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Legislative leaders approve budget plan, leaving at least $1 billion for consideration in 2023 session

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State adds USM volleyball project to effort to recoup misspent welfare funds

After months of national coverage about how former NFL quarterback Brett Favre solicited welfare money to build a volleyball stadium at his alma mater, the state of Mississippi has filed civil charges attempting to recoup the money.

The lawsuit alleges that Favre “understood that grant funds provided by MDHS could not be used for brick-and-mortar construction” — the first time Favre has officially faced this charge.

The new allegation comes just one week after Favre filed a punchy motion to dismiss the welfare department’s civil charges against him.

Mississippi Department of Human Services filed its initial civil suit, the agency’s response to a multi-million dollar fraud and embezzlement scandal, in May. The initial complaint targeted Favre for $1.1 million he received under a “vague, illusory promise that Favre make appearances or record PSAs” and $2.1 million the athlete helped secure for a pharmaceutical venture.

But the complaint did not initially include the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation, which took $5 million in welfare money to build a volleyball stadium — billed as a “wellness center” — on its campus.

The amended complaint, filed Monday, adds the athletic foundation and sheds more light on the roles of Favre and other state officials in the scheme, including university officials who are not included as defendants. Former welfare director John Davis and nonprofit founder Nancy New have both pleaded guilty to several fraud and bribery charges in connection with the welfare scandal.

“Despite the Foundation’s expressing worries about ‘rais[ing] negative concerns’ and being ‘scared to death,’ Brett Favre urged Nancy New that it was necessary for the Foundation to ‘utilize you guys [John Davis and Nancy New] in every way,'” the filing reads.

While the new complaint increases Favre’s potential liability by $5 million, it removed the $1.1 million claim against Favre in the initial complaint because he repaid that amount to the state in 2020 and 2021.

The new filing also adds a lobbyist, two former MDHS attorneys and a virtual reality company as defendants in the lawsuit.

It does not mention former Gov. Phil Bryant or the discussions the governor had with Favre about finding funding for the volleyball stadium or Prevacus, the company purportedly developing a drug to treat concussions.

“Governor Bryant was both aware of and supported MCEC’s payments to Prevacus at issue in this lawsuit, as well as its $5 million payment to Southern Miss in connection with the construction of a wellness center,” Favre alleged in his most recent motion.

The lawsuit still names fitness trainer Paul Lacoste and his organization Victory Sports Foundation, which received $1.3 million under what former MDHS leader Davis described as “the Lt. Gov’s fitness issue,” referring to then-Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves. Now governor and in control of the suit, Reeves is also not mentioned in the amended complaint.

In the new complaint, MDHS added the following new defendants:

  • USM Athletic Foundation.
  • N3 Holdings, the company that Nancy New and her sons Zach and Jess New owned and allegedly used to personally invest in Favre’s pharmaceutical start-up companies called Prevacus and PreSolMD.
  • Lobaki, Inc. and Lobaki Foundation, a virtual reality company that received welfare funding to prop up a VR training academy.
  • JTS Enterprises, the company formed by Brian Jeff Smith, John Davis’ brother-in-law, through which he received welfare funds.
  • William Longwitz, former lawmaker and lobbyist who received nearly $320,000 in welfare funds to lobby on behalf of New’s organization.
  • Inside Capitol, LLC, Will Longwitz’s lobbying firm.
  • Jacob Black, former MDHS attorney.
  • Garrig Shields, former MDHS attorney who left the agency to work for New’s nonprofit.
  • William, Weiss, Hester and Co., PLLC, the accounting firm that conducted regular audits of the New nonprofit.

The initial complaint sought to claw back a total of about $24 million. The new complaint asserts that the two nonprofits through which most of the money was misspent — Mississippi Community Education Center and Family Resource of North Mississippi — breached their agreements with MDHS and should have to return their entire awarded amounts, $39.3 million for MCEC and $38 million for FRC. Neither nonprofit has assets totaling anywhere near those amounts.

Former U.S. Attorney Brad Pigott, the private attorney MDHS first hired to bring the suit, planned to include the volleyball project in the complaint, but Reeves’ office instructed him to remove it before filing. In July, after Pigott subpoenaed the athletic foundation for its communication with former Gov. Bryant, among other individuals, Reeves’ appointed welfare director Bob Anderson fired the attorney. At that time, Reeves said the agency was still considering more potential defendants to add to the suit, including the athletic foundation.

“Governor Tate Reeves tasked me with correcting the path of MDHS,” Anderson said in a statement Monday. “As part of that process, MDHS has been working hard to restore trust and put in place numerous internal controls to ensure that misspending is not repeated in the future. The rest of the task involves recovering and returning to the taxpayers the millions of dollars in misspent funds which were intended to benefit Mississippi’s needy families. We continue that task with this motion to file an amended civil complaint.”

The amended complaint alleges that in April of 2017, Favre made a “handshake agreement” with USM, where his daughter played volleyball, to personally guarantee the funds to construct a new facility for the team. He then contributed $150,000 worth of autographed merchandise and began soliciting donations from various people and companies, including the Kohler family.

“Favre, however, was unable to convince his friends and connections to donate enough money to meet his obligation to fund the construction of the volleyball facility, and he did not want to pay the costs out of his own pocket,” the complaint reads.

Favre’s attorney Eric Herschmann rejected the assertion that the athlete personally committed funds to the project, pointing to emails from USM’s athletic director at the time, Jon Gilbert, that say Favre agreed to fundraise for the project.

In July of 2017, Gilbert introduced Favre to nonprofit founder Nancy New, Favre said in his recent filing.

New, who sat on the athletic foundation board alongside Favre, and another nonprofit operator Christi Webb had just become the recipients of a massive cash flow from the welfare department. At the time, New’s nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center already had existing leases with USM, including for a large suite at the football stadium, where the nonprofit could invite guests to watch the games.

Shortly after connecting with New, Favre met at USM with her, Gilbert, Davis, MDHS attorney Garrig Shields and former WWE wrestler Teddy DiBiase to discuss using MDHS funds on the volleyball construction.

“John Davis discussed his plan to ‘do good things for USM’ and ‘give them 4 mil’ with Christi Webb and Nancy New, both of whom enthusiastically agreed. John Davis suggested that Nancy New tell Jon Gilbert that the facility should be named after Favre,” the complaint reads. “The Foundation told Brett Favre that they were ‘very leary [sic] of accepting such a large grant,’ and suggested ‘trying to find a way for John [Davis] to allocate money to an entity that could then give to us that would pay for brick and mortar.’ Brett Favre also told Nancy New he ‘passed [this] same info[rmation] to John [Davis] and of course he [John Davis] sent back we will find a way to make it work.'”

The lawsuit alleges attorneys Shields and Black were instrumental in crafting the sham lease agreement, as well as facilitating several other allegedly fraudulent purchases.

Black was one of the employees who gathered and brought information about Davis’ alleged fraud to Gov. Bryant in June of 2019.

Favre denies any wrongdoing in the volleyball project. Longwitz, Black, Shields and a spokesperson for USM did not return calls to Mississippi Today on Monday.

“While he had helped raise funds for the facility and thereby met Davis and New, Favre, as with the transfers complained of in the Complaint, did absolutely nothing wrong in connection with the Wellness Center,” Favre’s Nov. 28 motion reads. “During Favre’s fundraising efforts, in July 2017, the Southern Miss athletic director introduced Favre to New, a Southern Miss Athletic Foundation board member, as someone who could assist Favre with the fundraising. New was well connected with numerous Mississippi officials, including Davis and then-Governor Bryant, and close friends with Governor Bryant’s wife Deborah Bryant.”

Tom Duff, current president of the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees and one of the board members who signed off on the $5 million MDHS grant to build the volleyball stadium in 2017, told Mississippi Today last month that he believed USM should return the funds.

“MDHS’s proposed amended complaint, in which MDHS has dropped its original $1.1 million claim against Brett Favre, while adding new groundless allegations about him, is as frivolous as its original complaint,” Herschmann said in a statement Monday after the state’s latest filing. “Again, MDHS omits facts key to these new allegations—including that the Mississippi Attorney General signed off on the transfers of funds from MDHS to another state entity, the University of Southern Mississippi, all with the full knowledge and consent of the Governor and other State officials.  That a private citizen, like non-lawyer Brett Favre, could have any liability under these circumstances is baseless.  Accordingly, we will oppose, on Brett’s behalf, MDHS’s motion to amend the complaint to the extent it adds these new groundless allegations. “

Editor’s note: Mississippi Today Editor-in-Chief Adam Ganucheau’s mother signed off on the language of a lease agreement to construct a University of Southern Mississippi volleyball stadium. Read more about that here.

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

Mississippi Today

Jackson’s performing arts venue Thalia Mara Hall is now open

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-06-30 17:29:00


Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson has reopened after over 10 months of closure due to mold, asbestos, and air conditioning issues. Outgoing Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba celebrated the venue’s reopening as a significant cultural milestone. The hall closed last August and recently passed inspection after extensive remediation. About \$5 million in city and state funds were invested to bring it up to code. Some work remains, including asbestos removal from the fire curtain beam and installing a second air-conditioning chiller, so seating capacity is temporarily reduced to 800. Event bookings will start in the fall when full capacity is expected.

After more than 10 months closed due to mold, asbestos and issues with the air conditioning system, Thalia Mara Hall has officially reopened. 

Outgoing Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba announced the reopening of Thalia Mara Hall during his final press conference held Monday on the arts venue’s steps. 

“Today marks what we view as a full circle moment, rejoicing in the iconic space where community has come together for decades in the city of Jackson,” Lumumba said. “Thalia Mara has always been more than a venue. It has been a gathering place for people in the city of Jackson. From its first class ballet performances to gospel concerts, Thalia Mara Hall has been the backdrop for our city’s rich cultural history.” 

Thalia Mara Hall closed last August after mold was found in parts of the building. The issues compounded from there, with malfunctioning HVAC systems and asbestos remediation. On June 6, the Mississippi State Fire Marshal’s Office announced that Thalia Mara Hall had finally passed inspection. 

“We’re not only excited to have overcome many of the challenges that led to it being shuttered for a period of time,” Lumumba said. “We are hopeful for the future of this auditorium, that it may be able to provide a more up-to-date experience for residents, inviting shows that people are able to see across the world, bringing them here to Jackson. So this is an investment in the future.”

In total, Emad Al-Turk, a city contracted engineer and owner of Al-Turk Planning, estimates that $5 million in city and state funds went into bringing Thalia Mara Hall up to code. 

The venue still has work to be completed, including reinstalling the fire curtain. The beam in which the fire curtain will be anchored has asbestos in it, so it will have to be remediated. In addition, a second air-conditioning chiller needs to be installed to properly cool the building. Until it’s installed, which could take months, Thalia Mara Hall will be operating at a lower seating capacity of about 800. 

“Primarily because of the heat,” Al-Turk said. “The air conditioning would not be sufficient to actually accommodate the 2,000 people at full capacity, but starting in the fall, that should not be a problem.”

Al-Turk said the calendar is open for the city to begin booking events, though none have been scheduled for July. 

“We’re very proud,” he said. “This took a little bit longer than what we anticipated, but we had probably seven or eight different contractors we had to coordinate with and all of them did a superb job to get us where we are today.”

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

The post Jackson’s performing arts venue Thalia Mara Hall is now open 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 straightforward report on the reopening of Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson, focusing on facts and statements from city officials without promoting any ideological viewpoint. The tone is neutral and positive, emphasizing the community and cultural significance of the venue while detailing the challenges overcome during renovations. The coverage centers on public investment and future prospects, without partisan framing or editorializing. While quotes from Mayor Lumumba and a city engineer highlight optimism and civic pride, the article maintains balanced, factual reporting rather than advancing a political agenda.

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Mississippi Today

‘Hurdles waiting in the shadows’: Lumumba reflects on challenges and triumphs on final day as Jackson mayor

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mississippitoday.org – @ayewolfe – 2025-06-30 17:08:00


Chokwe Antar Lumumba reflected on his eight years as Jackson mayor during a final press conference outside the recently reopened Thalia Mara Hall. He praised his team and highlighted achievements like avoiding a state takeover of public schools, suing Siemens for faulty water meters, paving 144 streets, and a recent significant drop in crime. Lumumba acknowledged constant challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, water crises, a trash pickup strike, and a federal corruption indictment linked to a stalled hotel project. He confirmed he will not seek office again, returning to his private law practice as longtime state Sen. John Horhn prepares to take office.

On his last day as mayor of Jackson, Chokwe Antar Lumumba recounted accomplishments, praised his executive team and said he has no plans to seek office again.

He spoke during a press conference outside of the city’s Thalia Mara Hall, which was recently cleared for reopening after nearly a year of remediation. The briefing, meant to give media members a peek inside the downtown theater, marked one of Lumumba’s final forays as mayor.

Longtime state Sen. John Horhn — who defeated Lumumba in the Democratic primary runoff — will be inaugurated as mayor Tuesday, but Lumumba won’t be present. Not for any contentious reason, the 42-year-old mayor noted, but because he returns to his private law practice Tuesday.

“I’ve got to work now, y’all,” Lumumba said. “I’ve got a job.”

Thalia Mara Hall’s presumptive comeback was a fitting end for Lumumba, who pledged to make Jackson the most radical city in America but instead spent much of his eight years in office parrying one emergency after another. The auditorium was built in 1968 and closed nearly 11 months ago after workers found mold caused by a faulty HVAC system – on top of broken elevators, fire safety concerns and vandalism.

“This job is a fast-pitched sport,” Lumumba said. “There’s an abundance of challenges that have to be addressed, and it seems like the moment that you’ve gotten over one hurdle, there’s another one that is waiting in the shadows.” 

Outside the theater Monday, Lumumba reflected on the high points of his leadership instead of the many crises — some seemingly self-inflicted — he faced as mayor. 

He presided over the city during the coronavirus pandemic and the rise in crime it brought, but also the one-two punch of the 2021 and 2022 water crises, exacerbated by the city’s mismanagement of its water plants, and the 18-day pause in trash pickup spurred by Lumumba’s contentious negotiations with the city council in 2023. 

Then in 2024, Lumumba was indicted alongside other city and county officials in a sweeping federal corruption probe targeting the proposed development of a hotel across from the city’s convention center, a project that has remained stalled in a 20-year saga of failed bids and political consternation. 

Slated for trial next year, Lumumba has repeatedly maintained his innocence. 

The city’s youngest mayor also brought some victories to Jackson, particularly in his first year in office. In 2017, he ended a furlough of city employees and worked with then-Gov. Phil Bryant to avoid a state takeover of Jackson Public Schools. In 2019, the city successfully sued German engineering firm Siemens and its local contractors for $89 million over botched work installing the city’s water-sewer billing infrastructure.

“I think that that was a pivotal moment to say that this city is going to hold people responsible for the work that they do,” Lumumba said. 

Lumumba had more time than any other mayor to usher in the 1% sales tax, which residents approved in 2014 to fund infrastructure improvements.

“We paved 144 streets,” he said. “There are residents that still are waiting on their roads to be repaved. And you don’t really feel it until it’s your street that gets repaved, but that is a significant undertaking.”

And under his administration, crime has fallen dramatically recently, with homicides cut by a third and shootings cut in half in the last year.

Lumumba was first elected in 2017 after defeating Tony Yarber, a business-friendly mayor who faced his own scandals as mayor. A criminal justice attorney, Lumumba said he never planned to seek office until the stunning death of his father, Chokwe Lumumba Sr., eight months into his first term as mayor in 2014.

“I can say without reservation, and unequivocally, we remember where we started. We are in a much better position than we started,” Lumumba said. 

Lumumba said he has sat down with Horhn in recent months, answered questions “as extensively as I could,” and promised to remain reachable to the new mayor.

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

The post 'Hurdles waiting in the shadows': Lumumba reflects on challenges and triumphs on final day as Jackson mayor 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 outgoing Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s reflections without overt editorializing but subtly frames his tenure within progressive contexts, emphasizing his self-described goal to make Jackson “the most radical city in America.” The piece highlights his accomplishments alongside challenges, including public crises and a federal indictment, maintaining a factual tone yet noting contentious moments like labor disputes and governance issues. While it avoids partisan rhetoric, the focus on social justice efforts, infrastructure investment, and crime reduction, as well as positive framing of Lumumba’s achievements, aligns with a center-left perspective that values progressive governance and accountability.

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Mississippi Today

Feds unfreeze $137 million in Mississippi education money

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mississippitoday.org – @devnabose – 2025-06-30 15:37:00


The federal government is restoring $137 million in pandemic relief education funds to Mississippi schools, reversing a prior freeze linked to Trump-era spending cuts. Initially, states had until March 2026 to use the money, but the funds were withheld after the pandemic was declared over. After a lawsuit by Democratic-led states and injunctive orders favoring those states, the U.S. Department of Education decided to reinstate funding uniformly to all states, including Mississippi. School districts can now request access to these funds for projects such as tutoring, counseling, and construction. The litigation continues, so the funding status could change again.

The federal government is restoring $137 million in education funds to Mississippi schools.

The U.S. Department of Education notified states last week that it would reinstate pandemic relief funds. The decision comes less than three months after the federal government revoked billions nationwide as part of Trump administration efforts to cut government spending. 

State education agencies and school districts originally had until March 2026 to spend the money, but the federal government claimed that because the pandemic was over, they had no use for the money. 

That March 2026 deadline has been reinstated following a series of injunctive orders. 

A coalition of Democratic-led states sued the federal government in April over the decision to withhold the money. Then, a federal judge granted plaintiff states injunctive orders in the case, which meant those states could continue spending their COVID-relief dollars while other states remained restricted.

But the education department decided that wasn’t fair, wrote Secretary Linda McMahon in a letter dated June 26, so the agency was restoring the money to all states, not just the ones involved in the lawsuit. 

“The original intent of the policy announced on March 28 was to treat all states consistently with regards to safeguarding and refocusing their remaining COVID-era grant funding on students,” she wrote. “The ongoing litigation has created basic fairness and uniformity problems.”

The Mississippi Department of Education notified school districts about the decision on Friday. 

In the meantime, schools and states have been requesting exemptions for individual projects, though many from across the country have been denied

Eleven Mississippi school districts had submitted requests to use the money to fund services such as tutoring and counseling, according to records requested by Mississippi Today, though those are now void because of the federal government’s decision. 

Starting immediately, school districts can submit new requests to the state education department to draw down their federal allocation.

Mississippi Today previously reported that about 70 school districts were relying on the federal funds to pay for a range of initiatives, including construction projects, mental health services and literacy programs. 

In 2023, almost half of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, pandemic relief money allocated to schools across the country, went to students’ academic, social, and emotional needs. A third went to operational and staff costs, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Education.

Though Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann previously said that legislative leaders might consider helping agencies that were impacted by federal funding cuts, House Speaker Jason White said Monday that he did not have an appetite for directing state funds to pandemic-era programs. 

Small school districts were already feeling the impact of the federal government’s decision to rescind the money. In May, Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School Board voted to terminate a contract on a school construction project funded with federal dollars. 

The litigation is ongoing, so the funding could again be rescinded.

Clarification: A previous version of this article misstated the status of school districts’ pandemic relief money.

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

The post Feds unfreeze $137 million in Mississippi education money 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

This article primarily reports on the federal government’s decision to restore $137 million in education funds to Mississippi schools after a temporary freeze. It presents factual information about the timeline, legal actions, and responses from various state officials without adopting a partisan tone. The piece mentions the involvement of Democratic-led states suing the federal government and notes Republican-aligned efforts to cut spending, but does so in a balanced way focused on reporting events and statements rather than promoting a political viewpoint. The language remains neutral and factual, avoiding loaded or biased framing, making it a straightforward news report with centrist bias.

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