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Malcolm Stuckey was pulling up in a burgundy Pontiac Grand Prix to his friend’s birthday party in Chicago’s once-prosperous Englewood neighborhood when a bullet fired from a gun, bought 840 miles away in Mississippi, tore into his brain. 

His killing in 2014 placed the 19-year-old college student, college basketball player and museum janitor among 2,581 people shot in Chicago, which recorded 4,133 shootings in 2020. The city has counted more than 1,100 shootings already this year, according to the Chicago Tribune.? 

Those bullets generally aren’t being fired from guns bought legally in Chicago. States such as Mississippi are supplying hundreds of firearms originally bought from licensed shops and, eventually, illegally transported to the city. What helps to feed that pipeline are Mississippi’s lax gun laws that allow almost anyone to sell a firearm to any other state resident, making it difficult to track those weapons or prevent them from being trafficked to locales far outside of the South. 

The Mississippi man who might have sold a Chicagoan the .40-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol that killed Stuckey had been a repeat gun-buyer at a Natchez pawn shop whose owner didn’t detect any red flags during several years worth of transactions between the two of them. It’s difficult to know most customers’ intentions, said Finley Hootsell, of Eagle Pawn. 

Unless a background check turns up just cause not to sell someone a gun, there are few reasons to deny that purchase, said Hootsell, adding he does the best he can to suss out a bad buyer. 

“If there’s any question about any gun customer, there’s nothing that says I have to make that sale,” he said. “If you come in and you smell like a Cheech and Chong movie, you’re not getting the gun.” 

An Innocent Caught in Gang Crossfire 

That May 29, 2014, afternoon party was at 5722 S. LaSalle St., a two-story house divided into three apartments, situated a couple of blocks east of Interstate 94 and three miles straight west of the Museum of Science and Industry, where Stuckey worked. Vacant lots and rundown houses dotted that block in a neighborhood that whites had fled as Blacks started moving in decades ago.? 

Before Stuckey arrived for an afternoon birthday party for Lamenda Jones’ son, Dayvon Bennett, a member of the Black Disciples gang, already was on site. He was chatting up other party guests until he spotted two rival gang members at the house and took off. 

“Don’t start no mess in my house,” Jones, who was cooking for that celebration, told Bennett, witnesses said in police interviews.? 

Bennett said he wasn’t planning to cause trouble: “I’m not on that.”?? 

He smiled at Jones, then left the house. 

But Bennett, a 19-year-old rapper known as King Von, who had been in and out of jail since he was 16, didn’t let it go. He left the party, grabbed a friend and told a partygoer on the phone that he’d be back. Take the children inside, he said. 

He returned to LaSalle Street with that .40-caliber Smith & Wesson purchased two months earlier in Mississippi by Jonathan Smalley, who’d amassed 32 guns in the Natchez area from 2009 to 2016. Chicago police recovered 11 of them, including Bennett’s, in their city, according to federal charges filed against Smalley in 2016.? 

Stuckey, who friends and relatives said wasn’t in a gang, had just arrived at the party when Bennett and fellow Black Disciple Michael Wade got out of a friend’s Oldsmobile Alero a block away. Stuckey and other partygoers planned to shoot hoops nearby before returning to eat the food Jones had been preparing. As Bennett and Wade cut through an alley behind the house, Stuckey stepped onto the sidewalk to smoke a cigar. 

One of Bennett’s rivals looked up and saw Bennett and Wade approaching the house. He fled. Firing at him as he ran, Bennett chased that rival toward LaSalle Street, prosecutors told a jury. By the time Wade got to the front of the house, Stuckey was face down on the grass between the sidewalk and street, bleeding out. He died in his work uniform.? 

“Why you running?” Bennett had shouted while chasing his rivals, according to Wade’s police interviews. He and Wade kept firing; Wade hit one man in the foot. Bennett shot the other in the face, breaking his jaw. A few moments later the two were speeding away in the Alero. 

Stuckey was declared dead at the scene at 6:09 p.m. Detectives notified his mother a few hours later. The other two shooting victims survived. 

“He was supposed to be on his way to see me,” said childhood friend Diante Willis, who lived down the street from Stuckey. “He had stopped answering his phone.” 

One Shooter Went to Prison; the Other was Shot Dead 

Wade and Bennett were arrested about two months later. Bennett refused to cooperate with police. Wade, initially, turned on his friend, agreeing to testify against him. (Almost a year after their arrests, and months after Bennett allegedly used the Smith & Wesson in a separate shooting, police said they found the weapon in the possession of another Chicago man.)

But the case fell apart when Wade withdrew his promise to testify against Bennett. Bennett and Wade both were acquitted of murder, although Wade was convicted of aggravated battery with a firearm and sentenced to 28 years for the LaSalle Street shooting. He is appealing his conviction, his attorney said.? 

Bennett was shot to death in Atlanta in November 2020 after arguing with another rapper.? 

“My homie lost trial, he’ll be gone for awhile,” Bennett rapped in his song “The Code.” “If he give me up, then they letting him go.” 

More than Any State, Mississippi Exports Guns Used in Crimes? 

Stuckey likely would have enjoyed time with friends, eaten some food and gone home after the LaSalle Street party if Smalley hadn’t bought that Smith & Wesson in Natchez. 

Mississippi ranked dead last on the Gifford Law Center’s latest gun law scorecard, earning an F for its lack of gun precautions and restrictions that might pare gun deaths. The state has the second-highest gun death rate in the country, the center notes, and exports more guns used in crimes elsewhere than any other state.? 

“There’s too many legislators in Mississippi that are beholden to the gun industry,” said Laura Cutilletta, a gun law expert and managing director at the California-based center, named for gunshot survivor U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords. It promotes gun control ordinances.? 

In 2016, Mississippi allowed residents to carry concealed weapons without a permit. A year later, Cutilletta said, the state achieved notoriety for exporting more guns than any other state.? 

Jonathan Smalley, now 34, was within the laws of Mississippi when he bought dozens of guns from licensed shops, passing background checks each time. Where Smalley ran into trouble was mailing guns to buyers in Chicago, which, despite enacting some of the nation’s strongest anti-gun laws, has not managed to stanch the flow of firearms into that region. 

Chicago police have seized about 7,000 “crime guns” every year since at least 2013, according to a University of Chicago study. That translates into about 250 guns for every 100,000 residents. That rate is six times that of New York City and 1.5 times that of Los Angeles. 

The vast majority of those guns are bought legally at stores in suburban Chicago, neighboring Indiana and Mississippi, and, then, end up being used in Chicago crimes. About 5% of the Windy City’s illegal guns come from the Magnolia State, an amount exceeded only by the tally of illegal guns entering Chicago from Indiana and other Illinois locations.? 

In 2019, 37% of the more than 15,000 guns recovered in Illinois, mostly after being used in crimes, were bought legally in the state, according to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In contrast, 61% of the 4,000 or so guns recovered in Mississippi were bought in that state. Illinois’ population was 12.8 million and Mississippi’s was 2.9 million, according to the most recent Census estimates. 

Chicago’s restrictions have increased demand for illegal guns, and Mississippi’s lack of controls have let opportunistic sellers provide the supply. 

“If you’ve got a demand for it, someone’s going to try to find a way around it and make some money off of it,” said Kurt Thielhorn, special agent in charge of the ATF’s regional office in New Orleans, which covers Mississippi. “If you can buy a firearm for $300 or $400 and drive it to Chicago and double your money, you can understand why people would do that.” 

“You’re not going to buy unless you trust that seller” 

The Mississippi-to-Chicago pipeline is rooted in community and kinship connections extending from prior decades of Black migration, by the hundreds of thousands, from the South to the North. Private gun sales often come down to trust, said Johns Hopkins University’s Daniel Webster, director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research. He compared it to finding a favorite restaurant. 

“How do I know which of these places I can trust and go eat sushi? Until I know that, I ain’t buying,” Webster said. “It’s the same with guns and Chicago’s guns market. You’re not going to buy unless you trust that seller.” 

Federal investigators never disclosed where Jonathan Smalley bought the Smith & Wesson pistol that killed Malcolm Stuckey, only that it was purchased in Natchez on March 29, 2014. Chicago police haven’t said where Dayvon Bennett got the gun. He did, police said, fire it 12 times into a man — he survived — a couple of miles from the house where Stuckey died.? 

Police took the same pistol off another man almost a year later, in March 2015, in an unrelated arrest.? 

Smalley, who in 2018 was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison, bought at least some of his guns from the Natchez Pawn Shop that Finley Hootsell owned until opening up his current Natchez location, Eagle Pawn.? 

“Ol’ Jonathan,” Hootsell said, was clean-cut and well-spoken.? 

As a licensed gun-dealer, Hootsell is required to run background checks on potential buyers. He had no idea Smalley was involved in anything nefarious until ATF investigators later told him so. 

“He would just buy guns one at a time over a length of time,” said Hootsell, who did not remember which guns he sold Smalley. “It’s not like he walked in and said, ‘Give me a dozen of those.’ That would have been a flag.” 

Mississippi Laws Allow Illegal, Interstate Gun Trafficking 

Mississippi has just two gun bans: No guns are legally allowed on college campuses. Felons cannot legally buy firearms. 

Gun buyers can be as young as 18 years old if they’re accompanied by a parent, or if they’re under 21 and active or veteran military personnel. But that’s the extent of the state’s restrictions on sales. If the FBI completes background checks that gun-dealers order immediately, a customer can walk out of a shop with a gun within 15 minutes.? 

If someone wants to buy a gun from a guy on the street, no background check is required.?? 

Compare that to Chicago, which has no gun stores in the city limits, or California, which has 107 gun-control laws, according to Boston University researchers.? 

Notwithstanding the hundreds of guns that find their way from Mississippi to Chicago, the Magnolia State isn’t the only problem for the Windy City. According to the University of Chicago, suburban Chicago gun shops account for the bulk of guns used in all city crimes. The largest share sold by any single source came from a shop in Riverdale, Illinois — population 16,000 — that supplied nearly 7% of those guns from 2013 through 2016. 

Without stricter federal laws, few obstacles keep people from buying guns in other states and driving them hundreds of miles to Chicago or other cities. “It’s not even just a state problem,” said Kim Smith, director of programs at the University of Chicago crime lab. “Interstate travel is just a staple of American life.” 

“This isn’t crack cocaine or meth; this is legal commerce” 

The lack of prevention means investigators often are tracking guns that have already killed or injured people such as Malcolm Stuckey, a bystander. In Jonathan Smalley’s case, for instance, investigators only connected the legally bought guns to Mississippi after they had been recovered following subsequent crimes. 

“This isn’t crack cocaine or meth; this is legal commerce,” said Kristen de Tineo, the special agent in charge of ATF’s Chicago office. “The biggest challenge we have is identifying that point when legal commerce transitions to illegal commerce.” 

That ease of trafficking makes it difficult to stem the violence on Chicago streets. Many residents just shrug and accept the risks, said Diante Willis, Stuckey’s friend. 

“It’s everywhere,” he said of the gun problem. “It can happen any time. You learn to look over your shoulder.” 

Malcolm Stuckey Mostly Avoided Chicago 

Stuckey grew up going to church in Chicago with his family. Outside of that and showing up for his museum job, he avoided the city, said his sister, Madaesha Stuckey, 29. He knew to watch his back when he did venture there, she said, and he was never involved in gangs or guns. 

Stuckey was a peacekeeper, said his 18-year-old half-brother, Gotti Wallace. 

“I used to be in a lot of fights and he would come grab me,” Wallace said. “We’d go hoop and take it off my mind.” 

At Crete-Monee High School in suburban Chicago, Stuckey stood out as a tenacious basketball player, even after a knee injury forced him to wear a brace, said Eric Green, a Crete-Monee security guard at the time. Stuckey seemed always to be laughing and smiling, Green said. 

“He was one of those kids who knew a lot of his classmates,” Green said. “You know, the band member or the show choir, the kid who doesn’t get much recognition. He was friendly with everyone.” 

This article is jointly published by the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting and Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, and supported by The Kendeda Fund. JJIE, a nonprofit news organization, is solely responsible for the content and editorially independent of its funders. Reporter Matt Krupnick is at matt@mattkrupnick.com. 

The post A pistol bought in Mississippi killed a teen in Chicago appeared first on Mississippi Today.

On Friday, May 14, the Mississippi Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated ruling that strikes down the Medical marijuana program enshrined in the state constitution by voters in November. The ruling also voids — for now — the state’s ballot initiative process that allows voters to take matters in hand and pass constitutional amendments.

We asked readers what they thought about the decision. Here’s what you said.

Scroll to view some select responses, or click a question below to skip ahead.

• How do you feel about the Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the ballot initiative process?
• Do you believe that Gov. Reeves should call a special legislative session to address the issue?
• How do you feel about the Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Initiative 65 (medical marijuana)?
• How do you feel about the possibility of other initiatives becoming void with this decision?

How do you feel about the Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the ballot initiative process?

“It was the wrong thing to do. People voted on it—why did we bother?”

Do you believe that Gov. Reeves should call a special legislative session to address the issue?

Of the 410 readers who participated, 94.4% believe Reeves should call a special legislative session.

How do you feel about the Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Initiative 65 (medical marijuana)?

“I have never written to a state legislator before, but I did tonight.”

This decision impacts other ballot initiatives such as:

• Expanding Medicaid
• Enacting early voting and term limits
• Legalizing recreational marijuana
• Giving voters the opportunity to restore the old flag that contained the Confederate battle emblem in its design
• Replacing the 1890 flag that contained the Confederate battle emblem

How do you feel about these initiatives being voided?

“It’s voter suppression at its finest.”

The post Here’s how readers feel about the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the ballot initiative process. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Red Tape appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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