(Jackson, Miss.) The Mississippi Journalism and Education Group board of directors is proud to announce that it recently completed the acquisition of the journalism assets of the Jackson Free Press. The JFP has served Jackson, Mississippi, and surrounding areas for nearly two decades, covering Mississippi’s capital city and suburbs through print and digital media. MJEG is a 501(c)(3) that includes the statewide Mississippi Free Press and the Mississippi Youth Media Project, which offers young people journalism mentorship and job training in their own working newsroom. (YMP has been on hiatus through the pandemic, but MJEG hopes to relaunch in 2023.)

“I’m excited by this acquisition because it saves important journalism,“ said Publisher and Director of Revenue Kimberly Griffin, a Mississippi native who announced the acquisition to readers in a publisher’s note Monday. “The JFP served the capital city so well by covering communities other media ignored or sensationalized. We’re excited to extend that service and include more JFP readers in our statewide community.”

The acquisition includes the entirety of the Jackson Free Press’ published journalism and work product, the Jackson Free Press name and mailing lists, access to social media accounts, and office furniture and computer equipment. Jackson Free Press Inc. retains its financial obligations along with the Best of Jackson trademark, website and related content. The remaining Jackson Free Press Inc. staff will continue the work they have been doing in digital media services, changing over from JFP Digital Services to the renamed Changemaker Media Services over the next 90 days.

This move preserves nearly 20 years of important journalism in its original form. As resources allow, MJEG plans to update the presentation of JFP content allowing for a more user-friendly experience with select “classic” media packages housed on the MFP website.

“At the MFP, just as we did at the JFP, we rely heavily on history to contextualize our reporting, especially on race history, inequities, and systemic barriers,” MFP Editor and Executive Director Donna Ladd said. Ladd was a co-founder and editor of the JFP. “MFP journalists and other journalists now regularly build on the reporting our team did at the JFP for so many years. That public record needs to be preserved and easily searchable to be the full resource it can be in the Mississippi journalistic ecosystem.”

The Mississippi Free Press employs 10 former Jackson Free Press staff members, providing strong institutional knowledge and strong, inclusive networks across the state. They are Donna Ladd, editor and executive director; Kimberly Griffin, publisher and director of revenue; Kristen Brenemen, creative director; Ashton Pittman, senior reporter; Azia Wiggins, deputy editor; Kayode Crown, reporter; Nate Schumann, deputy editor; Nick Judin, state reporter; Aliyah Veal, culture reporter; and Dustin Cardon, digital editor. All grew up in Mississippi, other than Kayode Crown.

“In a time when many young local publications are struggling to hire the staff they need to do essential journalism, the Mississippi Free Press has benefited immensely from bringing over dedicated staff members from the Jackson Free Press,” Ladd said. “This meant no one was laid off during the pandemic, and our nonprofit journalism newsroom could quickly build a dream team of professionals who work together well and share a passion for our state.”

MFP Takes Over JFP Offices in Downtown Jackson

The Mississippi Journalism and Education Group signed a new lease effective January 2022 for the offices that formerly housed the Jackson Free Press, allowing MFP’s hybrid (remote and in-office) staff to continue to be based in the capital city—downtown Jackson—near city, state and federal government offices, courts and the Legislature. Our address is 125 S. Congress Street #1324, Jackson, MS, 39201. Call the MFP at 601-301-2021 and Publisher Kimberly Griffin at (601) 884-0316.

“The MFP and JFP were separate organizations until this point, and it was a bit confusing to readers,” Griffin said. “We now extend a formal invitation to our JFP readers to join us on the MFP journey. As Mississippians, we know it’s important our state has robust journalism in the capital city and statewide. We hold fast to the mission that Mississippians deserve accurate, in-depth reporting that seeks solutions through deep reporting and listening to our communities.”

Mississippi Journalism and Education Group is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media organization (EIN 85-1403937) for the state, devoted to going beyond partisanship to publish solutions journalism for the Magnolia State and all of its people. MJEG now operates the Mississippi Free Press, Jackson Free Press and Mississippi Youth Media Project. Launched in March 2020 as the pandemic hit, the Mississippi Free Press was named Startup of the Year in 2021 by the Institute for Nonprofit News. The MFP has attracted many honors, accolades and significant local, regional and national media coverage since it launched.

This story originally appeared in the Mississippi Free Press. The Mississippi Free Press is a statewide nonprofit news outlet that provides most of its stories free to other media outlets to republish. Write shaye@mississippifreepress.org for information.

Jackson State University President Thomas K. Hudson, Interim Vice President for Institutional Advancement Gwendolyn Caples and College of Science, Engineering and Technology Dean Wilbur Walters recently held a ceremony to unveil the Brigadier General Robert Crear CSET atrium on the JSU campus.

John Nau, president and CEO of Silver Eagle Distributors, L.P., contributed $1 million to JSU as part of the atrium dedication. Crear and Nau serve together on the Friends of the Vicksburg National Military Park Board of Directors.

JSU will use the funds Nau donated for scholarships for students majoring in science, technology, engineering and math, including those enrolled in JSU’s ROTC program, a release from the university says.

Crear is chairman of Rye Development, which develops new hydroelectric power sources for existing dams in the United States. Crear is also president and CEO of the Crear Group LLC, a governmental relations and business development consulting firm in Vicksburg. Crear also organized and served as Commander of Task Force Hope, the Corps of Engineers’ $14.6 billion infrastructure recovery and restoration effort in Mississippi and Louisiana after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Alumnus Joe N. Tatum Donates $50,000 to JSU College of Business

Jackson State University recently received a $50,000 donation from alumnus Joe N. Tatum, an attorney with 25 years of experience, for the College of Business to provide students with the concrete life skills necessary to function within the business world, a release from JSU says.

Tatum was the only one out of thirteen children in his family to attend college. He graduated Cum Laude from JSU, earning his bachelor’s degree in accounting.

He later received his Juris Doctorate from Mississippi College School of Law, where he received the American Jurisprudence Award in secure transactions. Tatum was also a Fredrick Douglass Moot Court Semi-Finalist and served on the Moot Court Board.

MSU and U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center Host ERDC Day

Mississippi State University and the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center partnered to host ERDC Day on Thursday, April 14, at MSU’s James Worth Bagley College of Engineering.

Leaders from the research center conducted a public panel discussion during which 600 College of Engineering students heard presentations from ERDC leaders on career pathways, sustainability efforts, future uses of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Based in Vicksburg, ERDC is the research unit of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 2014, MSU and ERDC partnered to create the Institute for Systems Engineering Research, which is also housed in Vicksburg. MSU and ERDC collaborate on high performance computing, materials science, military engineering, autonomous systems, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

MSU launched a military engineering concentration in 2018, in part to help ERDC meet its training needs with a local academic partner, a release from the university says. MSU researchers are developing advanced materials and conducting autonomous vehicle modeling and simulation for navigation in cold environments.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A former Mississippi Department of Human Services director has been indicted on 20 additional felony charges tied to allegations that he participated in misusing money that was supposed to help some of the poorest people in the nation, including some spent to send a former pro wrestler to a luxury drug rehab facility.

John Davis of Brookhaven has pleaded not guilty to the new charges of bribery, conspiracy and making false statements to the government. The indictments were unsealed this week, days after he entered the plea.

In early 2020, Davis and five others were charged in what the state auditor called the largest public corruption case in Mississippi in the past two decades. Davis and some of the other defendants are still awaiting trial.

Davis was a longtime Department of Human Services employee who was chosen to lead the agency in 2016 by the Republican governor at the time, Phil Bryant. Davis retired in July 2019.

Like the previous charges, many of the new ones against Davis are connected to federal money from Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, which the Department of Human Services paid to nonprofit education organizations run by mother and son Nancy New and Zachary New.

The new indictments allege those organizations, with Davis' knowledge, paid $160,000 for drug rehabilitation in Malibu, California, for former pro wrestler Brett DiBiase; that Davis hired DiBiase for a Department of Human Services job that required a college degree, knowing DiBiase did not have a degree; and that the department paid DiBiase $48,000 for work he did not do.

Court records show a Hinds County grand jury issued the latest indictments on April 8. An April 12 court document showed Davis pleaded not guilty to all the charges, as he had to the previous ones. Hinds County Circuit Judge Adrienne Wooten set a Sept. 26 trial date on the new charges.

DiBiase pleaded guilty in December 2020 to one count of making a false statement. He said in court documents that he had submitted documents and received full payment for work he did not complete. He agreed to pay $48,000 in restitution, and his sentencing was deferred.

Mississippi Auditor Shad White has demanded repayment of $77 million of misspent welfare funds, including money paid to retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre, who lives in Mississippi. Favre has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.

White said Favre received $1.1 million for speeches but did not show up for them. Favre has repaid the money, but White said in October that Favre still owed $228,000 in interest. In a Facebook post when he repaid the first $500,000, Favre said he didn’t know the money he received came from welfare funds. He also said his charity had provided millions of dollars to poor children in Mississippi and Wisconsin.

A recent series of investigative reports by Mississippi Today has focused on the corruption case, including private communication between Bryant and Davis about Human Services programs. The NAACP has called on the Justice Department to investigate spending in the Department of Human Services. Nancy New and Zachary New were indicted in March 2021 on federal charges of fraudulently obtaining money from the Mississippi Department of Education. They are awaiting trial.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A mother and son who ran a for-profit education company have pleaded guilty to improperly obtaining millions of dollars from the Mississippi Department of Education by submitting false documents about schools they operated.

Federal court records show that on Wednesday, Nancy New pleaded guilty to wire fraud and Zachary New pleaded guilty to conspiracy. They remain free on bond, and sentencing is set for Nov. 9.

“My office was proud to continue our work with our federal partners to help achieve this result in this case," Mississippi Auditor Shad White said in a statement Thursday.

Nancy New was president and Zachary New was vice president of operations for New Learning Resources Inc., which ran three private schools that offered services for children with autism or dyslexia — New Summit in Jackson, North New Summit in Greenwood and South New Summit in Hattiesburg.

Mississippi law allows some public education money to be paid to private schools for students with special academic needs, but prosecutors said Nancy New and Zachary New submitted documents fraudulently seeking reimbursement for teachers' salaries. Those included claims for teachers who no longer worked at the schools and claims that misrepresented other school employees as teachers.

Prosecutors said New Learning Resources fraudulently obtained more than $2 million from the state from 2017 to 2020.

The mother and son are among the people still facing state charges in the alleged misuse of federal money through the state Department of Human Services, in what White has called the largest public corruption case in Mississippi in the past two decades.

Nancy New and Zachary New were indicted in March 2021 on federal charges of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering and engaging in monetary transactions with proceeds of specified unlawful activity with education money. They originally pleaded not guilty to all counts. Conviction on all charges would have carried up to 210 years in prison.

Nancy New pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, which court documents define as monetary transactions using proceeds of an illegal activity. She faces up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. A judge also could order her to pay restitution, and she could have to forfeit a Jackson home and any other assets bought with the fraudulently gained money.

Federal prosecutors filed a new charge against Zachary New on Wednesday, and he pleaded guilty to conspiracy. He faces up to five years in federal prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — For years, Tennessee Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro’s call to require the state’s voting infrastructure to include a paper record of each ballot cast has been batted down in the Republican-dominated Legislature.

But as false claims still swirl around the 2020 presidential election — and some GOP voters remain distrustful of voting machines — Tennessee Republican lawmakers who have held off are coming around on a paper-backed mandate. A similar scenario is playing out in some of the five other states -- four of which are Republican-led -- that do not currently have a voting system with a paper record.

The Tennessee GOP bill that is gaining traction would set a 2024 deadline for Tennessee to join the vast majority of states that already have voting systems that include a paper record of every ballot cast, so any disputed results can be verified.

Yarbro said he’ll take the change, even if he doesn’t love the impetus for it.

“I’m disappointed that it’s taken this long, and somewhat concerned over the rationale,” the Nashville lawmaker said. “But at the end of the day, this is good public policy.”

Mississippi and Indiana plan to have a paper trail by the 2024 presidential election. Last year, lawmakers in Texas — where slightly more than 1 in 10 registered voters cast ballots on paperless machines — passed a law requiring paper records by 2026. Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick touted the move as helping to rebuild trust in elections.

Efforts in two states — Louisiana and Democratic-led New Jersey — have been slowed by either process issues or funding.

"Across the partisan spectrum, there is some sense that the controversy around 2020 underscores how important it is to have paper records of voter intent that we can go back to,” said Mark Lindeman, director of Verified Voting, a group that tracks voting equipment across states.

In Tennessee, GOP Gov. Bill Lee has proposed $15 million for a switch to voter-verifiable, paper-backed equipment. The changeout could cost up to $37 million, with leftover federal election funds covering the rest, state officials said. Nearly two-thirds of the state’s 95 counties currently do not produce a paper record.

Republican lawmakers say Tennessee's elections are just fine. They direct scrutiny at other states, despite a lack of any evidence of widespread fraud or other major problems anywhere in the 2020 election.

“When they had the vote, there were a lot of questions about it, especially in several of the states, Georgia and different ones — ‘Is this done right?’" said Tennessee Sen. Ed Jackson, the Republican bill sponsor. “So, that’s what we are trying to accomplish. But we don’t have that issue here in Tennessee.”

Nationwide, election officials continue to grapple with false claims spread by former President Donald Trump and his allies about the 2020 election. This has led to new mail voting restrictions, threats directed at election officials, costly and time-consuming partisan ballot reviews and calls to abandon voting machines altogether and rely solely on paper ballots counted by hand.

About 68% of U.S. registered voters will mark ballots by hand for the 2022 midterm elections, while the rest will use touchscreen voting machines, according to Verified Voting. About 5% of ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election did not have a paper record, down from about 18% in 2016, according to federal officials.

That will shrink further by 2024.

In Indiana this year, Republicans decided not to replace existing equipment. Instead, they added a small printer to some 5,000 voting machines to create a paper trail by 2024.

That plan advanced through the GOP-dominated Legislature in March despite criticism from voter advocacy groups. They argue the printer technology is outdated and relies on lightweight thermal paper, similar to cash register receipts, that is easily damaged and lets voters see only part of their ballot at a time through a small window.

Democratic state Rep. Ed DeLaney of Indianapolis argued not having voter-completed paper ballots available for recounts threatens election integrity far more than claims such as mail ballot fraud.

“If we want to have voter confidence, then we need to do those things which are simple and effective in preventing a miscount,” said DeLaney. “That’s what we need to do and then we can worry about our fantasies and fears.”

This month, Mississippi lawmakers sent the governor legislation to require paper backups by 2024. On a radio show last year, Republican Sen. Jeff Tate said his bill addresses the perception of rigged voting equipment.

In New Jersey, GOP Sen. Joe Pennacchio has sponsored a bill to require paper ballots for all in-person voting, saying that even without the complaints over the 2020 election, “it’s still the right thing to do.” Some majority-party Democrats have introduced paper-trail proposals, as well. New Jersey has a long-standing requirement to upgrade to paper-backed voting systems, but a 2009 deadline still hasn't kicked in due to funding issues.

New Jersey has a hodgepodge of counties with voting machines that produce paper trails, and some that don’t. The state’s law permitting early in person voting, which took effect in 2021, called for machines with paper records. Though the state financed them for all 21 counties, only some bought enough to run their entire election on paper-backed machines.

About one-third of Mississippi voters and nearly half of New Jersey voters use paperless machines, according to Verified Voting.

Louisiana’s Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin has favored ballot-marking machines that print a paper receipt that is electronically scanned so results could be available on election night, but efforts to replace the state's paperless machines have been mired in process delays.

A 2021 law tasked a new commission with recommending a replacement with a paper trail. As it mulls its options, the commission has heard calls for hand-marked paper ballots along with unsubstantiated claims of “cheating” in the 2020 election.

There is no evidence of any widespread fraud or coordinated efforts to steal the 2020 election. Last year, The Associated Press reviewed every instance of potential voter fraud reported in the six states disputed by Trump and found fewer than 475 cases — a number that would have made no difference in the contest.

Over the years, Tennessee election officials have said counties can choose their voting equipment. More recently, they encouraged a move toward paper-backed systems. Now, they support requiring the change, reasoning that increasingly fewer paperless machines are produced.

Last year, a Republican-led legislative subcommittee halted a Democratic push for a paper-trail mandate.

“If there’s not a problem, why are we trying to fix it? And why are we mandating that our local governments have to foot the bill for it?” GOP Rep. Ryan Williams said in 2021.

Williams has since come around. He voted for the new bill last month, telling fellow lawmakers that Tennesseans were “disturbed" about "elections in other states that they felt like disenfranchised them.”

“I think one of the things our citizens wanted to know after the last elections, that we did have a way to verify them in paper," Williams said.

Jackson State University recently announced two speakers who will hold presentations during the university's 2022 commencement exercises.

Thasunda Brown Duckett, president and chief executive officer of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, will serve as the speaker for the graduate student ceremony on Friday, April 29, at 9 a.m. TIAA is a Fortune 100 provider of secure retirements and outcome-focused investment solutions to people working in higher education, healthcare and other mission-driven organizations.

Homer Wilkes, under secretary of agriculture for the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment, will serve as the speaker for the undergraduate student ceremony on Saturday, April 30 at 9 a.m. During his tenure, Wilkes has served as state conservationist for Mississippi, chief financial officer for the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Washington, D.C. and as deputy state conservationist for Mississippi.

The commencement ceremony will be a non-ticketed event. There will be no processional for graduates, and seating for graduates will be spaced out. For more information, visit jfpms.edu.

National Academy of Inventors Opens New MSU Chapter

The National Academy of Inventors recently announced that it is establishing a new new chapter at Mississippi State University.

NAI is a non-profit organization created to support aspiring inventors in academics. Founded in 2010, the NAI educates and mentors students and enhances the visibility of academic technology and innovation. The academy also encourages the disclosure of intellectual property, recognizes and encourages inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and translates the inventions of its members to benefit society.

MSU’s chapter is part of a collaboration with the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering, its Department of Mechanical Engineering and the iDEELab, an educational resource for engineering students.

For more information, visit msstate.edu.

MSU Hosting Marc E. Bassy

Music Maker Productions at Mississippi State University will host San Francisco singer/songwriter Marc E. Bassy at the Old Main Music Festival on Friday, April 22, at the MSU Amphitheater.

Bassy is a former vocalist for the Los Angeles-based pop band 2AM Club. Works from his solo career include the 2014 mixtape "Only the Poets," a 2015 release titled "East Hollywood" and the 2016 EP "Groovy People," which includes the single “You & Me” featuring G-Eazy.

The Old Main Music Festival is free and open to the public. The festival will include outdoor games, an art market, food vendors and performances from local and national musicians throughout the day. The Art Market begins at 3 p.m., and food trucks will open at 3:30 p.m. Both will remain open until 7 p.m., when the main stage act begins. Music Maker Productions will announce local stage artists and main stage openers closer to the event.

For more information, visit msuconcerts.org or call the MSU Center for Student Activities at 662-325-2930.

Ariel Hurley, 5, watched with excitement as contractors rebuilt her backyard in Brandon, Miss., into a space where she could play with her brother. Throughout December 2021, the Oakdale Elementary kindergartener observed the workers first turn her family’s decaying deck into a double-level extension to the porch and build a swingset next to it. She can even play outside when it’s raining now.

“I’ve been wishing for a plane, a slide and a pilot thing and a swing, so my mom doesn’t have to take me to the park,” Ariel told the Mississippi Free Press.

The 5-year-old likes to swing high, though her mother Terry Hurley encourages Ariel not to as to avoid injury. Her daughter has an illness that has affected her for much of her life, and this backyard makeover was her wish.

Ariel’s mother applied for Make-A-Wish when her daughter was 2 years old. Ariel got approved right away, the mother said, but COVID-19 made its arrival, delaying the process by two years.

“It took some more time to finally get a contractor who would do it. They started, I’d say, in the first part of December last year, and it was done two days before Christmas,” Hurley told the Mississippi Free Press.

Santa Claus visited Ariel and her friends for a party to celebrate her new backyard with toys in tow.

“We had cake,” Ariel added to her mother’s retelling of the festivities. “(It said) Happy Make-A-Wish to you.”

The kindergartner said her favorite part about her new backyard makeover is the swings that

“It’s nice ’cause it’s off of my den, and I’ve got some big windows across the back,” Hurley said. “I sit here and watch them play, and I don’t have to sit outside if I don’t want to. As soon as we get home from school, she says, ‘Can I go outside?’”

“I say it everyday,” Ariel chimed in.

“They play a lot on it. It’s well-used,” her mother added.

‘Surpassing Goals’

Kids for Wish Kids Coordinator Jane Walsh has worked for the Make-A-Wish Mississippi chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation for more than 20 years, helping schools come up with ideas for how to raise money to help grant kids’ wishes.

After hearing about Ariel’s illness, she reached out to Hurley’s mother and asked where her daughter attended school. She then approached Oakdale to see whether they would be interested in having a fundraiser, and administrators jumped at the opportunity to participate, Walsh said.

“Usually when I’m starting to contact schools each school year, I start with schools that have a wish child that attends that school because that makes the school more interested in helping us,” she told the Mississippi Free Press.”

Hurley said she encouraged the fundraiser because she knew it would benefit other children, not just Ariel.

“Ms. Payne, our principal, called me in. … She said, this looks like something your Venture students could do as a service-learning project. So I jumped on it and said yes,” Elizabeth Woods, a teacher at Oakdale Elementary, told the Mississippi Free Press.

Woods oversees Oakdale’s Venture program, a gifted-education program where second- through sixth-grade students work on their logic and critical-thinking skills, participate in STEM activities, practice independent studies, and engage in community service and awareness.

“I think Elizabeth did a great job in getting the word out,” Walsh said. “We sent home fliers that had Ariel’s picture on them, so people knew that it was an organization that helps children right here among us.”

Make-A-Wish and Oakdale set an initial goal of $3,000 for the fundraiser, but the school surpassed that number within the first week. Organizers set a new goal of $5,000, and by the fundraiser’s end, the school had surpassed that number yet again, accruing a total of $6,278.91.

“We had a little competition that the class that contributes the most money will get a popcorn party. I’m kind of pushing for a pizza party for that class though, but it was Ariel’s class who collected the most money,” Woods said.

Northshore Elementary School, another school in Brandon, similarly held a fundraiser in honor of Ariel from Nov. 29 to Dec. 17. During the first week, the school sold stars; during the second week, students brought in coins for a change-collection effort; and during the third week, students sold candy canes before beginning winter break. Altogether, Northshore raised $7,482.

‘Wishing and Wearing Hats’

Make-A-Wish sent Oakdale small paper stars that the school could sell for a minimum of $1. Those who donated would have their name or child’s name written across the star. Faculty then placed the stars on display along the school’s entrance. The Oakdale student body also participated by making their own stars to sell for the fundraiser.

“We created two types of stars,” Tavleen Kaur, a fourth grader in the Venture program, told the Mississippi Free Press. “(The) first one was construction-paper ones. The second ones were where we painted them, and then we also cut them out. And then we also had one where we got them sent, and they were (made) by Make-A-Wish.”

The Make-A-Wish stars were priced between $1 to $10; the next set of stars were priced between $11 to $50; and the size after that $51 to $99. The biggest star sold for $100 or more in donations, fourth-grader Hayes Moore explained.

“If you donated money, $1 or more, I think on Friday you got to wear any hat you wanted,” Marco Harris, an Oakdale fifth grader, said.

This arrangement was known as Wishing and Wearing Hats, an event that took place every Friday throughout the month of February, Woods said. The fundraiser began on Jan. 31 and ended Feb. 28, 2022, the teacher said.

“At first, it hurts to part with my money, but I feel good after,” Harris, whom Woods warmly referred to as the class clown, joked.

Woods said that the students spread word of the fundraiser and that the school advertised the campaign on Facebook. Teachers also sent out newsletters. Parents and grandparents donated, many purchasing the $100 stars.

“It was fun walking around the school and going to every door, ‘Do you have money for Make-A-Wish? Do you have money for Make-A-Wish?’” Moore said.

Moore described giving back as a good experience, but she said that she wishes the fundraiser would have lasted longer because it felt too short. The fourth grader would like to do more projects where she’s able to give back to the community, she said.

“I would like to get blankets, like raise money to buy blankets and dog food. Maybe help with the animals, comfort them and maybe help some of them get adopted. I think that would be really fun,” Moore said.

Studies regularly show that involving children in helping others and early philanthropy has a multitude of benefits for them and makes them more prone to giving to help others later. Colin and Alma Powell’s America’s Promise Alliance included providing opportunities to help others” to young people as one of five major promises to help them thrive. “The chance to give back teaches young people the value of service to others, the meaning of community, and the self-respect that comes from knowing that one has a contribution to make in the world,” the America’s Promise site says of Step 5.

And there are many ways to tailor early-giving to different age groups and advice for parents on how to be most effective doing it.

Naur called the experience fun and said she enjoys giving back to the community as well. “And just in general, it feels good seeing people smile when we give back to them,” Naur added.

‘Hope, Strength, Joy’

Jane Walsh said hope, strength and joy are attributes that Make-A-Wish wants to provide to those who are suffering from life-threatening conditions. Doctors tell the foundation all the time what a big difference granting a wish makes in a child’s recovery, she said.

“They may not be able to get it for a long time because of their illness. They may not be able physically to go on a trip or go meet a famous person,” the coordinator said. “But if they know they have it over there waiting for them, it makes a big difference in their recovery. That gives them some more strength to fight the illness … and then, of course, in the end they get the joy of getting their wish.”

In the 22 years that Walsh has been a coordinator for Make-A-Wish, the most rewarding part of her job has been seeing the excitement and hope a fulfilled wish can bring to a family that’s going through a rough time, she said.

“We’ve granted about 2,400 wishes since our chapter began in 1986. So far, we have granted 63 wishes since Sept. 1, 2021. Our goal is to grant 115 wishes by Aug. 31, 2022,” Walsh said.

Due to accounting purposes, the foundation doesn’t restrict the funds to one child’s wish, instead pooling all the money together. As a result, Oakdale will not know who the recipient or recipients of the raised funds in honor of Ariel will end up being. However, they’ll have their hands full as the class that raised the most money gets a popcorn party as a reward.

“I am just so proud of my kids. I’m proud to work at Oakdale, where the community has really rallied,” the gifted teacher said. “They’re remarkable children. They have my heart and I love all of them,” Woods said.

Oakdale Elementary Principal Andrea Payne said she’s proud of the entire student body and their motivation to give to others.

“They really rose to the occasion. I had no idea it would get that much attention from them, but they really were into it,” the principal said.” And I was really proud, very proud of our kids.”

To learn more about Make-A-Wish Mississippi or become a volunteer, visit their website. To donate to Oakdale Elementary’s fundraiser, visit this page. Find Northshore Elementary’s donation page here.

This story originally appeared in the Mississippi Free Press. The Mississippi Free Press is a statewide nonprofit news outlet that provides most of its stories free to other media outlets to republish. Write shaye@mississippifreepress.org for information.

Madison/Rankin County Circuit Court Judge Dewey Arthur walked into courtroom 1 of the circuit courthouse in Canton at 9:06 a.m. on March 28, 2022. His first order of business was the sentencing of 34-year-old Carlos Dominique Allen for drug offenses.

Before the sentence, Assistant District Attorney Todd McAlpin told the court that the judge should treat Allen as a habitual offender.

In Mississippi, someone facing a conviction for a second drug offense faces twice the maximum years in prison. Someone with two prior felony convictions gets the maximum sentence for the crimes as a habitual offender. If a plaintiff gets sentencing enhancement for being both an habitual offender and a subsequent drug offender, the court will double the maximum number of years for the crime. In both cases, the offender will serve without the possibility of parole or probation.

McAlpin provided evidence that in 2013 in Lauderdale County, Ala., Allen received a sentence of three years and three months in the Alabama Department of Corrections for drug possession. In 2016, a judge sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment for assault in the second degree in the same county, McApin added.

“Anything further?” Judge Arthur asked McAlpin.

“Not as far as the subsequent drug offender or habitual offender (issue).”

“Anything from the defense on the subsequent offender and habitual-offender issues?” the judge asked, turning to defense attorney Gerald Mumford.

“No, your honor.”

Killing Austin Elliott?

Before sentence pronouncement, the prosecution called on Mississippi Credit Union Association President and CEO Charles Elliott to testify. His child, Austin Elliott, died one year ago—on Feb. 23, 2021—from a fentanyl overdose after allegedly purchasing the drug from Allen.

Madison County Coroner Alex Breeland wrote in a letter dated Feb. 6, 2022, to the Madison/Rankin County District Attorney’s Office that six people died in Madison County of similar causes in the month Austin died.

Austin Elliott graduated from the University of Mississippi in mid-2019 with a business degree, majoring in management and minoring in entrepreneurship. His mother, Tina Elliott, told the Mississippi Free Press that he started using drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A couple weeks after he first tried opioids drugs, Austin thought, “I can see why people can get in trouble with this,” Tina Elliott recounts of Austin’s experience. “So we took him to the doctor, and (he) never had any more problems.”

“And then that day (Feb. 22, 2021), he runs into (Allen) and takes it.”

Tina Elliott explained that Austin went out with a friend for dinner at around 6 p.m. that Monday and took half a pill of what he allegedly got from Allen.

“He met Carlos through a friend that he went to high school with; he mentioned that they were friends,” Tina Elliott said.

After taking the tablet, Austin passed out in the restaurant’s parking lot. Tina Elliott explained that after an ambulance got to him, a paramedic injected Austin with Narcan, a medication designed to reverse the effects of opioid overdose, which depresses the central nervous system’s functioning, including breathing. The ambulance took Austin to a hospital.

Tina Elliott said that Austin cried tears of joy in the hospital. “I’m grateful to be alive. I’ve got y’all; everything’s going to be fine,” Austin said between tears.

“Honey, the Lord’s not done with you, yet,” Tina replied.

Austin Elliott came back home around 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 23, 2021. He ate some food, was in good spirits, started getting ready to sleep, and everything seemed alright, Tina Elliott remembered.

“And he said he felt a little strange, like he was scared to go to bed,” she told the Mississippi Free Press. “So he ate, laid down about 1:30 (a.m.), and I found him about 3 (a.m.). He had aspirated.”

Madison County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Allen later that day, and the district attorney’s office subsequently charged him with possession, sale and trafficking in fentanyl, as well as possession of hydrocodone and amphetamine.

Back to the Courthouse

In the courthouse on March 28, 2022, Austin Elliott’s father, Charles Elliott, advocated for the maximum sentence for Allen.

“Austin made a horrible decision, but he did not deserve to die,” Charles Elliott said. “Austin was going to get married. … We were going to have grandchildren.”

“It’s been our hopes and our prayers that Austin will be the last person to die as a result of the defendant,” he added. “Your honor, we pray that you make that a reality today.”

Allen’s younger brother, Delandrez Allen, an active-duty soldier stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky., asked the judge for leniency when he took the stand. He explained that his brother moved from Alabama to Mississippi with his wife and children six years ago to start a new life.

“Since he’s been here, he maintained employment and attended college and graduated with honors, and was deepening his faith and attending a church there in Jackson, Mississippi”

Defense attorney Mumford asked him, “You’re not asking for your brother to go unpunished, are you?”

“No,” Delandrez Allen answered, “but I’ll just ask that the judge has leniency in his judgment today. I would like the judge to acknowledge that he has young children, a wife, and I don’t doubt one bit that he can be rehabilitated.”

“I think that he should be at least given the opportunity to at some point be there for his children and at least be able to raise them so that they can be productive citizens in life.”

Carlos Allen soon took the stand.

“Austin Elliott, you know, he was a friend of mine, so I would just like to send my condolences to his family,” he said, addressing the court. “Our prayers are with them regardless of what things may have looked like or whatever they may be in. I have nothing further.”

Later, Judge Arthur said that as a subsequent drug offender and a nonviolent habitual offender in Mississippi, Allen faces 40, 160, 12 and 12 years for each of the four indictments, totaling 224 years. In his sentencing order, however, the judge wrote that Allen will serve 100 years in prison “without early release or the possibility of parole.”

“Pills, in this case, were manufactured in a way to resemble legitimate pills, but they weren’t,” Judge Arthur said in court. “Your statement on tape was basically (that) people are dying from these, and you sold them anyway.”

“This court has rarely seen somebody so heavily involved in the trafficking of narcotics, and this court just can’t get past the fact that you knew these pills kill, and you sold them anyway,” he added. “The basic reason for this court’s sentence (is) it has to send a message: You can’t sell death in Madison County, Miss.”

Next: Torrey A. Powell

After the end of Allen’s sentencing, it was time for 42-year-old Torrey A. Powell to face the judge for his own sentencing.

Madison/Rankin County District Attorney’s Office wrote that on April 29, 2020, a Madison police officer stopped Powell on the road, while the suspect was driving.

“The officer found Powell did not have a valid driver’s license or insurance and asked Powell to step out of the car,” the release continued. “For safety reasons, Powell was patted down, where a pill bottle was found in Powell’s front pocket.”

“Powell admitted the bottle contained ecstasy pills, methamphetamine and heroin.”

While Powell faced the judge on March 28, 2022, seated beside his counsel, Bentley E. Corner, Assistant District Attorney Ashley Allen told him to find that Powell was a subsequent drug offender and a nonviolent habitual offender. With no objection from the defense, the judge agreed. Allen then argued for maximum sentences for Powell.

“He has committed felony drug offenses in Georgia and Oklahoma in multiple counties in Mississippi, and that’s just the ones that I can remember off the top of my head,” Allen said. “The State urges this court to sentence Mr. Powell as both a subsequent and nonviolent habitual offender and to run each of those charges consecutively—because I do not believe that any time that he spends back out in the free world after he receives and serves his sentences will be spent being a productive member of our society.”

However, defense counsel Corner pleaded that the court deviate from following the statute by considering Powell’s health condition. “Mr. Torrey is a heart patient; he has a pacemaker—he’s had two heart attacks since he’s been in jail,” he said.

Corner argued that a maximum sentence without the possibility of probation or parole means Powell will not be eligible for medical release due to his heart condition. “He has already served almost a year in pretrial detention, so he (would have been) eligible for that medical release after he’s been seen by the hospital and the doctors to determine whether or not his heart condition is deteriorating while in prison,” he said.

“So we’ll urge the court to sentence him to a number of years without the mandatory nonviolent habitual offender provision that would keep him from being eligible even for a medical release or for a release at age 65,” Corner concluded.

While addressing the court before his sentencing, Powell explained that he had been a drug addict, which can lead to his trouble with the law, and asked for leniency. “I’d spend 42 years of my life to finally realize that my drug use will be the death of me,” he said.

The judge, nevertheless, sentenced him to 40 and 16 years for two counts of methamphetamine possession. “All those sentences will be served without the possibility of parole or probation, any early release whatsoever,” he added. “The defendant is sentenced as a habitual offender.”

In another Madison/Rankin County circuit courtroom that day, Judge Brad Mills sentenced 42-year-old Lucas Montel Howard as a habitual offender “to serve (60) years after a jury convicted him of Possession of Cocaine with the Intent to (sell) and Conspiracy to Sell Cocaine,” a Madison/Rankin County District Attorney report said.

Seven Mississippi legislators filed 13 bills in the 2022 legislative session to reform the habitual-offenders’ laws in the state, but none garnered enough support to pass and go into effect.

Madison/Rankin County District Attorney John K. Bramlett told the Mississippi Free Press on March 28, 2022, in Canton, Miss., that he is not opposed to limiting the application of the habitual-offender laws.

“There’s some talk now of maybe making it where you can’t go back forever to pull up felonies,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with that,” he said. “In other words, if you were convicted of a crime in 1980 and 1982, and then you slipped back in 2022, you’ve had 40 years living a pretty clean life, I don’t think they should come after you as habitual.”

“So at some point, I think they’ll narrow down the years that you look back—15 years, maybe,” he postulated.

This story originally appeared in the Mississippi Free Press. The Mississippi Free Press is a statewide nonprofit news outlet that provides most of its stories free to other media outlets to republish. Write shaye@mississippifreepress.org for information.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker has been tapped to speak at this year's Mississippi Book Festival.

This year marks the 40th anniversary release of Walker's acclaimed novel, “The Color Purple.” It was first published in 1982 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction the following year.

“We are thrilled to have Alice Walker back in the city where she once lived and the place where her daughter was born,” said the event's executive director, Ellen Daniels. “Her appearance will be a homecoming of sorts for her and we are honored that book lovers and festival-goers will have the opportunity to share in that moment.”

After two years of hosting the festival virtually, the free festival returns to the state capitol grounds in Jackson on Saturday, Aug. 20.

“After the past two years, we are all looking forward to being back together in person to celebrate literature at this year’s festival,” Daniels said.

Organizers plan to announce other attending authors soon.

Growing up in Goodman, Miss., event organizer Jay Branch lived for the outdoors. His adventures started in the 1980s with excursions on his tricycle as a young child, exploring all the nearby Holmes County dirt roads with his friends for hours at a time.

“I was a tricycle kid when I was young and lived out in the country, out where you could really ride a lot,” Branch says. “I always used to wear my trikes out from riding them so much, and when I got older I moved on to bikes and did the same thing.”

Before the pandemic, Branch had organized events across the South with AVC Conventions. Then in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Branch started thinking of things he’d like to do when it became safe once more. He also found himself concerned about what sheltering at home for extended periods meant for children across the state, cut off from the outdoors and potentially unable to meet with friends or enjoy their usual activities.

“I wanted them to be able to have something to go back to and have fun when everything had waned enough for them to do so,” Branch says.

“At AVC we do a lot of events like Mississippi Comic Con, which over the years has skewed more towards adults and has more of a nostalgic set following it,” he continues. “Kids might find a few things they like at Comic Con, but I wanted them to be able to come back to an event with tons of things just for them.”

After conditions in the state started to improve by the end of 2021, Branch founded his own event organizing company called VXV Events, and through it he began planning one of his first new major events, the inaugural Kids Fest Jackson, set to take place at the Mississippi Trade Mart (1200 Mississippi St.) in Jackson on Saturday, April 9, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Branch derived the name of his company from the Latin phrase “Vi veri universum vivus vici,” which roughly translates to “By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.” The phrase appears in Alan Moore’s graphic novel “V for Vendetta,” which links the phrase to “Christopher Marlowe’s “Doctor Faustus,” though other sources trace the phrase to Aleister Crowley’s “The Herb Dangerous (Part II): The Psychology of Hashish. By Oliver Haddo.”

Attractions and Activities

Kids Fest Jackson will feature bounce houses, obstacle courses, a LEGO building area, a Nerf battle maze, a coloring area, photo ops with characters such as princesses and superheroes, slides, a 50-foot warrior jump course, artwork courses courtesy of local artists, balloon art, tricycle races, a magician, concession areas and more. The event will also feature free-to-enter tricycle races early in the day and a tournament-style race with a $5 entry fee in the afternoon, with the winner receiving a free tricycle. Proceeds from the race will benefit the Children’s of Mississippi hospital.

Corey Wright, naturalist and conservation educator for the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, will host a live reptile display during the event focusing on animals native to Mississippi. Children will be able to get up close and touch animals like snakes, baby alligators and a “mystery animal” to be revealed during the show, as well as take photos and learn more about the animals on display. The museum will also have a dinosaur-themed exhibit and displays with information about its ongoing exhibits.

“Most of the animals we’re going to be bringing out are things that might be right in your backyard that you may never even notice,” Wright says. “I want people to be able to develop an appreciation and understanding of reptiles. They and other ‘creepy-crawly’ things may get a bad rap, but they’re all important to the environment in different ways.”

Other organizations across the Jackson metro will have displays and activities at the event. Mississippi Spay and Neuter will host pet-themed events, and the Mississippi Animal Rescue League will offer pet adoption services on site along with cats and dogs for children to play with. There will also be educational displays and booths for tutoring services from Sylvan Learning Center. Van’s Comics, Cards and Games in Ridgeland will host tabletop board gaming and card-game centers, video game kiosks and giveaways.

“The board games we have at Van’s range from anywhere to being from ages 4 and up to games for adults,” Travis Ryder, store owner of Van’s, says. “Board games and card games are a great way to build up math, language and social skills, as well as teaching kids to work together and use different parts and pieces to complete goals. It translates well to solving issues as an adult and is a thought-provoking way to bond with family as well.”

“I remember we had one family that came in on one of our Tuesday board gaming nights looking for something to do together on the parents’ night off,” Ryder recalls. “I introduced them to Dungeons and Dragons, which is full of problem solving and dice rolling, and gave them a starter kit to try it out. They came back about a week later and said it was the best thing ever and that they wanted more books and accessories to expand with. Seeing families come back for more after finding something to bond with their kids over is something I love to see.”

‘Something For All Ages’

When planning Kids Fest Jackson, Branch knew he wanted to have activities that would cater to kids of varying age groups so that all attendees can enjoy themselves and experience the joy he remembers feeling during his own childhood.

“I grew up with the Atari and early Nintendo consoles, an age that’s long come and gone by now, and what kids have nowadays is so much more advanced than what we had back in the day,” Branch says. “I was around during the first wave of early consoles that came and went, then got to see it explode into popularity again around the time I was in third grade.”

“My friends and I loved getting together with consoles at home or going to arcades at the mall and spending the day out there,” he recounts. “Sometimes we’d run through 20 bucks worth of quarters before we went home.”

“I wanted to make sure to have events for children of all age ranges represented here,” Branch adds. “You have things like coloring, bounce houses and meet-and-greets for the younger kids, with things like obstacle courses and Nerf games for the older ones. Some things, on the other hand, span across ages. LEGOs, for one, are something I think everyone can enjoy.”

Branch has been organizing concerts, comic-book conventions and art-related events since 1998. His decision to host Kids Fest Jackson indoors at the Mississippi Trade Mart came about as a result of a number of similar events he organized with AVC Conventions being rained out over the years.

“When I was growing up, a lot of times my friends and I found ourselves having a lack of things to do in Goodman outside of hanging out at arcades or pizza places,” Branch says.

“With Kids Fest, I want to offer something with options for kids who like to be physically active and for those who just like to sit and play as well. I want any kid to find something they like to do here.”

Kids Fest Jackson staff will sanitize all high-contact areas regularly throughout the event. Masks are recommended but not required. Kids Fest Jackson is complying with all current Jackson COVID-19 safety regulations and will announce changes if local or state policies should change.

Tickets for Kids Fest Jackson are available online through Tixr. Tickets are $15 in advance or $25 at the door on the day of the event. For more information on this and other events that Branch is helping to organize in the near future, visit vxvevents.com or find VXV Events on social media.

This story originally appeared in the Mississippi Free Press. The Mississippi Free Press is a statewide nonprofit news outlet that provides most of its stories free to other media outlets to republish. Write shaye@mississippifreepress.org for information.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed an income-tax cut Tuesday afternoon that will eliminate $524 million from state revenues. House Bill 531, known as the Mississippi Tax Freedom Act of 2022, eliminates the state’s lower tax bracket and cuts 1% off the top bracket. The new income tax will phase in over a four-year period, starting in 2023.

“This is a tremendous victory, and it will make a massive impact on the lives of Mississippians, and it will make a tremendous impact on our economy for years and years to come,” the governor said at the public bill signing. “… We will be on our way to returning over half a billion dollars to the people of our state.”

The legislation ends Mississippi’s 4% tax bracket on income between $5,000 and $10,000 and phases out the remainder of its 3% tax on income under $5,000. Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn had wanted to eliminate the state income tax completely, but Mississippi Senate leaders called such an action too drastic and said it would not be fiscally responsible.

“It’s not ‘Field of Dreams.’ I don’t print money,” Lt. Gov. Hosemann told Mississippi Free Press State Reporter Nick Judin in late 2020. “We have to have enough funds to pay for highway patrol, education, all the other things we pay for as a state.”

Speaker Gunn previously served as chairman of the American Legislative Executive Council’s national board, a right-wing organization that produces model legislation for state legislators across the nation to introduce in their chambers and which has focused for years on abolishing state income taxes. He remains on ALEC’s board.

The compromise bill Gov. Reeves signed into law Tuesday does not include earlier proposals that would have cut the state’s tax on groceries or car-tag fees. With no reductions in sales taxes, the legislation offers the most help to wealthier Mississippians who pay a larger share of income taxes than low-income and working class residents.

“This isn’t just a tax cut; it’s an investment in Mississippians,” Gov. Reeves said at the bill signing. “And as we’ve said before, this is the ideal time to do it. Over the last few years, our state has consistently and dramatically outperformed our revenue expectations. We’ve brought in billions of dollars more than initially projected.

“It is the fulfillment of a fundamental promise that conservatives made on the campaign trail that we would bring fiscal prudence and financial responsibility to Mississippi’s government.”

But Mississippi remains one of the most reliant states on federal dollars, with a May 2021 study placing Mississippi third on federal dependence behind Alaska and New Mexico. Mississippi also has the highest poverty rate in the nation, and the state has struggled in recent years to meet its own standards for fully funding public education or to invest in needed infrastructure repairs. Lawmakers adopted a state lottery in 2018 to help fill the gap in funding for roads and bridges and later amended it to also send funds to schools.

The state is currently enjoying assistance with infrastructure projects from billions in federal COVID-19 relief aid and President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law.

On its website, The Parents Campaign, a public-education lobbying organization, noted that public schools are underfunded by $272 million this year and urged supporters “to remind your legislators that any dollar that is available for a tax cut … is a dollar that is available to fund our public schools.”

“They have insisted that the state is floating in money and can afford a $524-million tax cut, so ‘we can’t afford it’ is no longer an excuse. Legislators should be held to account if they vote to fund massive tax cuts … before making a sincere and significant effort to close the funding gap for the more than 400,000 children in our public schools.”

This story originally appeared in the Mississippi Free Press. The Mississippi Free Press is a statewide nonprofit news outlet that provides most of its stories free to other media outlets to republish. Write shaye@mississippifreepress.org for information.

Getty Images recently donated two Canon camera bodies and three Canon lenses to the Office of University Communications at Jackson State University as part of the company's new partnership with the university. JSU is participating in the inaugural Getty Images Photo Archives Grant for Historically Black Colleges, an initiative aimed at preserving and amplifying the visual history of HBCUs.

Getty Images photographers and editors will mentor JSU students and provide best practices for using the equipment ahead of major events on campus, including collegiate sports and graduation ceremonies. JSU plans to put the equipment to use for the upcoming Blue and White Game on Saturday, April 9, as well as the spring game that the university will televise nationally on ESPN on Sunday, April 24.

Funding from a recent Getty Images grant will support the digitization of 50,000 archival photographs from JSU's library, including future images captured with the donated Canon equipment. Archivists and librarians from the H.T. Sampson Library at JSU will work alongside the Getty Images’ team in the photo digitization process. Adnet Global, a post-production agency that specializes in the digitization, restoration, and discoverability of visual analog historic libraries, will also participate.

The stand-alone photo collection created as part of the partnership, the “Historically Black Colleges & Universities Collection,” is now available for licensing on gettyimages.com, with more images to be added throughout 2022. JSU will also begin distributing photography from campus life and sporting events through Getty Images in 2022.

For more information, visit jsums.edu.

MSU Hosting Inaugural Research Week

Mississippi State University will celebrate its inaugural Research Week with more than two dozen events from Monday, April 11, to Friday, April 14.

MSU’s Office of Research and Economic Development is sponsoring the event, which will celebrate and showcase university faculty, staff and students advancing their fields and making an impact in Mississippi and across the globe, a release from MSU says. Events will include research center tours and showcases, panels, lectures, exhibits and more, culminating with the 2022 Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Exhibits from MSU research centers, institutes, support units and academic departments will be on display all week on the first floor of the Old Main Academic Center. Select research centers will be open for tours, visits and conversation from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, April 11, and Tuesday, April 12. MSU will highlight its innovation-based startup companies from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, April 13, during the Innovation Enterprise Showcase at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach in McCool Hall.

To view a complete calendar of Research Week events, visit research.msstate.edu/initiatives/research-week/events. For more information on Research Week, visit research.msstate.edu/initiatives/research-week.

USM Launches Give Wing Campaign

The University of Southern Mississippi launched the largest fundraising campaign in its history, "Give Wing: The Campaign for Southern Miss," on March 26, 2022. The campaign, which aims to raise funds in support of academics and athletics, including student scholarships, faculty support and facilities, has a goal of $150 million.

"Give Wing" consists of three priority pillars: student success, academic excellence, and innovation and discovery. USM has raised $109,445,458 to date, which is roughly 73% of the fundraising goal.

Campaign goals include increasing undergraduate scholarships, programmatic support and facilities for students, endowed faculty professorship and director positions and elevating USM’s research enterprise. The campaign will also fund new and upgraded facilities, including the Quinlan-Hammond Hall of Honor, the new home for the Center for Military Veterans, Service Members and Families, Pete Taylor Park and other athletic facilities.

The campaign hopes to add $53.5 million in new or enhanced endowed scholarships, $14 million in Eagle Club scholarships for student athletes, and six newly named professorships for distinguished faculty members, a release from USM says. The university also aims to raise funds for entrepreneurial programming, athletic facility enhancements and other university-wide programming.

For more information on "Give Wing," visit givewingtosouthernmiss.com.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators have finished their busiest session in years after enacting the largest teacher pay raise in a generation and setting the state's largest-ever income tax cut.

“Clearly, by any stretch, the Mississippi Legislature performed this year,” Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said Tuesday.

After more than a year of economic uncertainty because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mississippi's tax collections rebounded over the past several months, driven partly by massive federal spending for pandemic relief.

As they ended their session Tuesday, legislators completed work on two sets of spending bills.

The first was a state government budget for the year that begins July 1, using more than $7 billion in state money and billions more federal dollars.

The second was a plan to spend about $1.5 billion of the $1.8 billion Mississippi is receiving from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a federal spending package aimed at revitalizing the economy amid the pandemic. Mississippi will use about $750 million for water system improvements.

“When you contemplate the number of issues we had before us this year, it was pretty staggering in the beginning,” House Speaker Philip Gunn, a Republican from Clinton, said as the session ended.

WHAT LEGISLATORS DID

TEACHER PAY

In the coming school year, teachers will receive raises that average about $5,100, and assistant teachers will receive $2,000. Mississippi's average teacher salary in 2019-20 was $46,843, according to the Southern Regional Education Board. The national average was $64,133.

TAX CUT

Mississippi will reduce its income tax over four years. Starting in 2023, the 4% income tax bracket will be eliminated. The following three years, the 5% bracket will be reduced to 4%. After the first year, the tax-free income levels would be $18,300 for a single person and $36,600 for a married couple.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill Feb. 2 to legalize medical marijuana for people with debilitating conditions. It became law immediately, but opening the first dispensaries will take months. In November 2020, Mississippi voters approved a medical marijuana initiative. The state Supreme Court overturned it six months later by ruling it was not properly on the ballot because the initiative process was outdated.

REDISTRICTING

Legislators updated boundaries for the four U.S. House districts, 52 state Senate districts and 122 state House districts to account for population changes revealed by the 2020 Census.

EQUAL PAY

Mississippi could become the final state to enact a law requiring equal pay for equal work by women and men. A bill awaits action by the governor. Critics said the bill is harmful because it would allow an employer to pay a woman less than a man based on the pay history that workers bring into new jobs.

STATE PARKS

Millions of dollars will go to improve the condition of state parks. Leaders said Mississippi could apply for federal money to supplement the state spending.

ELECTION SPENDING

State and local election offices are banned from accepting donations from outside groups for election operations, under a bill Reeves has signed. Mississippi joins other Republican-led states in setting a ban in reaction to donations that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made across the U.S. in 2020.

RURAL EMERGENCY ROOMS

The state Department of Health could issue up to five licenses for free-standing emergency rooms in rural areas, under a bill awaiting the governor.

PAY RAISES

Starting with the next four-year term, salaries would increase for the governor, lieutenant governor and six other statewide elected officials; the transportation and public service commissioners; and the House speaker, under a bill awaiting the governor.

TEACHING ABOUT RACE

In March, Reeves signed a bill banning schools, community colleges or universities from teaching that any “sex, race, ethnicity, religion or national origin is inherently superior or inferior.” It became law immediately. Several Black lawmakers said the limitations could squelch honest discussion about the harmful effects of racism.

STATE SONG

Legislators voted to ditch “Go, Mississippi,” which has been the state song since 1962. It uses the tune of “Roll With Ross,” the 1959 campaign jingle of segregationist Gov. Ross Barnett. A bill designates “One Mississippi,” by singer-songwriter Steve Azar, as one new state song. It also creates a committee to recommend additional state songs from various genres. The bill awaits the governor's action.

WHAT LEGISLATORS DID NOT DO

INITIATIVE PROCESS

House and Senate negotiators failed to agree on a plan to revive an initiative process that would allow people to petition to put issues on the statewide ballot. The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in May that the state's initiative process was unworkable because it required people to gather signatures from five congressional districts the state had not used in decades.

MEDICAID FOR NEW MOMS

The Senate passed a bill to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage, but Gunn and House Medicaid Committee Chairman Joey Hood killed it without bringing it up for a House vote. Mississippi allows two months of Medicaid coverage for women after they give birth. Advocates for low-income women say expanding the coverage to a year could improve health outcomes in a state with a high rate of maternal mortality.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators on Monday were approving parts of a state budget for the year that begins July 1, and it is substantially larger than the budget for the current year.

The biggest state-funded portion of the new budget is nearly $6.3 billion general fund. With money from the Education Enhancement Fund, a Capital Expense Fund and two funds connected to Mississippi's lawsuit against the tobacco industry in the 1990s, total state spending will top $7.3 billion.

For the current year, the general fund is about $5.8 billion and total state spending is about $6.7 billion.

The budget for the new year includes money to pay for a teacher pay raise plan that Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law last week. It also includes enough money to cover the increased cost of state employees' health insurance, so the employees themselves won't have to pay for the extra cost.

One big expense is $54 million for the Department of Human Services to buy a new computer system to replace one that's long outdated, said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Briggs Hopson, a Republican from Vicksburg. The federal government will also spend $95 million for the computer system, said House Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Sam Mims, a Republican from McComb.

Mims said the Department of Human Services budget includes a $1.7 million increase for home-delivered meals for older adults, Mims said. Democratic Rep. Omeria Scott of Laurel applauded the increase but said to Mims: “The meals that the people are getting are not good. ... These are elderly people. You would agree that they deserve our best, right?”

“Yes, ma'am," Mims said. “Absolutely.”

A budget bill for the state Veterans Affairs Board would allocate $19.7 million to move a state veterans' home out of Jackson to other state-owned property.

“I think they're looking at property in Rankin County,” Hopson said.

Legislators also were making plans to spend about $1.5 billion of the $1.8 billion the state is receiving from the federal government for pandemic relief, said House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Read, a Republican from Gautier.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi is the latest Republican-led state to ban election offices from accepting donations from private groups for voting operations—a movement fueled by conservatives' suspicion of donations by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in 2020.

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed House Bill 1365 on Friday, and it will become law July 1. It says state or local officials who conduct elections cannot solicit or accept donations from any private group for “voter education, voter outreach or voter registration programs."

Reeves said in a video posted to Facebook on Monday that he was “deeply disturbed by big tech's attempt to influence the 2020 elections.”

“Whether it was their attempt to silence conservative voices or suppress information they don't agree with, California's technology elites will stop at nothing to push their woke ideology on the American people," Reeves said. "Our elections cannot be left up to billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, especially when groups like Facebook systematically silence conservative voices on their platforms."

Republicans control the Mississippi House and Senate. The final version of the bill passed the Senate 49-2 with bipartisan support. It passed the House 78-38 with opposition from Democrats.

Jessica Anderson is executive director of the conservative Heritage Action For America, which has pushed for such bans. She said in a statement Monday that the new law will prohibit the use of “Zuck Bucks."

“Mississippians deserve to have fair elections free from the outside influence of Big Tech billionaires,” Anderson said.

Zuckerberg and his wife, Patricia Chan, donated $400 million for elections operations across the U.S. in 2020 as officials were trying to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, the nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life distributed grants to 2,500 election offices nationwide. The money was spent in a wide variety of ways — protective gear for poll workers, public education campaigns promoting new methods to vote during the pandemic, and new trucks to haul voting equipment.

Louisiana's Republican attorney general in 2020 ordered his state’s election offices to reject grants from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which distributed $350 million of the Zuckerberg money.

By 2021, at least eight Republican-led states had passed bans on private donations to elections offices. South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem signed a ban in March.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi is on the verge of scuttling a state song with racist roots, two years after it retired a Confederate-themed state flag.

The current song, “Go, Mississippi," takes its tune from a 1959 campaign jingle of Democratic Gov. Ross Barnett. “Roll With Ross" included the lyrics, “For segregation, 100%. He's not a moderate, like some of the gents."

Barnett unsuccessfully resisted integration of the University of Mississippi in 1962, and legislators that year adopted a state song setting new words to his campaign ditty: “Go, Mississippi, keep rolling along. Go, Mississippi, you cannot go wrong.”

Some legislators have quietly sought a new song in recent years, saying the Barnett connection is an embarrassing relic of the bad old days.

The effort gained momentum when Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn opened this year's legislative session by showing a video of “One Mississippi," composed by country music singer and songwriter Steve Azar for the state's 2017 bicentennial celebration.

Azar is a Mississippi native. His lyrics play on the hide-and-seek counting game (One Mississippi ... two Mississippi ... three Mississippi ...) and incorporate familiar images: magnolia trees, fried catfish, hurricanes, kudzu.

The Republican-controlled House and Senate on Thursday passed the final version of a bill to replace the Barnett-linked song with “One Mississippi.” The bill also would create a committee to recommend that legislators designate additional state songs later. Tennessee is among states with multiple official songs.

Asked for his opinion on the measure, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves told The Associated Press on Friday that he’s not well-versed in the song proposal because he's been focused on other issues, including teacher pay raises and a tax cut.

Reeves also said he doesn't know the state song and can't recall whether he was supposed to learn it in school.

“I was focused on shooting basketballs,” Reeves deadpanned.

Two teenagers working as state Senate pages said Mississippi needs to change its song.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to take the tune of a racist song and make it for everybody," said Karmen Owens, a 15-year-old freshman at North Pike High School in McComb.

Raniyah Younger, a 17-year-old junior at Jackson's Callaway High, said a new state song should reflect different cultures and “equality of all races and all colors and all sexualities, of course.”

Democratic Sen. Hillman Frazier of Jackson worked for years to retire the Mississippi state flag, the last in the nation to feature the Confederate battle emblem. Frazier said Mississippi should not have a song affiliated with a segregationist governor, but he wants a committee to examine Mississippi's deep musical heritage and come up with a new song.

“Most people don’t know the state song. They never sing it," Frazier said Thursday. "So, six months trying to get it right wouldn’t hurt a thing.”

Republican Sen. Nicole Boyd of Oxford said it's best to ditch the old song now.

“It’s one more thing that doesn’t portray Mississippi in its best light,” Boyd said. “We need things that represent the state and really highlight the amazing people we have.”

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators are returning to the Capitol on Monday with hopes of finishing their 2022 session.

They still need to finish passing a state budget for the year that begins July 1. The state-funded portion of the budget will be more than $6.2 billion. Legislators also will allocate billions of federal dollars, including money the state received from a federal pandemic relief package.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Friday that he intends to sign a bill that will authorize Mississippi's largest-ever tax cut. On March 27, the House and Senate voted by wide margins to pass the bill that will reduce the state income tax over four years, beginning in 2023. Reeves has a Tuesday deadline to act.

“It’s a major tax cut that heads us in the direction of eliminating the income tax,” Reeves told reporters Friday at the Capitol. "Literally every Mississippian who pays income taxes in our state will have the opportunity to send less of their money to the government and the ability to keep more of their money.”

Supporters say a significant tax cut could spur economic growth and attract new residents to Mississippi, which was one of three states that lost population during the decade before the 2020 Census.

Opponents say reducing the income tax would mean less money for schools, health care, roads and other services, especially hurting Mississippi’s poor and working-class residents.

The legislative session started in early January, and it originally was scheduled to end Sunday. Final budget negotiations were delayed repeatedly because of contentious final discussions between House and Senate leaders over the tax cut plan.

In 2010, Mitchell McGinnis met a man named Slavik, who is originally from Ukraine, while working at Lake Forest Ranch as a camp counselor. Forming a bond, the two stayed in communication, and McGinnis traveled to Ukraine in the summer of 2011 to visit Slavik and his family, as well as to work at a summer camp near the city of Sumy. While in Mississippi, Slavik and his family members, Igor and Natasha, formed a close circle of Southern friends.

Over the past few weeks, McGinnis and many other Mississippians have raised funds to support Slavik’s family during this time of unrest within Ukraine. To further that goal, McGinnis has helped organize a benefit concert on Friday, April 1, in the parking lot outside of 601 Studios (1935 Lakeland Drive, Suite 300). Local musicians from the metro area have volunteered to perform. 601 Studios’ music students will also perform for an hour. No admission fees will be required, but guests are invited to donate whatever amount they can spare, should they choose.

The benefit concert will begin at 6 p.m. this evening and last until approximately 9 p.m.

Mississippi Transgender Day of Visibility 2022

On Sunday, April 3, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., The TRANS Program, HRC Mississippi, HRC National, ACLU of Mississippi, Immigrants Alliance for Justice, and Equity of Mississippi, My Brother's Keeper, The Spectrum Center, Capital City Pride, PFLAG of Jackson and Awakening Love will be hosting watch parties to celebrate Transgender Day of Visibilty, which is internationally recognized on March 31 each year.

During the free hybrid event, people can either attend in-person at Fondren Park in Jackson, or they can participate virtually on YouTube by searching for “Mississippi Transgender Day of Visibility 2022 Event.” By registering in advance, attendees can enter a raffle to win “swag” prizes. Those attending in person are asked to bring their own lawn chairs should they want to sit.

Official watch parties will also be held in Hattiesburg, Miss., at The Spectrum Center (210 S. 25th Ave., Hattiesburg) and in Tupelo, Miss., at The Link Center (1200 W. Main St., Tupelo). Snacks and refreshments will be provided at either location.

‘The Wizard of Oz’

The Belhaven Theatre Department will be hosting a production of “The Wizard of Oz,” following the story of Dorothy and her loyal companions down the Yellow Brick Road, under the direction of Dr. Elissa Sartwell, ​​the department’s chair and a professor of theater. The Blackbox Theatre kicked off its first weekend of performances at the Center for the Arts (835 Riverside Drive) on campus on March 31. Additional showtimes include April 1, April 2, April 7, April 8 and April 9 at 7:30 p.m. The two Saturday dates, April 2 and April 9, will also have 2 p.m. matinees.

Tickets for general admission are $10 and $5 for students and senior citizens. Admission is free for Belhaven faculty, staff, students and their immediate families. The doors open at 7 p.m.

The Mississippi Metropolitan Ballet will also be hosting performances of “The Wizard of Oz” at Jackson Academy Performing Arts Center (4908 Ridgewood Road) on Saturday, April 2, at 3 p.m. and on Sunday, April 3, at 2 p.m. Tickets in the front half of the audience seating are $35, and tickets in the back half are $30.

After the performance, families are welcome to attend The Land of Oz ticketed event right after the show. Children get to meet the cast, take on-stage photos with ballet characters, enjoy light refreshments and receive a take-home souvenir. Land of Oz tickets are sold separately from the Wizard of Oz tickets. Adults get complimentary admission with the purchase of one child’s $15 admission.

For more information on local events throughout the week and beyond, visit jfpevents.com.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill Wednesday authorizing the largest pay raise in a generation for the state's public school teachers, long among the lowest-paid in the nation.

House Bill 530 becomes law July 1. Teachers will receive average increase of about $5,100 — a jump of more than 10% over their current pay.

Lawmakers and the Republican governor have said boosting the salaries could help Mississippi attract and retain classroom professionals.

The average teacher salary in Mississippi during the 2019-20 academic year was $46,843, according to the Southern Regional Education Board. That lagged behind the average of $55,205 for teachers in the 16 states of the regional organization. The national average was $64,133.

Under the new law, teachers’ base pay will increase by a few hundred dollars most years, with larger increases with every fifth year of experience and a more substantial bump at 25 years.

A beginning Mississippi teacher with a bachelor’s degree currently receives a $37,000 salary from the state, and the local school district can provide a supplement. Under the new law, the base pay from the state will be $41,500. Teachers with higher degrees and more experience are paid more.

Teachers’ assistants will receive a $2,000 increase over two years. That will take their pay from $15,000 to $17,000.

Under Democratic Gov. Ray Mabus in 1988, Mississippi legislators approved about an 18% pay raise for teachers, taking their average salary from about $20,750 to nearly $24,500.

The raise that Reeves signed Wednesday is a larger dollar amount but a smaller percentage increase. Accounting for inflation, the $3,750 average raise in 1988 equal to more than $8,400 today.

Suzanne Smith of Grenada has been teaching for 30 years and now teaches math to students working toward high school equivalency diplomas. At the Capitol on March 16, she said the pay raise plan will “make a huge difference in a lot of people's lives.”

“I want to think about our assistant teachers. They barely make a living wage at this point," said Smith, who is secretary/treasurer of the Mississippi Association of Educators. "That $2,000 increase — although it's not a huge increase, when you compare it to what they've got now, it is tremendous.”

Smith said the larger pay raises every fifth year could persuade some longtime educators to remain on the job. Some Mississippi teachers have been retiring and commuting to Alabama and other neighboring states to continue teaching while also collecting their Mississippi retirement pay.

Increasing educators' pay can be a moving target as states compete with each other. Alabama legislators are considering a proposal to provide pay raises for longtime teachers.

Jackson State University recently announced that it is an Alumni Enrichment Institute Partner for the 2022 Alumni Enrichment Institutes. The designation will allow 2021 Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumni to travel to the United States in summer 2022 to collaborate with U.S. counterparts following a series of virtual 2021 Leadership Institutes, a release from JSU says.

The Alumni Enrichment Institutes are part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative. Since 2014, the U.S. Department of State has supported 5,100 Mandela Washington Fellows from across Sub-Saharan Africa in collaboration with U.S. professionals.

Before arriving at JSU, Alumni Enrichment Institute Participants will attend Welcome Events in Washington, D.C., where they will engage with U.S. non-governmental organizations, private companies and government agencies with an interest in Africa, a release from JSU says.

Beginning in late July, JSU will host 25 African alumni for a two-week Alumni Enrichment Institute, which the U.S. Department of State sponsors. The cohort will be part of a larger group of 200 2021 Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumni hosted at eight educational institutions across the United States. Participants will engage in programming on topics such as the United States’ diverse culture and society, resiliency and ethics in leadership and social justice principles.

JSU's program will include guided visits to local civil rights and art museums, the Chahta Immi Cultural Center, the Nissan Canton Assembly plant, and Sanderson Farms. Participants will also work with iVillage, Habitat for Humanity and a local food bank in Jackson. The program will also include roundtable networking lunches and receptions.

Program sponsors include Rotary Club of North Jackson, Greater Jackson Chambers of Commerce, Mississippi Business Bureaus, Institute for Social Justice and Racial Relations at JSU, Systems Electro Coating, LLC and Systems Consultants Associates.

For more information on the 2022 Alumni Enrichment Institute, email lydia.n.didia@jsums.edu or jennifer.l.steele@jsums.edu.

JSU Hosting EFLSC Week and MS Got Soul

The Jackson State University Department of English, Foreign Languages, & Speech Communication recently received a grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council to host EFLSC Week and a series of events titled "MS Got Soul: Thee MS Humanities." The first event took place on Monday, March 28, and the series will conclude on Friday, April 1.

"EFLSC Week—MS Got Soul: Thee MS Humanities" combines literature, language and communication arts as a means of exploring and critically engaging with people, places, cultures, histories, arts and literatures, a release from JSU says.

The National Endowment for the Humanities supported the grant. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed during the event do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the Mississippi Humanities Council, the release says.

For more information, call 601-979-5859 or visit jsums.edu.

USM to Host Mississippi Science and Engineering State Level Fair

Some of the brightest young minds in grades 7-12 will be on full display when the Mississippi Science and Engineering State Level Fair will take place on Friday, April 1, at the Payne Center on the University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg campus.

The event is for children in grades 7 through 12. Projects that received first-, second- or third-place in each of 13 research categories in three competition categories from Mississippi’s seven science fair regions will be on display for judging.

One of the seven regions serves as the host site for the state fair each year. COVID-19 restrictions forced cancellation of an in-person state fair for the 2019 and 2021. This year Region I, which includes Hattiesburg, partnered with the Gulf Coast-based Region VI to host the event at USM.

Each regional science fair chooses one project to enter into the International Science and Engineering Fair held each May. The selected students will receive an all-expense paid trip for an entire week in Atlanta, Ga. One project from this year’s state fair will also go on to the ISEF.

For more information, visit sciencefair.msstate.edu.