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As the Mississippi Senate recently was considering and passing legislation to provide $103 million for a grant program for the state’s beleaguered hospitals, Sen. Angela Hill, R-Picayune, asked a pertinent question.

She wanted to know if the $103 million would provide real help for the hospitals — many of which experts say are in danger of closing.

“Just looking at the totals, it looks to me like these individual hospitals will burn through this pretty fast,” she said during debate of the bill on the Senate floor. “So, I guess my question is was there any thought, if an aggregative amount of $103 million that has been split up by what looks like 100 hospitals or more, could that have had a greater impact in any other shape or form?”

Hill, a fiscal conservative, was looking for ways to get more bang for the buck. If only there were a way to do so.

Senate Medicaid Chair Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven confessed to Hill that, “We didn’t look at any other funding mechanism.”

But both Hill and Blackwell had been told about other options — less than 24 hours earlier on the Senate floor, in fact.

“The most important thing Mississippi can do to help our hospitals is expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act,” said Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson. “The choice you are making with this legislation is you put $100 million in the fund and get $100 million, or you put $100 million in a fund allowing Medicaid expansion and you get $1 billion.”

Projections are that it would cost the state about $100 million annually to expand Medicaid to cover primarily the working poor. According to projections, that $100 million would be about the state match needed to pull down more than $1 billion in federal funds annually that Blount referenced.

And based on projections made by the University Research Center, Medicaid expansion would result in much more than $1 billion annually to the state for the first two years of Medicaid expansion. Because of incentives offered by the federal government under COVID-19 relief legislation, it is estimated the state would receive $1.61 billion the first year and $1.64 billion the second year of expansion. After the first two years of expansion, the incentives would go away, but the state still would be receiving more than $1 billion annually in federal funds.

READ MORE: Mississippi leaving more than $1 billion per year on table by rejecting Medicaid expansion

The theory is that the $1 billion would help health care providers, especially hospitals, because they would be treating fewer people with no insurance and no ability to pay.

Hill was not asking her question because she is touting Medicaid expansion. As a conservative Republican, she has long voiced her opposition to Medicaid expansion. Many conservative Republicans, including Gov. Tate Reeves and Speaker Philip Gunn, say they oppose the big government expansion.

And Blackwell could rightfully point out the $103 million being directed to the hospitals is from federal COVID-19 legislation and would not be available in the coming years to provide the required annual state match to expand Medicaid.

But the day before Hill asked her question, Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, told members that Medicaid expansion would not cost the state anything.

Because of the multiplier effect of the federal fund and because of other factors, “the state treasury would make money. In theory there is a state match, but in practice there is not a match at all. In practice, the state treasury is doing without money because of the prohibition on Medicaid expansion.”

Various studies back up Bryan’s bold claim.

The 2021 University Research Center study, for instance, found that the 10% matching costs the state must provide if it expanded Medicaid would be more than covered by health care-related savings to the state and new tax revenue generated.

More and more states are reaching the conclusion that Medicaid expansion makes money for them. Forty states have expanded Medicaid, leaving Mississippi behind 80% of the country.

First it was just so-called blue or Democratic states expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. But in more recent years, red or Republican states have followed suit. States like Montana, Utah, North Dakota and South Dakota have expanded Medicaid. Those that have not, for the most part, are located across the Southeast.

But the number of Southern states not expanding Medicaid also is dwindling. Just in recent days, a Republican-controlled Legislature in North Carolina sent to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper a bill he signed into law expanding Medicaid.

But instead of expanding Medicaid, Mississippi legislators continue to provide state funds to help hospitals and other health care providers one dollar at a time instead of using that dollar to get at least $9 in federal funds.

“This hospital grant program is putting a Band-Aid on a situation in this state that requires surgery,” said Sen. Derrick Simmons, D-Greenville.

READ MORE: The death of rural hospitals could leave Mississippians ‘sick, sick, sick’

The post Lawmakers turn away billions in federal funds as they pour state funds into health care appeared first on Mississippi Today.

APRIL 1, 1935

Before an integrated audience of 2,000, the “Great Debaters” of historically Black Wiley College of Marshall, Texas, defeated the reigning national champion, the University of Southern California. The victory meant a defeat for scientific racism, which pervaded the day. 

Professor Melvin B. Tolson organized the first debate team at the college in 1924 and began challenging the first White teams six years later. As the “Great Debaters” took on all comers across the nation, Tolson saw these debates as a way to improve race relations. 

“In the South,” he said, “I have seen ex-slaves shaking hands with the grandsons of the masters after the debate.” 

His teams over the decade saw unparalleled success, reportedly losing only one time. The experiences became a great training ground for the debaters. Henrietta Bell Wells, the first female member of the debate team, became a prominent poet. James Farmer Jr. joined the team when he was only 14 and went on to become one of the nation’s most important civil rights leaders, heading the Congress of Racial Equality, which sent Freedom Riders across the South in 1961 to challenge segregation on interstate buses. The Freedom Riders were met by violence in Alabama and arrested in Mississippi. Farmer was among those arrested. 

A year before his death in 1999, Farmer received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2007, he and others were depicted in the film, The Great Debaters, directed by Denzel Washington. After the movie, Washington donated $1 million for Wiley College to resurrect its debate team. 

In 2014, Wiley won the national championship — the championship the college had been barred from in 1935.

The post On this day in 1935 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

After bitter arguments, stalemates and blown deadlines the Mississippi Legislature pulled an all-nighter and passed a state budget of $7.6 billion early Saturday morning, the largest budget — not counting federal funds — in the state’s history.

It includes a roughly $120 million increase in public K-12 education spending, an extra $620 million for road work and a $104 million bailout of the state’s struggling hospitals. It also includes more than $600 million for individual lawmakers’ projects this election year.

Despite pleas from hospitals, health advocates and some lawmakers, the Legislature again refused to expand Medicaid coverage — for which it would receive more than $1 billion a year in federal money — to cover working poor Mississippians and help hospitals struggling to provide care to the indigent.

The budget includes no new major tax cuts or refunds for Mississippians, despite vows by Gov. Tate Reeves, House Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann early in the year to provide relief for taxpayers.

Hosemann had proposed a one-time rebate check for Mississippi taxpayers or cutting the state’s highest-in-the-nation tax on groceries. Reeves and Gunn proposed a phase-out of the state’s personal income tax. No agreement was reached, and no tax break was passed, although lawmakers last year enacted the largest income tax cut in state history, still being phased in.

After much dickering that held up other budget work late in the session, lawmakers on Friday night agreed to spend about $3 billion on K-12 education, an increase over this year of about $120 million.

The Senate had proposed revamping the state’s adequate education formula and fully funding it for the first time in years, which would have cost about $181 million. The House refused to add more money to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program formula, pushing instead for Legislature-directed spending for schools, including a $22-million raise for teachers’ assistants.

Neither agreed to the other’s proposals and in final negotiations agreed to provide an extra $100 million divided among schools based on numbers of students, with few restrictions other than the money cannot go to pay increases for superintendents, assistant superintendents and principals.

“This was a way to get a compromise,” Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar told his colleagues. “It’s almost the same effect as if it was in the (MAEP) formula.”

Most of the balance of the schools increase — about $17 million — is to cover increased insurance costs for education employees.

“I am pleased with it,” said House Education Chairman Richard Bennett. “I would have loved to fund raises for teachers’ assistants, but it’s a give and take … We’ve all got to sit down next year and look at the (MAEP) formula and what we need to change.”

Hosemann and Gunn said they were pleased with the final budget.

“From a $600 million-plus infrastructure plan to legislation strengthening our elections process, providing options for the continued collaboration of hospitals, and increasing the number of doctors and nurses in Mississippi, the session has been an overwhelming success,” Hosemann said. “The state is in excellent fiscal condition, we are paying off debt, our personal and business taxes are decreasing, and we have adopted a conservative budget which funds necessary services.

“I am particularly proud of the Senate’s earlier 52-0 commitment to fully funding the education of our children,” Hosemann said. “Our senators’ leadership on this issue resulted in an additional $100 million for our schools, which will fund local supplements for teachers, classroom supplies, diesel for buses, and all the other things necessary to providing every child in Mississippi with an opportunity for a first-class education.”

House Speaker Philip Gunn, who is not running for reelection and was presiding over his final regular session, said of the budget, “I think it meets a lot of needs across the state. We put another $100 million in public education. We are proud to be able to do that.”

This year’s legislative session also saw some of the worst partisan, racial and geographic division and argument in recent years, mostly centered around measures aimed at state takeover of policing, courts and infrastructure in the capital city of Jackson.

At a press conference Friday night, Democratic leaders Sen. Derrick Simmons and Rep. Robert Johnson III said Republican leaders wasted too much time and lucre on “targeting Jackson” and instead should have focused on the needs of average Mississippians.

“We had a $4 billion surplus and we wouldn’t even fully fund MAEP, provide money for hospitals and provide the kind of support Jackson needs,” Johnson said.

“Eighty percent of Mississippians want Medicaid expansion,” Simmons said. “Seventy nine percent want our schools fully funded. Another over 70% want us to restore the ballot initiative process. But what have we done here for 90 days? We spent our time dealing with bills targeting the city of Jackson … It’s an insult. This is an election year. … One thing that scares a politician is the fear of not being reelected … If you want Medicaid expansion, if you want the ballot initiative restored, if you want your schools fully funded, Democrats have supported that year after year.”

The Legislature appropriated $7 million in one fund for relief for residents impacted by the tornadoes that ripped through north Mississippi earlier this month killing at least 21 people and $7 million in another fund for housing for those impacted by the storms. In addition, $3 million was appropriated for the schools to help pay their damages from the tornadoes and $1.5 million for hospitals that suffered damages.

Legislators worked overnight Friday well into Saturday morning to fund dozens of pet projects throughout the state.

In an item separate from the budget, the Legislature did not pass any bills to restore voting rights to people who lost their right to vote because of a felony conviction. The House sent four bills to the Senate restoring voting rights, but Senate Judiciary B Chair Joey Fillingane opted not to bring any of those up for considerations before the full Senate.

Most years the Legislature passes a handful of suffrage bills (normally about five) each session.

The post Lawmakers pass largest budget in state history. No tax cuts or refunds, more for schools and roads appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The state of Mississippi’s racial wounds and sordid history were again thrust into full view at the Capitol on Friday as the House debated and passed controversial bills that would impose state control over the judicial system in the majority-Black city of Jackson.

House Bill 1020 and its companion Senate Bill 2343 have for weeks attracted negative national attention for giving white state leaders new judicial and expanded police authority over capital city Jackson, the Blackest large city in the nation.

The measures would give the white chief justice of the state Supreme Court the authority to appoint judges to hear cases in the district. This is unique in that every other court district in the state has elected judges rather than appointed judges.

The bills would also expand the jurisdiction of Capitol Police, a state police agency managed by the Department of Public Safety and its appointed agency head who is white. Every other municipality in the state has a local police force with main jurisdiction.

The legislation that passed the House late on Friday was a compromise between House and Senate leaders. Because it passed the Senate late Thursday, it now heads to the desk of Gov. Tate Reeves for signature. It was one of the final bills passed by lawmakers in the combative 2023 session.

READ MORE: ‘Out to get Jackson’: Bill to create separate courts, police for part of capital city advances over protest

The controversial Jackson bills passed the white and Republican-controlled Legislature by an overwhelming margin. Every Black lawmaker in the House and Senate but one — Rep. Angela Cockerham, an independent from Magnolia — voted against the bills.

Supporters of the legislation say that the judges, under the final version of the bill, will only serve for a limited period of time and that there still will be four elected judges hearing criminal cases in Hinds County.

Debate of the bill on the House floor on Friday became tense and heated, highlighting the racial tension that has been festering all session. House Ways and Means Chair Trey Lamar, a Republican from Senatobia and the author of HB 1020, told members on Friday he was going “to refuse to take the race-laced, unfactual rhetoric as bait” as he defended the bill.

Lamar said that he was unfairly labeled as a racist when all he was trying to do is aid the citizens of Jackson — many of whom he said had asked for help with the crime problems besetting Mississippi’s capital and largest city. Lamar said the bill had nothing to do with race.

“When you take away the right of people to elect their officials who have traditionally been elected, how else are they going to see it?” asked Rep. Ed Blackmon, a Democrat from Canton. “…The right to vote may not mean much to some of you, but when you look at history that got us to where we are today, when it took so long and lost so many lives…

“Gentleman, you have not been beaten for asking for the right to vote,” Blackmon said to Lamar. “You have not been locked up for asking for that. I have. Yes, I am sensitive to that.”

Rep. Willie Bailey, a Democrat from Greenville, said in an impassioned, angry response from the well of the House chamber: “You don’t tell me not to talk about race.”

All session and on Friday, members of the Jackson delegation said that they had asked for help for their city, but lamented that the majority-white House leadership did not allow them to be involved in deciding the shape that help should take. They asked why money could not be provided for additional Jackson city police officers and for another elected judge in the city of Jackson.

They said majority white cities in the state would not be treated the same as Jackson — which is more than 80% African American and the Blackest city in the nation with a population of more than 100,000.

READ MORE: ‘Only in Mississippi’: House votes to create white-appointed court system for Blackest city in America

Rep. Zakiya Summers, a Democrat from Jackson, asked, “When people say they are just trying to help, but the elected officials from the city of Jackson say this is not help, why is that not enough?”

The legislation would create a separate judicial and law enforcement district within the Capital Complex Improvement District. Four judges would be appointed by Chief Justice Michael Randolph, who is white and from Hattiesburg. An additional court would be created within the district to hear misdemeanor cases and to conduct preliminary hearings in felony cases.

The legislation gives the state Department of Public Safety the authority to send to prison those convicted of misdemeanor crimes that carry jail time. Normally such sentences are served in local jails.

Unlike the original version of House Bill 1020, the specially appointed judges would be for a set period of time — through 2026 — instead of being in place permanently. The legislation gives a state police force primary jurisdiction within the Capitol Complex and secondary jurisdiction throughout the city.

Blackmon and Rep. Robert Johnson, a Democrat from Natchez, both said on the floor they were making a record during their remarks for the lawsuit that is likely to be filed because of the legislation. The basis of the lawsuit, they said, is that the proposal takes the right to vote away from the African American population of the city.

While the city is more than 80% African American, Blackmon pointed out the demographics of the Capital Complex District will be close to 50-50.

Lamar said the Legislature opted to create the special court and police force instead of providing additional resources to the city government because the city leaders had shown incompetence in other areas — such as in in providing water, sewer and garbage services. In reality, though, city officials have nothing to do with the governance of the felony court district that includes the city of Jackson.

Rep. Nick Bain, a Republican from Corinth, said he had heard from many Jacksonians who said they wanted help with crime issues facing the city.

“This is the capital city of Mississippi,” Bain said. “It belongs to each and every one of us in this room.” He said the legislation passed Friday was intended to provide that help, not to create racial divides.

But those racial divides were front and center on Friday, and many lawmakers said these bills — and the debate of them — will leave a stinging feeling as lawmakers conclude their work in the final hours of the 2023 legislative session.

READ MORE: Republicans don’t have to listen to their Black colleagues. That’s how they designed it.

The post Mississippi’s racial divides were on full display as HB 1020 got its final debate and passing vote appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Senate, minutes before a final vote on a $3 billion K-12 education budget Friday, realized it included paying $300,000 to a company the state has filed charges against and is suing to recoup $795,000 in the long-running Mississippi welfare scandal.

The budget proposal would have ordered the state education department to pay $300,000 to Lobaki Inc. for a pilot virtual reality program for schools. Senate leaders said House negotiators put the measure in. A House leader said that’s not true, but he’s unsure who put it in the proposed budget.

The Mississippi Department of Human Services in December added the Jackson-based company to its lawsuit aiming to claw back $77 million in misspent or stolen federal welfare dollars sent to Mississippi. The civil lawsuit is ancillary to state and federal criminal prosecution and continuing investigations into misuse of money meant to help the poor.

The state welfare agency accuses Lobaki of accepting $795,000 in federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds from two private nonprofits to deploy and operate a virtual reality academy in Jackson.

Senate leaders on Friday said the line item was put in by House budget negotiators — they wouldn’t say whom — and they didn’t know anything about it. House leaders did not immediately respond to questions about the line item, other than a spokeswoman for Speaker Philip Gunn said she did not think it was in the budget proposal.

Later, House Education Chairman Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach, said he doesn’t believe the House put it in the budget, but he’s unsure where it came from. He said he believes none of the negotiators knew about the state suing Lobaki over the welfare spending.

“I’m glad (the Senate) brought it to our attention,” Bennett said. “I don’t know anything about them, other than they are a virtual reality company … I do think virtual reality is the thing of the future in education … But I’m glad it got taken out. I don’t think anyone was trying to sneak anything in anywhere.”

Sen. Barbara Blackmon, D-Canton, first noticed the Lobaki line item in the budget, which rank and file lawmakers have been waiting for days to see as a handful of legislative leaders haggled it out.

“Mr. Chairman, this Lobaki, isn’t that the group in the TANF scandal with all the illegal money?” Blackmon asked on the floor. Sen. Derrick Simmons, D-Greenville, then followed up, pointing out that Lobaki was subject of the civil complaint and asking, “Is this something we might want to change?”

After brief consultation, the Senate recommitted the bill for more haggling to remove the payment. The issue temporarily put a halt to Legislature’s budget work as lawmakers worked into Friday night trying to end the 2023 legislative session. Disagreements between the House and Senate over education spending have held up other budget work in the Legislature in the last couple of weeks of the session.

READ MORE: Mississippi lawmakers resolve impasse over K-12 spending

Lobaki is a politically connected tech outfit launched in Mississippi by Vince Jordan in 2017. Former Gov. Phil Bryant, who oversaw the welfare agency during the scandal, previously promoted the company.

“This week I tested the latest virtual reality technology with Lobaki Labs in Jackson, MS, who has partnerships throughout the state with various industries to show all the uses it has in today’s industries. It is amazing,” Bryant wrote in a Facebook post in early 2019, shortly after Lobaki secured its welfare grants.

Another defendant in MDHS’s civil suit, Austin Smith, has subpoenaed Bryant for any of his communication related to Lobaki.

READ MORE: Former Gov. Phil Bryant subpoenaed again

Just after the initial 2020 arrests in the welfare scandal, Lobaki added Glenn McCullough, former director of the Mississippi Development Authority under Bryant, to its board of directors.

Lobaki has filed a motion to dismiss the charges against the organization, arguing that it fulfilled the terms of its contract with the nonprofits.

Lobaki accused MDHS of “stretch(ing) and contort(ing) various legal theories in attempts to hold third parties liable for the wrongdoing of its own employees.”

MDHS does not claim that Lobaki didn’t complete the work. But it argues that the company’s agreement with the nonprofits required it to follow MDHS grant policies and applicable state and federal law — which is why Lobaki is allegedly on the hook for those misspent funds.

The complaint also says that Lobaki asked the nonprofits about the source of the funds, but despite never receiving a response, accepted the funding anyway.

One of the key defendants in the welfare scandal, nonprofit founder Nancy New, pleaded guilty last April of state charges of fraud against the government related to a $365,000 payment to Lobaki for a virtual reality program. She admitted to making the payment “despite knowing that the expenditure was an ineligible use of grant funds.”

Her son, Zack New, also pleaded guilty to wire fraud related to the transfer of $500,000 in welfare funds for the construction of a virtual reality center at City Centre, the downtown Jackson building that houses MDHS offices. Similar to the volleyball stadium scheme involving former NFL quarterback Brett Favre, Zach New admitted that he disguised the payment as a lease agreement in order to circumvent the federal prohibition on using welfare funds for brick-and-mortar construction.

READ MORE: State files lawsuit to recoup welfare funds from Brett Favre, WWE wrestlers and 34 other people or companies

The post Someone tried to sneak $300K into state education budget for company involved in welfare scandal appeared first on Mississippi Today.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visited Rolling Fork on Friday to meet with survivors and witness damages from a deadly tornadoes that destroyed homes across Mississippi a week ago.

After landing Friday morning in Jackson’s Medgar Wiley Evers Airport, Biden and his team flew in a crew of helicopters to Yazoo County, where they then hopped into a motorcade that took them to Rolling Fork.

The president and first lady met with survivors in Rolling Fork, as well as with state and local officials, including Gov. Tate Reeves and Rolling Fork Mayor Eldridge Walker.

“This is tough stuff,” Biden told the press pool following his visit. “The most important thing is we got to let people know the reason for them to have hope, especially those who have lost somebody.”

At least 21 people died in the storm, 13 of them in Sharkey County, and 90 others were injured.

Biden’s staff announced Friday that the federal government is covering all of the costs of the state’s emergency response for up to 30 days of the recovery period, including removing debris, opening shelters, and providing overtime pay for first responders.

“We’re not just here for today,” Biden told residents, according to reports from the press pool. “I’m determined we’re going to leave nothing behind. We’re going to get it done for you.”

On Thursday, Federal Emergency Management Agency approved Montgomery and Panola counties as eligible for Individual Assistance. Anyone who was affected by the March 24-25 storms in those counties — as well as in Carroll, Monroe, Humphreys and Sharkey counties — can apply for money to pay for needs such as temporary housing and home repairs by calling 800-621-3362, or visiting disasterassistance.gov.

FEMA today announced registration centers to help affected Mississippians apply for assistance at the following locations:

• Carroll County: J.Z. George High School at 900 George St., Carrollton, MS 38947 (closed on Sunday, Apr. 2)
• Humphreys County: Humphreys County Library at 105 Hayden St., Belzoni, MS 39038
• Sharkey County: Heritage Manor at 431 W. Race St., Rolling Fork, MS 39159
• Monroe County: The Old Amory National Guard Building at 101 South 9th St., Amory, MS 38821

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said her agency is also going “door-to-door” in affected areas to help survivors apply for aid. Altogether, over 300 federal personnel are in Mississippi helping recovery efforts.

Criswell added that she spoke with the mayor of Amory, Corey Glenn, who told her that the city lifted its boil water notices. On Thursday, Glenn said the city still has over 400 homes without power, down from about 4,000 immediately after the storm.

The White House administration excluded local press’ access to the day’s events, despite two of Biden’s stops being marked as “Open Press” on his schedule. At one of those stops, where officials landed at the Yazoo County Airport, officers instructed local reporters to stand on a levee about 100 yards from the entrance of the airport. Mississippi Today gathered information on the visit from pool reports shared by national media.

The post Biden visits tornado scenes, FEMA expands aid for victims appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Jeff “Cowboy” Brantley, the former Mississippi State and Major League pitching great, considers himself a baseball traditionalist. “Old school,” he describes himself.

Nevertheless, one game into the first season of MLB’s new pitch clock, which will forever change the sport, Brantley gushes. “I love it. I mean, I really love it.”

I do, too.

“The thing is, I didn’t think I’d like it,” Brantley said in a phone conversation from Cincinnati, where he still broadcasts Reds games. “I thought it might rush the game too much. I thought it would change the rhythm of the sport. But after a full spring training and one regular season game I can tell you, I absolutely love it.”

Again, I do, too. In my mind, it’s the best thing to happen to baseball since Jackie Robinson.

For those who haven’t paid attention, a quick pitch clock synopsis: With no runners on base, a pitcher must throw to the plate in 15 seconds. With runners on, the pitcher has 20 seconds. Batters must be in the batter’s box, ready to hit, when the pitch clock ticks down to eight seconds. Batters can call timeout once per at bat. Pitchers can throw to a base in a pickoff attempt — or step off the rubber — only twice during at at-bat. A pitcher can make a third pickoff attempt, but if it is unsuccessful, the runner advances a base. If a pitcher doesn’t throw to the plate before the pitch clock runs out, the umpire calls a ball. If the batter is not ready to hit, the umpire calls a strike.

No longer can a pitcher stroll around the mound for a while between pitches, adjust his cap a few times, rub up the baseball for a few seconds, shake off the catcher’s signal a few times before finally throwing a pitch. No longer can a pitcher throw to first base six or seven times between pitches. No longer can a batter step out of the box between every pitch, adjust his batting gloves, arm padding and necklaces, scratch his privates, spit, etc., before getting ready to hit.

All that dead time is gone. If you equate that with changing the rhythm of the game to the sport’s detriment, so sorry for your loss. In my mind, it makes the sport infinitely more watchable.

Or, as Brantley puts it, “People come to watch players play. They don’t come for all that stuff that was happening in between pitches.”

I watched the Braves and Nationals play Thursday. The change was noticeable and appreciated. A word of warning: No longer can you make a trip to the refrigerator between pitches. If you don’t want to miss something, you’ll wait until between innings for refreshment.

“We didn’t have a single game in spring training that went beyond two hours, 30 minutes,” Brantley said. “That’s unheard of. Those games usually take forever with all the lineup changes that take place.”

The Reds’ opener – a 5-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates – lasted three hours, two minutes, but, says Brantley, “there were nine pitching changes and 15 walks. Last year, that game would have lasted more than four hours.”

Only five of 15 games on baseball’s opening day exceeded three hours. The average length of a game was down 26 minutes from last year.

Brantley believes the shorter games – or more appropriately, the less dead time – will appeal especially to younger fans.

“In our culture today, especially among our younger people, they are used to having action at their fingertips,” Brantley said. “They want constant action. Without that constant action, you lose their attention. I just think this is going to make the game that much more appealing to young people.”

Again, I couldn’t agree more. And yet, there are still naysayers who insist we need to quit messing with the grand old game. That argument makes no sense at all. If anything we are returning it to the grand old game it once was. The average length of a nine-inning MLB game in 1975 was two hours, 25 minutes. In 2021, the average game was three hours, 10 minutes. That’s a 45-minute difference. And, as someone who was watching back then and now, I can tell you that’s 45 added minutes of dead time. That’s 45 minutes when nothing happened.

Long live the pitch clock.

The post ‘Old school’ Jeff Brantley loves baseball’s pitch clock. And why not? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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

Alliance Healthcare System in Holly Springs is Mississippi’s first rural emergency hospital – the first in a trend some say indicates the further decline of health care access in the one of the country’s poorest and sickest states. 

Hospitals were able to apply for the new federal designation mere weeks ago, when the Mississippi Department of Health rolled out its rules for “rural emergency hospitals.” The federal government finalized the program in November. 

Rural emergency hospitals are a step below critical access hospitals, which must have 25 or fewer inpatient beds, provide emergency services, keep its patients for less than 96 hours and be located at least 35 miles from another hospital. 

The resources at rural emergency hospitals are even fewer — they must end all inpatient care and transfer patients to larger hospitals within 24 hours of the patient coming to the emergency room. 

The hospital has already begun getting rid of all its inpatient beds and discharging current patients, as reported by the South Reporter, Marshall County’s community newspaper, on Wednesday. The acute care center is currently licensed for 40 beds, though its daily census doesn’t go much higher than four or five patients a day, according to hospital CEO Dr. Kenneth Williams. 

The hospital has partnered with North Mississippi Medical Center and will transfer its patients there if necessary, he said. 

He also said Alliance is one of just a handful of hospitals across the country approved for the designation so far.

As of Thursday, spokespeople from the state Department of Health said Alliance’s new hospital designation hadn’t been approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. But according to Williams, it had been approved by both required parties, CMS and the state Health Department, on Wednesday. 

“I haven’t even had a chance to share this with my staff,” he said Thursday. “Yesterday was an exciting day for me to have that designation. I’m looking forward to the future to see how it works out.”

Rural emergency hospitals also can’t provide swing bed services, which means if a hospital operates a nursing home, that has to close. Alliance does not operate a nursing home. 

Both rural emergency and critical access hospital designations are meant to ease financial stress — if a hospital qualifies as either, in exchange, they get paid more for their services. Rural emergency hospitals also get monthly payments from the federal government. 

The program is aimed at preventing the closure of rural hospitals and creating a way they can increase financial viability and maintain operations. The idea is that rural hospitals at risk of closure already struggle with low patient counts and low payments for inpatient care.

But it’s meant as a last resort for hospitals that are barely surviving because of the limited amount of services a rural emergency hospital can offer. 

State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney considers it a closure when a hospital converts to an REH because of the loss of services. He tweeted in early February about the state’s first “loss” of a hospital, which is around the time Alliance applied for the designation with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Mississippi Department of Health. He compared rural emergency hospitals to triage units.

Williams, on the other hand, sees them as “expanded outpatient hospital systems.”

Rep. John Faulkner, a Democrat who represents Holly Springs, was not immediately available for comment Friday morning.

Williams bought the hospital two decades ago when he heard it was struggling. During its first years under Williams, he said the hospital was making money. Then in 2006, it lost almost $2 million with the arrival of Medicare Advantage plans, which are privatized versions of Medicare that often deny needed care and underpay hospitals. 

Holly Springs is a certified retirement community, which means most of the hospital’s patients are on Medicare. 

They’ve had good years and bad years since, but it’s been mostly downhill, especially since the pandemic began.

“I knew that our hospital couldn’t exist under the payment system it is under right now,” Williams said. 

A little more than a decade ago, Alliance tried applying to become a critical access hospital. They were rejected because of the hospital’s proximity to Memphis. 

Now, Williams says the federal rules are a little more relaxed, and he decided to apply at the recommendation of his partner, Quentin Whitwell, who operates hospitals in north Mississippi and serves as legal counsel for Alliance Healthcare, and the hospital’s financial team.

“With REH, the robust outpatient services the clinic brings to the community will be enhanced, along with continued 24/7 coverage, and the costly services will be reduced while receiving an annual subsidy,” Whitwell said when reached by text Thursday. “We are glad it worked out.”

Few Mississippi hospitals are making money, especially in the state’s more rural regions. The problem is multifaceted, but experts say the crisis has resulted from a combination of state leaders’ refusal to expand Medicaid, insurance companies’ low reimbursement rates and the pandemic forcing costs up in all areas, including staffing.

“The funding of health care in rural America is going down,” Edney previously told Mississippi Today in an interview. “There is no one coming to the rescue.”

Williams said many of the challenges hospitals are facing lead back to insurance payments and managed care plans, like Medicare Advantage. 

He could’ve closed the hospital back in 2012, Williams said, when it first applied for critical access status, but he’s done everything he can to keep it open, including some layoffs and reorganizing their staff. 

But at some point, “you cut muscle instead of fat,” Williams said.

One report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform puts a third of rural Mississippi hospitals at risk of closure, and half of those within a few years. 

“Too many small rural hospitals are closing,” Williams said. “Big hospitals are struggling, whether or not they admit it, but you can get by if you’re doing high-end procedures. 

“But just to take care of a regular patient who has congestive heart failure, with diabetic ketoacidosis, who is sick, they (insurance companies) don’t want to pay you for it.”

According to data from the CHQPR, Alliance Health has been losing money for the past few years, both overall and specifically taking care of patients.

And just in case the rural emergency hospital structure doesn’t work, Alliance is still applying for the critical access designation, too. If the new designation doesn’t stabilize the hospital, it can revert to its original status as an acute care facility or, if it is approved for the critical access hospital designation, it can convert to that, instead.

“Would I prefer to have us continue to operate the way that we were, having patients be admitted? Absolutely,” Williams said. “It is unfortunate that we had to make this move, but it is the right move based on the reality of health care and this payment system.”

According to Edney, Mississippi can likely expect more conversions to rural emergency hospitals – or, as he refers to them, “closures” – in the coming months.

The post In last ditch effort to stay open, Holly Springs hospital ends inpatient care appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Legislation that has brought hours of bitter debate, has inspired broad negative national attention and has racially divided the Mississippi Legislature about its capital city of Jackson took a penultimate step towards reaching the governor’s desk Thursday night.

The Senate passed House Bill 1020, which would create separate, appointed courts for downtown and more affluent, whiter parts of Jackson — the Blackest large city in the nation. The Senate also passed a companion measure that will expand state police jurisdiction in the city.

The vote, over objections from the Jackson legislative delegation and every Black senator, was 31-15. The measure will be taken up by the House, where it is expected to pass, on Friday, likely the last day of the 2023 legislative session. If passed in the House, the measure will reach Gov. Tate Reeves’ desk for signature or veto.

If it becomes law, judges for this area will be appointed by the Mississippi Supreme Court chief justice, not elected like everywhere else in Mississippi. People who call for help there will reach a separate 9-1-1 system for the state-run Capitol Police. Those arrested there, even for misdemeanor crimes such as DUI, will be held in a state prison, not a city or county lockup.

White, Republican legislative leaders say they’re fed up with crime in the capital city and are trying to help. City and legislative leaders from Jackson say it’s an unconstitutional state takeover that smacks of Jim Crow separate-but-equal governance.

READ MORE: House revives state police expansion and bitter fight over Jackson ‘takeover’

Weeks of haggling between House and Senate leaders and changes to the measures — including making the separate circuit and municipal-type court systems temporary through 2026 and 2027 — did little to allay opposition.

“It’s almost as if folks resent Jackson — politically, economically, socially, racially — and we’ve been out to get Jackson,” said Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson. “That’s what it feels like, in this Legislature, like we’re out to get Jackson. It’s not that we see a problem and we’ve got to help our capital city. It’s almost as if we’re doing everything we can to ensure it fails and gets flushed down the Pearl River.

“… State government has basically left Jackson to its own devices for many years now,” Horhn continued. “… You take as much of the resources as you can out of the city, and then you blame us when things go wrong … We will not be a great state if we don’t have a great city. We will not be a great state if we don’t have a great capital city, and we will not be a great state if Black folks and white folks don’t learn to get along and do things for our mutual benefit.”

Some lawmakers questioned the legality and constitutionality of the measures.

“There will be two systems of justice for people in Jackson,” said Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson. “If you’re in this neighborhood, you have one type of justice. If you’re in this neighborhood, you have this type. It’s fundamentally un-American and unconstitutional. Not only do you have a different kind of justice, people in this part of town have one 9-1-1 system. People in this part have this 9-1-1 system. How is that equal protection under the law? We have almost completely segregated politics in Mississippi right now, let’s be honest.”

Senate Judiciary Chairman Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, helped haggle out a final version of HB 1020 and argued for its passage. He told his colleagues about inviting two women from New Mexico to come appear before his committee a couple of years ago. He said they stayed in a downtown Jackson hotel the night before the meeting.

“They said they were scared to walk to the Capitol,” Wiggins said. “… I could see it in their faces. They thought they were going to be harmed. They had to take a cab. They couldn’t walk downtown to the Capitol.”

“This is not about race,” Wiggins said. “This is about helping the citizens of Jackson … We have to stop the divisive race baiting when all we are trying to do is help our fellow Mississippians.”

The post ‘Out to get Jackson’: Bill to create separate courts, police for part of capital city advances over protest appeared first on Mississippi Today.