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UMMC to shut down LGBTQ+ clinic amid political pressure

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The University of Mississippi Medical Center will dissolve the LGBTQ+ clinic that came under lawmakers’ scrutiny last fall because it offered gender-affirming care like hormone therapy and puberty blockers to trans minors.

About 67 LGBTQ+ adults who have received services at the clinic this year, from routine check-ups to gender-affirming care, will be affected. It’s unclear if trans adults will be able to receive gender-affirming care at other UMMC clinics.

The co-director of the center that oversees the TEAM clinic said he felt “completely blindsided” by the decision to close operations on June 30, which was made without him, and worries about the ethics of suddenly closing a specialized clinic for a marginalized group of patients.

“This is an institution responding in fear not responding in reason,” said Alex Mills, a tenure-track professor of pharmacy at University of Mississippi and the co-director of the Center for Gender and Sexual Minority Health. He oversaw operations at the TEAM clinic. “It’s demoralizing and dehumanizing to the LGBTQ community.”

The surprise decision is “based in part” on a legislative committee report released last month that included recommendations for steps UMMC could take to shutter the pioneering TEAM, or “Trustworthy, Evidence-based, Affirming, Multidisciplinary,” clinic, wrote Dr. Alan Jones, the associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs, in an email Thursday morning.

“UMMC will cease operations of the clinic at the end of this academic year, June 30, 2023, read Jones’ email to clinic providers. “All patients who are currently scheduled will be contacted by phone in the coming days about this change. Please work with your department chair to ensure a smooth process during this change.”

UMMC did not respond to questions about the future of clinic patients’ care by the time this story published.

Services for trans kids have been limited at UMMC since executive leadership decided the clinic should stop seeing minors after lawmakers complained, according to emails obtained by Mississippi Today. Then the Legislature passed House Bill 1125 earlier this year, banning gender-affirming care for trans youth entirely.

By Thursday afternoon, the webpages for TEAM Clinic and the Center for Gender and Sexual Minority Health had been taken down from UMMC’s website.

“They are erasing us,” Mills said.

He has several new patients scheduled for their first appointment at TEAM clinic tomorrow — now he doesn’t know what he’s going to tell them.

Immediately after receiving the email, Mills wrote to Jones’ assistant requesting a meeting, hoping to ask if UMMC could postpone the shutdown for 90 days to give patients a smooth transition.

Mills got an email back from Brian Rutledge, Vice Chancellor Dr. LouAnn Woodward’s chief of staff, Thursday afternoon. His request was denied.

“Dr. Jones is not able to meet, but UMMC will be handling everything regarding the UMMC TEAM clinic and its patients,” Rutledge wrote. “After this point, I would encourage you to work directly with your UM School of Pharmacy chair or dean on how this impacts your practice responsibilities within your faculty role there.”

Mills said his department chair’s request to meet with Jones was also denied.

Since the decision was made without him, Mills said he doesn’t know what leadership’s transition plan entails.

He’s planning to write up a letter to give to patients tomorrow, but he doesn’t know if UMMC leadership has already made one. He doesn’t know who will be notifying his patients, what they will be told or the kind of care UMMC will give them once the month is up — or even who will be their providers.

He doesn’t know what will happen to the clinic space or to the three grant proposals he just submitted.

“Why isn’t that being communicated to the people who run the damn clinic?” Mills said.

The legislative committee report, published by the Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review, or PEER, recommended that UMMC could dissolve the TEAM clinic by “integrating services” back into the medical center’s regular care setting and offer “optional LGBTQ training courses to all staff and students.”

Even if UMMC fully follows PEER’s recommendation and continues to provide gender-affirming care for trans adults, Mills said he doesn’t know if it will be done in a respectful and dignified manner. What made the TEAM clinic unique, Mills said, is that it is a dedicated space where LGBTQ+ patients could be assured that every employee, from the receptionists to the nurses, believe trans people exist and would use the right pronouns.

That’s why the clinic was cofounded in 2015 by Dr. Scott Rodgers, who is now UMMC’s associate vice chancellor for academic affairs: To try to help LGBTQ+ Mississippians overcome one of the biggest barriers to care they face, which is finding providers who respect their sexual and gender identity.

A 2019 press release from UMMC emphasized the clinic’s unique mission: to “ensure every Mississippian has access to accepting, high-quality and holistic primary health care” regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.

Mills feared this was going to happen ever since UMMC leadership decided the clinic should stop providing care to trans youth after lawmakers complained last fall. When that happened, Mills said he at least had some input.

“Mind you, it was secretive, but we had a meeting to discuss a plan, at least, that was appropriate and ethical,” he said. “But this is just not how leaders should work. It’s not how you should be conducting yourself in any workplace. It’s just a really big slap to the face.”

Now he is concerned that even if the TEAM clinic is shut down and its services are dispersed across the medical center, it still won’t be enough to appease lawmakers.

“They are trying to erase a group of people,” Mills said. “If they find out it’s going to be throughout other clinics, people are now going to complain and say all of UMMC is doing this.”

“I hope and pray that’s not the case,” he added.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Pearl River Glass Studio’s stained glass windows for historic Memphis church destroyed in fire

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-05-05 09:32:00

For the Pearl River Glass Studio, located in the Midtown neighborhood of Jackson, it started as an honor and labor of love, with Memphis-based artist Lonnie Robinson, who out of hundreds of artistic contestants, won the privilege to create the stained glass windows along with artist Sharday Michelle, for the historic Clayborn Temple, located in Memphis, Tennessee, as part of a massive renovation project. 

Memphis artist Lonnie Robinson works on one of the stained glass panels for the historic Clayborn Temple at the Pearl River Glass Company, Wednesdsay, Feb. 22, 2023 in Jackson.
At the Pearl River Glass Studio in Jackson, artist Lonnie Robinson works on the image of a Civil Rights icon for a stained glass window to be installed at the historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis, Tenn., Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023.
Lonnie Robinson draws an image onto a stained glass panel for the historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis, Tenn., at the Pearl River Glass Studio in Jackson, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023.

This team of artisans restored three enormous stained glass windows, panel by panel, for the historic church that was a bastion for the Civil Rights movement in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1960s. The stained glass windows depicted Civil Rights icons and paid homage to the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike, which lasted 64 days from Feb. 12 to April 16, 1968. It is the site where sanitation workers agreed to end the strike when city officials recognized their union and their raised wages.

Pearl River Glass Studio founder Andy Young (left) and Ashby Norwood, work on the image of a Civil Rights icon for a stained glass window to be installed at the historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis, Tenn., Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023.
Renderings of Civil Rights icons to be created as stained glass windows at the Pearl River Glass Studio for the historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis, Tenn., Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023 in Jackson.
Ashby Norwood applies glass frit, ground glass mixed with a binder, to stained glass artwork as Lonnie Robinson draws images to glass at the Pearl River Glass Studio in Jackson, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. The stained glass windows at installed at Clayborn Temple in Memphis, Tenn. Tragically, the historic church burned to the ground in the wee hours of April 28th of this year.
Lonnie Robinson checks for imperfections in stained glass panels for the historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis, Tenn., at the Pearl River Glass Studio in Jackson, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023.
Lonnie Robinson (left) draws images to glass as Ashby Norwood applies glass frit, ground glass mixed with a binder, to stained glass artwork as at the Pearl River Glass Studio in Jackson, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. The stained glass windows were installed at Clayborn Temple in Memphis, Tenn. Tragically, the historic church burned to the ground in the wee hours of April 28th of this year.

Over time, the church fell into disrepair and closed in 1999.

In 2018, it was officially named a national treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The historic Clayborn Temple located in Memphis, Tennessee, on June 14, 2020. The church was completely destroyed by fire in the wee hours of Monday, April 28, 2025.

The $14 million restoration of Clayborn Temple was a collaborative effort by non-profits, movers and shakers on the national scene, community leaders and donations.

A mock-up of what the stained glass window project for Clayborn Temple will look like. The Pearl River Glass Studio is working on the stained glass windows at the Jackson studio, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022.
Work on one of the stained glass windows to be installed at the historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis, Tenn., at the Pearl River Glass Studio in Jackson, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2023.
Rowan Bird carefully leads sections of a stained glass window at the Pearl River Glass Studio in Jackson, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023.
Rowan Bird carefully leads sections of a stained glass window at the Pearl River Glass Studio in Jackson, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023.
Chris Bowron, soldering a lead panel on stained glass at the Pearl River Glass Studio in Jackson, Friday, Oct. 7, 2023. The stained glass will be installed at the historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis, Tenn.
Chris Bowron solders a lead panel on stained glass as Andy Young, Pearl River Glass Studio founder, watches at the Jackson studio, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. The stained glass will be installed at the historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis, Tenn.
Pearl River Glass Studio founder Andy Young shows one the stained glass window panels to be installed at the historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis, Tenn., Friday, Oct. 7, 2022 at his Midtown studio in Jackson.

The hard work, the labors of love, the beautiful stained glass arch windows and other restorative work at the historic church all came to an end due to a fire in the wee hours of Monday morning on April 28 of this year. 

In the wee hours of Monday, April 28th, the historic Clayborn Temple located in Memphis, Tennessee, was completely destroyed by fire.

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

The historic Clayborn Temple located in Memphis, Tennessee, was completely destroyed by fire in the wee hours of Monday, April 28, 2025.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Pearl River Glass Studio's stained glass windows for historic Memphis church destroyed in fire appeared first on mississippitoday.org

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Mississippi Today

Podcast: Economist discusses Mississippi economy’s vulnerability

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-05-05 06:30:00

State Economist Corey Miller talks with Mississippi Today’s Geoff Pender and Bobby Harrison about the state of the state economy, chances of recession amid trade war, federal spending cuts and state tax overhaul. He declines to answer questions about MSU baseball.

READ MORE: As lawmakers look to cut taxes, Mississippi mayors and county leaders outline infrastructure needs

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Podcast: Economist discusses Mississippi economy's vulnerability appeared first on mississippitoday.org

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Mississippi Today

How state law allows private schools to ‘double dip’ by using two public programs for the same students

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mississippitoday.org – @BobbyHarrison9 – 2025-05-04 06:00:00

The Mississippi Legislature’s insistence of not requiring oversight has resulted in a way for private schools to “double dip,” or receive money from two separate state programs to educate the same handful of students.

There is currently no mechanism in state law to allow state officials to determine whether double dipping is occurring. More importantly, there is nothing in state law to prevent double dipping from occurring.

So, maybe the private schools are double dipping and maybe they are not. And this is not an effort to demonize private schools — many of which are doing stellar work — but to point out the lack of state oversight and to question the wisdom of sending public funds to private schools.

There are two primary programs in Mississippi that provide public funds and state tax credit funds to private schools: the Education Scholarship Account and the Children’s Promise Act.

The programs overlap in terms of the children the private schools must educate to receive the state benefits. To receive money through an Education Scholarship Account of up to $7,829 per year to attend a private school, a student must be designated as a special needs student. The special needs designation could be the result of a physical, mental or emotional issue. An attention deficit disorder, for instance, could result in a special needs designation.

On the other hand, students who make private schools eligible to receive the Children’s Promise Act tax credit benefits must have “a chronic illness or physical, intellectual, developmental or emotional disability” or be eligible for the free lunch program or be a foster child.

No more than $3 million per year can be spent through the Education Scholarship Account while the Children’s Promise Act is capped at $9 million annually.

The bottom line is that state officials do not know how many students the private schools are serving through the Children’s Promise Act state tax credits.

The Mississippi Department of Revenue, which has a certain amount of oversight of the Children’s Promise Act funds, has said in the past it knew the number of children being served in the first year a school received the state tax credit funds, but the agency does not know whether the number of students being served in following years changes.

In short, there is nothing in state law that would prevent a private school from receiving the maximum benefit of $405,000 annually while enrolling only one child fitting the definition that would make the school eligible to receive the tax credit funds.

There is a little more oversight of the Education Scholarship Account funds, though that oversight has been slow and has only occurred after a legislative watchdog group pointed out the lax oversight.

If a school has fewer than 10 students receiving the ESA funds, the state Department of Education will not release the exact number, citing privacy concerns. But the Department of Education has released the amount of ESA funds each school received during the 2023-24 school year.

According to that information, multiple schools receiving those ESA funds but educating fewer than 10 ESA students also are receiving significant Children’s Promise Act tax credit funds. According to the Department of Revenue, as of January, six schools had received the maximum tax credit funds of $405,000 for calendar year 2024.

Three of those schools also received Education Scholarship Account funds for fewer than 10 students. For instance, one private school received $16,461 in Education Scholarship Account funds, or most likely money for two students.

If the students receiving the ESA funds were the same ones making the school eligible for the $405,000 in tax credit funds, that would mean the state was paying $210,730 per student whereas the average per pupil spending in the public schools is about $11,500 per pupil in state and local funding.

Of course, state law does not prohibit private schools from educating only one child with special needs and being eligible for the maximum tax credit benefit of $405,000 annually.

Perhaps it seems far-fetched that a private school would be educating only one child to be eligible to receive up to $405,000 in tax credit funds.

But it also seems far-fetched that for years the students receiving the Education Scholarship Account funds were mandated by state law to use the money to go to schools equipped to meet their special education needs. Yet, research by the Legislature’s Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee (PEER) found the students were going to private schools that in some instances did not have any special education teachers and in some cases the students were still getting those services from the public schools.

Perhaps the Legislature’s PEER Committee needs to do some more research to determine whether double dipping is occurring.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post How state law allows private schools to 'double dip' by using two public programs for the same students appeared first on mississippitoday.org



Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

The article presents a critical examination of Mississippi state law and the potential for private schools to receive funds from multiple public programs, with little oversight. The tone is analytical, raising questions about the effectiveness and transparency of the system, without offering a strong ideological stance. The language is factual, with a focus on state law and fiscal policy rather than promoting a political agenda. Although the article critiques the absence of proper oversight, it avoids demonizing private schools, instead advocating for more legislative scrutiny. The piece sticks to the reporting of facts, with a call for further investigation into the issue.

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