think at marketplace@mississippitoday.org.
Elon Musk’s xAI establishes a foothold in Mississippi
An affiliate of Elon Musk’s xAI has purchased a former natural gas power plant in DeSoto County, according to the Daily Memphian. While the company has been tight-lipped about its plans in Mississippi, Memphis’ mayor “suspects” that it will power xAI’s new supercomputer facility, Colossus 2, in Memphis.
No details have been released about when the plant will be up and running but in an interview with CNBC in May 2025, Musk said that Colossus 2 would be done in six to nine months.
Mississippi currently lags behind in AI talent and innovation, according to several reports, but recent investments are working to change that. Governor Reeves in June announced a $9-million commitment to AI workforce development and announced a partnership with Nvidia Corporation to expand AI education. A Brookings Institute report described the program as, “a fundamental shift in how states approach AI talent cultivation.”
For interested Mississippians:
Applications are open for a four week paid course at Hinds Community College’s Jackson campus to prepare people for careers in Amazon’s upcoming data centers, which will be located in nearby Madison County. The data centers are expected to open in 2027 and will create 1,000 new jobs. The full-time program will run August 18 – September 16 at the Jackson campus. Learn more.
Belhaven university launched a masters in AI program joining the growing ranks of education initiatives and programs in the state.
Other News: Mississippi unemployment up, biz friendliness ranking increases, Nissan delays EV production
Mississippi had the largest unemployment rate increase year-over-year in June, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics going from 2.9% in June 2024 to 4.0% in June 2025. The June rate is unchanged since April. Over the same yearly period, the national unemployment hovered around 4.1%.
It’s been a tough year for cotton farmers with falling prices and higher costs, according to the Roy Howards Community Journalism Center.
Mississippi improved its rankings in CNBC’s ranking of the best states to do business in, going from 49th to 45th place placing in the top 15 for cost of doing business and cost of living.
This month, Nissan delayed production of three EV models at its Canton plant. The company told The Tennessean that delays were “not related” to the federal One Big Beautiful Bill ending EV tax credits.
OCEAN SPRINGS — A Mississippi battle continues in a legal dispute about dissolving a business partnership that managed a program to ticket uninsured motorists.
Chancery Judge Neil Harris booted a member of the media from the courtroom Thursday morning, saying he would hold a closed hearing in a legal dispute between two companies that previously ran a program to nab uninsured motorists.
After having a bailiff tape paper over the window so nobody could see him on the bench, Harris decided to unseal the court file in the case that three politically connected Mississippians filed against their partner, Georgia-based Securix LLC. Attorneys for both sides said when they emerged from the courtroom that Harris had decided to unseal the file. The file could be unsealed Thursday afternoon.
Exhibits and financial records, they said, will remain closed.
What was previously known about the lawsuit comes from its brief removal to federal court in Gulfport, where the file is open.
The three Mississippians, operating as QJR LLC, sued in September to dissolve their partnership with Securix LLC in the uninsured motorist program. QJR also is suing Securix and its chairman, Jonathan Miller of Georgia, for defamation.
“They (QJR) want to stop the defamation from ruining political careers, that’s their argument,” Securix attorney Albert R. Jordan IV said in the federal case, a hearing transcript shows.
Very little else was known about the lawsuit, which QJR asked Harris to seal. Harris obliged. By Thursday, QJR had no objection to the file being unsealed, said company member Robert Wilkinson, a Pascagoula attorney.
MS media fights for court access
Media companies Mississippi Today and the Sun Herald on July 14 asked the state Supreme Court to compel Harris to open the court file. Court files are open by law. A compelling reason for closing a court file must be demonstrated in an open hearing, weighing the interests of the public against litigants’ right to privacy, Mississippi case law has established. Harris never held such a hearing before closing the file.
Securix uses automatic license plate readers, usually mounted on traffic signals, to capture images of license plates. With the help of artificial intelligence, Securix can extract license plate numbers from the images.
The company aimed to team up with Mississippi cities to share in revenue from the program. Ticketed vehicle owners were offered the option of showing proof of insurance, entering a diversion program for $300 or taking their cases to court, where they could face stiffer consequences.
In May 2021, the city of Ocean Springs was the first client Securix LLC signed on. Securix teamed up with QJR so the Mississippi partners could help secure more contracts, municipal records show. QJR members, who used their first names for the company initials, are Quinton Dickerson and Josh Gregory of Frontier Strategies in the metro Jackson area, plus attorney Robert Wilkinson.
Both Gregory and Wilkinson were in court Thursday with QJR’s attorney, Jaklyn Wrigley of Ocean Springs.
Judge Neil Harris Credit: Tim Isbell, Sun Herald
Frontier is an advertising agency that has managed state and local political campaigns, while Wilkinson has worked with numerous government entities, including the city of Ocean Springs.
Securix Mississippi was able to sign on the cities of Senatobia, Pearl and Biloxi for the uninsured motorist program. But the Mississippi Department of Public Safety shut down Securix access to a crucial insured motorist database in August, after Securix LLC chairman Miller raised concerns about whether proper law enforcement controls were in place, according to DPS.
Miller claimed QJR had stopped sharing program information and access with him in March 2024.
This article was produced in partnership between the Sun Herald and Mississippi Today.
President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, signed into law earlier this month, slashes social safety net programs that impact schools and children across the nation.
The ramifications could be particularly devastating in Mississippi, one of the most federally dependent states in the country.
The law limits eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, through which about a quarter of a million Mississippians with children receive food assistance. The policy also cuts the federal contribution to Medicaid, the country’s largest insurer of children, and creates a tax credit program that doles out private-school scholarships.
Here’s more about how the federal law will impact Mississippi students, teachers and families.
Tax credit private school voucher program
A new program created by the law will allow Mississippians to contribute up to $1,700 to an organization that awards scholarships to private school students starting in 2027, and donors will be given a break on their taxes equal to the amount they contribute.
It’s a dollar-for-dollar tax credit — about three times as much as people receive from donating to a children’s hospital or other causes.
The program is a huge win for school choice proponents in Mississippi — or “education freedom,” as House Speaker Jason White and others call it. He said the issue will be his top priority going into the 2026 legislative session.
But it’s a loss for the state’s public schools, said Nancy Loome, executive director of The Parents’ Campaign, a public education advocacy group.
“This is absolutely intended to shift public money into private schools,” she said. “This is the federal government reimbursing taxpayers for payments to private schools. It’s a kind of money laundering.”
Douglas Carswell, president of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, calls that a “Pavlovian response” from school choice opponents.
“It’s not money that would have ever gone into the public education system in the first place,” he said. “It doesn’t apply because the dollars weren’t in the public school system to begin with.”
Loome said the program could also lead to private schools increasing tuition. It’s a risk that Carswell doesn’t deny, but says is unlikely given the eligibility criteria for the vouchers.
However, the eligibility criteria is generous — to qualify for vouchers, you can earn up to 300% of the area’s median income. That’s six-figures in Mississippi, or about $150,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
That’s in line with research that shows a majority of private school vouchers across the country go to students who could already afford and were attending private schools.
“It’s clear that these programs benefit wealthier, more affluent families,” Loome said. “Students in the public schools are the ones who will be left with fewer resources.”
The first step for implementing the optional program in Mississippi: The state must choose to participate. It’s likely, given powerful Republican state leaders’ support of school choice initiatives. Then, Carswell suspects we’ll see an increase in scholarship-granting organizations — the groups that will disburse these vouchers, whose sole purpose must be doing so. Ace Scholars is one such organization with an established presence in Mississippi, he said.
Mississippi currently only provides private school vouchers for students with disabilities.
“In Mississippi, we are finally getting to the place where we’re recognized for student achievement in our public schools,” Loome said. “It makes no sense for us to embrace a program that will take our students backwards.”
Federal money for workforce training
Another portion of the law in line with education movements in Mississippi: The ability to use federal grants to pay for short-term workforce training.
Low-income students who qualify for federal Pell Grants can use a Workforce Pell Grant on certain weeks-long training programs for skilled jobs starting next school year.
Scott Waller, president of the Mississippi Economic Council, said the change will have a positive impact in Mississippi, where state leaders have been advocating for more career and technical education opportunities for students. The push comes at a critical time, as Republican state leaders tout the state’s economic growth.
“Are you getting an education that’s tied to employment? That’s the key,” Waller said. “If that happens, it’s going to change the trajectory of a lot of lives in Mississippi.”
Education officials, too, have turned an eye to career and technical education starting in high school, so Waller said the timing of the federal Pell Grant changes couldn’t be better.
“The model we have right now is so geared to the academic side — not that that’s not important — but this is one more step to making connections between the needs of our students and the needs of our companies,” he said. “This is a step forward.”
Free school meals may be affected
Trump’s legislation will create more work requirements for parents to qualify for the SNAP program, which may decrease the number of students getting free school meals.
That could have a domino effect on how many schools meet the federal threshold to provide free meals for all students.
While parents can still fill out paperwork at their child’s school for free meals if they are removed from SNAP rolls, it’s sometimes difficult to get them to do so, according to Amanda Williams, the incoming president for the Mississippi School Nutrition Association.
“We communicate and communicate, but it’s still hard to get parents to do it,” she said. “And if they have other things to pay for, like the light bill, they’re not going to think about sending a dollar with their child for lunch. We’re going to feed our babies anyway at the school, but those students will accumulate a bill that just gets higher and higher.”
Williams said she knows of schools in south Mississippi with upwards of $30,000 in school lunch debt.
About one in four children in Mississippi face food insecurity. And because the state is so rural, Williams said, there’s a greater burden on schools to feed children.
“Our students are not able to just walk down the street around the corner to a local restaurant or cafeteria or fast food,” she said. “If you have parents who work all day, the kid can get home and they’re still hungry. They will have to wait until their parents get home to eat.”
Hunger has a direct impact on student learning. Williams has seen it firsthand as assistant director of child nutrition at Meridian Public Schools.
“I mingle with students in the morning, and when they come in, you can look at their faces and see that they are hungry,” she said. “But once they come in, get their breakfast and start eating, their attitude changes.
“If our children aren’t eating, then they’re not going to excel in school like we want them to.”
According to health policy expert John Dillon Harris, who also studies nutrition, the state could be paying approximately $140 million more annually on SNAP, thanks to changes in the federal spending package.
The legislation makes states responsible for 75% of the administrative costs associated with SNAP instead of half, and the state could also be picking up millions in SNAP benefit costs.
Additionally, the law prohibits immigrants from receiving SNAP benefits unless they are classified as “lawful permanent residents.”
Ramped up immigration enforcement
Immigration enforcement is getting an influx of cash under the president’s spending legislation — an additional $31 billion for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and $13 billion for states and local communities.
If children’s families are affected by deportations or arrests, they may require more support in school.
ICE raids in 2017 and 2019 in Jackson left lasting trauma among students, teachers said, who required extra counseling at school.
“The students went home and their parents weren’t there, so the schools had to come to their aid,” said L. Patricia Ice, director of the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance.
In the event of arrest, Ice encouraged parents to create family preparation plans — which include talking to children about who will care for them in parents’ absence, keeping contact information up-to-date in schools and designating a trusted individual as a guardian.
Medicaid spending on student services
While the federal spending law makes historic Medicaid cuts, experts say the direct impact on Mississippi schools is minimal because the state hasn’t expanded Medicaid.
In Mississippi, the state Medicaid agency pays for certain services in schools for students with disabilities, including speech, occupational and physical therapists, so those school-based services will not be impacted by the federal changes.
Federal funding to state Medicaid divisions will decrease under the legislation, though, so the Mississippi agency may make its own changes.
April Smith, a resident of south Jackson’s Blossom Apartments, returned from an outpatient surgery Wednesday to find that her water services had been shut off.
She’d seen it coming. Her landlord had been in the news in recent months for falling behind on the property’s water bill by more than $400,000.
JXN Water, the city’s privately operated water utility, had indicated water shutoffs at Blossom and other complexes with delinquent accounts were possible but not imminent. Smith and her neighbors found their taps dry Wednesday – a sweltering summer day reaching 97 degrees.
The pool at Blossom Apartments is seen in Jackson, Miss., on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. Residents at the apartment complex lost water service this week after JXN Water shut it off because of large unpaid bills by the property owner. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Anticipating this could happen, Smith had filled up her bathtub and pots with water, allowing her to at least flush the toilet. She planned to visit her mother’s home a few miles up the street to bathe.
Blossom Apartments LLC owner Tony Little, whose trouble with JXN Water dates back at least a year, did not respond to a call or email from Mississippi Today Wednesday afternoon, but the Louisiana-based businessman told WLBT in 2024 that he rejected the company’s assessment of what he owed.
JXN Water interim third-party manager Ted Henifin retorted, telling WLBT this week, “He has to pay his bill.”
Water is not the only issue at Blossom, a 72-unit property initially built in 2004 through low-income housing tax credits administered by the state to offer affordable rents to Jackson residents. Smith has lived there for nearly a year and a half, and said she’s been plagued with problems such as faulty air conditioning units and black mold in her apartment.
“Now we’re suffering,” said Smith, 50. “What are we going to do? We’ve been paying. What are y’all doing with our money?”
A person holds a notice to vacate at Blossom Apartments in Jackson, Miss., on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. Residents at the apartment complex lost water service this week after JXN Water shut it off because of large unpaid bills by the property owner. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
To her, the water shutoff underscores the issue of poor management. She said the property managers are only accessible on the days rental payments are due.
“They don’t come to the office. They ain’t answer no letters. They ain’t knock on no doors. They ain’t tell us nothing,” Smith said.
Earlier this year, JXN Water released a list of multi-family accounts that had more than $100,000 in unpaid water fees. Blossom was on the list. JXN Water was not able to provide a comment as of press time.
Smith said she receives a housing voucher from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department for $543 a month. But now without water, she doesn’t want to pay her portion of the $800 rent, which is also supposed to cover water. She didn’t pay her June or July rent after learning that the water was at risk of being shut off. Earlier this month, she and others who didn’t pay received a notice to submit rent within three days or face an eviction filing in court.
Smith said she’s planning to move from Blossom to another Jackson apartment complex within the next couple of weeks.
“They don’t care,” she said. “When you try to be nice, they don’t care. I’m disabled. I don’t need this.”
Blossom Apartments are seen in Jackson, Miss., on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. Residents at the apartment complex lost water service this week after JXN Water shut it off because of large unpaid bills by the property owner. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Lillie Wilcher, another resident of Blossom Apartments, said she would move if she could, but it’s too expensive.
“How can we find somewhere else to go if we’re having to keep paying rent over here?” Wilcher asked. “I’m disabled. I live check to check. It don’t make sense. How will we find somewhere else to go?”
When she first moved to the complex about eight months ago, Wilcher said she didn’t have a refrigerator for months, which is a necessity for her since she needs to keep her insulin cold. But she soon traded one problem for another – once maintenance got her a fridge, her stove went out.
“It’s just hectic over here. It’s depressing, and I’m ready to go,” Wilcher said. “I’ve been trying so hard to find somewhere else to go.”
Now, without water, she planned to go to the nearby grocery store to stockpile bottled water. She has to have water for an oxygen machine when she sleeps.
“It’s too hot to be here,” Wilcher said. “It’s getting hotter. It’s too hot to be without water.”
A key Mississippi lawmaker says low-income pregnant women should soon receive faster access to medical services because the federal government has approved a Mississippi law that was on hold for more than a year.
“We know that prenatal care is critical for pregnant women,” House Medicaid Committee Chairwoman Missy McGee, a Republican from Hattiesburg, said Wednesday. “It will give them the best opportunity to deliver a healthy, full-term baby.”
The law allows pregnant women to be presumed eligible for Medicaid coverage while their applications are pending. It was first passed in 2024 but has been stalled because of a discrepancy between state and federal requirements.
Mississippi lawmakers revised the state requirements this year to match federal guidelines. The new bill became law without Republican Gov. Tate Reeves’ signature in March, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved the policy Thursday.
Women will be able to take advantage of the program after providers are trained to make eligibility determinations, Mississippi Medicaid spokesperson Matt Westerfield said Wednesday. The agency aims to schedule training sessions for early August.
McGee led efforts to enact the policy. She said it aims to ensure pregnant women have the opportunity to see a doctor in the early weeks of pregnancy in a state with some of the nation’s highest infant and maternal mortality rates.
Without presumptive eligibility, pregnant women who are eligible for Medicaid must go without care or pay out of pocket while they wait for their application to be processed.
The preterm birth rate in Mississippi is 15% – the highest in the nation, according to March of Dimes. Over 13% of Mississippi women did not receive prenatal care until the fifth month of pregnancy or later in 2024, meaning they received less than 50% of the appropriate number of recommended visits during pregnancy.
Medicaid funds 57% of births in Mississippi, the second highest share in the nation after Louisiana.
To be eligible for the program, women must be at or below 194% of the federal poverty level – an income of about $31,000 for one person or about $53,000 for a family of three. Those approved will receive 60 days of coverage for outpatient care while their application is processed. The average processing time for Mississippi Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program applications is 16 days, Westerfield said.
Providers must complete an application and undergo eligibility determination training before they are approved by the Mississippi Division of Medicaid to participate in the program, according to an explainer published on the agency’s website in 2024.
Sixteen providers are currently approved and trained for the program, Westerfield said. They will be retrained alongside any newly applied providers.
The Division of Medicaid will make a list of providers available on its website after they are trained, he said.
McGee said the next step will be for providers, county health departments and Medicaid managed care organizations to educate people who are eligible to seek the benefit of the program.
The 2024 legislation included a proof of income requirement, which the CMS did not allow, maintaining instead that vocal testimony should suffice for eligibility determination purposes.
McGee said alterations to the law, which included removing the proof of income and proof of pregnancy requirements, did not change its intent.
“The simplest thing was to make those fixes,” she said.
Legislators also passed a law in 2023 that gives mothers Medicaid coverage for one year after they give birth.
Mississippi joins other states that passed presumptive eligibility bills this year, including Alabama and Arkansas.
McGee said she is pleased Mississippi’s presumptive eligibility for pregnant women has finally received federal approval.
“We felt this was imperative and a very important step towards getting off the top of some very negative lists,” she said.
