OurTupelo

Note: This analysis first published in Mississippi Today’s weekly legislative newsletter. Subscribe to our free newsletter for exclusive early access to weekly analyses.

Just about everyone who lived in northeast Jackson and southern Madison County got a knock on their door in the summer and fall of 2019.

When they opened their doors, they were greeted by a 37-year-old white woman who began with something like: “My name is Shanda Yates. I’m running as a Democrat to serve you in the state House of Representatives. I’d like to tell you why.”

House District 64 encompasses most of the white neighborhoods in Jackson and a few Reservoir area neighborhoods in Madison County. Those district lines had long been drawn to ensure a white, Republican sliver of the state’s capital city, which is the Blackest large city in America.

The 31-year incumbent of the district was Rep. Bill Denny, chairman of the all-important Apportionment and Elections Committee, overseeing the redrawing of legislative districts. Denny was considered a Republican Party elder and one of the most powerful lawmakers at the Capitol.

But Yates, a former law partner of Republican Speaker of the House Philip Gunn, wanted change for her district. So she went out and sold it, sharing her unabashedly Democratic platform with voters.

Most prognosticators believed she stood no chance. But she received a cascade of financial and political support from in-state Democrats, including party organizations and individual donors and candidates. She was invited to speak at local and state Democratic Party meetings. Former U.S. Congressman Mike Espy, who ran as a Democrat for U.S. Senate in 2018 and 2020, canvassed with her in northeast Jackson.

Several progressive groups based outside Mississippi took notice. For a few cycles, these groups had been investing in districts like House District 64 across America, sensing the left-moving trend of middle-aged white women in suburban areas. Yates’ campaign received tens of thousands of dollars in independent expenditures from out-of-state networks that exclusively support Democrats. She publicly boasted being endorsed by some of these groups.

The bet was risky, but the feeling was unanimous among all the Dems involved: Yates could win. They were right.

When the results were tallied on Nov. 5, 2019, Yates had defeated Denny by 168 votes. Every dollar spent and every vote had counted. But Democrats broadly viewed her victory as bigger than just another D on the House roster and the exceedingly rare defeat of the GOP.

She’d instilled hope among Democrats — not the state party itself, which has long been in shambles, but the group of individuals and organizations that champion progressive causes in the state — that change in ruby red Mississippi was possible. A white Democratic woman had knocked off a Republican icon in Jackson, and several people who helped her campaign in 2019 had already begun planning how to use it as a model for victory in 2023 and beyond.

But in a stunning blow to all those people, that hope abruptly vanished last week. 

Sign up for free

Processing…

Success! You’re on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn’t process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Yates announced on Jan. 13 that she had left the Democratic Party and would serve in the Legislature as an independent. She did not inform Democratic Party leadership of her decision before it was made public. Several Democratic lawmakers who consider Yates a close friend were not given a heads up.

Every Democrat who spoke with Mississippi Today shared a feeling of disappointment that Yates didn’t give her colleagues the chance to address her concerns. 

“Not mad. Not angry. Just hurt,” a prominent Democrat close with Yates said.

Several of the progressives who helped get Yates elected reached out to express their disappointment and anger.

“We’re Democrats in Mississippi. We’re used to being frustrated and disappointed, but this is different,” said a Democratic operative who worked closely with Yates during her 2019 campaign. “Shanda helped us believe that with the right candidate, in the right district, even in this climate, we could win at the state legislature-level despite the brokenness of the state party. We worked outside the party structure and we won. But here we are two sessions later, and it didn’t matter because ultimately we still lost.”

Strengthening the blow, most every Democratic official learned of Yates’ decision from Y’all Politics, a political blog that regularly runs messaging for Mississippi Republican Party leaders. The GOP blog bearing the bad news has been one of the toughest pills for Democrats to swallow and has heightened speculation about why Yates ditched the party.

The reason for her decision, Yates fired off in a series of tweets over the weekend, was the Democratic Party’s “toxic environment.” In an interview with WLBT, she broadly alluded to pushback she received over her vote to approve the new Republican-drawn congressional districts — the only House Democrat to do so. She offered no specifics beyond that.

Yates spoke with Mississippi Today via text message on Sunday, and offered few additional specifics.

“Following the (congressional redistricting) vote, members of the Democratic Party and my legislative caucus made it clear to me that I was not welcome in the party any longer,” Yates told Mississippi Today. “I do not plan to publicly elaborate on the specific content of the statements that were made to relay this message as doing so would serve no purpose aside from further dividing the Democratic Party and this is not my intent.”

She continued: “I am saddened that some seem to assume that I have abandoned my beliefs and ideals yet have no desire to look at the underlying issues that led to this decision. My constituents and those who supported me should know that I am the same person I have always been. The letter behind my name doesn’t change that. I will continue to represent District 64 to the best of my ability.”

Yates said she would no longer caucus with Democrats, though “(House Democratic leader Rep. Robert Johnson) and I have a good working relationship, and he knows that he can come to me anytime it may be needed.” Yates said she did not plan to caucus with Republicans, either, but is instead planning to “work individually with members, as needed, depending on the issue/bill.”

Repeatedly pressed for specifics about her party switch, Yates declined to offer them.

Mississippi Today spoke with 10 House Democrats and asked what they’ve heard about the reasoning for Yates’ defection. Rep. Robert Johnson, the House Democratic leader, was one of the only Democrats in contact with Yates about her concerns — which she first expressed a little more than one day before she announced her decision to switch parties.

Here’s what Johnson said went down:

“This all unfolded in a couple days. Shanda has always been a great Democrat, always has voted with us when we’ve asked. After the (Jan. 11) redistricting vote, two or three members of the Hinds County delegation told me they were upset that she voted with the Republicans on final passage. I told them they didn’t need to worry about it, that she’d co-authored our amendment and voted with us there, and that we’d accomplished exactly what we were hoping to with that vote. I thought that would be the end of it.

Those couple members apparently shared their disappointment with some of their friends, who said some stuff about Shanda at the Hinds County Democratic Executive Committee meeting that day. That got back to Shanda. She first told me about everything on that Wednesday (Jan. 12). She let me know that people were calling her law office and berating her staff over her vote. I was upset when I heard that, but told her that it was coming from just two members. I let her know that she had the full support of the overwhelming majority of the Democratic Caucus and that the one or two Hinds County members were not a problem. 

Still, we gathered a small group of Democrats and told those couple Hinds County members they got it wrong. She knew she had the support of the House Democratic Caucus. I wish she’d just weathered it. And look, I’m not necessarily defending her, but it’s hard enough being a white Democrat in the House of Representatives for any member to beat up on somebody like this. We don’t do that, except in Hinds County. The Hinds County delegation can be rough. It’s all part of it. I just wish she’d stayed because she could have with the major support she had. She’s been a good member, a good Democrat. But any idea that she didn’t have support of the overwhelming majority of the caucus is wrong. If two or three loud Hinds County Democrats made it unbearable for her, I hate that.”

Rep. Robert Johnson, House minority leader

Several Democrats told Mississippi Today that Rep. Earle Banks, a Jackson Democrat, led the charge against Yates for her redistricting vote. Banks, long a provocateur among even his fellow Democrats, did not return several messages requesting comment before this story published.

A few minutes after the story published, Banks texted and said: “That is not true. I never stirred up any thing against her after that vote.”

Every Democrat who spoke with Mississippi Today said they were given little or no heads up about Yates’ concerns and ultimately her decision to switch. Most of them hadn’t even heard that she was struggling with her place in the party — a reality that has spurred feelings of confusion among Democrats, and has left open the door for wild speculation among both Democrats and Republicans at the Capitol.

As the dust settles, Democrats — already in the super-minority in both the House and Senate, desperate for any legislative momentum — are now down another member. 

Yates is the latest of a string of white Democrats to defect; there are just three white Democrats left in the House, and two in the Senate. Those who have left in recent years have reaped rewards from Gunn or other Republican leaders:

• In 2019, Democrat Rep. Nick Bain flipped to the Republican Party. The next year, Gunn named Bain chairman of the House Judiciary B Committee.
• In 2020, longtime Democrat Rep. Kevin Horan announced he would become an independent. Less than a week later, Gunn made Horan chairman of the House Corrections Committee. Horan is now listed on the Legislature’s website as a Republican.
• In 2020, Democratic Rep. Michael Ted Evans announced he would serve as an independent. That year, Gunn named him to the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. The next year, Gunn appointed him to the House Transportation Committee.
• In 2021, freshman Democratic Rep. Jon Lancaster announced he was flipping to the Republican Party. Lancaster was praised publicly by top leaders of the Mississippi Republican Party, including Gunn and Gov. Tate Reeves.

As for the Y’all Politics speculation, Yates chalked it up to coincidence, saying she sent the press release at the same time to the blog and the Northside Sun, a weekly newspaper that covers her district. She said she had not communicated with Gunn about her party switch before she announced it, saying: “He did not know. Not sure if he even knows I left the party.”

“No nefarious intent,” Yates said. “If that were the case I would be naming names and saying lots of things. I’m not. I tried to do this quietly with a very mildly worded press release.”

She continued: “I care enough about the party to not give specifics about the comments and statements that other members of the party made to me. Doing that would only hurt the party. And if the fact that I don’t want to hurt the party (that I was told I didn’t belong in) isn’t proof enough that I care about the underlying good of the party and the people who elected me, then I’m sorry.”

State of play and what to watch for:

1. The Mississippi Democratic Party continues to be a mess. The party baffled most everyone Friday with a strange, cryptic tweet about Yates’ decision to switch parties. Even had Yates given her legislative colleagues a chance to make whatever wrong was occurring right, there’s not much the party itself could offer her by way of financial or political support. Democrats at the Capitol had a great deal of respect for Yates, but respect from colleagues can only go so far when Republicans can pass any bill they want without a single Democratic vote.

2. Yates had support from legislative Democrats. In her first term, her colleagues elected her vice-chair of the House Democratic Caucus. Even feeling burned by Yates for her decision to leave, every legislative Democrat spoke highly of her and said they regretted she left the party. Will Democrats make any move to extend an olive branch to Yates or bring her back into the fold? Will any Democratic leader work to get to the bottom of why this happened in efforts to prevent it from happening again?

3. The non state party affiliated progressives who helped Yates get elected in 2019 — the groups responsible for the only semblance of effective Democratic politics in Mississippi — are already discussing with each other whether they will support her in a possible re-election bid in 2023. Yates told Mississippi Today that she does currently plan to run for re-election. No matter how they handle her, those individuals and groups will almost certainly add a new question when deciding whether to support legislative candidates moving forward: “Will you flip if you’re elected?”

4. Legislative redistricting looms. Population changes in the 2020 Census indicate that two of Jackson’s majority-Black House districts may need to consolidated. Could Gunn or other powerful Republicans reward Yates for leaving the Democratic Party with a redder district? It’s extremely possible some of those progressives feeling burned by Yates could work to find a Democratic challenger to run against her in 2023. How her district is redrawn in a couple months could very well decide her fate at the Capitol.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated news of Rep. Jon Lancaster’s party flip was broken by a conservative political blog. Taylor Vance at The Daily Journal broke that news.

The post Mississippi Democrats just lost a promising up-and-comer. Now what? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Today’s Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender talk with Rep. Chris Bell, D-Jackson, about the myriad of issues facing the 2022 legislative session, ranging from taxes, to teacher pay to medical marijuana and others. Bell also stressed the need to address issues facing the city of Jackson to help the state as a whole progress.

Listen to more episodes of The Other Side here.

The post Podcast: Rep. Chris Bell hopes emphasis is placed on state’s capital city during 2022 session appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor At Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Dr. Jeannine Herron, neuropsychologist, reading expert and widow of Civil Rights photojournalist Matt Herron.

Thanks to a connection between the Mississippi Museum of Art and the Barksdale Reading Institute, pre-school children in Jackson will be experiencing an innovative approach to reading and writing this semester because of an acquisition of civil rights photographs by MMA. MMA recently acquired 80 vintage photographs of the Civil Rights Movement taken by renowned photojournalist Matt Herron, mostly of events in Mississippi that occurred in 1963 -65. He died in 2020 and left a legacy of historic photos behind. This acquisition will give MMA the distinction of having the largest museum collection of vintage Herron photographs in the country.

The connection to the Barksdale Institute is Dr. Jeannine Herron, Herron’s wife, who is a neuropsychologist who came to Jackson in 1963 to honor Medgar Evers’ life by joining hundreds of grieving citizens who walked down Lynch Street after his murder. She also started the first Head Start program in the country in Mississippi. Herron and Ramsey discuss the photographs, her time in Mississippi, the importance of reading, the program in Jackson and how a child learns to read.

The post Mississippi Stories: Dr. Jeannine Herron appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A day after the massive tax cut bill championed by Republican Speaker Philip Gunn passed the House, a member of his leadership team took bold action.

Normally the mindset after the passage of such landmark legislation would be to leave good enough alone and send the proposal to the other side of the Mississippi Capitol for Senate consideration.

Instead, House Ways and Means Chair Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, asked that the vote on the bill be reconsidered. What’s the deal? The speaker and his team won a big victory. Why would they want to call the bill up for further consideration, giving people who voted for it the day before an opportunity to change their mind and vote against it?

“I have some good news,” Lamar told the members. He said after further study it was determined that the state could afford to reduce the tax on car tags by 50% instead of the 35% in the original bill.

When the bill was first considered in the 122-member House, 12 members (all Democrats) voted against the proposal. On the second consideration after the good news about the car tags was added to the bill, only four members (all Democrats) voted no.

“It is hard to vote against the car tag reduction,” said Rep. Bryant Clark, D-Pickens, who voted for the proposal both times but has opposed past tax cut efforts offered by Republicans.

“In Washington County, the biggest complaint we get is on the costs of car tags,” said Rep. John Hines, D-Greenville, another Democrat who voted for the proposal twice, though he has opposed past tax cut plans.

The cold hard truth is that legislative Republicans can pass tax cuts (requiring a 60% supermajority) without the help of Democrats. But some wondered after the vote on the tax cut last week why the Democrats did not at least put up a fight.

READ MORE: Gunn’s hallmark plan to eliminate income tax, reduce food tax

In the past Democrats have opposed efforts to phase out the income tax as Gunn’s proposal would do because it also increased the sales tax. The sales tax is generally viewed as a regressive tax that places more of a burden on the poor.

The proposal put forth this year by Gunn increases the sales tax on retail items from 7% to 8.5%, making it more palatable to many Democrats than the proposal he unsuccessfully offered last year that increased the sales taxes to 9.5%. Both this year and last year, Gunn’s proposal also has included the popular-among-Democrats proposal to reduce the sales tax on groceries. This year’s proposal reduces the sales tax on groceries from 7% to ultimately 4%.

But the big change this year that caught the attention of Democrats is the reduction in the car tag tax, which is notoriously high in Mississippi.

The other major objection to tax cuts has been that the state has too many needs to be reducing taxes.

That argument might carry less weight with legislators as the state maintains a potential surplus of more than $2 billion because of unprecedented revenue growth for the past fiscal year of 15.9%, followed by anticipated double-digit growth for the current year.

The growth is not unique to Mississippi. Most states are experiencing strong revenue growth thanks to an unprecedented infusion of federal funds into states to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, strong wage growth by workers and inflation. Because of inflation, people are paying more for products, resulting in higher sales taxes being collected by the state.

“Before lawmakers commit to expanding public programs, raising salaries, cutting taxes, or other new costs, they should consider the long-term implications of these decisions,” the well-respected Pew Charitable Trust pointed out in a recent release. “State coffers may be full now, but this will not always be the case — and states face a wide range of challenges including rising costs, narrowing revenue streams, and emerging risks from issues like advanced technologies and aging populations “

Of course, Mississippi still has issues like underfunded schools, a lack of health care access and low pay for state employees. Many believe the state Legislature should be doing more to financially shore up the Public Employees Retirement System, which is legally committed to providing pension benefits to state employees, teachers and local governmental employees.

Despite those needs and thanks to that revenue surplus, Gunn, Gov. Tate Reeves and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann all have voiced support for tax cuts of varying degrees.

Perhaps as legislators ponder those tax cut proposals, they will consider the impact such action will have on the ability of the state to meet its long-term needs.

But if they still go forward with tax cuts, it is difficult to envision part of the package not being a reduction in the cost of car tags.

READ MORE: Hosemann doesn’t like Gunn’s tax proposal. Is Capitol gridlock looming?

The post Cheaper car tags help garner Democratic support for Gunn tax cut appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: 10-Year Challenge appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A school nurse told students and families on Tuesday there were so many cases of COVID-19 in the school it was “almost impossible to contact trace” and for all seventh through 12th graders to assume they’d been exposed as a result. 

The situation at West Lincoln Attendance Center in Brookhaven, where there is not a mask mandate – and its quick transition to a hybrid model of instruction following the holiday break – is not unique. 

Schools are battling staffing and substitute teacher shortages, closures and a large number of student absences as teachers and administrators attempt to kick off the spring semester.

Omicron, the dominant and extremely contagious strain of the coronavirus, is making its way across the state, and schools are not spared. The state saw a record-high number of new cases on Thursday with over 8,000 Mississippians testing positive in a single day.

The Department of Health reported 1,541 teachers and staff who had tested positive across 633 schools for the week of Jan. 3-7, the highest number of positive staff reported at any point in the pandemic. 

On top of logistical and health challenges, school leaders are also dealing with students and families’ COVID-19 fatigue. Oxford School District Superintendent told his school board last week he wasn’t sure the community “would stomach another mask mandate.” A board member made a motion to require masks anyway, but other board members did not support it. 

On Thursday, the district announced it would be closed on Friday and extend the observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

“Today, we have a total of 107 staff members out and 58 of those are classroom teachers,” a memo sent to parents and students stated. “… WIth so many employees out, it is difficult to provide the quality of instruction our students are accustomed.”

Roberson and another district-level administrator had been acting as elementary school principals earlier in the week after four administrators tested positive for COVID-19, the district’s public relations official told Mississippi Today. 

The Yazoo County School District delayed its in-person start date an additional two days after more than 10 faculty and staff members were either quarantined or sick with the virus, said Superintendent Ken Barron. 

All students and staff returned to campus this week, and each school has seen hundreds of absent students in the first three days of school. 

Barron, along with many other school leaders, emphasize they’re doing everything they can to keep kids in school, including the mask mandate that has been in place since the beginning of the school year.

“As long as we have enough adults up here to hold school, we will be here,” he said. 

Teachers and staff who got vaccinated by the end of last year were eligible for a financial incentive, which Barron said has helped reduce infection and quarantine numbers in that group. The district has also continued to require masks all year.

“We are trying everything we can to stay open,” he said. 

Nearly 7,000 students in Vicksburg Warren School District on Friday began a five-day, district-wide quarantine, according to a press release. Schools and offices will be closed until Wednesday of next week.

School officials did not provide current case and quarantine numbers for the district, but public relations official Christi Kilroy said the “numbers were climbing rapidly this week.”

“The safety of our students and staff is always on our minds and, with numbers rising quickly, the board felt it best to do a shutdown,” she said in an email. “With so many out, we were also having difficulty covering staff needs to keep schools and offices open.”

In the DeSoto County School District, where masks are not mandatory, Superintendent Cory Uselton said the district’s biggest challenge right now is staffing issues. Despite increasing substitute teacher pay this year, they have still had to utilize teacher’s assistants as substitutes and some teachers have had to forego their planning periods to cover a colleague’s class.

A few classrooms across the district are currently quarantining, following the Department of Health’s guidance that a classroom should isolate if three students test positive, but Uselton said at this time there have not been enough clusters to necessitate switching an entire school to remote learning. 

He said all teachers have been told to be prepared to pivot to virtual learning within 24 hours notice, and said that while this surge has been tough on both teachers and students, he is proud of the work teachers are doing to continue educating despite the circumstances. 

The post K-12 schools reopened across Mississippi this week. Omicron has forced many into virtual learning. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Say what? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Sen. Kevin Blackwell recited Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” — “everybody must get stoned” — and passed out various sized hemp samples before the Senate on Thursday passed a long-debated Mississippi medical marijuana program.

The vote on Senate Bill 2095 was initially counted as 45-5, well beyond what would be considered a veto-proof majority, but subject to change as it was by use of morning roll call and senators could change their votes or check in through the end of the day.

The measure was held on a technical motion, but is expected to move to the House on Monday. Its passage is expected to be a heavier lift there, but Rep. Lee Yancey — who has worked with Blackwell for months on the legislation, said he’s confident it will pass, if not by a veto-proof two-thirds majority. On Thursday several House members, including Yancey, stood on the Senate floor or gallery during the debate.

“He’s just handed me the football,” Yancey said after he congratulated Blackwell.

Gov. Tate Reeves threatened a veto of an earlier version of the legislation, saying it allowed patients too much marijuana and would be a toehold for recreational use. The bill the Senate passed had been tweaked, lowering the amount from 4 ounces a month to 3.5 ounces, but that would still appear to be far more than Reeves wanted, and the daily dosage unit in the bill was left the same, 3.5 grams, which Reeves said would amount to 11 joints a day.

Blackwell, a Republican from Southaven, passed out a 1.5-gram hemp cigarette, a 3.5-gram packet of hemp, and a 1-ounce package. He noted that it was recently said on a radio program that an ounce was the size of a loaf of bread.

“I don’t know where they get their bread,” Blackwell said, as some lawmakers passed around the samples while others declined.

READ MORE: Senate vote on Mississippi medical marijuana bill expected Thursday. Here’s a look at the bill.

Blackwell gave a brief history lesson on how cannabis has been used as medicine for centuries and is now legal in 35 other states then spent the next two hours successfully fending off amendments to the bill. One, he said, was a killing amendment offered by Sen. Angela Burks Hill, R-Picayune. It was a “strike all” that would have rewritten the entire bill to prohibit patients smoking marijuana, required pharmacists to distribute it and limited production to four place statewide.

READ MORE: Lost in the shuffle: Chronically ill people suffer as Mississippi politicians quibble over medical marijuana

Hill said she was trying to ensure the state had a conservative medical marijuana program that wouldn’t morph into recreational use as has happened in many other states.

“You don’t smoke medicine,” she said.

Other offered amendments included one from Sen. Barbara Blackmon, D-Canton, to allow outdoor growing of medical marijuana “and let Mississippi farmers take advantage of this new cash crop.”

Blackwell countered that regulation of the product “from seed to sale” would be difficult and having lots of outdoor farms would open the program to the black market and organized crime, as has happened in other states.

“We are not Oklahoma, and this program is not going to be Oklahoma 2.0,” Blackwell said.

He assured senators that he and others have done much work over months to ensure the program would be medical, not recreational or expanding the black market, and well regulated.

READ MORE: How regulated should Mississippi medical marijuana be?

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann recently called it the most scrutinized legislation in recent history and said Thursday, “It’s been well vetted, including again here today on the Senate floor.” Hosemann said he has not talked with Reeves about the bill and does not know if he’s still considering a veto. Other House and Senate leaders said the same Thursday.

“I think he has been briefed on the bill,” Hosemann said.

Lawmakers are attempting to reenact a medical marijuana program after voters overwhelmingly passed one in 2020, only to have it shot down on a technicality by the state Supreme Court. But the Legislature in this conservative state has struggled for years with the issue, despite growing voter sentiment — and even a citizen-passed ballot initiative — that the state join most others in legalizing marijuana for medical use.

Advocates of medical marijuana, including many who pushed for passage of Initiative 65, watched the Senate vote from the gallery and were in a celebratory mood after.

Bethany Hill, president of We Are the 74 — a group named for the 74% of voters who chose Initiative 65 over another option in 2020 — said she’s confident the measure will pass the House and that Reeves will withhold his veto stamp.

Hill said she was pleased to see Blackwell hand out samples showing various weights and measures of hemp.

“The governor’s colorful description of cannabis has kind of scared people,” Hill said. “You can’t get 11 joints out of 3.5 grams … If he vetoes it at this point, that’s insane. I think he’s kind of backed off.”

Blackwell on Thursday told lawmakers that the state’s medical marijuana program, if passed into law, will require ongoing monitoring and likely future legislative tweaks but “It will be one of the better bills throughout the nation.”

At the end of his time presenting the legislation to the Senate, Blackwell said: “We talked about a lot of things up here today, but one thing we didn’t talk a lot about was the people that we are doing this for. There are a lot of sick folks out there that this is going to help, and there are a lot of people that have been waiting a long time.”

After the vote, Blackwell had to return to the mic to ask, “that the samples that I sent out please be returned to us.”

The post Senate overwhelmingly passes Mississippi medical marijuana appeared first on Mississippi Today.

One fact I’ve learned over the decades: If there’s a huge football game or event – anywhere – there’s a Mississippian, usually several, somehow involved. 

It was true in the National Championship game Monday night, when Horn Lake native Nakobe Dean terrorized Alabama’s defense and Gulfport native Matt Luke’s offensive line took over the game in the fourth quarter of Georgia’s 33-18 victory. There was also Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett, who resurrected his career at Jones College in Ellisville, making the key passes on plays called by former Southern Miss head coach Todd Monken.

And it was true also earlier this week when 2022 the class of the College Football Hall of Fame was announced and three men with strong Mississippi ties – Dennis Thomas, Sylvester Croom and the late Billy “Spook” Murphy – all made the grade. Thomas, of Heidelberg, played and coached at Alcorn State. Croom, an Alabama native, famously became the SEC’s first Black head coach at Mississippi State. Murphy, who grew up in Arkansas, was a two-time All-SEC tailback at Mississippi State before becoming a legendary coach at then-Memphis State.

Thomas and Croom made the Hall of Fame as players, Murphy as a coach. Thomas just might be the most interesting story of all.

Thomas, an offensive lineman, was two times an All American at Alcorn. And, get this: In 1973, the legendary Walter Payton’s spectacular junior season at Jackson State, Thomas, not Payton, was named the SWAC’s Offensive Player of the Year. That season, Payton rushed for 1,139 yards, scored 24 touchdowns, kicked two field goals and 13 extra points. Thomas, a center, just blocked. Clearly, he must have knocked people over like bowling pins. After all, Jackie Slater, who blocked for Payton, went on to become a Pro Football Hall of Famer, considered one of the greatest offensive linemen in his history of the sport.

And you may ask, how in the world is that possible? A center beat out one of college football’s all-time legends for Player of the Year.

Says Thomas, who now lives near Tampa, Fla., “Walter and I were arch-rivals but also friends. After he went to Chicago and went on to become a big star in the NFL, he used to kid me about me winning that award over him. I told him, I said, ‘Walter, as well as you could run, I could block. If you’d have had me blocking for you, you would have rushed for 2,000 yards.’ We both got a big laugh out of that.”

Thomas played high school ball at Southside High in Heidelberg in Jasper County, where he was coached by Archie “The Gunslinger” Cooley. James Brooks recruited Thomas to Alcorn, where he played for another College Football Hall of Famer, Marino Casem. At Alcorn, Thomas’ position coach was none other than Jack “The Ripper” Spinks, the first Black player from Mississippi to play in the NFL. 

We’re getting deep into Mississippi football history here, much of it previously unwritten.

“Jack Spinks was the ultimate tactician as far as playing offensive line,” Thomas says. “He knew every technique. What’s more, he was a great man. You know, he was part of every championship Coach Casem won at Alcorn.”

Cooley also coached Thomas at Alcorn, before going on to fame as head coach at Mississippi Valley State where he coached Jerry Rice and Willie Totten and rewrote the NCAA offensive record books. On Nov. 4, 1984, a Sunday, Alcorn and Mississippi Valley State, both undefeated, played what has become known as “The Game of the Century” before the largest crowd in history of Veterans Memorial Stadium. It was Marino “The Godfather” Casem coaching against Archie “The Gunslinger” Cooley. Coaching defense for Alcorn was none other than Dennis Thomas. Valley was averaging nearly 60 points per game. Alcorn usually won with defense. It really was a classic matchup.

“We studied Valley’s offense and all the personnel groupings they used,” Thomas said. “Lots of times, we could tell by how they lined up, and who was in the game at the time, what plays they were going to run.”

Alcorn defeated Valley 42-28, using a defensive scheme devised by Thomas and Casem.

Surely, Thomas’ extensive research of Valley’s formations and personnel groupings helped. So did cornerback Isaac Holt’s smothering defense of Rice. Holt had his hands on Rice on virtually every play.

Said Holt, after the game, “Coach Casem told me the officials can’t call holding on every play.”

And they didn’t. It remains one of the great days in Mississippi football history.

Thomas went on to become head coach at South Carolina State and then athletic director at Hampton University, before becoming the commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) from 2002 until last December.

Croom and Murphy made football history in different ways: Croom as a two-time All American at Alabama and then as a head coach at Mississippi State, and Murphy, as the coach who built a rock-solid football program at Memphis.

Before that, Murphy was the tailback in the single-wing offense of coach Allyn McKeen, when McKeen’s Bulldogs were a SEC powerhouse. In fact, McKeen gave Murphy his famous nickname “Spook.” McKeen called Billy Jack Murphy a “speed spook.” That was shortened to Spook – and it stuck.

And perhaps that’s enough Mississippi football history for one day.

The post Mississippi’s rich football history includes Heidelberg’s Thomas appeared first on Mississippi Today.