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Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan, during his fourth visit to Jackson in the last year, and Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba underlined the importance of the public’s trust and participation as they sat next to each other during a roundtable discussion Tuesday over the city’s water situation.

“The mayor and I have talked about this a number of times, we know we have to earn trust, it’s not something that’s going to be given,” Regan said in an auditorium at Jackson State University. “We’re willing to work for that.”

“I don’t think that the solution just sits at this corner of the table,” Lumumba said, gesturing to where he and Regan sat. “I think it will be created by what we collectively do.”

But the public, at this point, has little access to what the next steps will be, as details over a short-term solution for the water system are sealed behind a confidentiality agreement until the city reaches an agreement with the Department of Justice.

Regan, though, provided some insight into what that process will look like: Once the two sides reach an agreement, it will go to the Jackson City Council for approval, and then back to Lumumba for his signature. Then, the DOJ will request that a federal court approve the proposal, the administrator said.

“I would then return to Jackson, sit down beside the mayor, and hopefully representatives from the state, and we will have a discussion about longer term solutions that would, at that point, include an opportunity for more public engagement,” Regan said.

Lumumba said in a recent interview with the Clarion Ledger that the negotiations will likely result in a “third-party administrator” who will operate outside the city’s control and who will be in charge of prioritizing projects and allocating federal funds. But he added that the arrangement won’t be a long-term solution.

“The federal government, as I understand it, isn’t looking to have some, you know, indefinite or permanent relationship in the city of Jackson,” the mayor said in the interview.

During the roundtable discussion, officials and community members raised the issue of trust, not just in the EPA, but in the water itself.

“My concern is for the citizens that have seemed to have lost hope and confidence in the consumption of water in the city,” said Rep. Bo Brown, D-Jackson.

Dwayne Pickett, a pastor at New Jerusalem Church, asked about communication between the public and the EPA, echoing that “there’s a loss of hope” among residents. Regan responded that the EPA will try to do a better job of having more public engagement opportunities, and reiterated that the public will be asked for input after the DOJ reaches an agreement with the city.

Last week, the city council approved a $720,000 contract with California-based Water Talent LLC to provide four Class A operators to Jackson through February. Lumumba declined to clarify whether the city will look for another contractor after that.

The new operators began work on Monday, as Gov. Tate Reeves’ state of emergency declaration is set to expire next on Nov. 22. Lumumba said he has requested an extension of the state of emergency.

When asked about long-term solutions such as regionalization and privatization, both of which Lumumba opposes, Regan said only: “I think we all share the same goal, everybody at the table wants this to be a public water utility system.”

The post ‘There’s a loss of hope’: EPA offers scant details as it tries to earn Jackson’s trust appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Earlier this fall, after a 26-12 loss to Jackson State, Alabama State football coach Eddie Robinson Jr. lashed out about Deion Sanders, saying, “He ain’t SWAC. I’m SWAC.”

It should be noted Robinson subsequently apologized, as well he should have. Everybody in the Southwestern Athletic Conference should thank the heavens for the attention and revenue Sanders has brought to the league.

Don’t expect any similar outbursts following this Saturday’s Jackson State-Alcorn State Soul Bowl matchup at Lorman. We might see some after-the-whistle skirmishes during the game. Indeed, it would be an upset if we did not. The JSU-Alcorn rivalry is as heated as any in college sports. Tempers usually flare. But no matter what happens on the field, Sanders and Alcorn’s head coach Fred McNair likely will share a hug and retain a healthy mutual respect for one another.

“Love him, love him, love him,” Sanders said when asked about McNair during his weekly press conference Tuesday morning. “I have so much respect for him and what he has represented during his career and what he has done for the SWAC for a multitude of years.”

In a phone interview later Tuesday afternoon, McNair was effusive in his praise for Sanders. “He’s done a tremendous job at Jackson State and for the SWAC,” McNair said. “He’s helped bring things we’ve been trying to get in this league for a long time, especially in regard to TV and media exposure. He’s brought in big-time recruits. He’s made Jackson State better, but he’s made us all better. There’s no doubt about that.”

It’s difficult to imagine anyone more “SWAC” than Fred McNair. He is the original Air McNair. He was a sensational player at Alcorn. His young brother, the late Steve McNair, was originally dubbed Air II McNair out of respect for older brother Fred. Tim McNair, another brother, also was a standout wide receiver at Alcorn. Fred’s son, Akeem, is a junior wide receiver for the Braves. 

Sanders knows and appreciates all that. He knew it back in August of 2019 when he was on hand for the Alcorn-Southern Miss season opener at Hattiesburg.

“Shedeur (his quarterbacking son) was on a recruiting visit to Southern Miss,” Deion Sanders said. “We were there to visit Southern Miss, but I felt compelled to go to the Alcorn locker room and say ‘what’s up’ to Coach McNair for all he has meant over the course of his career. His name should be in the archives of HBCU history.

“I feel like we’ve had a friendship ever since,” Sanders continued. “Coach McNair is a good man, a great man, with a great family. I love the way he goes about his job and his business.”

Sanders, as he should, expects an all-out effort from the Braves. “Alcorn is going to come out and play their butts off,” Sanders said.

McNair expects the same from Jackson State, a team he knows probably possesses far more talent and depth than his own.

“They’ve got a lot of top notch guys,” McNair said. “They’ve got guys who could be playing at Power Five schools. They’ve got guys who have played at Power Five schools. He has brought in some really big-time recruits and transfers.”

One of those recruits is Shedeur Sanders, the JSU quarterback McNair calls “an elite player.”

“He’s a great quarterback,” McNair said of the younger Sanders. “I love the way he gets the ball out of his hand. He gets it out quick and he’s accurate. He makes good decisions. He’s a great player.”

Sanders was announced Monday as JSU’s finalist for the C Spire Conerly Trophy, and he will be among the favorites. He should be. He has completed 71% of his passes for 31 touchdowns and just five interceptions for an undefeated, nationally ranked team.

But Alcorn State, 5-5, has an outstanding Conerly Trophy candidate of its own. Meet running back Jarveon Howard, from Columbia, who has run for 1,154 yards, averaging 5.6 yards per carry with 11 touchdowns. There’s a story there. McNair recruited Howard hard out of high school at East Marion. Howard chose Syracuse instead. He ran for about 700 yards over two seasons at Syracuse before entering the transfer portal. One of Howard’s first calls after entering the portal was from McNair, and the conversation went exceedingly well for both. Howard told McNair he should have gone to Alcorn in the first place. Howard likely will be the best back Jackson State has faced all season.

Still, Jackson State will be a huge favorite Saturday. Alcorn likely needs at least a plus-2 turnover advantage and a big play or two in the kicking game to have a chance. But this is football and this is a rivalry game. Those things do happen – in the SWAC and everywhere else football is played.

The post It’s a rivalry of mutual respect between Sanders and McNair appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Gov. Tate Reeves released his annual budget proposal Tuesday, using the document to renew his continuing advocacy of eliminating the state income tax and to tout many of the conservative social policies the Republican has embraced in recent years.

In his budget recommendation — which is just a pitch to legislative leaders and not a mandate — Reeves did not propose any funding to address the state’s hospital financial crisis or the Jackson water crisis.

Many of the proposals in the governor’s budget proposal are not money-related but instead statements of political philosophy.

For instance, Reeves proposed a “Parents Bill of Rights” that he said is in part a response to liberal policies in other states that require teachers and others to refer to a student at his or her request “by a name or pronoun that fails to correspond with the biological sex on the child’s official record.”

In terms of actual state funds going to local school districts to pay for their basic operations such as teacher salaries, utilities and other items, Reeves recommends $2.36 billion, which is the same level of funding currently being provided for the Mississippi Adequate Education Funding. That level of funding left the local school districts $279.3 million short of full funding. Since 2008, MAEP has been underfunded $3.35 billion.

With school districts dealing with rising costs because of inflation, many legislators have advocated for increased funding for MAEP.

Reeves did renew his call to provide $5 million for a “Patriotic Education Fund” to teach “an accurate accounting of our nation’s history.” In the past year, legislators have rejected the program. Reeves also proposed increasing the amount of funding in a voucher program for special needs students to attend private schools and creating a similar voucher program for foster children.

The Legislative Budget Committee, which consists of Speaker Philip Gunn, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and other legislative leaders, is slated to release its budget proposal in the coming weeks.

Both the governor and the legislative committee are mandated by state law to release budget proposals in advance of the upcoming January legislative session.

The budget ultimately passed during the 2023 session is for the fiscal year starting July 1.

Overall, Reeves’ proposal of $7.28 billion is $751.2 million or 9.4% less than what was approved by the Legislature during the 2022 session. But the cut is misleading because during the 2022 session, legislators appropriated various pots of federal and one-time funds for non-recurring expenses.

“Our ultimate aim is straightforward: to advance responsible policies that lay the foundation of a strong society and allow Mississippians to flourish,” Reeves said in a statement. “We will maximize freedom, we will protect your rights and safety, and we will build a future that every Mississippian can be proud of.”

The mainstay of Reeves’ proposal was his call to phase out the state income tax, which accounts for about one-third of state general fund revenue, though that percentage is decreasing thanks to a $425 million income tax cut passed during the 2022 session. Despite the 2022 tax cut, which was the largest in state history, Reeves still wants to take the final step to completely eliminate the income tax.

“My proposal is feasible, practical, and does not require cutting current state expenditures,” he wrote in the budget narrative. “Last session, the fiscal and financial environment was right. Sadly, the political environment was not. This session, I hope that’s not the case.”

In a Tuesday statement, Gunn reiterated his desire to work with Reeves to eliminate the income tax.

“We’re still reviewing it but we understand a part of it is advocating to eliminate the income tax which I have long advocated for,” Gunn said. “We look forward to working with the governor to get the votes to make it happen.”

As Reeves pointed out, Mississippi, like most states, has experienced record revenue growth and has a surplus of about $2.5 billion. He said in the coming weeks he would provide details on how he believes some of that surplus should be spent.

Hosemann has proposed providing a one-time rebate to taxpayers as multiple other states have done.

In other areas, Reeves proposed:

• Career coaches. Reeves said he wants to promote Mississippi children entering “lucrative blue-collar professions such as truck driving or being mechanics.” For this year, lawmakers allocated $8 million in federal pandemic funds to provide 80 coaches in 51 counties. Reeves proposes spending $16 million in state dollars in the coming year to provide 160 career coaches to help put at least one in every school district across the state.

• Speed to market fund. Reeves said the state needs to increase the number of “project-ready” sites it has to lure more economic development. Lawmakers for the last two years have provide $50 million a year for site development. Reeves proposes spending $100 million for the coming year.

• Cross-district and virtual learning. Reeves proposes $2 million to help schools work virtually among districts. He also proposes $1 million to expand computer science courses statewide. Lawmakers have passed a plan that would require all schools to offer computer science learning by the 2024-2025 school year.

• Vouchers for foster kids. Reeves proposes spending $3 million to allow vouchers for foster children to allow them to stay in the same school when they are transferred out of homes, or to go to schools that better meet their needs. The program would initially provide vouchers for about 400 of the state’s 4,000 foster children, but should later be expanded, Reeves said.

• Childcare tax credits. Reeves proposes a state child care tax credit for parents and to allow them to write off childcare supplies.

• Increase pregnancy resource center tax credits. In response to Mississippi’s ban on abortions, Reeves proposes additional state help for pro-life pregnancy resource centers. Lawmakers approved $3.5 million in tax credits for the center this year. Reeves wants to increase that to $7 million.

• Reduce adoption backlogs/help adoptive parents. Reeves proposes spending $3 million to hire more lawyers at Child Protection Services to help speed adoptions. He also proposes $12 million to provide adoptive parents with larger stipends and help with legal expenses.

• Increase Capitol Police spending. Reeves wants to increase the Capitol Police budget of $15.1 million by $4.56 million. He said this will allow for at least 150 officers to patrol the Jackson Capitol Complex Improvement District and reduce crime.

• Enhanced school safety. The governor proposed $5 million to train employees in school districts to provide school safety.

Reeves did not propose any additional funds to help hospitals in the state that are on the brink of closing. He did propose additional funds for hospital residency programs designed to increase the number of health care providers in the state. He also proposed revamping the state program that determines the number of health care providers in each area.

The post Reeves pitches tax cuts but omits hospital crisis, Jackson water in budget proposal appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Note: This article is part of Mississippi Today’s ongoing Mississippi Health Care Crisis project. Read more about the project by clicking here.

Mississippi would receive $1.61 billion in federal funds for the first year of Medicaid expansion and $1.64 billion in the second year, according to a study authored by the state economist’s office.

The state’s top economists forecasted that Mississippi would collect $1.36 billion in year three, $1.38 billion in year four, and increasing by smaller percentages going forward.

The study, released by state economist Corey Miller and senior economist Sondra Collins of the University Research Center in September 2021, assessed the financial effects if state leaders expanded Medicaid in 2022. Choosing to opt into the expanded federal Medicaid program would not only provide more than 200,000 primarily working Mississippians with basic health care coverage, but it would be a boon to the state’s economy, the experts found.

Importantly, the economists found that the 10% matching costs the state must cover if it expanded Medicaid would be more than covered by health care-related savings to the state and new tax revenue generated.

Q&A: What is Medicaid expansion, really?

But of course, the expansion the economists forecasted in the 2021 study did not happen. State leaders, primarily Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn, continue to block efforts to expand Medicaid. Thirty-eight other states have expanded Medicaid, and South Dakota is expected to become the 39th after voters there approved a Medicaid expansion measure on the November ballot.

The Mississippi study pointed out that federal COVID-19 relief legislation, the American Rescue Plan, provides states that have not expanded Medicaid a greater financial incentive to do so. The study estimates that the incentive would result in an additional $306.4 million for Mississippi the first year and $316.2 million the second year.

After two years, the incentives go away. In the University Research Center study, those two years of incentives are included for 2022 and 2023. But under the American Rescue Plan, Mississippi would get those incentives the first two years of Medicaid expansion, regardless of the years that expansion occurred.

READ MORE: Who’s opposed to Mississippi Medicaid expansion and why?

Based on the study, which looks an expansion beginning in 2022, the amount of federal funds would decline starting in 2024 because the incentives would go away. But the state would receive similar federal funds on a yearly basis whenever it expands Medicaid. It is just losing out on those funds the longer it waits to adopt the expansion.

The federal Medicaid money coming into the state, whether for the traditional Medicaid program or for expansion, in reality goes to health care providers to pay for services rendered to Medicaid beneficiaries. This would directly help hospitals across the state, which are battling rising health care costs and struggling to cover care for uninsured patients. The federal funds would not stay in state coffers for legislators to dole out in other non-health care areas and it does not go to beneficiaries. But the two years of ARPA-related incentives to expand Medicaid could be used, various studies have pointed out, to mitigate state costs for Medicaid expansion in future years.

The federal government pays 90% of the health care costs for the people receiving benefits through Medicaid expansion. The state is responsible for the additional 10% and for administrative costs.

Those who earn less than 138% of the federal poverty level ($18,754 for an individual) qualify for Medicaid expansion. The state pays a higher matching rate for people on the traditional Medicaid program. Those receiving traditional Medicaid benefits are primarily the disabled, poor pregnant women, poor children and some poor senior citizens.

Even with the state’s mandated match, the University Research Center study concludes that the economic boom caused by Medicaid expansion, based on the billions of dollars in federal funds flowing into Mississippi, will grow the state’s coffers as much as $44 million annually, increase the state’s gross domestic product, modestly grow the state’s population and increase jobs on average of 11,300 per year over a five-year period.

“However, the state would need to increase its current supply of employees in the health care field to realize these job gains,” according to the study.

READ MORE: State economist refutes politicians’ claim that Mississippi cannot afford Medicaid expansion

The post Mississippi leaving more than $1 billion per year on table by rejecting Medicaid expansion appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: RIP appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Note: This article is part of Mississippi Today’s ongoing Mississippi Health Care Crisis project. Read more about the project by clicking here.

While running for governor in 2019, then-Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves was quizzed at a Capitol Press Corps luncheon whether his opposition to expanding Medicaid coverage to working-poor Mississippians was softening.

“I am opposed to Obamacare expansion in Mississippi. I am opposed to Obamacare expansion in Mississippi. I am opposed to Obamacare expansion in Mississippi. I don’t know how many ways I can explain this to y’all,” Reeves said.

Reeves’ fellow Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn has frequently given equally deep and erudite explanations of his steadfast opposition to accepting $1 billion a year in federal money to help the working poor and Mississippi’s distressed hospitals.

“From what I know about it, we cannot afford it,” Gunn said tersely to questions as the 2021 legislative session ended, obviously not wanting to discuss the issue further.

For more than a decade, despite most other states expanding Medicaid and despite hospitals, doctors, economists and experts saying it would be a net benefit to the poorest, sickest, most uninsured and most federally dependent state in the country, most of Mississippi’s top elected leaders have refused the offer.

As some hospitals across the state close their doors and others struggle on the brink of collapse — even as the state budget sees record gains from other federal spending — Mississippi leaders’ recalcitrance growingly appears more political than pragmatic.

Reeves and Gunn, who can block expansion from their posts, remain steadfast in their opposition. Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has said he’s open to the idea, as are a small but growing number of legislative Republicans. But Hosemann avoids even saying the words “Medicaid expansion” and hasn’t pressed his colleagues on full expansion. He has, unsuccessfully, pushed for expanding postpartum Medicaid coverage for mothers.

Q&A: What is Medicaid expansion, really?

Notably, all three top leaders declined interviews or comments for this story. Medicaid expansion hasn’t gotten a real hearing with the Legislature in years, even as the federal government has tried to sweeten the deal and counter arguments against expansion.

At times, including recently, some state leaders have said they would instead prefer people to have good jobs that provide private insurance. But this has proved elusive, with Mississippi seeing slow job growth, the lowest median income in the nation and among the highest rates of uninsured people.

Mississippi Today compiled a list of the main arguments against Medicaid expansion that opponents have given over the last decade, with counterpoints from proponents:

We can’t afford it/it will tank the state budget

“I don’t see Medicaid expansion as something that is beneficial to the state of Mississippi,” Gunn said in 2021. “I just don’t think the taxpayers can afford it. That is what it boils down to is the taxpayers. It is their money. I just don’t have the taxpayers calling saying we want you to raise taxes so we can expand Medicaid.”

So far, Medicaid expansion hasn’t tanked any states’ budgets, nor have any been forced to raise taxes to cover ACA Medicaid expansion.

Numerous studies, including those by Mississippi’s state economists, say the state — including government coffers — would see a net economic benefit, including growth in GDP and population and the creation of thousands of jobs.

Studies in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana and Virginia showed the states saw a net reduction of more than 4% in spending on their traditional Medicaid programs after expansion. Louisiana’s Medicaid expansion in 2016 brought a 33% reduction in uncompensated care costs for hospitals, including a 55% reduction for rural hospitals.

READ MORE: Here’s what experts say about expanding Medicaid in Mississippi

The federal government will quit paying its share

“For us to enter into an expansion program would be a fool’s errand,” then-Gov. Phil Bryant said in 2014. “I mean, here we would be saying to 300,000 Mississippians, ‘We’re going to provide Medicaid coverage to you,’ and then the federal government through Congress or through the Senate, would do away with or alter the Affordable Care Act, and then we have no way to pay that.”

But the Affordable Care Act, including Medicaid expansion, has survived through three presidents, including Republican Donald Trump who wanted to do away with it, and through multiple congresses, including two under Republican control of both chambers. It has survived numerous court challenges (Mississippi has joined in at least a couple of those).

Mississippi leaders made the same argument to postpone adopting the Medicaid program when it was created in the 1960s. It was one of the last states to do so, in 1969. Arguments that the feds would stop funding it and leave Mississippi in the lurch have proved erroneous, and the Magnolia State has enjoyed the highest rate of federal reimbursement for its existing Medicaid program for many years.

It’s subsidizing people who won’t work/it’s more welfare

“We believe all able-bodied folks ought to get off the couch and go to work,” state Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson, a longtime former lawmaker, said at the Neshoba County Fair in July, mirroring comments many other leaders have made over years. “This is why we oppose Medicaid expansion.”

By its definition, covering people who make up to 138% of poverty level income, Medicaid expansion is aimed at helping the working poor.

“These are people that are working,” said Tim Moore, president of the Mississippi Hospital Association. “By definition, to be at 138% above poverty, you have to have income from somewhere. In fact these are people that are often working multiple jobs, but still don’t have the discretionary income to afford the high cost of premiums.”

“Medicaid expansion is not about putting people on the welfare rolls,” state Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said last year. “This is about expanding health care availability to the poor, the disabled, the folks that fall through the cracks, that are not able to get on the Affordable Care Act.”

READ MORE: How Medicaid expansion could have saved Tim’s leg and changed his life

It would drive up private insurance costs, especially if hospitals help pay for expansion

“If hospitals are going to pay for it, that means that your cost when you go to the hospital is going to go up,” Reeves said during a 2019 gubernatorial election debate, referring to Mississippi hospitals offering to pay the state’s share of expansion. “If you have private insurance, that means that your insurance rates are going to go up.”

Others over the years have warned that expansion in general would drive up private insurance premiums.

But driving down uncompensated care costs for Mississippi hospitals, which has hovered around $600 million a year (lowered temporarily a bit recently because of federal COVID-19 relief money) would allow hospitals to lower prices, Moore said. One recent study said expansion would cut Mississippi hospitals’ uncompensated care by an average of $251.6 million a year from 2020-2030. The same study projects private premiums paid each year would also fall by $52.6 million over the same period.

“Treating people with no coverage forces the costs onto everyone else,” Moore said. “Plus, if people have coverage, they get care in a more timely, more efficient manner. You have less chronic problems, less higher-cost problems.”

As for hospitals paying the state’s share of expansion, as MHA proposed with the MS Cares plan in 2019, Moore said that’s a moot point now, because Mississippi hospitals are struggling so bad financially now that they couldn’t afford to do it.

Medicaid is broken, full of fraud and provides poor health outcomes

When Mississippi lawmakers in 2017 passed an act aimed at preventing fraud in Medicaid and welfare, one concern cited during debate was that there were dead people on Medicaid rolls.

“Are you talking about dead people on the rolls of Medicaid?” one lawmaker asked then-Senate Medicaid Chairman Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula. He responded: “I am talking about everybody, yes. It doesn’t matter if it is dead people. It doesn’t matter if it is people double dipping. They need to be following the law.”

Medicaid doesn’t provide money to beneficiaries. It provides health care, and money goes to providers. As several lawmakers pointed out at the time, it would be hard for dead people to be receiving health care.

Many, including some state politicians, appear to conflate Medicaid with “welfare.” Medicaid is a state-federal health insurance program that, in Mississippi currently, is available only to the disabled, elderly poor people, poor pregnant women and poor children. An able-bodied adult cannot simply be poor and qualify for Medicaid.

Mississippi has been plagued with fraud, corruption or misspending in Medicaid, welfare and other government programs. But this has been mostly committed by politicians, bureaucrats, business people, or large corporations. Beneficiary fraud in all these programs would appear to be a smaller problem.

It is true that Mississippi Medicaid beneficiaries have very poor health outcomes. But given that a large portion of qualifying beneficiaries are very sickly and poor to begin with, this would appear self-fulfilling prophecy. The aim of expansion is to cover the healthier, working poor and provide more preventive care.

“If you start early and provide health care, the outcome is better,” Moore said. “If you put off treating a condition, it gets worse. Diabetes is an example. You have an individual that doesn’t have health care coverage and they have neuropathy but put off treatment. They get a hole in the foot that gets infected. Then they lose a leg. Or they lose eyesight or have renal failure. Then all of a sudden they have a disability and can’t work, and they have to be taken care of. But we could have prevented it, and we could have managed the cost much better.”

The post Who’s opposed to Mississippi Medicaid expansion and why? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Note: This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletters, and follow them on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Mississippi’s state auditor on Monday demanded a private prison operator pay nearly $2 million after the company improperly billed the state for thousands of prison guard shifts that were never actually worked.

State Auditor Shad White announced the demand — the result of an inquiry his office launched in late 2020, following an investigation by The Marshall Project that revealed the company’s ghost workers practice.

White’s audit found that Management & Training Corporation, the country’s third-largest private prison company, did not notify or credit Mississippi’s Department of Corrections when staffing at a prison run by MTC fell below minimum requirements, as agreed to in their contract. The auditor is demanding about $1.4 million for unfilled shifts between 2017 and 2020, and just under $600,000 in interest and recovery costs. White called it one of the largest demands issued during his four years in office.

“We look forward to a swift recovery of these funds,” White said in a press release. MTC has 30 days to make payment, the auditor’s office said, or the case will be referred to the state’s attorney general.

MTC spokesman David Martinson declined to answer questions Monday. In a statement, he wrote the company has paid vacancy penalties under the terms of the contract, and that the auditor’s demands are inconsistent with the contract. He did not elaborate.

The Marshall Project investigation showed how MTC collected millions of dollars in Mississippi by routinely charging the corrections department for vacant security positions the company was required to fill. The practice illustrated a perverse financial incentive unique to private prisons: While fewer workers meant more danger for staff and incarcerated people, it created more profit for MTC.

The news investigation highlighted the experience of Correctional Officer Darrell Adams, who was nearly killed in 2019 when he was attacked by a prisoner during an overnight shift where Adams was doing the work of eight officers in four different buildings.

Adams worked at the Marshall County Correctional Facility, near the Tennessee border, where the state’s audit found that MTC billed for 12,000 unfilled mandatory shifts in the four-year

period. MTC operated two other Mississippi prisons during the same period, but the auditor’s demand letter only addressed the Marshall County prison.

The Marshall Project also exposed a ghost worker problem at the two other MTC prisons. Using monthly invoices and data on vacant positions, the news organization estimated that between 2013 and 2019, the state paid MTC about $7 million combined for no-show workers at the Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, south of Natchez, and the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, near Meridian.

When asked Monday if payment would be sought from MTC for ghost workers at those other facilities, a spokesperson for the state auditor’s office wrote, “Our work is not over.”

The Marshall Project’s investigation in 2020 was published in partnership with The Clarion-Ledger, Mississippi Today and The Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting.

The post Auditor: Prison company must pay $2 million for no-show workers appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A Jackson-based conservative think-tank filed a lawsuit Monday that aims to clear up a bizarre legal conundrum in Mississippi: that abortion is technically both legal and illegal at the same time.

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy filed a lawsuit Monday in an attempt to get the state Supreme Court to reverse its 1998 ruling that said the Mississippi Constitution provides a right to an abortion.

That decades-old ruling — Pro Choice Mississippi v. Fordice — has been in conflict with two new state laws that took effect this summer after the U.S. Supreme overturned Roe v. Wade, which had previously established a national right to an abortion.

After the U.S. Supreme Court decision in late June overturning Roe v. Wade, two Mississippi laws went into effect. One banned all abortions except in cases of rape and when the life of the mother was in jeopardy. A second law banned all abortions except for cases of medical emergency.

But officials at Mississippi Center for Public Policy say those two laws are in conflict with the state Supreme Court ruling that said the state constitution provides a right to an abortion. The center’s lawsuit attempts to ensure the two new laws that restrict abortion are not negated by the 1998 Pro Choice Mississippi v. Fordice ruling.

“This legal uncertainty has placed Mississippi physicians in an impossible ‘Catch-22,’” said the center’s news release. “…Whether elective abortions are ‘lawful’ in Mississippi depends on whether the Mississippi Supreme Court’s opinion in Fordice is still valid.”

READ MORE: Mississippi, where abortion is technically both legal and illegal at the same time

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade came in a case brought by Mississippi and argued by the office of state Attorney General Lynn Fitch. The landmark case — Dobbs v. Jackson Women Health Organization — resulted in the state’s only abortion clinic closing.

“In the Dobbs case, Mississippi secured a major victory for human rights and the rule of law,” said Aaron Rice, director of the Mississippi Justice Institute, which is the legal arm of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. “Now it’s time to finish the job and protect the right to life in the state that took Roe down.”

The case was filed in Hinds County Chancery Court. The press release said it will be up to the state Supreme Court to ultimately rule on whether to reverse the ruling providing a right to an abortion in the Mississippi Constitution.

Right after the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, then providing abortion services in Jackson, took legal action in Hinds County Chancery Court trying to block the enactment of the laws banning abortion in Mississippi. The Mississippi Center for Justice, arguing on behalf of the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, said that the state laws banning abortions would not trump the Mississippi Supreme Court ruling saying that the Constitution provided a right to an abortion.

READ MORE: Supreme Court rejects plea for quick ruling on effort to stop abortion ban

In an unusual ruling in early July, Chancery Judge Debbra Halford of Meadville, appointed to hear the case by the state Supreme Court, refused to block the laws banning abortions. One of her primary reasons for not blocking the laws is because she predicted the current state Supreme Court would reverse the ruling providing a right to abortion in the Mississippi Constitution.

The Mississippi Center for Justice appealed to the Supreme Court. But the state’s highest court refused to take up the case on an expedited schedule. During the uncertainty, Jackson Women’s Health Organization closed and the Mississippi Center for Justice dropped the appeal.

Now the conservative leaning Mississippi Center for Public Policy is trying to renew the case.

“We will review this lawsuit and consider whether we should intervene,” said Rob McDuff, an attorney with the Mississippi Center for Justice that represented the Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

The Mississippi Justice Institute has brought the lawsuit on behalf of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, according to the news release.

The post Abortion is technically both legal and illegal in Mississippi. New lawsuit asks Supreme Court to clarify appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Janet Parker from Innovate Mississippi. Janet serves as the director of Business Development and marketing at Innovate Mississippi. She oversees all marketing, public relations, and corporate fundraising functions with the ultimate goal of working with partner organizations and companies to grow Mississippi’s innovation ecosystem — and the state economy.

She is a Mississippian by choice, heralding originally from Illinois. In her past life, she was vice president of public relations for Maris, West & Baker Advertising and a business consultant and communications coach working with Fortune 500 clients in the U.S., Canada and Trinidad.

If she looks familiar, she was the host of the Emmy-Award winning TV show, “Mississippi Outdoors” on MPB and has appeared on TV commercials, radio ads and print promotions. She also had an 11-year career as an award-winning pharmaceutical sales representative. In 2012, she was named one of the Business Women in Mississippi by the “Mississippi Business Journal”.

The post Mississippi Stories: Janet Parker appeared first on Mississippi Today.