Mississippi Today

Mississippi moms and babies suffer disproportionately. Medicaid expansion could help.

Published

3 years ago

November 21, 2022

Mississippi moms and babies suffer disproportionately. Medicaid expansion could help.

by Isabelle Taft, Mississippi Today
November 21, 2022

Note: This article is part of Mississippi Today’s ongoing Mississippi Health Care Crisis project.Read more about the project by clicking here.

During her 14 years working as an OB-GYN in Greenville, Dr. Lakeisha Richardson has seen five patients diagnosed with breast cancer during their pregnancies.

Most of them did not have health insurance prior to pregnancy, so going to the doctor for annual checkups was neither affordable nor routine. They missed out on clinical screenings and the chance to learn whether they were at higher risk of breast cancer.

Pregnancy does not cause breast cancer, but it can make it grow and spread more quickly, and breast cancer associated with pregnancy has a lower survival rate. For Richardson’s patients without health insurance, pregnancy brought Medicaid coverage that allowed them to go to the doctor for prenatal visits, and that was when their cancer was diagnosed.

One of Richardson’s patients died from breast cancer a few weeks after giving birth.

“Legislators think, women are healthy, they’re going to have a baby, and they can come off Medicaid,” Richardson said. “They don’t think that other illnesses and disease processes can exist in pregnant women.”

Mississippi doctors like Richardson see thousands of patients every year who have no health insurance, and thus limited access to affordable health care, until they become pregnant and qualify for Medicaid. If the patient has a chronic condition like diabetes or hypertension, getting treatment during pregnancy is critical – but not necessarily sufficient to prevent problems like preterm delivery, low birth weight, birth defects, and even stillbirth.

Access to routine care prior to conception increases the chance a person can have a healthy pregnancy and delivery. But in Mississippi, where one in six women of reproductive age is uninsured, preconception health care is far from universal. Under current Medicaid eligibility policy, adult women can get coverage only when they are pregnant or have kids at home and very low household income.

“If they have a preexisting disease like diabetes or hypertension, if they’re uninsured they’ve probably been off their meds for a while, so they’ll come in with elevated blood pressure, elevated glucose that have been uncontrolled for months or years,” Richardson said. “If it takes them a while to get their Medicaid and they’re already late to prenatal care, they have growth restrictions for the baby.”

It’s no secret that Mississippi is a sick state. More than one in seven Mississippians are living with diabetes, a higher rate than almost any other state. More than 700,000 Mississippians have hypertension, and the state has the country’s highest rate of deaths due to high blood pressure, as well as the country’s highest adult obesity rate, at just under 40%.

But perhaps nowhere are the consequences of sickness – sickness that is largely preventable – more evident than in the unnecessary suffering of Mississippi’s mothers and babies.

The state has the country’s highest percentage of babies born at a low weight. It has the highest percentage of preterm deliveries, which can result in costly NICU stays and long-term health consequences. Mississippi has the country’s highest rate of stillbirth. And more babies here die before their first birthday than anywhere else in the U.S.

Nationally, the leading cause of infant mortality is birth defects. But in Mississippi, the causes are more preventable: premature birth and pregnancy or delivery complications as well as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Within each of these statistics, Black women and babies suffer much more than their white counterparts.

Expanding Medicaid would not on its own solve Mississippi’s maternal and infant health crisis, which State Health Officer Dr. Daniel P. Edney has identified as a top priority. Health insurance is not the same as access to health care, and access to health care alone is not enough to ensure all Mississippians have healthy food, opportunities to exercise, and safe neighborhoods.

But OB-GYNs interviewed across the state said that lack of access to health care prior to conception is a problem they see every day. They may see a patient get her diabetes or hypertension under control when she has Medicaid coverage during her pregnancy, only to lose coverage and return to self-managing her conditions. They won’t see her again unless she gets pregnant again, and then the process of treating her chronic condition must start all over again.

“We work really hard and optimize their diabetes during pregnancy, and then they’ll be a gap in care between and patients come back for the next pregnancy and it’s like we’re starting from square one again,” said Dr. Sarah Novotny, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

An analysis by the consulting firm Manatt found that expanded Medicaid eligibility to adults with incomes below 138% of the federal poverty line would likely cut enrollment in pregnancy Medicaid by about half – meaning that it would provide more consistent coverage and access to care for about 10,000 women each year who can currently have health insurance only during and right after their pregnancies.

Dr. Jaleen Sims has worked as an OB-GYN at Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center since 2019. The federally qualified health center offers services on a sliding scale, so it’s affordable for people without insurance.

“I serve the underserved population that experiences the most suboptimal outcomes , the highest comorbidity rates, the highest mortality rates – those are my patients,” she said.

She estimates that more than half of her patients who are pregnant with their first child have not had health insurance as adults before getting pregnant.

Medicaid offers full coverage for pregnant women with incomes 194% of the federal poverty level, or $4,603 monthly for a family of four. That ensures that low-income and working-class women can get health care during their pregnancies. About 60% of births in Mississippi are covered by Medicaid, the second-highest percentage in the country, after only Louisiana.

Hinds County has both the state’s largest number of Medicaid-covered births, at an average of 2,300 annually from 2016 to 2020, and one of the state’s highest per capita rates of pregnancies covered by Medicaid. Some people with pregnancy Medicaid have another form of insurance, too, but generally the rate of Medicaid coverage during pregnancy gives an indication of how many people lacked insurance before they conceived.

Sims sees patients with hypertension, diabetes, obesity, lupus – “those chronic medical conditions that you really want to have under very, very good control before you get pregnant.”

Diabetes is a good example of a condition that can cause problems during pregnancy– but doesn’t have to.

Sometimes Sims sees patients who got treatment for diabetes during a previous pregnancy, but stopped seeing going to the doctor when that coverage ended. Instead, they’ve tried to manage it on their own.

“Then before you know it, they’re out of the medication, they’re just kind of living,” she said. “They’re like, ‘Well, I don’t check my finger sticks, I don’t have my insulin, I don’t have my medicine. Now I don’t really know where I am at this point.’”

During pregnancy, doctors try to keep blood sugar tightly controlled. That becomes harder to accomplish when the patient’s condition isn’t well managed when they arrive for their first prenatal visit.

If blood sugar is elevated during the first 10 weeks when the fetus’s organs are developing, the risk of birth defects is higher, Novotny said, even if blood sugar is controlled later in the pregnancy.

“A lot of times women haven’t been in care, they find out they’re pregnant, sign up for Medicaid, and by the time they come to us, it’s often the end of the first trimester, when damage may already be done,” she said.

Spina bifida and heart problems are the most common birth defects associated with diabetes. People with diabetes are also at risk for preterm delivery.

Dr. Emily Johnson, an OB-GYN in the Jackson area, said it’s important for people to know that chronic conditions and risk factors during pregnancy can be managed with very good outcomes. Early communication between provider and patient is critical.

“I think them knowing that information helps them have a little autonomy that they can be responsible for their blood pressure and they know what they’re supposed to call me for,” she said. “Communicating about the risk can help them take a little ownership of it and in some way provide some reassurance.”

For many uninsured women in Mississippi, getting signed up for Medicaid is one of the first rituals of pregnancy. But getting approved is a hurdle that for some people can delay their prenatal care by days or weeks.

Providers said they largely see patients get approved within a month or so. A mistake on the paperwork, however, can delay approval.

Matt Westerfield, spokesperson at the Division of Medicaid, told Mississippi Today that according to a recent analysis by the Office of Eligibility, the average approval time for pregnancy Medicaid from Aug. 2021 to Aug. 2022 was about 24 days. That's slightly higher than the average approval time in 2021 for all eligibility categories of 20 days, according to documents Mississippi Today obtained through a records request.

Even a delay of a few weeks can make a difference, given the importance of early prenatal care. Dr. Kushna Damallie, an OB-GYN at The Woman’s Clinic in Clarksdale, said he would like to see a patient as soon as she misses a period. But that often doesn’t happen.

“One of the biggest hurdles we have in our practice is late prenatal care, no prenatal care, or insufficient prenatal care,” Dumallie said.

Westerfield told Mississippi Today that the Division of Medicaid doesn't track when women go to their first prenatal visit or what percentage take place during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Richardson said early prenatal care is particularly important for women with a condition called an incompetent cervix, in which weak cervical tissue can cause very early delivery. Black women are more at risk for this condition. One treatment to help ensure a successful delivery is a cervical cerclage, in which providers stitch the cervix closed, usually around 12 to 14 weeks of pregnancy. If that doesn’t happen in time, the risk of miscarriage is higher.

In August of this year, Richardson had a patient who was in the hospital because her water had broken well before viability. The patient had known she needed to get treatment for her incompetent cervix but had not been able to get an appointment early enough.

“She moved from another state, so she didn’t have her Mississippi Medicaid and so she couldn’t get in anywhere to be seen,” Richardson said.

OB/GYN Dr. Nina Ragunanthan poses for a portrait inside of Delta Health Center in Mound Bayou, Miss., Thursday, July 14, 2022.

While Medicaid expansion is a taboo topic among Republicans in the legislature, extending Medicaid coverage for postpartum women has bipartisan support. A measure to extend coverage from 60 days to 12 months postpartum passed the Senate resoundingly in the last session, before House Speaker Philip Gunn killed it.

Today, Mississippi is one of just two states that has neither expanded Medicaid eligibility nor extended postpartum coverage.

Senate Republicans including Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, who sponsored the measure, have vowed to reintroduce the measure in the next session, though Gunn still opposes it.

Gunn recently said he believed postpartum Medicaid extension would help only a few thousand women in Mississippi, referring to his calculation that only 60% of the 5,000 new births expected annually after the state’s abortion ban would be covered by the program and dismissing the 21,000 people already covered by pregnancy Medicaid each year.

When discussing crisis pregnancy centers, which already get a $3.5 million tax credit from the state and which Gunn wants to expand to $10 million, he offered no information about the number of people they serve and how, probably because that data is not being collected by the state.

Providers largely say they’d welcome any opportunity to lengthen the amount of time their patients have health insurance. Novotny, the maternal-fetal medicine specialist, said 12 months of coverage postpartum would give her patients a chance to control their diabetes for a longer period before becoming pregnant again.

Some providers were not aware of continuous coverage provisions during the pandemic. But those who knew about it said their patients benefited from longer access to care.

“They’ve been able to continue the management of their chronic diseases so that when they’re ready to get pregnant again, they are in a good place,” Sims said.

But postpartum Medicaid does nothing to improve access to health care before conception.

Some advocates are concerned that the conversation about postpartum Medicaid could distract from the need to address Mississippi’s health care crisis more broadly.

Nakeitra Burse, a public health consultant and advocate focused on maternal health, said some of the discussion of postpartum Medicaid seems to reflect a belief that pregnancy can be separated from the rest of a life.

“A person’s already experiencing obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and then you add pregnancy on top of that, then pregnancy also becomes a condition,” Burse said. “So you’re trying to treat all these things at one time, when people don’t even just have the opportunity to make the healthy decisions for themselves because they don’t have access to care.”

When patients do get access to care during pregnancy, making it to a doctor’s appointment isn’t as easy as it sounds.

“A lot of that decision making means: Do I miss work to go to the doctor? Do I go to the doctor over my child? It’s a lot of push and pull and give and take for the decision making that shouldn’t have to happen, if we had opportunity or access to quality health care.”

Dr. Nina Ragunanthan, an OB/GYN in Mound Bayou, pointed out that the focus on pregnancy and postpartum coverage, rather than expanding access to health care for everyone, implies that women are more deserving of care if they are giving birth than if they are not.

“I think it's really important not to just pigeonhole a woman as a child bearing vessel,” she said. “Access to care for that woman as an autonomous, independent person, regardless of whether she plans to get pregnant or not, is very important.”

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

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Mississippi Today

Presidents are taking longer to declare major natural disasters. For some, the wait is agonizing

Published

1 day ago

September 8, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – @alxrzr – 2025-09-08 11:30:00

by Sophie Bates, Associated Press, Alex Rozier, Illan Ireland, Mississippi Free Press, David A. Lieb, The Associated Press and M.K. Wildeman, The Associated Press, Mississippi Today
September 8, 2025

TYLERTOWN — As an ominous storm approached Buddy Anthony’s one-story brick home, he took shelter in his new Ford F-250 pickup parked under a nearby carport.

Seconds later, a tornado tore apart Anthony’s home and damaged the truck while lifting it partly in the air. Anthony emerged unhurt. But he had to replace his vehicle with a used truck that became his home while waiting for President Donald Trump to issue a major disaster declaration so that federal money would be freed for individuals reeling from loss. That took weeks.

“You wake up in the truck and look out the windshield and see nothing. That’s hard. That’s hard to swallow,” Anthony said.

Thousands of trees toppled as the result of tornadoes that hit Tylertown in March of this year are being ground into mulch, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, as recovery efforts continue.

Disaster survivors are having to wait longer to get aid from the federal government, according to a new Associated Press analysis of decades of data. On average, it took less than two weeks for a governor’s request for a presidential disaster declaration to be granted in the 1990s and early 2000s. That rose to about three weeks during the past decade under presidents from both major parties. It’s taking more than a month, on average, during Trump’s current term, the AP found.

The delays mean individuals must wait to receive federal aid for daily living expenses, temporary lodging and home repairs. Delays in disaster declarations also can hamper recovery efforts by local officials uncertain whether they will receive federal reimbursement for cleaning up debris and rebuilding infrastructure. The AP collaborated with Mississippi Today and Mississippi Free Press on the effects of these delays for this report.

“The message that I get in the delay, particularly for the individual assistance, is that the federal government has turned its back on its own people,” said Bob Griffin, dean of the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany in New York. “It’s a fundamental shift in the position of this country.”

The wait for disaster aid has grown as Trump remakes government

The Federal Emergency Management Agency often consults immediately with communities to coordinate their initial disaster response. But direct payments to individuals, nonprofits and local governments must wait for a major disaster declaration from the president, who first must receive a request from a state, territory or tribe. Major disaster declarations are intended only for the most damaging events that are beyond the resources of states and local governments.

Trump has approved more than two dozen major disaster declarations since taking office in January, with an average wait of almost 34 days after a request. That ranged from a one-day turnaround after July’s deadly flash flooding in Texas to a 67-day wait after a request for aid because of a Michigan ice storm. The average wait is up from a 24-day delay during his first term and is nearly four times as long as the average for former Republican President George H.W. Bush, whose term from 1989-1993 coincided with the implementation of a new federal law setting parameters for disaster determinations.

The delays have grown over time, regardless of the party in power. Former Democratic President Joe Biden, in his last year in office, averaged 26 days to declare major disasters — longer than any year under former Democratic President Barack Obama.

This Aug. 14, 2025, photo shows Buddy Anthony’s house after it was destroyed by a tornado in Tylertown, Miss..

FEMA did not respond to the AP’s questions about what factors are contributing to the trend.

Others familiar with FEMA noted that its process for assessing and documenting natural disasters has become more complex over time. Disasters have also become more frequent and intense because of climate change, which is mostly caused by the burning of fuels such as gas, coal and oil.

The wait for disaster declarations has spiked as Trump’s administration undertakes an ambitious makeover of the federal government that has shed thousands of workers and reexamined the role of FEMA. A recently published letter from current and former FEMA employees warned the cuts could become debilitating if faced with a large-enough disaster. The letter also lamented that the Trump administration has stopped maintaining or removed long-term planning tools focused on extreme weather and disasters.

Shortly after taking office, Trump floated the idea of “getting rid” of FEMA, asserting: “It’s very bureaucratic, and it’s very slow.”

FEMA’s acting chief suggested more recently that states should shoulder more responsibility for disaster recovery, though FEMA thus far has continued to cover three-fourths of the costs of public assistance to local governments, as required under federal law. FEMA pays the full cost of its individual assistance.

Former FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor, who served during Trump’s first term, said the delay in issuing major disaster declarations likely is related to a renewed focus on making sure the federal government isn’t paying for things state and local governments could handle.

“I think they’re probably giving those requests more scrutiny,” Gaynor said. “And I think it’s probably the right thing to do, because I think the (disaster) declaration process has become the ‘easy button’ for states.”

The Associated Press on Monday received a statement from White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson in response to a question about why it is taking longer to issue major natural disaster declarations:

“President Trump provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him. Gone are the days of rubber stamping FEMA recommendations – that’s not a bug, that’s a feature. Under prior Administrations, FEMA’s outsized role created a bloated bureaucracy that disincentivized state investment in their own resilience. President Trump is committed to right-sizing the Federal government while empowering state and local governments by enabling them to better understand, plan for, and ultimately address the needs of their citizens. The Trump Administration has expeditiously provided assistance to disasters while ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent wisely to supplement state actions, not replace them.”

New piping and hook-ups are under construction at Paradise Ranch RV Resort where a few campers enjoy the park in Tylertown, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. The park is open again after a tornado struck the area in March.

In Mississippi, frustration festered during wait for aid

The tornado that struck Anthony’s home in rural Tylertown on March 15 packed winds up to 140 mph. It was part of a powerful system that wrecked homes, businesses and lives across multiple states.

Mississippi’s governor requested a federal disaster declaration on April 1. Trump granted that request 50 days later, on May 21, while approving aid for both individuals and public entities.

On that same day, Trump also approved eight other major disaster declarations for storms, floods or fires in seven other states. In most cases, more than a month had passed since the request and about two months since the date of those disasters.

If a presidential declaration and federal money had come sooner, Anthony said he wouldn’t have needed to spend weeks sleeping in a truck before he could afford to rent the trailer where he is now living. His house was uninsured, Anthony said, and FEMA eventually gave him $30,000.

In nearby Jayess in Lawrence County, Dana Grimes had insurance but not enough to cover the full value of her damaged home. After the eventual federal declaration, Grimes said FEMA provided about $750 for emergency expenses, but she is now waiting for the agency to determine whether she can receive more.

Tornado destroyed home on Hwy 98 north of downtown Tylertown, Monday, March 17, 2025.

“We couldn’t figure out why the president took so long to help people in this country,” Grimes said. “I just want to tie up strings and move on. But FEMA — I’m still fooling with FEMA.”

Jonathan Young said he gave up on applying for FEMA aid after the Tylertown tornado killed his 7-year-old son and destroyed their home. The process seemed too difficult, and federal officials wanted paperwork he didn’t have, Young said. He made ends meet by working for those cleaning up from the storm.

“It’s a therapy for me,” Young said, “to pick up the debris that took my son away from me.”

Historically, presidential disaster declarations containing individual assistance have been approved more quickly than those providing assistance only to public entities, according to the AP’s analysis. That remains the case under Trump, though declarations for both types are taking longer.

About half the major disaster declarations approved by Trump this year have included individual assistance.

Some people whose homes are damaged turn to shelters hosted by churches or local nonprofit organizations in the initial chaotic days after a disaster. Others stay with friends or family or go to a hotel, if they can afford it.

But some insist on staying in damaged homes, even if they are unsafe, said Chris Smith, who administered FEMA’s individual assistance division under three presidents from 2015-2022. If homes aren’t repaired properly, mold can grow, compounding the recovery challenges.

Tylertown Assistant Fire Chief Les Lampton, shows how he and other firefighters receive alerts via their smartphones, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in Tylertown.

That’s why it’s critical for FEMA’s individual assistance to get approved quickly — ideally, within two weeks of a disaster, said Smith, who’s now a disaster consultant for governments and companies.

“You want to keep the people where they are living. You want to ensure those communities are going to continue to be viable and recover,” Smith said. “And the earlier that individual assistance can be delivered … the earlier recovery can start.”

In the periods waiting for declarations, the pressure falls on local officials and volunteers to care for victims and distribute supplies.

In Walthall County, where Tylertown is, insurance agent Les Lampton remembered watching the weather news as the first tornado missed his house by just an eighth of a mile. Lampton, who moonlights as a volunteer firefighter, navigated the collapsed trees in his yard and jumped into action. About 45 minutes later, the second tornado hit just a mile away.

“It was just chaos from there on out,” Lampton said.

Walthall County, with a population of about 14,000, hasn’t had a working tornado siren in about 30 years, Lampton said. He added there isn’t a public safe room in the area, although a lot of residents have ones in their home.

Rural areas with limited resources are hit hard by delays in receiving funds through FEMA’s public assistance program, which, unlike individual assistance, only reimburses local entities after their bills are paid. Long waits can stoke uncertainty and lead cost-conscious local officials to pause or scale-back their recovery efforts.

Walthall County Emergency Management Director Royce McKee, at emergency management headquarters in Tylertown, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. McKee discusses recovery efforts in Tylertown and surrounding areas after tornadoes struck in March.

In Walthall County, officials initially spent about $700,000 cleaning up debris, then suspended the cleanup for more than a month because they couldn’t afford to spend more without assurance they would receive federal reimbursement, said county emergency manager Royce McKee. Meanwhile, rubble from splintered trees and shattered homes remained piled along the roadside, creating unsafe obstacles for motorists and habitat for snakes and rodents.

When it received the federal declaration, Walthall County took out a multimillion-dollar loan to pay contractors to resume the cleanup.

“We’re going to pay interest and pay that money back until FEMA pays us,” said Byran Martin, an elected county supervisor. “We’re hopeful that we’ll get some money by the first of the year, but people are telling us that it could be [longer].”

Lampton, who took after his father when he joined the volunteer firefighters 40 years ago, lauded the support of outside groups such as Cajun Navy, Eight Days of Hope, Samaritan’s Purse and others. That’s not to mention the neighbors who brought their own skid steers and power saws to help clear trees and other debris, he added.

“That’s the only thing that got us through this storm, neighbors helping neighbors,” Lampton said. “If we waited on the government, we were going to be in bad shape.”

Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri, and Wildeman from Hartford, Connecticut.

Update 98/25: This story has been updated to include a White House statement released after publication.

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

The post Presidents are taking longer to declare major natural disasters. For some, the wait is agonizing 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

This article presents a critical view of the Trump administration’s handling of disaster declarations, highlighting delays and their negative impacts on affected individuals and communities. It emphasizes concerns about government downsizing and reduced federal support, themes often associated with center-left perspectives that favor robust government intervention and social safety nets. However, it also includes statements from Trump administration officials defending their approach, providing some balance. Overall, the tone and framing lean slightly left of center without being overtly partisan.

Mississippi Today

Northeast Mississippi speaker and worm farmer played key role in Coast recovery after Hurricane Katrina

Published

3 days ago

September 7, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – @BobbyHarrison9 – 2025-09-07 07:00:00

by Bobby Harrison, Mississippi Today
September 7, 2025

The 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina slamming the Mississippi Gulf Coast has come and gone, rightfully garnering considerable media attention.

But still undercovered in the 20th anniversary saga of the storm that made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, and caused unprecedented destruction is the role that a worm farmer from northeast Mississippi played in helping to revitalize the Coast.

House Speaker Billy McCoy, who died in 2019, was a worm farmer from the Prentiss, not Alcorn County, side of Rienzi — about as far away from the Gulf Coast as one could be in Mississippi.

McCoy grew other crops, but a staple of his operations was worm farming.

Early after the storm, the House speaker made a point of touring the Coast and visiting as many of the House members who lived on the Coast as he could to check on them.

But it was his action in the forum he loved the most — the Mississippi House — that is credited with being key to the Coast’s recovery.

Gov. Haley Barbour had called a special session about a month after the storm to take up multiple issues related to Katrina and the Gulf Coast’s survival and revitalization. The issue that received the most attention was Barbour’s proposal to remove the requirement that the casinos on the Coast be floating in the Mississippi Sound.

Katrina wreaked havoc on the floating casinos, and many operators said they would not rebuild if their casinos had to be in the Gulf waters. That was a crucial issue since the casinos were a major economic engine on the Coast, employing an estimated 30,000 in direct and indirect jobs.

It is difficult to fathom now the controversy surrounding Barbour’s proposal to allow the casinos to locate on land next to the water. Mississippi’s casino industry that was birthed with the early 1990s legislation was still new and controversial.

Various religious groups and others had continued to fight and oppose the casino industry and had made opposition to the expansion of gambling a priority.

Opposition to casinos and expansion of casinos was believed to be especially strong in rural areas, like those found in McCoy’s beloved northeast Mississippi. It was many of those rural areas that were the homes to rural white Democrats — now all but extinct in the Legislature but at the time still a force in the House.

So, voting in favor of casino expansion had the potential of being costly for what was McCoy’s base of power: the rural white Democrats.

Couple that with the fact that the Democratic-controlled House had been at odds with the Republican Barbour on multiple issues ranging from education funding to health care since Barbour was inaugurated in January 2004.

Barbour set records for the number of special sessions called by the governor. Those special sessions often were called to try to force the Democratic-controlled House to pass legislation it killed during the regular session.

The September 2005 special session was Barbour’s fifth of the year. For context, current Gov. Tate Reeves has called four in his nearly six years as governor.

There was little reason to expect McCoy to do Barbour’s bidding and lead the effort in the Legislature to pass his most controversial proposal: expanding casino gambling.

But when Barbour ally Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, who presided over the Senate, refused to take up the controversial bill, Barbour was forced to turn to McCoy.

The former governor wrote about the circumstances in an essay he penned on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina for Mississippi Today Ideas.

“The Senate leadership, all Republicans, did not want to go first in passing the onshore casino law,” Barbour wrote. “So, I had to ask Speaker McCoy to allow it to come to the House floor and pass. He realized he should put the Coast and the state’s interests first. He did so, and the bill passed 61-53, with McCoy voting no.

“I will always admire Speaker McCoy, often my nemesis, for his integrity in putting the state first.”

Incidentally, former Rep. Bill Miles of Fulton, also in northeast Mississippi, was tasked by McCoy with counting, not whipping votes, to see if there was enough support in the House to pass the proposal. Not soon before the key vote, Miles said years later, he went to McCoy and told him there were more than enough votes to pass the legislation so he was voting no and broached the idea of the speaker also voting no.

It is likely that McCoy would have voted for the bill if his vote was needed.

Despite his no vote, the Biloxi Sun Herald newspaper ran a large photo of McCoy and hailed the Rienzi worm farmer as a hero for the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

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

The post Northeast Mississippi speaker and worm farmer played key role in Coast recovery after Hurricane Katrina appeared first on mississippitoday.org

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

The article presents a factual and balanced account of the political dynamics surrounding Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts in Mississippi, focusing on bipartisan cooperation between Democratic and Republican leaders. It highlights the complexities of legislative decisions without overtly favoring one party or ideology, reflecting a neutral and informative tone typical of centrist reporting.

Mississippi Today

PSC moves toward placing Holly Springs utility into receivership

Published

4 days ago

September 5, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – @alxrzr – 2025-09-05 12:45:00

by Alex Rozier, Mississippi Today
September 5, 2025

NEW ALBANY — After five hours in a courtroom where attendees struggled to find standing room, the Mississippi Public Service Commission voted to petition a judge to put the Holly Springs Utility Department into a receivership.

The PSC held the hearing Thursday about a half hour drive west from Holly Springs in New Albany, known as “The Fair and Friendly City.” Throughout the proceedings, members of the PSC, its consultants and Holly Springs officials emphasized there was no precedent for what was going on.

Concerned residents listen during a Public Service Commission hearing on whether Holly Springs should retain control of its utility department, in New Albany, Miss., on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025.

The city of Holly Springs has provided electricity through a contract with the Tennessee Valley Authority since 1935. It serves about 12,000 customers, most of whom live outside the city limits. While current and past city officials say the utility’s issues are a result of financial negligence over many years, the service failures hit a boiling point during a 2023 ice storm where customers saw outages that lasted roughly two weeks as well as power surges that broke their appliances.

Those living in the service area say those issues still occur periodically, in addition to infrequent and inaccurate billing.

“I moved to Marshall County in 2020 as a place for retirement for my husband and I, and it’s been a nightmare for five years,” customer Monica Wright told the PSC at Thursday’s hearing. “We’ve replaced every electronic device we own, every appliance, our well pump and our septic pumps. It has financially broke us.

“We’re living on prayers and promises, and we need your help today.”

John Keith Perry, Holly Springs City attorney, speaks during a Public Service Commission hearing in New Albany, Miss., on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025.

Another customer, Roscoe Sitgger of Michigan City, said he recently received a series of monthly bills between $500 and $600.

Following a scathing July report by Silverpoint Consulting that found Holly Springs is “incapable” of running the utility, the three-member PSC voted unanimously on Thursday to determine the city isn’t providing “reasonably adequate service” to its customers. That language comes from a 2024 state bill that gave the commission authority to investigate the utility.

The bill gives a pathway for temporarily removing the utility’s control from the city, allowing the PSC to petition a chancery judge to place the department into the hands of a third party. The PSC voted unanimously to do just that.

Residents listen during a Public Service Commission hearing on whether Holly Springs should retain control of its utility department, in New Albany, Miss., on Thursday, September 4, 2025.

Thursday’s hearing gave the commission its first chance to direct official questions at Holly Springs representatives. Newly elected Mayor Charles Terry, utility General Manager Wayne Jones and City Attorney John Keith Perry fielded an array of criticism from the PSC. In his rebuttal, Perry suggested that any solution — whether a receivership or selling the utility — would take time to implement, and requested 24 months for the city to make incremental improvements. Audience members shouted, “No!” as Perry spoke.

“We are in a crisis now,” responded Northern District Public Service Commissioner Chris Brown. “To try to turn the corner in incremental steps is going to be almost impossible.”

Roscoe Stigger, a Marshall County resident, expresses how the Holly Springs Utility Department’s issues have personally affected him during a Mississippi Public Service Commission hearing in New Albany, Miss., on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025.

It’s unclear how much it would cost to fix the department’s long list of ailments. In 2023, TVPPA — a nonprofit that represents TVA’s local partners — estimated Holly Springs needs over $10 million just to restore its rights-of-way, and as much as $15 million to fix its substations. The department owes another $10 million in debt to TVA as well as its contractors, Brown said.

“The city is holding back the growth of the county,” said Republican Sen. Neil Whaley of Potts Camp, who passionately criticized the Holly Springs officials sitting a few feet away. “You’ve got to do better, you’ve got to realize you’re holding these people hostage, and it’s not right and it’s not fair… They are being represented by people who do not care about them as long as the bill is paid.”

In determining next steps, Silverpoint Principal Stephanie Vavro told the PSC it may be hard to find someone willing to serve as receiver for the utility department, make significant investments and then hand the keys back to the city. The 2024 bill, Vavro said, doesn’t limit options to a receivership, and alternatives could include condemning the utility or finding a nearby utility to buy the service area.

Monica Wright, a Marshall County resident, talks about her frustrating experiences with the Holly Springs Utility Department during a Mississippi Public Service Commission hearing in New Albany, Miss., on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025.

Answering questions from Central District Public Service Commissioner De’Keither Stamps, Vavro said it’s unclear how much the department is worth, adding an engineer’s study would be needed to come up with a number.

Terry, who reminded the PSC he’s only been Holly Springs’ mayor for just over 60 days, said there’s no way the city can afford the repair costs on its own. The city’s median income is about $47,000, roughly $8,000 less than the state’s as a whole.

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

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Political Bias Rating: Centrist

This article presents a factual and balanced account of the situation involving the Holly Springs Utility Department and the Mississippi Public Service Commission. It includes perspectives from various stakeholders, such as city officials, residents, and state commissioners, without showing clear favoritism or ideological slant. The focus is on the practical challenges and financial issues faced by the utility, reflecting a neutral stance aimed at informing readers rather than advocating a particular political viewpoint.