OurTupelo

Every tropical system can kill, maim and destroy in its own unique way. Ida is shaping up to be one for the record books.

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Mississippi Today political reporters Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender discuss medical marijuana with Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, who has been leading the negotiations with Rep. Lee Yancey, R-Brandon, in hopes of reaching a compromise between the two legislative chambers on the issue.

Listen to the episode here.

Read a transcript of the episode below.

Adam Ganucheau: Welcome to The Other Side, Mississippi Today’s political podcast. I’m your host, Adam Ganucheau. The Other Side lets you hear directly from the most connected players and observers across the spectrum of politics in Mississippi. From breaking news to political strategy to interviews with candidates and elected officials, we’ll bring you facts, perspectives and context that helps you cut through the noise and understand all sides of the story.

Bobby Harrison: I’m Bobby Harrison, political reporter for Mississippi Today, and I’m here with my colleague Geoff Pender, another political reporter. And Geoff’s coming off the heels of being in endless tax hearings for the past few days. But now we’re going to talk about medical marijuana and maybe some other issues with state Senator Kevin Blackwell. Senator Blackwell represents DeSoto County. I think he’s in his second term. He’s a Medicaid committee chairman, but some way he has taken on the mantle of being sort of the Senate go-to guy on medical marijuana. So that’s primarily what we’re going to talk to him about today. So Senator Blackwell, thanks for being here.

Kevin Blackwell: Thank you for having me. 

Geoff Pender: Good talking with you again, Senator Blackwell. I guess first off, I’ll ask the question that you’ve probably heard a million times this summer. It appears to be the question of the summer. Where are the Senate and the House as far as working out a deal on medical marijuana?

Kevin Blackwell: Well, I kind of get tired of saying this, but we’re getting very close. And I’m sure the folks who are out there who are wanting to use these products for medical needs and certainly for the kids with some of their seizure disorders frustrating for them. But we are working every day on this trying to advance to get to the point where we can present something to the governor. 

Geoff Pender: Sure. I know you, you and your House counterpart had both at times expressed hope that there could even be a special session called, which the governor would have to do, but that that could be accomplished in August.

We’re here at the end of August. I guess that’s perhaps been pushed back a little bit, but do you still think we’re in special session territory? Are we getting so close to the regular that it might should wait? 

Kevin Blackwell: No, I think we can still get this done. We’re a couple of weeks off of my schedule where I’d hoped we would be but actually Representative Yancey and I met yesterday. We actually did a tour of University of Mississippi’s cannabis program and talked to some of their folks over there. But then later on that day, I did have an opportunity to talk to the governor to kind of let him know where we were in the process and that we’re getting extremely close and, you know, we’d have something soon to him for his office to review.

I think it’s still very possible here in the early parts of September to get something done, 

Bobby Harrison: Senator Blackwell for sorta just a person not familiar with the legislative process, they might be saying, “What the heck? Medical marijuana passed by overwhelming margin, and all the leadership in the House and Senate, the governor say they’re in favor of a medical marijuana law.”

 So they say, “What’s the hold up?” But I mean, there’s a lot of details other than just saying we’re going to approve medical marijuana. Can you just kind of speak to that? 

Kevin Blackwell: Sure. There’s a lot of issues with this. Now, when 65 had passed, there wasn’t a lot of really substance, and the initiative left a lot of the rule making and regulations to the department of health.

And I think they did an excellent job of coming up with some initial rules and regs. So what we’re trying to do is go through, and I think the bill that we’re presenting is going to be better than 65. And so there’s a lot of little issues that you have to address. And as we go through the process— and Bobby, I know both you and Geoff follow the legislative process.

So you start off with the bill today and the way it ends up is totally different at the end. And at times there’s language that starts off getting moved, gets added back, gets removed again. And it’s just part of that ugly sausage lawmaking process we go through. 

Geoff Pender: Senator, one thing I wanted to ask you about, it’s kind of as we speak today on Friday, this is kind of breaking news. Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson has sent a letter I think to the AG’s office and copied lawmakers essentially saying that, you know, he sees that marijuana be it medical or it’s still a schedule drug under federal law, still illegal under federal law. And essentially he just doesn’t see how his office could participate in overseeing growers or licensing or whatnot.

Is that a potential problem or are you guys still perhaps looking to department of ag for some oversight, or is that something that we’re considering at this point? 

Kevin Blackwell: I have not had the opportunity to sit down and talk with the commissioner about his concerns, but as it is now we have three state agencies overseeing the program, and that would be the department of ag, department of health and department of revenue. And each of those agencies we’ve assigned some different sets of responsibilities. And for instance, the department of ag would oversee the cultivators and the processors, transporters and any disposal entities. And I think responsibilities fall within the line of what the department of ag does.

This is an agricultural product even though we’re going to be using it for medicinal purposes. And so that’s on the cultivator’s side. And then on the processor side, they’re taking that product and making food products out of it, whether it be liquid or solid foods. And again, I think that falls under some of the responsibilities of the department of ag. 

Bobby Harrison: So not to put you on the spot, Senator Blackwell, but it may come down to an issue of whether Commissioner Gipson wants to violate federal law or state law. 

Kevin Blackwell: You know I’m not an attorney. I’ll leave that to the attorneys to haggle out, but it hasn’t seemed to be a problem in other states that have utilized their department of ag for a role in their processes. 

Geoff Pender: Let me ask you. I know you and Representative Yancey had been a little bit hesitant of giving too many specifics of where you stand on legislation, but some of the broad strokes that have been talked about in the past come to mind whether to allow smoking of marijuana, whether to allow people to grow a limited number of plants in their homes if they’re certified for a medical condition. 

Have you worked out those things? Are there any of those details you could give at this point? 

Kevin Blackwell: Well, I’ve said before, we have talked about those those issues. They’re not dead at the present time, but, you know, we’re still negotiating back and forth, kind of how both chambers feel about those positions.

Bobby Harrison: Yeah. And just for background, y’all are doing this sort of intense negotiation because the governor and I think mostly everybody in the legislative process agrees that y’all don’t want to call a special session. Y’all want a special session to deal with this, but you want to have pretty much a consensus reached before you go into that special session.

And that still doesn’t guarantee that it won’t be changed in the special session, but that’s kind of where y’all are. I mean the other issues are taxes, I mean, it’s just a litany of issues that y’all have. 

Kevin Blackwell: Yes, sir. They certainly are. And that’s what kind of has drug this process out. Since Representative Yancey has been working with me, I think we’ve made great strides.

He’s been excellent to work with. He has made a number of suggestions, which I think is gonna make the bill better. And you know, it’s just a process that we have to go through. And certainly we’ve talked about taxes, we’ve talked about smoke, we talked about home grow. We’ve talked about, you know, THC levels.

We talked about possession amounts. So there there’s a whole number of issues that we’re trying to consider. 

Geoff Pender: Sure. Y’all on the Senate side, you held some pretty informative hearings over the summer. And one thing I found pretty fascinating was y’all communicated with some folks from other states that have been there and done this.

What were some of the big takeaways you got from that? From talking with folks in Utah or Oklahoma or other places? 

Kevin Blackwell: Well, it’s been an educational process. This isn’t just like throwing out a bill, and I think you mentioned this earlier and saying, “Hey, we’ve got medical cannabis.”

There are a lot of considerations that we need to take into place. And so one of the things we’ve done is to go in and take a look at what other states have done. I think there’ve been 38 states that have passed, and I think maybe four territories that have passed medical marijuana. So, what we’re trying to do is go in and take a look and pick kind of the best from each state.

I have spoken a number of times with Senator Vickers from Utah. He is the one that kind of drafted their bill. They have some very strict guidelines and I think we’re looking to be a little looser, but looser than them, looser than Alabama, but not as wild as Oklahoma.

Geoff Pender: Yeah. The Oklahoma folks y’all talked with that was pretty interesting, some of the issues they’re seeing there. 

Kevin Blackwell: That’s right. And so what we’re trying to do is get through and learn from some of these other states that, you know, were ahead of us, some by a decade or more, and just trying to make sure. You know, I think Senator Vickers and I think the representative from Oklahoma said this, “We’re going to be tweaking this every year from now on.” Science is going to change.

i think social attitude’s going to change. So we’re always going to be tweaking this bill or this cannabis bill in some form or fashion, I think for legislatures to come. 

Bobby Harrison: Senator Blackwell, if you can’t answer this or don’t feel comfortable answering this right now, I understand, but I get paid to ask questions so let me ask this. I noticed a story out of The Daily Journal in Tupelo. Senator McMahan, one of your colleagues up there talked about potentially a 7% sales tax and a 10% excise tax. But, I mean, I think there was some other stuff to come out after that.

I mean, that’s not really what y’all are looking at right now in terms of taxes. Can you speak to that? Or if you don’t want to just tell me to shut up. 

Kevin Blackwell: Since I don’t get paid to answer questions, we’re looking at a regular sales tax and we’re having discussions about if there’s going to be any excise tax. And at the current time, it would not be in that 10% range. It would be less. 

Geoff Pender: Sure, sure. I’m just curious .I know you talk with a lot of your colleagues and the leadership, and I don’t know if you know where it stands on the House side, but just on the Senate side do you foresee this being relatively easy to get people on board with and agree to, or is this something that even in a special session is going to be what they call a knock down drag out trying to agree on all this? How difficult is it going to be to get folks together? 

Kevin Blackwell: Well, if you go back to our regular session, you know, I passed some form of medical cannabis bill three times. You know, we’re subject to the two-thirds vote on it. So you know, voting was tight back then. Part of the reason voting was tight was because of the Initiative 65, and proponents were fighting us. And really all our bill did was to provide some sort of insurance policy in the event that the Supreme Court did strike down 65 it’d be a program in place. As we know, the bill died over in the House, subsequently the Supreme Court overruled Initiative 65. So we have no program, and so that’s why we’re trying to kind of expedite something, if you would, to get it in place. So going to your question about the difficulty, I think there’s going to be a little bit of challenge, but I think for the most part the members of the Senate are going to try to fulfill the needs of the people, the voters. And I think there will certainly be discussion, but I believe we’ll pass the bill with a little greater margin and skin of our teeth like we did the last three times.

Geoff Pender: Sure Senator, one thing I’ve appreciated, I’ve heard you say a couple of times I think this is true that we hear a lot from the business advocates of the politics, you name it, but at the heart of this are some very sick people, some patients that need some relief. You guys getting input from them? I know maybe it’s hard to hear through all the noise on this, but are they still there at the focus of what y’all are working on? 

Kevin Blackwell: Absolutely. That’s my main focus is for the patients, and in particular the children. Some of these kids with these seizures that they have, I mean, it just breaks your heart.

 I’ve seen some pictures. Actually I thought one child was abused at school or something. And he had black eyes and, no, that was just from him falling down on the ground with the darn seizure. The parents of these children have reached out to me. A number of the We are The 74 reached out as well as people that supported Initiative 65.

And while a handful have been inappropriate on social media, the other handful has been courteous and have reached out to me. I’ve met with them. I think they understand that I am trying to work on their needs. And you know, we’ve used input from some of these folks into the bill, in fact, some of their suggestions. So that still remains my focus as far as trying to get something done for these these patients. 

Bobby Harrison: Senator Blackwell, along those lines, you’re a businessman in DeSoto County. You’re a Medicaid committee chair. How did you become sort of the point person on medical marijuana in the Senate?

Kevin Blackwell: Well, it kind of goes back. Back in 2017 I had constituents, couple of constituents, come to me, and one of the gentlemen had recently lost his wife to cancer. And about that time, Arkansas I think they were passing their bill for medical cannabis. And he wanted to see if would I mind sponsoring the bill, and I did in 2018 and it got no traction got no interest.

So I didn’t bother refiling the bill. So it’s been something that I’ve supported. You know, philosophically, I’ve been in healthcare all my life and certainly want to make sure there’s different alternatives for folks. And so in this case, I know there’s going to be some stereotypes that people have with people who use cannabis, but it is a medicinal product.

And there’s a lot of patients who can get relief from it, so just us pushing this forward I believe we’re going to get there this fall. But I guess more to your question, when we had the, I guess, the COVID response and the initiative process was moving forward, we thought we’d try to get something in place.

But at that time, so this is in 2020, and but we were limited, even though we had an extended session, to what we could take up. It had to just be COVID related. And although I did find articles that suggested that medical cannabis helped alleviate some symptoms of COVID, such as anxiety and stress, this wasn’t enough for us to bring that bill forward in 2020. So when we rolled around after the election in November, a number of us had concerns— I’m one of them— about putting a product such as cannabis in our constitution. I mean, once it goes in, you can’t fix it unless you have another referendum.

Bobby Harrison: Opposed to just regular law. 

Kevin Blackwell: Yeah, that’s correct. So, you know, there was a lawsuit filed, so it was basically 50/50. So we decided in January to go ahead and try to put something out just in case the Supreme Court did strike it down, which ultimately they did, but unfortunately we didn’t have a bill there to put in place, which brings us back full circle to today in our discussion. 

Bobby Harrison: And real quick just to kind of wrap things up, you talked about the narrow margin you passed the bill in the Senate during the 2021 session. But at that time because of legislative rules, you were having to get a two-thirds vote, but this coming, whether it’s special session or an upcoming session, it’d just be a majority vote to pass medical marijuana and put it in general law.

Am I correct about that? 

Kevin Blackwell: No, sir, because of the tax. 

Bobby Harrison: Oh, it’s three-fifths vote. That’s right. 

Kevin Blackwell: Yeah, I’m sorry. It’s three-fifths not two-thirds. 

Bobby Harrison: So it’d still be a little bit easier as far as vote margin. 

Well, we still need I think about 30 if all 52 members are there, and we don’t.We’ve had two resignations or one retirement and one resignation, so that puts us down to 50.

I think I need about 30 to pass it. 

Geoff Pender: Sure. Well certainly we hope to keep in touch with you and please keep us posted. Like I said, this has been the I guess you’d say the question of the summer, perhaps when we might see see this move forward, but we really appreciate you talking with us and giving us an update and hopefully we’ll talk with you soon again about it.

Bobby Harrison: Yeah. Thank you, Senator Blackwell.

Kevin Blackwell: Well, and if I can add on, upon passage of this bill we have some requirements that the department of health start issuing licenses or cards, certifying providers as well as patients. And then within 60 days you know, we expect to start issuing licenses to the cultivators, processors and dispensaries. So we’ve got some timelines on here to move this forward as rapidly as feasibly possible. 

Bobby Harrison: Senator Blackwell, we appreciate it. We really appreciate you doing this. 

Geoff Pender: Yes, sir. Thank you.

Kevin Blackwell: Thank you.

Adam Ganucheau: As we cover the biggest political stories in this state, you don’t want to miss an episode of The Other Side. We’ll bring you more reporting from every corner of the state, sharing the voices of Mississippians and how they’re impacted by the news. So, what do we need from you, the listener? We need your feedback and support.

If you listen to the podcast on a player like iTunes or Stitcher, please subscribe to the show and leave us a review. We also have an email in which you can share your feedback. That address is Podcast@MississippiToday.org. Y’all can also reach out to me or any of my colleagues through social media or email. And as always thank you for your feedback and support.

Subscribe to our weekly podcast on your favorite podcast app or stream episodes online at MississippiToday.org/the-other-side. For the Mississippi Today team, I’m Adam Ganucheau. The Other Side is produced by Mississippi Today and engineered by Blue Sky Studios. We hope you’ll join us for our next episode.

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Ida, the historic storm that slammed much of Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane on Sunday, crossed into southwestern Mississippi as a tropical storm early Monday morning, threatening to dump heavy rains and produce widespread wind damage across the Magnolia State.

More than 100,000 Mississippians were without power Monday at 5 a.m. after the storm affected south Mississippi and Louisiana, and widespread power outages were expected as the center of the storm — where the highest winds and heaviest rains are located — takes aim for central and north Mississippi.

“Damaging winds, especially in gusts, will continue to spread inland near the track of Ida’s center into southwestern Mississippi through this morning and early afternoon. These winds will likely lead to widespread tree damage and power outages,” a National Weather Service 4 a.m. update read. “As Ida moves inland, considerable flooding impacts as possible… .”

“Entergy Mississippi will be expecting significant damage to our system in South MS, the Jackson Metropolitan areas as well as threatening weather into North MS,” said Haley Fisackerly, the president and CEO of Entergy Mississippi.

Tropical storm force winds were already being reported across much of central Mississippi by Monday at 5 a.m., and conditions are expected to deteriorate into the day. The storm, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Louisiana, is expected to move over central Mississippi on Monday morning and north Mississippi on Monday evening.

LATEST ON IDA: Click here to follow National Weather Service updates.

The storm has already left catastrophic damage in Louisiana and south Mississippi. Many homes and businesses in south Louisiana were completely destroyed or greatly damaged. At least one death has been reported: in Prairieville, Louisiana, about 30 miles southeast of Baton Rouge, where a person died after a tree fell on a home.

More than 1 million Louisiana residents were without power by early Monday morning. This includes most residents in the city of New Orleans, which experienced hurricane force winds and a failure of its electrical grid.

The worst of the hurricane also affected the Mississippi Gulf Coast and other south Mississippi counties on Sunday and early Monday. Storm surge and flash flooding overtopped many roads in Hancock and Harrison counties — including U.S. Highway 90 — and there were several reports of severe wind damage to structures along the Mississippi Coast.

On Sunday evening, the National Weather Service issued an alert for low-lying areas of Bay St. Louis, Waveland and Diamondhead: “Plan for extreme life-threatening storm surge flooding greater than 9 feet above ground.”

Gov. Tate Reeves on Saturday issued a state of emergency before Ida made landfall. The prospects of the storm were made worse by most Mississippi hospitals already being full with COVID-19 patients.

“We are better prepared today than we were for Hurricane Katrina 16 years ago, but this time we also are dealing with a major pandemic,” said Jim Craig, director of health protection with the Mississippi State Department of Health. Craig urged people going to shelters and to other places to continue to wear masks and take other precautions to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Shelter locations can be found at the MSEMA.org.

For Ida updates on the Mississippi Gulf Coast: Follow the Sun Herald.

For Ida updates in central and north Mississippi: Follow WJTV.

The post ‘Expect significant damage’: Ida bears down on entire state of Mississippi appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves issued a state of emergency on Saturday “to put assets in place” to deal with Hurricane Ida, the strong storm that will affect Mississippi and Louisiana starting on Sunday.

Reeves said that the center of the storm is expected to hit neat Morgan City, La., — about 85 miles west of New Orleans — and present significant dangers to Mississippi in terms of heavy rain and strong winds throughout most of the state and strong storm surge on the Gulf Coast.

“This is a storm that is unlike normal in that it popped up literally less than 48 hours ago as a tropical depression, and here we are talking about it hitting landfall as early 2 p.m. tomorrow,” Reeves said on Saturday afternoon during a news conference at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Rankin County.

While rainfall could be as much as 20 inches in parts of southwest Mississippi and the Gulf Coast, the governor said that the rain could be as much as 4 inches to 8 inches throughout the state.

In addition, widespread power outages are anticipated across the state as the center of the storm moves through central and northern Mississippi, said Stephen McCraney, MEMA executive director.

“We are better prepared today than we were for Hurricane Katrina 16 years ago, but this time we also are dealing with a major pandemic,” said Jim Craig, director of health protection with the Mississippi State Department of Health. Craig urged people going to shelters and to other places to continue to wear masks and take other precautions to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Shelter locations can be found at the MSEMA.org.

Hurricane Katrina hit exactly 16 years from Sunday — the date Hurricane Ida is supposed to come ashore. Katrina’s landfall resulted in unprecedented destruction both in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Reeves said the forecast could change, but as projected Saturday afternoon, the center of the storm could enter Mississippi by early Monday morning, be near Vicksburg by Monday around 7 p.m., and be near Batesville by Tuesday at 7 a.m.

The governor said storm surge on the Mississippi Gulf Coast could rise to as much as 11 feet.

With the state of emergency declaration, the governor said local, state and federal rescue teams will be on standby, and he said he has been in conversations with President Joe Biden to formulate plans to transport patients as needed to deal with hospitals that have been over capacity because of COVID-19 and could be called upon to treat additional patients because of the powerful hurricane.

Craig said state health department COVID-19 testing and vaccinations will be suspended at some locations on Monday in south and central Mississippi and would reopen depending on conditions.

READ MORE: Gulf Coast hospitals, already overwhelmed with COVID, prep for Hurricane Ida

Reeves said the path of the storm could still change in the coming hours, but that it is expected to reach central Mississippi, including the Jackson Metro area, on Monday.

Traffic on Interstate 55, Interstate 10 and other thoroughfares in Mississippi was heavy by Saturday afternoon as people evacuated from south Louisiana, New Orleans and low-lying areas of Hancock County in Mississippi.

McCraney urged Mississippians to take backroads and leave the crowded interstates to the people from Louisiana fleeing the storm.

“We know our backroads,” McCraney said.

Ida on Saturday reached Category 2 strength on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, with winds from 96mph to 110mph, capable of extensive damage. Forecast give the possibility of Ida reaching a Category 4 before landfall, which would mean winds from 130 mph to 156 mph, bringing likely catastrophic damages to homes and buildings.

Wind warnings for south Mississippi were for sustained 74 mile per hour winds — at the bottom end of hurricane strength and still capable of extensive damage. For Mississippi, there is also a threat of tornadoes being spawned throughout much of the state as the storm moves inland. Saturday forecasts warned that hurricane-force gusts could extend well inland into Mississippi, and heavy rain and gusts up to 60 miles per hour through central Mississippi.

In Saturday’s forecasts, Mississippi was expected to be spared a direct hit, but to be on the east side — the worst, particularly for flooding rains — of Ida, and the storm is expected to track through western and central Mississippi as it moves inland. The National Weather Service extended tropical storm warnings from Lake Charles, La., through Mobile, Ala.

Forecasts also warned of storm surge through the Mississippi Coast from 7 feet to 11 feet, which would bring major flooding to low-lying areas. The forecast also predicts heavy rainfall for parts of Mississippi — up to 20 inches in isolated areas.

The post State of emergency issued as Hurricane Ida approaches Mississippi appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Ida appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Gulf Coast hospitals, overrun with COVID-19 patients and understaffed to handle the growing health care crisis, are preparing for another potential disaster: Hurricane Ida.

As Ida churns toward the Gulf states, Coast hospitals say they’re still waiting on the additional nurses called in by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to help manage the COVID-19 patient surge. Severe weather brought on by a hurricane — even if Ida doesn’t make direct landfall in Mississippi — could add even more stress to an already struggling health care system.

“Access to care is a national issue, but a hurricane makes it even worse,” said Randall Cobb, the Singing River Health System’s director of facilities and support. “Hospitals are at capacity. In our emergency departments, there are multiple-hour wait times.” 

Ida is forecast to be a Category 3 or 4 storm by the time it makes landfall late Sunday or early Monday, bringing the possibility of deadly conditions, long-lasting power outages, flash flooding and high-speed winds. The storm’s projected path as of Friday afternoon places its landfall in Louisiana, though that prediction could change.

Mississippi’s three Gulf Coast counties — Hancock, Harrison and Jackson — were under hurricane watches on Friday afternoon.

“Having a large patient census during any storm is never desirable, as it requires us to house more resources than normal, which equals more people in harm’s way,” said Gulfport Memorial’s safety officer Ken McDowell. “Essentially, we are implementing two emergency plans at one time for both the pandemic and the hurricane.”

Gov. Tate Reeves announced on Tuesday about 1,000 additional health care workers would be deployed across 61 Mississippi hospitals due to the COVID staffing shortages. Singing River’s hospitals in Ocean Springs, Gulfport and Pascagoula are expecting 53 nurses, but they have yet to arrive. 

“We just don’t know a time frame of how soon that will be,” said the hospital system’s spokeswoman Sarah Duffey. 

Gulfport’s Memorial Hospital had 83 patients with COVID-19 as of Friday afternoon, 22 of whom were on ventilators. Memorial said they, too, were still waiting on the MEMA clinicians to arrive. 

Reeves said hospitals would start receiving the new staffers within nine days of their request. Singing River has welcomed about a dozen new respiratory therapists and two paramedics so far.

But it’s the additional nurses the hospitals need to actually grow the number of patients they can care for, Duffey said. 

Cobb said because of the staffing shortages and already long waits, Gulf Coast residents need to be aware of whether their health concerns during the hurricane are more appropriate for a special needs shelter — which will have generated power during outages and oxygen canisters on hand — rather than emergency rooms.

“If you cannot breathe at all, absolutely come to the hospital,” Cobb said. “But if you’re running low on oxygen or concerned you’re going to run low, the counties have put some things in place so they’re prepared.”

Hospitals will continue to triage care following any major storm. That means new patients are treated in order of the severity of their ailment. The capacity issues are all the more reason to heed any travel warnings or mandatory evacuation early next week. 

“Stay off the road and stay safe, unless you have a true emergency,” said Memorial’s chief administration office April LaFontaine. “This will allow for us to keep emergency rooms and facilities available for patients who really need them.” 

Cobb said Singing River’s hospitals prepare to have a week’s worth of supplies and power should a direct hit devastate the region. Memorial has its emergency generators ready with five extras on standby.

READ MORE: Click here for the latest updates on Hurricane Ida.

The post Gulf Coast hospitals, already overwhelmed with COVID, prep for Hurricane Ida appeared first on Mississippi Today.

After just 19 minutes of discussion, the board of trustees of the Institutions of Higher Learning approved a motion Friday not to require the COVID-19 vaccine for students and employees at Mississippi’s eight public universities.

The 9-2 college board vote came the same week that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fully approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, which many faculty and staff had hoped would open the door for the IHL or the universities to require the vaccine. Even Alfred McNair, one of the 12 trustees on the IHL board, had speculated that FDA approval might make requiring the COVID-19 vaccine politically tenable.

“We’re seeing a lot of young folks dying in the hospital right now, cause it’s mostly youth not taking the vaccine,” McNair said at an IHL health committee meeting last week. “Hopefully if this gets approved in September, we can maybe go beyond that, because these young people, this virus is attacking them big time.”

McNair was joined by Steven Cunningham, a radiologist and the only other physician on the board, in voting against the resolution. Trustee Gee Ogletree was not present at the meeting.

In a press release sent after the vote, J. Walt Starr, the IHL board president, acknowledged the vaccine is “the best protection against COVID-19 infections, transmissions, and has been medically reviewed and approved by our country’s leading scientific experts.”

The board encourages “all eligible students and employees within the university system to get vaccinated against COVID-19,” he said.

“However, the board does not deem it prudent to require it as a condition of employment or enrollment, except at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and other clinical settings,” Starr added.

While any of the eight public universities could choose to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine on their campuses, some university presidents had said they would not do that unless the IHL board voted to require it first. IHL’s decision seemingly foreclosed the possibility that those schools might mandate the vaccine.

READ MORE: Mississippi universities say they can’t require the COVID vaccine. IHL says they can.

Conducted over Zoom to a nearly empty room in the Research and Education Complex in Jackson, the emergency meeting began with Starr opening up discussion to his colleagues. Just one concerned parent of a university student showed up to express his support of not requiring the vaccine. The rest of the attendees were reporters. 

McNair and Cunningham were the first trustees to speak. Their arguments, which emphasized a vaccine mandate would protect the health of college students, failed to persuade the rest of the board.

McNair told the board that his position was informed by his work on the COVID response in Biloxi where he has seen the effect of the virus on college-aged people. 

“My point of view: Taking care of these patients every day, what I’m seeing is the younger patients who are the ones in trouble,” McNair said. “These young people think they’re immune, but actually that’s where the virus is hitting, and the colleges are just wide open for it.” 

Cunningham chimed in: “As the other physician on the board, I concur. We’ve tried doing this on a volunteer basis, but I really think mandating is gonna be the only way to help save some of these kids.” 

The other trustees countered by speculating that thousands of students and parents might ask for a refund if the vaccine were mandated. They further surmised that a mandate might not be necessary because the virus has reached its peak.

“I’m not sure if we have the information, but I’d be curious to see: I’ve spoken with a couple other doctors recently who think we’ve peaked and that we may be about to see a downturn,” IHL trustee Teresa Hubbard said. “I’m not quite sure how they justify that or where that information comes from, but do we have anything to support that information?” 

“We really don’t know for sure,” IHL Commissioner Al Rankins said in response, “but … there have been some reports to that effect.” 

Bruce Martin, an insurance agent, said he had seen that delta’s “RT-factor,” or transmission rate, is dropping in Mississippi, but did not say where he’d read that. “That would indicate that it’s getting better if that thing that everybody talks about is a correct indicator,” he said. 

McNair pushed back by pointing out that the transmission rate depends on who is and is not getting vaccinated in a community. “When you start getting a whole bunch of kids together … unvaccinated together, these numbers are going to go back up.” 

“Another issue, peak or no peak,” Cunningham added, “you’re gonna have a significant number of unvaccinated people out there and that means you have a significant number of available hosts for this thing to jump to and mutate again to the next Greek letter variant.” 

But McNair and Cunningham’s arguments did not convince the other nine trustees. 

“There’s a certain segment of the population that is not going to get vaccinated, and it just boggles my mind but they will just not do it and us mandating it is not going to make those people do it,” Martin said. “We’ve taken their money, they’ve enrolled in the school, and I don’t know how in the world you’re going to get people to be vaccinated by demanding they be vaccinated, because they’re just not gonna do it.” 

Trustee Hal Parker said he agreed. Starr asked Rankins, the commissioner, how a mandate would affect students, given they have already enrolled in the school. Rankins surmised that some students who are strongly opposed to getting the vaccine might leave school. 

At that point in the discussion, it was clear the trustees had already determined how they were going to vote. 

“I’m wondering what we can do to strongly encourage, and that way … we don’t infringe on freedoms, but just put so much information out there that the one conclusion we hope everyone comes to is that they do decide to get the vaccine,” said trustee Ormella Cummings, who works as the chief strategy officer for North Mississippi Health Services.” 

Trustee Jeanne Luckey, who owns a real estate company, suggested revisiting the vaccine mandate next year. 

“If we mandate the vaccine now it would be difficult to go back and say it is no longer mandated,” she said. 

Trustee Chip Morgan, the last trustee to speak, said he respected McNair and Cunningham’s perspectives but that mandating the vaccine at this time would be a “terrible mistake.” 

Starr asked if any of the trustees had more comments, then Morgan made a motion for the board to support the vaccine, but not require it. 

“We ought to say at this time, it’s our view that we would not impose any requirements on the universities to mandate vaccination,” he said.

Classes started this week at Jackson State University, University of Mississippi and University of Southern Mississippi. Classes started the week of Aug. 16 at Alcorn State University, Delta State University, Mississippi State University, Mississippi University for Women, and Mississippi Valley State University.

The post College board votes to not require COVID-19 vaccine for students, faculty appeared first on Mississippi Today.

More than 80% of Mississippi’s K-12 school districts require masks or face coverings to be worn on campus. However, that still leaves 78,324 students under no mask requirement, including two of the biggest school districts in the state — Harrison County School District with 13,666 students and DeSoto County School District with 34,067, according to data from the Mississippi Department of Education’s website.

View a visualization of Mississippi’s K-12 student population divided by how many are or are not subject to a mask requirement in their district:

In addition to Desoto County and Harrison County school districts, the other 13 mask-optional districts include:

• Baldwyn School District (753)
• Enterprise School District (924)
• Itawamba County School District (3,378)
• Lee County School District (6,389)
• Lincoln County School District (2,733)
• Monroe County School District (2,095)
• Nettleton School District (1,170)
• North Tippah School District (1,259)
• Petal School District (4,106)
• Senatobia Municipal School District (1,676)
• Stone County School District (2,334)
• Tate County School District (2,097)
• Walthall County School District (1,677)

READ MORE: Inside one of Mississippi's mask-optional school districts

• Our latest COVID-19 in Mississippi and Education coverage, including COVID-19 guidelines for colleges

The post Data: How many Mississippi students are not required to wear masks in school? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

As lawmakers haggle over a medical marijuana program to replace one passed by voters but shot down by the Mississippi Supreme Court, state Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson says because marijuana is still federally illegal, he doesn’t want to help oversee any program.

“All of us elected officials took an oath of office to ‘faithfully support the Constitution of the United States … and obey the laws thereof,’” Gipson wrote in a letter to Attorney General Lynn Fitch copied to lawmakers. “… please explain how this office or the Department (of Agriculture) could legally license the growing and/or processing of a marijuana crop in violation of federal law.”

Lawmakers proposed legislation this year, and are considering measures now, that would have Gipson’s agency license and regulate marijuana growers and processors. Initiative 65, passed by voters in November, would have had the state Health Department oversee the entire program, although it could have brought other agencies in to help. The state Board of Health had opposed the Health Department being put in charge of the program, and opposed Initiative 65 as well.

Gipson, in a Supertalk radio interview on Friday, said he does not see how his office could participate in a program that is still federally illegal. He said he already has a legal challenge drafted if lawmakers approve such a measure.

READ MORE: Lawmakers ‘very, very close’ to medical marijuana deal

Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, who’s leading Senate negotiations on a medical marijuana program, on Friday said he had not spoken with Gipson, but noted that many of the 38 states with medical marijuana programs have their agriculture agencies providing oversight.

In his letter to the attorney general, Gipson said: “If the Mississippi Legislature were to enact and the governor were to sign into state law a medical marijuana program, how would it be legal under the federal act to truck, ship, deliver, manufacture, distribute or dispense any part of the cannabis seed or plant as a Schedule 1 substance into the state of Mississippi?”

While marijuana remains federally illegal, federal authorities have looked the other way as many states have legalized medical or recreational use. Congress has failed to act on the issue. This has caused problems with banking and finances for the industry and with interstate commerce.

The post Ag Commissioner Gipson wants no part in medical marijuana program appeared first on Mississippi Today.