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Medical marijuana could become incorporated in the state’s Constitution.

Approval of medical marijuana on Nov. 3 by Mississippi voters, based at least on polling, seems like a lead-pipe cinch.

A poll conducted by Millsaps College and Mississippi-based Chism Strategies in 2019 placed support for legalizing medical marijuana at 67% to 27%. In today’s polarized society, it’s difficult to find that level of support for many issues.

Yet some voters, who support the use of marijuana for medical purposes, might have second thoughts on approving the issue at the ballot box.

There will be two medical marijuana proposals on the ballot this November: a citizen-sponsored initiative, and an alternative approved by legislators.

Legislators placed the alternative on the ballot because they argued the citizen-sponsored initiative is too lax, allowing easy access to marijuana. Others would argue the legislators’ proposal is too restrictive and is being placed on the ballot just to confuse voters and guarantee the defeat of both.

Depending on a person’s perspective, both of those arguments have merit. But there is another argument that upon first glance might be considered academic, but in reality creates real world consequences.

If either of the proposals prevail on the Nov. 3 ballot, medical marijuana will be incorporated into the Mississippi Constitution. Never mind the legitimate argument that the Constitution should address major issues, such as our rights and freedoms, and instead focus on the fact that once something gets in the Constitution it is difficult to change or remove.

The only two ways to amend the Mississippi Constitution are by completing the difficult task of gathering the roughly 100,000 signatures of registered voters to place an initiative on the ballot, or by the Legislature approving a proposal by a two-thirds vote of both chambers and then that proposal being approved by voters.

Regardless of a person’s views on medical marijuana, science or other factors might result in a need to make changes related to the issue years from now to make it more or less accessible. If it is enshrined in the Constitution, it would be much more difficult to make those changes.

That is why, in part, that other drugs are not addressed in the Constitution. They are incorporated into general laws that can be changed through simple majority votes of both legislative chambers and by the governor’s signature.

Since June 30, there has been a proposal pending before the Mississippi Senate to pass a general bill to legalize medical marijuana. Because of the late date at which the proposal was introduced, it would take a two-thirds vote of both chambers to pass the proposal.

But if passed, it would be in general law just like other drugs, and like alcohol and tobacco products. Changes could be made to the general law much easier than changes can be made to the Constitution.

Senate Pro Tem Dean Kirby, R-Pearl, who chairs the Rules Committee where the legislation originated, said he has opted not to bring it up for a vote because a consensus has not been developed on whether it could pass.

While the Legislature can reconvene between now and Oct. 5, Kirby said, “I don’t think it is going to come up, but things change up here. I don’t know for sure, but at this point if I was betting, I would say it will not come up.”

The thought when the legislation was filed is that if a bill was passed to approve medical marijuana in general law, there would be less of a chance voters would approve one of the constitutional proposals on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Kirby said having the resolution pending before the Senate could be seen as giving voters confidence that if one of those proposals is not approved, there is a strong chance it will be taken up by the Legislature in the 2021 session.

Another perhaps more realistic view is if medical marijuana is rejected at the ballot box this November, legislators could likely be hesitant to come back behind the voters to approve such a proposal.

Democratic Rep. Robert Johnson of Natchez, the House minority leader, said he understands the arguments against placing marijuana in the Constitution and agrees with them, but to him those arguments are still not persuadable.

He said he supports the decriminalization of marijuana because “it has provided a vehicle for people to be locked up more than they should be,” and approving medical marijuana is “a first step.”

The Legislature has had years to act on legalizing medical marijuana as support has grown, “and we didn’t, so this is where we find ourselves,” Johnson said.

In effect, the choice is placing medical marijuana in the Constitution, or it very likely not being approved for years to come.

That choice could be a tough one for many voters.

The post Legislative inaction on medical marijuana leaves some voters with tough choice appeared first on Mississippi Today.

I have on my desk a perfectly preserved game program from the Mississippi State-Ole Miss football game played Nov. 24, 1945. On page 1, it tells us about school colors: “For Ole Miss, Red and Blue; for Mississippi State, Maroon and White.”

That hasn’t changed. Most everything else has. With the 2020 college football season about to begin, let’s take a look back…

We begin with the price of the program: 25 cents. Compare that to the $10 an Egg Bowl souvenir program from last November. That’s an increase of only 4,000 percent.

Rick Cleveland

Then, as now, you find the lineups in the foldout of the program’s middle two pages. Yes, but the lineups back then were sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes “for more smoking pleasure.” Besides giving you the starting lineups, the centerfold also gave you photos of three smiling, cheerleader-looking women giving you the ABC’s of the Chesterfield brand: “A, always milder; B, better tasting; and C, cooler smoking.”

Compare that to the back page of ad from Philip Morris, “America’s FINEST cigarette.” You could not make this up. The ad tells us that “Phillip Morris’ superiority is recognized by eminent medical authorities.” And that, “This finer-tasting cigarette is also far more considerate of your nose and throat, scientifically proved far less irritating to the smoker’s nose and throat…”

Granted, it says nothing about what those “finest cigarettes” did for your lungs.

Toward the back, there’s another ad for Old Gold cigarettes with still a different pitch. “Why be irritated?” it asks. “Apple honey helps guard Old Golds from cigarette dryness.”

Full disclosure: The program also contains several ads for milk, including one from Pyron’s Dairy on College Drive. “Milk is health,” it tells us. “Milk, you know, has long been a must item on training table menus of the leading football teams – because milk gives the gridiron greats the sturdy bones, radiant health and vital energy they need.”

Seems to this observer both teams should have consumed lots more milk, and not skim milk. The heaviest player on the State roster was 215-pound tackle S. J. Carroll of Greenville. The current Bulldogs have running backs and wide receivers who weigh more. Only six of 41 Bulldogs listed in 1945 weighed in at 200 pounds or more.

Harper Davis, as a Chicago Bear.

The heaviest Rebel was 210-pound tackle Joe Gary of Byram. Gary was one of two Rebels who went 200 pounds or better. Center Charles Sinopoli of Gulfport was all of 5 feet, 8 inches and 160 pounds. Today’s Rebels don’t have male cheerleaders so small. Middle school lineups have much larger linemen th

ese days. Just about any present Class 6A high school team these days would outweigh those Rebels and Bulldogs by 70 pounds a man across the lines.

And those 1945 rosters are dotted with future Mississippi Sports Hall of Famers. Those Rebels included 180-pound lineman Roland Dale and 190-pounder Bernard Blackwell, future coaches and administrators. One of the Bulldog running stars was Harper Davis, the future Millsaps coach, who weighed 170 pounds, wore number 43 and could fly.

Interestingly, there’s an ad for the midnight show at the State Theatre later that night. The featured film – “Hitchhike to Happiness” – starred Al Pearce and Dale Evans. Evans was 13 months from marrying Roy Rogers, who would be her fourth and final husband. Ernie Pyle’s “Story of G.I. Joe,” starring Burgess Meredith, was scheduled to start on Monday. There were no movies on Sunday, of course.

Remember, this was Nov. 24, 1945, roughly three months after the Japanese surrender in World War II. The program’s cover featured a poem from the famed sports writer Grantland Rice:

They hit the line – and they hit it hard –

And they ran the ends of fame.

They passed and kicked to the distant goal,

When they starred in the college game.

But they heard the bugles of war that called

To a rougher and tougher test,

And now they sleep under foreign sod,

The stars who have earned their rest.

They played the game in the good old way

That led to the bayonet’s thrust.

They led the charge to the final goal

Which covers their golden dust.

The 1945 Egg Bowl program includes just about everything, except, of course, the final score. The Rebels won 7-6, an upset, one of only two Ole Miss victories that season, compared to eight for State.

The post Cigarettes, milk and poetry: Much different times in Ole Miss and State football appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Republican Gov. Phil Bryant shows off a gold shovel he was awarded for the state’s economic progress as he leaves the stage at the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia, Miss., Thursday, July 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

The need for workforce training opportunities for low-income and underemployed Mississippians existed long before the pandemic began in March.

But despite efforts by the state’s economic development and business leaders in the last few years to consolidate workforce development information, officials still don’t know the scope of taxpayer-funded training happening across the state and its results, several officials told Mississippi Today.

In a state with one of the lowest median household incomes in the nation, just under $45,000 in 2018, leaders have often pointed to workforce development as the answer to raising earnings and curbing poverty.

A key workforce initiative began in 2016 when the Legislature agreed to allocate $50 million over 10 years for then-Gov. Phil Bryant’s Mississippi Works Training Fund, which was supposed to help community colleges and other workforce training programs bulk up their operations. The program is administered by the Mississippi Development Authority, the agency tasked with spearheading economic development in the state.

By March, nearly four years in, the state had spent less than 10% of that funding, or about $4.7 million.

Though it allocated $1 million of the fund last year to the much touted Mississippi Works Apprenticeship pilot program, none of that money had been spent by March, according to documents Mississippi Development Authority provided Mississippi Today through a records request.

Excluding $607,000 spent on the Career Tech Scholars program, which offers tuition assistance to students across the state, nearly 80% of the funds spent so far have been concentrated on the eastern part of the state, nearly delineated by Interstate 55 and which is just 31% Black.

The Delta and southwest quadrant encompassing the capital city, an area that is nearly 60% Black, has received just $235,590 and $719,285, respectively.

“It is now time to make the investment in Mississippi’s workforce before it is too late,” Bryant said in his 2016 State of the State address. “We have $50 million sitting idle in the Unemployment Trust Fund. Let’s invest it now in workforce training, and I will show you Mississippi’s greatest potential. We can lead the nation in economic development if you will give us the tools to reach these goals … Rush with me through the entrance to the future, or stand behind as it closes on the careers of Mississippi’s next generation. The choice is yours.”

The Legislature did not use money from the Unemployment Trust Fund, but made a separate allocation to pay for the $50 million Mississippi Works Training Fund. But the trust fund, which employers pay into through their taxes, does support another training program called Workforce Enhancement Training, sometimes referred to as WET funds, which the state’s community colleges administer based on training needs and requests from employers.

“There is not a conflict with this administration in demanding accountability for these workforce funds,” Bryant added.

Yet several workforce development officials in the state told Mississippi Today that training efforts remain siloed, meaning leaders don’t know how much total money Mississippi spends on workforce development or if it’s used efficiently.

“We don’t know where all the dollars are,” said Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, author of the legislation that created the Mississippi Works Training Fund.

Bill Renick, who oversees the state’s federal workforce plan for Three Rivers Planning and Development District, the local workforce area covering north Mississippi, said he’s hopeful that legislation passed in 2020 will offer more coordination and transparency within the state’s training efforts.

Senate Bill 2564, passed earlier this year, restructured the state’s State Workforce Investment Board, which is meant to be a workforce development clearinghouse, to limit its members and allow for it to build up a staff of workforce specialists. It also increased requirements that state agencies and entities report workforce spending and outcomes to the board.

The Mississippi Works Training Fund was intended to “enhance training opportunities at the state’s 15 community colleges,” according to the development authority’s website, with 75% of the money dedicated to new job creation and 25% to existing industry.

Fillingane said the training fund primarily exists as a lure to attract companies to the state. It’s an additional resource for employers who are locating in Mississippi, in the same way that the state may pay for infrastructure improvements surrounding new construction at a business.

“It’s only there in the event that’s what they need,” Fillingane said. “Perhaps we should reduce the number of dollars in that particular pot and put it somewhere where it would be used more frequently.”

WET funds work similarly: “WET funds are primarily used to train company employees on whatever the company needs and wants,” said Andrea Mayfield, director of the Mississippi Community College Board.

In other words, if an underemployed Mississippian wanted to go back to community college to gain a particular skill, neither of these funds would necessarily pay for their training, unless a company had already requested it.

The state awarded nearly $12 million of the Mississippi Works fund by March. Some grants remain open but others have closed before the workforce partners used all the funding.

The first to receive Mississippi Works grant awards in 2016 were the Furniture Academy ($250,000) and Mississippi State University engineers ($169.751) — only a little over a third of which had been spent by March of 2020.

Other companies benefiting from the program include Sephora ($165,396), FedEx ($600,000), Milwaukee Tool ($1.5 million) and Pearl River Foods ($500,000), one of the food processing companies whose Mississippi plant was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in 2019.

Gov. Tate Reeves promised a $100 million investment in workforce training while on the campaign trail in late 2019. In July, the Legislature allocated $55 million of its $1.25 billion CARES Act pandemic relief to workforce development, a program called ReSkillMS, about $5 million of which will go to employers through payroll subsidies. Most of the rest will go to community colleges for them to purchase needed equipment and build their training capacity.

All of the CARES money must be spent by the end of the year, meaning jobless Mississippians looking to use this opportunity to gain a new skill will be restricted to short-term training programs, such as truck driving or assistant nursing.

Meanwhile, Mississippi has the third smallest workforce participation rate in the nation behind West Virginia and Kentucky. Just under 54% of the working-age population in Mississippi was either working or looking for work in July, up from 52% in April. Mississippi historically falls among the bottom for this metric, including the month before the pandemic in February, when Mississippi had the single lowest workforce participation rate at under 56% compared to the national rate of about 64%.

The post Mississippi Works? Four years later, state has used just one-tenth of $50 million workforce fund appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today

Students participate in class during the first day of school at Neshoba County Central Middle School on Wednesday, August 5, 2020.

Since the start of school earlier this month, nearly 900 Mississippi students, teachers or other employees in K-12 schools have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to recently released data by the Mississippi Department of Health.

For the first time, the department is providing information on infections in schools. Every K-12 school in Mississippi, public and private, is required to report information each week on cases and outbreaks among students and staff.

Most public school districts have opened or plan to open this month, though some schools started class as early as July and some won’t start back until after Labor Day. According to data from the Mississippi Department of Education, there were 465,913 students enrolled in public schools during the 2019-2020 school year.

The MSDH data is broken down by county, not individual school or school district. In all, 720 schools in 74 counties reported this information to the state.

Tunica County has the highest student infection rate per capita (the number of cases per 10,000 people) at 13.8, followed closely by Alcorn at 12.9.

Coahoma County currently has the highest per capita rate of teacher and school staff infection at 7.6, with Quitman County following at 6.8 per capita.

You can access a map that breaks down total infection rates by county here.

When combining all school-related Coronavirus cases — both students and school staff —Tunica and Alcorn counties again had the highest infection rate per capita at 17.7 and 15.9.

These numbers were published Aug. 25; the Mississippi Department of Health has stated they will be updated weekly.

Look up information on a specific county here:

Erica Hensley, Alex Rozier and Kayleigh Skinner contributed to this report.

The post Interactive: How many students and teachers have tested positive for COVID-19 in your county? appeared first on Mississippi Today.