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The official news came late Saturday night: Colorado has named Deion Sanders as its next football coach.

“Not only will Coach Prime energize our fanbase, I’m confident that he will lead our program back to national prominence while leading a team of high quality and high character,” Colorado athletic director Rick George was quoted in a press release.

In Jackson, we had a strong hint a couple hours earlier. After Jackson State polished off Southern University 43-24 in the SWAC Championship Game Saturday evening, Sanders wasn’t around to answer the questions everyone wanted to ask.

Reporters and photographers jammed into a small media room at the south end of Veterans Memorial Stadium and waited for more than an hour after the game ended. Finally, a SWAC spokesman, seated beside where Sanders was supposed to sit, told reporters that Sanders and his team had left for the JSU campus where there was a team meeting. There would be no press conference.

At the risk of understating matters, that is not usual protocol after a football team completes a perfect season and wins the conference championship. (Much later Saturday night, JSU issued a two-sentence press release: “Coach Prime attempted to enter the interview room.  Southern’s press conference was still in progress. Coach Prime then left the stadium to attend official business with the athletic director and the team.”

Whatever, clearly Deion Sanders’ mercurial 26-month run as JSU head football coach was at end. Including an abbreviated 2020 spring season, his JSU teams won 27 games, lost five. Over the past two fall seasons, the Tigers are 23-2 overall and 16-0 in the SWAC. As an athlete, Sanders could do just about anything. Turns out, he can coach, too.

Asked about Sanders’ impact on the SWAC, Southern U. Coach Eric Dooley, who did show up for his turn at the microphone, answered, “He has obviously had a huge impact on Jackson State. Back to back SWAC championships – it’s been a long time since that has happened. He has put Jackson State football back to where it used to be.”

Dooley would not comment on Sanders’ impending departure other than to say, “I love competition. I hope he stays.”

Sanders has achieved so much in 26 months. He has brought JSU fans back by the tens of thousands. That success has translated into millions of desperately needed dollars pumped into the Jackson economy. He not only recruited the No. 1 high school prospect in all of America to Jackson State, he has restocked the Tigers roster with talent that is vastly superior to that of JSU’s conference brethren. He has surrounded himself with outstanding assistant coaches and he lets them do their jobs. He holds his players accountable and they bust their rear ends for him.

He has earned his keep – and then some – at Jackson State, where he was reportedly paid about $500,000 a year. Colorado will likely pay him more than 10 times that much, plus his assistant coaches will at least triple their salaries. They will have to earn it. Colorado was 1-11 this year, 5-19 over the last two. Colorado has had one winning season out of the last 15 and has not enjoyed sustained success since the Bill McCartney era (1982-94).

Keep in mind, JSU was 12-22 in the three seasons before Sanders’ arrival. That’s why, despite various published reports of Sanders’ imminent departure, many of the announced crowd of 53,754 Saturday hoped he would have a change of heart. 

They cheered wildly and waved their blue and white pompoms as the Tigers zoomed to a 26-0 first quarter lead over a team they had vanquished 35-0 just five weeks ago. Shedeur Sanders, the coach’s quarterbacking son, was his usual brilliant self, completing 31 of 44 passes for 305 yards and four touchdowns. Shedeur Sanders often zipped his passes even before his receivers made their cuts. Just as often, Southern defenders appeared helpless to stop it.

As Jackson State players stood at attention at game’s end, coach and quarterback, father and son, stood side by side, the coach’s arm draped around his son’s shoulders. It was a poignant scene.

Still, we are left with so many questions:

• Will Deion Sanders coach the Celebration Bowl on Dec. 17 when Jackson State will play North Carolina Central in Atlanta?
• How many of his Jackson State players will join him at Colorado? After all, players can transfer at will these days.
• How many of his coaches will join him?
• Who is next up at JSU? Deion Sanders was the most important hire JSU athletic director Ashley Robinson ever made, that is, until he makes the next one.

The post Deion Sanders heads for Colorado, but we didn’t hear it from him appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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The eight-member Mississippi Ethics Commission voted 5-3 Friday that the state Legislature is not bound by the state’s open meetings law.

The Mississippi Constitution states that “the doors of each house, when in session, or in the committee of the whole, shall be kept open, except in cases which may require secrecy.” The Constitution also says a majority of the House or Senate is a quorum.

The ruling came in a complaint filed by the Mississippi Free Press saying that the House Republican caucus members, which currently consist of 75 of the 122 members, are violating the open meetings law when they meet behind closed doors to discuss policy.

Mississippi Today detailed the activities of the closed door meetings in a story earlier this year during the 2022 session. The story cited reports of various House members and detailed how the caucus meetings were usually the first place rank-and-file House Republicans were informed of details of major policies developed by Speaker Philip Gunn and a handful of other House leaders. And in those meetings, discussions often were held on whether members supported those proposals of the leadership. Caucus members who had questions were urged to speak privately with the relevant committee chairmen — Gunn appointees who are the speaker’s closest allies.

The Senate opted not to have a similar caucus because members expressed concern that it would violate the open meetings law.

Tom Hood, executive director of the Ethics Commission, recommended to the panel that the Legislature did fall under the open meetings law. The commission rejected the findings of its executive director and is scheduled to meet in the coming weeks to finalize its opinion on the issue.

The Hood opinion in part read, “It is essential to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of representative government and to the maintenance of a democratic society that public business undertaken by a quorum of the House of Representatives be performed in an open and public manner. The formation and determination of public policy by a quorum of the House is public business and must be conducted at open meetings.”

Hood had recommended that the commission schedule a hearing to determine whether the House Republican Caucus did in fact meet in private with more than a majority of the House in present to discuss legislative issues. If so, he argued that would be in violation of the opening meetings law. The commission rejected his reasoning.

Gunn and members of the House leadership argued that a party caucus was not a governmental body that would be covered by the open meetings law.

The Hood opinion did not broach the issue of the constitutional provision that seems to mandate the Legislature meet in public. The Ethics Commission is charged in state law with ruling on issues regarding the state’s public records and public meetings laws, but not constitutional matters.

The Ethics Commission is comprised of appointees of the governor, Supreme Court chief justice, speaker and lieutenant governor.

The post Ethics Commission says Legislature not subject to open meetings law appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Sheldon Timothy Herrington, Jr., the Ole Miss graduate charged with murdering Jimmie “Jay” Lee, was released on a $250,000 bond Thursday after his lawyer made an agreement with the Lafayette County District Attorney’s Office. 

The agreement – made without a hearing – shocked the LGBTQ+ community in Oxford who thought Herrington would stay in jail through the remainder of the court proceedings with a grand jury hearing pending early next year because he was originally denied bond.

Justice for Jay Lee, a group of students and friends of Lee’s, condemned Herrington’s release in an Instagram post and called on several public officials in Oxford – including the mayor and the chancellor of University of Mississippi – to speak out “during the scariest time in our community.” 

“They kept his possible release a secret out of fear of us protesting and advocating for Jay Lee,” the post, written in all-caps, reads. “Our biggest nightmare just came true. We warned them this would happen. Our officials should have advocated for the courts to not release Timothy.”

Herrington was arrested two weeks after Lee went missing on July 8. Police later determined that he had a sexual relationship with Lee and that his apartment was the last place Lee went. That night, a few minutes after Lee messaged that he was coming over, Herrington Googled “how long does it take to strangle someone gabby petito,” then “does pre workout boost testosterone.” 

In August, a Lafayette County Circuit Court judge denied Herrington bond on the grounds that he is a flight risk because he searched for flights from Dallas to Singapore the day before Lee went missing.

But in the agreement signed Thursday, Herrington was permitted to post bond if he agreed to wear and pay for an ankle monitor and surrender his passport to the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department. Kilpatrick agreed these conditions would “satisfactorily relieve any fears” that Herrington would flee the state before trial, according to the order. 

Earlier this week, Kilpatrick was elected the first County Court Judge in Lafayette County history following a runoff. 

Herrington’s attorney, state Rep. Kevin Horan, did not respond to a request for comment before press time; neither did a member of Herrington’s family. Ben Creekmore, the Lafayette County District Attorney, could not be reached but Action 5 News reported that he said the agreement was made in exchange for Horan dropping a petition he filed in October that claimed Herrington was being held in jail illegally. 

READ MORE: ‘A grand jury has not “failed to indict” the Ole Miss graduate charged with murder as legal filing claims

Lee’s body has been missing since he disappeared on July 8. He was last seen leaving Molly Barr Trails, a student apartment complex in Oxford, but police believe his body is somewhere between Lafayette or Grenada counties based on Herrington’s movements that day. 

According to evidence at the preliminary hearing in August, Lee had gone to Herrington’s house early in the morning on July 8, left and returned a few hours later. Later that day, Herrington drove a moving truck to his parents’ house outside of Grenada where he was seen on video footage retrieving a shovel and long handled wheelbarrow.

For members of the LGBTQ+ community across the state, Lee’s murder is emblematic of the disproportionate violence that LGBTQ+ people in Mississippi face as well as law enforcement’s routine failure to properly investigate or prosecute these cases. In Lee’s case, members of the community say that failure is evident in Herrington’s surprise release and because police have yet to find Lee’s body.

Justice for Jay Lee has been urging people to write letters on behalf of Lee to the Lafayette County Courthouse as dozens of people in Grenada, including powerful officials like the sheriff and superintendent, had advocated for Herrington’s release. 

The post ‘Our biggest nightmare just came true’: LGBTQ+ community shocked by surprise release of Ole Miss student charged with murder  appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A former corrections officer and case manager at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility have been indicted on a charge of using excessive force against a prisoner. 

A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Mississippi charged officer Jessica Hill and case manager Nicole Moore with deprivation of rights of an inmate under color of law, which are acts and duties performed as part of official duty.  

On July 11, 2019 at the Pearl facility, the indictment alleges Hill struck an incarcerated person named L.C. with a pepper spray canister and punched the inmate, and Moore kicked L.C., who did not resist, resulting in bodily injury, according to court documents. 

The indictment also alleges Hill and Moore aided and abetted each other during the use of excessive force against L.C. 

Court documents did not provide a reason why force was used against L.C. 

Arrest warrants were executed for Hill and Moore Wednesday, and both had an initial appearance and arraignment at the federal courthouse in Jackson, according to court documents. 

If convicted, they could each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. 

A spokesperson from the Mississippi Department of Corrections declined to comment because the alleged incident happened under a previous administration.

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Joe Paul is being paid an annual salary of $650,000 as the 11th president of University of Southern Mississippi, according to a copy of his contract the Institutions of Higher Learning provided to Mississippi Today. 

The salary makes Paul the third-highest paid college president in Mississippi and represents a $50,000 raise over that of his predecessor, Rodney Bennett, the university’s first Black president who departed earlier this year. 

Paul’s contract, which ends on Oct. 31, 2026, shows he is making $450,000 in state funds, the same amount he was making as interim president. He is also receiving a $200,000 supplement from the University of Southern Mississippi Foundation, a decrease in the supplement the foundation paid to Bennett. 

In Mississippi, the presidents of the state’s eight public universities are permitted by the Board of Trustees to boost their taxpayer-funded salaries with private, foundation-funded dollars. They are also allowed to receive income from “outside employment” as long as they request prior approval from the board in writing. 

Other details from Paul’s nine-page contract include a hefty payout if the board terminates him in the next two years – $900,000, equal to two years’ salary. After October 2024, Paul would receive the remainder of his salary. He is also required to live on campus and was provided up to $15,000 in moving expenses to relocate, a standard benefit that other college presidents receive. 

Paul was originally supposed to lead USM in the interim as the board looked for a new president – a short-term charge that was reflected in his initial 7-month contract the board approved in executive session in June. 

At that same June meeting, the board also voted to raise the state-funded salaries of all eight college presidents. When the board voted to pay Paul $450,000, it also increased the state-funded portions of the salaries of Mark Keenum (Mississippi State University), Glenn Boyce (University of Mississippi) and Thomas Hudson (Jackson State University) to $450,000.

Though the board has in the past announced changes to presidential salaries in press releases, this information was not made publicly available until minutes of the executive session were published in August, two months after the raises were granted, because the board did not meet in July. 

Hudson, who was previously making $375,000 as president of Jackson State University, now makes $455,000 with his foundation supplement. Keenum and Boyce now make $850,000, up from $800,000 last year. 

Since 2017, IHL has sought to pay the presidents of the state’s top research universities the same state-funded amount. Due to the difference in the amount each school’s foundation can pay, historically the college presidents have been compensated in that order: UM and MSU at the top, followed by USM then JSU. 

IHL also approved across-the-board reductions in the amount that university foundations can pay presidents  – figures that vary dramatically. Keenum and Boyce are now permitted to take $400,000 from their university foundations, but Hudson can only receive $5,000, per the June meeting minutes. Previously, Hudson received a $75,000 supplement from JSU’s foundation.

The state’s two other historically Black colleges – Mississippi Valley State University and Alcorn State University – as well as Mississippi University for Women also had their foundation supplements limited to $5,000. (The board did not approve a foundation supplement for Delta State’s interim president.) 

The state-funded salaries of Jerryl Briggs (MVSU), Nora Miller (MUW) and Felecia Nave (ASU) were increased to $300,000. 

As the board has granted raises for the university presidents, faculty and staff have barely seen their pay increase in the last decade, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. The average faculty member in Mississippi took home $65,827 in 2020, up from about $58,000 in 2012. The average staff member made $47,612 that same year, an increase of a little more than $6,000 since 2012. 

The board also approved a “retention” pay plan for Boyce at the meeting in June. If he stays on as chancellor at UM through the end of his contract in June 2024, the university foundation is now permitted to pay him a bonus up to $400,000. 

When the board granted Keenum the opportunity for a similar bonus last year, he wrote to MSU’s foundation that he would like “a majority, if not all” of the retention funds to go to student scholarships.

READ MORE: ‘Here are the salaries of every IHL college president since 2008’

The post USM’s new president making $650,000; all public college presidents saw raises this year  appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The nonprofit Leapfrog Group released its hospital safety grades for the fall of 2022, and 12 Mississippi hospitals – including the financially troubled Greenwood Leflore Hospital –  received an A rating.

The grade, which is assigned to about 3,000 general acute-care hospitals across the nation twice a year, is based on how hospitals and other health care organizations protect their patients from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. The score comes from hospitals’ performance on more than 30 national measures from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and other data.

The state’s largest hospital and only academic medical center scored a C for the fourth year in a row.

No Mississippi hospitals received an F grade, and one hospital received a D: Merit Health Biloxi. Each grade is based on hospitals’ performance in five categories: infections, problems with surgery, safety problems, practices to prevent errors, and doctors, nurses and hospital staff.

“Taken together, those performance measures produce a single letter grade representing a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors,” its website states.

According to the group, 250,000 people die each year from preventable errors in hospitals.

Here is the breakdown of grades for Mississippi hospitals:

The post Twelve Mississippi hospitals earn ‘A’ rating from hospital safety group appeared first on Mississippi Today.

We are now nearly half a year past the Ole Miss baseball miracle, and Tim Elko, the heart and soul of those Rebels, still struggles with processing the entire experience.

“It’s sunk in a little bit, but it’s still surreal in many ways,” Elko said in a phone conversation Thursday. “We got the championship rings a while back and that somehow made it a little more real.”

Something else has happened to make it even more real – and to bring back a flood of cherished memories. That’s the publication of two books – “Champions” and “Resilient Rebels,” which commemorate one of the most remarkable sports turn-arounds in this writer’s memory.

Elko, who wrote the foreword to “Champions,” will be featured at a book signing Saturday at Lemuria in Jackson. 

First, about the two books:

• “Champions” is a lovely coffee table book, published by Neil White’s Nautilus Publishing Company of Oxford. Much of the book is the work of photographer Joshua McCoy, who followed the Rebels throughout the season and produced some of the most compelling sports photography imaginable. White, himself the author of the remarkable memoir “Sanctuary of Outcasts” designed and edited the book, while Jeff Roberson, Mitch Praxl and Alex Sims combined to provide the text. Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco wrote the introduction.
• “Resilient Rebels” is the work of Oxford writer Chase Parham and, as the subtitle suggests, details “Ole Miss baseball’s remarkable path to a national title.” In this case the adjective “remarkable” does not overstate at all. Ole Miss was the last at-large team selected for the 64-team field and then won 10 of 11 NCAA Tournament games, sweeping Oklahoma in the best of three championship series. The Rebels won 20 of their last 26 overall. Former Major League Baseball star Donnie Kessinger, a two-sport All American at Ole Miss, provides the foreword to Parham’s book.

White and Parham both will join Elko at Lemuria for Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. book signing. (Only books, no memorabilia, will be signed.)

This will not be Elko’s first experience at book signing. He was at Square Books in Oxford on Oct. 14 when the books debuted there. That was the Alabama football weekend, the same weekend the Rebels received their championship rings. You probably won’t be surprised to learn the line to get books signed that day went out the store’s doors and wrapped around much of Oxford’s Square.

“I had a blast,” Elko said. “It was just so much fun to share that experience with so many people. I couldn’t believe how long that line went.”

The signing was supposed to last two hours, White said, but went much longer. Bianco had to leave early to get to that afternoon’s fall practice. But Elko stayed until every last book was signed.

These days, Elko works out most mornings at Oxford-University Stadium with other former Rebels now in professional baseball who live in the Oxford area.  

“Just working to get stronger, trying to get better,” said the easy-going and always-friendly Elko, who last summer began his professional career in the Chicago White Sox organization, hitting five home runs in 96 at bats at the Class A level. That was after a senior season in which he hit 24 home runs and drove in 75 for the national champs.

Switching to wooden bats is a difficult adjustment for many college players-turned-pros, but the bull-strong Elko apparently made the adjustment with relative ease.

“I love the feel and the sound of a wooden bat,” Elko said. “No problems here.”

The guess here is that when you have overcome what Ole Miss baseball did during the spring of 2022, everything seems a little easier.

The post Books detail Ole Miss miracle; Elko to sign in Jackson Saturday appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A modern Mississippi take on the Christmas story.

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Mississippi can spend about $7 million a year to keep mothers and newborns healthier, or continue to spend tens of millions more dealing with the fallout of having the worst infant and maternal mortality and morbidity in the country, health experts told lawmakers Thursday.

“This reminds me of that Midas commercial: Pay me now, or pay me later,” said Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, chairman of the Senate Medicaid Committee. “The cost later is obviously significantly more. The relatively minimal amount to provide this care compared to the cost later – it’s a no brainer in my mind.”

Blackwell’s committee on Thursday heard testimony from numerous health experts on benefits of increasing the length of postpartum Medicaid health coverage for mothers from 60 days to a year – as most states have done or are considering. Postpartum coverage has been extended for mothers in all states during the federal pandemic health emergency but will end when the national emergency is ended, which is expected to happen soon.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has vowed the Senate in the 2023 legislative session will again push for extending postpartum coverage. Early this year, Speaker Philip Gunn and the House leadership blocked three Senate attempts to extend the coverage. Gov. Tate Reeves has been noncommittal on the issue. But all three leaders have noted a need for policies to help new and expecting mothers and newborns after a ban on abortions is expected to add at least 5,000 more births in Mississippi each year.

In Mississippi with high rates of poverty and uninsured people, about 65% of babies are born to mothers on Medicaid. Because of lag times in being approved for coverage and the 60-day cutoff, mothers often do not receive the prenatal and postpartum care they need, care that could prevent many major problems.

Dr. Anita Henderson, a pediatrician and president of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, provided some somber statistics and costs to lawmakers Thursday.

Mississippi’s pregnancy-related maternal mortality ratio is 33.2 deaths per 100,000 live births, nearly double the national average of 17.3 deaths. Mississippi has the highest infant mortality rate, preterm birth rate and low birthweight rate in the U.S. One-in-seven babies born here are preterm. These numbers are dated by a few years, and rates have gotten worse, lawmakers and experts said Thursday.

Henderson said the hospital cost for a healthy baby born full term runs about $5,000 to $6,000. But for extremely premature babies, that cost averages $600,000 and can easily top $1 million – costs frequently borne by state Medicaid.

“If we can prevent just a few of those premature births, we would be able to pay for this, and also help 65% of moms in Mississippi,” Henderson said.

State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney said he believes extending the coverage would not only pay for itself but be “budget positive” for the state, with savings from healthier mothers and babies with preventive and follow-up care, and federal Medicaid covering most of the cost.

“The rest of the states have adopted 12 month postpartum or Medicaid expansion,” Edney said. “We are one of two states in the nation that has adopted neither. We are kind of isolated in our current policy. What I would beg us to consider is the fact it makes much more economic sense to let Medicaid pay for this rather than the state having to pay for it – either state agencies such as the health department paying, or hospitals paying for it with uncompensated care.”

But Edney advised lawmakers to, “Please divorce the Medicaid expansion debate from the postpartum benefits debate. We can have the Medicaid expansion debate at another time.”

Expanding Medicaid to cover the working poor in Mississippi per the federal Affordable Care Act has been the source of a decade of partisan debate in Mississippi, with GOP leaders blocking it. Blackwell opposes Medicaid expansion, but along with other Senate Republicans said extending postpartum coverage to mothers already on Medicaid for their pregnancies is not the same as the broader expansion.

Wil Ervin, deputy administrator for health policy for Mississippi Medicaid, on Thursday told lawmakers his agency is not making a recommendation to lawmakers for or against extending postpartum coverage.

“But if you do, we would ask that you do so quickly and decisively, and give the division enough time to successfully implement the changes,” Ervin said.

Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, in questions to several presenters Thursday indicated Gov. Reeves could promptly extend the coverage without Legislative action next year.

“Isn’t it true the executive branch today could make that happen without us waiting for the other chamber? This afternoon, he could sign a piece of paper and solve these problems. But if that doesn’t happen, I think you’ll see a continued commitment from the Senate.”

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