OurTupelo

A dispute over grade calculations at West Point High School has ignited intense community debate and allegations of racism after two Black students were initially named top of their class and later made to share the honors with white classmates.

Ikeria Washington and Layla Temple, two Black students at the high school, were named valedictorian and salutatorian of their class at a senior awards ceremony last Thursday, several days before graduation.

But after a white parent questioned school officials about whether they were following guidelines in the school handbook in determining the top students, Superintendent Burnell McDonald named two other students — who are white — as co-valedictorian and co-salutatorian on Thursday morning, the day of graduation.

McDonald told Mississippi Today the high school guidance counselor was new to the school and was given incorrect information about how to determine the designations. The counselor selected the two students based on quality point average (QPA), which is measured on a 4.0 scale, instead of a strict numerical average of the students’ semester grades over their high school career, which the district defines as its grade point average (GPA), he said.

McDonald said he looked at how valedictorian and salutatorian had been determined in past years and saw it was based on a 0-100 scale, or what the school refers to as GPA. The initial calculation was not conducted the proper way, he said.

But the handbook a few pages later says GPA “is calculated by averaging the grade point weights assigned to semester averages,” which are 0.0 through 4.0. It goes on to say “Some classes may be weighted double see guidance counselors for this information..” (sic)

A few pages earlier, under “Class Rank,” the handbook simply says “A student’s rank in his/her graduating class will be calculated by averaging his/her semester averages.”

“(The parents’) argument was that based on our handbook, we should’ve been using semester averages,” he said. “And when you generate the report from the system, it clearly shows the two white students would’ve been first and second based on that number.” 

McDonald continued: “If someone assumes I was discriminatory in my decisions, they are absolutely wrong. I don’t know if you can tell on the phone, but I’m African-American myself… This is not based on who the parents are, the race of the kids — it’s based on doing what’s right for all students.”

When contacted by Mississippi Today, Synethia Mathews, the 2018 valedictorian of West Point High School, echoed McDonald, saying it’s her understanding she was chosen based on her overall GPA. Attempts by Mississippi Today to reach other former valedictorians and salutatorians from the school were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, Angela Washington and Lakira Temple, the mothers of the Black students, have questions.

“I’m still baffled,” said Washington, who said she and Temple had a meeting with the West Point High School principal, an assistant superintendent and McDonald at lunch on the day of graduation. She said in that meeting, McDonald told her different information — that based on how the school has made its calculations in the past, her and Temple’s daughters would be ranked first and second.

“What it looks like is because the handbook doesn’t specifically say GPA (grade point average) or QPA (quality point average), to make the other side happy, he changed the rules on his own,” said Washington, who has requested a meeting with the school board this month.

On page 10 of the school’s 57-page handbook, under the heading “Class Rank,” it states only: “A student’s rank in his/her graduating class will be calculated by averaging his/her semester averages.” But in a separate district-wide policy detailing how dual enrollment and dual credit courses are calculated, it uses a 4.0 scale to “determine QPA and GPA calculations,” which some say means the district has not always defined GPA as a 0-100 score.

McDonald and other school officials admit the policy is unclear and needs to be better defined, but in the case of the four students, the damage had already been done. He then decided the fair thing to do was to name all four valedictorian and salutatorian and allow all to speak at graduation.

That way, he pointed out, all of the benefits from receiving the titles – such as scholarship offers to colleges – would be available to all of them.

Washington said she and Temple found out about the other valedictorian and salutatorian on social media and did not receive a call from the school. Both mothers said the daughters were not explicitly told either, but instead were asked to return their stoles to the school without explanation.

Temple said her daughter is deeply disappointed. 

“The superintendent made her feel as if she wasn’t as smart as the other kids, and that she shouldn’t believe that she’s on their level,” she said. 

Washington said Ikeria “has suffered public humiliation, pain and suffering, and emotional distress” as a result of the confusion and lack of communication.

At the graduation ceremony on Thursday, McDonald took the stage at the beginning and apologized. 

“Nobody else deserves to be ridiculed for the decision that I made … I pray, I ask you humbly, if there’s a problem that you have with anything, or whatever’s been said, charge it to me and please don’t charge it” to anyone else, he told the crowd. 

Ikeria, Layla and the two other students, Emma Berry and Dominic Borgioli, then gave their speeches before the graduates walked across the stage to receive their diplomas. Layla’s speech hinted at the controversy.

“I’m so very grateful, honored and humbled to be the true class of 2021 salutatorian,” she began. 

A Facebook Live recording of the ceremony garnered almost 1,000 comments, many of which accused school officials, Berry, Borgioli and their families of cheating Layla and Ikeria out of their honors because of race. 

But McDonald and Melissa Borgioli, the mother of co-valedictorian Dominic, said this has nothing to do with race. They also said the rumors — including that McDonald was coerced into making the decision — have gotten out of hand.

“Because those two young ladies are African American and my son and the other person are white, it’s become a racial issue when it’s strictly a ‘the counselor did not use the correct policy and the school wouldn’t admit it’ issue,” said Borgioli, who said she and her family have been threatened on social media and by calls to her home.

A similar situation in Cleveland School District led to lawsuits. A senior filed suit against the district in 2017, alleging that school officials forced her to share the 2016 valedictorian title with a white student despite her having a higher GPA. The judge ultimately ruled that while the school may have erred, a federal civil rights violation was not committed.

Another lawsuit brought by Olecia James, a former student at Cleveland Central, alleged she was stripped of the salutatorian honor for fear of white flight. Her case is still pending in federal court.

The post ‘Not based on the race of the kids’: West Point valedictorian dispute sparks allegations of racism appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Gov. Tate Reeves’ Chief of Staff Brad White, a former chairman of the state Republican Party, has been chosen to run the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

“Brad has a proven track record in managing governmental affairs on the federal level as well as the state level,” Transportation Commission Chairman Tom King said. “He brings a wealth of knowledge of the legislative process and staff management.  He will certainly be an asset to MDOT and we look forward to working with him to move Mississippi’s transportation infrastructure forward.”

White was chosen by the three-member, elected Transportation Commission, and is subject to confirmation by the state Senate. Last month, Central District Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons reported that the commission had received five applications for the job, all from people in state.

Other applicants included Jeff Altman, a longtime MDOT employee who’s been serving as interim director of the agency, and Heath Hall, owner of a public relations firm who has served as a consultant to Madison County and its sheriff’s department. Hall was briefly deputy administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration but abruptly resigned after being accused of improperly being paid by the federal agency and Madison County at the same time.

White formerly served as chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and the late Sen. Thad Cochran. He was formerly a chief of staff for the state auditor’s office and served as chairman of the state Republican Party from 2008 to 2011. He served as an assistant to former Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall from 1999-2005.

READ MORE: Who’s applying to run the Mississippi Department of Transportation?

In a statement, White said, “I feel in some ways like I’m coming home. MDOT has always been a special place for me. I look forward to what we can accomplish together working with the Transportation Commission and MDOT staff.”

In a recent interview with Mississippi Today, White said both his prior experience with MDOT and in dealing with transportation issues and funding on a federal level in U.S. Senate offices have prepared him for the job.

White replaces longtime MDOT Director Melinda McGrath, who announced her resignation in March under political fire from state lawmakers. Lawmakers, particularly in the Senate, have been critical of MDOT for cost overruns, delays on projects and other issues and proposed a bevy of legislation this session aimed at stripping the agency of money and authority. Lawmakers stripped MDOT of its commercial traffic enforcement division.

On Wednesday, White said it is his intention for Altman, who had been serving as assistant to McGrath, to stay on at the agency, but that he had not yet met with Altman.

Reeves in a social media post congratulated White and MDOT, and said, “It’s a new day in our state! And it’s a great day for transportation and economic development in Mississippi!”

“The last 17 months have been the most difficult of my professional career,” Reeves wrote. “One storm (literal and otherwise!) after another … The one person that has been there helping us navigate this difficult terrain since literally the day after Election Day is Brad White. My chief of staff since Day 1 but my friend long before that. I couldn’t be more proud of him for this new challenge he has accepted.”

The post Gov. Reeves’ chief of staff, former GOP chair Brad White hired as MDOT director appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Kate Rosson was fearful of losing her small business during the pandemic in late summer of 2020, and like thousands of others she had applied for a Mississippi COVID-19 Back to Business grant — up to $25,000 to help small companies stay afloat.

But seven weeks after applying, Rosson was tangled in a web of red tape and had received scant info about her application despite numerous calls and supplying the state the info it requested. She had to lay off workers as business with her college advertising and direct-marketing company tanked. She was talking with numerous neighboring businesses in Oxford in the same boat. Some had to close their doors for good.

Rosson finally received her grant — she won’t disclose the amount, but says it was not the full $25,000 — but not until mid-October, months after she applied for the emergency funding that was supposed to provide quick relief for struggling small businesses.

Rosson’s company has survived. Business is picking back up, but is still a struggle. She knows of many small businesses that gave up on the emergency grants, or took a small minimum amount after being daunted by the bureaucratic maze. Sadly, she can rattle off the names of numerous businesses — large and small — in her college town that didn’t survive the pandemic shutdown. And, she says, “it’s still happening, constant.”

When Mississippi received $1.25 billion in federal CARES Act pandemic relief, one of the first things lawmakers did, besides fight with Gov. Tate Reeves over who had authority to spend it, was to earmark $300 million for emergency relief to small businesses.

But only about half the money was spent, according to a Mississippi Today analysis of public records. The rest was redirected to other pandemic programs, such as rental assistance grants, help for hospitals and veterans, with the bulk swept into the state’s unemployment insurance fund.

Here is a breakdown of the state’s small business grant programs and how they fared:

Back to Business

• Lawmakers appropriated $240 million for grants up to $25,000 each, administered by Mississippi Development Authority.

• Grants approved: 21,200, for a total of $118 million. This means that $122 million of the appropriated funding went unspent.

• Grant applications rejected: 11,200.

• Of the grants approved, a majority — 15,563 — were for the "base amount" of $3,500 (the base was initially $1,500, but lawmakers increased it). Some chalk this up to the red tape and delays involved in claiming more in pandemic expenses or "employee-based" calculations.

Emergency small business grants

• Lawmakers appropriated $60 million for "automatic" grants of $2,000 each, no application necessary, administered by Department of Revenue.

• Initially, more than 29,000 shops of various categories temporarily shuttered by statewide shutdowns would be eligible. Lawmakers expanded this to potentially add thousands more businesses.

• Grants approved: 16,617, for a total of $33 million. This means that $27 million of the appropriated funding went unspent.

• Of the initial list, the Department of Revenue reported about 25% of businesses had not paid state taxes in a timely manner, a prerequisite for the program.

The business grants did help thousands of small businesses, eventually. Legislative leaders said they were in uncharted water with the program, and under an extremely tight deadline imposed by Congress to spend the money. Other problems included thousands of businesses not having paid their state taxes in a timely fashion — a perennial problem in Mississippi. And the Mississippi Development Authority, which administered the largest grant program, asked to be allowed to increase administrative spending for it from $900,000 to $3.6 million to get it moving more quickly and smoothly. Lawmakers denied this request.

READ MORE: Former DOR director: Mississippi is losing ‘tens of millions’ in uncollected business taxes each year

Mixed reviews

"The Back to Business program helped thousands of small businesses impacted by the pandemic, like retailers and restaurants, stay afloat," said Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. "Some of the businesses which applied did not meet the basic qualifications, such as timely filing their tax returns. Those who did meet the basic qualifications received much-needed assistance."

Sen. Derrick Simmons, D-Greenville, said he received numerous complaints from constituent business owners, "who were so frustrated with the process that they gave up, and unfortunately in some cases lost their businesses."

"I think it was a colossal fail," Simmons said. "And I'm really concerned about how many businesses closed and will never reopen again."

House Speaker Philip Gunn — whose House leadership team championed the business grants and had pushed for millions more than the Senate finally agreed to — did not respond to requests for comments.

House Appropriations Chairman John Read, R-Gautier, said he was disappointed more businesses didn't receive grants.

"I had assumed that money would be sucked up like a vacuum cleaner," Read said.

In late summer 2020, as business owners were complaining about problems getting grants, a Hope Policy Institute analysis found Mississippi was lagging behind most other Southern states in deploying CARES Act funds to small businesses. Lawmakers reconvened, and made changes to the program in effort to speed up the process and allow more businesses to qualify.

"First of all, there is not a playbook for something like this," said Senate Finance Chairman Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, who helped pass changes to the program to speed it up and help more people. "We had to adjust on the fly, and we didn't have a whole lot of time to do it ... After the initial onslaught, I haven't heard of a whole lot of angst from businesses, but have heard at least a couple of thank yous.

"We didn't know how much to allocate for it, and we didn't want to be caught out there with too little, but we also didn't want to overcommit," Harkins said. "We wanted to make sure people qualified, but we didn't want the Inspector General coming back and saying this was improperly spent ... In retrospect, if we ever have something like this happen again, we have something to go by ... A postmortem may reveal there's things we could have done better, differently, but there was no playbook."

Harkins noted that because Congress set such a tight deadline — Dec. 31, 2020 — on spending CARES Act money, lawmakers approved a "catch-all" for unspent money to go into the state's unemployment insurance fund, which was being depleted by pandemic unemployment claims. A major dip in the unemployment fund would result in large increases in unemployment insurance payments for businesses, Harkins said, so sweeping unspent CARES Act money into the account also helped small businesses. Congress later relented on its CARES Act spending deadline, but only in the eleventh hour after state lawmakers had allocated the money and adjourned their session.

The unemployment fund was at $706 million pre-pandemic, and is now back up to $560 million after and infusion of more than $400 million including the CARES Act sweep. No large increases for Mississippi businesses are on the immediate horizon.

No figures are readily available for the number of small Mississippi businesses permanently shuttered from the pandemic, but at its peak, state unemployment hit about 16% compared to about 5.5% pre-pandemic. As of March, despite a robust recovery, the state's overall jobs number remained down about 3% from a year ago, and unemployment was at 6.3%.

How other states fared

Other states, including neighboring ones in the Deep South, attempted to help small businesses with grants from federal CARES Act funding.

Mississippi's two programs spent a combined $151 million, providing grants (most either $3,500 or $2,000 each) to 37,817 businesses. The grants overall average $5,570 each.

Alabama had multiple grant programs for small businesses, nonprofits and agribusinesses. Its main small business programs, the "Revive Alabama" and subsequent "Revive Plus," provided more than $303 million in grants to 19,141 businesses — an average of $15,860 per grant.

Louisiana, with its "Main Street" small business grant program, spent $262 million on grants (plus another $7 million on contracts to administer it), providing grants to 20,700 businesses at an average of $12,600 per grant. The state had received more than 40,800 applications.

Tennessee earmarked $200 million for the Tennessee Business Relief grant program, plus another $50 million for the "Supplemental Employer Recovery Grant," or SERG program, plus $50 million for grants for agriculture and forestry businesses. Numbers on grants provided by the programs were not readily available.

Arkansas appropriated nearly $129 million for "Open for Business" grants and another $50 million for tourism business interruption grants administered by its parks and tourism agency.

Rosson said getting her business back in trim after the worst of the pandemic "has been like starting a business all over again," and she's thankful for the Back to Business grant.

"I won't say it's what made me survive, but it certainly helped," Rosson said.

Rosson said she wishes the CARES Act money earmarked for small businesses — besides providing more grants than it did — could have gone to provide continuing help as businesses still struggle.

"I'm not saying putting cash in people's pocket, but more at investing in businesses — not just to unemployment insurance," Rosson said. "... We have lots of spaces for rent in downtown Oxford in the Square. Take that money and provide business incubators, let incubator businesses go in and give free rent for six months — I'm just throwing out ideas."

Overall, Rosson said as she recounted hours on the telephone, getting "kicked out of the system" and the months it took to get a Back to Business grant, she gives the program fairly low marks.

"I would say for the average person, average business owner, this ran poorly," Rosson said. "... It could have run better. They could have maximized that $240 million."

READ MORE: Billions will flow to Mississippi from Rescue Act. Where will it go?

The post CARES Act money was supposed to help Mississippi businesses. Did it? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

On this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down and has a conversation with Lloyd Gray, Executive Director of the Phil Hardin Foundation and former long-time editor of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

Gray tells a little about his family (he is the son of legendary Episcopal Bishop Duncan Gray Jr.) and how he fell in love with journalism. He also talks about how he made the transition into working for a foundation. The Phil Hardin Foundation, founded in 1964 by Phil Hardin, philanthropist and the owner of Hardin Bakeries Corporation, focuses on improving the lives of Mississippians through better educational opportunities.

Gray discusses how the foundation does that and how it has survived the turmoil caused in the past year by the pandemic. When Gray was a journalist, he was very interested in the concept of community and building communities. Today, he does just that through his work with the Phil Hardin Foundation in Meridian and all across Mississippi.

The post Mississippi Stories: Lloyd Gray appeared first on Mississippi Today.

You occasionally might beat Southern Miss baseball pitchers, but know this: Golden Eagles pitchers, a most intelligent group, do not beat themselves.

The USM pitching staff ranks No. 1 in the nation in strikeouts-to-walks ratio, which might be the most under-valued of all pitching statistics. Southern Miss pitchers have fanned 522 batters, while walking only 122 over 466 innings. That means they have struck out 4.28 times as many batters as they have walked. No team in college baseball is even close.

Senior righthander Hunter Stanley, expected to start Friday against Florida State in the first round of the Oxford Regional, leads the way having struck out 119, while walking only 16 over 93 innings. That means Stanley makes batters swing and miss quite often, while constantly throwing the ball over the plate. That’s not easy.

And, as imposing as that is, it might not be the most impressive statistic for Southern Miss pitchers. Pitchers play college baseball for two reasons: to pitch well and to get a college education. Get this: All four Golden Eagle weekend starters have a higher grade point average (GPA) than earned run average (ERA). OK, I’ll grant you that is an esoteric stat, but it is nonetheless impressive.

Keep in mind, the lower the ERA the better and the higher the GPA, the better. An average ERA for a college pitcher is somewhere around 4.5 earned runs per nine innings. An average GPA is probably about 2.5. Now then, consider:

Stanley, an exercise science major, has an ERA of 2.42, compared to a GPA of 3.9. No. 2 starter Walker Powell, the Conference USA Pitcher of the Year, has a 2.53 earned run average and a GPA of 3.1, He already has earned his Business Management degree and is one class short of his Master’s in Sports Management. No. 3 starter Ben Ethridge, a freshman majoring in sports management, has a 3.4 GPA, compared to  2.65 ERA. And fourth starter Drew Boyd has a 3.76 ERA and a picture-perfect 4.0 GPA. He’s in pre-med and has yet to make anything lower than an A in any class since he started elementary school.

Says Christian Ostrander, the Eagles’ pitching coach, “They are all a lot smarter than I am, that’s for sure.”

Excellent starting pitching has led the way for Southern Miss to achieve a 37-19 record, a national ranking and the No. 2 seed at Oxford. Hitting, especially clutch hitting, has been spotty at times, although it has improved in the late season. Relief pitching, strong early in the season, has dropped off lately. But strong starting pitching has been the one constant. When your four main starters have a collective earned run average of under three runs a game, you should win a bunch. USM has.

My question to Ostrander: How does intelligence factor into a pitcher’s performance? Does intellect matter?

“Oh yeah,” Ostrander answered. “IQ is definitely a factor. It plays a part in it. You’d rather have smart guys who know how to pitch. But the other thing is, the same discipline that plays a huge part in balancing athletics and academics applies to pitching. I’m talking mostly about hard work. These guys have really, really worked at it, both physically and mentally. They’ve made themselves better. What they’ve done this season is phenomenal, really. The numbers don’t lie. That strikeouts to walks ratio is about as good as I have ever seen. That’s what I am most proud of.”

The pitchers credit Ostrander’s tutelage.

“Don’t beat yourself has been pounded into our heads every day,” Powell said. “Walking people gets you beat. Coach Oz stresses it every day: Don’t give them first base.”

The spring semester is over, but Boyd, the lone lefthander among USM’s top four starters, was studying for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) last week during the Conference USA Tournament. He is a senior academically, but just a sophomore eligibility wise because of a redshirt year and then getting back the 2020 season that was aborted due to COVID-19. He wants to be an orthopedic surgeon, much like the famous Dr. James Andrews, who performed Boyd’s Tommy John surgery between his high school career at Oak Grove and his college career. 

“Drew is a thinking man’s pitcher,” Ostrander said. “He doesn’t overpower you, although you better respect his fast ball. He is a thinker and a competitor, who moves the ball around, changes speeds, and just knows how to pitch.”

Says Boyd, the son of USM’s last three-sport letterman Larry Boyd, “Coach Oz stresses the mental part of it. We all work hard physically to prepare for games, but once you get out there on the mound to pitch in a game it’s a lot more mental than physical.”

Said Ostrander, “I tell them you work your butt off for six days physically and going over scouting reports to prepare and then the seventh day. Day 7, that’s the one you pitch, that’s fun day. That’s when all that work pays off.”

It pays off a lot more often when you strike out far more batters than you walk. At Southern Miss, in 2021, that’s been the case.

The post Southern Miss mantra: When GPAs exceed ERAs, that’s a good thing appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Bucket of Chuckles appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision to nullify the state’s ballot initiative process could make the state’s voter identification law susceptible to a legal challenge.

Now some attorneys are researching the possibility of challenging the law, which requires Mississippians show a government-issued photo ID at their polling place in order to vote. Meanwhile, some politicians are publicly calling for a special session to ensure the law cannot be successfully challenged.

Voter ID was first passed through the ballot initiative process in 2011, when 60% of Mississippi voters enshrined it into the state Constitution. The law has been widely touted by Republican elected officials and opposed by prominent Democrats.

But last month, the Mississippi Supreme Court deemed the ballot initiative process unconstitutional after a lawsuit challenging the 2020 medical marijuana program that more than 70% of Mississippi voters approved. The lawsuit contended that the entire ballot initiative process was invalid because the Constitution requires the signatures to place proposals on the ballot be gathered equally from five congressional districts. Following the 2000 Census, the state lost one of its congressional districts and has since had just four U.S. House seats.

Some believe that any legal challenge to voter ID would be pointless because after voters approved the initiative in 2011, lawmakers passed their own bill in 2012 that placed the voter ID language into state law — a home for the voter ID program completely separate from the Constitution.

“We put the voter ID into the state law,” House Speaker Philip Gunn said on May 18 when asked about the possibility of a legal challenge to voter ID, suggesting that a lawsuit would not be successful. “It’s already in the statutes.”

But Secretary of State Michael Watson, in an interview last week, said one key provision of the voter ID law that voters enshrined into the Constitution is not in state law: that any Mississippian can be issued free identification cards so they can vote.

While Mississippi’s Republican officials have boasted that Mississippi’s voter ID law has never been challenged in court, several other states that passed voter ID laws over the years were sued — and sometimes lost their cases — in part because they did not guarantee free ID cards. Not offering free ID cards, some in other states have successfully argued, disproportionately affects poor citizens and often people of color.

Because the free ID card provision exists only in the state Constitution but not state law, Watson says he fears the state may be susceptible to a lawsuit without fixing the problem as soon as possible. He suggested lawmakers should add the free ID card provision to state law in a special session.

“If you want to make sure a challenge is moot, you could do it next year, but you’re allowing time for it to be challenged,” Watson said. “Then we’re just going to spend money on attorneys in possibly a lawsuit. You’re going to spend money one way or another, you might as well make sure we get it right.”

The only other ballot initiative passed since the state lost a congressional district is one that prohibits the state of Mississippi and local governments from taking private property by eminent domain and conveying it to private entities for a period of 10 years.

The eminent domain language exists only in the state Constitution, not in state law, and Watson believes it is susceptible to a legal challenge following last month’s Supreme Court ruling. He said last week it should also be handled in a special session.

“That one has to be dealt with,” Watson said.

The post Did the Supreme Court put Mississippi’s voter ID law in jeopardy? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann appointed a former newspaper publisher and public schools advocate to the State Board of Education, the nine-member board that oversees public schools in Mississippi.

William “Bill” Jacobs of Brookhaven will serve a three-year term ending in July 2024 pending confirmation by the Mississippi Senate. He is replacing former board chairman Jason Dean, who stepped down this year.

Jacobs currently serves on the board of directors for the National Newspaper Association and the Mississippi Economic Council’s board of governors and operation board. He served as publisher of the Daily Leader in Brookhaven and Prentiss Headlight in Prentiss until he sold the companies in 2012.

He also previously served as chairman of the Brookhaven/Lincoln County Economic Development Foundation and Alliance, president of the Mississippi Press Association and on the board of trustees for King’s Daughters Medical Center in Brookhaven.

“The foundation of every community is its public schools. Look at the prosperous communities across the state and one will find a single common element — strong public schools. Mississippi has had some great successes but so too failures,” Jacobs said in a press release from Hosemann’s office. “The current brain drain of many of our best and brightest to other states is the most disturbing failure for its continued path weakens even our best school systems. These are challenging days for our state and I look forward to joining the others on the board to find credible solutions.”

Hosemann said Jacobs’ experience in journalism and business make him a valuable asset to the board.

“Bill Jacobs has spent his entire career asking questions, researching the facts and reporting his findings to the wider public to improve his community and exhibit transparency,” Hosemann said in a press release. “These traits, along with his business sense and support for public schools, make him an excellent addition to the board.”

At times in recent months, the nine-member Board of Education has not had enough members to constitute a quorum to conduct business because of vacancies the governor was responsible for filling and one vacancy each that Speaker Philip Gunn and Hosemann are responsible for filling. Gunn has still not filled his spot on the board.

The governor appoints five positions: one school administrator, one teacher, and one individual from the state’s North, Central, South Supreme Court districts, respectively. The lieutenant governor and speaker each get two at-large representatives, meaning there are no residential or occupational requirements for whom they choose. The board appoints the state superintendent, who serves as the board secretary, and two student representatives who also serve on the board as non-voting members. Members serve nine-year terms.

The post Lt. Gov. Hosemann appoints newspaper publisher to Board of Education appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Supporters of ballot initiatives that would allow early voting and legalize medical marijuana are asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to reverse its landmark decision that struck down the state’s initiative process.

They say a 6-3 majority of the Mississippi Supreme Court overstepped its authority last month by rewriting the state Constitition to strike down the entire initiative process while invalidating a medical marijuana initiative.

When the court acted, efforts were underway to gather the required number of signatures to place early voting, recreational marijuana and four other initiatives, including expanding Medicaid, on the ballot.

“Only a party to the action can request a rehearing, and we are not a party,” said Kelly Jacobs of DeSoto County, co-chair of MEVI78, the early voting initiative. “Therefore, we filed a motion to intervene requesting leave to intervene for purposes of filing a motion for a rehearing.”

In court filings, the early voting and recreational marijuana supporters want to argue language in the Constitution prevents the Supreme Court from changing the initiative process. In this case, the change was striking down the entire process. The initiative supporters say the court ruling disenfranchises Mississippi voters.

“The court is legislating from the bench absent any authority to do so,” the early voting supporters say in their court filing.

Last week Secretary of State Michael Watson, who was a party to the lawsuit arguing in defense of the medical marijuana initiative and the entire initiative process, said he would not ask the Supreme Court for a rehearing. He said it would be a waste of taxpayer money.

In a news release, Jacobs said she hopes Watson will join their effort.

State Rep. Hester Jackson McCray, D-Horn Lake, the sponsor of the early voting initiative, said the decision of the Supreme Court took her by surprise.

“When I cited legislative inaction as my reason for filing a ballot initiative for 10 days of early voting, I never imagined that the Mississippi Supreme Court would again nullify the Constitution it is supposed to protect,” she said. “That’s unconstitutional.”

The Supreme Court took its action in response to a lawsuit filed by Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler and the city of Madison in opposition to the medical marijuana ballot initiative that was approved by voters in November. The lawsuit contended, and the court agreed in the 6-3 decision, that the medical marijuana initiative and the entire ballot initiative process were invalid because the Constitution requires the signatures to place proposal on the ballot be gathered equally from five congressional districts. The state now has four U.S. House seats after the state lost a House seat as a result of the 2000 Census.

Two initiatives were approved by voters prior to the medical marijuana initiative, using the old five congressional districts to gather the signatures: one preventing the government from taking private property for the use of another private entity, and another requiring a government-issued photo identification to vote. It is not clear if those two initiatives would be impacted by the ruling.

The ruling of the Supreme Court makes Mississippi the first state in the modern era to nullify a ballot initiative process. The Mississippi Supreme Court also struck down the original state initiative process in the 1920s.

Legislative leaders and Gov. Tate Reeves have not ruled out a special session to address the court ruling.

The post Early voting sponsors ask Supreme Court to reverse ballot initiative ruling appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Baseball’s NCAA Division I Regionals were announced Monday and, as usual, will have a strong Magnolia State flavor in the 64-team field.

Mississippi State earned a No. 7 national seed and will host the Starkville Regional beginning Friday. Ole Miss earned a No. 12 national seed and will host the Oxford Regional beginning Friday. Among the teams playing at Oxford is Southern Miss.

The first day matchups: At Starkville, top-seeded Mississippi State will play No. 4 seed Samford at 2 p.m., while 2-seed Virginia Commonwealth, entering with the nation’s longest winning streak, will play 3-seed Campbell at 7 p.m. At Oxford, 3-seed Florida State will play 2-seed Southern Miss at 2 p.m., followed by top-seed Ole Miss vs. 4-seed Southeast Missouri State at 7 p.m.

There were no huge surprises where the Mississippi teams were concerned. What became clear when the brackets were announced Monday morning was that Southern Miss lost out on its chance to host its own regional when the Eagles were defeated twice by Louisiana Tech in the Conference USA Tournament Saturday. Tech, not USM, will host an NCAA Regional at Ruston, La.

Both the Southeastern Conference and Conference USA will be well-represented. The SEC placed nine teams in the NCAA Tournament, including half of the eight top national seeds. Seven SEC teams will host NCAA regionals.

Conference USA placed a league-record four teams in the field, most of any non-power five conference. Both Tech and Old Dominion are No. 1 seeds, and both Southern Miss and Charlotte are No. 2.

Here’s what else you need to know about the Mississippi regionals:

• The bracket matches the Oxford Regional winner against the Tucson Regional winner. Arizona, the No. 5 national seed, would be odds-on favorite over Oklahoma State, Cal-Santa Barbara and Grand Canyon to win and host the Super Regional. The Starkville Regional winner will be matched against the South Bend Regional, hosted by Notre Dame. Michigan, Connecticut and Eastern Michigan round out the South Bend Regional.
• Florida State will be making its 43rd consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, extending the longest active streak. Although the Seminoles experienced a subpar 30-22 season, they boast the Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year in left-hander Parker Messick, the expected starter against Southern Miss Friday. The Seminoles are led by ACC Player of the Year, catcher Matheu Nelson, considered a leading candidate for national player of the year.
• Although Southeast Missouri won’t strike fear in the hearts of Ole Miss fans, SEMO ace pitcher Dylan Dodd should. Dodd, a right-hander, won nine of 10 decisions and posted a 2.78 earned run average with 113 strikeouts, compared to just 14 walks for the Ohio Valley Conference champions. Against top-ranked Arkansas, Dodd struck out 10 batters over six innings and allowed only three hits and two runs in a game Arkansas eventually came from behind and won in extra innings.
• Samford, State’s first-day opponent, won the Southern Conference championship and is no stranger to the MSU Bulldogs or Southeastern Conference fans. Samford lost a 10-2 midweek decision to State on March 16. That was one of 10 games Samford played against SEC teams. Samford lost nine of those, but was competitive in several and defeated Auburn 6-1 late in the season when Samford won 11 of its last 14 games, including three straight in the league tournament.
• Samford is not the only hot team coming to Starkville. Atlantic 10 Conference champion VCU brings a 21-game winning streak, the nation’s longest, to Dudy Noble. VCU swept two games from Virginia and split two with Virginia Tech and two more with CUSA champion Old Dominion during the regular season. Campbell University, the 3-seed, won the Big South Conference regular season championship and won 12 of its last 14 games.

The post State, Ole Miss will host regionals, and Southern Miss heads to Oxford appeared first on Mississippi Today.