by Alex Rozier, Mississippi Today
May 9, 2025

The Tennessee Valley Authority, a federally created utility that sells wholesale power to local providers in the south including Mississippi, is suing the city of Holly Springs for breaching a contract by continuing to mismanage its electric department.

TVA, which has sold power to north Mississippi city since 1935, alleges Holly Springs breached a power contract between the two parties by taking funds from its utility department when it shouldn’t have, as well as by failing to make timely payments, increase its retail rates to customers, and provide regular financial updates to TVA.

That lawsuit, filed May 1 in the United States District Court in Oxford, lists as defendants: Holly Springs Mayor Sharon Gipson, who recently lost her bid for reelection, all five members of the city’s Board of Aldermen, and Wayne Jones, the utility department’s general manager. The suit asks the court to use its authority to enforce the contract.

Years of under-investment and deferred maintenance — as well as destructive weather, including a 2023 ice storm — have debilitated the utility to the point where customers experience unusually frequent and prolonged power outages, local officials, TVA and ratepayers told Mississippi Today. They said while the catastrophe was years in the making, decision-making under the current administration has exacerbated the problem.

In its complaint, TVA says it first warned the city in September 2023 that it lacked “necessary revenue” to run the power department. Last October, TVA again warned city leaders, saying it needed to increase customers’ rates to survive financially. The lawsuit alleges that Holly Springs hasn’t paid a monthly invoice to TVA on time since May of last year, and that it still hasn’t paid what it owes from this past February.

TVA also says Holly Springs leaders took funds from the utility department before ensuring there were sufficient reserve dollars. Under the parties’ contract, the city can take payments in lieu of taxes from the utility after it fulfills certain expenses, including saving enough money in reserves. The lawsuit alleges, though, the city made five such payments in the last year, all while having outstanding debts and thus no reserve funding.

While managed by city officials, the utility has expanded to the point where about two-thirds of its 12,000 customers live outside Holly Springs, meaning most ratepayers have no local voting power in terms of running the department.

Customers and state officials attribute much of the recent power issues to city leadership, especially Gipson, Holly Springs’ mayor since 2021. Just a month ago after severe weather took out power for Holly Springs customers, Northern District Public Service Commissioner Chris Brown alleged that Gipson refused assistance from crews in New Albany who offered help. Holly Springs officials denied the claim, FOX13 Memphis reported, saying the crews showed up without getting the city’s approval.

The Public Service Commission, which oversees the utility thanks to a bill state lawmakers passed last year, initially scheduled a hearing for city officials to appear in Jackson in January. The city successfully appealed the initial date, arguing one of its attorneys, Sen. Bradford Blackmon, had to appear in the legislative session. The PSC agreed to postpone the hearing until after the session, which ended a month ago.

“We are currently in the final stage of the third party investigation and are awaiting a report from (third party investigator) Silverpoint which will determine the exact scheduling of a hearing,” Richard Stone, a spokesperson from Brown’s office, told Mississippi Today on May 5.

During the 2025 session, Rep. John Faulkner, D-Holly Springs, offered two proposals related to the city’s utility: one requesting $2 million in appropriations, and another establishing a nine-person board — five appointees from Holly Springs and two each from the boards of supervisors for Marshall and Benton counties — to run the department. Both bills died in their House committees.

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

The post TVA suing Holly Springs over power grid failures 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 detailed account of the legal dispute between the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the city of Holly Springs, focusing on allegations of mismanagement and breaches of contract. The tone is neutral, presenting the facts of the lawsuit and the ongoing issues without promoting a particular ideological perspective. The article includes perspectives from various stakeholders, including TVA, local officials, and residents, allowing for a balanced portrayal of the situation. There is no apparent bias toward one political side or another, as the content primarily reports on the facts and legal proceedings surrounding the case.

by Robyn Tannehill, Mississippi Today
May 8, 2025

Editor’s note: Robyn Tannehill is the second-term mayor of Oxford and is unopposed for a third term. This piece is part of an ongoing Mississippi Today Ideas series showcasing perspectives of mayors across the state.

Oxford is experiencing unprecedented growth and the challenges we face are unique in Mississippi.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in 2023 Oxford had a population of only 27,000 residents. On any given weekday in Oxford, we have more than 80,000 people in town with a student population of 23,981 (an 11% increase from last year) and workforce and visitors totaling approximately 39,000 people a day coming in from surrounding counties. On an SEC home football game, Oxford swells to more than 250,000.

In the simplest terms, Oxford has to be able to provide water and sewer service all year for 300,000 people to be able flush the toilets — even if we only need it for 10 days a year. With a tax base of 27,000, it is difficult to make those numbers work. 

The past eight years have been a rollercoaster in Oxford – from a pandemic that nobody prepared me for to growth that never stops. However, Oxford is a much stronger community with a stronger economy today than we had eight years ago. We are setting records every month in sales tax collections. New businesses are opening across our community, and almost every corner of Oxford is being developed at an incredible pace.

To make all of this work, my staff and I have to think outside of the box.       

When your greatest challenges are the result of tremendous growth in Mississippi, you say ‘thank you’ and you get busy being proactive in your planning. Planning is exactly what my staff, city employees and I have done.

I was told before I was elected in 2017 that our state and federal partners did not provide financial assistance to Oxford. I saw that as a challenge. I quickly learned that Oxford had not been told “no,” but rather Oxford had never told its story and asked for help. My team and I have secured more than $246 million dollars from our state and federal partners in the last eight years. 

That is $246 million that has been and will continue to be invested in transportation infrastructure, water and sewer infrastructure, facility upgrades and capital improvements across our community that our local taxpayers will not have to pay for. It is the result of an investment of time and relationship building in Jackson and Washington, DC. And, it’s the reward for being a community that is planning ahead and being a good steward of the funds we are granted. It also takes give-and-take between our state and federal elected officials, and we have been so blessed with great partners.

Telling our stories and seeking assistance from our state and federal partners is something every community can do. As the chairman of the Mississippi Municipal League Education Committee, I facilitated a session at our annual meeting where staff members from our United States Senate and Congressional offices attended and shared the best ways for our local elected officials to contact their offices. Our state and federal partners often do not know a community’s needs unless a community takes the time to share challenges, needs and concerns.  

Law enforcement is becoming increasingly complex, and the public’s expectations of police officers are becoming more demanding. The city of Oxford and Oxford Police Department have spent hours evaluating our mission, how we serve the community and how we can improve. 

Policing today extends beyond the realm of enforcing laws. Officers are called upon to respond to non-criminal incidents, including many situations that involve mental health issues or people who have no one else to call for help. In these cases, officers are often ill-equipped to handle the call. Afer all, they are not psychologists, psychiatrists or social workers.

We often expect officers to serve as family therapists, medical first responders, homeless advocates, school counselors and dog catchers. Each call is different, and rarely do the calls follow training scenarios; therefore, police officers and police departments must adapt, sometimes on the fly.

As first responders, the Oxford Police Department typically receives the initial call when a citizen is in need or has become the victim of a crime. Our officers respond to more than 1,000 calls per year where victim services are needed, which we define as calls such as domestic violence, sexual assaults, child abuse, harassment and stalking. Wanting to offer the best care for our citizens facing these situations, the Oxford Police Department began evaluating how we can walk hand in hand with our victims and connect them with the appropriate partners who can best serve their long-term needs. 

To meet these needs, we established a Community Response Team within the Oxford Police Department. The Community Response Team is led by a full-time employee who has completed a 10-week FBI Victims Impact Training Program and has a background in social work. This employee is dedicated to victim services, and is accompanied by volunteer officers and staff members of the Oxford Police Department. Our Community Response Team is responsible for identifying cases that could benefit from these services, training our officers to recognize these cases, and connecting our citizens to these services. 

Knowing we have amazing resources in the Oxford community, we invited all of the different victim service organizations to a roundtable discussion. This meeting allowed our police department to put together a comprehensive list of victim services available in our community, and educated our officers on these organizations. We want to operate like the Emergency Room and connect victims to the best resources available. Our goal is to provide a safe place and services needed for victims to help them move forward.

In 2017, my administration established a Safe Site in our downtown business district with the Oxford Polic Department. Uniformed officers are there Wednesday through Saturday evenings assisting patrons who feel unsafe, need assistance in finding a ride home, or would like to be escorted to their car. This Safe Site has become a great way for Oxford Police Officers to meet and build relationships with our citizens, and especially with our student population. 

Realizing that at bar closing time thousands of students are exiting bars at the same time presenting issues with securing safe rides home, my administration established three transportation hub locations in the downtown area with UBER, Lyft and local taxis participating. The rideshare companies direct people requesting rides to one of three sites where cars can stack and be waiting to offer safe rides home. Oxford Police Department has made 100 less arrests for DUI this year since our installation of the hubs. 

Enormous growth requires innovative solutions. Local government is where the boots meet the ground. 

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

The post Mayor Tannehill: Oxford officials view rapid growth, large crowds as opportunities, not problem 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 largely neutral perspective, focusing on Mayor Robyn Tannehill’s proactive approach to addressing the challenges of rapid growth in Oxford. While Tannehill emphasizes the importance of community partnerships and innovative solutions, there is no overt ideological bias in the language or framing of the piece. The content is more about problem-solving within local governance, rather than promoting a particular political viewpoint. The mention of securing funding and building relationships with state and federal partners suggests a pragmatic, solution-oriented approach without leaning toward any specific political ideology.

by Gwen Dilworth, Mississippi Today
May 8, 2025

Three nonprofits received over $850,000 in federal grants for HIV prevention between 2021 and 2024 but administered only 35 HIV tests during that period, State Auditor Shad White alleges in a report released Monday. 

The report identified reimbursements for alcohol, late-night rideshares, purchases from a smoke shop, the rental of a nightclub owned by one group’s executive director and a declined payment for gift cards. All of the payments were approved by the Mississippi Department of Health, the agency responsible for overseeing distribution of the funding to community-based organizations.

“The lapses identified are unacceptable and not reflective of our agency’s standards or mission,” the health department said in a press release Monday. 

The agency could not produce monthly reports for grant activities or documentation of hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenses, the report said. Nor could it provide all of the funding agreements or say whether the organizations were aware they were required to report testing data, a spokesperson for the auditor’s office told Mississippi Today. 

The grant funding was meant to help states establish and maintain HIV prevention and surveillance programs, and HIV testing was an element of each organization’s agreement. The grants also paid the nonprofits to educate the public about HIV and hire community health workers. 

Mississippi has the sixth highest rate of new HIV diagnoses in the country, and the majority of the state’s prevention efforts are funded with federal dollars. 

“It’s almost like our government hates us,” said Auditor Shad White in a press release. “This kind of spending defies all common sense and is an insult to hardworking taxpayers.”

Lorena Quiroz, the executive director of Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, said the nonprofit submitted all required monthly reports and expense documentation to the health department. 

Love Inside for Everyone and Love Me Unlimited 4 Life, the other two organizations investigated by the state auditor, did not respond to questions from Mississippi Today. 

None of the organizations referenced in the audit report still have grants or contracts with the health department, and the agency has already taken steps to hire new leadership in its STD/HIV division and tighten management of grants, it said in a press release.

The audit probes a period when the health department’s STD/HIV division was severely understaffed after public health priorities shifted to the COVID-19 pandemic and skyrocketing syphilis cases in the state. Around the same time, the health department began receiving tens of millions of dollars in additional federal funding for HIV prevention efforts as a part of an initiative launched by President Donald Trump during his first term in office to end the domestic HIV epidemic. 

But the funding increases have resulted in only a slight dent in new HIV cases. New diagnoses dropped 5% in the first three years of reported data since the state began receiving the additional federal dollars, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data published by AIDSVu – far from keeping up with the federal government’s ambitious goals of reducing new diagnoses 75% by 2025 and 90% by 2030.

Increasing HIV testing in community settings is one of the plan’s core strategies. 

Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, a Jackson nonprofit that advocates for immigrant and indigenous communities in Mississippi, was contracted to take steps to become a rapid HIV testing site, but did not conduct any tests because the health department did not provide a phlebotomist, Quiroz told Mississippi Today in an email. 

It is unclear why the organization would have required a phlebotomist, as rapid tests are administered with a finger prick or saliva. Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity did not respond to a follow-up question for clarification. 

Quiroz said HIV testing materials worth $11,412 were lost in a storm that destroyed the organization’s building and roof. The storm occurred in June 2023, one month before the nonprofit’s agreement with the health department ended and 10 months after the supplies were purchased. 

Health department records showed that Love Inside for Everyone, a LGBT+ advocacy nonprofit, performed 35 HIV tests between 2021 and 2024. 

Love Unlimited 4 Life, a transgender advocacy organization no longer in operation, recieved grant funding between 2021 and 2023 for the salaries of two community health workers. Health department records showed that no HIV tests were administered by the organization. 

The nonprofits’ grant agreements also included education and testing events. The auditor’s report called several events “questionable,” including a Latinx pride month and HIV awareness event hosted by Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity that exceeded its proposed budget and included alcohol purchases in a request for reimbursement. 

Love Inside for Everyone used grant funding to rent Metro 2.0, a nightclub owned by the organization’s executive director, Temica Morton, a possible conflict of interest. 

Due to the health department’s lack of grant monitoring, it could not say if HIV testing or awareness activities occurred at the events, the auditor’s office said.

Several federal grants Mississippi relies on for HIV prevention efforts have been cut or destabilized since the Trump administration took office earlier this year. Public health experts have argued these cuts will undermine HIV testing activities. 

White said the audit shows that the Trump administration’s cuts to HIV prevention efforts have been unfairly criticized in a video on Fox News Digital. 

“Our audit shows that when you dig into how this money is actually being spent, it’s not actually helping people with HIV/AIDs, it’s not helping to test people for HIV, it’s instead being wasted,” White said.  

The health department reiterated the importance of community partners to advancing public health goals in a statement. 

“It is important to underscore that these findings do not reflect the value of many nonprofit partners we continue to work with across Mississippi. Partnerships remain critical to our public health mission.”

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

The post Auditor alleges mismanagent of funds by health department 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 focuses on State Auditor Shad White’s audit of the Mississippi Department of Health’s management of federal HIV prevention funds, detailing allegations of mismanagement, misuse of funds, and a lack of oversight. The tone and framing of the piece, particularly White’s statements criticizing the health department’s actions and the Trump administration’s cuts to HIV prevention funding, suggest a critical stance towards government inefficiency. However, it also provides the health department’s response, stating the importance of community partnerships and clarifying that not all nonprofit partners are at fault. The overall presentation is fact-based but leans towards a critique of government spending and management, which aligns with a center-right perspective critical of governmental waste and inefficiency.