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First Lady Jill Biden will visit COVID-19 vaccination sites in Jackson on Tuesday as part of the Biden Administration’s nationwide tour to reach Americans who haven’t been vaccinated and promote vaccine education.

The visit comes as Mississippi continues to rank last in the nation in the share of its population that has been vaccinated. Only 32% of Mississippians have been fully vaccinated despite significant gains made in recent months in vaccinating the most vulnerable and making vaccine access more equitable.

Mississippi is also the state furthest behind in reaching President Joe Biden’s goal of getting at least one COVID-19 shot into the arms of 70% of adults by July 4. Just over 36% of Mississippians are currently vaccinated, providing no hope the state will reach even 50% by Independence Day. If vaccination rates don’t improve significantly, the state wouldn’t reach that 70% threshold for well over a year.

No significant improvement is on the horizon as the state’s vaccination rate continues to tank. The 15,073 shots given last week represent a decrease of over 87% from February’s peak.

As the state’s vaccine rate continues to sputter, Gov. Tate Reeves announced last week that the last remnants of COVID-related government policy in Mississippi — the state’s COVID-19 emergency orders — will expire on Aug. 15, more than a year after the orders were first enacted. 

“While a State of Emergency should no longer be necessary after August 15, all Mississippians should remain vigilant, get vaccinated, and follow public health guidance,” Reeves said in a statement.

Even though Mississippi has remained under a state of emergency order due to the pandemic, there have been virtually no safety protocols in effect for months. 

Reeves also announced that emergency COVID-19 operations with the Mississippi National Guard will end on July 15. The guard’s involvement has been an essential component of the state’s vaccine rollout, assisting the Mississippi State Department of Health with the logistical challenges of operating vaccination sites and putting shots in the arms of thousands of Mississippians.

“The governor’s timeline to lift Mississippi’s State of Emergency declaration on August 15, 2021, ensures our over 1,500 service members complete all necessary out-processing requirements and receive the benefits and entitlements they have earned during their dedicated service to our state,” Maj. Gen. Janson Boyles, the adjutant general of the Mississippi National Guard, said in a written statement.

The Mississippi Department of Health reported on Friday that 1,071,623 people in Mississippi — about 36% of the state’s population — have received at least their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Nearly 953,00 people have been fully inoculated since the state began distributing vaccines in December.

The post Jill Biden to visit Mississippi as COVID-19 vaccination rate sputters appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A neighbor has been charged with arson for burning the trailer where former state Rep. Ashley Henley’s sister-in-law’s body was found around Christmas — the same property where authorities say Henley was gunned down on June 13.

READ MORE: Former Rep. Ashley Henley shot, killed outside home where sister-in-law’s body had been found

Assistant District Attorney Steven Jubera said that Billy Brooks, 42, who lived across the road from the burned trailer, was arrested Friday on an arson charge from the Dec. 26 fire. He has not been charged in the death of Kristina Michelle Jones, whose body was found inside the burned mobile home.

Jubera said investigation into the deaths of Jones and Henley is continuing and no further details are currently being released.

Henley, who along with her husband had said Jones was murdered and publicly criticized what they said was lack of investigation by the Yalobusha County Sheriff’s Department, was herself shot and killed while cutting the grass at the property where the burned trailer was at 12 Patricia Drive in Water Valley. Henley and her husband had vowed to continue to push for justice in Jones’ case.

Henley, 40, a former school teacher and community college professor, served as representative of District 40 in DeSoto County from 2016-2020 and was vice chair of the House Military Affairs Committee and a member of the Education, Tourism, Workforce Development and Youth and Family Affairs committees. She lost her reelection bid in 2019 by 14 votes.

Jubera said Henley’s homicide is being investigated by the Yalobusha Sheriff’s Department, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, District 17 District Attorney’s office and other agencies.

The post Following Rep. Ashley Henley’s murder, arson arrest made in fire that killed her sister-in-law appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi State’s 2021 College World Series experience began Sunday night with a pitching performance for the ages in a thrilling 2-1 victory over Texas. First Will Bednar and then Landon Sims mowed down Texas batters as if the Longhorns were swinging with holes in their bats.

It was astonishing. That’s what it was. Astonishing.

Bednar threw 108 pitches but plate umpire Steve Mattingly might be the guy who wakes up Monday morning with a sore right arm from punching out Texas batters with his animated “strike three” calls. Bednar struck out 15 of the 18 batters he retired, and then Sims came on to fan six of nine. That’s 21 total strikeouts, a record for a nine-inning CWS game.

Making the stellar pitching all the more amazing was the fact that the wind was blowing straight out to center field at Ameritrade Park. Of course you have to hit the ball for the wind to become a factor, and Texas so rarely touched either Bednar or Sims.

Bednar’s stuff was nothing short of electric. He utilized a 95 mph fastball that he located on both sides of the plate and up and down in the strike zone. His slider was evil, breaking sharply and downward. A fourth inning slider broke all the way across the plate and actually hit a Texas batter Eric Kennedy, a left-handed batter, on his left leg. It was as if Bednar was throwing a Wiffle ball.

If a Longhorn batter tried to key on Bednar’s fastball, he was helpless against Bednar’s slider. If the Longhorn looked for slider, he was tardy on the fastball. Bednar, 21-year-old draft-eligible sophomore, surely made himself some money this night. He dominated Texas, a red-hot team, and he did it before an announced crowd of 23,885 fans in college baseball’s Valhalla, Omaha. When Bednar left the game in the seventh inning, seemingly all those fans stood and applauded.

Yes, Bednar said, “It was probably my best ever” performance, “especially on this big a stage.”

Had to be. He allowed only one hit, a fourth inning single up the middle. That was one of only four fair balls the Longhorns managed off Bednar. The others were an infield pop up and two routine fly ball outs.

Meanwhile, Texas starter Ty Madden, a sure-fire first-round draft pick, pitched heroically in a losing effort. He went seven innings, allowing only four hits while striking out 10 and walking two. State got to him for two runs — all the Bulldogs would need — in the fourth inning. Kamren James walked to lead off the inning and then took third on Luke Hancock’s sharp single to right field. James later scored on Scotty Dubrule’s sacrifice fly. And then Hancock scored on Brad Cumbest’s wind-blown triple down the right field line.

Texas did not score until the ninth, but that’s when things got really hairy for State. Sims had retired all six Longhorns he faced in the seventh and eighth innings — five on strikeouts, one on an infield popup. In other words, he had been dominant. And then up stepped Mike Antico to lead off the ninth and he slammed a Sims fastball well over the fence in right centerfield. After Sims retired the next two batters, Ivan Melendez and Cam Williams both singled, putting runners at first and third. That’s when Sims used a slider to get the last out on a grounder to second base. Appropriately, Bednar led the charge out of the State dugout to congratulate Sims.

And so, on their third straight visit to Omaha, the Bulldogs won their CWS opener for the third straight time. That wasn’t lost on State centerfielder Rowdey Jordan, who has been a key member of all three of those Bulldog teams.

“That’s going to be something we talk about,” Jordan said afterward. “We’ve come up short the other times. So I think you celebrate a little bit, but then you put it behind you and that’s what we’re going to tell younger guys: look, guys, we’ve been here, we didn’t get it done, so let’s keep playing good.”

State next plays Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Virginia, which defeated Tennessee 6-0 earlier Sunday. The winner of that game will be in the driver’s seat to advance to the best-two-of-three championship series.

The post Historic pitching performance keys Mississippi State victory over Texas appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In the parlance of Mississippi Supreme Court justices, the word “shall” means maybe when it comes to fully funding public school districts. But when justices are talking about giving themselves a pay raise, “shall” means shall — or got to get ‘er done.

Earlier this year, Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Randolph ordered pay raises of roughly $15,000 annually for Supreme Court justices, Court of Appeals judges and trial judges based on action taken by the Legislature in 2012. That 2012 bill said the judges “shall” have their salaries “fixed at a level… recommended by the state Personnel Board.”

Juxtapose Randolph’s actions with a unanimous 2017 decision by the Mississippi Supreme Court saying that the Legislature did not have to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program even though state law says concisely “effective with fiscal year 2007, the Legislature shall fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Program.”

The Supreme Court justices, including Randolph, ruled then that the Legislature could just ignore the word “shall.” The Supreme Court did not rule, as many believed it would, that if legislators were not going to follow the law, they should change it so it no longer said the Adequate Education Program “shall” be fully funded. It seems that it would be simple enough to remove the word shall and incorporate, for instance, “it is the intent of the Legislature to fully fund the MAEP.”

MAEP, of course, is the mechanism used to provide the state’s share of funding to pay for the basic operation of local school districts, ranging from teacher salaries to utilities to janitorial services. It provides funding based on a district’s wealth, with poorer districts receiving more state funding than more affluent school systems. The Adequate Education Program has been fully funded only twice since its full enactment in 2003 and has been underfunded a cumulative $2.8 billion since 2008, according to data compiled by The Parents’ Campaign.

READ MORE: Supreme Court chief quietly gave pay raise to himself and other judges without legislative approval

The similarities are striking when examining what happened when the current language saying MAEP “shall” be fully funded was passed in the 2006 legislative session and when the bill saying judges “shall” get a raise based on Personnel Board recommendations was enacted in the 2012 session.

In 2006, then-Gov. Haley Barbour signed into law the bill saying full funding for MAEP “shall” be phased in over a three-year period unless funds were available to fully fund it sooner. A big press conference was held.

In 2012, after an intensive lobbying campaign to provide judges a pay raise, a bill was passed to phase in salary increases for judges over a three-year period. Another section of the same bill said after 2019, judges “shall” get a pay raise based on Personnel Board recommendations.

The stark difference in what happened in 2012 and 2006 is that in 2006 legislators and Barbour bragged about the fact that a compromise had been reached where MAEP would be fully funded henceforth. The compromise came after years of legislative wrangling over the MAEP funding level.

In his 2007 State of the State speech after the 2006 legislation was passed, Barbour proudly proclaimed, “I am confident that in March, you will send me and I will sign an appropriation that fully funds the MAEP formula for next year. I expect that formula to be funded consistently at 100% in the years to come.”

On the other hand, the section of the 2012 legislation allowing the judiciary to bypass the constitutionally created legislative appropriations process was done with little or no discussion or fanfare. Various legislators have said they did not know the section was in the bill when it was passed.

The 2012 bill marks perhaps the only time legislators have given state elected officials the authority to bypass the Legislature and give themselves a pay raise.

No doubt, a strong case can be made that Mississippi judges are underpaid in comparison to the salaries of the judiciary in other states — more importantly surrounding states. According to the National Center for State Courts, most Mississippi judges earn less than their counterparts in surrounding states.

But that should not be surprising. After all, Mississippi school teachers, university and community college staff, indeed most all state employees, are near the bottom nationally in pay and also earn less than their counterparts in surrounding states. Mississippi also is near the bottom in terms of expenditures per pupil, health care access and multiple other areas.

Many groups also would like to be able to bypass the Legislature and get pay raises “to the extent sufficient funds are available” based on Personnel Board recommendations.

Of course, the judges have the added advantage in ensuring their raises since they have the constitutional mandate to interpret the law. But the word “shall,” the justices have decided, means shall for themselves.

The post Supreme Court justices get pay raise because law said they “shall” appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Perian Conerly’s eyes always sparkled when she told stories, as she so often did. She was a beautiful woman, inside and out, and a natural storyteller possessing plenty of material to tell. She also could write, and write well, and we will get to that.

One of my favorites was her story about the 1958 NFL Championship Game, the one that football historians credit with putting professional football on America’s center stage. The New York Giants played the Baltimore Colts. Charlie Conerly, Perian’s husband, was the Giants quarterback. Johnny Unitas quarterbacked the Colts. The two had a shootout that became NFL legend that day.

“Charlie threw a touchdown pass to Frank Gifford that put the Giants ahead by three points late in the game,” Perian told me. “There wasn’t much time left and they took a vote for MVP, and Charlie won.”

Then, in the last two minutes, Unitas passed the Colts down the field to set up a field goal and send the game into overtime. The Colts scored first in overtime to win the game. Another vote was taken for MVP. Unitas won and was presented a shiny new Corvette. Unitas gave the car to his wife.

Said Perian back in 2002, “I always said Dorothy Jean Unitas was driving around Baltimore in my car.”

Perian Conerly died Thursday in her hometown of Clarksdale. She was 94 and had out-lived her beloved Charlie by 25 years. Perian remained very much a part of Mississippi’s sports scene in her later years, usually presenting the C Spire Conerly Trophy to the state’s top college football player at the annual Conerly Trophy Banquet. On occasion, one of Charlie’s old Giants teammates, Gifford, Pat Summerall or Kyle Rote — all dead now — would emcee the event as a favor to Perian and a tribute to their pal, Charlie.

In the 1950s, Charlie and Perian were the toast of New York — he the ruggedly handsome quarterback and the original Marlboro man, she the Southern belle with movie star glamour, a naturally warm personality and all that charm and wit.

From all accounts, she was the first female sports writer, who wrote columns for the New York Times, among other publications. She was the first female member of the Football Writers of American Association (FWAA). Once, she appeared on the old “What’s My Line” TV show and dazzled both the panel and audience and was joined late in the show by her husband.

Back in 2001, long after Perian had ceased writing, I called to tell her that Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post had been judged the best sports columnist in American newspapers. Perian was pleased. “I don’t know her, but I do know her daddy, Dan Jenkins,” Perian said. “He’s a wonderful writer. It must run in their blood.”

Perian could write. Consider this paragraph from her book “Backseat Quarterback” first published by Doubleday in 1963. Perian was writing about meeting Charlie at a swimming pool in 1947: “I was immediately taken with his dark good looks and engaging shyness. And he had lean, low-slung lines peculiar to athletes and Cadillacs. I have always been partial to both.”

In her columns and her book, she wrote intelligently and with much wit. She took a complicated sport and broke it down in the simplest of terms. She wrote cleverly in terms even a novice fan could easily digest. And she had great sources, people named Gifford, Rote, Summerall and Chunkin’ Charlie Conerly.

She had been the editor of her college newspaper, “The Spectator,” at what is now Mississippi University for Women. After marriage, Perian approached the editor of the Clarksdale paper with the idea of writing a weekly column about life in New York during the football season. The column was instantly a hit, so she approached The Clarion Ledger about also publishing the column. Suddenly, she was syndicated. The North American Newspaper Alliance learned of the column and sought to publish on a much wider scale. The New York Times was among the subscribers.

Perian once told me she thought many of the newspaper editors “were intrigued by the idea of a woman sports writer. I mean, back then it was just unheard of.”

All that happened decades before the controversy of women writers being barred from — or allowed into — the supposed sanctity of men’s locker rooms.

“Heavens no,” she answered once when asked her if she had ever considered entering a post-game locker room.

There was no need to, really. She already had trusted inside sources. And she slept with the star quarterback.

The post Perian Conerly, who dazzled with her warmth, looks and words, dies at 94 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In our NextGen Mississippi survey, we asked Mississippians why they left the state. Here’s a sampling of what they said.

“I left Mississippi because there is a lack of opportunity, of diversity, of experience. I grew up in Mississippi and went to college in Mississippi, but as soon as I could leave, I did. It’s home and it’s beautiful, but it’s a state that is hurting — deeply, bitterly divided at the core. I believe in Mississippi, but I’m constantly let down.”

“I left immediately post-graduation because there are no real job opportunities within my profession; at least of the caliber that I desire to work in.”

“I left for better more diverse job opportunities and better support of women.”

“I left for better-ranked schools, and I’ve stayed away because there are no job opportunities in Mississippi that could come close to competing with what I can find on the coasts. I wish coming home was a better option for me.”

View more responses and take the NextGen Mississippi survey here.

The post Jobs, education, politics: Mississippians share why they left the state appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Omaha appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The U.S. Supreme Court this week eliminated one of the reasons cited by Mississippi Republican leaders for not expanding Medicaid.

The nation’s highest court rejected, in a 7-2 decision, a lawsuit asking that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — better known as Obamacare — be struck down. It was the third such lawsuit rejected by the Supreme Court in recent months. The lawsuit was filed by Texas and joined by 17 other Republican-led states, including by former Gov. Phil Bryant on behalf of Mississippi.

A key provision in the Affordable Care Act is the expansion of Medicaid to provide health care coverage to primarily the working poor. The lawsuit rejected Thursday by the U.S. Supreme Court asked that the entire law, including the expansion of Medicaid, be tossed out.

One of the reasons state leaders, such as Gov. Tate Reeves, has used for not expanding Medicaid is that there was no assurance, they claimed because of the lawsuits, that the program would remain in place. They argued that if they expanded Medicaid in Mississippi and the program was dropped by the federal government, the state would be left responsible for providing health insurance to up to 300,000 Mississippians or dropping their coverage.

Twelve states, including Mississippi, have not expanded Medicaid. While state leaders have cited the possibility of the federal government or the courts eliminating a program that 38 states participate in, the primary reason Mississippi leaders said they do not want to expand Medicaid is because it will mean additional costs to the state.

“I am not open to Medicaid expansion,” Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn said at the end of the 2021 session in April. “… I don’t see Medicaid expansion as something that is beneficial to the state of Mississippi. I just don’t think the taxpayers can afford it. That is what it boils down to is the taxpayers. It is their money. I just don’t have taxpayers calling saying we want you to raise taxes so we can expand Medicaid.”

The federal government pays 90% of the costs for Medicaid expansion. Medicaid expansion proponents have argued that in addition to the 90% match, the influx of federal money — estimated at $1 billion per year — would be an economic boon to the state.

Plus, the American Rescue Plan, approved by Congress earlier this year and signed into law by President Joe Biden, offers additional financial incentive for the holdout states to expand Medicaid. It has been estimated that the incentive would be more than $600 million for Mississippi over a two-year period.

The lawsuit was essentially rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court this week because the majority said the states could not prove any harm from the Affordable Care Act.

If the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of the Texas lawsuit, that could have placed health care coverage in jeopardy for 31 million Americans and could have placed in jeopardy coverage of pre-existing conditions for millions more.

The Texas lawsuit said among the reasons the law should be rejected is that in recent years under former President Donald Trump, the mandate that people had to purchase insurance was dropped. They claimed in earlier Supreme Court rulings the individual mandate was cited as a tax and with that tax removed the law was unconstitutional.

The post Supreme Court upholds ACA, turns focus back to Medicaid expansion appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A private school district in Mississippi has terminated the contracts of all teachers at two of its schools and failed to pay them for days already worked, a signal that their doors will close for good and leave dozens of children without specialized education they struggle to find at public schools.

Both Oxford University School and the North New Summit School in Greenwood are members of the New Learning Resources School District, which has struggled financially since its owner was accused of defrauding the state and federal government. 

Last week, Mississippi Today reported that New Summit School in Jackson, which also missed paydays for its teachers, was working on a court custodianship to take over operation of the school. But the custodianship does not apply to the other New schools.

READ MORE: New Summit teachers miss paychecks for first time since owner was accused of fraud

The parents of students at New Summit School in Jackson worked to have the school placed under a custodianship, legally approved on June 1, in an effort to keep the school operational. Gary Herring, the court-appointed school custodian, sent an email to New Summit staff saying that the custodianship would begin without any funds to make payroll and he could not guarantee their success.

Nancy and Zach New originally stepped away from the New Learning Resources School District following their arrest for an alleged welfare embezzlement scandal, Clarion Ledger reported, but a federal grand jury also indicted them for defrauding the Mississippi Department of Education through the New Learning Resources School District. 

The New Learning Resources School District focuses on providing specialized services for students with behavioral or learning disabilities. As a private school group with public accreditation from the Mississippi Department of Education, schools in the district are funded through a combination of tuition payments and Education Scholarship Accounts, a voucher that allows public school dollars to follow special needs students to private schools.

Teachers at North New Summit, New Summit, and Oxford University School are all owed six paychecks for work already completed, according to four teachers who did not want their names printed for fear of retaliation. Teachers at Oxford University School estimated that the school district owes them between $3,000 and $6,000 for work already completed, depending on the teacher’s yearly salary. Oxford University School and North New Summit teachers received their termination letter on June 11.

While New Summit School in Jackson did not begin experiencing paycheck uncertainty until March, the Oxford University School has paid their teachers late almost every pay period since late September. Three teachers confirmed that the school consistently delivered their paychecks 3-5 days behind schedule. 

When one teacher attempted to report this to the Department of Labor, the department told her that a claim for non-payment would become void once the teachers were paid each time. 

The Oxford University School, founded in 1984, was not acquired by the New Learning Resources School District until 2019. Mississippi Today previously reported that the owners defrauded the Mississippi Department of Education through invoices from New Summit School and North New Summit, but the indictment did not name Oxford University School as part of the scheme. 

One teacher from the Oxford University School pointed out that while this partnership was intended to help the school thrive, it is ultimately the reason that they are closing.

Several teachers voiced concerns about what happened to the tuition money that parents paid if it was not being used to pay their salaries. Teachers interviewed from the Oxford University School were also frustrated by the lack of communication from administrators. 

“It was so dishonest for [New Learning Resources] to take advantage of a situation where you still had money coming in and people who really cared [at the school] not making much money anyway and to just not say anything,” one teacher said. 

Teachers were unsure if parents had been informed that the schools would be closing. 

The letter terminating Oxford University School and North New Summit teachers did not specify whether the schools would be closing for the upcoming school year, according to a copy obtained by Mississippi Today. The letter did say New Learning Resources would not have the funds to make further salary payments. 

Keith Davis, the principal of North New Summit School, could not be reached to discuss the future of school. Roy Balentine, the interim director of New Learning Resources, and Nancy New also did not return calls or text messages to Mississippi Today.

Nancy and Zach New have both pleaded not guilty to all charges and are awaiting trial. 

The post New Summit lays off teachers at two of its campuses appeared first on Mississippi Today.