OurTupelo

A panel of lawmakers trying to come up with policies to help women and children post-abortion ban heard a familiar refrain from experts Tuesday: Mississippi ranks worst or near-worst in infant and maternal mortality, poverty, hunger, access to health care and child care and many other pertinent statistics.

“… This means 39% of children in Mississippi belong to households with no full-time working parent,” said Heather Hanna, assistant research professor at the Mississippi State University Social Science Research Center. “… 43% of Black children in Mississippi live in poverty … Women in Mississippi have higher rates of educational attainment than men, yet earn less.”

The disheartening stats from various experts continued for much of the day — 46% of Mississippi children are in single-parent homes. One in five children experienced hunger in the last year. Nine out of 1,000 babies in Mississippi die. In the rural Delta, there are 4,000 children for every one pediatrician — statewide that number drops only to 2,000 per — and many counties have no OB/GYN. Many mothers do not receive proper prenatal or postpartum care. Mississippi has alarming rates of premature, low-weight babies being born.

Young women have problems obtaining or affording long-acting, reversible contraception. The state Health Department is estimating Mississippi will see an additional 5,000 unplanned pregnancies a year now that abortions are banned here.

The Senate Study Group on Women, Children and Families opened the first of four planned hearings with an examination of the extent of the problem. The committee was announced by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann after the U.S. Supreme Court in June struck down longstanding Roe v. Wade and a dormant Mississippi abortion ban on the books subsequently took effect. Hosemann said it’s now incumbent on lawmakers to come up with policies to help mothers and children. House Speaker Philip Gunn has also created a commission with a similar charge.

“As a state we are in the wrong place on a lot of lists,” Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, told the nine-member, bipartisan committee on Tuesday.

Dr. Daniel Edney, director of the state Department of Health, showed lawmakers a chart with a national report card that ranks states on numerous health issues.

“We’re not just 50th,” Edney said. “We’re 50th by a mile. I think if we had 60 states we’d be 60th … The Department of Health is absolutely committed to work with you and do whatever it takes to get us off the bottom.”

Tuesday’s hearing was open to the public and the committee is asking for written testimony from the public, which can be emailed to WCFStudyGroup@senate.ms.gov. The comments will be presented to the full committee.

A large part of the hearing’s audience — many of those who were not lobbyists or government staffers — walked out of the hearing, holding hand-made signs, briefly mid-morning Tuesday to hold a press conference organized by leaders of organizations representing Black women. Black women and babies experience a disproportionate share of the state’s highest-in-the-nation rates of stillbirth, low birth weight, and infant mortality. They said the statistics about the state’s problems are old news, and the title of the press conference was “We are the Data.” They complained about a lack of Black women on the Senate committee — only one of the nine members — and among Tuesday’s presenters.

They want to see some action from lawmakers, and many had come to call on lawmakers to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage for mothers — a subject of much debate in Mississippi over the last year.

“What we’re asking for here is just a right to life,” said Angela Grayson, lead organizer for Black Women Vote Coalition and advocacy and outreach coordinator for The Lighthouse. “The data is here. The data shows that this is good legislation and that that is what we need here in Mississippi for Black women to be able to go through the childbirth experience and not have the unnecessary burdens of inadequate health care.”

In Mississippi, about 60% of births are to women on Medicaid. The Senate in this year’s legislative session attempted to extend standard postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months, an effort to help combat high maternal mortality rates and other health problems for mothers and children. The House shot down the proposal, with House Speaker Philip Gunn linking extension of postpartum coverage to general Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Gunn and other Mississippi Republicans have fought Medicaid expansion under “Obamacare” for years, and Mississippi remains one of 12 states that has not expanded coverage.

On Tuesday, Woodward, Edney and other presenters voiced support for extending postpartum Medicaid coverage.

Mississippi Medicaid Director Drew Snyder, when asked his opinion on extending postpartum Medicaid coverage, appeared to sidestep the question with a lengthy word salad. But he noted that extending postpartum coverage is “a different” discussion from general Medicaid expansion under the ACA and said, “I don’t think it poses long-term sustainability questions like ACA expansion does.”

Snyder advised lawmakers considering postpartum extension: “if you do it, do it because you believe it will help mothers and children, don’t do it because others say you’re being cruel and heartless.”

Sen. Nicole Akins Boyd, R-Oxford, is chair of the new Study Group on Women, Children and Families, which will continue hearings on Wednesday, then on Oct. 25 and 26.

Boyd said part of Woodward’s presentation stood out to her.

“She said that a 20% decrease in low-birth-weight babies at UMMC’s (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) would save about $8 million a year,” Boyd said. “Extending postpartum Medicaid coverage would cost about $7 million, so that would pay for it.”

Mississippi Today staff writer Isabelle Taft contributed to this report.

The post ‘We’re 50th by a mile.’ Experts tell lawmakers where Mississippi stands with health of mothers, children appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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The Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition and the Poor People’s Campaign held a march on Monday to protest the ongoing water crisis in Jackson.

Attendees began their march near the Old Mt. Helm Baptist Church and ended on Capitol Street with a “Moral Monday” rally outside of the Governor’s Mansion. The rally was attended by over 100 people calling for clean water in the city, and to keep it a public service instead of having the water system privatized by the state.

Deneka Samuel, a south Jackson resident and mother of six children, wiped away tears as she told the crowd about her family’s experience.

“I never thought that in this lifetime that I would have to go and fetch water, dip water out of a barrel,” she said. “It’s a constant struggle each and every day. I have to keep reminding my younger kids to not drink out of that faucet.” 

More than 150,000 people have been affected by the ongoing issue. On Monday, Jackson Mayor Choke Anwar Antar Lumumba met with the Environmental Protection Agency to discuss the next steps for the water system. 

The post Photos: March for clean water held in Jackson appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Only 12% of school districts in the state received D or F grades according to data released by the Department of Education on Tuesday, though officials warn the pandemic played a role in schools’ improved letter ratings. 

The Mississippi Department of Education annually assesses schools and districts based on state test performance, student growth from year to year, and graduation rates. However, due to pandemic disruptions, schools have not received new grades since 2019. Assessments did not occur in the spring of 2020, and while tests were administered in 2021, no accountability grades were given for student performance. 

Many schools and districts saw significant improvement in their accountability score from 2019, but the education officials cautioned against year-to-year comparisons because of the impact of the pandemic on the data. 

State test performance decreased significantly in 2021, so when test scores returned to more normal levels this year, schools saw significant year-over-year growth. Since growth is a key metric used to assign schools grades, it is possible that many districts and schools saw increased overall grades because of that growth. 

“Because the accountability system relies heavily on growth, it may be challenging for some schools and districts to maintain grades (in the future) that improved considerably in 2021-22 ,” said Interim State Superintendent of Education Kim Benton. 

Benton also pointed out that the graduation requirements were waived for students to pass some state tests in 2020 and 2021 and graduation rates were positively impacted. This trend will continue until all students who took those courses during the pandemic have graduated. 

“We will likely see some variability in A-F grades over the next few years as the pandemic disruptions work their way out of our accountability system,” she said. 

Superintendents expected this outcome, and many told Mississippi Today in March that accountability results should be taken “with a grain of salt” because of the pandemic disruptions. They said they hoped community members would be understanding as grades fluctuated and these disruptions worked their way out of the system.

While pandemic-related growth and waivers affected school grades, a quarter of all districts have increased reading and math proficiency since 2019. 

The ten highest rated districts for the 2021-22 school year are: 

• Long Beach School District
• Clinton School District
• Ocean Springs School District
• Union County School District
• Petal School District
• Madison County School District
• New Albany Public School District
• Enterprise School District
• Pass Christian Public School District
• Rankin County School District

The results will be officially certified when they are presented to the State Board of Education on Thursday. They will then be available for public review on the Mississippi Succeeds Report Card portal. 

The post New school ratings show most Mississippi districts rated C or higher appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Just one of the ten applicants hoping to open a new charter school in Mississippi received approval Monday.

The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board voted to approve Instant Impact Global Prep unanimously at their Sep. 26 board meeting. Four other schools were denied charters at the meeting, two with split votes and two unanimously. 

Instant Impact Global Prep will operate in Natchez beginning in the 2023-24 school year. The school will serve grades K-2 in its first year, with the ability to expand to the eighth grade. Their mission statement emphasizes a rigorous STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) curriculum as well as emotional development and community engagement. Representatives from Instant Impact Educational Services who will be operating the school could not be reached for comment Monday.

Of the five schools that made it to the final stage of the application process, Instant Impact Global Prep was the only one recommended for approval by an independent evaluator. Clarksdale Collegiate Prep, Columbus Leadership Academy, and both the Tallahatchie and North Bolivar locations of Resilience Academy of Teaching did not meet 100% of the performance standards. 

Clarksdale Collegiate Prep would have served grades 7-12 as a feeder for students who currently attend Clarksdale Collegiate Public, a K-6 charter elementary school. Nearly 20 students, parents, and teachers attended the board meeting in person Monday, with four speaking to the board directly in favor of the charter getting approved. 

Amanda Johnson, executive director of Clarksdale Collegiate Public, spoke to the board about her confidence in her team’s ability to open a new school and the challenges the school has overcome. She added that the final report from the independent evaluator does not paint a full picture of their school community and its impact on student learning. 

When voting on Clarksdale Collegiate’s application, board members were split, with those opposed citing the need for additional planning and concerns regarding the current school’s test data. Jennifer Whitter, a board member who voted against granting the charter, invited the school to apply again in the future but said they were not ready at this time. 

After they were denied, Johnson said she is deeply disappointed by the board’s decision, but emphasized that she will be applying again. 

“I am not giving up on our kids,” Johnson said. “But because we understand how to open and run a school, we understand that we need the time to plan, which is why we came here today.”

Clarksdale Collegiate Public will also have their charter up for renewal this school year, which Johnson said she anticipates being a challenge. 

“It is clearly going to be an uphill battle because of the way the board characterizes our school,” she told Mississippi Today. “We are coming off of a pandemic and this is our first year ever having an accountability score. What we are doing is hard. We get that. We have shown and we are demonstrating that we are willing and able to do that work.”  

Despite this, Johnson expressed confidence that they would have their high school operational by the time students reached ninth grade. 

The board’s vote was also split for Columbus Leadership Academy, with some board members saying they deserved a chance to prove themselves, but they were also denied. The board was unanimous in their denial of the Resilience Academy of Teaching’s schools, citing concern that the plans were not appropriately thorough. 

Grant Callen, CEO of school choice advocacy group Empower Mississippi, said students are being failed by an overly-restrictive board.

“Today, the Board had before them multiple applicants, who in our view, more than surpassed the threshold to be approved to start a high quality charter school,” Callen said. “(We) remain hopeful that in the future a majority of the Board will come to understand that creating more options for more students is an urgent imperative and their primary charge. The children of Mississippi are depending on it.”

The post Only one charter school approved to open next year appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Those convicted of murder are not eligible for parole in Mississippi, but court rulings paved the way for a man previously sentenced to death to receive parole and be scheduled for release.

Frederick Bell had been serving a sentence at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman for the May 1991 shooting of 21-year-old Robert “Bert” Bell (no relation) during a robbery in Grenada County. 

Capital murder typically carries the death penalty. But after years of appeals and filing for post-conviction relief, Frederick Bell was resentenced to life without parole and then life with the possibility of parole. He was approved for release by the state Parole Board in August and is set to leave prison as early as Monday. 

Family members of Bert Bell have been attending Parole Board meetings since 2015 and thought Frederick Bell wouldn’t be paroled, but last month Gene Bell, Bert’s younger brother, received a letter saying Frederick Bell’s parole had been approved, according to a copy shared with Mississippi Today. 

The family wants the Parole Board to reconsider. More than 50 community members from Grenada County and beyond have signed a petition addressed to Gov. Tate Reeves asking him to reverse the board’s decision. State law enforcement groups and residents have written to Parole Board Chair Jeffery Belk and board members. Several lawmakers have also spoken about Frederick Bell’s parole. 

“We should never parole a violent criminal,” Gene Bell wrote in a Thursday email to Mississippi Today. “That is not the way to reduce the population in the penal system and is certainly not the way to protect every law-abiding citizen in regards to our safety.”

Belk wrote to Gene Bell about the board’s decision to parole Frederick Bell, saying he understood it would be a disappointment to the family. 

In a previous interview with Mississippi Today, Belk said when considering parole, the board looks at a range of available information, including input from victims and their families and the person’s record while incarcerated, to make a decision. 

“However, in our opinion Bell has been rehabilitated and at this point we feel that parole supervision will be more beneficial than further incarceration,” Belk’s letter states. 

Belk and a spokesperson for the Mississippi Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for comment about Bell’s parole.

On May 6, 1991, then-19-year-old Frederick Bell and a group of men went into Sparks Stop ‘N Go in Grenada County where 21-year-old Bert Bell was working. They bought chips and beer and went outside to eat, according to court records. 

Frederick Bell wanted to go to Memphis and said he needed money so he decided to rob the store, according to court records. He went back inside with one of the group members, Anthony Doss. Gunshots rang out from the store, and Bert Bell was shot nine times and killed. 

Later that day, Frederick Bell and three of the men from the group drove to Memphis, where Bell shot and killed another man, 20-year-old Tommy White. 

In 1993, the Grenada County Circuit Court convicted Frederick Bell and Doss for the killing of Bert Bell. A jury found Frederick Bell killed the store clerk, contemplated using lethal force during the robbery and intended to kill Bert Bell, which factored into its decision to impose the death penalty, according to court records.

Before the 1993 trial, Frederick Bell and another man from the group, Frank Coffey, were charged for the Memphis shooting and pleaded guilty, according to court records.

For years Frederick Bell sought to appeal his Mississippi conviction, including an unsuccessful direct appeal with the state Supreme Court in 1998, multiple filings for post-conviction relief and denied requests for the U.S. Supreme Court to take up his case. 

Gene Bell said it is a shame for anyone convicted of a violent crime to continue to appeal because victims and their families don’t get an opportunity to appeal any decisions made by the courts. 

In 2011, the state Supreme Court found Frederick Bell was entitled to an evidentiary hearing to determine whether he was mentally disabled. This was based on a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found it was cruel and unusual to execute mentally disabled people.

Doctors at the Mississippi State Hospital evaluated Frederick Bell and determined he was mentally disabled.

As a result, in 2013 the Grenada County Circuit Court sentenced Bell to life without parole. He appealed, and in 2015 the State Supreme Court voted 5-4 in his favor. On June 5, 2015, the Grenada County Circuit Court sentenced him to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. 

Gene Bell said his family was devastated to learn his brother’s killer was eligible for parole. He began attending Parole Board hearings in 2015 to speak against Frederick Bell’s release. 

“Do I like doing this? No,” Gene Bell said. “But it’s my duty. It’s my duty for my family and for the law abiding citizens of the great state of Mississippi.”

The family’s main concern is about public safety. Gene Bell said people shouldn’t have to fear the system has failed them by allowing someone who has committed violent crimes out of prison.

A person granted parole will serve the remainder of their sentence under supervision. They are required to report to a parole officer and follow rules laid out by the Mississippi Department of Corrections. 

Gene Bell said the current Parole Board did not indicate it would parole Frederick Bell. 

Rather, the board told him it would extend the time between Frederick Bell’s hearings from one year to up to five years. This would be done out of consideration for Bert Bell’s family. 

“(T)his was too brutal of a case for me and family to have to endure such a horrible date in history this often,” Gene Bell said. 

He doesn’t understand what changed this summer between the July meeting that felt positive and the August one when the board granted Frederick Bell parole. 

The Rev. C.J. Rhodes of Mount Helm Baptist Church in Jackson is President of Clergy for Prison Reform, which is focused on criminal justice issues including parole. 

Parole can be complicated and should be viewed on a case-by-case basis, he said. It should also consider those affected, including victims, their families, the incarcerated people and their families and community. 

The Christian faith recognizes redemption and how incarcerated people can be rehabilitated and demonstrate that after prison. 

“This becomes a test case if we want to apply that particular theology,” Rhodes said. 

The group wants to reimagine corrections in a way that doesn’t emphasize imprisoning people, he said. Rhodes said there is an opportunity to make victims and victimizers whole again, and redemption and rehabilitation shouldn’t be lost in conversation about criminal justice reform. 

Monday is Frederick Bell’s expected release date. Multiple efforts to reach an attorney for Frederick Bell were not successful. 

Sen. Angela Burks Hill (R-Picayune) said in an interview with Supertalk Radio that his release from prison is likely to be delayed because the Parole Board did not follow a state law that requires public notification in a newspaper in the county where the crime was committed.  

Gene Bell remembers his brother as a happy-go lucky person who enjoyed the outdoors and loved his family and friends. 

“We miss Bert tremendously,” Gene Bell said. “We often wonder what he would have become in life.  What would his brother- and sister- in-law think about him and what would his nieces and nephews think about him? How would we all interact as family?”

The post Mississippi man convicted of murder and previously sentenced to death will now be paroled appeared first on Mississippi Today.

On Monday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan again met with Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, this time alongside the U.S. Department of Justice, to plot the next course of action over the city’s water system.

“Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim from the Department of Justice and I met today with Mayor Lumumba to discuss the actions the federal government is prepared to take to help remedy this longstanding injustice,” Regan said in a press release. “During that meeting, I conveyed our desire to work with the City to reach a judicially enforceable agreement that ensures a sustainable water system in the mid- and long-terms.”

The release did not mention the agreement between the EPA and Jackson that’s already in place. The two parties signed an administrative order in 2021, which contains a list of 40 hiring and repair requirements outlined by the federal agency.

Mayor Lumumba recently said the EPA has been flexible in setting deadlines in that agreement. All of the original deadlines have since passed. Mississippi Today reached out to the EPA to ask which of those items the city has met so far, but was told by a spokesperson, “Due to the ongoing enforcement activities, we are unable to provide information related to the city’s compliance status.”

The two parties are also under a court-ordered non-disclosure agreement that prevents them from sharing a “very detailed plan” with a cost estimate for fixing the city’s water system, Jackson officials said recently. The EPA confirmed to Mississippi Today that there is a confidentiality order in place, but didn’t provide further detail.

The press release added that Jackson has issued roughly 300 boil water notices in the last two years.

New boil water notices hit over 1,200 customers

Since the state health department lifted the month and a half long boil water notice just 11 days ago, Jackson has since issued new boil water advisories for over 1,200 customers.

The city announced on Monday afternoon that a “contractor inadvertently severed the water line” for approximately 1,000 connections in Byram.

Jackson issued boil water notices for the other 200 connections because of line breaks caused by increased pressure in the system, officials said. Mayor Lumumba warned residents in early September that the worn down distribution system would be susceptible to such issues.

City workers, with assistance from the Mississippi Rural Water Association and teams from Maryland, Arkansas, Minnesota and South Carolina, have continued repairs at both of Jackson’s treatment plants. A Monday press release said the crews brought two of the raw water pumps back into service at O.B. Curtis before the weekend.

The city said on Monday that the following areas, including Byram, Belhaven, North Jackson, and Eastover, are currently under a boil water notice:

Byram:

• [7300-8899] Gary Road, Byram: 39272   
• Gary Drive 
• Glen Haven Subdivision
• Glennhaven Drive
• Glennhaven Court
• Glenn Oak Circle
• Cedar Glenn Drive
• Brank Creek Drive
• Red Oak Cove
• Cedar Glenn Cove 
• Trelles Cove
• Highland Cove
• Azalea Cove
• Glennwood Cove
• Ridge Place
• Redwood Cove 
• Holybush Place
• Glennoak Circle
• Eagle Nest Subdivision 
• Eagle Nest Drive 
• Freedom Cove
• Highpoint Drive
• Mountain Crest Drive
• Golden Eagle Drive
• Talon Cove 
• Canyon Cove 
• Lake Ridgelea Subdivision
• Turtle Road
• Park Avenue
• Mary Lane
• Lake Shore Drive
• Oak Avenue
• Pike Avenue
• Ridgelea Road
• Lure Avenue
• Meadow Lane
• S. Ridge Road
• E. Ridge Road
• Bob White Street
• Rod Street
• Reel Street
• Hook Street
• W. Ridge Road
• Horse Shoe Circle
• Line Street 
• Spinning Street 

Jackson:

• [1200-2399] North State Street: 39202
• [1600-1899] Pine St.
• [700-799] Euclid St.
• [700-799] Oakwood St.
• [700-799] Fairview St.
• [700-799] Arlington St.
• [700-799] Pinehurst St.
• [700-799] Gillespie St.
• Popcorn Alley
• Park Avenue
• [1300-1399] Peachtree Street: 39202
• [5300-5599] Highland Drive: 39206
• [4300-4599] El Paso Street
• Paso Cove

Editor’s note: This story was updated to include more streets impacted by the boil water notices because the City of Jackson released more locations after this story first published.

The post EPA: Feds prepared to take action on Jackson water appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A former professional wrestler and defendant in the Mississippi welfare scandal is alleging that he personally witnessed Republican Gov. Phil Bryant instruct an appointee to cut welfare funding to a nonprofit because its director supported Democrat Jim Hood in the 2019 governor’s race.

The allegation that Bryant leveraged his control of welfare spending to punish a political opponent comes in a two-year-old federal court filing released Friday after Mississippi Today successfully motioned to unseal the case.

The account echoes a similar allegation Mississippi Today published just over a week ago that the same nonprofit was forced to fire Hood’s wife in order to keep receiving welfare grant funding.

Former WWE wrestler Ted “Teddy” DiBiase Jr. had received millions of federal welfare dollars to conduct various anti-poverty services for two private nonprofits when suddenly, the state allegedly pulled the program.

Federal authorities, who are attempting to seize DiBiase’s house because of his alleged role in the welfare scheme, say the Mississippi Department of Human Services “abandoned” the program and the wrestler failed to perform the work under his contracts. The federal complaint against DiBiase mirrors new federal charges that former welfare director John Davis pleaded guilty to on Thursday.

But what actually happened, DiBiase says, is that in 2019, Gov. Bryant directed Davis to discontinue the agency’s partnership with nonprofit Family Resource Center of North Mississippi because of its connection to Democrats in the state. 

Family Resource Center director Christi Webb was an outspoken supporter of her friend and then-Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat who was running against Republican then-Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves for governor in 2019. That year, the term-limited Bryant, who still oversaw the welfare agency, also worked hard on the campaign trail to get Reeves elected to the Governor’s Mansion.

FRC was one of two nonprofits that funded the wrestler. DiBiase said his program, called the “RISE” program, was then moved out from under the private nonprofits to the state agency.

“Shortly before John Davis retired in mid-2019, he indicated … that the RISE program would be taken ‘in-house’ and overseen at MDHS as opposed to being overseen by FRC or MCEC,” reads DiBiase’s Aug. 10, 2020, answer to the federal complaint for forfeiture against him. “Upon information and belief, this occurred as a result of the Governor directing John Davis to cease funding and working with FRC because FRC’s Executive Director, Christi Webb, was openly supporting Jim Hood in the race for Mississippi Governor.”

“The claimant, who witnessed Bryant give that direction to Davis, was subsequently informed by Davis that his contracts with FRC would be moved to MCEC,” the filing continued. “This did not affect Claimant’s performance under the contract.”

Teddy DiBiase made this claim in his response to a federal forfeiture complaint the U.S. Department of Justice filed against him in 2020 alleging he entered fraudulent contracts in order to obtain welfare funds. Mississippi Today motioned to unseal the case on Aug. 18. 

U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Ball dismissed the U.S. Department of Justice’s initial complaint against Teddy DiBiase in 2021, after his lawyers successfully argued that the complaint failed to allege a crime, and allowed the government to enter an amended complaint in August. Teddy DiBiase argues that he completed the work the nonprofits paid him to conduct, therefore earning the money legally.

Teddy DiBiase Jr.’s allegation against Bryant adds to claims that the former governor used his power to influence welfare spending, not just to benefit political allies, but to punish a Democratic opponent.

Officials have not charged Bryant civilly or criminally.

The state prosecutor who secured a guilty plea from Davis last week said investigators have their sights set on higher level officials as the welfare probe continues.

“We’re still looking through records and text messages as we continue to move up,” Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens said after Davis’ guilty plea Thursday. “We also continue to work with the federal authorities in Washington and in Mississippi. John Davis is critical because the ladder continues to move up.”

Mississippi Today first reported a similar allegation from Webb that a local lawmaker had threatened her on Bryant’s behalf to fire Hood’s wife Debbie Hood in order to keep receiving funding from the state. Webb said she relayed the news to Debbie Hood, who agreed to resign. Hood’s campaign manager Michael Rejebian said Debbie Hood confirmed the account. Webb also alleged that she eventually refused to continue paying the DiBiases, which angered Davis.

READ MORE: Welfare defendant alleges Gov. Phil Bryant used federal funds to hurt political rival

Family Resource Center’s original founder, Cathy Grace, was also running as a Democrat in 2019 for a local House seat against Republican Rep. Shane Aguirre, R-Tupelo, who worked for FRC as an accountant in charge of reviewing invoices from its partners. Aguirre told Mississippi Today he did not work on or review the DiBiase projects.

Teddy DiBiase Jr. is the son of WWE legend Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase Sr. His younger brother, Brett DiBiase, also received welfare funds and pleaded guilty to his role in the fraud scheme in 2020. Through various contracts with the men, as well as Ted DiBiase Sr.’s Christian ministry, the DiBiase family received over $5 million in welfare funds.

In the 2020 ongoing forfeiture complaint against Teddy DiBiase, federal authorities are attempting to seize his $1.5 million French-colonial lakeside home in the Madison community of Reunion, Clarion Ledger first reported. Prosecutors say he purchased the property with money obtained from the state’s welfare program — a total of over $3 million, according to the state auditor. At the time in 2020, the complaint contained details of an ongoing investigation.

Davis pleaded guilty on Sept. 22 to two federal charges — one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of theft — related to these payments to Teddy DiBiase. Mississippi Today identified one of the four unnamed alleged co-conspirators in the charges against Davis as Teddy DiBiase. 

Teddy DiBiase Jr. and Ted DiBiase Sr. have not publicly faced criminal charges, though they are targets of an ongoing state civil case that attempts to recoup misspent welfare funds.

All of the charges are part of a wider scandal that resulted in the misspending of $77 million in federal welfare funds. The money flowed through Family Resource Center of North Mississippi and another nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center, founded by defendant Nancy New. New, who has pleaded guilty to bribery and fraud, was a friend of Bryant’s wife.

The two nonprofits were running a statewide program called Families First for Mississippi.

Filings in the federal forfeiture case against Teddy DiBiase Jr. outline several alleged events:

June 2017: Teddy DiBiase’s company Priceless Ventures signed a contract with FRC and MCEC for $250,000 to “act as a ‘leadership training coordinator’” for Families First for Mississippi. FRC paid the retired wrestler in full on June 1, 2017, the first day of the contract period.

August 2017: FRC paid Ted DiBiase Sr. $250,000, near the beginning of a year-long contract to be a motivational speaker for Families First.

May 2018: Teddy DiBiase’s company Priceless Ventures signed a contract with FRC for $500,000. MCEC paid $500,000 on May 17, 2018. He “performed no significant work under this leadership outreach contract,” the complaint alleges, “but instead merely provided one or two training sessions — an immaterial amount of work that fell far short of what the contract required.”

July 2018: FRC paid Priceless Ventures nearly $500,000 in emergency food assistance funds on July 13, 2018, for a contract that was supposed to run from May 2018 to September 2018. “The only work DiBiase Jr. completed on this contract was to send a list of food pantry locations to FRC,” the filing alleged.

October 2018: Priceless Ventures signed a $130,000 contract with MCEC to create a personal development training program. MCEC eventually paid the company $199,500 under this contract.

December 2018: MDHS signed a $48,000 contract with Brett DiBiase to conduct training sessions on opioid addiction from December 2018 to June 2019. 

February 2019: Brett DiBiase began treatment at a luxury drug rehabilitation center in Malibu called RISE, where he would receive therapy for four months. Davis directed MCEC to make four $40,000 payments to the facility.

The federal complaint alleges that Teddy DiBiase used the money from the Family Resource Center contracts to make a more than $400,000 down payment on his Madison home. Teddy DiBiase denies the assertion that he failed to complete the work for which he was hired.

The federal complaint also uses Davis’ text messages to establish the close relationship that the government bureaucrat developed with the DiBiase family, such as Davis telling his administrative assistant that he “loves B. DIBIASE like his own child,” the amended complaint reads. Davis also pleaded guilty last week to charges related to welfare payments to Brett DiBiase and to pay for his drug rehab stint.

As Mississippi Today previously reported, Davis and Teddy DiBiase swapped Christian devotionals, traveled out of state and exercised at the gym together. Davis frequently texted the older brother, “I love you.” The welfare director flew across the country to visit Brett DiBiase while he was in drug rehab, discussed his treatment options with a specialist and called him the “son I never had.” When not together, they shared long, late-night phone calls, phone records show.

While Teddy DiBiase Jr. was never a payroll employee of the state welfare agency — only a contractor of the welfare-funded private nonprofits — he occupied one of the largest offices inside the private downtown high-rise where Davis relocated MDHS offices after he became director.

Under one of the contracts, Teddy DiBiase was supposed to accomplish several things, including meeting “the multiple needs of inner-city youth”; identifying services for “successfully linking the youth served with opportunities for self-sufficiency and independence”; providing feedback about “parents as they pursue skill-building and education that lead to better jobs”; and helping employers on “improving opportunity and outcomes in the workforce.”

In Mississippi, nearly one in five people live in poverty. Average wages in the state, as well as the state’s workforce participation rate, are among the lowest in the nation. Teddy DiBiase’s contract illustrates both the state’s frenetic emphasis on workforce development and its disregard for whether the programs it supports actually produce the desired outcomes.

In this case, the U.S. Department of Justice contends the actions were illegal.

Davis and DiBiase Jr. entered into the workforce-related contracts, according to the federal complaint, “even though DAVIS and DIBIASE JR. knew, at the inception of the contract … that, in fact, no significant services would be performed under the contract and that the actual purpose of entering into the contract and disbursing funds under it was to enrich DIBIASE JR. by stealing and misapplying funds under the federally-funded contract.”

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Tougaloo College will get nearly half a million dollars from the federal government to shore-up campus security and mental health care in the wake of this year’s nationwide bomb threats targeting historically Black colleges and universities. 

The funding will come from a U.S. Department of Education initiative called Project SERV, or “School Emergency Response to Violence,” that provides short-term support to educational entities that have experienced a traumatic event. 

When the department opened applications in March, it said grants would range from $50,000 to $150,000, but Tougaloo will receive much more than that – $420,000 – for a year’s worth of additional staff. 

Schenika Harrison, a special projects director who applied for the grant, said the funds will cover two trauma therapists to help students whose mental health was affected by the threats, three security officers to better patrol the 500 wooded acres of campus and about 20 adjuncts, which will make it easier for faculty to take mental health days. 

Carmen Walters, Tougaloo’s president, said that seven months later, many people on campus still struggle with “the shock and trauma of dealing with bomb threats at 4 o’clock in the morning, being awaken out of your sleep, not being able to walk the buildings freely and having everyone say, ‘look for any packages that look unfamiliar.’” 

“That’s a lot of trauma for our kids that they shouldn’t have to deal with,” she added. 

More than one-third of the country’s 101 HBCUs received bomb threats earlier this year, including every HBCU in Mississippi except Coahoma Community College. 

So far, Tougaloo is the only HBCU in Mississippi that has received the funding. Rust College did not apply, a spokesperson told Mississippi Today. Jackson State University’s spokesperson said the school is still working on its application with the goal of using the funds to create an “emergency central hub” on campus. 

Alcorn State University did not return Mississippi Today’s request for comment. 

Mississippi Valley State University’s director of communications, Donell Maxie, told Mississippi Today that a reporter’s inquiry was the first time the university had heard of the program. 

“They will be looking into it,” Maxie wrote in an email.  

The FBI has yet to announce any arrests related to the bomb threats despite identifying six “tech savvy” juveniles as persons of interests in February. 

POLITICO reported that the FBI told the House Oversight Committee in March no arrests have been made due to “‘challenges with attribution’ because ‘some of [the threats] come from encrypted platforms.’” 

READ MORE: JSU president calls for more HBCU funding in testimony about bomb threats

In recent weeks, several HBCU leaders, including Walters, have publicly criticized the pace of the investigation. She said she was “beyond frustrated” with the lack of updates from the bureau at a dinner for HBCU presidents in Washington., D.C. in August, POLITICO reported. 

“I’m very angry that no one has been brought to justice,” Walters said, “but there’s been no conversation about the investigation at all.”

Though Project SERV provides much-needed funding, Walters also took issue with the application process, calling it a ‘complete joke,” POLITICO reported. 

Since POLITICO published its story, Walters said the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice held a national call to update HBCU leaders on the investigation. 

“I won’t repeat it, because it’s their update, but I will say that we were on the call feeling connected and that this is a priority and that they’re taking it seriously and that’s what we wanted,” she told Mississippi Today. 

Walters said that the Department of Education has provided “phenomenal” support to HBCUs this year. She added that she was frustrated with the grant application process for Project SERV because it seemed needlessly competitive.

“When you say, ‘a grant process,’ it makes me feel that it’s competitive, that I’m competing against my colleagues,” she said. 

Tougaloo is also in the process of applying for grants to replace keyhole locks in the campus dorms with scan-and-swipe technology. 

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Mississippi State Personnel Board Director Kelly Hardwick talks with Mississippi Today about the state government workforce, how workers are paid and whether a pay raise is in order.

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