Michael Harris II has been the big difference maker in the Atlanta Braves turn-around since a slow start this season.
The Atlanta Braves pushed the call-up button on May 28, taking Michael Harris II all the way from the Class AA Mississippi Braves to Atlanta, making Harris, just turned 21, the youngest player in Major League Baseball.
The move – skipping Class AAA altogether – raised some eyebrows. There was his age, plus the fact Harris had played only 43 games above the Class A level. Were the Braves rushing him, panicking because the defending world champions were off to a disappointing 22-24 start?
Rick Cleveland
Those of us who had watched Harris at Trustmark Park knew better. He was ready. As a baseball player, he was 21 going on 28. Bruce Crabbe, the M-Braves manager, gushed more about Harris’ maturity than he did the kid’s obvious talent. Crabbe talked about Harris’ “rare professionalism at such a young age.”
“He’s so smart,” Crabbe said. “He just gets it.”
Back in April, I watched Harris at practice one afternoon, hours before a night game. Batting left-handed, he sprayed line drives all over Trustmark Park. He blasted a couple out of the park, well over 400 feet to left center field. He stepped across the plate to the right-handed batter’s box and hit one well over the left field wall. (No, he is not a switch-hitter, but he has been in the past. He has also been a pitcher. In fact, many MLB ball clubs valued him higher as a pitcher than an everyday player.)
After that practice, I asked Harris if he had a timetable for reaching Atlanta. He shook his head. “Whenever they need me, I plan to be ready,” he said.
Now then, fast forward to Thursday night at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. The game was tied at 2 when Harris stepped to the plate with two outs in the fifth inning. He fell behind – one-ball, two strikes in the count – before fouling off several pitches. On the 10th pitch of the at-bat, he turned on fastball, up and in, and launched a two-run home run well over the wall in right centerfield.
In the bottom of the same inning, Harris did something even more impressive – a lot more impressive. The Nationals put runners at first and second with consecutive singles, bringing Juan Soto to the plate. Soto smacked a line drive single, which the left-handed Harris fielded on one hop, moving to his right. Then, without stopping to set his feet, Harris fired a strike to the plate. Luis Garcia, the Nationals’ speedy leadoff hitter, was out, and he was also stunned. His expression, clearly shown on TV, said this: “How in the world did that happen?”
Brian Snitker, the Braves manager, said more.
“Unbelievable play. My God,” Snitker said. “It was a game-changer obviously, but I didn’t think he had any chance, When he uncorked that thing, I was like, ‘Oh my Lord.’ It’s not like Garcia can’t run either.”
Announcers later told us the throw was measured at 94 mph. My God, indeed.
Now then, let’s take a look at what the Braves have done since Harris entered the lineup on May 28 when they were 22-24. They have won 32 games, lost only 13. They have reduced a 7.5-game New York Mets lead in the standings down to 2.5. They have done all this despite losing second baseman Ozzie Albies to injury and despite All-Star right fielder Ronald Acuna’s prolonged slump.
Harris has been the catalyst. Batting mostly at No. 9 in the order, he has scored 29 runs and driven in 26 more in 45 games. He is hitting .284 with eight home runs and stolen a base seven times (in seven attempts).
No telling how many runs he has saved in centerfield. He reminds this writer of a young Willie Mays, running down seemingly impossible-to-catch balls and turning doubles and triples into outs. His arm is as accurate as it is strong. He has turned the Braves’ outfield defense from mediocre to an obvious strength. Said Snitker of Harris, “When he’s out there in the grass, he’s a difference maker.”
Crazy as it sounds, had Harris been with the Braves the entire season, he surely would be playing in next week’s Major League All-Star Game. He has been that good. No, he’s been that sensational.
Mississippi’s hopeful medical marijuana dispensary owners are in turf wars across the state as they rush to get in applications to lay their stake in the new industry.
The Mississippi Department of Revenue has already received 111 applications for dispensaries, which it started accepting on July 1. That’s more than in any other business category and has led to $4.4 million in collected application fees.
“The dispensary applications have created a race of who could apply faster to mark their territory,” said Ken Newburger, the director of Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association. “When you start drawing circles around Mississippi – 1,000 feet away from churches, 1,500 feet away from every other dispensary – there’s not a lot of land left.”
Newburger was referring to the radius laws that prevent dispensaries from opening shops too close to schools, churches and competing stores.
So far, 27 businesses – including cultivators, processors, transporters and waste management – have applied for licenses with the Mississippi Department of Health, which is handling those businesses.
The health department has issued nine business-related licenses, giving a few companies clearance to begin growing marijuana crops.
Mockingbird Cannabis, one of the state’s early industry leaders, was among the first to receive its license. The company has invested $30 million into his 167,000-square-foot facility near Raymond, according to CEO Clint Peterson. The company has received four licenses so far to transport, dispose of, produce, and grow medical marijuana and medical marijuana products.
Another one of the other first businesses to get a license to grow marijuana is River Remedy and its executive director, Ridgeland native William Chism. Chism, a Yale graduate and former investment banker, took a leave of absence while getting his master’s in business administration at Harvard to shepherd the new company.
CEO of River Remedy William Chism
“I did not make the decision to leave business school for a year lightly but this is too important,” Chism said.
He had been watching the local industry from afar, but the timing to be part of the new wave of Mississippi business drew him back home.
Chism’s company has plans to grow, process, manufacture and sell medical marijuana. Their flagship store will be in Byram, where their 37,000-square-foot grow facility is already located.
“We’re going to be among the first to market,” said Chism, referring to medical marijuana products availability to patients. “We completed our cultivation construction and we’re ready to come to market fairly soon this fall.”
Remedy, Chism said, has positioned itself to be a midsize player in the new Mississippi industry. It is much larger than a micro-grower but not as large as some of the other companies early to the market.
Southern Crop, which already has medical marijuana businesses in Louisiana, also received licenses for cultivation and processing. The company’s CEO, pharmacist Randy J. Mire, announced the company was the first in Mississippi to get an issued license to begin growing marijuana and processing products on July 8. That will happen in its Meridian facility.
The state’s newly established businesses are also on the hunt for workers. Seventy-two people statewide are waiting on their permits to work in the medical marijuana industry and 58 already have received their permits, according to the health department.
Chism, for example, plans to hire about 40 people from cultivation technicians to traditional accounting and HR jobs. He said companies know Mississippians won’t have direct experience with the plant unless they’ve worked out of state and that shouldn’t deter people from applying.
“Really, it’s about learning quickly, strong attention to detail and a passion for what you’re doing,” Chism said.
Most of the state’s new medical marijuana businesses have advertised competitive pay, starting between $15 and $17 an hour.
The health department is still processing 40 applications for practitioners – nurses, doctors, optitricians – to be able to see patients. The department has given 24 licenses to practitioners, allowing them to prescribe medical marijauna cards to patients.
So far, only 13 patients have received medical marijuana cards and nine others have submitted applications. There is no medical marijuana yet available to purchase in Mississippi.
Newburger said that number isn’t an indication of demand.
“Patients aren’t jumping up and down to get a card they cannot use,” he said.
He expects that number to explode once medical marijuana products are close to being on sale and doctors and other providers better establish their new medical marijuana practices.
He said other businesses, such as cultivators and processors, will still steadily come on line as well. Many are dealing with supply chain slowdowns as they construct their growing facilities and finish plans.
The applications are also complex. Chism said when he put his in for cultivation on June 1, it totaled hundreds of pages of documents.
None of the more than 100 dispensary hopefuls have heard back yet on whether their applications have been accepted. By law, the department of revenue has 30 days to process them.
Hemp World co-owner DeAundrea Delaney arranges products for sale in the store she and her husband Santita Delaney opened in Starkville, Friday, Mar. 4, 2022. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Hemp World co-owner DeAundrea Delaney hopes to run a dispensary after years selling CBD. She was still putting on the finishing touches on her application this week.
“I’m taking my time and making sure everything is correct,” she said. “Application fees are nonrefundable.”
Between the costs to apply and the actual license, dispensaries are on the hook for $40,000.
Delaney hopes to open a dispensary in Pearl. She said potential dispensaries have been courteous, trying to figure out where others are going so they don’t interfere with each other. Ultimately, it’s a gamble and she doesn’t expect everyone to play nice.
“I didn’t know it would be 100 already,” she said Wednesday. “That’s exciting, but, gosh, I better hurry.”
State Auditor Shad White issued demand letters on Thursday to six former board members or employees of the Holmes County School District, totaling more than $200,000.
The school district was taken over by the Mississippi Department of Education in August 2021 following a nearly 400-page audit that found the district in violation of 81% of accreditation standards. The allegations included a dysfunctional school board and administration, improper spending, inaccurate record keeping and unlicensed teachers in the classroom.
Louise Winters (former school board president) –13,523.90
April Jones (former school board member) – $13,523.89
William Elder Dean Jr. (former school board member) – $13,523.89
Anthony Anderson (former school board member) – $24,623.90
The auditor’s office published a list of “notable findings” that led to the issuance of these demand letters, which included a party to celebrate the passage of a bond issue that Holmes County voters ultimately rejected, payments in excess of the superintendent’s approved salary, payments made to companies owned by the superintendent’s relatives, and credit card transitions without proper documentation.
“We are demanding this money back on behalf of the students and taxpayers of Holmes County who deserve to have their money spent in the way that the law requires,” White said in a press release.
The former superintendent and former school board president could not be reached for comment.
CLEVELAND — E.E. “Butch” Caston has come out of retirement twice in the last decade to work at Kent Wyatt Hall, the administration building at Delta State University.
The first time was in 2013 when Bill LaForge, then the university’s freshly inaugurated president, asked Caston, who had been a long-time administrator in the education college, to serve as interim vice president for academic affairs and provost. Two years later, Caston again returned as interim vice president for students affairs.
In a 2015 press release announcing Caston’s second return, LaForge called his “devotion and commitment” to Delta State University “legendary.”
On July 6, Caston un-retired once again, this time to lead Delta State as interim president after the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees announced LaForge’s sudden exit, citing the university’s plummeting enrollment and shaky financial position.
Caston will hold the position for a year as the IHL board undertakes a search process for the next permanent president, he told Mississippi Today. In that time, he said his highest priority is to bulk up enrollment and to identify goals the university can “reasonably accomplish.”
Caston sat down with Mississippi Today for a 35-minute interview on Wednesday to discuss his role as interim president, enrollment, town-gown relations and giving, and diversity, equity and inclusion. He was joined by Michelle Roberts, vice president executive affairs and chief of staff, and Brittany Davis-Green, director of communications.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Mississippi Today: I’m wondering if you could give us a sense of what the first five days on the job have consisted of for you — what your day-to-day looks like?
Butch Caston: The majority of my time has been spent meeting and listening and trying to absorb the state of the State, (the state) of the campus, and to get a feel for the leadership, some of whom I have not met, others with whom I’ve worked together for years, as a former employee here. So, that. (I’m) going through considerable materials. But my primary focus, in these first days, has been on connecting and establishing grounds for working relationships, and teaming … and also listening to community. Well wishers, (a) lot of well wishers. And people just expressing hope and support. I’ve gotten that from administration and staff who are here this summer, the 12-month employees. I’m eager for the faculty to get here next month, so that we can get on. A campus needs people. So I’m looking forward to that.
I know this campus, in that I was educated here myself. Undergraduate and a master’s. And then I returned in 1983 until ‘04, I was employed here as faculty and in administration. Then I came out of retirement three times in administrative VP positions. I did one VP at the W. In fact, that was my first out-of-retirement. I’ve enjoyed all of that. And I look forward to this.
MT: Can you talk a bit about what you see as the current state of the State? If you’ve identified priorities or goals for this interim period, and if you can talk a bit about how you arrive at priorities to focus on as the top-level administrator?
Caston: Sure, happy to talk about that. It’s (an) all-hands-on-deck kind of concept. It’s top-down, bottom-up. A lot of interaction. A lot of reordering, prioritizing – realistic prioritizing within a calendar period of time. What can we reasonably accomplish? There may be things that we want to do, and it may be a year three before we get there. So, first, identification, clear understanding, mutual acceptance of that understanding, and then prioritizing.
MT: Have you identified any of those clear goals yet?
Caston: No. Listening. A lot of listening, a lot of dialogue. When you meet with a body of half a dozen or more people, it takes time. The worst thing that can happen is for a group to feel pushed to get out the other side to get to a product. … If I were teaching a course in that aspect of administration, I would say never, ever force movement in the group. Move within the group, move with the group. So at this point, a lot of listening, a lot of restating what I think I’m hearing to get to a clear purging – everybody gets it out, whatever it is. And I can tell you, there are some outstanding people at the VP level here. And that’s who I’ve had available to me. And I’m very encouraged about that. I think my school is going to be fine.
MT: How will you be kind of communicating these priorities once you’ve identified them? What will the timeline for that look like? Like having a sense ready by fall semester?
Caston: I won’t predetermine that. We will move as forthrightly as we can, in a healthy way. I’m not going to drive people into the ground. There is structure, there’s some outstanding structure, and these people know their positions. It’s for me to guide. So, it’s not a one-man decision-making process. I’m a part of a group. It’s for me to create the atmosphere and the parameters for a scope of work. But these people have jobs. When they come and spend time with me, it needs to be concise, it needs to be definitive, and they need to get back to their primary responsibility.
So, you know, to say that we had a certain volume in terms of minutes of sessions, planning sessions. Phew. That, in itself, may be a terrible sign of leadership. So, an honest plan of communicating and relating, and everything, all of our efforts have to be pointed toward teaching and learning in the university. When the hard decisions come, I’ll follow the advice of my single greatest mentor, who was Dr. Kent Wyatt, former president here. He has always advocated, during the years I served with him, (that) for the hard decisions, where consensus was so hard, the guiding light was (to) do what’s best for the university. And I live that. I believe that.
MT: One of the biggest issues that is on everyone’s mind is the enrollment decline that Delta State has experienced during the pandemic. (Editor’s note: Enrollment has dropped by 27% since fall 2019 at Delta State – the largest drop of any public university in the state.) It seems like the enrollment issue facing the university is multifaceted and not necessarily just due to the pandemic. There are factors like the declining population of the Delta, other universities in the state having more resources and more reputable academic programs.
Do you have thoughts on why the university is seeing this enrollment decline, and what you think the university can do to improve the numbers?
Caston: Well, the last part of your question is my number one. What can we do? Enrollment is down. Population is down. Enrollment is the number one topic of mine. It will be the number one topic throughout my service time here. I am committed to a year of interim, during which time the board will meet its responsibilities of a search and a selection process. During that time, we will continue what has begun with our VP for student affairs, and our provost and VP for academic affairs. Those two gentlemen, who are relatively new here, they have an outstanding action plan that has us very excited. We will know on the 15th what our numbers are. I don’t want to jump the gun and step out there with a number. But I can tell you, the indicators are that we’re going to have a really nice size new student registration and enrollment –
MT: For the fall?
Caston: For the fall, yes. And we’ll see what that figure actually is. But I’m speaking of applications, people who are in the full process of being selected.
MT: What does that action plan entail?
Caston: In terms of recruitment?
MT: Mhm.
Caston: Oh. Of course, incoming, who are then housed here. Recruiters working contacts, using technology, using relationships, as well as out there in the field. But it’s pretty much done now. We’re right at registration, we’ll still have some – at the time of on-campus, when the campus opens, we’ll still have people coming in to register. So that number, it’s kind of like Christmas, you know. We’re just excited for it to get here. We’re not quite sure what it’s going to hold for us. But our indications, the indications are good.
MT: What happens if the university doesn’t improve its enrollment numbers?
Caston: Well, the work is ongoing. We will not give in. We’re here for the long haul. Delta State has enjoyed a wonderful reputation for years. And we’ll take recruitment as far out from campus as we need to go for us to have our coffers filled. So that would be the plan. The old football coach would say, ‘Huddle up, next play.’ You know?
MT: What is Delta State’s responsibility to the community here? What is its place? What role should Delta State play in the Delta and in Mississippi?
Caston: Delta State is a part of Cleveland, and Cleveland is a part of Delta State. One of the things that I just thoroughly enjoyed as a student, and later as an employee, (is) the closeness, the closeness. That has to be one of my priorities.
When I first came back here, almost 20 years after I left – at the time that I left, I was a high school teacher and coach. To come back and see some of my former students now adults, parents, and to see their kids enrolling? There is a strong, strong historical connect. Often it’s been stated, no IHL in Mississippi has a better town-gown than Cleveland and Delta State. Have you ever heard that?
MT: I have not.
Caston: You have not?
MT: I would love to know more about why that’s something people say.
Caston: Because they love their school. Support – mutual support. City government leaders and administration and faculty? Close, close, close. I see one of my former students here nodding. (Editor’s note: Caston was referring to Davis-Green, Delta State’s director of communication, who sat in on the interview.) It’s the way it is.
I came here from Baton Rouge when I was 18. And when I pulled – my parents drove me – we pulled up to the Coliseum … I thought, ‘Where in the world am I?’ That was in 1963. And six months later, I would have died for the place. I just felt embraced when I first got here, and it’s been that way for me.
You know, for a lot of young people who’ve had limited experiences given their station in life, their geography – nurturing is a big factor. When you just hear a student, standing at the elevator, and saying to another student, you know, ‘We didn’t have an elevator in my town.’ That’s – you just think about the adjustment, the challenge of the adjustment. This faculty – I’ve seen it, every time I’ve come out of retirement, I’ve found the same thing. That nurturing – kind of, come on, we can do it. I’ve had professors to say, ‘I can promise you, you will be successful if you come to class, and participate. If you don’t come, I’m not gonna worry about you. If you come, I’ll be here. And I’m gonna see that you get it done.’ Now that’s, that’s nurturing to me.
MT: You referenced town-gown relations. Another thing I’ve been seeing is that private donations and town-gown relations seem closely tied at Delta State. Can you talk about what kind of relationship you see yourself forging with local businesses and local donors?
Caston: I think it’s not an at-the-podium concept – me standing before. Me and others at the table. In the homes and at functions. People visiting the campus and feeling the atmosphere and the environment, and also seeing the need. I think people who see the need – you know, we see terrible things happen in a country. And all of a sudden there’s an outpouring of millions of dollars, you know, people, unsolicited, contributing to a terrible tragedy. I’m not saying there’s a tragedy, but I’m saying need. Need gets response from a caring community. I’m not worried about that up here.
MT: What is the need that you would like for the community to see?
Caston: Funds to meet student needs. Teaching and learning. Every nickel we spend, it should track to teaching and learning. I think we can do that. At first blush, you might think, well how in the world can you say such and such connects to teaching and learning? Well, the guy on the weed eater out here on the back forty? That contributes to teaching and learning. We have a pretty campus. Somebody’s got to keep that. It’ll go to seed quickly. Facilities. We have some old buildings, worrisome buildings, you know? And we’re going to have to make some hard decisions in that regard.
I don’t mind hard decisions. I want healthy contribution to get to the decision.
MT: I was looking back through the Delta State College Foundation 990s to get a sense of private giving. It looks like it’s never stayed at one consistent level. It’s jumped around from about $2 million to $6 million, then back to $2 million. But it looks like from 2018 to 2019, it (contributions) took a big tumble. I was wondering if private donations are down to the university? And if you can talk a little more about how that affects the university’s budget?
Caston: I haven’t gotten into it yet, so I really can’t. I can say that I believe it reflects the economy. Donors invest money. And it’s from earnings from their investments that they contribute to places like here. So it stands if they have $50 million, and they’re losing money this quarter, then we are too. It reflects the larger system.
MT: Mhm. And the whole IHL system. I’m wondering, without better public funding, what can the university do to address the issues caused by state budget cuts?
Caston: This school has gotten more out of the dollar. I can tell you, people talk about institutions and they have a lot of fat in their budget. Delta State has never enjoyed fat. We’ve never claimed to be fat.
Now, it has been said before at the state level. The best fiscally managed institution is Delta State. It gets more done with less money. But here’s where that bites. A small institution like this, that operates on a very lean budget. If you’re in the budget year – you know what I’m gonna say? Cuts. Appropriations are cut mid-year? We don’t have any fat, right?
MT: There’s nothing to lean on?
Caston: That’s right. That’s right. So you know, what’s the hope there? Please don’t cut during the fiscal year. We’ll deal with it. End of fiscal year, start of next year. That’s where very careful planning and scrutiny and evaluation of finances and personnel. Biggest part of the budget is people. And we’ve got to help people. We’ve been lucky to have good people.
I have known people – employees, faculty, I’ve done it myself – turn down much higher paying jobs. You know why? Happy, they’re happy where they are. I’m happy here. I wouldn’t go out of state. I’m already past that. I’m an old man.
MT: I want to move to asking a bit about faculty. There was a recent PEER report that looked at tenured positions at the IHL schools, and Delta State was the only university to not hire a tenured professor in the last three years. (Editor’s note: The PEER report shows that Delta State actually has not directly hired a tenure professor from fiscal year 2017 to fiscal year 2021, a five-year period.) From (fiscal year) 2019 to 2021, the university lost 13 tenure-track faculty, which is the largest loss among the regional colleges in Mississippi.
What effect does faculty retention have on the university? And how will you work to make Delta State a place where faculty want to stay for a long time?
Caston: I don’t think it’s a matter of wanting or not wanting to stay. I think it’s a matter of providing for one’s family. When I came here as a student, the overwhelming majority of the faculty were from in state. Through the decades and years, that has become far, far more global. Not only within the US, but certainly outside of Mississippi. In that regard, I think for a large number of reasons that don’t reflect necessarily on Delta State, we see a more fluid population. And the saving grace is the environment here, the nurturing of one another, and we do grow our own to some degree. I’m a product.
When I lived in Mississippi, but in South Mississippi, I had people come to my home, friends of mine, tearful that I was making a terrible mistake to leave one place and move back to Cleveland. And they said, well, ‘How do you explain, help me understand?’ My answer, and I remember it clearly, that was years ago that happened – (was) ‘You would have to have lived there and did your college degree, work there, to understand.’ So I didn’t want, there wasn’t any way – they were convinced that I was making a mistake. I knew what I was going to. I said, ‘I know exactly where I’m going. And I’m going there because I want to go there.’ And I honestly feel–
MT: When was that?
Caston: That was, give me a second here. ‘83. 1983.
MT: Diversity, equity, inclusion efforts are really important to many on campus. Specifically, I’m thinking of the Winning the Race conference. And I’m wondering, how will you help these efforts grow?
Caston: Well, that will be one of my questions to the appropriate audience here. And with input from the community, the – actually, my sense of that, I have some limited knowledge in that regard. The numbers are down in terms of participants, especially outside of the campus. The highest percentage of participation, I believe, would come from faculty and staff on campus–
MT: For the Winning the Race conference?
Caston: Yeah, for Winning the Race.
And my experience through the years on initiatives like that. You reload, revise, sometimes you discontinue, you know? If there’s a need, and there’s an audience, there has to be a reason why there isn’t an audience and so that you explore that carefully, and you come with a revised edition, whatever that might be. So that’ll be something of interest to look – at all those types of social topics, if you will.
MT: What does looking at them entail?
Caston: Well, I think your key participants on campus, organizers, planners, leaders – and invited attendees. I think you go to the table with it and look at what you have. How – if we’re, if our attendance is waning, can we determine why? And we probe. And we’re influenced by what we find. And so we come out the other side with continuation of what we had, revise what we had, it could even be discontinued, renamed, you know, refitted. So.
MT: What are the numbers on the conference?
Caston: I couldn’t tell you, but it’s available if you need that information. I think we can get that for you.
Caston: I have some awareness about that, having been a student athlete here. But I was away during that period when she played. But I met her. I’m fully aware of who she is, I’m fully aware who Margaret Wade is. I was close to her during my years as a student. You know, Margaret Wade’s – the Wade trophy is the female version of the Heisman trophy for men in football.
The matter of naming is a very structured – you’re familiar with that? It’s very structured by the state of Mississippi. And so Delta State may suggest, may recommend but it’s – that is determined at state level, has to flow through the college board, so there are options on recognizing excellence. I think we look at all our options. If one door closes, try to find another door to open kind-of-thing.
MT: We’re entering the sixth wave of COVID. I know that the university has relaxed its COVID policies as have pretty much every IHL school. What are you doing to mitigate the effects of the next wave of the pandemic?
Caston: Continue what we’re doing. Good health practices, early intervention. And I would add, reasonable intervention, and stay the course. And don’t panic. And have faith we’re gonna feel the sun.
MT: What does that look like specifically, do you have that sorted out yet?
Caston: It hasn’t been a topic in my first five days. I can tell you that. Because the university has an established, adopted plan, and it follows it carefully.
MT: Faculty are always really curious about IHL’s personnel decisions – not just faculty, but anyone who watches the IHL board closely. I’m wondering if you can sort of walk us through how you came into this job, and why you decided to take this role now.
Caston: I was contacted by the IHL Commissioner. And he communicated to me the desire for the board to invite me to serve as interim until a search could be conducted and a permanent president be named. I agreed to do that. That’s exactly how it happened.
MT: When did they reach out to you?
Caston: I won’t be able to recall the exact date. It was, at the time that – it was right at the time that they made the announcement. It was like one day to the next. It was pretty tight.
MT: Is there something, a question I haven’t brought up that you want to talk about, or something you want to use this interview to communicate to the people who are going to read it?
Caston: No.
MT: Well, that’s everything.
Caston: Sure, okay. Suits me. Suits me. Come visit.
From Anna Wolfe’s story: “Attorneys are wrangling Mississippi’s former governor into the welfare department’s massive civil lawsuit, which one attorney called a “no-holds-barred death match.””
A poll commissioned by the ACLU of Mississippi reports 51% of Mississippians oppose the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Mississippi case that overturned the longstanding Roe v. Wade right to abortion.
The survey reported that only 18% of those polled believe abortion should be illegal in all cases, with 81% believing it should be legal with some restrictions and 32% saying it should be legal in all cases.
The poll also delved into state politics, including the favorability/unfavorability of the governor, lieutenant governor, House speaker and the Legislature.
The live poll was conducted from June 28 to July 6 of 872 likely Mississippi voters by Blueprint Polling, sister company to Mississippi-based Chism Strategies, which often does work for Democratic politicians. Results were weighted by age, race and gender of a likely general election turnout with a margin of error of +/- 3.3%. Those polled included 402 Republicans, 285 Democrats and 170 independents.
The poll also reported:
46% said women in Mississippi should have the choice to have an abortion up to 16 weeks of pregnancy, with 43% saying no.
49% said they oppose women being able to access online pharmacies to order an FDA approved “abortion pill,” while 47% said they should have access. But 86% said they oppose any law allowing state or police officials to monitor or review a woman’s internet history to see if they’ve ordered such medication. And 48% said doctors should be able to prescribe the medication through telehealth services, with 46% opposed.
83% said women should not be criminally investigated or prosecuted for possibly having an abortion, with only 6% saying they should.
71% said they do not view emergency contraception such as IUDs and Plan B as methods of abortion.
76% of respondents support expanding postpartum Medicaid coverage for mothers — a measure that died in the Legislature this year — and the same percent support overall expansion of Medicaid, including 59% of Republicans surveyed.
In 2011, Mississippians voted 58%-42% against a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have defined a fertilized egg as a person in an effort to ban abortions. In the new survey, 54% said they would oppose lawmakers passing a similar law now, with 38% saying they would support it.
The poll showed Gov. Tate Reeves with a net favorability of -12.3. For Reeves, the breakdown of respondents to the poll includes:
Very favorable: 12.5%
Somewhat favorable: 19.2%
Neutral: 14.2%
Somewhat unfavorable: 12.1%
Very unfavorable: 31.9%
He remains generally favorable among Republicans, according to the poll, with 55% finding him favorable and 21% finding him unfavorable. Among white voters polled, 42% found him favorable and 32% found him unfavorable.
The survey reported Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann with a net favorability of +10 and House Speaker Philip Gunn at -3.7. But 35% said they didn’t know enough about Hosemann to rate him, and 45% said the same for Gunn.
The state Legislature, according to the poll, was also underwater with voters, with a net favorability of -12.6.
Mississippi’s foster care agency is failing to prevent abuse and neglect of children in state custody despite its commitments to do so as part of a long-running federal lawsuit, documents obtained by Mississippi Today show.
And Gov. Tate Reeves, who oversees the agency and has recently vowed to make the state safer for children, has downplayed the agency’s problems and failed to propose concrete solutions.
A Mississippi toddler named Olivia Y. weighed only 22 pounds when she entered state custody in 2003. Though she was obviously malnourished, she was not given a medical exam. Over the next three months, she was shuffled across five different foster homes.
The lawsuit that bears her name was filed in 2004, when she was 3-and-a-half years old, on behalf of the thousands of children in the state foster care system. The state first agreed to a settlement requiring it to make systemic reforms in 2008, but has never fully complied with the terms of that and later settlement agreements.
An independent monitor evaluated the department’s progress toward meeting its commitments in reports released in 2020 and 2021 that were never publicized. The reports documented major systemic failures and gut-wrenching stories. About 2% of all children in department custody were subjected to abuse or neglect by their caregivers in 2020, the monitor found – and advocates believe many more incidents of abuse are never reported.
The department acknowledged in June 2021 that it was not capable of achieving its targets and instead agreed to a “rebuilding period.” It is working toward reaching a smaller number of less stringent standards in areas such as worker caseloads and child safety by early 2023. The next monitoring report will not be filed until April 2023.
Yet Reeves has already determined the department is up to par.
In a statement to Mississippi Today, Reeves spokeswoman Shelby Wilcher said the most recent monitoring report, which evaluated the department’s work in calendar year 2020, does not reflect its “current efficacy.”
“Governor Reeves believes current child protection services in Mississippi meet and exceed constitutional standards,” she said.
It’s not clear what he meant by “constitutional standards.”
Marcia Robinson Lowry, the lead plaintiffs’ attorney in the federal case against the state, has met regularly with CPS Commissioner Andrea Sanders, whom Reeves appointed, during the last two years. Lowry disagrees with Reeves’ claim.
“That’s appalling,” Lowry said of Reeves’ statement. “I don’t know what he means by that. I hope that we are all paying attention to the wellbeing of Mississippi’s children, both the advocates and the governor, because the reports that the monitor has issued show that there are big, big problems in the Mississippi system. And they need to be addressed. And they haven’t been. So I’m sort of appalled at that.”
Lowry said she believes Sanders has been making strong efforts to achieve the department’s rebuilding period targets, but it’s still unclear whether they will succeed. Lowry said the details of her meetings with Sanders are confidential.
The department told Mississippi Today it cannot comment on the ongoing litigation.
Wilcher did not respond to follow-up questions about how Reeves reached his conclusion and whether he has seen more recent data showing rates of abuse and neglect.
Among the problems documented in the most recent reports:
High rates of abuse and neglect of children in department custody. In 2019, 87 kids were abused or neglected. In 2020, the figure was 117, nearly six times the agreed-upon rate. During the rebuilding period, the independent monitor is conducting an analysis to determine why these cases occurred.
Four teenagers in department custody ran away from the group home where they were living and became involved in sex trafficking in 2019. When the department investigated, one of the girls who had run away reported that they “were not really being supervised.” But the CPS investigator never interviewed facility staff to find out whether that might have played a role in their escape – even though they also knew that incidents of kids running away from the facility had triggered at least 28 previous investigations. By the time the investigation wrapped up, one of the four teenagers was still missing.
The monitor found: “A foster child, age ten, and adoptive child, age 11, were left home to care for a foster child, age one. He was not changed regularly and had diaper rash. The older children changed his diaper, gave him a bath, and cleaned him with baby wipes because he was always filthy. MDCPS substantiated physical neglect of the one-year-old, but neglect was unsubstantiated for the other two children, who were caregivers for him. In interviews, the children also alleged that the foster mother called them names, cursed at them, ‘whooped’’ them with belts, shoes, and other objects, and smoked around them in the home and the car. As a result of this investigation, the 10-year-old was removed from the home. However, the one-year-old remained in the home for two months, and the 11- year-old adopted child and an older adopted youth still remain in the home.”
The department placed a 17-year-old girl in a motel for a month and a half and hired a rotating group of sitters from a sitter service to watch her. It conducted two maltreatment investigations. In the first, “it was alleged that the child had taken a beer from a man staying at the motel, that she had ‘found’ $400 and split it with one of the sitters, and that she was sending inappropriate pictures of herself through social media.” The department removed her phone and did not substantiate allegations of physical neglect. It then removed her from the motel and placed her in a group home. The child then reported that while she was in the motel, one of the sitters regularly took her to their home, where “she had sexual relations with the sitter’s 47-year-old uncle ‘three to four times weekly’ and that it was consensual.” The department found that physical neglect and sexual abuse had occurred, and the investigator noted that the report was forwarded to local police but that they could not bring charges because Mississippi’s age of consent is 16. “However, the investigating worker also noted that if an exchange occurred for sex, the age of consent is then 18 years of age. It appears the Department did not follow up on this.”
“A 19-year-old was placed and re-placed in a hotel repeatedly, including three times after being hospitalized for ingesting harmful objects such as a razor, broken glass, and a large quantity of pills, and once after running away from the hotel and being returned there by the police.”
Higher-than-allowable worker caseloads. The department is supposed to ensure 90% of all caseworkers have a caseload that meets standards allowing them to provide adequate care and oversight. In 2019 and 2020, this figure ranged from 48% to 68%.
The department failed to consistently provide older teens with assistance planning for independent life after leaving state custody, including help lining up housing, even when they specifically asked for it. In the case of one Mississippian who left state custody on their 21st birthday, “Case narrative notes documented the youth’s desire for an apartment for several months prior to emancipation. There was no documentation that the youth ever received assistance from MDCPS in finding housing.”
At a press event on Wednesday where the Governor and First Lady announced the theme of this year’s “Christmas at the Mansion,” Mississippi Today attempted to ask Reeves in person about how he reached his conclusion that MDCPS is meeting and exceeding “constitutional standards” to protect the kids in its care.
“I’m not going to take any questions on that today,” he said. “I’m going to be out and about tomorrow. We’ll talk politics at the appropriate time.”
(This year’s theme is “Mississippi Hometown Christmas.”)
In 2020, the department met only 32 of 123 targets. It failed to meet 75, and the monitor couldn’t evaluate the remaining areas because of data issues.
In 2019, the department met 39 of 126 commitments. It did not meet 54 areas and failed to provide data or complete data for 32.
In the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the end of nearly all abortion in Mississippi, Reeves has touted a “new pro-life agenda.” But his proposals for the state’s foster care system so far have largely amounted to a pledge to “strengthen adoption services.”
Earlier this year, the Legislature approved nearly $60 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act for the department, which will in part be used to hire about 200 new employees to work through a “backlog” of cases.
A spokesperson for the department did not answer questions regarding plans for the ARPA spending, saying the person best equipped to answer them is out of the office this week. Lawmakers did not respond to requests for comment or did not recall the specifics of the department’s plans for its ARPA funding.
When Mississippi Today asked Reeves’ office for information about his work on foster care issues, they pointed to a press conference he held in April where they said the department was discussed “in detail.” During the press conference, he announced an expanded “public-private partnership” with a nonprofit program called Wendy’s Wonderful Kids to help find adoptive homes for special needs children and older kids in foster care. With a $1.7 million donation from the Dave Thomas Foundation, the program will expand from one recruiter in the state to 10.
At the same event, Reeves signed into law a bill that will provide college scholarships for young people who spent at least part of their teenage years in foster care. Thirty-eight states already had such programs.
But the problems documented in the monitoring reports go far beyond barriers to adoption and college access.
According to the reports, adoption is the long-term goal for 39% of kids in state custody; only 22% who left department care in 2020 were adopted.
For half of kids in state custody, the long-term goal is reunification with their families. Caseworkers are supposed to meet monthly with the families of kids in that category to discuss progress and the child’s well-being. But the monitors found this happened less than half of the time.
When CPS Commissioner Andrea Sanders presented her request for ARPA funding to legislators in December, she noted that a very small amount of resources can sometimes allow a child to avoid state custody altogether.
“We do want to start with where the child is and look for ways that we might prevent removal of that child,” she said. “What would it take to get a child to stay in their home safely? Sometimes it’s just a bed. Sometimes it’s a safe place to sleep. Sometimes it’s a mitigation of a heating system in the house that’s unsafe for the child to be around.”
The number of children in state custody has fallen 33% since 2017, from 5,872 to 3,888 in June 2022, according to data the department shared with Mississippi Today. The monitoring report showed that at the end of 2020, there were 3,738 kids in department custody.
The reports also document the department’s progress in several areas, including:
The department licensed 357 new non-relative foster homes in 2020, exceeding the target of 351. “This is a significant accomplishment made during the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a significant impact on child welfare operations throughout the nation,” the report noted.
The department ran a system of post-adoption services statewide, providing adoptive families access to counseling, mental health treatment and crisis intervention, peer support and respite services.
At least 95% of children in custody were placed in the least restrictive setting (i.e., the one most similar to a family environment) that met their needs.
The department’s caseworkers met educational qualifications and received adequate training.
Mississippi advocates for children have witnessed other problems with the system beyond those discussed in the reports.
Polly Tribble leads Disability Rights Mississippi, the nonprofit advocacy organization with statutory authority to advocate for Mississippians with disabilities. In the last year, she said, her organization has contacted MDCPS roughly 10 times because a foster child – generally with a psychiatric diagnosis of some kind – has been languishing in an inpatient residential facility long past when they should be released.
“A few of them have been appropriately placed in a foster home or a therapeutic foster home, but more times than not they’re just transferred to another facility, or left,” she said. “… And of course the facility’s not going to turn them away.”
Tribble said kids can spend years in such facilities.
Joy Hogge, executive director of the nonprofit Families as Allies, which advocates for children with behavioral health challenges and their caregivers, said one of the biggest problems facing the foster care system in Mississippi is a deeply ingrained sense that people who lose custody of their kids don’t really deserve to be parents.
“There’s a lot of prejudice against the families, and assumptions made about them,” she said.
Hogge said that when reunification is possible – as it is in at least half of cases, according to the monitoring reports – it’s important to support children in seeing their families and siblings, and in helping biological families get what they need.
“There’s a philosophy that these are bad parents, we need to take these children from them,” she said. “It’s the same thing you’re seeing now: ‘We need to make adoption really easy.’”
Read the monitoring report completed in 2021:
Read the monitoring report completed in 2020:
Read the June 2021 order describing the rebuilding period:
The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for children six months and older are now available at all county health departments. Vaccination for that age group has been available in Mississippi since June 20, but the shots weren’t available at every health department office until this week.
The Mississippi State Department of Health recommends vaccination for everyone six months and older, but stresses the importance of vaccination for older individuals and people with weakened immune systems or underlying health problems. The Department estimates that there are 160,000 children aged six months to five years old in Mississippi.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccines for use in this age group under an emergency use authorization on June 18, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed the move the following day.
Mississippi’s COVID-19 case load has been steadily increasing since May, and the state is currently averaging 1,213 new cases per day. There has been a less pronounced increase in hospitalizations over the same period, and the death rate has stayed about the same.
With cases on the rise and students returning to classrooms next month, some parents are relieved to finally be able to get their small children vaccinated. Jackson resident Ashley Rogers’ 3-year-old daughter Elizabeth will be starting pre-K at McWillie Elementary next month. She received her first dose on Monday.
“Knowing that she was going to be in a larger school setting with more children and more exposure and more movement made us even more excited for her to qualify for this vaccine,” Rogers said.
In its analyses of Pfizer and Moderna data released in June, the FDA said both vaccines are effective in preventing symptomatic infection from COVID-19. Pfizer’s vaccine appeared 80% effective at preventing a symptomatic COVID-19 infection in children under five. Moderna’s vaccine was around 40% to 50% effective for children under 6.
Both vaccines use the same messenger RNA technology as the adult formulations, but the dosage and regimens for young children differ. Moderna’s regimen will include two doses at one-quarter the strength of adult doses, while Pfizer’s requires three doses at one-tenth the strength of adult doses.
More than 30,000 children younger than 5 have been hospitalized with COVID-19 in the U.S., and nearly 500 coronavirus deaths have been reported in that age group, according to United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy.
In Mississippi, children under 5 have comprised less than 5% of the state’s monthly COVID-19 cases for the majority of the pandemic.
Vaccines for infants are also available at Children’s of Mississippi’s Batson Kids Clinic. Dr. April Palmer, professor and chief of the pediatric infectious diseases division at UMMC, said COVID-19 vaccinations are effective and safe.
A study co-authored by Palmer’s colleague Dr. Charlotte Hobbs, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at UMMC, showed the primary series of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccinations reduced the risk of hospitalization by 68% during the Omicron wave.
“COVID-19 vaccines have been proven to be safe for children, as millions of doses have been given to adults and children during the past 15 months,” Palmer said. “Many children have mild symptoms or no symptoms with COVID-19, but some children have become seriously ill and needed hospitalization for COVID symptoms and complications, and some children have died. COVID-19 vaccination protects children and can prevent them from spreading the virus to others in their family.”
Dr. Anita Henderson, president of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said her clinic has been providing the Moderna vaccine to children six months and up since June 24 with no problems. Parents have even reported that their children experienced fewer side effects than with other routine shots.
“We are seeing a significant surge of COVID-19 right now with the latest Omicron BA.5 variant,” Henderson said. “It is the most contagious and the most immune evasive, meaning previous infections with pre-Omicron variants offer little protection. Now is the time to get yourself and your family vaccinated and boosted if eligible.”
Attorneys are wrangling Mississippi’s former governor into the welfare department’s massive civil lawsuit, which one attorney called a “no-holds-barred death match.”
The attorney for the state agency is subpoenaing the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation for any of its communication with former Gov. Phil Bryant and his wife Deborah Bryant.
The Mississippi Department of Human Services filed a civil lawsuit in May accusing dozens of people — including retired NFL quarterback and famed USM alumnus Brett Favre — of misspending or wrongly receiving welfare funds.
But the complaint did not name the athletic foundation, even though it received $5 million in welfare funds to build a new volleyball stadium at USM — one of the more egregious revelations in a sprawling $77 million welfare scandal that broke in 2020. The complaint doesn’t mention the volleyball building at all.
A subpoena filed Monday may signal the state’s intent to add the USM scheme to the civil complaint and explore whether the Bryants are culpable. The subpoena also asks for any communication between USM athletic foundation board members or employees and Favre, nonprofit founder Nancy New, her sons Zach New and Jess New, former welfare department director John Davis and retired wrestler Ted “Teddy” DiBiase Jr.
The private attorney the welfare agency contracted to bring the civil suit, former U.S. attorney Brad Pigott, also filed a notice Monday with an initial list of people he’s calling to testify, which does not include Bryant.
In order by date, the deposition schedule includes: Zach New, Jesse New, Nicholas Coughlin, Adam Such, Nancy New, Christi Webb, Paul LaCoste, Jacob VanLandingham, Brett Favre, Teddy DiBiase Jr., Brian Smith, Ted DiBiase Sr. and Heart of David Ministries, and Austin Smith.
Nancy and Zach New have pleaded guilty to several criminal charges, including bribery and fraud. In his plea, Zach New admitted to defrauding the government by disguising payments to the athletic foundation, which were used to construct the volleyball facility, as a “lease.” The News received a favorable plea deal that may keep them out of state prison, as long as they cooperate with the ongoing investigation. Davis is also still facing several charges.
Favre was the fiercest proponent of the project at USM, his alma mater and where his daughter played on the volleyball team. He connected with Nancy New, Deborah Bryant’s friend, who was receiving tens of millions in no-bid grants from the welfare department to provide services to needy families.
“She has strong connections and gave me 5 million for Vball facility via grant money,” he later told his business partner, according to text messages Mississippi Today obtained and published in its investigative series “The Backchannel.”
New and her nonprofit, Mississippi Community Education Center, perpetuated this scheme within the state’s view and with its support. To get away with using block grant funds to build a volleyball stadium, the News entered a $5 million lease agreement with the athletic foundation to use the university’s athletic facilities for welfare programming. The money would be used to build the volleyball stadium, which they called a “Wellness Center.” The plan was for the nonprofit to set up offices in the campus building, where it claimed it would educate needy families.
The Institutes of Higher Learning and the attorney general’s office signed off on the project, IHL board meeting minutes reflect.
The New nonprofit made two $2.5 million payments to the foundation, one in November and another in December of 2017, according to the state auditor’s office.
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Also in December of 2017, the nonprofit paid Favre’s company Favre Enterprises $500,000, the auditor found. New said in a recent court filing that Gov. Bryant directed her to make those payments to Favre for “speaking at events, keynote speaking, radio and promotional events, and business partner development.”
The nonprofit paid Favre another $600,000 in June of 2018 for a total of $1.1 million.
About a year later, Favre began telling the welfare officials that he “owed” the same amount, $1.1 million, that he had apparently committed to the USM volleyball facility.
“Hey brother Deanna and still owe 1.1 million on Vball,” Favre texted Davis, the welfare director, in March of 2019, referring to his wife, Deanna Favre. “Any chance you and Nancy can help with that? They don’t need it at the moment.”
Three months later, the state auditor’s investigation into Davis and the welfare department’s spending would begin, and the grant money for Favre’s volleyball stadium never came.
Around the same time, Favre was also working with welfare officials to move grant funds to a pharmaceutical startup called Prevacus, a company at the center of the initial criminal charges against the News. Favre was investing in Prevacus himself — around $1 million of his own money, he told Men’s Health magazine in 2019 — and expected to strike it rich.
“You and Nancy stuck your neck out for me with jake and Prevacus,” he texted Davis, referring to Prevacus founder Jake Vanlandingham.
The former governor was also working with Favre on the Prevacus project. While Favre told Bryant by text that the company was working with Nancy New and Davis and receiving funds from Mississippi, Bryant denies knowing Prevacus had received public funds, saying he didn’t read his texts carefully enough.
Favre was desperate for funding on two fronts, according to his text messages. He was expecting for New to fund additional construction on the volleyball facility as well as another pharmaceutical product, a cream to prevent concussions, that Vanlandingham cooked up.
“Hey Governor we are in a little bit of a crunch,” Favre texted Bryant in mid-July 2019. “Nancy New who is wonderful and has helped me many times was gonna fund this pregame cream that we can be selling really soon. Well she can only do a small portion now. Jake can explain more but bottom line we need investors and need your direction.”
“Will get with Jake..” the governor responded, “will help all I can.”
Bryant then agreed to accept stock in Prevacus and lobby on its behalf after he left office, before the 2020 arrests derailed his arrangement, Mississippi Today first uncovered in “The Backchannel” series.
Bryant’s involvement in the volleyball project has not been officially scrutinized, until now.
Bryant told Mississippi Today in April that he was aware of Favre’s USM volleyball vision.
“That volleyball thing kept coming up, and popping up, and then it’d go away,” he said.
In the fall of 2019, after the auditor’s investigation had begun, Bryant hosted a meeting at his office with Favre, Nancy New and Bryant’s newly appointed welfare director Christopher Freeze.
“I remember Brett coming one time,” Bryant said. “I wanted to find out where this project was. ‘What is going on with that volleyball project at Southern Miss?’ So I said, ‘Look, Brett wanted to meet. Let’s call him in. Let’s get Chris in there. Tell me about this.’”
Bryant told Mississippi Today that New asked for more funding to put into the volleyball project and he denied her request.
Today, the building is finished and USM volleyball matches are happening there. Services for needy families, however, are not.
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