OurTupelo

TUPELO — Former President Bill Clinton campaigned for Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom on Friday, casting Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith as out of touch with Mississippians struggling with surging consumer prices and lack of healthcare.

Clinton, joined by longtime adviser James Carville, argued that Colom, a district attorney in northern Mississippi, would work across party lines and put “Mississippi first,” while accusing Hyde-Smith of putting President Donald Trump first and rubber-stamping his agenda.

“I’m supporting Scott because he will honestly give you his opinion, and if you disagree, he’ll have a conversation with you. And if you can change his mind, he’ll change his mind,” Clinton said. “You can’t put MAGA first. You have to put Mississippi first.”

The crowd of roughly 400 people broke out with chants of “We want Scott” and “If we vote, we win,” mirroring other Colom rallies in Columbus and Biloxi. 

Colom’s campaign has drawn national attention to Mississippi, prompting pundits to ask whether a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982 could flip to blue. 

If elected, Colom would be the first Black senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction and the first elected by popular vote, in a state with a history of some of the nation’s most brutal racial violence.

The former president panned a Hyde-Smith interview on WLOX, where she said “you know, you have so many proteins to choose from” when asked about high beef prices. 

Clinton said that was “a shopping tip, not a policy.” 

“I don’t believe we need a senator to explain the existence of chicken,” Clinton said. 

Colom has repeatedly hammered Hyde-Smith for supporting Trump’s tariffs because he believes they’ve hurt farmers in Mississippi, a state where agriculture is the top industry. Clinton also criticized tariffs and gave a nod to how much they’ve impacted the furniture manufacturing industry in Tupelo. 

“Because you make so much furniture, you not only pay more for the food, you pay more to sit down at the table and eat it,” Clinton said. 

Clinton said Mississippians are smart enough to decide what the government should spend money on, contrasting affordable health care with Trump’s Rose Garden renovation at the White House, which he said looks like ‘the entrance to Liberace’s bedroom.” 

Hyde-Smith’s campaign has tried to use the steady string of national politicians such as Clinton, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stumping for Colom as a liability, and label him as part of the far-left faction of the Democratic Party. 

If Colom were to pull off an upset in ruby-red Mississippi, it would be a stunning defeat for President Donald Trump in the Deep South and make the incumbent Republican a casualty of the president’s sinking popularity. 

Colom’s campaign has homed in on issues of affordability, access to health care and a rejection of Trump’s tariffs in the home stretch of his campaign. He has pledged to tackle the cuts to Medicaid that the Republican-majority Congress passed as part of the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. 

At a Thursday night Jackson rally alongside U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, Colom said his pitch to Republicans who may be on the fence about his campaign is to deliver what Trump originally promised to deliver for them in 2024. 

“They were promised lower grocery prices. That’s what I’m going to fight for,” Colom said. “That’s my message to them. I’m going to give you what you were promised in 2024. You were promised no more endless wars. I’m going to give you no more endless wars.”

Colom told reporters he wants to end partisan gerrymandering by largely taking redistricting out of state lawmakers’ hands. He also said he would advocate for the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore federal oversight of voting changes in states with a history of discrimination.

“We cannot allow people like Gov. Reeves to draw lines in ways where they get to pick the voters that matter. We have to make sure that independent commissions draw lines that empower the voters to pick the leaders.” 

Clyburn told a crowd of roughly 100 people they should elect Colom because he is interested in being a public servant and “not interested in being a partisan.”

Clyburn said he has encountered people who have grown dissatisfied with politics and don’t plan to vote because they believe one vote won’t make enough of a difference. He pushed back on that idea.

“The most critical things that happened to fairness in this country were each decided by one vote,” Clyburn said.

He pointed to the 1876 presidential election, when no candidate won a majority of Electoral College votes amid disputed results in several states. Congress formed a 15-member commission to settle it, and the commission voted 8-7 to award the presidency to Rutherford B. Hayes. Hayes later withdrew federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction. 

Like Clyburn, Colom has urged the crowd to “write a new chapter” in Mississippi’s history that lifts the state as a whole and depart from the chapters stained with divisive history. 

“There is nothing wrong with Mississippi that can’t be fixed with what’s right about Mississippi,” Colom said.  

Eight Jackson State University positions are being eliminated at the end of the year as federal funding for the roles dry up, possibly affecting the institution’s ability to secure donations and other private financial support. 

The news, confirmed in a letter obtained Friday by Mississippi Today, comes as the university confronts limitations on millions of dollars from the U.S. Department of Education.

In 2022, JSU received $8.2 million in Title III funds, according to the federal agency’s website.

Kelli Sharpe, a spokesperson for JSU, said Jackson State would not lose Title III grant funding.

“The personnel actions announced by the university are the result of a compliance-driven reallocation of funds, not a reduction or cancellation of federal support,” she said in an email.

She confirmed that eight positions would be affected by the layoffs.

At least a handful of staff members in the university’s Division of Institutional Advancement, whose positions were funded by Title III money, were notified this week that their roles would be eliminated Dec. 31. 

The letter specifically mentioned funding for “JSU’s Activity Six, Title III, Part B. Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program,” which the university’s website describes as “elevating contributions from alumni and private donors.” This is one of 21 projects under the university’s HBCU Title III grant which the federal government awarded for the 2022-27 cycle. 

Employees affected by the layoff were encouraged to apply for vacancies, officials said. 

In a statement from another university spokesperson, the university said it would reallocate the funds to other Title III activities. The university did not disclose how much money nor where it would go.

Sharpe declined to explain what Title III changes triggered the job cuts.

Title III was created in 1965 under the Higher Education Act, and it was established to help historically Black colleges and universities overcome past underfunding and provide students with equal opportunity to a quality education, according to the federal education department’s website. 

The aid can help eligible institutions build infrastructure, develop academic programs and training, and raise endowments. 

It remains unclear whether JSU or Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, the state’s college board, will seek alternative funding to retain these positions. 

IHL declined to comment to Mississippi Today. 

JSU’s Division of Institutional Advancement oversees fundraising efforts, including securing major gifts, maintaining relationships with alumni and private donors, fundraising campaigns and growing the university’s endowment. The office also works with the JSU’s Development Foundation to secure financial support for scholarships, academic programs and other institutional needs. 

Clarification, Oct. 30, 2026: This story has been updated to include additional information from Jackson State University saying that the funds for eight eliminated roles will be reallocated.

Jackson is one of four cities that could get tens of millions of dollars under a new U.S. Department of Justice grant. 

City officials have said the federal money would be used to rebuild the city’s forensic laboratory, hire more officers and expand surveillance of violent crime, including using artificial intelligence to track potential criminals.

The Trump administration announced Friday that it has awarded its new Model Cities Initiative grant to Mississippi’s capital city and three others. The Jackson Police Department had applied for an award of up to $125 million over three years.

Next, the Jackson City Council will have to vote whether to accept the money. The new initiative has proved controversial in other Democratic-led cities, including Charlotte and New Orleans, as the grant requires municipalities to cooperate with certain Trump administration priorities, including immigration enforcement and a ban on people sleeping in public.

But in Jackson, which has some of the highest homicide rates in the nation and recently dealt with budget cuts, at least one council member said that JPD needs the money too much to turn the grant down. 

“I hope they get it because we’re going to reduce their budget,” Ward 2 Council Member Tina Clay told Mississippi Today before the grant was awarded.  

“I’m not concerned about anything other than them (JPD) solving crimes and reducing the crime rate,” she added. “I don’t care what style they use as long as it’s legal and ethical, and they get the results we need.” 

The budget issue is one reason Jackson’s new police chief, RaShall Brackney, has prioritized pursuing federal funding.

Unlike other federal law enforcement grants, the Model Cities Initiative will be administered through a “cooperative agreement,” giving the DOJ a more active role in implementation.

The city’s grant application was supported by letters from state and local law enforcement officials, including Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones, then-Capitol Police Chief Bo Luckey, Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell and Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch. 

Mayor John Horhn also wrote a letter of support in which he mischaracterized the city’s progress in reducing homicides.

“Under the leadership of Chief Brackney and the dedicated men and women of the Jackson Police Department, we have seen meaningful reductions in homicides and violent crimes,” Horhn wrote.

The letter presented to the City Council was dated June 10. On that day, WLBT’s Homicide Tracker showed that Jackson had seen 32 homicides, equal to the number it had seen by that date last year. 

By Aug. 3, the date on the letter that Horhn submitted to the federal government, Jackson’s homicides had outpaced last year. 

In an interview earlier this week, Horhn said he was not aware of the inaccuracy until a reporter brought it to his attention.  

Jackson is poised to receive the grant alongside Baton Rouge, St. Louis and Jacksonville, Florida. 

JPD proposed to use most of the $125 million to create a specialized gun-crimes unit focused on “repeat shooters,” expanding its network of cameras housed at the Real Time Command Center, and creating a database that would link 911 calls to the addresses of burned-out homes, illegal dumping sites and other code enforcement complaints.

High school senior and Clinton resident Jeremy Burwell is on track to go from being a fan of comics to starring in his own.

He is one of 840 quarterfinalists in Stan Lee’s Super Kid contest. If he wins the national contest, he’ll get a $25,000 honorarium, four VIP passes to Los Angeles Comic Con 2027 and a comic book character based on himself.

Parents must submit an entry form on their child’s behalf. LaToya Clarke-Horne, Burwell’s mother, nominated him to the competition. However, knowing her son can be pessimistic, she waited until he garnered positive results to tell him about the contest. 

“I’m not really sure how to feel. … Surprised, definitely,” Burwell said when asked about the support he’s received.

Clark-Horne describes her son as kind and intelligent. 

“His heart is unmatched,” she said.

“He loves the Lord, he loves people, he loves his family, he loves annoying his sister.”

The contest was in the quarterfinals Friday. Contestants, who must be between the ages of 5 and 17, are divided into groups. To advance in the competition, a contestant must get the most votes out of his or her group. Supporters can cast one vote per day, or donate to the Stan Lee Foundation to cast multiple votes at once.

During the final round, the votes will be reset, and a single winner will be chosen. One quarterfinalist will be the “Critic’s Pick” winner and appear in the comic book along with the Grand Prize winner.

According to Burwell’s profile, he got into comics when his mother was a high school librarian.

His mother said on the profile page, “He would read everything he could get his hands on, and he gravitated to superheroes because of the core values they taught. He often talked about fighting for those who couldn’t help themselves, and I think it just took root. That’s part of the reason why he does his best to help others.”

His favorite heroes are Iron Man and Black Panther, and his preferred super power is healing. Reading is one of his favorite hobbies, along with video games, napping and more.

If he wins, Burwell wants to donate the prize money to local charities and his high school, the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science in Columbus.

At school, he’s in the Model Security Council, Tales from the Crypt, is an English peer tutor, a senator in Student Government Association and more. He also does tutoring and manages the livestream at his church, Faith Christian Center Ministries in Utica.

Outside of school, he’s part of the Mississippi Department of Education’s State Superintendent Student Advisory Council.

Voting ends on Nov. 19, and the grand prize winner will be announced on Dec. 17. 

A judge has ordered the owner of Jackson’s troubled Grand Chateau apartments be extradited and jailed after failing to comply with previous rulings to demolish the blighted property.

In an order released Thursday, Jackson Environmental Court Judge Jeffery Reynolds issued a “nonappealable judgment of conviction” against Ramesh Ramchandran, which requires the property owner to serve nearly two years in the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond. 

The order comes after Ramchandran failed to comply with a previous order issued last month that required him to begin demolition or restoration of the property after incurring several building code violations. 

The previous order granted Ramchandran a 30-day suspension on the sentence contingent on progress made towards demolition or restoration. 

In his order, the judge called the property “a dangerous menace to the residents of the City of Jackson,” adding that Ramchandran showed “criminal neglect.”

Ramchandran did not respond to numerous requests for comment.

The Grand Chateau is one of several complexes in legal limbo as the city pushes more aggressive efforts to fight against blighted properties plaguing the city. 

While the order sentenced Ramchandran to 630 days in jail, it remains to be seen how much time he will actually serve. As part of his ruling, Reynolds said early release would require his written authorization.

Ramchandran lives in Georgia, and is believed to have returned to his Alpharetta home after his initial sentencing in September. Due to this, a warrant for Ramchandran’s arrest would be required for Jackson Police officers to collect Ramchandran from his residence. 

Reynolds requested that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp issue a warrant for Ramchandran’s arrest. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Department told Mississippi Today it cannot provide information regarding warrants. 

Ramchandran has owned the West Capitol Street property since 2021. It’s most notably known for a recent controversy, in which Entergy cut power to the complex in July over alleged signs of meter tampering. 

The complex was supposed to be abandoned at the time of the power shutoff. However, over a dozen squatters were found still living on the premises.

Mississippi Today Ideas is a platform for thoughtful ideas to be shared about our state’s past, present and future. Opinions expressed in guest essays are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of Mississippi Today. You can read more about the section here.

During the presidential election of 1863, at the height of the Civil War, federal troops reportedly descended on polling places in Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri and prevented people they deemed disloyal from voting. This prompted a fierce national debate that culminated in Congress passing an 1865 law barring federal “troops or armed men” from “any place” where an election is being held.

The central goal of this law, according to its proponents, was “to prevent the president and his officers from interfering in elections,” which are run by the states. Keeping armed federal officers away from the polls, they argued, was necessary to preserve democracy, even in the midst of civil war.

This has been the clear law, and the respected policy of every presidential administration, for over a century.

Until now.

Ahead of Tuesday’s midterm election, top Trump Administration officials have publicly refused to rule out the possibility of sending federal agents to the polls. In September, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin claimed that immigration officers could be sent to polling places to “serve a warrant” as part of immigration enforcement operations or if “there is a threat” to those polling places, adding “we’ll be where we need to be.”

“ICE isn’t there to patrol the polling places,” hedged Mullin. “We’re there to enforce specific threats.”

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel similarly said, “If there’s a reason to go there because there’s been a violation, we will, otherwise we won’t.”

It is clear to us, and to legal experts, that barring extreme circumstances, sending ICE or FBI agents to the polls for Tueaday’s midterm election would be flatly illegal under the 1865 law, and several others. As Daniel Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pointedly said this August, any request to send military troops to election sites would be an “unlawful order.” The same holds true for any other armed federal agents.

The only exception to the prohibition is to “repel armed enemies of the United States.” The Congress of 1865 originally included a second exception, allowing armed federal agents to “keep the peace at the polls.” But Congress repealed that exception in 1909 because lawmakers feared that federal authorities could point to any kind of disturbance as a pretext to deploy federal forces.

In other words, unless a hostile foreign power attacks voting sites using weapons, it is a crime for any armed federal agents to go to those sites, even to quell a disruption. And they are certainly not allowed to show up for routine policing or immigration actions.

If sending ICE to the polls is so plainly illegal, then why do top administration officials keep refusing to rule it out?

Context is important. The federal government has been conducting indiscriminate and often violent immigration enforcement actions in communities across the country. At the same time, the administration has been peddling conspiracy theories about widespread illegal voting, often targeting communities of color. The administration has redirected thousands of homeland security agents away from critical transnational security threats to hunt for elusive noncitizen voters.

These efforts are not uncovering any significant problems. Federal and state laws already bar noncitizens from voting in federal and state elections, and our election system does a terrific job of ensuring that only eligible citizens vote, with vanishingly rare exception as dozens of studies, election reviews and painstaking investigations have already confirmed.

This intimidation campaign is taking a toll. According to a University of California, San Diego poll conducted last month, a staggering 40% of voting-age American citizens expect ICE agents to be at the polls this November. Black, Hispanic and Asian American voters are three to four times more likely than white voters to worry that they will be questioned by ICE at polls or that members of their racial or ethnic groups will face intimidation at the polls. This fear is real.

But despite all the administration’s threats, voters should not be intimidated. The law protecting election sites from federal forces is ironclad. Anyone who violates that would be committing a federal crime. Federal and state laws also prohibit any effort to intimidate voters, wherever it occurs.

A broad array of civil rights groups and labor unions have already filed lawsuits to hold the federal government accountable for its intimidation effort – including The Brennan Center, where we work. Other lawyers across the country are poised to run to court to protect elections if federal agents do unlawfully show up to polls.

Outside court, election officials, state government officials, law enforcement and voter protection organizations are prepared to respond to any instance of voter intimidation. That includes de-escalation and backup plans, including changing voting sites if needed, to ensure that all Americans can continue to vote safely. Voters are determined and undeterred, as millions so far have already cast their ballot voting early and by mail.

Our advice to concerned voters: make a plan to vote as early as you can. Voters have multiple options to vote with confidence. In addition to voting at the polls on election day, they can vote early in person or vote by mail ballot, dropping it off in secure ballot drop boxes, at an election office or by mail. In Mississippi, people 65 and over, the disabled and those who will be away from home on election day, can vote until noon Saturday at the circuit clerk’s office or by mail, but the ballot must be postmarked by election day on Tuesday.

You can also go vote with a trusted group of loved ones or neighbors.

It is an outrage that the federal government has refused to rule out the idea of federal agents at the polls. In our view, it is part of a campaign to intimidate voters and undermine our elections.

The only way it will succeed is if voters don’t show up.

Wendy Weiser is vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School, a nonpartisan think tank and public interest law center that works to revitalize, reform and defend our systems of democracy and justice. She oversees the center’s work on voting rights and elections, redistricting and representation, federal reform, abuse of power and the courts.

Jasleen Singh is a senior counsel and manager in the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, where she focuses on voting rights and elections. She previously served as deputy attorney general in the Civil Rights Enforcement Section of the California Attorney General’s Office. Her work has been cited in outlets including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and CNN.

When Rep. Trey Lamar, a Republican from Senatobia, introduced House Bill 1284 in January to merge six community college districts, college leaders and students quickly launched a petition to shut it down. 

The bill died in committee, but the question behind it did not: Does Mississippi still need 23 public colleges and universities? 

“I wanted to start a conversation,” said Lamar, who is also a member of the House Select Committee on Consolidation. “What worked for our colleges decades ago doesn’t always work today.” 

House Bill 1284 would have merged Coahoma Community College with Mississippi Delta Community College; Meridian with East Mississippi; and Southwest Mississippi with Copiah-Lincoln. The mergers would not have closed any campuses but were meant to reduce administrative costs by consolidating college districts from 15 to 12. Any money saved from merging would have been put back into the community college system, Lamar said. 

Lamar’s bill intensified discussions about college mergers, said Rep. Donnie Scoggin, a Republican from Ellisville who co-chairs the House consolidation committee. Scoggin also chairs the House Colleges and Universities Committee, which he said allowed the bill to die because there wasn’t enough time to study the issue. 

“We didn’t want to do anything that was rushed and just start closing colleges,” Scoggin said. “But now we’re taking time to examine all factors to make informed and better decisions.” 

Mississippi’s public universities are funded through state and federal money and student tuition, while community colleges are funded through state and federal money, student tuition and local tax revenue. Overlapping districts can leave some property owners paying more in taxes to support multiple community colleges — a situation Lamar said is unfair. 

Meridian Community College serves Lauderdale County, which is also part of East Mississippi Community College’s six-county district. Merging the two districts could reduce duplicative administrative costs, he said. 

Dips in population across the districts are also driving the move to consolidate. Over the past decade, thousands fewer residents have lived within the Coahoma and Mississippi Delta community college districts. In 2010, there were 26,000 residents in Coahoma County; a decade later, there were 21,000 residents, according to Census data. In Sunflower County, home to Mississippi Delta Community College, the population dropped by 4,000 people over the same period. 

For Cole Cooksey, a sophomore studying pre-political science at Southwest Community College, attending the school was the next logical step after high school graduation. He received scholarships that covered his first year of tuition, and the campus’ proximity to his parents’ home in McComb made college more affordable and accessible, he said. 

When Lamar’s bill threatened to merge Southwest with Copiah-Lincoln Community College, rumors of closure began circulating online. Cooksey said he wanted to raise awareness about the importance of the state’s oldest public college system and its benefits to students in rural and underserved communities. 

So, Cooksey launched an online petition to “Stop The Progression of House Bill 1284,” on Jan. 23 which received more than 330 supporters in its first day. When the bill died in the House committee, the petition had attracted the support of 750 people.  

“Community colleges help fill in the gaps of support and education that high schools are not able to do and they fill in the gaps that universities refuse to,” Cooksey said. “The more conversations we have about their benefits and services, the more we are able to open other people’s eyes to the good community colleges do within our state.” 

The state should not have to maintain separate community college boards in areas serving fewer people, Lamar said. 

The Mississippi Community College Board operates as the statewide coordinating board for each of the 15 colleges. Each college also maintains its own local board of trustees, which works with the college board. The local boards are responsible for the day-to-day operations, local administration, facilities, personnel decisions and local tax support for their respective campuses, according to state law. 

Legislators’ consolidation discussions have also questioned if colleges in overlapping communities have duplicate academic programs or services and whether students are earning college credentials that lead to jobs, he said. 

Legislators are asking similar questions about the state’s eight public universities.

Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford, is pushing trustees overseeing the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning to tie state funding to graduation rates, job placement and earnings.

The state college board’s new performance-based funding formula would aim for universities to meet the state’s workforce and education attainment priorities. 

In June, IHL trustees took a step toward adopting a proposed public university funding formula that would tie a portion of state money to graduation rates, student retention and workforce outcomes. As of October, the college board is still working to define specific metrics and goals for the universities. It is also unclear when it will be fully implemented. 

In 2024, Boyd introduced Senate Bill 2725, which would have created a 10-member task force to examine funding formulas as Mississippi approached a looming enrollment cliff because of a predicted sharp decline in high school graduates. That same year, former Sen. John Polk, a Republican from Hattiesburg, also authored Senate Bill 2726, which would have required college board trustees to close three universities based on similar factors such as graduation rates, enrollment and student retention outcomes.  

An enrollment dropoff could put pressure on the state’s regional universities, particularly Mississippi University for Women, Delta State, Alcorn and Mississippi Valley State by forcing them to compete with the state’s flagship universities, University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University, for a shrinking pool of students.  

The conversations around university funding are about more than finances, Boyd said. It’s about centering students. 

“These conversations are a cultural shift for Mississippi,” Boyd said. “We just want to make sure students aren’t leaving school saddled with debt and now worse off because of it.” 

Consolidating the state’s smaller colleges and universities could hurt rural students’ access to higher education, said Pernell Goodwin, vice president of Copiah-Lincoln Community College’s Natchez campus. Having to travel further for college would make it more difficult for students to visit campuses and increase their overall college costs, he said.

Accessibility was the goal behind the creation of Mississippi’s community college system, Goodwin said.

“It was to ensure that no matter where a student attends college, he is at least within a certain distance from his home to get to campus and access education.” 

Bruce Hanson, who was a state representative in the 1980s, has pushed back against closing or consolidating universities. 

As chair of the Citizens Coalition for MUW and Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, Hanson has sought to protect the two campuses from consolidation proposals seeking to close schools that enroll fewer students. He said smaller public universities play a crucial role in providing affordable tuition and easy access to higher education for Mississippi students.

They nevertheless generate millions of dollars and produce graduates who are essential to the state’s economy and workforce, Hanson said.

“If these institutions disappear, where will the children in our community go?”

GREENVILLE — Disheanna Brown is apartment hunting down the road from her home. The four-minute drive is the difference between two school districts, and from Brown’s perspective, whether her child has a positive academic experience.

She sees Greenville Public schools, her son’s current district, as holding him back. The nearby Western Line district provides the services and resources he would need for success, such as an updated learning plan and a full-time special education teacher.

Brown’s story isn’t unique. Mississippi Today spoke to two dozen real estate agents, parents, recent high school graduates from Western Line and Greenville, and Washington County community members who shared a similar sentiment: Parents want their families in the Western Line zone. School data makes it clear why.

Western Line has achieved a rare feat in the Mississippi Delta: stable leadership, decent to good scores on the state accountability scale and a clean record with the state Department of Education as it relates to accreditation violations and investigations of wrongdoing.

Closer to the heart of the city, worse outcomes for students abound in the Greenville Public School District. The Greenville district gets more money than Western Line because it enrolls more students, but it struggled to balance its budget last year and posted some of the lowest test scores in the state the past decade. Administrative turnover is frequent, and the state Education Department has downgraded its accreditation to probation for the last three years.

The district did gain an additional 25 points on the state accountability scale for the past school year. The largest growth was at Coleman Middle School, which saw an 101 point increase, lifting the school from an F rating to a D rating.

The sheer number of school districts in Washington County has made the area a focus for consolidation. The county has four school districts, more than anywhere else in the state. 

But its county seat, Greenville, is the second-fastest shrinking city in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Whether combining the city school districts would expand opportunity for Greenville students or disrupt success in Western Line depends on whom you ask.

“I am scared. We need to be proactive instead of letting things happen to us,” Rep. John Hines, a Democrat from Greenville, said about the city’s waning population and other leadership problems. “We need a plan.”

Dysfunction in Greenville schools

Hines remembers when Greenville Public Schools was the highest-performing district in the Delta. A graduate himself, he sent all of his children to district schools. 

Lately, the district has been plagued with financial issues, high administrative turnover and underperforming schools. 

Brown, too, is a product of Greenville schools. She wanted her children to have the same experience: safe schools, engaging educators and activities available to students of all abilities. But it became clear in the past few years, the district had changed. 

Last year, a school employee informed her that her son ingested bleach. She said she had to rush him to the hospital in her car. Later, she said, district officials told her they fired the special education teacher assigned to her son’s classroom.

She learned last month that the teacher wasn’t replaced. That means her son has been without a certified teacher since spring 2025, which is illegal under federal law. 

Jerron Parker said he waited nearly two years for Greenville school officials to test his daughter, who attends Stern Elementary, for special education services. He suspects that happened because of administrative turnover at the school. 

He worries his daughter will continue to fall behind.

“Because of where we stay, my kids don’t have another choice of going to another school in the district that I feel like will probably help with the issue that I have,” Parker said. 

Mississippi Today spoke to three other parents who faced the same obstacles in getting a quality education for their disabled children in Greenville. The state education department found the district was out of compliance with more than a third of special education standards. 

The agency has also downgraded the district’s accreditation status in March over financial issues. That same month, the district was operating $1.5 million over budget. 

Some trace district dysfunction and poor oversight of Greenville schools to school board members and City Hall’s role in their appointment. School board members become too enmeshed in the politics of City Hall, some parents told Mississippi Today.

It wasn’t lost on lawmakers, either. While a 2025 bill to consolidate districts in Washington County did not include Greenville schools, it called for dissolving the Greenville school board and holding new elections for the positions.

“Part of the struggle of Greenville is appointed school board members over elected,” Hines said. “I’ve long wanted elected board members.”

Antoinette Williams, Greenville’s school board president, believes many of the challenges making headlines this year were the result of decisions made by inexperienced superintendents. She said Superintendent Ilean Richards, who was a state conservator in Leflore County School District from January 2016 to November 2017, will improve academic performance and clear remaining accreditation problems in her second full year on the job.

“There is going to be a lot of progress, but it’s a good portion that had to be cleaned up first,” Williams said. “We’re seeing a lot of light at the end of the tunnel.”

‘It starts at home’

But not all of the blame falls on Greenville school leadership, parents and alumni say. The roots of the district’s dysfunction run all the way down the very lines of the city. 

Some of the city’s highest poverty neighborhoods are in Greenville public schools zones. Some of the wealthiest areas are within the Western Line district.

Over half of students live below the poverty line in Greenville’s district. About 31% of students live below the poverty line in Western Line’s district.

Students from low-income families tend to have more responsibilities at home that they prioritize over school, Williams said. Sometimes school staff also have to ensure students have clean clothes and other necessities.

“If my child is hungry, they can’t learn. They focus on being hungry more than they focus on whatever the teacher is trying to say,” she said.

“It starts at home,” said Chris Williams, a parent teacher association member at T.L. Weston Middle School. Other parents and community members expressed similar feelings and said students’ poor outcomes aren’t the school district’s fault alone.

Bianca Miller, an alum and community member, said she doesn’t go to school events for fear of violence. 

Greenville schools reported more incidents of violence than any other district in the state when adjusted for population. Antoinette Williams said the data reflects thorough reporting. She said Richards is addressing the problem by hiring more school resource officers and rotating administrators through different school buildings throughout the day. Another plan that was put into place is to have students transition between classes at different times to curb opportunities for fights, she said.

For Western Line parents, the district offers a quieter, more focused learning environment. Parents say they feel like partners in their students’ education.

The communities served are small, and so are the student populations. Western Line schools served 1,658 students in 2025-26, roughly half the Greenville schools enrollment. Parents describe it as a “family.”

Western Line Superintendent Lawrence Hudson said the district has found success through strong partnerships with community stakeholders and parents, preparing children for achievements after school and focusing on financial health by aggressively applying for grants. 

“Things like that set us apart,” he said. “A lot of people believe in us.” 

Special education is another area where Western Line shines, as Greenville flounders. Students with disabilities are identified early in the district and given the best teachers. The success of their program leads to regular calls from parents, Hudson said, who want their child in his schools. 

‘Afraid of change’

State lawmakers have said it makes little financial sense for Washington County to have so many school districts. For parents like Deondria Watson, the setup can lead to better outcomes for all students, including those students who live deeper in Greenville.

“I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” Watson, a Western Line parent, said of consolidation in Washington County. “I think that if they all combine, whichever school is lacking, I think the ones that’s performing above standard, can get help to bring the others up.”

“I think people are afraid of change.”

But leaders in Hollandale, Leland and Western Line said they’re concerned a consolidation threatens their success. 

Lawmakers have only said that they’re interested in legislating a school district consolidation in Washington County. The plan they proposed in 2025 could hint at their plans. 

Last year, state leaders were considering legislating a consolidation for the Western Line, Leland and Hollandale school districts. Superintendents of those districts met with state leaders, including House Education Chairman Rob Roberson, a Republican from Starkville, and convinced him that a consolidation would only hurt their schools. The bill died in committee.

Hudson, the Western Line superintendent, said it wouldn’t make sense to merge the three small districts, all of which are C-rated or higher. He and the Rev. Jesse King, superintendent of Leland schools, pointed to Greenville’s struggles instead. 

“If Greenville is the trigger for this consolidation conversation, it does not make sense to us that they stay out of the conversation,” King said. 

But none of the three districts are volunteering to merge with Greenville and absorb its dysfunction and thousands of students, either.

“I’m just kind of confused,” Hudson said. “I have 1,700 students who look forward to school in their district. These students matter just as much as students in Greenville, Leland and Hollandale.”

Education researcher Marguerite Roza said consolidations can improve schools if they’re combined with a district that’s well run. 

“However, merging two underperforming districts isn’t going to get that done,” said Roza, a research professor at Georgetown University. 

Hudson was surprised that lawmakers are once again looking to merge districts in Washington County. 

“Nothing came up in the 2026 session, so we were under the impression that we may be off the table at least for a while,” he said. “We’ve never heard any mentions of any of the county schools being consolidated with Greenville city schools.” 

“That’s a whole different ball game.”

Delta towns fight to survive

Democrats who represent the area, such as Hines, Sen. Derrick Simmons and Rep. Willie Bailey, generally oppose consolidation in their county, citing equity concerns

They want their school districts to improve, but they said they worry about the impact on their small, struggling communities. 

“Everybody likes to pick on the Delta,” Hines said. “If it’s not poverty, it’s race. We’re always fighting for survival on every front.”

State lawmakers say they’re not focusing on a particular region, that they’re trying to curb administrative spending and improve student performance through consolidations. However, Washington County districts that serve majority-Black populations are often struggling because they have been historically under-resourced, said Carrie Hahnel of Bellwether, a nonprofit education organization that works to improve student outcomes.

Additionally, in rural communities, school districts can serve as economic engines and community hubs. Hines said he doesn’t want mergers to jeopardize the viability of Delta towns.

“Hollandale’s district is the largest employer there,” he said. “Leland is the same. We have to be mindful. These situations are not cookie cutter.”

Still, Roza said the facts don’t line up. Many small, underperforming districts in the state also spend the most money on students. 

“When you put those two pieces of information together, you can see why state leaders are thinking, ‘Why should we be subsidizing smallness?’” she said. “At what point do you keep putting state funds into the school district?”

Parker, a Greenville father, is skeptical about the benefits of consolidation. He said Greenville schools can only improve if more parents get involved, and take an active role in their children’s education. A consolidation, he said, could lead to worse outcomes for students.

“So you’re going to cut administrators, and overwork the ones that are there, and you’re expecting it to get better,” Parker said of lawmakers’ plans. “Everyone’s kids are walking past ours.”

Jackson lawyers are split on who should be the next Hinds County district attorney, according to an analysis of campaign finance reports from four of the five candidates in next Tuesday’s special election.

Gwen Agho, Greta Mack Harris, Marvin Sanders and Wendy Wilson White filed their reports by this week’s Tuesday deadline. A fifth candidate, Darla Palmer, had not submitted her campaign finance report by close of business Thursday.

State law requires candidates file pre-election campaign finance reports, even if they did not receive or spend any money. Palmer did not respond to calls and texts from Mississippi Today asking why she has yet to file a report.

In past years, criminal defense attorneys in Jackson – the main special interest in the Hinds DA election – have picked a clear favorite. In 2019, that was Jody Owens, who is from a prominent family in southern Hinds County and avoided a runoff by nabbing 52% of the vote against two rivals in the Democratic primary. 

Owens’ resignation this summer, after pleading guilty to a federal corruption charge, triggered a quick-turn special election that has left little time for the capital city’s legal community to vet those vying to replace him.

Marvin Sanders, who formerly worked in the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office and once prosecuted Owens’ predecessor, Robert Shuler Smith, reported the largest fundraising haul of $31,678. Of that, Sanders loaned himself $19,412. 

The next Hinds DA will play a role in determining how many people are held at any given time in the troubled Hinds County Detention Center — a factor in the long-running federal consent decree over the facility. 

Notably, Sanders received donations from attorneys who are fighting the consent decree: $250 from Tony Gaylor, the Hinds County board attorney, and $350 from John Hall, a private attorney representing the Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones. 

Sanders also reported the largest amount of in-kind donations at $25,350, mostly for videography services. He received a $500 in-kind donation from Terris Harris, an attorney who owns the Continental Cigar Club, where Sanders held a fundraiser. 

Gwen Agho, the Hinds DA deputy chief who is running for office for the first time, reported $30,111 in donations. Of all the candidates, Agho has contributed the least amount of personal funds to her campaign – just $1,052. 

Agho has also listed the largest donor base, reporting itemized contributions from five limited liability corporations and 34 people, including criminal defense attorneys Carlos Tanner and Merrida Coxwell. 

Greta Mack Harris reported raising $28,550, with $20,000 loaned from herself. Mack Harris pulled donations from six people and six law offices, including criminal defense attorney Dennis Sweet and Preselfannie McDaniels, the wife of Hinds County Court Judge Johnnie McDaniels.

Wendy Wilson White, the other current Hinds DA employee in the race, reported loaning herself $10,571 and receiving $600 from two people, one of whom reported their $300 donation as a loan. 

Wilson White is the only candidate who completed her campaign finance report by hand. She also did not provide required information, including the dates of her loan, her two donations and all of her disbursements except for an Oct. 24 payment of $300 to the Jackson Jambalaya blog.   

Each of the four candidates who filed reports on time paid for advertising on WMPR, a radio station majority owned by Hinds County District 4 Supervisor Wanda Evers, the niece of famed civil rights leader Medgar Evers. 

Agho and Mack Harris were the only two candidates to report spending money on political consultants. Agho reported paying $4,420 to Campaign Impact, a firm owned by LaDarion  Ammons. Mack Harris reported spending $9,000 on campaign consultant Angela Grayson.

Mississippi’s unemployment rate dropped only slightly in September, from 3.4% to 3.3%, the lowest since July 2024 when it was 3.1.%.

The unemployment rate has decreased slightly over the last several months after remaining around 3.8% for almost a year. 

September 2026 unemployment numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the number of jobs in Mississippi held relatively steady, dropping by about 700 jobs compared to August, mirroring the national “no-hire, no-fire” environment.

“We’ve got a steady labor market, not a whole of jobs being added but not seeing declines in employment, either,” said Corey Miller, Mississippi’s chief economist. 

Unemployment claims have declined over the past year, but so has the number of people in the labor force, leading to a lower labor-force participation rate, following national trends.

Mississippi has one of the lowest labor force participation rates in the country. In September, the rate was 54.3%, down from 55.8% a year earlier. The national rate was 61.8% in September.

UMMC building new cancer center

The University of Mississippi Medical Center has broken ground on a new cancer center in Jackson. UMMC, the state’s only academic medical center, said the building is critical to its goal of achieving National Cancer Institute designation and improving patient outcomes. The building is expected to cost $250 million with funds coming from the state, federal government and private donors.

The center could bring more jobs to the area and generate additional economic benefits for the region. UMMC estimates that once it opens, an NCI designated center would generate over $200 million a year in economic benefit.

UMMC has sought the NCI designation for over a decade. Dr. Alan Jones, the medical center’s associate vice chancellor for health affairs said achieving the designation will take more time.

UMMC will need to hire more faculty, perform community outreach and expand its research capabilities. Researchers receive federal grants, but the grants do not cover all the costs associated with running a large, complex research organization.

Is a Jackson casino possible?

Investors want to build a casino along the Pearl River in Jackson and asked the City Council to sell them city-owned land. Rep. Chris Bell, a Democrat from Jackson, said the project would bring in much needed tax dollars for the city. For the project to happen, it would need approval from the Legislature, which Bell has attempted and failed to secure multiple times.

Tax revenue from Mississippi’s gross casino earnings has been flat over the last few years according to numbers from the Department of Revenue. The growth of online gambling and prediction markets, although mobile sports betting outside casinos remains illegal in Mississippi, is an increasing worry for the casino industry. 

Other news

• Barge Forest Products is investing $8.3 million to expand its sawmill operations in Macon.
• Jackson-area business leaders discussed the impact of data centers on Mississippi communities as the centers face increasing pushback from residents and lawmakers. 
• Mississippi, the Federal Trade Commission and 19 other states filed a lawsuit against Dollar General claiming the company has persistently overcharged customers. In 2023, Mississippi had the highest number of Dollar General stores per capita.
• Ingalls Shipbuilding received a $99-million contract for testing and upgrades on a Navy destroyer. 
• Fairbanks Morse Defense will double its capacity in Pascagoula. The $60-million expansion includes $27 million from the U.S. navy.