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State Auditor Shad White, whose welfare investigation has recently been called into question, is one in a long line of Mississippi state auditors with higher political ambition. Mississippi Today’s political team breaks down that history and discusses how White’s recent words and actions mirror the strategy of many of his predecessors. 

The post Podcast: Mississippi state auditors have long chased higher political ambitions appeared first on Mississippi Today.

How much difference can one player make in a baseball lineup?

Plenty. Just take a look at two Mississippi teams.

Ole Miss has won seven straight game and four straight against nationally ranked teams (on the road). During that streak, senior left fielder Kevin Graham is hitting .572 with four home runs, seven runs scored and 10 runs batted in.

Graham, who surely possesses one of the sweetest swings in all of college baseball, was on the bench with a broken wrist from March 6 until April 8. During his absence, the Rebels won nine games and lost eight. Before and after his injury, the Rebels are 22-11. (They were 10-1 and ranked No. 2 in the nation when Graham got hurt.)

This is not to say that Graham is solely responsible for the Rebels’ impressive seven-game win streak. But it is to say that his presence as the clean-up hitter makes the Ole Miss batting order so much more imposing. As a result, Tim Elko, the 3-hole hitter, sees far better pitches. The opposition has to think twice, maybe three times, about pitching around Elko when Graham is in the on deck circle. Graham makes the entire lineup look different.

“There’s no doubt our lineup is a lot harder to navigate with Kevin Graham right in the middle of it,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said Sunday night. “The guy can just hit. He had that same swing when he committed to us in the ninth grade. The guy couldn’t swing a bat for four and a half weeks and look at what he’s doing now.”

It also helps that Ole Miss has settled on a pitching rotation that has been much improved recently.

Southern Miss had won 14 straight games and was ranked No. 5 in the land when the Golden Eagles lost their left fielder and 3-hole hitter Reece Ewing. The Eagles were 32-8 overall, 16-2 in Conference USA when Ewing suffered a broken bone in his hand against Rice.

Ewing missed the next nine games, and Southern Miss was 4-5 in those games. He returned on Friday night against UTSA and the Eagles won the weekend series with Ewing playing a key role. Again, Ewing wasn’t solely responsible for the crucial series victory that gives the Eagles a three-game Conference USA lead with just three games to play. But his presence was absolutely crucial.

Ewing batted 13 times against UTSA. He reached base eight of those with six walks, a double and a home run.

During his absence, the Eagles batters left runner after runner on base, often chasing pitches far out of the strike zone. Upon his return, he showed the patience that had been sadly lacking from his teammates, which wasn’t lost on Southern Miss coach Scott Berry.

“Something you learn about Reece Ewing is that he doesn’t swing at pitches out of the zone,” Berry said. “The guy hasn’t seen the field in I don’t know how long, but he doesn’t get himself out.”

In Saturday and Sunday victories, it was as if the other Southern Miss batters took a cue from Ewing, waited for something in the zone to swing, and then made the pitcher pay. They hit six home runs on Sunday.

Here’s the deal with both the Rebels’ Graham and the Eagles’ Ewing. They weren’t able to take batting practice during all those games they missed. This wasn’t like the Major Leagues. They didn’t get rehab assignments before they returned to the lineup. In Ewing’s case, he had a cast removed on Thursday and was back in the lineup on Friday. 

Graham’s recent tear could not have come at a more opportune time for Ole Miss, which has soared to a No. 38 RPI after being down in the 60s. The Rebels have played their way back in to the NCAA Tournament picture and can rise even higher with Texas A&M (33-16, 17-10 and No. 20 RPI) coming to Oxford for a three-game weekend series.

With three regular season games to play, nationally ranked Southern Miss is still very much in play to host an NCAA Regional. The Eagles need to win the CUSA regular season title — which they will do with one victory at Middle Tennessee next weekend — and then play well when they host the Conference USA Tournament.

Don’t know how much NCAA selection committee takes into consideration what happened when key players were missing from the lineup. But clearly, Graham at Ole Miss and Ewing at Southern Miss make their teams much bigger threats to make a deep postseason run.

The post Kevin Graham, Reece Ewing prove how one player can make all the difference for college baseball teams appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Pam Confer. Pam is an international, award-winning, bilingual singer, song-writer, and speaker. She has deep Mississippi roots, and a smile that can move the world. Her voice is described as velvety Jazz, dipped in soul.

Performing with her group Jazz Beautiful, she was voted the Mississippi Jazz Foundation’s 2015 “Jazz Ambassador of the Year.” She recently wrote and debuted the song, “Mississippi Beautiful,” which has quickly become a unifying and favored piece in Mississippi. “Mississippi Beautiful” is also permanently featured in Gallery 8 of the new Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. A self-proclaimed “Joy Scout,” Pam talks about positivity, empathy and the beauty all Mississippians possess. Prepared to be inspired.

The post Mississippi Stories: Pam Confer appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The 2007 law that would ban abortions in Mississippi if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade isn’t the only so-called “trigger law” language the state has.

If the U.S. Supreme Court ever overturns its 2015 ruling legalizing gay marriages, Mississippi has an existing law — even a provision in the state Constitution — banning same-sex marriage.

The language is simple and to the point.

“Marriage may take place and may be valid under the laws of this state only between a man and a woman,” the Mississippi law reads. “A marriage in another state or foreign jurisdiction between persons of the same gender, regardless of when the marriage took place, may not be recognized in this state and is void and unenforceable under the laws of this state.”

Seem farfetched that gay marriage could be repealed?

Perhaps, but numerous legal scholars have at least raised the specter that the same reasoning found in the recently leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade could be extended to deny a national right not only to an abortion, but to same-sex marriage, the use of contraceptives and even interracial marriage.

In its original abortion decision, the Supreme Court, in simplistic terms, cited a right to privacy and to other rights that are not explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.

The recently leaked Supreme Court draft opinion says Roe v. Wade should be overturned since the right to an abortion is not specifically found in the Constitution. If the draft opinion becomes the final ruling, it would not outlaw abortion; instead, it would leave it to each individual state to decide.

Mississippi has the aforementioned “trigger law” that would be enacted if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Similarly, there is also is a Mississippi law on the books banning same-sex marriages in the state.

Maybe it’s not so farfetched to think that some politicians would try to convince the nation’s highest court to use the same logic that was used to overturn Roe v. Wade to rescind the national right for same-sex couples to marry and instead leave it up to each state to decide. After all, if Roe v. Wade ultimately is overturned, that’s how it would happen — with politicians passing laws that blatantly fly in the face of Roe v. Wade in the hopes that the justices will reverse the ruling.

The Supreme Court approved gay marriage by a slim 5-4 margin in the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges case, with conservative justices arguing that the right to gay marriage was not in the U.S. Constitution. That is essentially the same argument for overturning Roe v. Wade.

And there are more conservative justices now than there were in 2015.

The state approved placing the ban on gay marriage in the Mississippi Constitution in 2004. It was overwhelmingly approved by both chambers of the Legislature. The vote in the Senate was unanimous.

Then it was approved by 86% of the state’s electorate in the 2004 November general election. No county voted against the provision placing a ban on gay marriage in the state Constitution.

And to highlight what a hot-button issue gay marriage remains in Mississippi, legislators in 2016 passed a bill that allows public officials to opt out of providing services to same-sex couples, such as issuing a marriage license, and allows private businesses not to provide services to gay couples. That legislation, which still ensures the state will issue a marriage license to a gay couple even if a clerk opts out of providing the service, has not been overturned by the federal courts.

In addition, polling in 2017 by the Public Religion Research Institute found only three states where a majority or plurality opposed gay marriage: Mississippi, Alabama and West Virginia.

Granted, at least one key obstacle to the Supreme Court overturning gay marriage is that there are already tens of thousands of couples who have married since the 2015 ruling. What would happen to those marriages? Still, do not be surprised if some politicians attempt to overturn gay marriage if Roe v. Wade is reversed.

In 1964, the Supreme Court also ruled state bans on interracial marriage unconstitutional. Even with that ruling, the provision in the Mississippi Constitution banning interracial marriage remained on the books until 1986, when the Legislature gave voters an opportunity to remove it.

Voters did approve the provision removing the interracial marriage prohibition, but by a significantly closer margin — 52% to 48% — than the margin by which most constitutional amendments pass in the state.

The post Another Mississippi ‘trigger law’ to keep an eye on as Supreme Court deliberates: gay marriage appeared first on Mississippi Today.

COVID-19 cases in Mississippi have increased rapidly over the past two weeks, though overall numbers still remain low.

Mississippi has seen the largest percentage increase in the nation for new COVID-19 cases over that time period, according to local and state health agency data compiled by the New York Times. Mississippi’s cases increased 251% compared to 59% nationally. 

The state most recently reported 701 new cases of the virus for a two-day period (Wednesday and Thursday).

“We do have transmission, there is no doubt,” Liz Sharlot, communications director at Mississippi Department of Health, said. “COVID is still here and our best advice is to get vaccinated if you have not, get your booster and second booster if you are eligible. Our concern remains with elderly folks that don’t get the second booster. It does make a difference.”

Even with the recent increased transmission, 80 of Mississippi’s 82 counties have low levels  of COVID-19 at the community level, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. 

Jasper and Wilkinson counties are experiencing “medium level transmission.” At that level, the CDC recommends that people at high risk for severe illness talk to their health care provider about whether they need to wear a mask and take other precautions. 

The overall rate of COVID-19 transmission in Mississippi cratered following the explosive omicron wave seen in January, but has been rising again over the past month. Mississippi’s 7-day average for new cases was 104 on April 12, but had risen to 337 as of May 12. 

There has been an uptick in outbreaks among long-term care facilities, which state health officials said could be an indicator of increased community spread. 

Actual numbers are likely higher because of the increased use of at-home testing that goes unreported to the state health department.

The omicron variant still accounts for virtually all COVID cases in Mississippi. 

Mississippi remains one of the least vaccinated states in the nation. The only state that has vaccinated less of its population is Wyoming. 

As of May 11, 60% of Mississippians had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 52% had received at least two doses. The state has had more difficulty getting vaccinated people to receive booster does. Only 19% of the state’s population has received at least one booster dose, representing less than a third of those who have taken a COVID-19 vaccine in the state. 

The largest share of recent COVID deaths in the state is among those who have not been vaccinated or are only partially vaccinated. That group made up over 47% of COVID-19 deaths in the state from April 12 to May 9, while fully vaccinated Misssissippians made up 17% of deaths in that period. 

Although the state’s rate of hospitalizations has decreased as case counts have risen, those rates are a lagging indicator. The health department  said the use of intensive care unit beds and ventilators for COVID patients remains low. 

The availability of oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19, such as Paxlovid and molnupiravir, has increased dramatically in Mississippi since January and has helped reduce hospitalizations. 

The post COVID-19 cases rising rapidly in Mississippi appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Frank Dungan, a former disaster and emergency planner for the federal government, is used to solving problems. The 61-year-old Madison resident helped communities recover after being blown away by tornadoes or flooded by hurricanes. He maintains a tough exterior – and a sense of humor – that doesn’t dare show any vulnerability. 

But the situation he finds himself in has him both stumped and defenseless.

After being diagnosed with end-stage liver disease in early 2020, Dungan underwent dual hip replacement surgery, numerous procedures on his esophagus and tests by an array of specialists in order to qualify as a liver transplant candidate at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the state’s only organ transplant program.

But because of the ongoing contract dispute between his insurer Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi and UMMC, he is currently ineligible for a transplant at the hospital. Meanwhile, he can’t get straight answers from either Blue Cross or UMMC about how much a life-saving surgery could cost or how he should proceed.

“I’m scared I’m going to freaking die, but that’s hard to say,” he said.

He lists out the array of people and agencies he’s reached out to – the governor, members of U.S. Congress, the insurance commissioner. Staffers for Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney made a few calls on Dungan’s behalf, but nothing has materialized.

“I’m not getting any help.”  

Dungan previously spoke with Mississippi Today about the situation on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution from UMMC or Blue Cross. But after weeks of struggling to get clear answers about his health care from either side, he expressed desire to go on the record to tell his story.

Over the past month, Dungan has tried to get an estimate from UMMC of what a liver transplant would cost as well as an estimate from Blue Cross of the amount it would cover. (Blue Cross members can direct the insurer to send them the in-network benefit amount which they can then use to pay UMMC, though members are responsible for the difference in what Blue Cross pays and UMMC charges.) 

He’s had no luck.

And because his case manager at Blue Cross directed him to get on the transplant list at Methodist Transplant Institute in Memphis as a result of UMMC going out of network, he asked the insurer whether the full cost of his transplant in Memphis – including follow-up care and rehabilitation – would be covered. 

He can’t get an answer to that either, he said. 

“What they’re doing to him is wrong,” Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney told Mississippi Today. “He has simply asked for what his estimated cost would be for a transplant. Both parties owe him an answer.”

Marc Rolph, executive director of communications and marketing at UMMC, told Mississippi Today transplant candidates “should be able to get a good faith estimate” of what a transplant and follow-up care would cost, though it won’t happen “overnight.” 

It’s unclear why Dungan has not received that estimate as of Friday.

After soliciting help from everyone he could think of, Dungan is at a loss. He even considered purchasing health insurance off the public marketplace, but the language is unclear and he’s not confident in the coverage. 

Plus, he’s already met his $7,000 yearly deductible with Blue Cross. If he started all over on a new plan, he’d be out thousands more dollars.

He asked one of his physicians this week to make the referral to the Memphis transplant center, but he worries he won’t even be accepted as a candidate.

“What if I go to Memphis or Birmingham for evaluation and they catch me on a day I’m not that bad?” said Dungan, whose Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, a determinant of the severity of the liver disease, has wavered up and down. “I just want to stick with UMMC because they have watched this rollercoaster in my MELD score … and they understand it.”

Now Dungan, who pays nearly $1,200 a month for his insurance plan with Blue Cross and has developed relationships with his UMMC providers over the years, is facing a tough choice. And despite the fact the two parties recently agreed to mediation, it’s not binding – meaning either party could drop out at any point.

Dungan could wait for Blue Cross and UMMC to settle the dispute, but there’s no guarantee the two parties will, and there’s no deadline for them to do so. His other option is to move forward with a complex evaluation at an out-of-state transplant center he knows little about – and that may not even accept him as a candidate.  

Dungan would prefer to continue his care at UMMC, where he is familiar with his doctors, has had numerous procedures on his esophagus and seen an array of specialists, including psychologists. He also doesn’t want to move to Memphis, nor does he want to pay for lodging, food and gas costs he would incur traveling back and forth.  

Blue Cross doesn’t seem to understand the burden – both physical and financial – that getting on the transplant list in Memphis would be, he said. 

“They trivialized it, is what they did in my mind. It’s a big deal to drive three hours for me,” he said, noting that he often has to pull off the road on long trips to rest because of fatigue associated with liver failure. 

When he asked if the company was going to help offset the costs, he was dismissed, he said. 

“They kind of guffawed at that,” said Dungan.

Cayla Mangrum, manager of corporate communications for Blue Cross, said she cannot answer questions about Dungan for confidentiality reasons. But she pointed to federal law that requires hospitals to continue providing care for certain patients and accepting in-network payments for a certain time period. 

“This would be applicable to transplant patients,” Mangrum said in an emailed statement.

UMMC, however, told Mississippi Today transplant candidates are not considered under this law because a transplant recipient’s care extends far beyond 90 days and requires a lifelong prescription of expensive immunosuppressant drugs.  

“You do not want a patient to get a transplant tomorrow and then their insurance (coverage) be gone by July 1, then they’re facing extremely high costs and have no recourse,” said Rolph, UMMC’s spokesperson. “That is just not responsible. It’s in the best interest of the patients to be listed with a facility they have confirmed … that they will receive coverage for the entirety of their care.” 

The disagreement between the state’s largest hospital and insurer stems from UMMC’s request for an overall 30% increase in reimbursement rates for its services and Blue Cross’ refusal to provide that. The dispute has left patients – particularly those receiving care not available anywhere else in the state, like Dungan – as collateral damage. 

UMMC has the state’s only organ transplant center in addition to the only children’s hospital, Level I trauma center, Level IV neonatal intensive care unit and other advanced specialties.

And because the details of the contract are confidential, it’s impossible for patients and policyholders to decipher much about what is going on. While specific Blue Cross reimbursement rates are private, studies show commercial reimbursement for inpatient and outpatient services in Mississippi is the lowest in the country. 

Blue Cross is by far the biggest private insurer in Mississippi, with about 56% of the market. United, the second largest, claims only 17%. 

According to UMMC, Blue Cross has essentially offered no increases in reimbursement rates since at least 2014. After an overall decrease between 2014 and 2017, the hospital negotiated a 1% increase in 2018, according to Marc Rolph, executive director of communications and marketing at the hospital. 

Blue Cross officials disagree with UMMC’s claim but say they can’t share any specific information.  

“The information provided by UMMC is not factual. However, we cannot comment further because the terms and conditions of the mediation agreement are to be kept confidential,” said Mangrum. “In addition, the underlying agreement requires confidentiality. We are disappointed UMMC has not only discussed the mediation but misrepresented the facts in doing so.”

As the back and forth between the hospital and the insurer continues, Dungan is trying to take care of his health and advocate for himself as best as he can. He recently bought a property on a lake where he goes fishing.   

His diagnosis and this experience have changed his perspective on a lot – including fishing.

“It’s not about catching the fish – it’s getting to go,” he said.

The post ‘I’m scared I’m going to freaking die’: As UMMC and Blue Cross dispute continues, Mississippi man can’t get answers to life-and-death questions appeared first on Mississippi Today.

It’s the elephant in the cockpit.

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U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves of the Southern District of Mississippi has been nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Reeves will be the first African American to serve as chair of the group that was created in the 1980s to reduce sentencing disparities and promote transparency in criminal sentencing.

Reeves, who has presided over several monumental civil rights cases at the federal level, previously served as a Mississippi Supreme Court clerk, as chief of the civil division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi and in private practice for multiple years.

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi’s sole African American and Democratic member of Congress, praised the appointment this week on social media.

“I support the appointment of Judge Carlton Reeves on being named head of the United States Sentencing Commission,” Thompson said. “It is a pleasure to witness the first Black judge to be appointed chair of the commission.”

Reeves is the second African American appointed as a judge in the Southern District of Mississippi. He was nominated in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama.

The Sentencing Commission consists of seven members, but has not had enough members since 2019 to function. That inability to function has caused concern among members of the judiciary since federal judges across the nation rely on the commission’s work to set sentencing guidelines.

The membership of the commission must include three federal judges. No more than four members can be of the same political party.

As a federal judge, Reeves has handled some of the most high-profile cases in Mississippi, including the trial and ultimate conviction of three young white men for brutally murdering a Black man in 2011. He also issued the ruling that legalized gay marriage in Mississippi, has heard numerous cases seeking to limit abortion access in the state, and has been overseeing a challenge to the constitutionality of the state’s mental health system.

The post Judge Carlton Reeves nominated to become first Black chair of National Sentencing Commission appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to add a defunct chemical manufacturing plant in Hattiesburg to its priority list of hazardous waste sites around the country.  

Hercules, Inc. produced hundreds of chemical products, such as paints, varnishes, and pesticides in the city from 1923 until 2009. Since its closure, multiple EPA inspections have turned up benzene and over a dozen other contaminants in the underlying groundwater. 

After its most recent inspection in 2021, the agency proposed in March to add Hercules to its Superfund National Priorities List.

In 2016, the Delaware-based company, since bought by Ashland Global, settled a lawsuit with the City of Hattiesburg for $3 million after the city alleged that the factory “knowingly and improperly disposed of hazardous waste.” Two years before that, the EPA ordered Hercules to spend $1 million for groundwater remediation in the city.  

After its 2021 visit, the EPA said that the groundwater contamination extends outside of the Hercules property line, underneath an industrial complex and into a residential area. 

The City of Hattiesburg maintains eight drinking wells within two miles of the site. While the EPA hasn’t found any impact to those wells, it said it will continue sampling the residential area, which includes several apartment complexes within a mile radius of the old factory.  

The agency is receiving comments from the public until June 16, and will hold a public meeting on May 19 at the C.E. Roy Community Center in Hattiesburg at 6 P.M. The EPA will then take the comments into consideration as to whether or not to add the old Hercules site to its National Priorities List, or NPL. 

Doing so would initiate an EPA-lead remediation process, after which the agency would work with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and local stakeholders to redevelop the site. 

Hercules would become the second location in Hattiesburg to make the NPL. In 2000, the EPA added Davis Timber Company, a wood-preservation facility, after detecting contaminants from the company in dead fish at a nearby country club in the 1970s and 1980s. 

The redevelopment effort there resulted in an animal shelter at the site that opened in 2013, joined a few years later by a dog park called Fields of Barktopia. The EPA finally removed it from the NPL in 2018.

If added to the NPL, Hercules would become the ninth current site on the list in Mississippi, all but one of which were either a wood or chemical product facility. The other eight are mapped below:

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