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After cries from struggling child care providers, many of whom were forced to stay open during the pandemic even while schools closed, Mississippi has started taking federal grant applications from day care centers.

The Mississippi Department of Human Services received $319 million from the American Rescue Plan Act in April to help stabilize the child care industry. Centers may apply for a direct grant, which could be over $400,000 depending on their capacity size, on the agency’s website.

The Division of Early Childhood Care and Development hosted a virtual meeting on Dec. 1 to answer questions about the application process and how the money may be used.

The grant program, called Child Care Strong, is sure to provide breathing room to often understaffed, cash-strapped centers and ideally create the opportunity for improvements within the facilities.

Patricia Young, owner of School of Champions Development & Learning Academy in Itta Bena, said she hopes to use the money to hire and retain more workers and increase salaries for certified teachers.

“We are on pins and needles. We need the money,” Young said.

But the influx in funding won’t necessarily translate to more working parents who need child care getting it — which Mississippi has an interest in if it wants to grow its economy and strengthen its workforce.

“A lot of our centers, they’re under-enrolled, they’ve got empty seats, they’ve got parents who are on their waiting lists needing child care, it’s just the parent can’t afford to pay,” said Carol Burnett, founder of the Low-Income Child Care Initiative, which primarily works with child care centers that accept the state’s Child Care Payment Program voucher for low-income parents. “So if this money steps in and pays, then conceivably they could add children and fill those slots. But there’s nothing in the application or in the requirements from DHS that they do that.”

Young said many working parents in her area, who work at fish plants and fast food restaurants, cannot afford child care out-of-pocket but are also struggling to get their application for a voucher approved at the Mississippi Department of Human Services. Thousands of parents have been kicked off the program in the last year, according to a recent center survey, and due to the red tape, the program is only serving just a fraction of those who would qualify based on their income.

Burnett said she’s concerned that the state is making the grants accessible to well-off child care centers that serve parents in the professional class, so the state isn’t targeting the money to the highest need areas. Meanwhile, officials have said they don’t intend to put more money in the voucher program, which they say is serving every eligible applicant despite widespread complaints.

State agency officials argue the federally stated purpose for the stabilization funding isn’t necessarily to expand child care. However, “providers are encouraged not to collect copayments from families during the grant period to the extent possible and prioritize such relief for families struggling to make either type of payment,” the website states.

The state received an additional $199 million in its Child Care Development Fund block grant, which provides funding for the voucher, from the American Rescue Plan Act. Agency officials have said they may use this funding to supplement the stabilization grants directly to child care centers.

The state could use this money to fund vouchers for the many parents who would become eligible for the program if the agency did away with a requirement — that neither federal regulations or state law requires — that single parents sue their child’s noncustodial parent in order to qualify for child care assistance.

But despite an outcry from providers and advocates, the agency has not entertained changing the policy.

Child care centers may use the new grant funding on “personnel costs, rent or mortgage payments, insurance, facility maintenance and improvements, personal protective equipment (PPE) and COVID-related supplies, training, and professional development related to the health and safety practices, goods and services needed to resume providing care, mental health supports for children and early educators, and reimbursement of costs associated with the current public health emergency,” and agency press release said.

Licensed or registered child care providers are eligible for the grant if they are in good standing with the department, federal accountability reports, and have not violated some rule, such as committing fraud within the voucher program or having their license suspended by the Department of Health. The centers do not have to participate in the voucher program to qualify. Head start and state or locally-funded Pre-K programs are not qualified.

“This third round of direct pandemic-related support is part of our continued service to Mississippi children and childcare providers who continue to feel the effects of the pandemic,” Mississippi Department of Human Services director Bob Anderson said in the release. “Childcare is essential to our workforce and getting families back to work in support of our state economy and providing tangible help to Mississippi children to create hope for tomorrow.” 

The state also issued $47 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, funding through similar grants to child care centers in 2020.

The post Child care centers may finally receive up to over $400,000 in pandemic relief grants appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch has contracted to pay a D.C. law firm and two out-of-state public relations firms up to $558,000 in her efforts to defend Mississippi laws seeking to ban or limit access to abortion.

Scott Stewart, Fitch’s solicitor general, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday that the 1973 Roe v. Wade high court court ruling guaranteeing abortion rights should be overturned. Stewart, a former Department of Justice appointee of former President Donald Trump, was tabbed as solicitor general by Fitch earlier this year. She created the post of solicitor general in 2020 soon after her election.

Fitch sat by Stewart’s side at the counsel’s table during the arguments.

Fitch contracted with the law firm last year and the PR firms this summer. The contracts say the state will pay up to $558,000 for the work, but could be amended to pay more. The contract with the law firm has already been amended from its original $300,000 cap to $450,000.

The contracts are with:

• Schaerr Jaffe, a Washington, D-C.-based law firm, for up to $450,000. The firm is charging the state $385 an hour for work by partners, $285 an hour for associates and $125 an hour for paralegals. So far, Mississippi taxpayers have paid the firm $369,537 from April 2020 through early August, according to state records.
• Debbee Heller Hancock, a Birmingham-based public relations consultant, for up to $60,000. The firm is being paid up to $5,000 a month to “provide assistance in developing messaging, drafting written and graphic materials, working with reporters and others … related to AGO litigation.” Hancock had been paid $24,031 from June through mid October.
• Becky Rogness, a Alexandria, Va.-based public relations consultant, for up $48,000. The firms is being paid up to $4,000 a month for the same services listed in the Hancock contract. Rogness had been paid $18,000 from July through early November.

The contracts with the public relations consultants for now run from June 2021 to June 2022. The contract with Schaerr Jaffee is for February 2020 until Feb. 28, 2023. The contracts could be extended.

In addition to payments to private entities, public employees in Fitch’s office, such as Stewart, also are working to defend the anti-abortion laws.

Michelle Williams, Fitch’s chief of staff, said it is “perfectly legitimate” to hire the public relations firms to help with the litigation since the Attorney’s General Office has only one in-house communications person. She said, “The AGO brought on two communications individuals on contract for a total of $108,000 annually. We have one person on staff full-time doing communications.”

Since Fitch took office in January 2020, she has fired two communications directors.

Williams said Schaerr Jaffe did not do any work on the case that was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday. She said it was working on another abortion case that was being heard in the lower courts and was put on hold while the Supreme Court decided whether it, as Fitch is requesting, will overturn Roe v. Wade.

She said only attorneys within the AG’s office worked on the Supreme Court arguments.

“We are not a very big Attorney General’s Office compared to other attorneys general,” William said.

The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case before the Supreme Court centers around Mississippi’s 2018 law that banned abortions after 15 weeks. That law was prevented from going into effort by lower federal courts, based on Roe v. Wade and on other rulings by the Supreme Court.

After the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, Fitch argued that not only should the 15-week ban be upheld, but that Roe v. Wade in its totality should be overturned. Since the Legislature passed the 15-week ban, it also has enacted a ban on abortions after six weeks. That is part of what is being argued in the lower court and what is on hold while the Supreme Court rules. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the six-week ban would be moot. The state has in place a 2007 trigger law that would make abortion illegal in Mississippi if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

READ MORE: Supreme Court appears likely to uphold Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban

Shaerr Jaffe, LLP is a self-described “boutique law firm specializing in high-profile trial and appellate litigation.” The firm has handled hundreds of Supreme Court proceedings and have won eight cases before the high court.

Partner Gene Schaerr served in the George H.W. Bush White House as associate counsel to the president and previously clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justice Antonin Scalia. He clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals D.C. Circuit for then-Judge Kenneth Starr. Partner Erik S. Jaffe clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Court of Appeals Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg.

The contract with the AG’s office said Schaerr Jaffe will “review relevant documents, meet with any and all officials, witnesses and representatives as deemed necessary.”

Both public relations consultants have deep roots in Republican politics and have been advocates for conservative social issues, such as opposing abortions. But Debbee Heller Hancock wrote an essay urging Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate to vote to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Republicans often criticized Fitch’s Democratic predecessor, Jim Hood, for his use of outside counsel, which he normally hired on a contingency basis, meaning they did not get paid unless they prevailed in court.

READ MORE: Lynn Fitch wants to overturn Roe v. Wade. Is she up to something more?

The post Attorney General Lynn Fitch paying outside law, PR firms for fight against abortion appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A federal judge has struck down the part of Mississippi’s eviction law that allows landlords to immediately seize the property of delinquent tenants, saying it has “unpredictable and absurd results.”

In 2019, an apartment manager stood in front of Columbus paralegal Samantha Conner while he took nearly everything she owned — the electronics she used to stay employed, her children’s birth certificates and baby photos, her college diplomas and even the Playstation her teenage son bought himself with money he earned.

All over less than a thousand dollars in unpaid rent.

With the help of the University of Mississippi School of Law Civil Legal Clinic, Conner eventually sued the apartment owner, property manager and constable, asking the judge to examine the law and award her damages.

Conner told Mississippi Today she lost more than just belongings that day, which is why the latest ruling means so much to her.

“To know that I was the catalyst for getting this ridiculous law changed, that gives me back some of the power that I feel that I had lost,” she said Wednesday.

Facing a surprise removal warrant in early 2019, Conner tried to pack up whatever belongings she could after the property manager at her apartment and a county constable entered her apartment, ordering her to leave.

But apartment manager Kevin Casteel demanded she drop the items — her laptop she needs for freelance work, hard drives with client information on them and even a tub of Vaseline.

“Casteel and (Lowndes County Constable Sonny) Sanders followed her through the apartment like she was a criminal trying to steal her own property,” Conner’s attorney wrote.

Conner recounted what Casteel told Sanders during the removal: “Make her give it back. Make her give it back. She can’t keep it. Tell her she can’t keep that. Arrest her. Arrest her.”

Casteel later testified that he sold, donated or trashed Conner’s things.

U.S. District Judge Michael Mills said there’s just one way to look at what Casteel did: “It can only be regarded as an act of pure mean-spiritedness and spite that Casteel deemed it preferable to throw plaintiff’s cherished personal items in a dumpster rather than allow her to keep them or return them to her,” he wrote.

But state law apparently allowed him to do it.

Despite what Mills called “very vague and non-specific” arguments Mississippi Attorney General’s Office presented in the case in defense of the law, “This court concludes that the Mississippi statutes in question are, in fact, unconstitutional and must be so declared,” the Nov. 30 order reads.

The judge’s order includes a stay pending an appeal, giving the Legislature the opportunity to revise the statute in its 2022 session. Michelle Williams, chief of staff for Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, did not say whether the office planned to appeal. “We are reviewing the order and evaluating our next steps at this time,” she said in an email.

When contacted in February for an initial story about Conner’s case, Jack Hayes, the Columbus attorney representing Casteel and the apartment complex owner James Brooks, told Mississippi Today: “It may sound harsh. And it may be harsh, but they followed the letter of the law.”

Hayes told Mississippi Today on Thursday that the judge’s ruling has “put everyone in a tailspin.” He said he’s received calls from realtors and leasing agents who are concerned about how to handle evictions going forward. Hayes also said that it’s rare for a case like this to result in a judge finding state law unconstitutional, and it’s never happened in a case of his. But it’s the attorney general’s office, not Hayes, who is responsible for defending the law.

Hayes said that the latest ruling does not resolve Conner’s request for damages against his clients, whom he still argues never acted illegally. The parties could reach a settlement before trial, otherwise a jury will decide what the defendants owe Conner.

On top of losing access to all her basic necessities, Conner has faced homelessness on and off since the eviction.

“I know what struggling is, and I know the feeling of being without a home and having a family and what that entails,” Conner said. “I’m glad that they’re finally recognizing how many lives this has wrecked, because you can’t rely on all the landlords to just be upstanding individuals and to use the law the way it was supposedly written.”

Mississippi’s Landlord-Tenant Act, amended in 2018 and 2019, provides that as soon as a judge grants an eviction in court, the landlord may immediately assume ownership of all the tenant’s belongings located on the property, even a trailer home. An eviction is almost always ordered automatically if the tenant is even one day behind on rent and there is no guarantee of a grace period that would give them the time to move.

No other states allow landlords to immediately seize tenant property the way Mississippi does, lawyers with the Mississippi Center for Justice told Mississippi Today earlier this year.

The law says: “If the judge grants possession of this premises to the landlord and you do not remove your personal property, including any manufactured home, from the premises before the date and time ordered by the judge, then the landlord may dispose of your personal property without any further legal action.”

Mississippi Center for Justice attorney William Bedwell said the recent judge’s order presents an opportunity to revamp the entire eviction process in Mississippi, “because it’s kind of a Frankenstein process the way our statutes are split up.”

“Judges, landlords and tenants would all benefit from better clarity,” he said.

Mills wrote that one reason he was compelled to find the statute unconstitutional is because it is one of the harshest eviction provisions in the nation. He argued that even if tenants are given notice that any property left at the apartment past the date of removal may be “disposed,” no reasonable person would anticipate they be forced to leave their belongings at the premise.

“This court can discern no reason why a tenant in plaintiff’s position would have even dreamed, based on the language of the summons, that she would be confronted with the Kafkaesque nightmare which actually transpired in this case. Such things do not happen in America. In forty-nine states in this country, this perception would be correct,” he wrote.

Mills described a statute in West Virginia, for example, which specifies that for property to be considered “abandoned,” the tenant “must have ‘informed the landlord in writing’ that such is the case, or else it must be ‘garbage,’” Mills wrote in his order.

“Mississippi’s eviction statutes fail to engage in such a reasonable balancing of the interests of the landlord and tenant, instead giving the landlord full and complete authority to immediately ‘dispose of’ any personal property of the tenant, with unpredictable and absurd results.”

The rule also creates scenarios where tenants can have wildly different outcomes based on the moods of the landlord.

“A tenant fortunate enough to be evicted by a landlord with a modicum of human decency might be allowed to take much of her property with her,” Mills wrote, “while less fortunate tenants, such as the plaintiff in this case, might see cherished personal possessions such as family photos and diplomas maliciously discarded.”

What happened in Conner’s case may be outrageous, but it’s not entirely unique. The University of Mississippi legal clinic recently filed two other suits against Casteel and Brooks, alleging they did the same thing to other tenants.

Conner’s attorney Desiree Hensley described the scenario: Casteel and the constable show up, force the tenants to leave with nothing, then when the tenants beg, even show up with cash to try to pay for their stuff back, they’re told, “No, this is mine.”

“I think it was their business model,” Hensley said.

Hensley said that when Conner first reached out to the clinic, the team immediately sent a letter to the landlord, notifying him he had violated Conner’s rights and asking him to return her belongings, in which case they wouldn’t have sued. He refused.

Hensley said that without brave victims like Conner, constitutional challenges don’t happen.

“Our hope is that that leads her to get damages that help her put her life back in order,” Hensley said.

Conner has been living in a hotel for the past three months. When reached on Wednesday with the news of the ruling, Conner’s initial tone after answering the phone changed: “Are you serious?” she said through laughter.

“You don’t know how much I needed this news today,” Conner said. “I can jump out of bed and click my heels. I am homeless now again because of them. And so this makes me sing from the inside out. Trust me. You can’t see it, and probably can’t hear it in my voice, because I am extremely depressed right now, but this definitely gives me some light out of that dark tunnel.”

“I think that this is going to enable people and may give other people the courage to be able to go forward and maybe seek out some justice,” Conner continued. “They may have been scared. And now I have been able to provide this footing, so that they can use this law now to say that, ‘Hey, you cannot do this to people.’ People matter. We have feelings. And I don’t think that people grasp that. When you’re poor and struggling, people just think that you’re nothing. And I want people to understand that our feelings are valid as well.”

The post Federal judge finds Mississippi eviction law unconstitutional after ‘Kafkaesque nightmare’ removal appeared first on Mississippi Today.

When Madison Central High School sophomore Leo Mei took the two-hour-long Advanced Placement Psychology test last spring, he had no idea he’d be one of six students in the world to attain a perfect score. There were 262,700 total test takers from all over the globe. 

“It’s just phenomenal,” said Madison Central High School principal Sean Brewer. 

Advanced Placement, or AP, courses give high school students a chance to take on college-level work. And those who score a three or higher on the AP exam can earn college credits for it. 

State education leaders have long touted the importance of Mississippi students’ access to AP offerings, and AP participation is a component of school districts’ yearly accountability ratings, or grades, given by the state education department.

Mei, now a junior, is humble when talking about his achievement.

He attributes it to a lot of hard work, which he has seen modeled by his parents, who are both medical researchers at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He said both came from poor families in China. 

“Through hard work, they made it to some of the top universities in China and eventually came here” to the United States, he said. “They have one of the biggest success stories ever, and that motivates me.”

And he has a passion for the subject. He would often research topics covered in class that interested him on his own. 

“It’s about how the human mind works, and that’s one of the most mysterious things that science is (still) learning about today,” he said of psychology. 

While Mei remains humble about his intelligence, his teachers and those who know him don’t mince words when asked about him.

Mei’s AP Psychology teacher Brett Mayfield refers to him as “absolutely brilliant.” He said he doesn’t know many teachers who could make a perfect score on the test. 

“It does have some recall questions, but most of the questions are application … They require the students not just remember the concepts but be able to apply the concepts in real life situations,” he said. 

The free response portion is particularly difficult to do perfectly, Mayfield said. 

“There’s very specific criteria to make sure there’s a breadth and depth of knowledge (in the student). Those questions are very centered on analysis and application — just getting a perfect score on the free response is impressive in and of itself.”

Now a junior, Mei is taking six Advanced Placement courses, which he describes as “fun.”

“They really are!” he said after several reporters, administrators and teachers let out a chuckle at a press event for Mei earlier this month. “They cover complex topics that are really interesting in themselves, but I also have really great teachers.” 

And luckily, Mei, who has been in the district since fourth grade, is at a school that has a robust offering of advanced courses and a culture that encourages academics. Madison County School District also pays for one Advanced Placement test for every student each year — no small expense as the tests run at about $100 each.

At Madison Central High School, where about 1,200 students attend, around 400 AP exams are given each year to students, according to the school’s testing coordinator. 

Mayfield, who now works at the Mississippi Department of Education, said the school has led the way for years in terms of AP offerings. 

“We started new AP programs and re-evaluated our programs regularly. We really did try to give students rigorous instruction in those AP courses,” he said. 

Brewer says he’s constantly awed by the culture of both the students and community. 

“We’re blessed to have a collection of students who want to be challenged and have a drive and a passion to succeed academically,” said Brewer.

He said he will often visit some of the classrooms just to listen to the discussions the students are having. 

“The depth on the topics (they talk about) is fantastic,” he said. 

When Mei isn’t immersed in homework and other research, he’s usually reading science fiction, his favorite genre, or playing the piano. 

At the end of this year, though, much of his time will undoubtedly be spent applying to the nation’s top colleges and universities — though the 16-year-old says he doesn’t know yet where he might want to go. 

He does think he will probably major in biology as a precursor to his future medical education.

“I want to be a doctor. How living beings work and how they collapse, and how to fix that is something I’ve always been really interested in,” he said. 

The post Madison Central student one of six in the world to achieve perfect score on AP exam appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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While oral arguments in a Mississippi abortion case were heard at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Wednesday, protesters both for and against abortion access were making themselves heard across the Magnolia State’s capital city.

Music was bumping in downtown Jackson’s Smith Park for the “Abortion Freedom Fighters” rally, which saw over 100 attendees, some traveling from Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia. The rally was live-streamed onto the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, where thousands gathered on Wednesday. 

Rally organizers Michelle Colon, Tyler Harden and Valencia Robinson spoke first, subsequently opening the floor to other community organizers and out-of-state guests. 

Harden, the Mississippi state director for Planned Parenthood, spoke about the history of white supremacy and subjugation that has led to this moment, emphasizing that these battles are not new.

“Even though this place doesn’t want to love us back, we love you Mississippi,” Harden said.

Nearly every speaker emphasized that regardless of what the Supreme Court decides, they will continue to make reproductive health care available and accessible to anyone who needs it.

READ MORE: Supreme Court appears likely to uphold Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban

“We are here for abortions, and we are here if you want to keep your baby. You need diapers? You need wipes? You need menstrual products? We’re here,” said Kayla Roberts of the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund. “We have condoms, we have abortion information, we have a food pantry, we have emergency housing; you tell us what you need.”

Five or six anti-abortion protestors attended the rally to disrupt the gathering, preaching and yelling at the speakers and attendees with bullhorns. The counter protestors were heavily outnumbered at Smith Park, though, and the abortion advocates turned up the volume on their public address system and the rally continued without major interruption.

“It is no coincidence that the voices trying to disrupt women of color, people of color, are white men,” said Lakeesha Harris, director of reproductive health and justice at Women With A Vision, Inc. in New Orleans. “As per usual, they come here empty-handed, with no money and no resources to help the children that we’ve already given birth to.”

Organizations who attended the rally included SHERo, Mississippi in Action, Planned Parenthood, Access Reproductive Care Southeast, the Yellowhammer Fund, the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund, the Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, One Voice MS, and Cooperation Jackson.

“Mississippi has always been counted out, but today we showed not just the Supreme Court but the governor — we’ve shown people that we are not going to let y’all make decisions on our bodies,” said Valencia Robinson, CEO and founder of Mississippi in Action. “Women, pregnant people, nobody. Because if you’re taking one right away, you’re going to start trying to take other rights away.”

Outside the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s only abortion clinic located several miles north of Smith Park, things were relatively quiet. Around 30-40 anti-abortion protestors were praying with red tape over their mouths with “LIFE” written on it, holding signs with graphic images or waving pink flags. One man was trying to talk to people in cars as they drove out of the clinic parking lot, and another was preaching. 

“God almighty visited you and gave you a baby. Will you save it today? Will you love it?” said Coleman Boyd, a regular protester outside the Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

One man drove his car up and down the street honking and playing loud music to disrupt the preaching, but left after a few minutes. The building’s speakers were also loudly playing pop music, with the protestors in turn aiming speakers at the building playing hymns. 

READ MORE: Is Mississippi the ‘safest state in the nation for an unborn child?’ Data shows it’s not even close.

Clinic escorts, who have become known as the “Pink House defenders” (named after the building’s recognizable pink exterior), were guarding the parking lot. Sharon Lobert, a Pink House defender, said that this was part of the shift in operations that came during the pandemic, since people now wait in their cars to be seen instead of in the lobby. 

Lobert, a retired nurse, has been volunteering with the defenders for three-and-a-half years and has watched anti-abortion protestors become more ardent. She also said she has noticed an increase in out-of-state patients.

“I’ve learned how Derenda (the lead organizer of the defenders) works very hard to have a relationship with the (anti-abortion protestors) so you can know what to expect and how to keep people safe,” Lobert said. “It’s the people that you don’t recognize that you’ve got to worry about.”

Editor’s note: Michelle Colon, an organizer of the Dec. 1 downtown Jackson rally, is a part-time employee of Mississippi Today. She assists our administrative team, but she does not have any editorial role.

The post As America debated abortion, Mississippi protesters made themselves heard appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Attorneys for the state of Mississippi and the Jackson Women’s Health Organization clashed for nearly two hours Wednesday as they presented oral arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court on a challenge to the state’s 15-week abortion ban.

The case represents the most serious challenge to the landmark decisions of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in decades. When the arguments were said and done, the court appeared unlikely to reaffirm Roe, but the court’s six-member conservative majority also appeared split on whether to weaken or overturn Roe entirely. 

Mississippi Solicitor General Scott G. Stewart said that Roe and Casey “haunt our country” and repeatedly asserted that a right to abortion is found nowhere in the text of the Constitution. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor in turn argued that the Constitution has been interpreted to include many legal principles that are not explicitly laid out in its text. 

Attorney Julie Rikelman, a lawyer representing the Jackson clinic, argued that allowing pre-viability abortion bans to stand would do “profound damage to women’s liberty, equality and the rule of law,” essentially making women second-class citizens. 

The conservative justices appeared to repeatedly push back on this argument through their lines of questioning. Justice Brett Kavanaugh pointed out that abortion would remain legal in many liberal states if Roe were overturned and the question of abortion rights was removed from the Court’s purview. Justice Amy Coney Barrett repeatedly brought up giving up a baby for adoption as an alternative. Justice Clarence Thomas repeatedly questioned Rikelman on whether criminal child neglect laws can be used to prosecute a woman who abused drugs while pregnant, a clear fetal personhood argument. 

Multiple questions also arose about whether the viability standard, which prevents abortion restrictions before the fetus can survive outside the womb, or 24-weeks of gestation, should remain in place. No alternative was presented by the abortion-rights attorneys when pressed for one.

Justice Samuel Alito asked why viability should be the line for abortion restrictions. He noted that a woman who doesn’t want to have a baby has that same interest regardless of how far along she is in the pregnancy. He also noted that the point of fetal viability, when a fetus can survive outside the uterus, is subject to change over time through advancements in medical technology. 

Over the course of the arguments, the Latin phrase “stare decisis” came up often. The phrase refers to a legal doctrine which states the court should stand by its previous decisions and be wary of overturning precedent. 

The court’s three-member liberal minority  — Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sotomayor — showed that the integrity of the court was pressing on their minds throughout the arguments. Recent polls have shown a sharp decline in public perceptions of the court, many viewing it as beholden to political whims. 

Sotomayor was perhaps the most forceful in her language when discussing the dangers posed to the institution if it were to abandon the precedent established in Roe. 

“Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?” Sotomayor asked.

Chief Justice John Roberts, viewed as the most moderate of the court’s conservative wing, appeared frustrated with what he suggested was a bait-and-switch strategy the state used to transform the case into a challenge to Roe and Casey. In its original petition for Supreme Court review, officials told the justices that overturning Roe or Casey was not required for this case. After the court agreed to hear the case, the state shifted its strategy to a full throated assault on these precedents. 

Roberts voiced his preference to stick to that narrower question on pre-viability bans, saying “the thing that is at issue before us today is 15 weeks.” Alito rejected that position, saying “the only real options we have” are to reaffirm Roe or to overrule it.

In the coming days, the justices will cast their votes in a private conference. Then the members of the majority and minority will draft and share their opinions. Though the average length of time after oral arguments for the court to issue a decision is three months, the decision in this case is not expected till June or July next year, when the most major rulings tend to be released. 

If Roe were overturned, 26 states are certain to or likely to ban abortion altogether. Mississippi’s trigger law banning all abortions would immediately go into effect. 

The post Supreme Court appears likely to uphold Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi College and Jackson State University (JSU) are receiving $5 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds for the creation of a public health partnership.

The joint project is one of six to receive funding from Gov. Tate Reeves’ second round of Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) aid, which totaled $15.57 million. The aid is meant to provide relief to schools and education-related groups that have been most significantly impacted by COVID-19.

Unlike in the first round of funding, Reeves awarded this money at his discretion, not through an application process. 

The public-private partnership will create a bachelor’s in public health program at both institutions and allow students to share resources, including faculty and lab and classroom space. It will also create a pipeline for students at Mississippi College to transition into the master’s and doctoral public health programs at JSU.

Alisa Mosley, provost and vice president of academic affairs at JSU, said the partnership was the brainchild of the two institutions’ presidents. 

The money will also go towards offering certificates for public health professionals. The goal is to equip those already in the workforce with a deeper knowledge of public health and more skills, said Brandi Newkirk-Turner, associate provost in the division of academic affairs and a professor of communicative disorders at JSU. 

The main goal is to improve public health in Mississippi through the education of both future and current public health workers, in addition to community members.

“We want to use the expertise at both institutions to help advance public health in Mississippi,” said Keith Elder, provost and executive vice president of Mississippi College, who also has a background in public health. “Together with the combined resources we know we can make even a more significant impact.”

READ MORE: Schools, state slowly spending federal COVID-19 money

JSU and Mississippi College received the largest award.

Reeves also awarded $3 million to the Office of Student Financial Aid to assist students who have fallen behind during the pandemic in completing courses during the summer of next year.

Jennifer Rogers, the director of student financial aid, said the extra funding is significant because state aid is not currently available to students during the summer term. 

“We appreciate Governor Reeves for recognizing the challenges faced by students over the course of the pandemic and for making this additional funding available,” she said, noting the office only recently learned about the award and has not yet established rules for the program. 

Connect Our Kids, a Virginia-based nonprofit, also received $3 million. The organization provides software to foster care professionals that helps track down extended family members who could potentially care for children in foster care. 

According to Reeves’ office, social workers at Child Protective Services will be able to use the program.

Representatives from both Connect Our Kids and Child Protective Services had not responded to requests for comment and more information by Tuesday.

Other recipients of this aid include:

• $475,000 to CampusKnot, an online teaching platform for K-12
• $2 million to National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to support current National Board Certified Teachers, candidates and eligible teachers to equip them with tools and training to improve instruction

Holly Spivey, education policy adviser to Reeves, said there is an additional project that has been approved, but details weren’t available at the time of publishing.

The post Reeves awards $14 million of federal education funds appeared first on Mississippi Today.

State agencies and other groups pitched lawmakers for hundreds of millions in federal pandemic stimulus funds in hearings at the Capitol on Monday and Tuesday.

The agencies want to fix or replace dilapidated buildings, water and sewer pipes, and computer systems. They asked for money to expand nursing programs, hire more law officers, improve the state’s tourism marketing and workforce training, buy a helicopter and do many other projects that would otherwise be out of reach in the regular state budget.

The Legislature has $1.8 billion in American Rescue Plan Act money it can allocate from now through December 2024, with relatively broad leeway under federal regulations.

Mississippi is behind most other states in planning for and spending its ARPA funds. But a special Senate Appropriations subcommittee appointed by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann is holding hearings through the end of the year and will make recommendations to the Legislature when it convenes in January.

FOLLOW THE MONEY: How will Mississippi spend billions in federal pandemic stimulus dollars?

The agencies this week made more than $1.6 billion in requests. But some of the requests were duplicative, would not likely qualify under the federal rules, and some agencies are receiving other federal pandemic funds directly. Sen. John Polk, chair of the special committee, said those are issues that will have to be sorted out.

Mississippi’s city and county governments are also receiving a combined $900 million in ARPA funds. Hosemann, who has called for the money to be spent in “transformational” ways that will have an impact for generations, has proposed the Legislature use up to half its funds to match city and county spending, to provide for larger projects.

READ MORE: How are other states spending COVID-19 stimulus money?

Some requests made during the two days of hearings include:

Institutions of Higher Learning

$200 million

State universities are asking for money for money to improve broadband internet services, especially for rural campuses, to fix aging water, sewerage, ventilation and other infrastructure and to expand health programs to help with the state’s shortage of nurses and other health practitioners.

Commissioner of Higher Education Alfred Rankins Jr. told lawmakers that needed projects include “potable water contingencies” at Jackson State University and Alcorn State, heating and air projects at the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State and a project to alleviate flooding at the University of Southern Mississippi.

“For many of our campuses, the water and sewer systems are more than 40 years old,” Rankins said.

Community colleges

$84.6 million

The state’s 15 community colleges need upgrades for water and sewerage and broadband connectivity, said Kell Smith, interim director of the Community College Board. The schools also want to use the money to focus on supply-chain issues with workforce training and to expand allied health programs — to produce more nurses and other health workers currently in short supply statewide.

“(Regular) Appropriations and bonds have not been enough to cover these needs in the past,” said Smith, who said his request includes $54.5 million for infrastructure, $15 million for supply chain workforce training and $15 million for health programs.

Private universities and colleges

$39.5 million

The state’s seven private colleges would qualify for the state’s federal pandemic funds, said Jason Dean, director of the Mississippi Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

Dean said many campus buildings at the schools are around 100 years old and need work, and like public universities, they could expand their nursing and other healthcare programs to help the state’s shortage.

State courts

$13 million

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael K. Randolph told lawmakers that the state’s court system is constitutionally required to keep operating even during the worst of a pandemic, and federal dollars could help the system address backlogs and improve technology.

He noted that with previous federal pandemic funds, the court system sent back hundreds of thousands of dollars it didn’t need, proving the system is frugal and trustworthy.

“I look at it like it’s my own checkbook,” Randolph said.

Accelerate Mississippi workforce training

$250 million

Ryan Miller, director of the state’s new workforce development clearinghouse agency, said there are “4,000 jobs unfilled in nursing alone” in Mississippi, and federal funds can help produce needed trained workers in healthcare, emerging technology sectors, logistics and supply chain and other areas.

Mississippi Department of Employment Security

$91.9 million

The agency’s main request is $90.9 million to replenish the state’s unemployment trust fund to its pre-pandemic levels, said interim Director Robin Stewart.

In January of 2020, the fund had $707 million. It got hit with $488 million in unemployment claims during the worst of the pandemic shutdown. The state replenished the fund with about $397 million from an earlier round of federal pandemic relief, but it is only at $595, still below pre-pandemic level. Keeping the fund flush staves off automatic tax increases for state businesses.

The agency also requested $1 million for four new customized buses to serve as mobile WIN Job Centers, to replace its current bus, which is old, large, hard to maneuver and breaks down often, Stewart said.

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency

$12.9 million

MEMA Director Stephen McCraney told lawmakers his agency had to scramble with COVID-19 response, including standing up a warehouse and distribution for personal protective equipment — and noted, “there’s another variant coming.”

McCraney said the agency needs the federal dollars to pay salaries for staff and reservists, cover utilities and maintenance for its emergency supply warehouse, cover COVID-19 contracts and PPE expenses.

“Without ARPA funds, we’re going to be forced to dip into the state coffers,” McCraney said.

State buildings and infrastructure/government health insurance plan

$553 million

The state Department of Finance and Administration asked lawmakers for $500 million for capital projects — work on state-owned buildings and infrastructure — and $53 million, for now, to prop up the state employee insurance plan.

Some of DFA’s request for projects appeared to duplicate requests from colleges and universities and other agencies. Part of the request is for the state employee health insurance program, which was hit with more than $50 million in pandemic costs and has had to dip into cash reserves over years to prevent huge premium increases for workers.

Mississippi Development Authority

$102 million

The state’s economic development agency is asking for $52 million for tourism, to provide grants to local tourism agencies and for $50 million for “Quality of Place” and downtown revitalization grants for local communities.

MDA Interim Director Laura Hipp said the agency is also receiving about $4 million in ARPA funds more directly from the federal Economic Development Administration that will be used for upgrades at state welcome centers and parks and trail markers and for working with universities on technology-based economic development.

Mississippi Department of Human Services

$0*

MDHS badly needs to replace its old computer system that was built in the 1980s and ’90s, said Director Bob Anderson. The pieces of the system cannot even communicate with each other.

“For instance, when a single mom comes in and we can’t sit down with her at a single station on a single system and determine all the programs she might be eligible for,” Anderson said. This often requires families to spend hours or make multiple trips trying to get certified for programs.

But Anderson said the price tag for a new system is $150 million, and there’s no way it could be bidded, built and installed by the 2026 deadline for ARPA projects. Instead of asking the state for ARPA funds for the project, Anderson is asking the state use ARPA funds for other agencies and hopefully “free up” general fund dollars MDHS could use for the system. He said MDHS will ask the Legislature for $54 million for the system, and hopes to receive other federal dollars for the balance.

MDHS is also receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in federal pandemic dollars directly for programs such as workforce childcare.

Department of Public Safety

$74.4 million

DPS wants to provide premium pay of $1,000 each to public safety workers who soldier on through the pandemic and to provide death benefits for families of first responders who die from COVID-19.

Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said that as of Oct. 1, 30 first responders statewide had died from COVID-19 and that total is expected to reach about 50 by the end of the year.

Tindell said he also wants to use ARPA funds to bring the number of state troopers and other sworn officers up to levels they were years ago. He said Highway Patrol now has about 500 troopers, but had about 600 in 2007.

“I don’t think Mississippi is a safer place than it was 15 years ago,” Tindell said.

DPS also wants to use the funds to purchase a building in Canton to centralize drivers services, renovate or purchase other buildings, increase cyber security and buy a second MHP helicopter (which costs $7.9 million). DPS also wants funding to improve the Medical Examiners Office and provide incentive pay to recruit forensic pathologists to help with a backlog of autopsies — some dating back to 2011.

Mississippi Department of Corrections

$118 million

Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain said his agency needs to make water, sewerage and stormwater improvements to the prison system statewide.

“The Justice Department is knocking on the door and I’ve been through that before, and they’re going to get us on wastewater,” Cain said. “The numbers are humongous, but we need to fix it before the Justice Department makes us fix it.”

The agency’s request includes $44.6 million in improvements at the troubled State Penitentiary at Parchman, built in 1901, and $20 million in work at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.

Mississippi Veterans Affairs

$30 million

Director Stacey Pickering said the agency’s top priority is to relocate the Veterans Home at Jackson, which is antiquated, dilapidated and located in a high crime area. Pickering said the agency, like many others, is also facing a critical shortage of nurses.

Relocating the nursing home would cost more than $56 million, but Pickering said the federal VA would provide 65%, so he is requesting $19.7 million from the state’s ARPA funds.

But Chairman Polk told Pickering that the ARPA rules say the money cannot be used as a match to other federal dollars. Pickering said his office had put in a request with the U.S. Treasury to see if the money could be used as a match for a new VA home.

FOLLOW THE MONEY: Click here to read all our coverage of Mississippi’s federal spending.

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