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As part of efforts to address a shortage of nurses and respiratory therapists, the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) hosted a walk-in job fair on Monday. 

Pre-pandemic, UMMC would have an average of 30 open nursing positions at a time. That number has ballooned to over 200 over the past few years. 

For respiratory therapy, the hospital has 30 open positions in its adult hospital and 20 to 25 openings in its pediatric unit.

During the five-hour job fair, 16 applicants showed up and 11 were offered jobs on the spot. All accepted their offers. 

Patrice Donald, a registered nurse and manager of clinical recruitment and retainment at UMMC, said that the streamlined job fair process cuts down the time from the interview to hiring by around 42 days. 

Abigail May of Madison is one of UMMC’s recent hires. May will graduate from UMMC’s nursing school on May 27 and start her new job in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit just three days later. 

May said that her experience at UMMC, both as a student and a patient, along with the center’s focus on medical research, makes her want to stay in Mississippi. 

“I love helping the sickest of the sick patients,” May said. “I feel like that’s definitely my calling.”

Mississippi has lost more than 2,000 nurses over the course of the pandemic due to burnout or higher paying jobs in other states, often in travel nursing. This strain is being felt all across the country, and the national shortage of nurses is likely to get worse over time. 

The aging population creates additional challenges:  An older population increases the demand for health care services, while also decreasing the number of working registered nurses as more retire from the workforce. 

A new report from the McKinsey consulting firm estimates that the United States may have between 200,000 to 450,000 fewer nurses available than are needed by 2025. The number of nursing school graduates who enter and stay in the workforce would need to more than double every year until 2025 to meet this demand. 

Some of the state’s American Rescue Plan Act funding was appropriated to help address this issue, including $40 million for nurse training at colleges and universities and $6 million for forgiving nurses’ student loans. 

But the effects of this investment won’t be felt for some time and does nothing for hospitals who need nurses immediately.

“It’s been challenging to recruit to retain, when there are so many travel agencies out there who can offer them a lot more money to leave the state … I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t gotten an email or phone call asking what my interest is,” Gordon Gartrell, a nurse manager in UMMC’s pediatric intensive care unit, said.

However, UMMC has a competitive advantage over other health care providers in the state, Gartrell said, because it hosts  the state’s only children’s hospital. 

Nelson Weichold, UMMC’s chief financial officer, addressed the nursing shortage during a meeting of  the Institutions of Higher Learning’s Health Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

The labor costs for nurses have increased 14% when compared to the averaged revenue generated by all inpatient and outpatient services UMMC provides, according to Weichold. 

Weichold also presented data from the health care management consulting firm Kaufman Hall & Associates that showed the dramatic increase in the national average for contract nurse labor costs. Before the coronavirus pandemic, wage rates for contract nurses were almost double those for employed nurses. By March 2022, contract nurses were making nearly four times more than employed nurses.

The increased labor costs, coupled with increased costs for supplies, are “squeezing” hospitals in a way that’s not happening in other industries, Weichold said. Airlines and fast food companies can pass those increased costs directly onto consumers in a way hospitals can’t.

“That’s not happening in the hospital industry, because, remember, we’re not charging customers, we’re charging insurance companies,” Weichold said. “And the insurance companies are very reticent right now to increase hospital payment rates.”

This tension between hospitals and insurance companies has been playing out openly in Mississippi over the past few months due to UMMC’s intense contract dispute with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, the state's largest private insurer.

UMMC currently has around 3,000 nurses across its system, and around 100 of them are contract workers. Weichold said UMMC is planning on increasing nurse wages further when the hospital can wean itself off contract nurse labor.

Donald said that in addition to their normal nursing duties, the job descriptions for nurses includes the phrase “and all other duties as assigned,” an addition that has helped them stay afloat during the labor shortage. Nurses are often moved around to different units as needed. 

“We've got nurses floating around everywhere,” Tyler Fitzgerald, a nurse manager in UMMC’s transplant unit, said. “So we've managed. It's been tough at times, and it remains tough, but we're all here for the same reason.”

During the IHL meeting, Weichold said that the behavior of contract nurses has changed recently. While many were leaving to work in other states early in the pandemic, now they're leaving a job at one hospital to do contract work at another hospital in the same city. According to Weichold, most UMMC nurses who leave for contract work return to the hospital within three to four months.

Fitzgerald experienced that trend firsthand.

Fitzgerald said his team lost three full-time nurses during the pandemic who have recently returned to UMMC.

“We have people that leave and then come back,” Fitzgerald said. “Everybody always comes home.”

The post Rising costs, contract work exacerbate nursing shortage for state’s safety net hospital appeared first on Mississippi Today.

University of Southern Mississippi’s president announced a pay increase for hourly employees on Wednesday, two weeks after United Campus Workers, a labor union, held a rally to demand a $15 an hour minimum wage. The last time USM increased its minimum wage was nearly a decade ago.

Starting July 9, benefit-eligible, hourly workers will see the minimum wage increase to $11.25 an hour, up from $10.10 an hour, President Rodney Bennett wrote in an email to faculty and staff. These workers will also receive a 3% adjustment. 

Graduate assistants, as well as many faculty and staff, will see pay increases, but non-benefit eligible positions such as visiting faculty and adjunct instructors will not be included. 

Samuel Ewing, an adjunct instructor who helped organize UCW’s rally, said he was thrilled at the raise, calling it “just the beginning.” He said he hopes the raise will become a “catalyst” for more faculty and staff to get involved with UCW, which will continue to push for $15 an hour and for adjuncts to receive a raise. 

“This is a huge victory for all working people at this university,” Ewing said. “It demonstrates that organizing isn’t just our right as working people, but that it actually works.” 

In his email, Bennett, who is stepping down next year, thanked faculty and staff like Ewing for participating in UCW’s protest on May 5. He wrote that the university was not able to commit the institutional funds needed to raise the campus minimum wage to $15 an hour. 

“A multi-year plan would be required to make an adjustment of that size for all categories of employees,” Bennett wrote. “Although I am unable to commit future institutional funds outside of what was made possible by this year’s additional legislative allocation, I am pleased that we were able to make meaningful progress in raising the minimum hourly rate for benefit-eligible employees to $11.25 per hour.” 

With limited exceptions, most salaried faculty and staff will receive a 3% pay increase this year, according to Bennett’s email. Starting this year, USM will also increase stipends for graduate assistants by $1,500 each fall semester for the next three years, bringing their total pay in fall 2024 to $11,700.

Margaret Ann McCloud, USM’s spokesperson, did not respond by press time to Mississippi Today’s question about how many hourly workers will benefit from the wage increase. 

Janice Jones, a custodian who helped organize UCW’s rally, said she learned about the raises Wednesday morning after Bennett called her for a meeting. She said that Bennett also asked her about the issues that custodians have with the maintenance department’s points-based attendance system, which Mississippi Today detailed in an article last week.

“I wish it had been more, but what we got is a beginning,” she said. “They’re going to work with us, and we’re going to look at it as a win, because we did win — but the winnings aren’t over.”

READ MORE: How one custodian is fighting fear to get a pay raise at University of Southern Mississippi

The post ‘A huge victory’: Minimum wage workers at USM get pay raise after protest  appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Since Politico released the leaked draft opinion indicating the U.S. Supreme Court will likely overturn Roe v. Wade, which would end the right to abortion in the United States, the stage has been set for abortion to become illegal in Mississippi, as well as other states across the country.

Our staff will continue to provide the very latest on reproductive rights and access to abortions in Mississippi. In the meantime, we want to hear what information needs our readers have on this topic.

If the justices overturn the nearly 50-year-old precedent upholding the right to an abortion in the United States, Mississippi’s trigger law banning abortion in almost all cases would take effect soon after the ruling.

Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts on the issue of reproductive rights in Mississippi:

We continue to keep Mississippians informed because we – like you – love Mississippi.

Support this work and start a recurring donation today in celebration of our Spring Membership Drive to help us continue important work like this story.

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Microsoft has tapped a University of Mississippi grad to lead its new philanthropic efforts in Jackson through its “TechSpark initiative,” which targets communities vulnerable to being left behind in a tech-driven economy. 

JJ Townsend, a Long Beach native, will manage TechSpark Jackson, the tech giant announced Wednesday.

“There’s a lot of talent and drive in Mississippi, but not a lot of opportunity,” Townsend told Mississippi Today. “TechSpark is providing digital skill training, workforce development, and entrepreneurship support. That’s really big. We are last a lot of times, in a lot of categories. But in computer science, there’s a chance for us not to be.” 

Microsoft has launched the program already in Central Washington, Southern Virginia, Wyoming, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Texas and Mexico. TechSpark aims to close gaps in economic opportunities through skills training and by supporting local startups and nonprofits, according to Microsoft.

Townsend’s passion lies in computer science education. He’s a Teach for America alum who already helped develop an existing Microsoft program to get computer science education inside Jackson high schools.

“I know what it’s like to be a teacher and what it looks like when a student learns to code,” Townsend said. “Technology can transform their trajectory.” 

That program will be in every public high school in Jackson this coming school year and teach about 200 students, according to the tech company. 

Microsoft’s goals with TechSpark largely mirror what the state has acknowledged as shortfalls through its year-old workforce development office Accelerate Mississippi. Accelerate Mississippi and the state’s economic council have both pointed to Mississippi’s lack of qualified workers as the top concern for businesses across the states. 

The program’s immediate focus is on Jackson, but Townsend expects that to change over time.

“We recognize that part of Mississippi’s success is based on a thriving Jackson,” he said. “Pilots have kind of been the name of the game, but we’re tracking the success.”

And those programs that perform well could be scaled across the state, he said. 

In the program’s launch, Microsoft said it is helping bolster Jackson State University – a historically Black college – cyber-readiness program to build career opportunities. Microsoft says the program will train at least 100 students and help get them real-world cybersecurity experience. 

The company is partnering with Innovate Mississippi, a 20-year-old nonprofit that supports local entrepreneurs, to run a 12-week program to help grow Mississippi startups. The program is already in the process of training 21 founders – more than 300 applied – on how to secure funding and win investors. 

A different five-week program pilot with Innovate Mississippi offers free career coaching to unemployed participants. Its goal is to have 80% in new or better roles within six months of graduation.

Another partnership plan will create a “makerspace” in Jackson, a building space that can host programming this summer. 

“The beauty of TechSpark and Microsoft is we can use our name to get other philanthropic partners. We’re on board and happy to be the first mover,” Townsend said. “We’re really excited about what’s happening on the ground right now and how we can plug in and support it.” 

Editor’s note: Microsoft Corp. is a funder of Mississippi Today.

The post Microsoft launches program in Jackson to grow tech job opportunities, workers skills appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Editor’s note: Hours after this article published, Brice Wiggins sent Mississippi Today a statement claiming that the federal complaint filed against him — which he says he has not seen — is “based on an erroneous understanding of the law.” His full statement has been added to this article.

State Sen. Brice Wiggins used his state campaign funds to fund a Super PAC that is aiding his campaign for the 4th Congressional District seat — which appears to be prohibited by federal election law.

The campaign for incumbent Congressman Steven Palazzo confirmed on Tuesday that a complaint regarding Wiggins’ campaign spending was filed to the Federal Election Commission by a constituent from the district.

The Fight for Mississippi PAC, which has aired television commercials in south Mississippi supporting Wiggins’ candidacy for the U.S. House seat, received $165,000 in funding from Wiggins’ state campaign fund in March, according to Federal Election Commission records. U.S. law generally prohibits funds raised for a state campaign from being used in federal elections.

In addition, federal laws and rules also limit the influence that a candidate can have with political action committees, which are supposed to act independently of the candidate. Past FEC opinions have cited $50,000 given from a candidate to a super PAC as perhaps violating federal guidelines, though the FEC has said each case must be judged independently to determine if the amount of the contribution from the candidate to the super PAC is improper.

The $165,000 contribution from Wiggins’ state Senate campaign fund in March is the only funding the Fight for Mississippi PAC has received. The Super PAC has run pro-Wiggins TV commercials in south Mississippi critical of Palazzo, specifically referencing that Palazzo is currently being investigated by the U.S. House Ethics Committee over allegations he misspent campaign funds.

When asked to comment on his own alleged campaign misspending this week, Wiggins initially directed questions to the Super PAC. Elizabeth Curtis of Alexandria, Va., who is listed as the treasurer of the Super PAC, did not respond to questions from Mississippi Today.

After this article published, Wiggins sent Mississippi Today a statement.

“At the time of the publishing of Mississippi Today’s article this afternoon, neither the Committee to Elect Brice Wiggins (Senate) nor Brice Wiggins for Congress had seen or received any complaint that had been filed,” Wiggins said in the statement. “The allegations in the article published today are based on an erroneous understanding of the law. This is just another attempt by Mr. Palazzo to avoid the real issue — that the people are tired of his D.C shenanigans.”

This is Wiggins’ second alleged federal campaign spending violation this calendar year. Mississippi Today reported in February that Wiggins improperly funneled state campaign funds directly to his individual federal campaign fund.

When asked about the issue in February, Wiggins said in a written response, “We found on Dec. 3 that congressional ads for a few weeks were incorrectly charged to a credit card of the (state) Committee to Elect Brice Wiggins.”

“We corrected this Dec. 3, and the $1,170.07 cost is being reimbursed to the state campaign along with a $10 reimbursement for a Facebook post I made myself on Nov. 2,” Wiggins wrote. “An amendment to the FEC filing is being made.”

Wiggins also wrote: “My intent is to always be transparent.”

Wiggins is one of six Republican candidates challenging Palazzo in the June 7 GOP primary for the 4th Congressional District seat, which represents a large portion of south Mississippi, including the three Gulf Coast counties.

Campaign finances have for months been at the center of the 4th District race. Palazzo, the 10-year incumbent of the seat, is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over allegations of campaign fund misspending and other issues.

A congressional watchdog agency’s report, which prompted a House Ethics investigation, claims Palazzo misspent campaign and congressional funds, used his office to help his brother and used staff for personal errands and services.

Allegations have previously been reported that Palazzo used campaign funds to pay himself and his erstwhile wife nearly $200,000 through companies they own — including thousands to cover the mortgage, maintenance and upgrades to a riverfront home Palazzo owned and wanted to sell. A Mississippi Today report also questioned thousands in Palazzo campaign spending on swanky restaurants, sporting events, resort hotels, golfing and gifts.

In a written response to this week’s allegations about Wiggins’ campaign misspending, Palazzo campaign manager Justin Brasell said: “Being a trial attorney, it looks like Sen. Wiggins would take time to know the law before transferring $165,000 to a super PAC. Thankfully, in spite of Wiggins’ illegal activities, Congressman Palazzo will win re-election and will continue supporting our state’s key role in homeland and national defense as a senior member of the Appropriations Committee.”

The complaint filed against Wiggins this week said that previous FEC rulings have established that it is illegal for an entity that is acting on behalf of a federal candidate to receive funds from prohibited sources, such as a state campaign account.

“Wiggins has violated the (federal) Act by directing and transferring soft money from his state campaign committee to Fighting for Mississippi PAC, a super PAC that clearly intends to support Wiggins’ congressional campaign,” read the complaint, shared with Mississippi Today.

The post Wiggins again misused state campaign funds for congressional race, complaint alleges appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Northwest Rankin baseball coach KK Aldridge joins the Cleveland boys to talk about the MHSAA State Tournament in which his Cougars will face off with Desoto Central in a Class 6A showdown next week at Trustmark Park. The Clevelands also discuss college baseball and Ole Miss’s late-season surge.

Stream all episodes.

The post It’s tournament time in high school and college baseball appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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We want to continue to build our newsroom with reporting that is reflective of — and responsive to — the complex and diverse needs of Mississippi. The best way to pursue this growth is by first listening to our fellow Mississippians and building relationships with our readers.

Whether it’s navigating COVID-19, following Mississippi’s welfare scandal, keeping up with government officials or staying informed on access to health care, we want to know what readers care most about.

We hope you’ll take a few minutes to share what issues are on your mind by taking the survey below:

Our culture of listening has created opportunities, such as our COVID Community Town Hall, reader resources, guides and texting events with reporters. Hearing from you — knowing what issues you care about and what information you need — allows us to share news and information that truly represents the communities we’re covering. It’s imperative that we, as a statewide public service news organization, seek input from Mississippians to uncover the issues that are affecting everyday people across the state.

Here’s how this will work: For the next few months, we will be doubling down on our community listening project, MT Listens, by sharing surveys across all of our platforms and creating various opportunities for people to share what’s on their minds. Your responses will inform our work and allow us to continue to build a foundation of listening while putting the information needs of our fellow Mississippians at the center of our work. We hope you will join the conversation and offer your valued input so we can continue to amplify diverse voices across the state.

We continue to keep Mississippians informed because we – like you – love Mississippi.

Support this work and start a recurring donation today in celebration of our Spring Membership Drive to help us continue important work like this story.

Yes, I love Mississippi! >>

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In an unincorporated area outside Raymond stands what its chief executive claims will be the largest medical marijuana growing and manufacturing operation in Mississippi, if not the southeastern United States. 

The 163,000-square-foot behemoth once housed the state’s Department of Revenue but is now the home of Mockingbird Cannabis, a $30 million bet on the state’s medical marijuana industry.

The facility includes 16 growing rooms, each capable of producing 250 to 300 pounds of marijuana every eight weeks.  It will be operated by more than 200 employees, with the lowest paid workers making $17 per hour.

Clint Patterson, chief executive officer of Mockingbird Cannabis, said he expects that they’ll see the demand for that volume of product since 74% of voters approved the medical marijuana program. 

“I think that if we were really being transparent and honest, there’s probably a billion dollar industry in cannabis right now in Mississippi,” Patterson said. “It’s just not legal.”

Patterson, a former prosecutor and the son of a nondenominational pastor, is an unlikely marijuana kingpin. 

Even though cannabis was illegal in Oklahoma, Patterson’s home state, he claims he never thought of the drug as bad or dangerous.

“I was definitely for regulating and legalizing,” Patterson said. “So when that happened, I jumped in.” 

Patterson’s marijuana business in Oklahoma started small, with just a 1,200-square-foot lab that manufactured vape cartridges. That then grew into six different growing and manufacturing locations.

“Oklahoma is the hardest place to compete in the country, and we do what we do pretty well here,” Patterson said. “That gave us the confidence to go to other states that had better situations, business-wise, than Oklahoma.”

Slates Veazey, a Jackson attorney who advises cannabis businesses, said that it’s impossible to predict how big medical marijuana is going to be in Mississippi, but that it will undoubtedly be a large economic engine in the state.

“There’s a lot of interest in this new industry … in every state that has legalized medical marijuana you’ve seen big businesses and smaller mom-and-pop types pop up, compete and be successful,” Veazey said.

Patterson said that Mockingbird is the culmination of everything they learned from operating in Oklahoma. Putting all parts of the operation under one roof will reduce overhead costs. 

The science around marijuana production is also constantly changing, Patterson said. Everything from how the plants are lit and fed has evolved since they started building Mockingbird. For the former, they’ve switched from incandescent light bulbs to more energy-efficient LEDs that can be raised and lowered. They also partnered with Upchurch Plumbing to develop a computerized fertigation system, which combines the agricultural fertilization and irrigation processes to deliver nutritional cocktails tailored for the plant’s stage of development.

“What we thought we were on the cutting edge of two years ago, nobody even does anymore,” Patterson said “ … This really is the most evolved, state-of-the-art facility that we could even design.”

Patterson said that when medical marijuana was legalized in Oklahoma, large out-of-state companies came in and took most of the market share. As a result, the profits left the state. 

Knowing that Mississippi, like Oklahoma, is one of the poorest states in the nation, Patterson said he and his team decided they would work to prevent that if they were going to become one of the major players in Mississippi’s medical marijuana industry. 

“We took a lot of time, met a lot of people here and raised most of our money from Mississippians … We’re going to make a lot of money here, and we wanted it to make sure it’d have the desired effect,” Patterson said. 

Mockingbird’s in-state investors didn’t back out after the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned the medical marijuana program voters approved in 2020 on a constitutional technicality. 

“We got everybody together and said:  ‘Hey, 74% of the state voted for this. There’s going to be a program, it just might not happen right now,’” Patterson said. 

One of those investors is Leah Vincent of Pickens. Vincent pooled money with her husband in late 2019 to invest in Mockingbird.

After the state Supreme Court overturned Initiative 65, Vincent saw the move as just delaying the inevitable. 

“It’s f—ing Mississippi,” Vincent said. “They just have to drag things out. And it’s all about saving political face. I’ve lived here in Mississippi my whole life, so it was expected but still frustrating.”

Vincent and her husband see their investment as a retirement plan and are confident that recreational marijuana will be legalized in Mississippi eventually.

“We knew that Mississippi is going to be different (than other legal states),”  Vincent said. “But down the road it’s going to be bigger everywhere. I mean, it’s coming.”

Even though it took longer than they anticipated for the Legislature to pass a medical marijuana bill, Mockingbird never stopped building. Patterson said he thinks other up and coming marijuana businesses did the exact opposite. 

“They’re going to be a little slower to start,” Patterson said. “We took a risk and bet on the state doing what we felt was the right thing to do, and they did it. So we’re ready and primed, and we’ll take advantage.”

Patterson estimates that Mississippi will collect between $150 to 200 million in tax revenue and another $50 to 100 million in business fees over the first full year of the medical marijuana program.

He didn’t provide a source for those estimates when asked by Mississippi Today.

That eye-popping figure would make medical marijuana a larger source of tax revenue than the state’s casino industry, which put $153,724,705 into the state’s coffers during the 2021 fiscal year. That would also rival the state’s alcohol, beer and tobacco sales, which generated a combined $283,667,815 in tax revenue over the same period.

That would also be more tax revenue than has been generated by Oklahoma’s medical marijuana industry, which is widely seen as a de facto recreational program due to the lax requirements for getting a medical marijuana card.

“Ten percent of our population currently has a medical marijuana card … and two to three people are using each one of those cards … I had no idea there were so many ill people in Oklahoma,” Oklahoma state Rep. Scott Fetgatter told Mississippi’s Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee during a June 2021 hearing.

Between Oklahoma’s legalization of medical marijuana in 2018 and May 2020, the state collected just $110 million from the state’s 7% marijuana tax and another $138 million from state and local sales taxes, according to the Oklahoman.

The Mississippi Department of Health plans to start accepting online license applications for medical marijuana patients and businesses next month. 

The post Inside a $30 million bet on Mississippi’s medical marijuana industry appeared first on Mississippi Today.