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Catherine Crews: I only have months left to live. Here’s why I cast my vote for Kamala Harris.

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mississippitoday.org – Catherine Crews – 2024-10-04 06:00:00

Catherine Crews, a retired Oxford resident, was given just six months to live in May. She wanted to live long enough to cast her vote in the 2024 presidential election, which she did when the absentee voting period began on September 23. Below is her story in her own words.


Catherine Crews casts her absentee vote on Sept. 23 in Oxford.

Ever since our children were very young, we made it a tradition in our family to vote together on Election Day, whether it be a local, state or national election.

We would get up early, before school and work, go to our voting location together and vote as a family. We followed that with a quick breakfast at our favorite local restaurant before taking the children to school. We instilled in them the importance of voting. 

Now that our three children are grown, with children of their own, my husband Billy and I still plan our day around voting when any election comes around. 

Throughout our 45 years together, we have also placed importance in supporting candidates who run for office at every level. Although we tend to vote more frequently for Democrats, Billy is fond of saying, “We are Jack Reed Republicans, and William Winter Democrats”. (Jack Reed ran for governor in 1987 and William Winter became our beloved governor in 1979.)  To us, the person running for office is more important than their political party. 

Fast-forward to this year’s election — one of the most important of my lifetime, I believe — I found myself in a different situation. After surviving a rare and aggressive cancer (NUT Carcinoma) in 2013, where I had a 3% chance of survival, the effects of 32 radiation treatments wreaked havoc on my mouth. Over the last 10 years I have undergone nine mouth surgeries, including two jaw transplants.

Earlier this year, my health took a turn for the worse. Bone deterioration from all the radiation and infection developed in my lower right jaw. Surgery is not an option for me. My doctors told me I would have six months to live.

After receiving this news from my doctors on May 23, Billy and I sat in shock and sadness. The effects of this cancer caught up with me. My thoughts immediately went to, “What do I need to do in the six months I have left?” As lists of things to accomplish scrolled through my mind, voting was among some of my top priorities. We laugh about this now, but from my hospital room, I insisted that Billy call our circuit clerk’s office in Oxford and find out the first available date for absentee voting. His friend and our Circuit Clerk Jeff Busby told him, “September 23.” I remember thinking I would not make it until then because the last two infections I’ve had this year have come on hard and fast.

Well, here I am. I made it. On Monday, Sept. 23, I got to absentee vote on the first day available to Mississippians. After our weekly visit from our hospice nurse, Billy and I walked up to the Lafayette County Courthouse, just a few blocks from our home, and I cast my vote. I was so happy to have made it to this point and to share with my friends on Facebook, just as I’ve done regularly with those who have “walked with me” and supported me since 2013. 

To me, it was like any other heartfelt Facebook post I had written about my health journey. But this time, something different happened. Friends kept sharing it and sharing it, and the next thing I knew, it had gone viral. Our friend, Brandon Presley, who came so close to winning his bid for governor of our great state, shared it with people in higher places. Another dear friend, Emily LeCoz, shared it with USA Today. The next thing I knew, Michael Collins, White House correspondent for USA Today, called me for a 45-minute interview to write an article, and vice presidential hopeful Tim Walz was reading my Facebook post at a campaign event in Minneapolis.

Here is the essence of my Facebook post and motivation for voting:

In this presidential election of 2024… 

  • I cast the last vote of my lifetime to preserve democracy in the United States of America and around the world. 
  • I cast the last vote of my lifetime to protect the Constitution of the United States of America, and the rule of law.
  • I cast the last vote of my lifetime for honesty, decency and integrity. 
  • I cast the last vote of my lifetime for loving my neighbor, regardless of their race, their religion, and who they love. 
  • I cast the last vote of my lifetime for innocent immigrants who want to live, and contribute, and be a part of this great country, but who have been targets of political hate and rhetoric.
  • I cast the last vote of my lifetime for women to have the right to make decisions about their own body.  
  • I cast the last vote of my lifetime for the building up of poor and middle-class Americans. 
  • On behalf of our six precious grandchildren, I proudly cast the last vote of my lifetime for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

The deadline to register to vote is Monday, October 7 at 5 p.m. Please exercise your right and privilege to have a voice in this election.

Take it from me: Few things are more important.

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

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1997

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-22 07:00:00

Dec. 22, 1997

Myrlie Evers and Reena Evers-Everette cheer the jury verdict of Feb. 5, 1994, when Byron De La Beckwith was found guilty of the 1963 murder of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers. Credit: AP/Rogelio Solis

The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the conviction of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers. 

In the court’s 4–2 decision, Justice Mike Mills praised efforts “to squeeze justice out of the harm caused by a furtive explosion which erupted from dark bushes on a June night in Jackson, Mississippi.” 

He wrote that Beckwith’s constitutional right to a speedy trial had not been denied. His “complicity with the Sovereignty Commission’s involvement in the prior trials contributed to the delay.” 

The decision did more than ensure that Beckwith would stay behind bars. The conviction helped clear the way for other prosecutions of unpunished killings from the Civil Rights Era.

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

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Mississippi Today

Medicaid expansion tracker approaches $1 billion loss for Mississippi

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mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2024-12-22 06:00:00

About the time people ring in the new year next week, the digital tracker on Mississippi Today’s homepage tabulating the amount of money the state is losing by not expanding Medicaid will hit $1 billion.

The state has lost $1 billion not since the start of the quickly departing 2024 but since the beginning of the state’s fiscal year on July 1.

Some who oppose Medicaid expansion say the digital tracker is flawed.

During an October news conference, when state Auditor Shad White unveiled details of his $2 million study seeking ways to cut state government spending, he said he did not look at Medicaid expansion as a method to save money or grow state revenue.

“I think that (Mississippi Today) calculator is wrong,” White said. “… I don’t think that takes into account how many people are going to be moved off the federal health care exchange where their health care is paid for fully by the federal government and moved onto Medicaid.”

White is not the only Mississippi politician who has expressed concern that if Medicaid expansion were enacted, thousands of people would lose their insurance on the exchange and be forced to enroll in Medicaid for health care coverage.

Mississippi Today’s projections used for the tracker are based on studies conducted by the Institutions of Higher Learning University Research Center. Granted, there are a lot of variables in the study that are inexact. It is impossible to say, for example, how many people will get sick and need health care, thus increasing the cost of Medicaid expansion. But is reasonable that the projections of the University Research Center are in the ballpark of being accurate and close to other studies conducted by health care experts.

White and others are correct that Mississippi Today’s calculator does not take into account money flowing into the state for people covered on the health care exchange. But that money does not go to the state; it goes to insurance companies that, granted, use that money to reimburse Mississippians for providing health care. But at least a portion of the money goes to out-of-state insurance companies as profits.

Both Medicaid expansion and the health care exchange are part of the Affordable Care Act. Under Medicaid expansion people earning up to $20,120 annually can sign up for Medicaid and the federal government will pay the bulk of the cost. Mississippi is one of 10 states that have not opted into Medicaid expansion.

People making more than $14,580 annually can garner private insurance through the health insurance exchanges, and people below certain income levels can receive help from the federal government in paying for that coverage.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, legislation championed and signed into law by President Joe Biden significantly increased the federal subsidies provided to people receiving insurance on the exchange. Those increased subsidies led to many Mississippians — desperate for health care — turning to the exchange for help.

White, state Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, Gov. Tate Reeves and others have expressed concern that those people would lose their private health insurance and be forced to sign up for Medicaid if lawmakers vote to expand Medicaid.

They are correct.

But they do not mention that the enhanced benefits authored by the Biden administration are scheduled to expire in December 2025 unless they are reenacted by Congress. The incoming Donald Trump administration has given no indication it will continue the enhanced subsidies.

As a matter of fact, the Trump administration, led by billionaire Elon Musk, is looking for ways to cut federal spending.

Some have speculated that Medicaid expansion also could be on Musk’s chopping block.

That is possible. But remember congressional action is required to continue the enhanced subsidies. On the flip side, congressional action would most likely be required to end or cut Medicaid expansion.

Would the multiple U.S. senators and House members in the red states that have expanded Medicaid vote to end a program that is providing health care to thousands of their constituents?

If Congress does not continue Biden’s enhanced subsidies, the rates for Mississippians on the exchange will increase on average about $500 per year, according to a study by KFF, a national health advocacy nonprofit. If that occurs, it is likely that many of the 280,000 Mississippians on the exchange will drop their coverage.

The result will be that Mississippi’s rate of uninsured — already one of the highest in the nation – will rise further, putting additional pressure on hospitals and other providers who will be treating patients who have no ability to pay.

In the meantime, the Mississippi Today counter that tracks the amount of money Mississippi is losing by not expanding Medicaid keeps ticking up.

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

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1911

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-21 07:00:00

Dec. 21, 1911

A colorized photograph of Josh Gibson, who was playing with the Homestead Grays Credit: Wikipedia

Josh Gibson, the Negro League’s “Home Run King,” was born in Buena Vista, Georgia. 

When the family’s farm suffered, they moved to Pittsburgh, and Gibson tried baseball at age 16. He eventually played for a semi-pro team in Pittsburgh and became known for his towering home runs. 

He was watching the Homestead Grays play on July 25, 1930, when the catcher injured his hand. Team members called for Gibson, sitting in the stands, to join them. He was such a talented catcher that base runners were more reluctant to steal. He hit the baseball so hard and so far (580 feet once at Yankee Stadium) that he became the second-highest paid player in the Negro Leagues behind Satchel Paige, with both of them entering the National Baseball Hame of Fame. 

The Hall estimated that Gibson hit nearly 800 homers in his 17-year career and had a lifetime batting average of .359. Gibson was portrayed in the 1996 TV movie, “Soul of the Game,” by Mykelti Williamson. Blair Underwood played Jackie Robinson, Delroy Lindo portrayed Satchel Paige, and Harvey Williams played “Cat” Mays, the father of the legendary Willie Mays. 

Gibson has now been honored with a statue outside the Washington Nationals’ ballpark.

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

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