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The post Marshall Ramsey: No Quorum appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A pending decision by the Mississippi Supreme Court could end citizen efforts to put several issues on the statewide election ballot for voters to decide.

Efforts are ongoing to gather signatures for six initiatives that among other things allow people to vote on legalizing marijuana for recreational use and restoring the 1890s flag as the official banner of the state, complete with the Confederate battle emblem as part of its design.

But those two efforts and others could be stopped by the state’s highest court. The nine-member Supreme Court is currently considering a lawsuit filed by the city of Madison and Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler trying to prevent a medical marijuana initiative approved by voters in November 2020 from going into effect. The lawsuit maintains the language in the Constitution requiring the signatures to place an issue on the ballot be gathered from five congressional districts makes initiative efforts invalid since the state as of the 2000 Census has only four districts.

The court ruling potentially could make it impossible for the signature-gatherers to meet the mandates of the Constitution.

Other ongoing initiatives that could be impacted by the court ruling would:

• Limit the terms of appointed and elected officials in the state to two terms.
• Allow no-excuse, in-person early voting.
• Expand Medicaid to cover primarily the working poor.
• Replace the 1890s state flag, with its Confederate battle emblem, with the Hospitality Flag, formerly called the Stennis Flag.

The Legislature retired the 1890s flag in June, and voters selected a new state flag in November that includes a Magnolia and the phrase “In God We Trust.”

Even though the old flag has been removed, Kendra James, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s office, said the initiative to replace the old flag will be active until August. Initiative sponsors have one year to gather signatures once the process of agreeing to the language for the initiative is finalized.

An effort also continues to give voters an opportunity to vote on restoring the old flag. A recent news release from an organization called “Let Mississippi Vote” said 20,000 signatures had been gathered through April for the initiative that would give voters four options to choose from for a state flag.

The four options are the old flag, the new flag approved in November by voters, the Hospitality Flag, and the bicentennial banner.

Dan Carr, a Gulf Coast pastor and founder of Let Mississippi Vote, said the initiative sponsors have until Dec. 12 to gather the required number of signatures — about 106,000 total. To place the issue on the 2021 ballot, the required number of signatures would need to be gathered, verified and delivered to the Legislature 90 days before the start of the 2022 session in January. If the process is completed later in the year, it would be placed on the 2023 ballot.

“I don’t think we will be finished before November,” Carr conceded.

Carr and other initiative sponsors are hoping their efforts are not stopped by the Supreme Court.

If the Supreme Court does rule that the initiative process is invalid because of the requirement to gather signatures from five congressional districts that no longer exist, it most likely would take a two-thirds vote of the Legislature and then approval by voters in a general election to correct the language. That most likely means the initiative process could not be fixed before November 2022 if the Legislature voted in the 2022 session to correct the language.

READ MORE: Is the Mississippi ballot initiative working as intended?

The post Six active ballot initiatives could be halted by Mississippi Supreme Court ruling appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Incomplete Pass appeared first on Mississippi Today.

When Ole Miss next wins a baseball game — quite possibly this weekend in a three-game series at Texas A&M — it will mark Mike Bianco’s 800th victory at the university and his 900th as a college baseball coach.

Now then, here is what is most impressive about that: Only two coaches in Southeastern Conference history have won so many games as an SEC coach. Those coaches are named Skip Bertman and Ron Polk, the two all-time college baseball coaching legends — indeed, the two men most responsible for making SEC baseball what it has become, by far the premier college baseball league in the country.

This was mentioned to Bianco in a one-on-one interview with Mississippi Today in his office on Wednesday, the morning after his Rebels had won his Ole Miss victory No. 799, an ugly, 15-12 decision over Arkansas State. “Polk, Bertman and then Bianco — how does that make you feel?” he was asked.

His answer was typical Bianco, which is typically classy.

“I am not sure I belong in the same category as those two men whom I have so much respect for,” Bianco said. “I played for Bertman and have been a long-time admirer of Coach Polk, who visited my high school and talked to me about playing at State. I mean, those two men put college baseball on the map. They are responsible for all the huge stadiums, the TV, the crowds, everything you see in college baseball these days.”

He’s right about Polk and Bertman. And what he won’t say is this: Bianco is far and away the most responsible for what baseball has become at Ole Miss: the current nation’s leader in attendance, currently a Top 10 team and perennially in the national polls, a huge producer of Major League talent, and an almost annual participant in the NCAA Tournament. The current Rebels are 32-12 overall, 13-8 in the SEC and ranked as high as No. 9 in the various national polls.

And yet, Bianco often is criticized by Rebel fans, mostly for not faring better against arch-rival Mississippi State and for not winning more in the postseason. Ole Miss has lost 16 of its last 19 games against State, but before that Bianco was 35-29 against the Bulldogs. Despite making the NCAA field in 16 of his 19 seasons, Bianco’s Rebels advanced to the College World Series in Omaha just once in 2014.

We’ll dive more deeply into that criticism, but first let’s take a look at what it will take for the Rebels to advance to Omaha in 2021. Obviously, it will take getting hot and playing their best baseball when it matters most. That goes for everybody in college baseball. There are probably 50 teams capable of making it to Omaha, but baseball is always about matchups and about playing best when it matters most.

Let’s get specific. Despite an injury to slugger Tim Elko, Ole Miss remains plenty good enough offensively to advance through the regionals and a super regional. They lead the SEC in batting average and rank in the top five in nearly all the pertinent offensive categories. The starting pitching — especially the one-two punch of Gunnar Hoglund and Doug Nikhazy — is top shelf and bodes well should the Rebels reach a best-of-three super regional.

The team’s Achilles heel is the bullpen. Closer Taylor Broadway has been superb. The problem has been finding a bridge from the starter to Broadway. 

“We’ve got to be better out of the bullpen,” Bianco said.

“People talk all the time about Elko’s injury and that has hurt and would hurt anybody, but what might have affected us just as much or more was losing (Max) Cioffi,” Bianco said.

Cioffi, a senior, had been a dependable reliever — early, mid and late — in past seasons but pitched only twice in the early season before suffering a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). The UCL connects the inside of the upper arm (humerus) to the inside of your forearm (ulna). Cioffi has undergone surgery to repair the injury.

Tuesday night’s victory over Arkansas State was a perfect example of the Rebels’ bullpen woes. Often it looked as if Arkansas State was taking batting practice. Seven Rebel relievers gave up 13 hits, five walks and 11 runs before Bianco, desperate, finally called on often-starter Derek Diamond to finally close out the game. Bianco didn’t need a treadmill to get in his steps Tuesday. He got plenty between the dugout and pitcher’s mound.

Is improvement possible? Freshman Jack Dougherty showed he could be a much more a part of a steady bridge to Broadway with a 3.1 inning, hitless, scoreless performance this past weekend against South Carolina. Continued success from Dougherty would be huge.

As for the criticism Bianco receives — mostly on social media and message boards — take a look at his records against SEC opponents. His overall records against Mississippi State and LSU are just under .500, but he’s dominated matchups against SEC West opponents Alabama (38-29), Arkansas (39-33), Auburn (37-27) and Texas A&M (15-9). He’s even got winning records against other storied SEC programs with recent national championships: Vanderbilt (27-23) and Florida (28-22).

When asked about the criticism in the interview this week, he took a comes-with-the-territory approach.

“I don’t read social media and message boards and frankly I sometimes think the world would be better without both,” Bianco said. “Every coach is going to get criticized, especially in the SEC. I do think sometimes it gets magnified by the size of your following. If you have 10,000 coming to the games, you are going to have more criticism than if it’s a thousand or two.”

That last part is true and so is this: The criticism, fair or not, will likely continue until the Rebels break through and win another regional and then a super regional and reach Omaha. And that won’t happen this spring unless the bullpen improves.

The post Mike Bianco is about to reach his 800th win at Ole Miss. Can his 2021 team get to Omaha? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Brett Favre has not repaid $600,000 he received in Mississippi welfare money after promising one year ago that he would.

A state audit released last May revealed that Mississippi Community Education Center — a nonprofit at the center of what officials call the largest public embezzlement scheme in state history — paid Favre $1.1 million in welfare money to promote a federally-funded anti-poverty initiative called Families First for Mississippi.

In explaining why he had entered a high-dollar sponsorship deal with the charity, Favre tweeted on May 6, 2020: “My agent is often approached by different products and brands for me to appear in one way or another. This request was no different, and I did numerous ads for Families First.”

His longtime agent James “Bus” Cook conversely told Mississippi Today when approached at his home last week that he had nothing to do with Favre’s contract with the public grant-funded nonprofit.

Favre, the 51-year-old Kiln native and south Mississippi resident, has not returned several calls or messages to Mississippi Today, but told his Twitter followers last year that he didn’t know the money he received was intended to help poor families.

Though officials have not accused him of a crime, Favre said he would refund the money. He made an initial payment of $500,000. Favre has not made any additional payments, a spokesperson for the auditor’s office told Mississippi Today on Thursday morning. Because federal authorities are still investigating the payment to Favre, no one has demanded he repay the funds. No other recipients whose payments were questioned in the audit have voluntarily refunded the money, either, the spokesperson said.

For a year Favre has remained mum on his involvement with now-embattled Mississippi welfare officials, instead expounding publicly about his support for President Donald Trump, how politics is ruining sports and his belief that Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin didn’t mean to kill George Floyd.

But his million-dollar Families First advertising campaign isn’t the only way Favre intersects with the alleged welfare fraud scheme, which federal authorities are still investigating.

Favre met with the former Mississippi Department of Human Services director John Davis and the nonprofit founder Nancy New, according to emails and interviews, to discuss financially supporting a concussion research firm called Prevacus — the company that eventually received $2.15 million in allegedly stolen welfare funds.

Auditor’s agents arrested New, Davis and four others in February of 2020 for allegedly conspiring to embezzle a total of $4 million, which includes the payment to Prevacus.

Favre also talked to then-Gov. Phil Bryant about luring Prevacus to Mississippi, Mississippi Today first reported, but Bryant denied referring the project to the welfare department, an agency under the governor’s office. Officials have not accused Bryant of a crime.

Mississippi Community Education Center sent Favre Enterprises Inc., the football player’s for-profit company, a payment of $500,000 in December of 2017 and $600,000 in July of 2018. In the middle of 2019, Favre told Men’s Health he had invested nearly $1 million of his own money into Prevacus.

In an email, Davis told his colleague that Favre and Bryant wanted to meet Jan. 2, 2019, to discuss the “Educational Research Program that addresses brain injury caused by concussions,” as well as “the new facility at USM”. Bryant denied attending this meeting.

The nonprofit had also paid $5 million in human services block grant funds towards the construction of a new volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi, Mississippi Today first reported. Favre had been helping to raise funds for the facility at the university where his daughter played volleyball.

Meanwhile, the state was serving fewer and fewer poor families through the federal program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, formerly known as welfare, that the defendants were allegedly using as a slush fund.

The state, which has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation at nearly 20%, has wide latitude to spend this annual $86.5 million federal block grant how it wants.

Because the state chose to transfer large chunks of the grant to the private nonprofit, investigators found that recipients of funds from New’s organization may not have known where the money came from.

“I would certainly never do anything to take away from the children I have fought to help!” Favre tweeted. “I love Mississippi and I would never knowingly do anything to take away from those that need it most.”

The $500,000 Favre returned to the state is in a custodial account at the office of the state auditor, a spokesperson said, where it will sit until the federal authorities finish their investigation and determine which expenditures constitute misspending and which dollars it will retrieve.

The current Mississippi Department of Human Services Director Bob Anderson has said he supports providing more direct assistance to poor Mississippians and pushed an increase to welfare benefits, the first increase since 1999, through the Legislature this year. The agency has also imposed much higher reporting requirements on its TANF subgrantees.

During Davis’ administration, the welfare agency did not require subgrantees to provide the agency with its partner contracts or a record of expenditures, such as Mississippi Community Education Center’s payments to Favre Enterprises Inc.

A contract Mississippi Community Education Center supplied to the auditor’s office said the nonprofit hired Favre for three speaking engagements, one radio spot, one keynote address and for autographs for marketing materials, according to the single audit. The contract did not contain a price, the audit said.

The auditor’s office has not released the contract, calling it an investigative record.

Investigators also asked the nonprofit for the dates Favre supposedly spoke and determined Favre did not attend the events, the audit said. The audit labeled the payment to Favre a “questioned cost.”

Favre denied taking money for a job he didn’t complete, saying he conducted “numerous ads” for Families First.

SuperTalk, a popular conservative radio station known for hosting state officials and employees, posted a photo of Favre posing with Davis and New at the office of TeleSouth Communications, another questioned recipient of TANF funds, in August of 2018.

Both SuperTalk and Favre have blocked Mississippi Today’s reporter from viewing their Twitter accounts.

While Favre implied on Twitter that New’s nonprofit approached his agent to set up the Families First gig, Cook told Mississippi Today last week that he had no knowledge of the deal.

Cook told Mississippi Today when visited at his home last week that he was not involved in Favre’s agreement with Mississippi Community Education Center, his efforts to get the volleyball stadium built or his investments into Prevacus. Cook said he had not discussed these topics with Favre and had read little about them in the news. He said he preferred not knowing.

Cook said he did not know if anyone else was representing Favre in these ventures, but that $1.1 million was not an unusual amount for Favre to earn for promotional gigs.

The attorney for Ted DiBiase Jr., Davis’ close colleague, previously told Mississippi Today and Clarion Ledger that his client recalled Cook’s attendance at a meeting at Favre’s south Mississippi home to discuss a partnership between the state and Prevacus, the company that received more than half of the allegedly stolen welfare money. Cook had not responded to several calls or messages over the last year, but he told Mississippi Today last week that he never attended such a meeting and had never met Davis or New.

Cook said he was also not aware of Favre’s promise to repay the welfare money he received to the state. When asked if Favre is the kind of person who does what he says he is going to do, Cook said he would expect Favre to follow through on his commitments.

The post Brett Favre hasn’t returned welfare funds as promised a year ago appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The board of trustees of the Institutions of Higher Learning is scrambling to hold a special emergency meeting this Friday to consider several university agenda items — a meeting that wouldn’t be necessary had Gov. Tate Reeves made four new college board appointments on time.

The Friday meeting, scheduled for the same day the terms of four trustees are set to expire, was called while the 12-person board will still have enough members to vote on certain finance items. The board is expected to consider five items on Friday that one of the trustees, due to a potential conflict of interest, is likely to recuse themselves from voting on, sources close to the IHL board told Mississippi Today.

The items in question were initially on the agenda for the board’s upcoming regular meeting on May 20. But since Reeves, who is responsible for naming trustees, did not make his appointments in time for the mandated Senate confirmation hearings during the 2021 legislative session, the board may only have eight members at that meeting — exactly enough for a quorum. The anticipated recusal would render the board without a quorum and unable to legally vote on the items.

Reeves has not said when he might fill the four empty seats. Without the governor’s appointments, not only will the IHL board be unable to vote on any issue where a trustee must recuse themselves, but it will also be unable to hold a meeting in the event a member is absent.

This could affect the day-to-day operations of the state’s eight public universities, which the IHL board is tasked with overseeing. Trustees’ votes affect nearly every aspect of higher education in Mississippi, from approving new degree programs and granting tenure to how much tuition will cost and the medical equipment the University of Mississippi Medical Center can buy. 

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves still hasn’t made key appointments to college board, board of education

Because college board trustees are typically politically connected lawyers, doctors or businesspeople, recusals are a regular occurrence. Trustees have recused themselves from voting at 10 out of the 13 meetings held since May 2020 — a total of 46 agenda items, according to an analysis of IHL meeting minutes. The majority of those recusals come from attorney Gee Ogletree, who was appointed by former Republican Gov. Phil Bryant in 2018, and Alfred McNair, another Bryant appointee who has been on the board since 2015. 

Ogletree, a partner at a law firm that represents a wide variety of industry clients, has recused himself 36 times since May 2020, often on items pertaining to requests from UMMC to acquire various medical equipment, such as lab tools used to identify the coronavirus and sleeves that prevent the formation of blood clots. Ogletree’s term expires in May 2027. 

McNair, a gastroenterologist, has recused himself five times since May 2020. McNair’s term expires May 2024. 

Since Reeves did not make appointments during the 2021 legislative session, it’s also unclear if he can make appointments without calling a special session of the Mississippi Senate. The state Constitution mandates that appointments be confirmed by the Senate.

Since his time as lieutenant governor, Reeves has a history of slow-walking and missing deadlines for important appointments. In addition to the delayed appointments to the college board, Reeves currently owes two appointments to the Mississippi Board of Education, which oversees the state’s K-12 public schools. That board currently has five members, constituting exactly enough for a quorum. The board of education had to cancel a November 2020 meeting because it lacked quorum.

In 2020, Reeves didn’t name people to the board to redesign the state flag until a week after the deadline set by the Legislature. That deadline was clearly spelled out in the bill Reeves signed into law himself.

And in 2017, some blamed the state’s late start on its bicentennial celebration — it didn’t fully roll out until near the end of the state’s 200th year — in part because Reeves didn’t appoint people to long-vacant slots on the Bicentennial Commission until late that year.

Reeves and several of his staffers have ignored questions from Mississippi Today reporters about when he will name appointments and why he hasn’t yet. Though Reeves does not often comment on appointments, he offered insight into his decision-making process for appointments during the 2019 governor’s race. After the 2019 University of Mississippi chancellor controversy came up during the first gubernatorial debate, Mississippi Today asked both Reeves and his Democratic opponent Jim Hood how they would decide who to appoint to the IHL board.

“The governor’s appointment power is one of the most important reasons why Mississippians should elect Tate Reeves and defeat Jim Hood,” the Reeves campaign said in a statement at the time. “It goes all the way to the top. Both our U.S. senators were appointed, and that makes a big difference in who sits on the U.S. Supreme Court. Jim Hood would make appointments that Nancy Pelosi will love but Donald Trump will hate. Tate will appoint conservatives and Hood will appoint liberals.”

The post College board, unable to work without Reeves appointments, calls emergency meeting appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Surprisingly, Jackson still had water after the tornado tore through.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Professional Courtesy appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Layne Bruce, Executive Director of the Mississippi Press Association. Mississippi’s small newspapers have a rich history and provide an invaluable service to the communities they serve. But like many other small newspapers across the nation, they’re facing serious headwinds.  Ramsey and Bruce talk about  how COVID-19 and other business challenges has affected the MPA’s 110 members. They talk about topics from new ways to fund local news to challenges to big tech giants who have siphoned away advertising dollars. Bruce adds his perspective developed from his 15 years at the MPA and talks about problems many local papers face (like the recent issues with the Post Office, which affects delivery of printed copies) and opportunities as well. As Thomas Jefferson said, “The only security of all is in a free press.” 

The post Mississippi Stories: Layne Bruce appeared first on Mississippi Today.

How many of Mississippi’s roughly 26,000 state employees will receive raises and the amounts they receive will not be known until later this year.

Brittany Frederick, a spokesperson with the state personnel board, said there is currently a process to determine “a fair market” pay scale for state employees based on salaries for similar positions in other states and in the private sector. Until that process is complete, exact information on which state employees will receive pay raises and how much will not be known.

“We are currently in the phase of Project SEC where we ensure every state employee is properly classified,” she said in an emailed response to questions from Mississippi Today. “We must make sure employees are classified accurately, so they can be compensated fairly and equitably. Later this summer, we will establish market-based, data-driven salary recommendations, and the pay increases referenced in each agency’s appropriations bill will be based on these recommendations.”

Late in the 2021 session, which ended in April, the Legislature announced it was adding funds to the budget of each agency to provide up to a 3% raise for employees. That addition was based on the outcome of reworking what is known as the state’s Variable Compensation Plan, which is the mechanism of placing a fair market value on each position in state government.

According to information provided by the staff of the Legislative Budget Committee, $6.9 million has been set aside for the state employee pay raises for the upcoming fiscal year, starting July 1. But to limit the cost of the pay raise in its first year, it will not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2022. In addition, $23 million has been set aside to cover the rising costs in the health insurance plan that covers state employees, teachers and higher education faculty.

During the 2021 session, teachers received a pay raise of about $1,000 per year, costing $51.5 million. Money for university staff pay raises ($9.1 million) and for community college staff ($3.3 million) also was factored into the budget. The money for the higher education pay raise is enough to provide 1% across the board salary increases, but chief executives have the option to award the raises based on merit instead of across the board.

READ MORE: Pay raises for Mississippi higher ed employees: Too little, too late?

Even with the pending pay raises, Mississippi will be near the bottom nationally in terms of compensation for public employees, both those working for the multiple state agencies and those who work in education.

According to the Mississippi Personnel Board, the average pay for state employees is $39,896 per year compared to the average for the four adjoining states of $49,392. Additionally, Mississippi’s average pay for K-12 teachers is the lowest of any state in the nation. Higher education officials have said for years an ongoing problem for them is the low pay for their staff compared to pay in other Southern states.

The total state-support budget for the new fiscal year beginning July 1 is $6.6 billion, or $243.5 million more than the budget for the current fiscal year.

State revenue growth — spurred to a large extent by federal COVID-19 relief packages — has been strong, leading legislators to be able to increase funding for multiple state agencies and for education during the recent session.

The overall revenue for the upcoming fiscal year also includes $25 million from lottery proceeds diverted to education.

The first $80 million in state lottery revenue goes to transportation needs. Any amount above that goes to education. This year lottery revenue exceeded the $80 million mark in March. The Mississippi Legislature enacted a state lottery in August 2018.

The post Pay raises for state employees yet to be determined appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A reported tornado ripped through the Woodlea subdivision in northwest Jackson on Tuesday afternoon.

While several homes were damaged and trees were downed, no injuries or deaths occurred in the neighborhood.

The storm was part of a larger severe outbreak that affected several Mississippi communities — the second tornado outbreak in three days.

READ MORE: Another round of severe weather tears through Mississippi

The post Photo gallery: Tornado damages homes in Jackson appeared first on Mississippi Today.