OurTupelo

On this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with magician, entertainer and speaker Joe M. Turner. Turner is an American corporate magician, mentalist, and a frequent keynote speaker at conferences and other meetings.

A native of Mississippi, Mississippi State graduate and now Atlanta based, he is widely respected in the field of corporate magic, as well as customizing magic performances, keynotes, and seminars for trade shows, product launches, other marketing efforts, conferences, or corporate events. He frequently incorporates sleight-of-hand, escape magic and mentalism into keynote addresses as a motivational speaker for corporate and private groups, speaking on topics of customer experience, brand engagement, memory training, change management, and creativity.

He was one of only six performers selected to represent various aspects of the magic industry on the CNN Headline News feature “A Day of Magic,” and also appeared on network television programs in Europe and South America. Turner talks about growing up in Mississippi, overcoming challenges presented by the pandemic and how his many talents led to a magical career.

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Mississippi’s political leaders have talked for years about cutting the 7% tax on groceries, the highest statewide tax of its kind in the nation in its poorest state.

But those efforts never go anywhere.

Earlier this session, tax cut plans touted by the leadership of both the House and Senate included a cut to the grocery tax in addition to reductions or elimination of the personal income tax.

But the plan finally approved by legislators cuts only the income tax.

“We are not opposed to a grocery tax cut, but as we have said the income tax cut is the priority,” said House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton.

Referencing the $525 million income tax cut that passed during the just-completed session and the negotiations with Senate leaders to develop the plan, Gunn added, “Even with this plan we insisted the $500 million tax break we passed this year be income tax. Some of the negotiations that took place early on had about $120 million of that being grocery tax and we said we are not looking at a $500 million tax cut, which includes $120 million of groceries. We want $500 million in income tax. If y’all want to throw a grocery tax (cut) on top of that, we are fine with that … But we are looking at income tax as the main objective.”

For some time, many have viewed it as a cruel irony that Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation with fewer safety nets in place for the poor, taxes food at the highest rate in the nation. Some states provide local options that place a higher tax on food in individual municipalities or other local governmental entities, but no state levies a higher tax on food statewide.

Most states, recognizing the tax on groceries as a regressive tax that places more of a burden on the poor, either do not tax food or tax it at a lower rate than what is levied on other items.

Through the years Mississippi politicians have talked about cutting or eliminating the tax on food. In the early 2000s, the Legislature, led by Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, made several efforts at eliminating or reducing the tax on food. Most of those efforts offset the lost revenue by increasing the tax on cigarettes.

Then-Gov. Haley Barbour, who previously served as a national tobacco lobbyist, vetoed those efforts. Barbour later acquiesced and signed legislation increasing the 18-cent per pack tax on cigarettes by 50 cents. But interestingly, the governor never agreed to reduce the tax on food. He said it was a fair tax that he supported.

In 2016, when the Legislature, led by then-Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who is now governor, and Gunn passed at the time what was the largest tax cut it history, nary a dime went for the elimination of the tax on groceries. Instead, there were tax cuts for businesses and on personal income. Research of state Department of Revenue data at the time revealed that most of the companies being aided by the cut were based out of state.

The north star under Barbour and now for many Republican leaders is cutting or eliminating the income tax, which accounts for about one-third of state general fund revenue. Another priority for Mississippi politicians also has been reducing the tax on businesses — primarily large out of state corporations.

It was interesting that the bulk of that tax cut went primarily to out of state corporations in light of an earlier 2013 study by the Department of Revenue that revealed 111 of the state’s 150 largest companies, in terms of employment, paid no income tax. While the companies were not named, the bulk of those companies not paying were likely large out of state retailers. 

In 2016, legislation was passed to phase out the franchise tax, which was the only tax many of those companies paid.

Despite the 2016 tax cut and the 2022 tax cut, both of which were billed at the time as the largest in state history, Gunn and Reeves, who also advocate for the elimination of the income tax, both made it clear they are not finished.

The 2022 legislation even includes language saying “it is the intent of the Legislature that before calendar year 2026, the Legislature will consider whether the revised (reduced) tax rates will be further decreased.”

But both Gunn and Reeves point out their intent is to take further steps as soon as possible to wipe from the state tax code the income tax.

“Elimination would be the ultimate goal and we pressed hard for that,” Gunn said.

But that is not the goal for the state’s tax on groceries that disproportionally impacts the poor.

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Lance Bass was just another freshman at Clinton High School in 1994 when he auditioned for Attaché, the school’s award-winning show choir. Barely a year later, he was a member of the “boy band” vocal group *NSYNC and well on his way to becoming a teen pop icon.

It’s no coincidence that he spent the intervening time learning how to use his voice and perform under the direction of David and Mary Fehr in what has become known as a showbiz bootcamp and de facto finishing school.

Nashville singer-songwriter Shelly Fairchild — who has three solo albums to her credit, has appeared on records by Jason Aldean, Eric Church and Terri Clark, and has carved a successful niche by placing songs in television shows — had a similar experience after joining Attaché as a shy teenager. So did Broadway star Heath Calvert, known for his roles in “Hair” and “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.”

All three former Clinton High School and Attaché students, with the addition of fellow alums Brittany Wagner, the breakout star of Netflix’s “Last Chance U,” Drew Wardlaw and Max Lyall, appeared onstage at the Attaché Alumni Theater at Clinton High School on April 2.

The four-act performance celebrated the 42^nd anniversary of Attaché by bringing alums back to the stage to raise money to support the program, which has earned the title Grand Champion at 85 competitions since 1992. The group’s current run of 23 consecutive Grand Champion wins dates back to 2014, and their 2019 bid was captured in ‘Attaché,’ a PBS and Reel South documentary film.

Bass, in his first Attaché appearance since *NSYNC made their debut as opening act for the group in December 1995, served as host and emcee for the evening. After learning to sing in church choir and while receiving further guidance from Fehr through Attaché, Bass began vocal instruction with Bob Westbrook in Germantown, Tennessee—the same voice coach Justin Timberlake used, and the man who introduced him to Bass when *NSYNC was searching for a bass singer.

Although Bass’s time in Attaché was relatively brief, it opened his eyes to his own talents and changed the course of his life. But much of the inspiration he felt came from watching his classmates. “I got to do ‘West Side Story’ with Shelly Fairchild,” he says. “She was our Maria, and good Lord, we knew then she was going to do something. She was so talented. I was just a freshman then and it was so new to me; I just couldn’t believe that high school students could be so talented.”

Fairchild did find success when she moved to Nashville and signed a record deal with Sony in 2004. The label released her debut album, Ride, the following year, and sent Fairchild on a whirlwind of promotion including radio appearances and concert tours with country music stars Keith Urban, Tim McGraw and Rascal Flatts. But her journey began when she arrived at Attaché around the same time as the Fehrs, who took over after founder Winona Costello retired.

“The first year that I was there, Mr. David Fehr was our new director,” Fairchild says. “I’ll never forget him coming up to us as we were learning some of the songs and yelling at me in my face, like, ‘Open your mouth, Fairchild!’

“To this day,” she adds, “people will ask me, ‘How in the world do you sing from your toes all the way up through the top of your head?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, if you had David Fehr as a director, then you would understand why your whole body is involved in this.’ So, it really made a big difference in my life.”

Fairchild remembers when Fehr brought Heath Calvert, then a freshman, to the group — an unheard-of move, since membership was usually open to students beginning with the sophomore year. He had just moved to Clinton, and while his mannerisms weren’t disrespectful — he didn’t say “sir” or “ma’am” like most of his new peers, Fehr says — they were a hard sell with his teachers. He had racked up nine detentions for such minor infractions, and one more would suspend him from school and activities.

“I went ahead and gave him his 10th detention so that he could serve his one day or whatever. It was so that we wouldn’t miss the performances coming up,” Fehr laughs.

On April 2, alums performed solo, in pairs and in groups throughout the three-hour program. Calvert performed “If I Only Had a Brain” from The Wizard of Oz and “Anthem” from the musical ‘Chess,’ while the current Attaché students performed their 2022 competition showcase, “Vacation!” Bass and Wagner joined the chorus for a number of songs.

The third act, though, was all about the Fehrs. Fairchild debuted “What We Leave,” a song she wrote specially for the event, as a duet with her sister, Lindsey Fairchild Lenoir. The performance was a surprise to the Fehrs, organizers and the audience, but the current students were in on it; Fairchild recruited the daughter of a friend to circulate the lyrics to them so they could join her on the song’s finale.

While Attaché provides the platform for students to explore their talents, they also learn life skills, Fehr stresses. Work ethic is crucial to the success of the students who perform and those who run the show after graduation; perseverance is another. Fehr recalls a competition in California where Wagner performed while in pain from a broken finger she suffered during warm-ups, a show of grit and determination the public would later see on “Last Chance U.” 

“We produce just good kids; the talent and desire comes from good families,” he adds. “Don’t credit that to Attaché. I can develop whatever is there and help them out, but those families and kids, they have goals and missions, and my job is to help them along. But the 90 percent that don’t go into the arts, they’re still getting the same thing.”

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Mississippi Today’s “The Backchannel” series, which examines former Gov. Phil Bryant’s involvement in what officials have called the largest public embezzlement scheme in state history, is renewing calls for a federal investigation.

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on April 7, three days after the beginning of Mississippi Today’s series, asking for him to prosecute the people responsible for stealing federal funds meant to serve the nation’s poorest residents.

READ MORE: Phil Bryant had his sights on a payout as welfare funds flowed to Brett Favre

“We decided to move forward to request the Department of Justice to do a thorough investigation after the investigative reporting from Mississippi Today,” Johnson said Friday. “It is obvious others were involved. This is perhaps the largest federal fraud situation that we have seen in the state of Mississippi and maybe one of the largest in the country. The fact that the former governor could be involved and others, it requires a thorough investigation by the federal authorities to ensure that taxpayers in the state of Mississippi and across the country are made whole.”

In 2020, the State Auditor’s Office released a report that questioned $94 million in federal grant spending from the Mississippi Department of Human Services. While the office arrested six people in February of 2020 related to the alleged theft of $4 million, no one else involved in the sprawling scheme has faced charges.

Mississippi Today’s series uncovered never-bef0re-published private conversations Bryant had with retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre and the owner of Prevacus, the company that received $2.15 million in allegedly stolen welfare funds from the state. Favre and Prevacus owner Jake Vanlandingham offered Bryant stock in the company in for exchange the help he gave them during his time in office. Bryant agreed in text messages to accept the offer two days after he left office — but the arrests by the state auditor, a Bryant appointee and former campaign manager, derailed the arrangement.

None of these men have been accused of wrongdoing related to the deal.

“What was most striking about the Mississippi Today article is the fact that the governor knew or should have known” that the company was receiving funding from the state, Johnson told Mississippi Today. “And it appears from firsthand accounts from his emails and text messages that he was steering decisions as it relates to TANF funds, which obviously raises a lot of questions and should require a federal investigation into his involvement.”

“If, in fact, that was the case,” Johnson added, “he and others should be held accountable for their involvement.”

Much more has yet to be revealed about the widespread misspending of at least $77 million in federal public assistance funds.

“The audit report noted that its findings and all related information had been referred to the U.S. Department of Justice,” Johnson wrote in his letter. “However, nearly two years later, despite the overwhelming documentary evidence of fraud, forgery, and abuse in this matter, DOJ has not yet launched a criminal investigation.”

At the time of the 2020 arrests, State Auditor Shad White said his office had turned over all information to federal investigators. White justified his office making the initial arrests — including the former Bryant-appointed welfare director John Davis and nonprofit founder Nancy New — in order to quickly stop the flow of funds from the welfare agency to the contractors who were allegedly misspending the money.

Then-U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst in Jackson said the local FBI and his office were not aware of the welfare agency investigation until the arrests, but that “we stand ready to put the substantial experience and expertise of our offices and the entire U.S. Department of Justice to work to help our colleagues bring fraudsters to justice and stamp out public corruption,” the Clarion Ledger reported.

“Not only is it imperative that DOJ take prompt and aggressive action to protect the Mississippi residents who were and continue to be harmed by the wrongful actions of state officials,” Johnson wrote, “failure to investigate may lead to the impression that DOJ is continuing the previous administration’s pattern of looking the other way when laws are broken by white state officials, especially when the wrongdoing disproportionately
harms minorities.”

READ MORE: Mississippi Today investigation exposes new evidence of Phil Bryant’s role in welfare scandal

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More than 6 million African Americans in the South migrated north seeking better opportunities and a better way of life between 1916-1970. Those millions populated cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

That exodus was called “The Great Migration.”

An homage to that pilgrimage north opened this week at the Mississippi Museum of Art, where 12 artists from across the nation with ties to Mississippi will have their newly commissioned works showcased in the exhibit, “A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration.”

The exhibit features work by acclaimed Black artists, including Akea Brionne, Mark Bradford, Zoë Charlton, Larry W. Cook, Torkwase Dyson, Theaster Gates Jr., Allison Janae Hamilton, Leslie Hewitt, Steffani Jemison, Robert Pruitt, Jamea Richmond-Edwards, and Carrie Mae Weems. The works explore “profound impact of the Great Migration on the social and cultural life of the United States from historical and personal perspectives,” museum officials explained.

The museum hosted an April 8 weekend opening that featured discussions from most of the artists. The weekend guests included Ford Foundation president and author Darren Walker, who spoke to attendees about the lasting legacies of the Great Migration, and ABC anchor and Mississippi native Robin Roberts.

The exhibit will be open at the museum in downtown Jackson until Sept. 11, 2022.

Here are some photos from the exhibit’s opening weekend.

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The Legislature appropriated $11 million dollars for faculty pay raises at Mississippi’s community college system but some say it is not enough to ensure their salaries stay competitive with K-12 after the historic teacher pay raise. 

Mississippi’s 15 community colleges have long struggled to retain the best and brightest faculty due in part to a lack of state funding. A 2007 law mandates that community colleges receive mid-level funding, or half the per-student amount the Legislature appropriates to K-12 and the regional universities, but that has never happened. 

Now some are saying the historic pay raise for K-12 teachers, coupled with the comparably modest sum lawmakers appropriated for community college instructors, means many faculty could be making more money if they switched to teaching K-12. 

“I want to make it really clear, I’m pleased for the K-12 instructors,” said Thomas Huebner, Meridian Community College president. “But it will absolutely impact our ability to attract and retain instructors at the community college level.” 

The likelihood a community college instructor will make more in K-12 will vary, and there is a lack of data to show how that could play out in aggregate. The Mississippi Department of Education has not calculated how the pay raise will affect average teacher salaries. It also can be tricky to make a direct comparison between K-12 and community college instructors because they work varying contract lengths and teach different subject areas.

For instance, if Brandi Pickett, a wellness instructor at Meridian Community College, went back to K-12, the historic teacher pay raise means she could make about $14,000 more due to her years of experience and status as a National Board Certified Teacher. 

Pickett stays in her current position, with a base salary of $49,500 a year, because she went to community college and loves teaching students who remind her of herself. But she knows many community college faculty, especially those teaching general education courses like history or science, could be enticed to leave for K-12. 

“Why is it (my salary) not comparable to K-12?” Pickett said. “Why aren’t people trying … to give an incentive to keep those great teachers and not have them move? Where I’m from, people can go to Alabama, right across the state line, and be able to teach.” 

In March, the Legislature passed a $246 million K-12 teacher pay raise, the largest in state history. The average teacher in Mississippi made $46,862 during the 2020-21 school year, but that will increase with the pay raise. The average full-time community college instructor made $50,465 last year, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. 

The presidents of Mississippi’s 15 community colleges initially asked the Legislature to appropriate $11 million for salaries, enough for a 3%-across-the-board raise for the system’s nearly 6,000 employees. But they increased that request to $25 million in January due to the rate of inflation and the historic amount that K-12 teachers were likely to get, said Kell Smith, the Mississippi Community College Board’s interim executive director. 

The Legislature stuck to the first request. 

Mississippi’s community colleges already struggle to retain faculty, especially those in career-technical education who can make significantly more working in the trade than teaching it. Huebner said MCC recently lost an instructor in the electric lineman program because the college could not match the salary offered by out-of-state industry. He described the process of trying to find a replacement as “unbelievable.” 

“There have been situations where we went nine months trying to find a welding instructor, because our pay scale was so far under what industry was trying to pay those folks,” he said. 

Without sufficient state funding, community colleges are hamstrung in their ability to raise faculty salaries on their own. Some colleges have pushed for higher property taxes to fill the budget gap or raised tuition, Huebner said. But the latter option makes it more difficult for community colleges to fulfill their charge: “Offering a working class option, or entry, into the higher ed system,” said Chris Stevenson, a history instructor at Itawamba Community College. 

Stevenson says he and his wife like to joke that they “took a vow of poverty” when they decided to become teachers. 

“It is a labor of love more than a labor of salary,” he said.

In 2007, the Legislature attempted to address these budget woes by passing the Mid-Level Funding Act, which was intended “to provide adequate funding for Mississippi’s community and junior colleges.” That would be accomplished by funding the community colleges at a level more than K-12 schools but less than regional colleges. After lawmakers passed the bill, the plan was to phase-in mid-level funding over a three year period.   

Then the Great Recession hit. The Legislature has never funded the community colleges at a mid-level amount, Smith said. And the community colleges have stopped asking for it. MCCB now tailors its budget priorities to funding formula increases, workforce programs, and salary raises. 

“Honestly, we never had much success with” mid-level funding, Smith said. “It seemed like it became such a large ask.”  

According to MCCB, the Legislature would have needed to appropriate an additional $159 million to the community college system to meet mid-level funding this session. That includes the extra $64 million needed to bring community college instructor salaries to a mid-point between K-12 teachers and university faculty. 

“It does make us feel less important,” said Jennifer Smith, a librarian at Hinds Community College. “We’re teachers too, and we feel like we’re just not valued by the state. We train people to go into the workforce, and so what we do is develop our state. But our state is not rewarding us for helping the state.” 

After Smith finishes cataloging books, she goes to her second job making truffles at a bakery. She said that many of her coworkers work extra jobs, like teaching additional classes at nearby universities, taking on custodial work, tutoring students, or running Instacart or Doordash deliveries. 

Without these jobs, Smith said, “we can’t really afford to live.” 

Last year, the Legislature allocated enough funds for a 1%-across-the-board raise for community college employees. In Pickett’s nine years of teaching at MCC, she said it was the first time she’d seen lawmakers give community college employees an across-the-board raise. 

Pickett, who is the president of the Mississippi Association of Community College Faculty, an advocacy group, said she appreciates the money lawmakers have given for raises. She hopes that one day lawmakers will show they’re “ready to invest.” 

“We have one of the best (community college) systems in the nation,” she said. “What would happen if we’re no longer here, to the workforce? To that big gap of students that need the community colleges?” 

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