The City of Jackson on Thursday announced garbage collection will be halted city-wide, indefinitely because of a long-running dispute between Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and the city council.
In a press release, Lumumba’s office said that “After six months under an emergency contract and without compensation, Richard’s Disposal will cease all city-wide garbage collection” after Saturday.
New Orleans-based Richard’s Disposal has been collecting garbage in Jackson since April, after Waste Management’s contract with the city expired. Lumumba and the council deadlocked over who had the lowest and best bid for collection. Lumumba issued an emergency contract for Richard’s to collect, but the City Council rejected the contract and has refused to pay the company. The two sides have been fighting in court, and Richard’s has sued the city and says it is owed nearly $5 million for collection to-date.
“It is unfortunate that the Jackson City Council has failed to ratify the executed contract and allow for payment for services rendered,” Lumumba said in a statement. “The citizens of Jackson have paid and continue to pay for the solid waste collection, and they have received the services but, due to inaction by the Jackson City Council, my administration is legally unable to pay Richard’s for services rendered.”
Mississippi’s capital city is only recently recovering from a water crisis that included nearly two months of boil-water notices and a citywide water outage that forced the state to declare an emergency and step in.
The press release from Lumumba’s office recommended that residents help manage the halt in garbage pickup by using reusable containers and “other sustainable household products and goods,” freezing seafood waste until pickup resumes and continuing to drop off household hazardous waste at 1570 University Boulevard.
The Delta Regional Authority announced a $8.6 million investment on Thursday to fund flood control and infrastructure improvements across the Mississippi Delta.
“Accessible roads, reliable water and sewer services, and secure flood protection are essential in order to maintain existing businesses, attract new industries, and keep a community healthy and thriving,” said Corey Wiggins, the federal co-chairman of the DRA.
The DRA spends federal appropriations across eight states, including Mississippi, to help support transportation, infrastructure and other economic needs in the region.
The $8.6 million will go towards 13 projects. The announcement also mentioned another $1.8 million in matching funds.
The largest project investment is $3.2 million that will go towards economic development in Clarksdale, specifically to improve a levee and roadway. That project projects to create 56 jobs. A press release said this will attract an additional $12 million capital investment.
In total, about $2.9 million will go towards wastewater and sewer projects in Piney Woods, Charleston, Glendora, and Tunica County.
Earlier this year, the EPA listed Charleston as in “significant noncompliance” with the Clean Water Act due to reporting issues, which followed pollutant violations from the city’s wastewater system. The agency also notes recent pollution violations from the wastewater systems at the Piney Woods School as well as in Glendora.
Roughly $2.2 million will go to drinking water system improvements in Metcalfe, Greenville, and Charleston. In 2020, the EPA listed Metcalf, which serves water to about 1,000 people, as “enforcement priority” over drinking water violations, ranging from monitoring issues to contaminants in the water.
And then another $2.2 million is set to go towards drainage and storm water projects that will help Belzoni, Coldwater, Rolling Fork, Coahoma, and Tutwiler deal with flooding. The largest of those projects is $516,896 going to Belzoni.
Rolling Fork is located in the South Delta, which regularly faces backwater flooding. The city hosted a meeting in August to discuss the Yazoo Pumps, a proposed flood control project.
Below are full descriptions of the Mississippi projects from the Delta Regional Authority’s press release:
Piney Woods School Infrastructure Improvement Program | Piney Woods: The Piney Woods School will use DRA funds to improve the wastewater treatment facility and rebuild a loop road leading to the facility. This investment is projected to affect 30 families.
DRA Investment: $1,347,127
Total Investment: $1,497,127
City of Charleston Wastewater Improvements | Charleston: The City of Charleston will use DRA funds to improve the sewer collection system by cleaning CCTV gravity lines, installing a cured-in-place pipe, replacing the gravity sewer, and installing a duplex grinder pump station.
DRA Investment: $564,205
Total Investment: $564,205
Tutwiler Flooding & Drainage Project | Tutwiler: The Town of Tutwiler will use DRA funds to rehabilitate the storm water draining system to eliminate storm water quickly and keep homes and businesses dry. This investment is projected to affect 872 families.
DRA Investment: $468,009
Total Investment: $468,009
Glendora Sewer Rehabilitation Project | Glendora: The Town of Glendora will use DRA funds to install significant sewer improvements, including rehabilitation to the sewer line and sewage lagoon and extension to the public. This investment is projected to affect 46 families.
DRA Investment: $536,663
Total Investment: $536,663
Coahoma Storm Water Drainage Rehabilitation | Coahoma: The Town of Coahoma will use DRA funds to rehabilitate the storm water drainage system to help eliminate standing water and the associated detrimental public health effects. This investment is projected to affect 95 families.
DRA Investment: $422,516
Total Investment: $422,516
NTWA Water Well Project | Charleston: The North Tallahatchie Water Association will use DRA funds to install a new water well and eliminate sand and iron that are currently in the water. This investment is projected to affect 1,100 families.
DRA Investment: $587,172
Total Investment: $1,164,667
TCUD Sewer Rehabilitation Project | Tunica County: The Tunica County Utility District will use DRA funds to rehabilitate its sewer system.
DRA Investment: $291,143
Total Investment: $291,143
Rolling Fork Northgate Draining Improvements | Rolling Fork: The City of Rolling Fork will use DRA funds to continue ongoing drainage improvements for the Northgate and Eastgate residential areas in northern Rolling Fork.
DRA Investment: $345,376
Total Investment: $345,376
Coahoma County Industrial Site Location Project | Clarksdale: Coahoma County will use DRA funds to construct site improvements to the levee and roadway for an economic development project. This investment is projected to create 56 jobs.
DRA Investment: $2,088,235
Total Investment: $3,208,235
Additional Capital Investment: $12,000,000
Metcalfe Water System Improvements | Metcalfe: The Town of Metcalfe will use DRA funds to make water system improvements necessary to remain in compliance with the Mississippi State Department of Health requirements. This investment is projected to affect 355 families.
DRA Investment: $407,920
Total Investment: $407,920
Lamont Water System Improvements | Greenville: The Lamont Water Corporation will use DRA funds to make water system improvements that will address significant deficiencies noted by the Mississippi State Department of Health. This investment is projected to affect 36 families.
DRA Investment: $672,675
Total Investment: $672,675
Coldwater Flooding Mitigation Project | Coldwater: The Town of Coldwater will use DRA funds to mitigate flooding by repairing and replacing portions of the existing drainage infrastructure.
DRA Investment: $400,342
Total Investment: $400,342
Belzoni Drainage System Repairs and Improvements | Belzoni: The City of Belzoni will use DRA funds to replace two storm water pumping stations for flood and drainage system improvements.
A recent filing by an attorney for Sheldon Timothy Herrington, Jr., claims a Lafayette County Grand Jury “failed to indict” the University of Mississippi graduate for the murder of Jimmie “Jay” Lee, but that’s not what happened.
The case has not gone to the grand jury yet, the Lafayette County Courthouse confirmed to Mississippi Today. This is likely because evidence is still being processed, a common occurrence in Mississippi courts that is not, on its own, a sign of the strength or weakness of the case against Herrington.
Herrington is being held without bond at the county jail after a judge ruled at his preliminary hearing on Aug. 9 that the 22-year-old was a flight risk and officers had probable cause to arrest the him for Lee’s murder.
Rep. Kevin Horan speaks during a special session of the Legislature at the Capitol in Jackson Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. Credit: Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/ Report for America
In an Oct. 3 filing, Herrington’s attorney, state Rep. Kevin Horan, argued that the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office is violating his constitutional rights by keeping him in jail, citing in part the fact that a grand jury held in August did not return an indictment in the case.
“The Lafayette County Grand Jury recently convened, subsequent to the date of the bond and preliminary hearings, and failed to indict Mr. Herrington for murder, or any crime, in connection with Jay Lee’s disappearance,” stated Horan’s writ of habeas corpus, which was first reported by the Oxford Eagle.
This is indicative, Horan argued, of “the State’s apparent failure to pursue prosecution to procure said indictment.”
Legal experts told Mississippi Today that a grand jury simply not hearing a case is not the same scenario as a failure to indict.
“There’s a difference in just not presenting it, and presenting it and the grand jury says, ‘there’s no f—ing way,’” said David Hill, a criminal defense attorney in Oxford. “If that’s the case, that should be his allegation.”
In an interview Thursday, Horan wouldn’t acknowledge that the grand jury hasn’t heard Herrington’s case yet, saying “all I know is they failed to indict.”
“Whoever told you, a news reporter, that the case was not presented should be sanctioned by the court,” he said.
News of the filing on Wednesday came as the body of Lee, a well-known Black student in Oxford’s tight-knit LGBTQ community, is still missing. The Oxford Police Department has not released any new information about the case or the possible location of Lee’s body since the preliminary hearing in August.
It’s also unclear to what extent OPD is working with law enforcement in Grenada County. The sheriff, Rolando Fair, who wrote a letter to Judge Gray Tollison asking that Herrington be given a bond, told Mississippi Today he could not comment because “the investigation is not my investigation.”
Fair added that no one from Oxford has reached out to him personally even though a search warrant was executed on Herrington’s parent’s house in Grenada in late July.
In Mississippi, a grand jury is the final step in a criminal investigation. Twenty members representing the community decide whether there is probable cause to indict a defendant,meaning the case could go to trial,or if the charges should be dismissed, which is called a “no true bill.” This is different from a preliminary hearing, which Herrington already had, when a judge looks at probable cause to determine if a defendant should be held until a grand jury hearing.
Prosecutors can trigger a grand jury hearing at any time once someone is arrested in Mississippi – there is no deadline in the state code of criminal procedure. This has resulted in people, particularly if they can’t afford their own attorney, sitting in jail for months or even years before they are formally charged with a crime.
Hill said it would have been unusually fast if the Lafayette County District Attorney’s Office had taken Herrington’s case to the grand jury starting on Aug. 23, considering he was arrested barely a month before. In general, prosecutors across Mississippi are expected to wait until all the evidence has been processed before they bring a case to a grand jury.
“I’m not surprised that a case that has one month of history didn’t get presented, because law enforcement doesn’t have all their evidence together,” Hill said.
Grand juries are secret; the public typically doesn’t know when, exactly, they’re hearing a case. But if Herrington had not been indicted in August, the public would already know about it. For one, a finding called a “no true bill” would have been filed on the case docket, indicating the grand jury did not return an indictment.
Horan said that if the grand jury had returned a no bill, the sheriff’s department “should have” been notified, meaning Herrington would have been released. In that case, “there wouldn’t be a need for that,” said Horan, referring to the habeas writ.
“It’s not a critical issue in the case, in the habeas anyway,” he added.
Horan’s seven-page filing also seeks to relitigate evidentiary questions he tried to raise at Herrington’s preliminary hearing.
In August, the prosecution’s key witness, OPD Detective Ryan Baker, testified to the available evidence in the case, including video surveillance, Snapchat messages and a Google search that Herrington made as Lee was heading to his apartment the morning of July 8: “how long does it take to strangle someone gabby petito.”
But Horan was particularly interested in one piece of evidence that Baker presented. K-9s from the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office identified the smell of a dead body three times in Herrington’s apartment and in his car and moving truck.
Horan argued that without corresponding DNA evidence of bodily fluids, the K-9s were not admissible in court in Mississippi – and therefore, Herrington should be given a bond because OPD had no “physical evidence” of Lee’s killing.
Horan revived this argument in the recent filing, writing “at this time the case against Mr. Herrington is purely circumstantial.”
A date has not yet been set for a hearing to discuss Horan’s petition to release Herrington;the earliest a grand jury can hear Herrington’s case is next year.
A medida que salen a la luz más documentos y mensajes de texto sobre el proyecto de voleibol de Brett Favre, Mississippi Today ha compilado una cronología que brinda una mejor visión de cómo los funcionarios canalizaron $5 millones en fondos de asistencia social para construir un nuevo estadio en la Universidad del Sur de Mississippi.
La línea de tiempo muestra que Favre habló sobre el estadio de voleibol durante meses antes de comunicarse con el gobernador es eso memento Phil Bryant por ayudar a recaudar donaciones. Cuando los fondos privados no llegaron inmediatamente, los funcionarios de la universidad discutieron traer a la organización sin fines de lucro de Nancy New como socio de arrendamiento en el proyecto. La organización sin fines de lucro ya había firmado un contrato de arrendamiento similar para proporcionar mejoras a otro edificio en el campus luego de un viaje de caza al que asistieron los hijos de Nancy New con funcionarios de la USM. Hubo una gran actividad a fines de julio y principios de agosto, incluidas conversaciones entre funcionarios de asistencia social, Favre y Bryant.
Los funcionarios de USM expresaron su aprehensión por el uso de fondos de la beca para el proyecto, pero finalmente, después de que se modificó el acuerdo para incluir un millón de dólares adicional para mejoras en el estadio de baloncesto y el fondo de mantenimiento de la universidad, según los textos de Favre, los abogados de la universidad dieron luz verde al proyecto. Luego fue aprobado por la Fiscalía General de la Nación y el IHL.
A continuación se muestra una cronología de los eventos coleccionados por Mississippi Today en función de los documentos y las comunicaciones recopilados en el proceso judicial o recuperados a través de solicitudes de registros:
20 de diciembre de 2016: Las conversaciones comenzaron en algún momento antes entre la Universidad del Sur de Mississippi y Brett Favre sobre la construcción de un estadio de voleibol.
“Tuve la impresión de que Brett quería mantener su participación en secreto”, escribió el Director Asociado Senior de Atletismo, Daniel Feig, en un correo electrónico a su colega el 20 de diciembre de 2016.
11 de abril de 2017: Brett Favre se reunió con USM Athletics sobre el estadio de voleibol
“Para su información, Chris y yo nos reuniremos con Brett y Deanna el martes a las 11 am para discutir el diseño de el estadio”, escribió el director atlético Jon Gilbert en un correo electrónico el 7 de abril de 2017, el mismo día que Favre comenzó a solicitar donaciones a corporaciones a cambio por su nombre en el estadio. “Se pueden discutir más oportunidades de nombres si el grupo tiene una dirección que deberíamos explorar”.
20 de abril de 2017: Brett Favre envió un texto al gobernador Phil Bryant para pedir ayuda con el proyecto de voleibol
“Deanna y yo estamos construyendo un estadio voleibol en el campus y necesito su influencia de alguna manera para obtener donaciones o patrocinios. Obviamente, Southern no tiene dinero, así que me apresuro a conseguirlo. Queremos empezar este verano y terminar en un año o menos”, le envió un mensaje de texto Favre al gobernador.
Bryant dijo en su presentación que esta era la primera vez que discutía el proyecto de voleibol con Favre.
“…Tendremos esa cosa construida antes de que te des cuenta. Una cosa que sé hacer es recaudar dinero”, respondió Bryant.
20 de abril de 2017 – 21 de julio de 2017: se desconoce la comunicación de Bryant con Favre y los funcionarios de bienestar social
Bryant no compartió ninguno de sus textos con Favre o John Davis, el director de MDHS en ese momento. Davis fue designado por Bryant para ejecutar los programas de asistencia social en los meses posteriores a que Favre le pidió ayuda al gobernador con el proyecto de voleibol. Los mensajes producidos y redactados sugieren que podría haber más comunicación entre los dos durante este período de tiempo.
16 de mayo de 2017: USM Athletics compiló una lista actualizada de donantes
En ese momento, la USM Athletic Foundation había recaudado $425 500, incluidos $150 000 de Favre.
30 de mayo de 2017: los hijos de Nancy New fueron de cacería con el personal de atletismo de la USM
El 23 de mayo de 2017, el director atlético asociado de la USM, Brian Morrison, invitó a los hijos de Nancy New, Zach y Jess New, a venir a un evento privado de caza y a una cena en Providence Hill Farm con el presidente de la USM, Rodney Bennett, y el director de atletismo, Jon Gilbert, el 30 de mayo. Ambos acordaron por correo electrónico para asistir. En este punto, MDHS y el Centro de Educación Comunitaria de Mississippi sin fines de lucro de News ya estaban involucrados en actividades de subvenciones en USM.
31 de mayo de 2017: MDHS escribió una carta aprobando un contrato de arrendamiento no relacionado con el voleibol entre USM y MCEC
MDHS escribe una carta a Feig que dice que MDHS sabe que MCEC está alquilando un espacio con la universidad “porque creemos que es importante ayudar a MCEC a lograr el propósito de su beca, que es brindar servicios diseñados para estimular el empleo, apoyar la estabilidad financiera familiar, promover la literatura y aumentar las tasas de graduación mientras continúa apoyando el desarrollo positivo de los jóvenes, impactando las tasas de embarazo adolescente, promoviendo la participación positiva de los padres y apoyando las oficinas del condado de MDHS a través de la educación para padres y el desarrollo de habilidades para la vida y la crianza de los hijos”.
Si bien el nombre de John Davis aparece al final de la carta, en realidad está firmada por el abogado de MDHS, Garrig Shields. Esta es la primera referencia a un contrato de arrendamiento en correos electrónicos entre MCEC y USM Athletic Foundation.
1 de junio de 2017: AG revisó el contrato de arrendamiento de USM con una fundación atlética para construir un estadio de voleibol
La abogada general adjunta especial, Stephanie Ganucheau, envió por correo electrónico a los funcionarios de Instituciones de Educación Superior una copia de un contrato de arrendamiento entre la USM y la Fundación Atlética de la USM “para que la Fundación pueda construir un estadio de voleibol, que luego se transferiría a la universidad”.
Más tarde ese día, David Buford de IHL envió un correo electrónico a un profesional de seguros para pedirle consejo sobre los términos del seguro. Explicó el concepto del proyecto: “USM arrienda el terreno (que es un espacio baldío y un estacionamiento al lado de un edificio asegurado por USM) y la Fundación obtiene financiamiento, construye un nuevo edificio y le devuelve el nuevo edificio a USM.”
Según los correos electrónicos, parece que IHL no sabía de dónde podrían provenir los fondos de la Fundación Atlética.
7 de junio de 2017: AG recomendó el contrato de arrendamiento de USM con una fundación atlética para la aprobación de la junta
En este punto, el contrato de arrendamiento no incluye el Centro de Educación Comunitaria de Mississippi, los fondos de subvención en bloque de MDHS ni ninguna mención de servir a los necesitados.
15 de junio de 2017: la Junta de DIH aprobó los arrendamientos de USM con USM Athletic Foundation
Durante su reunión de la junta, la junta de los Institutos de Educación Superior aprobó dos contratos de arrendamiento de $1 con la Fundación Atlética, uno para el proyecto de voleibol y otro con el fin de renovar el M-Club.
15 de junio de 2017: Nancy New firmó un subarriendo de $192,840 con USM Athletic Foundation
Nancy New y Grant Dyess, el presidente de la Fundación Atlética de la Universidad del Sur de Mississippi en ese momento, firmaron un subarrendamiento de un edificio dentro del Centro Atlético Jim y Thomas Duff conocido como M-Club Room, un espacio utilizado para las reuniones y actividades de USM Athletics. El acuerdo dijo que el dinero se utilizará para renovaciones y mejoras en el espacio. El subarrendamiento decía claramente que MCEC usará el espacio “para fines comerciales, educativos y para reuniones y conferencias”.
El M-Club cobraba cuotas de membresía de $50 al año, según el sitio web de la universidad.
1 de julio de 2017: USM firmó dos contratos de arrendamiento con la Fundación Athletic
USM firmó dos contratos de arrendamiento con USM Athletic Foundation, uno para M-Club y otro para el proyecto de voleibol. En este punto, MCEC ya estaba comprometido en un subarrendamiento para M-Club, pero no para el proyecto de voleibol.
16 de julio de 2017: USM Athletics contactó a Nancy New sobre el estadio de voleibol
Gilbert le envió un correo electrónico a Nancy New, indicando que se habían conocido la semana pasada. Adjuntó una copia del diseño actual del estadio de voleibol.
“No hemos anunciado formalmente este proyecto, pero esperamos hacerlo en la próxima semana a diez días. Hemos contratado a Weir Boerner Allin de Jackson como arquitecto. El estadio tendrá más/menos 25,000 pies cuadrados con un costo aproximado de $4 millones. Brett y Deanna acordaron ayudar con la recaudación de fondos para el estadio. Actualmente tenemos $1.2 millones en la mano de una variedad de personas que se han comprometido con el proyecto… Según nuestra discusión de la semana pasada, estamos interesados ??en presentar este proyecto como una vez que beneficiará a las estudiantes atletas. Nos interesaría presentarle a cualquier persona que tenga interés en el atletismo Southern y femenino. Descubriré cuál es el horario de Brett el martes y coordinaré un horario en el que pueda pasar que funcione para todos”.
“Me complace ayudar y espero que este proyecto se haga realidad”, respondió Nancy New. “Creo que se puede hacer. Yo también estuve feliz de visitar a Brian ya usted. Tan pronto como volvamos a armar todo después de todas las renovaciones, quiero que regrese para almorzar y hacer un recorrido por New Summit y nuestro Centro de recursos familiares. El Centro ofrece un buen ejemplo de lo que organizaremos en el campus de Southern, con suerte en un futuro cercano”.
18 de julio de 2017: Brett Favre se reunió con Nancy New sobre la financiación del proyecto de voleibol.
Favre se reunió con Nancy New, según la presentación del 30 de septiembre del Centro de Educación Comunitaria de Mississippi.
19 de julio de 2017: John Davis se reunió con Phil Bryant sobre los proyectos del DHS
Davis le envió un mensaje de texto a Nancy New: “Estuve con el gobernador durante los últimos dos días. Le encanta lo que estamos haciendo”.
21 de julio de 2017: Brett Favre y Phil Bryant textaron sobre un proyecto de voleibol
Las capturas de pantalla de los textos ingresados ??en la corte muestran que Favre le envió un texto a Bryant la noche del 21 de julio de 2017, pero el mensaje inicial de Favre y la respuesta más larga de Bryant están redactados.
Favre respondió al mensaje redactado de Bryant: “No estoy seguro de cómo podemos ayudar a construir esta instalación para Vball. Pero usted es el gobernador y está de nuestro lado y eso es algo bueno. En realidad, una gran cosa.
“Podemos hacer eso”, respondió Bryant. “Solo consígueme algunos números y encontraré una manera. Quizá USM o el Entrenador puedan llamarme y nos pongamos manos a la obra”.
22 de julio de 2017: Favre envió una propuesta de construcción a Bryant
Favre le envió un mensaje de texto a Bryant con un documento que contenía la propuesta de construcción y las representaciones del edificio. “Últimos planes. Estoy tratando de conseguir patrocinadores, donaciones, etc. ¡si podemos encontrar un contratista que diga hola calificador que le dé dinero, lo construiré gratis! Tal vez conozcas a alguien”, envió un mensaje de texto Favre.
“Lo superé”, envió un mensaje de texto de Bryant, seguido de un emoji de bíceps.
“¡¡Gracias eso ayudaría mucho!!” dijo Favre.
El siguiente texto de Bryant, así como su fecha y hora, están redactados.
22 de julio de 2017 – 8 de mayo de 2018: se desconoce la comunicación de Bryant con Favre y los funcionarios de asistencia social
Bryant no produjo ninguno de sus mensajes con Favre o Davis durante un período de diez meses, incluido el período de tiempo en el que Davis se comprometió a financiar el proyecto y Nancy New pagó $5 millones al proyecto de voleibol y $500 000 a Favre.
24 de julio de 2017: Favre, funcionarios de asistencia social y personal deportivo de la USM se reunieron
Dos días después de enviarle un texto a Bryant con la propuesta de construcción, Favre se reunió con el director de asistencia social designado por Bryant, John Davis, Nancy New, los funcionarios de atletismo de USM y otros en la universidad. Durante la reunión, Davis comprometió verbalmente $4 millones para el proyecto.
“Nancy gracias otra vez!!! John mencionó 4 millones y no estoy seguro si lo escuché bien. Una contribución muy grande y no puedo agradecerles lo suficiente”, le envió un mensaje de texto a Nancy New después de la reunión.
25 de julio de 2017: Zach New, abogado de MDHS y funcionarios de atletismo de USM hablaron sobre el proyecto de voleibol
“¿Estás disponible para una conferencia telefónica con Garrig y yo mañana por la mañana?” Zach New le envió un correo electrónico a Feig la tarde del 24 de julio, después de la reunión en la USM. “Estoy abierto a cualquier hora de la mañana que se ajuste a su horario. Nos gustaría discutir opciones para el nuevo proyecto. También he copiado a Garrig para que también tengas su información de contacto”.
26 de julio de 2017: Brett Favre le dijo a Nancy New que a USM le inquieta aceptar una beca
“Nancy, hablé con Jon Gilbert esta noche y entre tú y yo es muy cauteloso al aceptar una beca tan grande. Me inquietó mucho”, le envió un mensaje de texto a Nancy New. “Él mencionó tratar de encontrar una manera para que John (Davis) asigne dinero a una entidad que luego podría darnos lo que pagaría por el ladrillo y el cemento. Le pasé la misma información a John y, por supuesto, me la devolvió. Encontraremos una manera de hacer que funcione”.
En algún momento después de que USM expresara sus dudas, las discusiones cambiaron para que el contrato de arrendamiento incluyera no solo dinero para el estadio de voleibol, sino también $500,000 para renovaciones en Reed Green Coliseum, el estadio de baloncesto, y $500,000 para mantenimiento, lo que podría causar un déficit de $1 millón para el proyecto de voleibol, que ya estaba bajo presupuesto.
29 de julio de 2017: Favre reiteró los temores de USM de recibir dinero de la beca y sugirió incluir al gobernador
“Nancy, necesito involucrar al gobernador o al Dr.B si es necesario. Jon hizo el comentario sobre el uso del dinero que asignó al departamento de atletismo hasta el momento y, aunque todos lo aprobaron, podría generar preocupaciones negativas, etc., con este proyecto y otros”, le envió un mensaje de texto a Nancy New. “Mi temor es que no exceptúe todo lo que usted y John puedan asignar, incluso si está firmado legalmente. Es obvio que tú y John son tremendos activos para USM y para que podamos salir adelante en el juego, tenemos que utilizarlos en todos los sentidos”.
29 de julio de 2017: Favre le sugirió a Nancy New que le pagara por los anuncios de radio “y cualquier compensación que pudiera ir a USM”.
“OK. Podría grabar algunos anuncios de radio aquí inicialmente, estoy seguro, aquí”, le envió un mensaje de texto a Nancy New. “Ver cómo se recibe y qué compensación podría ir a USM”.
“4 millones de dólares”, respondió Nancy New, seguida de tres emojis de una cara con una máscara. “Es una broma. La primera fase podría costar $500,000 y después de septiembre podemos renovar. Este es un buen enfoque. ¿Qué opinas?”
“¡¡Estaba pensando que esta es la manera de hacerlo!!” Favre respondió.
2 de agosto de 2017: Favre le envió un texto a Nancy New diciendo que “la estadio va a ser más de lo que pensábamos”.
“John dijo que ustedes tienen una gran reunión el lunes con la universidad. Espero que logremos un jonrón. Parece que la estadio va a ser más de lo que pensábamos, lo cual siempre es el caso”, le envió un texto a Nancy New.
Favre también le envió un mensaje de texto a New, “Parece que están muertos de miedo”, y aunque este texto se ingresa sin contexto, el abogado de New dijo que se refería a los temores de los funcionarios de la universidad sobre tomar el dinero de la beca.
3 de agosto de 2017: Favre le preguntó a Nancy New si los medios pueden averiguar de dónde vino el dinero y cuánto
“Si tuviera que pagarme, ¿de todos modos los medios pueden averiguar de dónde vino y cuánto?” Favre le envió un mensaje de texto a Nancy New.
“No, nunca hemos hecho pública esa información. Sin embargo, entiendo que estés inquieto por eso. Veamos qué sucede el lunes con la conversación con algunas de las personas de Southern. Tal vez haga clic con ellos. Ojalá.”
4 de agosto de 2017: Nancy New informó a Favre del apoyo de Bryant
“¡Vaya, acabo de hablar por teléfono con Phil Bryant! ¡Él está a bordo con nosotros! ¡Lo haremos! Nancy New le envió un texto a Favre.
Nancy New alegó en un expediente judicial que en ese momento, Phil Bryant le indicó que hiciera este trato con Favre.
10 de agosto de 2017: Nancy New envió un mensaje de texto a Favre para compartir el mensaje del abogado de USM
Nancy New le envió a Favre un mensaje copiado del asesor general de USM, Gordon Cannon, que dice “estamos avanzando para terminar esto”.
“¡¡Wow wow wow!! Buenas noticias”, respondió Favre.
14 de agosto de 2017: Nancy New se reunió con el Departamento de Investigación de la USM sobre la financiación del voleibol
19 de agosto de 2017: Nancy New le envió un texto a Favre con una actualización sobre la aprobación
“Mañana. Recibí una llamada ayer de Gordon Cannon diciendo que sus reuniones fueron bien para aceptar el dinero, etc. El próximo miércoles. hay otra reunión con el abogado de MDHS y USM para asegurarse de que todo esté bien redactado antes de pasar a IHL. Todavía manteniendo mis dedos cruzados. Todavía creo que sucederá”, envió un mensaje de texto de Nancy New.
“Gracias Nancy. Jon Gilbert dijo lo mismo ayer”, respondió Favre.
23 de agosto de 2017: Nancy New le envió un texto a Favre diciéndole que el abogado de USM dijo que “todo está listo”.
“Brett, acabo de recibir esta información del Dr. Cannon”, envió un mensaje de texto de Nancy New, seguido del mensaje copiado: “Nancy, acabo de terminar la reunión con Garrig y Jacob, todo está listo. Daniel Feig se pondrá en contacto contigo o con Zack para solicitar un borrador de contrato de arrendamiento. Nuestra fecha objetivo para tener todo completo para la aprobación de la junta es el 22 de septiembre. Sé que esto es un plazo breve, pero obtendríamos la aprobación el 1 de octubre, lo que no retrasaría la licitación del proyecto según lo programado actualmente”.
8 de septiembre de 2017: Zach New envió a USM atletismo y al consejo general los planes de la organización sin fines de lucro para el contrato de arrendamiento
Zach New envía un correo electrónico a Feig y al abogado de USM, Truett Roberts, en el que describe varios eventos que MCEC afirmó que organizaría en la universidad como resultado de su contrato de arrendamiento de $5 millones. Los eventos incluyen Yellow Ribbon Events, destinados a ayudar a los miembros de la Guardia Nacional y las Reservas del Ejército, MEMA Reservist Trainings, M-Club events, Healthy Teens Rallies, campamentos de liderazgo juvenil de Heart of David, el ministerio cristiano iniciado por el ex luchador de la WWE Ted DiBiase. y otros programas de Families First.
Cuando Mississippi Today solicitó registros de la universidad en 2020 que describieran cualquier programación que la organización sin fines de lucro realizara en el campus, proporcionaron registros para exactamente un evento: el Rally de Adolescentes Saludables de 2018 organizado en Reed Green Coliseum.
22 de septiembre de 2017: el presidente de la USM, Rodney Bennett, envió una carta a IHL solicitando la aprobación de la junta para el contrato de arrendamiento enmendado de la universidad con la USM Athletic Foundation
9 de octubre de 2017: AG aprobó el contrato de arrendamiento USM modificado con la fundación atlética
19 de octubre de 2017: la junta de IHL aprobó el contrato de arrendamiento modificado entre USM y USM Athletic Foundation
En la agenda, el punto dice: “La Junta de DIH aprobó el Contrato de Arrendamiento original entre la USM y la Fundación en la reunión de la Junta de junio de 2017. Desde ese momento, este proyecto se ha ampliado en tamaño y alcance y el plazo también se ha extendido de acuerdo con el Contrato de Arrendamiento Modificado y Actualizado”.
El acta de la reunión aprobada establece: “Este contrato de arrendamiento y subarrendamiento posterior están siendo financiados a través del arrendamiento de las instalaciones del departamento de atletismo por el Centro de Educación Comunitaria de Mississippi (MCEC), una organización SO1 (3) 3 diseñada para brindar servicios educativos a las escuelas, comunidades y familias. y programas de capacitación en el sur de Mississippi. MCEC utilizará las instalaciones en cuestión para apoyar sus esfuerzos de programación para el sur de Mississippi. La financiación de MCEC para el proyecto es a través de una subvención en bloque del Departamento de Servicios Humanos de Mississippi. El financiamiento de MCEC será un alquiler prepago a la Fundación por un monto de cinco millones de dólares ($5,000,000) para el arrendamiento de ciertas instalaciones deportivas de USM, que incluyen, entre otros, el Centro de Bienestar que se construirá, el Coliseo Reed Green y el espacio deportivo adicional según lo acordado. por la USM y la Fundación”.
19 de octubre de 2017: Nancy New envió un texto a Favre sobre la aprobación; Favre dijo que USM está usando parte del dinero para otros proyectos
“Está aprobado. ¡Todo aprobado por el DIH!” Nancy New escribió.
“Finalmente y gracias Nancy. Espero que sea suficiente ahora. Jon dijo que 500k tienen que ir a renovaciones para Reed Green y otros 500 al fondo de mantenimiento”, respondió Favre.
“Seguiremos recaudando fondos, etc. obtendremos el resto”, envió un mensaje de texto Nancy New.
2 de noviembre de 2017: Nancy New le dijo a Favre que vio al gobernador
“Vi al gobernador anoche. Todavía planearemos la recaudación de fondos cuando podamos obtener otra cita de él que también funcione con su tiempo. Seguramente, la gente del Sur no dirá que lo pospongamos nuevamente. En cualquier caso, todo saldrá bien”, le envió un texto Nancy New a Favre.
6 de noviembre de 2017: Nancy New realizó el primer pago de $2.5 millones a la USM Athletic Foundation
14 de noviembre de 2017: La Fundación Atlética recibió una actualización del atletismo de la USM sobre el proyecto de voleibol
“El Estadio de Bienestar y Voleibol ha recibido importantes regalos y también regalos en especie. Una asociación con MCEC hará que la instalación sea útil para hacer grupos una vez que esté completa”, dice el acta de la reunión.
5 de diciembre de 2017: Nancy New realizó el segundo pago de $2.5 millones a la USM Athletic Foundation
27 de diciembre de 2017: Favre agradeció a Nancy New por el pago de $600,000
“Nancy Santa vino hoy y dejó algo de dinero”, le envió un texto a Nancy New, “gracias, Dios mío, gracias. Necesitamos configurar la promoción para usted pronto. Eres demasiado amable.”
28 de marzo de 2018: Favre le envió un texto a Nancy New, diciéndole que las ofertas de construcción fueron más grandes de lo esperado
“Nancy, quería ponerte al día sobre el estadio. Todas las ofertas están adentro y, sorprendentemente, la más baja es 6.9. Los arquitectos confiaban en que sería más bajo de lo que hemos ahorrado. Realmente frustrante. Jon dijo que quería volver a la oferta más baja y hablar con ellos para reducirla a 5.9. Te mantendré informado”, le envió un texto a Nancy New.
“… Todavía podemos tener la recaudación de fondos en la mansión del Gobernador también. Podemos usar la lista de negocios de Phil que ofreció anteriormente. Estaré pensando y, con suerte, habrá algo que ofrecer en el nuevo presupuesto de Families First”.
19 de abril de 2018: USM Athletics compartió una lista actualizada de los donantes del estadio de voleibol
El personal de USM Athletics compartió por correo electrónico una lista actualizada de 23 donantes de voleibol por un total de $6,045,325. Hay una entrada para una donación de $ 4.4 millones etiquetada como “CMEC” del donante, presumiblemente un error tipográfico para MCEC. La línea de pedido de MCEC no contiene más información de identificación, como la fecha de la donación, la dirección del donante o la información de contacto, ya que incluye a todos los demás donantes.
El correo electrónico también decía que el regalo original de Favre de $500,000 se redujo a $250,000 después de que dio instrucciones a la universidad para que transfiriera $250,000 al proyecto de voleibol de playa.
25 de abril de 2018: el arquitecto envió la hoja de costos actualizada de las instalaciones de voleibol a USM
En la hoja de cálculo, el costo total de construcción proyectado es de $6.3 millones, la cantidad necesaria para comenzar la construcción es de $500,000 y la cantidad necesaria para terminar la construcción es de $1.4 millones.
Gilbert envió el documento a Favre.
30 de abril de 2018: USM Athletics envía a Favre un acuerdo de donación por un total de $1.4 millones
“Muchas gracias por su generoso apoyo a este proyecto y su compromiso y lealtad con Southern Miss”, escribió Gilbert a Favre.
Mississippi Today no encontró una copia firmada del acuerdo.
9 de mayo de 2018: Favre se acerca a Bryant para que lo ayude a construir casilleros en las instalaciones de voleibol
“Gobernador este Brett. Todavía estoy tratando de ahorrar dinero en el estadio de Vball”, le envió un texto Favre a Bryant. “Todavía tenemos casilleros para visitantes y para el Hogar por construir y Warren Hood está donando la madera. Si alguien los construyera allí tiempo libre. Poncho mencionó la industria penitenciaria como constructora. Los arquitectos pueden proporcionar todas las especificaciones”.
“Déjame hacerlo. Caza de pavos en Nebraska. Regresaré esta tarde”, respondió Bryant, adjuntando una foto de su muerte.
18 de mayo de 2018: Favre y Bryant enviaron mensajes de texto sobre casilleros
“Hola Gobernador [redactado]…. ¿Tuviste suerte con los casilleros? Favre envió un texto, seguido de un largo bloque de texto redactado.
“Creo que tengo algunos tipos en los casilleros. Sabrá más hoy. Están en Summeral a”, escribió Bryant.
“Y haz este tipo de trabajo”, envió un mensaje de texto de Bryant, seguido de un largo bloque de texto redactado.
La respuesta de Favre también está redactada.
Bryant respondió con un pulgar hacia arriba y “¿dónde puedo enviar una donación para el Complejo de Voleibol?”
Favre le envió a Bryant el P.O. Caja de la Fundación USM. Bryant luego le dijo a Favre que había encontrado un ebanista para construir los casilleros. “También me comunicaré con Poncho y veré si podemos organizar una recaudación de fondos en Hattiesburg”, agregó.
18 de mayo de 2018 – 15 de julio de 2019: se desconoce la comunicación de Bryant con Favre
Durante este período de 11 meses, Bryant no produjo ninguno de sus mensajes de texto con Favre, con la excepción de un mensaje de texto del 12 de enero de 2019 que Bryant le envió a Favre pidiéndole que retuiteara una publicación sobre la estrella de HGTV que ayudó a conectar a Bryant con el ebanista.
Junio ??de 2018: Nancy New le pagó a Favre $ 500,000 adicionales en virtud del contrato de publicidad
21 de junio de 2019: Bryant recibió y transmitió un aviso sobre sospecha de fraude al auditor
En la comunicación posterior a este punto, que incluye a Bryant asesorando a Favre sobre cómo reformular la propuesta para que el departamento de bienestar la acepte y ha sido ampliamente informado, Bryant está al tanto de la investigación del auditor sobre los gastos en el departamento de bienestar.
16 de julio de 2019: Bryant dijo que se enteró por primera vez de que MDHS estaba involucrado en la financiación del proyecto de voleibol.
Favre le envió un texto a Bryant con la preocupación de que Nancy New no podría “financiar su parte” del proyecto de voleibol. Favre le dijo a Bryant que pagó las tres cuartas partes de la construcción. Bryant dijo en su presentación judicial reciente que el 16 de julio fue la primera vez que se enteró de la participación de MDHS en la financiación del estadio. Bryant prometió ayudar y consultó a Favre y Nancy New sobre cómo reescribir la propuesta para obtener la aprobación del MDHS, pero con la investigación del auditor en curso, el departamento de bienestar finalmente los rechazó.
Nota del editor: La madre del editor en jefe de Mississippi Today, Adam Ganucheau, firmó el lenguaje de un contrato de arrendamiento para construir un estadio de voleibol de la Universidad del Sur de Mississippi. Lea mas sobre eso, aqui.
Andrés Fuentes
Andrés Fuentes es periodista de FOX8-TV en Nueva Orleans y traductor de Mississippi Today. Antes de que el nativo de Nueva Orleans regresara, era periodista para WLOX-TV en Biloxi, Mississippi.
NEW ORLEANS – A panel of federal judges appears willing to overturn the court-ordered remedial plan and monitor overseeing Mississippi’s mental health system, their questions during oral arguments on Wednesday suggested.
The judges also asked the parties in the state’s mental health lawsuit to explain whether the Department of Justice can sue states directly for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) — an issue neither side raised in their own briefs to the court. That signaled the judges’ potential interest in issuing a more sweeping ruling that could curtail enforcement of disability rights law around the country.
Scott Stewart, Mississippi’s solicitor general, argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that the state had already met the “objective criteria” of expanding community-based mental health services. He said the Justice Department had overreached not only in the Mississippi case but in similar lawsuits around the country.
Anna Marks Baldwin, representing the Department of Justice, said it was not yet clear that Mississippi had made community services accessible to people with serious mental illness.
The oral arguments marked the latest turn in a case that has dragged on since 2011. That year, the Justice Department told the state it was violating the ADA by unnecessarily hospitalizing people with serious mental illness. In 2016, the Justice Department sued. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves found Mississippi was violating the ADA, approved a remedial order to expand community-based services, and appointed a special monitor to oversee compliance. Mississippi appealed his ruling to the Fifth Circuit last year.
According to evidence the Justice Department presented at trial, Mississippi had for years before the lawsuit provided community-based services “on paper,” but utilization rates were extremely low and the services were unavailable in many counties. In appointing the monitor, Reeves said it was important to verify the state’s claims.
Judge Edith Jones questioned the appointment of a special monitor, who has been compiling twice-yearly reports evaluating Mississippi’s community-based services, after the state said it had already made necessary changes.
“How did the court have authority to issue an ongoing injunction?” she asked Baldwin.
Baldwin responded that the injunction ensured compliance over time.
“But that’s not the way courts work,” Jones said. “You don’t say, ‘Oh yeah, I thought of eight or nine things you need to do, and oh, by the way, you need to pay for the monitor forever,’ with no limit whatsoever on what he says.”
Stewart told the panel that the Department of Justice lacked authority to sue Mississippi at all under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires state and local governments to provide equal services to people with disabilities. Though the statute does not expressly state that the attorney general can bring suit against local governments, the Department has pursued legal action under the statute since it came into effect in 1992. Instead, Stewart said, a suit would need to be brought on behalf of specific individuals who had allegedly experienced discrimination.
Baldwin responded that Congress clearly intended the Justice Department to be able to sue to enforce the provisions of Title II.
The question of the Justice Department’s authority to sue states directly was not raised by either party in their briefs to the court. Instead, the judges sent a request to parties asking them to answer it, signaling their potential interest in a more sweeping ruling.
Judge James C. Ho pointed out that if the panel sided with Stewart, that would create a split with the Eleventh Circuit, which rejected the same argument made by the state of Florida.
“You would create a circuit split, but I do think this is one of those cases where that is warranted,” Stewart responded. “I really do think it is that important.”
Florida appealed to the Supreme Court, which recently declined to hear the case. But a circuit split would increase the likelihood that the nation’s highest court would take up the issue.
A finding that the Justice Department cannot sue states under Title II would have major implications for the enforcement of disability law in the U.S., since federal lawsuits or the threat of federal legal action have driven state and local governments to make changes like installing ramps at courthouses and wheelchair lifts on public buses.
Department of Mental Health Director Wendy Bailey attended the arguments in New Orleans.
The panel – comprised of Jones, Ho, and Judge Leslie Southwick, all Republican appointees – sits on what is regarded as the nation’s most conservative appeals court.
During the Obama administration, the Department of Justice was involved in 50 cases similar to the suit against Mississippi, aiming to force states to ensure people with disabilities were able to live in their communities, rather than be institutionalized. These are known as Olmstead cases, after the Supreme Court decision that found unnecessary institutionalization to be a form of discrimination against people with disabilities.
Baldwin presented some of the evidence the Justice Department brought to trial in 2019. A clinical review of a representative sample of people who had been hospitalized in Mississippi found that of 154 people interviewed, all of them could have avoided or spent less time in a state hospital “if they had been provided reasonable community-based services,” according to the Justice Department’s brief.
Stewart pointed out that most of the people in the sample were not hospitalized at the time of their interview. He argued that the Justice Department’s claim that people with mental illness were “at risk” of unnecessary hospitalization in Mississippi lacked objectivity.
“If someone is in the community now, the regulation is satisfied,” he said of Olmstead’s integration mandate.
“People with serious mental illness are, unfortunately, they’re virtually, by definition, always at risk of institutionalization,” he continued. “That’s the nature of this very, very challenging illness.”
Sitting in the audience, Joy Hogge, executive director of the nonprofit Families As Allies, which advocates for kids with behavioral health challenges, was disturbed by that claim.
“That was really scary to me, that he would think that about his fellow citizens who might have a mental illness,” she said. “We’re all people first. The fact that he’s just making that assumption, it’s like he’s writing off a whole group of people… ‘Oh well, they can end up in the state hospital anyway.’”
Baldwin said that because Mississippians with mental illness have often cycled in and out of state psychiatric hospitals, it’s not speculative to recognize that people who have recently been hospitalized could wind up there again.
“That they remain at-risk of future institutionalization is not a speculative future harm,” she said. “It’s just because the United States isn’t suing in a representative capacity for these exact individuals, it’s saying, the harm has occurred … and it will continue to occur, absent the state [expanding community services].”
Jones also sounded skeptical of the Justice Department’s track record of suing states.
“I know the DOJ has sued Florida and Georgia,” she said to Baldwin. “Probably sued Alabama because it’s right next door to Mississippi. When are you going to sue Texas?”
Baldwin responded that the Justice Department’s authority to sue under Title II was “well-established.”
The Fifth Circuit website says the court aims to issue opinions within 60 days of oral arguments.
Years before Mississippi’s welfare scandal broke, one statistic provided a foreshadowing: The state had approved just 1.5% of applications for cash welfare in 2016.
In the month of April of 2017, when the figure hit the local news, the Mississippi Department of Human Services approved just five out of 824 applications, or 0.06%, for assistance under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program.
Inexplicably, the department’s TANF application approval rate immediately increased to around 25% after that. But the caseload of people on the program continued to decline. In 2018, at the height of the scandal, Mississippi spent $113 million in federal TANF funds – its annual allotment of $86.5 million plus unspent funds from past years – and just 5% went to cash assistance for needy families. That left over $100 million in virtually free money for officials to spend.
But Mississippi isn’t the only state that turns away most applicants for TANF. Texas, for example, is approving less than 5% of people applying for the aid, according to federal data analyzed by Mississippi Today.
Nationally, only about 21% of families living in poverty received cash welfare in 2020. In Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, that figure is 4%.
The current assistance program, born out of welfare reform in the 1990s, replaced the former Aid to Families with Dependent Children entitlement program with a block grant that allows states broad flexibility to spend the money as they wish. The assistance program became a work program. The main metric states would be required to track within the program was the percentage of recipients meeting work requirements.
Since then, the number of poor families that receive what is commonly referred to as the “welfare check” has fallen nationally from a monthly average of about 4.5 million families in 1996 to less than 800,000 in 2022. In Mississippi, the number fell from nearly 48,000 families to about 1,600.
Instead, states spend the bulk of the federal money, about 80% of the $16.6 billion nationally in 2020, on other services such as workforce training activities ($2.6 billion), child care ($1.4 billion), child welfare ($1.2 billion), out-of-wedlock pregnancy prevention ($129 million), and fatherhood programs ($114 million).
But there is no federal repository of data showing which organizations actually receive the money to perform these functions, what specific programs they offer, how they spend the money, who they help and what outcomes they achieve. In the case of Mississippi, the state didn’t compile this information either.
The open-ended program resulted in one of the biggest public fraud scandals in Mississippi history under the administration of former Gov. Phil Bryant, whose office oversaw the welfare department’s strategy and goals. State and nonprofit officials used tens of millions in federal funds that were supposed to assist very poor families — or at least offer opportunities to families to help them avoid falling into poverty — to purchase property, lavish their friends and family, or to prop up programs that had little to do with alleviating poverty. Meanwhile, the state divested from the legacy public assistance programs, which were serving fewer and fewer people.
Mississippi characterized most of these purchases to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as "Work Supports" or "Fatherhood and Two Parent Family Formation," but the federal government did not require the state to report virtually anything more than that.
The state auditor, who is responsible for annually auditing state agencies that spend federal funds, uncovered the purchases, but only after a Mississippi Department of Human Services employee took a small tip of suspected fraud related to the former welfare director and the wrestlers to Bryant, who turned that over to the auditor.
Today, Mississippi’s use of TANF funds is not totally clear. Of the $86.5 million it receives from the federal government each year, just $3.7 million went to direct cash assistance in 2020, the latest federal financial data available. In the two years since the scandal broke, TANF caseloads continued to decline to a low of 166 adults and 2,067 children in January of 2022. They’ve grown slightly since then, but nowhere near the roughly 6,700 adults and 17,500 children on the program 10 years ago in 2012, and even further from the roughly 33,000 adults and 96,000 children on the program in 1996.
The Mississippi Department of Human Services still pushes out a large portion of TANF funds to nonprofits and organizations to provide various services.
After the auditor's investigation began, the department began requiring organizations applying for TANF subgrants to submit formal requests for proposals — a standard accountability procedure that hadn’t been in place since 2012, according to records Mississippi Today requested. It also now pays subgrantees on a reimbursement basis, instead of making upfront payments. In the 2021 grant year, the department awarded grants to 25 organizations for a total of around $36 million in awards.
The grants cover parenting initiatives ($8.1 million), after school programs ($13.7 million), and workforce development ($14.9 million).
"In its continuing training cycles, MDHS is also striving to define more clearly what a model subgrantee looks like," the agency said in a statement Monday. "That model subgrantee is a partner who delivers genuine value to the TANF population by focusing on key activities such as, but not limited to, workforce training and parenthood initiatives."
The department has not yet issued awards for the 2022 grant year, which ended this month.
The state also uses around $30 million in TANF funds each year to supplement the budget of the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services, the state agency tasked with investigating child abuse and overseeing the state’s foster care system, which is typically shortchanged by the state Legislature.
It’s unclear how Mississippi Department of Human Services may be using the rest of the grant funds. In the state’s public accounting system, not all TANF expenses are labeled “TANF,” making it impossible to conduct a full accounting with the publicly facing data.
Asked for an accounting, MDHS only provided the figures for subgrants ($34.5 million) cash assistance ($4.1 million) and child welfare ($30 million), which leaves out nearly $20 million in funds available to the state annually.
"MDHS can draw down the remaining funds in the future for purposes allowed under the four tenets of TANF. MDHS is looking to create long-term solutions that address the past TANF block grant problems in Mississippi," the statement reads.
Historically, the department has offered transportation vouchers of $250 to people in the work program. Mississippi Today has retrieved records in the past reflecting these payments, but the department did not provide a current figure reflecting this service.
The agency says it is working to revise its annual report — which has historically provided meager information — to include a fuller accounting of the program by the end of this year.
In 2020, following the scandal, the state racked up $47 million in unspent federal TANF funds. The current balance is not reflected in public records.
With the corruption reportedly quelled, Mississippi Department of Human Services is now approving about 8% of people applying for cash welfare.
The following graphs, compiled using federally available data, paint a picture of the history of the TANF program in Mississippi.
MDHS explained the fluctuation in TANF application approval in a statement Monday, saying: "Given abnormalities in the TANF Block Grant from 2017-2020, MDHS cannot speak to the validity of the data referenced. Decreasing TANF participation rates are not isolated to Mississippi. Data that tracks TANF approval rates since 1996 shows that TANF participation rates continue to decline nationwide. This is likely a result from PRWORA (Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, the federal law enacting TANF) amending welfare (AFDC) to workfare (TANF). As the state continues to emerge from the pandemic, MDHS is experiencing increased approval for TANF cash assistance, while also working to recruit new workforce partners to open additional opportunities for families to participate in the program."
MDHS addressed the state's TANF caseload, saying, "MDHS experiences the same issues with eligibility today, as when PRWORA was created in 1996. MDHS is committed to reaching as many Mississippians as possible. In the past year, MDHS has taken steps to connect Mississippians to funds that provide tangible help In 2021, MDHS instituted the first TANF cash assistance increase since 1999. In November 2021, MDHS instituted the Child Support pass through. From July 2021-June 2022, MDHS saw an increase in number of qualified participants."
"MDHS continues to make efforts to promote the TANF program to clients and address any barriers to participation," the statement continued. "We believe that over time more families will choose to participate in the program. To some extent, the current emphasis on abuses of the past may likewise be having a chilling effect on current applications.
"As the agency moves forward, MDHS is committed to creating a viable TANF plan that will work for generations, not just 'good enough for now,'" the agency statement reads. "This requires long-term strategic planning, in which the agency is presently engaged MDHS is currently developing a new strategic plan and data definitions to track TANF utilization accurately and closely going forward."
After three months and nearly losing her job, Shavondra Smalley of Natchez is hopeful her 8-year-old daughter can now get the medical care she needs so the mother can get back to work.
Smalley, who struggled to find nurses to care for her bed-bound daughter, is hopeful the situation will improve thanks to a proposed increase in pay from Medicaid for private duty nurses and rewritten doctor’s orders that specifically allow for the use of licensed practical nurses when registered nurses aren’t available.
The nursing shortage, exacerbated by high-paying travel and contract nursing jobs, meant very few nurses were interested in working for the meager hourly reimbursement rate approved by Medicaid for private duty nurses, who work one-on-one with patients in their homes. And confusion over some of the care Smalley’s daughter Layla was receiving prompted a months-long period where the licensed practical nurses (LPNs) who had been taking care of Layla for years were no longer allowed by Medicaid.
This left Smalley, a single mother, with no choice but to take an unpaid leave from her job to take care of Layla, who is bed bound. Her daughter requires 20 hours of nursing care a day because of complex medical conditions including a rare brain malformation called lissencephaly.
On average, each week for the last three months, they had a nurse for about 40 of the 140 hours Layla needed, Smalley estimated.
“The main issue was my child needed care and me being a single mother, I needed to work,” said Smalley.
Layla also suffers from scoliosis, chronic respiratory failure and pyruvate dehydrogenase complex deficiency, among other conditions. She is on a ventilator around the clock.
She is enrolled in Medicaid’s Disabled Child Living at Home program, which allows certain disabled children with long-term disabilities or complex medical needs who live at home with their families to qualify for Medicaid.
The state Division of Medicaid on Sept. 30 submitted an emergency amendment to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for a 15% increase in reimbursement rates for private duty nurses for as long as the federal Public Health Emergency lasts. The proposal is still pending before the federal government, but if approved, the increase will retroactively take effect as of Oct. 1. The amendment says the rate increase would be “to ensure that sufficient health care items and services are available to meet the needs of individuals enrolled in the respective programs… .”
The Public Health Emergency could end as soon as mid-January, so the rate increase would expire at that point.
“We’re still evaluating private duty nursing rates post-Public Health Emergency, but doing the emergency amendment to the state plan is allowing us to be a little faster than what normally submitting things for federal approval is,” said Matt Westerfield, communications officer at the Division of Medicaid. “We’re attempting to provide as quick of a relief as we possibly can.”
Currently private duty nurses are paid ranging from $17/hour for certified nursing assistants to $34/hour for registered nurses, or RNs. RNs who take care of patients on ventilators in the home – like Layla – are paid $51/hour. A 15% increase would mean the rates would rise to nearly $20/hour and $39/hour, and up to $58.65/hour for registered nurses taking care of patients on ventilators.
Layla’s physician in September also rewrote a plan of care that calls for RNs but allows for LPNs when RNs are unavailable. The revised plan of care was originally denied by Medicaid, Smalley said, but she did what she’s been doing the past three months and picked up the phone, prepared to file an appeal.
“I’d been speaking with a lawyer and she told me if I’m not happy with the services, I can file for an appeal,” Smalley said.
When she got the news the plan of care had been denied, she called Medicaid to initiate the process and left a message with the person who handles appeals.
“About 20 to 30 minutes later, I got a call from somebody completely different with Medicaid … who wanted to hear my side of the story. I explained to her what was going on and told her the doctor approved for there to be RNs and LPNs and (there has been clarification) that we’re not doing deep suctioning, and you all are still denying these services.”
There had also been confusion over whether nurses were performing a task called “deep stem suctioning” on Layla. Smalley and Layla’s caregivers also had to get clarity from the Board of Nursing that the tracheostomy care Layla receives is not deep right main stem suctioning that extends beyond the carina, a section at the bottom of the trachea, but is instead routine tracheostomy care. LPNs are not allowed to perform deep suctioning.
The next day, the employee called Smalley back and told her the care had been approved by Medicaid – days before Smalley’s employer told her if she wasn’t able to return to work the following week at the end of her leave, the job would have to be posted.
Smalley returned to work Monday – the same day her 12-week leave ended – and has the next several weeks of care lined up, she said.
In partnership with the American Journalism Project, Mississippi Press Association and Mississippi Humanities Council, Mississippi Today will host acclaimed media critic Margaret Sullivan in conversation with editor-in-chief Adam Ganucheau at the Old Capitol Museum in Jackson, Mississippi, at 6:00 p.m. on November 17, 2022.
Margaret Sullivan is a groundbreaking journalist and award-winning author with a particular focus on the relationship between the press and current threats to American democracy. Sullivan most recently served as media columnist at The Washington Post and now joins the public policy staff at Duke University. Prior to joining The Post, she served as The New York Times public editor, and as chief editor of the Buffalo News. Her memoir, “Newsroom Confidential: Lessons (and Worries) From an Ink-stained Life” (October 2022), is her second book examining the role of journalism in American democracy.
Margaret Sullivan, journalist and author
Sullivan and Ganucheau will discuss her upcoming memoir and the current promise of, and threats to, journalism and democracy. Lemuria Books will be on-site for an exclusive book signing after the presentation. Reception to follow.
Join us for this free event for a night of fascinating and thought-provoking dialogue by registering on Eventbrite today.
Secretary of State Michael Watson announced Wednesday morning a statewide partnership with Mississippi businesses to combat human trafficking.
Through the Mississippi Businesses Against Trafficking initiative, a website will be produced by the Secretary of State’s Office and videos and other training devices will be made available to help businesses recognize and report instances of human trafficking. Watson said the initiative made sense since businesses in the state must register with the Secretary of State’s Office.
Citing statistics from the Department of Health, Watson said a case of human trafficking is reported every other day in Mississippi. And there are almost 25 million instances of human trafficking “at and given time” worldwide.
“Sadly, human trafficking is more common in our state than people realize,” Watson said. “I personally know victims and met with several during my time in the state Legislature. Our goal is to rescue victims and ensure all Mississippians are safe from this heinous crime.”
Legislation has been passed in recent years to deal with human trafficking in the state and to put in measures to try to protect victims of human trafficking. Watson said his initiative, in partnership with businesses, is patterned after programs in other states.
“Through partnership and collaboration with other secretaries of state, we researched how to utilize our current role with the business sector to educate and raise awareness through grassroots efforts,” Watson said in a news release. “All Mississippi business owners are invited to join our fight to combat human trafficking in our state.”
Representatives of the hotel association and massage therapists joined Watson at Wednesday’s news conference as did an officer with the Dutch Group that owns Sprint Mart convenience stores. The massage therapists, convenience stores and hotels/motels are all industries where human trafficking might be more prevalent.
“Sprint Mart is proud to partner with MBAT because we recognize the critical role convenience stores and travel centers can play in the identification and reporting of suspected human trafficking,” said Matt Bogue, vice president of the Dutch Group.
The Mississippi Braves minor league baseball team is partnering with the Secretary of State’s office, and team representatives were involved in Wednesday’s news conference.
Businesses can learn more about the initiative at sos.ms.gov/MBAT.
