The Senate voted Monday evening to pass a tax cut that reduces the state income tax and the sales tax on groceries while raising the gasoline tax, setting up negotiations with the House.
The measure passed the GOP-majority Senate 34-15, with four Democrats supporting it and four Republicans opposing it. It now heads to the House, whose leadership is advocating for its own plan, which would eventually eliminate the state individual income tax.
The Senate plan amounts to a net tax cut of $326 million, a more modest sum than the $1.1 billion net cut passed by the House. The Senate would reduce the state’s flat 4% income tax to 2.99% over four years, while the House would eliminate the income tax over more than a decade.
Senate Finance Chairman Josh Harkins, a Republican from Flowood, told reporters that the legislation was a responsible way to cut taxes while slightly increasing the gasoline tax to provide more revenue for infrastructure funding.
“I think we’ve put forward a really good plan that helps families at the grocery store by lowering the sales tax on groceries,” Harkins said. “And it provides incentives and rewards work.”
The Senate plan would reduce the state’s 7% sales tax on grocery items, the highest in the nation, to 5% starting July 2025. Municipalities receive a portion of grocery tax revenue, and the Senate plan would make cities whole.
The Senate bill would raise the state’s 18.4-cents-a-gallon gasoline excise by three cents yearly over the next three years, eventually resulting in a 27.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax at completion. This is an effort to help the Mississippi Department of Transportation with a long-running shortfall of highway maintenance money.
Most of the chamber’s Democratic members opposed the plan over fears that the state could not afford to wipe out around half a billion dollars each year from its budget and still address some of the state’s critical issues such as public education and health care.
“That’s a lot of money, and we need that money for basic infrastructure,” Democratic Sen. Hob Bryan of Amory said. “Everyone benefits from infrastructure.”
Some Democratic members attempted to amend the bill to eliminate the grocery tax or change the tax structure to avoid increasing the gas tax. But the GOP-majority chamber on party-line votes defeated the amendments.
Four Republican senators voted against the final measure because it raised the gasoline tax, something they viewed as going against the GOP’s core ideology.
Sen. Angela Burks Hill, a Republican from Picayune, told reporters the gas tax increase would hurt rural people the most because they have to drive further for work and to purchase groceries.
“I’m just trying to follow my party’s platform of low taxes,” Hill said.
Now that both chambers at the Capitol have passed separate tax proposals, the key question will be how much legislative leaders can compromise on a final package. House Speaker Jason White, a Republican from West, and Republican Gov. Tate Reeves have said abolishing the income tax is their primary goal this session.
White previously told Mississippi Today that he’s willing to compromise with the Senate, but he wants a final tax cut that’s substantive and meaningful.
“We’re not interested in a small piece of a tax cut while not addressing other issues,” White said.
Reeves has thrown cold water on the Senate’s proposal because it doesn’t entirely eliminate the income tax. If lawmakers can’t agree on a proposal, he could call them into a special session to address taxes.
Harkins, though, said he hopes lawmakers can “build consensus” on a final package during the regular session. House and Senate leaders will likely debate the measure for the next month. The deadline for lawmakers to approve tax and appropriations bills is March 31.
Michael Williams slams home a dunk after an alley oop pass from his brother, Mason, who was 30 feet away from the basket and out of the picture. Credit: Keith Warren/MHSAA
Can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked this question in recent years: What has happened to Jackson Public Schools basketball?
Good question.
And I do know the answer, at least a large part of it. But first some background.
Used to be, you could count on several JPS powerhouses to bring huge crowds to the State Tournament at Mississippi Coliseum every February to watch Murrah, Lanier, Provine, Callaway and Jim Hill teams that annually produced some of the greatest basketball talent in Mississippi history. Often, fire marshalls stepped in and locked the Coliseum doors with still hundreds of fans outside hoping to get in.
That’s no longer the case. Not a single JPS boys team made it to the State semifinals this year. (The Lanier girls will play Choctaw County in a 4A semifinal game Wednesday afternoon.) Even just a decade ago, no JPS boys teams in the State Championships would have been heresy. This is not to say that the Jackson metro area is not represented at the Big House. Northwest Rankin, Brandon, Germantown and Madison Central teams all played in the semifinals on Monday. The Canton girls and boys will play Tuesday.
The suburbs are killing it. Inner city Jackson is not.
Sam Funches, 32, slams a dunk for Germantown in the Mavs’ 55-30 victory over Biloxi.
OK, so here’s a major reason why: In many cases, the city has moved to the suburbs. This is best illustrated by how the Germantown team from out Gluckstadt way hammered Biloxi 55-30 in the Monday noon Class 7A semifinals.
There were Germantown guards Michael and Mason Williams controlling the flow of the game with their ball-handling, passing and defensive skills. There was 7-footer Sam Funches IV dominating the paint at both ends with his length, nifty footwork and soft touch around the basket. There was guard/forward Michael Johnson contributing in so many ways with hustle and grit. And there was Devin Moore, a sturdy, 6-5 guard/forward scoring nine points on just five shots and also contributing five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Here’s the deal: Michael Williams (a senior) and Mason Williams (a junior) are the sons of Mo Williams the former Murrah, Alabama and NBA great who now coaches at Jackson State. Funches is the son of Sam Funches III, who also played at Murrah, was recruited by Jim Calhoun at Connecticut and finished his career at North Texas. Johnson’s dad, Trey, played at Murrah and then was the SWAC Player of the Year at Jackson State before a long professional career in the NBA and overseas. Moore’s dad and an uncle both played at Jim Hill. Now, all live in Madison County and have turned the Germantown Mavericks, 23-5, into a powerhouse. The Mavs will play neighboring Madison Central in the 7A championship game, which will be played Thursday night at 8 p.m.
Said Mo Williams, who watched Monday’s proceedings from a seat in the Germantown cheering section, “It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? It’s like the city has moved to the ‘burbs.”
We weren’t three minutes into the Germantown-Biloxi game when brothers Michael and Mason Williams combined to make a play that reminded we longtime Jackson-area fans of the kind of plays their daddy made at Murrah. Mason lofted a high, looping alley-top pass high above the basket. Michael , who will play for his dad at Jackson State, soared high above the rim and slammed the ball through to give the Mavs a lead they never relinquished.
Michael dunked again moments later, swished a three-pointer after that, and then scored on a spin move and a mid-range jumper seconds later. Before you knew it, a 7-6 deficit turned into at 21-11 lead,
Meahwhle, Funches IV, a 16-year-old junior, showed why virtually every college basketball coach in the country is recruiting him. Yes, he needs to get stronger. He could be – and probably will be – more aggressive. But you can’t teach a kid how to be 7 feet tall, and you can’t teach the deft shooting touch he already possesses. That’s inherited. These Germantown players inherited well.
This time last year, Mo Williams’ sons were helping Jackson Academy win the overall private schools state championship at Jackson Academy. Now they are trying to win a public schools championship.
Michael asked me: “Has anybody ever done that?”
I don’t know. I thought Andy Kennedy, the former Ole Miss and current UAB coach, might have done it back when he still had hair and transferred from Winston Academy to Louisville High School. But Kennedy text-messaged back: ”We won it at Winston but only won the north half at Louisville, got beat in the semifinals at the Coliseum.”
Somebody else might have done it. I don’t know. I do know precious few have had the opportunity.
A main topic of conversation around the state Capitol last week was the specter of a special session, a session-within a session or some other permutation of lawmakers being so tangled up over taxes that they linger in Jackson for extra weeks or are forced to return in the spring or summer to finish business.
Some House lawmakers on key committees said they’ve been told to hold off on taking up Senate measures until the leadership discerns the Senate will parlay on the House plan to over time eliminate the state individual income tax.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves last week added to the dread of extra innings for lawmakers this year when he threw cold water on the long-awaited Senate plan to cut state taxes because the plan does not fully eliminate the income tax. Reeves can’t control what lawmakers do, but he can force them into special session(s) until they address an issue. He could even call special session(s) within the regular session, which could shut down all other work until they address the issue.
Such a standoff could get ugly, cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay, house and feed lawmakers for extra days or weeks and bleed over into work on all other legislation and setting a budget.
Republican House Speaker Jason White has made clear eliminating the income tax is the key issue for him and the House. Reeves has also declared it top priority. But fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and the Senate have urged a more cautious approach — make more cuts, but not totally upending the state’s tax structure in uncertain economic times.
White and Reeves have telegraphed they’re willing to go to the mats on this issue. They really want to be able to say “we eliminated the state income tax” — even if it’s phased out over more than a decade — not just made historic cuts. Is Hosemann willing to stand in that breech? He’ll suffer more political slings and arrows from the right if he does.
Such legislative brinksmanship is relatively common, though it usually ends in detente.
Regardless, it’s a heck of a way to pass major, historic policy. A rank-and-file Mississippian might figure that on an issue so important and impactful as overhauling the state’s tax structure, legislative leaders and the governor — who are all of the same party, by the way — might find a more collegial way to set policy.
WATCH: Political Reporter Taylor Vance outlines the latest attempt to revive the ballot initiative process.
Quote of the Week
“It’s not fake meat, is it, gentleman? I want to make sure we practice what we preach.” — House Speaker Jason White, after an invitation to a Cattlemen’s Association dinner was announced, referencing debate for years over state laws regulating labeling of imitation meat.
In Brief
Judge: Legislature is not a public body
The Mississippi Legislature is not a public body and is not subject to the state’s Open Meetings Act, a Hinds County chancellor ruled last week, which affirmed a 2023 Mississippi Ethics Commission ruling and rejected an appeal from news outlet The Mississippi Free Press.
Chancellor Dewayne Thomas ruled in favor of the House of Representatives and former Speaker Philip Gunn. It clears the way for the House Republican Caucus to continue hosting its weekly closed-door meetings, where a majority of lawmakers meet to discuss issues and how the caucus will vote on legislation.
The order makes the Legislature the only public body in the state that is not subject to the Open Meetings Act, although the state Constitution says that the doors of each chamber while in session “shall be kept open, except in cases which may require secrecy.”
The lawsuit arose from an ethics complain the Mississippi Free Press filed against the House. Ethics Commission Director Tom Hood advised the Ethics Commission to rule the Legislature was a public body, but the commission overruled Hood’s recommendation. The news outlet then appealed to Hinds County Chancery Court. — Taylor Vance
Bills would provide free community college
Bills pending in the House and Senate would provide Mississippi high school grads tuition-free community college.
HB 1556 and SB 2527 would allow Mississippi high school graduates to attend community college full time tuition free. Similar proposals have died in the past.
The House measure would cover tuition for students pursuing career and technical training in industries facing workforce shortages. The Senate bill would cover “last dollar” tuition — after all other available aid has been applied — towards any associate degree or technical certification. — Geoff Pender
Senate panel considering hemp testing bill
Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Hob Bryan said his committee is considering taking up a House bill that would strengthen testing requirements for products made with hemp, a cannabis plants containing lower levels of THC than marijuana.
The committee held a hearing this week on the health implications of hemp. Robert Welch, Director of the National Center for Cannabis Research and Education said stricter regulations of hemp would rid products of impurities and control their potency. In the past, some products have tested positive for heavy metals, pesticides and synthetic cannabinoids
Bryan and Sen. Kevin Blackwell, emphasizing how much the marijuana market has changed over several decades, compared notes from their colleges years.
“The way one got marijuana was there was a freaky looking guy and you could get an ounce in a plastic bag for $15,” Bryan said.
“Back when I was in college, it was a four finger bag for $20,” Blackwell responded. — Michael Goldberg
By the Numbers
1
The number of general bills lawmakers had sent to the governor by last week, as the slow-moving 2025 legislative session, scheduled to last about three months, crosses the midway point. It is a measure to allow direct shipment of specialty wines to Mississippians.
Full Legislative Coverage
Legislature sends governor bill allowing direct wine shipment to Mississippi homes
After supporters fought for over a decade to get the Legislature to agree to the proposal, both chambers finally approved Senate Bill 2145. This bill allows citizens to order specialty or rare wines that cannot be purchased at Mississippi package stores. Read the story.
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann collapses at podium, reported to be doing OK
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann on Wednesday morning collapsed while presiding over the state Senate chamber. He was later reported to be doing OK, but few details were provided. Read the story.
Will Gov. Reeves call a special session if lawmakers don’t agree to eliminate Mississippi’s income tax?
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves on Tuesday morning threw cold water on a Senate plan to trim state taxes because the proposal does not fully eliminate the state’s individual income tax, injecting more tension in an already contentious debate at the Capitol. Read the story.
State politicians acting like third graders
A Mississippian watching state leaders’ social media posts these days might wonder whether they’ve mistakenly logged into a chat between some petulant third graders as they call each other names and bicker. Read the story.
Senate passes bill to create more uniform Mississippi youth court system
The Mississippi Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would place a permanent, full-time youth court judge in every area of the state, potentially creating a more consistent system of justice for vulnerable children. Read the story.
Adopted people face barriers obtaining birth certificates. Some lawmakers point to murky opposition from judges
Mississippi lawmakers who have pushed unsuccessfully for legislation to guarantee adoptees access to their birth certificate have said that opposition comes from judges. Read the story.
Senate advances its tax overhaul. Debate centers on who the proposal would help
The Senate Finance Committee voted Thursday to advance legislation to reduce the state income tax and the sales tax on groceries while raising the gasoline tax. Read the story.
Hinds County judge orders Clarksdale newspaper to remove editorial, alarming press advocates
The column criticized the city for not sending the newspaper a notice about a meeting city commissioners held over a proposed effort to ask the state Legislature for permission to enact a local tax on alcohol, marijuana and tobacco. Read the story.
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann back at Capitol day after collapsing
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann presided over the Senate on Thursday, a day after he collapsed in the chamber. In brief remarks from the dias Thursday and a statement posted to social media, Hosemann said he had been dehydrated. Read the story.
In a city without a plan, anti-public sleeping bills pop up at Jackson City Hall and state Capitol
Despite Mississippi’s low homelessness rate nationally, multiple bills that target homeless encampments in Jackson have moved out of their respective houses. Advocates worry about the impact on one of the most vulnerable populations in a city without a homeless coordinator. Read the story.
Podcast: Republican Sen. England addresses red-on-red political ‘dustup’ with governor over early voting bill
Senate Elections Chairman Jeremy England defends his early voting bill, for which his fellow Republican Gov. Tate Reeves slammed him on social media. England said it’s time Mississippi join 47 other states in allowing the convenience of early voting, and the issue should not be partisan. Listen to the podcast.
by Justin Glowacki with contributions from Rasheed Ambrose, Javion Henry, McKenna Klamm, Matt Martin and Aidan Tarrant
BILOXI – On Feb. 1, Memorial Health System officially took over Merit Health Biloxi, solidifying its position as the dominant healthcare provider in the region. According to Fitch Ratings, Memorial now controls more than 85% of the local health care market.
This isn’t Memorial’s first hospital acquisition. In 2019, it took over Stone County Hospital and expanded services. Memorial considers that transition a success and expects similar results in Biloxi.
However, health care experts caution that when one provider dominates a market, it can lead to higher prices and fewer options for patients.
Expanding specialty care and services
Kristian Spear, Hospital Administrator at Memorial Hospital Biloxi, speaks on the hospital’s acquisition and future goals for improvement. (RHCJC News)
One of the biggest benefits of the acquisition, according to Kristian Spear, the new administrator of Memorial Hospital Biloxi, will be access to Memorial’s referral network.
“Everything that you can get at Gulfport, you will have access to here through the referral system,” Spear said.
One of the first improvements will be the reopening of the Radiation Oncology Clinic at Cedar Lake, which previously shut down due to “availability shortages,” though hospital administration did not expand on what that entailed.
“In the next few months, the community will see a difference,” Spear said. “We’re going to bring resources here that they haven’t had.”
Beyond specialty care, Memorial is also expanding hospital services and increasing capacity. Angela Benda, director of quality and performance improvement at Memorial Hospital Biloxi, said the hospital is focused on growth.
“We’re a 153-bed hospital, and we average a census of right now about 30 to 40 a day. It’s not that much, and so, the plan is just to grow and give more services,” Benda said. “So, we’re going to expand on the fifth floor, open up more beds, more admissions, more surgeries, more provider presence, especially around the specialties like cardiology and OB-GYN and just a few others like that.”
For patient Kenneth Pritchett, a Biloxi resident for over 30 years, those changes couldn’t come soon enough.
Keneth Pritchett, a Biloxi resident for over 30 years, speaks on the introduction of new services at Memorial Hospital Biloxi. (RHCJC News) Credit: Larrison Campbell, Mississippi Today
Pritchett, who was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, received treatment at Merit Health Biloxi. He currently sees a cardiologist in Cedar Lake, a 15-minute drive on the interstate. He says having a cardiologist in Biloxi would make a difference.
“Yes, it’d be very helpful if it was closer,” Pritchett said. “That’d be right across the track instead of going on the interstate.”
Beyond specialty services and expanded capacity, Memorial is upgrading medical equipment and renovating the hospital to improve both function and appearance. As far as a timeline for these changes, Memorial said, “We are taking time to assess the needs and will make adjustments that make sense for patient care and employee workflow as time and budget allow.”
Unanswered questions: insurance and staffing
As Memorial Health System takes over Merit Health Biloxi, two major questions remain:
Will patients still be covered under the same insurance plans?
Will current hospital staff keep their jobs?
Insurance Concerns
Memorial has not finalized agreements with all insurance providers and has not provided a timeline for when those agreements will be in place.
In a statement, the hospital said:
“Memorial recommends that patients contact their insurance provider to get their specific coverage questions answered. However, patients should always seek to get the care they need, and Memorial will work through the financial process with the payers and the patients afterward.”
We asked Memorial Health System how the insurance agreements were handled after it acquired Stone County Hospital. They said they had “no additional input.”
What about hospital staff?
According to Spear, Merit Health Biloxi had around 500 employees.
“A lot of the employees here have worked here for many, many years. They’re very loyal. I want to continue that, and I want them to come to me when they have any concerns, questions, and I want to work with this team together,” Spear said.
She explained that there will be a 90-day transitional period where all employees are integrated into Memorial Health System’s software.
“Employees are not going to notice much of a difference. They’re still going to come to work. They’re going to do their day-to-day job. Over the next few months, we will probably do some transitioning of their computer system. But that’s not going to be right away.”
The transition to new ownership also means Memorial will evaluate how the hospital is operated and determine if changes need to be made.
“As we get it and assess the different workflows and the different policies, there will be some changes to that over time. Just it’s going to take time to get in here and figure that out.”
During this 90-day period, Erin Rosetti, Communications Manager at Memorial Health System said, “Biloxi employees in good standing will transition to Memorial at the same pay rate and equivalent job title.”
Kent Nicaud, President and CEO of Memorial Health System, said in a statement that the hospital is committed to “supporting our staff and ensuring they are aligned with the long-term vision of our health system.”
What research says about hospital consolidations
While Memorial is promising improvements, larger trends in hospital mergers raise important questions.
Source: Liu, Jodi L., Zachary M. Levinson, Annetta Zhou, Xiaoxi Zhao, PhuongGiang Nguyen, and Nabeel Qureshi, Environmental Scan on Consolidation Trends and Impacts in Health Care Markets. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2022.
The impact on patient care is mixed. Some studies suggest merging hospitals can streamline services and improve efficiency. Others indicate mergers reduce competition, which can drive up costs without necessarily improving care.
When asked about potential changes to the cost of care, hospital leaders declined to comment until after negations with insurance companies are finalized, but did clarify Memorial’s “prices are set.”
“We have a proven record of being able to go into institutions and transform them,” said Angie Juzang, Vice President of Marketing and Community Relations at Memorial Health System.
When Memorial acquired Stone County Hospital, it expanded the emergency room to provide 24/7 emergency room coverage and renovated the interior.
When asked whether prices increased after the Stone County acquisition, Memorial responded:
“Our presence has expanded access to health care for everyone in Stone County and the surrounding communities. We are providing quality healthcare, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay.”
The response did not directly address whether prices went up — leaving the question unanswered.
The bigger picture: Hospital consolidations on the rise
According to health care consulting firm Kaufman Hall, hospital mergers and acquisitions are returning to pre-pandemic levels and are expected to increase through 2025.
Hospitals are seeking stronger financial partnerships to help expand services and remain stable in an uncertain health care market.
However, opponents warn few competitors in a market can:
Reduce incentives to lower prices.
Slow wage increases for hospital staff.
Lessen the pressure to improve services.
Leemore Dafny, PhD, a professor at Harvard and former deputy director for health care and antitrust at the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics, has studied hospital consolidations extensively.
In testimony before Congress, she warned: “When rivals merge, prices increase, and there’s scant evidence of improvements in the quality of care that patients receive. There is also a fair amount of evidence that quality of care decreases.”
Meanwhile, an American Hospital Association analysis found consolidations lead to a 3.3% reduction in annual operating expenses and a 3.7% reduction in revenue per patient.
When Judi Cox was 18, she began searching for her biological mother. Two weeks later she discovered her mother had already died.
Cox, 41, was born in Gulfport. Her mother was 15 and her father didn’t know he had a child. He would discover his daughter’s existence only when, as an adult, she took an ancestry test and matched with his niece.
It was this opaque family history, its details coming to light through a convergence of tragedy and happenstance, that led Cox to seek stronger legal protections for adopted people in Mississippi. Ensuring adopted people have access to their birth certificates has been a central pillar of her advocacy on behalf of adoptees. But legislative proposals to advance such protections have died for years, including this year.
Cox said the failure is an example of discrimination against adopted people in Mississippi — where adoption has been championed as a reprieve for mothers forced into giving birth as a result of the state’s abortion ban.
“A lot of people think it’s about search and reunion, and it’s not. It’s about having equal rights. I mean, everybody else has their birth certificate,” Cox said. “Why should we be denied ours?”
Mississippi lawmakers who have pushed unsuccessfully for legislation to guarantee adoptees access to their birth certificate have said, in private emails to Cox and interviews with Mississippi Today, that opposition comes from judges.
“There are a few judges that oppose the bill from what I’ve heard,” wrote Republican Sen. Angela Hill in a 2023 email.
Hill was recounting opposition to a bill that died during the 2023 legislative session, but a similar measure in 2025 met the same fate. In an interview this month, Hill said she believed the political opposition to the legislation could be bound up with personal interest.
“Somebody in a high place doesn’t want an adoption unsealed,” Hill said. “I don’t know who we’re protecting from somebody finding their birth parents,” Hill said. “But it leads you to believe some people have a very strong interest in keeping adoption records sealed. Unless it’s personal, I don’t understand it.”
In another 2023 email to Cox reviewed by Mississippi Today, Republican Rep. Lee Yancey wrote that some were concerned the bill “might be a deterrent to adoption if their identities were disclosed.”
The 2023 legislative session was the first time a proposal to guarantee adoptees access to their birth certificates was introduced under the state’s new legal landscape surrounding abortion.
In 2018, Mississippi enacted a law that banned most abortions after 15 weeks. The state’s only abortion clinic challenged the law, and that became the case that the U.S. Supreme Court used in 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade, its landmark 1973 ruling that established a nationwide right to abortion.
Roe v. Wade had rested in part on a woman’s right to privacy, a legal framework Mississippi’s Solicitor General successfully undermined in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Before that ruling, anti-abortion advocates had feared allowing adoptees to obtain their birth certificates could push women toward abortion rather than adoption.
Abortion would look like a better option for parents who feared future contact or disclosure of their identities, the argument went. With legal access to abortion a thing of the past in Mississippi, Cox said she sees a contradiction.
“Mississippi does not recognize privacy in that matter, as far as abortions and all that. So if you don’t acknowledge it in an abortion setting, how can you do it in an adoption setting?” Cox said. “You can’t pick and choose whether you’re going to protect my privacy.”
Opponents to legislation easing access to birth certificates for adoptees have also argued that such proposals would unfairly override previous affidavits filed by birth parents requesting privacy.
The 2025 bill, proposed by Republican Rep. Billy Calvert, would direct the state Bureau of Vital Records to issue adoptees aged 21 and older a copy of their original birth certificate.
The bill would also have required the Bureau to prepare a form parents could use to indicate their preferences regarding contact from an adoptee. That provision, along with existing laws that guard against stalking, would give adoptees access to their birth certificate while protecting parents who don’t wish to be contacted, Cox said.
In 2021, Cox tried to get a copy of her birth certificate. She asked Lauderdale County Chancery Judge Charlie Smith, who is now retired, to unseal her adoption records. The Judge refused because Cox had already learned the identity of her biological parents, emails show.
“With the information that you already have, Judge Smith sees no reason to grant the request to open the sealed adoption records at this time,” wrote Tawanna Wright, administrator for the 12th District Chancery Court in Meridian. “If you would like to formally file a motion and request a hearing, you are certainly welcome to do so.”
In her case and others, judges often rely on a subjective definition of what constitutes a “good cause” for unsealing records, Cox said. Going through the current legal process for unsealing records can be costly, and adoptees can’t always control when and how they learn the identity of their biological parents, Cox added.
After Cox’s biological mother died, her biological uncle was going through her things and came across the phone number for Cox’s adoptive parents. He called them.
“My adoptive mom then called to tell me the news — just hours after learning I was expecting my first child,” Cox said.
The Senate Finance Committee voted Thursday to advance legislation to reduce the state income tax and the sales tax on groceries while raising the gasoline tax.
Republican senators voted to advance the measure, which they say will boost economic activity in Mississippi. Democrats on the committee argued cutting the income tax while raising the gas tax would benefit corporations and harm the working poor.
The Senate plan amounts to a net tax cut of $326 million, a more modest sum than the $1.1 billion net cut passed by the House. The Senate would reduce the state’s flat 4% income tax to 2.99% over four years, a provision that’s likely to become a point of contention with the House, which has pushed for eventual full elimination of the income tax.
If Mississippi were to adopt the House plan, it would join nine other states that don’t have a state income tax. The Senate proposal to maintain the income tax but lower it to 2.99% would make Mississippi’s income tax the nation’s third-lowest, according to Senate Finance Chairman Josh Harkins, a Republican.
Harkins, the Senate plan’s lead author, said the legislation would help Mississippi draw corporate investment and attract new residents migrating from higher-tax states.
“While it may not be only tax policy, it’s tax policy coupled with regulation and things that induce people to move into the state,” he said. “But it’s part of the equation, and I think that’s the effort that we’re all trying to get here.”
The Senate proposal would also reduce the state’s 7% sales tax on grocery items, the highest in the nation, to 5% starting July 2026.
The Senate would raise the state’s 18.4-cents-a-gallon gasoline excise by three cents each year over the next three years, eventually resulting in a 27.4 cents per gallon gas tax at completion. This is an effort to help the Mississippi Department of Transportation with a long-running shortfall of highway maintenance money.
Democratic Sen. Hob Bryan said the Republican majority’s “obsession” with abolishing or lowering the income tax was being driven by out-of-state corporations and anti-tax activists such as Grover Norquist, who famously said his goal was to shrink government to the size “where we can drown it in the bathtub.”
“The people who are driving this, the ones who actually know what they’re doing, I’m not talking about the useful idiots,” Bryan said. “They care nothing about roads. They care nothing about water. They care nothing about sewer. They care nothing about public safety. They care nothing about public schools. What they care about is simply reducing government to the size that it could be drowned in a bathtub, as an end in and of itself.”
The debate over tax policy is unfolding as Mississippi has made a push to lure technology companies to the state with generous tax incentives. Republican Sen. Daniel Sparks said the Senate plan would strengthen the state’s effort to create jobs and attract new residents.
“No, I don’t think if you go to zero income tax people are lined up at the state line ready to spring into Mississippi. I’ll concede that point to you,” Sparks said. “But good tax policy brings business, which brings jobs, which brings opportunity.”
Bryan said most people don’t choose where to live based on tax policy. He said the Senate and House tax overhauls would lead to the defunding of public services and shower benefits on corporations instead of workers.
“The tax structure in Mississippi is geared toward making life worse and worse for (the working poor) and shifting more and more of the tax burden to them,” Bryan said.
The Senate announced its plan after the House passed a plan last month that eliminates the income tax over a decade, cuts the state grocery tax and raises sales taxes and gasoline taxes.
In a bid to increase economic development, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has made the full elimination of the state income tax his central legislative priority this session.
It remains unclear if Reeves would sign a tax cut package into law that does not fully eliminate the income tax.
The Senate bill now goes to the floor for a vote before the full chamber.
Note: This editorial is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a new 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.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
In the United States of America, we are free to criticize government, from city hall to the White House.
This somewhat peculiar freedom enshrined in the First Amendment is the bedrock of our republic, and many have argued it’s the wellhead from which all our other freedoms flow. The British Crown’s use of “sedition” laws to put down dissent is a key reason we rose up and threw that yoke, and have a First Amendment, and a country.
Someone needs to remind Hinds County Chancellor Crystal Wise Martin of this fundamental of American democracy. And of a few points of law.
Martin has issued a ruling that appears so unconstitutional, so anathema to accepted jurisprudence and so un-American that she’s drawing attention and criticism nationwide and abroad.
Without even granting the newspaper a hearing, Martin issued a temporary restraining order against the Clarksdale Press Register after city officials sued. She ordered the newspaper to take down a Feb. 8 editorial “Secrecy, Deception Erode Public Trust” from its online site and make it inaccessible to readers.
Without. A. Hearing.
The editorial criticized city of Clarksdale officials for not providing the paper notice of a meeting, and it questioned city leaders’ motives in asking the state Legislature to allow creation of a local tax on alcohol, marijuana and tobacco.
Will they add tea?
City leaders did not like the editorial and sued, claiming it was libelous and hindered their efforts to lobby lawmakers for the tax.
Prior restraint of speech before adjudication that it is not protected has long been held unconstitutional, dating back early in U.S. law.
And besides the inherent wrongness of a Soviet-style censorship order without granting due process to the newspaper, it has also been long and widely held in U.S. law that a government cannot sue for defamation or libel.
As was noted in the case of the City of Chicago v. Tribune Co. in the early 1920s, “no court of last resort in this country has ever held, or even suggested, that prosecutions for libel on government have any place in the American system of jurisprudence.”
But even more astounding, even if the city of Clarksdale did have the right to sue for libel, the city clerk admitted in court filings that she failed to notify the newspaper as required of the meeting.
As longtime Mississippi editor, columnist and attorney Charlie Mitchell said, there are so many things wrong with this ruling, it’s hard to know where to start.
Our nation’s founders despised and feared tyrannical government that brooks no redress from those governed or from a free press. And the people and the free press have the right to criticize government be it at Clarksdale City Hall or in Washington, D.C.
A Mississippi judge ordered a newspaper to remove an editorial criticizing the mayor of Clarksdale and city leaders after the officials sued the news outlet, leading press advocates to criticize the order as one of the most egregious First Amendment violations in recent years.
Without a hearing for the newspaper, Hinds County Chancellor Crystal Wise Martin issued a temporary restraining order against the Clarksdale Press Register on Tuesday after the news outlet wrote a Feb. 8 editorial titled “Secrecy, Deception Erode Public Trust.”
The column criticized the city for not sending the newspaper a notice about a meeting city commissioners held over a proposed effort to ask the state Legislature for permission to enact a local tax on alcohol, marijuana and tobacco.
As of Thursday morning, the news outlet had removed the editorial from its website, but Wyatt Emmerich, the newspaper’s owner, told Mississippi Today that he intended to fight the judge’s order in court, which he called “absolutely astounding.”
“There wasn’t a hearing over this or anything,” Emmerich said. “We haven’t even been served with process.”
Clarksdale Mayor Chuck Espy, a Democrat, and the Board of Commissioners filed the petition in Hinds County, calling the editorial “libelous’ and saying the editorial would bring “immediate and irreparable injury” to the city.
“(The editorial’s) statements could be reasonably understood as declaring or implying that the ‘deceptive’ reason he was not given notice of the meeting is provable through someone in the community willing to reveal promises made by the Board members in exchange for votes or in the process of time,” the city’s petition reads.
The litigation stems from a special-called meeting the board conducted. State law requires public bodies to post a notice of a special meeting in a public place and on the city’s website, if they have one, at least one hour before the meeting.
The state’s Open Meetings Act also requires public bodies to email a notice of the meeting to media outlets and citizens who have asked to be placed on the city’s email distribution list.
The Clarksdale city clerk, Laketha Covington, filed an affidavit saying she did post the meeting notice at City Hall. However, she admitted she forgot to send out an email notice about the special meeting but that it was a simple mistake and not intentional.
Charlie Mitchell is the former executive editor of the Vicksburg Post and is an attorney. He is an assistant professor at the University of Mississippi’s School of Journalism and New Media, where he has taught media law for years. He told Mississippi Today there were so many issues with the judge’s order that he didn’t even “know where to start.”
The municipality is suing the media outlet over defamation, which is typically used when individuals or businesses believe their reputation has been harmed. But government bodies, according to Mitchell, are “defamation-proof and always have been.”
“The First Amendment allows restraint of expression, including by the media, only extremely rarely and only when there is clear evidence of immediate and irreparable risk to the public — such as blocking publication that would identify confidential informants,” Mitchell said.
For decades, state and federal courts have held that news outlets criticizing government actions through editorials are protected speech. But there have been attempts to silence local news outlets in recent years.
In 2023, a Kansas police department raided a newspaper’s office and its owner’s home after alleging the outlet potentially committed identity theft over its report on a local business owner’s driving record.
Layne Bruce, the executive director of the Mississippi Press Association, wrote in a statement that the organization’s leadership stands with the newspaper and is strongly opposed to the judge’s order.
“The Press Association feels this is an egregious overreach and that it clearly runs counter to First Amendment rights,” Bruce said
The judge scheduled a full hearing on the litigation for 9:30 a.m. on February 27.
