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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is the breakdown of grades for Mississippi hospitals:

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

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

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

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

First, about the two books:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A modern Mississippi take on the Christmas story.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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PASCAGOULA — A bulk-carry ship packed with 47,000 tons of Mississippi-made wood pellets readied to take off for Japan Wednesday as state leaders gathered to celebrate its upcoming sendoff. 

The pellets, which are designed to be burned in place of coal, arrived at the Port of Pascagoula by train from George County. Enviva, the wood-pellet company, is the port’s newest partner and first started shipping pellets out in July. 

Enviva CEO Thomas Meth was on the Gulf Coast Wednesday to celebrate the massive $90 million project and the company’s growing Mississippi footprint. But in addition to the fanfare is the real possibility Meth could soon have to navigate a halt to his company’s usual supply chain between its 10 southeastern factories.

Rail workers have threatened to move ahead with a strike after failed union negotiations with freight companies. The unions are calling for paid sick days and other quality of life improvements.  

“I will tell you that it’s not the right time to have a railroad strike,” Meth said following the terminal’s ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday. “And we’re optimistic it can be avoided.” 

Experts have said a strike would shut down nearly a third of the country’s freight systems, adding to congestion and causing a domino effect even in areas – such as Mississippi – where unions aren’t as active. 

President Joe Biden is asking Congress to step in to block the strike – the consequences of which could cripple the economy. In response, the House passed a bill Wednesday that would force a contract agreement. Biden is now asking the Senate to act quickly.

“Without the certainty of a final vote to avoid a shutdown this week, railroads will begin to halt the movement of critical materials like chemicals to clean our drinking water as soon as this weekend,” the president said in a statement. 

As far as Mississippi businesses go, Gov. Tate Reeves told a Mississippi Today reporter Wednesday that most companies in the state that rely on railways have contingency plans in place should there be an extensive strike. 

“This particular company,” Reeves said, referring to Enviva, “and many others, for instance, have facilities that can utilize the The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway to move product.” 

Enviva can also use trucks to transfer the pellets to the port – something it plans to do once its next factory is operating in Bond.

The company says it is the leading wood-pellet producer in the world. The massive white domes now at the Port of Pascagoula can hold up to 90,000 metric tons of wood pellets and are operated by about 30 local employees.

Reeves has worked closely with Enviva as it grows its Mississippi footprint. The state gave the company $4 million in grants to open its Bond facility. 

“We’re talking about decades of economic activity here in the State of Mississippi,” Meth said. “The world is hungry for wood-based biomass from Mississippi, so it will be a fantastic investment for the people of Mississippi – not only for our employees but the whole supply chain that we’re touching.” 

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It’s high school football championship in Mississippi. The Rock in Hattiesburg will be the site of six championship games, including Saturday night’s 6A showdown of Brandon against Starkville. Starkville head coach Chris Jones, the former Jackson State standout and state championship coach at Kemper County, talks about the state championship, as well as his alma mater in the SWAC Championship, and his former Starkville quarterback Luke Altmeyer entering the NCAA portal.

Stream all episodes here.

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Remarkable Ole Miss freshman running back Quinshon Judkins won the C Spire Conerly Trophy Tuesday night and many Jackson State fans – and some media – are calling it a travesty.

If the tables were turned – if JSU’s Shadeur Sanders had won – Ole Miss fans and probably some media would be outraged.

That’s just the way it is for individual awards in the sporting world. 

This column comes with this disclaimer: I voted for Judkins. It was a difficult choice. Shedeur Sanders, a player I have much admired and praised often in this column, led an undefeated Jackson State team to the SWAC championship. He completed 70% of his passes for more than 3,000 yards and 32 touchdowns (with only six interceptions). As his daddy, the coach, said, “As Shedeur goes, we go.” JSU has gone far.

In the run-up to the Conerly I heard many Ole Miss (and State) fans say something like, “Yeah, Sanders is obviously  good, but look at the competition he plays against. He’s not throwing for all those yards against Alabama and LSU.”

Sanders can’t help that. Steve McNair, Jerry Rice and Walter Payton didn’t play against Alabama and LSU either. I voted for McNair and Rice to win the Heisman Trophy and would have voted for Payton if I had had a vote back when Walter played at JSU. It is up to the individual voter to decide how a player’s talents translate to a higher level of competition. I believed both Rice and McNair were the most outstanding college players in the country — at any level — when they played. Doug Flutie won the Heisman instead of Rice. Rashaad Salaam won instead of McNair. You decide who was the better player in either case. I stand by my votes.

The Heisman is supposed to go to the most outstanding player in the country and the Conerly is supposed to go to the most outstanding player in the state. I voted for Judkins because I thought he was Mississippi’s most outstanding player. In my mind, it was close. How close? Had Sanders won, I would not have been surprised, nor disappointed. Do I think Shedeur Sanders would be a great player in the SEC? Yes, I do.

But again, having to make a choice between the two, I thought Judkins was the more outstanding player. Blending quickness, speed, power and toughness, Judkins ran for 1,476 yards and right at six yards per carry. He scored 16 rushing touchdowns and another on a pass reception. He ran for 214 yards against Texas A&M, 205 yards against Arkansas, 135 yards against Alabama, 139 against Auburn and 111 against LSU. He led the SEC in rushing and touchdowns. Before doing all that, he had to beat out Zach Evans, a former five-star recruit who ran for over seven yards per carry in two seasons at TCU.

Ole Miss has been playing football for 129 years. Nobody in school history has ever run for so many yards – not Deuce McAllister, not Joe Gunn, not Charlie Flowers, not anyone. 

As I wrote recently, Judkins reminds me most of the great Walter Payton. That is not a comparison I make flippantly. He runs with similar relentlessness. When people tackle him, it hurts them worse than it hurts him. He is just 19 years old. Barring injury and with continued hard work, he can become one of the greatest backs ever.

Shedeur Sanders, who will lead his team in the SWAC Championship game Saturday, was terrific as a freshman, better as a sophomore. In my mind, Judkins was a whisker better. For that matter, Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes, the third Conerly finalist, might have been the best cornerback in the country. And there were other strong candidates — a testament to the quality of college football played in the Magnolia State.

The post Controversy inherent, but Judkins deserved to win the Conerly appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Embattled prosecutor Doug Evans, who tried Curtis Flowers six times for murder and saw his convictions overturned on appeal, lost his bid to become judge for the 5th Circuit Court to Winona Municipal Court Judge Alan “Devo” Lancaster. 

With about 85% of precincts reporting in Tuesday’s runoff, Evans, district attorney for the 5th circuit, received about 30% of the vote and Lancaster won with 70% of the vote, according to unofficial election results. 

“I am truly humbled by the overwhelming support I received during the campaign,” Lancaster wrote on his campaign Facebook page Tuesday night. “I want to thank everyone for not only their votes, but the kind words, encouragement, and prayers. I look forward to being your new Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit.” 

Lancaster is a partner at the Lancaster Taylor Law Firm in Winona. He has been a municipal judge in Winona since 2010 and attorney for Montgomery County Economic Development since 1986. 

The Circuit Court district includes Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Montgomery, Grenada, Webster and Winston counties. The winner will succeed Judge George Mitchell, who died in April. 

Lancaster and Evans were the top two vote-getters to emerge from a five-way election on Nov. 8. Other candidates in the race were Ackerman attorney Kasey Burney Young, Kosciusko attorney Doug Crosby and Louisville attorney Zachary Madison. 

Evans, who has been the district attorney of the district for over 30 years, could have become a judge in the same district where the U.S. Supreme Court said he prevented Black people from serving as jurors, including in Flowers’ case. 

Evans first tried Flowers in 1997 for the killings of four people at the Tardy Furniture store in Winona. 

He secured four death penalty convictions for Flowers, but those were overturned by state and federal courts. In two trials, a jury didn’t reach a unanimous verdict. 

The U.S Supreme Court overturned Flowers’ conviction in 2019. 

In September 2020,  Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office, which replaced Evans as lead prosecutor in Flowers’ case, dropped charges against Flowers after he spent 23 years in prison, most of it on death row at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. 

In 2021, Flowers sued Evans in federal court for misconduct, which Evans has denied. U.S. District Court Judge Neal Biggers Jr. ordered the case stayed until May 1, 2023. 

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