OurTupelo

Magnolia State baseball fans know well the traditional hardball success of the three largest universities, a tradition that continues in the spring of 2025. Three hundred teams play NCAA Division I baseball. Ole Miss, Southern Miss and Mississippi State all seem likely to make the elite 64-team NCAA Championship Tournament field.

But Mississippi’s college baseball prowess does not end there. Delta State and Mississippi College have both made the NCAA Division II Tournament and will compete in regionals in Florida later this week. Millsaps College, under the leadership of Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame coach Jim Page, has made the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time since 2015. Belhaven University lost in the finals of its conference tournament but takes a 31-13 record into its first-ever NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. William Carey University finished its season ranked No. 10 in all of NAIA baseball with a 38-14 record. The Crusaders hosted an NAIA Regional but lost their first two games Monday and Tuesday.

What follows is a breakdown of what each of those Mississippi teams faces in postseason play:

Southern Miss produced two of the five finalists for the Boo Ferriss Trophy, which will be awarded Monday at a luncheon Monday at Pearl River Resort. The five finalists in alphabetical order:

• Drake Fontenot (Delta State pitcher): A senior right-hander from Bossier City, La., Fontenot was the Gulf South Conference Pitcher of the Year, sporting a 9-2 record, a 2.23 earned run average, 84 strikeouts and 23 walks.
• Luke Hill (Ole Miss third baseman): The Arizona State transfer from Baton Rouge hit .342 with eight home runs and 32 runs batted in.
• JB Middleton (Southern Miss pitcher): A former Benton Academy standout from Yahoo City, Middleton likely will be the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year after producing a 9-1 record, with a 2.0 ERA and 98 strikeouts compared to 22 walks. Middleton is the highest rated MLB prospect among Mississippi college players.
• Nick Monstere (Southern Miss second baseman): The former Northwest Rankin standout and Mississippi High School Player of the Year hit .330 with 17 home runs and 61 RBI.
• Ace Reese (Mississippi State third baseman): A sophomore transfer from Houston, Reese hit .351 with 17 home runs and 60 RBI.

After Marcus Thompson’s announced resignation last week, Mississippi lawmakers and Jackson State University alumni are calling for more transparency and accountability from the state’s governing board that oversees and selects its college presidents. 

The Institutions of Higher Learning Board met in a closed door executive meeting for two hours May 7 to discuss a personnel matter regarding the job performance of an employee at the state’s largest historically Black university – the second time in three weeks the board did so. After the meeting, board officials told media there was nothing to report. 

IHL later released a statement saying Thompson resigned, but provided no information about what happened or why. Mississippi Today asked for a resignation letter but due to state public record laws it cannot be shared publicly. A spokesperson for the board said in an email statement they requested permission from Thompson to release his letter but the request was denied. 

Thompson’s departure marks the university’s third leadership turnover in ten years. It was deja vu for many who had watched the board let Thompson’s predecessor, Thomas Hudson, resign two years ago with no public explanation. 

The news came as a disappointment to JSU alumni, including Rep. Chris Bell, D-Jackson. Speaking about the repeated resignations creates a double-bind for JSU alums: It can bring unwanted, negative attention to the university, but staying silent could lead to IHL repeating the same mistakes.

“We got a lot of great things going on at Jackson State University,” Bell told Mississippi Today in a phone call this week. “It just speaks again to the need for transparency and accountability through the presidential selection process and IHL.” 

In 2020, Bell was one of 10 Democrats who introduced a bill to abolish the IHL board. The bill would have allowed the state’s eight public universities to appoint their own board of trustees to oversee the universities finances and executive leadership. The board is currently appointed by the governor with the advice-and-consent of the Senate.

If established, each 12-member board would include three representatives from the following groups associated with the respective university: members of college alumni association, student government and university faculty senate and state residents to serve a five-year term. It would have also established those boards to keep a detailed history of meeting minutes and vote history of potential candidates. 

The bill was tripled-referred, a rare legislative tactic used by House Speaker Philip Gunn at the time, to ensure the bill’s death. 

A dog and pony show

Mississippi Today reached out to Jackson State University National Alumni Association President Patrease Edwards for a comment. 

Leaders of the group did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication but shared a statement with other publications that in part asked alumni to only speak positively about the university. 

Mark Dawson, a lifetime member of JSU National Alumni Association, was one of many who sat on an open panel for the university’s presidential candidate process in spring 2023, which ultimately resulted in Thompson. 

Dawson said it did not seem like IHL took the panel’s feedback into account. Rather than using alumni on these panels as a “dog and pony show,” Dawson said, there’s a need for a “unified approach” for stakeholders and supporters of the university to be more involved in the search — so they can help IHL select a president who will last more than a couple years. 

“It’s about the opportunity to come together and get some things right,” Dawson said. “How can you have a vision for long-term stability for student housing, fundraising, academic programs and a new stadium when you have a new administration every few years. It needs to be corrected.” 

State Senate Minority Leader, Derrick T. Simmons said the board’s lack of diversity hurts JSU. The state’s 12-member board currently only includes one alumnus from a Mississippi HBCU. The state has a 38% Black population. JSU and other universities play a pivotal role in educating Black professionals, many of whom are Mississippi natives, Simmons added. 

“This underrepresentation raises concerns about equitable decision-making and inclusivity,” Simmons said. “By embracing these principles, the IHL can better serve all Mississippians, uphold the legacy of its educational institutions, and ensure a more equitable future for higher education in the state.” 

Sen. Hillman Frazier, D-Jackson, said he doesn’t have confidence with IHL when it comes to selecting the university’s presidents. In the last three presidential processes, the board has continued to overlook recommended resumes, stakeholders and supporters choices for president. 

Hudson’s predecessor, William Bynum, was gone after three years following his arrest in a prostitution sting at a Clinton hotel. Bynum was appointed Jackson State’s president in 2017 after serving as president of Mississippi Valley State University president for about four years. He was not a popular pick. The board’s announcement of his selection inspired several Black lawmakers to file a lawsuit to prevent his appointment. 

“They’ve wasted taxpayers and the JSU family’s time, energy and resources,” Frazier said. “Three strikes and you’re out. I have no confidence in this board and its commissioner.” 

A spokesperson for the board said the trustees have not held any formal discussions regarding a presidential search for Jackson State University.  

“The Board of Trustees is committed to a clear and transparent process,” a spokesperson for the board said in an email to Mississippi Today. 

IHL hired Thompson in November 2023 after Thomas Hudson. The board had placed Hudson on administrative leave, but did not share with the public the reason for the personnel issue that motivated its decision. 

When the board began its search a few months later, members of the JSU community asked the board to “stop hiring your friends.” The board conducted a national search, interviewing 79 applicants, but Thompson was the epitome of an internal hire having worked at IHL since 2009. 

Moving forward 

Denise Jones Gregory, former provost of vice president of academic affairs at JSU, shared a personal statement  on the university’s social media this weekend. 

“I ask for your patience, your partnership and most of all, your prayers as we move Jackson State University forward together,” Jones-Gregory said. 

Lisa Ross, a Jackson-area employment attorney and JSU alumnus, said IHL needs to better prepare the presidents to lead a complex organization like a university. She would know: Ross has repeatedly sued IHL and JSU on behalf of female administrators and faculty who have alleged gender discrimination in the workplace from male superiors.

Ross, who has sued over Thompson and Hudson’s appointments, noted neither man had led a university before IHL selected them. 

“It seems like they’re sending these people over there and they’re just letting these people go,” she said. “I don’t know if they gave Marcus the support that he needed.”

Ross cited something Thompson told her soon after he became president, that he had never read “To Survive and Thrive: The Quest for a True University.”

The memoir recounts John Peoples’ time leading Jackson State amid civil rights demonstrations and the 1970 shooting, as well as his relationships with the IHL board. Peoples is widely regarded as the university’s most renowned president.

“He did tell me ‘oh, I went out and bought the book,’ but you don’t even know the history of the university?” she said.

Going forward, the repeated resignations could make it hard for the state Legislature to invest in the university. It could also lead to a less qualified candidate pool, Frazier added. 

“This turnover is going to have a chilling effect on someone who wants to apply for the job,” he said. “It’s sabotaging the growth and reputation of my alma mater.”

Molly Minta contributed to this report.

Rural hospitals across the country are shuttering their labor and delivery doors, leaving millions of women – including Mississippians – without maternity care. 

The growing epidemic of closures hasn’t affected Mississippi as much as other states in recent years – but most of Mississippi’s rural hospitals already don’t deliver babies, according to a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, an organization that focuses on solving health care problems by reforming insurance payments. 

Only one rural hospital in Mississippi closed its labor and delivery unit between 2021 and 2025, the report found. However, the vast majority – 68% – of rural hospitals in the state do not have a labor and delivery unit. Most of the 50 rural Mississippi hospitals not delivering babies never did, or stopped long ago, while four have closed their delivery services within the last 15 years. 

Now, the problem that has plagued Mississippi is spreading across the U.S., where nearly two rural hospitals each month have stopped delivering babies since the end of 2020, and more are announcing closures for 2025. That’s more than 100 rural hospitals in just under five years.

Addressing rural maternity care is key to mitigating maternal mortality in America – which continues to have the highest rate among high-income nations, the report’s authors argued. 

“Over 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable with appropriate prenatal, labor & delivery, and post-partum care,” the report read. “Although improvements in maternity care are needed in all parts of the country to reduce mortality rates, one of the greatest challenges is in rural areas, because most rural hospitals are no longer providing maternity care at all.”

Across the country, less than half – 42% – of rural hospitals currently offer labor and delivery services. 

The study also looked at travel times to labor and delivery units for women using the distance from hospitals without labor and delivery services to hospitals with those services. It found that in most urban areas, the travel time to a hospital with labor and delivery services is under 20 minutes. In rural areas, women face travel times of at least 30 minutes, but often 50 minutes or more. 

At 35 minutes, Mississippi’s median travel time is similar to the country as a whole. 

The rural hospitals that have stopped delivering babies in Mississippi since 2010, according to data from the Mississippi State Department of Health, are: the south campus of Anderson Regional Medical Center in Meridian; the community campus of Merit Health Natchez; Magee General; and Greenwood Leflore.

Despite Meridian being one of Mississippi’s larger cities, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) defines it as rural. 

Authors of the study offered several recommendations to stakeholders, most of which centered around reforming payments to hospitals. 

One of the biggest challenges for small hospitals providing maternity care is that physicians and staff must be standing by 24 hours a day, but are only paid when they deliver a baby – even though rural hospitals may experience many days when there are no deliveries.

Another problem with payment methods, according to the report, is that insurance companies often pay more for C-sections, meaning hospitals and clinicians that support natural childbirth may lose money – even though there have been national efforts to reduce C-section rates, which are highest in Mississippi. 

The report stressed that the biggest problem is not with Medicaid or uninsured patients. The primary cause of overall losses on patient services at rural maternity care hospitals is private insurance companies paying rural hospitals less than what it costs to deliver services to patients. 

“Rural maternity care is in a state of crisis, and more women and babies in rural communities will die unnecessarily until the crisis is resolved,” the report stated. “Federal and state government officials and private employers must take immediate action to ensure that all health insurance plans are paying adequately to support high-quality maternity care in every community.”

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.

For the past six years, I’ve had a front row seat to some stunning achievements in Mississippi public education.

I moved from New York City to Jackson in 2019, which was just in time to witness Mississippi trailblazing a new approach to literacy instruction and becoming number one in the nation in fourth-grade reading gains.

With the onset of COVID-19, Mississippi continued to impress by affirming the state’s commitment to public schools as the gold standard in education. At a time when many states began redirecting taxpayer dollars to fund private school choice schemes, Mississippi instead chose to prioritize public education with a $230 million investment in a new, more equitable public school funding formula.

But from my vantage point of conducting education research and occasionally lobbying the state Legislature, there is one particular achievement I think deserves a second look.

In 2022, state lawmakers made an historic investment to combat Mississippi’s critical teacher shortage. The idea was simple: incentivize the recruitment and retention of educators by passing the largest teacher pay raise in state history.

The strategy worked. Going into the 2022-2023 school year, the average teacher salary increased by $5,452 annually, a raise of about 11%. That year, according to federal data, the Mississippi Department of Education issued 4,520 teaching licenses to new educators, a 63% increase over the prior year and higher than any year since at least 2009-2010 (the earliest year for which data is available). This influx of new talent helped reduce the number of statewide teacher vacancies from 3,036 in 2021-2022 to 2,593 in 2022-2023.

Three years later, Mississippi’s critical teacher shortage is resurgent. Vacancies are once again near the peak of 2021-2022 (MDE reported 2,964 vacancies in 2024-2025), and about two-thirds of Mississippi school districts are now classified as “geographical critical shortage areas.” According to data from the Southern Regional Education Board, teacher turnover in Mississippi has spiked and is now well above the regional average. 

As policymakers seek solutions to address the chronic shortage of educators in Mississippi classrooms, they would do well to learn from their own previous success.

There are a number of overlapping factors that influence teachers’ career plans. But researchers and public education advocates have long argued that the educator pipeline isn’t rocket science. Like professionals in any other industry, teachers are rational economic actors who respond to monetary incentives. After years of offering the lowest teacher pay in America, lawmakers reasoned that a significant pay raise in 2022 would make a dent in Mississippi’s critical teacher shortage. They were right.

But while legislators rightfully campaigned on this investment during the 2023 state election cycle, they have since governed with the opposite approach.

One problem is inaction. Lawmakers have not passed a teacher pay raise since 2022. As a result, the buying power of that raise has since been erased by inflation. In that time, neighboring states have also passed significant pay raises of their own. Mississippi may have briefly outpaced the Southeastern average for starting teacher pay in 2022, but first-year teachers in Mississippi can now cross the river into Arkansas and immediately increase their annual salary from $41,500 to $50,000. The average teacher salary in Mississippi is once again the lowest in the nation.

Another problem has been an intentional effort to reduce teacher compensation. Tucked in House Bill 1, the tax overhaul bill that passed the Legislature last month, was a landmark reform to the Public Employees’ Retirement System (known as PERS) that will offer less retirement benefits to future public employees, including teachers. According to an analysis of the changes made to PERS in House Bill 1 by the nonprofit Equable, the newly created “Tier 5” public employees hired after March 1, 2026, who work for at least 20 years, will receive, on average, a 23% reduction in projected retirement benefits (a decrease of roughly $168,382) compared to current employees.

At a time when Mississippi school districts already struggle to recruit and retain educators, whittling away at their compensation package has troubling implications for Mississippi’s critical teacher shortage. Of particular concern is the impact of weaker retirement benefits and stagnant pay on teacher turnover and districts’ ability to retain veterans of the classroom. 

This has become the “leakiest” point in Mississippi’s educator pipeline: teacher turnover has spiked since the pandemic, and schools—particularly in lower-performing districts—are increasingly relying on a revolving door of relatively inexperienced teachers to staff their classrooms.

Teaching is a difficult job with a steep learning curve. Effective teachers don’t just know their subject; they know their students and their community. That takes time. Unsurprisingly, research shows that additional classroom experience translates to increased effectiveness and improved student outcomes. But Mississippi school districts are now losing, on average, nearly 1 in 4 teachers each year (the average district turnover rate was 23.3% in 2022-2023). Cutting retirement benefits under “Tier 5” may soon accelerate this trend. Without the prospect of a guaranteed pension with a cost-of-living adjustment, the next generation of educators have lost a major incentive to spend their career in a Mississippi classroom.

Like many Mississippi teachers, I am also preparing to pursue a professional opportunity elsewhere.. I was recently offered a job in my hometown of Montpelier, Vermont, and I will soon be making a very bittersweet departure from the Magnolia State.

But before I leave, I want to emphasize the most pressing takeaway from six years of education policy research: The number one obstacle preventing Mississippi from becoming a national leader in education is a critical shortage of teachers across the state. It is true that Mississippi has made progress with curricular reforms such as requiring instruction rooted in the science of reading. But policies like this only go so far. Human capital is the most important resource in education, and here the state is failing. With neither competitive pay nor competitive benefits, it’s easy to see why.

To unlock the potential of Mississippi public schools, state leaders need to give teachers a reason to call Mississippi home.

Toren Ballard, a former teacher, spent the last six years as an education policy researcher and an advocate for public schools in Mississippi. He is joining the Vermont Agency of Education as the director of communications and policy. 

Johnnie E. Walls Jr., former circuit judge, longtime state senator and chairman of the state Democratic Party, died on Saturday, according to city of Greenville and state party officials.

He was 80.

Walls served as a Bolivar County Circuit Court judge from 2011 until his retirement in 2016. He served in the state Senate representing District 12, Bolivar and Washington counties, from 1993 to 2011, and served two terms as chairman of the state Democratic Party.

As a senator, Walls was involved in criminal law and civil justice revision and reform and workers’ rights legislation.

Walls received a degree in biology from Jackson State University and his law degree from the University of Mississippi and began practicing law at the North Mississippi Rural Legal Services in Greenwood. He was promoted to director of litigation for the organization before starting private practice.

In a social media post, Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons said Walls was “a dedicated public servant and a distinguished legal mind.”

“Judge Walls leaves behind a powerful legacy of integrity, wisdom, and dedication to public service,” Simmons said. “Please keep his family, friends, and all those whose lives he touched in your thoughts and prayers.”

The state Democratic Party in a statement said Walls served “with fairness and distinction,” and was “recognized for his fierce advocacy and commitment to the law.”

“Judge Walls’ life was marked by unwavering commitment to his community and the principles of justice,” the statement said. “His contributions to Mississippi’s legal and political landscape will be remembered for generations.”

Arrangements for Walls were incomplete late Tuesday morning.

Two Black men tortured by white “Goon Squad” deputies are considering a lawsuit against Rankin County Supervisor Steve Gaines for calling them “dopers” and rapists.

“He will be held legally accountable. He has to be,” said Malik Shabazz, a lawyer for the two men, Eddie Parker and Michael Jenkins. “Some of what [Gaines] said is obviously defamatory.”

Two days after the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department announced it was paying Parker and Jenkins $2.5 million, Gaines told the 100 people gathered at the sheriff’s breakfast that the department’s lawyer, Jason Dare, “beat the pants off of those guys — the dopers, the people that raped and doped your daughters. He beat their pants off.”

Neither of the two men have been convicted of felony drug or rape charges in Rankin County or neighboring Hinds County, according to court records. In 2019, Parker was convicted in Alabama of drug possession with intent to sell.

In 2023, six Rankin County law enforcement officers, some of whom called themselves the “Goon Squad,” tortured the two men with Tasers, used a sex toy on them and shot one of them in the mouth. Deputies planted a BB gun and drugs on the men to try and cover up their crimes, but they were caught. They are now serving between 10 and 40 years in federal prison.

In an emailed response, Gaines said his 22-minute speech covered “a wide range of issues facing Rankin County.

“I want to be clear that my comments wre not aimed at anyone personally, and I did not name any individuals,” Gaines said.

“Law enforcement and safety in Rankin County are topics of deep concern to me because much of my career has been dedicated to protecting the safety and wellbeing of our community. I take my role as supervisor very seriously, and I strive to serve each and every Rankin County citizen in my district. If there was any confusion, I want to clarify that my focus — then and now — is supporting the ongoing efforts by law enforcement in Rankin County to keep our community safe and strong.”

On Friday, Angela English, president of the Rankin County NAACP, asked Gaines to step down: “There is no way you can effectively do your job with the kind of racial hatred you have in your heart.”

Behind the scenes, some local power brokers are urging Gaines to resign. “It’s devastating to us trying to rebuild trust in the community, which was already destroyed,” said one elected official, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution. “It’s infuriating, because we’re the ones having to pick up the pieces.”

Pressure on the sheriff’s department has been mounting since the torture allegations emerged. The local chapter of the NAACP has repeatedly called on Sheriff Bryan Bailey to step down. 

But at the May 3 breakfast gathering, Gaines and other county officials threw their support behind the sheriff. “Bryan’s got his legs back under him,” he said. “You can’t go through what he’s went through with all the fake news and false information and stay together like Bryan has.”

Bailey thanked Gaines and said, “My board of supervisors stood behind me  110%.”

The sheriff said he thought about stepping down over the past 28 months. “I was ready to quit, give up,” he said, but his mentor and former father-in-law, Irl Dean Rhodes, urged him to stay, saying, “You don’t quit. You’re going to run again.”

In 2023, Bailey faced no opposition, but that won’t be the case in 2027.

Retired Sgt. Ronnie Moore, 58, said he plans to run for sheriff because “everybody wants a change.” In the 72% white county, he served among the small number of Black deputies for three decades before retiring last year from the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department.

“You have to love everybody. You’ve got to have a heart for people,” he said. “It ain’t all about wearing a badge and carrying a gun. It ain’t all about Black and white, but about what’s right and wrong.”

He doesn’t believe in “throwing dirt,” he said, “but if you do wrong, karma will come back and get you.”

Moore said of Gaines’ remarks, “Instead of putting out the fire, they’re pouring gas on it. God sees them people.”

Bailey has insisted he knew nothing about what deputies did to Parker and Jenkins and denied these former deputies’ accusations that there was a culture of violence in the department. He said if he had known, he would have stopped it.

After recently announcing his candidacy at the Briar Hill Baptist Church and the Exchange Club of Richland, Scott Womack, 57, has spent his days attending civic events, shaking hands and asking for votes.

He worked for 27 years as a special agent at the state auditor’s office, serving as lead agent on the investigation into the Mississippi Beef Plant, a $55 million, taxpayer-funded debacle, which ended in prison sentences for some. He also served as a chief deputy for Simpson County.

“Our team’s campaign will focus on restoring the trust, integrity, pride and confidence in the position of sheriff in Rankin County,” he said.

There must be a focus on restoring trust with Rankin County employees and citizens through safety and excellent service, he said. In addition, “we will explore ways to work with county leadership to minimize civil litigation, and I will utilize my relationships with local, state and federal agencies to help restore confidence,” he said.

Another lawsuit alleging abuse is pending in federal court against the department, and plaintiffs’ lawyers have discussed bringing other possible cases.

An investigation by Mississippi Today and The New York Times exposed a decades-long reign of terror by nearly two dozen Rankin County deputies, but the six officers are the only ones who have been charged.

Another story by Mississippi Today and the Times revealed that the sheriff spent more than $150,000 in taxpayer money on equipment and supplies that were allegedly used at his mother’s commercial chicken farm. State Auditor Shad White is now investigating these allegations.

Jessica Pishko, a lawyer and national expert on sheriffs, said it’s rare for sheriffs to get removed by petition, but Mississippi’s statute makes it tougher than most other states.

Under state law, the governor is the only one with the power to remove the sheriff and can only act if he or she receives a petition demanding the sheriff’s removal signed by at least 30% of the qualified voters.

English said NAACP officials gathered thousands of signatures for a petition to remove Bailey but stopped last Thanksgiving when they ran into roadblocks under Mississippi law that requires them to gather all the signatures within 180 days. In addition to that, any signatures collected more than 60 days before the petition is filed are considered invalid.

Rankin County has more than 102,000 registered voters, which means any such petition would require more than 30,000 signatures. In contrast, 10% of voters can sign a petition to trigger a recall election of a sheriff in California counties with more than 100,000 registered voters.

In Mississippi, there is no requirement in the law for sheriffs to be certified law enforcement officers, but they can’t be atheists. 

In many states, sheriffs have to violate their oath to get removed from office, said Pishko, author of “The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy.” 

That oath requires sheriffs to uphold the federal and state constitutions as well as obeying the laws. “Unfortunately,” Pishko said, “there are a lot of bad things that sheriffs can do that don’t violate their oath.”

Updated 5/13/25: This story has been updated to include a response by Rankin County Supervisor Steve Gaines.

A panel of three federal judges has approved a revised legislative redistricting plan from the Mississippi Election Commission, which will allow special elections to move forward this year for 15 legislative seats.

The court in April had ordered state officials to develop yet another legislative map to ensure Black voters in the DeSoto County area have a fair opportunity to elect candidates to the state Senate.

The panel, comprised of U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan, U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden and U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Southwick, previously ruled that when lawmakers redrew their districts in 2022 to account for population shifts, they violated federal civil rights law because the maps diluted Black voting power.

To remedy the violation, the court allowed the Legislature to propose a new House map redrawing House districts in the Chickasaw County area and a new Senate map redrawing districts in the DeSoto County and Hattiesburg areas.

Earlier this year, during the 2025 session, the Legislature attempted to comply with the order and tweaked those districts. However, the plaintiffs still objected to parts of the Legislature’s plan.

The plaintiffs, the state chapter of the NAACP and Black voters from around the state, did not object to the Hattiesburg portion of the Senate plan. But they argued the Chickasaw County portion of the House plan and the DeSoto County portion of the Senate plan did not create a realistic opportunity for Black voters in those areas to elect their preferred candidates. 

The judges accepted the Chickasaw County redistricting portion. Still, they objected to the DeSoto County part because the Legislature’s proposed DeSoto County solution “yokes high-turnout white communities in the Hernando area of DeSoto County to several poorer, predominantly Black towns in the Mississippi Delta,” which would make it hard for Black voters to overcome white voting blocs. 

The panel, comprised of all George W. Bush-appointed judges, ordered state officials to, again, craft a new Senate map for the area in the suburbs of Memphis. The panel has held that none of the state’s prior maps gave Black voters a realistic chance to elect candidates of their choice.

The court in its latest ruling set deadlines and a schedule for special elections for Mississippi legislative seats impacted by the new maps.

The deadline to publicize and share the maps with local election officials is May 12. Candidate qualification to run will run from June 2-9 and the slate of candidates will be submitted by June 13. Absentee voting for the Aug. 5 primaries will begin June 21.

Absentee voting for general elections will begin Sept. 20 and general elections will be Nov. 4.

Mississippi moms will no longer be able to use Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi insurance to cover lactation services after they leave the hospital. 

The Lactation Network, a third-party biller that allows Mississippians with certain insurance to see non-physician lactation consultants, will no longer accept Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi patients. The network was previously subsidizing the unpaid portion of the claim for these moms’ visits, but it said that it can no longer afford to do so.  

The Lactation Network did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Mississippi Today by the time the story published.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi is the state’s largest private insurer. Lactation consultants and breastfeeding advocates worry the reduced coverage will worsen Mississippi’s breastfeeding rate – already one of the lowest in the country. The loss in coverage could have profound impacts on the health of mothers and children, experts say. 

“It’s such a complex puzzle of how to improve maternal and infant outcomes, but we know that breastfeeding is an integral, foundational part of that,” said Dr. Christina Glick, a retired neonatologist and lactation consultant in the Jackson area. “ … Lack of reimbursement will interfere with delivery of care, which will reduce breastfeeding rates.”

Breastfeeding has been proven to lower the incidence of diseases, infections and depression in both mother and baby. But it’s not always straightforward, and the list of potential challenges is not short: oversupply, undersupply, allergies and sensitivities, problems with pumping upon return to work, milk blisters and a host of other issues. Ninety-two percent of new mothers report having trouble breastfeeding three days postpartum and needing support.

Shay Bequette, a 25-year-old from Hattiesburg with Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance, overcame multiple hurdles to breastfeed her baby, born in January.

“I was struggling,” Bequette said. “I’m the first in my family to breastfeed. And my son was really small … I knew something was wrong intuitively, but I just couldn’t understand because I was producing (milk), but he was constantly crying. I was breastfeeding for an hour and a half on each side and he was still crying like he was in pain.”

Emotions and stakes are high for mothers learning to breastfeed. Moms who struggle to breastfeed often report feeling a sense of failure, while also facing intense pressure to make sure their baby is gaining adequate weight. 

Though she didn’t want to, Bequette considered switching to formula – and says she would have if she wasn’t able to access affordable lactation support. 

“I was losing my marbles, I was crying, I was frustrated,” Bequette said. “My whole family was like, ‘you know, you’re just going to have to switch to formula, obviously it’s not working.’”

Instead, Bequette found Maranda Nybo, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) based in Pass Christian who expanded her practice to include a once-weekly trip to Hattiesburg. Bequette credits all of her current breastfeeding success to Nybo.

“She saved my sanity, and she saved his life,” said Bequette.

Now, Bequette will have to discontinue her care – and Nybo worries for the future of her practice, where she estimates between 80 and 90% of her clients use Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance.

“Sunday, Monday and (Tuesday) I’ve had 12 moms schedule appointments with me … every single one of them have been denied as of today,” Nybo told Mississippi Today. “All of them, except one, have canceled their appointments with me.”

The Lactation Network announced April 30 that working with certain insurance companies is no longer affordable.

“Historically, nearly 1 in 4 out-of-network visits that TLN covers go unpaid by health plans,” read an April 30 email from TLN to providers. “For a long time, we’ve subsidized the cost of care, hoping these plans would come around and reimburse us for this vital care. But that’s not sustainable — we can’t continue absorbing the costs that these plans should be covering.”

A spokesperson for Blue Cross Blue Shield Mississippi told Mississippi Today the company wasn’t aware of the changes and has no formal agreement with TLN. 

“Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Members continue to have access to lactation consultation services when they use a Network Provider,” a Blue Cross spokesperson said.

The only in-network lactation consultants currently covered by Blue Cross are physicians, who do not generally operate outpatient clinics focused solely on breastfeeding care.  

While new mothers usually get some form of support while they’re still in the hospital, most breastfeeding problems don’t develop until well after they leave, explained Erin Mattingly, a Jackson-based IBCLC. 

“I hear all the time that parents think breastfeeding is going fairly well in the hospital and then they get home and things fall apart,” she said. “And a lot of that is because during their time in the hospital, for the vast majority of mothers, their mature milk supply has not even arrived yet. So, it’s after the mature milk comes in that they start to have issues.”

After parents leave the hospital, the next appointment is typically scheduled two weeks later with a pediatrician. The majority of mothers who are struggling to breastfeed will give up if they don’t get help in that interim period, Mattingly said. 

Even if moms continue breastfeeding for those two weeks, they don’t always get comprehensive lactation support during the pediatric visit.

Bequette says when she broached the subject with her obstetrician and her pediatrician, each of them referred her to the other for guidance. That’s not unusual, according to Mattingly. 

“Doctors are fantastic at what they do, but they don’t have the same lactation training that lactation consultants have,” Mattingly said. “And in addition to that, they don’t have the time. If they have 10, 15 minutes with a patient, that’s not enough time to observe a feeding, problem solve what could be going on, and create a strategy going forward.”

An average lactation session with Mattingly or Nybo runs between 60 and 90 minutes and costs between $100 and $125 without insurance. 

That may be an affordable out-of-pocket cost to some, but it will put support out of reach for many moms who are already at a disadvantage for breastfeeding. 

“As a private practice, for me this is devastating,” Nybo said. “But it’s also really devastating for the moms.”

Editor’s note: Robyn Tannehill is the second-term mayor of Oxford and is unopposed for a third term. This piece is part of an ongoing Mississippi Today Ideas series showcasing perspectives of mayors across the state.

Oxford is experiencing unprecedented growth and the challenges we face are unique in Mississippi.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in 2023 Oxford had a population of only 27,000 residents. On any given weekday in Oxford, we have more than 80,000 people in town with a student population of 23,981 (an 11% increase from last year) and workforce and visitors totaling approximately 39,000 people a day coming in from surrounding counties. On an SEC home football game, Oxford swells to more than 250,000.

In the simplest terms, Oxford has to be able to provide water and sewer service all year for 300,000 people to be able flush the toilets — even if we only need it for 10 days a year. With a tax base of 27,000, it is difficult to make those numbers work. 

The past eight years have been a rollercoaster in Oxford – from a pandemic that nobody prepared me for to growth that never stops. However, Oxford is a much stronger community with a stronger economy today than we had eight years ago. We are setting records every month in sales tax collections. New businesses are opening across our community, and almost every corner of Oxford is being developed at an incredible pace.

To make all of this work, my staff and I have to think outside of the box.       

When your greatest challenges are the result of tremendous growth in Mississippi, you say ‘thank you’ and you get busy being proactive in your planning. Planning is exactly what my staff, city employees and I have done.

I was told before I was elected in 2017 that our state and federal partners did not provide financial assistance to Oxford. I saw that as a challenge. I quickly learned that Oxford had not been told “no,” but rather Oxford had never told its story and asked for help. My team and I have secured more than $246 million dollars from our state and federal partners in the last eight years. 

That is $246 million that has been and will continue to be invested in transportation infrastructure, water and sewer infrastructure, facility upgrades and capital improvements across our community that our local taxpayers will not have to pay for. It is the result of an investment of time and relationship building in Jackson and Washington, DC. And, it’s the reward for being a community that is planning ahead and being a good steward of the funds we are granted. It also takes give-and-take between our state and federal elected officials, and we have been so blessed with great partners.

Telling our stories and seeking assistance from our state and federal partners is something every community can do. As the chairman of the Mississippi Municipal League Education Committee, I facilitated a session at our annual meeting where staff members from our United States Senate and Congressional offices attended and shared the best ways for our local elected officials to contact their offices. Our state and federal partners often do not know a community’s needs unless a community takes the time to share challenges, needs and concerns.  

Law enforcement is becoming increasingly complex, and the public’s expectations of police officers are becoming more demanding. The city of Oxford and Oxford Police Department have spent hours evaluating our mission, how we serve the community and how we can improve. 

Policing today extends beyond the realm of enforcing laws. Officers are called upon to respond to non-criminal incidents, including many situations that involve mental health issues or people who have no one else to call for help. In these cases, officers are often ill-equipped to handle the call. Afer all, they are not psychologists, psychiatrists or social workers.

We often expect officers to serve as family therapists, medical first responders, homeless advocates, school counselors and dog catchers. Each call is different, and rarely do the calls follow training scenarios; therefore, police officers and police departments must adapt, sometimes on the fly.

As first responders, the Oxford Police Department typically receives the initial call when a citizen is in need or has become the victim of a crime. Our officers respond to more than 1,000 calls per year where victim services are needed, which we define as calls such as domestic violence, sexual assaults, child abuse, harassment and stalking. Wanting to offer the best care for our citizens facing these situations, the Oxford Police Department began evaluating how we can walk hand in hand with our victims and connect them with the appropriate partners who can best serve their long-term needs. 

To meet these needs, we established a Community Response Team within the Oxford Police Department. The Community Response Team is led by a full-time employee who has completed a 10-week FBI Victims Impact Training Program and has a background in social work. This employee is dedicated to victim services, and is accompanied by volunteer officers and staff members of the Oxford Police Department. Our Community Response Team is responsible for identifying cases that could benefit from these services, training our officers to recognize these cases, and connecting our citizens to these services. 

Knowing we have amazing resources in the Oxford community, we invited all of the different victim service organizations to a roundtable discussion. This meeting allowed our police department to put together a comprehensive list of victim services available in our community, and educated our officers on these organizations. We want to operate like the Emergency Room and connect victims to the best resources available. Our goal is to provide a safe place and services needed for victims to help them move forward.

In 2017, my administration established a Safe Site in our downtown business district with the Oxford Polic Department. Uniformed officers are there Wednesday through Saturday evenings assisting patrons who feel unsafe, need assistance in finding a ride home, or would like to be escorted to their car. This Safe Site has become a great way for Oxford Police Officers to meet and build relationships with our citizens, and especially with our student population. 

Realizing that at bar closing time thousands of students are exiting bars at the same time presenting issues with securing safe rides home, my administration established three transportation hub locations in the downtown area with UBER, Lyft and local taxis participating. The rideshare companies direct people requesting rides to one of three sites where cars can stack and be waiting to offer safe rides home. Oxford Police Department has made 100 less arrests for DUI this year since our installation of the hubs. 

Enormous growth requires innovative solutions. Local government is where the boots meet the ground. 

April, 1985: Ronald Reagan was president. Bill Allain was Mississippi’s governor. John C. Stennis still represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate. Chicago Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg was the reigning National League MVP. Madonna’s “Material Girl” was No. 1 on the hit charts. The Los Angeles Lakers, led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson were well on their way to the NBA Championship.

Yes, and on April 10, 1985, William Carey College (it would not become a university until 2006) named Bobby Halford as its next baseball coach, beginning in 1986.

Last week, more than 40 years later and at the age of 72, Halford coached the Crusaders to his 1,374th victory, thus passing Ron Polk to become Mississippi’s all-time winningest college baseball coach. He has won two more games since. Polk won 1,373 college baseball games at three different schools, including two stints at Mississippi State.

“That’s a lot of games, a lot of winning,” Polk said of Halford’s achievement. “What’s really amazing is that he did it at one place, one school. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. I am happy for Bobby.”

Said Halford of Polk: “He was the master. He set the bar in Mississippi baseball for all the rest of us.”

Younger fans might be surprised to learn there was a time when Mississippi State and William Carey competed against one another in baseball. Polk started that. In fact, at State, Polk played games against Carey, Delta State, Millsaps and Mississippi College. He played Jackson State at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson. 

“I just thought it was good for baseball in Mississippi,” Polk said. “People would ask me why we would go to Hattiesburg and play a couple games at Carey. Well, we had a lot of alumni in south Mississippi who got to see us play. Plus, Carey played good baseball. Most of those were really good, competitive games. There wasn’t a lot of travel involved. But the main thing was, I just thought it was good for baseball in a state where baseball needed to grow.”

Nearly four decades later, Knight remembers those games against Polk’s SEC powerhouse teams, including the day when the great Will Clark hit one far over the light poles at the old Carey ballpark. 

“They were the best coached teams I ever played against,” Halford said. “His guys were so professional, fundamentally so good and so organized. Sometimes, I felt like the pupil coaching against the master.”

And, sometimes, the pupil won. After losing 11 straight to the Bulldogs, Knight’s Crusaders won two of the last four meetings in 1992 and 1993 in Starkville.

“We’ve had some really good baseball teams,” Halford said. “We’ve had some teams that would have been very competitive in D1 at the mid-major level.”

That’s probably true of this spring’s Carey Crusaders, the Southern States Athletic Conference regular season champions, who have won 38 games and lost 12 and will host a four-team bracket beginning Monday in the NAIA National Championship tournament at Milton Wheeler Field in Hattiesburg. Top-seeded Carey will play Indiana-Southeast in the first round. The winner will advance to the NAIA World Series at Lewiston, Idaho

William Carey’s impressive baseball tradition precedes Halford’s tenure. The 1969 Crusaders, coached by the late John O’Keefe and featuring Petal natives Jim Smith and Junior Broome, won the NAIA World Series. In 1971, O’Keefe recruited a speedy centerfielder off Meridian High’s state championship team, and Halford became a four-year starter and standout for O’Keefe and then Johnny Stephenson, the 10-year Major League veteran who succeeded O’Keefe. In 1976, young Halford joined Stephenson’s staff as a graduate assistant. So, counting his playing days, Halford has been at Carey 53 years – and counting.

Said Ron Polk, “It’s hard for me to believe that some Division I school hasn’t come along and hired him during all that time.”

Halford, a devout Baptist working at a Baptist school, has had opportunities at bigger programs but puts it this way: “I just feel like the Good Lord always knew where I needed to be. This school, this community has meant so much to be.”

And when you get right down to it, Hattiesburg is a terrific place to be a college baseball coach at any level. You are surrounded by high schools with remarkable baseball tradition: Oak Grove, Sumrall, Petal, Hattiesburg, Purvis, all the Jones County schools and more. Three of the nation’s best junior college programs – Pearl River, Jones and Gulf Coast – are within an hour’s drive. What’s more, sparkling Milton Wheeler Field, named for the late Carey history professor and baseball fan who left an endowment that still benefits Carey baseball, is surely among the best small college facilities in the nation.

The obvious question for Halford: How much longer to you plan to coach?

“I don’t golf, I don’t fish or hunt; this is what I do,” Halford answered. “I love it. I love doing what I do and I love doing it here. Why would I quit as long as that’s the case?”

Why, indeed?

•••

About Bobby Halford, did you know:

• Early on, Halford also served as Carey’s women’s basketball coach and athletic director. He was Carey’s first women’s basketball coach and coached for 10 seasons, winning 152 games, losing 112 and winning one conference championship.
• Halford’s first Carey baseball team in 1986 played 13 games against NCAA Division I teams. They opened the season against Vanderbilt in Hattiesburg, losing 6-4. The losing pitcher that day was Larry Knight, who would go on to coach Hattiesburg and Sumrall High Schools to a combined nine state championships.
• As a freshman centerfielder in 1972, Halford batted against Southern Miss great Ray Guy, the future Pro Football Hall of Famer. Guy threw a no-hitter. “Best I ever faced,” Halford said. “He was Max Scherzer before Max Scherzer. He was mid-to-upper 90s and that slider was absolutely filthy.”