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After Speaker of the House Philip Gunn killed a Senate bill last week that would have extended postpartum Medicaid coverage for thousands of Mississippi mothers, he claimed he had not seen data or been part of discussions showing that the extension would save lives.

But five of the state’s major medical associations penned a letter to Gunn in February that laid out the relevant data and directly stated extending the program would save mothers’ lives.

The letter to Gunn and other members of the House detailed how extended coverage would reduce the state’s high maternal mortality rate and save the state money by reducing premature births. 

“Postpartum coverage also lowers the risk of pregnancy-related deaths,” the letter stated. “37% of these deaths occur (more than) six weeks after delivery, when these moms would traditionally have lost their healthcare coverage. Extending coverage to moms for 12 months would save many mother and baby lives.”

If postpartum Medicaid coverage is not extended, it would affect thousands of Mississippi mothers and their children. About 60% of mothers who give birth in Mississippi are covered by Medicaid. The state’s maternal mortality rate is nearly twice that of the national average, and Black women are nearly three times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy than white women, according to a 2019 report from the Mississippi Department of Health.

The speaker, defending his decision to kill the postpartum coverage bill that passed overwhelmingly in the Senate with bipartisan support, likened the program to expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

“I have been very clear that I oppose Medicaid expansion, and that I believe we should be working to get people off Medicaid as opposed to adding more people to it,” Gunn said last week.

A spokeswoman for Gunn told Mississippi Today his office has not received the letter and reiterated that Gunn is opposed to expanding Medicaid. The extension of postpartum coverage would not add individuals to the Medicaid rolls, but instead extend already enrolled mothers’ eligibility.

When asked how the extension could be described as Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, the spokeswoman did not respond. 

READ MORE: Medicaid coverage helped this Mississippi mom fight postpartum depression. Now, she’s set to lose it.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann is attempting to revive the extension via two other bills or through the appropriations process. A visibly frustrated Hosemann condemned Gunn in a Monday press conference for killing the bill and said he would work to convince the speaker to change his mind before the legislative session ends on April 1. 

“This is a good faith effort to keep our babies healthy and our mothers healthy,” Hosemann said in response to Gunn’s suggestion that this is considered Medicaid expansion. “And when our mothers are healthy, what do they do? They take care of their children, and they go back to work.” 

Hosemann plans to appeal to Gunn’s faith, he told reporters in his Capitol office on Monday. 

“Sometimes we get into the heat of legislation, and we forget where we came from,” Hosemann said. “I’d like to appeal back to his (Gunn’s) Christian values that we need to take care of these kids in addition to helping moms out.”

In a time when the state is flush with cash and legislative leaders are poised to approve hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts, the estimated cost for the state in the first year of extending coverage would be $6 million, according to the Division of Medicaid. That total represents less than 1% of the state’s general fund budget. In the second year, which would be the first full year of the extension, the state’s portion would be around $11.5 million.

Several other Southern states have extended the coverage as allowed by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, including Georgia, Florida, Texas and Tennessee. 

“It’s really a disappointment because it sends a very disconcerting message to expectant women … about how far we are willing to go as a state to ensure that they are not just valuable to us during the time they’re pregnant” but also after they’ve given birth, said Dr. Michelle Owens, the division chief of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the School of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. 

“This is a very small step to at least ensure that when that baby has its first birthday, the mom is there to celebrate.” 

Dr. Anita Henderson, the president of the Mississippi chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said new moms who have access to health care after giving birth are more healthy for their next pregnancy. 

Mississippi leads the nation in both preterm birth and low birthweight. A premature baby can cost up to $500,000 compared to a full-term birth, the letter adds. 

“Our point has been we want to continue that coverage. We want those moms to be able to get birth control and space their pregnancies so they’re healthier and more likely able to have a full-term baby the next time around,” said Henderson. “You actually would save the Division of Medicaid money if you could cut down on preterm birth.” 

Some Capitol observers believe Gunn killed the postpartum coverage bill because of the ongoing fight between House and Senate leaders over Gunn’s proposal to eliminate the state’s income tax. Senate leaders, including Hosemann, have adamantly opposed Gunn’s tax plan because they say the financial risks and economic unknowns are too great.

READ MORE: The Mississippi Republican income tax bet

No state has ever eliminated a personal income tax as Gunn has proposed. Senate leaders and other economic experts believe the plan could gut the state’s economy and drastically change the way government functions in the short and long term.

Several other Senate measures have been killed by Gunn and House leaders in recent days, and Gunn is threatening to hold hostage $1.8 billion in federal stimulus funds until Senate leaders adopt his income tax elimination plan.

A spokeswoman for Gunn’s office did not respond Tuesday when asked whether Gunn would be open to reconsidering the postpartum Medicaid extension.

But on Tuesday morning, Gunn told reporters at the Capitol: “My position on the postpartum bill has not changed.”

Hosemann said this week that he is going to try to change the speaker’s mind. 

“I’m hoping that given the chance to look at it again, it won’t be tied up in some tax bill,” Hosemann said on Monday afternoon. “Those aren’t the same. There’s no quid pro quo here, there should never be. We all took the same oath when we came to work here.”

The post Doctors asked Speaker Philip Gunn to extend health coverage for moms and babies. Then he blocked it appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Despite widespread opposition from Black lawmakers, civil rights organizations, and educators across the state, on Monday Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law Senate Bill 2113, legislation that seeks to ban the teaching of critical race theory in Mississippi’s K-12 schools, colleges and universities. 

In a three-minute video, Reeves claimed that, because of critical race theory, students are being “dragged to the front of the classroom and … coerced to declare themselves as oppressors” and “taught that they should feel guilty because of the color of their skin or that they are inherently a victim because of their race.” 

“I know that you’ll agree with me when I say that there is no room for this type of indoctrination in our state,” Reeves said. 

The Mississippi Department of Education has repeatedly said that critical race theory is not being taught in K-12 schools. In fact, critical race theory, a high-level academic and legal framework, is taught in just one class in Mississippi – Law 743, a course at the University of Mississippi School of Law. 

It’s unlikely the bill will prevent UM from offering Law 743. The vague language in the bill, educators and legal experts have repeatedly pointed out, does not describe critical race theory. The phrase is only in the title of the bill.

The bill, authored by Sen. Michael McClendon, R-Hernando, prohibits public schools from compelling “students to personally affirm, adopt, or adhere … that any sex, race, ethnicity, religion or national origin is inherently superior or inferior.” It would also prevent schools from making “a distinction or classification of students based on account of race.”

Still, SB 2113 has teeth – any school that violates the bill stands to lose state funding. That’s why many educators and civil rights advocates across Mississippi are now waiting to see how SB 2113 will be enforced by education agencies across the state, from MDE and the Institutions of Higher Learning to local school districts. 

“The biggest fear we have is that it’s going to impact how teachers teach and how school districts embrace diversity and issues dealing with civil rights or Black history in Mississippi, “ said Jarvis Dortch, the executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi. “We’re afraid that you’re gonna see actions like you saw with the assistant principal in Hinds County — school districts will go overboard and try to avoid any type of litigation.” 

The bill’s impact also will likely be hard to quantify. Legal experts say SB 2113 will have a chilling effect on teachers who, fearing repercussions, will shy away from talking about the worst parts of Mississippi’s history.

The bill could also prevent public universities from recognizing affinity groups for marginalized students, such as the Black Law Students Association at University of Mississippi. Educators worry the bill could even affect science curriculum. 

“It’s easy to read this bill as prohibiting faculty to teach students about racial disparities in health and disease outcomes,” one professor wrote on Twitter. 

Last week, faculty at University of Southern Mississippi warned in a letter to President Rodney Bennett that SB 2113 could affect accreditation for the research universities in Mississippi. 

“The most serious harm of (SB 2113) will fall on our students, who will be denied the opportunity to learn and grow unencumbered from legislative dictates,” the letter reads. 

Faculty senates at three other Mississippi universities have also passed resolutions denouncing SB 2113. 

The post Bill that seeks to ban CRT signed into law appeared first on Mississippi Today.

My gut reaction to the Atlanta Braves deciding not to sign Freddie Freeman? Here goes: The bean counters — heartless, ungrateful SOBs that they are — win again. I can’t believe Freeman, a Braves company man since before he played in Pearl at age 19 in 2009, will finish his career in somebody else’s uniform.

In case you can’t tell, I did not like the news one bit. I have followed Freeman’s career with particular interest since he came through Trustmark Park — a tall, skinny kid with a goofy grin, still developing his man strength.

Freeman was called up to Atlanta at the end of the very next season and has played all of his 11 full Major League seasons for the Braves. He has hit .295 with 271 home runs and 941 runs batted in. He has been clutch. He also has played an immaculate first base. He has been one of baseball’s really good guys, really good teammates — the face of his franchise since Chipper Jones retired.

And now he’s gone, probably to the Los Angeles Dodgers. We will see. The end was signaled Monday when the Braves announced a trade that will bring Matt Olson, formerly the first baseman for the Oakland A’s, to Atlanta. Olson is a fine young player who hits for power, plays exceptionally well at first base and, at 27, is five years younger and a whole lot cheaper than Freeman.

The Braves traded four outstanding prospects for Olson. Mississippi Braves fans are extremely familiar with centerfielder Christian Pache and catcher Shea Langeliers, who have played recent seasons in Pearl. M-Braves fans would have become familiar with young pitchers Ryan Cusick and Joey Estes, who figured to be through Pearl over the next couple seasons.

Back to Olson: He hit .271 with 39 homers last season. He is an Atlanta native, from all accounts another good guy and teammate. There’s only one problem with Olson: He’s not Freddie Freeman, and he can’t help that.

Freddie Freeman’s first home run as a Mississippi Brave in 2009

So here’s my reaction to Monday’s news after much Monday cussing and fussing and then sleeping on it: I still don’t like it, but the more I look at it, the more I understand it from Braves General Manager Alex Anthopoulos’s perspective. Apparently Freeman wanted a six-year contract, and Anthopoulos was only willing to go five, knowing that precious few sluggers remain as productive into their late 30s.

Anthopoulos, it should be noted, earned his keep and then some for the Braves last year after injuries had decimated the ball club and the Braves seemed dead in the water. The GM’s mid-season acquisitions of Joc Pederson, Adam Duvall and Jorge Soler and Eddie Rosario resurrected the team en route to a World Series championship.

Granted, manager Brian Snitker, another former M-Brave, was terrific. So was Freeman. So was a replenished bullpen. But the Braves would not have come close had it not been for Anthopoulos’s brilliant maneuvering. You ask me, Anthopoulos earned at least some benefit on of the doubt on his decision-making. And he believes the Braves short-term and long-term future look better with the younger Olson at first base and with the club not having nearly $200 million tied up in Freeman over the next six seasons.

From all accounts, Anthopoulos was emotional when he announced and discussed the trade. He said it was as hard to pull the Freeman trigger as anything he has ever done.

Bottom line: This is baseball in 2022. And it has been this way for years. Braves fans should know this all too well. Remember, Hank Aaron retired a Milwaukee Brewer, not an Atlanta Brave. Greg Maddux played his last seven seasons with the Chicago Cubs, not the Braves. Tom Glavine spent most of his declining years with the Mets, not the Braves. John Smoltz played for two different teams after the Braves let him go. Those are all Hall of Famers we’re talking about. Freeman surely will be, too.

Olson? Time will tell.

Where Freeman and the Braves are concerned, it’s a two-way street. Freeman could have taken the Braves’ reported offer five-year deal for $135 million and retired there. Or the Braves could have done what they always did with Chipper Jones, which was sign him to a lucrative extension before he ever got into the final year of his contract.

Frankly, I wish the latter had happened. It did not. That’s baseball, 21st century style.

Today, I prefer to think back to the summer of 2009 when Freeman and his then-best pal, Jason Heyward, spent most of a season in Pearl. Heyward was the more prized prospect of the two. He was more physically advanced, more a grown man than Freeman. The ball sounded different coming off Heyward’s bat. I remember telling Phillip Wellman, then the M-Braves’ manager, I thought Heyward was going to be a Hall of Famer. Wellman responded with something like this: “Don’t sleep on Freddie Freeman. When all is said and done, he very well could be the guy people remember most.”

Here we are nearly 13 years later. Heyward has hit .259 with 158 homers. Again, Freeman has hit .295 with 271 dingers. No contest there.

We won’t know for at least three or four years whether the Braves made the right move Monday. Those of us who have watched them closely over the last 11 years know only this: An era has ended. And we will have nothing but positive memories of Freddie Freeman as a Brave, both in Atlanta and way back when in Pearl.

The post Freddie Freeman’s exit is baseball, 21st century style appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The tax cut battle between Mississippi Republican House and Senate leaders continued Monday with each chamber overhauling its proposal.

But the two sides still appear far apart as the legislative session enters its final weeks. The House wants to eliminate the state personal income tax. The Senate just wants cuts and rebates. Senate leaders have said the House plan is foolhardy during uncertain economic times. House leaders say the Senate cuts are a half measure.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, on Monday unveiled a proposal to suspend the state’s 18.4-cents-a-gallon gasoline tax for six months, to help Mississippians facing skyrocketing fuel prices and other inflation. The Senate is also increasing its proposed income tax cuts, but spreading them out over eight years.

“I started questioning what inflation was doing back in November, and it was 2.5%,” Hosemann said at a press conference Monday. “On March 8, I was informed it was at 6.7% … It cost me $106 to fill up my truck … Because of huge increases in inflation hitting everyone so hard, today I am requesting we do an immediate suspension of the state gasoline tax for six months.”

Hosemann and Senate leaders are proposing the state, with coffers overflowing largely from an influx of federal stimulus spending, use $215 million in surplus to reimburse the Mississippi Department of Transportation for suspending the gas tax for six months. This would reduce prices at the pump by 18.4 cents a gallon.

The Senate also changed its income tax cut plan. It had proposed phasing out the state’s 4% income tax bracket over four years. Now, in a plan that passed in committee Monday, Senate leaders propose cutting the state’s top, 5% income tax bracket to 4.6% over four years, then phasing out the 4% bracket over the four years after that.

In the House, leaders overhauled their plan to eliminate the state’s personal income tax, phasing in elimination more slowly and removing an accompanying increase in sales taxes. House leaders said they’ve addressed every concern Hosemann and Senate leaders have raised.

The Senate plan would still include a one-time tax rebate of up to 5% for taxpayers — from $100 to $1,000 — and would cut taxes on groceries from 7% to 5% in year one.

The House on Monday stripped a sales tax increase from 7% to 8.5% from its proposal, and slowed its roll a bit on the phase out of the personal income tax. It also removed its proposal to cut car tag fees in half, with the state subsidizing local governments who levy most of the fees on tags. It would still lower grocery taxes, but more slowly, by .25% a year down to 4%.

“Every objection the Senate has made to our plan has now been addressed,” House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia. “The only objection you could have now to the plan is that you just don’t want to remove the tax on work in Mississippi.”

The House had previously proposed exempting $40,000 in income for individuals and $80,000 for couples from income taxes in year one, then phasing the tax out from there. The new proposal is to exempt $25,000 and $50,000 in income, respectively, to start.

The House plan had included a “growth trigger” of 1.5%, meaning any revenue growth beyond that each year would further reduce the income tax until it was gone. It has increased that trigger to 1.6%, and put a cap of $150 million a year that would go toward eliminating the income tax, meaning anything over that would go back into state coffers.

House leaders had predicted the income tax could be phased out in about 10 years or so. Lamar said Monday that with the changes, that would now take about 15 years, depending on growth.

The House passed this latest version of Speaker Philip Gunn’s income tax elimination proposal Monday afternoon with a vote of 83-33. Many Democrats who supported the earlier version said they could not vote for the latest proposal because it did not cut the local tax on car tags.

“I supported it basically because of the car tag cut,” said Rep. John Hines, D-Greenville. “Now you have nothing I can support.”

Lamar said the Senate leadership had been adamant in opposing a reduction in the cost of car tags.

“My own father is mad at me about that,” Lamar said from the well of the House. “But the Senate refused to do it.”

Other Democrats expressed concerns about cutting revenue while the state still has many vital needs.

Rep. Omeria Scott, D-Laurel, pointed out needs that local governments have needs in the area of education, in health care and in other areas.

“Until Mississippi addresses all these serious needs it has, I think this bill is premature,” Scott said.

In Senate committee debate on its new proposal, Democratic Sen. Hob Bryan of Amory also made this argument, with an emotional plea to his colleagues.

“This will do untold harm to our state,” Bryan said of the Senate plan. “$439 million every year, in perpetuity, out of the general fund forever. Forever! Forever! We don’t have clean drinking water in Mississippi. We have sewer systems that are inoperable … If you think reducing the income tax will bring a single person to this state you are wrong. But not having functioning water and sewer systems will keep them out … What about our roads? Do you drive on them? Don’t you see all the cracks?”

Neither Hosemann nor Gunn had comments on the other’s latest proposals on Monday.

READ MORE: 5 things to know about the Great Mississippi Tax Cut Battle of 2022

This is the second major overhaul of Gunn’s income tax plan since he unveiled it last year and it died in the Senate. In the first version last year it would have increased the state sales tax on most retails items from 7% to 9.5%. It would have increased other sales taxes by 2.5 cents on the dollar. For instance, originally automobiles now subject to a 5% tax would have seen that increase to 7.5%.

But facing opposition from many business lobbies and Gov. Tate Reeves, Gunn reduced the general sales tax increase and did away with the increases in other sectors such as automobiles and farm equipment. He also added a measure to cut car tag fees in half, with the state subsidizing local governments who levy most of the fees on car tags. The income tax exemptions in the original plan were also lowered in this year’s first proposal.

READ MORE: Gov. Reeves pours cold water on income tax cut plan as it passes House

The latest changes to the tax proposals come after a recent article from the conservative Tax Foundation — whose policies Gunn has said were an impetus for his plan — was critical of both his and the Senate’s income tax proposals.

The Tax Foundation article questioned whether the original House plan, with its 1.5% “growth triggers” on income tax elimination, would allow the state budget to keep up with inflation.

“General fund growth limits are not fundamentally bad, but HB 531 includes a mechanism that would restrict growth to no more than 1.5 percent per year,” the Tax Foundation article said. “To put that rate in perspective, at the end of January the 12-month change in inflation was 7.5 percent, the highest rate since 1982. Considerable uncertainty exists over how long it will take for inflation to return to the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2 percent, but it is not unreasonable to assume that rates could remain somewhere above the target rate for several years. If that occurs, a 1.5 percent cap on revenue growth will significantly diminish the purchasing power of Mississippi’s general fund.”

The Tax Foundation article said the Senate plan was simpler and less risky, but notes flaws in both and says, “Mississippi is close to making meaningful reforms, but there is still more work to be done if the Magnolia State is to sustain the intended transformation.”

The post Tax cut battle continues: Hosemann wants to pause gas tax, House overhauls its plan appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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The federal board that will determine whether the Gulf Coast gets its Amtrak route back is closer to reaching a decision. 

The Surface Transportation Board issued an order Friday, spelling out questions it wants Amtrak and the freight rail companies to address in its upcoming evidentiary hearing on April 4. Following the latest set of hearing dates, the board is expected to finally make a decision about the route’s future.

Freight company CSX Transportation has been at odds with Amtrak over the proposed train route that would run between New Orleans and Mobile with stops in Mississippi for years. Amtrak trains that once traveled along the Gulf Coast never returned following Hurricane Katrina. A year ago, Amtrak filed a petition with the transportation board to operate the route along the freight-owned railways after failing to reach any agreements with CSX and another freight company that owns tracks along the route. 

In its latest filing, the transportation board asked the freight rail companies and Amtrak to have conversations with the U.S. Coast Guard over the use of drawbridges on the route. The bridges, and whether they can be drawn down and support added traffic from a passenger train, have been one of many of many points of contention and confusion during the debate over the route’s future.

Alabama leadership largely sided with CSX, saying they wanted more studies done on whether added passenger trains would affect the freight trains ability to move product during public hearings last month. Mississippi leaders, such as U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, said Amtrak’s return to the Gulf Coast has been delayed long enough. 

The evidence hearings were first scheduled for March. CSX asked they be postponed. They’re now set to be held virtually on April 4 and 5 with the option of extending to April 7 and 8 as needed. 

Ultimately, the board will decide if the addition of Amtrak routes would unreasonably affect the freight companies that run 11 trains on that set of railroad per day. Amtrak’s legal right to operate its proposed two-train route on freight-owned tracks comes from a 1970s agreement that reprieved freight companies from providing public transportation. 

The transportations board’s decision on the Gulf Coast will likely set a precedent for other passenger train access cases across the country. 

The post Gulf Coast Amtrak route one step closer to learning its fate appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Note: This Q&A first published in Mississippi Today’s InformHer newsletter. Subscribe to our free women and girls newsletter to read stories like this monthly.

Dr. Christina Glick is a neonatologist who has had a career-long interest in human milk diet for premature infants and breastfeeding for all babies. She also runs a free-standing breastfeeding clinic in Jackson, Mississippi Lactation Services, to continue and expand her advocacy efforts for the many benefits of breastfeeding.

Mississippi Today spoke with Glick this week about the benefits of breastfeeding, the stigma around it that exists in Mississippi and how the larger culture around breastfeeding in America needs to change.

Editor’s note: This Q+A has been edited for length and clarity.

Mississippi Today: Why is breast milk important for the health of babies, and especially preterm babies?

Dr. Christina Glick: Breast milk in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) has been shown to be absolutely life saving. Fewer babies die when they’re given a breast milk diet. That should convince all of us that it’s absolutely important, right? There’s a couple of things that breast milk does that are life saving. One, it reduces the number of infections that babies have. One of the things that premature babies die from in the NICU is bloodstream infections and they are actually reduced by using a breast milk diet. There’s also necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a catastrophic intestinal infection that has a very high mortality rate. (NEC typically happens within the first 2 weeks of life in babies who are fed formula instead of breast milk. In this condition, bacteria invade the wall of the intestine.) We can really reduce the rate of NEC infections when babies are fed breast milk instead of formula. It goes almost to zero when there’s an exclusive breast milk diet, which is just phenomenal. 

Some of the more subtle things breast milk does is that it changes the bacterial microbiome of babies, and when we establish a normal, healthy microbiome from the newborn period, we think it actually changes lifelong health. That’s one of the things that we’ve lost when we use formula and we cannot replicate that using probiotics. There’s no way to do it other than using fresh breast milk. 

There’s a lot of stuff that breast milk does that is really sort of magical, and that we are only now beginning to understand. And we think that the longer and more intensive research that goes into it, we’re going to learn more about these kinds of benefits. 

MT: As you know, in Mississippi, one of every seven babies is born preterm. We also have the highest rates of preterm birth, infant mortality, child mortality, low birthweight and neonatal mortality. Despite all these issues, we also have one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the nation. Why do you think the stigma around breastfeeding still exists here, even though it offers so many benefits?

CG: I’ve had my breastfeeding clinic for about seven years now, and what I’ve noticed that has a really profound effect on women breastfeeding is the culture that they live in. So that includes how their mothers and their grandmothers fed. One of the most common things I hear is someone coming in and saying, ‘my mother says I need to use formula because I’m not making enough milk. That’s how I was fed and I’m fine.’ And so it’s those kinds of voices that really discourage women from breastfeeding. And so we need to get the breastfeeding rates up in our whole community so that the mothers and grandmothers and neighbors and sisters have all breastfed, and then they know about the breastfeeding journey so they know how to counsel the new mother who is struggling with low milk supply and a hungry baby. So that first answer isn’t give that baby a bottle of formula, it’s let’s breastfeed or a little more often, so we can increase your supply. There’s a lot of confusing information that exists just culturally about what normal feeding is. And when we live in a formula culture, that’s not good information for babies who are breastfeeding.

MT: In recent years, the discussion around working mothers’ needs around breastfeeding has become more prominent. But any gains in workplace accommodations for breastfeeding mothers has been concentrated in wealthier, whiter workplaces. I was hoping you could talk a bit about that disparity.

CG: People that work hourly wage jobs tend not to be given adequate breaks for breastfeeding. Nor are they given an adequate place to breastfeed. The hourly wage workers are often told to go pump in the bathroom. That’s like saying ‘go eat lunch in the bathroom.’ That’s gross! So, there needs to be universal, safe, clean and private places to pump for mothers who are working. And that just doesn’t happen except in the white collar environment. You know, if you’re a banker, or a lawyer or whatever, you’re going to have a private office, and you can certainly have a lot more flexibility with your hours and how long you’re going to break to go pump. But if you’re working where there’s no place to pump, it’s going to be very, very hard to get adequate pump sessions and to continue to be able to provide milk for your baby.

MT: What do you think about how breastfeeding is handled in America and what needs to change there?

CG: You’ll find that in countries where breastfeeding is standard, even the taxicab drivers will turn around and say to the mamas when there’s a crying baby, ‘well feed your baby.’ We hide breastfeeding here. We don’t breastfeed very well in public. And until we begin to have that as a perfectly normal part of our standard behavior, it’s going to interfere with our breastfeeding rates. I want to have mamas and grandmas that have the expertise in breastfeeding, so new moms don’t need me as much. I mean, there’s gonna be a need for me and my clinic no matter what, but I want there to be that community support where they don’t have to come to me for every little problem in their breastfeeding because they’re getting that support at home.

The post Q&A with neonatologist Dr. Christina Glick on the benefits of breastfeeding appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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

Speaker of the House Philip Gunn is still privately telling donors and political advisers he’s considering a 2023 run for governor against Republican incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves.

That’s why Jackson politicos have been closely watching Gunn during this 2022 legislative session. They’ve wondered whether the third-term speaker would use the final legislative session before the election year to show strong leadership — the kind of leadership that inspires and brings political factions together, that brings about lasting and positive change for the state. 

After all, Gunn and others say that Reeves has long lacked such qualities dating back to his two terms as lieutenant governor. If Gunn wanted to make a name for himself and launch a viable statewide campaign against an incumbent, he needed to set himself apart from Reeves during the pivotal first three months of this year.

But so far this session, Gunn has done nothing of the sort. He looks more like a spitting image of Reeves in his Capitol days: a stubborn bully, quick to kill bills that he and his allies didn’t write because he can’t get his way.

And in the shock of the 2022 legislative session thus far, Gunn has begun aligning himself with Reeves to intimidate Republican senators into supporting a bill they don’t like.

Gunn’s dug-in heels ahead of Wednesday’s major deadline signals that he will not let any spending bills — including the historic $1.8 billion in American Rescue Act Plan funds — pass unless Senate Republicans commit to supporting his proposal to completely eliminate the state’s personal income tax.

“I am of the belief that if we can’t get this tax elimination done in the next two weeks, the governor should call a special session to eliminate the income tax before we spend a dime of other money … (American Rescue Plan Act) money, capital expense fund money, anything,” Gunn said on Feb. 28. “The governor has been very supportive of elimination and this issue. He shares our view that we don’t spend money until such time as we give the taxpayers some tax relief… We hope the governor would call a special session on income tax elimination.”

READ MORE: 5 things to know about the Great Mississippi Tax Cut Battle of 2022

Reeves, whose political aides have nervously stalked Gunn’s every move for months, is relishing the speaker’s public invitation to help get income tax elimination across the finish line.

“I’m impressed by the improvements (the House has) made, and I’m impressed they have a true plan to eliminate the state income tax,” Reeves said in a press conference last week. “I’m very reluctant to call special sessions … but elimination of the income tax is an issue that certainly could rise to that level. I am not taking that option off the table.”

Gunn’s best idea to set himself apart during the 2022 legislative session was to pass a complete elimination of the income tax — a once-in-a-lifetime achievement that would certainly play well among Republican voters on the statewide campaign trail in 2023.

But after struggling to earn buy-in from Republican senators, Gunn has become so desperate that he’s willing to ask Reeves for help and hand his arch-rival the political gift of a lifetime: the chance to take full credit for Gunn’s best idea.

READ MORE: House offers ‘compromise’ teacher pay raise, but Senate says it wasn’t in on the compromising

It’s enticing to consider the 2023 ramifications of this moment, but the speaker’s holding hostage the ARPA funds will dominate news cycles for at least the next three weeks. Lawmakers have until 2024 to spend the $1.8 billion pot, but that deadline means little to the many Mississippians who need the money now.

Cities and counties have been holding off spending their own small pots of ARPA money on long overdue road, water and sewerage repairs because there have been indications from lawmakers that a state match could be coming their way. The Senate passed a $750 million state match program for local governments to spend on these projects.

Hospital leaders and nurses are desperate for relief as they come off a fourth COVID-19 wave. The Senate passed a $12 million plan to address that.

Several state agencies have major needs and lost revenue during the pandemic. The Senate passed a $211.4 million plan that would provide infrastructure upgrades to state agencies, including $26.5 million for work on various state buildings. The Senate also passed a $110 million plan for water and sewerage projects at universities and community colleges, and a $250 million plan to reimbursement for lost state revenue from the pandemic.

The state’s teacher shortage crisis will drastically worsen after this school year in large part because of growing mental health crises among faculty and students. The Senate passed a $105 million plan to address several mental health issues across the state. 

Many Mississippians can’t work because they can’t find or afford child care, and others face evictions and foreclosures because of the economic effects of the pandemic. Many states have used ARPA funds to help child care centers expand and help protect people who may lose their homes.

All of these Senate spending proposals are among the many in jeopardy between now and the end of the session as Gunn struggles to garner support for his tax cut plan that some — including Republican senators — say could drastically harm the state’s economy in the long run.

Meanwhile, as Gunn continues to create drama at the Capitol, at least one person in downtown Jackson is already reaping political benefits of the moment — and it might just get him reelected as governor.

READ MORE: Senate reluctantly takes House bill to ensure passage of teacher pay raise

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State Sen. Angela Hill, a Republican from Picayune, joins Mississippi Today’s Adam Ganucheau and Geoff Pender to discuss her bill, a proposal seeking to create “Buddy’s Law,” to provide mental health resources to minors who abuse animals. She also discussed tension between GOP leaders during the 2022 legislative session.

Listen to more episodes of The Other Side here.

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