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House Speaker Jason White continues to champion school choice at the state Capitol, but some of his constituents aren’t so sure about the policies.

The Kosciusko Board of Aldermen adopted an anti-school choice resolution on Tuesday night, breaking from their representative and the set of proposals that White, a Republican, is aggressively pushing. Kosciusko, 70 miles north of Jackson, is the largest city in White’s district, which encompasses parts of Attala, Carroll, Holmes and Leake counties, and it’s where his law office is located. 

Kosciusko joins a handful of cities that have publicly denounced school choice policies, which fund educational opportunities outside of traditional public schools, often with state money. The boards’ actions could signal a lack of support among everyday Mississippians, while powerful state lawmakers like White continue their years-long, full-court press for school choice, backed by billionaire-funded national conservative organizations and the Trump administration. Proponents of school choice say there is also a grassroots movement driven by parents that have buoyed their cause.

Taylor Spillman, a spokesperson for White, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the resolution. 

The resolution calls the local public school system — graded an “A” for three years straight by the Mississippi Department of Education — the “lifeblood” of the community and urges the Kosciusko legislative delegation to oppose school choice policies. The statement defines education savings accounts, vouchers and tax-credit programs — which all direct taxpayer money to private or homeschool education — as school choice policies. 

When reached by Mississippi Today, Kosciusko Mayor Tim Kyle noted that open enrollment policies that loosen regulations around public school transfers would also divert funds from the local school district. 

Henry Daniel, a Democrat who represents Ward 2 on the Kosciusko board, said he voted for the local resolution because he doesn’t think private schools should receive taxpayer funds if they don’t adhere to the same admission and testing standards as public schools, which have to admit and serve all students regardless of background or ability. 

Last month, Barrett Donahoe, executive director of the Mid-South Association of Independent Schools, told lawmakers that private schools his organization represents were not willing to support school choice unless the dollars came with no strings attached. 

“We’ve got a good school system here,” Daniel said. “Even though Jason is our representative … you have to put that to the side and see what’s best for the kids and the community.”

Dr. Tim Alford co-authored the resolution, which he modeled after one passed by the Clinton Board of Aldermen, and brought it before the Kosciusko board on Tuesday. All three of his children were educated in the public school district. The experience taught them how to get along with people of all backgrounds, Alford said.

“My thought is that a lot of these folks, they feel like some of the public school communities are beyond saving, and the alternative is just to retreat into the private world, which is in large part segregated,” he said. “The public school world … has some good things going on. To me, that’s where we ought to be concentrating our efforts and energies.”

When white Mississippians left the Delta amid school desegregation, Alford witnessed the devastation that flight wrought on his hometown of Greenwood. He said he’s afraid school choice policies will spur similar results in Kosciusko — and he said he’s already seeing seeds of that outcome. 

“To be honest, I think the white flight tendency is happening in Kosciusko now,” he said. “There are private school options that are available immediately in the community and some several miles down the road that parents are choosing. We don’t have the balance of race that we used to have. I’m afraid to say that I think that is part of what is driving this.”

White, who lives in West, sent his children to private schools in Winona and Madison. His public school district, Holmes County Consolidated School District, has historically struggled academically and is currently under state control.

Alford acknowledged that White has been “very helpful” to Kosciusko and said they both want to improve educational opportunities for all Mississippians.

“I hate to run up against Rep. White because I think he has the best intentions,” Alford said. “But he and I disagree on how to get there.”

Kyle, the mayor, said while he understands and supports parents’ desires to have more choices regarding their child’s education, he doesn’t think that should come at the expense of the public school district. He believes the board’s vote represents the majority of Kosciuskians.

Kyle said Kosciuskians’ opposition is at least partially driven by a fear of the unknown — legislators are drafting an omnibus education bill that would expand school choice in Mississippi, though it’s unclear what specific policies will make it into the legislation.

Some House Republicans support sending money to private schools through vouchers, while others want to keep school choice reforms limited to making it easier for students to transfer between public schools.

School choice policies in other states have resulted in higher private school tuition, skyrocketing education costs and worse academic outcomes. 

“As your schools go, so does your community,” Kyle said. “We don’t want that to happen. That’s the message our community wanted to send.”

11/5/2025: This story has been updated to show that Jason White sent his children to private schools in Winona and Madison.

Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Hayes Carll is currently touring promoting his new album – the critically acclaimed, “We’re only human.”

He will perform Saturday night in Philadelphia at the Ellis Theater, which is part of the Congress of Country Music, a museum and music venue started by music icon and Neshoba County native Marty Stuart.

Mississippi Today Ideas Editor Bobby Harrison recently interviewed Carll online about his scheduled performance in Mississippi, his songwriting and the current political climate.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Mississippi Today Ideas – How did this Nov. 8 concert at the Ellis Center come about?

Hayes Carll  – We’re just on tour promoting the new record, and we’re covering a lot of grounds. I heard about this, I think, new venue. The association with Marty and the town, just made it a good stop. 

MT Ideas – What can we expect from that concert? 

Carll –  I’m going to have my band out with me. I’ve got a six-piece band. I call them the Gulf Coast Orchestra. I started out on the Gulf Coast of Texas playing music. So that’s been what I called my bands ever since.

It’s a pretty eclectic show. We kind of run the range between singer-songwriter and storytelling stuff. But then we can crank it up. We’ve got some brilliant musicians and we’ll get loud and honky tonk it and rock out.

I like all kinds of music and have been influenced by a lot of different styles. So for me, a fun show is one where I can incorporate all that stuff together.

MT Ideas – I’m assuming you will be playing a lot of stuff from your new album, “We’re Only Human.” It is getting great reviews. You talk about your music and everything, and all that’s true. But I think you’re known for your songwriting ability and this album doesn’t let people down on that front.

I view the album as kind of about the human condition, about redemption, about struggling and learning to live and thrive.

Carll – Thank you. That’s a really good recap actually. Yeah, I think the human experience can be challenging and I’ve had my struggles over time, and I got tired of having the same conversations with myself year after year. I’m just trying probably like most people to find a way to live with a little more peace and little more joy and to not struggle as much. So I reached a point in life where we really leaned into doing some personal work to try and sort out how I can live better. And so this record stemmed from that. A lot of it’s just things I discovered for myself about how to stay sane and joyful and grateful.

I wrote it in large part for myself. It was, you know, one big therapy session. I feel like as I’ve gone out and played it for people and shared it with the world I get a lot of feedback that it seems to connect. You know, we’re not that different no matter what our circumstances are.

We all want to feel safe and appreciated and not overwhelmed and able to navigate life with some grace and love. It started off about me, but I think it’s turned into something that hopefully people, regardless of their situation, can relate to and connect with.

MT Ideas – Would you consider this album sort of a departure from your past work? 

Carll – I do in a couple ways. This is my 10th record, and I got into songwriting just because I loved it so much – the storytelling, the ability of songwriters that I looked up to, to articulate my experience or put words to my feelings that I didn’t know how to do to put me in a certain kind of mood to help me find my identity. And there’s so much about it that I just was really excited by.

So when I started writing, I was like most artists, you start off kind of copying your heroes and you slowly start to find your own style and I found I had a lot of different styles and things that I liked to touch on. I would write a song and do it the best I could and then write another song and it came time to make a record.

I would just kind of collect all the songs I had finished and find the best ones or the ones that fit together the best.

This was the first time in my life, in my career,  that I had set out with an intention and a theme about what I wanted to write. It was a very different process for me because of that.

I had some parameters where if it’s not honest, if it’s not helping me sort something out or express something that I felt like I needed to express, then it just wasn’t part of this record. I’ve got a lot in the past of storytelling songs or rock and roll songs, or honky tonk songs or funny songs or things that are touching on specific things, but usually looking from somebody else’s point of view. In this record, I just tried to keep it in a space where I was working toward a goal. And so that was kind of liberating to be able to know that everything I was doing creatively was in this area. 

MT Ideas – Well, if you listen to the words closely though, I still think, you don’t lose your sense of humor, which I think has been an important part of your work for a long time.

Carll – Yeah, thank you. It’s always been important to me. Humor. You know John Prine is a hero of mine. And there’s so many songwriters who can use humor to just be funny or as a contrast to the serious and the heavy. I love the idea of showing the whole human experience and humor and levity and ability to laugh at oneself or at the surroundings.

That’s how I keep my sanity a lot of times. And so even when I’m trying to work through some heavier stuff for me, humor’s always gonna be a part of it.

MT Ideas – Full disclosure. I first learned about you back when my brother-in-law gave me an album – it was actually a CD – called “Trouble in Mind” for Christmas in 2008, 2009.

Carll – Yeah. that’s about right.

MT Ideas – To this day it remains one of my favorite albums. That album I think, it really captured you as a songwriter. I think you have a unique ability to be funny, but also poignant and write tear jerkers at the same time. “Nice things” is not on that album, but it is one of my favorite songs.

Carll – It’s one I wrote with Brothers Osborne, one of my favorite country bands here in Nashville. Yeah, that originally started out as I had this idea of a wife saying to her husband why we can’t have nice things. And at first we were thinking about writing from that point of view. Then we sort of zoomed out and made it more global, universal.

MT Ideas – You made God a woman, and she came back down and just said, whoa, this is why we don’t have nice things. 

Carll – Exactly. She was not thrilled with some of what she saw going on.

MT Ideas – OK. You mentioned John Prine. You’re from Texas. I know Texas is a big state with lots of people, but still it seems like Texas has more than its share of great songwriters going back to Townes Van Zandt, one of my favorites, Guy, Clark, and on and on. You’ve been placed in those categories of songwriters. Are some of those folks your heroes?

Carll  – Absolutely. Texas has a really rich songwriting tradition, musical tradition, just sort of in the air there, I mean, the first memories I have are listening to Willie Nelson.

Kenny Rogers was one of my first. That’s not the same kind of thing as a songwriter, but he was one of my first musical influences. I had an uncle who played in a garage band with Kenny in Houston. It is just kind of everywhere.

Yeah, I, really got heavily into Townes and Guy. Lyle Lovett was maybe the first one for me – his ability to have this unique perspective and this sense of humor and weirdness and elegance and combine all these things that I just didn’t hear on the radio a lot. And, so I really did a deep dive pretty early on into finding all these, to me at the time, obscure singer-songwriters.

They became heroes and now they’re, I think, seen as legends. It’s been really cool for me to come out as those people were my heroes. One of the first co-writes I ever did was with Guy Clark. I got my start in a bar called “The Old Quarter” that Townes had recorded a live record in. I get to tour with Lyle and he’s become a friend, and I’ve toured with Robert Earl Keen. And so for me, as a kid who just looked up to all these guys and viewed them as titans and geniuses and just really brilliant artists, it’s been really gratifying to through the course of years, get to befriend them, work with them. It’s really special. I have to pinch myself sometimes. 

MT Ideas –  What, what was your thought process writing, ”She left me for Jesus?”

Carll – I have a friend named Brian Keane, who’s a great singer songwriter. And he came over to my apartment. I was living in Austin at the time, and he was kind of going through a situation where his relationship was maybe not going to work out because he was not religious enough.

He brought that idea to me. At first I wasn’t feeling it. I wasn’t sure what to do with that. Sometimes you start a song, and it could take years and you just labor away and sometimes it just happens like that. We got the concept that there was this mistaken identity and that the guy thought his girl was cheating on him with some guy named Jesus and didn’t put it together.

And then we kind of made him a certain type of character and started bringing satire and irony into it. We wrote it in probably an hour, and then we had three or four extra verses as well. It just became one of those things where the ideas were flowing and we’re just poking a little fun at folks who maybe call themselves Christian, but don’t behave in Christian ways or maybe would pick a fight with Jesus if he walked into a bar today.

MT Ideas – There is some controversy going on today with songwriters involved in politics? You have not taken political stances, but sometimes I think your songs do. Can you just talk a little bit about that? 

Carll – First of all, I think on the whole our job is to be artists. I don’t think anybody should be told as an artist what they should or shouldn’t write about. It’s always sort of strange to me when people say people should stick to their lanes.

We’re all people here and I don’t think you have to be an elected official or a talking head on TV to have an opinion and be able to share it. We all have that right. And  particularly as an artist, I feel like our job is to look at the world in a certain way and share that point of view.

You don’t have to agree with it, don’t have to like it. But our job certainly is not to get small and, and not examine what we see.

A lot of my heroes early on were really politically active – Bob Dylan  or Prine in some ways. And so I always admired that, but I never felt quite comfortable finding my voice to express it – on stage or off.

I definitely have some songs where I think I let it be known where I’m coming from or try to challenge certain ideas. Off-stage, it’s a bit more challenging.

I feel like these days, whatever your opinion is or however justified or based in decency or respect you try to make it,  there’s a section of the populist, no matter what side you’re on, that’s gonna come back at you in a pretty unpleasant way. And it’s not that I’m afraid of that blowback, although I don’t enjoy it. But I sometimes feel like I’m just adding to the noise because we seem to have lost the ability to just have a nuanced and respectful conversation.

And so if all I’m doing is throwing fuel out there for people to get upset about, I’m not sure I’m actually accomplishing what I want to accomplish by sharing my opinion. So I just kind of take it as it comes and try to take care of myself and my family and my friends and neighbors.

And I certainly have my opinions and if I feel I need to express them I will and do, but I try not to lead with that. Part of what this record is about is some of that. I like to define people not by their differences or disagreements, but try and find the commonality ’cause I have a lot of people, friends that I disagree with strongly about certain political issues, but I know they’re really good people and so I like to start there and build some commonality and respect there. And then we can argue once we’ve established a baseline of decency.

MT Ideas – Yeah. You have a song on the new record that talks about that, where the couple meets at a rally and yells at each other and then feels bad and goes out to eat together. You have written several songs I think that talk about the ability of people who get along despite their differences.

Carll – Yeah, I feel like we get divided and there’s people who profit off of division and animosity, and I don’t think it’s the regular people who are benefiting from it. And so again I believe everybody should have their belief systems and fight for what they think is important. But sometimes I think with social media and the news 24-7 and all the opinions and all the politics, it can make people think that’s all that we are. And we’re so much more than that. 

MT Ideas – Well, look I appreciate your time. I know you’re busy with your new record and getting ready for your tour, so I thank you for taking some time to be with us.

Carll – I appreciate you having me, and I’m really looking forward to playing. 

Brittney Reese, a seven-time world champion and Olympic golf medalist long jumper, headlines the 2026 Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame induction class announced at the MSHOF museum Wednesday.

Reese is joined by a talented and diverse group that includes three former football stars, the winningest college baseball coach in Mississippi history, a championship swimming and diving coach, and perhaps the most successful strength and conditioning coach in football history.

In alphabetical order, the MSHOF Class of 2026:

• Glen Collins, a Jackson native and Mississippi State first team All American football star. One of the most decorated defensive linemen in Mississippi football history, Collins was a first round draft choice of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1982 and played seven years in the NFL. Collins played high school football at Jim Hill. At State, he was so dominant that opposing teams nearly always double-teamed him. He was one of the heroes of State’s memorable 6-3 victory over Alabama in 1980, which remains perhaps the most treasured victory in MSU football history.
• Louis Guy, a two-way player, who was one of the heroes of the undefeated 1960 Ole Miss football team that was awarded the Football Writers of America national championship. Guy played wingback and defensive back and was a threat to score on either side of the football. He caught three touchdown passes in a game against Houston and returned a pass interception 100 yards for a touchdown in a victory over Tennessee. Guy was drafted in the third round of the NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles and later played for both the Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders. Following his playing days, he built a successful career as an orthodontist and Jackson community leader.
• Michael Haddix, a two-time Mississippi State All-SEC running back from Walnut who was the eighth overall pick of the 1983 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. Haddix was one of those running backs with a rare blend of both speed and power, which he employed to gain six yards per carry for his entire State career, still a school record. “Just an unbelievably great back,” Collins said. “I know because I had to tackle him in practice. Michael was a great teammate and a great guy.. All us guys from that era of State football remain close.”
• Bobby Halford, a Meridian native who was a terrific baseball player before becoming the head baseball coach at William Carey University where he has amassed more than 1,300 victories, surpassing Hall of Famer Ron Polk as the winningest college baseball coach in Mississippi history. He has led the Crusaders to 19 conference championships and 26 national tournament appearances. He was the NAIA National Coach of the Year in 2017.
• Ronnie Mayers, former Delta State athletic director and before that the championship swimming and diving coach for the Cleveland school. Mayers’ teams won 11 Gulf South Conference titles and made 15 NCAA Championship appearances. Mayers recruited and coached 56 All Americans during his career – little wonder the Delta State aquatics center bears his name.
• Johnny Parker, considered a pioneer in strength and conditioning, particularly in football. Parker coached for 35 years at the college and professional levels after beginning his career at Indianola Academy. His innovative training methods have influenced generations of coaches and athletes. He earned three Super Bowl rings as an NFL strength coach with the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Bucs.
• Brittney Reese, a Gulfport native who has become one of the most decorated athletes in Mississippi history, male or female, in any sport. She starred in track and field and basketball at Gulfport High and Gulf Coast Community College before concentrating in track and field under Hall of Fame coach Joe Walker at Ole Miss where she was a two-time NCAA champion for the Rebels. She is a seven-time world champion who won the Olympic gold medal in 2012 and silver medals in 2016 and 2021. She is the latest in an amazing pantheon of Mississippi long jumping greats, including Hall of Famers Ralph Boston, Willye B. White, Larry Myricks and Savanté Stringfellow.

The Class of 2026 will be inducted in ceremonies during MSHOF Hall of Fame Weekend July 31-Aug. 1.

The city of Ocean Springs plans to place $468,681 into an account linked to a federal lawsuit filed by motorists until a judge decides whether they were improperly ticketed for driving without insurance after traffic cameras captured photos of their license-plates.

The Ocean Springs Board of Aldermen decided Tuesday night to turn the money over to the court, indicating the city is relinquishing any claim to the funds it collected from uninsured motorists.

Three motorists ticketed in Ocean Springs filed the lawsuit in August 2023 against the Georgia-based company that ran the program, Securix LLC. The city is not a party to the lawsuit, but split revenue 50-50 from the uninsured motorist program with the company.

READ MORE: Two Mississippi media companies appeal Supreme Court ruling on sealed court files

The three motorists are seeking class-action status for the lawsuit, filed by Chhabra Gibbs & Herrington of Jackson, so others ticketed in the city also would be represented in the case.

The lawsuit accuses Securix of deceiving vehicle owners by essentially posing as a law enforcement agency through its mailed traffic citations in Ocean Springs.

The city issued a news release after the board voted to relinquish the uninsured motorist fines and fees collected. It said, in part:

“The Southern Poverty Law Center, the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law, Public Justice, and the law firm of Chhabra, Gibbs & Herrington PLLC raised concerns that Securix violated state and federal law and exposed the city to potential financial liability.
“Although Ocean Springs contracted with Securix in 2021 with the intent of encouraging uninsured drivers to obtain car insurance, the city later determined that the program did not function as intended and terminated the contract in May 2023.”

How uninsured motorist program worked

The program used automated license plate readers and artificial intelligence to extract license plates that were then run through a database to determine whether the vehicle owner had insurance.

The police department was supposed to review the information and issue the tickets that Securix mailed out.
If a vehicle was not listed as being insured, a ticket went to the owner. The system did not identify the person driving the vehicle. On their face, the citations claimed to be uniform traffic tickets that appeared to be from the police department.

READ MORE: Private business ticketed uninsured Mississippi vehicle owners. Then the program blew up.

The Ocean Springs citation offered three options: Call a toll-free number and provide proof of insurance, enter a diversion program that charges a $300 fee and includes a short online course and requires agreement that the vehicle will not be driven uninsured on public roadways, or contest the ticket in court and risk $510 in fines and fees, plus the potential of a one-year driver’s license suspension.

The funds Ocean Springs is turning over to the court represent the city’s share of proceeds collected from motorists.

Securix is in a separate state court battle with three politically connected Mississippians who formed a company called QJR LLC to join the ticketing business.

Jackson area businessmen Josh Gregory and Quinton Dickerson and Pascagoula attorney Robert Wilkinson formed QJR LLC to partner with Securix. They helped spread the program to numerous other Mississippi cities. Gregory and Dickerson own Frontier Strategies, an advertising company that has run campaigns for state and local politicians.

Wilkinson was the city attorney for Ocean Springs when its Securix contract was signed. Wilkinson resigned from the position in June, after the website GCWire.com, published numerous pieces about the ticketing program and his involvement.

QJR is in a bitter legal dispute with Securix and its chairman, Jonathan Miller, in Chancery Court. QJR wants its partnership with Securix dissolved. The partners lost access to the insured motorist database after Miller accused the Mississippians of wrongdoing. The ticketing program no longer operates in Mississippi.

A trial date in the state case is set for January 12 before Judge Neil Harris, whose son, David Harris, is now the city attorney for Ocean Springs.

This article was produced in partnership between the Sun Herald and Mississippi Today.

Democrats broke the Republican Party’s two-thirds majority in the Mississippi Senate on Tuesday by gaining two new seats, eroding the GOP’s grip on the 52-member chamber for the first time in over a decade.

But the GOP still has a strong hold on the Mississippi Legislature and can override Democrats on all but a few types of votes if they caucus, in both the House and Senate. 

In a reconfigured Senate district in northwestern Mississippi, voters elected Democrat Theresa Gillespie Isom over Republican Charlie Hoots. In another redrawn district in the Pine Belt region around Hattiesburg, Democrat Johnny DuPree defeated Republican Anna Rush. 

Republicans previously represented these two areas, but a federal court earlier this year determined the state violated the Voting Rights Act and ordered the state to redraw them into majority-Black districts. 

Mississippi 2025 special elections: See the results

Two Senate races, one in the Jackson area and one in the Delta, are still undecided because a Dec. 2 runoff will decide the winners, but they are not expected to further tilt partisan power.

In both of these races, the elections are nonpartisan, though the winner will likely declare a partisan affiliation after taking office. In both elections, the candidates are seeking to replace longtime Democratic senators.

Mississippi had a mix of partisan and nonpartisan special elections Tuesday. Special elections are nonpartisan when an office holder leaves during a term. But in the elections for the redrawn districts, candidates ran with party labels.

State Rep. Cheikh Taylor of Starkville, chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party, said Tuesday’s results show Mississippi can be a battleground state that is no longer “a foregone conclusion.” 

However, Taylor noted that the Democratic victories were only possible because federal judges found that Mississippi had violated the federal Voting Rights Act – something the U.S. Supreme Court may limit in the future. 

“If the Supreme Court dismantles these protections, we risk silencing the very voices that made last night’s historic outcome possible,” Taylor said. “As voters continue to reject Trump’s agenda in 2026 and 2027, we must protect the fundamental right that makes change possible: the right to vote.”

Republicans will have 34 senators, and Democrats will likely have 18 when the Mississippi Legislature convenes in January for its 2026 session. If the Senate strictly votes along party lines on an issue, Democrats could prevent Republicans from accomplishing a small number of things.

In Mississippi, it takes a two-thirds vote of both legislative chambers to suspend parliamentary rules and deadlines, amend the Mississippi Constitution and override a governor’s veto. 

Republicans still hold a three-fifths supermajority, which means they can make decisions about taxes without having any support from Democrats.

While Republicans will still control a significant portion of the legislative agenda over the next two years, Democrats could utilize these gains to prevent Republican leadership from reviving legislation that had died on key deadlines or block Republicans from amending parts of the state constitution. 

Heather Williams is president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, an organization that invested heavily in Mississippi’s elections. She celebrated the Tuesday victories and welcomed more Democrats to the Legislature. 

“Mississippians are sending a clear message that, from blue states to red states, voters are ready to stand up against Republicans’ extreme agenda and hold them accountable,” Williams said. 

Democrats also flipped a Republican seat in the House when Democrat Justin Crosby defeated Republican state Rep. Jon Lancaster in the Chickasaw County area of northeastern Mississippi. 

Tuesday’s elections mean that two more women will join the Senate in January.

Isom, elected from DeSoto County, won her election outright. In a special election to fill the seat vacated by Jackson Mayor John Horhn, two women, Letita Johnson and Kamesha Mumford, are advancing to the runoff.

One of the women in the Senate, Republican Robin Robinson of Jones County, lost a party primary for this round of special elections.

Mississippians struggling with addiction have one less option for treatment after Congress cut funding for a University of Mississippi Medical Center project, according to a spokesperson for the medical center. 

The Mississippi Horizons Project used telehealth to treat patients with gold-standard medicine for opioid addiction like buprenorphine, according to a website that UMMC has since taken down. Started in 2022 when Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith sent $6 million of congressionally directed spending to the medical center, the program focused on connecting uninsured Mississippians to the medications. 

The program also offered addiction psychotherapy, financial assistance for prescriptions and in-patient treatment, medical transportation and peer support services, according to an appointment request form linked to the project website. 

“That’s where we should be headed,” said Greg Spore, a member of the Mississippi Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Council and a lawyer with the Office of State Public Defender. “That’s our aim. Those are interventions that are working and will continue to work.”

Spore struggled with addiction for years before entering long-term recovery. He credits medication assisted treatment as an important reason he’s stayed sober. But for many Mississippians, treatments like buprenorphine are out of reach. 

“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be flushed with such treatment across the state,” he said. 

The Horizons program ended quietly in July, with no known public announcement from the medical center. After researchers with Mississippi Horizons published a study in September about their work, Mississippi Today reached out to UMMC to speak with someone from the program about their approach to ending an overdose crisis that has killed over 10,000 Mississippians since 2000.

Only then did a spokesperson with the medical center say in an email that the program had shut down after losing federal funding. She did not answer whether the cuts were a result of the July congressional spending bill, how much longer the grant was expected to provide funds, what role Mississippi Horizons played in addressing the crisis or whether other UMMC substance use disorder efforts were impacted by the cuts. 

A federal government website that monitors how its grants are spent indicates that UMMC did not spend roughly $2.3 million of the $6 million Congress initially awarded the medical center. 

Mississippi Today emailed officials with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the federal agency managing the Mississippi Horizons grant, to ask why the funding was canceled and what other strategies the agency would use to address the addiction crisis after this cut. The newsroom received an automatic email response that said some operations were paused because of the government shutdown. 

Top officials with the Trump administration and the Department of Health and Human Services spoke of the importance of financially empowering states to prevent more deadly overdoses in a September press release announcing continued funding for state addiction efforts. SAMHSA spokespeople did not respond to an emailed question about whether this grant aligned with this stated mission. 

A spokesperson for Hyde-Smith did not respond to an email asking for the senator from Brookhaven’s thoughts on the cut. A federal appropriations website shows she requested over $4.5 million for UMMC for substance use disorder prevention work for fiscal year 2026, but neither body of Congress has passed that funding bill yet. 

Tricia Christensen, an independent overdose prevention and drug policy consultant, said telehealth services that pair people to medicine effective at treating opioid addiction are essential, especially in rural areas. In these regions, she said many drug deaths can be prevented with better access to resources that make up for limited transportation options. 

“From a bird’s eye view, it sounds like a huge loss,” she said. 

Mississippi Horizons’ September research paper highlights that in addition to its clinical work, the project also identified challenges that prevented Mississippians from being treated for addiction. The researchers found that because of misinterpretations of state and federal laws, biases against new patients and credit card payment problems, many Mississippi pharmacies were reluctant to work with UMMC to prescribe medications. 

Christensen said by identifying these particular problems, researchers and advocates can develop plans to overcome them. 

“Is it just an education issue that they don’t understand the law? In which case, we can maybe do some education with them,” she said. “Or is it more of a stigma-related issue, where more work needs to be done to change that narrative?” 

The Horizons shutdown is another instance of money intended to prevent Mississippi overdoses not being spent for that purpose. In September, a Mississippi Today investigation found that of the over $124 million the state had received in lawsuit settlement money from companies that contributed to a decades-long addiction crisis, less than $1 million had been used on strategies to address the epidemic. 

Some local officials have since directed opioid settlement money to prevent more drug deaths, and the Legislature is expected to start spending tens of millions of settlement dollars on new strategies this summer. The council Spore serves on advises state lawmakers on how they should spend those funds, and it recently released preliminary assessments of which projects the Legislature should invest in. 

UMMC applied for $10 million of state opioid settlement money to continue opioid addiction prevention, treatment and recovery work. The council ranked the project in the top tier of applications, although the subcommittee grading it recommended an award less than the medical center’s ask. 

After spending months examining how Mississippi could improve its response to the opioid public health catastrophe, Spore said he hoped the Legislature would use settlement dollars in part to create more programs like Horizons. Now, instead of expanding and supporting programs like it, he said he and others responsible for addressing the state’s overdose crisis will have to find ways to make up for its elimination. 

“Losing that is terrible. It’s a blow to the state.”

After John Horhn represented the district for three decades, voters in northwest Jackson and rural parts of Hinds and Madison Counties cast ballots Tuesday for their new state senator.

By 9:20 p.m., with all six Madison County precincts and 18 Hinds County precincts in the district unofficially tallied, Canton municipal judge Kamesha Mumford and attorney Letitia Johnson were in the lead with 39% and 28% of the vote, respectively.

The unofficial results show nearly 9,500 people in the district voted. The final vote tallies can change because local election officials can process absentee and affidavit ballots for up to five days after the election.

If no candidate receives 50% plus one vote after the complete official count, a runoff election will be held Dec. 2 to determine the new lawmaker for Senate District 26.

Physician Coleman Boyd, the race’s conservative candidate, was in third with nearly 16% of the vote after a strong showing in the district’s Madison County precincts.

The race saw seven candidates – including a chemist, retired educator, businesswoman and bishop — most of whom told Mississippi Today during their campaigns that they viewed the district as ripe for economic development but in sore need of infrastructure improvements and better-funded schools. 

READ MORE: Senate District 26 Special Election candidate guide

While Tuesday marked a historic election in Mississippi, voter turnout remained low, the norm for special-called elections in the state.

Federal judges last year determined the Legislature had diluted the state’s Black vote with its 2022 redistricting and ordered 14 special elections. Seven districts across the state saw contested races Tuesday, giving Democrats a unique opportunity to disrupt the Republican party’s two-thirds supermajority.

But the race for the District 26 seat, historically held by a Democrat elected primarily by Jackson voters, was not one of those court-ordered elections. 

In fact, residents in Jackson and some rural parts of Hinds and Madison Counties who voted in the race didn’t have parties to choose from, as the special election was nonpartisan, meaning all candidates appeared on the ballot together. The District 26 race was necessitated when Horhn, who’d held the seat more than 30 years, became mayor of Jackson in July. Two other districts held similar elections to fill vacancies.

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat who represents many residents of state Senate District 26 in Washington, endorsed attorney Letitia Johnson for the seat. Horhn did not endorse a candidate or publicly involve himself in the race. 

Privately, the mayor offered advice to some candidates on issues facing the district. Johnson said she spoke with Horhn about administrative challenges that the city of Edwards has experienced in drawing down state funds.

“He talked about how he tried to get it corrected, and he talked me through what he would’ve done to get it corrected,” Johnson told Mississippi Today Monday.

Theresa Kennedy, a small business owner from Ridgeland, said she ran into Horhn at neighborhood association meetings in northwest Jackson shortly after he was elected mayor and that he told her to “keep knocking the doors, keep doing what you’re doing.” 

Many candidates said they had knocked on doors across the district in the lead up to Election Day in an effort to boost voter turnout.

Johnson, wife of NAACP President Derrick Johnson, said she knocked on over 20,000 doors. Mumford said she’d gone out just about every day with a team of canvassers. When she went out to vote at her precinct, arriving at 6:54 a.m., she was the seventh person in line. 

Jermaine Cooley, a chemist who ran for office for the first time, said midday Tuesday he predicted low voter turnout based on his visits to multiple polls throughout the district, but he couldn’t speculate a reason. About half the people Cooley talked to while canvassing knew about the special election, he said, especially due to candidate mailers, but he couldn’t tell if voter awareness translated to the polls. 

“I think that’s a great question that if anyone could really answer that and solve that, they could bottle it and sell it,” he said. 

With a strong showing in Madison County, Boyd, a physician from Bolton known for leading protests outside Jackson’s abortion clinic, was a contender early in the night. He unofficially won the district’s six precincts in Madison County, with nearly 34% of the votes.

“I think we’re going to see a surprising result,” he predicted to Mississippi Today the day before the election.

A white Christian conservative, Boyd said he’d been “blown away” by the response he’s received from people of every racial, economic and political background. Earlier this year, Boyd received a pardon from President Donald Trump after he was convicted of federal civil rights conspiracy for blocking the entrance to a Tennessee abortion clinic.

“God created government for very specific purposes and neither one of the parties are fulfilling that,” he said. “Our population has been trained, if I hear ‘Democrat’ I’m supposed to hate it, if I hear ‘Republicans’ I’m supposed to hate it, but I think people are fed up with that.” 

Each part of the district faces unique problems, from the rural towns like Bolton and Edwards to the suburban neighborhoods in northwest Jackson. 

“In Bolton, it’s lights on rural streets, tree limbs, grass,” Johnson said. “In Edwards, there’s questions about annexation and broadening their tax base and other internal issues the city has going on.”

Residents’ concerns even differ inside one of the largest communities in the district, Presidential Hills. 

“It’s huge,” Johnson said of the Jackson subdivision. “Certain parts are worried about crime. Other parts are worried about the streets, cars parked on the side of the road.”

James Pittman, a retired educator and Mississippi Department of Transportation employee, told Mississippi Today he urged prospective voters to read his campaign literature outlining his experience in state government.

But Pittman said he felt like voters made their choice based on whose yard sign they had seen the most. 

“It’s a mystery to me that a lot of the voters would think that one of them is more qualified,” he said of the other candidates. “The only thing they’ve done is spent more money than me and put up more signs.” 

This post will be updated as results are available.

Democratic candidates on Tuesday night appeared to have gained three Mississippi legislative seats, which included toppling a Republican incumbent in a special general election.

Second-term state Rep. Jon Lancaster, a Republican from Houston, trailed behind his Democratic challenger, Justin Crosby, on Tuesday.

Crosby, a political newcomer, received 2,767 votes to Lancaster’s 2,477, according to incomplete results with all precincts reporting but at least some absentee ballots uncounted. The race included parts of Chickasaw, Monroe and Clay counties.

The final vote talies can change because local election officials can process absentee ballots for up to five days after the election.

Democrat Johny DuPree, a former Hattiesburg mayor and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate, defeated Republican Anna Rush, an attorney, in a Senate race that included parts Forrest and Lamar counties.

Democrat Theresa Isom also defeated Republican Charlie Hoots in a Senate district that included portions of DeSoto and Tunica Counties.

Each district where Democrats gained seats was in an area where a federal court ordered lawmakers to redraw lines to make majority-Black districts.

See vote totals below.

Though Democrats made inroads in the state, several Republican incumbents successfully fended off Democratic challengers.

In the DeSoto County area, Republican Sen. Michael McLendon of Hernando and Republican Kevin Blackwell of Southaven won their elections. Republican Sen. Chris Johnson of Hattiesburg also defeated his Democratic opponent.

In Senate district 11, Democratic Sen. Reginald Jackson of Marks was leading his Republican opponent, Kendall Prewett, but Coahoma County on Tuesday night did not report complete results to Mississippi Today.

Of 14 total elections, seven seats were not contested, either because only one candidate filed to run in the race or because the candidate did not have any opposition in the general election. 

But seven races related to redistricting were contested in the general election: six in the Senate and one in the House.

No matter the outcome of Tuesday’s races, Republicans will still retain control of both chambers of the 174-member Legislature when lawmakers convene in January for their 2026 session. However, national Democratic organizations hoped to end the GOP’s two-thirds supermajority control of the state Senate on Tuesday. 

Unrelated to the redistricting lawsuit, voters in parts of the Delta and the Jackson metro area participated in special legislative elections on Tuesday because of incumbents vacating their seats. 

Sen. David Jordan, a Democrat from Greenwood whose district includes portions of Leflore, Panola and Tallahatchie counties, retired over the summer, and six candidates are vying to replace him. 

No candidate in the race received an outright majority of the votes cast, which means the top two candidates in the race will advance to a runoff election. As of Tuesday night, Curressia Brown and Justin Pope received the largest share of the votes.

Kamesha Mumford and Letitia Johnson will also advance to a runoff to fill Jackson Mayor John Horhn’s old seat in Senate District 26 in parts of Hinds and Madison counties.

Voters in Bolivar, Coahoma and Sunflower counties are choosing a new representative for House District 26 after Orlando Paden was elected mayor of Clarksdale. Final results were not in from Coahoma County, but it appeared Otha Williams was the winner, based on social media posts from him and other candidates.

Here are the latest available results of the general election, with local officials not yet reporting numbers in some races: 

Redistricting elections 

Senate District 1 – DeSoto and Tate counties: 

Chris Hannah, Democrat: 1,927

Michael McLendon, Republican (incumbent): 4,949

Senate District 2 – DeSoto and Tunica counties: 

Charlie Hoots, Republican: 2,099

Theresa Isom, Democrat: 3,539

Senate District 11 – Coahoma, DeSoto, Quitman, Tate and Tunica counties: 

Reginald Jackson, Democrat (incumbent): 

Kendall Prewett, Republican: 

Senate District 19 – DeSoto County 

Dianne Black, Democrat: 2,934

Kevin Blackwell, Republican (incumbent): 3,277

Senate District 44 – Forrest, Lamar and Perry counties 

Chris Johnson, Republican (incumbent): 5,330

Shakita Taylor, Democrat: 2,341

Senate District 45 – Forrest and Lamar counties: 

Johnny DuPree, Democrat: 5,167

Anna Rush, Republican: 2,291

House District 22 – Chickasaw, Clay and Monroe counties: 

Justin Crosby, Democrat: 2,767

Jon Lancaster, Republican (incumbent): 2,477

Nonpartisan special elections for vacancies

Senate District 26 – Hinds and Madison counties 

Coleman Boyd: 1,513

Jermaine Cooley: 588

Letitia Johnson: 2,616

Theresa Kennedy: 696

Kamesha Mumford: 3,706

James Pittman: 189

Jeffrey Stallworth: 188

Senate District 24 – Leflore, Panola and Tallahatchie counties: 

Curressia M. Brown: 1,535

Jason Colquett: 996

Everette Hill: 999

Loretta McClee: 940

Justin Pope: 1,235

Georgio Proctor: 494

House District 26– Bolivar, Coahoma and Sunflower counties:

Mary Frances Dear-Moton:

Kimberlyn Seals:

Otha E. Williams: Results were not available, but according to social media posts by Williams and other candidates he won the race Tuesday night.

Three seats that are part of the special elections only had a contested primary election, but not a contested general election. These districts, and the winners of the primaries are: 

Senate District 42: Donald Hartness, Republican. 

House District 16: Rickey Thompson, Democrat (incumbent). 

House District 41: Kabir Karriem, Democrat (incumbent).

Four seats that are part of the special elections were not contested, which means only one candidate filed to run. These incumbent candidates win those races by default. Those districts are: 

Senate District 43: Juan Barnett, Democrat.

Senate District 41: Joey Fillingane, Republican.

House District 36: Karl Gibbs, Democrat.

House District 39: Dana McLean, Republican. 

Mississippi’s $500 million plan for transforming rural health care over the next five years includes collaboration between providers, expanding the medical workforce, advancing health technology and closing gaps in care. But details about specific programs to accomplish those goals were sparse. 

“While Mississippi has long faced challenges in delivering access to quality health care in rural areas, our plan is designed to address those challenges head-on,” Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said during a press conference Tuesday. 

The funding will be doled out to states over five years as part of the one-time federal $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program, beginning in 2026. Mississippi is expected to receive at least $500 million – and possibly more – as a part of the program, the governor said. 

Virtually every county will be included in the plan, which will be implemented with a focus on transparency and evaluating outcomes, said Reeves, who will oversee and coordinate the program. A third-party organization will assist with deploying funds, tracking milestones and assessing outcomes, and the governor’s office will work closely with the Mississippi Department of Health and Division of Medicaid, Reeves said. 

Reeves called the application process a “60-day sprint.” Guidelines for the funding were released bv the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Sep. 15, giving states less than two months to submit a proposal. Awards will be determined by the end of the year. 

Mississippi’s plan includes six initiatives: 

• A comprehensive statewide assessment to study rural health care needs today and for the next 10 years, conducted by a third-party. Reeves did not say how the third-party would be chosen. 
• Coordinated regional integrated systems to create a data-driven network for emergency, clinical and community-based services. 
• Workforce expansion through targeted programs that address recruitment, retention, training and career pathway development for health care professionals.
• Health technology advancement to modernize rural health care systems by strengthening a digital backbone that supports high quality, coordinated and secure care. 
• Telehealth adoption and provider support designed to strengthen rural health care by increasing virtual care access, assisting providers with telehealth adoption and exploring innovative payment models.
• Building rural health infrastructure to improve access to specialized care, close care gaps and support innovative pilot programs aimed at enhancing health care delivery and improving outcomes. 

Reeves said the state’s full application would not immediately be made public. The state will work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to determine when part or all of the plan can be released, he said. 

The funding program for rural health was tacked on to President Donald Trump’s tax-and-spending law passed this summer, which is expected to result in significant losses to federal Medicaid spending in rural areas. Congressional Republicans added the one-time money for rural health to soften the blow associated with the cuts. 

An estimated $137 billion in cuts to federal Medicaid spending are expected in rural areas over 10 years, meaning Rural Health Transformation Program funds will offset just over a third of the cuts, according to analysis from KFF. 

More than half of Mississippi’s rural hospitals are at risk of closing, according to a recent report by the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. Hospital leaders have warned that the federal cuts could force some rural hospitals to stop some services or close their doors altogether. 

In Mississippi, cuts to state-directed payments, which help hospitals offset low Medicaid payments, will amount to a loss of $160 million a year statewide beginning in 2029, Mississippi Medicaid Director Cindy Bradshaw said previously. 

Some critics have called the funding program a “Band-Aid,” emphasizing that it is temporary and will not cover all of the losses hospitals are expected to bear as a result of cuts to Medicaid in rural areas.

The state’s plan for the Rural Health Transformation Program will not include direct financial assistance to hospitals, which the federal government has made clear it will not approve, Reeves said. 

“Every facility in our state is going to have to continue to think through what exactly their business model looks like,” he said. “And hopefully, that will lead to some efficiencies.” 

Half of the $50 billion program will be distributed evenly among all states with approved applications. The other half will be calculated based on a formula that calculates each states’ rurality, the quality of its application and alignment with Make America Healthy Again policies. 

Mississippi has recently taken steps to adopt policies that receive higher scores, including reestablishing the Presidential Fitness Test in schools and seeking a waiver to restrict purchases of sugary foods and drinks through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Mississippi is likely to receive a large share of funding based on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rubric, according to experts. Mississippi scores sixth out of all states, according to estimates by the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina. That means the state is likely to receive a larger sum of money from the program. 

Some state lawmakers have expressed frustration that they have not been more involved in crafting the state’s proposal, noting that they have the responsibility of appropriating the funds. 

House Speaker Jason White said legislators should have input on the plan during a state budget hearing Sep. 24. Weeks later, at the Medicaid Advisory Committee meeting Oct. 17, Medicaid Chair Rep. Missy McGee, a Republican from Hattiesburg, said legislators would like to see the plan.

Reeves said Tuesday legislators have been engaged in crafting the plan, as have other stakeholders, including the Department of Education, Department of Mental Health, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and other partners.

“We’ve had extensive conversations with legislators and legislative leaders over the last short while,” Reeves said. “…Obviously, this plan doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We’ve been having conversations with them.” 

The program is not just about spending a lot of federal money, said State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney.

“As the outcomes in our rural counties begin to improve, the outcomes for the state will continue to improve,” he said Tuesday. “And as we improve rural health care, we improve all health care in the state.”

After Hurricane Katrina walloped south Mississippi in 2005, then-Vice President Dick Cheney was among the national leaders who traveled to the area to assess damage, and he was instrumental in helping the state secure federal money for recovery, Republican former Gov. Haley Barbour said Tuesday.

Cheney died Monday night of complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said. He was 84.

Barbour and Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson are among the Mississippi political figures who say they appreciate the legacy of Cheney, who is widely considered one of the most powerful vice presidents in U.S. history.

Barbour was governor from 2004 to 2012, overlapping with most of the Bush-Cheney terms from 2001 to 2009.

“He wasn’t loud, but he was strong … and he was a very nice man,” said Barbour, who was chairman of the Republican National Committee in the mid-1990s and served on the first Bush-Cheney national campaign committee in 2000.

Cheney has been a polarizing figure in Republican politics. Once a hero to the right, he fell out with the GOP in recent years as he criticized President Donald Trump.

After a heart transplant in 2012, Cheney remained politically active and was a frequent critic of President Barack Obama’s administration. But after initially endorsing Trump in 2016, Cheney had sharp words for the Trump administration and supported his own daughter, Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, as she became a leading “never Trump” Republican. Dick Cheney later published a statement saying he would vote for the Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, in the 2024 presidential election.

Cheney spent decades in government and politics, including as White House chief of staff for President Gerald Ford, congressman from Wyoming, secretary of defense and vice president. He was influential in Bush’s tax policies and rolling back environmental protections opposed by big businesses. He was a main architect of Bush’s “War on Terror” and invasion of Iraq after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Thompson, Mississippi’s lone Democrat in Congress, is a former chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. As chairman of the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Thompson appointed Liz Cheney as vice chair.

“When I met Vice President Cheney, he personally thanked me for that decision and for the integrity with which the committee conducted its work, even at a time when many in his party chose not to participate in the one-year commemoration of January 6th,” Thompson said in a statement Tuesday. “Vice President Cheney’s legacy in shaping America’s national security will be remembered, and I extend my prayers to the Cheney family during this difficult time.”

Thompson said he worked with Cheney during creation of the Department of Homeland Security after 9/11.

“His leadership and support were invaluable as we brought together 22 federal agencies to form the Department of Homeland Security and strengthen our nation’s security,” Thompson said of Cheney.

Thompson also said Cheney’s death “saddens me deeply.”

Paul Hurst, an attorney who was Barbour’s gubernatorial chief of staff, said Tuesday that Cheney was “a great friend of Mississippi, and I was honored to work with him a few times.”

“He supported all of our recovery efforts after Katrina and advocated for others in DC to do the same,” Hurst said.

Barbour first worked for Ronald Reagan’s unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1976. After Ford fended off a challenge from Reagan at the Republican National Convention, Ford hired Barbour to run his campaign in seven Southern states.

“Cheney was very bright, but he was quiet,” Barbour told Mississippi Today in a call from his Washington office Tuesday. “He wasn’t loud. He spoke in short sentences. He was always very nice to me.

“When he got picked for vice president, I was on the George Bush national campaign committee,” Barbour said. “Cheney had for a while gotten out of politics at that time.”

Barbour said he remembers a letter he wrote after Bush and Cheney were elected that could have gotten him into hot water with the vice president.

“I wrote Cheney a letter about how we always said the Democrats, the Clinton administration, had kowtowed to the environmentalists, and that he and Bush and other Republicans said they were not going to do that any more,” Barbour said. “… I said, ‘Mr. Vice President, you have said this, and we want to see you back it up. Environmentalists are pushing bad policy that doesn’t do any good and just makes everything more expensive, so we are watching to see how you do.’”

A reporter “somehow got hold of the letter,” Barbour said, and he faced questions from his lobbying client, Southern Company, and apparently Cheney didn’t initially find the letter amusing.

“But Cheney thought the letter was funny after a while,” Barbour said. “He and I stayed friends long after that, and I have always had great admiration for him.”

Barbour said Bush, Cheney, their administration and Congress were a great help to Mississippi after Katrina.

“We were blessed to have President Bush the younger, Dick Cheney, (U.S. Sen.) Thad Cochran at that time,” Barbour said. “We had a very supportive Congress, and Cheney was part of that. They bent over backwards to help Mississippi and other states.”