Convicted killer whose parole sparked outrage dies in car crash
Mississippi let a double murderer go free. Twice.
Now he is dead, and an older couple is injured.
In May 2023, the Mississippi Parole Board released James Williams III — 18 years after he was convicted of fatally shooting his father, James Jr., and stepmother, Cindy Lassiter Mangum. Williams had previously tried to poison them to death.
His parole faced pushback from the victims’ family, community members and lawmakers.
At the time, Zeno Magnum, whose mother was killed by Williams, decried the Parole Board’s decision. “He murdered ‘em, threw ‘em in trash bags, put them in Rubbermaid trash cans and threw ‘em out like the trash,” he said. “We are concerned not only for our personal safety, but also for the safety of anyone who may come in contact with this psychopath.”
Parole Board Chairman Jeffrey Belk defended the Parole Board’s decision, saying they received no objection from the family or others at the time — a claim that Magnum’s family disputed.
Less than five months after his parole, he got drunk and wrecked his car on Oct. 20, 2023, the same day of the Brandon-Pearl high school football game, Magnum said. “There were people everywhere. He’s very fortunate he didn’t kill anybody.”
Williams’ parole was revoked, and he returned to prison.
A month later, the Parole Board found that by violating the law, he violated a condition of his parole. Three of four members voted to return him to prison for a year, according to court records, and Belk cast the lone “no” vote.
Hinds County Circuit Judge Debra Gibbs vacated the Parole Board’s decision to return Williams to prison for at least a year for violating parole.
“Mr. Williams has already served more than ninety (90) days in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections,” the judge wrote. “Therefore – unless he is held pursuant to some other sentence or order – he SHALL BE RELEASED IMMEDIATELY from the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and returned to parole.”
The judge agreed with Williams’ argument that his DUI misdemeanor constituted a technical violation of his parole, meaning that 90 days was the maximum period he could be imprisoned for a first-time technical violation. The judge’s decision matched a recent attorney general’s office opinion on the subject.
When word came that Williams might go free again, Cindy Mangum’s sister, Barbara Rankin, said her family set up a Sept. 16, 2024, meeting with Parole Board members, she said. “They let him out a week before we were set to go.”
Around noon Saturday, Williams met his death near Sanctuary Drive. The 39-year-old was driving his 2009 Honda Civic north on Will Stutely Drive when he collided with a 2019 GMC Sierra that contained Curtis Jones, 73, and his 72-year-old wife, Ruth, who were traveling east, according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
Williams was pronounced dead on the scene. Paramedics transported the couple to St. Dominic’s Hospital in Jackson. Their injuries remain unknown, and the patrol continues to investigate to determine if Williams had been intoxicated.
“The ironic thing,” Zeno Magnum said, “is if he was still in prison, he would be alive.”
The whole ordeal has been “cloaked in secrecy,” he said. “My mom was killed, and it was like pulling teeth to get information on it. It was tough even for me as her son to get information.”
Williams’ death has brought him a wide range of emotions. On one hand, he doesn’t want to celebrate the loss of a human being, he said, but on the other hand, the death “does bring my family and I a great deal of closure.”
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As Congress moves toward potential Medicaid cuts, expansion grows more unlikely in Mississippi
Hundreds of thousands of poor, disabled or pregnant Mississippians could lose health care coverage if Congress slashes funding for Medicaid.
Although President Donald Trump has vowed Medicaid won’t be “touched,” the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget resolution Tuesday that instructs the committee that oversees Medicaid and Medicare to cut $880 billion over 10 years. The cuts will help pay for Trump’s agenda on tax cuts and border reform.
The talk of such dramatic changes to the federal-state program has Mississippi lawmakers concerned – and hesitant to push expansion this year.
Proposals for Medicaid budget cuts nationwide include lowering the rate at which states are reimbursed for Medicaid services, capping the amount of money states can get per enrollee, and imposing block grants – meaning states would receive a fixed dollar amount for the program, regardless of need.
Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation, could suffer the most under some of these proposals, according to health policy experts.
Despite the state having some of the strictest eligibility requirements in the nation, pervasive poverty and poor social health determinants mean that more than 650,000 Mississippians – about half of whom are children – rely on the program for basic health care. More than half of births in Mississippi are funded by Medicaid.
“Mississippi has a relatively small population, with the lowest per capita annual income in the country, rates of chronic conditions that are consistently higher than the national average, and with around 60% of Mississippians living with multiple chronic conditions,” explained John Dillon Harris, a health care systems and policy consultant at the Center for Mississippi Health Policy. “… The result is a large Medicaid population that is very expensive to treat.”
Democratic lawmakers are also sounding the alarm about deep cuts to Medicaid. Rep. Omeria Scott, D-Laurel, said it’s something Mississippians “ought to really be afraid of.”
“If they are talking about cutting $880 billion out of the budget, Mississippi is going to be on its knees,” she said at the Democrats’ legislative press conference Tuesday.
However, since Mississippi is one of only 10 states not to expand Medicaid and draw down billions in additional federal funds, some proposed cuts wouldn’t directly affect the state’s current budget – though they would affect future enrollment.
“Mississippi isn’t drawing down as much, so that’s not going to be a direct cut to your current budget, but it’s an opportunity cost,” said Joan Alker, Medicaid expert and executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families.
Threats to slash Medicaid spending have already scared away Mississippi lawmakers from attempting expansion this year – though they have passed “dummy bills,” void of details, to keep the issue alive “should something transpire,” House Speaker Jason White said.
After a decade of squelching any debate on the issue, Mississippi House GOP leaders in 2024 pushed for legislation that would expand Medicaid to 200,000 low-income adults, as 40 other states have done. While the bills died after a saga of partisan politics, advocates were hopeful that the historic session created enough momentum to get the policy through the finish line in 2025.
Now, lawmakers fear they may have bigger problems on their hands.
“Unfortunately, we’re hearing more about what may be cuts or block grants to the Medicaid program in general that we will have to deal with as a state because there’s no denying we have a large Medicaid population – so I don’t know the chances,” White said when asked about the likelihood Medicaid expansion would be brought up this year.
Others are more certain the issue is dead this year.
“In a most practical sense, I’d say we probably won’t be doing anything this year,” Senate Medicaid Chairman Kevin Blackwell told Mississippi Today, though he added that if anything changes, lawmakers could suspend the legislative rules and bring a bill back to life late in the session.
Click the dropdown to learn more about the specific proposals that would reduce Medicaid funding:
Reducing the federal match rate
The federal government could reduce the federal matching rate, or FMAP, which determines the percentage of Medicaid costs the federal government pays to each state. How much this would affect Mississippi would depend on the language of the proposed cut.
Mississippi currently has the highest FMAP in the country at 76.9% – meaning the federal government pays for nearly 80% of Mississippians’ Medicaid coverage, while the state makes up the rest – because of the state’s high poverty rate.
One of the proposals would take away the FMAP floor. As it stands, all states receive at least a 50% FMAP, even if they “should” be receiving less, according to the per capita income formula. If that floor was removed, richer states would be affected, as their FMAP would drop below 50%. Mississippi would likely not suffer from this proposal.
Another proposal would remove the increased federal match rate of 90% that the federal government offered to newly-expanded states in the last few years. Without the increased match rate, expansion would not hold the financial favor that has made it politically palatable to Republicans in the state.
Capping benefits per enrollee
The feds could also impose what’s called a “per capita cap,” limiting the amount a state could spend on Medicaid per person. If the caps were implemented, Medicaid would only receive a certain amount of money from the federal government to cover the care of a beneficiary – regardless of his or her medical needs. States would be locked into a fixed amount based on what they have historically spent.
The fact that Mississippi has one of the lowest per person Medicaid spending would count against the state – locking it into a lower fixed budget.
Alker, the Medicaid expert from Georgetown University, says pushing expansion legislation through this year could make Mississippi more likely to receive a higher per capita budget – though it’s no guarantee.
“I’ve seen proposals that look at taking away the American Rescue Plan Act incentives, which is extra funding for states that newly come to expansion … I have seen some chatter about how one proposal is to take away those incentives, but to not take them away from states that were counting on them,” explained Alker.
“In other words, sort of grandfathering in North Carolina and South Dakota (states that expanded Medicaid in the past two years). So, if anything, it might be smart for Mississippi to do the expansion this session and lock that in.”
Imposing a block grant
Imposing block grants would be similar to per capita caps, but arguably more punishing for states since funding wouldn’t change based on enrollment growth.
Block grants would limit states’ abilities to respond to emergencies, and would especially hurt rural areas, research says.
Limiting provider tax
Mississippi is currently almost maxed out on the tax it’s allowed to impose on hospitals, which helps the state pay for its share of Medicaid spending. One option being discussed in Congress is to lower the limit of or eliminate the tax, which would mean hospitals would be reimbursed at a lower rate and there would be less state money to fund the Medicaid program.
The proposal is less likely to garner support, explained Harris, the policy consultant at the Center for Mississippi Health Policy.
“It’ll be difficult to move this particular reform through Congress since such a large number of states, both red and blue, rely on this tax to pay for their programs,” he said.
But if it did go into effect, the impact would be profound.
“The state would have to get really creative in figuring out what to tax and how in order to maintain the current level of support hospitals receive through these supplemental payments,” Harris said.
Imposing work requirements
Work requirements have long been discussed as a means of making Medicaid expansion more palatable to conservatives who view the program as “welfare.” Now, Congress may decide to impose work requirements on the regular Medicaid population.
As it stands, Mississippi has one of the country’s strictest income requirements for Medicaid. Childless adults don’t qualify, and parents must make less than 28% of the federal poverty level, a mere $7,000 annually for a family of three, to qualify. More times than not, that means that working a full-time job counts against an individual.
If the state were to keep its strict income requirements while also imposing a work requirement, it would be difficult for Mississippians to qualify for the health care program.
The red tape that a work requirement would create would also likely deter eligible Mississippians from enrolling or staying on the program.
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said Mississippi lawmakers have “a leg up” since the state’s former Medicaid director recently landed a spot in Washington leading the federal Medicaid division under Trump. Hosemann has yet to say what, if anything, Snyder has told lawmakers so far, but said he expects to have “a direct commentary into the area of Medicaid” through Snyder.
Regardless of what action the federal government decides to take, cuts of this magnitude would affect millions of low-income people across the country, not just in Mississippi.
“States will be forced to deeply cut eligibility, benefits and reduce provider rates,” Alker said in a statement published online in response to the House budget resolution outlining Medicaid costs. “These cuts will especially harm rural communities who are more reliant on Medicaid, and where hospitals are already operating on tighter margins.”
Taylor Vance, Geoff Pender and Michael Goldberg contributed to this report.
Mississippi Today receives grant support from The Bower Foundation, as does the Center for Mississippi Health Policy. Donors do not in any way influence our newsroom’s editorial decisions. For more on that policy or to view a list of our donors, click here.
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Podcast: Three Mississippi teams in the Top 25 D-1 Baseball poll
Southern Miss and Ole Miss got some welcomed news as both joined Mississippi State, giving the Magnolia State three teams in this week;s college baseball poll. Otherwise, the college basketball grind continues and the best high school basketball teams converge on Jackson for the annual MHSAA boys and girls state tournament.
Stream all episodes here.
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House panel approves casino tax increase, a shot over bow on blockage of online sports betting
In an obvious shot at the Senate and at least part of the casino lobby for the state not legalizing online gambling, the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday approved a tax increase on casinos.
Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar said his bill, which would increase taxes on Mississippi casinos from 12% to 16%, is to recoup the tens of millions of dollars a year Mississippi is “losing” from not legalizing online betting. He said, “if everybody’s honest with themselves, online sports betting is already going on” illegally, but the state is not generating any taxes from it.
He said his bill, which now heads to the full House, is also aimed at shedding light on why the online betting bills the House has passed in recent years die in the Senate. Some Mississippi casinos, particularly smaller ones that might struggle to contract or build online betting infrastructure, have opposed the move.
“The goal post continues to be moved on the other end of the building (the Senate),” Lamar told committee members. “We’re going to tax it appropriately. There needs to be some further light shed on this topic … (Illegal online gambling) has reached pandemic level … It’s my understanding that a small handful of casinos are standing in the way of that legislation. “
Lamar said he’s been given estimates ranging from $26 million a year to $80 million a year the state could generate in revenue from online gambling — so he estimates it at about $50 million. Neighboring Tennessee, which legalized online gambling, is making about $140 million a year.
Currently Mississippi casinos pay 12% in taxes, 8% going to the state and 4% to local governments and schools. Lamar said increasing the state’s share to 12% would generate an estimated $50 million a year.
Senate Gaming Committee Chairman David Blount criticized Lamar’s tax increase on Tuesday, and the House’s major tax overhaul proposal, which would eliminate the income tax, but raise gasoline and sales taxes.
“The House is fixated on raising sales taxes, increasing the gasoline tax and raising taxes on Mississippi businesses,” Blount said. “I don’t support a 50% tax increase on Mississippi businesses (casinos) that are vital to our state. The House wants to raise taxes on everything Mississippians buy and every time they go to the gas station, and they want to raise taxes on one of the largest employers in our state.”
The move marks the first time in at least a decade that there’s been serious talk of raising the casino tax in Mississippi. The state’s relatively low and stable tax rate on gambling has been credited with helping the industry grow over years. However, some in the industry say gross gambling revenue growth has been stagnant in recent years because of illegal online gambling in Mississippi or legal online gambling in neighboring states.
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House Democrats say they have been shut out of legislative discussions
The Mississippi House Democratic Caucus has been shut out of discussions over consequential bills as the agenda of their Republican colleagues has been shaped by President Donald Trump, Democratic lawmakers said at a Tuesday press conference.
House Republicans hold a supermajority and have scuttled the priorities of Democrats with little input from the minority party, said Rep. Robert Johnson, the House Democratic Leader.
“Nobody has talked to us. Nobody wants to hear what we have to say about it,” Johnson said. “We represent 40%-50% of the state of Mississippi, Democrats do. And nobody has said a word about how this will impact your community (and) what can we do to help,” Johnson said of the tax cut proposals moving through the Legislature.
Republican House Speaker Jason White has said his chamber allows ample debate on the House floor, where Democrats can propose amendments to legislation and raise concerns. Legislative Republicans have also said their agenda this session will attract corporate investment to the state, create jobs and make the state’s universities more meritocratic.
At the Capitol on Tuesday, a group of House Democrats outlined several legislative proposals they say have been either shaped without their input or inspired by President Trump.
Tax reform
Johnson said tax cuts proposed in both chambers would drain Mississippi’s budget and undermine public services.
“This state suffers severely in so many areas. We don’t pay our public safety people enough money or give them enough money for training. Our infrastructure is in dire need of repair. Our health care system is strained and collapsing,” Johnson said. “And then we’re going to come back and talk about cutting $2 billion in one bill and $1 billion in another bill out of our budget where we’re not taking care of the things we need to take care of right now.”
Failure to expand Medicaid and looming cuts
Rep. Omeria Scott said the refusal of Mississippi Republicans to expand Medicaid coverage threatens the health care of Mississippians, especially as Congressional Republicans prepare to take up a reconciliation proposal that could result in massive cuts to the Medicaid program.
“In Mississippi, where we are the poorest and the sickest of Americans, health care ought to be at the height of our concern. But as you know, Mississippi has refused to expand the Medicaid program. You know what Mississippians ought to be really afraid of? The reconciliation bill they’re taking up,” Scott said. “If they are talking about cutting $880 billion out of the budget, Mississippi is going to be on its knees. Some of y’all may want that, I don’t know. But that’s where we’re going.”
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Bans
Rep. Jeffrey Harness said House and Senate proposals to ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs are an attack on minorities in the state with the nation’s highest percentage of Black residents.
“It is an attack on fairness, truth and on the values that bind us together,” Harness said “When our Republican colleagues claim they want a better Mississippi, the question remains: for whom? Their proposed bans on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in our educational institutions tell us the answer loud and clear: it is not for the majority of Mississippians.”
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Mississippi farmers face losses due to inflation, poor market conditions
by Samuel Hughes and Kennedi Drake with contributions from Rowan Luke, Rasheed Ambrose, Gretta Graves, Gerome Webster, Hailey Perkins, and Evan Baronich
LUMBERTON—Farmers in southeast Mississippi are facing rising production costs, making it harder to stay profitable.
With crop prices fluctuating and economic uncertainty ahead, many are searching for new solutions to sustain their livelihoods.
The costs of farm production, like supplies and labor, have increased dramatically in recent years while international market forces have driven prices down, leaving farmers facing losses after harvest.
In a recent Mississippi Senate Committee hearing, experts within Mississippi agriculture presented data on the issue. Pinion Global, an agriculture accounting firm, reported to the Senate that among a sample of 22 large producers in the Delta region, farmers lost $22 million across 153,000 acres last year.
Using those numbers across Mississippi’s 3.5 million acres of farmland, that amounts to roughly $550 million in losses, according to Pinion. Inflation has increased by 51% since 2007, while operational costs for row crop producers—those growing soybeans, corn, cotton and rice—have more than doubled. Pinion reported that labor costs under the federal H-2A program, which employs foreign workers in U.S. agriculture, have also increased in recent years.
Rising costs and shrinking profits
Mike McCormick, president of the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation, said the state’s agriculture sector is experiencing its greatest challenge in recent decades. Row crop producers are facing another year of loss in 2025 despite a record-breaking crop yield last year.
“Historically, there’s always been a hole that the (row crop) farmers could find — there’s one commodity that they could grow and make money off of,” McCormick said. “There’s just none of them out there right now.”
According to a nationwide report by Terrain, a team of agricultural economists, farms producing soybeans and corn have seen a 45% decrease in net cash farm income since 2022, the lowest in the past 15 years.
The report also states that row crop producers did not see profit in 2024. McCormick said future projections do not indicate profitability for those producers in 2025.
McCormick said that some agricultural lenders, concerned about future cost and price projections, may deny farmers loans to plant their crops this year—uncertain farmers will have the assets to pay back their debt after harvest.
“Most farmers have crop loans. Very few of them can self-fund their own operation. So, they’re at the banks with higher interest rates, with their hat in their hands, trying to show them a budget that at least potentially works for them to come back in and pay the bank back for the money that they’re getting. That’s getting harder and harder,” McCormick said.
Adapting to survive price shifts
Conversely, the outlook differs for many southeastern Mississippi farmers, where diversified agricultural production offers more stability. John and Liz Corley, owners of Corley Farms outside Lumberton, grow row crops like corn and soybeans but also raise cattle.
“All of our inputs have been in this inflationary period of increasing, and we’ve seen those double and triple. Liz and I, we moved to growing row crops with cattle, because it’s a diversification of the farm income,” John Corley said. “When you look over history, normally when one commodity is high, the other one will be low, or vice versa.”
According to Terrain’s report, net cash farm income on cattle farms increased 183% since 2022, while other livestock farms have seen an increase of 54%.
riculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) agronomist Larry Heatherly examines an early maturing variety of soybean plants growing
in a flood-irrigated field in Mississippi. (Keith Weller)
Brennan Ferguson, owner of Ferguson Family Farms in Perkinston, said while his farm has tried various agricultural outputs, current market conditions have led his family to transition to livestock production.
“At one time, we’ve done a U-pick. We’ve done a lot of vegetables, different things, and then as things progressed—COVID-19 and different things hit—we kind of transferred over into selling our pork. We raise Duroc, Yorkshire and Hampshire hogs, and we cross-breed and get a good meat quality hog,” Ferguson said. “Equipment, fuel, feed—it all fluctuates up and down. So, we have to just go off of what the economy is doing.”
Corley noted that not all Mississippi farmers have the option to diversify their output. Those with significant investments in row crop equipment—often totaling millions—cannot afford to let the equipment sit idle.
“Here in the hilly country, we can raise livestock easier than we can grow grain, but in the Delta and other regions, maybe their only means of income is row crop, and so, they’re really struggling. There are a number of people that invested heavily in equipment and in other things to produce more (row crops) and then all of a sudden, the market has kind of collapsed,” Corley said.
An uncertain market
The agriculture industry is volatile and is heavily influenced by international forces, according to Will Maples, an agricultural economist at Mississippi State University.
Maples said that, for example, the U.S. has historically traded much of its soybean crop to China, but recent trade conflicts have led China to favor Brazil as its primary supplier. That, combined with a global stockpile of soybeans, has brought prices down.
The price of cotton, which is largely dependent on consumer demand of products like clothing and furniture, has fallen due to inflation, making such purchases less attractive, according to Maples.
The price of corn, however, has defied past projections of a lower price. A low yield in the Midwest had led to better margins for some Mississippi farmers planting corn, but Maples warned that as more farmers turn to corn in hopes of profitability, prices will likely drop again.
Meanwhile, recent droughts across the U.S. have tightened livestock herd numbers, driving up prices amid strong consumer demand. This has made livestock production a more viable way for farmers to cover expenses.
Maples said if anything is certain about the international agriculture market, it is that prices will rise and fall.
“It could be two years, five years—eventually, it will get back out of it. It just rolls up and down year to year, but really, the question is, ‘How long it will last?’ That is where the uncertainty lies,” Maples said.
Smaller farmers, limited by available acreage and equipment, will face more greater financial pressure from these market forces than larger operations, especially during extended periods of low prices.
McCormick said these challenges are pushing the average row crop farmer—who, in Mississippi, is about 60 years old—to retire, while simultaneously making it harder for younger farmers to secure loans to enter the industry.
“We’ve got a lot of the older guys that probably made some money over years, and are looking at, ‘Why am I continuing to do this? I might as well stop and retire.’ At the same time, they’re not being able to find anybody to come in and buy them out and start over as a young farmer,” McCormick said. “I think we’re consolidating, where some of the bigger farmers that want to stay in are just getting bigger and taking up some of this land from people that want to retire, but certainly, there’s a breaking point … if they continue to lose money, they’re not going to have the resources to keep going. That’s why we need a farm bill.”
Push for policy solutions
In December, Congress passed the American Relief Act of 2025, a large disaster relief package that included $10 billion in direct aid for row crop producers nationwide. Once distributed, the aid will help farmers present stronger financial statements to agriculture lenders.
While the aid will help get crops in the ground this year, McCormick said a new farm bill is needed to provide long-term stability against international market shifts.
The 2018 Farm Bill, a landmark piece of federal legislation, provides key relief programs, including crop insurance and agricultural disaster assistance. The bill expired in 2023 and is facing a third extension as Congress debates a new version.
McCormick said that commodity prices set in the 2018 legislation are outdated, and farmers are not receiving the intended level of federal relief.
“They have targeted prices in the 2018 Farm Bill that were set that no longer work because of inflationary reasons. The price needs to go up to trigger the payments to the farmers for this crop insurance they’re buying,” McCormick said. “2018 was a long time ago, and just like anything else, a lot of the language needs to be cleaned up.”
Beyond farming, the Farm Bill covers a broad scope of programs, from food assistance to environmental conservation, making it a contentious issue in Congress.
Republican state Sen. Andy Berry, a cattle farmer and vice chair of the upper chamber’s Agriculture Committee, said the state is working support farmers as they await a new farm bill, with much of the effort focused on local tax policy.
Lawmakers in the state Legislature have separate plans that could redistribute taxes across the state economy.
Farmers may own or rent large stretches of land, making property taxes, which fund local services like schools and law enforcement, a considerable expense.
“A lot of us in agriculture that work here at the Capitol are keeping an eye out … that when we’re adjusting the income or the grocery or the fuel tax, that that does not cause local county governments to raise ad valorem, property taxes, on our farmers,” Berry said.
Berry, Maples and McCormick said row crop prices will eventually stabilize, partly because farmers are leaving the sector due to low prices. With less producers and less product, prices will increase.
“I hate that that might be the case, but I believe it is,” Berry said. “You know, there’s an old saying in agriculture—that low prices fix low prices, high prices fix high prices, that the market will eventually work out.”
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Handling of child care revisions ‘alienates’ providers, one owner says
Members of the Child Care Advisory Council and child care providers, who had raised issues earlier about new proposed regulations, are voicing more concerns after the state Department of Health shared revisions.
Over 200 child care providers attended a meeting Friday of the Child Care Advisory Council along with members of the advisory council and Nicole Barnes, director of the child care bureau at the Health Department, to discuss the new proposed revisions to child care regulations in the state.
The advisory committee had a week to review the new proposed revisions, which have not been released to the public. They also weren’t shown during the meeting.
Advisory council members Vincent Burke and Roberta Avila spoke on the need for a clearer process for discussing and passing changes to child care regulations. Burke suggested giving council members at least 30 days to review regulation changes. “We feel uninformed as an advisory board,” he said.
Avila explained her point in an email after the meeting. “There is a need for clarity of the process in discussing and approving changes to the Licensure Regulations,” she said.
The council voted to meet again in March to further discuss the new regulations.
During the open comment period, several providers raised concerns about the licensing agency’s conduct. Debbie Ellis, who owns and operates The Learning Center in Greenwood, criticized the licensing agency’s handling of the regulation changes, saying that it was “disrespectful” and “alienates” child care providers.
Two other providers who are also part of the advisory council, Regina Harvey and Lesia Daniel, spoke before the meeting about the advisory council’s role.
“Regulations should not be released to the public until the advisory board has had a chance to read them and advise,” said Harvey, who runs SMART Beginnings Preschool in Ocean Springs. “This is what the board is supposed to be — made up of industry leaders and providers. My experience so far is that this is not happening.”
Daniel, owner of Funtime in Clinton, said that having a week to look at all the new revisions wasn’t practical. “The document is hundreds of pages and so taking the time to compare each section to the current regulations to identify the proposed changes is a waste of everyone’s time. To me, that communicates a lack of respect to providers.”
Barnes explained in the meeting that the revisions were done to comply with the Child Care and Development Block Grant’s health and safety standards. There are no federal child care regulations.
The licensing agency filed its first round of proposed regulation changes in November. Many child care providers criticized the previous revisions and how the licensing agency debuted them. They also felt the licensing agency wasn’t considerate of their perspectives.
The licensing agency acknowledged they did not get input from the Child Care Advisory Council or the Small Business Regulatory Committee. Providers said they were not notified of the revisions until weeks after they were filed, when they should’ve been notified three days after they were filed. The licensing agency maintains that it followed the Mississippi Administrative Procedures Act.
The controversy over regulations comes at a crucial time for the child care industry. Labor shortages, high prices, and more are contributing to a child care crisis in the U.S.
The licensing agency is set to bring the proposed revisions to the Board of Health in April, as well as all public comments from providers. According to Barnes, the new regulations would take effect in May if the Board of Health approves them.
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Marshall Ramsey: First Amendment
Read the story behind the cartoon here.
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Mayersville mayor eyes big steps for her small town
Editor’s note: Linda Williams-Short, the mayor of Mayersville, leads one of Mississippi’s smallest towns. This piece is part of an ongoing Mississippi Today Ideas series showcasing perspectives of mayors across the state.
When you think about the Mississippi Delta, you might not always think about Mayersville.
But this small but mighty town I’m proud to lead is as important as any in the Delta, and we are making great strides. We like to think of Mayersville as being a small town with big dreams. We live by that motto.
Perhaps these strides we have made would be considered baby steps in larger cities, but in Mayersville, population 433, according to the 2020 Census, these steps can be considered monumental to our town’s survival.
We strive to follow the lead of former Mayersville Mayor Unita Blackwell, who was the first Black woman mayor of a Mississippi town. She was a leader for all of us in Mayersville, and she inspired me to enter politics.
And today we still follow her lead in working to improve housing in Mayersville and the overall economic condition of all our residents.
We have faced the adversities of other small Delta towns. Through the decades we also have faced natural disasters, including barely missing a direct hit from the awful 2023 tornado that reaped destruction on many of our south Mississippi Delta neighbors.
The natural disasters Mayersville has faced go way back including the historic and devastating 1927 flood that resulted in the levee that separates our town from the direct access to the Mississippi River that was key to our economy decades ago.
Despite the obstacles, town leaders and I are committed to improving the health and well-being of our constituents. As part of this effort, the town of Mayersville became the second smoke-free community in the state of Mississippi.
Since being elected mayor in 2001, we have worked, following in the tradition of Unita Blackwell, to build seven new homes within Mayersville. That might not seem like a big deal, but in a town of our size and with the housing issues we face, we are proud of this accomplishment.
We have strived to repair the town’s failing infrastructure and to bring healthy food options to the community through a partnership with the Mississippi Food Network. We also are working with the Delta Health Center to provide a clinic to assist residents who have limited transportation options.
And like other small Delta towns, tourism is critical. To that end, I helped found the Mayersville Annual Homecoming Festival. This festival brings former and current residents together annually from all over the United States.
These efforts are important to me because Mayersville, which is the county seat for Issaquena County, is important to me. I am a lifelong resident.
I am the youngest daughter of the late Saul & Edie B. Williams. For 29 years I have been married to Larry D. Short. He is my lifelong partner and love of my life. I am the mother of James Jr., Jeremy, JaSona, Kiara, Katerri and the late Jercelle and proud grandmother of 13 grandchildren. I have been a member of one of our great and impactful churches — Rose Hill M.B. Church — for 49 years, and I currently serve as the senior choir director. In addition to being mayor, I am a small business owner operating as Tony’s Grocery and Celle’s Estate Housing complex.
I am passionate, dedicated, driven in terms of my job as mayor of Mayersville.
But my story is not unique. In Mayersville, we all pitch in for the betterment of our town and its residents.
In Mayersville, we live by the motto, “Always service over self.” I am proud to take that motto to heart every single day.
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