A Mississippi man has been arrested and charged with assaulting a Capitol police officer during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
Michael Leon Brock, a 54-year-old resident of Walls, is the first Mississippian to be charged in connection to the events of Jan 6. Over the past six months, more than 535 people have been arrested across all 50 states for crimes committed during the deadly pro-Trump riot.
Footage from a Capitol police officer’s body camera, and a video posted to the far-right social media platform Parler, show Brock beating multiple law enforcement officers with a four-foot-long metal rod. Two confidential witnesses identified Brock as the man in the footage to investigators, one who had known him for two decades.
In addition to the video footage, federal investigators obtained phone records for Brock, which showed his phone connecting to a cell tower that provided service to the interior of the Capitol Building during the riot.
The federal charges brought against Brock include:
Assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers
Disorderly conduct in the Capitol building
Active physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings
Obstruction of law-enforcement during civil disorder
Brock made his initial appearance in the Northern District of Mississippi on Wednesday. The felony assault charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison. A Florida man became the first Capitol riot defendant to be sentenced for a felony charge on Monday. That rioter, Paul Hodgkins, was sentenced to eight months in prison. He was not accused of physical violence, however, but of obstructing an official proceeding.
House and Senate negotiators are expected to begin meeting next week to try to draft a medical marijuana compromise bill, and both sides say they believe the governor could call a special session in August for lawmakers to pass such a measure.
Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, who is leading the Senate’s efforts, on Wednesday repeated his expectation that an agreement can be reached soon, and that a special session could be called by mid-August.
Rep. Lee Yancey, who is drafting a House bill, said, “I don’t see why not, as long as we come to an agreement soon,” on an August session. Both Yancey and Blackwell said they’ve had informal discussions, but plan to start getting down to brass tacks next week.
The Senate Public Health Committee on Wednesday held its third – and likely final – hearing on medical marijuana as the Senate drafts a bill. The panel has heard from medical experts, cannabis business associations and officials from several other states with medical and-or recreational marijuana programs.
But it appears lawmakers still have many issues to come to terms on with a medical marijuana program. Some lawmakers in both the House and Senate continue to question issues such as how strict regulations should be, whether smoking of cannabis should be allowed, whether to allow outdoor growing or only indoor and whether to allow cities to “opt out” of allowing dispensaries or other cannabis businesses.
Mississippi lawmakers are trying to reach consensus on a medical marijuana program after the state Supreme Court shot down one overwhelmingly passed by voters last year with ballot Initiative 65. The state Supreme Court ruled in May that the medical marijuana initiative and the entire ballot initiative process is invalid.
Gov. Tate Reeves holds sole authority to call a special session of the Legislature. He has said he would do so only when he’s assured the House and Senate have at least a rough agreement on a medical marijuana measure. He said he doesn’t want taxpayers to foot the bill for a drawn out session if the two chambers can’t agree on particulars and quickly pass a bill.
“Our position is different from the Senate position, but there are similarities,” Yancey said. “… I think the House position is much closer to Initiative 65, that voters passed, than the Senate position.”
Blackwell said the Senate’s goal also is to honor the spirit of Initiative 65, but he said his starting point is the last measure the Senate passed last session that died in the House. Some Initiative 65 proponents decried that measure as too strict and feared it would not allow Mississippi entrepreneurs to get into the business because of relatively high licensing fees and regulations.
“We are focused on the business end of this being a free-market approach,” Yancey said. “We don’t want to limit the number of licenses or anything like that. I believe we would probably have too many businesses in the first year, but the free market – supply and demand – would take care of that pretty quickly. As Jerry Clower used to say, everybody deserves a fighting chance.”
Yancey said his plan is to cleave as closely to Initiative 65 as possible, but he conceded that many House members share differing views on regulation, taxation and other issues and outside groups and lobbies are putting on pressure. He said his goal for the House position is to have doctors decide whether patients can smoke cannabis or use some other delivery, noting people with some conditions could not use edibles or other oral forms and might need to smoke it – but some lawmakers have called for not allowing smoking of cannabis.
“On one end of the spectrum you’ve got prohibition, and on the other Cheech and Chong, and they’re all throwing slings and arrows,” Yancey said. “People have got to remember, this is about alleviating the pain of suffering people. That’s what we’re trying to do here.”
Senate Public Health on Wednesday heard via online conference from a doctor in Colorado about issues that state has faced from both medical marijuana and recreational use, as 18 states now allow. They also heard from the director of Michigan’s marijuana regulatory agency and from representatives of the Mississippi Cannabis Trade Association and the Mississippi Minority Cannabis Association.
Cedric Anderson with the Mississippi Minority Cannabis Association told lawmakers that nationwide, people of color have not been able to adequately participate in business opportunities from legalized cannabis largely from “the shadow of discriminatory drug policies” and law enforcement of the past.
Anderson said MMCA’s goal is that any programs the state stands up “reinvest in communities disproportionately affected by the war on drugs,” and that they not bring unintended consequences to these communities such as increased illicit drug trafficking as some states have seen caused by policies and prices in their legal programs.
“There are some of the best farmers in the U.S. in this state,” said Roderick Woullard, also with the MMCA. “Let’s find a way to get them to the table.”
During this summer’s Senate hearings, particularly in discussions with leaders from other states, adult-use recreational marijuana has frequently come up.
Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, said he doesn’t advocate legalizing recreational use, but he says lawmakers should be transparent with Mississippians that a push for it is an inevitable next step from medical legalization.
Andrew Brisbo, director of the marijuana regulatory agency in Michigan, which has legal medical and recreational use, told Mississippi lawmakers, “It’s reasonable to assume it will morph into adult use at some point. That’s inevitable.”
Before Wednesday’s hearing, a few cannabis advocates held a sparsely attended press conference to, among other things, advocate for legalized recreational marijuana use in Mississippi.
Garbage truck manufacturer New Way Trucks plans to expand its Booneville operation and create at least 120 new jobs.
New Way is investing $4 million to grow its manufacturing capacity in Prentiss County, according to the Mississippi Development Authority. The Iowa-based company got a host of state incentives, including a rebate agreement, to grow its Mississippi footprint.
New Way CEO Mike McLaughlin called the expansion “an easy decision” because of the company’s existing partnership with state and local leaders.
The jobs will pay an average of $49,700, according to Prentiss County Development Association Director Leon Hays. The existing factory already employs about 140 people.
“It’s a good win for us,” Hays said. “These are good paying jobs, really good opportunities for folks in our community.”
New Way opened its Booneville facility inside a former tubing factory in 2019. The new factory is a 66,000-square-foot facility inside the Prentiss County Industrial Park, where workers will fabricate truck parts as well as research new product development.
Prentiss County purchased the building for New Way for about $675,000, according to the local development association. New Way will rent the space from the county. The Mississippi Development Authority is paying $720,000 to rehab the building, which is all but $23,000 of the estimated construction costs.
As part of the state’s Advantage Job Rebate Program, New Way will likely make back a good chunk of its initial investments. The program allows businesses to receive rebates if they create new jobs above the area’s annual average salary.
New Way must hire at least 100 new positions at a minimum salary of about $36,500 over the next two years to collect the rebate, according to the written agreement obtained by Mississippi Today.
If New Way paid salaries at the minimum end of its agreement, it could receive more than $1 million back over next 10 years. The program caps the amount a company can earn back at 4% the cumulative total of the added salaries.
“Mississippi boasts a strong portfolio of business advantages, all of which assist in keeping companies like New Way Trucks competitive in today’s marketplace,” Gov. Tate Reeves said in a statement. “Mississippi’s strongest advantage is our people, who are committed to their employer’s success just as much as their own.”
New Way has been steadily working with Northeast Mississippi Community College to ensure skilled welders are available to fill its open positions. Hays expects that relationship to grow so the factory can fill the upcoming openings.
New Way plans to begin operating the facility by the end of the year.
Seventy-four cases of COVID-19 have been reported at the Raymond Detention Facility and the Work Center, Hinds County Sheriff Lee Vance said in a Tuesday press release.
Of the total number, 14 employees and 60 detained people tested positive for the coronavirus. Vance said the positive cases were found after random rapid testing was conducted. He also said employees are on mandatory quarantine while detained people are being separated and quarantined within the facilities.
Other employees within the HCSO have tested positive for COVID-19 and are in quarantine, though the official number of people is not yet available, HCSO Captain Tyree Jones said in an email.
“The (Hinds County Sheriff’s Office) will continue to practice and enforce safety measurements for both detainees and employees,” Vance said in a statement released Tuesday.
Earlier this year Dr. Marc Stern, an assistant professor of health services at the University of Washington and an expert in correctional health care, told Mississippi Today jails and prisons are also high-risk locations for the coronavirus to spread.
“(It’s) much more likely that you’re going to get infected because it’s hard to keep social distance,” Stern said. “Ventilation may not be great. Hand hygiene may be challenging. Mask wearing may be challenging. All those things that we’re supposed to do are more difficult in a correctional setting.”
Vance said the increased COVID-19 numbers within the Raymond facilities also reflect the number of positive cases in the general public.
On July 20, the Mississippi Department of Health reported 961 new cases of COVID-19 and 8 deaths, bringing the total number of cases in the state to 330,664 and 7,485 total deaths.
With over 2 million shots administered, only 34% of Mississippians have been fully vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
“I personally encourage people to get vaccinated in an effort to slow the spread and minimize the numbers of those infected,” Vance said in a Tuesday press release.
In this episode of Mississippi Stores, Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Jackson-based chef Nick Wallace.
Nick Wallace learned to associate love and food from his grandmothers. That passion has continued throughout his long career as a chef, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Named best chef in Jackson and Mississippi, Wallace has been featured in many publications (Southern Living Magazine) and episodes for Food Network’s “Chopped” and “Fire Masters.”(which he won.) On July 20, 2021, his latest venture, The Nissan Café opened at Mississippi’s Two Museums. He also has given back through his non-profit Creativity Kitchen. Wallace talks about his life, his career, his philosophy, his passion and his love of Mississippi.
State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Tuesday that the Delta variant has taken over “all the transmission within the state of Mississippi.” Dobbs attributed the fourth wave of infections and hospitalizations the state is experiencing to the highly infectious nature of the Delta variant, increased social activities during the summer months and Mississippi’s low vaccination rate.
“It really is kind of a perfect storm for an explosion in cases,” Dobbs said.
The Delta variant has considerably increased the already high risks posed by the virus to unvaccinated people. Over the past month, 93% of new COVID-19 cases in Mississippi and 89% of deaths have been among the unvaccinated. Those vaccinated people who died from an exceedingly rare breakout infection have all been 65 and older.
The surge of Delta infections Mississippi is experiencing is already hitting hospitals and ICUs. While hospitalizations are nowhere near their February peak, the increase in recent weeks has been sharp. Between July 5 and July 19, hospitalizations increased 189%, from 145 to 419. The number of COVID-19 patients in ICUs has increased 294% over the same period, from 35 to 138.
Dobbs said that the increase in hospital and ICU admissions is straining the hospital systems in parts of the state, and that COVID patients in the Delta have been flown to the Pine Belt because there are no open ICU beds in their region. There are currently 13 hospitals across the state with zero ICU beds available. Dobbs said that a number significantly higher number of hospitals have less than 10% of their beds available.
MSDH officials have repeatedly stressed that Mississippians have the choice of getting vaccinated or contracting COVID-19, and that in every scenario a vaccinated person is going to have a better outcome.
One of the main hurdles MSDH faces in getting more people vaccinated is combating the troves of vaccine misinformation that regularly circulate online. The problem is so bad that on July 13, the department removed the ability to comment on COVID-related posts on its Facebook page.
MSDH officials said that allowing misinformation to spread on its own page is “directly contrary” to the state’s public health mission and the ability to comment will be restored when the department develops an effective plan to moderate them.
In a candid moment during the press conference, Dobbs reflected on the dire situation the state is in and responded to backlash he’s received from anti-vaccine activists over a comment he made last week, saying “anti-science Nazis on social media” try to find anything to make an excuse to not get vaccinated.
“I just want to apologize for kind of getting away from a sense of calm decorum, but I’m frustrated,” Dobbs said. “I’m mad. I’m upset. I’m depressed. Because we’re going to watch people needlessly die over the next month or two, for no good reason. There is a mountain of lies and disinformation that is being promulgated by a relatively small number of misinformed, disillusioned people. And it’s leading folks astray. It’s very difficult to watch.”
The three COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the United States are nearly as effective against the Delta variant as the original strain, greatly minimizing the chance of infection and nearly eliminating the risks of developing a serious illness. Studies suggest, however, that being fully vaccinated is the only adequate protection against the Delta variant, as a single shot of either of the two-dose mRNA vaccines provides only weak protection against infection. The Delta variant, first identified in India, is believed to be about 60% more contagious than the Alpha variant and up to twice as contagious as the original strain of COVID-19.
Despite the wide availability of vaccines and the risks posed by variants, Mississippi continues to rank last in the nation in the share of its population that has been vaccinated. With over 2 million shots administered, only 34% of Mississippians have been fully vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
State tax collections increased by $924 million, or nearly 16%, year-over-year for the fiscal 2021 year that ended in June, a state report released Tuesday showed, as Mississippi’s economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and percolates from billions in federal government spending.
The largest increase for fiscal year 2021 was in corporate income taxes, up $296 million or 54% year over year. Individual income taxes, use taxes (from online sales) and casino taxes also saw large percentage increases for the year, while sales taxes saw a modest increase of $88 million, or 4%.
Total state tax collections increased from about $5.8 billion to $6.7 billion year-over-year. This comes after the state ended last fiscal year at $151 million, or 2.5% below collections for the prior year amid the pandemic economic downturn. Over the last decade or so, state revenue growth has averaged around 3%.
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann on Tuesday said he is “pleasantly surprised” by the fiscal year-end numbers.
“We are particularly pleased that the numbers are strong across the board,” Hosemann said. “The revenue strength is there with corporate and individual income taxes and sales taxes — hitting on all cylinders and that shows we have a healthy economy.”
Economists have also cited multiple federal stimulus packages passed by Congress to address the pandemic for fueling the Mississippi economy and revenue collections. Mississippi received more than $1.25 from the first round of federal pandemic spending and will be receiving around $6 billion all told from the most recent measures.
“Some of this obviously is the federal government pouring money in, with the CARES Act, and that is continuing with the RESCUE Act, so that’s good in that it is continuing and should help, although how we ever pay all that back as a country, I’m not sure,” Hosemann said. “But as long as we spend it well, it should help. I’ve been visiting with over 50 boards of supervisors and cities, and emphasizing the thing we need to do is look at how to spend this so it doesn’t just help and last for one or two years, but in ways that help for at least one or two generations.
“None of us ever predicted this kind of arrangement — this kind of ability to fund projects the state couldn’t have otherwise, water, sewer, broadband — so the real discussion now needs to turn to how we make the best use of these taxpayer dollars.”
The collections for fiscal year 2021 that ended in June also saw a large increase — about $230 million — from taxes that would have normally been collected in the prior year but were delayed because of pandemic extensions to pay.
Source
FY2020
FY2021
Over/under prior year
% Change
Sales tax
$2,156,122,116
$2,244,361,161
$88,239,045
4.09%
Individual income
1,819,610,333
2,226,159,994
406,549,661
22.34%
Corporate income
548,728,829
845,133,396
296,404,567
54.02%
Use tax
339,863,553
408,776,281
68,912,728
20.28%
Insurance premium tax
312,762,228
339,282,412
26,520,184
8.48%
Tobacco/alcohol
255,556,568
283,667,815
28,111,247
11%
Oil/gas severance
22,988,510
18,183,004
(4,805,506)
-20.90%
Gaming
110,694,305
153,724,705
43,030,400
38.87%
Other Dept. of Revenue
38,131,470
37,680,479
(450,991)
-1.18%
Other than DOR
171,437,599
179,359,611
7,922,012
4.62%
Sub-total
5,775,895,511
6,736,328,858
960,433,347
16.63%
All other transfers/collections
40,050,689
4,113,440
(35,937,249)
-89.73%
Total
$5,815,946,200
$6,740,442,298
$924,496,098
15.90%
The data in this table comes from the Mississippi Joint Legislative Budget Committee.
Elise Winter, former First Lady of Mississippi and spouse of Governor William Winter, was a true public servant in her own right. Deeply invested in Habitat for Humanity, her legacy of public service built a beautiful eternal home as well.
