by Associated Press, Mississippi Today
September 2, 2025

Four days after starting his second administration, President Donald Trump floated the idea of ” getting rid of ” the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which manages federal disaster response.

But at a meeting last week, the 12-person review council he appointed to propose changes to FEMA seemed more focused on reforms than total dismantlement.

FEMA must be “reformed into an agency that is supporting our local and state officials that are there on the ground and responsive to the individuals that are necessary to help people be healed and whole through these situations,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who co-chairs the council. But, she added, FEMA “as it exists today needs to be eliminated.”

However, the meeting Thursday in Oklahoma City offered hints of what types of reforms the council might present to Trump in its final report. Members mainly focused on conventional and oft-cited opportunities for change, such as getting money faster to states and survivors and enhancing the capacity of local emergency managers.

But some moves by the administration in the last several months have already undermined those goals, as mitigation programs are cut and the FEMA workforce is reduced. Experts also caution that no matter what the council proposes, changes to FEMA’s authority and operations require congressional action.

A Republican-dominated council

Trump created the FEMA Review Council through a January executive order instructing the group to solicit feedback from a “broad range of stakeholders” and to deliver a report to him on recommended changes within 180 days of its first meeting, though that deadline has lapsed.

The 12-person council is co-chaired by Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and vice-chaired by former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant. It is made up of elected officials, emergency managers and other leaders mostly from Republican states.

Trump “believes we should be in a disaster-response portfolio and footprint,” Noem said at Thursday’s meeting, “but the long-term mitigation should not be something that the federal government is continuing to be involved in to the extent that it has been in the past.”

Noem attended virtually, citing efforts toward “bringing some peace to the streets of Washington, D.C.”

Members on Thursday presented some findings collected in listening sessions conducted in multiple states and with Native tribes. Much of the discussion touched on the need to get money to states more quickly and with more flexibility. Trump and Noem have both supported the idea of giving states federal block grants quickly after a disaster instead of the current reimbursement model.

Members have spent “hours, maybe even days, exploring ways to accelerate local recovery through direct funding for public and individual assistance,” Guthrie said.

Making plans beforehand

Several members emphasized improving preparedness and mitigation before disasters hit.

“Mitigation saves lives, it protects property, it reduces cost of future disasters,” said Guthrie, but added that more responsibility should fall on individuals and state and local governments to invest in mitigation.

States like Texas and Florida have robust, well-funded emergency management agencies prepared for major disasters. Members acknowledged that if other state and local governments were to take on more responsibility in disasters, they still needed training support.

Methods for governments to unlock recovery dollars without relying on federal funds also came up, such as parametric insurance, which provides a rapid payout of a previously agreed-upon amount when a triggering event occurs.

The meeting focused less on individual survivor support, but Bryant brought up the need to reform — and protect — the National Flood Insurance Program, calling it “vital.” That program was created by Congress more than 50 years ago because many private insurers stopped offering policies in high-risk areas.

The rhetoric around FEMA is evolving

The conversation signaled a departure from some of the more aggressive rhetoric Trump and Noem have used in the past to describe their plans for FEMA. As recently as June, Trump suggested ” phasing out ” the agency after the 2025 hurricane season.

Michael Coen, who held FEMA posts under three presidential administrations, said after three council meetings, recommendations remain vague.

“Council members provided their perspective but have not identified the challenge they are trying to solve or offered a new way forward,” Coen said.

Coen also cautioned that any significant changes must go through Congress. Lawmakers in July introduced a bipartisan reform bill in the House. The so-called FEMA Act echoes some of the council’s priorities, but also proposes returning FEMA to a Cabinet-level agency.

“Most current proposed FEMA legislation strengthens FEMA,” said Coen.

Actions sometimes contradict words

Some of the administration’s actions so far contradict council members’ emphasis on expediency, mitigation and preparedness.

Noem now requires that she personally approve any DHS expenditure over $100,000. That policy led to delays in the Texas response, according to several reports, though Noem and acting administrator David Richardson have refuted those claims.

The administration halted a multibillion-dollar program for climate resilience projects, and Trump stopped approving hazard mitigation funding requests for major disasters. FEMA abruptly canceled or moved online some local preparedness trainings this spring, though many later resumed.

On Aug. 25, more than 180 current and former FEMA staff sent an opposition letter to the FEMA Review Council and Congress, warning that the agency is so diminished that a major climate event could lead to catastrophe.

At least some of the staff were put on paid administrative leave until further notice on Aug. 26.

This report is by Gabriela Aoun Angueira of The Associated Press.

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

The post Trump proposed getting rid of FEMA, but his review council seems focused on reforming the agency 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 presents a factual and measured overview of President Trump’s approach to FEMA, highlighting both his initial proposal to eliminate the agency and the more moderate reform efforts by his appointed council. It includes perspectives from Republican officials and acknowledges criticisms and concerns from experts and former FEMA staff. The tone is largely neutral but leans slightly toward a center-right viewpoint due to the focus on conservative figures and policies emphasizing state and local control over federal disaster management.

by Simeon Gates, Mississippi Today
September 1, 2025

A historic community center in coastal Bay St. Louis will hold a free event this fall to help people reach across cultural and political divides by simply having fun together.

Organizers say the One Mississippi gathering at 100 Men Hall aims to “show the world what real community looks like.”

The Sept. 28 event will have food, live music and indoor and outdoor activities, including  karaoke, storytelling, limbo contests, sack races and tug-o-war. 

“We’re calling it ‘where neighbors meet and compete,’ but really it’s where they play together,” said Rachel Dangermond, owner and director of 100 Men Hall.

Bay St. Louis was among the communities hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Organizers of One Mississippi say they want to promote unity and “not wait for a natural disaster to show our neighbors we’re with them.” 

Dangermond said she was inspired by current political and social unrest to unite people across all differences. Though the hall strives to celebrate cultural diversity and inclusivity, One Missississippi is meant to bring in those who don’t normally attend the hall’s concerts or other events.

“We want everyone to feel welcome — we believe that everyone should feel welcome,” she said. “But I think that there is more and more, this division that’s happening in our society, and so a lot of people don’t feel comfortable here. And so we want to have an event that invites everyone in, to do things that everyone can do, that is for everyone.”

100 Men Hall has cultural and historical significance to Bay St. Louis.

Bought in 1922 by the One Hundred Members’ Debating Benevolent Association, the hall became a multipurpose space and a popular stop on the Chitlin Circuit, an informal network of entertainment venues for Black performers. Famous blues, jazz and soul entertainers including Etta James, Big Joe Turner and Ray Charles performed there.

The original One Hundred Members’ Debating Benevolent Association disbanded in 1984, and the hall changed ownership multiple times. Dangermond bought it in 2018, and now runs it as a multipurpose space and cultural center. She also established 100 Women DBA, a nonprofit that supports the 100 Men Hall and provides scholarships and mentorships to local women of color.

“I thought, what we needed to do, most importantly, was to remind everybody in this community about who we are,” Dangermond said.

Dangermond describes Bay St. Louis as a small, artsy town. It  is home to a variety of events, many of which are hosted at 100 Men Hall. 

Honey Parker does marketing and advertising for One Mississippi and will host a story slam, where people can share five-minute anecdotes that fit the theme “Only in Mississippi.”

Parker hopes not only to celebrate those in Bay St. Louis, but also to be an example for other places.

“Hopefully, people who come to the event will see what we have here. We have such a fantastic community that is across the spectrum,” Parker said. “It’s to celebrate that, it’s to remind each other that, ‘Yeah, we have a heck of a community.’”

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

The post 'One Mississippi' event promotes community connections in Bay St. Louis 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 content presents a community event focused on unity, cultural diversity, and inclusivity without promoting any particular political ideology. It emphasizes bridging divides and celebrating local history and culture, reflecting a neutral, community-centered perspective rather than a partisan stance.

by Michael Goldberg, Mississippi Today
August 31, 2025

Higher education — central to the public profiles of billionaire businessman Tommy Duff and State Auditor Shad White, two Republicans eyeing Mississippi’s governorship in 2027 — has already become a point of division between them.

Duff, in a recent interview, appeared to take a shot at White, saying politicians should focus on the jobs they currently hold, not future ambitions for higher office. White, in response, said Duff, while on the college board, helped implement diversity, equity and inclusion programs anathema to conservative Republican policy.

In Mississippi, issues such as diversity, equity and inclusion and other culture war battles roiling higher education have become a wedge issue in intraparty political spats, a legal fight unfolding in federal court and an ongoing effort to keep college students from leaving the state in droves.

Duff is considering a run for governor and has made higher education a top focus of his recent public appearances. He cites his budget stewardship during his stint on the state Institutions of Higher Learning Board from May 2015 to May 2024. 

White, both through reports issued by his office and his own bully pulpit, has led a high-profile campaign for conservative reform of Mississippi’s higher education system.

Duff has hinted at the broad outlines of what could become a gubernatorial campaign agenda, but he has largely done so without offering specific policy proposals, citing the nearly 27 months remaining until Election Day in 2027. The gubernatorial race, Duff added in an interview with Mississippi Today, should not distract current state leaders interested in running from attending to the demands of their offices.

 “I kind of wish all these people that want to be running that maybe have government jobs and responsibilities ought to tend to the ones they have,” Duff said. He didn’t name White, but the comment appeared to be a shot at him. 

In response to Duff’s statement, White criticized Duff’s track record on the IHL Board.   

“When Tommy Duff was on the board running our universities, he supported the creation of the DEI office at Ole Miss, on his watch the University Medical Center started an ‘LGBTQ Clinic’ which gave puberty blockers to transgender minors, and he voted to require the COVID shot for university employees before they were allowed to come back to work, so I sort of wish he would have done a better job when he was in his government position,” White said. “I’d have less to clean up.”

In a statement, Jordan Russell, a spokesperson for Duff, called White’s statement “blatantly false” but declined to comment further. 

John Sewell, director of communications for the IHL, said the University of Mississippi’s Division of Diversity and Community Engagement was requested by the university and approved by the Board in April 2017

The University of Mississippi Medical Center’s now dissolved “LGBTQ clinic” was created in 2019, and an IHL Board vote was not required for its creation, Sewell said. 

On the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, Sewell said the board voted against a systemwide mandate in August of 2021, but was then prompted to change course in response to federal regulations. 

“The next month, President Biden issued an order demanding that federal contractors and subcontractors be vaccinated. To avoid losing federal research dollars, the Board voted in October 2021 that individuals considered federal contractors and subcontractors should comply with the executive order,” Sewell said.  

Neither Duff nor White has formally entered the race for governor, but they have both said they are considering a run. Their experience, along with Mississippi’s specific economic challenges, suggests higher education could play a major role in shaping state politics for years to come.  

Duff focuses on fiscal policies

In what Duff’s advisers characterized as the first political speech of his life earlier this month, he reminded the crowd of his tenure on the IHL Board. 

Duff anchored his comments about his experience on the IHL Board in cost savings – a message that aligns with the Trump administration’s elevation of “government efficiency” as a leading political priority. 

Duff said that he oversaw the hiring of a firm to coordinate health insurance policies across the nine institutions in the IHL system, and that resulted in millions in savings. He also said he helped revamp the interest payments universities were paying on bond projects, resulting in about $100 million in savings.

He appeared at a Mississippi Today event with business leaders about “brain drain” and highlighted the need to keep more Mississippi-educated college students in the state by attracting more private-sector jobs. And in an earlier interview with Mississippi Today, he noted that he and his brother are also major supporters of higher education, having donated about $50 million to Mississippi universities. 

Duff also said he supports adding “civic responsibilities” to curricula at Mississippi universities. That reflects ideological currents sweeping the country, with several Republican-led states enacting laws requiring students to take civics-focused courses — often with an emphasis on Western civilization — while scaling back identity-focused content such as race or gender studies.

“I don’t think that’s taught as much anymore. What it means to be an American, a Mississippian. What does it mean to be a future member of society, a citizen? The importance of voting,” Duff said. “Those type of things need to be added into college curricula. Learning our constitution, that type of stuff that makes you more well-rounded and makes you a better student and adult.” 

White has called for Mississippi to change how it funds higher education by stripping public money from degree programs that don’t align with the state’s labor force needs. White pitched that policy as his own solution to brain drain. The idea is that outmigration could be blunted by increasing funding for degree programs with higher earning potential right after graduating, such as in engineering or business management, according to a 2023 report issued by White’s office. 

White was the earliest and most vocal state leader to come out in favor of banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs in schools. 

In a statement, Jacob Walters, a spokesperson for White, said the auditor wants to ensure DEI departments are not recreated again under a different name. White also wants to use the money that previously went to DEI offices to increase campus security. 

Walters also provided other higher education proposals White supports, many of which align with the Trump administration’s push to shape teaching around cultural issues and eliminate  “useless woke programs.”  

“Taxpayer money should not be used to fund Gender Studies programs that feature ‘queer studies’ coursework,” Walters wrote. “This can be found right now at our universities. Instead, taxpayer money should fund degree programs that prepare students for real jobs and don’t saddle them with debt they cannot repay.” 

White wants to require that all universities teach “the scientific reality that there are only two sexes,” Walters wrote. 

He also supports putting a surcharge on out-of-state students who attend Mississippi universities. The revenue would be used to fund a scholarship for any graduate with good grades in a high-need field who agrees to work in Mississippi for the first four years after graduation.

Duff and White are seen as likely candidates for governor in 2027, but Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson is the only notable candidate who has officially announced he’s running. 

Gipson also supports eliminating the ability of Mississippi universities to set goals around “diversity outcomes,” a push that became easier after Trump’s reelection, he told Mississippi Today.  

“Like most Mississippians, I’ve always supported hiring and recruitment based on individual merit and qualifications, so I was glad to see IHL move this direction beginning in November 2024,” Gipson said.

Going forward, Gipson said Mississippi universities must adapt to a declining student population, which some call an “enrollment cliff.” Mississippi can do that by highlighting its “quality of life and college experience and culture that other parts of the country can’t offer,” he added.

Preparing students with skills in data and artificial intelligence – industries already disrupting the American economy – would also be at the top of the two-term agriculture commissioner’s higher education agenda as governor, he said.  

There are just under 80,000 students enrolled at Mississippi’s eight public universities and the University of Mississippi Medical Center, many of whom returned to classes this month. They did so as a legal battle heats up that could fundamentally reshape the composition of student bodies and the dictate which subjects they are taught.

Legal questions loom over DEI

After President Trump made banning DEI programs de rigueur for Republican state legislatures, Mississippi lawmakers introduced legislation for two consecutive legislative sessions. They questioned university officials on their implementation of diversity initiatives and finally succeeded in passing a statewide ban in 2025. 

Last week, a federal judge blocked a Mississippi law that bans diversity, equity and inclusion programs in Mississippi public schools from going into effect. 

As Mississippi geared up to shutter DEI from its schools, the Trump administration unleashed a torrent of executive actions aimed at universities. The federal government launched civil rights investigations into elite universities and froze billions in federal research money

The Mississippi ruling prevents officials from enforcing the law. Attorneys for the plaintiffs and the state defendants will now move to discovery, where they collect evidence before a bench trial. 

The litigation could drag on past the 2026 legislative session, forcing Republican lawmakers to keep pushing to enact a policy they had already spent over a year drafting and debating.

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

The post DEI, campus culture wars spark early battle between likely GOP rivals for governor in Mississippi 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 content primarily presents a discussion of conservative Republican figures and policies in Mississippi, focusing on debates around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, higher education reform, and cultural issues. It highlights viewpoints aligned with conservative and Republican priorities, such as fiscal responsibility, opposition to DEI initiatives, and emphasis on workforce-aligned education. While the article maintains a factual tone and includes multiple perspectives, the framing and topics covered reflect a center-right political leaning consistent with mainstream conservative discourse.