From Omaha, the Clevelands recount the Rebels’ amazing run to the national baseball championship. As Mississippi State did in maroon last year, Ole Miss fans painted Omaha red and blue as the Rebels finished an amazing run to the national championship. Tyler watched from the stands. Rick was in the press box working. They recount the scene and the Ole Miss heroics.
Mississippi Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann on Monday announced he was creating a nine-member “Senate Study Group on Women, Children and Families” after the U.S. Supreme Court’s abortion decision last week.
In a press release, Hosemann said the committee would be tasked with making recommendations to the Legislature on policies pertaining to families and children from birth to 3 years old. These, he said, may include making adoption easier and improving foster care, helping children in state custody, and improving child support and child care.
On Friday, House Speaker Philip Gunn announced he would create the “Speaker’s Commission on the Sanctity of Life,” to examine issues and policies affecting mothers and children.
Republicans Hosemann, Gunn and Gov. Tate Reeves have praised the high court’s decision on a Mississippi case last week that overturns the decades-old Roe v. Wade decision providing women abortion rights. But the three said the decision also requires Mississippi leaders to provide more resources to help mothers, children and families.
Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation, suffers from lack of prenatal, postnatal and all other forms of health care. It also has the highest infant mortality rate in the nation and one of the highest maternal death rates. It has for years faced federal court decrees to address its substandard foster care and children’s services system.
On Monday Hosemann said: “From increasing opportunities for early education to addressing health care availability, the Senate has approved common sense legislation which supports our mothers and babies. I look forward to reviewing the recommendations from this diverse group of lawmakers on these critical issues.”
Gunn has steadfastly opposed Medicaid expansion to cover the working poor and earlier this year torpedoed a Senate proposal backed by Hosemann to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage for Mississippi mothers.
Hosemann is the only one of the state’s top three leaders who’s said he’s open to discussion about expanding Medicaid, which would provide the state about $1 billion a year in federal funds to provide health coverage for the working poor.
Hosemann said his new study committee will be chaired by Sen. Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford and will include Sens. Kevin Blackwell, Hob Bryan, Dean Kirby, Rod Hickman, Angela Hill, Chad McManan, Angela Turner-Ford and Brice Wiggins. Hosemann said the committee will hold public hearings in the late summer or early fall and hear testimony from state agencies, experts and others.
Gunn indicated his commission would have lawmakers and advocates making recommendations to the House for policies to help women’s and children’s wellbeing.
An all but forgotten 1998 ruling by the state Supreme Court declaring a right to an abortion is granted in the state Constitution could prolong the fight over abortion in Mississippi despite last week’s landmark decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
The Mississippi Supreme Court in the 1998 decision, Pro-Choice Mississippi v. Kirk Fordice, said that the state Constitution — not just the U.S. Constitution — also granted abortion rights.
The Pro-Choice Mississippi v. Fordice decision would supersede Mississippi’s trigger law, passed in 2007 by the Legislature, that stated that abortion would be illegal in the state after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Jackson Women’s Health Organization has filed a lawsuit in Hinds County Chancery Court arguing the trigger law is invalid because of the constitutional right to an abortion spelled out by the state Supreme Court in the 1998 decision. The lawsuit also will contend a separate state law that bans abortions after six weeks also should be invalid because of the same ruling. A federal court injunction blocking the six-week law from taking effect will be lifted based on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last Friday overturning Roe v. Wade.
“The Mississippi Supreme Court’s 1998 decision interpreting the Mississippi Constitution exists completely independent of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions about the federal Constitution. It is binding precedent.” said Rob McDuff of the Mississippi Center for Justice and who was an attorney on the 1998 lawsuit. “As confirmed by the Mississippi Supreme Court in that case, the decision about whether and when to have children belongs to individuals and families, not to the state’s politicians.”
Under the trigger law, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch is charged with certifying that Roe v. Wade had been overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Fitch, whose office filed the lawsuit in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization leading to the reversal of Roe, filed the certification Monday morning, meaning abortions in the state will be illegal within 10 days except in the cases of the mother’s life being in danger and of a law enforcement-reported rape. It is not clear how the lawsuit will impact the certification and how abortion will be handled in the state while the lawsuit is adjudicated.
The 1998 decision was written by then-Justice Michael Sullivan of Hattiesburg. He was joined by four other members of the nine-person court.
Sullivan wrote, “The right to privacy in article III, § 32, of the Mississippi Constitution encompasses the right to autonomous bodily integrity. The right to choose to have an abortion, like many other medical procedures, is included in the right to autonomous bodily integrity. While we do not find the Mississippi Constitution to provide an explicit right to an abortion, abortion is protected within the penumbras of the right to privacy.”
The 1998 case was filed by Pro-Choice Mississippi challenging restrictions placed on abortion by the state, such as requiring a 24-hour waiting period after receiving counseling at the abortion clinic, requiring licensing of the abortion clinics and requiring consent of both parents for minors to receive an abortion. The court ruled that those restrictions were allowable and not an undue burden on women, but still recognized a right to an abortion under the Mississippi Constitution.
The groups involved in filing the lawsuit for Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the last abortion clinic in the state, are the Mississippi Center for Justice, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison,
“Abortion remains legal in Mississippi,” said Hillary Schneller, senior staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights. “We will continue to work to ensure that every Mississippian can make their own decisions about their body, their lives, their relationships and their families.”
Mississippi is one of 13 states with a trigger law. But as Mississippi’s trigger law has been discussed in the state and nationwide, no one has taken into account the fact that the state Supreme Court has said the Mississippi Constitution protects the right to an abortion.
Apparently, Mississippi legislators also had forgotten about the 1998 state Supreme Court decision when they passed the trigger law in 2007.
“The government should not be deciding matters of childbirth for the women and families of Mississippi,” said Vangela M. Wade, president and CEO of Mississippi Center for Justice.
Editor’s note: Vangela M. Wade is a member of Mississippi Today’s board of directors.
Mississippi Today on Saturday won awards for its investigative reporting, COVID-19 coverage and general excellence at the Mississippi Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.
This is the first year the Ridgeland-based online news publication competed in the contest.
Forty-four MPA member newsrooms submitted a total of 1,981 entries in the 2021 editorial division contest. Judging was conducted in the spring by volunteers from the South Carolina Press Association.
Mississippi Today staff members Adam Ganucheau, Geoff Pender, Will Stribling, Kate Royals, Vickie King, Bobby Harrison, Sara DiNatale, Molly Minta and Nigel Dent won the Bill Minor Prize for Investigative Journalism for their coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Reporters and photographers covered various facets of the pandemic as Delta ripped through Mississippi. Through wide-ranging, compelling reports on low vaccination rates, strains on hospitals, masking in schools and the governor’s response to the pandemic, Mississippi Today served as a go-to source for coronavirus news,” the announcement said.
The news publication also won 3rd place for General Excellence.
The Ole Miss Rebels had just won the Super Regional at Hattiesburg and were on the bus back to Oxford when Mike Bianco received text messages of congratulations from both Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis and hitting coach Jake Gautreau.
The texts, Bianco said, also wished him good luck in Omaha.
Rick Cleveland
Said Bianco, “And my response to both of them was: ‘Thanks so much, I really appreciate it, and we’ll try to keep the trophy in Mississippi.’”
Mission accomplished. The Rebels defeated Oklahoma in two straight games to clinch Mississippi’s second straight college baseball national championship. Mississippi State won it in 2021. What’s more, the fan bases of State and Ole Miss essentially took over Omaha both years.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey talked about it on the field during the Ole Miss celebration Sunday. “It’s amazing,” Sankey said while surveying the postgame scene of thousands of Ole Miss fans still standing and cheering. “This was the same scene as last year. Only the colors have changed.”
Mississippians, by the thousands, have contributed much to the Omaha economy these past few years.
Bianco continued, in his postgame press conference about the texts from State coaches, “That was as we were leaving Hattiesburg and Southern Miss, a team that was a national seed and hosted a Super Regional. The rivalry is great, but it is a rivalry of all three of us because all three of us have great baseball programs.”
That Mississippi State and Ole Miss have won national championships in back-to-back seasons should be a source of great pride for Mississippi college baseball fans, who are the most loyal of any in the nation.
The texts exchange with Bianco and the Mississippi State coaches came after Scott Berry, the Southern Miss head coach, congratulated Bianco and his Rebels in in post-Super Regional press conference and said, “I hope they go to Omaha and win the whole thing.”
The coaches get it. Mississippi’s college sports rivalries are intense and often bitter, but seems to me sometimes fans should step back and take a look at the big picture. Mississippi ranks at the bottom of so much: education, health care, household income, and so much more. In college baseball the state ranks at the top, period. We play baseball well. We support it well. We win big.
Pearl River, in Poplarville, won the national junior college championship recently. Delta State has been a national Division II power going back to the Boo Ferriss days. William Carey, in NAIA, is another national power. Mississippi junior college baseball is the strongest in the country. The jucos feed talent to the college programs. High school baseball in Mississippi has improved exponentially over the last half century, feeding all the above.
Last year, Hunter Elliott was pitching for Tupelo High. This year, he was the starting pitcher in the deciding game of the College World Series. Last year, Mason Nichols was pitching for Jackson Prep. This season, he played a vital role out of the bullpen for the National Champion Rebels.
Berry watched Ole Miss win the natty at home in south Mississippi Sunday night. He was genuinely happy for Bianco and his team.
“If you are a baseball fan, you have to be proud of Mississippi,” Berry said. “It’s not just the back-to-back national championships but it’s the consistency of Mississippi’s college baseball teams at every level. We feed off each other. The competition makes us all better.
“I couldn’t be happier for Mike and his staff. I’m so happy for Mike because I know how tough a year it was for him. Man, they showed some unbelievable resiliency and that’s a credit to all of them – Mike, his assistants and the players. They are a credit to Mississippi baseball. They made us all proud.”
They did. No matter your allegiances.
Chris Lemonis was watching a summer league baseball game when reached Monday afternoon. “Our rivalry with Ole Miss is about as intense as you’ll find,” Lemonis said. “But we understand what each program goes through. Baseball is different. There’s so many ups and downs and we all understand that. I have a lot of respect for Mike, his staff and how they do it. They deserve this. What they did this year was truly amazing. It was all earned.”
Mississippi voters return to the polls on Tuesday to decide three Republican primaries in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th congressional districts.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Any voter who voted in the June 7 Republican primary or who was registered but did not vote can cast a ballot on Tuesday. Only those who voted in a Democratic primary on June 7, or were not registered to vote before the deadline for the primary, are prohibited from voting.
In the 3rd and 4th districts, incumbent Republican congressmen face challengers who forced them into runoffs, and the races are hotly contested for seats expected to remain in GOP control. In the 2nd District, a crowded field of Republican primary candidates brought a runoff, although the seat is not expected to flip from Democratic in November.
In the 3rd central Mississippi district, Rep. Michael Guest faces challenger Navy veteran Michael Cassidy. Any voter registered before the June 7 primary deadline can vote in this runoff Tuesday, since there was no Democratic primary then.
In the 2nd District, Republicans Ronald Eller and Brian Flowers face off, with the winner challenging longtime incumbent Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson in November.
The general election for Mississippi’s midterm congressional races will be Nov. 8.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch on Monday certified the state’s 2007 trigger law banning abortion except in cases where the mother’s life is in danger or a rape has been reported to law enforcement.
The law will not officially take effect until 10 days from Monday. Officials at Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s sole abortion clinic, have promised to continue providing services as long as the law allows.
“Mississippi’s laws to promote life are solid and thanks to the Court’s clear and strong opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, they can now go into effect,” said Fitch. “As we have said throughout this case, Roe v. Wade presented a false choice between a woman’s future and her child’s life. As we proceed in this post-Roe world, the people of Mississippi and of all the states will be able to fully engage in the work of both empowering women and promoting life. I am grateful that the Court has given us this opportunity.”
Abortion has been banned or mostly banned in 10 states following the Court’s ruling last week. Mississippi is one of 5 states that will be added to that list in the coming days through legislation yet to go into effect.
Mississippi law required Fitch to first publish her determination that Roe is overturned and second that it is “reasonably probable” the law would be upheld by the Court as constitutional.
The move came after the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned the 1973 landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade. The ruling stemmed from a case that originated in Mississippi, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Molina Healthcare of Mississippi partnered with the Mississippi Food Network on Thursday to host a mobile food pantry drive-thru event in Pickens.
Hundreds of cars stretched down North 2nd Street next to the town’s municipal building as they waited for their first-come, first-serve boxes of food that included fresh produce, fruit and protein. The Mississippi Food Network prepared the boxes for nearly 250 households. The organization helps with about three mobile pantries a month in the state’s most food-insecure areas.
Pickens, located in Holmes County, is considered a food desert with the nearest grocery store located almost 20 miles away in Canton.
The county had one of the highest projected rates of food insecurity in the state following Jefferson County due to the impact of COVID-19, according to a study by Feeding America in 2020. Holmes County ranked third nationally in projections of the highest overall food insecurity rates at 34.5%, the study found.
“Hopefully, it will help them get to the end of the month,” said Cassandra Mobley, Mississippi Food Network director of agency relationships and programs. “We have food pantries and senior programs that distribute food on a regular basis here in Holmes County. This just an extra effort.”
The food network’s partner in this mobile pantry was Molina Healthcare, which contracts with Mississippi to offer a Medicaid-sponsored health insurance program for low-income children and adults.
“Food is our biggest disparity, especially with rising prices of everything. That’s why we chose to come to Pickens,” said Marques Slaughter, Molina Healthcare member engagement and growth specialist. “We like to get out into the community to bring awareness to health, help bring healthy options to the area and identify community resources and disparities.”
The Mississippi Food Network will have its next food pantry drive-thru event on July 21 at Mississippi Valley State in Leflore County.
Mississippi Hospital Association President Tim Moore says the state’s health care providers are teetering financially and that once pandemic stimulus funds run dry “It’s going to be time to pay the band.” MHA has pushed for Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation, to adopt Medicaid expansion and accept about $1 billion a year in federal dollars to provide health coverage to Mississippi’s working poor and help hospitals stay afloat.
