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Mississippi has continued its mostly steady bounce back from the economic lows caused by the pandemic, but the latest federal employment report showed the state lost 7,000 jobs from January through February. 

The new data came as a surprise to state economist Corey Miller, who said Mississippi had largely been adding jobs since the immediate downturn from the pandemic. 

Miller said a likely factor in the drop was severe winter storms that hit the state in mid-February. The storms not only caused power outages, but had residents and businesses in parts of Jackson without running water for a month. 

“I tend to think that’s going to turn around in the next few months,” Miller said, referring to the job losses.  “The outlook for our economy is pretty optimistic for the state and for the nation.” 

The state’s unemployment rate for February was 6.3%, down .1 % from its rate the month before, according to the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. The department’s chief labor market director, Mary Willoughby, said since the height of the pandemic in April the state has showed consistent economic improvement.

At the pandemic’s peak, Mississippi’s rate of unemployment neared 16%. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, the state’s unemployment rate hovered around 5.5%. 

The state had also lost 2,700 jobs in January. But before the recent drops, Miller said the state had recovered about 75% of the losses caused by the COVID-19 shutdowns.

About half the recent losses came from the hospitality industry and food services, which have been hurt the most nationwide in the fallout of the pandemic. 

“All things considered we have held up pretty well,” Miller said. “The reason is the speed at which the state reopened and another part of it is that we don’t have as much of our economy in service sectors as other states.” 

Mississippi has added 104,200 jobs since the lows of April 2020, according to its February report. The state’s unemployment rate has also decreased every month since April 2020.

The post Mississippi lost 7,000 jobs last month. But economist says outlook still positive appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The federal pandemic relief bill contains a big incentive for states that haven’t expanded Medicaid. Mississippi is one of 12 states holding out on the expansion.

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney says currently the federal government pays about 80 cents on the dollar for Medicaid coverage. If Mississippi were to expand, that amount would increase to 95 cents.

Chaney, a Republican statewide elected official, said Medicaid expansion could provide health care coverage options for those who do not currently qualify under the Affordable Care Act.

“Medicaid expansion is not about putting people on the welfare rolls,” Chaney said. “This is about expanding health care availability to those people that make 138% of the poverty level or less. And that’s about 300,000 to 400,000 people in this state. They’re the poor, those with AIDS, the infants, the disabled, the folks that fall through the cracks that are not able to get on the Affordable Care Act and not able to qualify for Medicaid as it exists now.”

Below is the transcript of an interview Chaney conducted with Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

How is the expansion under the latest relief package different than the existing expansion option?

Chaney: The federal government puts up 80 cents of every dollar that we spend on Medicaid, and the state government puts up 20 cents of every dollar we pay. If you go with expansion, the state would put up 5 cents for every dollar the federal government gives us. So, the feds would give us 95 cents, and we would put up 5 cents. The danger is many people feel like that, with all the pandemic expenditures — the CARES Act expenditures and all the other issues that have come up requiring unexpected expenditure as well — there will not be enough money left to sustain an expansion of Medicaid for more than another 24 months. And if Mississippi does not expand Medicaid this year, then it’s very likely that we will not expand it in the next year either. 

How long would the government pay 95% of the Medicaid tab, and would it gradually decrease once that time expired? 

Chaney: They have guaranteed at least 24 months of payment at 95%. It’s not set in stone as to what the expansion dollars would be after 24 months. The present match is close to 92 for those states that did expand Medicaid, so I don’t think it would drop below that. But the deal is Mississippi is, if Mississippi is already getting only 80 cents and paying 20 cents on the dollar, and if we only had to pay 8 cents on the dollar, it would be a better deal if you’d looked at expansion. And one thing I want to say: Medicaid expansion is not about putting people on the welfare rolls. This is about expanding health care availability to those people that make 138% of the poverty level or less. And that’s about 300,000 to 400,000 people in this state. They’re the poor, those with AIDS, the infants, the disabled, the folks that fall through the cracks that are not able to get on the Affordable Care Act and not able to qualify for Medicaid as it exists now.

How do they fall through the cracks? These are working adults, or — as you said — disabled or aged or infants. Give us a picture of who these people are and why they don’t qualify. 

Chaney: When the Affordable Care Act was passed, the law specified people that are 100% of the poverty level in the United States could not buy an insurance policy on the federal marketplace. And they have to either not have any insurance at all, or you cover them by expanding Medicaid. Of course, at that time, many states chose not to expand Medicaid. And at the beginning of January of 2021, which is now almost nine years after the fact when Medicaid was first put up for expansion, we have 14 states that have not expanded. And today in March of 2021, we now have 12 states that haven’t expanded Medicaid.

So, to make it real simple; if you have one person, the federal poverty level for 2021 is $12,880. If you have a young mother who’s pregnant — a pregnant female qualifies as two people — that would be $17,420 a year at the poverty level. These people cannot buy insurance on the Affordable Care Act. And if you know the income, they certainly cannot expand private insurance because they can’t afford it. 

Those Mississippians who get insurance through the Affordable Care Act, is their insurance subsidized to some extent by the federal government? 

Chaney: From 100% of the poverty level to 400% of the poverty level, there is a tax credit that goes to anyone that purchases insurance from the federal marketplace. In Mississippi, 85% of the people that are on the Affordable Care Act plans — and that’s one of the two plans, Molina or Magnolia — get a subsidy from the federal government in the form of a tax credit. That would continue onto the proposed plans for the present administration to expand Medicaid. Those tax benefits will also increase. And that’s another concern for the leadership in the states that have not expanded Medicaid because they are worried there will not be enough money left to expand Medicaid to pay for it. 

Somebody who makes $16,000 a year makes too much money to be able to get insurance through the Affordable Care Act or enroll in Medicaid. 

Chaney:  They’re too poor — too poor — to get on the Affordable Care Act. If you make less than 138% of the poverty level (and 138% is all about $20,000 a year for a family of two), you cannot buy on the Affordable Care Act. You just can’t do it; it’s against the law. Now, there is a way around that if you can get something called a 1332 waiver out of the federal government. And many states have done that. So, Mississippi developed a plan — back when the ACA was first proposed — to take the Medicaid dollars and purchase private insurance and give that to folks. And that would include anybody below 400% of the poverty level. But we were turned down. You had to have the governor’s signature to do that, and the governor at that time said they did not trust the federal government to continue funding the programs. That is proven to be wrong. They did continue to fund them, and we did not follow the plan. We gave the plan back to the various states that wanted to use it. That was Idaho, New Mexico, Arkansas, Indiana — and Indiana expanded using basically the Mississippi plan and Arkansas did, too, with a few modifications. 

The Mississippi Hospital Association has a way to pay for Medicaid expansion. So, in essence, it wouldn’t cost the state anything with their plan? 

Chaney:  The Hospital Association’s plan is dependent upon hospitals putting up a percent of the match that was required under the federal government guidelines. And that match would be $20 per month from the hospitals — or a tax on the hospitals. I think the best way to do this is if the state bellies up to the bar and puts $50 million up. That’s a $915 billion expansion. And know that the most you would ever pay would be a $100 million on the expansion because the government does say that you will always get 90% of the cost on expansion. If you Google “Medicaid expansion,” you will find that 14 states initially that refused to adopt Medicaid expansion know that the federal government will always pay 90% of the costs. They have guaranteed that. So, the Hospital Association’s plan’s fallacy was you had to have another tax to make the plan work. And a lot of legislators and people in leadership roles in the various states — including Mississippi — decided they didn’t want another tax on hospitals. What we have proposed is a different bifurcated product with our commercial insurance plan, and to make the networks use the rural hospitals in our state — which already helped physicians there. And it would maintain the rural hospitals and keep them whole without having to put more money into the rural hospital system. And it would allow people access to health care throughout the Delta and the other parts of the state that are considered rural.

Hospitals, especially rural hospitals, as it stands now have to foot the bill for those who don’t have medical insurance. Is that right, and is that causing undue stress on those hospitals? 

Chaney:  Under our laws in Mississippi, if you are going to go to the hospital, they cannot refuse to serve you. If you go to the emergency room, they must see you. And actually, we spend more at the emergency rooms trying to take care of the uninsured than we would spend if we had a different plan. And that plan would be something like a policy for all those under 138% of the poverty level. 

We have two or three companies that are vendors of Medicaid in Mississippi. What if the state were to expand Medicaid? Would that bring other insurers in or would the companies we have currently be able to handle that expansion? 

Chaney:  I think the companies that we have now could handle the expansion, but it would bring other folks to the table to try to expand healthcare insurance within the state. And it’s no secret that at the department I have met with at least five companies looking to expand health care within the state, but that’s a long process. It takes 24 months to get someone ready to expand health care within the state of Mississippi. It’s just not something you can do within a month or two. And that’s tough. Now, I will say the Kaiser Family Foundation. If you want to do a fact check on what the commissioner is talking about, you can go and look at Kaiser Family Foundation. They have predicted that Mississippi would lose $24 billion — that’s billion, that’s over almost five times what our annual budget is for the state — in benefits by not expanding Medicaid by the year 2024.

This report was produced in partnership with the Community Foundation for Mississippi’s local news collaborative, which is independently funded in part by Microsoft Corp. The collaborative includes the Clarion Ledger, the Jackson Advocate, Jackson State University, Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, Mississippi Public Broadcasting and Mississippi Today.

The post GOP Insurance Chief Mike Chaney discusses benefits of expanding Medicaid appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Tom Ramsey, a native of Vicksburg and former resident of Jackson.

Ramsey is a chef, sommelier, raconteur, writer and media personality living in New Orleans, Louisiana. At his “day jobs” he is the Executive Chef of Atchafalaya Restaurant in the Irish Channel neighborhood of New Orleans and writes about food and travel as contributing editor of Okra magazine.

He talks about meeting a daughter he didn’t know he had and then immediately having to fight for his life after contracting a serious case of COVID-19.

The post Mississippi Stories: Chef Tom Ramsey appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Gov. Tate Reeves awarded another $3.46 million of emergency education funds to child care centers and educational organizations in the state.

This marked the third round of applications and awards for the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER). The funding is meant to provide relief to schools that have been most significantly impacted by COVID-19.

Reeves’ office highlighted two priorities for the $34.6 million Mississippi received: first, educational services for children up to 12 years old and those with disabilities; and second, innovative educational solutions for children of all ages, including college students.

The third and last round of funding was a repeat of the first round. The money went to those that applied but did not receive funding in the first round and all other eligible applicants. Click here for a full list of organizations and funding amounts.

McCarty Learning Center in Picayune is one of six child care centers to receive funding. It received a total of $171,700 for two separate grants.

Director Thelma Cox said the money will be used to provide child care for 40 children under five years old and 10 school-age children who also receive assistance with their schoolwork while at the center.

Nine other educational entities, including universities and nonprofits, received funding for various projects. Waterford.org, the Utah-based virtual education organization that received nearly $2 million in the first round of GEER funding, got an additional $124,451.53.

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves capped federal education grants at $1 million. This Utah-based group received nearly twice that amount.

Kim Fischer, spokesperson for the group, said Waterford.org is partnering with three statewide coalitions to allow up to 100 child care providers to access Waterford Upstart, the 15- to 20-minute-a-day computer adaptive program for preschoolers. They are also offering 25 computers for centers.

Centers will have access to the program for a four-month period.

Delta Health Alliance received $472,680 to work with school districts to provide child care five days a week for children who are distance learning. The opportunity is open to parents who are living or working in Washington and Sunflower Counties, and children also receive assistance with their schoolwork from employees at the center.

They also offer services such as physical education, social emotional learning exercises and daily nutrition information to try and replicate some of the activities they do while in school, said Karen Matthews, president and CEO of Delta Health Alliance.

All of the children they serve attend schools that are currently operating virtually, though some may shift to more in-person in coming months.

The second part of Delta Health Alliance’s project will be to open up a similar program for eight weeks in the summer to 300 children. The goal is to address academic learning loss as a result of the pandemic while also continuing to allow parents to work.

Money left over in the $34.6 million pot will be used to defray administrative costs and toward a supplemental grant, said Holly Spivey, Reeves’ education advisor.

The U.S. Department of Education announced the nearly $3 billion in GEER funds in April 2020 to “quickly be made available to governors to ensure education continues for students of all ages impacted by the coronavirus national emergency,” the department said in a press release at the time.

In Mississippi, there were a total of three funding rounds, or chances to apply for the money. For the first round, the governor’s office awarded $5.4 million for educational services for children under five years old. This second round, in which the governor’s office awarded $23.4 million earlier this month, was for innovative opportunities in education.

Reeves will also received a second set of GEER funds, called GEER II, through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA). Mississippi is receiving $46 million, $31 million of which must go to private and independent schools.

The post Day cares, education groups get another $3.5M in emergency education funds appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In mid-March, Mississippi lawmakers passed a law banning transgender girls and women at public schools and colleges from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity. It was necessary, Gov. Tate Reeves said the day he signed the bill, because Democratic President Joe Biden, by issuing an executive order banning gender-identity-based discrimination in school sports, was “encouraging transgenderism amongst children.” 

The bill’s author, Sen. Angela Burks Hill, R-Picayune, said several high school softball coaches told her they were concerned about trans female students participating on teams with cisgender girls.

“They told me that it is imminent, that it’s going to happen in Mississippi,” Hill told the Picayune Item. 

Yet when asked by reporters, neither Hill nor Reeves could name a single instance of a trans student in Mississippi outcompeting — or even playing on the same team as — their cis female classmates. 

“This law is a solution in search of a problem,” the president of Human Rights Campaign said in a statement. The ACLU of Mississippi is now working to find trans athletes who could serve as plaintiffs in a legal challenge against the law; otherwise, it will take effect July 1. 

Mississippi Today recently spoke with five advocates for trans rights in Mississippi about gender identity and religion in the Deep South, the political origins of Senate Bill 2536, and their vision for a more trans-inclusive state. What follows is a conversation, which has been edited and condensed for length, between Dr. Jemma Cook, a trans woman who co-chairs the Jackson MS Democratic Socialists of America; Calandra Davis, a queer Black woman who organizes with Black Youth Project 100; Elizabeth Henry, a cis woman and college chaplain working with trans students in Jackson; Misty Kendrick, a cis parent of a teenage trans girl; and Jensen Luke Matar, a trans man and the ACLU of Mississippi’s Equality Advocacy Coordinator. 

Editor’s note: This story contains references to suicide. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Local resources include the Mississippi Department of Mental Health DMH Helpline at 1-877-210-8513 and the NAMI Mississippi Crisis Lines at 1-877-210-851.

***

Mississippi Today: What is daily life like for trans students in Mississippi right now? How is that experience different for trans students in elementary school, high school, college? 

Misty Kendrick: I’ve lived in Mississippi my whole life. I have two daughters; my oldest, (Zoe), is a trans female. She’s graduating high school and going to college. She came out to me her 10th grade year (two years ago). I was very open, very accepting, but she was scared to come out to me. She came out at school in little bits at a time. Came out to the theater group, came out to her friends. It took a little time for her to feel the confidence to come out to everyone, but she did, and she started HRT (hormone replacement therapy) probably about eight months after she came out to me. She was out for at least a year, and even then a few people would still use her deadname, even teachers. That was a struggle. We switched to home school. A lot of that was because of COVID, but also she just felt more comfortable being at home and not having to be out there around everyone.

She’s very excited to go to college. At first I tried to talk her into going to community college and staying close to me, but that’s not what she wants to do, so I’m gonna support her. She’s nervous about the dorms because she can’t get her gender-marker changed yet. The first year you have to live in the dorms, but I can’t see putting my daughter in the male dorms, so that’s another problem we’re facing right now. 

One thing that has really been a thing for me: So many parents are not supportive of their kids. Zoe has run into deep depression, self-harm thoughts, even with me being super supportive. My heart goes out to the youth that don’t have that support.

Jensen Luke Matar: Life’s not easy for young trans people at all. Finding ways to have basic needs met is a struggle. For example, I’ve been working with two young trans females, both teenagers, over the past few weeks. Both of them have been homeless. Their parents kicked them out when they came out as trans. For one, we were able to find a temporary housing program where you learn life skills, get on your feet and get a job. She’s almost 18. Hopefully she can be independent once this program comes to completion. The other, I’ve been bouncing between organizations trying to fund a hotel and make sure that she has an allowance, basically, for food.  

And, Misty, I feel for you. As bills like this pass, I’ve been getting phone calls from parents about their children being bullied just because of the bill. So many parents with young trans kids are pulling (them) out of school because it’s that harmful. A parent of a young female that I’ve been in contact with just did the same last week. She pulled her daughter out of school because the bullying was just going too far. 

Dr. Jemma Cook: As an addendum to that, according to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, about 77% of kids that were out as trans in K-12 education experienced some kind of mistreatment ranging from verbal harassment to physical assault. Seventeen percent of them left school. They also noted that if their classmates knew they were trans, 56% were supportive or very supportive, while only 5% were not supportive or very unsupportive. So this bill is designed to promote the bullies, more or less. Most kids are supportive or don’t care because they’ve got their own lives to deal with. 

Likewise, an estimated 2% of high schoolers are transgender. It’s a very small population that we’re talking about. And of those kids, jeez, 39% (first) attempted suicide while they were aged 14 to 17. 34% (first) attempted when they were 13 or younger. 

Elizabeth Henry: Working as a chaplain with our transgender students (at Millsaps College) … what we’re worried about most of the time are things like making sure they have stable housing because their parents found out in the middle of their college career and (stopped) paying for school. The amount of time that we spend trying to get them access to healthcare — not just things like access to hormones, but finding any kind of medical professional that’s going to use appropriate names and pronouns. 

There’s also the simple things, like the number of times kids get deadnamed on the first day of class because the roster automatically prints (their) legal name. It sets the tone in such a negative way — and also tells all of your classmates your deadname. Those bullies now have that information to use against you. 

Misty: It’s not even just with sports. One of the things that we encountered in Pearl Public Schools is Zoe wanted to try out for color guard, but they denied her because they said she’s not a girl. 

Mississippi Today: How did SB 2536 passing affect you? What was your reaction to it? Your community’s reaction to it? 

Calandra Davis: For the purposes of this question, when I think of my community, I think of the organizing community and then the larger Black community. I don’t identify as trans, but I identify as queer. The passing of this bill has ruined some relationships for me. 

Basically what I am seeing is that folks are denying the humanity of trans people and queer people. I was in a Facebook messenger thread with a lot of local organizers and somehow the conversation quickly went into, like, “Heterosexuals have rights, too.” And I’m just like, wait, what? How did we get to this point? 

There are some voices that’s missing from the conversation. There’s Black queer folk who are not being included in these conversations. We never get a chance to have the lead on the conversations. Our youth aren’t even ever really included in how they’re impacted by this. And so you have grown folks who have been, quote-unquote, doing this work and organizing for years, for decades, having a conversation about children. That just doesn’t make sense to me. It shows me that at the end of the day, if we keep framing these conversations as just hate — it’s beyond that. If we keep framing the conversation as just as simple as a difference of opinions, that’s dangerous because those opinions are biases that are playing into a larger system. 

At the foundation of it all is the fact that the world we live in puts us at war with each other. It almost seems like we have to choose if we could get, like, the crumbs, if we could get a few crumbs of freedom. But we don’t have to choose. We could have it all, and we could do that by coming together. Personally, I have stepped away from a lot of things over the past couple of weeks. It’s just like, how do you come together with people who are actively denying your humanity? 

Jensen: Young trans people are having to make a case for being treated as human, basically. That’s what’s going on. Most trans people in Mississippi, if not all of them, are having to make a case, and in some instances plead, to be treated as humans. (This bill) is not really about young trans female athletes at all. That’s not what it’s about. It’s to send a message. And I think the overarching message is trans people are not who they say they are. Their identities are not valid. I’m so deeply offended and hurt by this, and everybody else should be, because there is not one thing that is more valuable to an individual person than their identity. Wounds can’t be cut deeper than that. 

Jemma: A common slur for trans women is “trap,” suggesting that we are inherently being fraudulent just by living as who we say we are. 

This is called the “Mississippi Fairness Act,” but it’s a blanket ban on people. There’s no room for discussion about what constitutes fairness. The example (that) keeps getting brought up (of) “someone who’s not a starter on the (men’s) basketball team transitions to become a starter on the women’s team.” But what if a trans girl wants to compete on the gymnastics team, where maybe being bigger is a disadvantage? What happens if a (cis) girl happens to be 6-foot tall? Are we going to deny her a place on the basketball team because she’s tall? 

Jensen: Or are we gonna investigate her and make her go through testing? This is dangerous for cisgender women as well. 

Elizabeth: That’s absolutely going to be used against women of color and girls of color more. You think about how often Serena Williams has been attacked and called a man because she excels at her sport. 

Mississippi Today: Angela Hill, the primary author of the bill, has said repeatedly that trans women have an unfair athletic advantage, but some studies have shown that’s not true, particularly when talking about adolescents, teenagers going through puberty. 

Jemma: A lot of variables go into excellence in sports. You need to be talking about specific measures of athletic performance. Shooting free throws is very different from powerlifting, from doing a somersault. 

Jensen: You mention Angela Burks Hill. She’s responsible for a lot of this. This is not her first rodeo. This session’s not the first session she’s introduced anti-trans legislation. Then you have the “Transgender 21 Act.” That was Angela Burks Hill as well. That was to prevent trans people from under the age of 21 from accessing health care. 

Jemma: It would’ve criminalized anyone who provided health care (to trans youth) and turned everyone into a mandated reporter.

Meanwhile, we have COVID. We have the water crisis, but we can’t get funding to repair our infrastructure. They’re not funding the schools, so they’re not funding the women’s sports that they’re advocating to protect. These people are not advocates for women’s sports, women’s rights, women’s health care. They just happen to be seizing on this because it is politically palatable. It gins up their base. 

Mississippi Today: What has changed for the trans community in recent years? 

Jensen: There’s been some good movement. With the exception of last year, we’ve passed one nondiscrimination ordinance in one city each year starting (in 2016). We’ve been fighting hard to move the Mississippi Civil Rights Act, which is statewide legislation that’s been introduced for, jeez, five years now and hasn’t budged over at the Legislature. If it passed, it would ensure that all people are protected from discrimination in the state of Mississippi. Sounds like common sense? We should have something like that, right? Most states do. But we don’t. 

Jemma: In 2020, the Bostock decision was made by the Supreme Court, which mandated that under Title VII, sex discrimination is inclusive of discrimination on sexual orientation and gender identity. So you can’t fire someone for being — well, you can fire them, but then they can sue you for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. 

So these anti-trans bills, which we have seen amping up over (the) years, are now potentially actionable in court. For instance, this bill explicitly discriminates against individuals of the “biological male sex” or trans women. It’s explicit. But the Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority. They may rule (it is) actually constitutional. 

Mississippi Today: What does the focus on trans and cis women in this bill tell us about it? What is important about that group being singled out? 

Elizabeth: In addition to trans people being used as a prop, cis women and girls — and particularly cis white women and girls — are being used as a talking point. 

Jemma: A lot of these laws echo the Jim Crow laws and actions (that) were done to protect white women. The bathroom bills … were promulgated on protecting girls from trans women, portraying trans women as predators. These bills are promulgated on protecting women’s sports from trans women they’re (portraying as) big, hulking men with a wig on.

Elizabeth: The reality is trans girls and women are far more likely to be the victims of sexual assault and harassment than to be perpetrators of it. And if you are worried about cis gender girls and women and their safety from potential predators, straight men are far more likely to be the perpetrators of that as well. 

(The notion that it’s) so unfair for transgender girls and their supposed “biological male bodies” to compete against cisgender girls, but we’re seeing newspaper articles celebrating, for example, the young girl in Ocean Springs who played on the football team and kicked the winning field goal and was named homecoming queen. We’re celebrating young girls getting into male athletics in their own gender identities because, of course, a woman can’t possibly have any kind of advantage. 

Mississippi Today: How did you get involved in advocating for trans rights in Mississippi?

Misty: Well, honestly, it’s my baby. My baby really got me involved. It’s disheartening for me that there’s so much judgment, especially in the South. A lot of people base their judgment on religion. I’m a Christian. I grew up in a Christian household. But Zoe doesn’t believe in God, and I think that is because she doesn’t understand why God would make her trans for people to be so judgmental — in the name of God, be so judgmental. So that turned her completely away. A lot of people don’t understand they’re pushing these youths away (from Christianity). 

Elizabeth: As a pastor, it’s important for all Mississippians and all Southerners, regardless of their particular faith, (to understand that) perspective because you can’t have a political conversation in Mississippi without having a spiritual conversation. It’s so in the water. 

(I was) born and raised here. (I) grew up in the church with all the messaging you would expect being a white cis het Christian kid in Jackson, Mississippi. I grew up with “homosexuality is a sin.” I don’t know if “transgender” was even a word I knew. But when I went off to college, a bunch of my childhood friends and high school friends (came) out as gay or bi or lesbian or queer. A lot of my assumptions (were) challenged. These are my favorite people in the world (who) I love and adore, and they’re still the same people.

We’ve talked about how small the trans population is in Mississippi and in the country. A lot of people don’t know or don’t realize they know a trans person. That’s another part of the conversation: A lot of people do know trans people; they just don’t realize it because people don’t feel safe coming out, for good reason.

Jemma: I can trace my activism back to becoming more active in the 2016 Bernie campaign. As I was figuring myself out, I started having a lot of issues, a lot of suffering. It culminated in me coming out. When I started transitioning, I was running into issues (with) health care. (I was) having a hard time dealing with the identity documents (and) getting my name changed on things. 

When my health care wasn’t covered, I was just like, “Oh, yeah, that makes sense. I’m in Mississippi. Why should I expect better of them?” And I realized as that was happening, that’s the point of all this. They don’t want you to try. They want you to be kicked and accept it. So I started getting more active. The Bernie campaign picked up and that got me engaged in political activism. Then I got involved in the DSA. I started looking at forming a chapter. Eventually, I brought up my health care issues to my employer, who are supportive of me dealing with these issues, but because they’re a state entity and their health care system is provided by the state, they can’t do anything to be inclusive. 

It’s been weird. I advocate around trans issues. I get particularly animated because I am trans… but they’re human rights, too. 

Jensen: To link to what Jemma mentioned about her advocacy because it impacts her: Whether trans people want to be advocates or not, they’re gonna be in some capacity. It’s kind of imposed on us in that way. 

I got into the work because of my own personal experiences. I knew I was confused about my gender my entire life. Come to find out, I wasn’t really confused. I knew who I was. I thought I was a boy. When I was younger, I was told that’s wrong. I can’t be that. I tried to shift it around. I tried to be the best female I could be. I overcompensated the way a lot of trans people do, trying to really prove to themselves that they can be OK as the gender that’s in alignment with the sex they were assigned at birth.

But oftentimes what happens? It doesn’t work. I was so depressed. I was drinking every single day. I had a few unsuccessful suicide attempts, and I was just really a sad person. I mean, I was miserable. 

When I moved here, I had already come out as trans to certain people in my life, but it was kind of hush, I didn’t do anything to physically transition. I didn’t really do much to socially transition, either. So when I came to Mississippi, I was at that point where I was just done. I was sick of it. If I was gonna make it, if I was gonna survive, if I was gonna be successful, if I was gonna be, then I was gonna start transitioning. I was gonna come out and be honest with myself, because I had felt like a liar for long enough. 

(Lying) eats away at you. It becomes too much. So when I came to Mississippi, it was like, OK. New state, clean slate, nobody knows me. Take advantage. This is when you’re going to do it. 

I started my physical transition about six years ago now. I ran into some challenges. I was managing a retail store. I had over 100 employees. I had teenagers reporting to me, and they were supposed to now address me as “he/him” and by “Jensen.” But I was confusing (to) them. I looked basically like a female to them. That’s what they saw. 

So I educated that company through the human resource department for several months. I did that until the HR manager felt comfortable enough coming to my store to speak on (my) behalf. I accidentally influenced policy for the company, in a good way. They put discrimination protections in place to protect people on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation and decided to go to the extent of creating a pathway to transition in the workplace for anybody who identifies as trans or comes out as trans.

That was my first experience doing any type of advocacy work. I just so happened to link up with the ACLU at that point. They were impressed by my story. They wanted to get to know me. I volunteered for a few years, and I started getting involved with other organizations as a result. A few years into my volunteer work with the ACLU, they offered me a job as an actual advocacy coordinator.

It’s going to be a long road ahead for Mississippi. Some of the greatest advocates I know are leaving. Everybody’s leaving. Everybody says, “I’m done, I can’t with Mississippi.” And guess what? I don’t even blame them. And for me, I’ll be honest, the reason why I stay in the state is because of the job that I have. Because somebody’s got to it. 

Mississippi Today: What do you envision for the future? And relatedly, what would a trans-inclusive Mississippi or trans-inclusive schools or sports teams look like?

Jensen: I have an answer for you. A trans-inclusive state would look like a state that just treats all people equally. Where all kids are treated the same. That’s it, really. 

Jemma: A trans-inclusive Mississippi would look a lot like Mississippi does day to day. There’d still be barbecue. There’d still be Blues music. People would still go to church. None of that would change. But when I say, “Hi, my name is Jemma,” people believe me. They don’t insist on calling me sir to my face.

Trans women are women, so treat us like women. Trans men are men, treat them like men. Treat non-binary people like people. People would still go to church, people would still eat barbecue, people would still listen to Blues music and all that other stuff. That’s not gonna change. A trans-inclusive Mississippi looks a lot like Mississippi. It’s just a little easier to live our lives day to day. 

The post ‘Denying humanity’: Advocates discuss law that bans trans athletes from female sports teams appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Advocates of changing Mississippi laws to expand parole opportunities for state inmates are hoping their efforts will be more favorably received by Gov. Tate Reeves than they were in 2020.

Last year the Republican governor vetoed legislation designed to give more inmates the opportunity for parole. On Tuesday both chambers passed a compromise proposal that supporters said attempted to address Reeves’ concerns from 2020.

“We have been working with the governor’s office,” said House Corrections Chair Kevin Horan, R-Grenada. “We addressed his veto concerns and went further than addressing his veto concerns out of an abundance of caution. It is just a good bill.”

But those who worked on the bill said they had not received any commitment from the governor that he would not veto the legislation.

The proposal passed the Senate by a 35-13 margin and was approved in the House 91-25. The proposal was passed Tuesday afternoon as legislators worked to finish their few unresolved issues as they prepare to adjourn for at least this portion of the session. There is a possibility that the Legislature will adjourn in such a manner that they will be able to call themselves back into session this year to deal with various items, such as spending some of the funds allocated to the state in a federal COVID-19 relief bill.

Another bill still is pending that deals with enacting changes to the criminal justice system to make certain categories of non-violent habitual criminals, such as drug dealers, eligible for parole. If that bill becomes law along with the bill passed Tuesday by the Legislature, Horan said as many as 2,800 inmates could become eligible for parole almost immediately.

Senate Corrections Chair Juan Barnett, D-Heidelberg, said with the legislation approved Tuesday about 3,000 could be eligible in three to five years.

“This does not grant parole. It only makes individuals have the possibility of parole,” Barnett said.

Among the problems cited by Reeves last year when he vetoed the legislation is that it would grant parole for those convicted of murder and sex offensives. Horan said the language was written in a manner this year to ensure those people would not be eligible for parole.

But the bill would make those convicted of armed-robbery parole eligible after serving 60% of their sentence or 25 years, whichever is less. Currently armed robbers convicted after 1995 are not eligible for parole. In addition those convicted of car-jacking and drive-by shootings would have the same parole eligibility standards.

Those convicted of violations deemed violent crimes committed without a weapon, such as simple robbery or burglary, would be eligible for parole after serving 20 years or 50% of their sentence, whichever is less. They currently have to serve 50%. And some convicted of possession of drugs or of selling drugs and those convicted of some other non-violent crimes would be eligible after serving 10 years or 25%, whichever is less.

Sen. Angela Burks Hill, R-Picayune, who voted against the bill, said she did not oppose certain non-violent criminals getting out earlier, but said those convicted of murder and other violent crimes already were being released by the Department of Corrections. She said she objected to that and feared the legislation being considered would only add to the number of violent offenders being released.

Horan said the Department of Corrections has released some convicted of murder and other violent crimes under their regulations. He said the legislation approved Tuesday would stop that practice and try to ensure those released are done so by the five-member Parole Board appointed by the governor.

The efforts to expand release opportunities is ongoing as Mississippi trails only Louisiana and Oklahoma in terms of its incarceration rates. In addition, officials said the state Corrections Department is facing a potential Department of Justice lawsuit. Hill said the lawsuit was based on the conditions in the prisons, not on the number of people incarcerated in the state.

Horan said both Alabama and Texas, which have faced similar lawsuits, have passed much more progressive legislation in terms of expanding the opportunities for early release from prison.

Mississippi currently has about 17,000 incarcerated in its prison system.

The post Lawmakers send parole expansion to Gov. Reeves, who vetoed last try appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Lawmakers have passed a measure that would allow home delivery of beer, wine and liquor, similar to grocery deliveries that have become popular, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

But a push to privatize Mississippi’s liquor warehousing and distribution died this session.

House Bill 1135, now before the governor who has not indicated whether he’ll sign it into law, would allow home delivery of alcohol from liquor stores and other retailers within 30 miles of the stores. Delivery would not be allowed to any “dry” areas where alcohol sales are prohibited and would be allowed only from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, not on Sundays nor on Christmas day.

Purchasers would have to be 21 or older, as would delivery drivers.

If signed into law, it would take effect July 1.

In a statement, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States praised the move as “a convenience for consumers and a safe alternative way for adults to purchase and enjoy their favorite spirits at home during the pandemic.” The council said Mississippi would join more than 30 states that allow home alcohol delivery from retailers.

House and Senate measures to have private industry take over warehousing and distribution of liquor — something the state has struggled to do efficiently — died after much debate this legislative session.

Mississippi is one of 17 states that tightly control the sale of liquor, and one of 10 that sell spirits to all private package stores. Seven directly own all the liquor stores in their states.

Mississippi’s warehouse and distribution, run by the Alcoholic Beverage Control division of the Department of Revenue, has for years struggled to keep up with demand and new products and its warehouse is too small and antiquated. Lawmakers have been reluctant to sink money into upgrades of the warehouse and system.

Measures to allow Mississippi grocery stores to sell wine or to allow mail-order wine deliveries to Mississippi homes have for years generated debate in the Legislature, but gained no traction this year.

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The city of Jackson’s request for $47 million from the state for water and sewerage repairs has fallen on deaf ears as lawmakers ink final spending plans for the coming year with only $3 million of $356 million in projects statewide earmarked for a city water plant.

But legislative leaders said they’re not ignoring the capital city’s water crisis. They said tens of millions in federal dollars coming to Mississippi from the COVID-19 American Rescue Act can go to overhauling Jackson’s crumbling infrastructure. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said the $3 million for the Jackson water plant is one of the largest individual city projects funded by the state for the coming year.

Lawmakers have approved a $298 million “Christmas tree” bond bill to borrow money for dozens of projects and economic development grants statewide, including $121 million for colleges and universities projects. They also approved $58 million in projects from the state capital expense fund. Besides the $3 million water project, there are about $1.6 million in smaller city of Jackson projects, such as $500,000 to upgrade the Pete Brown Golf Course.

After decades of neglected maintenance, Jackson’s water system is failing as the city struggles financially, largely from “white flight” loss of population and businesses to the suburbs. A recent freezing winter storm left at least 40,000 Jacksonians without running water for weeks, and the system suffers outages and boil-water notices frequently. The city is asking for state and federal help and said $1 billion in repairs are needed.

READ MORE: “A profound betrayal of trust”: Why Jackson’s water system is broken

Recently, lawmakers killed a request to let Jackson voters decide whether to levy a 1-cent local sales tax in Jackson to pay for water and sewerage. Jackson already has a 1-cent local sales tax — one of only two such local sales taxes in the state — for infrastructure.

“Unfortunately, our requests have fallen on deaf ears with regard to our quality of water issues,” said Rep. Chris Bell, D-Jackson. “The $3 million currently allocated to the J.H. Fewell water plant … is a small deposit on the future improvements of our water treatment plant.”

Another lawmaker from Jackson, Sen. John Horhn, said he believes Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s recent public criticism of the state’s GOP leadership played a role in the city not receiving more from the state. Horhn unsuccessfully challenged Lumumba for the mayor’s seat in the 2017 Democratic city primary.

“We have an unfortunate set of circumstances where the mayor made comments that state leaders took exception to,” Horhn said. “That impacted the reception to the requests.”

Lumumba said in a New York Times interview that state government agencies and offices don’t pay for city water and sewerage, which helps put the system in a financial bind. He later retracted the statement, saying he had incorrect information and that state offices do pay for the city services.

Hosemann, a longtime Jackson resident, said the mayor’s criticism of state leaders hasn’t influenced his decision-making on city requests. But then he criticized the mayor’s comments.

“I wish he’d be accurate — the state pays its water bills,” Hosemann said. “I don’t know why he’d run down the state he lives in to the New York Times, especially when it’s not true … But his inaccurate comments did not affect funding, not with me. I live here.”

Hosemann said lawmakers considered the Fewell Plant (one of two main water plants in the city) repairs an urgent need the state could help fund directly. He said otherwise, Jackson’s water issues can be addressed with some of the $6 billion in federal Rescue Act funding Mississippi will receive.

“We’ve got $1.8 billion in federal funds coming to (the Legislature) that should be here within 120 to 180 days that can help,” Hosemann said. “… Also, the city can apply for grants from another $166 million coming for infrastructure projects … There’s $44 million coming directly to the city — the largest amount for any city in the state — and there’s another $46 million going to (Hinds) county.

“What this means is that we just need to all work together over the next three to four months and make sure things are taken care of,” Hosemann said. “… We were more generous with Jackson than anybody else (with project funding) even knowing they’ve got more coming to them (from the Rescue Act) than anybody else.”

House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, said, “No. 1, we want to help the city of Jackson. It’s as simple as that.”

Lamar said city officials and legislative leaders have been meeting and he agrees with Hosemann and others that the “unprecedented” federal funding coming to the state, city and county can solve the issues. He said the state’s congressional delegation is also working on more direct help for Jackson.

“It would make no sense for the state to borrow a bunch of money at this time for water and sewer when the city, county and state are about to get money that can be used for this,” Lamar said. “… I do believe help is on the horizon. We all want to see the city do well and we will help on the state level where we can.”

READ MORE: As Jackson residents suffer during historic water crisis, state leaders keep their distance

The post Jackson wanted $47 million for water crisis. Lawmakers are providing $3 million. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Tucked into a 1,200-page bill with an original purpose of authorizing the issuance of bonds to finance long-term construction projects at Mississippi’s public universities is language that expands a tax credit for private K-12 schools.

Facing growing opposition to the language, both Senate Finance Chair Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, and House Ways and Means Chair Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, pledged on Monday to request unanimous consent their chambers to remove language from the bill that allows funds from a tax credit to be provided to the Mid-South Association of Independent Schools, which is the umbrella organization for most private schools in the state.

The language that was added to legislation near midnight on Sunday, according to various sources, would expand an existing program know as the Children’s Promise Act. The program allows a tax credit on income taxes to be granted for providing a contribution to private schools that meet certain standards to serve people with special needs, people from poor families and programs that provide services to foster children.

The language in the massive bond bill was discovered Monday as legislators worked to finalize a state support budget of $6.56 billion (an increase of $249.9 million over last year) and to pass various other bills in hopes to ending the 2021 session before the weekend — and as early as Tuesday.

Adding the tax credit language to the bond bill was controversial — particularly the section naming the private school association as an entity eligible to receive the revenue from the tax credit.

In addition, the language expands the scope of the tax credit to allow it to be used for a tax credit on ad valorem or property taxes as well as income taxes. The program is capped at total of $16 million in tax credits for the upcoming year.

“It is an existing program,” Lamar told House members. “It is very popular. It helps the foster care program and those other schools.”

There are about 70 schools eligible to receive contributions through the tax credit program, according to the Department of Revenue web page. They include many of the state’s private schools, ranging from Pillow Academy in Greenwood to Wayne Academy in Waynesboro to Presbyterian Day School in Jackson.

While Lamar said the program is popular, legislative leaders have a habit of trying to sneak language expanding programs providing funds to private funds into bills during the waning hours of the session. In 2019, legislative leaders had language expanding a program to provide vouchers for students with special needs to attend private schools in an unrelated bill during the final days of the session.

And this year, the language for the Children’s Promise Act was in a bill with a primary purpose of issuing debt for various projects across the state. In total the bill authorizes the issuance of just under $300 million in bonds for infrastructure and building projects in most counties across the state. Since the bill has money for projects across the state, it makes it difficult for members to vote against it even if they might oppose a tax credit for private schools.

The funds for the tax credit can go to programs to help children in the foster care system, children with special needs and children from low-income families.

The post Lawmakers pledge to kill effort to expand tax credit for private schools appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Major League Baseball’s opening day is set for Thursday. All 30 big league teams will play, but for the first time in a decade Mississippian Brian Dozier will not.

Dozier, a Fulton native and former Southern Miss standout, has retired at age 33 with two World Series appearances, one World Series ring, an All-Star game appearance, a Gold Glove award, six 20-home run seasons, 192 career home runs, over $30 million in career earnings and one 42-home run season, which stands as one American League record.

All that, and retired at 33. So what do you do?

“Well, I smile a lot knowing I’m not going to have to try to hit a 100 mile an hour fastball tomorrow,” Dozier said, chuckling. “The truth is I’ve got plenty to do, including being a daddy.”

One need not look far to find the two prime reasons why Dozier won’t be in somebody’s clubhouse Thursday. They are 19-month old daughter, Reese, and three-month old son, Rip. Last summer when the pandemic shut down baseball, Dozier found himself at home in the Hub City with his toddler daughter and his then-pregnant wife, Renee. He loved it. Indeed, he didn’t want to go back.

“I am a guy who relies a lot on my faith,” Dozier said. “I kind of fell out of love with playing the game. There were numerous prayers and talks with my wife involved in my decision. Bottom line is I just didn’t feel called to do that any more.”

The birth of son Rip didn’t change that at all. He was just five seasons removed from hitting 42 home runs in a season, the most ever for an American League second baseman, and four seasons removed from winning a Gold Glove as the American League’s top fielding second baseman. And he was done.

The nearness of Opening Day hasn’t changed that.

“I am more sure now than ever that I made the right decision,” Dozier said.

Here’s the deal: What made Dozier the player he was — and he was a special one — was his passion for the game. He worked hard. He played the game hard. But that passion was gone.

Dozier still has plenty to occupy his time. He is a one-man taxi service for day care. He plays a lot of golf — he is also a long ball hitter in that sport — and has multiple business interests. Dozier majored in business and marketing at Southern Miss where he also was a star student. He has put that degree to work with business and real estate investments. On the day we talked, he was en route to the Florida panhandle to close a deal on a storage facility.

“I’ve been investing and doing different business deals all along,” he said. “That won’t change.”

None of that surprises Scott Berry, the Southern Miss coach who recruited him from Fulton to Hattiesburg when Berry was an assistant to Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer Corky Palmer. 

“If there’s anything Doze can’t do, I don’t think I’ve seen it,” Berry said. “He’s blessed with so many different abilities. He can play piano and guitar. He taught himself. You can toss him a Rubik’s Cube and he’ll toss it back to you — all solved — in less than 30 seconds.”

Berry recalls scouting Dozier when he was a teen playing in a summer league tournament in Oklahoma.

“I watched him play several games over a weekend out there,” Berry said. “He was a shortstop then, of course, and he made every play — I mean, every play. He was like a wizard with that glove. I called Cork back in Hattiesburg and told him, ‘We got to have this guy.’”

Southern Miss had a returning starter at shortstop, but Dozier beat him out, hit .368 as a freshman and made every play at shortstop. He was a four-year starter and a .355 career hitter, who helped the Golden Eagles to their only College World Series appearance in 2009.

Earl Wynn, the same guy who scouted Rafael Palmeiro for the Baltimore Orioles, scouted Dozier for the Minnesota Twins. Berry remembers one Winn visit to Hattiesburg.

“Earl asked me point-blank if I thought Doze was a Big League player,” Berry said. “I was as honest as I could be with him. I told him I didn’t know for sure because, you know, Brian was not a power hitter for us and the game was headed so much in that direction. I told Earl I knew he had a Big League glove. That much I knew. And I also told him this. I told him, ‘I guarantee you this much. If you sign him, he will make every player he comes in contact with in your organization a better player. At the very least, he will become a great coach or manager for your organization because he has incredible people skills. He will make everyone around him better.’”

Turns out, Berry was right. And other than the American League record for home runs by a second baseman, Dozier’s Major League legacy might be that of the ultimate teammate. Here’s an example: When Dozier was coming up through the Twins farm system, many of his teammates were from the Dominican Republic and other Spanish-speaking countries.

Says Dozier, “It was so difficult to become good friends with them. I could tell so many of them were really good, friendly people but we could not communicate. So I studied it on bus rides and plane rides.”

He bought the Rosetta Stone program. He was a quick study.

“Rosetta Stone taught me to speak proper Spanish, but it didn’t teach me baseball Spanish,” he said. “Clubhouse talk is different.”

So Dozier and his Twins teammate Eduardo Escobar, a Venezuelan, taught each other the nuances of their languages, baseball-wise. Besides becoming good teammates, they became close friends. Indeed, Dozier says he counts many of the Spanish-speaking teammates he played with during his career with the Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals among his closest friends.

Scott Berry was not surprised.

“That’s Brian Dozier in a nutshell,” Berry said. “He saw a problem, and he took it upon himself to fix it. That’s why I think he’d be a great coach or manager if he ever decided to pursue it.”

Dozier doesn’t discount the possibility in the future. 

“But right now, I am doing what I feel like I am called to do,” he said.

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