Mississippi Today
A legislative error derailed a plan that should’ve sent millions to struggling hospitals. Who messed up?
An error made in the Senate Appropriations Committee and passed into law earlier this year is keeping most Mississippi hospitals from accessing $103 million intended to help keep their doors open.
The Mississippi Hospital Sustainability Grant program, part of a package of plans championed by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann to stem Mississippi’s health care crisis, was supposed to quickly send millions to hospitals to help them survive the year. One report puts nearly half of rural hospitals in danger of closing because of budget concerns.
But now, months later, that money hasn’t gone out and only a few hospitals can qualify because lawmakers funded the program with federal pandemic money.
The problem, according to health care officials, is that lawmakers designated the funding for the program to come from federal COVID-19 relief funds. Because of federal restrictions about how those funds can be administered, most hospitals do not qualify to receive them. Had lawmakers funded the program with state dollars instead of federal dollars, hospitals likely could draw the funds without issue.
Here’s how the legislative process unfolded, and how lawmakers changed the funding source over time:
- House Bill 271 was authored by Republican Rep. Sam Mims of McComb and originally sought to fund the program with federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.
- House leaders during the committee process amended the bill to instead be funded by state dollars via the Capital Expense Fund, where the Legislature’s excess revenue from prior fiscal years are housed. The House passed that version of the bill on February 16 and sent it to the Senate for consideration.
- In the Senate Appropriations Committee on March 9, before the bill reached the Senate floor, leaders amended the bill to change the funding source to federal funds once more — despite a record state revenue surplus of about $3.6 billion.
- That amended bill featuring the federal funding was later passed by the entire Senate on March 9.
- The House sent the amended bill to a conference committee, where three leaders from both the House and the Senate met to hash out differences. The bill that made it through the conference committee process kept the federal funding source intact, and the total hospital grant program featured in the bill was upped to $103 million.
- Both chambers of the Legislature passed that final version on March 31, and Gov. Tate Reeves signed the bill into law on April 17.
It’s not exactly clear which senator pushed for the change to the program’s funding from state to federal. While subcommittee meetings are open, closed door meetings, where major legislative proposals are often made, are common in the Legislature. The state budgeting process, in particular, routinely operates outside public view.
Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, presented House Bill 271 as the first piece of legislation the Senate Appropriations Committee discussed on March 9.
Blackwell said in that committee meeting that the bill’s funding would likely need to be increased. Sen. Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, who chairs the powerful committee, then explained that additional funds might have to come from another source outside of the federal COVID-19 funds before the bill passed the committee.
A recording of the March 9 meeting shows that discussion about the bill was brief, and the amendment to the funding’s source was unanimously passed by the committee members.
Blackwell, Hopson, and Sen. John Polk, a Republican from Hattiesburg and the vice chair of the committee, did not answer calls or return requests for comment.
Hosemann, who wields great influence over the legislative process as the president of the Senate, did not say when it became clear to him the federal funding was causing problems in the program.
“The intent of the Legislature was to provide $103 million to hospitals and Lt. Gov. Hosemann has committed to ensuring they receive it, even if the program or appropriation source has to be changed,” said Leah Smith, Hosemann’s deputy chief of staff.
Though the error was made in the Senate committee, there were multiple opportunities over several weeks and votes for legislative leaders, members of both the Senate and House, and Gov. Reeves to catch the problem.
In the months that have followed, it’s become clear how much the program — and hospitals — have been impacted by that error.
State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney told legislators on Sept. 29 at a Joint Legislative Budget Committee meeting that just two-thirds of Mississippi hospitals have applied so far, and only half of them are eligible for the money. That’s because they’ve already received federal pandemic relief funds.
“You can’t double dip,” Edney explained to Mississippi Today earlier this week.
Edney told Mississippi Today on Oct. 4 that the health department had been “given some possible hope that a workaround we had previously hoped for might be possible after all.” It’s not clear what that workaround is.
“We’re all still working on the problem,” he said.
Even though the $103 million was much less than hospital leaders said they needed, they agreed any amount would help the state’s hospitals.
Edney said the health department raised concerns about the funding’s source during the session, but it appeared at the Sept. 29 meeting that lawmakers had previously been unaware of how widespread the accessibility issues were, and that the health department needed legislative direction before doling out the funds.
He made clear at the meeting that the health department, which was awarded $700,000 to disburse the funds, needs instruction from elected officials about what to do with the money — either send out the $103 million to a portion of hospitals now, or wait and fix the program in January.
It’s not clear how long some hospitals can hold on.
At least one hospital has closed this year, and several others have applied for a federal designation that slashes services but increases reimbursements and monthly federal payments. Others, Edney said, have been forced to reduce or cut the services they offer.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
A 74-year-old Navy veteran who says she was assaulted by a retired Long Beach police officer was hospitalized for a couple of days after the alleged attack because of a serious head injury that resulted in brain bleed.
Vivian Ramsay suffered a subdural hematoma of the brain, or a type of brain bleed, caused by a head injury during the April 24 attack, her attorney David Baria said.
“When I was serving my country in the Navy, I never thought there would be a day that any American, especially a retired policeman, would purposely confront me for expressing my opinion in a silent and peaceful manner,” Ramsay said in an interview Monday.
On the afternoon of the April 24 assault, Ramsay had parked her van at U.S. 90 and Jeff Davis Avenue for a peaceful protest against actions by President Donald Trump since he began his second term in office. Her van had signs denouncing various acts during the Trump administration. “We should not have to protect democracy from the President,” read one sign. In another, Ramsay proclaimed, “Married women lose voting rights. SAVE Act is voter suppression.”
Ramsay said she was surprised by the assault suspect, since identified as retired Long Beach Officer Craig DeRouche, 64, who she says approached her and ripped a protest sign off her van.
“He attempted to further intimidate me by grabbing at me,” she said. “I defended myself until he struck me in the head so hard that I fell to the ground, and I think I lost consciousness. His actions were unprovoked and outrageous. I defended my country in the Navy, and I defended myself on April 24, and I intend to defend myself in court for any charge that I violated the law.”
DeRouche has been arrested on a misdemeanor charge of simple assault against Ramsay in the April 24 incident. He is charged with a second count of misdemeanor assault in the same incident for allegedly assaulting a man who saw the attack and stopped to help the veteran protester, Long Beach Police Chief Billy Seal said.
READ MORE: See the full Sun Herald article here.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post Coast protester suffers brain bleed after alleged attack by retired policeman 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: Center-Left
The article reports on an alleged assault at a peaceful protest, involving a retired police officer and a Navy veteran, without presenting a clear ideological stance. The coverage focuses on the details of the incident, including the victim’s perspective and the charges against the assailant, Craig DeRouche. The tone of the reporting is factual, detailing the actions of both Ramsay and DeRouche, with an emphasis on the harm done to Ramsay and her perspective as a veteran. There is no overt ideological language or framing that strongly suggests bias, but the focus on the victim’s narrative and her outspoken political views may appeal more to a center-left audience that supports protest rights and is critical of actions associated with the Trump administration. The article avoids making a direct political argument but presents the event through a lens that might resonate with those who share Ramsay’s concerns about the political climate. The report is primarily descriptive, allowing readers to form their own conclusions based on the facts presented.
When the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department agreed to a $2.5 million settlement after “Goon Squad” officers tortured two Black men, the department’s attorney said he hoped it would provide closure for the victims.
But at a breakfast Saturday sponsored by the sheriff and his former father-in-law, Irl Dean Rhodes, county officials struck a much different tone.
Two days after the announcement of the settlement, Rankin County Supervisor Steve Gaines said the department’s attorney, Jason Dare, “beat the pants off of those guys — the dopers, the people that raped and doped your daughters. He beat their pants off.”
Gaines was referring to Eddie Parker and his friend, Michael Jenkins, who were beaten, tased and sexually assaulted by the deputies before they shot Jenkins in the mouth during a mock execution. The deputies tried to plant a BB gun and drugs on the men to cover up their crimes, but they were ultimately convicted and sent to federal prison for decades.
Parker has one felony conviction in Rankin County is for failing to “stop vehicle pursuant to officer’s signal,” according to court records. In Alabama, he had a 2019 conviction for drug possession with intent to distribute. Jenkins has no felony convictions listed in Rankin County. Neither has a conviction in neighboring Hinds County.
Gaines declined to comment about his remarks.
LISTEN: Two days after the $2.5 million “Goon Squad” settlement, Rankin County Supervisor Steve Gaines praised the sheriff’s department’s lawyer, Jason Dare, and talked about the two Black men whom deputies beat, tortured and sexually abused. Click the link to hear what he said at the Saturday breakfast hosted by Sheriff Bryan Bailey.
The two men’s lawyer, Trent Walker, said Gaines’ remark fits the racist trope of falsely accusing Black men of raping white men’s daughters.
That remark, Walker said, makes obvious “that attitudes like this permit rogue police to prevail and allow for the conditions in which officers have been able to carry out their unlawful agenda against other citizens of the state of Mississippi.”
An investigation by Mississippi Today and The New York Times exposed a decades-long reign of terror by 20 Rankin County deputies, several of whom routinely tortured suspected drug users to elicit information and confessions.
Many people have filed lawsuits alleging abuses by deputies, or say they filed complaints with the department or reported these incidents directly to Bailey, but the sheriff has denied any knowledge of these alleged abuses.
Gaines, who worked for three decades as an agent with the Office of Inspector General, praised Bailey for enduring the scandals that have wracked his department and prompted investigations by the Justice Department and the state auditor’s office regarding Bailey’s alleged misuse of taxpayer money equipment and supplies used at his mother’s commercial chicken farm.
“It made me cry at night that Sheriff Bailey, my friend, was absorbing this,” he said. “I’m gonna tell you, he has weathered the storm, and we are back.”
Bailey thanked the county’s leaders for their support. “For the past 28 months through all of this,” he said, “my board of supervisors have stood behind me 110%.”
The sheriff said he was ready to quit several times, but Rhodes urged him to stay and run again for sheriff. “He kept pushing me,” Bailey said. “He’s still pushing me.”
Rhodes has long been regarded as “kingmaker” in Mississippi politics with many seeking his support in their campaigns. In the early 1980s, he was convicted and fined on multiple counts of felony tax evasion.
Gaines praised other Rankin County officials, citing the county’s smooth roads and relatively low crime rates, and expressed concern about the county’s growing pains, such as students from other counties attending Rankin schools.
“ How do you feel about paying the taxes that you pay and people from across the river coming over here and putting their kids in your school?” he told the nearly all-white crowd, referring to the Pearl River that separates Hinds and Rankin counties. “They’re gonna pay taxes maybe one year or maybe not at all.”
Rankin County is 72% white, while Hinds County is 72% Black.
Angela English, president of the Rankin County branch of the NAACP, said there is no mistaking Gaines’ words as a racial reference. “That’s the kind of toxic environment that we have in Rankin County,” she said.
A lifelong resident of Rankin County, English helped integrate Florence schools with her sisters. “It’s always good to know where he [Gaines] stands, whether you agree with him or not,” she said. “I’d rather know who I’m dealing with than to be caught by surprise.”
His remark, she said, “alludes to the kind of people who are upholding Bryan Bailey.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post Rankin supervisor calls torture victims 'dopers' and rapists 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: Center-Right
The article reports on Rankin County Supervisor Steve Gaines’ comments regarding the victims of police abuse and the ongoing controversy surrounding the actions of the local sheriff’s department. While the article highlights Gaines’ remarks, which are racially charged and supportive of the sheriff, it primarily focuses on the factual reporting of the situation without overt ideological positioning. The article includes quotes from key figures such as Gaines and civil rights activists, and its tone remains neutral, reporting the conflict without endorsing a specific viewpoint. However, Gaines’ controversial language reflects a clear right-leaning stance in terms of support for local law enforcement, framing the victims negatively, which may influence public opinion in a direction that aligns with conservative political perspectives. The reporting itself maintains a factual narrative and refrains from pushing a partisan agenda, but the events described suggest a broader ideological divide in how law enforcement issues are viewed.
Mississippi Today
Pearl River Glass Studio’s stained glass windows for historic Memphis church destroyed in fire
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.
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.
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 $14 million restoration of Clayborn Temple was a collaborative effort by non-profits, movers and shakers on the national scene, community leaders and donations.
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.
The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.
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
Pearl River baseball wins first postseason test over Meridian 4-2! Head Coach Avalon and local Wildcats discuss the importance of hosting the Region 23 Tournament.
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