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Senate Public Health Committee Chair Hob Bryan, D-Amory, said no one is tasked with looking at Mississippi’s overall health care system. That is what he hopes to do in an upcoming meeting of the Public Health Committee.

Bryan’s Public Health Committee is slated to meet at 1:15 Monday afternoon at the state Capitol to address the “financial crisis of hospitals in Mississippi.”

State Health Officer Daniel Edney and others have commented on the problems and the possible closure of multiple hospitals across the state.

“This is not just a Delta problem,” Bryan said, backing up Edney and others. “It is an overall state problem.”

When asked what hospitals faced the possibility of closure, Bryan did not answer directly, but said both North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo and Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg “have said they will lose tens of millions of dollars … next year. They can sustain it for a while because they have reserves, and they can do other things.”

But Bryan said if those two medical centers – two of the larger hospitals in the state located in, by Mississippi standards, affluent areas – “are saying that, can you imagine what is happening in other areas?”

Bryan said many entities in the state are tasked with oversight of aspects the health care system, but no one looks at the whole system. He said that is, in part, what will be explored during his committee hearing.

For instance, he said the state Board of Health develops an overall health care plan. That plan would say there needs to be a hospital in Greenwood but would not address how to ensure that is the case.

Ensuring prison inmates are treated close to where they are housed would provide much needed revenue to hospitals in those underserved areas, particularly in the Delta, he said. Another option would be to establish a nursing home for inmates paid for primarily through federally funded Medicaid. That nursing home could be operated by a hospital, giving the medical center funds to help it stay open.

“I don’t know if any of this is feasible, but I do know no one is looking at it,” he said.

Bryan said there has been a long-term problem with Mississippi hospitals, but now there is an acute or immediate problem caused in part by the COVID-19 pandemic that has driven up salaries for health care providers, particularly nurses.

He said insurance companies and other factors are pushing the more lucrative medical procedures away from hospitals while leaving the hospitals to perform the less lucrative procedures. Often patients must travel longer distances to undergo the procedures.

Asked whether Medicaid expansion, providing health care to 200,000 or more primarily uninsured Mississippians with mainly federal money would help, he said, “Of course … I will talk about Medicaid expansion forever, but you know, what more can you do?”

Bryan was referring to the fact that opposition from many of the state’s political leaders, primarily Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn, have blocked efforts to consider Medicaid expansion that has been adopted by 39 other states.

The Senate hearing is slated to be livestreamed on Mississippi Legislature’s YouTube page.

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The Jackson City Council voted Thursday to enter into an “interim stipulated order” with the United States Government through the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the city’s drinking water violations.

Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay confirmed that the interim order lasts for a year, and includes a third-party administrator. Council President Ashby Foote first told those details to WLBT after the vote, which came after a two-hour meeting among the council in executive session.

The interim order, as EPA Administrator Michael Regan explained this week, will head to a federal judge to officially take effect. Regan described the action as a short-term solution, and said he will come back to Jackson to hold a public dialogue over longer term measures.

“This is a very serious action that we took today, but it is overall a good thing because we are closer to being able to guarantee safe and consistent drinking water for the citizens,” Lindsay said.

All other details of the order are hidden from public view for the time being.

Jackson City Attorney Catoria Martin said during Thursday’s meeting that even though the order would “technically” be a public document after being voted on, she wasn’t sure whether the city could release it until it was filed with the court. Martin said her office also had to go through and “scrub” confidential watermarks from the document.

“I’m disappointed we have to (discuss the order) behind closed doors, but that appears to be the case,” Foote said before asking the media to leave.

The council also voted to allow the mayor to apply for a $3 million grant from the EPA to help comply with drinking water regulations.

On Wednesday, the EPA’s Office of Inspector General announced that it was continuing its investigation that began in September, following two avenues: the office is both evaluating the EPA’s response to Jackson’s drinking water violations, as well as conducting an audit to see how spending decisions at the state and local levels impacted the recent water crisis.

The announcement of the audit follows the EPA’s recent decision to investigate Mississippi’s state agencies for civil rights violations based on how they allocated money for water infrastructure in recent years.

Below is a copy of what the city council voted on Thursday:

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An advocacy coalition filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday against the U.S. Department of Transportation and Secretary Pete Buttigieg over a proposed road extension in Gulfport, arguing that the agency hasn’t thoroughly examined potential impacts to the area’s wetlands.

Gulfport officials are proposing the extension of Airport Road to reduce traffic congestion in a growing commercial section of the city.

The DOT approved a final environmental assessment in September, which found that the project, which could cost $48.5 million, would have “no significant impact.”

But the lawsuit’s plaintiffs — the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), Education, Economics, Environmental, Climate and Health Organization (EEECHO), Sierra Club, and Healthy Gulf — say the DOT violated federal regulations by not conducting an environmental impact statement, or EIS, which is required for projects with a certain footprint.

The Federal Highway Administration, under the DOT, only required an environmental assessment, or EA, which has less rigorous requirements than an EIS.

Opponents argue the proposed road extension would worsen flooding in an area that already faces regular inundation, specifically the historic Black neighborhoods of Turkey Creek and Forest Heights.

“Our roads already get flooded, our church parking lot was recently flooded with six inches of water,” Lula Dedeaux, Gulfport Section president of the National Council of Negro
Women, said in a statement. “These wetlands have been recognized as Aquatic Resources of National Importance by the Environmental Protection Agency because they provide vital flood protection to the Forest Heights, North Gulfport, and Turkey Creek communities. The Connector Road will only serve to make these existing and dangerous flooding problems worse.”

The project’s proposal includes building a “retention pond” to provide some flood control, but the EA also states that “should development continue along the alignment, additional stormwater retention would be needed to mitigate stormwater flows.”

DOT awarded the project a $20 million BUILD grant in 2019.

The Sierra Club also argued that the project won’t achieve its advertised benefits.

“The reality is that $48 plus million in taxpayer dollars will do nothing to help traffic congestion,” Louie Miller, state director for Mississippi Sierra Club, said. “It’s clear the goal of this proposal is to promote new commercial development for the enrichment of politically connected, private real estate developers, at the expense of the local community.”

Mississippi Today reached out to the DOT and the city of Gulfport for comment.

The post Gulfport road project leads to lawsuit against DOT over impacts to crucial wetlands appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi has scheduled the execution of a former military recruiter who raped and murdered a teenage waitress in north Mississippi. 

Thomas Edwin Loden Jr., 58,  is scheduled to be executed Dec. 14 at 6 p.m. at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. 

“After due consideration, the Court finds that Loden has exhausted all state and federal remedies for purposes of setting an execution date,” Chief Justice Michael Randolph wrote in a Thursday order. 

Six justices joined Randolph to approve the execution order and the remaining two denied granting the execution. 

In 2000, Loden kidnapped 16-year-old Lessa Marie Gray, after seeing her stranded on the side of the road in Dorsey in Itawamba County. 

After seeing the girl working at Comer’s Restaurant, he flattened a tire on her car and waited for Gray to leave work, according to court documents. Loden pulled up next to Gray’s car and offered to help, telling her he was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps. 

When she replied to his question about wanting to become a Marine, Loden became upset and forced Gray into his van, according to court documents. He sexually assaulted her and then killed her by strangulation and suffocation. 

Loden, a gunnery sergeant and a Marine recruiter in Vicksburg, was on a 10-day leave and in the area to visit his grandmother’s farm.

The next day, police found his van on the farm and transported it to New Albany for a state crime scene investigation team to examine, according to court documents. Inside they found Gray’s body. 

In 2001, Loden was sentenced to death and an additional 150 years for rape and sexual battery. 

He sought appeals and post-conviction relief, but those requests were denied. 

In October, the attorney general’s office filed a motion to set an execution date for Loden. 

Loden’s attorney asked for the execution to be stayed because a 1983 civil lawsuit he joined challenging the method of execution is still active. The state argued the lawsuit does not challenge Loden’s conviction or sentence. 

The last person to be executed in Mississippi was David Neal Cox on Nov. 17, 2021. His execution was the first after a nine-year break. 

The post Supreme Court sets execution date for teen’s killer appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Deion Sanders was asked earlier this week if he was proud of his son, Shedeur, for being named Jackson State’s finalist for the C Spire Conerly Trophy.

“Well, I’d like to see him win,” Sanders said, chuckling. “We were there last year, got all dressed up and all that. You don’t want to get dressed up and go there and see somebody else win a durn trophy. We’re winners. We want to win.”

Shedeur Sanders surely might win the Conerly. He ranks among the top two or three favorites. He is the quarterback of an undefeated, nationally ranked team. He has thrown 31 touchdowns, just five interceptions. He is resourceful and he is accurate. He is a winner.

But he is no slam dunk.

Quinshon Judkins, the Ole Miss freshman running back, surely deserves strong consideration. At times looking like a reincarnation of the great Walter Payton, Judkins has rushed for 1,117 yards and 15 touchdowns through 10 games. He has been at his best against some of the most talented defenses in the country.

Just look at Judkins’ last four games: 135 yards and two touchdowns against Alabama, 205 yards and a touchdown against Texas A&M, 111 yards and two touchdowns against LSU, 139 yards and two touchdowns against Auburn.

This is no flippant comparison I make to Payton, the greatest all-around back these eyes have ever seen. I once asked Hall of Fame linebacker D.D. Lewis who was the toughest man he ever had to tackle. Lewis laughed before he answered. “Walter Payton, not even close,” D.D. said. “Trying to tackle Walter was like trying to tackle a 210-pound bowling ball.”

Judkins is much like that. Payton was 5 foot, 10 inches tall and weighed 210. Judkins is 5-11 and weighs 210. Judkins, as Payton, explodes through the line. When he gets hit, the battle has just begun. He bounces off defenders, runs through arm tackles, cuts on a dime, and his helmet always comes out at the end of any pile-up. When you tackle Judkins, it hurts you worse than it hurts him, as was always the case with Payton.

This is not to say that Quinshon Judkins is another Walter Payton. It’s much too early for that. But keep in mind, Judkins just turned 19 last month. He should only get stronger.

Judkins and Shedeur Sanders have plenty of top-flight company among the Conerly finalists:

• Delta State quarterback Patrick Shegog has thrown for 2,485 yards and run for 685 yards for a team that has won 10 games and is about to enter the Division II playoffs. 
• Mississippi State junior cornerback Emmanuel Forbes ranks second in the nation in pass interceptions with five and has tied a Southeastern Conference record with five career pick-sixes (touchdown interceptions).
• Southern Miss wide receiver Jason Brownlee, despite USM playing musical quarterbacks due to injuries, has caught 44 passes for 687 yards and six touchdowns. He’s tall, rangy and fast. You will be watching Brownlee on Sundays.
• Alcorn running back Jarveon Howard leads the SWAC in rushing with 1,174 yards. Howard, a Syracuse transfer, runs with both power and speed and has scored 11 touchdowns.

Other finalists include Mississippi Valley State defensive tackle Ronnie Thomas, Belhaven linebacker Conner Fordham, Mississippi College running back Marcus Williams, and Millsaps wide receiver/kick returner Moise Tezzo. 

Important to note: Each finalist was selected by the college or university he represents. The Conerly will be presented at a banquet Nov. 29 at the Country Club of Jackson.

Yes, I have a vote, and, no, I have not decided. The deadline for voting is Nov. 27. There are vitally important games to be played before then.

The post Tough choice for Conerly voters, starting with Judkins, Sanders appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The head of Greenwood Leflore Hospital said the hospital is working with the city, county and members of the business community to secure the funding needed to keep the hospital open through the legislative session.

In the meantime, the hospital has announced it will close the Greenwood Pulmonology Clinic and the Greenwood Primary Care Clinic as of Nov. 30. The hospital has recently laid off as many as 80 employees and shuttered services including its labor and delivery unit.

The 208-bed hospital is currently operating with a total of 18 inpatient beds.  

Interim Chief Executive Officer Gary Marchand said the hospital’s long-term hopes hinge on legislative action and gaining federal Critical Access or Rural Emergency Hospital status. Hospitals with these designations receive enhanced federal payments for certain services among other benefits.

“The legislature will have the opportunity to address a proposed increase in hospital funding for Medicaid and uninsured patients that will help protect the hospital’s cost structure,” Marchand wrote in a memo to employees Thursday. 

Though Marchand declined to specify what proposal he was referring to, Richard Roberson of the Mississippi Hospital Association said he was likely referring to an item on the Mississippi Hospital Association’s legislative agenda: additional funding from Medicaid to hospitals. 

Hospitals in Mississippi currently receive payments beyond the base rate for Medicaid called “supplemental payments.” These include disproportionate share payments intended to offset hospitals’ uncompensated care costs and improve access for Medicaid and uninsured patients as well as protect hospitals’ finances. 

Roberson, the association’s vice president for policy and state advocacy, was not able to provide further details on the amount and type of supplemental funding being proposed on Thursday.  

In the meantime, the hospital is working with the city, county and business community to shore up funding.

The move comes after months of negotiations with the University of Mississippi Medical Center ended abruptly earlier this month. Hospital officials said at the time that without an agreement with UMMC to lease the hospital, it could close before the end of the year.

Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs at UMMC, said the agreement was not possible due to several factors, the primary one being “the current realities of health care economics that all health systems are facing in this challenging environment.” 

This year is on track to be the worst financial year for health care systems nationally – driven mainly by the labor shortage and the increased costs of employing expensive contract nurses.

UMMC reported a more than $8 million loss in its first quarter of this fiscal year, according to a presentation made by its Chief Financial Officer Nelson Weichold. 

More than half of Mississippi’s rural hospitals are at risk of closure, new data from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform shows. The state has the largest number of rural hospitals at immediate risk of closure in the nation at 24.

Editor’s note: Kate Royals, Mississippi Today’s community health editor since January 2022, worked as a writer/editor for UMMC’s Office of Communications from November 2018 through August 2020, writing press releases and features about the medical center’s schools of dentistry and nursing.

The post Greenwood Leflore officials hope hospital can remain open through upcoming legislative session appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A federal appeals court has formally blocked the Biden administration’s student debt cancellation plan, meaning borrowers who expected to see up to $20,000 in loan cancellation this fall must now wait indefinitely for a resolution in the lawsuit. 

The issue at hand is, in part, how the plan could affect tax revenue and funding for higher education in Missouri. The state is home to MOHELA, one of the largest student loan holders and servicers in the country, which would lose significant revenue if the federal government closed its accounts through debt forgiveness. 

“Whatever the eventual outcome of this case, it will affect the finances of millions of Americans with student loan debt as well as those Americans who pay taxes to finance the government and indeed everyone who is affected by such far-reaching fiscal decisions,” the court wrote. 

In Mississippi, Biden’s plan, if enacted, could be a boon in tax revenue as the state plans to tax student debt cancellation as income – the way it typically taxes all forms of debt cancellation. It remains to be seen, however, how the Mississippi Department of Revenue will carry out this plan as servicers are not furnishing the tax forms that borrowers need to file student debt cancellation. 

Nearly 439,000 Mississippians have federal student loans that are eligible for debt cancellation, according to the Education Data Initiative, and therefore taxable in Mississippi.

This week’s decision is the result of a lawsuit that made its way to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, filed by six conservative states (Mississippi is not a plaintiff in this lawsuit). The news followed a ruling from a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas that the program, enacted under the Biden administration’s executive authority, is unconstitutional. It is likely the plan will wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The slew of Republican-led lawsuits have already forced the Biden administration to disable the online application and make some changes to its plan. In court filings, the department is now signaling it could extend the moratorium on student loan repayment – scheduled to sunset on Dec. 31 of this year – as it expects a “historically large increase in the amount of federal student loan delinquency and defaults as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

The department has said it will continue to defend the plan in court. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett has twice rejected emergency challenges to the plan. 

In a statement, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said that the plan is “lawful and necessary to give borrowers and working families breathing room as they recover from the pandemic and to ensure they succeed when repayment restarts.” 

According to the White House, more than half of the 26 million Americans eligible for debt relief were approved. In Mississippi, the plan would have benefited primarily Black, brown and low-income borrowers, who nationally and in Mississippi have higher averages of student debt than white, wealthier borrowers.  

The department had initially said it would start approving forgiveness as early as mid-November. 

The post Biden’s student loan plan disrupted in federal court, postponing cancellation for Mississippi borrowers appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office is appealing a recent court decision which declared giving federal money to private schools is unconstitutional, according to new documents filed Tuesday. 

The Legislature gave $10 million to private schools at the end of the 2022 session in early April, a move that frustrated some advocates and legislators. The funding comes from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which gave the Mississippi Legislature $1.8 billion to spend on pandemic response, government services, and infrastructure improvements to water, sewer, and broadband. 

The Mississippi chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Democracy Forward, and the Mississippi Center for Justice brought a lawsuit challenging this allocation on behalf of Parents for Public Schools, a Jackson-based national nonprofit.

The decision, which a Hinds County judge handed down last month, found that the allocation violated section 208 of the Mississippi Constitution, which prohibits giving any public funds to private schools. 

Attorneys for the state argued that because the Legislature appropriated the money to the Department of Finance and Administration to run a grant program for private schools, instead of directly to those private schools, these laws did not violate the state constitution. 

The decision from Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Crystal Wise Martin rebukes this argument, pointing out that the prohibition on allocating public money to private schools is not limited to any specific government body. 

“The state cannot avoid compliance with our Constitution simply by delegating the power to disburse appropriated funds to an executive agency,” the order reads. 

Will Bardwell, an attorney with Democracy Forward, said he was not surprised by the appeal. 

“Judge Martin’s decision is thorough and well reasoned,” said Bardwell. “We feel very comfortable defending that decision at the Supreme Court.”

The judge separately rejected the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools’ (MAIS) attempt to intervene in the lawsuit. Since private schools had to be a member of MAIS to be eligible for this money, the group sought to become a party to the lawsuit in order to defend the interests of their member schools, but both the state and the attorneys for Parents for Public Schools said MAIS was introducing new legal issues that were not relevant to the case. 

MAIS also filed an appeal, challenging both the denial of its attempt to intervene and the overall decision. 

The attorney general’s office confirmed their intent to appeal to Mississippi Today. The Supreme Court will now review the case and make further determinations. 

The post AG will appeal lawsuit involving public funds to private schools appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Note: This article is part of Mississippi Today’s ongoing Mississippi Health Care Crisis project. Read more about the project by clicking here.

Hundreds of thousands of Mississippians fall within what’s called the “coverage gap” — they work lower-paying jobs that do not offer health insurance, but they also do not qualify for traditional Medicaid coverage.

About 12% of Mississippians are uninsured, meaning they cannot afford basic health care, let alone cover the costs of emergency care.

Hospitals, dozens of which are in financial crisis across the state, must provide care to uninsured patients and cover the costs themselves. This has forced several hospitals to close in recent years, and the state’s top health leaders say at least a dozen more are in imminent danger of closing.

READ MORE: ‘What’s your plan, watch Rome burn?’: Politicians continue to reject solution to growing hospital crisis

Q&A: What is Medicaid expansion, really?

Numerous studies have shown that expanding Medicaid — lawmakers choosing to opt into an expanded version of the federal-state health coverage program — would guarantee health care for at least 200,000 primarily working Mississippians who don’t currently have it.

But a handful of state political leaders have rejected expansion for more than a decade, ignoring the nonpartisan, reputable experts who have thoroughly studied the effects of expansion.

Below is an interactive, county-by-county map showing the Mississippi adults who would qualify for Medicaid if state leaders chose to expand.

The post MAP: These uninsured Mississippi adults would be covered by Medicaid expansion appeared first on Mississippi Today.