OurTupelo

Republican Speaker Jason White got his omnibus education overhaul/school-choice bill through the House last week, but it was a squeaker for the speaker.

The vote was 61-59 with 17 of White’s GOP supermajority peeling off and voting no, and two either absent or “taking a walk” and not voting.

White put on a full-court press in whipping reluctant Republicans to vote for the measure, which would, notably, allow families to use state tax dollars for private schooling.

Last week White invoked President Donald Trump and secured a social media endorsement for the bill from Trump Education Secretary Linda McMahon. White has touted letters of endorsement from the state’s Catholic dioceses and other religious groups supporting school choice that could garner their school systems public money. And famed football star Tim Tebow is coming to Mississippi this week to promote the “Tim Tebow Act” part of the House bill that would allow homeschooled kids to play public-school sports.

But opposition to the bill appears more grassroots, and lawmakers are getting calls from their school superintendents and teachers back home urging them to oppose it.

Can White keep his razor-thin vote together for what promises to be an uphill battle for House Bill 2? Senate Republican leaders have declared the House school-choice bill — at least the part about using tax dollars for private schools — dead on arrival.

A win-one-for-the-Gipper campaign, even with Trump as the Gipper, might not be enough to keep the bill alive through a battle with the Senate, especially if House supermajority votes are needed to do so later in the session.

When Trump says jump, Republican Mississippi politicians typically only ask “how high?”

But so far, this appears to be the odd occurrence where a majority of Republicans in the 174-member Legislature in ruby red, Trump-supporting Mississippi are prepared to buck a proposal from his White House.

Quote of the Week

“If little Johnny’s momma is on crystal meth, and little Johnny’s daddy is a pimp, can you tell me how they (are) gonna be able to choose that little Johnny is getting the right kind of education services when that’s not even on their plate?” — Rep. John Hines, during debate over accountability for private schools if the Legislature approves letting parents use tax dollars to pay tuition.

In Brief

Legislation would support nuclear expansion in MS

State officials have signaled they are open to expanding nuclear power development in the state.

Bills to support this have been proposed in the House and Senate, driven in part by demand for power created by data centers popping up all over the South and Mississippi to support the artificial intelligence boom.

A bill authored by Sen. Joel Carter, a Republican from Gulfport, would provide $10 million to the Mississippi Development Authority to spend on “future nuclear development” for the upcoming fiscal year. A House bill by Rep. Jody Steverson, a Republican from Ripley, would create a special fund for MDA to administer nuclear site development grants, including reimbursement for some expenses. – Katherine Lin

Antisemitism bill would exempt reporting from DEI ban

Mississippi captured international attention last week after a 19-year-old Madison man allegedly set fire to the state’s largest synagogue, allegedly for its “Jewish ties.”

In the Legislature, Rep. Lee Yancey, a Republican from Brandon, has introduced a bill to combat what he says is a “historic rise in antisemitic violence, harassment and discrimination targeting Jewish students” at K-12 schools and in the higher education system.

The bill would require public schools to prohibit and report antisemitic discrimination and use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, which has been adopted by several other state legislatures. Notably, the bill exempts all its provisions of a law the Legislature passed last year to ban DEI statements. This could mean that public school might be required to implement measures that might otherwise be considered DEI-related. – Michael Goldberg

Senate considering pieces of House ed plan

Senate leaders have started filing education bills that mirror portions of the massive education package the House passed Thursday.

This includes a bill that would allow homeschooled children to play public school sports and another that would establish a math program modeled after the 2013 literacy act. It’s a sign that the Senate is going to kill the House bill — after they pick the sections that they like.

Another education issue showing up in both chambers: cellphone bans. Both the House and the Senate have filed multiple bills that restrict or prohibit the usage of cellphones in school.

Youth mental health concerns have resulted in similar bans in at least 11 other states. A bill that would have required Mississippi school boards to create cell phone policies died last year, but several Mississippi school districts have since passed their own policies, including Jackson Public Schools and Madison County. – Devna Bose

More money for career coaching proposed

Rep. Donnie Bell, a Republican from Fulton, has proposed a bill to provide $20 million to expand a career coaching program for middle- and high-school students.

The career coaching program under Accelerate Mississippi, the state’s office of workforce development, helps students figure out their post graduation paths.

In a Senate Appropriations Committee meeting last week week, Courtney Taylor, director of Accelerate Mississippi, said there are currently 204 career coaches that serve 209 schools. The office has identified healthcare, advanced manufacturing and construction as priority career fields. – Katherine Lin

Sales tax exemption for farmers considered

Farmers are being squeezed from both sides with high input costs and low crop prices.

While there are larger economic forces at play, a bill authored by Sen. Neil Whaley, a Republican from Potts Camp and chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, would exempt commercial farmers from the 1.5% state sales tax on some agricultural and logging equipment. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has also championed this exemption. – Katherine Lin

Stand-alone tourism department considered again

A bill to create a Department of Tourism has once again passed the Senate.

A bill authored by Sen. Lydia Chassaniol, a Republican from Winona and chair of the Tourism Committee, would remove tourism from the purview of the Mississippi Development Authority.

Last year, a similar bill was vetoed by Gov. Tate Reeves over funding issues, and the issue has been debated for years. In 2024, tourism contributed over $18 billion to the state’s economy and provided 136,094 jobs. – Katherine Lin

Bill would create Bobbie Gentry Day

Rep. Sam Creekmore IV, a Republican from New Albany, has filed legislation to designate June 3 as Bobbie Gentry Day in Mississippi — a nod to the date that Gentry once described in a song as “another sleepy, dusty Delta day.”
The bill would honor Gentry, born Roberta Lee Streeter, a singer-songwriter from Woodland in northeastern Mississippi’s Chickasaw County.
Gentry rose to national prominence in 1967 with her hit “Ode to Billie Joe,” a haunting song in which an unnamed narrator learns that Billie Joe McAllister has died after jumping from the Tallahatchie Bridge.
Gentry has not made public appearances for decades and has largely avoided speaking with fans or the media, including in her home state. – Taylor Vance

Workers’ Compensation exemption proposed

A new exception to the workers’ compensation law would allow employers to not pay workers’ compensation for death or injury when an employee deliberately breaks a safety regulation.

The measure, authored by Rep. Donnie Bell, a Republican from Fulton, places the onus on the employer to prove that they had clearly communicated safety rules to the employee. – Katherine Lin

By the Numbers

$162 million

Estimated first-year cost of the House’s omnibus public education bill, including providing tax dollars for parents to use for private schooling or homeschooling.

More Legislative Coverage

Tears, Trump and student transfers: House barely passes school-choice bill. Will it survive?

The Mississippi House narrowly passed a major public-education overhaul Thursday after four hours of debate that centered on school choice — but also invoked President Trump, rifles and shotguns, the Psalm of David, pimps and meth addicts and even sexual innuendo. Read the story.

‘Absent’ Republicans, heavy whipping help Speaker Jason White pass school-choice bill

After perhaps the most intense vote-whipping he’s done as House speaker, Republican Jason White prevailed on a major school-choice bill, but only by a razor-thin, two-vote margin, with the future of the legislation uncertain. Read the story.

Mississippi House speaker invokes Trump in push for school choice. How involved might the president get?

Faced with internecine Republican opposition to “school-choice,” or spending tax dollars earmarked for public education on private schools, House Speaker Jason White broke out the biggest gun in Mississippi GOP politics: He invoked President Donald J. Trump. Read the story.

HERNANDO — Some DeSoto County School Board members want a legal process by which an elected peer — another school board member — can be ousted for concerns including malfeasance and abuse of power. They passed a resolution in November formally asking lawmakers to consider granting that authority in the current legislative session.

A new law “would give school boards more authority when situations arise that cause concern in the community,” school board President Jerald Wheeler said in a statement to Mississippi Today.

For now, there is no legal mechanism for a school board to remove one of its members, said Jim Keith, attorney for the DeSoto County School Board.

The board members may get their wish to change that, at least in terms of a bill.

Sen. Kevin Blackwell, a Republican from Southaven, has filed Senate Bill 2068, which would allow a school district’s local governing authority, by majority vote, to remove a school board member for breach of public trust, neglect of duty and abuse of authority. The school board would first have to vote on a recommendation.

Rep. Kimberly Remak, a Republican from Olive Branch, is the primary author of House Bill 573, the House version of Blackwell’s bill. The bill now has multiple coauthors and bipartisan support. Remak did not respond to requests for comment.

On Dec. 30, Sen. Michael McLendon, a Republican from Hernando, announced on Facebook plans to introduce the Whiteside Accountability Act, a separate bill that, if passed into law, would provide “a statutory recall process for school board members who engage in conduct that undermines student safety, including actions that defend or minimize sexual crimes against minors.” The bill would give the power to school board members to remove other board members.

McLendon introduced the Education Leadership Accountability Act on Jan. 14.

DeSoto County School Board members’ interest in ousting another elected board member stems from public calls for Michele Henley to resign after she wrote a letter and testified on behalf of Lindsey Whiteside, a former volunteer assistant girls’ basketball coach at DeSoto Central High School who had already pleaded guilty to sexual battery of a minor. At least nine other district employees wrote letters of support for Whiteside.

On Oct. 13, a judge sentenced Whiteside to three years of house arrest and seven years of probation — a much lighter sentence than the 30 years that prosecutors sought. The sentence divided the tranquil Memphis suburbs in Mississippi, where Whiteside was also a youth pastor.

Whiteside pleaded guilty earlier that day to committing sexual battery against a minor who attended her church. Some people, disturbed by Henley’s testimony and that some school district staff also wrote letters vouching for Whiteside’s character, began calling for Henley’s removal from the school board. They took to social media and spoke out at school board meetings. 

“Disappointment, outrage, neglect of power” are a few reactions McLendon has heard from constituents since the conclusion of the Whiteside trial.

“It’s one thing to write a letter on the character of a person that you know, but writing the letter on official letterhead and using your elected title carries weight as an authoritative figure,” McLendon said of Henley.

Henley did not respond to multiple requests for comment by Mississippi Today.

In a statement posted to Facebook on Oct. 15, Henley said the letter she wrote did not express support for Whiteside’s actions “or endorse her behavior.” The letter, shared in the post, describes Whiteside coaching and supporting Henley’s daughter in basketball.

As for her testimony, Henley wrote, “Contrary to what has been claimed, I did not testify for the defense. I was subpoenaed by the District Attorney to appear in court. While on the stand, I was asked whether I condoned Lindsey’s actions. My response was no. When asked about what her sentence should be, I stated that such a decision was for the judge to determine.”

‘A mechanism is necessary’

A half-dozen DeSoto County residents told Mississippi Today they believe Henley abused their trust when she wrote a letter of support on Whiteside’s behalf. The victim’s family said they felt Henley exercised poor judgment in supporting Whiteside over a district student.

The family members also said they felt Henley’s actions should be grounds for removal from the school board. After making a statement condemning Henley’s actions, the school board passed a resolution formally asking the legislature for legal recourse to grant them the power to oust one of their members, due in part to public outcry.

“The Board of Trustees of the DeSoto County School District firmly believes that a mechanism is necessary for the removal of school board members … to ensure a safe and supportive learning environment for students,” read the Nov. 20 resolution by the DeSoto County School Board.

Every board member save Henley, who abstained, voted in support of the recent motion.

Katie Sasso, the mother of a DeSoto County School District student, said Henley’s departure would allow for the community to heal. Aubrie Johnson, a concerned community member, said, “It was shocking to see (someone) support a real-life predator.”

DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton wrote Henley in October that “when an elected official chooses to protect the abuser rather than the abused, she ceases to serve the public good.” Barton said he called for Henley’s resignation so integrity and confidence could be restored to the school board.

On Nov. 6, at Henley’s first school board meeting appearance since the hearing, two members of the victim’s family called for her resignation. Pam Pegram, the victim’s grandmother, asked that Henley look at her during their exchange, pausing for Henley’s response. Pegram was met with nearly two minutes of silence. 

“You heard the brave young girl read her victim statement and tell everyone in that courtroom about the vile and evil things that the predator had done. You heard the despair in the victim’s mother’s letter. You heard the frustration and the anger from the victim’s stepdad,” Pegram said. “You could have any time said, ‘I’m so sorry. I can no longer support this.’ But you cowardly refused to stand up for a child that attended school in your district.”

At that meeting, the school board voted to replace Henley as its president. Henley remains a board member. 

In conversation with the public

DeSoto County Parents for Accountability, a parent group that found a broad audience on Facebook, is also pushing for Henley’s resignation.

The effort included organizing a protest of the school board on Oct. 17. The group has also criticized the school board, saying it meets at times when parents can’t attend.

The parents’ rights group helped organize a boycott of the school district the week after the Whiteside verdict. They protested what they called a lack of transparency and response by district leadership.

Nancy Kemper, grandmother of a DeSoto County student, said during the public comments section of the meeting that she was unable to attend past meetings because they were scheduled during school pickup time. She said she felt the meeting schedule gave Henley the opportunity to dodge accountability.

“I know a lot of people that wanted to come here today and they feel like it was really convenient — especially for (Henley) — that they couldn’t come and speak because they are in line picking up their children.”

Seeking a legislative response

The bills introduced this legislative session aren’t the first attempts to extend school boards’ authority, including their power to remove other school board members.

In November, the DeSoto County School Board voted to support HB 817, which Remak introduced during the 2025 legislative session. HB 817 would have allowed school board members, by a majority vote and through the local governing agency, to remove a colleague for “malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance,” breach of public trust and abuse of authority.

The DeSoto board’s vote was symbolic; the bill had died in committee.

Another bill filed this session, authored by Kabir Karriem, a Democrat from Columbus, would also allow for the removal of a school board member for misconduct and “breach of public trust.” House Bill 521 would also limit a school board’s power to request a hike in property tax.

Karriem said he hoped to prevent school boards from triggering “irresponsible” property tax increases or other rash actions. He was inspired to reintroduce his bill from the 2025 legislative session because of his constituents’ concerns in Columbus.

“When you have school board members that feel like they have complete autonomy that creates problems for the community,” Karriem said. “And there always needs to be checks and balances.”

“There needs to be the opportunity to remove bad actors.”

If one of the bills to let school boards oust another board member becomes law, Mississippi will be one of the first state to grant that power. New York allows school board members to vote out their peers for “official misconduct.” Indiana allows removal by a circuit judge, while Virginia and Alabama give that right to governors. Illinois grants the power to a regional superintendent. In 24 states, excluding Mississippi, an elected school board member can be removed by a recall vote.

There is a lot of support for the bills before the Legislature this session, McLendon said. “It’s a nonpartisan bill that holds everyone accountable for their actions when it comes to protecting children.”

The Mississippi House will try for the third year straight to legalize mobile sports betting with new provisions aimed at winning over Senate lawmakers who have opposed the measure, the House Gaming Committee Chairman said.

This year’s legislation — in a key change from last year’s proposal — would direct all state revenue from online betting to the state’s government pension system, Casey Eure, a Republican from Saucier who chairs House Gaming, told Mississippi Today.

The House and Senate are still at loggerheads over how to shore up the Public Employees’ Retirement System, which has unfunded liabilities of about $26 billion.

The new proposal will also contain other “compromises” for those who have previously opposed legalization.

The persistence of a thriving black market in Mississippi and an estimated tens of millions a year in tax revenue that legal sports betting could generate has prompted a fierce push from some lawmakers to legalize the practice.

“By legalizing mobile sports betting, we can eliminate much of the illegal market — including protecting underage bettors — and provide real consumer safeguards in a regulated environment,” Eure said. “This legislation will also give our brick-and-mortar casinos a new revenue stream to ensure their continued success, while the state revenue generated will help close the gap in funding for our public employees’ retirement system.”

The effort also has a strong and well-funded lobby from sports betting companies. But the legalization effort could again face significant headwinds, from skeptical state lawmakers in both parties and federal regulatory changes since the election of President Donald Trump.

Senate Gaming Chairman David Blount, a Democrat from Jackson who has thus far opposed mobile sports betting legalization, told Mississippi Today he wouldn’t take a position on Eure’s bill until he read it. But he said directing the revenue to PERS wouldn’t be near enough to justify legalization.

“These are the same people who abolished the income tax last year, which generates more than $2 billion a year to the state budget. If we legalized mobile sports betting tomorrow, it would take more than 1,000 years to pay off the unfunded liability in the retirement system,” Blount said. “The amount of money that we’re talking about is infinitesimal compared to the $26 billion unfunded liability of the retirement system.”

Eure has said legalizing online betting could generate as much as $80 million a year in tax revenue. Blount said the estimates he’s seen max out at about $30 million. Either way, the total would not pay off the system’s unfunded liabilities in the near term.

The Senate has already sent the House a bill to put half-a-billion dollars of the state’s current surplus into PERS, in addition to putting $50 million a year over the next decade. House leaders have proposed a recurring revenue stream for PERS, either from the state lottery or by legalizing mobile sports betting.

Blount also pointed to the rise of “prediction markets,” exchanges where people bet on the outcomes of future events. These markets, dominated by platforms such as Kalshi, are different from traditional sports betting because traders set prices. Also, prediction markets try to make money by letting people trade against each other to reveal how likely an event is, while sports betting companies make money by setting odds so the bookmaker always takes a cut.

Under the Trump administration, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has taken a lax approach to regulating prediction markets, allowing platforms to expand their offerings in states around the country, including states such as Mississippi, where mobile sports betting remains illegal.

“Predictions markets have essentially legalized nationwide mobile betting,” Blount said. “Whatever amount of money was promised last year, that number is reduced, maybe greatly reduced. Because due to the actions of the current administration, no state can tax or regulate prediction markets, which are effectively gambling.”

Traditional sports betting giant DraftKings, which has lobbied Mississippi House Speaker Jason White to legalize online betting, launched its own prediction market product last month.

Two U.S. Senate committees could take up a bill later this month to establish new rules for the cryptocurrency industry, and some on Capitol Hill are pushing to include language that would tighten regulations on prediction markets.

In addition to the role PERS and prediction markets might play in the debate over mobile sports betting legalization in Mississippi, a proposal this year would likely need to assuage the concerns of lawmakers from districts with casinos. Some brick-and-mortar casinos have feared the legalization of online betting could undercut their profits.

To protect smaller casinos from revenue losses, Eure’s bill last year would create a pot of money that establishments could draw from for the first five years after online sports betting becomes legal. It also included safeguards to prevent people from placing bets with credit cards.

Eure still believes legalization would be an economic boon for Mississippi.

“I intend to pass it,” he said.

Lawyers for Attorney General Lynn Fitch and State Auditor Shad White will argue before the Mississippi Supreme Court on Tuesday over which of them has the right to claw back state money they believe was illegally spent.

The issue is over a section of Mississippi law stating that the state auditor is “to institute suit, and the attorney general shall prosecute the same in any court of the state,” when recovering misspent tax dollars.

The two officials have said they’re considering running for governor and have clashed in recent years over the handling of Mississippi’s massive welfare scandal, which has seen multiple people plead guilty to state and federal crimes.

Fitch also withdrew her office’s representation of the auditor in two defamation lawsuits, including one filed by Favre, after determining a book White wrote about the welfare scandal cast her office in a negative light and created a conflict of interest.

The effort of Mississippi House leaders and others to expand programs providing public funds to private schools validates the oft-repeated quote that “history may not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

Efforts by Mississippi legislators to send public funds to private schools go back to at least the 1960s.

The current effort, led by House Speaker Jason White and buttressed by President Donald Trump and Gov. Tate Reeves, would provide funds to parents to allow them to help pay for the children’s education at a private school.

The argument is made that such a scheme, sending the money to parents to help pay for their child’s private school education, will not violate Section 208 of the Mississippi Constitution, which states definitively that public money may not go to schools not operating as “free schools.”

The argument is being made that it would be constitutional because the public money is going to the parent instead of the private school. Some would argue that the process is simply trying to achieve through deception what the Mississippi Constitution says is prohibited and, who knows, maybe that is the definition of lawyering.

There have been limited state court cases involving Section 208, and none of those addressed directly the issue of whether providing public funds to a family to be spent on a private school education is constitutional.

It is almost certain that many of the nine members of the Mississippi Supreme Court would prefer not to have to take up the explosive issue. But if the bill passes the Legislature, it is almost certain that it will land in justices’ laps at the state’s highest court.

While it does not appear there has been a state case addressing the particulars that will be in front of the Mississippi Supreme Court if the bill becomes law, in 1969 there was a federal case with similar facts. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a state law sending public funds, called tuition grants, to families to be spent on a private school education.

As the number of Mississippi private schools exploded in the 1960s to provide white students an escape from attending classes with Black students, the Mississippi Legislature passed a bill to provide funds to white students to be used to attend segregationist academies.

Many of those academies still exist today and could benefit if the new effort to provide public funds to private schools becomes law.

The 5th Circuit did not address Section 208 of the Mississippi Constitution, but instead said the law was discriminatory. The 5th Circuit found that the law “encourages, facilitates and supports the establishment of a system of private schools operated on a racially segregated basis as an alternative available to white students seeking to avoid desegregated public schools.”

Granted, 2026 is much different than the 1960s. There are many private schools that enroll and do a good job educating Black students.

But there are still private schools that take great pride in being the sole overseer of their enrollment criteria. The private schools told legislators during a hearing on the issue last year that they would not relinquish their authority to decide who they enroll.

There are, no doubt, private schools that deny enrollment to certain disabled students because of the high cost of providing those children an education.

And, no doubt, there would be private schools that would balk at enrolling gay or trans students. Some private schools also might deny enrollment to students who openly embrace certain religious practices.

Are those forms of discrimination?

In 1969, like today, the executive branch of the federal government got involved in the issue of sending public funds to private schools. The Trump administration has endorsed the bill pending in the Mississippi Legislature.

In 1969 the Justice Department of then-president Richard Nixon opposed the effort to provide “tuition grants” for students to attend private schools.

The opposing positions taken by the two presidents perhaps proves that sometimes history does not repeat itself and doesn’t even rhyme.

Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss sued the NCAA in state court on Friday for an additional year of eligibility so he can play for the Rebels next season.

The suit filed in Lafayette County came a week after the NCAA denied Ole Miss’ request for an extra year, saying the university and Chambliss’ previous school — Ferris State — failed to provide adequate medical documentation to back up the request.

The lawsuit filed Friday called the NCAA’s denial in “bad-faith, unreasonable and arbitrary,” and detailed Chambliss’ history of illness and included letters from physicians.

“Despite the duty of good faith and fair dealing it owes to Trinidad, the NCAA insists on considering the evidence in Trinidad’s case in an isolated, rather than comprehensive manner; interpreting its rules to impose requirements not contained therein; taking unreasonable if not irrational positions; and acting in an arbitrary and capricious manner in its decision-making and ruling,” the suit says.

Ole Miss’ arguments revolve around the fact that the 23-year-old Chambliss, although he has been in college for five years, has only played three years of college football because of that medical history.

“Trinidad first enrolled in Ferris State in the fall of 2021, but medical and physical incapacity prevented his ability to adequately train and condition and develop athletically,” the suit says.

After taking a redshirt his first season at Ferris State in 2021-22, Chambliss was held out in his second season for medical reasons.

“Obviously, Trinidad’s medical conditions, which rendered him incapable of competing in any game during these years, were beyond his or Ferris State’s control,” the suit says.

He played two more seasons at the Division II school in Michigan, leading the Bulldogs to a national championship before transferring to Ole Miss before the start of this season.

Chambliss completed 294 of 445 passes (66.1%) for 3,937 yards with 22 touchdowns and three interceptions for Ole Miss (13-2), which set a school record for wins, including two after making the College Football Playoff for the first time. He ran for 527 yards and eight more TDs.

The Rebels lost 31-27 to Miami in the College Football Playoff semifinals on Jan. 8.

The NCAA, when contacted Friday, did not have a new statement, but referred to its statement from a week ago saying “This decision aligns with consistent application of NCAA rules.”

The NCAA said in that week-old statement that approval of such waivers requires schools to submit medical documentation from a treating physician at the time of a student’s incapacitating injury or illness.

“The documents provided by Ole Miss and the student’s prior school include a physician’s note from a December 2022 visit, which stated the student-athlete was ‘doing very well’ since he was seen in August 2022,” the NCAA said. “Additionally, the student-athlete’s prior school indicated it had no documentation on medical treatment, injury reports or medical conditions involving the student-athlete during that time frame and cited ‘developmental needs and our team’s competitive circumstances’ as its reason the student-athlete did not play in the 2022-23 season.”

Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter previously said the school will appeal the NCAA’s ruling.

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.

It has been 25 years since I lived in Jackson, Mississippi, and whenever someone finds out I’m Jewish and from there, their first response is usually, Wait, there are Jews in Mississippi?

I am proud to always answer yes.

Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, and the loving community that calls it home, shaped me into the person I am today.

My family has been part of that community for decades. My grandfather and father served as temple presidents; my mom grew up in the community and later served as sisterhood president.

I have vivid memories of my grandmother walking up and down the aisles during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, asking people if they had somewhere to go and inviting dozens back to her house to make sure no one observed the holidays alone.

Beth Israel was where my parents were married. It was where my sister and I both became Bat Mitzvahs, where we formed our Jewish identity through religious school and participation in our small but mighty youth group. It was where my husband and I married.  

Last Saturday, Beth Israel Congregation was set on fire by someone who hates Jews simply for being Jews. Seeing the charred images of the library is painful. I have vivid memories of being in that library playing hide-and-seek, participating in classes and youth group meetings, getting ready for my wedding  and signing my ketubah in that room.

If I close my eyes, I can see the ark where the Torahs—now reduced to ash—once sat. I can see the books lining the walls that held our community’s history. I remember showing my children the plaques commemorating congregants’ milestones, including several from my own family, which have now been reduced to debris.

Growing up Jewish in Jackson made me a member of two diaspora communities – the Jewish one and the Mississippi one. In the aftermath of the fire, I have received messages from many people who are part of my Mississippi diaspora—some Jewish, mostly not—who have beautiful memories of visiting Beth Israel with me. 

For many of my friends, Beth Israel and my family were the only meaningful encounters with Jews they have ever had, and this fire has affected them in ways they did not expect.

This is not the first time Beth Israel has been targeted. In September 1967, the Ku Klux Klan firebombed the synagogue in retaliation for Rabbi Perry Nussbaum’s support of the Civil Rights movement. I grew up always knowing it was part of my community’s history.

What history books rarely emphasize is how that bombing brought the Jackson faith community together. In its aftermath, white and Black clergy were among the first to condemn the hatred, and members of the Jewish community played a significant role working secretly to help uncover the KKK bombings of the 1960s.

Last week’s fire was not an isolated incident. It is the most recent symptom of the dangerous rise in antisemitism facing Jewish communities across the country and around the world. Since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, the European Jewish Congress reports at least 20 attacks on synagogues across the globe. 

Jews make up less than 2% of the U.S. population, yet we are the targets of roughly 16% of all hate crimes and nearly 70% of religion-based hate crimes, according to the FBI. American Jewish Committee’s State of Antisemitism in America 2024 report found that 56% of American Jews have altered their behavior out of fear of antisemitism, and 1 in 3 has personally experienced it. Each one of these statistics is a person — a mom or dad, a brother, sister or child.

These troubling numbers highlight why antisemitism is not just a Jewish problem to solve. We need people to listen when we explain why antisemitic violence must be confronted clearly, forcefully and without hesitation. Our fear — rooted in generational trauma — of rising hateful rhetoric from all sides of the political spectrum is real and has consequences.  We need allies who refuse to look away and choose to stand up and take action.

That was apparent last May, when I was staffing an American Jewish Community event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., in which Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were murdered after leaving the event.

The event was devoted to how grassroots diplomacy can transform the Middle East through humanitarian aid and cross-cultural collaboration. Many of the more than 100 people there were not Jewish. But they came together in a time of need, unified in purpose and in hope. 

A few months later, a German journalist asked me how I can stay optimistic despite that horrible night. That wasn’t a question I have ever considered. Growing up Jewish in Mississippi has always meant that optimism is the only option.

Being a part of Beth Israel taught me many things, most importantly that community is an antidote to many of the problems of the world, that Jewish joy is always stronger than hate, and that showing up for people in their time of need is often the holiest thing you can do. Jews in Mississippi – and pretty much anywhere else, for that matter – need that help more than ever.

Bio: Alexis (Larkin) Schwartz, a native of Jackson, is the associate director at American Jewish Committee in Washington. She previously worked as a director at the Jewish Federations of North America.

Beth Israel Congregation Rabbi Benjamin Russell and Congregation President Zach Shemper expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support during Thursday night’s All-City Call to Prayer in Jackson, days after an attacker set the congregation’s synagogue on fire.

Jackson Mayor John Horhn and the city’s Inter-Faith Task Force featuring religious leaders across faiths and denominations led a crowd of Jacksonians through prayers and a call to action – an event that had been planned before the fire but took on new urgency after it.

The event, held at Thalia Mara Hall, allotted time for prayers and special remarks for Beth Israel. Jackson’s only Jewish congregation was a primary focus of the service after the early Saturday fire that destroyed part of the synagogue, which is the state’s largest.

Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19, of Madison is facing federal and state arson charges in the attack.

“I wish I could say that this moment of our coming together in mourning and solidarity and hope and in friendship was unique, but unfortunately we have been here before,” Shemper said. 

“For us Jews, we have been here for literally thousands of years – between dark and light, hate and love, between being feared and accepted, between going and coming, between birth and destruction and rebuilding,” he said. “And we will always rebuild.”

Shemper told the story of a similar attack on Beth Israel in 1967, when the Ku Klux Klan bombed the building in retaliation for Rabbi Perry Nussbaum’s civil rights activism. In the aftermath, many non-Jewish people in the local community supported the synagogue and denounced the attack.

“Beth Israel is not brick and mortar,” said Russell, who spoke after Shemper. “Beth Israel is the people who gather, who pray, who learn, who argue, who care for one another. Wherever we gather, that is Beth Israel.”

Russell said the attack was meant to make members of Beth Israel feel like they didn’t belong, but the community has embraced them with love and solidarity.

“We are rebuilding trust. We are rebuilding connection. We are rebuilding with the knowledge that we do not do this work by ourselves,” he said.

To close, the rabbi offered a blessing to the crowd, who gave him a standing ovation.

After their remarks, the crowd huddled into small groups to pray for Beth Israel. 

The mayor and Derrick Johnson, national president and CEO of the NAACP, spoke before Shemper and Russell.

“It’s an indictment on our country, on our community, that there wasn’t a way for someone to stand in the gap, to turn him around, to make him inspired not to make that journey,” Horhn said of Pittman.

Horhn led the crowd in a prayer for a better Jackson, for healing and for the entire Jewish community.

“Help us build a Jackson that’s safer, that’s more respectful and more hopeful for everyone,” he said.

Johnson, who lives in Jackson, compared the fire at Beth Israel to similar hate-based attacks in El Paso, Texas; Louisville, Kentucky; and Pittsburgh. He said the common denominator between the attackers is that they were radicalized on social media platforms.

Johnson also said people need to push back against the current political climate. He said this climate was “germinating directly from the White House,” to which one unknown attendee called out, “It’s not coming from the White House.” Johnson did not acknowledge the response.

“Under no circumstance should we allow political platforms to divide us for an agenda that has nothing to do with who we are and who we should be,” Johnson said. “We must learn from our history, not repeat it.”

The night began with worship songs and ended with more prayers for the mayor, city and state officials, and for the state and city itself. At the end, faith groups were invited to adopt an area around their place of worship to do projects that would improve the community. The first workday will be Monday on Martin Luther King Jr Day.

If convicted on the state charge, Pittman’s sentence could be enhanced under a state law that punishes “offenses committed for discriminatory reasons.” The federal government did not immediately not charge him with a hate crime.

A federal affidavit alleges Pittman broke into Beth Israel early Saturday morning, doused the lobby with gasoline and set the building ablaze. 

The fire destroyed the library and administrative offices, two Torahs and the synagogue’s Tree of Life. Several other Torahs were damaged. One Torah that survived the Holocaust and was in a glass case remained unharmed. Beth Israel is accepting donations for rebuilding efforts.

Pittman was arrested at a hospital in Jackson, where he was being treated for burn injuries.

Authorities say Pittman confessed after being arrested that he targeted the synagogue for its “Jewish ties,” and called Beth Israel a “synagogue of Satan.”

Pittman was released from the hospital Wednesday and is in federal custody ahead of his preliminary hearing in federal court next Tuesday.

The attack drew national and international attention. State, local and national officials have condemned the arson and antisemitism. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, has called on the FBI to investigate the incident as a hate crime.

Federal prosecutors have revealed a sprawling scheme to rig college basketball games while yielding big payouts to gamblers. A former Southern Miss player, Picayune native Mo Arnold who last played for the Golden Eagles in the 2023-24 season, is among 20 men charged.

According to an indictment unsealed Thursday, fixers started with two professional games in China before turning their focus to recruiting college players in America to participate in similar point-shaving efforts as recently as January 2025.

The indictment, which includes charges against current and former college players, coincides with multiple NCAA probes into sports-betting violations.

“We were made aware this morning of federal charges brought against a former Southern Miss men’s basketball player as part of a larger sports betting probe,” Southern Miss athletic director Jeremy McClain said in a statement Thursday. “This news is disappointing to everyone associated with Southern Miss athletics. Integrity is important to anyone who loves college sports, and the university stands ready to assist in making sure incidents like these are removed from the competitive space in college athletics.”

Arnold, a point guard, played three seasons at USM, the best being his senior year when he averaged 6.2 points, 2.4 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game. Southern Miss finished 16-16 overall and 9-9 in the Sun Belt Conference that season. Arnold also started 30 of 33 games in the 2022-23 season during which USM won finished 25-8 and won the Sun Belt regular season championship.

Here’s what to know about the latest case:

The types of bets that were flagged

Gamblers can bet on games with the point spread, a projected total by which one team is favored to win against another team.

Winning a bet on the favorite would mean that team won by more than the projected point spread. A winning bet on the underdog would require that team to win outright or lose by fewer points than the spread.

How this scheme allegedly worked

Prosecutors say players involved could manipulate a game, and therefore the bets related to it, by intentionally underperforming. Gamblers working with those players could then place wagers based on “higher degree of certainty” as to whether a team would cover or fall short of the spread, according to the indictment.

For example, the indictment charges former college and NBA player Antonio Blakeney with taking payments from two high-stakes gamblers to underperform while in the Chinese Basketball Association during the 2022-23 season.

In one such game in March 2023, Blakeney scored roughly 21 points below his scoring average and his team lost by 31. That covered the spread for the favored opponent so fixers could win most of their bets, according to the indictment.

Fixers later recruited college players to help ensure their teams failed to cover the spread either for the first half or an entire game, offering payments typically ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 per game.

The college games that were impacted

According to the indictment, the scheme eventually involved more than 39 players on 17 Division I men’s basketball teams who manipulated or attempted to manipulate 29 games in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

Most games were in the regular season and involved teams at the mid-major level, though DePaul in the Big East had three games cited in the indictment (against Georgetown, Butler and St. John’s) from late in the 2023-24 season.

The indictment listed at least four postseason games impacted in March 2024: Robert Morris’ first-round game against Purdue Fort Wayne in the Horizon League Tournament, New Orleans’ second-round game against Lamar in the Southland Conference Tournament, and Abilene Christian’s two games (against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Tarleton State) in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

Other schools that were affected

Eastern Michigan, Nicholls State, Tulane, Northwestern State, Saint Louis, La Salle, Fordham, Buffalo, North Carolina A&T, Kennesaw State, Coppin State and Alabama State all had players who allegedly impacted games.

Four charged players competed for their current teams within the past week, however allegations against them don’t involve the 2025-26 season.

They are: Kennesaw State’s Simeon Cottle; Eastern Michigan’s Carlos Hart, with allegations tied to a previous stint at New Orleans; Texas Southern’s Oumar Koureissi, tied to his time at Nicholls State; and Delaware State’s Camian Shell, tied to his stop at North Carolina A&T.

Cottle, the preseason pick for Conference USA player of the year, is averaging 20.2 points and had 21 points in Wednesday’s win against Florida International. By Thursday, however, Kennesaw State had released a statement that Cottle was suspended indefinitely from all team activities.

Separately, Eastern Michigan announced Hart’s suspension from team activities pending the outcome of the case. Koureissi — who played for Texas Southern as recently as Saturday — no longer appears on the Tigers’ online roster, while the school responded to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment with a statement saying Koureissi “has been removed from the team.”

Delaware State didn’t immediately return an email from the AP requesting comment Thursday.

In a statement Thursday, Buffalo athletic director Mark Alnutt said the school will continue to cooperate with investigators.

“We believe these to be isolated incidents,” he said, “that in no way reflect the values and core ethics of the Division of Athletics or our men’s basketball program.”

What the NCAA has done about sports-betting concerns

In a statement Thursday, NCAA president Charlie Baker said enforcement staffers from college sports’ governing body have opened sports-betting probes into roughly 40 athletes from 20 schools in the past year.

Eleven athletes from seven schools were ruled permanently ineligible, while 13 others from eight schools failed to fully cooperate in NCAA probes, with none competing today.

News of those cases has dripped out over the past year.

For example, the NCAA banned three players in September for betting on their own games at Fresno State and San Jose State.

In October, the NCAA announced three former Eastern Michigan players refused to cooperate with its investigation. Two of those, Da’Sean Nelson and Jalen Terry, are defendants in the unsealed indictment.

A month later, the NCAA announced sanctions against six more players, a list that included two defendants — former New Orleans players Cedquavious Hunter and Dyquavion Short — from Thursday’s unsealed indictment. Hunter, nicknamed “Dae Dae,” later said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he participated in point-shaving.

Later in November, the NCAA ruled former Temple guard Hysier Miller permanently ineligible for placing dozens of bets on Owls games, including some against his team, during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.

And in December, the NCAA said former San Francisco player Marcus Williams gave information about his stats in upcoming games during the 2024-25 season to a player from another school who was betting on his performances. Williams reached a negotiated settlement to close the case and had no remaining eligibility.

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AP Sports Writer John Wawrow contributed to this report.