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The Democratic National Committee and Democratic state parties have reached a four-year agreement to guarantee more investment in state political infrastructure, including a “Red State Fund” for GOP-controlled states such as Mississippi.

Mississippi Democratic leaders and candidates have for years decried a lack of investment of money and manpower by the national party in Mississippi races and party infrastructure as the state has grown more solidly Republican up and down the ballot.

Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Espy, who lost back-to-back Mississippi U.S. Senate races to Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in 2018 and 2020, is one of those candidates. He welcomed Thursday’s announcement from the Democratic National Committee.

“I am thrilled to see this happening,” Espy said. “There is a new day in the national Democratic Party and I think I would attribute some of that to the new chairman (Jaime Harrison) being from South Carolina and just having lost in a red state. We’re friends and have spoken about the need for something like this. I’m thrilled to see that in his first month at the helm something like this is happening. This work means candidates such as I was can focus on having a winning campaign, messaging and outreach and not spend three-fourths of our time raising money and trying to build party infrastructure for the state.”

READ MORE: ‘They’ve failed us’: Inside the battle for control of the Mississippi Democratic Party

In a press release on Thursday, the DNC said the agreement will result in at least $23 million in direct investments to state parties and grassroots infrastructure during the 2022 midterm election cycle. This will include a “seven figure” Red State Fund “to put Republicans on defense” with direct investment and grants to states that meet two of the following: no Democratic senator or governor, less than 25% of the congressional delegation is Democratic and a supermajority of Republicans it the state’s Legislature.

Mississippi meets all these criteria, but no congressional seat appears party competitive in the deep red Magnolia State for 2022. Republicans control all but one congressional seat in Mississippi, and all eight statewide elected offices and both chambers of the state Legislature.

The DNC said the contract with state parties includes a data sharing agreement that will increase investment in down-ticket races, and also looks to the future for turning red states blue.

The agreement includes $15.5 million for the DNC’s State Partnership Program and reestablishing a joint fundraising committee between the DNC and state parties.

“As a former state party chair, I know firsthand how critical it is that we invest in the grassroots to strengthen the Democratic Party as a whole — and we can’t leave a single community behind,” said Harrison, the DNC chair. “With this agreement, the new ‘Red State Fund’ will allow us to take the fight to Republicans as they fight among themselves by providing unprecedented resources to Democrats organizing in in every corner of the country.”

READ MORE: Schumer says Democrats can add a Senate seat in Mississippi

Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Tyree Irving, who took over as chairman last summer amid criticism that the state party lacked leadership and wasn’t supporting candidates, in the past accused the state party of “running away from the national party,” and vowed to work to bring more national Democratic Party support and funding to Mississippi.

Irving on Thursday said, “I commend Chairman Harrison for his foresight, and I don’t have any doubt we can turn Mississippi blue … It’s not going to happen overnight, but this is a four year agreement. It is a modest amount but it certainly will help … But it will never happen if we don’t get started.”

Irving said he is putting together a strategic plan to take advantage of the national help and, “it will be very targeted to increase voter registration and do a better job at messaging.”

“That’s been one of the problems at the Democratic Party from the national level on down, that we long since have been out of the messaging game,” Irving said. “But we’re getting back in.

“… This will take resources, and the DNC recognizes that,” Irving said. “We are not conceding anyting to anybody any more. Historically the Democratic Party ceded the South, but we are not going to do that any more. We are going to make progress. And when you make progress, you get where you’re trying to go eventually.”

Although he vastly outraised Hyde-Smith in last year’s election thanks to an influx of out-of-state campaign donations, Espy has said national party support came too late in the game and he was forced to create his own campaign infrastructure. Espy said the national party should invest money and manpower in red states such as Mississippi between major races, not wait to see if a candidate could be competitive.

“They need to stop overlooking Mississippi,” Espy said Thursday. “They overlook you until you become viable, and it’s hard to become viable when you’re overlooked … My campaigned raised $16 million — enough to win — but the money came very late, and I had to build the data, provide it to the party, finance the infrastructure through personal campaigning. (The national and state parties) have to invest in off years, relieve the burden for candidates.”

Espy said he invested about $4 million of what he raised to the state party, and “donated my donor list — most people actually sell them, but I donated it — with 260,000 donors to the party.”

Espy said he foresees a time “around the corner” when the Democratic Party will again be competitive in state races, and “Mississippi is going purple.”

“I know we are not Georgia, and we are not as urban as Texas and Louisiana, but we will be trending Democratic electorally,” Espy said. “We did well in the urban and suburban areas, and that trend is not going to reverse, it’s going to increase. We’ll see the Black population grow, young people trending more and more Democratic, education levels are increasing and we’ll see more immigration, from Hispanic and Asian people. Look at the trend lines — Mississippi is going purple and it’s going fast. If we can stop outmigration and bring more jobs in like with Amazon — more skills jobs — all those will advance us toward the day when Democrats can win the governor’s seat and the Senate seats. That day is coming. I plan to do all I can as a citizen to help hasten that day.”

READ MORE: Three-part series on how the Mississippi Democratic Party lost so much ground during the pivotal 2019 statewide elections.

The post Democratic National Committee to invest in Mississippi, other red-state parties appeared first on Mississippi Today.

State officials are urging Mississippi residents to refrain from panic buying gasoline after a cyber attack halted operations for the Colonial Pipeline system on Friday.

“The reality is we do not have a fuel shortage in this state… The greatest risk that we face right now is panic buying,” Andy Gipson, Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, said in a video statement on Monday. 

While some gas stations across the state have reported low or empty fuel inventories, officials say that less than 30% of Mississippi’s fuel supply comes from the Colonial Pipeline.

“So stay calm — buy your normal level of weekly gasoline — and live your life! If everyone takes this approach, this will be behind us with minimal impact,” Gov. Tate Reeves said in a Facebook post.

The 5,500-mile Colonial Pipeline system, which runs from Texas to New Jersey and primarily serves the East Coast, came under a ransomware attack on Friday. It delivered nearly half of the fuel for the East Coast. The corporate operator of the pipeline released a statement on Wednesday saying the company had started to resume operations, but it would take “several days” until fuel deliveries return to normal.

The post “Don’t panic”: Mississippi officials say no gas shortage appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The number of Mississippians enrolling in health care coverage through the healhgare.gov marketplace is surging this year thanks to an expanded enrollment period and the expansion of premium tax credits that make the plans much more affordable. 

The premium tax credit (PTC) is the Affordable Care Act’s main insurance subsidy that radically reduces the premium costs for those eligible to receive it. A provision of the American Rescue Plan, the stimulus package Congress passed earlier this year, increased the tax credit amount for those who are eligible and makes individuals with incomes above 400% of the federal poverty line eligible for the first time. This provision represents the first major expansion of the health care reform law since its passage. 

For those who were eligible for a tax credit prior to the passage of ARP, the share of their income enrollees are expected to pay for premiums on a benchmark silver plan has been cut in half or removed completely.

Expanding the PTC has already had a major impact on the number of enrollees in Mississippi. In 2020, 4,341 Mississippians enrolled in health insurance plans through the marketplace from Feb. 15-April 30. This year saw 14,040 people enroll in the same period — a 223% increase.

“The premium tax credits, they’ve made a big difference in the number of individuals that are willing to accept the plans. The premiums are still extremely high, but those tax credits help to lower those payments to amounts they’re able to pay,” said Antwan Nicholson, a navigator at My Brother’s Keeper, Jackson-based community health organization. 

Navigators like Nicholson help people navigate the complexities of the health insurance marketplace one-on-one. Just last week, as he was helping one woman enroll, her eyes widened when she saw the premium on the plan she selected was $493. Then Nicholson showed her that she was eligible for a PTC that would cover $443 of that premium, bringing her monthly out-of-pocket cost to $50. Though she had just been looking for health insurance, the plan also included dental and vision insurance.

“She purchased it immediately,” Nicholson said. 

The stimulus packaged also created a 16-week special enrollment period (SEP) for people to get health insurance through HealthCare.gov that lasts from April 15-August 15. In previous years, SEPs were available primarily only for qualifying life events, whereas this year the Biden Administration opened an SEP to all Americans in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This week, Biden’s administration announced more than 1 million Americans have signed up for Affordable Care Act health plans during the special enrollment period that began Feb. 15.

“That’s one million more Americans who now have the peace of mind that comes from having health insurance,” Biden said in a statement this week. “One million more Americans who don’t have to lie awake at night worrying about what happens if they or one of their family members gets sick.”

Nicholson and his team had extra navigators for the six-week open enrollment period last year, but they’ve had to push through this new special enrollment period with a small staff. With each application taking between 20-40 minutes, dealing with the surge of enrollees has been a hefty task, he said. but they’ve handled it well.

The PTC expansion is temporary, lasting only through the 2022 plan year. Nicholson thinks it’s a vital lifeline for the uninsured and should be extended.

“I think it would be a great benefit to those that we serve and the citizens of Mississippi that can take advantage of it,” he said. “I think it’s something that we should look to expand. I hope that it is extended, so that we can still have individuals that are able to be covered receive the health care that they need.”

Even though the expanded PTC isn’t guaranteed for the future, that hasn’t deterred the people Nicholson has worked with from enrolling. 

“It’s an ‘I need it now’ situation, ‘so I’m going to take advantage of it and I’ll deal with what happens later,’” Nicholson said.

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Mississippi revenue collections through April are on near-record pace for the largest percentage year over year increase in the modern era.

Through 10 months of the fiscal year, the state has collected $5.35 billion in general fund revenue — a $756.9 million or 16.5% increase over the amount collected during the same time period last year, according to the April revenue report recently released by the Legislative Budget Committee staff.

Factors surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could be playing a strong role in the revenue collections. Those factors include:

• Unprecedented federal assistance to individuals and to Mississippi governmental entities. For instance, during the current fiscal year, most Mississippians have received at least $3,200 in federal stimulus checks that economists say have helped fuel the state economy.
• Last year the filing deadline for state income taxes was postponed from April 15 to July 15, meaning that about $230 million in income taxes that would have been collected in the prior fiscal year were pushed into the current fiscal year.
• Revenue collections in the past fiscal year were down as a result of the onset of the pandemic and other circumstances, such as the postponement of the income tax filing deadline. The 2.5 drop in revenue collections during the last fiscal year helps inflate percentage increases in the current fiscal year.

Still, if the 16.5% increase holds for the next two months, that means it would be the strongest year-over-year increase since 1981, which also saw a 16.5% increase.

It is not clear what fueled the large increase in fiscal year 1981. Revenue collections could be impacted by multiple factors, including the economy, rebuilding in the aftermath of a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, tax cuts or tax increases or even circumstances surrounding a pandemic.

“Revenues continue to be good. We are grateful for that… This has allowed us to fund what cuts we made last year,” House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, said earlier this year.

There are two key numbers to assess in the monthly Budget Committee revenue reports. One is how revenue collections look year over year, which is generally viewed as an economic indicator. The second is whether revenue collections are meeting the official estimate, which is the number the Legislature used in making its budget. If collections do not meet the estimate, the governor or Legislature could be forced to make mid-year budget cuts.

For the month of April, collections continue to be strong — $212.1 million or 28.5% above the estimate. For the year, collections are 17.7% or $804.2 million above the estimate. Much of the excess money will be directed to the Capital Expense Fund at the end of the fiscal year. Money in that fund often is used by legislators to fund various projects throughout the state.

Not surprisingly, most sources of state revenue have increased significantly year over year. Sales tax revenue, the largest single source of state revenue, is $124,2 or 8% above the amount collected during the same time period last year while use tax revenue, which is essentially the sales tax levied on internet purchases, is up $75 million or 28.5% year over year. Income tax collections are up $291.1 million or 20.1%, but that includes the revenue that was collected after the tax filing deadline was pushed back to July.

Casino revenue collections have been strong during the pandemic, up $204 million or 20.2%.

READ MORE: Billions will flow to Mississippi from Rescue Act. Where will it go?

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In a more fair and just Mississippi, James Thomas Bell — JT to his family and friends around Starkville — probably would have attended his hometown college, then Mississippi A&M, where he surely would have become a baseball star.

Of course, in a more fair and just Starkville, Bell and other Black children could have attended 12 years of high school and not had to work the fields to help feed their families. Those schools did not exist in Bell’s day.

Yes, and in a more fair and just America, Bell would have become a famous Major League Baseball player — and/or perhaps an Olympic track star — and never had to worry about money the rest of his life.

Sadly, there was little fair or just for a child of African American and Native American descent, born in 1903 on a farm three miles from downtown Starkville. So at age 17, JT Bell moved to St. Louis to live with older brothers, earn money in the factories there and attend high school in night classes.

The high school thing never happened. Factory work didn’t last long. Baseball discovered Bell, his dazzling foot speed, natural baseball instincts and quick bat. He became a professional baseball player in the old Negro Leagues. He became Cool Papa Bell, the most accomplished Mississippi-born baseball player ever, the only native-born Mississippian enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York. Bell was inducted  in 1974 despite never having played in the Major Leagues.

And if you are wondering why this is written today, you should know that his hometown college — now Mississippi State University — will pay tribute to him Thursday night. An area on the left field terrace at Dudy Noble Field will be dedicated as Cool Papa Bell Plaza, replete with a handsome plaque.

“Cool Papa Bell remains one of the greatest players in the history of the sport,” State athletic director John Cohen said. “No, he didn’t go to school at Mississippi State but he worked on our campus as a child. He should be recognized in his hometown and at our stadium. He will be.”

The moral of this story: It is never too late to admit — and correct as best you can — old mistakes.

Cool Papa probably said it best himself when asked if he had any regrets about never having played Major League Baseball. Bell replied that he did not and then added, “They say I was born too soon. I say they opened the doors too late.”

For those who don’t know the Cool Papa Bell story, he is widely recognized as the fastest player in the game’s history. For Cool Papa, a walk or a single quickly became a triple because he usually stole both second and third bases. He achieved a lifetime batting average of .341 in the Negro Leagues, playing for several different ball clubs. He also starred on teams in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Cuba.

What would he have done in Major League Baseball? We have strong clues. Bell played in many exhibition games between barnstorming players from the Negro Leagues and Major League ballplayers. Facing some of the best pitchers in the history of the game, Bell hit .391.

Satchel Paige, the great pitcher and Bell’s teammate, once said, “Bell was so fast he could shut the light off in his hotel room and be under the covers before it got dark.”

What we know of Bell’s early life comes mainly from interviews of him late in life. We know his father was African American and his mother was largely of Native American descent. We know he was fourth of eight children and that his maternal grandfather owned 200 acres of land outside Starkville where he grew cotton, corn, fruit trees and vegetables. We know that Cool Papa Bell not only worked those fields but also worked at the college’s creamery and at the agricultural experiment station. In a recorded interview in 1981, Bell told of having to dodge rocks thrown at him by some of the agriculture students.

Although he didn’t attend State, Bell knew all about the rivalry between State and what he called “Old Miss.”

When “Old Miss” came to town to play, Bell said State students would “soap” the train tracks to stop the train from running. He laughed as he told the story.

He also told about coaching Jackie Robinson with the Kansas City Monarchs before Robinson broke the color line in Major League Baseball.

“Jackie wasn’t the best player in the Negro Leagues, but he was the best to represent us in the Major Leagues,” Bell said. “He played better in the Major Leagues than he did in our league.”

Bell took great pride in Robinson’s Major League success. He called his own induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame his second greatest thrill, second only to Robinson’s breaking baseball’s color line.

We can only imagine what it would mean to the great Cool Papa to be honored all these years later at his hometown university – the one where he worked as a child but could not attend.

•••

The dedication of “Cool Papa” Bell Plaza and the plaque noting the life and career of Bell is a joint project between MSU athletics and the University’s Student Association. MSU Director of Athletics John Cohen, Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill, student association Vice President Kennedy Guest and Bell’s cousin Allen Landfair will each speak during Thursday’s pregame dedication.

Fans are encouraged to be in their seats at Dudy Noble Field at 7:15 p.m. prior to the game. First pitch is set for 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU. The ceremony will be shown on the video board as the “Cool Papa” Bell Plaza, located on the left field terrace, will be dedicated.

The post All these decades later, little ‘JT’ Bell gets his day at Miss. State appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with journalist, author and teacher Curtis Wilkie to talk about his long career and his new book, When Evil Lived in Laurel: The “White Knights” and the Murder of Vernon Dahmer. 

A 1963 graduate of University of Mississippi (He drew a map of what happened the night of the riot that is in the Ole Miss archives), Wilkie began his career at the Clarksdale Press Register covering the Civil Rights movement. From there, he went on to cover eight presidential campaigns (He was one of the Boys on the Bus during the 1972 Nixon Campaign.), being the White House correspondent during the Carter and Reagan administrations and then covering the Middle East for the Boston Globe.

After his retirement  from the Globe, Wilkie became a professor and fellow at the Overby Center where he taught until recently.  He is the also the author of several books including Dixie: A Personal Odyssey Through Events That Shaped the Modern South, The Fall of the House of Zeus: The Rise and Ruin of America’s Most Powerful Trial Lawyer, The Road to Camelot: Inside JFK’s Five-year Campaign (Co-authored with Tom Oliphant) and Assassins, Eccentrics, Politicians, and Other Persons of Interest: Fifty Pieces from the Road.

A frequent guest on CSPAN, Wilkie is a master storyteller who has helped document history for over a half century. 

The post Mississippi Stories: Curtis Wilkie appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The state of Mississippi has applied for more than $2 billion in American Rescue Plan funds — a key first step to the state receiving the federal stimulus money for local and state governments to spend.

While Gov. Tate Reeves, supported by House Speaker Philip Gunn, opted this week to discontinue participation in an American Rescue Plan program that provides the unemployed in the state an additional $300 weekly in federal benefits, Department of Finance and Administration spokeswoman Marcy Scoggins confirmed the state had requested the federal funds for state and local governments.

The U.S. Department of Treasury set up a mechanism this week to begin the disbursement of $350 billion to state, local, territorial and Tribal governments as part of the American Rescue Plan that was passed earlier this year to provide financial relief to governmental entities and individuals who might have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mississippi is slated to receive $1.8 billion to be spent by the Legislature. Half of that money, based on Treasury reports, will be disbursed to the state this month, with the remainder scheduled to provided in 2022. The money must be spent by 2024.

According to the guidelines from the Department of Treasury, the states and local governments have broad discretion in how the funds can be spent. It can go for COVID-19 relief, including to offset revenue lost because of shutdowns caused by the pandemic. On a state level, Mississippi never suffered a revenue loss because of COVID-19, and, in fact, tax collections for the current fiscal year have been growing.

The money also can be spent to enhance broadband and water and sewer improvements but not for roads and streets. Funds also could be used to provide extra pay to essential workers.

Similar rules apply for the funds going to the local governments.

The funds cannot be used to cut taxes, though some Republican-led states have filed lawsuits challenging that restriction.

The website for the Department of Treasury instructs: “The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds provide substantial flexibility for each government to meet local needs—including support for households, small businesses, impacted industries, essential workers, and the communities hardest hit by the crisis. These funds can also be used to make necessary investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure.”

Mississippi is slate to receive:

• $1.8 billion to the state, to be spent by the Legislature.
• $97 million for the metro cities of Biloxi, Gulfport, Hattiesburg, Jackson, Moss Point and Pascagoula, with Jackson receiving the largest share at $47 million.
• $258 million for smaller cities.
• $577 million for the state’s 82 counties.
• $1.6 billion for K-12 education, with most directed to local school districts using existing formulas for federal money disbursement. For perspective, the state K-12 budget is a little more than $2 billion a year.
• $429 million for the state’s colleges and universities.
• $166 million for capital projects statewide, primarily for rural broadband access projects.

“Clearly this is something that is transformative to Mississippi,” Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said earlier this year of the funds coming to the state. “… It is a good problem to have. Part of our process in my own mind is not only using this over the three years, but how to make this have an effect over the next five, 10 years or longer.”

Earlier this year the Legislature opted to establish a fund to be administered by the Department of Finance and Administration to deposit the funds with the legislators in the coming years deciding how to spend the money. The Legislature will have no say in spending the funds going to local governments and education entities.

READ MORE: Billions will flow to Mississippi from Rescue Act. Where will it go?

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Gulfport School District is awaiting approval for additional flexibility next year to be able to reduce achievement gaps, increase student learning and other goals because the board overseeing public education in the state has too many vacancies to take a vote.

And in one Delta county, funding for an early learning program for preschool children hangs in the balance for the same reason.

The nine-member State Board of Education is currently operating with only five members, and soon to be four after a longtime member rolls off next month. The low numbers means any time one board member must recuse him or herself from a vote, the board can’t proceed.

Two — and soon to be three — of the vacancies on the education board are Gov. Tate Reeves’ responsibility to fill, while Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Speaker Philip Gunn each have one seat to fill. Hosemann and Gunn have said they are actively meeting with candidates to determine who to appoint.

But Reeves remains silent about when he’ll make his three appointments, ignoring questions from Mississippi Today over the course of several weeks. Meanwhile, the board cannot take critical votes.

In April, Gulfport School District was on the list along with several other districts to be approved as a “District of Innovation,” a special status granted by the state to districts that allows them additional flexibility to expand curriculum choices, develop programs that increase students’ college and career-readiness and make special efforts aimed at low-performing students to decrease learning disparities.

Glen East, the district’s superintendent, is also a member of the State Board of Education and had to recuse himself from the vote, leaving the board with four members, or one member shy of a quorum, and unable to vote on the matter.

“We’re still currently working on the District of Innovation for this school year through the end of June, so we’ll see what happens,” said East, whose district has used the status to create a Middle College program where students can achieve a high school diploma at the same time as an associate’s degree. 

He said he’s hopeful an appointment will be made in the next 60 days so the district’s status will be able to be approved once again. 

“We’re working hard as a board of five right now … We’re all waiting for the next appointments to come through to help make the process more efficient,” he said. 

The State Board of Education must also soon approve additional grant funding for the Tallahatchie Early Learning Alliance, along with other collaboratives across the state. But because of Board of Education member Angela Bass’ work with the Mississippi Early Learning Alliance, she must recuse herself from the vote — meaning the board is, once again, unable to move forward in securing an additional nearly $40,000 in funding for Tallahatchie.

Early learning collaboratives are partnerships among school districts, Head Start agencies, childcare centers and nonprofit groups. There are currently 18 collaboratives serving more than 3,000 children across the state. They were recently recognized by a national group as having the highest quality standards, but access to them remains very low, with only 8% of the state’s 4-year-olds attending one.

One of the Board of Education seats became vacant after the former board chair Jason Dean resigned in February. Dean’s seat is appointed by Hosemann, the lieutenant governor. The others have been vacant for at least several months, and one nearly a year.

Board of Education Chairwoman Rosemary Aultman said she has a meeting with Gunn, the House speaker, on Thursday to discuss his appointment and hopes to have more news then. A spokeswoman for Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said his office is in the process of interviewing candidates.

Reeves’ office has ignored multiple questions about his unfilled appointments.

Bass said, however, a contact in Reeves’ office told her appointments would be made by the State Board of Education’s meeting on May 20.

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People are rational. Right? Right? Nah, I didn’t think so either.

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