OurTupelo

PITTSBORO — Trinidad Chambliss apparently will make an encore performance after leading Ole Miss to the most successful season in school history.

In a tiny town of about 150 people, with at least that many spectators in a Calhoun County courtroom on Thursday, Chancery Judge Robert Whitwell granted 23-year-old Chambliss a temporary restraining order against the NCAA after day-long court proceedings.

The ruling virtually assures that Chambliss will be the Ole Miss quarterback when the Rebels open the 2026 season in September.

Chambliss presumably will enter the season as a leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy. He finished eighth in Heisman voting in 2025.

Whitwell ruled that the NCAA “acted in bad faith” in denying Chambliss’s appeal for another season of eligibility.

Stunningly, lawyers for the NCAA did not stick around to hear Whitwell’s decision, angering the judge who said he would consider holding them in contempt.

Chambliss transferred to Ole Miss last spring after leading Michigan’s Ferris State University to the Division II national championship in the 2024 season.

The NCAA argued that Chambliss, who spent four years at Ferriss and then one at Ole Miss, had used up his allowed five years of eligibility to play a maximum of four seasons.

But Chambliss didn’t play at all his first two seasons at Ferris. He red-shirted as a freshman in 2021 and then was plagued by severe upper respiratory illness as a sophomore. He testified that he was told the 2022 season would count as a medical redshirt season. The NCAA argued otherwise.

Chambliss’s lawyers called on Dr. Ford Dye, who’s an Oxford ear, nose and throat specialist; Ole Miss quarterbacks coach Joe Judge; Chambliss’ mother, Cheryl Chambliss; and Trinidad Chambliss himself as witnesses. The NCAA called no witnesses.

Ole Miss’ athletic department issued a statement praising the judge’s “thoughtful consideration” of the circumstances of Chambliss’ appeal.

“We believe this outcome affirms what we have maintained throughout this process that Trinidad deserves the opportunity to compete and complete his collegiate career on the field,” the department said. “Trinidad has demonstrated tremendous perseverance, character and commitment to his teammates, this university and college football.”

The NCAA released a statement expressing frustration with the legal system, but the organization did not say whether it would appeal the ruling.

“This decision in a state court illustrates the impossible situation created by differing court decisions that serve to undermine rules agreed to by the same NCAA members who later challenge them in court,” the NCAA said. “We will continue to defend the NCAA’s eligibility rules against repeated attempts to rob future generations of the opportunity to compete in college and experience the life-changing opportunities only college sports can create.

“The NCAA and its member schools are making changes to deliver more benefits to student-athletes, but the patchwork of state laws and inconsistent, conflicting court decisions make partnering with Congress essential to provide stability for current and future college athletes.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

An expanded list of Mississippi government institutions and law enforcement agencies would be forced to cooperate with federal immigration authorities if a bill the Mississippi House passed on Thursday becomes law.

The measure advanced in Mississippi on the same day President Donald Trump’s administration ended its surge of immigration agents in Minnesota, an operation that led to thousands of arrests, widespread protests and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens. The Trump administration continues its mass deportation efforts that have at times led to violent clashes between people and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. It also led to political conflicts in other states between Democratic local officials and Republican federal officials who have sent ICE agents into cities around the country.

In Mississippi, House Bill 538 authored by Lee Yancey, a Republican from Brandon, would expand Mississippi’s ban on “sanctuary” jurisdictions to require all state and local government entities and employees, including agencies, departments, officers and law enforcement, cooperate with federal and other governmental authorities in enforcing immigration laws. Universities, community colleges and various other political subdivisions would be required to participate in federal immigration enforcement, if requested.

There are no official sanctuary cities in Mississippi because it is among the states that already have prohibitions on such policies. House Judiciary A Chairman Rep. Joey Hood, a Republican from Ackerman, who presented the bill on the House floor, said the new measure is necessary to ensure local government agencies and their employees don’t get in the way of federal law enforcement operations.

“I think the overwhelming majority of the people of the great state of Mississippi want law and order in this state, and if that includes immigration laws, so be it,” Hood said. “We’re not going to have individuals based through counties, municipalities or law enforcement agencies that are going to hinder immigration officials.”

House Democrats leveled fierce criticism at the legislation, arguing it would expose local Mississippi police officers to arrest if they tried to stop ICE agents from engaging in illegal behavior. They also said it would rope a wide range of Mississippi government institutions into carrying out the federal government’s immigration policy.

The bill would waive “sovereign immunity,” a legal doctrine protecting federal and state governments from being sued, for entities violating it. It also would empower the state attorney general to investigate and prosecute violations of the law.

The House voted 77-40, mostly along partisan lines, to pass the measure.

All but one Democratic member, Karl Gibbs of West Point, opposed it. The chamber’s two independents, Angela Cockerham of Magnolia and Shanda Yates of Jackson, did not vote. No Republicans opposed the measure.

“I don’t think we really realize what we’re about to do,” said Rep. Bryant Clark, a Democrat from Pickens.

Clark attempted to amend the legislation by clarifying that law enforcement could not punish government employees for refusing illegal or unconstitutional orders from federal immigration officials. The Republicans successfully defeated his amendment.

Clark said he had concerns about employees from the University of Mississippi Medical Center or the state Department of Revenue who could face state penalties for refusing to release private health care or tax information to immigration enforcement agencies.

“We shouldn’t do that to our state employees,” Clark said.

The House bill, which now heads to the Senate for consideration, came two days after lawmakers in both chambers passed other bills to expand the state’s role in immigration enforcement and elections.

Politics reporter Taylor Vance contributed to this report.

The Mississippi Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday designed to help rural hospitals open needed services, joining the House in advancing proposals to support struggling facilities by loosening the state’s certificate of need law. 

“I think we’re moving closer to a consensus about what to do,” Senate Public Health and Welfare Chairman Hob Bryan, a Democrat from Amory and the author of the bill, said of the overlap between each chamber’s proposal. 

The Senate bill would create a pilot program that tasks the state health officer with issuing licenses for three outpatient dialysis units, three ambulatory surgery centers and geriatric psychiatric facilities connected to rural hospitals within five miles of the rural hospital’s main location. The goal is to let hospitals open services that bring in revenue and help them keep their doors open, Bryan said Wednesday. 

The House passed a broader measure on Feb. 4 that would exempt 55 existing rural hospitals from certificate of need regulations, allowing them to open new health services or make improvements within a five-mile radius of their main building without state approval. 

The House and Senate will trade bills for further debate, and they must agree on a final plan before anything could go to the governor.

Mississippi’s certificate of need law requires providers to receive state approval before opening new services or paying for costly upgrades by proving that people need the services in their area. The regulations are meant to lower costs and enhance the quality and accessibility of health care by preventing duplication of services, but stakeholders are divided on whether the law accomplishes its goals. In Mississippi, where more than half of rural hospitals are at risk of closure, some people argue the law harms rural hospitals by restricting the services they are allowed to offer. 

Greg Gibbes is the CEO of five hospitals, including South Central Regional Medical Center in Laurel and Covington County Hospital in Collins. He said he has advocated for a rural exemption from certificate of need law for years because it will allow hospitals to expand the services most needed in their communities. 

“We want to give a small and rural hospital every fighting chance,” he said. “And there are those that are currently struggling that are probably not going to be calling a lot of offensive plays.”

The Senate bill defines rural hospitals as those in a county without a city over 15,000 people or located in Washington County, while the House applies the term to critical access hospitals, those located in Delta counties or in municipalities with a population under 15,000 people. The House bill also would exempt Humphreys and Issaquena counties entirely from certificate of need law.

Crafting effective exemptions to certificate of need laws requires a focus on “very rural” hospitals and parts of the state such as the Delta that require additional support because of workforce shortages and poverty, said Richard Roberson, president and CEO of the Mississippi Hospital Association. 

“We’re trying to make sure we find that sweet spot where we’re allowing hospitals to add services that their communities need in those really rural areas, while also making sure that we’re managing the cost of those services coming online,” said Roberson.

The certificate of need law has long been criticized by health care providers as cumbersome and time-consuming, frequently delaying the opening of new health care services when competing providers appeal the state’s issuance of a certificate. Another bill that passed the Senate Wednesday would require any party requesting a hearing on the state’s decision that loses to pay the fees associated with the hearing. 

Streamlining procedural aspects of the certificate of need process has lowered costs and helped the health department move through applications more quickly in the past, Roberson said. Mississippi enacted a law setting benchmarks for the process’ timeline in 2016. 

He said the Mississippi Hospital Association is weighing the impact of changes to the certificate of need application process, but is open to “anything we can do to lower the cost and make the process better.”

However, Roberson said, the state needs to have some supervision of the addition of new health facilities, especially given the large portion of patients with government-sponsored health plans, like Medicare and Medicaid. 

“It is important to have some oversight of the process to make sure we aren’t spitting up unnecessary or duplicative services that are just going to run up the cost of care for everybody,” Roberson said.  

Mississippi has already enacted one certificate of need reform law this year. Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill Feb. 4 and it became law immediately, doubling the cost threshold that triggers a requirement for hospitals to seek state approval before making improvements. For clinical improvements other than major medical equipment, hospitals will now require approval for changes over $10 million, up from $5 million. 

The new law also limits University of Mississippi Medical Center’s exemption for a certificate of need to the area around UMMC’s main campus and the Jackson Medical Mall. For years, UMMC has been exempt from certificate of need requirements for facilities or equipment used for education.

Gibbes said if the state Legislature moves to exempt rural hospitals from certificate of need law this session, he doesn’t expect to see a significant increase in services overnight because adding them requires time, labor and funding. But, he said, he believes it is important to create an environment where hospitals that take a risk to offer new services aren’t impeded. 

“These things take time,” Gibbes said. “It’s not like flipping a switch.”

Mississippi would take more steps to investigate prison deaths, under a proposal that’s advancing through the Legislature. 

House lawmakers approved a bill that calls for more oversight of prison deaths, legislation inspired by an investigation by Missisisppi Today, The Marshall-Project Jackson, the Clarion Ledger, the Hattiesburg American and The Mississippi Link.

On Tuesday, House Bill 1739 passed unanimously with 120 votes. Next, it heads to the Senate Corrections Committee. 

Senate Corrections Chairman Juan Barnett, a Democrat from Heidelberg, said he planned to review the prison death task force legislation before bringing it up for consideration in his committee. 

“I heard about it, but I haven’t had a chance to look at it,” Barnett said. “I think that’s something that we really need to be looking into more. More oversight, more transparency for the public so they can feel more comfortable and know that if something happens, somebody will be on top of it to make sure that we don’t have any bad actors.”

Rep. Becky Currie, a Brookhaven Republican who filed the legislation and chairs the House Corrections Committee, told lawmakers Tuesday that people continue to die in prison and their cause of death remains unknown. She said that includes the deaths of a 20- and 30-year-old who died last week and two people who died that day. 

The bill would direct and empower the Corrections and Criminal Justice Oversight Task Force to look into “unexpected” deaths using information provided by coroner’s reports and the Mississippi Department of Corrections. 

“A lot of times these deaths don’t get investigated correctly, they’re swept under the rug,” Currie said. “We don’t know if they were suicide, we don’t know if they were drugs. We don’t know if they were killed by another inmate. But I’m a big believer (in) if you don’t know where you’ve been, you can’t figure out where you need to be.”

Unexpected deaths would include those not related to a previously diagnosed or serious terminal illness. Under Currie’s bill, the task force must release a public report describing its findings and recommendations to try to prevent future deaths. 

Currie proposed prison death oversight in response to an investigation by the news outlets. Prison understaffing and gang violence likely led to the killings of nearly 50 people since 2015, the news team found. Of those, eight resulted in criminal convictions. At least 20 deaths remain undetermined. 

Family members of those who died in prison said they received little information from prison officials, and instead had more luck learning from a whisper network of incarcerated people, insiders, advocates, and, in some cases, from journalists. 

Weeks after the news investigation, prison Commissioner Burl Cain told a legislative budget committee and Mississippi Today that the department would review unprosecuted homicides and deaths ruled as undetermined. 

But four months later, there have been no new indictments or convictions in open homicide cases.

Currie’s bill adds members to the task force, including the chairs of the House and Senate Corrections committees,  the Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency committees and the public safety commissioner or a designee. 

Currently, much of the group is Department of Corrections staff, leading to a situation where “MDOC is reviewing themselves,” Currie said.

Rep. Tracey Rosebud, a Democrat from Tutwiler, asked if it was possible for the corrections commissioner to be removed from the task force. Currie said that’s unlikely because the commissioner is the one who would bring information to the task force. 

“All this does is bring transparency, oversight and sunshine to the board,” she said. 

The bill would have to clear the Senate Corrections Committee, be passed by the Senate and signed by the governor to become law.

Michael Goldberg contributed to this report.

Visitors in 2025 to the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument described powerful tours from National Park Service rangers, but people who visited the house last month say they walked away puzzled by omissions both to the couple’s story and the motives of Medgar Evers’ assassin.

On Jan. 17, Jack Storms was part of a civil rights tour from the state of Washington, which visited the Evers home in Jackson. Before taking the trip, he did research about the home and one detail moved him — there were still bloodstains on the driveway where Medgar Evers was shot to death in 1963.

While on the tour, he noticed that the park ranger made no mention of the stains, he said.

“I asked him about the bloodstains, and he said they are no longer able to discuss that. He also alluded to the fact they were supposed to remove the reference to (Byron De La) Beckwith as a racist,” Storms said, referring to Evers’ assassin.

Other visitors said they heard the same remarks.

READ: Medgar Evers’ killer was a Klansman, but Trump administration says stop calling him a racist

Park Service officials told Mississippi Today that anticipated changes to Evers home brochures included no longer referring to his killer as a “racist.” A National Park Service spokesperson said parks “regularly remove or replace brochures that are outdated, as was the case at Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument.” No brochures were present when a Mississippi Today reporter visited on Jan. 20.

READ: Visitor brochures are returned to Medgar Evers home

But the monument’s superintendent, Keena Graham, told the Mississippi Free Press that the brochures haven’t been removed. She said some edits are planned for the brochures and that work is being coordinated with the Evers family.

Reena Evers-Everette, executive director of the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute and daughter of the couple, told Mississippi Today last week that the family was informed the matter is under review, “but the final product has not been put out yet.”

In texts Tuesday with Mississippi Today, Graham denied that rangers couldn’t refer to Beckwith as a racist. As for the reported bloodstains on the driveway, she responded, “Organic matter cannot last that long in outdoor elements. We had the stains tested three and a half years ago.” The culprit was likely an old rusty water heater, she said.

Myrlie Evers has said that after her husband’s assassination, she couldn’t get the bloodstains off the driveway. A half dozen people who visited the park in 2024 and 2025 said rangers pointed out those bloodstains.

Last March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which accused the previous administration of rewriting history. Under the order, the interior secretary must revise or remove from national parks and monuments any content that “inappropriately disparages Americans past or living.”

The Washington Post has reported that the administration has ordered the editing or removal of signs or informational material in at least 18 parks, including the removal of an 1863 photo that Christian abolitionists used to show the horrors of slavery.

Outside magazine reported that the Park Service recently flagged signs at Big Bend National Park in Texas referencing fossils and prehistoric times. In Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, the Park Service removed a sign about Native American history. A sign that described the displacement of Native Americans has been taken away from the Grand Canyon.

The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is now suing the Trump administration after the National Park Service removed a long-standing exhibit on slavery in Independence National Historical Park.

In a Tuesday hearing of the U.S. House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman of California said the current administration is airbrushing out the darker parts of our nation’s history to create its own version.

“Actual history is getting whitewashed from national parks and museums,” Huffman said. “We can honor the 250th anniversary of America by telling the truth.”

He showed two signs regarding slavery that the National Park Service had removed and said one problem the administration had with these signs was referring to those abducted from Africa as “stolen.”

Alan Spears, senior director for cultural resources at the National Parks Conservation Association, responded, “Stolen is an entirely accurate depiction of what happened to African people. Nobody came as a volunteer on those slave ships.”

‘Changes were coming’

When Keith Plessy visited the Evers home in 2024, he was overcome with emotion. “It was a beautiful experience,” he said. 

His family knows about sacrifice. His great-grandfather was a first cousin to Homer Plessy, arrested in 1892 in the famous case, Plessy v. Ferguson, challenging racial segregation in New Orleans streetcars.

He had deep conversations with park rangers at the Evers home who showed him the bloodstains on the driveway and how the house was designed to keep its occupants safe, he said. “When I saw how they renovated the house, the care they took in recreating how the Evers family lived, I was kind of glued to the house.”

He was so glued, in fact, that the tour bus left without him.

Malcolm Reed, an Advanced Placement history teacher from Louisiana, described a powerful visit to the Evers home that he and his wife had last June.

During the tour, he said rangers spoke about the couple’s lives and how they made their home a fortress. They put their children’s beds on the floor so if someone shot into the house, the bullets would miss them. Rangers spoke, too, about how when the Evers family built the home, they didn’t include a front door to help keep the family safe.

A month later, Erin Smith said she and fellow Mississippi history teachers heard the same stories about making the home safe. As they toured outside, she said rangers pointed out the bloodstains still on the driveway.

Catherine McGowin, a history teacher at Southeast Lauderdale High School, has made several visits to the home, most recently last September. She praised rangers, saying they make clear “this is sacred, hallowed ground and ensure that all visitors understand the weight and significance of where they are standing.”

What stood out to her, she said, “is how thoughtfully they tell the full story of both Medgar and Myrlie, not only the tragedy that occurred there, but the rich lives they lived before they met and the life they built together. It is easy for visitors to become consumed by the sorrow of the event that took place at that home, but the rangers do an amazing job of making sure people leave remembering Medgar for his work, his purpose, and the legacy he continues to carry even after his death.

“They also go above and beyond in honoring Mrs. Myrlie Evers, not only the tireless work she did after his assassination, but the work she still continues today. They speak with great care about their children as well and the many ways the family remains actively engaged in carrying forward their father’s mission.”

Last September, Elizabeth Dickson Gavney and her husband, Dean, who live in Jackson, visited the park for the first time. She praised the rangers, who kept the park open for them to visit. As they shared thoughts about Medgar Evers’ death, she and the rangers wept.

But change was in the air as evidenced by the new sign that told visitors that if they saw a sign that reflected something “negative about either past or living Americans,” to complain through a QR code or website, Dean said.

“They knew the changes were coming,” he said. “They said, ‘In the meantime, we’re going to tell the story the best we can.’”

‘There was nothing about Medgar Evers being murdered’

Jack Storms’ wife, Michele, who serves as executive director for the ACLU in Washington state, described the Jan. 17 tour given at the Evers home as strange.

Park rangers announced it was “Wellness Day,” she said, but she heard nothing about Medgar Evers fighting for his country in World War II, nothing about his fight for justice and equality for all Americans, nothing about his courage or principles he stood for, nothing about his death on the driveway where they stood, she said.

“It was pretty surreal to listen to that, because there was nothing about Medgar Evers being murdered,” she said. “I thought it was the weirdest thing.”

She said she heard nothing about Evers’ assassin, who belonged to the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, or why Evers was killed.

Instead, she said, the talk focused on “all the amazing things that Myrlie Evers did after he was gone,” focusing on her connection with her community and discussing how she maintained her mental wellness through friendships with Coretta Scott King and Betty Shabazz.

The ranger did mention that Myrlie Evers won the Spingarn Medal, which is given by the NAACP for outstanding achievement by a Black American, but there was no mention of what she won the award for, she said. “I didn’t hear anything about her personal battle to continue her husband’s legacy. It was all very superficial.”

Storms said she was shocked.

“This man lost his life in service of something huge,” she said. “It’s a sacred site of someone in a family who gave literally all you can give for Black people and everybody because the gains through the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act benefitted everybody.”

She called this story “a huge piece of American history that shouldn’t be lost.”

She sighed. “I hope they will tell it again.”

Mississippi is poised to receive at least $528 million in direct funding under the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, according to figures released by U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker’s office after congressional passage of the bill.

The $528 million includes funding explicitly authorized for Mississippi military installations, universities, research and education programs across the state, said Wicker, the Republican from Mississippi who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“Congress’s annual defense bill is vast, authorizing programs for the Pentagon, as well as the State Department, the intelligence communities, the Coast Guard, and more,” Wicker said in a statement. “But amid those diverse provisions, one fact is clear: Mississippi is a vital link in the chain of American national defense.” 

That direct funding includes $53 million for five military construction projects, including upgrades at Columbus Air Force Base, Camp Shelby, Meridian’s Readiness Center and Key Field Air National Guard Base. 

The act also authorized additional money for cybersecurity and artificial intelligence research, autonomous vehicle testing, JROTC programs and advanced manufacturing programs tied to Mississippi universities and defense facilities.

Other provisions of the act involve Mississippi but do not include specific dollar amounts, such as language protecting services at Keesler Medical Center, authorizing a 3.8% military pay raise and establishing new programs for un-crewed maritime systems operating from Gulfport.

President Donald Trump earlier this month signed a broad spending bill, which includes an appropriation for the Department of Defense, into law. This appropriation solidifies the spending authority outlined in the NDAA. 

Jackson’s water and sewer systems would be under the control of an authority separate from the city government under a bill the state House passed Wednesday. The change would take place once U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate releases the city from its current receivership.

House Bill 1677 would create the “Metro Jackson Water Authority” that would be led by a nine-member board. Those members would be comprised of:

• The mayor of Jackson
• Two at-large appointees, who live or work in the service area, selected by Jackson’s mayor and subject to confirmation by the Jackson City Council.
• One recommended member each from the mayors of Ridgeland and Byram. Those two would need to be appointed by the mayor of Jackson and confirmed by the Jackson City Council.
• Two at-large appointees from the governor who live or work in the service area.
• One at-large appointee, who lives or works in the service area, from the lieutenant governor.
• The president, or a designee, of the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce.

While state lawmakers have introduced versions of a Jackson water authority bill in previous sessions, this is the first one with momentum to include city input on a majority of board members.

Rep. Shanda Yates, an independent from Jackson, authored the proposal, which now heads to the state Senate for review. Yates said she’d spent months working with the Jackson delegation and Mayor John Horhn to craft a bill local leaders could agree on. Horhn has endorsed the idea of a water authority since shortly after taking office.

Previous versions of the proposal, authored by former Olive Branch Sen. David Parker, passed the Senate in 2024 and 2023 before dying in the House. But those versions notably gave a majority of the board control to state officials, drawing protest from Jackson lawmakers. Parker also proposed authorizing the authority to buy Jackson’s water and sewer assets, whereas in Yates version the authority would just lease the property from the city.

Mississippi Today reached out to the city of Jackson for comment but has not gotten a response.

The Jackson City Council called a meeting Wednesday afternoon to discuss the bill, but after an hour-long executive session took no action. Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley said the city will have a town hall meeting Monday at 10 a.m. to hear from residents, and he expects the council to pass a resolution soon after.

In 2022, Judge Wingate appointed Ted Henifin as interim third-party manager of the city’s water system after it faced a near total collapse a few months prior. Henifin went on to form JXN Water to run operations and later took on the city’s sewer system as well per Wingate’s request.

Henifin has also endorsed the idea of a water authority taking control after he steps away, which he’s predicted will happen in 2027. Such governance would allow the system to borrow money again, which JXN Water can’t do in its current form, Henifin has said.

Under Yates’ proposal, the board would appoint a president to run water and sewer operations. To help in the transition, the bill stipulates that the president shall serve as a deputy to Henifin until the authority gains control.

“All of this will be done in concert with the federal court to make this transition as smooth as possible,” the lawmaker said on the House floor.

During discussion, Rep. Fabian Nelson, a Democrat from Byram, unsuccessfully asked for Ridgeland and Byram to be able to make direct appointments to the board rather than recommendations that would have to go through the Jackson mayor and City Council.

Nelson said Byram is trying to sever itself from Jackson’s water system but lacks the funds to do so.

“All I’m asking is that you give my constituents their voice,” he told fellow House members before the proposed amendment failed.

The House passed the bill 96 to 12.

A previous version of the bill had the board at 13 members, with only four positions receiving input from Jackson officials and one other appointee from the Hinds County Board of Supervisors. Sen. Walter Michel, a Republican from Ridgeland, offered a similar makeup in his bill, which initially passed out of committee before being recommitted and dying.

GREENVILLE — Two former law enforcement officers pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges tied to a federal crackdown on drug trafficking in the Mississippi Delta.

Former Humphreys County deputy Dequarian Smith, 29, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges for conspiring to protect a transport of illegal drugs through portions of the Mississippi Delta between August and September of 2022. At the time, Smith was also an officer with the Isola Police Department.

On Sept. 14, 2022, Smith accepted a $500 bribe from a regional drug dealer and FBI informant in Sunflower County in exchange for protection of an illegal transport of drugs.

Smith said he resigned from the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office and the Isola Police Department in January 2023.

Former Greenville police officer Martavis Moore, 32, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting as well as attempting to aid and abet a March 2023 transport of illegal drugs through Greenville. He accepted a $5,000 bribe from an FBI agent who posed as a member of a Mexican drug cartel to protect a transport of illegal drugs.

Under federal guidelines, Smith can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, and Moore could be sentenced to 10 years to life in prison. Smith also faces up to a $1 million fine, while Moore could be charged up to $10,000. 

On Oct. 30, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed six indictments, which ensnared more than 14 former and current Mississippi Delta law enforcement officers, including two sheriffs, on drug trafficking charges. At least eight Mississippi Delta law enforcement agencies had officers indicted.

As part of their plea agreements, Moore and Smith were charged with one count each. Moore was initially charged with one count of carrying or using a firearm during a trafficking crime. 

U.S. Chief Judge Debra M. Brown of the Northern District of Mississippi accepted both guilty pleas and scheduled sentencing for Moore on May 20 and Smith on May 27.

Judge Brown released Moore and Smith on the conditions of their $10,000 unsecured bonds after their Oct. 30 arrests.

Moore declined to comment. Smith could not immediately be reached for comment.

Citing fears of dark money and special interests usurping the state’s constitutional republic, the Senate on Wednesday tabled a bill aimed at restoring Mississippi voters’ right to put issues directly on a ballot and sidestep the Legislature.

The move, for the fifth year since the state Supreme Court invalidated the former process for ballot initiative in the state Constitution, effectively snuffed out this year’s push for reinstating the ballot initiative. The measure faces a Thursday night deadline for passage and is not likely to be brought back up after the Senate tabled it with a voice vote. The House does not have a similar ballot initiative measure pending.

Had the measure passed, voters would have had to ratify it to amend the state Constitution in a statewide election. As it was presented, the measure also contained a safety clause that would have required more debate and another vote before it could have passed the Legislature.

Sen. Joel Carter, a Republican from Gulfport, made the motion to table the measure.

“You’ve got these big groups that have got the ability to raise a bunch of money and put things on the ballot,” Carter said. “… It’s not really about an initiative amongst the people … There’s big money behind ballot initiative, and that’s what we got elected for, to make tough decisions and make hard votes …

“This is not a good bill,” Carter said. “It’s a terrible bill.”

Other lawmakers, mostly Republicans, argued against the measure Wednesday before it was tabled.

Some warned that it could allow voters — with the help of special interest money — to reinstate abortion rights in Mississippi, despite the resolution containing a clause prohibiting abortion ballot initiatives.

Sen. Angela Burks Hill, a Republican from Picayune, said other states are looking to roll back ballot initiative rights and warned “leftist billionaires” could use it to restore abortion rights and overturn other conservative policy in Mississippi.

“The dark money coming in is pushed by the most leftist billionaires abroad and in the United States,” Hill said. “George Soros is one of the largest funders of ballot initiatives across the country.”

Some Democratic lawmakers, although supportive of ballot initiative generally, had issues with particulars of the proposal, and were planning to offer amendments before it was tabled.

Mississippi voters’ right to ballot initiative has been in the state Constitution since 1914, but the state Supreme Court threw it out in 1922. The initiative went dormant until the Legislature and voters restored the right by passing a measure in 1992, allowing voters to amend the state constitution. But the Supreme Court again nullified it on technical grounds in 2021 in a ruling on a lawsuit over voters passing a medical marijuana initiative.

During the 30 years that the state had an initiative, only seven proposals made it to a statewide ballot: two initiatives for term limits, eminent domain reform, voter ID, a personhood amendment, medical marijuana, and a measure requiring lawmakers to fully fund public education.

Of those seven, voters only approved eminent domain, voter ID and medical marijuana. The rest were rejected.

The Mississippi House passed a bill Wednesday that would allow prayer during school, adding Mississippi to a list of states challenging the Supreme Court edict that church and state remain separate. 

House Bill 1310 would mandate in state law that public schools provide students and employees with time to pray or read religious text during the school day. 

State law already says that students “may” pray at any time, but the activity isn’t explicitly protected. Rep. Jansen Owen, a Republican from Poplarville, said the House bill is intended to provide an organized structure for accommodation, which is not currently in place, and stressed that prayer would not replace any learning time. 

While public schools have been prohibited from sponsoring prayer since a 1962 Supreme Court ruling, lawmakers in a handful of states, including Tennessee and Texas, have passed or are considering legislation similar to House Bill 1310. It aims to return prayer to schools — with apparent support from the Trump administration. Recent guidance from the U.S. Department of Education allows teachers to pray with students. 

The bill garnered 45 minutes of debate on Wednesday from House Democrats, who said that people in public schools have the right to freedom from prayer.

“If my child wants to sit at her desk and say a silent prayer, who is prohibiting that?” asked Rep. Daryl Porter, a Democrat from Summit. 

“They may not want to say a silent prayer,” Owen replied “They may want to get together with their fellow believers in Christ and pray together.”

The bill would also provide an “opt-in” mechanism. For students to be able to participate in prayer, parents must request it. And participating students would do so separate from non-participating students. 

Rep. Robert Johnson III, the Natchez-based leader of the House Democratic Caucus, said he was concerned about lawsuits over the bill. 

“All of the people who have asked questions about this bill …  just like me, we all love the Lord,” he said. “We believe in prayer, we believe in working together, we believe in respecting everybody’s right to prayer and everybody’s right to fellowship and congregate. But what we are very cognizant of is that we live in a state that our resources are very limited. 

“If we constantly find ways to violate the Constitution and invite litigation, we’re gonna be spending more money on lawyers than we spend on anybody else.”

The bill passed the House 80-35 and now heads to the Senate.