In episode 50, We discuss the case of Sandra Bland…the BLM activist who was found hanged in her cell after an arrest on a routine traffic stop. Suicide or Murder?
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Co-Host: Sabrina Jones
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Shoutouts/Recommends: Another Shade of Crime & A Few Bad Apples, Phasmophobia.
Morgan Kelly (left) and her brother John Forrest Kelly change the epaulets on the uniform of their father, Major General Trent Kelly to reflect his promotion from Brigadier General to Major General during a ceremony held Saturday at the Mississippi National Guard Joint Force Headquarters in Jackson.
The Mississippi National Guard on Saturday promoted U.S. Rep. Trent Kelly to the rank of major general and designated him as the assistant adjutant general of the Mississippi Army National Guard, making him the highest ranking military official currently serving in Congress.
Kelly, a Republican from Saltillo who represents Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives and formerly served as a district attorney in Northeast Mississippi, has more than 35 years of military experience.
“Trent Kelly is no stranger to service,” Gov. Tate Reeves said at the ceremony. “It’s been his life. That’s right, his life has been about service to others.”
A native of Union County, Kelly enlisted in the National Guard at the age of 19 in 1985. He mobilized for Operation Desert Storm in 1990 and deployed to Iraq in 2005 and 2009.
While seeming to hold back tears at times, Kelly thanked his family for their support during his military service and said, even though his career in public life is important to him, he would never have run for Congress if he could not serve simultaneously in the National Guard.
“This means more to me,” Kelly said of his military service. “Serving this great state, serving this great nation in uniform means more to me than what I can do as a civilian.”
The third-term congressman has now reached the same military rank as G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery, who represented Mississippi in the House from 1967 to 1997 and retired from the National Guard in 1980 with the rank of major general.
Kelly said he did not know Montgomery well, but he has long viewed him as one of his role models because of his simultaneous service to the National Guard and public life.
Saturday’s promotion ceremony marks the second time Kelly has received a promotion while serving in the House. In 2018, Kelly was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.
“In honor of you, congratulations,” said Maj. Gen. Janson Boyles, the adjutant general of the Mississippi National Guard. “And from all of us who wear the uniform with you, we are so honored to be here for this moment in your career.”
Kelly’s educational background includes an associate’s degree from East Central Community College, a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from the University of Mississippi, and a master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College.
Kelly’s family includes his wife of 30 years, Sheila Kelly, and children John Forrest, Morgan and Jackson.
Following the death of former U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee, Kelly won the 1st Congressional District seat in a 2015 special election and has served in Congress since. This past November, he was re-elected to the first congressional seat. He will be sworn into office in January to serve his fourth term in the House, where he is expected to sit on the armed service, agriculture and small business committees.
We are bringing you the latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates, as well as testing data charts and other helpful interactive maps and graphs.
This page was last updated Sunday, December 6:
New cases: 1,473| New Deaths: 12
Total Hospitalizations: 1,157
Total cases: 164,931|Total Deaths: 3,961
Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. Since then, he has added a total of 54 individual county mask mandates, covering half of the state. State health officials encourage widespread masking and credit the original mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.
After a record reporting of 2,457 new cases on Wednesday, the current seven-day average of 1,605 is now far past Mississippi’s summer peak.
During a news conference yesterday, Gov. Tate Reeves denied that Mississippi had hit a new record for case spread, even though the rolling average had already surpassed the previous high of 1,381 in the summer.
On Wednesday, the state health department issued new guidelines on distancing, recommending that people avoid all social gatherings with people outside of their home or nuclear family.
Mississippi also hit a new high for confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations on both Sunday and Monday, with the rolling average having increased 68% since the start of November. The rolling averages for ICU patients and people on ventilators are up 45% and 88%, respectively, in that time. Total hospitalizations, which includes suspected and confirmed cases, are still below the record set in August.
Thirteen major hospitals are without ICU capacity, according to this week’s health department numbers. Currently, 86% of the state’s ICU beds are full — including 96% capacity among the highest level COVID-care centers — and COVID-19 patients are filling 30% of those spots.
On the county level, Choctaw (17% increase in the last week), Kemper (15%), Rankin (14%), Jefferson (12%) and Stone (12%) counties saw the sharpest rise in cases this last week.
The Delta continues to accumulate the most cases per capita out of anywhere in the state. Of the 15 counties with the highest rates, 11 are in the Delta.
The state health department reported 128,746 people have recovered.
Click through the links below to view our interactive charts describing the trends around the coronavirus in Mississippi:
The Mississippi Capitol in Jackson, Miss., on Tuesday, June 30, 2020.
“No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.” – Gideon J. Tucker.
If it seems on Jan. 5, when the 2021 session of the Mississippi Legislature is convened, that it was not too long ago the 2020 session was adjourned, that’s because it’s true.
The 2020 session of the Mississippi Legislature that was slated to end in early May did not officially conclude until Oct. 10 in large part due to COVID-19 concerns, making it the longest legislative session in Mississippi history, at least in modern history.
So many issues, such as the coronavirus and the vote to retire the Jim Crow-era state flag, made the 2020 session unique and unprecedented — and long.
“It was truly a historic session,” Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said back in October.
As a new year approaches, a pertinent question remains: How long will legislators be in session in 2021? There are already discussions of convening on Jan. 5, as constitutionally mandated, and recessing until later in the year. After all, the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging. In addition, Gov. Tate Reeves has proposed eliminating roughly a third of the state’s revenue stream, the personal income tax. It is a proposal that could be contentious and time consuming for legislators.
Perhaps the Legislature stayed in session longer than it did in 2020 during the Civil War or during other crises in the distant past. But it has been the general consensus among veteran observers of the Mississippi Legislature that the longest session before 2020 occurred in 1968.
In 1968, legislators met from Jan. 2 until Aug. 9. In 2020, the Legislature was in session from Jan. 7 until Oct. 10. Now there is a strong likelihood that in 1968, like 2020, the Legislature was not meeting every day during that period. A matter of fact, for much of 2020 the Legislature was not at the Capitol in Jackson meeting, but was still technically in session where they could convene at the behest of House Speaker Philip Gunn and Hosemann, who presides over the Senate. The key is that when the Legislature adjourns sine die (for the year), it cannot under any circumstance come back until the next year unless summoned into special session by the governor. The Legislature just did not sine die in 2020 until October — meeting sporadically throughout the year.
The 1968 marathon session was preceded by unusually long sessions in 1966 and 1964. In 1966, the Legislature was in session from Jan. 4 until June 17, and from Jan. 7 until June 12 in 1964.
In more recent times, the longest session before the 2020 bonanza occurred in 2009, when legislators were in session from Jan. 6 until June 3.
The long sessions in the 1960s occurred at a time when the Legislature met every other year. After the two long sessions in 1964 and 1966, and in the midst of the 1968 session, legislators voted to put on the ballot a proposal to amend the Mississippi Constitution so that they would meet every year.
It seemed that Mississippi voters were not of one mind on the issue of the Legislature being in session annually. The resolution passed by the narrow margin of 51.3% to 48.7% in June of 1970, thus paving the way for the annual, regularly scheduled gathering of the Mississippi Legislature.
Perhaps as a form of compromise, the constitutional resolutions that legislators presented to voters limited the number of days legislators could be in session each year. The resolution, which is still in effect today, limits lawmakers to a 125-day session during the first year of a new four-year term for legislators. The following three years legislators are limited to 90-day sessions.
But leave it to those tricky legislators to add a loophole — there always seems to be a loophole — allowing them to extend the session in 30-day increments by a two-thirds vote of each chamber. Presumably, legislators could keep extending the session for the entire year until the Legislature convenes the following year for a new term. Remember that legislators came close to being in session for all of 2020.
Before the 1970 change to the state Constitution, there was no limits on how long a session could be. Legislators apparently just met until they believed their business was completed, and they decided they could do no more good — or harm, depending on one’s perspective.
We are bringing you the latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates, as well as testing data charts and other helpful interactive maps and graphs.
This page was last updated Saturday, December 5:
New cases: 1,942| New Deaths: 33
Total Hospitalizations: 1,188
Total cases: 163,458|Total Deaths: 3,949
Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. Since then, he has added a total of 54 individual county mask mandates, covering half of the state. State health officials encourage widespread masking and credit the original mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.
After a record reporting of 2,457 new cases on Wednesday, the current seven-day average of 1,605 is now far past Mississippi’s summer peak.
During a news conference yesterday, Gov. Tate Reeves denied that Mississippi had hit a new record for case spread, even though the rolling average had already surpassed the previous high of 1,381 in the summer.
On Wednesday, the state health department issued new guidelines on distancing, recommending that people avoid all social gatherings with people outside of their home or nuclear family.
Mississippi also hit a new high for confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations on both Sunday and Monday, with the rolling average having increased 68% since the start of November. The rolling averages for ICU patients and people on ventilators are up 45% and 88%, respectively, in that time. Total hospitalizations, which includes suspected and confirmed cases, are still below the record set in August.
Thirteen major hospitals are without ICU capacity, according to this week’s health department numbers. Currently, 86% of the state’s ICU beds are full — including 96% capacity among the highest level COVID-care centers — and COVID-19 patients are filling 30% of those spots.
On the county level, Choctaw (17% increase in the last week), Kemper (15%), Rankin (14%), Jefferson (12%) and Stone (12%) counties saw the sharpest rise in cases this last week.
The Delta continues to accumulate the most cases per capita out of anywhere in the state. Of the 15 counties with the highest rates, 11 are in the Delta.
The state health department reported 128,746 people have recovered.
Click through the links below to view our interactive charts describing the trends around the coronavirus in Mississippi:
Restauranteur Jeff Good, co-owner of Bravo, Broadstreet and Sal & Mookies in Jackson, Mississippi, talks with Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey about his powerful opinion piece published (link below) on CNN.com. Good lays out what will be required for restaurants and small businesses to survive the next few months until the COVID-19 vaccines are widely distributed and “normal” can be achieved again. He also talks about how he and his business have had to adapt to all the changes the pandemic has brought.
Lawmakers could postpone the 2021 legislative session due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Legislative leaders are discussing whether to postpone the bulk of the 2021 legislative session until later in the year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mandates of the state Constitution require the Legislature to convene the 2021 session on Jan. 5, 2021. Discussions have been held on convening that day, addressing some time sensitives issues and recessing until a later date. Early March has been discussed as a possible time to reconvene, according to sources close to legislative leaders.
It does not appear a decision has been reached on recessing the session. There also appears to be some major opposition to the proposal.
“I just don’t see us doing that, not while schools are open and teachers and others are working,” said House Education Chair Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach. “I think the Legislature needs to be working, too.”
House Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, were not available for comment Friday on the possible early recess.
In recent days, COVID-19 infections in the state have exceeded past peaks, resulting in many of the state’s largest hospitals, including in the Jackson area, exceeding capacity.
Having 174 legislators and all the additional personnel associated with a legislative session meeting in Jackson could result in a sizable increase in coronavirus cases. During this year’s session, scores of legislators and staff, including Gunn and Hosemann, contracted the coronavirus while in session at the Capitol.
“Obviously, there is great concern with the ICU bed situation in the Jackson area and we would not want to do anything to contribute to that problem,” said Sen. Scott DeLano, R-Biloxi. “The safety of our membership and the public is the greatest concern and priority.’
Whenever the Legislature meets in 2021, there are expected to be extraordinary safety precautions in place. For instance, the House leadership has already opted to suspend its page program for the upcoming session.
Postponing the bulk of the session until March possibly could provide time for a COVID-19 vaccine to become available, theoretically reducing the risk of spreading the virus. In addition, it would give legislators more time to look at state tax collections to gather more information on the amount of revenue that would be available to craft a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. There remains uncertainty on how the pandemic will impact the economy in the coming months and thus affect revenue collections.
In 2020, as the coronavirus began to surge in March, the Legislature took a long break and ultimately remained in session until October dealing with issues surrounding COVID-19. The legislative session was scheduled to end in early May in 2020.
In 2021, the session is scheduled to conclude in April. To extend the session past the scheduled end date (known as sine die), a two-thirds majority of lawmakers in each chamber must agree. If the decision is made in January to recess until a later date, that also will require a two-thirds vote.
We are bringing you the latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates, as well as testing data charts and other helpful interactive maps and graphs.
This page was last updated Friday, December 4:
New cases: 2,480| New Deaths: 37
Total Hospitalizations: 1,160
Total cases: 161,516|Total Deaths: 3,916
Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. Since then, he has added a total of 54 individual county mask mandates, covering half of the state. State health officials encourage widespread masking and credit the original mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.
After a record reporting of 2,457 new cases on Wednesday, the current seven-day average of 1,605 is now far past Mississippi’s summer peak.
During a news conference yesterday, Gov. Tate Reeves denied that Mississippi had hit a new record for case spread, even though the rolling average had already surpassed the previous high of 1,381 in the summer.
On Wednesday, the state health department issued new guidelines on distancing, recommending that people avoid all social gatherings with people outside of their home or nuclear family.
Mississippi also hit a new high for confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations on both Sunday and Monday, with the rolling average having increased 68% since the start of November. The rolling averages for ICU patients and people on ventilators are up 45% and 88%, respectively, in that time. Total hospitalizations, which includes suspected and confirmed cases, are still below the record set in August.
Thirteen major hospitals are without ICU capacity, according to this week’s health department numbers. Currently, 86% of the state’s ICU beds are full — including 96% capacity among the highest level COVID-care centers — and COVID-19 patients are filling 30% of those spots.
On the county level, Choctaw (17% increase in the last week), Kemper (15%), Rankin (14%), Jefferson (12%) and Stone (12%) counties saw the sharpest rise in cases this last week.
The Delta continues to accumulate the most cases per capita out of anywhere in the state. Of the 15 counties with the highest rates, 11 are in the Delta.
The state health department reported 128,746 people have recovered.
Click through the links below to view our interactive charts describing the trends around the coronavirus in Mississippi:
Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America
Tate Reeves speaks to supporters during his election watch party at Table 100 in Flowood on Aug. 6, 2019.
As COVID-19 rates continue to set new records and health experts issue dire warnings about dwindling hospital bed space to accommodate patients with the virus, the chief executive officer of one of Mississippi’s largest hospitals personally hosted an in-person fundraiser Wednesday night for Gov. Tate Reeves.
Kent Nicaud, CEO of Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, hosted the fundraiser on Wednesday evening at his home in Pass Christian. In a phone interview with Mississippi Today on Thursday, Nicaud said he and attendees of the fundraiser were “very conscious of all the social distancing.”
Kent Nicaud, CEO of Memorial Hospital at Gulfport
“This was a very small group of people, and the reason it was at my home was because of the ability to keep everyone separate,” Nicaud said, pointing out that his home is 11,000 square feet. “There were probably never more than 21, 22 people there at one time. This was an event that I felt was meeting safety criteria, and the governor was already in town for a tourism commission and chamber of commerce. This was an opportunity for people to talk to (Reeves) about specific things. We did it safely.”
An executive order Reeves issued in November mandates that group gatherings in Harrison County, where Nicaud’s home is located, exceed no more than 10 people in a single indoor space and no more than 50 in an outdoor space. Nicaud said that guests of the fundraiser were spread out both indoors and outdoors on multiple floors of his home.
It is unclear whether more than 10 people gathered indoors at any point during the event, which included wait staff and bartenders in addition to the guests. Nicaud reiterated “there was plenty of distance” and that everyone wore masks.
“Between what Kent (Nicaud) brought and the governor brought, we could’ve all taken a bath in hand sanitizer,” said Frank Bordeaux, chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party, who attended the fundraiser.
Even with the protocols in place, the fundraiser directly counters guidance issued by health experts as Mississippi has seen record COVID-19 numbers almost every day this week.
After a record of 2,457 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Wednesday, the current seven-day case average is now far past Mississippi’s summer peak, making this the worst point of the pandemic to date.
State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs, who oversees the Mississippi State Department of Health, specifically advised Mississippians to avoid “social events or parties” on the morning of the fundraiser.
“All residents of Mississippi should avoid any social gathering that includes individuals outside of the nuclear family or household,” Dobbs wrote on Wednesday. “MSDH recommends that Mississippians only participate in work, school or other absolutely essential activities.”
Health experts and even leaders of large hospitals in the state have recently issued bleak warnings of the state’s worsening COVID-19 peak period, specifically citing a sharp decline in bed space for virus patients.
“As of 6:46 am today, UMMC’s bed status is -31 beds, which means that 31 people are admitted but waiting for a bed to become available. Who will be #32 or #33 or #34?” Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the state’s only academic health center and largest hospital, tweeted on Wednesday. “Nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, and many others are doing their part. It will be a long time before they recover from the trauma they are living.”
Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, which Nicaud oversees, had just five available beds on the day of the fundraiser, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health, and just one available ICU bed.
When asked if the leader of a hospital should host an in-person event during the recent spike in cases, Nicaud said: “We’ve got to be responsible for our safety individually.”
“I do believe that putting people at risk is a problem, and I do not feel that happened at all,” he said. “If I didn’t feel like we could’ve accomplished the safety, we wouldn’t have had (the fundraiser). There’s not a mandate to quarantine. I think everyone has to find their own comfort zone. I think that’s going to be our new normal.”
Nicaud, who became CEO of Memorial Hospital in 2018, is a longtime political ally of Reeves, recently serving on the governor’s campaign finance committee and giving at least $30,000 to the governor’s 2019 campaign. Reeves also appointed him to the Mississippi Coronavirus Task Force.
Reeves has downplayed the severity of the quickly spreading virus in recent days, saying last week he wasn’t going to cave to pressure from “so-called experts” calling for a statewide mask mandate. Those calling for such an order last week included leaders of the Mississippi Hospital Association, Dobbs and Woodward.
Before the fundraiser on Wednesday night, Reeves and dozens of people attended a conference he organized – the 2020 Governor’s Conference on Tourism – at the IP casino ballroom in Biloxi.
When asked for comment on whether the fundraiser and the conference were conducted safely, Reeves’ deputy chief of staff Parker Briden said: “The (fundraiser) event with health care professionals and the tourism conference were conducted with a focus on safety — with masks and social distancing.”
