Mississippi Today

A Jackson resident of Ward 3, due to city error, votes in Ward 1 primary

Published

3 months ago

March 19, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Anna Wolfe – 2025-03-19 13:14:00

A Jackson resident of Ward 3, due to city error, votes in Ward 1 primary

by Anna Wolfe, Mississippi Today
March 19, 2025

Ward 1 Jackson City Councilman Ashby Foote

For the last 10 years, north Fondren resident Patricia Ice has called private investment advisor Ashby Foote, the lone Republican on the Jackson City Council, her councilman.

But after the city redrew its ward maps last year due to population declines, the shape of the voting district Ice used to live in, Ward 1, shifted east, meaning she now lives in Ward 3.

Ward 3 Jackson City Councilman Kenneth Stokes

With that came a new city representative, and from appearances, a polar opposite one: Democrat Kenny Stokes, a 33-year veteran on the council known for eccentric quotes delivered in a thick Southern accent. “The mayor must stop smoking that dope,” he said to the local TV station in 2022.

But because of an error that was later corrected, Ice and dozens of her neighbor’s addresses were initially left out of the move, resulting in Ice casting an invalid Ward 1 ballot in this year’s municipal primary election.

For some, the snafu has caused anxiety surrounding an election that, with 19 candidates in the mayoral race alone, has already proven difficult for residents to navigate.

“So when we vote, will our votes count or matter, since the ballots will be erroneous? Sounds like it could turn into a mess,” one of Ice’s neighbors wrote in a group messaging app.

In February, the Jackson City Clerk’s Office sent out some 6,000 letters to people who, like Ice, experienced a ward change, notifying them ahead of the April 1 primary Election Day which council race they would be voting in.

Ice’s neighbors on bordering streets received the mail confirming they’d been switched to Ward 3. They discussed it in the group chat. But Ice’s letter never came.

Ice called the city clerk, Angela Harris, and the Hinds County Circuit Clerk, Zack Wallace. She recited to them her Kings Highway address and they told her she still lived in Ward 1 – disregarding the published maps that showed her house inside Ward 3. Since Ice is over 65 years old, she had the opportunity to cast an absentee vote.

“That’s when I went to vote early because I said, ‘I’m going to see what’s on my ballot,’” Ice said.

On Mar. 7, Ice cast her vote in the Democratic primary election for Ward 1. Her preferred Ward 1 council candidate is an independent, so on the Democratic ballot, she wrote in her own name for that race. Harris told Mississippi Today Wednesday that Ice was the only person from the impacted section of Kings Highway to vote absentee.

The Secretary of State, which oversees elections, directed questions about this story to the local clerk, but told Mississippi Today that “any errors in redistricting that allow a voter to vote in the wrong district may result in an elections challenge.”

The 2020 U.S. Census found Jackson’s population fell by about 20,000 since 2010, with the decline especially affecting Ward 5 and 3, WLBT reported. The 1964 Voting Rights Act requires that the city’s population be evenly distributed among the districts, with no ward deviating in size by more than 10%, and requires governments to reevaluate every 10 years after the census.

The city commissioned the Central Mississippi Planning and Development District to help it redraw the lines and held public hearings to discuss the changes, which were adopted last August. Part of the hope was that in redrawing cleaner lines, the city could cut down on the number of split precincts, that is, the polling places that serve people of different wards and must manage handing out different ballots on Election Day.

Harris told Mississippi Today that she gave the new maps to the city’s GIS department, which culled the list of addresses that changed wards. Harris gave that list to Wallace, who was responsible for updating the voter registration database and pulling the names of residents who would need to be notified. But Wallace said the two-block section of Kings Highway from Meadowbrook to Northside Drive was left out of the spreadsheet of addresses he received.

“So those 50 something people are still right now in Ward 1,” Harris told Mississippi Today last week, not indicating a change would be made before the election.

An illustration of the Ward 3 and Ward 7 border at Meadowbrook Road and the Kings Highway residents who were told, until two weeks before the primary election, that they would be voting in Ward 1.

If true, those Kings Highway residences would represent an island of Ward 1 voters inside Ward 3. Legally, wards must be contiguous, City Attorney Drew Martin said at a hearing last year.

“They cannot have islands or donuts within them,” Gray Ouzts, Principal Planner for the local planning and development district, told Mississippi Today.

After Mississippi Today spoke to Foote about the error last week, he added an agenda item to discuss the issue at the council’s Tuesday meeting. Then Harris took action, sending Wallace a list Monday of the Kings Highway addresses that had been left out. Wallace quickly updated the voter registration database to reflect their correct ward and letters went out to those residents the same day.

Another impacted Kings Highway resident, Jennifer Baughn, spoke to Mississippi Today before the correction was made. It may not have made a difference on the outcome of the race, but to Baughn, the error threatened to lock her out of the democratic process. Baughn concluded that if she’d received a Ward 1 ballot, she’d have voted for someone who wouldn’t actually represent her.

“That’s the essence of disenfranchised. And yet, there’s no acknowledgement from the city clerk … It’s ridiculous,” Baughn said before her voter registration was corrected. “I wasn’t super happy about being moved, but now I’m feeling like we won’t be getting representation from either (council member), because the Ward 1 candidate is going to know that we’re not going to be voters the next time, so why put the effort into our street? And we have major issues.”

Baughn said a new nightclub opened up within a block of her house, and the music and traffic have kept her awake into the wee hours of the night.

She said she’s also run into similar ambiguity about which of the separate police forces in Jackson are there to serve her. Take a noise complaint, for example. She said when she calls Jackson Police Department, an employee has told them she is in the jurisdiction of Capitol Police, and when she’s called Capitol Police, they’ve told her they don’t deal in city ordinance enforcement.

“We have no one to call. We call the police and they say, ‘Oh you need to talk to your council person,’ and I’m like, ‘Okay who is our council person?’” Baughn said.

Though he hasn’t made contact with his new constituents yet, Stokes is apparently up to speed on the issues residents in that area are facing, bringing up nightclubs unprompted. “I ride, I ride my whole ward,” Stokes said. “I ride, I look, I observe, and I pay attention to the different patterns that’s taking place.”

Abigail Hartman, president of the Fondren North neighborhood association, said her community was generally pleased when they learned they would be represented by Stokes, who they feel is more responsive to constituents, rather than Foote.

While Foote tinkers away in his office on maps he had made of all state-owned tax forfeited property in Jackson, a driver of blight across the city, Stokes appears at community events he’s organized, shaking hands and wearing his signature black hat with white serif font reading, “STOKES”.

Ironically, despite their quite different tacks, constituents of Stokes and Foote currently receive very similar representation on the council since the two men nearly always vote together, particularly on items where they have a chance to oppose Mayor Chokwe Lumumba.

“Politics makes for strange bedfellows,” Foote said. “We’ve both had differences with the mayor.”

In 2022, during a spat over selecting a new garbage contractor, Lumumba accused both Foote and Stokes of taking bribes from one of the vendors, which they both denied. (Hence, Stokes’ “smoking dope” quote).

Members of the Jackson City Council pose outside of City Hall, wearing black hats with white lettering similar to the signature cap Councilman Kenneth Stokes wears, during the summer of 2024.

Later, at the end of Foote’s term as council president, the Ward 1 councilman had replica black and white ball caps made for himself and all the other council members spelling their own names in “the Stokes lettering,” Foote said.

From hurling taunts like “Yo mama” or suggesting Black leadership “throw rocks and bricks and bottles” at suburb police to calling out Lumumba, who was eventually indicted by federal prosecutors, “Stokes has evolved a lot over the last eight years,” Foote said.

“I think he’s seen more as a voice of common sense now,” Foote said.

There are a total of 52 candidates running for either mayor or council this year, including Lumumba and 11 challengers in the Democratic primary for mayor April 1. Foote chose to run as an independent as a way to encourage his supporters to participate in the Democratic primary, which commonly determines the winner for mayor. Foote, who represents a whiter, wealthier part of the city in northeast Jackson, will face two challengers in the general election – the Democratic nominee and one independent. Four are running for Ward 1 in the Democratic primary.

So the north Fondren residents who moved from Ward 1 to Ward 3 have a little easier decision this election. Stokes does not face a challenger until the General Election in June, when he runs against one independent.

But once Hartman learned some residents in her association were told they’d still be voting in Ward 1, “We’re having to research double the amount of candidates,” she said.

“I’ve never had to work so hard in an election season,” Hartman said.

Adding to the confusion, campaign signs and mailers for Ward 1 candidates began popping up in Hartman’s neighborhood, causing residents to wonder who exactly was mistaken.

“If anything, it should have been caught. It’s sad that it took some of the individuals in the neighborhood to dig into this and find the information for themselves,” Hartman said.

Patricia Ice, a resident of north Fondren, outside of her home on Mar. 18, 2025.

Ice received a letter Tuesday notifying that her vote had been voided and she’d have to go back to City Hall to cast a new absentee ballot for Ward 3. But unlike some of her neighbors, she wasn’t too bothered. “I don’t mind going down there to vote again,” she said.

“I was never that worried about it,” Ice said. The only thing she’s sought from the council was, years ago, for them to add some speed bumps to her street, which never materialized.

The longtime immigrant rights attorney is much more concerned about what’s happening on a national level, the new Trump administration’s dismantling of federal programs and threats towards democracy, which she described as a coup d’état.

The local election ordeal did, however, remind Ice of the impression she had when she moved to Mississippi from her hometown of Detroit in 1998. She’d heard of Mississippi’s notorious history of voter intimidation and disenfranchisement, a legacy still visible today through the state’s attachment to some of the most restrictive voting laws in the nation. When Ice registered to vote in Mississippi for the first time, she said she was required to get the signature of a sponsor in her area.

“This is really true,” she remembered thinking, “they really do have a hard time voting here.”

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

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Mississippi Today

UMMC hospital madison county

Published

4 days ago

June 13, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-06-13 11:23:00

by Gwen Dilworth, Mississippi Today
June 13, 2025

The University of Mississippi Medical Center has acquired Canton-based Merit Health Madison and is preparing to move a pediatric clinic to Madison, continuing a trend of moving services to Jackson’s suburbs.

The 67-bed hospital, now called UMMC Madison, will provide a wide range of community hospital services, including emergency services, medical-surgical care, intensive care, cardiology, neurology, general surgery and radiology services. It also will serve as a training site for medical students, and it plans to offer OB-GYN care in the future.

“As Mississippi’s only academic medical center, we must continue to be focused on our three-part mission to educate the next generation of health care providers, conduct impactful research and deliver accessible high-quality health care,” Dr. LouAnn Woodward, UMMC’s vice chancellor of health affairs, said in a statement. “Every decision we make is rooted in our mission.”

The new facility will help address space constraints at the medical center’s main campus in Jackson by freeing up hospital beds, imaging services and operating areas, said Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for health affairs.

UMMC physicians have performed surgeries and other procedures at the hospital in Madison since 2019. UMMC became the full owner of the hospital May 1 after purchasing it from Franklin, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems.

The Batson Kids Clinic, which offers pediatric primary care, will move to the former Mississippi Center for Advanced Medicine location in Madison. This space will allow the medical center to offer pediatric primary care and specialty services and resolve space issues that prevent the clinic from adding new providers, according to Institutions of Higher Learning board minutes.

A UMMC spokesperson did not respond to questions about the services that will be offered at the clinic or when it will begin accepting patients.

The Mississippi Center for Advanced Medicine, a pediatric subspecialty clinic, closed last year as a result of a settlement in a seven-year legal battle between the clinic and UMMC in a federal trade secrets lawsuit.

The changes come after the opening of UMMC’s Colony Park South clinic in Ridgeland in February. The clinic offers a range of specialty outpatient services, including surgical services. Another Ridgeland UMMC clinic, Colony Park North, will open in 2026.

The expansion of UMMC clinical services to Madison County has been criticized by state lawmakers and Jackson city leaders. The medical center does not need state approval to open new educational facilities. Critics say UMMC has used this exemption to locate facilities in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods outside Jackson while reducing services in the city.

UMMC did not respond to a request for comment about its movement of services to Madison County.

UMMC began removing clinical services this year from Jackson Medical Mall, which is in a majority-Black neighborhood with a high poverty rate. The medical center plans to reduce its square footage at the mall by about 75% in the next year.

The movement of health care services from Jackson to the suburbs is a “very troubling trend” that will make it more difficult for Jackson residents to access care, Democratic state Sen. John Horhn, who will become Jackson’s mayor July 1, previously told Mississippi Today.

Lawmakers sought to rein in UMMC’s expansion outside Jackson this year by passing a bill that would require the medical center to receive state approval before opening new educational medical facilities in areas other than the vicinity of its main campus and Jackson Medical Mall. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed the legislation, saying he opposed an unrelated provision in the bill.

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

The post UMMC hospital madison county 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 presents a primarily factual report on UMMC’s expansion into Madison County, outlining the medical center’s services and strategic decisions while including critiques from Democratic leaders and local officials about the suburban shift. The inclusion of concerns over equity and access—highlighting that the expansion is occurring in wealthier, whiter suburbs at the expense of services in majority-Black, poorer neighborhoods—leans the piece toward a center-left perspective, emphasizing social justice and community impact. However, the article maintains a measured tone by presenting statements from UMMC representatives and government officials without overt editorializing, thus keeping the overall coverage grounded in balanced reporting with a slight progressive framing.

Mississippi Today

Rita Brent, Q Parker headline ‘Medgar at 100’ Concert

Published

4 days ago

June 13, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-06-13 10:26:00

by Mississippi Today, Mississippi Today
June 13, 2025

Nationally known comedian Rita Brent will host the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute’s “Medgar at 100” Concert on June 28.

Tickets go on sale Saturday, June 14, and can be ordered on the institute’s website.

The concert will take place at the Jackson Convention Complex and is the capstone event of the “Medgar at 100” Celebration. Organizers are calling the event “a cultural tribute and concert honoring the enduring legacy of Medgar Wiley Evers.”

“My father believed in the power of people coming together — not just in protest, but in joy and purpose, and my mother and father loved music,” said Reena Evers-Everette, executive director of the institute. “This evening is about honoring his legacy with soul, celebration, and a shared commitment to carry his work forward. Through music and unity, we are creating space for remembrance, resilience, and the rising voices of a new generation.”

In addition to Brent, other featured performers include: actress, comedian and singer Tisha Campbell; soul R&B powerhouse Leela James; and Grammy award-winning artist, actor, entrepreneur and philanthropist Q Parker and Friends.

Organizers said the concert is also “a call to action — a gathering rooted in remembrance, resistance, and renewal.”

Proceeds from the event will go to support the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute’s mission to “advance civic engagement, develop youth leadership, and continue the fight for justice in Mississippi and beyond.”

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

The post Rita Brent, Q Parker headline 'Medgar at 100' Concert appeared first on mississippitoday.org

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

This article presents a straightforward, factual report on the upcoming “Medgar at 100” concert honoring civil rights leader Medgar Wiley Evers. The tone is respectful and celebratory, focusing on the event’s cultural and community significance without expressing a political stance or ideological bias. It quotes organizers and highlights performers while emphasizing themes of remembrance, unity, and justice. The coverage remains neutral by reporting the event details and mission of the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute without editorializing or promoting a specific political viewpoint. Overall, it maintains balanced and informative reporting.

Mississippi Today

Future uncertain for residents of abandoned south Jackson apartment complex

Published

4 days ago

June 13, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-06-13 09:25:00

by Maya Miller, Mississippi Today
June 13, 2025

Residents at Chapel Ridge Apartments in Jackson are left wondering what to do next after months dealing with trash pileups, property theft and the possibility of water shutoffs due to the property owner skipping out on the bill.

On Sunday, Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley, city attorney Drew Martin and code enforcement officers discussed next steps for the complex, which, since April 30, has been without a property manager.

“How are you all cracking down on other possible fraudulent property managers around Jackson?” one woman asked Martin.

“ We don’t know they’re there until we know they’re there, and I know that’s a terrible answer, but I don’t personally have another one I’m aware of right now,” Martin said. “These individuals don’t seem to have owned another apartment complex in the Metro Jackson area, despite owning a whole bunch nationwide.”

A sign marks the entrance to Chapel Ridge Apartments, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Jackson, Miss.

Back in April, a letter was left on the door of the leasing office advising residents to not make rental payments until a new property manager arrives. The previous property managers are Lynd Management Group, a company based in San Antonio, Texas.

The complex has been under increased scrutiny after Chapel Ridge Apartments lost its solid waste contract mid-March due to months of nonpayment. The removal of dumpsters led to a portion of the parking lot turning into a dumping site, an influx of rodents and gnats, and an investigation by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. Local leaders pitched in to help remedy the situation, and in May, Waste Management provided two dumpsters for the complex.

However, the problems persisted. In May, JXN Water released the names of 15 apartment complexes that owe more than $100,000 in unpaid water fees. Chapel Ridge was on the list. JXN Water spokesperson Aisha Carson said via email that they are “pursuing legal options to address these large-scale delinquencies across several properties.”

A “No Dumping” sign stands where a dumpster was previously located at Chapel Ridge Apartments, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Jackson, Miss.

“While no shutoffs are imminent at this time, we are evaluating each case based on legal feasibility and the need to balance enforcement with tenant protections. Our focus is on transparency and accountability, not disruption—but we will act when needed to ensure the integrity of the system,” Carson said.

And earlier this week, Chapel Ridge Apartments was declared a public nuisance. Martin said this gives the city of Jackson “the authority to come in, mow the grass and board up any of the units where people aren’t living.”

Martin said the situation is complicated, because the complex is owned by Chapel Ridge Apartments LLC. The limited liability corporation is owned by CRBM Realty Inc. and Crown Capital Holdings LLC, which are ultimately owned by Moshe “Mark” Silber. In April, Silber was sentenced to 30 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution. Earlier this month, both companies filed for bankruptcy in New Jersey.

An empty area where a dumpster was once placed is seen at Chapel Ridge Apartments, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Jackson, Miss.

Now, Martin said the main goal is to find someone who can manage the property.

“Somebody’s got to be able to collect rent from you,” Martin said. “They got to be able to pay the water. They got to be able to pay the garbage. They got to be able to pay for the lights to be on. They got to maintain the property, so that’s our goal is to put that in place.”

Chapel Ridge offers a rent scale based on household income. Those earning under 50% of the area median income — between $21,800 and $36,150 depending on household size — for example, pay $480 for a two-bedroom and $539 for a three-bedroom unit. Rent increases between $20 and $40 for those earning under 60% of the area median income.

Valarie Banks said that when she moved into Chapel Ridge nearly 13 years ago, it was a great community. The disabled mother and grandmother moved from West Jackson to the complex because it was neatly kept and quiet.

“It was beautiful. I saw a lot of kids out playing. There were people that were engaging you when you came out. They were eager to help,” Banks said. “ I hope that they could bring this place back to the way it once was.”

But after months of uncertainty, Banks is preparing to move. She said she’s not the only one.

“I have somewhere to go, but I’m just trying to get my money together so I can be able to handle the deposits and the bills that come after you move,” she said. “All of my doctors are around here close to me. In 12 years, I made this place home for me. … I’ve been stacking my rent, but it’s still not enough if I want to move this month.”

While she said she’s holding onto her rent payments for the time being, she realizes that many of her fellow residents may not be as lucky. Without someone to maintain the apartments, some residents are finding themselves without basic amenities.

“Some people are in dire straits, because they don’t have a stove or a fridge or the air conditioner,” she said. “Their stove went out, or the fridge went out, or they stole the air conditioner while you’re in the apartment.”

Banks isn’t the only one who is formulating a plan to leave. One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she’s been trying to save money to move, but she already has $354 wrapped up in a money order that she’s unable to pass off for her rent, due to the property manager’s recent departure.

“It really feels like an abandonment and just stressful to live where I’m living at right now. This just doesn’t happen. It just feels stressful. It doesn’t feel good at all,” she said.

She’s trying to remain optimistic, but as each day passes without someone to maintain the property, she’s losing hope.

“ I just hope that things get better some day, somehow, hopefully, because if not, more than likely I’m going to have to leave because I can only take so much,” she said. “I can’t continue to deal with this situation of hoping and wishing somebody comes, and they don’t.”

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

The post Future uncertain for residents of abandoned south Jackson apartment complex appeared first on mississippitoday.org

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

This article from *Mississippi Today* primarily focuses on the struggles of low-income residents at Chapel Ridge Apartments, emphasizing the human impact of property mismanagement, regulatory gaps, and systemic neglect. The piece maintains a factual tone, but it centers the voices of vulnerable tenants and local officials seeking accountability—hallmarks of a center-left perspective. While it does not overtly advocate for policy change, the narrative framing highlights social injustice and institutional failures, subtly aligning with progressive concerns about housing equity and corporate responsibility.