by Simeon Gates, Mississippi Today
March 24, 2025

Five days after an Atmos Energy crew accidentally released high-pressure gas in northeast Mississippi, the company is nearly done restoring gas to the over 17,000 affected customers.

All 17,000 customers have their gas restored, and technicians are working to help a handful of customers get their appliances relighted, according to Atmos.

The accident on March 12 injured three contractors and caused outages to commercial and residential customers in Belden, Guntown, Plantersville, Pontotoc, Saltillo, Shannon, Tupelo, and Verona. The three injured workers were contractors with Atmos, but the company said it doesn’t know their conditions.

“Atmos Energy’s highly-trained technicians have visited every customer multiple times, going door to door, to restore service in the impacted areas,” reads the official updates page. 

“If you were not home or at your business?when our crews were restoring service,?a door tag with instructions to schedule an appointment was left on your front door. If you are without gas service, please call 866.322.8667 and press 1 to schedule an appointment to restore your gas service.”

An adult who lives in the home or is a representative of the business must be present for the restoration to take place.

Over 700 technicians from across eight states are on the job to restore gas, going door-to-door for customers. 

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

by Sherry Lucas, Mississippi Today
March 24, 2025

The grin on best-selling author Angie Thomas’s face could not have been bigger. The Zoom call, surprising Owen Jarvis with news he had won the full-ride scholarship to Belhaven University named in Thomas’ honor, was a giddy secret that was hers to share.

“Sometimes when it happens, I feel like Oprah when she gave out the cars,” a gleeful Thomas said of informing the winner. For the Young Adult author and Jackson native, now living in Atlanta, the activity falls right in line with her stories’ focus on young people as they find their own voice and the power it can hold. 

Thomas, a 2011 Belhaven grad, is the author of New York Times bestselling novels “The Hate U Give” and “On the Come Up” (both made into major motion pictures), “Concrete Rose” and  “Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy.” 

The scholarship in her name began in 2020, established by Belhaven University to support aspiring writers as they pursue dreams of authorship. “To watch in real time, the burden lift off of them, is incredible because, you know, we talk about education, but we don’t talk enough about the cost of education, and the stress and the burden of it,” Thomas said, noting that several winners were the first in their families to attend college.

She attended Belhaven on partial scholarship, but still had to take out student loans because of family financial struggles. “My mom was a full-time caregiver to my grandmother, and so money was tight at the time. There were plenty of times where I wasn’t sure how I was going to pay for gas … much less books and all of those things. So, by the grace of God, I was able to get my education and now to know that that’s a burden that these future creative writing graduates won’t have — that’s incredible to me, and to know that it was done in my honor is even more incredible.”

Jarvis, of Pelham, Alabama, is the fifth recipient of the Angie Thomas Writers Scholarship. While only one is awarded annually, other applicants receive partial scholarships.  “They kind of set me up really, really good,” he said with a sheepish chuckle about the surprise. He thought the call was a finalist interview, right up to the moment Thomas chimed in with congratulations. “I was blown away.” 

He grew up in south Florida and moved to Alabama as a teen. His writing focus took hold the summer between freshman and sophomore years in high school, after a friend’s death. “It was kind of a big shock in my life, and the way I dealt with the grief was writing poetry,” he said, then moving on to other forms. A self-described fantasy writer, he also delves into sci-fi, dystopian stories and more. 

“There’s so many crazy things in the world today that you can just look at and say, ‘Wow, that would be really interesting to make it a little more extreme.’ It’s not peering into the future, but it’s sort of, almost, a ‘What if?’” he said.

The first student awarded the scholarship, Imani Skipwith of Jackson, graduated in April 2024. Now pursuing her master’s degree at Jackson State University, she is also working on a poetry collection and  exploring creative nonfiction. “It just opened a door,” she said of the scholarship that made college more accessible. “It’s a reminder, for me, that I’m on the right path.”

Skipwith is an avid reader turned writer. “I read a lot, but I didn’t see a lot of characters that looked like me. And, if they did look like me, they were the supporting characters of white people. … They weren’t representative of me.” Later, her interest expanded into the mental health of her community, and highlighting needed change.

“I like to say that I write for the eldest daughter,” said Skipwith, whose own sister is about a decade younger. “In a sense, I kind of helped raise her. … There is a lot that I experienced, being an eldest daughter, and being a Black eldest daughter, that I felt like I should share, for guidance.” 

Thomas pulls from her own experience for advice and encouragement for scholarship students. “I always remind them that they earned this, and they deserve it,” the author said. “One thing I’ve noticed about us writers — we have a lot of doubts, and all of us, at one point or another, struggle with imposter syndrome and we have these moments, even when we’ve seen success, where we’re like, ‘Did I really?’ ‘Am I that good?’

“I always want them to know that they deserved it, and I always, too, want to remind them that this is a journey,” she said. The university’s creative writing program, founded and led by Randall Smith, can help hone young writers’ gifts.

“Seeing these young people come in, finding their voices through the program, and also seeing such a diversity in the voices is incredible. It’s much more diverse now,” she said, than when she was the only Black student in the program. “Not just racial diversity, but diversity in the voices and the types of stories young people are telling, and the socioeconomic backgrounds that are now coming to the program, and it’s a great place to nurture that.”

Next up from Thomas is the second book in her Nic Blake series for younger readers, due out this fall, “It’s a fantasy series that partially takes place in Jackson, which is fun to be able to do, to bring a little magic to Jackson because Jackson sure could use it.” 

Though she cannot talk now about her next Young Adult book in progress, “I think that fans of ‘The Hate U Give’ will be happy once this one is announced,” she said. 

Work on movie and TV scripts continues.

Scholarship involvement is a good fit for a writer who sets stories, targets audiences and puts her belief in the younger set. “I’ve, in a lot of ways, given up on older generations for fixing and changing,” Thomas said, with a characteristically youthful laugh. “Day by day, my hope in older generations is just dying out little by little. And so, I see young people, obviously as the future, but as the hope.

“What I’m doing, hopefully, is an investment in the future, and seeing a world more like the one I would love for us to have right now.” 

She wants more young people to recognize and use their power. “I look at every movement in this country, specifically, in which true change was achieved and usually young people were either at the forefront of it, or they were the motor behind it. 

“If I’m the one who wants to see change in the world, I think the best way to do that is to invest in young people. Invest in them through the stories that I tell. Invest in them through the opportunities that I can provide, and just give them mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors.” Books, films — literature, period — can do that, she said.

“They can show young people themselves, and help them see the beauty in themselves, the power in themselves, or they can show young people lives unlike their own situations and … to give them a window into others’ lives. Or, they can be a sliding glass door that opens up opportunities for them to see a wider world.

“One of the big issues we have right now is that we have people in power who have a very limited worldview. 

“If we want change, we have to make sure we’re giving them a worldview that is beyond just their little pocket of the world, so that they can understand the world, and they can understand others better. And so, honestly, we can at least have some empathy again.”

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

by Geoff Pender, Mississippi Today
March 24, 2025

The week of March 17 in the Mississippi Legislature dawned with a continuing tax standoff between the state House and Senate as they entered the final weeks of a three-month legislative session.

The two chambers remained so far apart with their tax plans that lawmakers and politicos expected the governor would have to force them into special session for more negotiations or else they would leave with no tax plan — heck, maybe even with no state budget.

Speaker Jason White and his GOP House leadership were steadfast in their yearslong desire to relatively quickly eliminate the state income tax and increase the state’s sales and gasoline taxes. This shift to more regressive taxation would stand to strip more than $2 billion from the $7 billion general fund of America’s poorest state, hitting lower-income people hardest and generally helping the more affluent.

Mississippi would, under this House proposal, become the first state to eliminate an existing income tax in American history. But House leaders promise the experiment will lead Mississippi to beulah land and generate more than enough economic growth to cover the billions cut from income tax revenue.

But on the other side of the Capitol, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and his GOP Senate leadership were standing firm that this House proposal is foolhardy, particularly with massive federal spending cuts and economic uncertainty looming. Mississippi is perennially dependent on money from Washington, and no one can confidently say they know what the coming months from the new Trump administration will mean for the state.

Senate leaders had instead offered only another cut to the state’s income tax, which is already among the lowest in the nation, rather than a total elimination the House was proposing. It was also pretty clear they’d be OK with ending this 2025 legislative session with no major tax changes at all if the House didn’t rein it in.

The stakes on this disagreement between the House and Senate are high for Mississippians for generations to come.

... In the end, it wasn’t earnest negotiation or any agreement between the two sides that led to the passage of total income tax elimination in Mississippi — it was a few typos.

The Senate had accidentally put in some decimal points that essentially eliminated the growth triggers that would have staved off full elimination of the income tax for years …

READ THE FULL ANALYSIS: The Typo Tax Swap Act of 2025 may be the most Mississippi thing ever

Quote of the Week

“I know the snake oil salesman who showed up in Mississippi selling this bill of goods must be laughing uncontrollably that they’ve put this one over on the rubes in Mississippi.” — Sen. Hob Bryan, speaking in committee against a measure to eliminate the state’s individual income tax and raise the gasoline tax

In Brief

Legislators introduce over 60 suffrage restoration bills

Lawmakers introduced around 66 measures to restore suffrage to people who have had their voting rights taken away from them because they were convicted of a disenfranchising felony offense. 

Mississippi strips voting rights away from people for life if they have committed one of around 23 disenfranchising offenses. The only way for a person to regain their suffrage is to get two-thirds of lawmakers in both chambers to agree to restore it. 

Governors can restore suffrage to people through pardons, but no governor has issued such a pardon since the end of Gov. Haley Barbour’s administration.   – Taylor Vance

Governor signs turkey stamp bill into law

Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill requiring hunters to obtain a turkey stamp before harvesting the wild birds into law. 

Senate Bill 2280 requires in-state hunters to purchase a $10 turkey stamp and out-of-state hunters to pay a $100 fee for the stamp. In addition to the new stamp, the law still requires hunters to obtain a normal hunting license. 

Proponents of the measure said the stamp fees would be used to maintain and improve turkey-hunting lands around the state.   – Taylor Vance

Lawmakers haggle on absentee voting measure

A bill that could either establish early voting or expand absentee voting in the state is headed to a conference committee for final negotiations. 

House Speaker Jason White named Republican Rep. Noah Sanford of Collins, Republican Rep. Mark Tullos of Raleigh and Republican Rep. Jansen Owen of Poplarville as the House conferees. 

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann named Republican Sen. Jeremy England of Vancleave, Republican Sen. Kevin Blackwell of Southaven and Republican Sen. Lydia Chassaniol of Winona as the Senate conferees. 

The Senate passed a bill earlier in the session to establish two weeks of no-excuse early voting, but the House rejected that idea and proposed expanding absentee voting options.   – Taylor Vance

Ed board recommends moving MSMS to MSU

The state Board of Education last week voted to recommend to lawmakers that the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science be moved from the Mississippi University for Women to Mississippi State University.

The board had sought proposals from the universities to run the school for gifted high schoolers, which was created in 1987. The board said MSU’s proposal scored far higher than MUW’s. The Legislature would have to approve the move, and provide funding for it, which is not likely to happen as lawmakers enter the final days of the 2025 legislative session.   – Geoff Pender

Bill requiring panhandler permits heads to governor

The Legislature has passed a bill to require panhandlers to get a permit costing up to $25 from their city or county government.

Proponents of the measure said it is a safety measure, to prevent people soliciting donations on busy streets. Opponents said it unjustly punishes and taxes homeless people. Failure to get a permit before soliciting donations would carry a fine up to $500 and jail time up to six weeks.  – Geoff Pender

By the Numbers

.85% instead of 85%

Errant decimal points prompted an end to debate and passage of a monumental change in taxation for Mississippians. The Senate, urging caution in the move to eliminate the state’s personal income tax, in its proposal had an economic growth “trigger” that was supposed to ensure the tax would be phased out only with booming economic growth — for instance, when revenue surplus equals 85% or more of the cost of a 1% cut in the tax rate. But the bill accidentally put decimal points in front of the percentage, basically eliminating the trigger. The House, which wanted faster elimination, seized on the typos and passed the bill, and Gov. Tate Reeves says he will sign it into law.

Full Legislative Coverage

Legislature stumbles into final weeks of session in a tax-fight funk

As the Mississippi Legislature stumbles into what is supposed to be the final few weeks of its 2025 session, it’s in a funk, caused primarily by the continuing standoff between Republican House and Senate leaders over cutting/eliminating/increasing taxes. Read the story.

Podcast: Bill to ensure rape kits are available pending in final days of legislative session

Rep. Dana McLean, R-Columbus, joins Mississippi Today’s Bobby Harrison and Sophia Paffenroth to explain the importance of passing her legislation during the 2025 session to ensure local emergency rooms use rape kits in a timely manner. Listen to the podcast.

Lt. Gov. Hosemann feigns ignorance on typo that led to tax overhaul passing by mistake, claims victory

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s House counterparts took advantage of typos in a bill his Senate approved — bringing forth the most sweeping tax overhaul in modern Mississippi history. Read the story.

Sweeping Mississippi tax overhaul passed … by mistake. Gov. Reeves eager to sign typo tax swap into law

The House on Friday took advantage of Senate typos — a few errant decimal points — in a bill and sent to Gov. Tate Reeves the most sweeping overhaul in taxation in modern Mississippi history. Read the story.

OOPS! Senate sent House an income tax bill with typos. House ran with it. What’s next?

Mississippi Senate leaders have said a House plan to eliminate the state income tax over about a decade was foolhardy, and instead proposed a much longer, more cautious approach. Read the story.

Doctors, advocates rally at Capitol: ‘Defend and expand Medicaid’

Dozens of advocates, doctors and spiritual leaders gathered outside the Capitol Tuesday to call for the “defense and expansion of Medicaid.” Read the story.

Following reports of victims unable to access rape kits in ERs, lawmaker pushes fix

Rape victims aren’t guaranteed a rape kit when they show up at a hospital emergency room – though it’s not clear how often they are turned away. Read the story.

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