OurTupelo

As speculation swirled over the last month about former Jackson State University president Thomas Hudson’s resignation, the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees repeatedly promised the public it would discuss “the future leadership” of the university at its regular board meeting. 

But on Thursday, the board provided no new public information about leadership at Mississippi’s largest historically Black university, where Hudson is the third president in a row to resign. IHL’s press releases said “the Board of Trustees will discuss the future leadership of Jackson State at its regular Board meeting later this month.” 

“This is going to be a brief meeting,” said Tom Duff, the board president. “Are there any additional items that we need to be discussing as an IHL board that we’ve not been talking about for the last few days?” 

Hearing none, trustees voted to go into executive session to discuss two Delta State personnel matters and one Jackson State personnel matter around 9:20 a.m. Trustees adjourned at 11:43 a.m. No information about any actions was provided. 

READ MORE: While some in JSU community want more answers after Hudson’s resignation, others say it’s just another chapter closed

The only public reference to the university came when Duff thanked Jackson State’s temporary acting president Elayne Hayes-Anthony for her presence at the meeting. 

After trustees went into executive session, Hayes-Anthony addressed the press outside the IHL meeting room. She said she was interested in becoming Jackson State’s permanent president and that she would apply for the position if the board conducted a national search. 

But she added that she has no preference for the kind of process she’d like to see the board use to fill the position. In 2020, many faculty members had called for the board to conduct a national search – instead, the board elevated Hudson from interim to permanent president. 

Hayes-Anthony also addressed concerns about the board’s lack of transparency. Unlike Hudson’s predecessors, the public doesn’t know why he resigned. The announcement earlier this month came on the heels of the board voting to renew his four-year contract in January. 

“I’m sure they will get to the community and let them know what their deliberations are,” she said. 

Several administrators, alumni and faculty members from Jackson State attended the meeting. 

Ivory Phillips, a dean emeritus at Jackson State and a former faculty senate president, said he wasn’t surprised the board said nothing about the university’s leadership. Still, Phillips thought the board should have at least addressed the process it will use to select the next president. 

“The board is more notorious than any other agency in terms of not revealing anything,” he said. 

Phillips noted that the board did not link to its agenda online and that the paper copy distributed at the meeting did not contain minutes describing any action that occurred during its executive sessions about Jackson State over the last month. The board emails a copy of its agenda the day before the meeting and typically uploads that copy to its website. 

Caron Blanton, the board spokesperson, said she did not know when the board would release the minutes from those executive sessions. 

At the March 2 meeting which took place before the board announced Hudson was placed on administrative leave, Blanton told reporters and members of the public that any action taken by the board must be reflected in meeting minutes “within 30 days of the meeting.”

“If they did take action, it will be in the minutes,” she said. 

The post Despite assurances, IHL board does not publicly discuss JSU leadership at its regular meeting appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In this special edition of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with this year’s Hal’s St. Paddy’s Parade Grand Marshal, Cassandra Wilson. Cassandra is a legendary American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi.

She is one of the most successful female Jazz singers and has been described by critic Gary Giddins as “a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field” by incorporating blues, country, and folk music into her work. She has won numerous awards, including two Grammys, was named “America’s Best Singer” by Time magazine in 2001, received the 2009 Mississippi Governor’s Award for Artistic Excellence in Music, and has her own Mississippi Blues Trail marker.

The post Mississippi Stories: Cassandra Wilson appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Locked Door appeared first on Mississippi Today.

MARCH 23, 1964

Johnnie Mae Chappell was walking to a store in Jacksonville, Florida, to buy some ice cream for her children when she realized she had dropped her wallet. 

As she retraced her steps along a road, four white men spotted her, and one of them killed her. They had been looking for anyone Black to kill following a day of racial unrest. All four men were indicted, but only J.W. Rich, the alleged triggerman, was tried. He was convicted of manslaughter and served only three years behind bars. 

Chappell’s story is featured at the National Civil Rights Memorial Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, and Keith Beauchamp told her story in his television program, “Wanted Justice: Johnnie Mae Chappell.”

The post On this day in 1964 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Getting Ink appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Gov. Tate Reeves last week axed two health care bills that passed the Legislature with bipartisan support and that health experts say could improve health care. 

Senate Bill 2622 would have sped up the prior authorization process, which insurance companies use to tell providers whether a drug or procedure is covered for certain patients. Reeves said while the bill itself was a “good idea,” he referred vaguely to mistakes in its language, including that administrative hearings were in “an incorrect place in the bill” and what he said would be increased costs for Medicaid as his reasons for vetoing. 

Senate Bill 2224 would have given State Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney the authority to study and address inequalities in insurance reimbursement rates, which Reeves said was a “bad idea.” The commissioner would be able to fine insurance companies up to $10,000 per violation if they’re unable to justify unequal reimbursement rates for different hospitals for the same procedures. 

“It allows us to put some sunshine and open transparency on Blue Cross Blue Shield,” Chaney said. “We’re trying to figure out where all the money goes. They say, ‘We don’t have to tell you that.’”

This became a major issue last year when the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the state’s largest hospital and only children’s hospital and organ transplant center, went out of network with Blue Cross, the state’s largest private insurer. The dispute between the two stemmed from the insurance company’s reimbursement rates.

Blue Cross did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

In his veto messages, Reeves said he believes the bills would increase the cost of health care. 

When asked whether the governor had data to back up his claims, Reeves’ press secretary Shelby Wilcher said his understanding that the bills would increase health care costs is rooted in “basic economics.”

“If the cost to provide the service increases, such increases (sic) will be passed along to the consumer,” she said. “The bills contained numerous costly additional burdens, heavy fines, and mechanisms for forced rate increases that would all have an inflationary effect on health insurance.”

It is unclear how the bill that would speed up the prior authorization process would increase costs.

Tim Moore, executive director of the Mississippi Hospital Association, is still confused about Reeves’ claim. 

“Where is the data that supports the claim of higher health care costs? I do not see that,” he said. “Interesting that it is two health care related bills that are the first to be vetoed.”

Chaney last year advocated on behalf of consumers when UMMC went out of network with Blue Cross. He said it’s always been his job to monitor the equity of reimbursement rates to providers and its effect on consumers, and this bill would’ve given the commissioner’s office more teeth in its ability to regulate companies.

“I should say that the governor’s veto is a very bad idea because it hurts consumers and health care providers,” he said. 

This bill would have allowed Chaney to enact rules and regulations and gather data about how insurance companies reimburse different providers for different services, which is currently not easily accessible or equitable, and study how consumers are treated based on their plans.

Chaney said Blue Cross reimburses providers in Tennessee at higher rates, despite consumers in Mississippi paying comparable premiums. 

“BCBS administers those premiums and those policies in Mississippi at lower reimbursement rates,” he said. “Blue Cross won’t give us that information. It’s that simple.”

A study by consulting group Milliman estimates that Mississippi is reimbursed on average at the lowest rate in the country by commercial insurers compared to Medicare. 

In addition, consumer experts say Blue Cross in Mississippi has the financial means to pass savings on to consumers but has not. A Mississippi Today investigation last year found that the company has accumulated far more than what regulators require, and perhaps the largest such surplus by percentage of any Blue Cross company in the country at about $750 million. 

As for mistakes in SB 2622, Reeves’ inability to name more than one specific error concerns Angela Ladner, executive director of the Mississippi Psychiatric Association and Mississippi Oncology Society. 

“When you say there’s a mistake, you need to be really specific about what you’re talking about,” she said. “As far as content, I’m not sure that there were a lot of mistakes. I think the Department of Insurance worked significantly hard to make sure that the bill was in a format that everybody agreed upon, and that’s why they passed it.”

And despite being passed overwhelmingly by the House and Senate, it is unclear if the Legislature will attempt to override the vetoes, which would take two-thirds majorities in both chambers. 

Sen. Hob Bryan, a Democrat who represents Amory and chairs the public health committee, said he was not aware of any override attempts and that he could not understand why the governor vetoed the bills. 

Leah Smith, a spokesperson for Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who leads the Senate, said Monday that his office continues to review the veto messages. 

A spokesperson for House Speaker Philip Gunn did not answer questions for this story. 

Wilcher said via email that the governor’s office is hopeful that the Legislature can come up with an improved version of the prior authorization bill. 

“This is unfortunately the victim of a strong lobby by health plans and insurance companies that are saving money on the backs of the patients that they’re supposed to be serving,” Ladner said.

In 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, Blue Cross spent a total of $82,000 on lobbying.

The post Reeves vetoes health insurance bills that experts, watchdogs say would help consumers appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A measure to restore voters’ right to place issues directly on a ballot faces a Thursday deadline for the Senate to agree with a House version, send it to conference for more haggling, or let it die without a vote.

A similar measure died without a final vote last year, over the same main impasse the House and Senate have now — how many signatures someone should have to gather to bypass the Legislature and put an issue directly to a statewide vote.

Both Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who oversees the Senate, and the committee chairman he has in charge of the bill were noncommittal on Wednesday about the measure’s fate. Neither has seemed very enthusiastic about restoring a right the state Supreme Court took from voters with a ruling two years ago that invalidated Mississippi’s ballot initiative process and a medical marijuana program voters had approved with it.

“We’re making good progress,” Hosemann told media when asked about it. When pressed for more information, he quipped, “G-o-o-d-p-r-o … ” spelling out his statement and refused to say more.

When asked if he would bring the bill before the full Senate by Thursday’s deadline, Accountability Efficiency and Transparency Chairman John Polk, R-Hattiesburg, said he hasn’t decided. Despite handling the presentation of the Senate version to his colleagues for a vote weeks ago, Polk voted against it and has described the ballot initiative process as “dangerous.”

“I honestly don’t know,” Polk said Wednesday. “… I’ve got a lot of thinking to do and reading, and talking with people. I am not doing this in a vacuum. I am talking with my colleagues about it.”

READ MORE: Bill restoring ballot initiative remains alive, though some say it ‘stifles’ Mississippi voters

The Senate position on the initiative would require the signatures of at least 240,000 registered voters to place an issue on a statewide ballot. The House version would require about 106,000, nearer the previous threshold required for the last 30 years. Polk indicated Wednesday he does not want to see the Senate’s signature requirement reduced, although he said he agrees with some House restrictions, such as not allowing voters to vote on abortion rights.

Both the House and Senate versions to-date would greatly restrict Mississippi voters’ rights to ballot initiative.

READ MORE: Poll: As lawmakers fiddle, 72% of Mississippi voters want ballot initiative restored

Under both proposals, the Legislature by a simple majority vote could change or repeal an initiative approved by the electorate. Unlike the previous process voters had for decades, voters could only pass or change state laws, not the state constitution.

These further restrictions have brought debate among lawmakers. In the House, most Democrats voted “present” on that chamber’s version. They said the support restoring the right, but the versions being pressed by GOP leaders are too restrictive.

Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, has criticized efforts to make the initiative process harder to use.

“I filed bills last year and this year to restore people’s rights, which I believe should be based as closely as possible on the procedure citizens enjoyed for 30 years,” Blount said Wednesday.

Those wanting the process to be harder — or opposed to ballot initiative — such as Polk warn that it can be co-opted by well-funded special interest groups. They could bypass the state’s representative democracy form of government and pass special interest measures disguised as grassroots.

But those opposed to a more restrictive process say restrictions such as a high signature threshold would ensure only well-funded, organized special interests would be able to use it successfully.

READ MORE: Is ballot initiative a ‘take your picture off the wall’ issue for lawmakers?

Many Mississippians were angry when the state’s high court stripped voters of this right in 2021. This was in a ruling on a medical marijuana initiative voters had overwhelmingly passed, taking matters in hand after lawmakers had dallied for years on the issue. Legislative leaders were quick at the time with vows they would restore this right to voters, fix the legal glitches that prompted the Supreme Court to rule it invalid.

A recent Mississippi Today/Siena College poll shows Mississippi voters across the spectrum want their right to put issues directly on a statewide ballot restored.

The poll showed 72% favor reinstating ballot initiative, with 12% opposed and 16% either don’t know or have no opinion. Restoring the right garnered a large majority among Democrats, Republicans, independents and across all demographic, geographic and income lines. The poll also showed that of those who support restoration of the right, 65% said they wanted the lower threshold of signatures, compared to 26% who support the higher proposal of 240,000 signatures.

The post Fate of ballot initiative hangs in balance with Thursday deadline appeared first on Mississippi Today.

If the Mississippi Legislature does not fully fund public education this session, it will not be because of a lack of money.

As fights in past years persisted about fully funding the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, the state formula that funds local school districts’ basic needs, an issue often has been whether there was enough money to accomplish the goal of full funding.

Money — or at least not having enough if it — is not the issue this year.

Thanks to an unprecedented spike in tax collections, the Legislature entered the 2023 session with an official revenue estimate that is $500 million more than the estimate used in the 2022 session to fund state government, including MAEP. And to top it off, revenue collections are another $524 million above the official estimate through February, seven months into the fiscal year.

READ MORE: Senate, Hosemann want to spend $181 million more to ‘fully fund’ public education in Mississippi

Many have called on House Speaker Philip Gunn to call a meeting of the Legislative Budget Committee to raise the estimate, giving legislators even more money to appropriate this year. As chair of the Legislative Budget Committee this year, Gunn has the sole authority to call the meeting to raise the estimate. Thus far Gunn, who has been an opponent of full funding of MAEP, has rejected those calls. But even if Gunn does not call a meeting to raise the estimate, legislators still will have half a billion dollars more to spend in the final days of this session than they had in 2022.

As the session winds down and legislative leaders meet behind closed doors to agree on a budget proposal to be voted on by the full Legislature, the issue of whether to fully fund MAEP is one of the key issues being debated and perhaps a major obstacle to a budget agreement. MAEP provides the state’s share of money for the basic needs of districts, such teacher salaries, utilities, textbooks and transportation. The MAEP formula provides a greater share of state funds to poor districts.

House Education Chair Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach, said the issue in fully funding MAEP is not necessarily the money. He said he supports providing more funds to public schools, but not necessarily for placing more money in the MAEP.

“I am not for putting more money in it,” Bennett said, adding he would rather it be “earmarked” for specific education programs.

READ MORE: Bill to fully fund public education heads to House for consideration. Here’s what the changes would mean.

Bennett cited the $20 million the House provided for a salary increase for teacher assistants from $17,000 annually to $20,000. Instead of adopting the House plan for a teacher assistants pay raise, the Senate opted to propose an additional $181 million to fully fund MAEP for only the third time since 2003. Placing extra education money in MAEP would give the local school districts more discretion in how the funds are spent.

The Senate passed legislation to make changes to MAEP that lowered by about $80 million the amount needed to fully fund the program. After the changes, $181 million is needed to fully fund the program. And Senate leaders said the additional cost to maintain full funding in future years would be minimal.

Bennett said it is too late in the session to consider making major changes to MAEP.

“I am in favor of looking at the program,” Bennett said. “But it should begin in the summer and involve all the stakeholders.” He said the stakeholders should include the governor’s office, educators and legislators.

Senate Education Chair Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, said this week on Mississippi Today’s “The Other Side” podcast that he has been working with local education officials for about three years on the changes that the Senate approved to the MAEP. DeBar said he had heard throughout his legislative tenure, which began in 2012, that there were problems with the formula. He said the Senate plan, to a large extent, fixes those problems.

“This has been a three-year long process to rework the formula, to get it fully funded…working with educators,” DeBar said.

Under the revisions made in the Senate, DeBar said the MAEP funding levels would be more predictable and that it would be easier to keep it fully funded.

The post Lawmakers, debating MAEP full funding, have plenty of money to spend appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Rick’s gone golfing in the great Southwest and the Ole Miss women are dancing their way to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Tyler’s joined by guest co-host and WJTV’s own Blake Levine, as they break down the Rebels’ stunning win over top-seeded Stanford, their Elite 8 matchup with Louisville and try to shake the early-season baseball blues. Plus, Blake explains how a Los Angeles native and Syracuse-educated broadcaster ends up in Mississippi.

Stream all episodes here.

The post Podcast: How sweet it is for Ole Miss and ‘Coach Yo’ appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi call center workers and the NAACP are calling on the Biden administration to investigate equity and racial disparities at one of the country’s leading federal contractors, Maximus, which employs nearly 800 people in Hattiesburg.

The bulk of those frontline employees in Mississippi are Black women who handle customer service calls about Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act.

The heads of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and union Communication Workers of America (CWA) delivered a letter Thursday on behalf of workers to the federal office charged with investigating discriminatory practices at federally contracted companies.

NAACP Director Derrick Johnson and CWA President Chris Shelton, who signed the letter, wrote that women of color at the company face barriers to move beyond the company’s lowest rungs, according to a copy obtained by Mississippi Today. The letter, addressed to Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Director Jenny R. Yang, says Maximus has failed to “address systematic racial disparities within its workforce.”

The letter alleges the company may be in violation of regulations that require federal contractors to “identify problem areas where impediments to equal employment opportunity may exist” and create programs to correct those problems. 

“I know that I am a great employee,” Daija Arrington, who has worked at the Hattiesburg call center for three years, said during a Thursday virtual press conference hosted by the NAACP and CWA. “I am someone who is willing to go above and beyond for my employer and in my job. But at Maximus, there’s just not an opportunity for me.”

Arrington said she, too, wants to see Maximus investigated by the feds. 

A report, written by NAACP and CWA, references Maximus-released workforce data that shows while 48% of its call center employees are Black and Latina women, they represent just 5% of executives. The report surveyed nearly 300 call center employees and found that more than 60% applied for higher positions. Of that number, 75% said they were turned down or never heard back. 

In response to the report and letter, Maximus said in a statement it is “committed to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

“We continue to make significant progress with our long-term commitment to build a strong and diverse workforce,” the statement said. “We take strong issue with undocumented and uncorroborated claims and faulty research promoted in this report.”

CWA’s report comes after its ongoing efforts in both Mississippi and Louisiana to organize Maximus call center workers, who last held a strike in November. Attendees to such events are consistently women of color calling for an increase in wages. 

Maximus said its company is regularly audited by the government for its hiring and promotional practices, as well as for the diversity of its staff by location. 

“Maximus has passed every audit conducted across our locations,” the statement said. “We hold ourselves accountable, from the executive level to those working every day serving millions of Americans seeking information and connecting with essential benefits.”

Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson, who attended Thursday’s virtual press conference, said he’s met with women who work at Maximus office in Hattiesburg. 

He, too, called on the Biden administration to investigate Maximus, adding “if this contractor is in violation of the intended spirit of this whole issue around equity and inclusion, to hold them accountable. Either fix it, or find us another contractor who will.”

A spokesperson with the Department of Labor said should federal contractors be found violating compliance regulations they may be subject to contract termination and disbarment for future federal contracts. 

Arrington, who has almost a decade of experience working at call centers, is in school. She said she is about a year-and-a-half away from finishing her bachelor’s degree and has held supervisors roles at other call centers. She enjoys her job at Maximus but doesn’t feel like there’s a clear pathway, or support, to land a promotion.  

“If I could get Maximus to respect me and believe in me, like I believe in them, then we can go places together,” she said. “But that takes accountability and actions on both sides. And if I am trying to meet them halfway, but they’re not willing to do so, then that is an issue.” 

The post Rep. Thompson, NAACP call for federal racial equity investigation at call center appeared first on Mississippi Today.