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The Mississippi Fat Cat Report 2022 Published – Who are the highest-paid officials in our state?

mississippi center for public policy
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The Mississippi Fat Cat Report 2022 Published – Who are the highest-paid officials in our state?

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy released its annual Fat Cat Report this week, providing the public with a list of the state’s highest-paid officials. 

Mississippi’s 50 highest-paid public officials make more money than all 50 of America’s state governors, according to a new report published by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. 

The Mississippi Fat Cat report, an annual overview of the highest-paid public officials in the state, published today, shows that Mississippi’s “Fat Cats” are getting fatter and receiving large pay increases. Top public-sector official pay grows twice as fast as other public-sector workers’ pay. For example, the superintendent of the Humphreys County School District saw a 102-percent salary increase from last year, making the payment from a little less than $90,000 to now $182,000.

“The public has a right to know how public money gets spent,” explained Douglas Carswell, President and CEO of the MCPP. “Our report shows that salaries for top public officials in our state are rising fast. The Fat Cats are getting fatter.”

Mississippi’s 50 highest-paid Fat Cats make more than America’s 50 state governors. More Fat Cats means fewer nurses, teachers and police officers, and these high-paid officials are largely unaccountable, with only four of the 50 being elected. School district superintendents dominate this Fat Cat list.

Of the 50 highest-paid public officials, 26 are school superintendents, many from the worst-rated districts. For example, Claiborne County School District’s superintendent makes a little over $200,000. While some superintendents oversee thousands of students and carry out demanding tasks, Claiborne County has an F rating with only 1,326 students.

Many of our state’s Fat Cats are largely unelected. Of the 50 salaried positions, only 4 are elected, with the remaining 46 being appointed. The only directly democratically accountable officials on our list are judges.

To combat the excessive spending, MCPP listed several policy proposals in its report to hold public officials accountable, including legislative-approved salary increases, salary formulas for superintendents, amending the Mississippi code and capping public sector pay to that below the governor’s pay.

“In summary, the report shows that government waste does not happen in a vacuum,” Carswell said. “An overpaid bureaucrat is ultimately feeding off the pocketbooks of citizens. It’s time to put the Mississippi Fat Cats on a diet of lower salaries so that taxpayer dollars can be protected from waste.”

A link to the report can be found here.

Read original article by clicking here.

Canceling student loan debt

Russ Latino, Empower MS
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Canceling student loan debt

It is widely anticipated that President Biden will announce a plan today to forgive a considerable portion of student loan debt in the U.S. Early reports indicate that:

Individuals earning under $125,000 with federal student loans will receive $10,000 in loan forgiveness. Married couples earning under $250,000 with federal student loans will receive $20,000 in loan forgiveness. The plan purports to completely eliminate student loan debt for approximately 15 million Americans and reduce loan balances for another 30 million Americans.

The President’s executive order comes on the heels of a multi-year build up around alleviating the burden of over $1.7 trillion in student debt. The plan is likely to draw mixed reactions:

Those who benefit directly from the forgiveness are expected to view the move favorably, though some are already contending that the amount of the forgiveness is insufficient. The average student loan debt holder owes over $37,000. There is real concern that President Biden lacks the constitutional authority to simply wave away student loan debt through an executive order. The decision will almost certainly be challenged in court. Conservatives warn of the “moral hazard,” of eliminating a contractual obligation entered into by a student in exchange for a service.

Both the burden of student loan debt and the consequences of absolving it are worth exploring. There is genuineness in the cries of young people who feel duped. There is also merit to the idea that people who did not attend college, but who pay taxes, should not be asked to share the load of student loans taken out by people who did attend college with an agreement to repay the loans.

But the President’s action and the responses to that action will largely miss the elephant in the room. Forgiving a portion of student loans is putting a band-aid on an infection without treating the underlying infection.

For the last 18 months Americans have been learning the hard way that cheap money is very expensive. Floods of federal dollars rained down during the COVID pandemic, in concert with widespread disruptions of our economy, have

Read original article by clicking here.

SALTER: Remembering Willie Morris, Barry Hannah and other friends at the Miss. Book Festival 

Magnolia Tribune
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Submitted by Sid Salter

Last week’s Mississippi Book Festival provided an opportunity to reconnect with old and dear friends in celebrating extraordinary writers like the late Willie Morris and Barry Hannah with people who knew and loved them – including Willie’s immensely talented son David Rae Morris, now an accomplished writer, photographer, filmmaker and documentarian in his own right.

I moderated a panel presentation on Morris that featured David Rae’s new book “Love, Daddy: Letters from My Father” – a collection of personal letters written by Willie to his son along with David’s wonderful photos and narrative on his complex relationship with his family and David’s trepidations over fatherhood. Morris died in 1999.

David’s book is marvelous and preserves an important literary history. To those who knew and loved Willie, it’s also a tremendous journey through a storied Mississippi life.

Joining us on the festival panel was Lawrence “Larry” Wells of Oxford, the impresario of Yoknapatawpha Press and acclaimed Morris literary scholar Jack Bales of the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Back in 1982, Wells was among the inner circle of Morris’s closest friends. His press published several of Willie’s collections of essays and reprinted several of his significant early works. Willie called him “Boss.”

Along with then-Mayor John Leslie, Ed Morgan, Charles Henry, Clyde Goolsby, David Sansing and Ed Perry, Wells and his wife Dean Faulkner Wells (the niece of Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner) were among the central figures in Willie’s life during his time as writer-in-residence at Ole Miss.

Wells’ book “In Faulkner’s Shadow” chronicles the evolution of Oxford while Morris and mercurial writer Barry Hannah were on the scene there. A strange rivalry developed (mostly from Hannah, Wells recalled) that developed unintended consequences between the two talents.

In those days, interlopers at Willie’s 16 Faculty Row bungalow on the campus on any given evening might encounter legendary writers such as Larry L. King, William Styron, Larry McMurtry, David Halberstam, Winston Groom, George Plimpton and then-young Mississippi journalists Orley Hood, Rick Cleveland, Billy Watkins, Raad Cawthon and me. Wells’ book captures vignettes of many of those moments.

Perhaps the single most valuable reference to the life and work of one of Mississippi’s favorite literary sons is Bales’ “Willie Morris: An Exhaustive Annotated Bibliography and a Biography.” Bales was a great resource for David Rae in researching and editing “Love, Daddy.”

The body of Willie’s literary works – 23 books and numerous newspaper and magazine articles spanning from The Daily Texan in 1955 during his college days at the University of Texas until his death – is meticulously chronicled in Bales’ book.

A note on the supposed Morris-Hannah rivalry during the Oxford days – Hannah, who died in 2010 at age 67, was one of the most intense and driven people I’ve known. I met him through Willie in the early 1980s and quite frankly didn’t like him then. He was a hard drinker, arrogant, and emotionally flammable. Barry dressed in black most of the time in that era, drove a motorcycle and was despite a soaring intellect ready to fight at the drop of a hat. We didn’t mix well in those days.

When I taught journalism at Ole Miss in the mid-1990s, we reconnected and laughed about some of our earlier misadventures. One could sense that teaching had become more important to him. My daughter Kate was at the time one of his creative writing students and she loved him.

In the end, Hannah courageously battled cancer. The excesses of his youth gave way to a certain resignation, but never to defeat or cowardice.

Mississippi never produced a more ardent defender or a harsher social critic than Willie Morris. His son David told festival attendees that his father’s honesty in his iconic work “North Toward Home” remains an important and relevant social criticism of problems that endure in Mississippi.

That gnawing conflict – Willie’s love of home, family and heritage tempered with his outrage at racism, hatred and injustice in his home state – would color the whole of his life and his work.

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Submitted by Sid Salter

McComb Attorney Charged with Murder Has History of Domestic Violence Arrests.

HPNM
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McComb Attorney Charged with Murder Has History of Domestic Violence Arrests.
reagon brooke hatley robert lenoir
Reagon Hatley posted on Facebook about the abuse back in 2019. Click to enlarge.

Robert Lenoir, an attorney from a prominent family in McComb, Mississippi, had at least three prior arrests for domestic assaults. One alleged assault involved his previous wife. That alleged assault occurred on 9-15-2017. According to documents obtained by HPNM, the alleged victim told officers Lenoir hit, kicked, and strangled her. According to the police report, Mrs. Lenoir was reluctant to press charges, “due to fear of reprisal from the suspect and his family.” Nevertheless, the officer arrested Lenoir. Mrs. Lenoir filed for divorce, and the case was not prosecuted.

Two other alleged assaults purportedly occurred on 10-21-2019 and 08-16-2019 and involved Lenoir’s girlfriend, Reagon Brooke Hatley Zufelt; who is also the mother of his child. According to one police report, Zufelt stated Lenoir blamed one assault on steroids and was, “trying to get clean.” Hatley-Zufelt alleged Lenoir caused the injuries (pictured) with his Glock handgun.

Zufelt failed to show up for court on both occasions, and the cases were dismissed by the presiding judge. However, prior to the trial on one charge, for which she didn’t show, Hatley-Zufelt warned others about hiring Lenoir saying,

“So if you are stupid enough to hire someone like this, I hope your hearing isn’t January 8th because he is on trial that day himself.”

Hatley now lives with Lenoir and their minor child.

Lenoir was charged in a seven-count indictment on June 9th, 2022 by special prosecutor Becky Pruett Denham involving, in part, the death of Wendy Dansby. Dansby reportedly was a family friend. She was found dead in his home on March 30th, 2021. The charges in the indictment include:

Count I: First-Degree Murder
Count II: Possession of Controlled Substance
Count III: Tampering with Physical Evidence
Count IV: Possession of Controlled Substance
Count V: Child Endangerment
Count VI: Felony Child Abuse (poisoning)
Count VII: Tampering with a Witness

Denham is the special crimes prosecutor for the Forrest County District Attorney’s Office and was appointed after the Pike County District Attorney’s Office recused themselves from this case. Special Judge Forrest A. Johnson was appointed by the Mississippi Supreme Court to preside over the case after both Pike County Circuit judges also recused themselves.

HPNM Facebook subscribers can watch the initial appearance on the HPNM page here https://fb.watch/f5e5eeZbyA/ To become a subscriber, click HERE. HPNM is a subscriber supported news outlet and relies on you, not advertising, to keep the outlet alive.

Robert Lenoir Domestic Abuse Allegations

Robert Lenoir (1)-compressed

 

Robert Lenoir Indictment

lenoir indictment

 

 

Y’all Politics files public records request seeking UMMC, media communications

Magnolia Tribune
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Blue Cross subpoenaed similar information in a defamation lawsuit the company filed against UMMC officials. 

Earlier this month, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi (BCBS) subpoenaed multiple individual officials at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) over their communications specifically with two Mississippi news outlets in the current defamation lawsuit BCBS filed against the medical center’s leadership.

BCBS claims that employees of UMMC engaged in a defamatory public relations campaign against the company.

The BCBS subpoena seeks the correspondence between UMMC and media outlets, specifically naming Mississippi Today, their reporter Kate Royals, and SuperTalk Mississippi.

Subpoena UMMC by yallpolitics

 

READ MORE: Blue Cross subpoenas UMMC officials for communications with media in defamation suit

In the interest of public disclosure in this matter, Y’all Politics filed a public records request with UMMC on Tuesday seeking the same information listed in the BCBS subpoena.  Doing so ensures that even if a settlement of the lawsuit is reached between the two parties, the public has the opportunity to view that information in full.

Public Records Request From JNM for UMC 082322 by yallpolitics on Scribd

Y’all Politics will update our readers on this public records request and the response from UMMC when further information is available.  Under Mississippi law, UMMC has 14 days to produce records responsive to the request.

Thompson, Wicker to host listening session on Delta flooding

Mississippi Today
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Sen. Roger Wicker and Rep. Bennie Thompson are hosting federal agency officials in Rolling Fork on Wednesday for a listening session to discuss the area’s regular flooding.

The event comes months after the Environmental Protection Agency decided to reinstate its veto of the Yazoo Pumps project, a long-debated flood control proposal that the agency revisited under the Trump administration. The EPA originally vetoed the project — which has the support of top Mississippi politicians including Wicker, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Gov. Tate Reeves — in 2008 due to its potential effects on wetlands in the South Delta.

Since the decision to reinstate the veto last November, both Wicker and Hyde-Smith have pressed the EPA to reconsider the project during congressional committee meetings. In May, Wicker argued that the high rate of poverty in the South Delta makes flood control in the area a suitable project for President Biden’s focus on environmental justice.

Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality Brenda Mallory — along with officials from the EPA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency — will appear at Wednesday’s roundtable discussion, according to an invitation to the event local community organizer and attorney Ty Pinkins shared with Mississippi Today.

Thompson, who represents the South Delta in Congress, has expressed cautious support for the pumps project in recent years, citing an estimated $500 million price tag and suggesting that alternatives should be on the table as well.

Thompson also questioned the EPA’s decision to reverse the 2008 veto during the Trump administration, and last year requested that the agency investigate the matter after reports that officials had ignored scientists’ concerns about the Yazoo Pumps.

Opponents of the project point to other solutions with federal funding available, such as buyouts and elevating structures.

The event will take place at 5:30 p.m. at South Delta High School in Rolling Fork.

The post Thompson, Wicker to host listening session on Delta flooding appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Delta loses its only neonatal intensive care unit

Mississippi Today
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Mississippi Delta loses its only neonatal intensive care unit

A Greenville hospital closed its neonatal intensive care unit in July after the unit reported losses of $1 million a year. 

Now, there is no longer a NICU in the Mississippi Delta. 

Delta Health-The Medical Center, which is currently operating with only one medical floor, also closed its cardiac rehabilitation department. It and the NICU are “non-revenue producing ventures,” said interim CEO Iris Yeldell-Stacker in an Aug. 1 presentation to the Washington County Board of Supervisors. 

Hospital officials told Mississippi Today that operating the NICU created annual losses for the hospital of $1 million. An average of 150 newborns have been placed in the NICU each year since 2019.

The hospital serves four Delta counties: Bolivar, Coahoma, Sunflower and Washington – all counties with poverty levels over 30%, well above both the state and national average. 

“Infants that require care in the NICU will be transferred, as they always have been,” Amy Walker, chief nursing officer at Delta Health System, said. “This will likely cause a hardship on the families of the infant as they will have to travel to Jackson to be with their baby for what could be a lengthy hospital stay. We will still provide a well baby nursery for babies delivered here, and can provide things like IV fluids and limited antibiotic therapy for those babies.”

The NICU’s closure shocked many employees who saw it as a valuable asset, said an employee who asked to remain anonymous in the story for fear of retribution from the hospital. The employee said the hope for the unit was to break even, not turn a profit, but that this proved impossible due to a lower than expected number of transfers from surrounding communities.

The NICU was classified as a level II, meaning it could provide some intensive care for sick and premature infants, such as those who required respirator support or those who were born experiencing drug withdrawals. The hospital transferred an average of 16 babies per year to Children’s of Mississippi’s level IV NICU, the only unit in the state with this designation. 

Now, all babies born in the Delta that require NICU care will be sent to Children’s of Mississippi in Jackson or go out of state. 

The hospital’s NICU was being managed by Children’s of Mississippi when it closed. University of Mississippi Medical Center officials said they had no comment for the story. They also declined Mississippi Today’s request to interview the doctors and nurses who managed the unit. 

Further operational changes are likely in Delta Health System’s future because of its dire financial state. The entire system has a current income of negative $13.2 million for 2022,  according to Yeldell-Stacker. Its Greenville hospital is responsible for $334,000 of these losses, while the rest were attributed to Delta Health System’s other medical centers and groups. 

Yeldell-Stacker cited increased operating costs, mostly coming from an increase in contact labor. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospital paid nurses between $40 and $55 per hour, whereas contact nurses cost between $155 to $175 per hour. 

The hospital also received a $14 million loan from Medicare early in the pandemic, which Yeldell-Stacker said they are paying back to the tune of $1 million per month, further dragging down its  finances. 

The post Mississippi Delta loses its only neonatal intensive care unit appeared first on Mississippi Today.

10 Reasons Why You Need to Experience Kentuck Art Center

brandi perry
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10 Reasons Why You Need to Experience Kentuck Art Center

The Kentuck Art Center in Northport, Alabama is a visit that has to be experienced! We more than 50 years in the business of promoting art and engaging the community, they do both so well!

Located in a 100-year-old building in Downtown Northport, Alabama, the Kentuck Art Center is so much more than just an art gallery, conclave, and festival. We had the greatest experience here and want to tell you all the reasons you need to visit too!

The What and Why: Kentuck Art Center provides a variety of programming year around that not only engages the community in what is going on at Kentuck but also empowers the artists. The programming includes opportunities year around that allows the community members to interact with art and culture seven days a week for free! 

The Kentuck Festival of the Arts: With 2022 being the 51st year of the festival, it is obvious they are doing a lot right! The two-day event features more than 250 artists that perform live music, spoken word art, and other art demonstrations as well as drawing around 20,000 visitors. This is one festival that needs to be on your list to attend! 

Exhibitions: Kentuck Art Center has a variety of exhibitions throughout the area. Currently, there are exhibitions in both the gallery of Kentuck and Hotel Indigo in Tuscaloosa. These exhibitions change several times a year, making the transition something every art fan looks forward to. 

Art Night: Art Nights are held the first Thursday of each month and are free events! Art Nights are usually scheduled from 5pm-8pm and include and sometimes include an exhibition in the artists’ studios, extended gallery hours for shopping and exploring, pop-up shops, and live music. 

First Fridays: These tremendous events are held at Kentuck’s Gallery at Hotel Indigo Tuscaloosa and serves as an opening reception for new exhibitions coming to the gallery. They happen throughout the year on the first Friday of the month.

Workshops: We had the unique pleasure of taking a Painting with Music workshop and had the best time! If you are not into painting, there

Read original article by clicking here.

Mississippi court set to hear arguments in lawsuit regarding grant funding for independent schools

Magnolia Tribune
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The suit argues that the Legislature violated Section 208 of the State Constitution by appropriating $10 million to private schools.

In June, Parents for Public Schools, Inc. (PPS), represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Mississippi, Mississippi Center for Justice, and Democracy Forward, filed a lawsuit to stop Mississippi state officials from using public money to fund private schools in violation of the Mississippi Constitution.

READ MORE: Parents for Public Schools, with help from ACLU, sues MS over private schools grant program

“The issue here is that the Mississippi Constitution explicitly forbids lawmakers from appropriating public funds to any private school,” said Joshua Tom, legal director ACLU of Mississippi. “Furthermore, public funds must have a system of accountability, and private schools that are receiving taxpayer dollars have no accountability to the taxpayer for the expenditure of these public funds.”

On Tuesday, a Mississippi judge is set to hear arguments in that lawsuit regarding grant funding for independent schools claiming it violates the state’s constitution.

The suit specifically challenges Senate Bill 2780 and Senate Bill 3064, which were passed during the 2022 Mississippi Legislative session.

SB 2780 created the Independent Schools Infrastructure Grant Program Act of 2022 which eligible independent schools, or non-public sector schools, can apply for reimbursable grants that go toward water, sewer, broadband and other infrastructure needs. SB 3064 would allow for up to $10,000,000 in grant funding to be available.

As previously reported by Y’all Politics, lawmakers debated the legislation in the State Senate on April 5th of this year.  State Senator John Polk, who was in favor of the bill, said that private and independent K-12 schools also suffered during COVID, and that the Legislature should be able to help improve their conditions.  Polk also made note that lawmakers appropriated the same amount of money for these independent schools out of the CARES Act two years ago.

The groups challenging this action disagree.

“PPS unequivocally opposes taxpayer dollars being used to support non-public schools,” Policy Analyst at PPS, Becky Glover, said. “Our taxes provide a way for us to build and maintain what we, as a society, agree we all need and want, but can’t afford on our own. So, in addition to the unconstitutionality of this matter is the fact that taxpayers are the primary source of revenue for public infrastructure, as well as public goods and services. Taxes are supposed to serve and support the common good. Private schools are not public.”

Rob McDuff, Director of Impact Litigation at the Mississippi Center for Justice, said that one of the reasons we pay taxes is to support a public school system that is free of charge.

“That is why the Mississippi Constitution says that taxpayer money should only go to ‘free schools.’ People can create private schools that charge tuition, and families can pay that if they choose, but the public’s tax dollars should not go to defray their costs particularly at a time when public schools need more resources,” McDuff said.

You can read the full lawsuit below.

220615 Section 208 Complain… by yallpolitics

Thompson: Jackson shouldn’t expect federal help on water crisis until a plan is put forward

Magnolia Tribune
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The 2nd District Congressman says no one from Jackson has shared the facts of the problem or a plan to correct it with him.

Congressman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat representing Mississippi’s 2nd District, says the federal government will not consider helping the city of Jackson with its water crisis until a plan of action is submitted outlining how federal money will be spent.

In an interview with WJTV over the weekend, Congressman Thompson said he has yet to see a proposed plan from the city of Jackson on how the municipality plans to address the continued water crisis.

“I think it would be advantageous for the city to come up with a plan, and to share that plan with as many sources of help as possible. I know there’s a water problem with the city of Jackson, but nobody has shared the facts on the problem with me, as one of the Representatives, as well as what the cure or the plan for correcting it.”

Thompson added that as soon as those who can help are informed of what the details of the issues are, they will “roll up their sleeves” to help. But he cautioned that expectations of money would not come without details.

The Congressman said he was aware of concerns from the EPA and the Mississippi State Board of Health, adding that there is typically a roadmap provided from communities asking the federal government for assistance before an investment from Washington is made.

“When we don’t see the plan for that investment, then there’s a reluctance to invest on it,” said Thompson. “So, I encourage the city of Jackson to develop that plan.”

Chokwe Lumumba, Mayor of Jackson

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said the city has made repeated attempts to meet with Thompson, but he may not be up to date on those requests.

“It’s possible that Congressman Thompson, while protecting our democracy by holding the January 6 insurrection hearings, is simply not up to date with our frequent engagement with the leadership of several U.S. agencies and departments or the multiple requests of our lobbyists to meet with him. We look forward to sharing our fully outlined plan, one that is supported by the expert advice of the U.S. Water Alliance and the Kellogg Foundation,” Lumumba told WJTV.

But when it comes to state assistance, Thompson said Mississippi “doesn’t have skin in the game.” He said they have only given Jackson what was handed down from the federal government through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

However, legislation from the 2022 Legislative session would contradict Thompson’s claim.

The Legislature did appropriate over $90 million to the city of Jackson out of their $1.9 billion in ARPA funds. However, the state took it one step further by agreeing to match dollar for dollar to every city or county that used some of their own funds to address infrastructure needs.

Governor Tate Reeves

“My understanding is that the city and the county are only going to put up $25 [million] of their over $90 million dollars,” Governor Tate Reeves said in an early August press conference.  “I don’t know how they can suggest that these water and sewer challenges they have are a priority if we’re willing to give them dollar for dollar match and they can only come up with about 25 percent of what they are given and they spend everything else on other things.”

Those dollars would then be approved through the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration to ensure they were actually spent on infrastructure projects.

Governor Reeves said there is very little trust between the state and the city of Jackson to appropriate a lump sum while simply assuming the city would spend it in an efficient manner to address the problem.

The dollar-for-dollar legislation received bipartisan support in the Legislature.

Reeves added that projects are ongoing within the Capitol Complex Improvement District, noting the millions that have been invested into the Capitol Police to increase their employment numbers and officers’ salaries furthering aiding Jackson.

“Again, these are things that we don’t do, because we don’t have to do in other towns and municipalities throughout the state. But it is incredibly important that the city of Jackson improves, gets better, is safer for individuals to live there because as a state we need our capitol city to thrive,” said Governor Reeves.

Despite admitting that the conversation surrounding the constant boil water notices is on the “tips of the tongues” of all Jackson residents, Congressman Thompson said he has yet to hear of a solid plan and does not expect that those at the federal level will provide assistance until that happens.

You can watch Congressman Thompson’s interview with WJTV below.

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