Flood waters surround a property in Issaquena County Friday, April 5, 2019. Credit: Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/Report For America
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that a 2008 veto against the proposed Yazoo Pumps project does, in fact, still stand.
The move came after previous leaders at the EPA, headed by Trump appointee Andrew Wheeler, decided last November that new changes to the project proposal exempted it from the 2008 veto that was made during the Obama administration.
“We must ensure that protecting people, preserving natural systems, and supporting agriculture are all part of the solution,” said current EPA Administrator Michael Regan, a Biden appointee who took over the agency earlier this year and visited the Yazoo Backwater area earlier this week. “EPA understands the urgency and is ready to work with its federal partners and local stakeholders on a transparent process to find a solution to flooding in the Yazoo backwater area that is both durable and environmentally protective.”
The EPA initially vetoed the project in 2008 under the Clean Water Act because of anticipated damages that the pumps would cause to tens of thousands of acres of wetlands in the South Delta, an area conservationists call some of the most valuable habitat in the country, especially for migratory birds. The area’s wetlands also absorb surrounding water, serving as natural flood protection.
A few hours after the EPA’s announced decision, Gov. Tate Reeves blasted President Biden over the change.
“It seems like every day, the Biden Administration finds a new way to fail Mississippians,” Reeves said in a statement. “The Trump Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency realized the importance of protecting the Mississippi Delta and its residents when they allowed this project to proceed. Instead, President Biden is choosing to put radical ‘environmentalists’ ahead of human lives and livelihoods. My administration will fight this decision and stop at nothing until this project gets done.”
A massive bull stationed near U.S. 61 north is fashioned with a sign displaying the sentiment of residents who have been previously impacted by backwater flooding in Valley Park. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Over several years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers collected hydrological data to understand whether pumping during the flood season would leave enough water to sustain the wetlands. With that research, the Corps argued that pumping during the spring wouldn’t harm the ecology because the wetlands receive sufficient rainfall during the winter.
After the Corps submitted that data with a new proposal in 2020, the EPA decided that the 2008 veto no longer applied to the project. Yet, as one expert told Mississippi Today, the proposal still lacked modeling of what would occur in the wetlands with the pumps running.
The South Delta has seen an increase in springtime flooding over the last decade, including record-setting inundation in 2019. The ensuing damages to homes and farmland led a group of local flood victims and prominent Mississippi leadership, including Reeves, former Gov. Phil Bryant, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, Sen. Roger Wicker and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann to push the EPA for an appeal of the 2008 decision.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi’s only congressional Democrat and who represents the South Delta and previously expressed cautious support for the pumps, recently asked the EPA to investigate the veto revocation after reports that the agency ignored its own staff’s warnings around ecological damages.
Opponents of the project point to cheaper alternatives for the pumps — which would likely cost over $300 million, although the Corps hasn’t released an updated estimate — such as voluntary buyouts and elevating structures.
Farm equipment is nearly submerged in flood water in north Issaquena County, Miss., Friday, April 5, 2019. Credit: Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/Report For America
Earlier this year, a coalition of conservation groups represented by non-profit Earthjustice filed a lawsuit against both the Corps and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for violating the Endangered Species Act, arguing the project would threaten the habitats for over 400 species including the endangered pondberry.
A release from the coalition said last year’s decision was the first time the EPA had revoked a veto.
Ray Mosby was the editor and publisher of the Deer Creek Pilot in Rolling Fork, Mississippi and won the J. Oliver Emmerich Award for Editorial Writing for the third time this year. He passed away last week after a short illness.
He was a Mississippi treasure and a friend.
I met Ray the same way you probably did when I’d read his syndicated column every week in The Clarion-Ledger. I loved the sharpness of his writing and his tongue. Ray took no prisoners and suffered no fools. I remember meeting him for the first time at the Mississippi Press Association’s annual convention — I half expected him to be seven-feet tall. He wasn’t. He was funny, quiet and kind. Thanks to Facebook, I was able to keep up with him — I don’t get up to Rolling Fork as often as I would like. But the fact that Ray stayed in that small South Delta town showed exactly who he was. His talent could have taken him anywhere, he knew where he was needed — and that was at the Deer Creek Pilot.
While at the MPA convention this summer, I saw Ray sitting on a bench in the hallway outside of the casino’s ballroom. He looked frail and tired. I plopped down next to him and we caught up. He had been ill but was on the mend, he said. We talked about things that people who haven’t seen each other since the pandemic would talk about. We talked about how nice it was to be around people again. We talked about the fate of the newspaper business. When Ray won his third Emmerich, he joked he would have to live another decade to win another one.
Sadly, he didn’t.
I’ve drawn too many obituary cartoons in the past couple of years. And I’ll admit, I didn’t know what to draw about Ray. He was a friend. I’ve lost too many friends lately. My sadness just created a block — and I put the thought aside. But yesterday, Natalie Perkins, editor and graphic designer at the Deer Creek Pilot asked me if I would draw one for Ray. I agreed and started reading about his life and career. Then this idea flashed into my head — Ray is now doing St. Peter’s job.
This cartoon appeared this morning in the Deer Creek Pilot.
A man who killed his estranged wife and held their family hostage is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday evening, set to become the first person executed in Mississippi since 2012.
David Neal Cox was sentenced to death in 2012 after pleading guilty to all eight charges against him, including one count of capital murder, two counts of kidnapping, one count of burglary, one of firing into a dwelling, and three counts of sexual battery.
In 2010, Cox broke into the home of his sister-in-law, shot his estranged wife twice, and barricaded himself, his wife, his son and his stepdaughter in the home for 10 hours. The wife died due to lack of medical treatment, and the stepdaughter was sexually assaulted multiple times during the 10-hour period.
Cox’s attorneys filed a petition for post-conviction relief (the lessening of a sentence) in 2016 citing multiple issues with the trial, but Cox subsequently submitted multiple motions asking to have his court-counsel dismissed, all appeals terminated, and his execution scheduled. Cox has submitted multiple letters to the court stating his guilt and his belief that he should be executed.
“I am worthy of death & I do not wish to challenge the state of Mississippi any further,” Cox wrote in a November 2018 motion.
A hearing occurred in February 2021 to determine Cox’s mental competence, which found that he was capable of understanding the gravity of the situation and that his motions could be honored. His court-appointed attorneys submitted appeals to this ruling, which resulted in the Supreme Court decision that was issued on Oct. 21.
A spokesperson for Gov. Tate Reeves issued a statement on Tuesday, saying he has no plans of stopping the execution.
“The Governor has reviewed the facts of this case and there is no question that David Cox committed these horrific crimes,” the statement said. “Mr. Cox has admitted his guilt on multiple occasions and has been found competent by both the Circuit Court and Mississippi Supreme Court. Further, Mr. Cox himself filed a motion requesting that all appeals be dismissed and his execution date be set. In light of this, the Governor has no intention at this time of granting clemency or delaying this execution.”
As first reported by The Associated Press, the Mississippi Department of Corrections revealed in court papers earlier this year that it had acquired three drugs for lethal injections: midazolam, which is a sedative; vecuronium bromide, which paralyzes the muscles; and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.
Mississippi is among several states that have had trouble finding drugs for lethal injections in recent years since pharmaceutical companies in the United States and Europe began banning the use of their drugs for executions.
Mississippi does not have any other executions scheduled after Cox’s, though more than 30 people are sitting on death row in the state.
Mississippi is one of only a handful of states that hasn’t spent any of its federal American Rescue Plan Act money coming directly to state government — about $1.8 billion for the Magnolia State’s Legislature.
It’s one of even fewer states that hasn’t earnestly been planning, cataloguing most pressing needs and soliciting community input on how to spend the unprecedented windfall of federal tax dollars. That process began Monday when a special Senate subcommittee formed by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann held its first hearing.
Many states are using the money for water and sewerage and broadband internet infrastructure. Some are addressing health care needs, including shortages of health workers. Texas has earmarked $400 million for additional healthcare workers.
Others are helping their most needy citizens, or helping tourism or other industries most impacted by the pandemic.
Some are getting creative, such as in Florida, where students struggling with reading will have free books delivered to their homes. Louisiana has earmarked $10 million of the money to help land major events, such as the Super Bowl, and $4.5 million to help keep movie theaters afloat.
Some states want to use the money to provide tax cuts or breaks — even though that is prohibited in the ARPA spending bill. Mississippi has joined with more than a dozen other state challenging this provision, including Louisiana and Texas. At least two federal district courts have ruled in favor of states challenging the tax cut prohibition on the pandemic dollars, and Texas has earmarked $3 billion of its ARPA funds for property tax breaks in anticipation of it being overturned.
House Speaker Philip Gunn has proposed eliminating Mississippi’s income tax, although his phase-in plan doesn’t earmark federal pandemic relief dollars but pays for the cuts with increases in sales and other taxes.
John Goodman, a researcher with the Pew Charitable Trusts, says one thing states should keep in mind is that the ARPA funds are one-time money, not recurring payments to states. He said states should be careful to avoid a “fiscal cliff” by using the money for recurring expenses that leave a budget hole once the federal funds dry up.
“The challenge states face right now, as they did in the Great Recession, is that there’s a lot of money, but that money won’t last forever,” Goodman said. “The question is, what’s sustainable after the temporary federal aid is no longer available? With the Great Recession, just as states were making a comeback, the federal aid ran out and they had to cut budgets again in many cases. It was a lost decade for state governments … We are urging states to avoid that budget cliff — it doesn’t make sense for states to hire workers now only to have to lay them off in a few years.”
Mississippi was forced to make drastic state budget cuts and raid its rainy day funds after the Great Recession, in large part because of numerous tax cuts that stalled the state budget’s recovery.
According to a survey of state budget officers by the National Association of State Budget Officers, 44% of respondents said their state or territory has created a separate office or unit to manage federal COVID-19 funds. A majority said they have added government staff to deal with it. Just under half of those responding said they plan to use private contractors to help with managing funds.
“While a number of states are further along, Mississippi is not alone in taking a slower approach,” said Kathryn White with NASBO. “Some of this just comes down to a state’s budget process and legislative calendar. We’ve seen both — special sessions or special committees formed. Sometimes committees formed by the governor, sometimes formed by the legislature … It’s definitely a huge, heavy lift, deciding how to budget for these funds in a sustainable way, and this is not the only new source of federal funding, too. We are hearing that most states are adding additional staff to tackle this.”
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and the state Senate took the first steps toward planning for ARPA spending. A special subcommittee held its first hearing on Monday and hopes to present proposals to lawmakers in January on how best to spend the money. The committee heard from officials in Louisiana and Tennessee on how they’ve spent the money so far.
Here’s a look at money going to states in the region and where they stand on ARPA planning and spending:
Mississippi
$1.8 billion to state government
$900 million to local governments
Mississippi has to date done little planning for spending its state-government share of American Rescue Plan Act funds, about $1.8 billion. Most local governments are still working on how to spend their separate allocations – and hoping the state provides some matching funds. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has recommended such matching funds for local projects and recently created a special committee to make recommendations to the Legislature by its regular session in January. House Speaker Philip Gunn said his top lieutenants are studying how to spend the funds. Gov. Tate Reeves has made some broad recommendations for spending the money in his annual budget recommendation to lawmakers.
Alabama
$2.1 billion to state government
$1.7 billion to local governments
The Alabama Legislature in a special session in October approved spending some of the state’s ARPA money on new prisons to help with the state’s prison crisis. The Legislature is now back in a special session on redistricting, but Gov. Kay Ivey has not indicated she would add ARPA spending to the session, meaning it will likely wait until next year’s regular session that begins in January.
Alabama has allocated:
$400 million to help build two new prisons. Facing Department of Justice action over its deadly, overcrowded and understaffed prisons, the state is using some of its federal ARPA funding to help address the prison crisis and build two facilities. The state is providing its Department of Corrections the $400 million in ARPA money as “revenue replacement” for COVID-19 costs.
Arkansas
$1.57 billion to state government
$1.01 billion to local governments
Gov. Asa Hutchinson created a 15-member Arkansas American Rescue Plan Act Steering Committee, which includes members of the state General Assembly, to recommend how to spend the state’s ARPA money. The panel has had public, livestreamed meetings and has created a website for people and agencies to submit proposals for the money. The committee is considering, among other proposals, setting aside $300 million for grants for broadband projects.
Florida
$8.8 billion to state government
$7.1 billion to local governments
Florida has to-date spent about half of its state government ARPA funds, with much of the spending going to transportation – state highway projects – tourism and environmental restoration and protection projects.
Florida has earmarked:
$2 billion to the state Transportation Trust Fund to offset pandemic losses. Of this, $1.75 billion must be used on state highway system projects, with the remaining $250 million for grants for operations at ports with cruise ship or cargo traffic impacted by the pandemic.
$350 million to address pandemic economic impact by investing in deferred maintenance needs in state, college and university facilities.
$208.4 million for one-time bonus payments of $1,000 to each essential first responder.
$100 million for a new state Emergency Operations Center in Leon County.
$125 million to the Department of Education to implement the New Worlds Reading initiative, contingent on passage of legislation creating the program.
$25 million to contract with the Florida Tourism Industry Marketing Corporation to support Florida’s tourism industry and recovery from the pandemic.
$30 million for African-American cultural and historical grants. The money will provide grants for capital projects that highlight the contributions, culture or history of African Americans.
$500 million for the Resilient Florida Trust Fund. The money would fund environmental projects, contingent on legislation identifying the projects becoming law.
$475 million to the Department of Environmental Protection. The money would offset pandemic revenue losses, cover emergency response efforts and be used for land acquisition and capital projects to protect the environment.
$100 million to the Department of Environmental Protection to buy high-resolution coastal mapping services to provide seafloor data.
$45 million to the Department of Environmental Protection to create a small community wastewater grant program for septic to sewer upgrades and for monitoring water quality.
$40 million to the DEP to create a grant program to help communities plan for and implement conservation, resuse and other water supply projects.
$48 million to DEP for phase II of the C-51 Reservoir.
$50 million for the Beach Management Funding Assistance Program.
$500 million for the Water Protection and Sustainability Program Trust Fund, contingent upon a wastewater grant program legislation becoming law.
$59 million for Everglades restoration, including projects in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
$25 million to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for removal of derelict vessels.
$401 million to the Department of Education for specific school and college projects detailed in legislation.
$50 million to the Florida National Guard for new readiness centers.
$8.4 million to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for buying three aircraft, plus funds for fuel and maintenance.
$100 million to the Department of Economic Opportunity for a consumer-frst workforce information system.
$50 million for the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund.
$56.4 million for the modernization of the Reemployment Assistance System.
Georgia
$4.85 billion to state government
$3.5 billion to local governments
The state plans to spend $875 million through a statewide, competitive grant program for broadband infrastructure, water and sewerage projects and to cover negative economic impact of the pandemic. Gov. Brian Kemp has appointed state agency leaders along with members of the General Assembly for a Georgia Jobs and Infrastructure Committee to oversee the grant process. Grants are expected to be awarded by early January. The state also has general plans to allocate money for state employees health benefits and to provide recovery grants to the state’s hardest-hit industries.
Kentucky
$2.18 billion to state government
$1.62 for local governments
Kentucky has taken official action to devote nearly half of its state government ARPA funding to “critical economic recovery and pandemic response.” Gov. Andy Beshear earlier this year signed bipartisan legislation spending nearly $1.17 billion.
Kentucky has allocated:
$250 million for the Drinking Water Wastewater Grant Program. The money will be for counties for unserved rural customers and to supplement county projects.
$69.3 million in FY2022 to Health and Human Services for COVID-19 testing, assisting providers of treatment centers and for providing “test and stay” COVID-19 testing at schools.
$300 million to increase broadband internet access. The first phase includes $50 million to target areas unserved by broadband.
$575 million for Unemployment Trust Fund. The money will pay off unemployment insurance debts.
Louisiana
Louisiana has earmarked:
$10 million for the Major Events Fund, a fund to help the state lure major sporting events, such as the Superbowl, and other events to the state.
$563 million for the Transportation Trust Fund for construction, maintenance and transit infrastructure projects on the state and local levels.
$15 million for the Legislative Capitol Technology Enhancement Fund for government services.
$35 million for revenue replacement into the Capital Outlay Relief Fund for government services.
$5 million for the Health Care Employment Reinvestment Opportunity Fund, to help the state meet demands for nursing and other health professionals and support nursing schools.
$4.5 million to the Save Our Screens Program to provide grants to movie theater businesses impacted by the pandemic.
$77.5 million for the Louisiana Tourism Revival program to support local and regional tourism entities marketing Louisiana tourism.
$10 million to the Loggers Relief Fund to provide grants to timber businesses up to $25,000 each.
$10 million to the Louisiana Small Business and Nonprofits Fund to provide grants to nonprofits including charities, faith based organizations and education assistance programs.
$50 million to the Louisiana Port Relief Fund, to help port authorities overcome revenue loss and pandemic expenses.
$490 million to the Unemployment Trust Fund Clearing Account, with up to $190 million to repay the state’s federal unemployment insurance loan.
$300 million to provide assistance to local governments for water system maintenance, upgrades and improvements.
$30 million for the Southwest Louisiana Hurricane Fund for damages during the 2020 hurricane season.
North Carolina
$5.4 billion to state government
$3.4 billion to local governments
The N.C. General Assembly is in session and the House and Senate are negotiating over competing plans for ARPA spending. Lawmakers have faced some criticism that they are considering spending ARPA funds on recurring expenses while at the same time considering tax cuts. Gov. Roy Cooper in May released his recommendations for state ARPA spending, including $250 million for grants to low- and middle-income families with children, $75 million for an affordable housing program, $125 million for programs to fight diabetes, obesity, heart disease and other risk factors with COVID-19, $1.2 billion for broadband access and $800 million for water and sewerage infrastructure.
South Carolina
$2.5 billion to state government
$1.6 billion to local governments
Gov. Henry McMaster, working with lawmakers, created the AccelerateSC task force to make recommendations on revitalizing the state’s economy after the pandemic and to advise the Legislature on how best to spend ARPA funds. The task force has held public meetings and recently released a report that include recommendations the state spend more than $490 million on broadband expansion, $250 million on business grants or shoring up the unemployment trust fund, $400 million on a state matching program for local water and sewerage projects, and spending for workforce development, education, tourism recovery and an intermodal facility to improve the state’s ports.
Tennessee
$3.91 billion to state government
$2.28 billion to local governments
The Financial Stimulus Accountability Group created by Gov. Bill Lee and legislative leaders has recently released a plan to spend much of the $3.9 billion in ARPA funds controlled by the state. This includes spending on water and sewerage, broadband, increasing hospital staffing and helping the state’s agriculture, arts and tourism industries. The state is also providing guidance to local governments on spending and administering their funds with technical assistance and webinars. Tennessee, along with Kentucky, has challenged in court federal provisions that say states cannot accept ARPA funds and then cut taxes. The states so far prevailed in a federal district court ruling.
Tennessee has so far earmarked:
$500 million to expand broadband. Program will use $400 million for two funds, the Distressed County Connectivity Fund, targeting unserved and at-risk counties and the Broadband Local Match Fund, supporting local government projects using local ARPA money. Remainder will be used for initiatives including a residential service temporary subsidy for qualifying households, for community connectivity including digital literacy programs in schools, libraries, public housing and state parks and connecting downtown business districts with free public wi-fi.
$1.35 billion for water and sewerage improvements and maintenance. Plan includes $1 billion to match local government projects, $350 million for state strategic priorities coupled with competitive grants.
Texas
$15.8 billion to state government
$10.5 billion to local governments
In a special legislative session in late October, Texas lawmakers allocated nearly $16 billion in ARPA funding, including billions for a property tax cut (pending states prevail in court in overturning Congress’ provision the money not be used for tax cuts). Despite widespread problems with the state’s water infrastructure and frequent drinking water outages, a proposal to allocate $3 billion of the state’s funds failed and the passed spending plan did not include major spending for water and sewerage projects. Legislative leaders noted they had until 2024 to allocate the money, but said addressing it early will help clear the Legislature’s plate for other issues next year.
Texas lawmakers’ earmarks included:
$7.2 billion to replenish the state’s unemployment trust fund, which was depleted during the pandemic and forced the state to take out $6.9 billion in federal loans.
$3 billion for property tax cuts, expected to be passed by lawmakers in 2023. Congress prohibited ARPA money being used to cut taxes, but that is being challenged and an Ohio federal court already ruled against the congressional stipulation.
$2 billion to help increase the state’s health care staffing and COVID-19 response.
$500 million for broadband expansion
$400 million for additional health care staffing
$200 million to help the state’s tourism industry recover from the pandemic.
$325 million for projects at state universities.
$238 million for a new psychiatric hospital in Dallas.
$113 million for the Texas Child Mental Health Consortium for treatment.
Yes, we need to protect the quarterbacks, but this is getting ridiculous, isn’t it? In a busy podcast, we discuss the roughing (or bumping) the passer call against the Saints, huge victories for Mississippi State and Ole Miss, a near-miss from Southern Miss, the Alcorn-Jackson State showdown, and the high school football playoffs.
Bobby Collins, backed by several of his former players, was honored for his accomplishments at Southern Miss in 2018. (Photo courtesy Southern Miss sports information)
Laurel native Bobby Collins became head football coach at Southern Miss the same year I was promoted to sports editor of the Hattiesburg American. We were rookies together. That was 1975, seemingly a lifetime ago.
Rick Cleveland
Collins, who died at the age of 88 Monday in Hattiesburg, remains, to this day, the best football coach I ever covered on a day-to-day basis. He could, in the words of Florida A&M coach and football philosopher Jake Gaither, “take his’n and beat your’n or take your’n and beat his’n.”
And yet Collins is best remembered nationally for being the head coach at then-powerhouse SMU when the Mustangs received the NCAA death penalty because of a pay-for-play scheme that preceded Collins’ arrival. That is a shame, and we will get to that.
At Southern Miss, his teams beat his alma mater, Mississippi State, five of seven. He beat Ole Miss three of the last four times he faced the Rebels (he was 3-3 against the Rebs overall). He tied the legendary Bear Bryant at Alabama. He annihilated Bobby Bowden at Florida State. He played nearly all those games on the road.
In fact in 1975, Southern Miss played all its games on the road because its home stadium was being doubled in size. Collins’ Golden Eagles finished 7-4, trouncing No. 20 BYU in the last game of the season at Jackson.
Remember that splendid 1980 Mississippi State team, loaded with future NFL stars, that stunned Bryant and No. 1 Alabama 6-3? Southern Miss beat those same Bulldogs 42-7 on State’s homecoming. There was at least one happy State alum there that day: Collins, a former State quarterback, punter and assistant coach.
“We had a bunch of no-names, but Coach Collins made us feel like we were as good as anybody who ever stepped on the field,” said Sammy Winder, a walk-on running back who went on to start in three Super Bowls. “We didn’t have any brand-name guys, but we bought into what he was saying and what he was teaching and we won a bunch of games against brand name teams.”
Collins’ Southern Miss teams were not fancy. They ran the ball more than they threw it. They played ferocious defense. They were efficient. They blocked, they tackled. They hit hard. Really hard. They were fundamentally as sound as any teams you will ever see.
They had talent; they just found it where the powerhouse teams weren’t looking. While State and Ole Miss (and Alabama and Notre Dame and everybody else) were recruiting a high school All American quarterback named Eddie Hornback out of Ocean Springs, Southern Miss spent all its time just down the road recruiting a tall, skinny kid in D’Iberville named Reggie Collier, who had played only one full season of high school football.
Notre Dame got Hornback. Southern Miss beat Tulane for Collier, who was Lamar Jackson before Lamar Jackson, one of the most breath-taking talents in Mississippi football history. Collins and his staff beat Nicholls State on wide receiver Louis Lipps of Reserve, La., who would become the AFC Rookie of the Year for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Southern Miss found cornerback Hanford Dixon in Theodore, Ala., tight end Marvin Harvey in Marianna, Fla., and linebacker Cliff Lewis in Brewton, Ala. All were lightly recruited. All became pros, Dixon a three-time Pro Bowler.
Bobby Collins’ specialty was projecting unknown talent and then motivating it. (Photo courtesy Southern Miss sports information)
“Bobby Collins understood people,” Reggie Collier said. “Some coaches have one style of coaching and they expect everybody to fall in line with that. Coach knew how to adjust to different people. He knew how to motivate, how to lift you up when you were down, how to make you feel better about yourself.
“I was an introvert coming in to Southern from a small school,” Collier continued. “I was shy, unsure of myself. Being an African American, playing the position I was playing, I needed somebody who understood where I was and what I was facing. Coach knew what to say and when to say it. He believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. He took Southern Miss to another level and I am still proud to have been a part of that.”
Collins had been a career assistant before Roland Dale hired him at Southern Miss. He had worked on both sides of the football — offense and defense — at Mississippi State, at Colorado State, and at George Washington. He had been the offensive coordinator at Virginia Tech and the defensive coordinator at North Carolina. He was ready.
Jeff Bower, another Hall of Fame football coach, was the quarterback on Collins’ first Southern Miss team, the one that didn’t play a true home game. “Bobby changed the culture at Southern Miss,” Bower said. ”He did what nobody thought was possible. He did it by out-working everybody and getting his guys to out-work everybody. He made us believe in ourselves. He hired good people and let them coach. He was demanding but he made you want to work.”
Bower gets steamed — and then some — when someone suggests that Collins won football games by buying players. Southern Miss went on probation after Collins left for SMU, but as we have previously discussed, he didn’t have to cheat to get his best talent in Hattiesburg. At SMU, he inherited a football program where the play-for-play system reached all the way to the Texas governor’s office. It’s true. You can look it up.
Said Bower, “Anybody who believes Bobby Collins won because of cheating doesn’t understand the culture in college football back then. Bobby won because he and his staff out-worked and out-coached people.”
You should also know Collins always handled himself as a gentleman in every dealing I ever had with him — and there were some tough times in a 2-9 season of 1976. That USM team lost its first nine games, kept playing hard, kept believing, and finally won its last two. The next year, Southern Miss beat Ole Miss, State and Auburn. And they only got better thereafter. That’s the way I’ll remember Bobby Collins.
Visitation for Thurman L. (Bobby) Collins will be Wednesday at 9 a.m., and funeral services will be at 11 a.m. at Hulett-Winstead Funeral Home in Hattiesburg. Interment will be at 1 p.m. at Hickory Grove Cemetery, Laurel.
About one-third of Mississippi kindergarteners demonstrated they were kindergarten ready on a state literacy test this fall, a declining statistic State Superintendent of Education Carey Wright said is “further proof” of the pandemic’s negative impact on students.
The Kindergarten Readiness Assessment tests students exiting public pre-K programs and those entering public kindergarten. It measures early literacy skills and is used as an instructional baseline for teachers. It is also used to measure how well pre-kindergarten programs, both the state’s early learning collaboratives and other publicly funded pre-K, prepare four-year-olds for kindergarten.
Among the 33,265 kindergarteners tested, 31.8% scored a 530 or higher on the test. The percentage dropped from 36.6% in fall of 2019. Over half, or 54.74%, score in the bottom range, or “early emergent” reader category. That category encompasses students who are beginning to understand printed text has meaning and beginning to identify shapes, colors, letters and numbers, according to the Mississippi Department of Education.
The goal score of 530 indicates a student can identify most letters of the alphabet and their corresponding sounds. Students who attain this score can also begin to “read” picture books and are building their vocabulary, listening skills and understanding of print, according to the Mississippi Department of Education. The average statewide score for kindergarteners was 487.
Research also shows 85% of students who score a 530 or higher at the beginning of kindergarten are proficient in reading at the end of third grade.
Four-year-olds in the state’s early learning collaboratives also took the test, and 13.05% of those students met the end-of-year benchmark score of 498. In other pre-K programs, 10.10% of four-year-olds in other pre-K programs met the benchmark score.
Tenette Smith, director of elementary education and reading at the Mississippi Department of Education, said the results show the state is right to focus its efforts on pre-K students.
“This says to me we’re targeting the right students because the large majority of our kids are in need of additional supports and strategies,” Smith said when presenting the test results to the State Board of Education Friday.
Rachel Canter, executive director of Mississippi First, said pre-K was particularly impacted by the pandemic because virtual learning is more difficult in early education. The state’s early learning collaboratives that partnered with Head Start, the federally funded pre-K program, were entirely virtual during the 2020-21 school year, according to Canter and Smith.
“Other providers held in person classes but did so with a host of new COVID policies, like masking, a shortened school day, increased use of technology and an elimination of field trips,” said Canter, whose organization advocates for early education and is preparing to release a report on the pandemic’s impact on the state’s early learning collaboratives. “Parental engagement, a key piece of early childhood, was also more difficult as in-person parent-teacher conferences and events were suspended.”
Smith emphasized several next steps for the department and educators to combat the pandemic’s detrimental impact: leverage federal COVID-19 relief funds to expand pre-K services and supplemental services such as high dosage tutoring; implement pre-K to kindergarten transition plans; develop partnerships for Head Start; and train all teachers in the science of reading and ensure implementation of that in pre-K through 3rd grade, among other suggestions.
The Mississippi Department of Education has recently kicked off a series of eight regional literacy meetings for families of students in kindergarten through third grade. The goal is to help students by giving parents and other family members strategies to use at home to improve literacy.
The Kindergarten Readiness Assessment is a component of the Literacy Based Promotion Act passed in the 2013 legislative session. The law places an emphasis on grade-level reading skills, particularly in kindergarten through third grade, and also includes a third grade reading assessment students are required to pass to continue to fourth grade.
Wright, the state superintendent, remained positive.
“Mississippi’s kindergarten teachers are outstanding. Yearly, their hard work leads to significant gains for the state’s youngest students, and I anticipate seeing those gains when students are retested in spring 2022,” she said in a press release announcing the results.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan planned to visit Jackson on Monday to hear from residents, officials and students about the state capital’s longstanding water system malfunctions.
But during his visit, Regan unexpectedly got to witness the unreliability of the city’s water system for himself.
Prior to officials issuing a citywide boil water notice Monday night — resulting from what they believe was a “bad batch of chemicals” to clean the water — the EPA chief stopped by Wilkins Elementary School, which is south of I-20 and farther than most of the city from the main water treatment plant, O.B. Curtis.
Apart from a few students who stayed to talk to Regan, the building had emptied out that morning; after a 9-week water outage at the school earlier this year, students were again forced to relocate Monday morning because of low water pressure. And worse, some parts of the city on Monday were completely without water.
To address recurring failures at the city’s water utility, which shut down for over a month after a winter storm froze exposed equipment at the treatment plant, Jackson leadership has put the price tag at $1 billion. The funding shortfall exists for several reasons, such as a dwindling tax base, but a primary cause is the shrinking trend in federal support over the past forty years.
A water fountain at Wilkins Elementary School on Nov. 15, 2021.
Regan’s visit, the first stop on a southern U.S. tour focused on environmental justice, gave the agency a chance to promote the recently signed federal infrastructure bill, which will send $459 million Mississippi’s way for fund water improvements.
That total amount given to Mississippi, which will be spread across Mississippi, is less than half of what Jackson alone needs.
During a media Q&A, Regan at first touted that the money from the bill, in addition to funds from the proposed Build Back Better plan, would give “adequate resources” to invest in reliable drinking water; yet he later said that these funds would just be a start to fixing the problem, and touched on another strategy for raising money.
“With all of those resources, in concert with stronger relationships with our state and local officials, we will be better able to leverage those resources to tackle the shortfalls,” he said. “This is a shot in the arm, it’s a down payment, but it’s a huge opportunity for public-private partnerships.
Wilkins Elementary School in Jackson. Credit: Alex Rozier
“We’re going to have to be creative in how we spend our precious resources, but we’ll also have to be entrepreneurial in how we partner with the private sector to be sure that our communities are thriving.”
Fifteen percent of Americans receive water from a private utility, and, as policy experts told Mississippi Today, they have shown mixed results; while private utilities can provide more resources and are less likely to violate federal health codes, they can also come at a higher cost to customers, which is part of why past Jackson leaders have opposed the idea.
In addition to seeing Wilkins Elementary, Regan held a roundtable talk with community representatives, visited the O.B. Curtis water plant, and toured different areas including West Jackson. The west and south parts of the city, which have a higher percent of Black residents and lower median incomes, are the farthest from the treatment plant, meaning it takes longer to restore water pressure for those homes.
The O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant. Credit: Alex Rozier
Regan, the first Black man to lead the EPA, said that his agency will incorporate environmental justice into all of its policy decisions, hoping to take aim at the disproportionate impacts pollution has on marginalized communities.
“It’s a fact that communities of color have disproportionately borne the impact (of pollution),” he said. “EPA’s job is to provide protection under regulation and law for all Americans. Environmental justice is a guarantee that we will look at the past deficiencies there.”
As part of a new initiative, the White House committed to direct 40% of climate and clean energy benefits towards disadvantaged areas.
