Tuesday, March 28 is Mississippi Today’s seventh anniversary. That marks seven years of digging deeper for the stories that matter most. Our founding mission was to create a trustworthy news source that is free for all — no paywalls, no paid subscriptions. Through the years, we have helped readers navigate yearly legislative sessions, voting seasons, a pandemic, a water crisis, the biggest welfare fraud in the state, and more.
Thanks to our talented reporters and dedicated readers, we have grown in every way over the last seven years. We revere the honor of being the state’s flagship nonprofit newsroom, and one of the state’s first online-only publications. I’m proud of the accountability reporting you’ve come to expect from Mississippi Today, and the way we’ve grown beyond “words on a screen” to cut through the noise.
Today, we have a committed team that brings you trustworthy news not only through our website, but through our app, texting line, social media and community events. We encourage two-way communication with our readers through our MT Asks series and Reddit AMAs. Your information needs are our top priority as we develop reader guides to break down complex issues and FAQs to answer your top questions.
Our mission has always been to shape our journalism around our readers’ information needs and expand our coverage to give you the most thorough reporting. Our reporters go out each day and dig deep into the issues and stories that affect Mississippians across the state. The investigative coverage that develops from these efforts puts a critical lens on state leaders and the decisions they make on behalf of Mississippi residents.
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Mississippi lawmakers missed a Monday night deadline to complete their budget work and now will have to extend the regular session or wait for Gov. Tate Reeves to call a special session to fund public education and other key agencies.
Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, told House members late Monday afternoon there were about 25 budget bills where work had not been completed to reach agreement between legislative leaders ahead of a midnight deadline. He said House leaders will attempt on Tuesday to garner the two-thirds majority vote needed to extend the session for “one or two days” in order to meet the Mississippi Constitution requirement that all appropriations and revenue bills be passed before the final five days of the session.
The session is currently scheduled to end Sunday. Lawmakers could vote to extend the session on paper but still finish by Sunday’s scheduled final day.
At the heart of the missed deadline is a fight between House and Senate leaders over the budget bill for K-12 schools.
The Senate voted to make small adjustments to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, the formula that provides the state’s share of funds to local school districts, and fully fund it for the first time since the 2007-2008 school year.
House leaders, though, have rejected the Senate plan, saying they do not want to put any additional funds in the MAEP formula. The full membership of the House has not been allowed to vote on the Senate plan.
House leaders have said they wanted to provide specific earmarks for education, but not provide additional funds for MAEP, which pays the state’s share for the basic needs of school districts, such as teacher salaries, textbooks and transportation.
While agreement eluded lawmakers on education and other budget bills, many of the more than 100 budget bills have already been passed.
Lawmakers agreed on spending $104 million to bail out the states struggling hospitals.
Another bill – funding the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks – provides $13 million for the LeFluer’s Bluff Education and Tourism Complex in Jackson “in coordination” with the Mississippi Children’s Museum.
Last year Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed a similar appropriation that included a golf course in the LeFluer’s Bluff area. The governor said then that the state did not need to be in the business of building golf courses.
Supporters at the time said the project included various improvements in an area where multiple museums and playgrounds and other recreational facilities are located.
The bill this year does not say whether the project includes a golf course, but said the money is being appropriated “to provide tourism, education and recreational activities that contribute to community well-being.”
A special grand jury hearing was held at the Lafayette County Courthouse Monday for Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., the Ole Miss graduate charged with murdering Jimmie “Jay” Lee, Mississippi Today has confirmed.
Lee was a queer, Black student at the University of Mississippi known for performing at a local drag night. His death has shocked Oxford’s tight-knit LGBTQ+ community and sparked a movement called “Justice for Jay Lee” which wants Herrington convicted.
The grand jury hearing comes about three months after Herrington was released from jail on a $250,000 bond. He was charged with Lee’s murder in July 2022.
In Mississippi, grand jury hearings are secret. It is unclear when the grand jury will return a decision, but it could be as soon as Tuesday. A text and call to Steven Jubera, the Lafayette County Assistant District Attorney assigned to the case, was not returned.
This hearing, the final step in a criminal investigation, marks a critical juncture in Herrington’s case. The grand jury could either vote to indict Herrington, meaning the case could proceed to trial, or return what is called a “no true bill” if there is not enough information to indict.
This became public on Sunday morning when Justice for Jay Lee posted on Instagram that Herrington “will be appearing in court for indictment” this week. Braylyn Johnson, a friend of Lee’s and one of the group’s main organizers, said Justice for Jay Lee learned the grand jury would be meeting through a “whistleblower.”
The post called for people to protest at the courthouse to show Herrington that Lee and his family have support in Oxford.
“We need ALL of our supporters to make it here to rally with us for JUSTICE!,” the post read.
That night, the Justice for Jay Lee page received a direct message from the Oxford Police Department’s Instagram page.
OPD’s Instagram message to Justice for Jay Lee. Credit: Courtesy Justice for Jay Lee
“We appreciate your steadfast promotion for Jay Lee,” the message read. “But please hear us out. This is a special grand jury session just for this case due to the amount of evidence. Herrington WILL NOT be at the court house (sic). Disturbances could cause us not to be able to present to the grand jury. It could also lead to a request for a change of venue and we do not want that.”
“We have worked hard on this case and do not want to do anything to jeopardize it,” the message concluded.
OPD Captain Hildon Sessums, who sent the message, told Mississippi Today he was intending to warn Justice for Jay Lee that protesting could jeopardize the case. Sessums said he also wanted people to know that Herrington would not be at the courthouse.
“We’re never going to try to stymie anybody’s First Amendment right,” Sessums said. “We just want people to realize that some actions have consequences, and the last thing we want to do is to do anything to jeopardize this case. We try to run everything by the book.”
Sessums added that OPD isn’t trying to be secretive. Justice for Jay Lee has repeatedly called on the department to release more information about the case — specifically more details on the possible whereabouts of Lee’s body, which still has not been found more than 260 days after he went missing.
“I just don’t think they understand all the logistics and what we’re doing and maybe that’s on us for not being as transparent as they would like us to be,” he said. “But again, this case has a lot of moving parts and we’re doing everything we can to get a guilty verdict.”
Herrington’s attorney, Kevin Horan, was not at the grand jury hearing on Monday. A state representative, Horan was at the Capitol working on a bill when reached by a Mississippi Today reporter on Monday afternoon. He said he was not expecting to hear anything about the case.
“I’m fixin’ to do a bill in about 30 seconds,” he said.
It is unclear who testified before the grand jury hearing, though Johnson said that she spoke with Jay Lee’s mom, Stephanie Lee, as she was leaving the courthouse.
At a preliminary hearing last fall, an OPD detective presented evidence obtained from Herrington’s computer and cell phone. That included Snapchat messages sent between Herrington and Lee the night that Lee went missing, and a Google search that Herrington made as Lee was coming over to his house that said, “how long does it take to strangle someone gabby petito.”
A few years ago, I wrote a book titled “Chainsaws & Casseroles.” The title came from a short story about a disgruntled meteorologist who came home to find his hometown destroyed by a tornado. He soon learned the power of love and healing by the people who showed up to help after the storm. I’ve always said that when there is a storm, before you can get out of the rubble, there will be a church van full of people with chainsaws and casseroles. They’ll cut the tree off your house and then they will feed you. That’s how we roll in Mississippi. It may because we know that eventually it will be our turn to need help. Or we’ve been already been on the receiving end of that help. We’ve seen that all across Mississippi the last few days. It’s when we’re at our best.
Tornadoes ripping through Mississippi Friday night left at least 21 dead, dozens injured and a trail of destruction throughout the Delta and into the state’s northern region.
As the eyes of the nation turn to the Magnolia State, many readers have asked how they can help residents affected by the storms. We’ve compiled a resource page that includes information about how to give to organizations working to help Mississippians.
How to donate
Remember, experts routinely encourage donors to research organizations before giving money, especially in times of crisis. Local advocates and others who spoke with Mississippi Today, however, vouched for the organizations listed below.
Volunteer Mississippi is sharing updates on local donation centers — mostly for supplies and clothing, not cash donations — on its Facebook page.
United Way of West Central Mississippi is collecting donations of water at their office in Vicksburg. It is also accepting monetary donations on its chapter website, and organization leaders ask you specify “Rolling Fork” in the donation notes.
Additionally, GoFundMe created a dedicated page for the recent Mississippi storms.
How to volunteer
If you are looking to volunteer time or resources, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency officials ask that you do not self-deploy but instead volunteer in coordination with Volunteer Mississippi. Click here to visit the Volunteer Mississippi website.
Shelters for victims
National Guard Armory/Civic Center located at 19719 US Highway 61 in Rolling Fork.
Humphreys County Multipurpose Building located 417 Silver City Road in Belzoni.
Old Amory National Guard Building located at 101 S 9th St. in Amory.
The American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, and other nonprofit organizations will continue to offer food at these sites.
Government assistance
FEMA has made available federal assistance for affected individuals in Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe, and Sharkey counties. Individuals must visit www.DisasterAssistance.gov or call 1-800-621-3362
The Mississippi Department of Human Services has allowed SNAP households that lost food to receive replacement food if they submit a MDHS-EA-508 form at their local MDHS office within 10 days of the disaster.
The Mississippi Division of Medicaid has enacted a state of emergency that allows affected Medicaid patients to receive early refills and additional prescriptions above the standard monthly limits.
Legal assistance
The Mississippi Center for Justice offers “free legal services to the survivors who need an advocate to help them fight for a fair recovery following the aftermath of these devastating storms.”
Help local journalists
The Mississippi Press Association has established two separate funds to assist local journalism efforts in the state. It launched a GoFundMe page to assist the Deer Creek Pilot newspaper in Rolling Fork, and it reestablished its Local Journalism Relief Fund to assist journalists and outlets affected by the storms.
Brian Jones, superintendent of the Amory School District, described the situation as “very, very overwhelming.” He said schools will be closed all week in the district and the goal is to have students back by next Monday. Amory High School was the only school building to sustain damage in one part of the campus, allowing it to be used for instruction once schools reopen.
Jones said the district’s school buses had all the windows blown out by the storm, which they are working to repair, adding that they have been in communication with other districts about borrowing school buses. He also said the athletic facilities are gone and students will not be playing any sports for the remainder of the year while the district works to rebuild.
“The community has rallied around itself with everybody trying to help everybody,” Jones said.
No buildings were damaged in the Winona-Montgomery Consolidated School District, according to Superintendent Teresa Jackson, but the district and much of the surrounding community are currently without power.
Jackson said the estimate from Entergy was that power would be restored by 10 p.m. Tuesday night, but said she considers this optimistic. She added she is concerned about food access since the one grocery store in Winona is running on generators and most other stores are without power.
“We want to get our schools open as soon as possible so that we can serve breakfast and lunch, have mental health resources, and just get back into a routine,” Jackson said. “Kids need routine.”
Jackson said they hope to be back in school before the end of the week. She also expressed her appreciation for the fellow superintendents, state leaders, and local companies who have checked on them and offered assistance.
“When there are tragic events like this, the state of Mississippi really wraps their arms around those people,” she said. “That is why I love Mississippi so much, because we take care of each other, we care about each other, and we’re going to reach out and say ‘How can we help?’”
A spokesperson for the Mississippi Department of Education said it has been in continued contact with all affected districts, and is working with federal, state and local agencies to administer support services. State Superintendent Robert Taylor visited the communities most severely affected on Monday.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said the New Albany School District and Humphreys County School District, also in the path of the tornadoes, were operational on Monday, which the New Albany Superintendent Lance Evans confirmed to Mississippi Today. Evans added that the damage to facilities in his district was extremely minimal compared to other districts.
Superintendents of the South Delta School District and the Carroll County School District could not be reached for comment. According to the Mississippi Department of Education, school buildings in South Delta sustained roof damage but are not destroyed and Carroll County school buildings were undamaged but are currently without power.
Hank Bounds, the former state superintendent of education during Hurricane Katrina, said for the most severely affected districts, reopening schools is secondary to ensuring their students and staff are safe and cared for. Bounds said he has offered his assistance through state leaders to districts trying to figure out their disaster recovery plans, but has not been in contact with any yet.
“My guess is they are doing nothing but thinking about the welfare of their people right now, as they should be,” he said.
No colleges or universities in the state appear to have sustained damages.
On Saturday evening, Mississippi Valley State University in Leflore County posted a message from its president, Jerryl Briggs, on social media. The campus “avoided a severe blow,” Briggs wrote, but the families of students, faculty and staff were affected. To support those community members, the university was organizing a community service event.
“Our hearts ached as we watched the news coverage and have since heard of the reports of those who lost their lives, property, and so much more,” Briggs wrote.
The Senate on Monday, at Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s request, voted to revive a measure it killed last week that would restore voters’ right to sidestep the Legislature and put issues on a statewide ballot.
“At my request, the Senate passed a suspension resolution to revive the initiative process (Monday) morning,” Hosemann said in a statement. “House leadership has also expressed a desire to continue working on this issue. If the House agrees to this suspension resolution, the Senate will again address legislation providing Mississippians with direct input on policy. We are hopeful to come to a final agreement before (the legislative session ends).”
As the 2023 legislative session enters what’s scheduled to be its final few days, the House would have to follow suit with a two-thirds vote to suspend rules and revive the ballot initiative measure. Then the two chambers would have to come to agreement on a final version.
But House Speaker Philip Gunn said he would need more information before deciding whether the House would take up the Senate proposal to suspend the rules to pass an initiative proposal. He said the House had passed two initiative proposals – one last year and another this year – and both had been rejected by Senate leaders.
“We are clear on our position,” Gunn said. Unless the position in the Senate had changed on the initiative, Gunn asked, “What would be accomplished?” by taking up the rules suspension resolution.
In general, Gunn said he does not like such rules suspension resolutions because they could be used to try to revive other bills that had died earlier in the legislative process.
Citing irreconcilable differences between House and Senate positions, Senate Accountability Efficiency and Transparency Chairman John Polk, R-Hattiesburg, let the ballot initiative measure die with a deadline without a full Senate vote last week. A similar measure died in the Legislature without a final vote last year, after the state Supreme Court in 2021 shot down the ballot initiative right Mississippi voters had for three decades.
Hosemann last week said he was in favor of restoring the right — which is popular with voters according to recent polling — but that he lets his chairmen, such as Polk, make their own decisions.
The death of the bill drew bipartisan criticism, including from Hosemann’s challenger in the lieutenant governor GOP primary Sen. Chris McDaniel. If it stands, the bill’s death is likely to be an issue with voters in this year’s statewide elections.
Many Mississippians were angry when the state’s high court stripped voters of this right in 2021. This was in a ruling on a medical marijuana initiative voters had overwhelmingly passed, taking matters in hand after lawmakers had dallied for years on the issue. Legislative leaders were quick at the time with vows they would restore this right to voters, fix the legal glitches that prompted the Supreme Court to rule it invalid. Many lawmakers said they support the right.
The House and Senate versions of the measure, which would have required ratification by voters in November, differed. But both would have greatly restricted voters’ right to ballot initiative compared to the process that had been in place since 1992. Many supporters of restoring the right have been angered about legislative leaders’ proposals to date. In the House, most Democrats despite supporting restoration of the right voted “present” on the House version they found it so restrictive.
House Minority Leader Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, said if a bill is passed this session restoring the initiative, it should be a “clean” proposal that requires the same number of signatures to get an issue on the ballot as the initiative process that was struck down by the Supreme Court. Johnson said the proposal should not ban issues, such as abortion, from being taken up through the initiative process as was in the most recent House version.
The Senate position on the initiative would require the signatures of at least 240,000 registered voters to place an issue on a statewide ballot. The House version would require about 106,000, nearer the previous threshold required for the last 30 years.
Under both proposals, the Legislature by a simple majority vote could change or repeal an initiative approved by the electorate. Unlike the previous process voters had for decades, voters could only pass or change state laws, not the state constitution.
Senate President Protem Dean Kirby, who proposed the rules suspension to revive the measure, on Monday said he believes many senators still support the higher signature threshold but, “Hopefully we can work out some kind of compromise.”
“We all want something passed,” Kirby said. “I think a lot of people out there do want a ballot initiative and we are going to make an effort.”
A recent Mississippi Today/Siena College poll shows Mississippi voters across the spectrum want their right to put issues directly on a statewide ballot restored.
The poll showed 72% favor reinstating ballot initiative, with 12% opposed and 16% either don’t know or have no opinion. Restoring the right garnered a large majority among Democrats, Republicans, independents and across all demographic, geographic and income lines.
Rep. Sam Creekmore, R-New Albany, heard about the Senate’s attempt to revive the measure as he walked off the House floor Monday afternoon.
The Senate Education Committee has rejected Gov. Tate Reeves’ nomination of DeSoto County resident Carra Powell to the Mississippi Board of Education.
Late Sunday, the Education Committee tabled the nomination. The Education Committee is expected to meet again before the session ends — presumably later this week — to take up the nomination of Robert Taylor for state superintendent of education.
At that meeting, an effort could be made to revive Powell’s nomination. On Sunday, Sen. Sollie Norwood, D-Jackson, made the motion to table the nomination. It was overwhelmingly approved on a voice vote. No one asked Senate Education Chair Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, for a roll call after the voice vote.
It is not unusual for such action to occur on a voice vote. But members have the option to ask for a show of hands or even a roll call if they believe the ruling of the chair is inaccurate.
No one asked for additional clarification of the vote.
Powell’s nomination was considered controversial. A resident of DeSoto County, near the Tennessee line, she is a registered lobbyist for a charter school association in Tennessee.
Before the vote, Reeves posted on social media, of Powell, “She is a strong conservative, active in her kids’ public schools, and a tremendous advocate for education freedom. Many left wing groups trying to stop her. Can’t imagine why! Do not let them win!”
Reeves had not yet posted on social media anything about the Education Committee’s decision. The Education Committee consists of 10 Republicans and five Democrats.
In Reeves’ first legislative session as governor, his nomination of former state Sen. Nancy Collins, R-Tupelo, to the state Board of Education also was rejected. She, like Powell, was opposed by many public education groups who voiced concern with her pro educational choice advocacy positions.
The nine-member Board of Education consists of four appointees of the governor and two each from the lieutenant governor and speaker of the House.
Jackson County’s Board of Supervisors announced Monday it chose Louisiana Catholic nonprofit Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System to purchase the Gulf Coast’s Singing River Health System.
The decision comes after an extensive proposal period in which potential buyers put in bids for the Mississippi hospital system. Singing River CEO Tiffany Murdock announced last year the 700-bed hospital system was seeking a buyer to put it on firmer footing for the future.
“This is an exciting day for Singing River Health System,” Murdock said in a statement. “Our future with the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System ensures that Singing River will be able to meet the needs of our employees, patients and community members for years to come. Together, we will build on the strong foundation Singing River has established since we first originated as Jackson County Hospital in 1931.”
While hospitals across Mississippi came out of the pandemic in the red, Singing River’s finances were in decent shape, and it even grew its revenue in 2021. Murdock said she was pushing for a buyer while the system was an appealing investment, fearing the challenges in years to come.
Tiffany Murdock, CEO of Singing River Health System, speaks during a public hearing over the potential sale of Singing River Health System during a Jackson County Board of Supervisors meeting in Pascagoula on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022. Credit: Hannah Ruhoff / Biloxi Sun Herald
“We’re coming at it now at a place of strength,” Murdock told a community group in the town of Hurley in August 2022. “And in five years, I can’t promise you the same thing.”
Hospitals have been facing increasing costs from labor to supplies. Rural Mississippi hospitals have been struggling to stay afloat. Singing River hopes that by teaming up with a larger system, they’ll be able to better trim costs because of the scale at which purchases are made.
While not in danger of shuttering its doors like other hospitals in the state, Singing River hasn’t been without its own challenges since seeking a buyer. Its Gulfport hospital recently suspended its labor and delivery services because of a physician staffing shortage.
The system says it wants to reopen obstetric care but it’s unclear when that will happen. Its last day of service is April 1.
In its announcements about acquisition, Singing River said the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System is committed to “keeping care local, investing in our community and investing in our people.”
“We are excited about the possibilities for healthcare in our region and believe the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System is the right choice,” Jackson Board of Supervisors President Ken Taylor said in a statement. “Fundamentally, they share our community values and have a mission to provide equal access to healthcare for all.”
The Catholic system already operates St. Dominic Memorial Hospital in Jackson and nine facilities throughout Louisiana. Its headquarters are in Baton Rouge.
Singing River has hospitals in Gulfport, Ocean Springs and Pascagoula and several walk-in clinics and other medical facilities across the Coast.
In one of the nation’s first sit-ins, a group of Black men boarded a “whites-only” streetcar in Charleston, South Carolina, sitting among the white passengers. The conductor ordered them to move. They stayed. The police ordered them to move. They stayed. The driver unhitched the horses and left the streetcar.
Protests expanded beyond the single line, and police arrested 11. The continuing protests led Black residents to win the right to ride in the streetcars. Their victory expanded in June when the discrimination of railroads, horse-cars and steamboats were also banned.
