Expanded eligibility for federal Pell Grants could help more Mississippians pursue training that may lead to a job and earning a living wage, workforce advocates and higher education officials say. 

As part of sprawling spending and tax legislation Congress passed last year, eligibility for the Pell Grant program, which provides financial aid for students from low-income backgrounds, will be expanded to include short-term training programs — lasting between eight and 14 weeks, or 150 to 599 hours of instruction, through an accredited institution.

Traditionally, Pell Grant recipients are undergraduates enrolled in long-term — at least one academic year — professional degree or certificate programs.  

That expansion, known as Workforce Pell, is slated to go into effect July 1. 

An estimated 79,709 Mississippi college students received Pell Grants in 2024-25, according to a report from the National College Attainment Network. 

That number would likely increase with expanded eligibility.

The expansion is an “optimistic opportunity,” said Courtney Taylor, executive director of AccelerateMS, the state’s office of workforce development strategy.

“If there is a new funding stream that can potentially assist more people to get into high quality training opportunities that can put them on a path of getting a better job, we should look at it with an open mind.” 

Workforce Pell could also be a chance for Mississippi to reach its Ascent to 55% goal of getting more than half of its residents the training or education needed to earn a college or degree certificate by 2030, said Jason Dean, executive director of Mississippi Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. 

As of 2025, 48.7% of Mississippians ages 25 to 64 had a degree, credential or industry certification beyond high school, slightly higher than the national national average of 43.6%, according to the Lumina Foundation.

State lawmakers have also begun examining ways to increase the number of adults who complete some form of higher education and enter the state’s workforce. This could mean tying state money to a new funding formula that rewards universities and colleges on metrics of postgraduate students’ success such as degree completion, employment and median job earnings. 

Expanding  the federal financial aid program challenges the definition of higher education by making it affordable and accessible for all individuals wanting to go to college, Dean said. 

“People have had different ideas of what post-secondary education means in the United States,” Dean said, “but Workforce Pell suggests a broader definition beyond traditional degrees and a way for people to get the workforce certificate, education or skills needed to create a better quality of life path for them and their families.”

Preventing waste and protecting students

It’s unclear how Workforce Pell will ultimately work. 

The federal government is still ironing out details of the final rules and accountability requirements for states. The U.S. Department of Education must sign off on those regulations before governors can start state specific program approval processes. 

In initial conversations, state higher education leaders, economic and workforce development officials and lawmakers have focused on identifying  short-term programs that could be eligible for Workforce Pell, Taylor said. Mississippi’s list would likely include a niche set of programs such as training commercial truck driving or emergency medical technicians, she said. 

Each program must also award a credential that is “stackable” or can count as academic credit toward an advance certificate, associate or bachelor’s degree, according to the education department’s draft guidelines. 

Grants awarded for Workforce Pell recipients will likely be less than the current Pell Grant maximum of $7,395, depending on factors such as the length and cost of the programs, said Wesley Whistle, project director for student success and affordability at New America, a national nonprofit public policy think tank.

States will also have to consider strategies to protect students from wasting their lifetime Pell Grant eligibility on short-term programs that are risky, low-quality or fraudulent, Whistle said.

If students leave the programs with “a low wage and a thousand dollars of debt that has really bad repayment terms, that’s not great,” Whistle said. 

Ultimately, state agencies, accreditors and colleges can establish protections to prevent students from being exploited. This could include providing transparency around program costs, setting consumer protection standards and requiring reports of  program outcomes, he said. 

If implemented correctly, Workforce Pell could dovetail with the state’s policy efforts to align support services for Mississippians looking  to enter and stay in the state’s workforce and boost the economy, Taylor said. 

 “It is challenging,” she said, “but there’s a lot of opportunity to make a difference.”

Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss’ appeal to the NCAA for an additional year of eligibility so he can play for the Rebels next season has been denied, the university said on Wednesday, but the fight is not over.

The NCAA originally denied Chambliss’ request for a sixth year of college football eligibility on Jan. 9, so an appeal was made to the NCAA’s Athletics Eligibility Subcommittee, which was also denied.

Ole Miss issued a statement that said the NCAA’s decision was “indefensible in light of the undisputed facts.”

Chambliss has also taken his fight to state court, where the case is pending.

Chambliss “will continue to pursue all available legal remedies, and we will publicly stand behind Trinidad while holding the NCAA accountable for a decision that fails to align with its own rules, precedent and the documented medical record,” the Ole Miss statement said.

Ole Miss’ arguments revolve around the fact that the 23-year-old Chambliss, although he has been in college for five years, has only played three years of college football because of his medical history.

“Trinidad first enrolled in Ferris State in the fall of 2021, but medical and physical incapacity prevented his ability to adequately train and condition and develop athletically,” the court complaint says.

After taking a redshirt his first season at Ferris State in 2021-22, Chambliss was held out in his second season for medical reasons.

He played two more seasons at the Division II school in Michigan, leading the Bulldogs to a national championship before transferring to Ole Miss before the start of this season.

Chambliss completed 294 of 445 passes (66.1%) for 3,937 yards with 22 touchdowns and three interceptions for Ole Miss (13-2), which set a school record for wins, including two after making the College Football Playoff for the first time. He ran for 527 yards and eight more TDs.

The Rebels lost 31-27 to Miami in the Fiesta Bowl in College Football Playoff semifinals on Jan. 8.

Hours after Mississippi Today reported Thursday that the National Park Service had removed brochures to the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument that identified his murderer as a racist, the Park Service returned the brochures to the home.

On Thursday, Park Service officials told Mississippi Today that the reason they removed the brochures was they were “outdated.”

The Park Service had pulled the brochures in anticipation of replacing them with a new version, which would remove the word “racist” to describe the killer, Byron De La Beckwith, according to Park Service officials, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution. Other edits include eliminating the reference to Medgar Evers lying in a pool of blood after being shot.

Medgar Evers’ niece, Hinds County Supervisor Wanda Evers, said, “You can take away the brochures, but the one thing you can’t take away is history.”

Reena Evers-Everette, executive director of the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute and daughter of the couple, said the family has been told the matter is under review, “but the final product has not been put out yet.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson said Thursday he is sending a letter to the National Park Service to get an explanation of what is happening. The Evers home is in Thompson’s district, and he worked for 16 years to get the home recognized as a national monument.

In 1963, Beckwith shot the civil rights leader in the back on the driveway of the Evers family home in Jackson. It would take 31 more years before a Mississippi jury would convict Beckwith.

The pulled brochures called Beckwith “a member of the racist and segregationist White Citizens’ Council.”

Stephanie Rolph, author of “Resisting Equality: The Citizens’ Council 1954-1989,” said the council “believed in the natural superiority of the Aryan race. They even went so far as to say that civilizations failed because of racial amalgamation.”

Beckwith also belonged to the nation’s most violent white supremacist group, the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, responsible for at least 10 killings in Mississippi. 

When he ran unsuccessfully for Mississippi lieutenant governor in 1967, telling crowds that he believed in “absolute white supremacy under white Christian rule.” Six years later, he was caught trying to plant a bomb outside a Jewish leader’s home in New Orleans and went to prison. 

In a 1990 interview, Beckwith repeatedly used racial slurs. He called African Americans “beasts,” referred to Medgar Evers as a “mongrel” and said, “God hates mongrels.”

President Donald Trump, who once called Evers “a great American hero,” issued a March 2025 executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which accused the previous administration of rewriting history. Under the order, the interior secretary must revise or replace signs that “perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history.”

Two months later, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum followed with his own order, calling for the removal of “descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times), and instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.”

The Washington Post has reported that the administration has ordered the removal of signs and exhibits related to slavery at multiple national parks, including an 1863 photo that Christian abolitionists used to prove the horrors of slavery. The picture depicts a Black man whose back was covered in scars from beatings while enslaved.

According to the Post, National Park Service officials are “broadly interpreting that directive to apply to information on racism, sexism, slavery, gay rights or persecution of Indigenous people.”

Park Service officials said Thursday that the interior secretary’s order “directed a review of certain interpretive content to ensure parks tell the full and accurate story of American history, including subjects that were minimized or omitted under the last administration. That includes fully addressing slavery, the treatment of Native Americans, and other foundational chapters of our history, informed by current scholarship and expert review, not through a narrow ideological lens.

“Some materials may be edited or replaced to provide broader context, others may remain unchanged, and some removals being cited publicly had nothing to do with [the order] at all. Claims that parks are erasing history or removing signs wholesale are inaccurate.”

Julien Beacham said while working for the Evers Institute, he recalled the order coming into the Evers home that park rangers could no longer refer to Beckwith as a “racist” on their tours.

Leslie Burl McLemore, a longtime political science professor and founding director of the Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy at Jackson State University, called it “asinine” to remove such language about Beckwith. “He was a first-class racist, and there’s no way you can get around it,” McLemore said. “He assassinated a man and then bragged about it.”

The Civil Rights Movement never would have happened in Mississippi without people like Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer and Bob Moses leading the way, McLemore said. “And now there are people who want to turn back the clock.”

Mississippi needs to invest in its youngest residents and improve access to child care, nearly 100 advocates, community leaders, early childhood educators and lawmakers said Thursday at the Capitol.

A 10-month crisis has shown the fragility of support structures for families and providers. Last year, 170 child care centers closed statewide – the highest number in nearly a decade. Pandemic-era funds that helped cover child care costs expired in April.  

That rupture in care has landed over 20,000 families on a waitlist for child care vouchers – coupons that make care more affordable for low-income working people. Speakers Thursday demanded solutions from the Legislature and the Department of Human Services, the agency overseeing the child care voucher program. 

“Child care providers and teachers are the backbone of the rest of the workforce,” said Jennifer Calvert, whose Aberdeen center lost about 70 children as a result of the voucher situation. “We show up early, stay late and pour our hearts into helping children learn, grow and feel safe. But we can’t do this work alone, and families can’t shoulder these costs by themselves.”

At the Capitol, speakers also implored lawmakers to pass bills removing the sales tax on diapers and expanding paid family leave. Advocates focused on how these policies would improve Mississippi’s workforce participation rate – the lowest in the nation. 

Mississippi has  room to improve, child care experts say. For example, the enhanced pandemic funding didn’t expand eligibility. Instead, it allowed the program to reach more families. At the height of the pandemic, Mississippi served 1 in 3 eligible children. But now, that gap has more than doubled, and the state has returned to serving only 1 in 7, according to the Mississippi Department of Human Services. 

In recent weeks, the department’s director,  Bob Anderson, has expressed a commitment to exploring a funding model that advocates proposed months ago as a solution to the child care crisis. 

That model involves using funds from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families from past years. Fully addressing the waitlist – and resolving child care needs for each household – would cost $50 to $60 million, according to Anderson. At the end of January, Anderson said the department has roughly that much unallocated money.

Lawmakers have criticized Anderson for waffling on the amount of money he’s requesting for child care. At several recent hearings, Anderson testified that he would welcome as much as the Legislature was willing to give. However, he did not ask for additional child care funding, citing other priorities, including federal costs for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that shifted to the state as a result of the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. 

“DHS has drawn a lot of scrutiny for asking for just level funding,” Rep. Cheikh Taylor, a Democrat from Starkville and chair of the Mississippi Democratic Party, told Mississippi Today. “We need solutions, and sometimes, a budget that is well-crafted and curated can help that conversation. So, if they need $30 million, we need to know.”

During a Legislative Black Caucus hearing on Jan. 28, Rep. Zakiya Summers, a Democrat from Jackson, asked Anderson, “Have you ever heard of the saying ‘a closed mouth don’t get fed’?” 

Summers urged the agency to request what it needs to resolve the crisis, and has told Mississippi Today she is looking into all options, including using general funds, state health department funds and workforce development funds. 

Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford, on Thursday mentioned another bill she hopes will alleviate stress on parents struggling to find affordable child care. 

Senate Bill 2867 would amend a policy passed in 2023 called the Child Care Tax Credit. This policy offers a 50% income tax credit to employers who either provide their employees with child care during work hours or provide at least $6,000 in a stipend to a licensed child care provider for their employees. The program has had virtually no uptake. Lawmakers, however, hope that will change if they lower the threshold to $3,000. 

Meanwhile, child care providers are asking for substantial and immediate public investment in the child care voucher program, which they say is critical. 

“It’s not a giveaway,” said Theophilus King, who runs Christian Mission Learning Center in Jackson, which lost more than half of its 120 children since April. “What you’re doing is you are simply allowing parents to go to work and their children to have quality, affordable child care that will prepare them for school.”

Paige El-tayech trekked across her icy yard in Corinth with her husband, Dee, during the early hours of Jan. 24. The couple took pictures of the havoc caused by Winter Storm Fern – proof they hope will come in handy when or if direct recovery assistance becomes available.

Limbs littered the yard. The family’s yellow and blue swing set was covered by a split tree that could no longer bear the weight of its frozen branches. The weatherproof cap that connects electric lines to their house was disconnected from the meter box. Another tree damaged their roof, causing leaks inside.

Nearly two weeks later, the El-tayech home, like many across north Mississippi, still lacks electricity. Alcorn County Electric Power – known by locals as ACE – urged its customers to call and report any downed power lines. However, Dee El-tayech says he’s been waiting for days to hear back from the company about his initial report.

“I can’t even begin to get the house fixed until ACE comes down and cuts the line,” Dee El-tayech said.

He said the family has received no information about where or how to submit photos of the damage.

This is the ongoing story for many residents of northern Mississippi in the wake of Winter Storm Fern, which struck the state the weekend of Jan. 24-25, causing at least 180,000 power outages at its peak. On Thursday,  at least 22,000 Mississippians remained without power according to poweroutage.us. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency confirmed Wednesday the storm has resulted in at least 28 deaths in the state.

 The federal government has offered assistance to the state in the form of  food, water and safety supplies, plus $3.75 million to reimburse the state for its emergency response. But it’s not clear when the federal government might make direct assistance available to people for expenses such as for home repairs or help paying bills. 

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves included individual assistance, as well as disaster unemployment money, in his Major Disaster Declaration request Tuesday. Mississippi’s congressional delegation wrote President Donald Trump a letter Wednesday seeking approval for a disaster declaration.

The request includes individual aid for residents of 36 counties and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. As more damage is discovered, Reeves’ request may be amended to include additional counties. 

MEMA Director of External Affairs Scott Simmons told Mississippi Today that the agency doesn’t know how long it could take to see assistance in the hands of Mississippians. 

“There is no set clock. We are simply presenting our evidence and waiting for them to ask questions and consider the application,” Simmons said.

Mississippi Today spoke with over a dozen people across north Mississippi about their experiences in the aftermath of the ice storm.

Amy Yurchak, Corinth, Alcorn County

After several days without power, Amy Yurchak and her husband Aaron traveled 59 miles to Florence, Alabama, the Tuesday after the weekend storm hit. They braved ice-covered roads to buy a generator at Lowe’s.

After six days, the generator suddenly stopped, leaving the Yurchak family without power again. The home improvement retailer denied the family a refund because it had been more than 48 hours since the purchase date. Yurchak said she had to drain her family’s bank account to pay for needed supplies, including the generator. Her voice trembled over the phone as she spoke.

“I’ve spent my mortgage money I was supposed to pay this month,” Yurchak said.

Matthew Cannon, Tishomingo, Tishomingo County

Matthew Cannon, his wife Corey and their children have gone without power for at least 10 days in their Tishomingo home. Cannon, who is a certified nursing assistant at North Mississippi Medical in Iuka, was initially stuck at the hospital for five days, including during the storm, before he could return home. While the hospital had a backup generator, it does not power heat or the hospital’s ambulance gate.

“Right before they were going to just drive through it and possibly damage one of their ambulances, one of the EMTs happened to have a chainsaw and was able to cut the barrier down,” Cannon said. “There was a day when we couldn’t get any water. We couldn’t flush toilets. We would just have to put all the patients’ and staffs’ waste in bags and put them in the biohazard stuff.”

Karen Carpenter, Biggersville, Alcorn County

Karen Carpenter is the sole caregiver for her nonverbal husband Larry, who had a stroke in 2019 that caused paralysis in the right side of his body. The elderly couple, like others, had access to a generator, but could not get it started.

Carpenter attempted to call the Biggersville Fire Department for help operating the generator. She said she never received a call back. The couple eventually had to flee to Tupelo to find  heat and food.

“I just don’t feel that we got recognized by our governor for the resources that we really, really needed, and I don’t feel that there was anything put in place that should have been put in place before this storm,” Carpenter said. “You know, there was a lot of mixed information about, ‘It’s gonna be bad, but it’s not gonna be that bad.’”

Shana Bates, Corinth, Alcorn County

Shana Bates and her two children were impacted by the initial weekend storm, losing power in their townhouse around 4 a.m. Jan 24. After several days without power and having to cook food with their kerosene heater, the family found shelter with her children’s babysitter while they await updates on when power will be restored. 

Several of the building’s meter boxes were torn off, and Bates said the power company could not make repairs until the landlord removes the damaged property.

“I had tons of meat and stuff in my freezer that it’s going to waste. 
Not only is rent and bills due at the beginning of the month, now I’ve got to replace everything,” Bates said. “I don’t get any  government assistance. I get no food stamps. I don’t get housing. I pay everything out of my pocket, and now I have to figure out how I’m going to afford  groceries for my children when I can go home.”

State and federal storm response

The state Senate on Tuesday unanimously voted to provide $20 million to fund MEMA’s storm response and recovery efforts, but that plan does not involve direct financial support to residents. The spending would also need approval of the House and the governor, and it’s not clear whether House leaders will endorse it.

According to The Federal Emergency Management Agency, Mississippi worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FEMA days before the storm, which helped to expedite the delivery of resources to the state.

DHS fulfilled the state’s request for 90 generators to power critical facilities in addition to supplying the state with 49 trailers of meals, water, tarps, oxygen canisters and blankets. Additional supplies have been stored at a support base in Columbus.

Reeves mobilized an initial 500 Mississippi National Guard troops Jan. 26 to assist communities with cleanup and traffic control. He has also faced criticism for not deploying the Guard before the storm, as several others governors did. 

Despite the efforts, many Mississippians feel they’ve been overlooked by the government – that private community members did more to help than state and local officials.

“If it weren’t for local businesses, we would of had a lot more deaths here,” Corey Cannon said. “I truly believe that.”

A bill proposing to divert a portion of local taxes from large developments to the state generated a stir at the Capitol this week. 

Rep. Trey Lamar, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and the bill’s author, did not bring up the bill in committee before Tuesday’s deadline, letting it die without a vote. But it could signal some leaders are reevaluating the incentives given to the massive data centers sprouting up in Mississippi and across the South and whether the state is getting a good deal.

When asked about why he didn’t bring his bill up, Lamar responded, “stay tuned.” It’s unclear whether he would try to revive the measure this session.

If the proposal in House Bill 1635 were enacted, for projects over $1 billion in investment, 80% of local ad-valorem taxes collected over $1 billion would go into a new state fund, with 20% going to the local government and school district. Money in the new fund would be earmarked for infrastructure and economic development projects across the state. 

Local leaders have pushed back against this proposal. The director of the Madison County Economic Development Authority, Joey Deason, told WLBT that the bill would disincentivize major investments. He also said it would reduce the county’s new tax revenue from the construction of an Amazon data center from $70 million a year to $20 million a year. 

Last year, the Center for Economic Accountability named the Compass Datacenters project in Meridian the country’s “Worst Economic Development Deal of the Year.” The center cited the “breadth and length” of the state and local tax incentives as the primary reason for labeling it a bad deal. 

Data centers remain attractive projects for local leaders and developers. The centers bring in billions of dollars in investment, new tax revenue and create more jobs. But there has been pushback from residents who are concerned about environmental impacts and the lack of transparency. Data centers create relatively few jobs compared to the scale of investment and demand large amounts of power and water. 

Other news: Ag land being bought up, Siemens expanding in Rankin County, hotel and conference center planned for Madison

• A new report from Mississippi State University Extension shows more of the state’s farmland is being bought by real estate and financial institutions. Individuals still make up a majority of transactions. But purchases by financial businesses rose by 5.78% between 2019 and 2023, complicating an already fraught agricultural landscape.
• Siemens Energy is expanding its presence in Mississippi. On Tuesday, the company announced it will build a $300-million manufacturing plant in Rankin County. The project is expected to create almost 300 jobs. The company’s Richland facility has been in operation since the 1970s.
• The developer of Topgolf is planning to build a new luxury hotel and 50,000-square-foot conference center in the Prado Vista development in Madison County. The plan is for a 250-room hotel next to the conference center. The hotel will include four restaurants. The developer, Gabriel Prado, has announced a slew of new projects over the last year. The most recent announcement was a $50-million luxury loft development in Jackson.
• The Golden Triangle Development LINK announced Iain D. Vasey will be its new president and chief executive officer starting March 15. The organization is the economic development arm for Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties. It gained national recognition for attracting over $10 billion in investment under its previous CEO, Joe Max Higgins. Higgins left abruptly in August reportedly due to workplace behavior. Vasey is an experienced economic developer and was most recently the director of development services for the city of Klamath Falls, Oregon. Previously, he was president and CEO of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development, where one of his projects was with Steel Dynamics, who has a presence in the Golden Triangle.

As school closures continue into a second week after Winter Storm Fern, the Mississippi House has voted to extend the amount of time districts can close without making days up. 

The storm ravaged the state in late January, leaving downed power lines, icy roads and fallen trees in its wake. Schools across the Southeast are still dealing with closures, including Oxford School District and Holly Springs School District in Mississippi. 

House Education Committee Chairman Rob Roberson, a Republican from Starkville, was successful in amending an unrelated bill on the floor in its entirety on Thursday, replacing it with language that gives districts in north Mississippi impacted by the ice storm up to 15 canceled school days due to emergencies.

State law currently only allows 10 missed days for weather emergencies and natural disasters. Any more, and schools have to add extra time to their academic year. 

“I don’t think we have much of a choice,” he said. “Some of these school districts still don’t have electricity … frankly, a lot of these teachers don’t want to have to come back in and make these days up in the summer.”

The law, which passed unanimously, would only apply this year. Next school year, they would return to 10 allotted weather emergency days. 

Absenteeism from severe weather can impact learning, according to the Northwest Evaluation Association. The organization says that missing a day of school from a weather-related closure is almost equal to four days of lost learning time.

The bill now heads to the Senate. 

A south Mississippi man who vandalized and set fire to a Mormon church will serve 30 years in federal prison. 

Stefan Day Rowold was sentenced Tuesday on civil rights and arson charges for the July 2024 fires set at the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Wiggins.

“This was a deliberate, hate-fueled attack on a place of worship meant to intimidate an entire community,” J.E. Baxter Kruger, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, said in a statement. “Attacks like this will be met with the full force of federal law. Today’s sentence demonstrates our commitment to protecting the right to worship in safety and without fear.”

Church members were unable to hold service for months because of the fire damage. At Rowold’s sentencing, the court awarded the church about $176,000 in restitution. 

Prosecutors argued during a September 2025 trial that the 37-year-old targeted the church because of “animosity toward what he believed to be their religious views,” according to a news release from Kruger’s office. 

Those beliefs were on display in the messages Rowold wrote on the church’s walls, including “False Prophets” and “you will never reach heaven,” according to the indictment. Other messages he wrote alleged sex trafficking and child sexual abuse by the church. 

The Wiggins resident confessed to police how he broke a glass door with a cinderblock to get inside the church. After writing on the walls, Rowold gathered hymnals, paintings and other religious objects from across the church and used them as kindling to set a fire in a multipurpose room, according to court records. He tried to spread the fire by adding a desk and piano, but the fire eventually went out on its own. 

Days later, a church member arrived for service and saw the damage. Officers from the Wiggins Police Department saw Rowold in the area of the church when they arrived at the scene and put up tape. Rowold realized he had not burned the entire building, according to court records. 

He returned later that day and tried to set another fire, staying in the area as first responders arrived. Rowold went back to the church building to observe, which is when law enforcement saw him again and identified him as a person of interest, according to court documents. 

The FBI Jackson Field Office investigated the case with help from federal, state and local law enforcement, including the Wiggins Police Department and the state fire marshal. 

Rowold’s sentencing comes weeks after a fire was set at Jackson’s Beth Israel Congregation, the largest synagogue in the state. 

Days later, Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19, confessed to his father how he used an ax to break into the synagogue, poured gasoline and lit it with a torch lighter. He was indicted on state and federal charges. Pittman has pleaded not guilty to the federal arson charge and remains jailed awaiting trial.

Correction 2/5/26: This story has been updated to correct Rowold’s sentence.

A new law takes effect immediately that will make it easier for health facilities to make costly improvements and limit where the University of Mississippi Medical Center can open new locations without state approval after Gov. Tate Reeves signed the legislation into law Wednesday. 

Lawmakers passed nearly identical changes to the state’s certificate of need law last session, but this year, they removed a provision that led Republican Gov. Tate Reeves to veto the legislation in April. 

Certificate of need law requires providers to receive state approval before opening new services or paying for expensive upgrades by proving that people need the services in their area. The regulations are meant to lower costs and enhance the quality and accessibility of health care by preventing duplication of services, but stakeholders are divided on whether the law accomplishes its goals. 

Reeves signed the bill Wednesday, doubling the cost thresholds that triggers the requirement. For clinical improvements other than major medical equipment, hospitals will now require approval for changes over $10 million, up from $5 million. It also seeks to level the playing field between the University of Mississippi Medical Center and other health care providers by limiting UMMC’s certificate of need exemption to the area around UMMC’s main campus and the Jackson Medical Mall. For years, UMMC has been exempt from certificate of need requirements for facilities or equipment that is used for education. 

Critics argue that certificate of need stifles competition and fails to decrease costs. Advocates say it ensures that communities have access to a range of health services, not only those that are profitable. In Mississippi, where over half of rural hospitals are at risk of closing, some argue that the laws prevent struggling hospitals from opening profitable service lines that could shore up their bottom lines. 

Both chambers of the Legislature have made efforts to loosen certificate of need laws to help rural areas. 

The House passed a bill with a vote of 121-1 Wednesday to exempt existing rural hospitals from certificate of need regulations. The change would allow 55 hospitals in Mississippi to open new health services or make improvements within a 5-mile radius of the hospital’s main building without state approval. 

The bill also exempts Humphreys and Issaquena counties entirely from certificate of need law, and directs the Mississippi State Department of Health to study requiring hospitals to treat a certain percentage of uninsured patients.

“House Bill 1622 is about giving our rural hospitals a fighting chance while still protecting the stability of the rest of our hospitals,” House Public Health and Human Services Chairman Sam Creekmore, a Republican from New Albany, said Wednesday. 

House Medicaid Chairwoman Rep. Missy McGee, a Republican from Hattiesburg, cast the only dissenting vote on the bill, arguing that allowing hospitals to open new facilities, like outpatient dialysis centers, could harm existing health care services and spread resources too thin. She said there are already outpatient dialysis centers close to several rural hospitals in the state. 

“It seems like it’s a really broad bill, and … I’m concerned that it’s blowing the whole (certificate of need) open in our state,” McGee said. 

The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee passed two bills Feb. 3 that would loosen certificate of need provisions. One would create a pilot program that tasks the state health officer to issue licenses for three outpatient dialysis units, three ambulatory surgery centers and one geriatric psychiatric facility connected to rural hospitals. The facilities would be required to be within five miles of the rural hospital’s main location. 

Certificate of need law has long been criticized as cumbersome and time-consuming, frequently delaying the opening of new health care services when competing health providers appeal the state’s issuance of a certificate. 

Another bill passed by the Senate committee would require any party requesting a hearing on the state’s decision and losing, pay the fees associated with the hearing. Senate Public Health and Welfare Chair Hob Bryan, a Democrat from Amory, said there has only been one instance in which a party has won an appeal on certificate of need, but that numerous appeals have held up the process without prevailing. 

“There’s no good that’s coming from the endless litigation,” Bryan said. 

Sen. Angela Hill, a Republican from Picayune, said the process resembled a “kingdom,” making it harder to challenge the health department’s decisions. The system would be better without certificate of needs altogether, she said. 

“We gotta quit picking and choosing and let the market work,” Hill said. “And let people bring in health care and deliver health care where it’s needed. And God knows, it’s needed all over Mississippi.” 

The state’s certificate of need law is a familiar target for legislative reform in Mississippi, but few substantial changes have been made to the law in a decade. 

The legislation approved by the governor Wednesday also directs the health department to study easing some approval requirements for small hospitals for dialysis and geriatric psychiatry services, a move that could lead to future reforms. The bill also requires the agency to study requiring psychiatric facilities to treat a certain percentage of uninsured patients, and approves or revises certificates of need for specific facilities in Madison, DeSoto and Harrison counties.