Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill into law Thursday to limit kratom purchases to people 21 and older and outlaw more potent forms of the herbal substance in Mississippi.
The law will take effect July 1.
House Bill 1077, authored by Rep. Lee Yancey, a Republican from Brandon, institutes fines for people under 21 who buy or possess kratom and retailers that sell it to them.
It also bans synthetic kratom extracts, or products that contain high concentrations of 7-hydroxymitragynine, one of the chemical components in kratom that binds to the same receptors in the brain as opioids. Kratom extracts are considered more dangerous than “pure” forms of the herbal substance because of their higher potency.
The bill protects children and makes kratom safer in Mississippi, but could have gone further to entirely ban the substance, said Yancey.
“There are some people who depend on it who are trying to get off of other opioids,” he said. “This is something that might be a step down from that and I would hope at some point they could get off of this as well.”
Rep. Lee Yancey
Any ordinances that have been adopted by municipalities or counties to regulate or ban kratom will remain in effect, and municipalities will have the option of instituting local restrictions on sales of kratom in the future.
More than thirty counties and cities in Mississippi already restrict or ban kratom products at the local level.
Critics of kratom, which can be found widely in gas stations and tobacco or vape shops, argue that it is a highly addictive and dangerous drug that produces stimulant- and opioid-like effects. But advocates argue it is an effective tool for treating opioid use disorder, chronic pain and depression.
House Bill 1077 was one of four proposed by Legislators this year to regulate kratom. A bill in the Senate authored by Sen. Angela Turner-Ford, D-West Point, sought to schedule synthetic kratom extracts as a controlled substance, but died in the House. Two other proposals in the House died after they were not brought up for a floor vote.
Dr. Jennifer Bryan, the president of the Mississippi Medical Association, urged lawmakers to schedule all forms of kratom – pure and synthetic – as a controlled substance at a House Drug Policy hearing at the Capitol Jan. 28, calling kratom “the next phase of the opioid crisis.”
State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney also spoke in support of criminalizing the drug given its highly addictive qualities.
But kratom advocates argue it has significant health benefits and that criminalizing the drug would be dangerous for people who depend on it for pain management or to satisfy drug cravings, and could create a dangerous underground market for the substance.
Christina Dent is the founder and president of End It For Good, a nonprofit advocating for a shift away from a criminal justice approach to drug use. The group has advocated against banning kratom outright, though Dent said she supports age restrictions and banning synthetic kratom.
“We need to respond in a way that acknowledges the potential risk and sets regulations around that but does not just push it into the free-for-all of an underground market,” she said.
Legislators have tried unsuccessfully to pass legislation regulating the sale of kratom in recent sessions. The House passed a bill in 2022 to make kratom a Schedule I drug and a bill in 2023 to ban kratom extracts, but both died in the Senate.
“It feels good to get something done on kratom,” Yancey said.
Mississippi Today is inviting college juniors and seniors with a passion for journalism to apply for summer internships.
The Mississippi Today internships provide aspiring journalists the opportunity to work in a Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom, and learn a multitude of skills that will prepare them for a career in mission-driven, public service journalism.
This summer, Mississippi Today is offering two distinct intern positions.
The Video intern will work with Mississippi Today’s Audience Engagement team to produce social vertical video content and traditional long-form videos. Areas of focus may include filming, editing, graphics, storyboarding and social media distribution.
The Special Projects intern will work with Mississippi Today’s experienced reporters and editors on large, comprehensive projects in the fields of Health, Politics and Justice. Areas of focus may include data crunching, submitting records requests, graphics creation, reporting and writing
“These internships are designed to be as immersive as possible,” says Managing Editor Michael Guidry. “Our interns get to work alongside experienced editors and journalists, contributing to the enterprise reporting Mississippi Today has become trusted to deliver.”
Among past interns are Alex Rozier, Simeon Gates and Richard Lake. Rozier has been Mississippi Today’s data and environmental reporter since 2017. Gates was a 2024 reporting intern and now serves as the newsroom’s general assignment reporter. Lake joined Mississippi Today in 2024 as its Audience Engagement Specialist.
“Mississippi Today’s internship threw me right into the mix of local reporting, something that was hard for me to find just coming out of college,” Rozier said. “At a lot of other journalism internships, you get stuck doing data entry or transcribing interviews. But here I was immediately getting assigned stories to do by myself. Even though I was new to the state and much greener than my colleagues, I felt treated like an actual reporter, and like I was actually needed to fill holes in our reporting.”
“My Mississippi Today intern experience elevated my skills and professional development in ways that still impact my day to day in my current role,” added Lake. “Utilizing interns as actual team members that are enabled to handle impactful projects, alongside the best journalists in this state, is what sets this opportunity apart from others.”
The paid, 10-week internship runs June 9 through August 8. Candidates interested in the video internship can apply here. Those interested in the reporting internship can apply here. Deadline to apply is Friday, May 9. Additional questions? Contact HR Director Dylan Penny at dpenny@deepsouthtoday.org.
Child care providers, parents, children, legislators and advocates gathered outside the state Capitol Thursday to call on Mississippi to use unspent welfare funds and resume accepting child care certificate applications.
Last month, the Mississippi Department of Human Services announced it will temporarily stop accepting new applications, redetermination applications and “add a child” applications for the child care certificate program for certain families as the result of the loss of COVID-19 relief funds. The hold, started March 31, will continue indefinitely. The program provides child care vouchers to eligible families, often with a co-payment fee.
MDHS explained that without the COVID-19 relief funding the number of families with child care certificates is more than it can support long term. When asked how long the hold would last, chief communications director Mark Jones explained the hold would end when the number of children with certificates dropped below 27,000 children and $12 million in monthly costs.
The week before the hold began, on March 28, 36,186 children had child care certificates. 25,300 of them fit into one of the MDHS’s priority categories. 10,800 did not.
The Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative, Child Care Directors Network Alliance, Mississippi Delta Licensed Child Care Providers, and Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable organized Thursday’s gathering and press conference to implore MDHS to tap into unused TANF funds to book the child care payment program.
Carol Burnett, Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative executive director (right), stresses the need to protect access to child care during the Child Care Matters: Keep Mississippi Working press conference held at the State Capitol, Thursday, April 24, 2025. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
“DHS has about $156 million in money from prior grant years that has gone unspent,” said Carol Burnett, MLICCI’s executive director, at the press conference.
The child care payment program gets funding from federal and state sources. It received $127 million from the Child Care Development Fund in fiscal year 2024, as well as $7 million in state appropriations, and $25.9 million transferred from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families grant.
That $25.9 million is 30% of the state’s annual TANF grant money transferred into funds for child care certificates. It is the maximum amount they’re allowed to transfer under federal law. The state also spends 85% of its money from the child care development fund on certificates, when federal law requires them to use at least 70%.
MLICCI and others want MDHS to add to that by spending current and carryover TANF funds on child care subsidies for families that qualify for child care certificates. According to a memo MLICCI prepared, this method does not require legislative action, has no spending limit, and is already used by other states.
Under the current hold, families can apply and get their certificates renewed if they fall in one of the following six categories: on Temporary Assistance for Needy FamiliesTANF or transitioning off of TANF, homeless, with foster children, teen parents, deployed military, orand with special needs. The Division of Early Childhood Care & Development will continue paying for certificates for all families until their certificates expire.
In a statement, MDHS’ chief communications officer Mark Jones said “MDHS understands these concerns and reaffirms its commitment to support child care, transportation, education, and other needs of families who need to return or remain in the workforce. Our aim is to ensure our approaches are sustainable.”
Burnett, parent KyAsia Johnson, state Rep. Zakiya Summers, D-Jackson, and multiple child care providers talked about the toll the hold has taken on child care centers and families. They also stated the importance of child care to sustain the state’s workforce, keep child care providers afloat, and educate young children.
They also urged citizens to contact the state’s political leadership to get their attention.
“This decision is putting people like me in an impossible situation,” said Johnson, a child care provider and parent. “What am I supposed to do without child care?”
Each provider spoke about how they had to explain the hold to parents, many of whom have had to pull their children out of day care. Cantrell Keyes, director of Agape Christian Academy World in Jackson, had five families pull their children out of her center. “More than half of my school tuition comes from CCPP,” she said.
Signs list businesses where parents work and who utilize child care are shared during the Child Care Matters: Keep Mississippi Working press conference held at the state Capitol, Thursday, April 24, 2025. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Rep. Summers called on MDHS to lift the hold on child care applications, use the extra TANF funds, and communicate better with parents and providers.
“Right now, thousands of Mississippi children might lose child care, not because the need has disappeared, but because the agency has made a choice,” she said.
The hold on child care certificates comes at a time when many child care providers and parents are struggling to stay afloat amid high costs, high turnover and high demand.
Deloris Suel, who owns Prep Company Tutorial Schools in Jackson, said, “Child care is in crisis. We’re not heading for crisis, we’re in crisis.”
Netflix has announced it will stream “She The People,” a comedy written, produced and directed by Tyler Perry based on a fictional newly elected Mississippi Lieutenant Governor, Antoinette Dunkerson, played by Terri J. Vaughn.
According to a trailer released Thursday and press about the show, the new Lt. Gov. Dunkerson character realizes her new job will be extremely tough due to a sexist and condescending governor.
Executive producers for the show include Niya Palmer, Vaughn and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. The cast also includes Tre Boyd, Dyon Brooks, Jade Nova, Jo Marie Payton and Drew Olivia Tillman.
The first eight-episode season debuts May 22 on Netflix, with a second eight-episode season premiering Aug. 14.
Investigative Reporters Steph Quinn and Mukta Joshi answered your questions on Reddit about their investigation that uncovered allegations that Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey used inmates in his custody to work on his family’s chicken farm.
Some former inmates said they fixed his personal vehicles. One even said she gave his wife back massages.
Some questions have been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Was there any point in your investigation when you felt concerned for your personal safety? Did any of the former inmates express concern about their safety as a consequence of sharing their stories?
Click for Mukta Joshi’s answer.
Almost every single former inmate we spoke to (except the few who were happy to go on the record about their positive experiences) were worried about their safety and preferred to remain anonymous. Especially those who still live in Rankin County. Keep in mind that the law is not kind to repeat or habitual offenders of any kind, and all of these folks had at least one felony on their record, making them very worried about getting in any sort of trouble again.
We definitely noticed a culture of fear. Multiple male former trusties told us they try their best to stay out of Rankin County at all times.
For us, it wasn’t so bad. I will say it was a difficult story to report, especially as the press is increasingly perceived and treated with animosity by public authorities that ought to be transparent and answerable to the people. But we made every effort to be safe, responsible, and most importantly fair to the subjects of our reporting. It definitely helps to know that you’re doing everything in your power to dot your i’s and cross your t’s.
Click for Steph Quinn’s answer.
More than one male former trusty said they avoid Rankin County because they’re concerned officers will find any reason to pull them over – if they’re going 10 over the speed limit on the highway, for example. I remember when we asked one former trusty if he’d be willing to have his hands photographed for the story – keeping him anonymous, but still featuring a photo of him – he suddenly sounded so scared, and it really hit home for me the fear of retaliation that some former inmates feel, often after having really horrific experiences in the jail. Sometimes I imagine an alternate reality where it would be safe for them to openly tell their full stories – everything they’ve been through, how much they’ve grown – alongside their photos.
Q: In your article, there was a quote from one of the supervisors which claimed that they had no authority over the Sheriff’s budgets.
In your reporting for this story, were you able to review the specific budget documents, invoices, purchase orders etc? If so, whose name was on these documents as signing off on them being approved purchases? Is there any evidence that these purchases were made with seized drug money? If so, what would the evidence be for that?
Click for Steph Quinn’s answer.
I wish I had a better answer to this question! We had really, really hoped to be able to sit down with members of the Board of Supervisors and talk about the purchasing process, who from the Board of Supervisors has to approve what and when, and whether there’s a review process of sheriff’s department purchases after money has been budgeted for the department.
In short, the documents we have don’t show anyone in particular signing off on purchases. And yes, there is clear evidence that some of the purchases – such as the skid steer that Sheriff Bailey allegedly stored on his mother’s farm that was used to clear land – were made with seized drug money. We know that because the sheriff’s department’s budgeted funds are in a different “pot” of money from seized drug money. We had to request the documents separately, and some of the drug seizure purchases are explicitly labeled as such in the description column for the purchase. We also confirmed about the skid steer with a source who’s a former deputy.
And we tried hard to talk with supervisors, to no avail. When Mukta emailed one of the supervisors asking for an interview, the sheriff’s department’s lawyer replied to the email, saying no one from the county would talk with us. We showed up in person to the supervisors’ office, called and even asked the supervisors for an interview during a monthly BoS meeting. The answer was always the same.
Q: Do you think it will be more difficult in the current political climate to hold Bailey accountable for his misuse of actual people?
We seem to be okay with some pretty questionable behaviors from government officials, and Bailey is still sheriff after several other heinous allegations have been made public.
Click for Mukta Joshi’s answer.
Don’t mean for this to sound like a cop-out (no pun intended) but it seems like only time will tell. You are correct that it has gotten way more difficult to hold law enforcement accountable as the Department of Justice under this administration has deprioritized police reform. But the response this story received from within the Rankin County community was something that none of us had expected. People seem really, really angry. And sometimes, that’s the best part of local reporting: even if it doesn’t trigger reform at the very top, it can change minds within the community, and that can sometimes end up being even more impactful.
Click for Steph Quinn’s answer.
Quite possibly. There’s what’s happening at the federal level. The state auditor’s office has opened an investigation into the allegations from our story, but that office can’t prosecute. In addition to the allegations that the sheriff used inmates to work on the chicken farm, there are also the allegations that he used county property and resources, such as gravel and the skid steer, for his personal benefit. It’s possible that some of those allegations are more actionable from a legal standpoint than others, but I can’t really say. Time will tell!
Q: Were there ever reports of inmates being injured or ill after working for them, especially at the chicken farm? I cannot imagine and PPE being used and chicken barn dust is no joke. As an aside, it’s sad that the only thing the female inmates seem to be allowed to do is clean and office work. Did they ever produce the rules of the program for men or disciplinary policies for either sex? I don’t understand how you can have such a program without thoroughly planned out and documented policies.
Click for Mukta Joshi’s answer.
That is a GREAT question and something we will definitely start looking into. I will say, chicken farm-related injuries and illnesses didn’t come up while we were reporting for these stories, but we did certainly hear that it was not pleasant work at all. It involved, like Christian Dedmon said in that text to his then-wife, being “covered in chicken shit.” Which I personally have not experienced before but does not sound fun.
About the female inmates being relegated to cleaning (with the occasional exception of secretarial work) – man, we noticed that too! It was interesting because you would think at least partially, the idea behind working in jail would be to build skills for post-release life. And while the men had the opportunity to practice a bunch of different trades – which some of them continue to do in the “free world,” such as electric work and auto repair – some female trusties who started working after jail are doing just that: cleaning. Nothing wrong with cleaning, obviously, but it is undeniably very gendered work.
Click for Steph Quinn’s answer.
Seconding that this is an awesome question. I can’t speak directly to the availability of PPE on the farm, but I was struck by how former trusties we spoke with sort of shrugged off the nastiness and difficulty of the annual cleanout. I can’t speak for them, but I think it points to the thorniness of trusties’ relationships with sheriff’s department officials, and how trusty work – even work that (allegedly) broke the law – could be a survival strategy for inmates. I think it can be true that trusties were allegedly being used for the sheriff’s benefit AND that being one of the most trusted trusties, who was allowed to work outside the jail under looser supervision, was desirable. One of our sources said something like, even when you’re in jail, there’s some degree of choice. Another source talked about wanting to impress the sheriff to become a “blue suit” – the highest rank of male trusties – and said that part of the reason he wanted this was that it could make his life in the jail easier.
And I hear you about the cleaning. If I were a trusty, I would want to learn how to fix cars!
Q: Is it “trustees” or “trusties”?
Click for Mukta Joshi’s answer.
Thank you so much for this question – so many people responded to the story correcting this spelling and it’s great to get to clear up the confusion once and for all.
In a nutshell: it’s “trusties,” with “trusty” being the singular form, in the context of inmates. Basically it means trustworthy. Think, “I drove my trusty car!” But it is very confusing, because the word “trustees” also has a similar meaning. We were thrown off by this too!!
Click for Steph Quinn’s answer.
This is a question a lot of people have had, and it’s a good one! Everyone we talked with says “trustees” (with the emphasis on the second syllable). So in people’s everyday speech, it’s absolutely “trustees.” And I think there’s kind of an interesting slippage between the formal, Merriam-Webster spelling – “trusties” – and how it’s pronounced, since in the financial world, “trustees” are entrusted with valuable assets. And trusties are, too. We went with the dictionary spelling because of our organization’s style guidelines.
Q: How long has this practice been ongoing in Rankin County? Did any other sheriff predecessor know or take part in it?
Click for Steph Quinn’s answer.
We focused on Sheriff Bailey’s time in office, so I can’t speak definitively on what happened before. We know that the trusty system is old, in Rankin County and across the state. After civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer was arrested in June 1963 for riding in the “white” section of a Greyhound bus in Winona, Montgomery County jailers ordered two Black trusties to torture her. In 1972, a federal court found that at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, the use of armed “trusty shooters” to oversee inmates’ work in the fields resulted in dozens of inmates suffering gunshot wounds and beatings. And incarcerated farm labor itself – for instance, at Parchman Farm – was a successor to the convict leasing system, which sought to address labor shortages and reinforced white supremacy after the end of the Civil War.
Click for Mukta Joshi’s answer.
Also, former Simpson County Sheriff Lloyd “Goon” Jones, someone Sheriff Bailey considered a mentor, was killed when he was shot along with a jail trusty in his front yard.
Q: Have you faced threats of retaliation?
Click for Mukta Joshi’s answer.
Words like “defamatory” have certainly been thrown around, but besides that, not really. It’s our sources we’re more concerned about – many of them still have to live in Rankin County and for that reason were really scared to speak up.
Click for Steph Quinn’s answer.
Luckily, no. Aside from the “defamatory” language, there’s just been unpleasantness and some foot-dragging on our public record requests. I worry about our sources, though! I have such respect for them for speaking out at risk to themselves.
Q: In this investigation did you find any additional info on Rankin County’s “goon squad”? (Not sure if that’s super relevant here)
Click for Mukta Joshi’s answer.
Short answer: Yes. Long answer: We’re working on it. Our larger team, which includes our incredible colleagues Nate Rosenfield, Brian Howey and Jerry Mitchell are currently continuing reporting on the Goon Squad. Brian & Nate’s work in 2023 showed us that the Goon Squad wasn’t limited to the 6 officers who got sentenced in the Jenkins & Parker case, and that it was going on well beyond those two incidents, for nearly two decades. Many people told us that it was an open secret. Which means that story is far from over!
Click for Steph Quinn’s answer.
This is a really important point. The torture and abuse that have come to light through our colleagues’ Goon Squad reporting wasn’t limited to the officers who are in prison. We can’t say much here at this point, but there’s a lot more work to do!
A Georgia poultry company that operates a Hattiesburg plant where a teenage temporary worker died has been placed again on a national list of unsafe and reckless employers.
Mar-Jac Poultry was named one of the “Dirty Dozen” in a Thursday report by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. It made the list last year, too. Other companies on the list are in areas including agriculture, retail, health care, fast food, strip clubs, food manufacturing and private prisons.
“These companies have failed to eliminate known, preventable hazards – risking lives through negligence, and in at least one case, actively opposing stronger worker protections,” the report states.
Themes of the “Dirty Dozen” report are sudden workplace trauma, heat exposure and immigrant labor. The report’s release coincides with Workers Memorial Week, which is from April 23 to May 1.
Three workers have died in Mar-Jac facilities since 2020, including 16-year-old Duvan Pérez at its Hattiesburg processing plant in 2023.
While cleaning a deboning machine, he was caught in a rotating shaft and pulled in, according to an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Federal labor laws don’t allow those under the age of 18 to work in meat processing because of dangerous machinery.
A February 2023 wrongful death lawsuit filed by Pérez’s family alleges that a temporary staffing agency assigned him to complete work that he was legally unable to do due to his age. The suit also alleges Mar-Jac had a history of worker safety issues.
In a statement after the teenager’s death, Mar-Jac said staffing companies are responsible for verifying employee’s age and identification, and an attorney for the company told NBC News last year that Pérez used identification of a 32-year-old man to get the job.
A jury trial for the lawsuit is scheduled for March 11, 2026, in Forrest County.
Last year, OSHA cited Mar-Jac for over $212,000 in penalties for multiple safety failures, including failure to protect from hazards like falls, machine entanglement and electrocution. Last summer, Mar-Jac settled with OSHA and agreed to pay nearly $165,000 in fines and implement safety measures.
At one of Mar-Jac’s Alabama plants, investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor found children working on the kill floor deboning poultry and cutting carcasses – some who had been working there for months.
Again, the company said the minors were hired with documents showing they were over 18 years old.
“Mar-Jac will continue to vigorously defend itself and expects to prevail in this matter,” the company said in a statement to ABC News. “Mar-Jac is committed to complying with all relevant law.”
Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart throws the ball during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Kentucky on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Oxford, Miss. Kentucky won 20-17. (AP Photo/Randy J. Williams)
If the New Orleans Saints choose Jaxson Dart with the ninth pick of the NFL Draft Thursday night, it would not be the first time the Saints have chosen a Rebel quarterback in the first round.
Surely, most readers already knew that, and we’ll get to the other time that happened later in this missive. But first, should the Saints take Dart? For that matter, should they use that first round pick for any quarterback? Or should they use that early pick to bolster another position where they need immediate help? After all, there are so many places they need help.
Rick Cleveland
Me? I would take an offensive tackle or an edge rusher. Among the Saints’ many, many other needs, those are the most critical. Nearly every draft expert will tell you the 2025 draft is much richer in both edge rushers and those who block the edge than it is quarterbacks. You also can make the case that there’s no good reason to draft a quarterback until you can surround him with adequate protection.
The Saints have so many needs they might best be served to trade that ninth pick for more choices. New coach Kellen Moore inherits the NFL’s oldest team. The Saints desperately need to get younger and better at any number of positions. It would make some sense to trade the ninth pick for a pick later in the first and perhaps a couple additional picks in the second and third rounds. Or, perhaps use that ninth pick for an offensive tackle and then use their second round pick, the 40th overall, to pick a possible quarterback of the future.
We shall see. Interestingly, Dart is not even the highest Ole Miss player on most experts’ draft board. Both defensive tackle Walter Nolen and edge rusher Princely Umanmielen are rated above Dart when it comes to best available player no matter their position. I thought Nolen was hands down the best college football player – and the best potential pro – in Mississippi last season. If opponents did not double-team Nolen, he disrupted most everything they tried.
This year’s draft, which will take place in Green Bay over three days beginning Thursday night, will be in stark contrast to 1971, the first and only time the Saints drafted an Ole Miss quarterback in the first round. National TV cameras will focus on the highly choreographed first-round proceedings Thursday night. Most of the expected early picks will be present. A huge crowd will cheer and jeer the picks in person.
Back in ’71, Archie Manning nearly forgot there was a draft. Back then, the draft was held in January. None of the expected early choices were present. There was no TV broadcast and certainly no in-person crowd.
Manning, who had just married and honeymooned in Acapulco, was in Oxford, still attending Ole Miss classes. The draft, which lasted 17 rounds, began on a Monday morning. On Sunday afternoon, Manning received a call from the late, great Ole Miss sports information director Billy Gates. I’ll retell the story the way Archie told it to me.
Gates asked Archie if he remembered that the draft would begin on Monday morning.
“I guess I forgot,” Manning replied.
Gates reminded him that the Boston Patriots were picking first, the Saints second and the Houston Oilers third. “All three have called wanting to know where you will be. I’m pretty sure one of those three teams are going to pick you,” Gates told him. “Why don’t you come to my office tomorrow morning at 9, and I’ll let them all know you will be here.”
Archie said he would be there and that’s where he was when he heard the Patriots had taken Jim Plunkett, the 1970 Heisman Trophy winner out of Stanford, with the first pick of the draft. Moments later, Gates’ phone rang again. He answered, and then handed the phone to Manning.
Archie Manning, Ole Miss star quarterback, receives good news from the New Orleans Saints football team, Jan. 28, 1971 in Oxford, Miss. (AP Photo)
John Mecom, the Saints’ owner, was on the line to tell him he was a Saint.
“I talked to Mecom for two minutes, then Mecom put general manager Vic Schwenk on the line and we talked, and then I talked to J.D. Roberts, the head coach, for a couple minutes more. I remember there was a photographer there from the Associated Press to take pictures. The whole thing lasted 15 minutes.”
And that was that.
“I made it on time to my 10 o’clock class,” Manning said.
He learned when he got home from class that nobody had taken Michigan All-American offensive tackle Dan Dierdorf, whom Manning had befriended at the Hula Bowl, in the first round.
“I was excited because I thought we were going to get Dan and I knew how good he was,” Manning said.
He knew – or at least he thought he knew – his blind side would be protected. And then came the news that with their second pick of the draft, the Saints had chosen Grambling offensive lineman Sam Holden.
Dierdorf, picked by the St. Louis Cardinals later in the second round, became a five-time All-Pro, one of the best-ever offensive tackles in NFL history. Holden, a New Orleans native, lasted one year and never started for the Saints.
There’s a lesson there for the current Saints. If you are going to pick an offensive tackle first, at least pick one who can play. And if you do choose Dart, please, please find him some protection.
The sports gambling lobby, as it has done in other states, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Mississippi politicians trying to convince them to legalize mobile sports betting.
Part of that effort was an unreported trip to the Super Bowl in New Orleans this year for House Speaker Jason White, his staff and a couple of their spouses. The trip was paid for, at least in part, by DraftKings, one of the nation’s highest-grossing gaming companies that has invested heavily in lobbying for legal online betting.
Thanks to a loophole in Mississippi’s lax lobbying laws, there is no public report to date of the expensive weekend in lobbying reports that are supposed to document spending on behalf of state employees. The cheapest tickets to the Super Bowl retailed for nearly $3,000 each. The group attended the game less than a week after White oversaw the House’s approval of legislation to legalize mobile sports betting in Mississippi.
The Republican speaker, one of the most powerful politicians in the state, has repeatedly said that legalizing mobile sports betting is one of his top priorities. He has continued to push for legal online betting after it has repeatedly died in the Senate. Proponents, such as White, say legalization would be a financial boon to the state. It would also further enrich the gambling companies that facilitate online betting.
The speaker and his staff enjoyed the Super Bowl weekend as mobile sports betting became one of the defining issues of the 2025 legislative session. White and the House leaders took the issue so seriously earlier this year that they blocked other legislation in response to the Senate’s opposition to legal sports betting, according to Senate leaders.
White and his spokesperson, who also attended the Super Bowl, refused to comment or answer questions about the Super Bowl trip.
While in New Orleans, White posed for a photograph in front of the Superdome with his wife, his taxpayer-funded security guard, two House staff members and the husband of one of his staffers. After Mississippi Today discovered the photo, DraftKings and John Morgan Hughes, whose Jackson-based Ten One Strategies firm lobbies for the Sports Betting Alliance, a group representing DraftKings and other gaming organizations, confirmed that the gambling industry paid for the game day tickets.
The Boston-based sports gambling giant has been at the forefront of a years-long lobbying push to legalize online betting in Mississippi and around the country. In a statement, a company spokesperson said DraftKings “follows the required reporting requirements in all jurisdictions, including Mississippi.”
The company declined to answer how much it spent on the group and whether it paid for perks beyond the game tickets in New Orleans — where some of White’s entourage documented extravagant Super Bowl festivities on social media.
Super Bowl trip was ‘unforgettable experience’
Taylor Spillman, White’s communications director, and her husband, Trey Spillman, who serves as Rankin County’s prosecuting attorney, photographed their weekend in the Big Easy.
They mingled in a luxury box suite at the Superdome, private spaces that cost between $750,000 and $2 million. They took photographs with celebrities such as former Today show host Hoda Kotb and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. And there were pregame drinks at what appeared to be Brennan’s, the famed New Orleans Creole restaurant that served as the weekend stomping ground for guests of DraftKings.
A day after the Super Bowl, Trey Spillman took to social media to thank DraftKings for the experience.
“Unforgettable experience at Super Bowl LIX. Thank you @draftkings for the hospitality! #sports”
But after Mississippi Today asked the Spillmans this week about the trip, he edited the social media post to remove any mention of DraftKings and the company’s “hospitality.”
“Unforgettable experience at Super Bowl LIX. #sports,” the edited post reads.
The Spillmans did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment.
For desktop users: Drag the arrows left and right to see Trey Spillman’s social media post, which he edited to exclude mention of DraftKings after Mississippi Today reached out for comment.
Online gambling money pours in to politicians
Mississippi Today asked DraftKings why the lobbyist registered to represent the company in Mississippi did not disclose the Super Bowl trip for the speaker’s family and staff in his most recent round of expenditure reports.
In response, a spokesperson for the company pointed to state lobbying law that gives the clients of lobbyists, in this case DraftKings, until the end of the year to document gifts to public officials.
Mississippi’s lobbying laws do allow for a distinction between individual lobbyists and clients, leaving open to interpretation what lobbyists and their clients are required to report and when they’re required to report their expenses. The DraftKings spokesperson said that distinction allows it to wait until the end of the year to report the excursion for White’s group. This means DraftKings is claiming the company or the Sports Betting Alliance, not its lobbyist, funded the Super Bowl outing.
Secretary of State Michael Watson’s office regulates lobbyists in Mississippi and enforces the state’s lobbying laws. Watson, who has accepted $1,000 himself from a DraftKings-affiliated PAC, and his office publish an annual lobbying guide.
In the most recent guide, it says a lobbyist’s client is only required to file an annual report the following January — nearly nine months after the regular legislative session ends. That is the provision DraftKings cited when asked why its lobbyist did not document the Super Bowl trip on the most recent report.
Elizabeth Jonson, a spokesperson for Watson’s office, told Mississippi Today in a statement that if a gambling company provided football tickets or other items of value to public officials “for the purpose of lobbying,” then the company is required to disclose those gifts, at some point, in their lobbying reports.
The Spillmans pose for a photo with Hoda Kotb at the Super Bowl.
Unlike many other states, Mississippi has no “gift law” banning or limiting how much money lobbyists or others can spend on politicians or government officials.
In total, the Sports Betting Alliance, a group representing DraftKings and other gaming organizations, has spent approximately $454,000 since 2024 on lobbying fees and campaign donations to advocate for mobile sports betting, according to a review of campaign finance and lobbying reports.
Of that money, the Sports Betting Alliance has spent over $254,000 in Mississippi on lobbying expenses, ad campaigns and meals for lawmakers, according to lobbying records filed with the secretary of state.
The SBA and its employees have donated at least another $200,000 to Mississippi politicians, according to campaign finance reports since 2014. SBA routed the money through TenOne PAC, the PAC controlled by Hughes’ lobbying firm. Hughes and the firm have also contributed $32,500 of their own money to the PAC, which could have also been used for sports betting advocacy, although the PAC supports other causes as well.
Arkansas governor faced Super Bowl questions
Taylor Spillman, the speaker’s communications director, posed for a photo at the Super Bowl with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
At the Super Bowl, Huckabee Sanders posed with White’s spokesperson, Taylor Spillman. A year prior, the Arkansas governor faced questions about who paid her tab for a trip to the Super Bowl. Sanders later clarified that she and her husband paid for their commercial flight, hotel and tickets to the game. Arkansas, unlike Mississippi, has laws requiring politicians to report gifts from special interests and imposes limits on them.
Sanders’ spokesperson said she paid her own way again to this year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans.
In response to media reports about her trip to the 2024 Super Bowl, Arkansas officials acknowledged that Arkansas State Police provided security on the trip to Huckabee Sanders and her family.
White, the Mississippi speaker, also appears to have had state-funded security on his trip to this year’s Super Bowl.
One of the people photographed in New Orleans with White is the speaker’s designated security guard with the Department of Public Safety’s Executive Protection Division. When asked whether any state resources were used to send the guard to the Super Bowl with the speaker, Bailey Martin, a spokesperson for the state Department of Public Safety, said such state-funded protection would be “expected.”
“The speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives has been assigned an executive protection detail for many years,” Martin said in a written statement. “It would be expected for agents assigned to the speaker’s detail to attend such events when traveling out of state.”
Two other state employees who work closely with the speaker in the House were photographed inside the Superdome with the Spillmans. One is White’s administrative assistant, and the other is a House committee assistant. There were seven people, including the speaker, photographed in front of the Superdome. Those involved have not disclosed whether others joined the Mississippi group.
The average Super Bowl ticket price this year was around $4,708, according to the online ticket platform TickPick, but prices varied widely.
Trey and Taylor Spillman, right, pose for a photo inside a Super Bowl luxury box with two other House staffers.
The feverish push to expand the lucrative mobile sports betting industry in states around the country traces back to a change in the federal legal landscape.
Other legislation used as leverage for betting
Commercial sports betting was effectively banned, with a few exceptions, until 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 1992 prohibition. Sports gambling companies such as DraftKings then launched a full-court press lobbying campaign to bring sports betting to tens of millions of mobile phones around the country, an effort reported to be the fastest expansion of legalized gambling in American history.
Around 40 states have some form of legalized sports betting, though about 20 have full online betting with multiple operators, according to Action Network, a sports betting application and news site. Some states only have in-person betting, and some only have a single online operator in the state.
Mississippi has been one of the holdouts, largely due to fears that legalization could harm the bottom line of the state’s casinos and increase the prevalence of gambling addiction. Influential religious institutions in the Bible Belt state have also opposed the spread of gambling.
Mississippi allows sports betting now, but only inside casinos.
After passing the House in 2023 and 2024, legislation legalizing online betting has died in the Senate.
On Feb. 8, the day before the Super Bowl, White reminded his social media followers that Mississippi had attempted to legalize mobile sports betting for three years.
“We have now passed it again this year,” White wrote. “Your issue is on the other end of the Capitol.”
This session, White and powerful House leaders took an unusually bare-knuckled approach in their push for mobile sports betting.
Democratic Sen. David Blount, the Senate Gaming chairman, has refused to advance mobile sports betting out of his committee. He said House leaders appeared to retaliate this year by killing at least four other gaming-related bills.
One bill would have allowed the Mississippi Department of Human Services to collaborate with the state Gaming Commission to withhold cash winnings from people with outstanding child support, a sum totaling $1.7 billion. Federal data shows Mississippi has the worst child support collection rates in the nation and one of the highest rates of child poverty.
Another bill would have changed the law dealing with leasing state-owned water bottoms on the Gulf Coast, an issue important to casinos. All of the stalled bills were supported by Republicans.
“It certainly appears that the position of the House is, ‘We won’t pass any legislation related to gaming, even if it’s supported by a Republican statewide official or has the unanimous support of the Senate, the industry and regulators,’” Blount said. “None of that appears to be able to pass the House until they get mobile sports betting.”
In a separate move, House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar attempted to increase taxes on Mississippi casinos, some of which have opposed mobile sports betting legalization. Lamar, one of White’s top lieutenants, made clear his casino tax increase proposal, which stood little chance of passing into law, was a political shot at the casino industry for the blockage of online betting.
White also attempted to leverage other legislation, including the state income tax and the public retirement system, to coerce the Senate into passing mobile sports betting, Senate leaders said.
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who leads the Senate, did not respond to a request for comment.
Proponents of mobile sports betting in Mississippi say the state is losing between $40 million and $80 million a year in tax revenue by keeping mobile sports betting illegal. And sports gambling companies are losing out on a new customer base in Mississippi, which is home to a thriving illegal online gambling market.
Days after House lawmakers made those arguments on the floor of the Mississippi House in Jackson, the speaker’s staffers were enjoying the hospitality of DraftKings at its Super Bowl weekend festivities.
“We view these things as DraftKings in real life,” said Shawn Henley, DraftKings’ chief customer officer, of the company’s Super Bowl weekend events. “We also have tons of business partners and will spend a lot of time with them.”
Mississippi lawmakers will convene in a special legislative session in the coming weeks to finalize a state budget, as they were unable to agree on one during their regular session.
The governor has the power to set the agenda during a special session, and Gov. Tate Reeves has said he’s open to adding mobile sports betting legislation to the upcoming special session agenda.
The Clevelands take a comprehensive look at this weekend’s NFL Draft, assessing Mississippi prospects and what the New Orleans Saints should do with the ninth pick. Many experts believe the Saints will take Ole Miss quarterback Dart, but the Clevelands are not so sure. It would not be the first time the Saints have taken an Ole Miss QB in the first round as Rick remembers and recounts the circumstances.
Faced with the options of a younger, self-described radical incumbent mayor and a more moderate and seasoned state senator, Jackson voters chose the latter as the Capital City’s likely new leader Tuesday.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba became mayor in 2017 after beating state Sen. John Horhn and seven other candidates in the democratic primary that year. This year, Horhn’s fourth time running for mayor, the 32-year legislator flipped the script, handily beating Lumumba roughly 3 to 1 in a head-to-head runoff.
By just after 9 p.m. with all but one precinct counted, Horhn’s vote count reached 17,729 compared to Lumumba’s 5,940.
State Sen. John Horhn addresses supporters after winning the Democratic primary runoff for Jackson mayor at The Rookery in Jackson on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
State Sen. John Horhn addresses supporters after winning the Democratic primary runoff for Jackson mayor at The Rookery in Jackson on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
State Sen. John Horhn addresses supporters after winning the Democratic primary runoff for Jackson mayor at The Rookery in Jackson on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
State Sen. John Horhn addresses supporters after winning the Democratic primary runoff for Jackson mayor at The Rookery in Jackson on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Bishop Ronnie Crudup Sr. prays after State Sen. John Horhn’s victory in the Democratic primary runoff for Jackson mayor at The Rookery in Jackson on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Supporters gather at The Rookery in Jackson on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, for State Sen. John Horhn’s election watch party for the Democratic primary runoff for Jackson mayor. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Supporters congratulate John Horhn following his victory in the Democratic primary runoff for Jackson mayor during a watch party at The Rookery in Jackson on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
John Horhn kisses his wife, Lydia Gail Horhn, after winning the Democratic primary runoff for Jackson mayor at The Rookery in Jackson on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
John Horhn celebrates with his family after winning the Democratic primary runoff for Jackson mayor at The Rookery in Jackson on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
John Horhn, Democratic nominee for Jackson mayor, greets attendees at his campaign watch party at The Rookery in Jackson on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Read Mississippi Today’s live election blog documenting the day and evening.
Incumbent Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba prepares to cast his vote, Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at Fire Station 16. Lumumba is in a runoff race against John Horhn. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Election officials began counting ballots at the Jackson Fire Department’s downtown station after the polls closed at 7 p.m. Turnout in northeast Jackson caught officials by surprise, requiring the delivery of more ballots, which seemed to bode well for Horhn, who carried Ward 1 by wide margins in the April 1 primary. The winner of the Democratic primary usually goes on to become mayor, but Horhn will still face one Republican and four independent candidates in the General Election come June.
Residents in wards 6 and 7 also had an opportunity to vote for a new city councilperson Tuesday. In Ward 6, located in south Jackson, voters chose between Lashia Brown-Thomas and Emon Thompson Sr. The winner of the primary will become the next councilmember as there is no Ward 6 challenger in the General Election.
In Ward 7, encompassing parts of downtown, Belhaven, Midtown and Fondren, voters selected either Kevin Parkinson or Quint Withers. The winner faces one Republican and one independent in the General Election.
