OurTupelo

Thousands of people in Mississippi protested Saturday against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdowns and other policies as part of a series of “No Kings” events across the U.S.

The protests happened on Trump’s 79th birthday – the same day a military parade was planned in Washington to mark the Army’s 250th anniversary.

The protest outside the Mississippi Capitol was largely peaceful. Capitol Police officers quickly stopped two small confrontations. Hundreds of demonstrators carried signs with slogans including “Make racism wrong again” and “Felon 47 is not a king despite SCOTUS.”

Counter-protesters at the Capitol carried signs proclaiming they oppose abortion and support Jesus.

As some of the protests were happening in the state, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves posted a happy birthday wish to Trump, adding: “Make America Great Again!”

In Gulfport, Lea Campbell of the Mississippi Rising Coalition said the protests are a way “to say no to fascism in our streets and to demand dignity, safety, liberty and justice for all,” according to The Sun Herald. Campbell said people of color, the LGBTQ community, poor people, unhoused people and workers “are not our enemy.”

“I know that fascism and white nationalism are the enemy of our democracy,” Campbell said.

The Sun Herald also reported a few Trump supporters stood across the street from the rally. One of them, retired Seabee Robert Charles Hall Sr., held a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag and said he was carrying a pistol. He said he brought the gun in case police needed help and would use it to defend anyone in the crowd if the protest turned violent.

In Oxford, slogans on signs included: “This is the government our founders warned us about,” “Democracy dies when we stay silent” and “Hate never made any nation great.”

The University of Mississippi Medical Center has acquired Canton-based Merit Health Madison and is preparing to move a pediatric clinic to Madison, continuing a trend of moving services to Jackson’s suburbs. 

The 67-bed hospital, now called UMMC Madison, will provide a wide range of community hospital services, including emergency services, medical-surgical care, intensive care, cardiology, neurology, general surgery and radiology services. It also will serve as a training site for medical students, and it plans to offer OB-GYN care in the future. 

“As Mississippi’s only academic medical center, we must continue to be focused on our three-part mission to educate the next generation of health care providers, conduct impactful research and deliver accessible high-quality health care,” Dr. LouAnn Woodward, UMMC’s vice chancellor of health affairs, said in a statement. “Every decision we make is rooted in our mission.” 

The new facility will help address space constraints at the medical center’s main campus in Jackson by freeing up hospital beds, imaging services and operating areas, said Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for health affairs. 

UMMC physicians have performed surgeries and other procedures at the hospital in Madison since 2019. UMMC became the full owner of the hospital May 1 after purchasing it from Franklin, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems. 

The Batson Kids Clinic, which offers pediatric primary care, will move to the former Mississippi Center for Advanced Medicine location in Madison. This space will allow the medical center to offer pediatric primary care and specialty services and resolve space issues that prevent the clinic from adding new providers, according to Institutions of Higher Learning board minutes.

A UMMC spokesperson did not respond to questions about the services that will be offered at the clinic or when it will begin accepting patients.

The Mississippi Center for Advanced Medicine, a pediatric subspecialty clinic, closed last year as a result of a settlement in a seven-year legal battle between the clinic and UMMC in a federal trade secrets lawsuit. 

The changes come after the opening of UMMC’s Colony Park South clinic in Ridgeland in February. The clinic offers a range of specialty outpatient services, including surgical services. Another Ridgeland UMMC clinic, Colony Park North, will open in 2026.

The expansion of UMMC clinical services to Madison County has been criticized by state lawmakers and Jackson city leaders. The medical center does not need state approval to open new educational facilities. Critics say UMMC has used this exemption to locate facilities in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods outside Jackson while reducing services in the city. 

UMMC did not respond to a request for comment about its movement of services to Madison County. 

UMMC began removing clinical services this year from Jackson Medical Mall, which is in a majority-Black neighborhood with a high poverty rate. The medical center plans to reduce its square footage at the mall by about 75% in the next year. 

The movement of health care services from Jackson to the suburbs is a “very troubling trend” that will make it more difficult for Jackson residents to access care, Democratic state Sen. John Horhn, who will become Jackson’s mayor July 1, previously told Mississippi Today. 

Lawmakers sought to rein in UMMC’s expansion outside Jackson this year by passing a bill that would require the medical center to receive state approval before opening new educational medical facilities in areas other than the vicinity of its main campus and Jackson Medical Mall. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed the legislation, saying he opposed an unrelated provision in the bill.

Nationally known comedian Rita Brent will host the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute’s “Medgar at 100” Concert on June 28.

Tickets go on sale Saturday, June 14, and can be ordered on the institute’s website. 

The concert will take place at the Jackson Convention Complex and is the capstone event of the “Medgar at 100” Celebration. Organizers are calling the event “a cultural tribute and concert honoring the enduring legacy of Medgar Wiley Evers.” 

“My father believed in the power of people coming together — not just in protest, but in joy and purpose, and my mother and father loved music,” said Reena Evers-Everette, executive director of the institute. “This evening is about honoring his legacy with soul, celebration, and a shared commitment to carry his work forward. Through music and unity, we are creating space for remembrance, resilience, and the rising voices of a new generation.”

In addition to Brent, other featured performers include: actress, comedian and singer Tisha Campbell; soul R&B powerhouse Leela James; and Grammy award-winning artist, actor, entrepreneur and philanthropist Q Parker and Friends.

Organizers said the concert is also “a call to action — a gathering rooted in remembrance, resistance, and renewal.”

Proceeds from the event will go to support the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute’s mission to “advance civic engagement, develop youth leadership, and continue the fight for justice in Mississippi and beyond.”

Residents at Chapel Ridge Apartments in Jackson are left wondering what to do next after months dealing with trash pileups, property theft and the possibility of water shutoffs due to the property owner skipping out on the bill.

On Sunday, Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley, city attorney Drew Martin and code enforcement officers discussed next steps for the complex, which, since April 30, has been without a property manager. 

“How are you all cracking down on other possible fraudulent property managers around Jackson?” one woman asked Martin. 

“ We don’t know they’re there until we know they’re there, and I know that’s a terrible answer, but I don’t personally have another one I’m aware of right now,” Martin said. “These individuals don’t seem to have owned another apartment complex in the Metro Jackson area, despite owning a whole bunch nationwide.”

Back in April, a letter was left on the door of the leasing office advising residents to not make rental payments until a new property manager arrives. The previous property managers are Lynd Management Group, a company based in San Antonio, Texas. 

The complex has been under increased scrutiny after Chapel Ridge Apartments lost its solid waste contract mid-March due to months of nonpayment. The removal of dumpsters led to a portion of the parking lot turning into a dumping site, an influx of rodents and gnats, and an investigation by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. Local leaders pitched in to help remedy the situation, and in May, Waste Management provided two dumpsters for the complex. 

However, the problems persisted. In May, JXN Water released the names of 15 apartment complexes that owe more than $100,000 in unpaid water fees. Chapel Ridge was on the list. JXN Water spokesperson Aisha Carson said via email that they are “pursuing legal options to address these large-scale delinquencies across several properties.”

“While no shutoffs are imminent at this time, we are evaluating each case based on legal feasibility and the need to balance enforcement with tenant protections. Our focus is on transparency and accountability, not disruption—but we will act when needed to ensure the integrity of the system,” Carson said. 

And earlier this week, Chapel Ridge Apartments was declared a public nuisance. Martin said this gives the city of Jackson “the authority to come in, mow the grass and board up any of the units where people aren’t living.”

Martin said the situation is complicated, because the complex is owned by Chapel Ridge Apartments LLC. The limited liability corporation is owned by CRBM Realty Inc. and Crown Capital Holdings LLC, which are ultimately owned by Moshe “Mark” Silber. In April, Silber was sentenced to 30 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution. Earlier this month, both companies filed for bankruptcy in New Jersey.

Now, Martin said the main goal is to find someone who can manage the property.

“Somebody’s got to be able to collect rent from you,” Martin said. “They got to be able to pay the water. They got to be able to pay the garbage. They got to be able to pay for the lights to be on. They got to maintain the property, so that’s our goal is to put that in place.” 

Chapel Ridge offers a rent scale based on household income. Those earning under 50% of the area median income — between $21,800 and $36,150 depending on household size — for example, pay $480 for a two-bedroom and $539 for a three-bedroom unit. Rent increases between $20 and $40 for those earning under 60% of the area median income.

Valarie Banks said that when she moved into Chapel Ridge nearly 13 years ago, it was a great community. The disabled mother and grandmother moved from West Jackson to the complex because it was neatly kept and quiet. 

“It was beautiful. I saw a lot of kids out playing. There were people that were engaging you when you came out. They were eager to help,” Banks said. “ I hope that they could bring this place back to the way it once was.”

But after months of uncertainty, Banks is preparing to move. She said she’s not the only one.

“I have somewhere to go, but I’m just trying to get my money together so I can be able to handle the deposits and the bills that come after you move,” she said. “All of my doctors are around here close to me. In 12 years, I made this place home for me. … I’ve been stacking my rent, but it’s still not enough if I want to move this month.”

While she said she’s holding onto her rent payments for the time being, she realizes that many of her fellow residents may not be as lucky. Without someone to maintain the apartments, some residents are finding themselves without basic amenities.

“Some people are in dire straits, because they don’t have a stove or a fridge or the air conditioner,” she said. “Their stove went out, or the fridge went out, or they stole the air conditioner while you’re in the apartment.”

Banks isn’t the only one who is formulating a plan to leave. One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she’s been trying to save money to move, but she already has $354 wrapped up in a money order that she’s unable to pass off for her rent, due to the property manager’s recent departure. 

“It really feels like an abandonment and just stressful to live where I’m living at right now. This just doesn’t happen. It just feels stressful. It doesn’t feel good at all,” she said. 

She’s trying to remain optimistic, but as each day passes without someone to maintain the property, she’s losing hope.

“ I just hope that things get better some day, somehow, hopefully, because if not, more than likely I’m going to have to leave because I can only take so much,” she said. “I can’t continue to deal with this situation of hoping and wishing somebody comes, and they don’t.”

Two weeks after it was forced to lay off half its staff, the nonprofit group that administers federal family planning money in Mississippi has yet to hear back about an obscure investigation that paused its funding. 

Title X, a federal program that has been providing money for family planning services to states for over 50 years, flows through Converge to 91 clinics around the state. On March 31, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told Converge it was withholding $4.5 million intended for Mississippi’s Title X program indefinitely during an investigation into the organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices. 

On Monday, nonprofit Converge signed a joint letter with the six other states whose Title X funds had been withheld requesting that HHS update grantees on the status of their funding. 

“Three months into HHS’ withholding, we remain frustratingly in the dark about the agency’s plan,” Audrey Sandusky, vice president of communications and marketing at Converge, told Mississippi Today. “The consequences of inaction are real and dangerous, from rising rates of cervical cancer and unplanned pregnancy to a surge in congenital syphilis.”

The grantees’ letter, addressed to HHS Deputy Director Amy Margolis, said all the recipients had met the 10-day deadline imposed on them by the federal agency to submit information, but had not heard so much as a confirmation in the 60 days since then. 

“In light of the harmful impacts of our Title X funding being withheld, we request that you share information about your process and timeline for releasing the funding by June 20th and releasing the funds as soon as possible,” the letter read. 

HHS has not responded to Mississippi Today’s request for comment about why it withheld Converge’s funding. 

In its original letter to Converge, HHS alleged the nonprofit “could be in violation” of the terms of the award and parts of the federal civil rights law. The allegation referenced a 2020 statement the nonprofit made committing to diversity in health care amid the George Floyd protests. 

In the two months since their federal funding stopped flowing, Converge leaders have focused all efforts on fundraising and expanding access to low-cost care through telehealth and pop-up clinics. 

The next pop-up clinic will take place July 26 at the Jackson Medical Mall and will include physical exams, testing for sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy tests and preconception counseling, and prescriptions for birth control. All services will be available on a sliding scale. 

“A month delay may not sound like a huge deal to some people, but when you’re talking about women’s health care, one month could be a huge deal,” said Converge co-executive director Jamie Bardwell. “You could be missing your prescription for birth control, (and) perhaps it results in an unplanned pregnancy. Perhaps you don’t get screened for an STD, STI. Congenital syphilis is very high in Mississippi. These are things that just have a very negative effect for women and their children.”

The city of Jackson announced 10 new chargers for electric vehicle owners on Thursday thanks to a $160,000 donation from Entergy.

City officials said the public chargers — located at stations at the Warren Hood Building parking lot on the corner of Pearl Street and State Street, as well as Thalia Mara Hall and Union Station — are free to use for now but didn’t know for how long that would stay the case.

As of 2023, Mississippi had the fewest number of electric vehicles on the road per capita, based on registration data from the U.S. Department of Energy. DOE numbers also show Mississippi has the second fewest public charging stations per capita after Louisiana. 

In 2018, state lawmakers passed an annual fee of $150 for electric car owners and $75 for hybrid vehicles owners as a way of compensating for lost gas tax revenue. 

Below is a map of public charging stations in Jackson listed on the DOE’s website. Electric vehicle owners elsewhere in the state can use the agency’s online tool to find stations near them.

Entergy bought the chargers from Tesla, and the nonprofit Adopt a Charger installed the units through local contractor Lavallee, which will also maintain them for the city. Jackson’s Planning and Development Director Jhai Keeton said the city is paying just $600 a year for the chargers.

Adopt a Charger partners with private companies, in this case Entergy, who want to sponsor charging stations for public use. The nonprofit, according to its website, has also partnered on stations at the Mississippi Children’s Museum and at Hinds Community College in Raymond. 

While there were already several charging stations in Jackson, the ones unveiled Thursday are the first owned by the city. Prior to then, Tupelo had the most charging stations of any Mississippi city with 13, according to DOE data. Hattiesburg and Jackson, not including the new stations, each have 12, and there are 10 in both Biloxi and Gulfport. 

The Mississippi Department of Transportation is using $50 million in federal funds to develop electric vehicle corridors with 30 new stations throughout the state, but those projects are likely one to two years away. 

Less than two weeks from the scheduled execution of Richard Jordan, the Mississippi Supreme Court said it will not reconsider the death row inmate’s appeal, but the federal high court is expected to discuss his case next week. 

Jordan, at 79 the state’s oldest and longest serving death row inmate, was first convicted in 1976 for kidnapping and killing Edwina Marter in Harrison County. He had four trials until a death sentence stuck in 1998. 

On Thursday, eight of the nine justices of the Mississippi Supreme Court declined to rehear an order to set Jordan’s execution date. Justice Leslie King was the lone person who wanted to grant a rehearing. 

This decision comes about a week after Jordan’s attorney, Krissy Nobile of the Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel, wrote to the court to emphasize that her client has not yet exhausted federal remedies and an execution could not be set. 

The U.S. Supreme Court distributed Jordan’s petition for a writ of certiorari at a May 29 conference and is expected to discuss it again at a June 18 conference – a week before the execution. 

Meanwhile, Jordan’s attorneys filed an emergency application for a stay of execution with Justice Samuel Alito Jr. pending the court’s disposition on the case. 

They argue there is a reasonable prospect that the court will grant certiorari and reverse the Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision, and that Jordan will suffer irreparable harm if a stay is not ordered. 

In its response, the state argues Jordan has been trying to avoid his death sentence for almost 50 years and that he is repeating baseless arguments in his pending petition for certiorari. 

His attorneys argue Jordan’s death sentence is not valid because in 1976, when the murder was committed and Jordan was sentenced, Mississippi and all other states had ceased executions based on a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia that capital punishment was unconstitutional. 

The three-person team behind a growing network of gardens and community spaces in Jackson’s Midtown neighborhood received word in February that they had been chosen to receive $10,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. 

In April, that group – the Farm to Community team of the Jackson nonprofit Midtown Partners – was notified that they would not receive the funding. The team lost the federal money after the USDA terminated a $157,827 grant slated to help a dozen groups throughout Mississippi establish or sustain community gardens in underserved communities. The USDA canceled the grant, the notice said, because the nonprofit that had won the grant and chosen garden projects in Mississippi to receive the money, engaged in “diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.” 

That nonprofit, Community Resources Connection in South Carolina, declined to comment about the USDA decision but updated its website this week to say that “the Community Garden contract between USDA and CRC has been terminated because of the current administration’s change in priorities” and that no funds are available for the Community Garden program at this time.

Executive orders President Donald Trump issued in January kicked off a sweeping review of grants by the USDA, as the department sought to root out support for DEI programs Trump described as “radical and wasteful” and climate initiatives he said hindered the administration’s priority of “unleashing American energy.”

Though USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has defended the department’s grant terminations as reducing waste, leaders of community garden projects throughout Mississippi said that past federal funding has enabled them to cultivate food self-sufficiency and community cohesion. Now lost grant opportunities are forcing them to adjust plans and look for alternative funding.

Linda Fondren, founder and executive director of Shape Up Mississippi in Vicksburg, said her organization lost $10,000 in federal funding due to the USDA’s cancellation of the same grant. Due to that loss, the nonprofit will postpone its fifth annual Youth Agriculture and Health Extravaganza Day, which has featured nutrition and agriculture classes, cooking demonstrations and a petting zoo in past years.

Norma Michael, founder of the Sharing is Caring Neighborhood Block Garden in Jackson’s Georgetown neighborhood, had planned to install a drip irrigation system using $1,000 from the same USDA-canceled grant. Though she was able to obtain the funding elsewhere, Michael said, the USDA’s decision on the grant was disappointing.

“I think that it’s disheartening that programs that help people that are underserved are being cut,” Michael said. “That just makes us even more underserved.”

Matt Casteel, farm consultant for Midtown Partners’ Farm to Community team, said past federal funding has helped the group to establish relationships and infrastructure to pursue its broader vision of a walkable network of community spaces across Midtown. 

“That’s something that we’re building as our bigger vision, is to be the resource and the mycelium, if you will, that connects and keeps that structure together,” Casteel said.

The team used a two-year, $98,041 Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant to establish a teaching garden on the campus of Midtown Public Charter’s primary school and purchase hydroponic towers for the primary and middle schools. 

Since the fall, the group has also hired lifelong Midtown resident Dewaskii Davis as farm coordinator.

Davis said he is passionate about empowering others in Midtown to participate in Farm to Community events, as well as start their own rain barrels and plant their own gardens.

“No cheat codes, no chemicals, just hard labor,” Davis said. “But it’s worthy and worth it at the end.”

Congress approved the Farm to School program as part of the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which mandated a minimum of $5 million to farm-to-school competitive grants annually to address hunger and improve children’s nutrition – a vital issue in Mississippi, where the childhood poverty rate is 23%. The USDA announced the cancellation of $10 million in fiscal year 2025 funding for that program in late March with no explanation. 

Though Midtown Partners’ 2024 grant was unaffected, the group had hoped to re-apply in a future funding cycle.

“I’ve applied for over $2.3 million in grants, and we’ve received about 250,000,” said Jina Daniels, Midtown Partners’ creative economy coordinator. “We keep at it. Every little bit helps.”

Prophetess Robinson, principal of the private K-12 Ron’s Brothers Academy in Picayune, said it’s difficult for her and her staff to find time to apply for grants on top of their teaching and administrative duties. 

Robinson applied for a Patrick Leahy Farm to School grant to replace the school’s garden, which was destroyed this winter in a fire that began on a neighboring lot. But she was notified that that program had been canceled before she received feedback on the school’s application.

“One of the kids just asked me, ‘Miss Robinson, are we going to do the gardening? What are we going to do?” 

Robinson said the school has put its plans for a new, bigger garden on pause. 

“There was no way we’d be able to do it just on our resources alone.”

Fondren highlighted the importance of Shape Up Mississippi’s robust network of volunteers and partner organizations in Vicksburg.

Although the loss of USDA funding was a blow, she said,Shape Up Mississippi will continue to hold public “U-Pick Days” at the group’s community garden – the result of a partnership with Alcorn State University and the city of Vicksburg – throughout the summer. Those harvests are split between local shelters and for families to take home. 

“If you could see the children, the families that come out and pick,” Fondren said, “it’s a social gathering. They are so excited about what is happening there.”

Fondren said she and Shape Up Mississippi’s partner organizations in Vicksburg have spent the past few months looking at the loss of grant funding as an opportunity for growth.

“You become resilient,” she said. “How do you keep this going? And so that is what our thought process is. Let’s turn this into something positive.”

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.

The Mississippi Board of Education will soon decide whether to end the U.S. history assessment that our students must pass before receiving a high school diploma.

Today, Mississippi students take four subject matter tests before graduating. Three are federally mandated: algebra, biology, and English. U.S. history is not, so it has landed on the chopping block. Some students would undoubtedly welcome the change, but we believe it would do them a disservice.

One of us is a member of the Board of Education — and the only one to vote in April against this proposal to eliminate the American history test. The other is a concerned citizen and statewide elected official. We both share a deep interest in giving Mississippi’s students everything they need for success in our rapidly changing world.

When our students cross the graduation stage, they reach out to receive their diploma. The hand-off is more than a picture-perfect moment. It is a symbol of one generation bestowing the responsibilities of citizenship onto next. In Mississippi, those duties come quickly. We hold elections every single year. Within one or two cycles, all the graduates will have had a chance to exercise their fundamental right to vote. It would be reassuring to know they are equipped with the civics and history knowledge they will need to choose wisely in the ballot box.

The current U.S. history assessment helps us prepare them for a life of citizenship. Students field questions about historic American political parties and the views these groups espoused. They are quizzed about the effects of landmark legislation and asked to place significant national events in chronological order. By the end, students have demonstrated familiarity with technical political science terms. Graduates walk the stage having handled such topics as tariffs, the Federal Reserve, income tax, and the Monroe Doctrine – each a timely issue.

Members of the Board of Education have been weighing the pros and cons of keeping the test, such as: Each assessment eats into student and staff time. Administering the test is not free. Teachers could use extra time to give students practical career skills. Removing the history exam can make way for workforce training. A U.S. history course will remain a graduation requirement, so eliminating the test frees educators from “teaching to the test.”

We are sympathetic to each of these important considerations. Education is a complicated endeavor, full of trade-offs. But the test has two primary benefits, and they are worth the costs. The first goes to the students, who leave the test room more conversant in American history than many of their fellow citizens. They understand the forces that have shaped our nation, and they can develop informed opinions about political candidates and current events. The second benefit reaches the students who will come next. Every assessment gives us valuable insights by which we can hone curriculum and teaching strategies.

Our state has been making remarkable strides in education, and this progress is equipping the very Mississippians who will lead our state into the 21st century. As they take on our future, we believe they should be as knowledgeable as possible about our past.

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from Tupelo, is chair of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee. Wicker has served in the U.S. Senate since late 2007 and previously served in the U.S. House and in the Mississippi Senate, where he was a member of the Education Committee.

Mary Werner was appointed to the Mississippi Board of Education by former House Speaker Philip Gunn. She is a former business owner in the Lee County area and is active in the community, including previously serving on the North Mississippi Health Services Board and currently is on the North Mississippi Medical Center Clinics Board. She previously was a high school English teacher.