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JXN Water manager Ted Henifin told U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate Tuesday that the utility plans to sue the neglectful apartment complexes that owe millions between them on their water bills and left tenants with little choice than to move immediately.

During a two-day status conference this week where the utility proposed to raise rates for the second time in as many years, residents and city officials told Wingate that JXN Water should first have to raise its collections rate — which is around 70%, far below the national average — before charging more to those who do pay.

“To inflict another rate increase on the people who are playing by the rules is onerous to the city and its economic development,” Jackson Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote said.

Henifin emphasized repeatedly that even with 100% collection, the current rates would leave the utility about $33 million short of its annual budget needs when accounting for paying off debts and building reserves.

The utility announced the proposal earlier this year after realizing it would soon run out of the $150 million in federal funding it received for operations. Henifin said he’s hoping to tap into some of the $450 million Jackson received for project spending, but added that will only cover operations for the short term. Wingate has the final say over the rate proposal, and said he would make a decision as early as next week.

JXN Water initially said the average single-family residence would see a roughly 12% increase, or about $9 a month, although it came out during the status conference that renters in apartment complexes may see a steeper rate hike.

In one exchange, Wingate asked Foote where else the money could come from. The recently reelected councilman shrugged, suggesting JXN Water look for other sources.

“That sounds really good,” the judge replied sarcastically. “What miracle do you have in mind?”

Hearing Foote’s and others’ concerns, though, Wingate asked Henifin how the utility plans to collect unpaid water bills from those who owe the most. There are 15 apartment complexes, largely run by out-of-state landlords, that owe a combined $5.7 million, JXN Water said. Henifin said he plans to sue them to force payment before considering shut offs. He estimated there are roughly 7,500 residents living on those properties, and said the landlords are “calling our bluff” as far as shutting off water to that many people.

In total, Henifin added, about 15,000 of the city’s water accounts — or about one in five — are still not paying.

An “affordable” combined water and sewer bill, according to Environmental Protection Agency’s recommendations, is no more than 4.5% of a person’s income. The proposed increase, Henifin said, would bring bills to 2.4% for the median Jackson household, but 5.7% for the city’s bottom quartile of earners.

The utility’s SNAP recipient discount, which the utility hasn’t fully applied due to a legal roadblock, would bring that number down to 3.7%, he said, and he hopes to partner with the Mississippi Department of Human Services to boost enrollment in the benefit.

Robert Ireland, an attorney with Jackson law firm Watkins & Eager PLLC who said he represents tenants in several apartment complexes, presented data during Monday’s status conference suggesting such customers would see a much steeper increase with the new rate hike than the average resident JXN Water described.

The utility uses a tiered rate structure that charges more per gallon for higher levels of water consumption. Because tenants in those complexes share a meter with the rest of their building, Ireland explained, their consumption is grouped together and is thus more expensive than it would be if they had separate meters. Ireland estimated for the 15,000 accounts at Jackson’s largest apartment complexes, they would see an average increase of $21, or more than double the increase JXN Water presented.

“I’m trying to push back on the notion that this is just going to be a small increase,” he told Wingate.

Aisha Carson, the utility’s communications officer, said JXN Water didn’t have an average for how much tenants of complexes would be paying under the new rates. Rates for complexes are calculated differently depending on the size and number of meters there, she explained.

The Jackson City Council has passed a resolution asking the Defense Department to reverse its possible plans to remove Medgar Evers’ name from a Navy ship, and his niece plans to urge the president to change course on this decision.

In its resolution, the council noted that a long list of presidents have praised Evers, who served as field secretary for the Mississippi NAACP until his 1963 assassination, including President Donald Trump.

In 2017, Trump attended the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and praised Evers, his widow, Myrlie Evers, and his brother, Charles Evers, who supported Trump in his campaign for president.

He noted that Medgar Evers “loved his family, his community, and his country.  And he knew it was long past time for his nation to fulfill its founding promise: to treat every citizen as an equal child of God.”

After his assassination, “Sergeant Evers was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors,” Trump said. “In Arlington, he lies beside men and women of all races, backgrounds, and walks of life who have served and sacrificed for our country. Their headstones do not mark the color of their skin, but immortalize the courage of their deeds.

“Their memories are carved in stone as American heroes. That is what Medgar Evers was. He was a great American hero. That is what the others honored in this museum were: true American heroes.”

Three years later, the Trump administration’s Interior Department established the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home as a national monument.

But after Trump started his second term in 2025, he signed an executive order to eliminate all Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs.

In the wake of that order, Evers was erased from a section of the Arlington National Cemetery website that honored Black Americans who fought in the nation’s wars, although not from website itself.. 

A week after Pentagon leaders announced their intention to possibly rename the USNS Medgar Evers, christened for the World War II veteran and civil rights leader, his family urged the Department of Defense and the Navy to not do so.

The ship is one of eight vessels named after activists – among them Cesar Chavez, Harvey Milk, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Harriet Tubman – that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants to rebrand in a large offensive against “wokeness” and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the military to reestablish the “warrior ethos.”

Jackson City Council member Aaron Banks said, “It’s unfortunate that our politics have gotten to a place where we are moving away from people like Medgar Evers. It was rough enough that they took his name out of Arlington Cemetery, but this is an even bigger blow.”

On Tuesday, Evers’ niece, Hinds County District 2 Supervisor Wanda Evers, told the council that this is heartbreaking to her.

“You do this for a man who fought for our country?” she asked. “It’s nothing but the devil working, and we’re going to let him play in his playground, and after that it’s over.”

She plans to meet personally with Trump regarding the matter, she said. “We are fighting this.”

A screening of the award-winning film “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America” will be held June 21 at 7 p.m. at the Strand Theatre in Vicksburg as part of a fundraising event for the Mississippi Humanities Council. 

After the screening, there will be a panel discussion exploring Hamer’s enduring legacy with the film’s producer and Hamer’s niece, Monica Land, and activist and Humanities Council Board Chair Leslie Burl McLemore. Stuart Rockoff, executive director of the MHC, will moderate the discussion. 

Admission is free. But donations are welcome and encouraged. Donations can also be made online for those who cannot attend.

“I am really excited to be a part of the screening on the life of Fannie Lou Hamer,” McLemore said. “She was a personal friend of mine, and I remember when I first met Mrs. Hamer back in 1963. We were riding a bus from Cleveland, Mississippi, to Dorchester County, Georgia, to participate in a Citizenship Education Workshop.

“We were talking about our background and what we had been doing in the movement, and Mrs. Hamer, in less than a year,” he continued, “had been evicted from the W.D. Marlow III plantation in Sunflower County. And as she told her story about that eviction, the history of Sunflower County and the history of her family, there were about 25 to 30 of us in the room, and there was not a dry eye in the room. Mrs. Hamer really impacted my life profoundly.” 

Organizers said the event is also a call to action. The Department of Government Efficiency eliminated National Endowment for the Humanities grants. The Humanities Council is turning to the community to help sustain the programming that federal support once made possible. DOGE’s cuts jeopardizes more than 35 grants that the Humanities Council already had awarded for programs like an oral history of former Gov. Kirk Fordice’s time in office, a museum exhibit on Mississippians who fought and died in the Vietnam War, and lectures about the work and legacy of artist Walter Anderson.

Proceeds from Saturday’s screening will directly support the Mississippi Humanities Council’s ongoing work to bring public programs, educational opportunities and cultural initiatives to communities across the state.  

“The Mississippi Humanities Council gave us our first grant and several grants after that to fund our mission to preserve and amplify Aunt Fannie Lou’s voice,” Land, the film’s producer, said. “Without their support, there would be no Fannie Lou Hamer’s America.” 

Premiering on PBS and WORLD Channel in February 2022, “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America” allows the late activist and humanitarian to tell her own story in her own words – spoken and sung – through archival audio and video footage. In December 2022, the film was named “Best TV Feature Documentary Or Mini-Series” by the International Documentary Association and in 2023, it won the “Best Documentary” award by The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications.  

The goal of the film and its website, www.fannielouhamersamerica.com is to teach others about Hamer’s work, accomplishments and legacy, and to serve as a clearinghouse of all things Fannie Lou Hamer. Its K-12 Educational Curriculum, Find Your Voice, features original lesson plans written by educators in the Mississippi Delta, a children’s book, an animated BrainPOP movie and a free STEM program, the Sunflower County Film Academy for high school students in Hamer’s native Mississippi Delta. 

The MHC has funded each element of the curriculum and in March 2022 awarded the project the Preserver of Mississippi Culture Award at their 25th annual gala. 

“Participating in this event is so important to me because of the work the MHC has done to continually support our vision,” Land said. 

Hamer’s educational website will soon feature a digital library and museum.  

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. at the Strand Theatre, 717 Clay St., Vicksburg, with the screening at 7 p.m. followed by the panel discussion.

This week’s pod touches on a number of subjects: the grit of J.J. Spaun, Cam Akers to the Saints, the College World Series, the NBA playoffs and tomato pie.

Stream all episodes here.

Tucked away in west Jackson right off Capers Avenue are the remains of what used to be housing for people transitioning out of the Mississippi State Hospital. Now, it’s fallen into disrepair, its brick building crumbling and overcome by plastic waste and graffiti. 

Putalamus “Tala” White, executive director of the Jackson Resource Center, has a vision for the space and what it could become for people who are experiencing homelessness. 

“Almost the entire street is 18 acres, and on this end is where the tiny homes are gonna be,” she said, pointing to an overgrown patch of weeds and debris. “Then on down, you got the rest of the campus.” 

This spot, supposedly the future home of The Junction, is the place where White intends to build a village of 80 tiny homes and a community hub. But the project has been delayed after White’s organization received less funding than it anticipated. 

In 2021, the city of Jackson accepted just over $3 million in HOME Investment Partnerships – American Rescue Plan (HOME-ARP) Program funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Those funds are dedicated toward reducing homelessness. 

In September of 2023, the city published a request for proposals for the Safe Space: Safe Place tiny home development, a 30 unit pallet shelter village. Jackson Resource Center was the only respondent, said Melissa Payne, Director of Constituent Services and Communications. 

On February 13, 2024, the city allocated an amount “not to exceed $2.87 million” of those HOME-ARP funds to the Jackson Resource Center. 

But last month, the Jackson Resource Center received a memorandum of understanding from the city of Jackson for just over $1 million.

“Since approval, the City and JRC have worked with HUD to draft a compliant Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). However, JRC repeatedly altered its plans — doubling costs, expanding to 80 units, purchasing modular homes from China at significantly larger sizes, and proposing rental use—changes far beyond the scope of the original RFP, and created additional HUD compliance issues,” Payne said. “In May, the City offered JRC an MOU with $1,086,440 in funding and access to additional grants if needed. Despite this, JRC is now demanding a $2.5 million guarantee to begin the project.”

Jackson Resource Center issued a statement in response to “correct the record for the sake of public trust, our partners, and—most importantly—the hundreds of unhoused individuals in Jackson still waiting on relief.”

“…While the modular homes are comparable in cost to earlier models, it is the site infrastructure—sewer, water, electrical, environmental remediation, and ADA compliance – that represents most of the budget increase,” the statement reads. “These are unavoidable costs that have continued to rise over the past year and a half we’ve been waiting.”

Jackson Resource Center secured an additional award of $2 million from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas for a project involving 80 homes, hence the expansion from the original proposal, the statement said.

“This was a net gain for the City, not a deviation,” the statement reads.

White said JRC can’t make any movement on The Junction because the lender won’t disperse its funds until the city of Jackson does. 

“When we wrote that grant to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas, it was as a subsidy to the original grant. So we can’t do everything that we proposed to do with the Federal Home Loan Bank until we have those funds as well.”

While the organization hasn’t received any of the city funding for the tiny home project so far, it has received over $350,000 from the city in the last two years for other programming, including workforce development and operation of its permanent supportive housing campus called Langley. 

Now, White said she’s waiting to meet with the city’s new administration and gain what she said are necessary funds to start work on the development.

“That’s where we are, hoping that after the new administration gets in office, we can sit down, have a conversation, and finally get this ball rolling,” she said.

The Junction, a multi-phase project, includes the tiny homes and the creation of a community complex complete with a pet kennel, a medical wing, a detox center, post office and a food court. White hopes that in creating The Junction, she’ll cultivate a safe space where people who are experiencing homelessness can have a place to thrive.

“Having all of those services right there in the community on the campus would assist in them changing their mindset,” she said. “We’ve got to come in and be able to give them the help they need to get back on the right track.”

The Junction project has many detractors in local government, some of whom said the creation of the tiny homes will lead to more homeless people in Jackson. Jackson’s city council was divided on the vote 4-3, with Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote, Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes and Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley voting against the project.

 ”We need to have a program in the city with a coordinator that can coordinate with nonprofits to help manage this issue, but just to create 60 homes? That’s one more thing for other municipalities to do with the shuffling them off on Jackson, because now it’s like we got another program,” Hartley said in an interview with Mississippi Today back in February. “Build it and they will come. Build it and municipalities will send them to Jackson.” 

White said that she’s tried to have conversations with city leaders about the project, and a few have understood her vision. She points to unaffordable housing as one of the leading factors in Jackson’s homelessness statistics. 

“You say you don’t want the homeless in the community. You say we’re gonna bring more homeless people into the community, but they are already here and if we don’t give them somewhere to go and something productive to do to help, then it’s not gonna change,” she said.

According to the annual Point in Time Count, a national census of homeless populations, Mississippi has one of the lowest rates of homelessness, though some advocates have said the local count is likely artificially low. White agreed that in the downtown area, there may be close to 1,000 homeless individuals. 

“My biggest hope is that this campus will be a light in Jackson and that it will assist individuals that feel like they’ve been forgotten, and that it will assist the city as a whole in being able to bring more revenue to the city, so that we can be a thriving city so that we can take care of the least of these. We have to take care of the least of these,” White said.

Marla Demita could hear the screams of her 9-month-old son as soon as she entered Little Blessings Daycare in Yazoo City. When she got to the room where he was kept, baby Dean was crying inconsolably – unusual behavior for him.

She said that most days, Dean “lights up” with a smile when he sees her. But on the afternoon of May 20, “it’s like he looked straight through me, like he didn’t know who I was.” 

The troubling behavior escalated that night. Demita shared a video with Mississippi Today that showed her husband Johnathon holding Dean while standing, bouncing up and down to try to comfort their child. But Dean screamed and thrashed from side to side. After a call with his pediatrician offered no solutions, the parents took Dean to the Children’s of Mississippi hospital in Jackson. 

Dean jerked his head from side to side and screamed the entire hour and a half drive from their home, another video shows.

A drug test administered at the hospital showed Dean had methamphetamine in his system. A doctor told Demita the baby had ingested the substance somewhere between noon and 4 p.m., she told Mississippi Today. Dean was at Little Blessings Daycare during that time.

The Mississippi Department of Health, which is responsible for regulating and licensing day care centers, fined Little Blessings $50 after the incident. The agency could not confirm the baby ingested methamphetamine while at day care, according to its investigative report.

The department cited Little Blessings because the center’s director, Lisa Martin, did not report what happened as required by agency regulations. Martin did not respond to questions for this article. 

Demita said the $50 fine felt like a “punch in the gut” after what happened to her son, who is now 10 months old.

She said he screamed as though in terrible pain from 7:45 p.m. on the day of the incident until 4 the next morning.

“And I’m not talking about fussy crying. I’m talking about blood curling screams,” Demita said. “It was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen.”

The Health Department did not respond to Mississippi Today’s detailed questions about the investigation into the incident and past allegations of abuse at Little Blessings. Two complaints filed with the agency in 2023 and 2024 accused workers and the director of “whooping” and hitting children and locking them in dark rooms.

Mississippi Today obtained the documents detailing the earlier allegations through a public records request. None are available on the Health Department’s public database, a tool parents can use to research a child care facility’s history. It is unclear why. 

The Health Department launched the database following a 2016 investigation by The Hechinger Report and The Clarion-Ledger found that, unlike other states, Mississippi had no such system. 

The agency submitted a statement to Mississippi Today by email calling what happened to Dean “distressing” to both the Demita family and others, and said it is coordinating with law enforcement and the state Department of Child Protection Services. 

“Consequently, the investigation and determination of abuse or neglect by a caregiver fall under the authority of those agencies,” the statement said. “Our goal is to ensure that children are safe in licensed childcare programs.”

When the Demitas arrived at the emergency room with Dean, the baby was inconsolable and “tachycardic,” or had an irregularly fast heart rhythm, records state. 

The medical staff thought he had a fracture and checked him for hair tourniquet – a painful condition that occurs when a piece of hair wraps tightly around a baby’s finger, toe or other body part, restricting blood flow. 

“Patient placed in C-collar. Patient cried for the upwards of 4 hours straight,” the records say. 

The hospital emergency room ran a battery of tests, including a drug screen. Dean’s initial screen came back positive for amphetamines.

A follow-up confirmation drug test, a more specific and accurate screen, was ordered. Demita received results of that test about a week later, which showed the baby tested positive for methamphetamine, a lab-made stimulant commonly known as crystal meth. The drug can cause paranoia, anxiety, rapid heart rate, irregular heartbeat or death. 

Dean stayed in the hospital about 12 hours. Before he was released, Marla and Johnathon Demita submitted to drug screens themselves, and medical records show those were negative. 

His mother said for the next week, Dean remained irritable and had little appetite. 

She has since pulled Dean out of day care altogether. He is an active and crawling baby, and he spends the day with Demita at a veterinary clinic where she is the office manager. She said it is stressful. 

“So, I’m having to do my everyday job and keep up with a child all day from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” she said. “He has to sit in a playpen 90% of the day.”

Day care’s corrective plan involves ‘shoe coverings’

The Health Department’s investigation consisted of interviews with the day care director and caregivers, according to records obtained by Mississippi Today. Two investigators with the  Health Department also noted they reviewed pictures of formula and breastmilk bottles in the facility refrigerator.

Notes showed the day care did not have cameras in the rooms, which surprised Yazoo City Police Department officers who came to the facility. 

The Little Blessings director, Martin, told health officials a police officer told her “it could be something as (sic) a someone coming into the classroom and has residue on their shoes,” Health Department records show. The director would be “purchasing shoe coverings for individuals” that enter and exit the infant room as part of its corrective plan approved by the agency, the records say. 

Health Department officials did not answer Mississippi Today’s questions about whether the agency reached out to the baby’s medical team, other parents of children at the facility or former employees of Little Blessings.

Demita said after she told the Health Department what happened to her son, she did not hear back from anyone at the agency.

Yazoo City Police Chief Terry Gann on June 11 said the investigation continues, but he had been unable to reach Demita. After Mississippi Today relayed Gann’s cell phone number to Demita, the two met the next day to discuss the case.

Gann was unaware of past allegations of abuse against the day care, and told Mississippi Today the day care was closed down. A photo taken of the facility on June 12 around 5 p.m. showed what appears to be parents picking up children.

Health Department records contain two complaints accusing the day care workers and director of abuse in 2023 and 2024. 

“They hit children on the hands and butts and grab them very roughly,” said a March 2023 complaint from a former employee of Little Blessings. 

Another complaint accused employees of locking children in dark rooms. The agency, after interviewing the employees and director, could not substantiate either complaint. 

However, video footage later received by the Health Department revealed a day care teacher threatening to bite a child, and Martin, the director, was heard referencing “the ones that do get spanked.” The documents do not specify whether the video footage was from the facility’s cameras or if someone submitted footage to the agency.

Martin did not respond to Mississippi Today’s questions about Demita’s son and past allegations against her and other employees of the day care, including one asking what she meant by her statement. 

The facility’s corrective action included holding a meeting with caregivers about not hitting or spanking children. The Health Department provided “technical assistance” to the day care on discipline and positive redirection, according to records. 

No fine or other action was administered, records show.

Demita continues keeping her son by her side at work. 

“I’m taking it day by day,” she said. “I know he won’t be going back to a day care.”

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.

More than two months have passed since Converge, Mississippi’s sole Title X (“ten”) family planning grantee, had its federal funding withheld — and already, communities across the state are feeling the strain.

More than 90 clinics in Mississippi receive funding from the Title X family planning program to provide care to people in need. However, on April 1, Converge, a Mississippi non-profit, was notified by the US Department of Health and Human Services that the grantee’s Title X funding was being withheld while the agency reviews Converge’s compliance with President Trump’s recent executive orders.

As a patient advocate and someone who has personally relied on Title X-funded services for care, I’ve seen firsthand the difference these clinics make. For many, they are the first—and sometimes only—place to turn to for timely, affordable reproductive health care like birth control, STI testing and treatment, cancer screenings, infertility counseling and more. Today, that care hangs in the balance. 

I still remember walking into a Title X clinic at a pivotal moment in my life — uncertain and in need. There, I received not only essential care but also compassionate counseling from providers who treated me with dignity. With Title X-funded providers already forced to stretch scarce dollars, my experience reinforced their critical role in filling a growing need for care across communities.

For so many in Mississippi, these clinics are more than a health care provider. They represent a place of safety and trust.

With Title X funding on hold across the entire state since April 1, providers are working tirelessly to stay open. But the reality is, without critical support made possible by Title X, clinics are being forced to charge for services that were once free or at reduced cost. And for patients, that often means delaying care—or going without it altogether.

These decisions have real consequences. Mississippi already faces the highest maternal mortality rate in the country, with Black women disproportionately affected. Access to preventive, affordable care can help address these disparities — but only if that care remains available.

The Title X program plays a vital role in Mississippi’s health care safety net. Clinics funded by Title X serve thousands of Mississippians every year — many of whom live in rural areas, are uninsured or face other barriers to care. When funding is disrupted or withheld, the impact is felt immediately. It becomes harder for providers to keep their doors open. Staff members face layoffs. And patients lose access to the care they’ve come to rely on. 

At Converge, so much progress has been made over the years to create reliable access points to care. The organization has built a statewide provider network grounded in excellent, expanded care into underserved areas through telehealth and clinicians trained in providing patient-centered care. But that progress has now come to an abrupt halt. 

I recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to share my story with members of the Mississippi congressional delegation and highlight the extraordinary role that the Title X program plays in people’s lives. Because behind every clinic, every program and every policy are real people — people whose lives and futures depend on continued access to care.

That’s why I’m urging Congress and the Trump administration to act quickly to restore Title X funding. Now more than ever, this program is essential to keeping our communities healthy and strong. 

Mississippians deserve reliable access to the care they need to thrive and stay healthy. I hope leaders at every level will listen and respond with the urgency this moment calls for. Lives — and livelihoods — are on the line. 

Jasymin Shepherd is a patient advocate with Converge and a kinesiology adjunct instructor at Hinds Community College in Raymond. She also in the past sought care in a Title X-funded setting.

In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Marshall Ramsey checks in with Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann, House Speaker Jason White and MDAH Historian Brother Rogers to get an in-depth look at Mississippi’s Capitol.

For more videos, subscribe to Mississippi Today’s YouTube channel.

Eight months ago, the first week of October 2024, J.J. Spaun walked the lush fairways of Country Club of Jackson in the Sanderson Farms Championship, trying to unlock the incomprehensible secret of winning golf. His stay in the Capital City was brief. He shot a first-round 75 and then withdrew from the tournament, presumably due to an injury.

“Presumably” is used here because Spaun’s withdrawal was not newsworthy enough to warrant even the briefest of investigations as to why he chose to drop out. After all, he ranked 98th on the tour’s earnings list at the time. 

Truth is, Spaun has never really distinguished himself in Mississippi’s only PGA TOUR tournament. In five previous appearances here, he never finished higher than a tie for 36th place. That was in 2019. As recently as 2021, Spaun played so poorly he lost his PGA TOUR status. Until Sunday, Spaun was the epitome of the term “journeyman” pro. 

No more. Never again. In a memorable display of perseverance and sheer grit, Spaun, all stockily built, 5 feet, 8 inches of him, won the U.S. Open. This was the ultimate test of golf, amid brutal conditions on surely one the most difficult golf courses ever designed: Oakmont Country Club, just outside Pittsburgh.

One by one, golf’s biggest names faltered: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McElroy, John Rahm, Xander Schauffler, Brooks Koepka, Colin Morikawa. Oakmont’s thick rough, deep bunkers, slick, undulating  greens and severe weather conditions took no prisoners. The golf course was like a 7,500-yard torture chamber. I mean, who ever heard of a 301-yard par-3, a 530-yard par-4, a 667-yard par-5? The greens were more than undulating. They appeared to have hippos and elephants buried in shallow graves. The rough was such that the golfers sometimes prayed their golf balls would find one of the deep sand bunkers instead of the brutally thick primary rough.

In an era when it often takes 25-under par or better to win a PGA TOUR tournament, only one player bettered par for 72 holes: 34-year-old John Michael Spaun, who goes by J.J. Through some of the worst breaks imaginable, Spaun’s expression never changed. He didn’t smile. He didn’t frown. He just stared intently. Once, when a perfectly struck approach shot hit the flagstick and bounced wildly back down the fairway, nearly 50 yards away, he stared in disbelief as an almost sure birdie turned into a bogey. One hole later, another Spaun shot hit a rake and nestled into the thick rough, resulting in another bogey. For a while there on the front nine, it was Murphy’s Law applied to golf. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. He bogeyed five of the first six holes. After leading or staying close to the lead for much of the tournament, Spaun turned into a chaser, which he has been for nearly the entirety of his career.

This time, he caught – and passed – everybody.

This was something akin to Mr. Ed beating Secretariat, Citation and Man O’ War. This was the old Kansas City A’s winning the World Series, the New Orleans Saints winning the Super Bowl. It happened. Once.

Sunday, you got the feeling it may happen again, perhaps many times, for J.J. Spaun. Maybe, he didn’t find the secret to winning golf eight months ago in Jackson, but he has found it somewhere along the way.

You may have heard his press conference afterward. Said Spaun, “It felt like, as bad as things were going, I just still tried to just commit to every shot. I tried to just continue to dig deep. I’ve been doing it my whole life.”

Spaun refused to go away. It was like the story of his career. He kept his head up, retained his steely focus, kept plugging away. He birdied the last two holes, with the rain pouring and all the pressure one can face in golf on his shoulders.

Of all the most intriguing facts and statistics of the week at Oakmont, this one stands alone: In the long and storied history of the U.S. Open, dating back to 1895, there have been five men, including four legends, who have birdied the last two holes to win the championship. They are Ben Hogan (1953, Oakmont), Jack Nicklaus (1980, Baltusrol), Tom Watson (1982, Pebble Beach), Jon Rahm (2021, Torrey Pines) – and now, J.J. Spaun. What Spaun achieved against all odds at Oakmont was legendary, indeed.

The electronic system that manages patient information for the University of Mississippi Medical Center now includes a field for “citizenship,” but the medical center won’t say why it added the category. 

The field was not added by Epic, the electronic health record system used by UMMC, a spokesperson for the software company told Mississippi Today. 

“Each organization configures Epic’s software to meet their specific needs,” the spokesperson said. 

The field is optional and UMMC staff are not required to input the information or ask patients about their citizenship status, a clinical staff member told Mississippi Today. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity due to job concerns. 

A UMMC spokesperson declined to answer Mississippi Today’s questions about the change. 

Mississippi does not require hospitals to collect citizenship information from patients. Baptist Medical Center and St. Dominic Hospital, two other large hospitals in Jackson, both use Epic but do not have a field for citizenship in the system, nor do they ask patients for that information, spokespersons for both hospitals told Missisisppi Today. 

Patients are not legally required to disclose their immigration status if they are asked by a health care provider, according to the National Immigration Law Center. Hospitals must provide emergency medical services to patients regardless of their citizenship status under federal law. 

Texas hospitals began collecting patient citizenship information last November after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order mandating that facilities collect the information. 

The order seeks to quantify the financial burden Texas bears as a result of illegal immigration. Hospitals must report the cost of medical care provided to undocumented individuals quarterly, but individual identifying information is not shared with the governor. Texas hospitals were directed to inform patients that responses to questions about citizenship would not affect their care. 

Kate Royals contributed reporting to this story.