OurTupelo

Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today

Mississippi House speaker Philip Gunn, center, and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, right, talk after Gov. Tate Reeves press conference at the State of Mississippi Woolfolk Building in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, May 7, 2020.

On the night Tate Reeves won the 2019 governor’s race, most of the state’s top Republican elected officials stood to the side of the stage, close to the cameras, at the new governor’s victory party in downtown Jackson.

As the GOP officials listened to Reeves’s speech and scoped out reporters for live interviews, Speaker of the House Philip Gunn, who was a few hours from being elected to his third straight term as speaker, stood alone and quiet in the back of the room.

That night, the state’s political landscape changed dramatically: Reeves, the two-term lieutenant governor who sparred often with Gunn at the Capitol, was moving into the less powerful governor’s office; and Delbert Hosemann, the three-term secretary of state, was elected lieutenant governor.

Gunn, standing in the back of the room that night, must have known he’d soon have a shot at becoming the most powerful politician in Mississippi. In the past week, during the historic power struggle between the executive and legislative branches of government, he did it.

For weeks, Reeves insisted he had sole spending authority over the $1.25 billion in coronavirus relief funds the state of Mississippi had received from the federal government. But Gunn and Hosemann disagreed and abruptly called lawmakers back to Jackson on May 1 to ensure that they, not Reeves, would have that authority.

In response, Reeves threatened to veto the bill lawmakers almost unanimously passed and sue the Legislature. Gunn bowed up to those threats in the most public way — the first time since Republicans gained complete control of state government in 2012 that a GOP legislative leader stood up to a GOP governor so forcefully.

On May 1, Gunn lambasted Reeves in a press conference. Gunn, a litigator for a Ridgeland law firm, might as well have been delivering the closing argument in a courtroom, taking Reeves’ claims and citing previous court rulings and even years-earlier statements from Reeves himself to prove why they were wrong.

Gunn turned the moment into a constitutional lesson and even used one of Reeves’ go-to campaign lines about government overreach against him.

“The governor says that by letting him spend the money, he can get it where it needs to go more quickly,” Gunn said at the May 1 press conference. “That makes for a good sound bite, but what voice does that give to our citizens in the decision making process?… This is the type of mentality that says the government knows better than you how to spend your money.”

That press conference did little to subdue Reeves, who subsequently insisted that the Legislature was violating the state Constitution, that lawmakers “were trying to steal the money” from him, and that “people will die” because of the legislative intervention in the spending process.

So Gunn, the notoriously shrewd political navigator, tightened his gloves. On May 4, he sent a blistering seven-page letter to Reeves, breaking down why the governor was wrong about 12 separate claims he had publicly made. Gunn, who wrote every word of the letter himself, sources close to the speaker told Mississippi Today, pointedly questioned the governor’s motivations.

“In your comments Friday, you portrayed legislators as thieves and killers,” Gunn wrote to Reeves in the May 4 letter that was quickly leaked to Mississippi Today by lawmakers. “You said we ‘stole the money’ and people would die. Such cheap theatrics and false personal insults were beneath the dignity of your office.”

Gunn’s letter continued: “We request that you stop attempting to sensationalize this situation and work with the Legislature to solve the issues before us. This is the spirit in which our government has worked since 1817 and it shouldn’t stop today. We invite you to put aside an all out media war with the legislative branch and to work with us to provide the checks and balances that the spending of $1.25 billion should require.”

After he received the letter, Reeves stopped criticizing the Legislature. Two days later, Reeves, knowing he was in a corner, invited Gunn and Hosemann to the Governor’s Mansion to discuss a truce — one that would allow Reeves to avoid the embarrassment of a historic and near certain veto override in his first 120 days in office and an intra-party legal battle.

But Gunn wasn’t quite finished asserting his power.

On May 7, Gunn and Hosemann sat at Reeves’ daily press briefing to announce the agreement they had reached. Reeves kicked off the presser, speaking broadly about “ongoing conversations” regarding how the three would work together in coming days. Reeves declined to concede that he had lost the fight and would not have the spending authority.

Hosemann went next, softly acknowledging that legislative leadership would bring Reeves to the table to discuss how they should spend the federal funds. But Hosemann left ambiguity about the agreement the three had reached and who, exactly, would get the spending authority.

Gunn went last and, true to his blunt form in the days before, left absolutely no doubt about how this chapter of Mississippi political history would end: Reeves would have no spending authority, and the legislative leadership had gotten exactly what they wanted all along.

“The conclusion that we’ve reached is the Legislature will appropriate those dollars while working in conjunction with the governor administering those dollars,” Gunn said.

Gunn couldn’t have won the fight without Hosemann, who deserves credit. The two worked closely together as they plotted how to shut out the governor through legislation, and how they could override a veto or win a potential lawsuit.

But several times, the lieutenant governor stopped short of criticizing the governor’s position and left uncertainty about the decisions that were made. Additionally, several Republican senators who have remained close with Reeves made it impossible for Hosemann to guarantee unanimous support for the legislative leaders’ maneuvering.

After the May 7 press conference, Mississippi Today reporter Bobby Harrison stopped Gunn in the hallway. “Mr. Speaker, that letter,” Harrison said with a smile.

The speaker’s staffers laughed, but Gunn, with a straight face, replied: “I had no intention of that letter being made public.”

Whether true or not, Gunn’s letter — and his forceful actions during the struggle — showed Mississippians in no uncertain terms who holds the most power in this new era of state politics.

The post Analysis: Gunn, through forceful maneuvering, shows Reeves and Hosemann who’s boss appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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President Donald Trump tweeted on April 21 that soon discussions would begin on legislation to provide “relief to state/local governments for lost revenue from COVID-19.”

The relief would be to provide funds to offset what is expected to be a dramatic drop in tax collections for state and local governments because of the coronavirus-induced economic slowdown. Without federal help, state and local governments could be forced to make large budget cuts, resulting in government worker and teacher layoffs that would further the economic slowdown and result in citizens losing services at a time they are most needed.

A few day later Trump seemed to be having second thoughts.

Bobby Harrison

Trump  tweeted,”Why should the people and taxpayers of America be  bailing out poorly run states (like Illinois, as example) and cities, in all cases Democrat run and managed, when most of the other states are not looking for bailout help? I am open to discussing anything, but just asking?”

During a recent news conferences, Gov. Tate Reeves seemed to be playing up the red state (Republican) vs. blue state (Democratic) comparisons.

“I have heard many governors, typically in blue states, spend a lot of time talking about the fact their governments, particularly state governments have a chance of being bankrupt because of this,” he said. “I don’t think Mississippi is in that position. We may have to tighten our belts. We are used to doing that.”

But he did concede, “We are going to see significant revenue losses” and ultimately said he supports federal help to fill budget shortfalls.

Preliminary numbers indicate Mississippi’s tax collections were about $240 million short of projections for April. At this point, it is likely the governor will be forced to dip in the rainy day fund to make it through the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

It also might be worth noting that Mississippi (in good and bad economic times) consistently gets more federal help than most states. According to a study by the New York-based Rockefeller Institute, Mississippi gets $2.01 in federal help for each $1 its citizens pay in U.S. taxes. Only Virginia, home of a large portion of the federal workforce, Kentucky, home of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Alabama, West Virginia and New Mexico get a better return on their tax dollar than Mississippi.

Several blue states, like New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Connecticut, get less than a $1 back for each $1 their citizens send to Washington. Illinois, which seems to be the poster child for poorly run blue states, sends in a $1 and gets a dollar back.

Those states might say they would not need help if they were receiving the same deal as Mississippi.

The fact is that Mississippi has a disproportionally high percentage of poor people, who receive more federal aid. Some believe that is the way government is supposed to work.

And truth be known, Reeves and other state leaders know the economic slowdown is going to impact Mississippi’s state and local governments.

“Our municipalities are heavily dependent on sales tax revenue…I expect them to see dramatic reductions,” said Shari Veazey, executive director of the Mississippi Municipal League. Many cities, such as Oxford, Tupelo and Hattiesburg, already are planning and making cutbacks.

State government in Mississippi is expected to be impacted by drops in both the sales and income taxes – the two largest sources of revenue.

Reeves recently pointed out that normally casinos, which account for less than 5 percent of total state collections, generate between $10 million and $15 million per month in revenue to the state.

Casinos are closed. And does anyone believe it will be business as usual when they reopen? No doubt many people will stay away out of fears of the coronavirus and others will stay away because they no longer have disposable income to gamble.

In the so-called Great Recession that began in 2008, Mississippi experienced what was then an unprecedented drop in revenue for two consecutive years.

Before those reductions in 2009-10, the state had experienced only one other year since 1970 where revenues were less than in the previous year. Records before 1970 are not available.

Mississippi received more than $1 billion in federal funds to plug budget holes during the Great Recession and still had large budget cuts.

Most agree that the current economic downturn could be worse. The non-profit Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that state revenues could drop during a three-year period $650 billion (cumulative in both red and blue states) compared to the $690 billion drop during a five-year period during the Great Recession.

If that is the case, states, including Mississippi, might not be red or blue, but in the red.

The post More gray than red vs. blue when it comes to states’ need for federal funds to fill budget shortfalls appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Maternal health interventions the Inform[H]er has covered over the last six months, now all wrapped up into one. Subscribe to The Inform[H]er here.

Nakeitra Burse will serve as program manager for a new maternal health program focused on partnering high-risk pregnant women in Jackson with birth and parenting support. It’s a simple idea, but more complex than it should be. Doulas, who serve as advocates before, during and after birth, are unregulated in Mississippi, and with that, lack infrastructure support needed to get their job done – payment and reimbursement models, their own workplace support and health care system connections. 

Part of a new grant – $295,000 over three years to Magnolia Medical Foundation from W.K. Kellogg Foundation will pair five doulas with 10 moms over 21 months – aims to improve birth outcomes by bolstering doula capacity across the city, and hopefully, the state. It’s a two-fold plan – support pregnant women by supporting doulas. The first step: start a doula registry.

“Doulas and breastfeeding have been shown to improve health outcomes for African American mothers and their babies. African American women are 3-4 times more likely to die from birth related complications than white women; and African American babies have the highest rates of infant mortality. This project will aim to decrease these grim statistics through a comprehensive strategy focused on evidence-based practice.”

– Dr. Erica Thompson, Executive Director of Magnolia Medical Foundation and lead investigator for the new grant

“We want to create a little bit more stability, structure and potentially upward mobility,” Burse said who’s long partnered with Thompson to address maternal mortality risk factors in the state. “So we are hoping that we can either support doulas to become that type of collaborative for themselves or build the infrastructure to be able to be that. Most doulas are doing it part-time, and on top of that they have other jobs … so then that’s really a competing interest because you want to do the birth work, you want to help women, but you also have to have a (steady) income.”

Other pieces of the new program focus on education and support, both for moms and the community at large, like how to breastfeed successfully while going back to work – both for mom and her workplace. 

“It’s hard to operate in a system that wasn’t built for you. But how do we create systems and parallels that really help women navigate pregnancy and just bodily autonomy, while still understanding how and being able to navigate that bigger system that doesn’t always work for them,” she said. 

Burse is in a unique position to move this mission forward. Her company focuses on community-based public health strategies, communications and solutions. She’s built a career out of laying groundwork for a program just like this by starting and facilitating candid maternal health conversations – and then putting public health strategies in place across communities to effect change. 

As for why this moment is offering an inflection point – it’s a perfect storm of data and empowerment, Burse says. 

“I think part of it is the maternal and infant mortality numbers. But another part of it is liberation. Liberation in one part because people want to have bodily autonomy, they want to have autonomy to make decisions that they want to make for themselves and for their children,” she says. “We don’t always have that type of support and so having an advocate such as a doula who normalized that type of liberation is really solidifying your decision to birth in a way that you feel comfortable and to come out of that safely.”

Laboring With Hope

Burse’s background in public health education, communication and media

In the last two decades, Nakeitra Burse has lost three family members to pregnancy-related deaths — her aunt, sister-in-law and newborn nephew. Fed up with living through the grief without seeing change, she decided to take the narrative into her own — and her community’s — hands and produced a documentary about what it means to be a black woman giving birth in Mississippi. The outcome is a candid, deeply felt profile of community support, grief, fear, and ultimately, hope.

“Laboring With Hope” follows the stories of Burse’s family as they recover from and re-frame the grief that pervades their family and community. Burse is candid about the traumatizing effect of retelling these stories, but says it was also cathartic to name her family’s pain and their recovery process. She adds that, “It was too easy to cast this.”

For Burse, her family’s experience represents a snapshot into a bigger story, and begs the audience to reckon with inherent racism in the medical system that allows black women to die at a higher rate than their white counterparts. And forces the question: why? A crucial goal with her project is to stop talking about the problem and start looking at the causes and paths forward.

“As a public health professional who has done research, but who is really entrenched in the community, the narrative is important to me — for people to have their voice,” she says. “We know what the (maternal mortality) problem is, but we don’t want to talk about it. Part of it is racism in the health care system and that’s hard for people to talk about and it’s hard for people to address and grasp.”

Burse also prioritized putting a face to the devastating maternal mortality stats and trends we see, and says as a black mother herself, it’s important to have autonomy over the narrative, while lifting up voices of those most impacted. 

“It’s so important to me because being in public health in Mississippi you see all the dollars that come here. They (outside funders) come here to do all types of work and when its over they leave and there’s nothing left for the community,” she says. “Then there’s this narrative about Mississippi that continues to be perpetuated — poor, sick, all these things — but what people don’t get is the actual context behind it.”

That context is crucial, Burse argues. “You don’t see these local stories of women like my aunt, who was also an educated black woman who had a job and had insurance, or my sister-in-law who had the same story. (In the media) you’re not seeing all of the different types of women that this impacts,” she says, noting that it’s not just uninsured low-income women who die during childbirth. “There’s a broad spectrum of women that this impacts and it’s not just a small subset, it’s everybody.”

For audiences, the documentary is not just a tool to evoke emotion, but more of an action tool, she says. Each screening is accompanied by a discussion and her goal is to encourage conversation and impact maternal health policy. “This is an opportunity to do something, not just for my family, but for black women, period.”

See the trailer here and If you’re interested in learning more about the documentary or want to inquire about bringing a screening and discussion to your community, contact Nakeitra Burse.

Another doula-focused program

Doulas paired with women during pregnancy, child-birth 

A Jackson-based program is taking an innovative approach to improving maternal health outcomes in the capital city, hoping it embeds cultural, community-based change into the state’s birthing practices. Last year, pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. named ten cities last year to participate in their philanthropic “Merck for Mothers, Safer Childbirth Cities” initiative, including Jackson and regionally, New Orleans and Atlanta. The Jackson program will pair pregnant women with doulas before, during and after birth for families that couldn’t otherwise afford the extra support throughout the process. Doulas act as non-medical birthing coaches, advocates, and support systems, walking women through everything from doctor’s appointments, social services, medical complications and birthing goals. Rising to the surface in recent nationwide maternal mortality conversations and research has been that women are not listened to in the exam room or during labor. A big part of doulas’ job is to bolster women’s voices in conversations with their medical team and advocate for open communication between all parties. 

Merck for Mothers’ goal — invest in local programs and community-based solutions to make city-specific goals that will foster more equitable birth outcomes and end preventable maternal deaths. (If you’re a regular to this newsletter, you know the stats — the U.S. is the only developed nation to see rising maternal mortality, and the burden is disproportionately bore by black women. Instead of focusing on those stats — here if you need a refresher — we’re looking at solutions.) Mississippi Public Health Institute will spearhead the program and manage the $875,000 grant investment over three years, with the goal of hiring five doulas to work with 15 women each the first year, and expanding from there. By building on the doula capacity that already exists in central Mississippi, the project hopes to normalize doulas into the birthing narrative across Jackson.

 “In a way we are working from scratch and doing a few things simultaneously — building knowledge and capacity among community members as well as doulas and providers, all at the same time.”

– Wengora Thompson, Jackson Safer Childbirth Experience director

The Jackson program goals are four-fold, based on city and state maternal mortality trends: 

• Reduce medically unnecessary cesarean section births (Mississippi has the highest rate of C-sections in the country. Rankin and Hinds counties comprise fourth and seventh highest in the U.S. for low-risk births by C-section, at 39% and 37% respectively. Experts estimate about a quarter of births necessitate C-section and advise against the surgery for low-risk births due to the high risk of complication and recovery time for mother and baby.)
• Use doulas to bolster community-based physical and emotional support for pregnant and post-partum women 
• Reduce cardiovascular complications associated with pregnancy (Heart and blood pressure conditions are the two most common causes of pregnancy-related death in Mississippi.)
• Collect and share more data about maternal health (Currently, state-collected data is lacking and limited to the new Maternal Mortality Review Committee, which reviews death certificates related to potential maternal mortality cases.)

“We need the medical community to be open and willing to be exposed to new things, where they can learn from families and their experiences,” Thompson says. “For policymakers and legislators, we need to place a focus on women and infant health in Mississippi — we have the stats, it’s time to collectively act.” A perfect example of a timely policy change that would immediately improve maternal health outcomes, she says? Extended Medicaid eligibility to post-partum women for one-year after birth. 

If you’re interested in learning more about the program, contact Wengora Thompson.

Taking on maternal health from the hospital perspective

Emergency departments exclusively for pregnant and postpartum women 

Dr. Lakisha Crigler’s obstetric patients are among the most high-risk in the country. That’s why she sees her role as an obstetrician hospitalist — meaning she only works at a hospital — in Southaven’s OB emergency department (OBED) at Baptist Memorial as a crucial piece to lowering the Mississippi Delta’s and the state’s overall high infant and maternal mortality rates. Dr. Crigler’s patients travel from across the state to get to the OBED, but she says it’s her Delta-based patients who especially stand to benefit from the service. 

In a recent study comparing two of the poorest regions in the U.S., the Delta and Appalachia, infants in the Delta were more likely to be preterm, low birth-weight and more likely to die during their first year of life. The report reiterates to researchers what Dr. Crigler and other OBs already know and see every day. Pregnancy risk goes beyond socio-economic status and even a woman’s health — it’s more often about lacking continuity of care, access and race. Half of Mississippi’s counties lack OB care, making follow-ups during pregnancy and postpartum even harder for many.

“Mississippi has clusters of health care — clusters here, clusters there. If you live close to a metropolitan area, you probably see whomever you want to see. If you live in a more rural area, good luck… And, we have to start having difficult conversations as to why economic status does not matter when it pertains to black women’s (risk). Education status does not pertain to them. Health status does not change their outcome. So it doesn’t matter if you have private insurance, you’re well educated and you’re in great health — your risk of dying is still greater than your white counterparts. We have to start looking into how to train for bias of all spectrums in health care. And that is a code that no one has cracked.”

– Dr. Lakisha Crigler, OB

The two-year-old OBED is part of a nationwide OB Hospitalist Group and offers a novel approach to disrupt the state’s maternal and infant mortality trends. If a pregnant or postpartum patient comes to the emergency room — no matter her symptoms — she is immediately sent to the OBED siloed off from the rest of emergency care. Emergency department physicians are not always trained in labor and delivery and might not be familiar with pregnancy and postpartum complications, Dr. Crigler says. The targeted approach to care sounds obvious, but the OBED is still catching on — currently operating at Jackson’s Baptist and Tupelo’s North Mississippi Medical Center, in addition to Dr. Crigler’s Memphis-metro location.

Dr. Crigler, who also serves as lead physician for the state’s Perinatal Quality Collaborative and works with the Maternal Mortality Review Committee, says extending postpartum access to Medicaid is among the most crucial steps in curbing the state’s maternal deaths. A few stats: Most maternal deaths happen post-birth and are related to preventable high blood pressure or cardiovascular complications, most births are covered by Medicaid in Mississippi, and that coverage usually cuts off about 60 days post-birth.

“Even if these diseases are found while they are pregnant … once they lose that (insurance) coverage, there’s no follow-up to continue high blood pressure medications or to continue seeing a cardiologist for cardiac disease that may present even after the pregnancy.”

That coverage gap really concerns Dr. Crigler and her colleagues on the Perinatal Quality Collaborative, which researches causes and solutions to maternal deaths. It’s imperative to diagnose high-risk pregnant women as early as possible, she says, but too often women are diagnosed, receive limited treatment while pregnant, then fall off the Medicaid rolls and lose lifesaving follow-up care for otherwise preventable diseases.

Most of these briefs appeared in the round-up section of our monthly women and girls newsletter, The Inform[H]er.

The post Inform[H]er Roundup: Maternal Mortality — what’s working appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill

Mississippi Today met with Robyn Tannehill, Oxford’s mayor, at a women’s leadership summit at Ole Miss earlier this year. Little did we know at the time she’d be thrust into the national spotlight and our own coverage for leading Oxford through COVID-19 preparations. We reached her by phone this week for our Infrom[H]er newsletter, which looks at social issues through a gender lens.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: What moment did you realize that you’d have to lead Oxford through this pandemic?

A: We made our infectious disease response plan in February. There are so many different twists and turns that we couldn’t see coming that early, but at least we had a plan for each of our departments before we started seeing cases here.

So that was my first, “Now wait a minute, we’re going to have a pandemic, what?” We are giving it all we’ve got and just praying that’s enough – we are trying to use common sense and compassion in every decision that we make, and trying to arm ourselves with as much info as we can. Obviously we’re listening to folks on the national level and our state leaders and state health department, but each community is different – this is not a one-size-fits all problem that has a one-size-fits all solution.

The way our community is combined with a large number of students and young people, and we’re also a retiree community – it presents some different challenges here that some communities across the state are certainly not dealing with the same kinds of issues.

Q: So that was well before your first case, what changed as time progressed?

A: March 18 was our first case – that’s when it really struck us – but also the day that we realized that businesses would be closed. We have these small businesses who are the backbone of our community who desperately need customers and we’re balancing that with this very diverse makeup of community and age groups, and just a community that desperately needs to distance itself from others. Both of those things you weigh equally and it is just impossible to find the perfect balance there, in protecting your economy and the public health and safety of your community – just finding a balance there, I have found, is impossible.

The data changes and there is no guidebook for this. So, we give it all we got and hope that that’s enough. We have had to be very willing to change at a moment’s notice because all of our plans are so fluid.

We had to furlough 135 employees, which was for sure the most difficult decision that we’ve had to make. We’re a small town with big city problems. College towns are a different bag. We have the most dedicated employees and they’re family – that was for sure the hardest day. We know that we’ll be down close to $3 million before the end of this fiscal year and those were dollars that we’d already budgeted.

Q:  At the women’s summit you were on a panel about leadership with Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill, who said, “You can get a lot done when you don’t care about who gets credit.” How has this challenged, refined or reiterated your own leadership style?

A:  Lynn is one of my dear friends and she says that often. I have that written down on my notebook – “The less credit you need, the more you get done.” That is dead-on. This has been a learning experience. It has certainly made me even more thoughtful about listening. It has made me realize how little I know about things like pandemics. I’m not a virologist or an epidemiologist. It has made me keenly aware of how much we need to seek input.

We are making decisions everyday that literally affect peoples lives and their livelihood. That is just such a heavy weight – but also, you’ve got to make decisions and move forward. Sometimes I think as women we are so analytical, and we think through all the different sides. You can get paralyzed by there not being a clear path. This has certainly been one of those circumstances where you have to use compassion, common sense and the best information you have – and you’ve got to make hard decisions and move through them. That’s difficult when everything is so gray. I don’t shy away from tough decisions, whether they’re popular or not. But this has been so difficult because there aren’t any clear cut paths. Every decision you’re making is what you think is best, but you can’t reflect on the last time this happened … we’ve had to learn to be very adaptable and you can’t be too rigid on what you think your plan is. You’ve got to be able to react and reconfigure daily

Q: How do you balance economic and health well-being best for Oxford, when at times there is conflicting information coming from state orders?

A: I try to remind myself that our state leaders haven’t done this before either – it is not just those at the local level that are learning as they go. So I really hope that people give me the benefit of the doubt as I move through this and I try to do the same for state leaders – it is just tough. It’s not a one-size-fits-all. The governor and state leaders have to give a basic bottom line, but each community needs to have the ability to do what’s best for their citizen makeup, for their business community, for the health care issues that that particular community is dealing with.

Where do you go to talk about that? I went straight to the governor and just said, “Hey, I need you to know where the rubber meets the road whats going on here, and here are the unique challenges that we have. I’m not expecting the state to give me an answer to these local problems that are specific to my community, but I need to have the authority to make those decisions.” And he agreed – immediately the next day, he issued (clarity) that municipalities could be more strict but not more lenient … that’s all we could ask for is to have the authority to make the right decisions for our community.

Our rules have to look different here and we have to be very deliberate and diligent in both setting parameters and then enforcing them. People don’t like being told what do. People don’t want to be told to wear a mask, people don’t want to be told that they can’t dine in a restaurant even if they feel safe doing so. But we have speed limits and we have laws about seat belts. There have always been necessary laws in place to protect people, and this is not different than that.

The post Q&A with Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill on leading in the era of COVID-19 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Photo by Sasha Israel

Randy Redd, a Brookhaven native, formed JOOKMS nearly two years ago as a nonprofit company to bring Mississippi artists together.

Co-creators of the Spotlight Summer Performance Series in Jackson want to spur Mississippi-made theater into action with a platform for new plays and LGBTQ+ voices.

The call for script submissions, with a June 1 deadline, is open to native and resident Mississippi playwrights and performers. Produced by Randy Redd’s JOOKMS professional theater project, the series is set for July 20-26, with staged readings starting July 22 and continuing through that weekend.

The venue is TBA, with hopes the series can be presented at The Warehouse Theatre, New Stage Theatre’s under-100-seat alternative theater in Jackson’s Belhaven Heights neighborhood. While the series is not a New Stage Theatre production, it has the professional theater’s thumbs-up and partnership potential. Theater scheduling is fluid now, because of uncertainty in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Boys in the Band on Broadway via YouTube

Vicksburg-born playwright Mart Crowley poses with the cast, director and producer of the 2018 Broadway production of “Boys in the Band.”

Mart Crowley’s March 7 death was part of what prompted Drew Stark, education associate at New Stage Theatre, to pursue an event focusing on LGBTQ+ works to honor the Vicksburg-born playwright. Crowley’s 1968 “The Boys in the Band” was a trailblazer in its depiction of gay life, and its all-star 50th anniversary Broadway production won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

Stark, originally from Starkville, moved back to Mississippi from New York City a few years ago. “My dream was to have a theater company and to focus on providing a voice for LGBT in Mississippi and in the South,” he says, where the community is underserved and discrimination lingers.

“Theater should serve everyone, and represent everyone,” as well as stretch its audience, Stark says. “That’s the collaborative art of theater.”

The Spotlight Summer Performance Series is a distillation of that goal. With its LGBT aim, “That can be a character, an experience, a story, a theme — as long as it hits the mark in that way,” Redd says. “But, we don’t want to limit writers. … JOOK is taking submissions of all things all the time.”

JOOKMS has received about a dozen plays already, Redd says, and twice that many emails and questions since the call went out, including on broadwayworld.com. He’s fielded writers’ questions from “Do I have to be gay?” (“No.”) to “Do I have to live in Mississippi?” (“Absolutely not, as long as there’s a Mississippi connection there.”)

Photo by Melanie Thortis

Brookhaven native Randy Redd watches rehearsals for “Million Dollar Quartet” at New Stage Theatre.

Redd, now based in Memphis, formed JOOKMS nearly two years ago as a nonprofit company to bring Mississippi artists together and create theater true to and reflective of its community roots. The Brookhaven native, with Broadway, film and TV credits, always wanted to get back home and make theater in Mississippi, he says, and he jumps at the chance to teach or direct in his home state (as with New Stage’s “Million Dollar Quartet” and “Sweet Potato Queens” musical). Inspired by The Bitter Southerner, and also chef/author/TV host Vivian Howard, Redd wants to celebrate the best parts of life and work in the South, gather the local artistic “ingredients” and showcase the state’s culture, heritage and history.

“Devised theater not only provides an opportunity for artists to explore and learn and create without boundaries, but it also serves as a big mixing bowl for that artist’s ideas and talents.”

With JOOKMS, he intends to take projects to different venues around Mississippi, keeping the company vital, lively and on the move. Other ideas in the works with JOOKMS include a production of “Les Miserables” set during Freedom Summer in Mississippi, a big hill country blues project, a site-specific Tennessee Williams play, a Beth Henley festival and more.

For the Spotlight series, six selected plays will get two presentations each, with time for playwrights to get response, tweak and rewrite scripts in-between. Plans include an ensemble cast in staged readings of works in progress in afternoon sessions, with evenings rotating between two finished plays, “The Boys in the Band” by Crowley and “Entertaining Lesbians” by Kosciusko native Topher Payne (who has also consulted on the series). Weekend nights may also feature a concert or cabaret. Ticket options will include the entire festival, or a la carte options.

“Submissions are coming in and we hope to continue to collect new works for this and future reading series,” Redd says.

Though LGBTQ+ is a thematic thread for this inaugural Spotlight series, the target audience is broad, “for all Mississippians, all Jacksonians to come and watch great theater and yet still have these voices be heard,” Stark says. The broad outreach holds true in the submissions push, too, and the hope for a diversity of writers.

“I really believe that these voices need to be heard and recognized and humanized. Where discrimination and where bias and closed-minded thinking is, that’s where we need to have these discussions.

“Theater is a catalyst. You can go to the theater to be entertained, to learn and to have that sense of community — being in the same room and having that collective energy” of actors and audience, Stark says. “And, I do think that theater is unique in that art form. It starts the conversation.”

As COVID-19 pandemic-related adjustments continue, Redd and Stark are committed and hopeful as they plan and schedule. “We’re sticking to those dates as long as we can,” Redd says.

“I’m very passionate about this project,” Stark says. “This has been a dream of mine to create in Mississippi.”

Photo by Sherry Lucas

Drew Stark, education associate at New Stage Theatre, said of the series: “I really believe that these voices need to be heard and recognized and humanized. Where discrimination and where bias and closed-minded thinking is, that’s where we need to have these discussions.”

They hope writers use the extra time spent at home as a time to explore, create, and use this opportunity as a goal to work toward. “I want more of us, as artists, writers and creative types, to come up with progressive ideas that give us something to look forward to,” Redd says. He’d even caught himself bogging down in the here-and-now handling of lockdown and limitations, rather than working toward what’s beyond. “I told myself, ‘No.’ I’m going to work like I go to work any other day and keep moving forward like I’m in pre-production for something at another date and time.

“So, get busy, sit down and start working on a new play,” he says to fellow theater folk. “I know a lot of people are trying lots of new things now.”

Submit new work directly to JOOKMS and find guidelines and more details about the series here.

New work can also be emailed to spotlightsummerseries@gmail.com.

There is no submission fee. Authors whose manuscripts are selected will receive an honorarium, written critique from a professional dramaturge, video recording of the reading and post-show audience feedback.

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Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America

Gov. Tate Reeves answers questions during a press conference concerning the coronavirus pandemic.

As Mississippi saw yet another daily record in confirmed new COVID-19 cases, Gov. Tate Reeves announced on Friday that gyms and salons can reopen, meaning no business in the state is subject to mandatory statewide closures.

Reeves on Friday announced he was extending the statewide “Safer at Home” order until May 25.  He also announced a new executive order which will allow hair salons, barbershops and gyms to open on May 11 at 8 a.m. under strict guidelines. Earlier this week Reeves announced restaurants could begin serving in-house meals under strict guidelines.

“I know that these reactions to reopen certain industries will draw harsh criticism. I’m not worried about that,” Reeves said. “I cannot ask Mississippians to burn down their life’s work and put their family at risk of starvation because I’m afraid of some national media or because I’m afraid of my reputation.”

The move to reopen the businesses comes as Mississippi health officials announced 404 new confirmed cases, the highest number of new daily cases to date, and 13 new deaths.

Reeves on Friday cited a decrease in hospital demands and an increase in testing. Tuesday marked the first day that all COVID-19 hospitalization statistics — confirmed and suspected hospitalized, intensive care unit use and ventilator use — all started to decline when analyzed by a rolling seven-day average.

When asked if other businesses like nail salons are included in this order, Reeves said: “I think if you are a salon you meet the guidance.” The executive order says “salons, barber shops and other personal care and personal grooming facilities” will be allowed to operate.

As of Thursday, more than 400 Mississippians have died from COVID-19. Over the last week alone, more than 70 people have died — accounting for 20 percent of all deaths since the outbreak began almost two months ago. Of the last week’s deaths, however, long-term care facility residents accounted for a disproportionate share at nearly 60 percent of the deaths.

A Tupelo barber who uses the moniker E-Baby Clipper Hands

These businesses that Reeves announced could reopen will be subject to guidelines under Reeves’ executive order: They must sanitize and disinfect their stores before they reopen, and hand sanitizer must be placed at the entrances. Employees are required to be screened daily for symptoms and must wear face coverings and disposable gloves. Salon employees must replace the gloves and masks in between customers, and gym employees must replace the equipment hourly.

In salons and barbershops, only one customer per employee is allowed in the business at a time, according to the order. Customers must wait in their car before their appointment.

Gyms must have at least one employee at the business wiping down equipment “after each use” and cannot operate at more than 30 percent capacity. They can offer classes and group exercises so long as social distancing is possible. Gyms must close to the public by 10 p.m. daily, according to the release.

“I am convinced the industries we are reopening are going to do a better job of monitoring themselves than any government agency ever will,” Reeves said on Friday.

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The Greatest Generation survived the Great Depression and World War 2. For many of them, 75-years ago was a day when they knew they had a chance to live the rest of their lives. By defeating Nazi Germany and fascism, they gave us a precious gift — freedom from evil and hate.

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