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Lexington community members joined attorneys and the National Police Accountability Project to urge a federal appeals court to consider evidence in a civil rights lawsuit against the police department alleging a pattern of violent, racist and unconstitutional policing practices. 

A Wednesday filing asks the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to hold oral arguments to consider evidence presented at a 2022 hearing and legal arguments that the U.S. District Court overlooked the evidence in dismissing the plaintiffs’ claims. 

Attorneys for the Black Lexington residents who claim they have been stopped at checkpoints, falsely arrested and retaliated against by members of the police department say the plaintiffs had proper standing, their claims were proper and some claims were dismissed without properly analyzing evidence. 

“For those reasons, Malcolm Stewart, Darious Harris, and Robert Harris respectfully request that the judgment of the district court be reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings,” the May 28 appellant’s brief states. 

The original lawsuit, filed in August 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Missisisppi, documented conduct by the former white police chief, Sam Dobbins, who was fired in 2022 after bragging on a recording about killing 13 people while working as a law enforcement officer and using racial and homophobic slurs. 

That complaint also shows the conduct of his successor, Chief Charles Henderson, who is Black and has overseen a department that allegedly is violent against residents and has used roadblocks to exclusively target Black neighborhoods. 

Lexington, located in one of the state’s poorest counties, has a population of less than 2,000 people and is 86% Black. The city’s mayor is white and its aldermen are Black. 

The original lawsuit plaintiffs are brothers Robert and Darius Harris, Malcolm Stewart, Eric Redmond and Peter Reeves. Dobbins, Henderson, the police department and the city were named as defendants in the lawsuit. Later, four police officers were added as defendants. 

“This case is about more than a few rogue officers — it’s about a police department functioning as a tool of racial control and abuse,” Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, said in a statement.

Attorneys from the organization, along with attorney Jill Collen Jefferson of JULIAN and others are representing the appellants.

Bonds said the violations have persisted and escalated, which underscores why the organization’s clients are continuing with the case and why it remains critical.  

In 2022, plaintiffs sought a temporary restraining order against the Lexington Police Department to prevent them from violating Black residents’ civil rights and prevent violence against them, but a federal judge denied it.

Over the next two years the district court dismissed a majority of the plaintiffs claims, and two plaintiffs remained with claims against the officers, Dobbins and Henderson. 

In January, U.S. District Judge Tom Lee approved an agreed judgment between plaintiff Redmond and the defendants and dismissed all claims brought by the remaining plaintiffs. This is the decision being appealed with the 5th Circuit Court. 

Since 2022, there have been other federal lawsuits brought by Lexington residents against Dobbins, Henderson, the city and the police department. Most of those remain active in the district court or the 5th Circuit. 

In a Wednesday statement, the National Police Accountability Project said the Lexington lawsuit by the five men is an example of an urgent need for local and federal action to stop law enforcement abuse in the South and across the country. 

Last week, the Trump administration rolled back federal oversight of police departments by ending consent decrees and halting investigations. 

The Justice Department under the Biden administration opened a civil rights investigation into the Lexington police, but it did not result in a consent decree. 

The New Orleans Police Department had a consent decree that lasted from 2011 to 2024.

Bonds said the Trump administration’s move is a “deliberate slap in the face to the memory of George Floyd” close to the 5-year anniversary of his death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. 

She also said the move is an attempt to disempower Black communities, shut down paths to accountability and silence resistance. 

“But let us be clear: We are not backing down. We are doubling down,” Bonds said. 

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here. 

When Mississippi’s own Jamal Roberts captured the crown as American Idol’s newest star, it wasn’t just a personal victory. It was a collective affirmation.

Roberts won with the largest vote total in the show’s history, fueled by millions of votes from fans who believed in his voice. People voted from their phones, laptops and tablets, some casting multiple votes in one night. The results were immediate, visible and powerful.

It was a vivid demonstration of the power of participation. But it also highlighted a profound contrast: in civic life, particularly in Mississippi, voter turnout remains inconsistent — and for many, impossible.

Mississippi still has some of the harshest felony disenfranchisement laws in the nation. People who have served their time remain barred from the ballot box unless they obtain a pardon or have their rights restored through an arduous legislative process that rarely grants relief. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, over 200,000 Mississippians are disenfranchised, and many of them are Black — a legacy of Jim Crow that continues to define who gets to fully participate in democracy.

Roberts’ win demonstrates what’s possible when people are moved to act. Imagine that same energy channeled into local, state and federal elections. Imagine Mississippians casting ballots not only for a singer but for their children’s schools, their community hospitals, their roads, water systems and criminal justice policies.

But unlike reality television, the results of voting in a democracy aren’t immediate. Votes cast in August may not change policies by September. Ballots mailed in November may not yield results until months later. Democracy is not designed for instant gratification. It is designed for lasting transformation. That requires patience, persistence and most importantly, participation.

History is rich with examples of what sustained, organized civic action can accomplish.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) began with a single mother whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver. She organized. She lobbied, and she galvanized others into action. Today, thanks to their advocacy, all 50 states have laws that criminalize drunk driving with legal blood alcohol limits, and thousands of lives are saved each year. Change didn’t happen overnight. It happened because people voted, lobbied and stayed engaged.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids launched a decades-long effort to reduce youth smoking. They mobilized parents, teachers, doctors and young people themselves. Through a combination of public education, local ordinances and federal action, youth smoking has declined dramatically in the U.S.

The Fight for $15 movement, led by low-wage workers demanding a livable wage, began with walkouts and was once considered a political longshot. Today, it has reshaped local economies across the country, resulting in minimum wage increases in cities, counties and states, and is influencing federal policy discussions.

These examples all underscore a key truth: showing up to the polls may not produce the kind of instant results seen in a televised competition, but it is a necessary step toward durable change. Policy requires organizing, coalition-building and a long-game mindset. It involves “We the People” and that includes returning citizens, low-income families, rural voters, young people and everyone in between.

Mississippi has a storied history of both voter suppression and voter courage. From Fannie Lou Hamer to the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the fight to vote has always been met with resistance but also with resilience. Today, that fight continues, especially for those silenced by a criminal legal system designed to exclude.

The good news is that the blueprint is clear. Vote like Jamal Roberts is counting on it. But also vote like your child’s school lunch depends on it. Like your access to clean water depends on it. Like your loved one’s right to return home from prison and fully participate in society depends on it — because it does.

Whether in-person or absentee, whether at the courthouse or by mail, casting a ballot is a statement of presence. Even when the results aren’t immediate, the act itself is cumulative. It builds pressure. It signals demand. It creates momentum.

Let Jamal Roberts’ victory be more than a moment of celebration — let it be a mirror. Mississippians have already proven the ability to mobilize in historic numbers, helping drive more than 26 million votes to secure Roberts’ win. That level of engagement doesn’t belong solely to the world of entertainment. It belongs to democracy. When that same energy is directed toward policy and people, toward justice and equity, history is not just watched — it’s made.

As Mississippi approaches Election Day on Tuesday, the opportunity to act is here. Let this be a fresh start. The same spirit that voted for Jamal Roberts can show up at the ballot box — whether early, absentee or in-person. Let Mississippi once again show up and show out — not just for a voice on stage, but for the voices in our communities who deserve to be heard, counted and valued.

Pauline Rogers is a longtime advocate for criminal justice reform and the founder of the RECH Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting formerly incarcerated individuals as they reintegrate into society. She is a Transformative Justice Fellow through The OpEd Project Public Voices Fellowship..

CLARKSDALE — Hundreds of people packed inside a local auditorium Thursday to see the hit film ” Sinners,” set in their community and steeped in Mississippi Delta culture.

The special screening of the blockbuster horror film included an appearance by Director Ryan Coogler and was made possible by a community petition.

“I have family from Mississippi — my uncle, my grandfather — and I had never been until working on this script,” Coogler said, addressing the crowd. “It really changed me, just to come here.”

The movie, starring Michael B. Jordan as twins, is about two brothers coming home to Mississippi to launch a juke joint. It’s also a supernatural vampire flick that blends elements of drama, action and music.

“Sinners” composer Ludwig Göransson, actor Miles Canton and others who worked on the film also attended the screening.

“Anytime that filmmakers take the time out to pay homage to the Delta, especially, because we’re the root of music, the blues culture, that means a lot,” said Brandice Brown Williams, a theater teacher who brought two of her students to the screening.

The film is set in 1930s Clarksdale, Mississippi, but current day Clarksdale doesn’t have a movie theater, making it difficult for people to see the film about their hometown. Community organizers decided to change that, starting a petition to invite the cast and crew to Clarksdale and to collaborate on hosting a public screening.

“The love you have for Southern folk, Mississippians and Clarksdale came to life through your commitment to writing us right,” community organizer Tyler Yarbrough said. “We are ready. We are waiting. And we would be proud to welcome you back to where it all began.”

During the screening, the crowd was expressive — in response to various scenes, they gasped, laughed and cheered. Afterward, Coogler and others stayed for a Q&A.

One attendee, Cindy Hurst, praised the film, calling it a “really good visual representation of the beauty of the Black culture.”

On the edge of the Briarwood community in northeast Jackson sits a white building with a blue awning. On any given night, its rooms are filled with artists, dancers and creatives who have come to build community and hone their crafts.

This is the home of the Briarwood Arts Center, the creation of Stephen Brown, also known as the hip-hop artist, producer and DJ 5th Child.

“During the pandemic, there was this unhoused population that had an encampment in front of the building, and the gas station next door had become a dumping site. There were huge piles of trash and tires and all sorts of stuff,” Brown said. “It was really frustrating seeing that as I pulled into my neighborhood after a long day of work.”

The building had been abandoned since he moved into the neighborhood in 2017. It was the remnants of an abortion clinic, turned daycare center, turned 3,500 square feet of deserted possibility. A property management company with property close by eventually bought and leased the building in the summer of 2022.

“When this opportunity presented itself, I knew that it had to be comprehensive,” Brown said. “It wasn’t gonna be just like one type of art. It’s not Stephen Brown Art Center or 5th Child Art Center. This is Briarwood Arts Center. It’s not about one person, but it’s about the community.”

Brown aimed to fill a void in the local arts scene. Popular hangouts like The Flamingo, a collective space and venue in Fondren, had closed, and there weren’t many places around for people who were into the alternative arts and music culture.

“I wanted to create something where we own it, within the artist community, that nobody could just take from us or remove us from or anything like that,” he said. “I didn’t know how that was going to happen, I just knew that it needed to happen even if I wasn’t the person to do it.”

He secured the keys later that fall, and soon after hosted an open-house, gathering ideas for what community members wanted to see. That culminated into stacked programming, with a calendar flush with events such as line dancing classes, Kuumba (Swahili for creativity) Youth Night, GoodEDvice ACT Prep Club and Crochet Circle. Most of the events at the Briarwood Arts Center are free.

“The work that we’re doing here, we can find other ways to make money, but I don’t wanna make money on the backs of the community members,” he said. “I don’t wanna price them out of these enriching experiences, so that’s why the stuff that we do is free.”

Each room at the center is designed with the artist in mind. There’s the Craft Kitchen, where visitors can develop their crafting skills, practice using a Cricut machine and learn how to sew their own projects. In the Ubuntu room, dancers learn movement through music, and community members can brush up on their self-defense skills. There’s also Cole’s House II, a music lab, and The Branding Lab is complete with a green screen and backdrops for photography practice.

“The space is really designed for folks who are still trying to figure it out, who have the genuine curiosity about something that they’re like, ‘What if I don’t get it right? What if it’s not perfect?’ Well, come here and screw up,” he said. “Come here and make all your mistakes so that you can fine tune it and take it to a bigger, nicer, fancier venue down the line.”

Brown hopes that his persistence and dedication to creating safe spaces inspires others in Jackson to imagine what’s possible for their neighborhoods.

“What I want is for someone in Shady Oaks to be like, ‘Oh man, we got an abandoned building right here in our neighborhood too. Let’s put our money together and start the Shady Oaks Art Center.’ Or somebody in Alta Woods or in Virden Addition to say, ‘Hey man, we got this abandoned building. How about we start the Alta Woods Art Center?’”

Briarwood Arts Center will hold events for 601 JXN Day, which is an annual weekend long celebration of the city coordinated by Visit Jackson. Residents can participate in the Briarwood Unity 2K, as well as a community clean-up. The center will also host the Siegel Select Block Party, a service program where volunteers will collect donations and supplies for residents who stay in the hotel, which is right next to the arts center’s parking lot. 

“There’s no fee to register, but this is more about a demonstration of establishing that camaraderie and dignity for the Briarwood neighborhood,” he said. “Before Fondren was Fondren, somebody had to care enough. Before Belhaven was Belhaven, somebody had to be the squeaky wheel.”

Brown sees the space he cultivated as one that reaches across generations. He said he’s seen visitors at Briarwood Arts Center from ages 6 to 94.

“It’s not just about the technical skill of sewing a stitch, but they’re talking about history. They’re talking about legacy. They’re talking about family tradition and all that stuff is being passed down through the arts,” he said. “The arts are a vehicle to bring these people together. Arts have always been, not only a time capsule, but also a means of resistance. They’ve been a blueprint for resistance.”

More information about Briarwood Arts Center and a calendar of events can be found on its website.

Candidates running in Jackson’s general election June 3 have doled out nearly half a million dollars vying for public office, with state Sen. John Horhn far in the lead with nearly $200,000 in campaign expenditures since the beginning of the year.

The Democratic nominee for mayor reported raising $350,000 this year and holding less than $25,000 in cash-on-hand, according to campaign finance reports due Tuesday.

Note: View a full list of reported contributions and expenditures from mayoral and council candidates and links to individual reports at the bottom of this story.

Second in spending in the mayor’s race was independent candidate and businessman Rodney DePriest with just over $72,000 in expenditures. He raised nearly $90,000 and had about $17,000 in cash-on-hand this week.

Horhn and DePriest face two other independents and a Republican, who combined have raised less than $5,000. Independent candidates Zach Servis and Lillie Stewart-Robinson reported spending about $1,600 and $1,300, respectively, while Republican candidate Kenny Gee did not file a report on time, but told Mississippi Today he’s spent $700 out-of-pocket.

A sixth mayoral candidate, conservative talk radio host and local businessman Kim Wade, who ran as an independent, recently announced he was dropping out of the race, though the city clerk told Mississippi Today that Wade did not file termination paperwork so his name will appear as normal on the ballot. He endorsed DePriest and did not file a campaign finance report on the deadline.

Another high-dollar race is the election for the Ward 1 council seat between incumbent Councilman Ashby Foote, who is running as an independent for the first time after being elected as a Republican, Democratic nominee Jasmine Barnes and independent candidate Grace Greene. The three have collectively spent nearly $90,000.

Ward 7 Democratic candidate Kevin Parkinson far out-raised his independent opponent, Ron Aldridge, $45,000 compared to about $14,000, and Republican candidate Taylor Turcotte did not file a report, though the ad agency owner told Mississippi Today she has conducted her own advertising without donors and would file a report soon.

Two political action committees also filed reports outlining their participation in Jackson elections this year: MS PAC and Capitol Resources PAC, which contributed to incumbent Ward 4 Councilman Brian Grizzell ($1,000) and Horhn ($2,500), respectively.

Both Horhn and DePriest reported that some of their largest donations, ranging from $5,000 to $10,000, came from LLCs. While Mississippi law limits donations from corporations at $1,000, LLCs that are taxed as sole proprietorships are not included in that cap. There are no limits on contributions from individuals or political committees.

Horhn’s largest donations include $12,500 from former Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale and $5,000 each from a law firm located in Tippah County, Hern Law Firm PLLC, two Madison-based professionals, insurance executive Brian Johnson and physician Billy Wayne Long, and Jackson architecture firm M3A Architecture PLLC.

DePriest’s largest donation was $10,000 from Clinton-based equipment rental company HIJACK LLC. He also received $5,000 donations from Barksdale and several Jackson-based professionals including real estate agents John Dinkins and Warren Speed, lawyer Cody Bailey, surgeon Matt Jones, physician James Clay Hayes, and an executive’s spouse Mollie Van Devender. He also received $6,000 from Raymond-based property management firm MDMW Investments and $5,000 from Texas resident Matt Wiggins.

As is common in local elections, several candidates did not submit reports by the deadline, including incumbent Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes, who told Mississippi Today he would file shortly, and his opponent Marques Jackson, who said he would file Thursday after checking his bank statements to ensure accurate reporting.

UPDATE: After the publication of this story, Stokes filed his report and the city clerk supplied it to Mississippi Today.

Editor’s Note: Jim Barksdale is a Mississippi Today donor and served as a founding member of the Mississippi Today board of directors. Donors do not in any way influence our newsroom’s editorial decisions. A list of Mississippi Today donors can be found here, and Mississippi Today’s board of directors can be found here.

Lawmakers on Thursday finally passed a $7.1 billion state budget to fund government agencies, but it wasn’t a master class in legislative statesmanship. 

Senators complained about their House counterparts, House members fought bitterly among themselves about budget details and lawmakers knowingly passed a bill that conflicts with federal Medicaid regulations. 

The public display of bickering took place during a special legislative session because lawmakers couldn’t agree on a budget during their regular session earlier this year, which was also mired in Republican infighting. Gov. Tate Reeves called them back to Jackson this week to pass a budget before the new fiscal year begins July 1. 

“Yes — this should have been completed in regular session,” Reeves wrote on social media. “But once clear that was no longer an option, the two sides worked diligently to find an agreement that met my specific criteria and passed it while minimizing costs of a Special Session.” 

The Senate wrapped up its work Thursday evening, after debating whether it should approve the state Department of Health’s budget, after lawmakers realized it contained a provision that could jeopardize $1.2 billion in federal Medicaid money for Mississippi. 

The 52-member chamber approved the budget and said they had a guarantee that Reeves would veto the provision out of the agency’s budget. 

Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann thanked the senators for their work, but he accused House leaders of working in bad faith by renegging on some prior budget agreements and by filing bills that were outside Reeves’ parameters for the special session. 

“There were three more significant bills that came from the House, which were not on the governor’s call and did not reflect the agreement of the House, the governor and the Senate,” Hosemann said.  

Senate Democrats opposed almost all of the budget bills in the special session because they complained they did not receive any advance drafts of the bills ahead of the session. 

Hosemann told Mississippi Today that he shared a budget summary with all senators on Sunday and encouraged them to ask questions about the budget to Senate leaders ahead of the special session. 

Senate Minority Leader Derrick Simmons, a Democrat from Greenville, attempted to replace agency funds frozen by the federal government with state funds, but Republican senators used procedural tactics to defeat the measures. 

The House finished its work on the budget in the early hours of Thursday morning after working all Wednesday night to approve, debate, and question the spending bills. 

House leaders struck a more conciliatory tone with Democratic members late Wednesday, after the two factions, earlier in the day, butted heads over the budget process and House Speaker Jason White threatening to remove a member from the chamber. 

Like their Senate colleagues, House Democrats grew frustrated that they were largely kept in the dark about the specifics of the budget and used a constitutional provision to force the reading aloud of lengthy budget bills. 

Irate at the filibuster tactic, White, a Republican from West, and his leadership team refused to answer any questions from Democrats if they continued to request that bills be read. 

White posted on social media that he shared a digital copy of a budget summary with House members on Tuesday and placed a physical copy of the summary on their desks on Wednesday. 

“When I was elected Speaker, I stated my goal was to bring more order and timeliness to the budget chaos while allowing all House members time to read and review the spending bills before they are asked to vote on them,” White said. “While we may not have perfected that process yet, as Speaker, I will maintain the goal of transparency and working in an orderly fashion.”

It appeared the House would continue to bicker over the budget after Republicans refused to allow members from both parties to ask questions in a House Appropriations Committee meeting, prompting further outrage from Democrats. 

“So, we’re not allowed to debate any piece of legislation in this process, is that correct?” Democratic Rep. John Hines of Greenville asked. 

“That’s correct,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Read, R-Gautier, responded. 

Read and other appropriations leaders cited the Democrats’ earlier filibuster tactics as the reason for not allowing them to ask questions. 

But some Republicans complained that the committee moved too fast for them to understand what was being proposed.

Rep. Becky Currie, a Republican from Brookhaven, during the committee meeting, asked a committee leader to repeat his brief explanation of an amendment to the budget for the State Auditor’s Office. 

Rep. Sam Mims V, a Republican from McComb, declined to repeat his explanation of the amendment and continued to speed through the budget. 

The committee meeting showcased how, in recent years, rank-and-file lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, have complained they aren’t provided budget details in time to vet and debate the bills and how individual members have virtually no input in the budget process.

But longtime lawmakers said the special session this week was one of the worst budget-making cycles they’ve seen in roughly a decade. 

“I understand that we’re in the minority, and Republicans are in a supermajority, but there’s just no dialogue taking place,” Rep. Bryant Clark, a Democrat from Pickens, said. “This is the straw that broke the camel’s back.” 

Despite the chaos from the committee meeting, Democrats on the House floor stopped asking for bills to be read Wednesday night into Thursday morning, and Republicans chose to answer their questions. 

The most substantive debate on the House floor occurred over the Mississippi Development Authority’s budget, the agency responsible for economic development.

Rep. Robert Johnson III, the Democratic leader, offered four amendments to the agency’s budget, but the GOP majority voted against them mostly along partisan lines. 

Johnson, a Democrat from Natchez, tried to amend the legislation to reduce the amount of money counties are required to contribute to economic development projects in areas with extremely high poverty rates or failing school districts. 

Rep. Karl Oliver, a Republican from Winona who leads an appropriations committee, opposed the amendments because he said he did not want the new proposals to jeopardize earlier agreements he reached with Senate leaders. 

Most agencies in the proposed budget will see flat funding with no major increases or decreases. But many agencies will see a drop-off starting July of millions of dollars in “one-time” money, either federal pandemic funds that are drying up or state cash for projects that lawmakers are withholding this year. 

Under the budget agreement, lawmakers are planning to leave about $1 billion unencumbered. Some legislative leaders say this is prudent, given federal cuts and uncertainty in Washington. Others question whether state agencies will suffer, and contractors go unpaid on already started projects, from not having capital expense money allocated in the coming year.

Some highlights of the spending agreements House and Senate leaders have reached for the coming budget year:

Medicaid: $969.9 million, a 6.69% increase

K-12 education: $3.34 billion, a .4% decrease, primarily due to a decrease in enrollment

Universities: $838.4 million, a .4% decrease

Community colleges: $299.4 million, a .22% increase

Department of Corrections: $438.2 million, a 4.4% increase

TOTAL GENERAL FUND BUDGET: $7.135 billion, a 1.57% increase

Senate leaders on Thursday realized improper spending of $1.9 million in the Health Department’s budget bill sent over by the House could jeopardize $1.2 billion in federal Medicaid money for Mississippi.

But after it passed the measure Wednesday night — despite having been warned about the problem — the House went home. It declared its work for a special session to set a state budget done, and the Senate could either concur, or … lump it.

It left the Senate holding the bag.

The Senate was left with some onerous choices: Pass a bill with a known disastrous flaw and hope the governor can fix it with a line-item veto, stay in Jackson with senators twiddling their thumbs at taxpayer expense until the House is by law forced to return in three days, or kill the bill. This would leave the Health Department without a state budget as the new budget year looms on July 1, and the governor would have to force lawmakers back into yet another special session to fix it, at taxpayer cost.

After hours of debating what to do and talking with the governor’s office, the Senate opted for the former option — it sent the flawed bill to Reeves after securing his promise that he would veto the element of the legislation that jeopardized Medicaid funding.

“I think today, if we were in the grocery store business, we’d be hearing over the intercom system, ‘cleanup on aisle five, cleanup on aisle seven, cleanup on aisle 14.’ It’s been a mess. We’ve been doing a lot of cleanup today,” said Senate Medicaid Chairman Kevin Blackwell, a Republican from Southhaven. “The governor has assured us he will line-item veto this bill … I’m going to trust him, he’s never lied to me.”

The move allowed senators to pass the state budget and conclude the special legislative session, but only after senators on Thursday plodded through the passage of numerous bills the House had sent over after it pulled an all-nighter and left town. They complained the House had sent numerous jacked-up bills over and then skedaddled, leaving little recourse to fix problems.

In this case, the problem was the House’s Health Department budget proposal, which allocated $1.9 million to Methodist Rehabilitation Center. This would make the center whole after paying more in provider taxes than it is receiving in directed payments from Medicaid.

But the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services deems this improper and says certain entities cannot be exempted in such a way. Provider taxes must be imposed uniformly to meet federal law and CMS regulatory standards. This means the tax must be applied across the board as it relates to similar providers of that type.

To meet these requirements, states attest they will not refund certain providers and, in essence, hold them harmless from the tax. Providing a special appropriation to reimburse one hospital for the tax they pay appears to violate these requirements, which could jeopardize the provider tax for all hospitals in Mississippi.

Provider taxes, which are helping prop up hospitals in Mississippi without Medicaid expansion, are under extreme scrutiny in Congress right now because of issues like this.

The bill originated in Republican Rep. Clay Deweese’s budget subcommittee. Deweese could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

House Public Health Chairman Sam Creekmore, R-New Albany, said he found out about the issue after the bill passed out of committee in the House on Wednesday, before it came before the full House for a vote.

“We were so late in the game when we discovered it, it had already passed through appropriations,” Creekmore said. “It was in Clay’s committee, of course I had some influence over that, but it was Clay’s call to let it ride.”

Neither House Speaker Jason White nor Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday immediately responded to requests for comment.

Senate leaders on Thursday said they were in communication with the governor’s office and he had assured them he would line-item veto the House’s SNAFU.

READ MORE: Legislative session crashes, budget dies over feuding between GOP House, Senate leaders: Legislative recap

In a social media post on Thursday afternoon, Reeves did not mention the health budget error, but he acknowledged he had meetings with Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann throughout the day about “concerning” items in some bills. He urged senators to knowingly pass the bills with errors so he could issue a veto and end the special session on Thursday.

“We have identified a few minor items that are concerning in a few — of the over 100 — bills that must be passed,” Reeves said. “I believe it is important that the Senate pass these bills as is to get the Session completed … and I will use my constitutional authority to deal with the concerning items to protect Mississippi citizens, businesses, and taxpayers. The best thing for taxpayers is no doubt for the Special Session to be wrapped up today, and I appreciate everyone working with us to get that accomplished.”

Some senators lamented that setting a budget, controlling the state’s purse strings, is the domain of the Legislature, not the executive branch, and they bristled at the idea of Reeves having to fix problems through vetoes because the House left and refused further parlay.

The saga marked the second instance in recent months where a consequential error evaded the notice of lawmakers and threw a wrench in the legislative process.

During this year’s regular legislative session, the Senate accidentally passed a typo-riddled bill to eliminate the state income tax. Instead of a long, cautious phase-out of the income tax, the Senate accidentally approved a phase-out that would happen at a much faster clip, as the House had wanted. The House leadership realized the Senate’s error and ran with it. Reeves later signed the typo tax bill into law.

READ MORE: Gov. Reeves signs typo tax overhaul bill into law to phase out income tax, trim grocery tax and raise gasoline tax

More broadly, rank-and-file lawmakers in recent years, both Democrat and Republican, have complained they aren’t provided budget details or drafts of major bills in time to vet and debate them. Senators on Thursday said there were numerous other bills sent from the House with errors or changes that had not been agreed to by both chambers.

“We need to remember that this is the same legislative session where we inadvertently, or advertently, sent over legislation with a typo in it, figured out there was a typo in the legislation, and it was still sent to the governor and signed as is,” said Sen. Rod Hickman, a Democrat from Macon. “And now we’re saying we’re going to trust this same process to fix an error that we all know about, and we’re all on the record knowing about, that could jeopardize this entire (Medicaid) program.”

Jasmine Barnes has been following the headlines about dysfunction in Jackson’s City Hall since college, taking notes on government meeting minutes and financial records. 

The auditor at the Mississippi Department of Transportation had wanted to run for city council for years, but she started seriously considering it after purchasing her first family home in Northpointe, a northeast Jackson neighborhood, in 2019. 

It seemed to her like the city could use her accounting expertise, but she was uncertain if a young Black woman could be a viable candidate in Ward 1, an area long known as Jackson’s “white Republican bastion.”  

“I knew that if you’re gonna run against a white Republican in a ward like this, you’re gonna have to have your A-game,” she said. 

In an attempt to convince Barnes, her campaign manager and friend sent out a poll in late December, asking frequent voters in the ward if they were satisfied with the incumbent Ashby Foote, the founder of a financial services company who was elected to the council in 2014 as a Republican and has not faced a serious challenger since. 

Over half of respondents said they would consider somebody else, Barnes said. 

Now, as Ward 1 residents start voting for the June 3 general election, Barnes and fellow challenger, independent Grace Greene, are creating stiff competition for Foote who is also running as an independent. 

The hotly contested race reflects what political observers and ward residents have known for years now: Northeast Jackson is not quite the “white Republican bastion” it once was. 

In 2024, Ward 1 was recorded as having 1,000 more Black residents than white, a ratio of nearly 50% to 45%, after redistricting prompted by the 2020 census. That same year, the ward voted overwhelmingly for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump during the presidential election.

To be sure, Ward 1 is still the city’s whitest ward, home to influential Republican donors who live in some of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the state. And these voters carry greater weight in municipal races, where turnout is lower, a trend that historically favors the affluent and conservative. In this year’s Democratic primary, Ward 1 recorded the highest voter turnout in the city – 30% versus 23% citywide – leading some pundits to cry Republican interference.

Jackson’s demographics by U.S. Census block group

Hover over each dot to learn more.

Ward 1 is economically diverse, with some of Jackson’s biggest mansions as well as several apartment complexes. 

But many of the ward’s civically engaged residents, regardless of race, political party or the nexis of the two, are united by shared interests, such as preserving property values in an area that has not suffered as much as other parts of the city from population loss, crime or divestment but where there is financially more at stake. 

“I’m gonna go back to: We need help,” Madeline Cannon, a Ward 1 resident for nearly 60 years, said as she was leaving a candidate forum at the Briarwood Presbyterian Church last week. “Right now, I’m looking for a leader. I am a Democrat. I’ve been a Democrat all my life. But we’re just looking for a leader.” 

For residents, their relationships with their council person matters much more, Cannon said, than political party. 

Greene said she recently experienced this firsthand at a meet-and-greet at the Country Club of Jackson hosted by a friend who is involved with the neighborhood association. Greene was prepared for residents to ask her questions about Rodney DePriest, a white businessman who is running as an independent candidate for mayor. 

Instead, Greene said nearly everyone wanted to know if she knew Horhn, who had just secured the Democratic nomination. 

“Then some of the people who were coming up to me, introducing themselves to me were like, ‘We’ve already spoken to John Horhn about this, we’re doing this … or we worked with John for years about this or he’s been supportive about this in the Senate, whatever business or philanthropic thing these people had worked on, and it was very obvious they had good relationships with him and a respect for him,” she said, “and like, in their minds, it was almost settled, even though we had a general election.” 

When Jackson adopted a mayor-council form of government and created the city’s seven wards 40 years ago, Ward 1 voters elected a Democrat. But ever since 1993, when insurance agency president Derwood Boyles stepped down, Ward 1 has been represented by a Republican. 

Political scientist Steve Rozman, a retired Tougaloo College professor who lived in north Jackson for years, has a few possible explanations for why northeast Jackson became and has remained the whitest, wealthiest and most conservative part of the city.

Jackson was developed as a segregated city, and Rozman speculated the city’s desirable land was close to the Pearl River. Indeed, one of Jackson’s most premier neighborhoods, Eastover, was developed in 1949 by Leland Speed Sr., a former mayor of Jackson, on a horse farm on low-lying land near the river. 

“Whites set up on the land that they regarded as best in the area,” he said. “A lot of the Black neighborhoods historically have not been near the Pearl River. With the municipal water system, maybe it was advantageous under more primitive conditions to be near water.” 

As the 20th century wore on, factors like redlining, higher property values and significant opposition from racist white people would have kept Black Jacksonians from purchasing homes in the city’s northeast until the 1990s and 2000s, Rozman said. 

Today, northeast Jackson is home to large apartment complexes near County Line Road and I-55 as well as a growing Hispanic population, a diversity that Barnes said people don’t often acknowledge. Instead, folks still tend to associate northeast Jackson with its tennis courts, private schools and gated neighborhoods. 

“I don’t know if it’s like a perception thing,” she said. 

In reality, the ward’s demographics represent a marked shift from 1992, when Ward 1 was 92% white, according to the Northside Sun. 

Back then, Ward 1 was one of three majority white wards in the city, along with wards 4 and 6 in southwestern Jackson. But by 2000, before the city had even received the final Census tally, Ward 1’s councilperson, Ben Allen, was telling his constituents that would no longer be possible. 

“It would be very difficult for us to get three white wards, unless some fancy gerrymandering goes on,” Allen told the Northside Sun. 

Come 2002, redistricting dropped Ward 1’s white population to 76%, according to newspaper archives. The balance would shift again in 2010, to 55.9% white and 39.7% Black.

With the exception of a few closely contested special elections, the ward has remained a Republican stronghold this century, as Democrats often failed to field any candidates. But when they did, the race could be close: In 2014, Foote was elected by a little over 100 votes against construction attorney Dorsey Carson. It was technically a nonpartisan special election, and Carson, a Democrat, reportedly “strayed from discussing his political affiliation,” while Foote emphasized his conservative values. 

Now the sole Republican on the council, Foote said when it came time for him to participate in drawing new ward lines last year, he didn’t do so with his reelection chances in mind in part because the process did not affect his constituency’s racial balance. 

Of the couple thousand voters that Ward 1 had to give up, Foote said they were about 50-50 Black-white.

Instead, Foote said his goal was to keep the shape and cohesiveness of Ward 1 “in a way that made logical sense and not get gerrymandered into something that looks like a lizard or whatever.”

The distant cousin of author Shelby Foote moved to Jackson in 1980. In 1999, he bought a home with his wife on Calnita Place, close to Jackson Academy — a feature Foote said he didn’t appreciate at the time because his children attended other schools, but has since come to see as protecting his property values. 

Plus, the cul de sac was good for his dog, Skip, a Jack Russell mix. 

“Your dog’s life expectancy goes up,” Foote said jokingly.  

As she has canvassed the ward, Barnes said she’s loved walking through the neighborhoods close to Jackson Academy. 

“I was like, man, this is a really cool community, and I just kind of love that aspect of kids walking by themselves because they feel safe enough to do that,” she said. 

That’s not the only similarity between Democrat and Republican in the Ward 1 race. When Barnes reads news articles about the city, she often ends up finding herself asking the same questions as Foote about financial transparency and accountability. 

“Jackson is in a vulnerable position, but we’re not a vulnerable city,” she said. “We have a lot that we can do internally to build our credibility, build our leverage first, and then we can go out and seek other resources.” 

Foote noted that if he were to lose reelection, the lack of a Republican on Jackson’s city council would not impact the issues of the day. 

“It’s not really about Republican values or Democrat values,” he said. “It’s really about let’s get the roads fixed, let’s make sure we have running water, let’s make sure the garbage is picked up, and let’s make sure we do it in a cost efficient manner.”

At the same time, Foote has touted in campaign materials that he is endorsed by the Hinds County Republican Party. He said his first run for office was financed by a generous donation from Billy Mounger, an architect of the state’s GOP who was good friends with Foote’s father. 

Greene, an entrepreneur who has worked as a doula, an online reseller, and an economic developer in Peru, said she chose to run as an independent so that residents of Ward 1, regardless of their political affiliation, will know she supports them. 

Greene moved to the ward in 2020 with her family after looking at homes in Belhaven, Fondren and LOHO, the neighborhood just outside of Eastover. They landed on a home in Heatherwood in part because it had an attached garage, a feature the older homes in Fondren lack. 

Plus, she wanted to raise her kids, who are enrolled in Jackson Public Schools, in a diverse environment, a decision she has talked about with other white residents during the campaign. 

“There was somebody in the neighborhood who knew me from childhood and he made a comment about the changing demographics of the neighborhood. He said how initially he thought it was going to be a negative thing, but it just turned out to not be a negative thing. I just told him, I said, ‘Well that was a positive to us when we moved here,’” she said during an interview at her office in Highland Village. 

Greene also noted that everyone in the ward is impacted by the city’s actions, regardless of whether they live in an apartment or a gated community. For instance, she said she had two kids in diapers with no trash pick up for 18 days in 2023. 

“That was a leveler across the city, cause no matter where you lived, no one had trash pickup, and we all had to figure out what to do with this,” she said. “And the fact that there was truly, really no explanation to the citizens as to why this was happening? There was no response when we reached out about it.” 

Another leveler? When it’s the state versus Jackson, that includes the Republicans who live here, too. 

Foote shared a story about the controversy surrounding the Smith-Wills Stadium. At one point, frustrated by what he characterized as a lack of transparency from the city administration around a deal to forgive $500,000 in past-due rent from the stadium’s vendor, Foote said he asked Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office for an opinion on whether the vote the council took to do so was legal.

Even though Fitch is a fellow Republican, Foote said her office told him it would be a conflict of interest to opine on his question, since Fitch is representing the state in its fight to take the stadium. 

U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate will invite feedback from capital city residents on the latest rate hike JXN Water is proposing, the utility’s manager Ted Henifin confirmed on Wednesday during an event at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

Henifin said residents will have a chance to give testimony to Wingate during the next status conference scheduled for June 16 at 1 p.m. at the federal courthouse in downtown Jackson, and that JXN Water will put out further instructions on how to participate. This story will be updated with any additional details.

The utility announced in February that it would raise rates for the second time in as many years after realizing it would need more revenue for operations and debt payments than it previously estimated. Henifin said that would be the case even if JXN Water had a 100% collections rate, adding Wednesday that the rate is now around 70%.

While the 2022 federal consent decree employing Henifin requires him to present rate increase proposals to the Jackson City Council, he only needs Wingate’s approval to enact them. In the two and half years since Wingate appointed Henifin to lead the city’s water system out of disrepair, the judge has largely aligned with the manager’s outlook.

In 2023, for instance, the judge brushed off concerns a number of advocates and residents raised over a lack of transparency and local engagement from JXN Water. Wingate also sided with Henifin in a couple of disputes with federal agencies pver part of the consent decree: During status conferences last year, Henifin criticized the Environmental Protection Agency for slowing down funding dispersals, and also asked Wingate to mandate the release of SNAP participant data to implement a water bill discount.

The judge agreed with Henifin in both instances, although a 5th Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision last month halted the release of SNAP data. Henifin said Wednesday he hopes JXN Water can work with government agencies during future SNAP re-enrollment to advertise the discount.

JXN Water initially raised combined water and sewer rates in 2024 by 13% on average. The most recent proposal would raise rates by another 12% on average, the utility says, or about $9 a month.

Last year, all city council members abstained from voting on the rate hike, the Clarion Ledger reported. But on April 22, the council voted 6-0 in opposition of the latest increase, arguing that JXN Water should improve collection rates before asking for more from those already paying.

“We felt (last year) it wouldn’t make any difference because it had to go before the judge,” Council President Virgi Lindsay said during the April meeting. “But this time I feel like it is important that I be a part of sending a message to this judge that this is excessive and it’s too much, and it’s more than our citizens should be asked to bear.

“We have got to put some of the onus back on JXN Water.”