Connect with us

Mississippi Today

'You're not in line': Family battles politics, indifference, and suspected fraud in federal health care program

Published

on

‘You’re not in line’: Family battles politics, indifference, and suspected fraud in federal health care program

Natalie Gunnells had finally secured some assistance from Mississippi’s political class for her 23-year-old son Patrick, who has severe autism.

No sooner had she started receiving relief from the state’s Medicaid agency than her local lawmaker accused her of supporting his political opponent, delivering an ominous warning.

“You’re not in line, you’re not in sync to help you and your family,” said the local senator.

Patrick is one of 2,750 Mississippians on a special Medicaid program that is supposed to provide outpatient services to people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, known as the IDD waiver. The purpose of the waiver — a roughly $125 million-a-year program funded mostly by the federal government but administered by state agencies — is to allow this vulnerable population to live in the community as opposed to an inpatient facility.

But even though he receives the waiver, Patrick has for years lacked a caregiver or specialist.

“I’m telling you this waiver is designed to fail. You don’t fail this many people year, after year, after year if it is not designed to fail,” Natalie Gunnells said at a community meeting in February.

Without the specialized behavioral therapy that he is eligible to receive, Patrick’s potential is unknown. Patrick is nonverbal and cannot perform normal tasks, like using the bathroom on his own. When he was a child, his parents fought for him to receive the special education he was entitled to at the public school. These days, Patrick rarely agrees to leave the family’s Tupelo home, and he’s almost always wearing his large black headphones due to noise sensitivity.

Yet, the Gunnells recently found out that Medicaid has been dishing out thousands for therapy they say Patrick is not receiving under what they believe is a fraud scheme. Documents suggest the alleged abuse was made possible by years of loose oversight at the Department of Mental Health. The state attorney general’s office is currently investigating, according to AG communication obtained by Mississippi Today, though no one has been charged with a crime.

READ MORE: Attorney General investigating provider fraud in Medicaid waiver

Patrick Gunnells, 23, watches videos on his iPad in the living room of his family’s Tupelo home on Mar. 9, 2023. Gunnells, who has severe autism, spends almost all of his time at home due to sensory sensitivities.

Adding insult to injury, when the federal government decided during the pandemic to temporarily allow parents to get paid to deliver care to their disabled adult children, Mississippi chose not to adopt the policy.

Natalie Gunnells and her husband Jamie Gunnells knew they’d have to involve Sen. Chad McMahan, R-Guntown, their local lawmaker, if they wanted a shot at the new benefit.

It was the same way when Patrick got on the waiver, known for its years-long waitlist, more than a decade ago.

“You have to know somebody to get off the waiting list,” said Jamie Gunnells, who owns and runs an independent pharmacy in Tupelo. “It’s pitiful.”

In roughly the last year, Mississippi Division of Medicaid Director Drew Snyder asked one of his division directors to follow up on requests from at least eight sitting lawmakers, all white Republican men, according to text messages obtained by Mississippi Today. The politicians seemed to urge the agency to remove roadblocks for specific beneficiaries who were attempting to access Medicaid.

In each case, Tracy Buchanan, Medicaid’s director of long term services and supports, responded that she was on it.

READ MORE: Texts show lawmaker influence over Mississippi’s Medicaid rolls

McMahan has become particularly known for keenly navigating government red tape to help Mississippians get the public assistance they need. “I am relentless about contacting these agencies on my own,” McMahan told Mississippi Today. “I personally call and take an interest in every one of these cases to help people.”

As part of his stated commitment to help his constituents, McMahan convened a meeting for the Gunnells with Medicaid officials in May of 2022. After it ended, the couple alleged that McMahan casually propositioned them.

“He says, ‘Well, that ought to be worth a $25,000 campaign donation, don’t you think?’” Jamie Gunnells said.

While the Gunnells, who have publicly shared support for various Mississippi politicians, had made contributions to McMahan’s past campaigns, they said they were put off by the request and have not donated to McMahan since.

McMahan adamantly denied making the ask for a campaign donation. “No, I didn’t say anything like that,” he said. “… That’s a terrible thing to say.”

In Mississippi, it’s not uncommon for the state’s Republican leaders, who otherwise revile public assistance programs, to use the system for the benefit of themselves and their political supporters — no better illustrated than within Mississippi’s still-unfolding welfare scandal. One former grant recipient and defendant in the case, Christi Webb, even accused McMahan of delivering a threat on behalf of former Gov. Phil Bryant to withhold grant funding to the nonprofit she ran, Family Resource Center of North Mississippi, because she had supported and hired the wife of a Democratic candidate for governor. McMahan denied the allegation.

McMahan had also been jockeying for funding from Mississippi Department of Human Services, which administers the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant, to go to the Autism Center of North Mississippi. For a short time years ago, Patrick received services from the autism center, and his parents praised the quality of the program.

Auditors found that the autism center improperly received a $75,000 grant from the welfare agency, as well as more than $300,000 in grants from Family Resource Center.

MDHS employees had expressed hesitation about whether anti-poverty funds could be used to support services for well-to-do families at the autism center, but after a meeting between McMahan, Bryant and the welfare director, grant money flowed to the center anyway.

Natalie Gunnells plays with her 23-year-old son Patrick Gunnells, who has severe autism, at their Tupelo home on Mar. 9, 2023.

At the Gunnells’ urging, the Mississippi Division of Medicaid eventually adopted the federal policy allowing parents of severely disabled adults to temporarily become paid caregivers.

Natalie Gunnells, who has a master’s degree in counseling and gave up a promising career in education to care for her son, took courses to become certified through a local personal care provider last year.

Still, Mississippi had chosen the more stringent version of the policy that said legal guardians could not participate. So Natalie Gunnells had to relinquish her guardianship of Patrick — at a price of $2,300 to her attorney — to serve as her son’s taxpayer-funded caregiver. She began receiving the $12-an-hour wage for her work in November. This temporary policy, called Appendix K, only lasts until the end of the public health emergency, currently planned for next month.

In early January, Natalie Gunnells shared what she thought was an innocuous Facebook post from Lauren Smith, a local lab tech consultant and growing social media personality. Smith promotes conservative politics through her Facebook group “P.R.I.M.E” (Patriots for Rights Integrity Morals and Ethics), often taking aim at establishment GOP leaders. She was gearing up to run against McMahan for his Senate seat.

“If you want to know what’s really going on in politics in our great State, then you need to listen to Lauren Smith!” Natalie Gunnells wrote. “Ya’ll, this girl…her passion, knowledge, expertise…JUST LISTEN!”

Then her phone rang.

On the other line, McMahan explained to the Gunnells that “someone in Washington” had alerted him to Natalie Gunnell’s Facebook post, and they weren’t happy.

“There’s some of us out here that are doing everything we can to help your family, and it’s just, it’s just a slap in our face,” McMahan said, according to a recording of the call obtained by Mississippi Today. “… I just want you to know that I may be the face of trying to help you, but there’s a lot of people behind me that’s tried to help you, and y’all are making it difficult for your own cause.”

“We’re making it difficult by liking a post?” Jamie Gunnells said.

“Yes,” McMahan said. “Yes.”

“I don’t understand that,” Jamie said.

“Well, I guess you’ll just have to trust me. I don’t know the pharmaceutical industry, but I know politics. And I guess you’ll just have to trust me,” the lawmaker said, according to the recording.

To the Gunnells, McMahan’s call came off as a veiled threat to withhold help to Patrick.

“That’s terrible. If that’s the impression I left, I’m really, I’m deeply sorry about that,” McMahan told Mississippi Today. “I thought they would deceive my sincerity about how hard I had worked on their behalf, and they know I did.”

But on the call, McMahan also accused his opponent of wanting to end Medicaid — the program that provides not only Patrick’s waiver, but his health insurance. “She (Smith) is against every type of program,” McMahan told the Gunnells. “She would take literally the bread out of your family’s mouth to end any type of government assistance, and you’re supporting her.”

After the interaction, Natalie Gunnells said she felt that the solution they had reached with Medicaid was in jeopardy. She deleted her Facebook post.

“Senator McMahan was referring to a quid pro quo: he was helping us and if we wanted to continue to rely on him and everyone he stated behind him helping, we better not promote Lauren Smith at all,” Natalie Gunnells wrote to Mississippi Today.

McMahan explained his response to the situation, telling Mississippi Today, “It’s a normal reaction when you help somebody and then they’re out there supporting other individuals that are completely opposed to their own need.”

“It is human nature. I mean, come on,” he told Mississippi Today. “You give somebody just hours and hours of help in trying to help their family, and then they’re out there supporting individuals, not just my opponent, but other individuals in general that are against any type of Medicaid enhancements. And it’s just odd.”

Parents of six, Natalie and Jamie Gunnells watch their 23-year-old son Patrick Gunnells at their Tupelo home on Mar. 9, 2023.

The Gunnells are ardent conservatives, backing far-right candidates such as Sen. Chris McDaniel, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor and tea party populist who’s tried to fracture Mississippi’s establishment GOP since at least his U.S. Senate race in 2014. These candidates are particularly hostile to taxpayer spending on government assistance programs.

But the Gunnells said they don’t believe Smith or any other public servant would genuinely want to eliminate Medicaid.

“I can’t imagine a politician saying that today,” Jamie Gunnells said. “Yeah, they and I would love to see more people working and supporting themselves, but we’re the poorest state in the union, we’re going to have people on Medicaid. And that’s just the fact.”

Smith told Mississippi Today that McMahan, who also filed an unsuccessful residency challenge against Smith, is desperate to hold onto his senate seat, “and he’ll say whatever it takes to do that, no matter if it’s true or a lie.”

“Do I think it (Medicaid) needs reforming? Absolutely. Do I think it is a very, very broken system? Absolutely. And it does need a lot of work. But to do away with it? No, absolutely not,” Smith said. “It’s there for a reason, and that’s to take care of the ones who truly need it.”

Smith also said she is against the extension of postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to one year, which Gov. Tate Reeves recently signed into law.

“Why is that a Mississippi taxpayer’s problem to have to pay for that?” Smith said. “… Whenever I had my son, I had to go back to work.”

At least 40% of private sector jobs in Mississippi do not come with employer-sponsored health benefits, according to Kaiser Family Foundation.

Regardless of the state’s philosophy around Medicaid, its administration of the IDD waiver has been a disaster, according to several parents who spoke at a public hearing in February. This is largely because of a shortage of quality direct care workers and shoddy oversight.

Medicaid is responsible for submitting a renewal application to the federal government every five years to keep the waiver in operation. It held a hearing to gather feedback from clients in February and sent the new waiver application at the end of March.

The purpose of the waiver is to allow people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live in the community, as opposed to an inpatient facility. This follows the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Olmstead v.s L.C., which gives Americans with disabilities the right to live in the “least restrictive setting” possible for their condition and requires the government to provide the necessary supports.

While there are about 2,750 people on the waiver at any given time, there are almost the same number of people on the waiting list who qualify but do not get the benefit. The state estimates there are a total of between 52,000 to 53,000 Mississippians with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

“People are being institutionalized, I firmly believe, because they can’t get on the waiver,” said Polly Tribble, director of Disability Rights Mississippi.

Around 700 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities live in the state’s six regional facilities. This is down from roughly 1,300 residents in 2012. The IDD waiver has grown in that time from about 1,800 to more than 2,700.

Tribble’s largest concern within the waiver is how few people it serves. She told the story of a mother who had to put her daughter in an institution because she couldn’t afford to give up her job to stay home.

“She was separated from her daughter for years until we found out about it and got her some help,” Tribble said. “There’s stories like that all across the state. We don’t know what the potential is and you’re talking about somebody’s quality of life. And possibly somebody’s life.”

But the waiver doesn’t necessarily ensure a person will receive the services they need.

“If you think this is going to be a golden ticket, it’s not,” Natalie Gunnells said.

Natalie Gunnells reviews documents at her Tupelo home on Mar. 9, 2023. Gunnells has fought the government for years to provide the services required by law to her 23-year-old son Patrick Gunnells, who has severe autism. She filed her first successful complaint against the Tupelo Public School District in 2017.

Every morning, the Gunnells trade off who is responsible for getting Patrick up, bathing him, getting him dressed, and feeding him breakfast. After that, Natalie Gunnells is almost always at home tending to Patrick, helping him go to the bathroom and bringing him meals.

The highlight of Patrick’s day is when his 16-year-old brother Stephen gets back from school. The rest of their four siblings, ages 21 to 27, no longer live at home.

In addition to a primary diagnosis of autism, Patrick also has a genetic disorder called Cri-du-chat. But while his capabilities are limited, Patrick is smart; he can read books on at least a 9th grade level and communicate through a speech-generating device.

Patrick qualifies for 180 hours per month of in-home respite care, which is designed to relieve a primary caregiver of their otherwise round-the-clock work. For six of the last seven years, his mom said Patrick has been without a respite caregiver.

Not every person on the IDD waiver may need in-home respite, though all would qualify for it. Out of the 2,747 people on the waiver in fiscal year 2022, less than 20%, or 534, received respite care, according to documents from Medicaid. Just 32%, 873, received a similar service called home and community supports.

Patrick can’t participate in community-based services in centers, often referred to as day hab, because DMH doesn’t fund the one-on-one support he would need to acclimate in that environment.

Patrick also qualifies for 30 hours of behavioral therapy each month. Natalie Gunnells said that a local behavior support consultant, Vargas Clark from Mississippi Behavioral Services, did come to the Gunnells’ home to work with Patrick here and there in 2018, only for around 30 minutes a session. But they say Clark hasn’t had much of a presence in their lives since, and while a different therapist from the Behavioral Services came sporadically in 2021, the Gunnells haven’t seen anyone from the organization in over a year.

According to Medicaid’s billing department, the IDD waiver costs about $125 million annually, with the agency reimbursing about $45,000 worth of services on average for each person on the waiver – though clients like Patrick aren’t receiving nearly that amount.

Some parents who spoke to Mississippi Today are skeptical, considering the worker shortage, that such a large amount of care or therapy is actually being delivered under the waiver.

“They’re receiving funding, but the services are not being delivered as they are designed to be,” Deb Giles, a parent of a son with Down syndrome, said at a recent hearing.

If Natalie Gunnells were paid to provide Patrick’s full allotment of in-home care, it would cost roughly $25,000 each year. To compare, the cost of placing Patrick in one of DMH’s regional centers would be anywhere from $90,000 to $170,000 a year depending on the level of care he qualified for.

The waiver is funded by Medicaid but the administration and oversight, which primarily consists of support coordinators employed by the regional IDD centers, is operated by the Mississippi Department of Mental Health. DMH told Mississippi Today that like private direct care providers, the agency has similarly struggled to hire and retain enough support coordinators.

The support coordinators work with the IDD waiver clients and their parents or guardians to develop what’s called a Plan of Services and Supports. The plan, the state’s primary source of information about how a patient is faring, is a crude worksheet with blank spaces for the support coordinator to fill out. Some of the headers include, “Things People Need to Know to Support Patrick and Keep Patrick Safe,” “Patrick’s Strengths,” “Patrick’s Dreams,” “Things to Figure Out,” “Good Day,” and “Bad Day.”

At least in Patrick’s case, the plan operates as more of a wishlist than a realistic picture of his participation in the program. In some cases, it seems to the Gunnells that DMH is simply checking boxes, even if that means jotting down inaccuracies. The Gunnells’ support coordinator, Clay Ketchings at North Mississippi Regional Center, repeatedly writes in the plan that Patrick likes to go on car rides, despite the fact that currently, his parents say Patrick is almost entirely homebound.

Ideally, the Gunnells would find a consistent direct care worker and use the behavior support consultant to train the worker on how to best socialize and respond to Patrick’s specific needs. Patrick’s waiver plan explains that he is stubborn to following directions, sometimes falling on the ground and refusing to move. The Gunnells wonder what Patrick would be capable of if he had access to an autism specialist, especially considering the promising progress he made during the short stint he received services from the autism center under Dr. Sheila Williamson, who’s no longer there.

“She would have probably already had him potty trained,” Natalie Gunnells said. “… So we don’t ever really know what his potential is.”

In Mississippi, there are almost two direct care worker job openings for every person working as a direct care worker, according to national policy institute PHI, which ranks Mississippi second to last for its direct care workforce.

Betty Pinion, director of the IDD program for the Department of Mental Health, acknowledged the care shortage in an interview with Mississippi Today. But she also said that in some cases, individuals on the waiver are not receiving the services included in their plan not because the services aren’t available, but because the family refuses to work with the available providers. Some of these agencies are paying direct care workers as low as $8-an-hour.

“There are some (clients) that doesn’t seem to be satisfied with any person that we send,” Pinion said.

Since the Gunnells haven’t found a direct care worker to train, they haven’t been receiving the behavioral support either.

They and many other parents have raised the issue of lack of services to their support coordinator, who is tasked with addressing any client concerns, but they say it doesn’t yield any results. Mississippi Today observed one family’s Plan of Services and Supports meeting in March. The parents repeatedly complained that they could not find an agency with available workers; the support coordinator explained that she didn’t have any control over the workforce.

In an interview with Mississippi Today, officials from the Department of Mental Health said it is not tracking how many people on the waiver are receiving each service versus the number of people eligible for each service.

This could show the number of people missing out on the benefits to which they’re entitled.

It also does not compile the total number of hours per service people on the waiver are eligible to receive or the total number of hours of services delivered, which might even better quantify the care shortage. Mississippi Today requested this data from the department, but since it is not already compiled in a report, it is not a public record, and the department said the report would require too many hours for the agency to conduct.

“To compile the requested information, each individual’s file (more than 2,700) would have to be reviewed to determine the eligible number of hours and then compiled into a consolidated report,” the agency said in response to the request. “… DMH is considering ways this data can be collected in the future.”

Medicaid declined to answer Mississippi Today’s questions about the waiver and its renewal, but an attorney with the agency Cody Smith told Natalie Gunnells in an email that the agency shared her concerns about the care shortage. He said that Medicaid is working with DMH to “lower barriers on workers entering the industry” and that it has commissioned a workforce study. Medicaid spokesperson Matt Westerfield said the agency is proposing an average reimbursement rate increase of 18%, which affects the hourly wage of the care workers.

Medicaid is currently submitting its paperwork to the federal government to renew the IDD waiver, a process that happens once every five years. Both Medicaid and DMH hosted a public hearing in February to accept suggestions from the public about what changes to make in its renewal.

After Mississippi Today’s inquiry to Medicaid about the IDD waiver, Snyder texted his deputy administrator for policy Wil Ervin, who recently left the agency, asking him to watch a recording of the public hearing to see if there was anything they needed to “watch out for.”

“We are likely going to have an issue from the hearing,” Ervin responded the next day.

Medicaid spokesperson Matt Westerfield said in an email that Ervin was referring to complaints, such as from Natalie Gunnells, about the policy that legal guardians cannot be paid caregivers under the waiver. Westerfield said last month that the agency was still considering whether to revise this policy in its permanent plan.

But when it came time to submit the waiver application at the end of March, Medicaid moved to include an even more restrictive version of the policy. It added the caveat that people could not be paid to care for their relatives if the service they are providing is “a function that a relative or housemate was providing for the participant without payment prior to waiver enrollment,” which seems to apply to Natalie Gunnells and most parents in her position.

After all her efforts, Natalie Gunnells will likely be back at square one when the public health emergency ends.

Patrick Gunnells, who has severe autism, plays on his iPad at his family’s Tupelo home on Mar. 9, 2023.

In early January of 2022, frustrated by the absence of services for her son, Natalie Gunnells began requesting what are called “utilization reports” from the Department of Mental Health.

The reports contain which services, and the number of hours, that providers are billing to Medicaid under the waiver. The support coordinators are supposed to review the documents with the parent or guardian every month to ensure the client is receiving the services that Medicaid is paying for, but in Natalie Gunnells’s case, she said this hadn’t happened for three years.

“They were so negligent that any agency billing Medicaid that wanted to commit fraud could without detection,” Natalie Gunnells wrote in her own timeline of the alleged fraud.

Once she got the documents, she said she realized that for at least two years, Mississippi Behavioral Services, owned by Vargas Clark in Southaven, had been charging Medicaid for services she says Patrick wasn’t receiving. In some months when Patrick may have received an hour of support, billing records show the company charged for the full 30 hours. Natalie Gunnells estimates Medicaid reimbursed Mississippi Behavioral Services for at least $42,000 for services not rendered.

Clark, who has not been charged with a crime, told Mississippi Today Monday that he was unaware of an investigation into his company. After agreeing to examine his records in order to discuss the alleged billing discrepancies, he did not return several follow up calls or texts.

Natalie Gunnells reported her findings to Medicaid’s fraud division, but she said they never responded. She then took the information to the Attorney General’s Office, which launched an investigation, in September. The Gunnells submitted an affidavit in October. The AG did not respond to several requests for comment for this story. DMH confirmed that it conducted its own internal investigation and referred the matter to Medicaid. DMH Director Wendy Bailey also said the agency recently provided more training to support coordinators to ensure they’re following procedures.

Providers are supposed to submit quarterly review reports describing the patient’s progress, but the Gunnells’ support coordinator hadn’t been collecting them from Mississippi Behavioral Services.

Eventually, Natalie Gunnells got the records from the investigator. According to a review by Mississippi Today, many of the reports are identical from quarter to quarter, seemingly copy-pasted with only the date at the top changing. The investigator also shared invoices and billing records from Medicaid, some of which include signatures for Natalie Gunnells that she said aren’t hers and indistinguishable scribbles for the others.

The reviews include charts, lines zigzagging across the page, that pretend to reflect the frequency of Patrick’s “target behaviors,” such as noncompliance and physical aggression. As far as Natalie Gunnells is concerned, the data is made up.

“Patrick has shown a positive response to behavior treatment,” one report says, referencing a three-month period in which the Gunnells say no therapist ever came to see Patrick.

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

Mississippi Today

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

Published

on

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


Presidents are taking increasingly longer to declare major natural disasters, delaying federal aid to affected individuals and communities. An Associated Press analysis shows that while declarations took under two weeks in the 1990s, the average wait has grown to over a month during President Donald Trump’s term, with some waits exceeding 60 days. This delay affects disaster survivors like Buddy Anthony of Tylertown, Mississippi, whose home was destroyed by a tornado in March 2025; he waited 50 days for federal aid. The Trump administration attributes delays to more thorough reviews and efforts to reduce federal bureaucracy, while critics warn it leaves disaster victims unsupported. Local officials face financial strain, suspending recovery efforts due to reimbursement uncertainties.

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.

Continue Reading

Mississippi Today

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

Published

on

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


Northeast Mississippi House Speaker Billy McCoy, a worm farmer from Rienzi, played a crucial role in the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s recovery after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Despite representing a rural, largely anti-casino base, McCoy allowed a controversial bill to expand casino gambling by permitting casinos to be built on land rather than floating in the Mississippi Sound. This move was vital for the Coast’s economic revival, as casinos employed around 30,000 people. Governor Haley Barbour credited McCoy for prioritizing state interests over political pressures, even though McCoy voted against the bill. McCoy died in 2019 and is remembered as a hero for the Coast’s recovery.

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



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 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.

Continue Reading

Mississippi Today

PSC moves toward placing Holly Springs utility into receivership

Published

on

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


On September 4, 2025, the Mississippi Public Service Commission (PSC) voted unanimously to petition a judge to place the Holly Springs Utility Department into receivership due to ongoing service failures and financial mismanagement. Serving about 12,000 mostly out-of-city customers since 1935 under a Tennessee Valley Authority contract, the utility has faced issues including prolonged outages during a 2023 ice storm, power surges damaging appliances, and inaccurate billing. A July report by Silverpoint Consulting deemed the city “incapable” of managing the utility. The 2024 state bill empowers the PSC to remove control temporarily. Holly Springs officials requested 24 months for improvements, but the PSC deemed immediate action necessary. Repair costs may exceed $25 million, with the utility owing $10 million in debt. Alternatives to receivership include condemnation or sale to another utility.

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.

The post PSC moves toward placing Holly Springs utility into receivership 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 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.

Continue Reading

Trending