Lawmakers passed a bill Thursday that will help Mississippi renters and landlords who are struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More help is coming to Mississippi renters and landlords who are facing economic hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But federal and state officials will have to prioritize the efficient delivery of these dollars if they want to prevent an eviction avalanche in coming months. Mississippi has spent just a sliver of the rental assistance funding it received over the summer so far.
The Mississippi Legislature passed a bill Thursday evening to divert $20 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds, which had been earmarked for small businesses, to residential and commercial landlords who have lost rent revenue after various eviction moratoriums. Mississippi Development Authority will administer the grants, up to $30,000, and no more than 25% may go to commercial properties.
The Legislature’s appropriation for rental assistance comes nearly seven months after the pandemic began in March, causing Mississippi’s unemployed population to spike from 64,286 to 195,429 people in one month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Separately, Gov. Tate Reeves’ office plans to announce shortly its decision to allocate the entirety of the state’s $38 million Community Development Block Grant from the CARES Act to rental assistance. The recurring federal Community Development Block Grant gives states flexibility to use the funds to expand economic opportunity for low-income communities through infrastructure development, rehabilitation projects and business revitalization.
But for this round, Reeves saw the greatest need among Mississippi’s low-income renters, thousands of whom face large rent debts after months without work due to the pandemic, even if they’ve since returned to their jobs. The assistance also stabilizes landlords, who might be struggling to pay mortgages due to the decline in collections.
“This has been an incredibly difficult time for so many families, and we want to provide some much needed help to get through. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s the right way to use these funds,” Reeves said in a statement to Mississippi Today Thursday evening.
The money will flow through the Mississippi Development Authority to the Mississippi Home Corporation, which already oversees the existing Rental Assistance for Mississippians Program (RAMP).
A little less than a third of the state’s population — 915,000 people — live in Mississippi’s 352,000 renter households. A July study by global advisory firm Stout Risius Ross shows as high as 58% of those households were at risk of eviction. The national figure was about 43%.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered a stop to some evictions and residential removals beginning Sept. 4 to the end of the year, but a renter must provide a declaration to their landlord or property manager, certifying that the order applies to them.
Mississippi Home Corporation already began administering $18 million in rental assistance over the summer from a pot of funds called the Emergency Solution Grants (ESG) program at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Also a recurring grant, Emergency Solutions Grants are typically targeted to serve the homeless population and for rapid rehousing, which mean they have stricter regulations and eligibility criteria than other funding sources.
The federal housing authority offered states nearly $3 billion total in additional ESG funding due to COVID-19. Mississippi Home Corporation put the funds in the existing RAMP program, which three continuum of care agencies across the state are administering.
As of Sept. 11, the three organizations had received 2,460 calls for help, approved 404 for the program and obligated $1.01 million to aid those renters. 463 applications were still in process.
“Everyone is working as fast as they can and there are so many I’s to dot and T’s to cross,” said Mississippi Home Corporation Director Scott Spivey.
“A lot of these funds, the way the rules were written, the money is supposed to be spent on rapid rehousing for people who are homeless, not those in danger of getting kicked out of their apartment,” he said. “In a pandemic, you have to be flexible with those rules, but in government, flexibility and regulation do not go together. They’re oil and water.”
Of the 1,046 that were denied, which usually means they did not meet the income limit of earning under 50% of the median income in their local area, 433 qualified for other assistance and 613 did not.
In Jackson, a family of four would have to earn under $35,450 to qualify. The Community Development Block Grant will offer more flexibility with renter eligibility.
Spivey said his agency is already working on an online application for the program, so that when Mississippi Development Authority is finished negotiating the grant with the federal government, they can hit the ground running.
“When they’re ready to go, we’re ready to go, so it can be as fast as possible and reach as many people as possible,” Spivey said.
“People are behind on rent,” he added. “We’re working on programs and working on eligibility, between the governor, the Legislature, MDA, Mississippi Home Corporation, we’re all pulling in the right direction, trying to get people help.”
The city of Jackson also received a COVID-19 Emergency Solutions Grant of $575,228. It gave the entirety of the grant to the Salvation Army, minus administrative costs. Jackson is eligible to apply for an additional $1.4 million, a city spokesperson told Mississippi Today in mid-September.
Mississippians in need of rental assistance should contact the Continuum of Care program covering their region: Central Mississippi Continuum of Care (769-237-1012) covers Hinds, Rankin, Madison, Warren and Copiah counties; Open Doors Homeless Coalition (228-604-2048) covers Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone and George counties and Mississippi United to End Homelessness (601-960-0557) covers the rest of the state.
Read how to invoke the CDC’s eviction moratorium here.
Almost all the action is downtown at FairPark so head over and catch some great food and enjoy this wonderful weather.
If you can’t make it all the way downtown, head to West Main St between Sully’s Pawn and Computer Universe for some great street food with Taquera Ferris.
We may have updates later so check back with us. And don’t forget to hit the Share buttons at the top of the page!
Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/ Report for America
Voters wait to vote at Byram City Hall during the midterm elections Tuesday, November 6, 2018.
Bills that would allow people to vote early in person to avoid crowed precincts on Election Day during the COVID-19 pandemic are not expected to be considered while the Legislature is in session Thursday and Friday.
These bills are among several filed this year to make voting easier and safer during the pandemic. All those bills — with the exception of one that provided limited early voting opportunities — died after legislative leaders did not support their passing. The continued deaths of these bills come as most states passed robust measures in 2020 to expand early voting and to ensure safety during the pandemic.
Two bills filed this week by Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, and three members of the House would allow no-excuse early voting in circuit clerks offices for people who want to avoid going to what are expected to be crowded precincts on Election Day. The three House members jointly filing the legislation were Reps. Jansen Owen, R-Poplarville; Kent McCarty, R-Hattiesburg; and Shanda Yates, D-Jackson.
“This year’s election is incredibly important, and likely to be one of the highest turnout elections in the history of the state. With that said, we are also in the midst of an incredibly dangerous health crisis that is the COVID-19 pandemic,” Owen said. “This bill aims to reduce the number of voters at the precincts on Election Day, stymy the potential spread of the coronavirus, and allow voters the option to vote safely, while keeping the integrity of our election secure.”
But late Thursday, it appeared the bills will not be considered while the Legislature is in session this week. This week is likely the last opportunity lawmakers will have to consider expanding voting opportunities before the Nov. 3 general election.
House Elections Chair Rep. Jim Beckett, R-Bruce, said there does not seem to be enough support to take up such legislation this year. He said there would have to be a consensus from the circuit clerks, election commissioners and legislators. Sources close to Senate leadership said they do not believe there is any interest in that chamber to pass the legislation.
Mississippi has done less to expand early voting or vote-by-mail opportunities during the pandemic than most states. The Brookings Institute, which has tracked states’ actions on mail-in voting during the pandemic, gave Mississippi a D ranking for its 2020 efforts. Lawmakers in 42 states better expanded mail-in voting than Mississippi, according to their scorecard.
Even before the pandemic, Mississippi had some of the most restrictive early voting laws in the nation. Only people who are going to be away from their home area on Election Day, those over the age of 65 and people with disabilities are allowed to vote early either in person or by mail. Unlike Mississippi, a majority of states, even before the pandemic, had no-excuse early voting.
“Mississippi has the strictest requirements for voting absentee in the nation,” said a study published by the National Notary Association. Those eligible to vote by mail must get both the application for a ballot and the ballot itself notarized.
Blount’s Senate proposal filed this week would eliminate the requirement for the documents to be notarized during 2020. He said the notary requirements were particularly troublesome during the pandemic for people with pre-existing conditions who might not want to venture out to vote in person or to find a notary. Plus, during the pandemic, Blount said a notary might be more difficult to find since many banks where people often find notaries are limiting hours or limiting the number of customers in banks.
Interestingly, in both the 2016 and 2017 sessions, the state House passed bills to allow early voting in person for all Mississippians. In each of those years, the bills were killed without being considered by the Senate Elections Committee.
This year, though, in the midst of the pandemic when many people expressed concerns about big crowds on Election Day, there was no effort by the House leadership to again pass early voting bills.
Lawmakers did pass a proposal earlier this year to allow people to vote early in some instances if under a medical quarantine or if taking care of someone under quarantine. Lawsuits have been filed in both state and federal courts to try to expand Mississippi’s early voting laws.
In the state lawsuit, the Mississippi Supreme Court seemed to narrowly define those who would be allowed to vote early.
“Having a pre-existing condition that puts a voter at a higher risk does not automatically create a temporary disability for absentee-voting purposes,” the majority opinion from the state Supreme Court said.
The federal lawsuit is yet to be resolved.
Lawmakers are back in session this week to consider how the state is spending its federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Security Act funds. Lawmakers planned to finish work Friday to shift federal COVID-19 relief money they had allocated in June to small business and other programs to new relief endeavors.
Lawmakers on Thursday evening were working to move at least $69 million that had been earmarked earlier this year for small business grants and health care programs but remains unspent to programs to help landlords who haven’t been able to collect residential or commercial rent during a pandemic freeze on evictions. They are also hoping to provide financial support to hospital ICU operations, farmers – including specific earmarks for poultry and sweet potato growers – and veterans homes.
The recently opened Homewood Suites Hotel by Hilton in Fondren obvious believes Deion Sanders will be good for business.
When Jackson State snagged Deion Sanders as its football coach, the theory was: If we hire him, the fans will come.
Thursday morning provided overwhelming evidence JSU officials were correct.
When ticket sales opened for the unusual 2021 spring football season at 8 a.m., the line of fans numbered in the hundreds and wrapped around the parking lot at the south end of Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium. Many in line were multiple ticket buyers.
Take a look ? at the long line at Veterans Memorial Stadium as JSU Fans get tickets for the upcoming season. pic.twitter.com/918qG65ame
That line included 64-year-old Gwendolyn Bennett of Prentiss, who arose long before dawn to make the one-hour drive to get her tickets. “I’ve been a true blue Jackson State fan since the 1960s,” Bennett said. “Regardless of whether we win or lose, I’m true blue but I’ve never been more true blue than I am right now.”
The hiring of Sanders, a Pro Football Hall of Famer was announced Sept. 21 and has ignited an unprecedented buying spree for JSU season tickets. Yes, Jackson State often has played before home crowds of 50,000 or more, particularly during the W.C. Gorden coaching era in the 1970s and ’80s when the Tigers were perennial SWAC champions. But those were mostly walk-up crowds. There have never been lines, months ahead of time, to buy season tickets. Not five months before the season. Never.
(Charles A. Smith/University Communications)
Jackson State fans are super excited about Deion Sanders, shown here just during his introduction as head coach.
“This is why we made this move,” Thomas Hudson, interim JSU president, said, taking a break from greeting the ticket buyers. “People have been here since 6 a.m. I can’t say I expected this, but we knew there was a lot of excitement. Today has been amazing.”
Sanders has never coached a college game as an assistant or head coach, never assembled a coaching staff, never decided whether to kick off or receive. None of that seems to matter to JSU fans, who believe Sanders’ football experience and success at the highest level will attract top-flight recruits and result in more victories for a program that has been in the dumps lately.
Rick Cleveland
Emmanuel Muhammad
“I’m ready to see Jackson State win again,” said Emmanuel Muhammad, who was a guard of Rick Comegy’s 2007 JSU SWAC Championship team and stood in line for tickets for more than two hours Thursday. “The excitement is real and it is growing. I’m especially excited to see what Deion can do.”
Muhammad, 32, who teaches health and physical education at Callaway High School, said he didn’t at first believe the rumors Sanders was going to be named as JSU’s head coach.
“But as soon as it was official, I was on board,” said Muhammad, who looks as if he could still play. “To be honest, I expected today to be like this. People are excited.”
No doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the high demand for tickets. Current state restrictions limit crowds to 20% of capacity for college games. That would mean a limit of approximately 12,000 for The Vet.
“We’re hoping and anticipating that limit will be raised before next spring,” said JSU athletic director Ashley Robinson, who has received widespread high praise for the hiring of Sanders. “Actually, we are hoping it will be 100% by then.”
Back in July, the SWAC became one of the first NCAA conferences to postpone the football season to the spring. Jackson State is scheduled to open on Feb. 21 against Edward Waters College, an NCAA Division II team out of Jacksonville, Fla. After that, the Tigers will play a seven-game SWAC schedule that will include four more home games.
Jackson State was the NCAA FCS Division attendance leader in 2019. Nevertheless, attendance has dwindled since the glory years when JSU won or shared eight SWAC titles between 1980 or 1990.
JSU
Thomas Hudson
Said Hudson, the interim president, “If today is any indication, we are heading in the right direction. It’s an exciting time for Jackson State, for Jackson and for Mississippi. This is great for the city, great for Jackson restaurants and hotels. A strong Jackson State means a strong Jackson and a strong Mississippi.”
In a brief moment of concentration, Zen’Daiya examines her laptop before she returns to dancing throughout the classroom at the Boys and Girls Club Capitol Street unit on Sept. 21, 2020.
Mississippi is getting devices to every child. That’s just the first step.
For the first time in state history, every student in the state will have their own device, though hurdles remain in access to internet and connectivity.
Nearly 400,000 MacBooks, Chromebooks, iPads and other devices are en route to students and teachers across Mississippi – a massive undertaking prompted by the state Legislature and implemented by the Mississippi Department of Education.
But in rural school districts where a rainstorm can disrupt internet connection, or students don’t have connectivity even on a sunny day, a device is only the first of many hurdles.
State Superintendent of Education Carey Wright says ensuring students have adequate internet access and educators have the training they need will be a challenge, but the state has proven it can do extraordinary things in a crunch. They did so when they secured devices for all students and teachers in Mississippi – at the same time technology for distance learning was in high demand globally because of the pandemic.
In July, the Mississippi Legislature allocated $200 million to help schools implement virtual learning both during and after the pandemic. In all, $150 million will go toward helping schools purchase technology and devices, while the remaining $50 million focuses on expanding broadband access in areas with little or none.
“I’ve talked to people around the nation, and there’s not anyone doing something as detailed, as thorough, as coherent as what Mississippi is doing,” said Wright in an interview with Mississippi Today.
Brent Engelman, director of education data and information systems at the Council of Chief State School Officers, a national organization comprised of the heads of state education departments, echoed Wright.
“Mississippi is among the states leading in the important equity work of closing the digital divide and ensuring students and teachers have what they need for digital learning,” said Engelman. “Importantly, Mississippi has focused not just on devices and wireless access but also funding the curriculum and professional development needed to support this use of technology.”
While it’s important that students have the devices they need, the more immediate mammoth challenge is making sure children have access to internet in an extremely rural and under-connected state.
And as many students and teachers wait on devices, the first semester of the school year is nearly halfway over. The divide between those with access to updated technology and those without has never been more apparent.
In Yazoo County School District, there were enough devices on hand for all of its 1,384 students to share a couple weeks into the school year – a best-case scenario for a school district that was not “one-to-one,” meaning every student has a device. They placed an order for updated devices under the Equity in Distance Learning Act and, like most other districts, are still waiting on their delivery as of late September.
While they’re waiting, the district is using the equipment it has, some of which is outdated. There was a lag for some teachers and students who had to familiarize themselves with the new learning management system and applications, in addition to the devices themselves.
Andrea Edgecombe is an interventionist for elementary schoolers at Bentonia Gibbs Elementary School in Yazoo County. After teaching for six years, she now works with small groups of students who are struggling academically.
This year, she has 14 virtual learners and 19 traditional students. The Yazoo County School District is implementing a hybrid model of school this year with the option for all-virtual learning.
While there have been positives in her experience with distance learning – like making her own schedule so she can focus solely on the virtual learners during her morning hours, and the fact she and her students have access to devices – there are still challenges.
“There are lots of internet issues (on the part of the students), and lots of struggles with the younger kids and the schedule,” she said. “They have a scheduled time to hop on Zoom with me every day, and I roughly have anywhere from five to 10 no shows a day depending on the day.”
The issues include students being kicked off Zoom, excessive delays, and for some students who live in rural areas, a loss of internet when it rains.
Edgecombe, who also acts as the technology liaison at her school, said that while she’s glad there have been new applications to try and accompanying professional development, there has not been any training on the devices themselves.
“There are some teachers who are not as familiar with not only our laptops but also the students’ Chromebooks, so it’s made it difficult for those teachers to answer questions from parents,” she said. “In that same sense, it would’ve been great if we could have launched some sort of virtual town hall for parents to train them (as well).”
While Edgecombe is glad everyone will be receiving new devices with funds from the Equity in Distance Learning Act, there is a concern that when they do receive the new devices, there will be yet another learning curve to overcome.
“What’s a little bit scary is when they do come out with these computers, what if they come in and they’re different than what parents and kids are used to? Then we’re going to have to re-teach everything,” she said. “I’m hoping all our apps and programs work the same way on these new devices.”
Jackson Public Schools students conduct quizzes on their laptops at the Boys and Girls Club Capitol Street unit on Sept. 21, 2020.
In nearby Holmes County Consolidated School District, the district is operating entirely virtually. All students received devices in August after the district placed an order using other Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds, and teachers had just been given new laptops the prior school year.
The district has done what it can to improve access for students – including putting hot spots in school buses and apartment complexes around the county for WiFi access at the beginning of the pandemic – but hurdles remain.
From weather-induced internet outages, attendance issues to some students’ and caretakers’ unfamiliarity with technology, Holmes County Central High School teachers Kristie Montgomery and Ravi Dutt both agree the virtual learning experience has been a challenge.
They’ve seen students logging on to class from cars or on front porches with borrowed WiFi.
Luckily, they said, students who miss virtual class usually show back up a day or two after the teacher calls the parent to let him or her know.
“I had a student who logged in to class while sitting in the backseat of a car. I asked why she was sitting in a car and she said, ‘Mr. Dutt, there’s nobody at home and my mom doesn’t want me to be at home by myself,’” Dutt said.
So they worked out a system: The mother parks her car underneath a tree, goes in to work and the student logs in to class from the backseat.
“It was very touching to me to know how hard she’s working to log in to her class,” said Dutt.
But Montgomery, who has around 100 students herself and another nearly 100 students of a colleague on maternity leave, said despite hiccups at the beginning of the semester, she finds she’s getting into a good groove.
“In the beginning it was a little bit overwhelming … but it’s almost like a ritual now,” she said.
Wright, the state superintendent, and other state officials say as the devices come in, the focus will shift to other areas that will help educators effectively implement distance learning.
Wright argues the combined focus on curriculum, professional development and expanding access to connectivity is the key not only to students keeping up during the COVID-19 pandemic but also to improving inequities that existed before the pandemic.
Since the state Legislature appropriated $150 million in federal coronavirus relief funds toward the effort in July, administrators at the Mississippi Department of Education began an effort that could normally take one year or more and completed it in six weeks.
In those six weeks, the department conducted needs assessments from every school district, developed minimum specifications for all of the technology, conducted countless webinars with school superintendents and technology directors and finally ordered a massive number of devices from CDWG, a technology solutions provider company headquartered in Illinois.
Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America
iPads are prepared to be handed our to parents for their children at Eastside Elementary Monday, March 23, 2020.
School districts were able to choose between three types of devices: Windows laptops, Google Chromebooks or Apple MacBooks or iPads.
The devices are the first step in the roll-out of the Equity in Distance Learning Act, which also includes components around professional development for teachers and curriculum.
J.C. Lawton, director of information systems at Columbus Municipal School District, said his district is using the funds to provide devices to students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. All high schoolers already had individual devices.
Lawton said despite some hiccups – such as not being able to thoroughly research the type of device before being locked into the program – the experience of purchasing the devices has been a good one.
“I’m excited to be able to put 2,700 devices in students’ hands,” said Lawton.
The Equity in Distance Learning Act gave a deadline that all devices must be delivered to school districts by Nov. 20, or school districts would not be reimbursed for their orders. The clock was – and still is – ticking, but officials at the state education department say the devices are on track to meet the deadline.
“During a global drought on Chromebooks, we have 90% of our (Mississippi’s) order on the ground in the United States right now,” said John Kraman, chief information officer of the Mississippi Department of Education, told the State Board of Education at a meeting last week. “There’s more work to do on the Windows, Macs and iPads.”
Wright is confident there won’t be any issues meeting the delivery deadline. She said this is in part because Mississippi used bulk purchasing power – that is, ordering all school districts’ devices in a uniform manner instead of individual school districts ordering their own products separate from one another.
“We’ve seen across the nation supply chains breaking down, and they (CDWG) have been on top of it in Mississippi,” said Wright in the interview with Mississippi Today. “That’s been a big plus for us because of the quantity (of the order). If we had just pushed the money out to districts, each little district would have been its own entity standing in line. I’m glad we did it the way we did it.”
But some school districts still went out on their own. Ken Barron, superintendent of Yazoo County School District, is one of those.
“We weren’t going to sit around and wait” for the Legislature or for MDE, said Barron. Forty percent of students in his school district chose the virtual option. “I was concerned about having the devices in students’ hands in time.”
Barron said his district conducted a reverse auction which resulted in such a good price he decided to replace the entire fleet of devices in the district. As of late September, they were on schedule to be delivered in October, said Barron.
Stacey Graves, the chief financial officer of DeSoto County School District, said her district participated in the state’s program, officially called Mississippi Connects, and the process worked well for them.
“What we’re getting, you just can’t beat it,” she said. “I’m getting 27,770 devices for a little over $3.8 million,” or an average of $137 per device.
Graves also appreciated the specifications of the devices, including cases and insurance.
“These come with everything you could ever want on them, including special insurance for if a kid drops it,” she said. “In the first two weeks of our distance learning, we’d already had four kids drop their devices.”
Graves admitted, however, that figuring out how to identify why particular students don’t have access is difficult.
“We surveyed all of our students during registration, so we know who does not have internet connectivity, but we don’t know why they don’t have it,” said Graves, whose district had nearly 35,000 students last year. “We are working on gathering that information to determine the best solution to connectivity for each student.”
Phillip Burchfield, executive director of the Mississippi Association of School Superintendents, oversaw the Clinton Public School District as it transitioned to a “one to one,” or one device for every student, school district in 2012.
He said superintendents have concerns about the longevity of the devices.
“It takes time for teachers to understand virtual learning (and devices), and that’s not even mentioning the kids,” said Burchfield. “So by the time we were making strides (on that front), our hardware, our computers, are going to be on their last leg. A big concern of superintendents is where is that money going to come from? Is that going to be left up to individual school districts who are already on a tight budget?”
Money from the state education department covered 80% of the costs of devices, and districts were expected to match 20%. The Legislature encouraged schools to use funds from another pot of federal funds to cover the 20% – but some districts were faced with more costs.
Columbus Municipal, for example, is one. That school district ended up having to pay an additional $467,738 from its reserves to cover its order – not an insignificant cost for a district of just under 3,500.
Districts and the state education department are working ahead as devices purchased through the program begin arriving. On Wednesday, West Point School District became the first to receive its order. Tate County School District is scheduled to receive its Friday.
“Now we need to pivot to ensure children are learning with these new devices,” said Wright, noting the department has already created a large team to coordinate statewide professional development for teachers.
She also said the department and school districts are doing what they can to improve internet access by working with providers and purchasing hot spots and data plans.
Wright and other educators have echoed a common theme throughout the pandemic: inequity in education is a major issue during normal times, but the presence of COVID-19 has highlighted it to an extraordinary degree.
“When COVID hit, the whole equity issue was just front and center,” said Wright. “You either have internet or you don’t. You either have a device or you don’t. It shouldn’t be a privilege.”
I had lunch at the newest Lost Pizza Company location in Tupelo yesterday! They’re located in the new plaza off West Main across from Ballard Park.
The inside, although I didn’t get many pics, is along the same vibe as the original Tupelo location. With custom artwork and memorabilia and a nod to Tupelo’s own Elvis Presley.
My favorite addition to the interior are the custom made countertops created by Back40 Customs. They are hand poured resin countertops featuring bottle caps, records and more cast right in to the resin. These are certainly a beauty to behold!
Although Lost Pizza is not new and I’ve tried several things off their menu at previous visits, this time I decided to try something new. I ordered their infamous Delta hot tamales and a Greek salad.
The tamales were delicious and a pleasant surprise! I added some Louisiana hot sauce to kick up the heat! 🥵 The Greek salad is very unique in that it features some toppings that I have not see on Greek salads anywhere else around town. This Greek salad has goat cheese, grilled artichoke, red onion, roasted tomato, banana peppers, olive salad and house made Greek dressing.
If you’re looking for some good vibes and good food go check them out soon!
There are two things you can count on in this small town we live in. Small town gossip and Elvis. They are both a religion like the sweet tea you drink on your front porch while swatting mosquitoes. No matter how far you run from it, you will still find it haunts you. No matter how much you dislike it, the fact is that they exist. You can bet your last dollar that just like only Elvis could shake his hips in such a fashion that women still drool today; everyone in this small town knows your business whether you think they do or not. You might think you watch your back and that you have friends who would never share your darkest secrets, but just like Elvis still haunts the small southern town…your secrets are doing the same.
Two months in a row I sat in the hairstylist chair and got the local scoop of gossip, as most southern women do. I liken hair stylists to coffee shop owners – they know everything about everybody. What surprised me the most was that they knew way more about certain people and events than I ever wanted to possibly know. The secrets were not secrets. It was all laid out in the open to air the dirty laundry and wonder how the person whose laundry it was; didn’t know it was hanging out in the public eye. Surely if they knew such secrets were being told to the public ears they would guard their secrets more heavily. They would choose their confidents better. They would create a little more secrecy around their life.
What have you heard?
However, just like Elvis did not hide the fact that he liked peanut butter and banana together; the small-town gossip shows no mercy in hiding all the spicy details of people’s personal lives. I came to realize why Elvis is hiding out and leaves us in wonderment of where he really is; because we KNOW he is alive. Heck, he probably is scared the small-town shop would spill his hiding spot or that he still sneaks down to his statue in Fairpark to wonder if that is a fair depiction of him. Small town gossip can be cutting. It can be cruel. It can be hurtful and most of all it can be insightful. Given that you have to take it like a grain of salt and throw it over your shoulder before it brings you bad luck, because well we all know talk is talk. Besides, if it is not posted on Facebook is it even legit?
Maybe we should check our facts more. Do some hard research, like ask the barber their opinion. Maybe get the coffee shop owner and hairstylist together to compare notes. Maybe we should call Elvis up and see what he has seen in the shadows of this small town at night while he wonders in and out of the alleys. Maybe we should look to social media to back us up on the whisperings of the town. Maybe we should blame the mayor because heck, who in the world would trust a democrat these days? Maybe we should troll the weather man’s pages to see what he has posted and make as many nasty comments as we can. I am just trying to figure out the rhyme and reason to small town shop talk and the truth about where Elvis is these days?
I think I will go put on some music, maybe some real good music, maybe some Jailhouse Rock. I might even play Suspicious Minds, or Love me Tender. I might sip me some sweet tea. I might swat a million mosquitos. I might pull me together a banana and peanut butter sandwich like my grandma used to make me. I might decide to let the whisperings of the small-town gossip fade into the wind as autumn approaches. I might choose to love my neighbor as I love myself. I might choose to speak kindly instead of pitch in next time someone shares gossip. I might choose to rock in my rocking chair, close my eyes and wonder why Elvis is still hiding. I might choose to be a little more loving and a lot more kind. I might choose to pay it forward instead of holding it all back. I might choose to smile. I might choose to realize we are all different, but we are all from this small-town and that makes us practically family.
Until next time, come on over and pull up a rocking chair – I will pour you a tall glass of sweet tea.
Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/ Report for America
Mike Espy speaks to supporters during his watch party at the Hilton Jackson on Nov. 6, 2018.
The Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans opposed to President Trump, plans to support Democratic Mississippi U.S. Senate candidate Mike Espy against incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the final month of a race that has otherwise seen scant national attention or outside spending.
“We’re going in there,” said Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson, a longtime Republican political strategist who was field director for President George H.W. Bush’s 1988 campaign. “We’re going to help (Espy) … It’s the right thing to do. Mike Espy wins the ‘I don’t want to be embarrassed by a lunatic’ demo.”
The Lincoln Project has gained national attention for their brutal ads that typically call into question the character and morals of Republican candidates.
Wilson said the political committee plans to run ads in Mississippi, similar to what it has done in Alaska to support Democratic Senate candidate Al Gross against incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan. The Lincoln Project has a $482,000 ad buy in Alaska, part of a $4 million campaign also supporting challengers to GOP candidates in Maine and Montana.
Wilson made the announcement this week in The Daily Beast’s “The New Abnormal” podcast, in a Wednesday post-presidential debate discussion with Stuart Stevens, a Mississippi native, longtime national Republican campaign strategist and bestselling author.
Stevens, a consultant with The Lincoln Project, said in an interview with Mississippi Today that he is personally donating to the Espy campaign and, “I think he can win,” even in a red state that has strongly supported Trump and voted Republican in federal elections for decades.
Stevens said Hyde-Smith is a Trump sycophant and “accidental candidate,” and that he believes Mississippi will see a very high African American voter turnout for Espy, and “an erosion of Trump votes,” particularly among women.
Stuart Stevens
“Yes, I think Espy can win, and I think last night (with the presidential debate) every Senate Republican candidate took a hit,” Stevens said. “… I just don’t understand how any person, how any female, can support (Trump) whose defense for not raping a journalist was that ‘She wasn’t my type.’”
Stevens was referring to claims by columnist E. Jean Carroll that Trump raped her in the mid-1990s, and Trump’s denial of the accusation.
“I think there are a lot of Republicans who find Trump repugnant,” Stevens said. “Trump is the ultimate rich Yankee we were warned about — the way he treats women, thinks money can buy anything, how he makes fun of Southern accents … I’ve always thought of Mississippi as a place where people care about values and role models.”
Stevens said Espy would be “better for Mississippi.”
“Mississippi has a history of having powerful, influential senators,” Stevens said. “Does anybody think Cindy Hyde-Smith can evolve into one? … She’s sort of an accidental senator, and I don’t think nine out of 10 Mississippi voters could pick her out of a lineup … Who would you rather have in the office of a Fortune 500 company trying to convince them to move to Mississippi, Mike Espy or Cindy Hyde-Smith?”
