OurTupelo

Mississippi Today editor-in-chief Adam Ganucheau sits down with Jake McGraw, a policy analyst and researcher who runs Working Together Mississippi’s Rethink Mississippi initiative, to discuss the state’s brain drain crisis. Together with the University of Mississippi Center for Population Studies, the organizations launched the state’s first-ever scientific survey to better understand the brain drain problem and develop solutions. Ganucheau and McGraw discuss what the data shows about the problem, the economic and political implications of it, and what more could be done to solve it.

READ MORE: Brain Drain: Why do Mississippians leave, why do they stay? Take our first-of-its-kind survey.

It’s been a disparate few years for Mississippi’s agriculture sector. Even as natural disasters and trade wars have caused row crop prices to decline, record high beef prices, growing poultry production and hundreds millions of dollars in federal disaster payments have bolstered the sector.

Some farmers have reported that federal payments have been slower and lower than needed as they continue to feel the impacts of bad weather in 2023 and 2024 exacerbated by low prices, high costs and trade wars. In Mississippi, row crops, which include soy beans, cotton and corn, have been among the hardest hit.

“This is one of the worst years for row crops,” said Joshua Maples, an agricultural economist at Mississippi State University. 

Row crops, especially soybeans, are an important part of Mississippi’s economy with soybean production valued at over $1 billion. Farmers are still recovering from the effects of past severe weather conditions and the outlook for 2025 is not promising with higher than normal rainfall that may result in a lower crop yield.

The prices of row crops have declined since 2022 leading to smaller profits for farmers who are struggling to break even with high production costs. As a result of 2018 tariffs, China, the biggest importer of soybeans in the world, shifted to buying more from South America, a loss that the U.S. industry has not recovered from.

The bright spots in the agriculture industry have been the livestock and poultry industries. Poultry, the largest agriculture sector in Mississippi, grew by 10% according to data from the Mississippi State University Extension Service largely due to strong production.

But livestock saw the most growth, with a 14% increase.

“Livestock is the shining star of Mississippi,” said Mike McCormick, a cattle farmer and president of the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation. Beef prices have soared due to historically low numbers of cattle in the United States. As of Jan. 1, 2025, there were 86.7 million head of cattle in the United States, the fewest since 1951. 

While cattle farmers are currently seeing higher returns, they struggled for years with drought and weak profit margins leading to smaller herds. Farmers are trying to grow their herds but the process will likely take a few years, so beef prices will likely continue to be high.

In 2024, the state’s agricultural nominal GDP remained relatively unchanged with a decrease of 0.4% while the overall state GDP grew by 4.2%.

Agriculture GDP makes up around 2% of the state GDP. At the end of June, data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed that in the first quarter of 2025, Mississippi’s economy grew 0.7%.  The agriculture sector was the largest contributor to growth of any industry at 0.83%. This was the third straight quarter that agriculture had the largest GDP growth rate in the state.

But agriculture GDP growth in the first quarter of this year was largely due to $120 million in direct payments from the federal government to Mississippi farmers.

“It’s not reflective of the reality farmers are facing right now,” said Andy Gipson, Mississippi’s agricultural commissioner on a recent episode of Mississippi Today’s podcast The Other Side, of what would appear on paper to be robust growth in farming output.

These payments are part of the American Relief Act that was passed in December 2024 that set aside more than $30 billion in direct payments to farmers to help with losses from economic changes and natural disasters. The money is being paid out through multiple programs, including the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program, or ECAP, and the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program, or SDRP. The commodity program helps farmers impacted by increased production costs and falling crop prices while the disaster program helps those affected by severe weather in 2023 and 2024.

 “The $120 million is about 3.5% of the total GDP the state gained from ‘Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting’ in 2024,” said Dr. Sondra Collins a senior economist at the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning. She expects to see the impact of these programs on GDP throughout the year as applications continue to be submitted and money is paid out. 

McCormick’s family has been farming in Mississippi since the 1820s and says this is one of the most challenging periods for farmers since the farm crisis of the 1980s. 

“Farming has always been a risky business,” said McCormick.

Thomas Duff has used his wealth from a tire empire he and his brother created to become a political power broker and sought-after philanthropist. 

Duff, of Hattiesburg, has been involved in state politics, but only peripherally or behind the scenes. Now, the tire baron is considering a political run of his own. His entrance into the 2027 Republican primary for governor could reshape a field of candidates likely to include several statewide officials. 

Duff served an eight-year stint on the state Institutions of Higher Learning Board, first appointed by former Gov. Phil Bryant. He has been a major contributor to many Republican campaigns in Mississippi, and earlier this year formed and funded a political action committee to help elect Republicans to city and legislative offices. He and his brother are major supporters of higher education and have donated millions to Mississippi universities.

As he mulls a run for governor, the billionaire businessman sat for a wide-ranging interview with Mississippi Today.

The conversation spanned his business philosophy, support for tariffs, concerns about Mississippi’s “brain drain,” and his investments in the state’s higher education system. It also touched on where he stands on issues such as immigration, Medicaid expansion, “school choice,” and his affinity for President Donald Trump.

The interview was conducted June 17 and has been edited for clarity and length.

Mississippi Today: Tell me about the moment when you knew that what you were building would grow far bigger than the family business your father had left you. When did you have a sense of the scale at which you were really working with? 

Thomas Duff: That’s a good question. Nobody’s ever asked me that before. When I got into our business, we were in very bad financial shape. Southern Tire Mart was a little company with about seven employees, losing money every month. My father was an attorney in Columbia. He loved business, but he was not active, he just liked to own them. I was finishing up a master’s degree in business, which I did not finish. So I was going to law school at Ole Miss and decided that I liked business much more than practicing law. So I said, ‘Can I stay on and just try to run this company?’ Because I grew up in high school working on tires, changing tires, retreading tires, being very involved in it. My dad said yes. And so I started, and that’s where we began. 

After I got involved in it and liked it, and frankly, started having some success in it, I would say, within about five to eight years after we began, I realized that this thing had potential. It’s really not a job, it’s an opportunity. And truthfully, I’ve never worked a day of my life because I’ve enjoyed being in business that much. 

Our business started with Southern Tire Mart. That has enabled us to be in other businesses and given opportunities. KLLM was a customer of Southern Tire Mart for many, many years, and it had undergone several ownership changes. It had gone public, it had gone back private. So we realized there were opportunities, and hopefully that it would be a profitable opportunity. And so we purchased other businesses that way, and that’s how we grew.

MT: Your core businesses require an integrated transportation ecosystem. Supply chain issues have now taken on a growing salience in our politics. Tell me about the evolution of supply chain issues, and your observations of debates surrounding onshoring versus offshoring that have come closer to the center of the political conversation. What has that been like to watch from your perspective?

Duff: We are uniquely affected by the supply situation. Also by the products that come from Asia and China, in particular. United States truck tire manufacturing only supplies about 70% of our needs in this country. So 30% have to come from outside the United States. So how do you deal with that? Where do you buy? What do you buy? Is it the right thing for customers to buy? 

It’s given us insights into how these foreign companies operate, and frankly, it’s not pleasing, because you see how so many of them have taken advantage of American laxity. Just being, frankly, lax in the way we operate in our supply management, it’s something that needs to be tightened up. We need more domestic manufacturing. There is the demand. There’s just not the manufacturing capacity. So our goal has been to try to increase that.

MT: With tariffs and trade policy being such a central element of political debate right now, what is your view on the trade-offs between free trade, getting products to market and protecting local industries? 

Duff: I think that’s a concern for a lot of people in Mississippi. I think we have watched American manufacturing be a serious problem for the last 25 years — it’s dissipated. We don’t have the trades and the things that we need. We are too dependent. 

But outside of supply chains, and we need to work on that, I have watched tariffs in the last few months be a good thing that’s happening. We approve of what President Trump is trying to do, because this mess existed long before he got here. He’s trying to correct it, and if we can correct it, which we will, it’ll take some short-term concerns, short-term hardships, but it’s going to be a long-term gain for our country. And I say that to you as a person who will probably pay more in tariffs, right? It will hit us hard. But is it going to be corrected? Yes, it will be. So, you know, we got into this mess over 20 or 30 years, it’s gonna take a little while to come out of it.

MT: What is your perspective then on short-term economic cost, let’s say, versus a longer-term structural fix in the economy. Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the country. How should people in a state like this who are working class perceive these sorts of trade-offs?

Duff: Obviously, it is a concern. The question is how much of a concern should it be to the average Mississippian? Again, this is a short-term situation. It will have great long-term benefits. And I think what President Trump is trying to do is appropriate, and it will be successful in the end. 

For example, when we had a 20% tariff here, the first time with President Trump’s presidency, our car prices went up three or four percent, what we found out was, in China, they’re more interested in employment and keeping those plants going than they are in profitability because they’re Chinese-owned anyway. It’s not like a normal company like I have that tries to show a profit. In China they’re trying to show employment. So when people talk about these tariffs and what they mean in pricing, we have no evidence that it’s going up that much. What we’re seeing is many manufacturers saying we’re reducing the amount of the increase and trying to work with the American consumer, that’s particularly true for the folks in Mississippi.

MT: You’ve said that retaining employees and attracting quality employees is a priority for you in business. As far as the labor market is concerned, how should Mississippians be thinking about immigration policy? How does reducing immigration impact the economy here in Mississippi?

Duff: You know, we value every person. Each is important for what they do and in their employment throughout our businesses, and frankly, throughout this state. Getting rid of people that have convictions, have problems that come from other countries, that should be one of the highest priorities of stopping the illegal immigration at the southern border. That is is very important, because we need that stability in our employment. 

We are doing well in finding qualified people to work, and I think that’s one of the reasons that we see a lower labor participation rate in our state, you’ve got to offer people good jobs. But you know what? You’ve got to do more than that. You’ve got to have appropriate child care. You’ve got to have good medical. You’ve got to have the things that attract people to say, ‘Hey, I desire to work.’ 

We need more Mississippians at work and we need to be more attractive in what we offer people. That’s very important, and that’s one of the greatest responsibilities that my brother and I have. Do we offer those types of opportunities? Employment wise, social wise. I mean, having proper nursery care, having proper health care is just as important as your wage in today’s world. 

MT: Sure. And to that end, let’s talk about the social safety net. Of course, private employers play an important role in providing access to health care, but there is a segment of Mississippians that may need to rely on the public benefits. Do you think Mississippi should expand Medicaid? 

Duff: You know, I think there are so many rules about Medicaid expansion, it’s hard to always say I’m in favor of it or not in favor of it. Do people need better medical care in the state of Mississippi? Yes, sir. Do more people need to be included in that? Yes, the health of our state is so important. So we have got to offer those things through businesses, through state assistance that helps all Mississippians have better health care. That’s got to be one of the top responsibilities that we all have. How it’s done in today’s changing political environment? I don’t know what to say, but I do know that it’s got to be of the highest importance, and we need to take care of all Mississippians.

MT: So what you’re saying is you’re neither wedded to expansion nor entirely against it? Are you saying you’re open to all options? 

Duff: I want to know the facts and the facts that are best for the people in Mississippi, and those facts have changed with a new president. So it’s hard to really say until we understand the changing political environment.  

MT: I want to ask you about your conception of “welfare” as well. It’s been a politically charged term for a long time, people have different ideas about what programs should be considered welfare. How do you think about welfare and how it relates to the safety net here?

Duff: Well, we need a safety net that’s appropriate and takes care of needs, especially for people who have those needs. We also need a system where people participate, where they’re paid adequately, where they can take care of their families and take care of themselves. 

So my definition of those things would be, if you can work, you need to work. And it’s not just working, it’s working at a higher level. Some people have jobs that they could easily go to someone else, and they could do higher-level jobs. Can you have a better education? Can you have workforce training? How can you maximize your potential in your job?

MT: You mentioned education and training. You and your brother have invested about $50 million in Mississippi universities. So higher education has been a focus of yours, and the issue of “brain drain” has been one of your central concerns. How would you propose that either yourself or others fix this brain drain issue in Mississippi?

Duff: The first thing we’ve got to do, and it’s not a simple answer, we need to have K-12 education that is excellent. And by having excellent education, you prepare people either for vocational jobs or for going into a four-year college route. But you’ve got to have the basics done. 

We have made rapid progress in that. The Mississippi Miracle is real, and we see that. But the real question is, as everybody else is getting better, can we keep our foot on the accelerator and continue to expand K-12? Now we go to vocational, which is so important. We were talking in a meeting this morning about the vocational needs and of some of our businesses, it’ll amaze you what we pay vocational employees, and I’m glad to see they do really well. They have great incomes, a good living. And I like seeing those things. And then we decide to go with the four-year college route, or however many years you decide to go to college, it is important that they receive a good education. 

Education, I can tell you, having served eight years in the Institutions of Higher Learning, Mississippi provides a great education for the money spent, an excellent education. Now, the problem we have in our state is the fact that within three years, half of our college graduates are living somewhere else. That’s our problem. So we have got to start a development in our state of economic activity, and it’s going to come. 

Everybody thinks that we need to grow by hitting home runs and going and finding an Amazon or someone like that to come in. The best way to grow our economy is to take the small businesses and get to know them. There’s no one cookie cutter way for a person to go from seven employees to nine, right? I remember when I had seven employees. I’ve got 15,000 now. So you have to learn to adapt and grow. And if you grow your small businesses, you grow your communities. And if you grow your communities, you grow this state.

And you know, as someone who is one of those employers, we hire 50 college graduates a year in our training programs, in our companies, and it’s a great program. These people get great job opportunities, and frankly, our retention rate is excellent. But you know, it worries me when I have my meetings with these new folks and ask, “Where do you want to live? Why do you want to live there?” And the bulk of these students are from Mississippi colleges, and they say, I want to go to Nashville, Atlanta, Phoenix. I want to live somewhere else. And I’ve never had anybody come in and say, “I want to go live in Greenwood” or “I want to live somewhere around here.” And that concerns me, because we’re letting that problem happen. These are our best and brightest students, and we’re letting them go somewhere else. 

Shame on us for not having those opportunities. That’s what we’ve got to do to grow this state. Population wise, economic wise, social wise, when you have a state that’s prospering economically, you solve a lot of problems.

MT: Before we move on from K-12, do you think that taxpayer dollars should follow students to private schools? Do you think that undermines public education?

Duff: You know, the success of a community is its public school system and its school system, yet every parent deserves the opportunity to make sure their child has the best education that they can get. So is there a place for school choice? Yes, again, the definition of what school choice is goes from left to right, but the overriding consideration needs to be, every parent needs to have a very good hand in their child’s education. And whatever that means, we need to do. So we’re not scared of competing and having great schools, we want them. How does that need to be? I think that’s up to the community and the parent.

MT: Moving on to the Institutions of Higher Learning and politics. I know that most of the work of the IHL just relates to the functionality of the university system. But I want to ask you about your observations of higher education while serving in that capacity, because there’s no denying that college campuses have become a battleground for the culture wars in this state and in the country more broadly. Do you think the state government should play a more active role intervening and regulating the activity of campus life?

Duff: Mississippi pays a good part of the education of college graduates. They should have a say in it, but their say needs to be, how can this student receive the most comprehensive education? 

There’s certainly definitions between liberals and conservatives, what’s important, what’s not important. Some of that’s just part of growing up and learning how to operate. Overall, I would say that our schools present a wonderfully conservative balance of what to do. Two things that I think needs to be done is as I have watched students come in. 

When taxpayer dollars at four year colleges are having to be spent for math and reading and things like that to bring them up to a college level before they even start, that’s an indictment of our K-12 education, and we’ve got to do better in that. 

I (also) think it’s important that we learn more of our civic responsibilities. I don’t think that’s taught as much anymore. What it means to be an American, a Mississippian. What does it mean to be a future member of society, a citizen? The importance of voting. Those type of things need to be added into college curriculums. Learning our constitution, that type of stuff that makes you more well rounded and makes you a better student and adult.

MT: Is there a political thinker that informs your worldview? If you think to yourself, “Where should I come down on a certain issue?” Are there certain leaders or thinkers that you look to for guidance or knowledge?

Duff: I’m a voracious reader. I’m also an avid watcher of newscasts. I like to see all points of view. I’ve always believed if you only had one point of view, that makes you fairly narrow minded. So all points of view are important and you can learn from all of those things, even when you don’t agree. I go into many meetings with our folks and say this is a point of view that’s expressed. It might not be mine, but let’s debate it. Let’s take it apart. Let’s see what’s good about it, what’s bad about it, and we learn from that. So that’s what college is about.

MT: If I could just push you on that a little bit. I appreciate that you consider and take in all points of view. But you do have politics yourself, and you have created a political action committee with a priority to elect conservative candidates. So within the realm of conservatism, I suppose, what sort of conservative are you? Do you identify with a particular political figure? What to you makes a quality conservative leader that you would want to support? 

Duff: I am a conservative. I believe that less government is better. I believe that each of us should have the ability to raise our families, to live our lives and to accomplish what our God given abilities are. So I am very conservative. I’m not trying to raise taxes. I’m not trying to have these social things that jump out there. I think that goes with being in families and being an individual.

The political leader that has affected us, certainly in the last 10 years, would be Donald Trump. He has revolutionized not only the Republican Party, but also the way that people view government, whether you like him or disagree with him, and I happen to like him. I think that what he’s doing in his administration is exactly what he said he would do. And I think 75 million people said ‘I like what he says he’s gonna do. I’m gonna vote for him.’ And he’s following through on that example. So he could probably be the one, if you were to ask me, that would have an influence. But his influence comes from vision and leadership. It’s not always his views, just the fact that he says, ‘I feel it should be this way, and I’m going to offer leadership through myself and the folks that I work with, and hopefully there’s buy in from the people that see it.’ 

MT: Yeah, and just jumping off that, I do want to ask directly about the PAC and the purpose behind it. What do you hope to achieve by potentially ushering in a new cohort of leaders in Mississippi?

Duff: That’s what it’s really for, to have conservative minded people take on these responsibilities because they’re very important economically in their communities and statewide. 

Are they the type leaders that will be exemplary moving forward? 

Mississippi has come so far. Our governor has done a great job, but it’s important for the future that we don’t take the foot off the gas pedal, that we move forward. And it will be different than it is today. The growth of things like AI, the growth of the political challenges that we have, you’ve got to have a person who is a leader, who can have a vision for being able to continue moving forward.

MT: Will you run for governor in 2027?

Duff: I love this state. This state has been good to me. I love being a part of this state. If I can assist and help in the leadership of moving forward in this state, I want to be a part of it. But as far as saying I have to have this as a stepping stone or something else, I don’t need that. 

If I can be of service, and enough people believe in that, then perhaps we can all together move Mississippi forward. So that’s where I stand now. This election is 29 months out. 

MT: I want to close by asking you what Mississippians might not know about you that you want them to know as you go and meet more of them and consider this run for governor? 

Duff: I think what I would want Mississippians to know is I’m just like them. I started out in menial labor, growing up in high school, throughout college, basically put myself through college, got involved in a business. I still work 50 to 60 hours every week. I love my family. I’m very devoted to them and involved with them. But we work, my brother and I work hard. We try to be fair and honorable with every person we deal with.

And you can take principles of business and apply it to certain aspects of government. I think that’s where it comes to vision and it comes to leadership. Those are the most important things that I think our state needs, where everybody is working together for a common goal. I don’t expect people to agree with everything I say, but I would hope that people would say ‘he cares, and I hope that’ll be a difference.’

Don’t look now, but thanks to the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, health care, which by nearly every metric already is bad in Mississippi, is going to get worse.

While Mississippi annually ranks at or near the bottom for most health care outcomes, in recent years some solace could be taken in the fact that the state’s percentage of people without health insurance had dropped significantly.

That drop can be attributed primarily to the fact that since the COVID-19 pandemic, Mississippians have embraced the Affordable Care Act, better known by many as Obamacare.

The citizens of two solid red or Republican states where the ACA for years was ridiculed embraced Obamacare in breath-taking fashion. Texas, viewed as the North Star by many conservatives, had the largest percentage increase of people enrolling in the ACA’s marketplace or health care exchange to obtain private insurance. Texas’ enrollment increased 255% between 2020 and 2025, followed next by Mississippi with a 242% increase to 338,159 people, according to KFF, a nationwide nonprofit that studies health care policy.

Texas and Mississippi have in common that they have more people eligible to sign up for the marketplace policies because they have not adopted another key ACA component: expanding Medicaid to provide health insurance for primarily the working poor. Texas and Mississippi are among 10 states that have not adopted Medicaid expansion. Nine of those non-Medicaid expansion states, excluding Wisconsin, have among the highest percentage of their populations without health insurance and some of the worst health care outcomes. Even with the strong participation in the ACA marketplace, Texas has the nation’s largest uninsured rate at 18.7%, according to Public Health Watch. Mississippi also is in the bottom 10 at 12.4%.

All that said, the uninsured rate in Mississippi is much better than it was pre-ACA, which was passed in 2010 and fully enacted in 2014.

In the 2024 legislative session, as the Mississippi Legislature finally seriously considered expanding Medicaid with the federal government paying the bulk of the cost to provide health care for primarily the working poor, some leaders said the expansion was not needed because of the ACA marketplace. It was true that the working poor, though not the poorest of the poor, could garner private insurance at little or no cost through the exchanges. It was a powerful argument that prevailed, even though hospital administrators stressed that Medicaid expansion would provide more financial security to their struggling hospitals than would the payments they received through the ACA marketplace’s private insurance.

Still, the ACA marketplace policies did provide coverage, and that coverage was bolstered through legislation passed during the Joe Biden administration that provided enhanced federal subsidies to allow the working poor to obtain the policies at little or no cost.

But those enhanced subsidies were not extended with the One Big Beautiful Bill. Some subsidies will still be available under the new legislation, but on average the payments people will have to pay in Mississippi for the marketplace’s private health insurance policies will increase an estimated $480 per year, according to a 2024 KFF study. Plus, the One Big Beautiful Bill makes it more difficult for people to obtain the policies.

Most public health policy experts and the Congressional Budget Office all agree that the percentage of people without health insurance will dramatically increase thanks to the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill touted by President Donald Trump.

But that news is especially disheartening for many in Mississippi, which has the nation’s highest percentage of unhealthy people.

With fewer people receiving health care coverage through the marketplace and with no Medicaid expansion, those numbers most likely will only get worse in Mississippi.

And the people losing coverage will be those who Republicans in the 2024 session of the Mississippi Legislature claimed they wanted to help: the working poor.

They could still help the working poor by expanding Medicaid in the upcoming 2026 session.

The committee tasked with advising the Mississippi Division of Medicaid met Friday for the first time in a year and a half. 

The meeting in Jackson was a primer on Medicaid programs and provided a financial update for new members, most of whom were appointed in 2024 but have not yet participated in a meeting. 

The Medicaid Advisory Committee offers expertise and opinions to the state Medicaid program about health care services. It is made up of doctors, hospital executives, managed care organization representatives and other Medicaid stakeholders. 

It includes two members of the recently formed Beneficiary Advisory Council, a group of Medicaid members and their families who advise Medicaid on their experience with the program. 

New federal policy seeks to heighten the role that beneficiaries play in shaping Medicaid programs and policy by mandating that members of the council serve on the Medicaid Advisory Committee. Ten percent of the group must be composed of beneficiaries or their families, a proportion that will rise in the coming years. 

Both committees are mandated by the federal government to meet quarterly. 

The last Medicaid Advisory Committee meeting, formerly known as the Medical Care Advisory Committee, was held on Dec. 8, 2023. 

Meetings were first set back in 2024 because state leaders, who were formerly charged with selecting members, were slow to make appointments. A meeting scheduled for October was postponed after former executive director Drew Snyder announced his resignation. 

Meetings were then delayed further while the agency worked to sort out a discrepancy between state law and new federal guidelines, which mandated that committee appointments be made by the executive director of Medicaid and include members of the then-unformed Beneficiary Advisory Council. The new guidelines took effect this month. 

State lawmakers proposed language in several bills earlier this year during the legislative session that would have conformed state law to federal regulations. Two such bills were vetoed by the governor. 

Medicaid Executive Director Cindy Bradshaw said the agency decided to “honor the language” of the vetoed bills, conforming to federal guidelines without updating state law. 

The committee’s recommendations have played a crucial role in crafting state Medicaid policy in the past. In 2023, the advisory group’s recommendation contributed to the Legislature’s passage of extended Medicaid coverage for new mothers. 

Mississippi schools will get millions in previously-promised federal education grants after all. 

The Trump administration announced Friday that it was releasing the money, which totals billions nationwide and pays for English language instruction, adult literacy and teacher professional development, among other things. 

When the federal government announced its decision to “review” the grant funding on June 30, the original amount was more than $6 billion, including $68 million in Mississippi. Later, the Trump administration unfroze $1.3 billion in grants that pay for afterschool programs, which totaled about $17 million in Mississippi.

Since then, $51 million was still on hold in the state. 

The freeze had prompted lawsuits and calls from Congress, which appropriated the money in a bill signed this year by Trump, to release it. School districts in Mississippi were scrambling to deal with with the freeze at the eleventh hour, just weeks away from the start of school. 

Spokespeople for the Mississippi Department of Education said they received notice from the national education department on Friday afternoon about the grants. The funds will be awarded beginning Monday, the state agency said. 

“We are relieved to learn that the U.S. Department of Education will release the funds that Congress committed to states,” said Lance Evans, state superintendent of education, in an emailed statement. “These funds are essential to providing education services to the students of Mississippi.”

Mississippi universities and community colleges could lose a combined $32.5 million in federal research funding under the Trump administration, according to a new report published by The Center for American Progress. 

A new analysis released o Wednesday by the national left-leaning nonprofit think tank found that  during President Donald Trump’s first six months, federal agencies — primarily the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation — have canceled more than 4,000 grant awards worth an estimated $7 billion at over 600 colleges and universities across the country as of early July. Between $3.3 billion to $3.7 billion in research grants have been targeted. 

Data for the analysis was pulled from DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services list of terminated grants and the U.S. Treasury Department’s Bureau of Fiscal Spending. The report looks at terminated grants, not grants that were paused or “frozen,” according to the analysis. 

Mississippi colleges and universities could lose $32,513,961 in federal research grants and funding cuts under the Department of Government Efficiency, according to the report. Mississippi State University would take the biggest hit, losing more than $25.6 million.

Earlier this year, Mark Keenum, president of the university, penned a letter of concern over the federal administration’s executive order to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts linked to research funding, student aid and other school operations, calling the potential loss “catastrophic” to the university. 

In a statement sent to Mississippi Today, Keenum said the institution has been working with state lawmakers and federal agency leaders to help recover funds that were threatened. 

“We are deeply appreciative of the help of our Mississippi congressional delegation as they work to preserve MSU research programs and ameliorate cuts to our institution’s benefit. U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith worked particularly hard on the Senate Appropriations Committee to win concessions for our outstanding Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish research,” Keenum said. “I am proud of the way our faculty, staff, and students remained focused and disciplined in their reactions to these challenges. Because of that, we continue to serve as our state’s premier research and development hub.” 

Terminating millions of dollars in research grants at universities could strip schools and their communities of resources and job opportunities, Greta Bedekovics, co-author of the analysis and associate director of democracy policy at the national think tank, said in a statement. 

“These data show that no institution, big or small, is safe from being targeted, and all states are suffering the consequences of cuts,” Bedekovics said. “The future success of many universities and colleges, their reputations, and their ability to attract talent is on the line.” 

Historically Black colleges and universities, as well as public land grant universities have also been affected, with more than two-thirds of all land grant universities and nearly half of HBCUs targeted for funding terminations, according to the report. 

The state has two land grant universities — Mississippi State University and Alcorn State University, the state’s oldest land grant university, which is targeted for $272,369 in cuts. Alcorn is also an HBCU, as is Mississippi’s Jackson State University targeted for $1,436,982 in cuts and Mississippi Valley State University with $59,962. 

Mississippi’s capital city community colleges — Holmes Community College and Hinds Community College — could collectively lose $666,000. The University of Mississippi is targeted with a cut of $1,957,108. William Carey University, a private college in the state’s southern region, stands to lose $1.3 million. 

While the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education have focused primarily on Ivy League schools and other elite institutions, colleges of all types in all 50 states have received sweeping cuts to research funding. 

“Americans will feel the damage of these cuts on the economy and their impacts on the United States’ competitive edge for decades,” said Will Ragland, co-author of the analysis and vice president of research at the think tank. 

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here. Additionally, Mississippi Today is proud to have moved its offices to downtown Jackson in early June. Read more about our decision here.

When Kumar Bhavanasi purchased the historic Deposit Guaranty Building and adjacent Pinnacle Building in downtown Jackson recently, it affirmed a message of optimism that many of us have been communicating for a while.

In the two high-rise structures, Bhavanasi, a developer from New Jersey, saw the vast potential of Mississippi’s central business district and burgeoning residential neighborhood. It mirrored  the vision of Jackson residents and many others across the state who see the potential lying in wait. In so many ways, our downtown is an artist’s canvas, just beginning to be painted.

“There is something beautiful about a blank canvas,” an author wrote. “It’s the paint that changes its meaning and the hand that creates the story. Every piece begins the same, but in the end they are uniquely different.”

Downtown is, indeed, different from any other place — in Jackson, in Mississippi and in the nation.  Two hundred years of history have helped make it so.  We are a center of government, a business hub, a political seat, a residential quarter, an arts and  entertainment venue and a gathering place. Downtown Jackson is the capital of Mississippi, a title that is not likely to ever change.

Given all that, the question of whether to put every effort into making downtown better than it’s ever been over two centuries has already been answered. The wheels to make that happen — to transform downtown into a paragon — already are moving. And now it’s augmented by fresh, imaginative leadership at City Hall.

Consider: 

• Safety, once an issue here, has been dramatically improved with the expansion of Capitol police in downtown. With a new headquarters near the state Capitol, more patrols and greater communication with businesses and residents, these officers have sent a message that downtown will be secure. With our new mayor now in office, we expect that to improve even more with the help of Jackson police. Citizen confidence is our goal, and we will bolster that further with additional security measures to be announced soon.

• Residential space, which has transformed many downtowns in neighboring states, is being expanded in Jackson to accommodate the increasing numbers of people who see our downtown as a unique and safe place to live and work. That includes developer Bhavanasi’s planned apartments for the 18-story Deposit Guaranty Building with its beautiful early 20th century architecture. Currently, about 700 people call downtown home. With more residents will come more ancillary businesses such as a grocery store, new restaurants and entertainment sites. We are a growing neighborhood in the center of Jackson. 

• New quality-of-life projects to enhance our capital district and truly make it “Mississippi’s Downtown” are moving quickly. Construction of a new state park just north of the historic Old Capitol Building and overlooking our renowned Two Mississippi Museums is underway. Meanwhile, major improvements are being planned for Smith Park, one of the oldest city parks in America and a jewel in the heart of downtown. A few blocks away, construction is wrapping up on Jackson’s all-new, state-of-the-art planetarium, which is expected to attract residents from across the state and beyond. And Thalia Mara Hall, home to the International Ballet Competition, will soon re-open its doors with more improvements as the district’s arts anchor. 

These are just a few of the efforts and projects underway to make downtown Jackson a reflection of  who we are as Mississippians.

For me, it’s been a 35-year commitment to this city that led to Downtown Jackson Partners as its new president. The sense of pride and ownership in Jackson that I feel is something I want to encourage and cultivate in others. Our future rides on an expectation that we will thrive.

A vibrant capital city is tantamount to a dynamic state. Downtown is at the heart of it all. Downtown belongs to each of us. Downtown is our canvas to paint.

Liz Brister is president of Downtown Jackson Partners, a legislatively authorized business improvement district representing downtown property owners, and focused on growing, enhancing and promoting the district for businesses, residents and visitors. 

FBI Jackson announced Thursday 10 arrests were made and 50 grams of methamphetamines as well as over 400 grams of fentanyl were seized as part of Operation Summer Heat, a national effort to combat violent crime during peak summer months. 

The federal agency also called for more collaboration from local communities and agencies.

Special Agent in Charge Robert Eikhoff said 40% of Mississippi’s law enforcement agencies do not provide information to the National Incident Based Reporting System. In 2023, the FBI reported that 73.2% of law enforcement agencies nationwide reported their data to NIBRS. 

The FBI can only assist agencies where it sees a need.

Winston County and the city of Louisville were chosen for a targeted operation due to increased criminal activity. In Winston County, with a population of less than 17,500, the national reporting system data shows crimes against people increased by 130% from 2020 to 2023. In 2024, 104 crimes were reported by the Winston Police Department and 99 were reported by the Winston County Sheriff’s Department.

Eikhoff wants local agencies to report data to the national system to understand what “communities are experiencing” and to help become “partners” with federal law enforcement.

The FBI created the system in the 1980s, but it didn’t become the official crime data tracker until 2021. It tracks 44 more offense types than the previous tracker, includes demographic data, and location categories like hotel or school, among other data that provides context to crime. 

The last reporting system only listed the most serious offense from each reported crime. It now includes every offense committed as part of a crime.

A recently passed Mississippi law mandated that all local agencies report numbers to the FBI data base by Dec. 31, 2025. A previous version of the law would deprive state funding from law enforcement agencies that didn’t report data. As early as 2013, the Department of Justice has offered grant money to help agencies report their data.

Former Byram Police Chief Luke Thompson was part of the initial meetings to help law enforcement agencies report their data to the National Incident Based Reporting System, in 2017. He was surprised to learn that Mississippi tracked domestic violence fatalities from statewide newspaper coverage.

In 2025, the FBI is hoping to collaborate with other local agencies that might lack the equipment and budget to investigate crime.

“If we don’t have that relationship, then we can’t have that conversation and express to them what resources are available through us,” Eikhoff said.

Rural counties and financially struggling law enforcement agencies don’t always have the tools and manpower to investigate serious crimes. The consequences can be low clearance rates and low morale.

The mean annual wage for police and sheriff’s patrol officers in Mississippi was $42,900 in 2023, which is among the lowest in the country. Old equipment and proper training requires higher police budgets than some rural cities and counties offer.

“We appreciate the FBI and the resources that you gave us to make these arrests,” said Louisville Police Chief Sean Holdiness. “Hopefully, we can get back to normal.”

Although violent crime has decreased over the last three years, the FBI announced the existence of at least 200 gangs operating in Mississippi. They estimate that 20 national gangs are operating in Mississippi today. They include “neighborhood gangs.”

“These neighborhood gangs, they’re younger, they’re not driven wholly by the financial gains that you get from the national gangs,” said Eikhoff. 

Eikhoff brought up a shooting that he estimates had over 100 rounds.

“That is what got our attention,” he said.

Mississippi has the highest gun death rate in the United States. The overall gun death rate increased 66% from 2013 to 2022. In October 2024, a federal jury convicted a Mississippi man for trafficking over 60 weapons from Belzoni to Chicago.

No specific number of guns were reported seized yet as part of Operation Summer Heat in Mississippi. In Kentucky’s recent Summer Heat operation, 82 guns were seized.

“The fact that someone’s carrying a weapon in and of itself is something that we have to be very mindful of in terms of constitutional rights,” Eikhoff said.