OurTupelo

The recent escape of several research monkeys after the truck carrying them overturned on a Mississippi interstate is the latest glimpse into the secretive industry of animal research and the processes that allow key details of what happened to be kept from the public.

Three monkeys remained on the loose after the crash Tuesday in a rural area along Interstate 59 near Heidelberg, spilling wooden crates labeled “live monkeys” into the tall grass near the highway. Searchers in masks, face shields and other protective equipment have scoured nearby fields and woods for the missing primates. Five of the 21 Rhesus macaques on board were killed during the search, according to the local sheriff, but it was unclear how that happened.

Key details remain shrouded in secrecy

Mississippi authorities have not disclosed the company involved in transporting the monkeys, where the monkeys were headed or who owns them. While Tulane University in New Orleans has acknowledged that the monkeys had been housed at its National Biomedical Research Center in Covington, Louisiana, it said it doesn’t own them and won’t identify who does.

An initial report from the sheriff described the monkeys as “aggressive” and carrying diseases such as herpes, adding to the confusion. Tulane later said the monkeys were free of pathogens, but it is still unclear what kind of research the monkeys were used for.

The questions surrounding the Mississippi crash and the mystery of why the animals were traveling through the South are remarkable, animal advocates say.

“When a truck carrying 21 monkeys crashes on a public highway, the community has a right to know who owned those animals, where they were being sent, and what diseases they may have been exposed to and harbored simply by being caught up in the primate experimentation industry,” said Lisa Jones-Engel, senior science adviser on primate experimentation with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

“It is highly unusual — and deeply troubling — that Tulane refuses to identify its partner in this shipment,” Jones-Engel added.

One thing that is known is that the 2025 Chevrolet Silverado pickup hauling the monkeys was driven by a 54-year-old Cascade, Maryland, man when it ran off the highway into the grassy median area, the Mississippi Highway Patrol said in a statement to The Associated Press. The driver wasn’t hurt, nor was his passenger, a 34-year-old resident of Thurmont, Maryland.

Confidentiality is built into contracts, blocking information

Transporting research animals typically requires legally binding contracts that prohibit the parties involved from disclosing information, Tulane University said in a statement to the AP. That’s done for the safety of the animals and to protect proprietary information, the New Orleans-based university said.

“To the best of Tulane’s knowledge, the 13 recovered animals remain in the possession of their owner and are en route to their original destination,” the statement said.

The crash has drawn a range of reactions — from conspiracy theories that suggest a government plot to sicken people to serious responses from people who oppose experimenting on animals.

“How incredibly sad and wrong,” Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said of the crash.

“I’ve never met a taxpayer that wants their hard-earned dollars paying for animal abuse nor who supports it,” the Georgia congresswoman said in a post on the social platform X. “This needs to end!”

Tulane center has ties to more than 155 institutions worldwide

Tulane’s Covington center has received $35 million annually in National Institutes of Health support, and its partners include nearly 500 investigators from more than 155 institutions globally, the school said in an Oct. 9 news release. The center has been funded by NIH since 1964, and federal grants have been a significant source of income for the institution, it said.

In July, some of the research center’s 350 employees held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of a new 10,000-square-foot office building and a new laboratory at the facility. This fall, the facility’s name was changed from the Tulane National Primate Research Center to the Tulane National Biomedical Research Center to reflect its broader mission, university officials announced.

Research monkeys have escaped before in South Carolina, Pennsylvania

The Mississippi crash is one of at least three major monkey escapes in the U.S. over the past four years.

Last November, 43 Rhesus macaques escaped from a South Carolina compound that breeds them for medical research after an enclosure wasn’t fully locked. Employees from the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee, South Carolina, set up traps to capture them. However, some spent two months that winter living in the woods and weathering a rare snowstorm. By late January, the last four escapees were recaptured after being lured back into captivity by peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

In January 2022, several cynomolgus macaque monkeys escaped when a truck towing a trailer of about 100 of the animals collided with a dump truck on a Pennsylvania highway, authorities said. The monkeys were headed to a quarantine facility in an undisclosed location after arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on a flight from Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island nation, authorities said. A spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said all of the animals were accounted for within about a day, though three were euthanized for undisclosed reasons.

During a recent meeting of the special Mississippi House committee studying school choice, private schools made it clear that they would not participate in any voucher program that required them to follow the same rules as public schools.

An official told legislators the private schools would not submit their students to state assessment tests and would not require their schools to have open enrollment.

When asked about a possible middle ground, Barrett Donahoe, executive director of the Mid-South Association of Independent Schools, replied, “I don’t think we have to compromise anything. I think our schools do a good job.”

The private schools’ refusal to bend on certain issues should not be a surprise to legislators. While House Speaker Jason White, House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar of Senatobia, Gov. Tate Reeves and advocates have touted the need for and advantages of vouchers, the private schools historically have been relatively quiet on the issue, though they do say now they would take the public money as long as they did not have to follow some of the rules adhered to by public schools.

But in recent years, as late as 2024, private schools embraced state tax credits being used to benefit them instead of direct taxpayer payments through vouchers.

They reasoned there would be less oversight with tax credits.

The Mid-South Association of Independent Schools said in a paper titled “The ABCs of School Choice” that tax credits with revenue going to private schools were considered more advantageous to them than vouchers.

“Freedom advocates, instead, look for policies like tuition tax credits and tax credits for donations to scholarship funds, to free up resources so that parents and donors can fund their own choices,” said the paper found on the MAIS website in 2024. “Such policies expand choice for parents without shifting the burden for their children onto others.”

The paper, which no longer is available on the private school association’s website, in part reads, “School choice cannot exist without driving up taxes – or cutting other parts of the budget to avoid deficits. As of 2019, private schools educated 44,000 students in Mississippi. If the Legislature approved a $7,000 voucher for each of those children, it must come up with $308 million more dollars in tax revenue – plus the increased bureaucratic costs (and other costs) associated with administering the program.” 

The state currently offers limited tax credits to private schools through a program dubbed the Children’s Promise Act. The program allows a person or business to make a donation to one of the private schools certified by the Department of Revenue and receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for up to 50% of the donor’s state tax liability or a credit on local property taxes.

In simple terms, the donors to private schools get to pay less in either state income taxes or local property taxes.

The maximum a private school currently can receive through the program is $405,000 annually. Because of the popularity of the program with the private schools, there have been unsuccessful efforts in recent years, led by White and Lamar, to expand the Children’s Promise Act. It is currently capped at $9 million per year in tax credits.

To qualify to receive the benefits of the tax credits, a school must provide services to at least one student with “a chronic illness or physical, intellectual, developmental or emotional disability” or be eligible for the free lunch program or be a foster child.

The Department of Revenue, which oversees the program, has said it does not know how many students who fit into the Children Promise Act categories are educated by each school. Yes, theoretically, it could be only one.

While Lamar, the primary legislative advocate of the Children’s Promise Act, has sought unsuccessfully to increase the amount of the tax credits, he has not made any effort to increase the oversight of the program.

Some have argued that the tax credits do not put a strain on the state budget because money from state coffers does not go out to the private schools.

The argument seems disingenuous since people who donate to the private schools can have their tax liability cut in half, thus reducing the amount of money going into the state general fund.

Reducing the amount of state revenue available, as the tax credits do, accomplishes the same goal as vouchers – decreasing the amount of money available for public schools, health care, law enforcement and other services the state is expected to provide.

WASHINGTON — The crises at the heart of the government shutdown fight in Washington were coming to a head Saturday as the federal food assistance program faced delays and millions of Americans were set to see a dramatic rise in their health insurance bills.

The impacts on basic needs — food and medical care — underscored how the impasse is hitting homes across the United States. Plans by the Trump administration to freeze payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Saturday were halted by federal judges, but the delay in payouts will still likely leave millions of people short on their grocery bills.

It all added to the strain on the country, with a month of missed paychecks for federal workers and growing air travel delays. The shutdown is already the second longest in history and entered its second month on Saturday, yet there was little urgency in Washington to end it. Lawmakers are away from Capitol Hill and both parties are entrenched in their positions.

The House has not met for legislative business in more than six weeks, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., closed his chamber for the weekend after bipartisan talks failed to achieve significant progress.

Thune said he is hoping “the pressure starts to intensify, and the consequences of keeping the government shut down become even more real for everybody that they will express, hopefully new interest in trying to come up with a path forward.”

The stalemate appears increasingly unsustainable as Republican President Donald Trump demands action and Democratic leaders warn that an uproar over rising health insurance costs will force Congress to act.

“This weekend, Americans face a health care crisis unprecedented in modern times,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said this week.

Delays and uncertainty around SNAP

The Department of Agriculture planned to withhold payments to the food program starting on Saturday until two federal judges ordered the administration to make them. Trump said he would provide the money but wanted more legal direction from the court, which will not happen until Monday.

Benefits were already facing delays because it takes a week or more to load SNAP cards in many states.

“People are just nervous, scared,” said Jill Corbin, the director of the St. Vincent De Paul soup kitchen and food pantry in Norwich, Connecticut. ”It’s not really a definite answer that we have right now.”

As people lined up early Saturday for hot meals and groceries, the Connecticut organization had 10 extra volunteers to help newcomers navigate the process. On Wednesday, some 400 families visited the food pantry and 555 people received hot meals.

“It’s kind of like everything is unraveling at the same time,” Corbin said. “I’m not going to lie. It is challenging.”

The SNAP program serves about 1 in 8 Americans and costs about $8 billion per month. The judges agreed that the USDA needed to at least tap a contingency fund of about $5 billion to keep the program running. But that left some uncertainty about whether the department would use additional money or only provide partial benefits for the month.

“The Trump administration needs to follow the law and fix this problem immediately by working closely with states to get nutritional assistance to the millions who rely on it as soon as possible,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said in a statement following the ruling.

Democrats demanded this week that the government fund SNAP, but Republicans responded by arguing the program is in such a dire situation because Democrats have repeatedly voted against a short-term government funding bill.

“We are now reaching a breaking point thanks to Democrats voting no on government funding, now 14 different times,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at a news conference Friday.

Trump injected himself into the debate late Thursday by suggesting that Republican senators, who hold the majority, end the shutdown by getting rid of the filibuster rules that prevent most legislation from advancing unless it has the support of at least 60 senators. Democrats have used the filibuster to block a funding bill in the Senate for weeks.

Republican leaders quickly rejected Trump’s idea, but the discussion showed how desperate the fight has become.

Health care subsidies expiring

The annual sign-up period for the Affordable Care Act health insurance also begins Saturday, and there are sharp increases in what people are paying for coverage. Enhanced tax credits that help most enrollees pay for the health plans are set to expire next year.

Democrats have rallied around a push to extend those credits and have refused to vote for government funding legislation until Congress acts.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., spoke on the Senate floor this week about constituents who she said face premium increases of up to $2,000 a month if the credits expire.

“I am hearing from families in my state today who are panicked,” she said. “The time to act is now.”

If Congress does not extend the credits, subsidized enrollees will face cost increases of about 114%, or more than $1,000 per year, on average, health care research nonprofit KFF found.

In the days before the start of open enrollment, Democratic officials across the country warned that the cost increases would hit their constituents hard.

In Wisconsin, for example, families on the ACA’s silver plan could see premium increases of roughly $12,500 to $24,500 annually depending on their location. Sixty-year-old couples could face increases ranging from nearly $19,900 to $33,150 annually.

“No matter what the percentage is, it’s a hell of a lot,” Gov. Tony Evers, D-Wis., said.

Some Republicans in Congress have been open to the idea of extending the subsidies, but they also want to make major changes to the health overhaul enacted while Democrat Barack Obama was president. Thune has offered Democrats a vote on extending the benefits, but has not guaranteed a result. And he is demanding that Democrats first vote to reopen the government.

So the country waits and watches for Congress to act.

T.J. McCuin, whose family owns and operates farmers markets in Mesa and Apache Junction, Arizona, said 15% of the markets’ customers use SNAP benefits. He was not assuming the delays would immediately hurt the business, but added, “Hopefully this isn’t a long-term problem because once those benefits run out, then it’s going to start to hurt.”

___

Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Ali Swenson reported from Washington and Susan Haigh from Norwich, Conn.; with contributions from Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin; Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and Kevin Freking in Washington.

Moms face a public health crisis that’s putting Mississippi behind every other state, and it could get worse under federal changes, speakers said at a Legislative Black Caucus hearing. 

Amid the cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, exacerbated by the ongoing shutdown, advocates called on the state to take action. They said lawmakers should expand Medicaid, protect food assistance programs, create standardized paid parental leave, support midwives and doulas and invest in child care and early childhood education. 

Mississippi is one of the most dangerous places to give birth, especially for Black women, who are four times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy-related deaths, or deaths that occur during pregnancy or up to one year postpartum and are caused in part by the pregnancy. A combination of poverty, chronic diseases, provider shortages and policies that have shut out tens of thousands of Mississippians from health care contribute to bad outcomes for mothers and babies. 

Now, cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs threaten to walk back progress that has been made over the years, speakers said Thursday at the state Capitol. 

In the past three years, the Mississippi Legislature passed laws to give women an additional 12 months of Medicaid coverage postpartum, timely prenatal care as they wait for their Medicaid applications to process and paid parental leave for state employees. 

Democratic lawmakers and advocates in Mississippi had hoped to build on those policies by passing laws to guarantee all workers paid parental leave, and to expand Medicaid to cover those who currently fall in the coverage gap – making too much to qualify for the state’s strict Medicaid income threshold but too little to qualify for subsidies that make Affordable Care Act marketplace insurance more affordable. 

Now, they worry that even keeping the current policies from shrinking might be an impossible feat. 

“We are facing dramatic cuts to Medicaid through the Big Ugly Bill and Donald Trump and Congressional Republican members’ efforts to gut this lifesaving health care program that covers so many births in your state and across the country,” said U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois, one of the authors of “Momnibus” legislation aimed at addressing the Black maternal health crisis. Underwood attended the Mississippi event by video conference.

“To hear that you all are thinking about growing the workforce, investing in doulas, interested in taking a look at how to support community-based organizations and clinics across the state – these are the kinds of resources that our moms and our families need.”

Partisan disagreements over health care are at the center of the ongoing federal government shutdown. Democrats are fighting to renew Biden-era subsidies that are making health insurance more affordable for millions of Americans. If they are not renewed, premiums on ACA marketplace insurance plans will more than double next year, KFF estimates. 

And it’s not just about having health insurance, Cassandra Welchlin of the Black Women’s Roundtable argued. Welchlin described a mother she knows who works at a diner making $10 an hour, has no paid leave and relies on others to transport her. She risked her job to attend prenatal visits and returned to work two weeks postpartum. 

“If you aren’t Danielle, you know Danielle,” Welchlin said of the mother. “It’s not just about the health care coverage but a string of policies that we have to co-create together in order to make strong babies and healthy moms.”

Women in rural areas already have few options for giving birth. Half of Mississippi’s counties are maternity care deserts, and the state Health Department recently declared a public health emergency for the state’s infant mortality rate – the highest in the nation. 

Nobody knows that more than Shenelle Ball-Burks, whose pregnant daughter and unborn grandchild died in 2021 on the side of the road as her husband was driving her 28 minutes from their home to the closest hospital. 

“I come before you from Belzoni in Humphreys County, a place where our hearts are full but our health care is empty, a place where the difference between life and death can be measured not in miles but in minutes,” Ball-Burks said at the hearing. “I didn’t know what to say when I was asked to speak here today because how do you find words when your heart has been shattered? How do you strive after watching your child’s life fade because help was too far away?”

Ball-Burks said she worries for all the moms and babies who will continue to suffer as help becomes farther away through federal and state policy changes. 

“I don’t want another mother to hold her child’s obituary instead of her hand,” Ball-Burks said. “I don’t want another husband to kneel beside a little girl crying for help that never comes. I don’t want another child to walk across a graduation stage in search of a face that isn’t there.”

Research shows that when eligibility for social safety net programs is made stricter, women tend to lose the most. That’s partly because women more often participate in the programs – due to the wage gap and life events such as childbirth – but also because they are more often caregivers to those who use the programs.

“This is not just a statistic, not just someone else’s problem,” said Rep. Timaka James-Jones, a Democrat from Belzoni and the sister-in-law of Ball-Burks. “It’s a sacred responsibility. Because when we save our mothers, we don’t just save one life. We save families. We save our children’s futures. We save the heartbeat of our communities.”

Many of the legislators and health care providers who spoke about their experience living through or witnessing the statistics that put Mississippi at the bottom of nearly every list when it comes to the health of moms and babies. 

“Mississippi remains one of the hardest places in America to be pregnant and give birth, especially if you’re Black,” said Rep. Zakiya Summers, a Democrat from Jackson. “I speak to you not only as a legislator but as a Black mother who has carried life while carrying fear. Our survival should not be revolutionary. It should be standard.”

Women in rural communities don’t just suffer from a dearth of hospitals or obstetricians. They suffer from a dearth of reliable and affordable support in all forms, said Dr. Michelle Owens, maternal fetal medicine specialist in Jackson and the chair of the Mississippi Maternal Mortality Review Committee. 

“There is data to support that having a person at the bedside, consistently, improves pregnancy outcomes and decreases C-section rates,” Owens said. “So what does that mean? It suggests that what we do with our hearts can even be more powerful than what we can accomplish with our hands.”

JXN Water, the third-party manager of Jackson’s water and wastewater systems, said in a quarterly report filed Friday that it will move forward with a rate increase on water bills it first requested this spring. The increase will go into effect by Dec. 15, the report said.

The rate increase, on average, would raise Jacksonians’ monthly bills — which also include costs for sewer and sanitation — by 12%, the utility said.

Ted Henifin, who heads the utility, has reiterated JXN Water is rapidly losing money because of inadequate revenue. In September, the utility said it was “currently insolvent.”

Henifin could not be reached Friday to confirm the utility’s plans to raise rates. JXN Water communications officer Aisha Carson said the report does not serve as an official notice of a rate increase. The quarterly update said JXN Water will issue an official notice to customers by Nov. 15.

Both Jackson’s mayor and city council have spoken out against the proposal, arguing it’s unfair to ask more from those who are contributing while about 30% of customers aren’t paying their bills. The city council voted in April against the increase, and Mayor John Horhn reaffirmed his position last week during a meeting with state lawmakers.

But under a federal court’s stipulated order that outlines the scope of Henifin’s powers and responsibilities, the court allows the utility to proceed with a rate increase without the city’s approval and as long as more than a year has passed since the last rate hike. JXN Water first increased rates in February 2024.

U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate, who appointed Henifin to his role in 2022, said during hearings this summer the utility should explore all other avenues for funding, including collections from apartment complexes with large debts, before raising rates. Over the last year, JXN Water has pressured apartment complexes to pay their debts leading to shutoffs and ongoing lawsuits. It’s been months, though, since Wingate has last discussed the proposal, and it’s unclear if he plans to address the matter anytime soon.

Henifin’s frustration with the judge’s stance came out during a July hearing where the utility manager threatened to quit, although he walked back the statement soon after.

In response to Wingate and city officials, Henifin maintained that even if all customers paid their bill at the current rates, JXN Water would still lose money. The utility estimated in September that it was losing $3 million a month.

The quarterly update also addressed $54 million the utility asked Congress to reallocate for operating funds. The money was originally part of $450 million in federal funding set aside for larger projects.

While the money was held up as part of the ongoing federal government shutdown, JXN Water said it expected Congress to pass the funding bill “in the coming days,” and that the Environmental Protection Agency would issue the money to the utility in a new grant. But, the report added, the utility wouldn’t be able to access the $54 million until early 2026.

Mississippi Today reached out to Wingate’s office for a comment Friday but did not hear back.

The Supplemental Food Assistance Program, or SNAP, will be suspended on Saturday with no guarantee for Mississippians when benefits will restart amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.

The following is a list of organizations in Jackson and the greater metro area that are offering emergency food assistance. Call ahead to check the status of the food assistance offerings, as many pantries only provide service while supplies last. 

On Nov. 3, Converge, a nonprofit that disburses federal funding for reproductive health services and family planning in Mississippi, is offering a pop-up for infant formula and diapers at the Jackson Medical Mall at 350 W. Woodrow Wilson Ave at Suite 459 on the first floor.

The pop-up will run from noon to 6 p.m. while supplies last with a limit of one can of formula per person. Registration is encouraged, and you can call 601-355-6915 with questions.

This is not a comprehensive list and will be updated as we learn more.

Jackson food assistance

Basket Food Pantry
785 North President Street, Jackson, MS 39201
Phone: 214-679-8846
Hours: Wednesday at 10 a.m. Each person can get a box twice a month (while resources last). You are encouraged to come early and bring your ID. Food items vary.

Good Samaritan Center, Inc. 
114 Millsaps Ave Jackson MS 39202
Phone: 601-355-6276 
Hours: With SNAP suspended, this program is making arrangements to be able to see additional clients and is asking people seeking assistance to call them on Monday, Nov. 3.

Jackson Public Schools Supper Meal Program
JPS is offering free supper for students that must be eaten on site, and adults can purchase to-go meals for $4. at the following schools:

Bates Elementary, 3180 McDowell Road Extension
Spann Elementary, 1615 Brecon Drive
Walton Elementary, 3200 Bailey Avenue
Blackburn Middle, 1311 West Pearl Street
Kirksey Middle, 5677 Highland Drive
Forest Hill High, 2607 Raymond Road
Jim Hill High, 2185 Coach Fred Harris Street
Lanier Jr. Sr. High, 833 West Maple Street

Phone: 601-960-8935
Hours: Starting Nov. 3, JPS will serve evening meals Monday through Friday from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Jackson Resource Center
1129 Langley Avenue, Jackson, MS 39204
Phone: 769-218-0008
Hours: Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, Lunch, 11:30 to 12:30 and Dinner from 4 to 5 p.m.

 The Salvation Army Jackson Corps Food Pantry
110 Presto Lane, Jackson, MS
Phone: 1-800-725-2769
Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Assistance is limited to once every 90 days.

Stewpot Community Services
1100 W. Capital Street, Jackson, MS 39203
Phone: 601-490-8411
Hours: Free lunch Monday through Saturday from 12 to 1 p.m. and 1 to 2 p.m. on Sundays. Food bags will be available to Hinds County residents with an appointment.

Turning Point Mission Center
1814 Shady Lane Drive, Jackson, MS 39204
Phone: 601-372-1080
Hours: Wednesdays at 11:30 a.m. 

VA Medical Center Food Pantry
1500 East Woodrow Wilson, Jackson, MS 39216
Phone: 601-364-1391
Hours: Second Saturday of the month from 9 a.m. while supplies last in November and December. The rest of the year, the pantry is open the third Saturday of the month.

Voice of Calvary Ministries
1750 Ellis Avenue, Jackson, MS 39204
Phone: 601-371-1427
Hours: Last Tuesday of every month starting at 8:30 a.m. while supplies last.

We Will Go Ministries
806 N. Farish Street, Jackson, MS 39202
Phone: 601-398-2410
Hours: Call to make an appointment for pick-up. 

Wells United Methodist Church Pantry
2019 Bailey Avenue, Jackson, MS 39213
Phone: 601-353-0658
Hours: Every Tuesday from 9 to 10 a.m. Food varies, but may include fresh, nonperishable and frozen food.

Greater metro area food assistance 

The Care Center
103 F. Marshall Rd., Brandon, MS 39047
Phone: 601-829-3501
Hours: Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to noon. Call to schedule an appointment. 

Cornerstone Church Food Pantry
1950 Hwy 80 E, Pearl, MS 39208
Phone: 601-420-4840
Hours: Tuesdays from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m.

Crossgates Baptist Church Food Pantry
8 Crosswoods Rd, Brandon, MS 39042
Phone: 601-825-2561
Hours: Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Ever Reaching Community Outreach
306 Brooks Ave, Pelahatchie, MS 39145
Phone: 601-665-5720
Hours: Tuesdays from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Thursdays 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

First Ridgeland Church Food Pantry
302 W Jackson St., Ridgeland, MS 39157
Phone: 601-856-6139
Hours: Monday from 1:00-2:00 p.m.

Mississippi Urban League/UMMC EversCare Clinic
Jackson Medical Mall, 350 W. Woodrow Wilson Ave, Jackson, MS
Phone: 601-815-3535
Hours: Third Wednesday of the month at 9:30 a.m. until supplies run out.

Overflow Food Pantry
222 Railroad Avenue East, Magee, MS 39111
Phone: (601) 849-6407
Hours: Third Saturday of each month, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. 

Rials Creek Church Food Pantry
185 Rials Creek Road, Mendenhall, MS 39114
Phone: (601) 382-8593 or (601) 382-3106
Hours: Second Saturday of each month, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Trace Ridge Baptist Church Food Pantry
238 Lake Harbour Dr, Ridgeland MS 39157
Phone: 601-856-2529
Hours: First Tuesday of the month from 5 to 7 p.m. and third Tuesday from 9 to 11 a.m.

Additional resources

The Mississippi Food Network has an assistance map of Jackson-area and statewide food pantries that offer emergency food assistance. Click here to view the map. You can also call 601-353-7286 or e-mail info@msfoodnet.org for help. 

The Community Foundation of Mississippi has a list on their website of a sampling of local food resources and is asking residents to email or call them if they know of additional resources. Click here to view the Community Foundation’s list. 

GRITS, Inc., is compiling resources that they have verified on their Facebook page.

Statewide resources

Mississippi Delta

Plan A, a brick-and-mortar and mobile health clinic that serves the Mississippi Delta, will distribute free diapers and formula on Saturday, Nov. 1 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Louise Community Clinic. The clinic is located at 1454 Main St.

Sen. Roger Wicker, Armed Services Committee chairman, and his Democratic counterpart have asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide the legal basis for the U.S. military’s attacks on supposed drug boats off the South American coast. 

Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, and Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, also requested the directives Hegseth approved for the military strikes and the unedited videos of some of the attacks. 

The U.S. military has killed at least 61 people in 14 strikes against alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, according to the Associated Press. 

The requests from the high-ranking senators were made in two letters, one from late September and the other from early October, which were released on Friday by Wicker and Reed. The two senators said in a joint news release that they had not yet received the requested information by Friday. 

President Donald Trump’s administration has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. Some senators from both parties have questioned the administration’s use of military force without congressional approval, though neither of Mississippi’s senators has done so. 

Mississippi Public Broadcasting is ending its daily 30-minute radio news program, “Mississippi Edition.”

Executives at the network said the change will make way for more news coverage throughout the day. 

The last broadcast of “Mississippi Edition” was Friday morning, according to a statement on MPB’s website. Starting Monday, MPB radio will air news segments at the beginning of every hour from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.

Anna Neel, MPB’s chief operating officer, said the new approach will allow for more coverage of news as it develops.

“We’re hoping the new format gives reporters more flexibility to tell quality stories throughout the day,” Neel told Mississippi Today. “They’re not going to be as rushed to try to put together a 30-minute package.”

In July, the Republican-controlled Congress approved President Donald Trump’s request to cancel $1.1 billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit organization that helped fund the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. The corporation shut down when the federal budget year began Oct. 1. 

Mississippi Public Broadcasting is one of over 1,500 locally-owned radio and television stations that lost money. Neel estimated that MPB lost about 15% of its funding with the federal cuts. She said state funding and donors pay for MPB’s locally produced content, including state news coverage.

MPB continues to air emergency weather alerts along with local programming and will change its mix of PBS and NPR programming sometime next year, Neel said Friday.  She said MPB plans to add more local programming in the future.

Mississippi will seek a waiver that would restrict the use of food assistance benefits to purchase sugary food and drinks, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves announced Friday. 

The announcement comes as thousands of Mississippi families face the loss of Supplemental Food Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits beginning Saturday as a result of the ongoing federal government shutdown.

In addition, purchasing hot prepared chicken with SNAP benefits would be allowed if the federal government accepts the state’s waiver application. If approved, the changes will take effect in January 2027. 

“In a nation that is printing money daily just to make our debt payments, it doesn’t make sense to throw your tax money at anything other than the true necessities,” Reeves said in a statement. 

“So it makes no sense at all to fund sugar instead of hearty nutritious meals. That’s why we’re amending our food stamp rules to allow good sustaining food like rotisserie chickens and disallow sugary candy and drinks.”

Federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration Friday to use emergency funds to continue SNAP payments. It was not clear how quickly people would be able to access their benefits, a process that can take one to two weeks, according to the Associated Press.

The Mississippi Department of Human Services said it could not yet comment on how the ruling will impact distribution of SNAP benefits in the state for November. 

Food assistance has continued to flow in past shutdowns, but the federal government has said it cannot use emergency funds to pay for the program during the ongoing shutdown. 

Reeves has not indicated he will move for Mississippi to bridge the gap in the food assistance program until the federal shutdown ends. Democratic and Republican governors in a handful of other states, including Louisiana, have pledged to use state funds to cover all or part of the program.

Dr. Patricia Tibbs, the president of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said she shares Reeves’ goal of promoting healthy eating, but believes that state leaders must first address the loss of benefits that will begin Saturday. 

“While efforts to encourage healthier food choices are commendable, restricting options without ensuring consistent access to food first risks worsening hunger in already vulnerable homes,” she said in a written statement to Mississippi Today. 

“It is difficult to talk about ‘healthy choices’ when families face empty refrigerators.” 

Twelve other states, overwhelmingly led by Republican governors, have been approved this year for waivers that ban the purchase of sugary foods and drinks by the United States Department of Agriculture, which oversees the food assistance program. The approved changes will take effect next year. 

Some states have been approved for or requested waivers that allow for the purchase of hot chicken. SNAP benefits can not currently be used to buy any foods that are hot at the point of sale.

Mississippi’s waiver asks the federal government to approve the following changes to SNAP: 

• Banning purchases of processed foods that list sugar, cane sugar, corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup as the first two ingredients. The restrictions do not include foods with granulated sugar, raw sugar, and other single-ingredient sugars used for cooking and baking listed as the first two ingredients.
• Banning purchases of beverages that list carbonated water and sugar, cane sugar, corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup as the first two ingredients. Drinks that list aspartame or other low- or noncaloric sweeteners as the first two ingredients will remain eligible.
• Making hot prepared chicken eligible for purchase using SNAP benefits, including items like rotisserie and non-fried, non-breaded chicken. The state also plans to collaborate with the Double Up Food Bucks Program to encourage people to buy fresh fruits and vegetables with purchases of hot prepared chicken.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pushed for the changes as a part of his “make America healthy again” agenda and encouraged states to apply for waivers. 

“For years, SNAP has used taxpayer dollars to fund soda and candy — products that fuel America’s diabetes and chronic disease epidemics,” he said in a statement on Aug. 4. 

About 1 in 8 Mississippians — or about 400,000 people — receive food assistance through SNAP. Two thirds of participants are in families with children, and about 41% are in households with older adults or adults with a disability. 

An August report from state Auditor Shad White found that Mississippi taxpayers would save $22 million annually and improve the health of its citizens by restricting the purchase of certain junk foods with SNAP benefits.

“President Trump is focused on making America healthy again, so we need to make Mississippi healthy again,” said White in a statement. 

“That means a renewed commitment to exercise and teaching our children healthy habits, but it also means using a little more common sense in how we spend taxpayer money on food stamps.”

Flanked by a coalition of city leaders from nonprofits, food pantries and churches, Jackson Mayor John Horhn took to the steps of City Hall Friday to announce a coordinated effort to counter the anticipated rise in food insecurity in the capital city amid the ongoing federal government shutdown. 

Coming the day before federal nutrition support is set to be suspended on Saturday, Horhn said the city is pledging $150,000 for meals and targeted food assistance throughout the metro area. The funding will chiefly support two nonprofits – the Community Foundation of Mississippi and supper meals provided by Jackson Public Schools.

“When neighbors are in need, we rally,” he said. 

The mayor also called on Jacksonians with the means to donate nonperishable goods and money to these efforts, noting he had already pledged $1,000 of his own money. The city funds will come from a suspended program, he said. 

“Let’s make sure no one faces an empty refrigerator or dining table,” he said. 

Fire stations throughout the city will accept donations of nonperishable goods. The National Folk Festival, set for Nov. 7-9, will also have a donation box next to the guest services booth. 

City leaders said food pantries in the metro area need volunteers. 

“One of the things that will constrain us most is if we don’t have the staff and the manpower to meet the needs,” said Jill Buckley, the executive director of Stewpot Community Services. 

In an example of the coordinated effort, Karla McCullough, executive director of the Juanita Sims Doty Foundation, said the nonprofit has over 250 volunteers who can help the pantries process food donations. She also thanked Horhn for his leadership. 

“Youth and community, those are our north stars,” she said. “So wherever they go, whatever they need, this is where we go and we provide what we can to fill the need.” 

In a press release, JPS said it was expanding its supper meal program beginning on Monday. Meals will be available from 4-5:30 p.m. at eight schools in the metro area. Students can eat for free at the schools, and adults can take a meal to go for $4.

“We have long known that our work does not end with the education of our scholars in our classrooms,” Superintendent Errick Greene said at the press conference.

Horhn called on federal lawmakers to “come to their senses” and end the government shutdown. 

“You hear the news about what’s going on with the federal shutdown, but a lot of times we don’t really connect with the impact the shutdown is having on people, on citizens, everyday folks who are just struggling from day to day to make ends meet,” he said. 

Even in times without a crisis, food insecurity is an issue in Jackson, with 33,000 people in Hinds County relying on SNAP, the mayor said. With the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill mandating changes to food assistance to include work requirements for older people and more parents with teenagers, some Jacksonians could lose SNAP even after the federal shutdown ends.

But the wholesale pause of SNAP benefits in November is an extraordinary moment, said Bill Washington, the food pantry manager at New Horizon Church, one of the largest pantries in the metro area.

“So we’ve got to do extraordinary things to overcome this situation,” he said. 

About $6.5 million comes into Hinds County every month because of SNAP, and every dollar spent has nearly double the impact on the local economy, said Jane Alexander, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Mississippi. This means Hinds County is facing a potential loss of nearly $18 million. Grocery stores will be impacted by the SNAP suspension. So will the city’s sales tax collection. 

To counter this, Alexander said the Community Foundation of Mississippi is looking at restarting an initiative from the pandemic in which they provide about $25 on bulk grocery cards. She has already been in touch with grocery stores throughout the metro area and hopes the foundation will be able to offer the cards as soon as it has the funding. 

“The one single tenant of disaster emergency response is to try to keep the money flowing through the local economy as much as you can,” she said. 

Many food pantries in the metro area limit residents to one box a week, Alexander said, and will be quickly overwhelmed by the need. 

“For an economy that’s very fragile, it has very narrow margins already,” she said. “We want to make sure that when benefits are restored and when some of these efforts pay off, that these outlets are still available in our community.”