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Mississippi Today

Gov. Reeves mum on health care meetings, claims no documents exist

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1 year ago

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As the state’s hospital crisis continues, Gov. Tate Reeves has held meetings on health care, but his office refuses to say what they’re about.

His staffers also claim there are no official documents for those meetings, despite internal correspondence that indicates otherwise and despite Reeves proposing detailed health policy changes.

Several experts, including a former governor, say the lack of documentation for meetings and the lack of detail on Reeves’ calendar is unusual. One national expert called it “bad practice.”

Reeves appears to have attended meetings in the Governor’s Mansion from May to August on topics ranging from “Medicaid Policies” to “Healthcare Industry Issues” and “Healthcare Policies,” Mississippi Today discovered through a records request of the governor’s calendar.

During that time, Mississippi’s health industry experienced significant turmoil. The state Medicaid division disenrolled thousands of beneficiaries, while hospitals struggled. One hospital closed, while several others shuttered departments and applied to close their inpatient beds because of financial difficulties.

Amid the upheaval, it’s not clear exactly what happened in those meetings, nor who attended. Reeves’ calendar only shows the time, date and place for most meetings, and if his calendar lists the meeting topic, it usually doesn’t list with whom he met. His spokesperson, Shelby Wilcher, did not respond to multiple emails asking who attended those health care meetings and details about the topics. 

When Mississippi Today requested official documents from the meetings, Reeves’ office claimed that, aside from a few email threads about scheduling, no notes or documents were used in or produced from the meetings.

One of the email threads produced as a result of the request revealed that the governor requires a briefing document that includes information about meeting attendees and the topic to be discussed before all of his meetings.

“For all meetings with him, we need to provide a briefing document beforehand,” Reeves’ scheduler Barrie Nelson said in one thread. “Can you please get me some information so I can make sure we have our ducks in a row?”

However, when Mississippi Today followed up by requesting briefing documents for those meetings about health care, Reeves’ office claimed that those, too, did not exist.

The state Public Records Act defines a public record as documentary materials used “in the conduct, transaction or performance of any business, transaction, work, duty or function of any public body.” That means if those briefing documents exist, they would theoretically be considered a public record.

John Pelissero, director of government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, was confused about the discrepancy regarding “briefing documents.”

“It’s striking, because you have emails that showed that they were expected to produce documents in order to have the meeting with the governor,” he said. “Even if they’re not hiding it, even if they’re trying to be transparent, they don’t appear to be transparent. When you create the perception there is something irregular … then you’ve created an ethical issue for yourself because the governor’s office is eroding trust among the public.”

He went on to say that that strategy directly works against the governor’s interest, and that it’s critical for the public to know if any public business was discussed in those meetings or if decisions were made in them that would affect people.

“The thing about being governor is that you’re typically going to be more effective if you’re transparent,” Pelissero said. “The public that chose that individual to be the governor has the expectation that the governor is going to be acting on those things that the governor campaigned for as the candidate, and so there’s sort of a duty to your voters to demonstrate to them that you are, in fact, working on those things that you campaigned for.”

According to Ronnie Musgrove, who served as governor from 2000 to 2004, his calendar showed more detail. It included, in most cases, both whom Musgrove met with and an overview of the meeting topic. 

Powerpoints and paper documents were common at most meetings when Musgrove was governor, he said, and a copy of those would have been provided to his office.

“Of course, I cannot say as to what the reasons are that they are not producing information, but if the information exists, it certainly should be produced,” he said. “Maybe (Reeves) thinks that showing his hand early on might produce some difficult discussions, but anything in health care is going to produce a lot of discussion.”

Musgrove conceded that there were occasions he remained tight-lipped about certain projects, but that was only when it would be “damaging if the details were known publicly,” he said.

“Being governor is an elected position, and it is one that’s being paid for by the taxpayers,” he said. “I believe that the people are entitled to know what the potential policies are and some of the details about them, especially before they go into effect.”

Former Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican who served from 2012 to 2020, declined an interview.

Tom Hood, the Mississippi Ethics Commission’s executive director, said the commission’s ability to look into public records issues is “very limited.” Only after a records complaint is filed can the commission make a determination, he said.

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

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Mississippi Today

1964: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was formed

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24 hours ago

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April 26, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-26 07:00:00

by Jerry Mitchell, Mississippi Today
April 26, 2025

April 26, 1964

Aaron Henry testifies before the Credentials Committee at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Civil rights activists started the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the state’s all-white regular delegation to the Democratic National Convention. 

The regulars had already adopted this resolution: “We oppose, condemn and deplore the Civil Rights Act of 1964 … We believe in separation of the races in all phases of our society. It is our belief that the separation of the races is necessary for the peace and tranquility of all the people of Mississippi, and the continuing good relationship which has existed over the years.” 

In reality, Black Mississippians had been victims of intimidation, harassment and violence for daring to try and vote as well as laws passed to disenfranchise them. As a result, by 1964, only 6% of Black Mississippians were permitted to vote. A year earlier, activists had run a mock election in which thousands of Black Mississippians showed they would vote if given an opportunity. 

In August 1964, the Freedom Party decided to challenge the all-white delegation, saying they had been illegally elected in a segregated process and had no intention of supporting President Lyndon B. Johnson in the November election. 

The prediction proved true, with white Mississippi Democrats overwhelmingly supporting Republican candidate Barry Goldwater, who opposed the Civil Rights Act. While the activists fell short of replacing the regulars, their courageous stand led to changes in both parties.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Mississippi Today

Mississippi River flooding Vicksburg, expected to crest on Monday

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2 days ago

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April 25, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @alxrzr – 2025-04-25 16:04:00

by Alex Rozier, Mississippi Today
April 25, 2025

Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said Friday floodwaters from the Mississippi River, which have reached homes in and around Vicksburg, will likely persist until early May. Elfer estimated there areabout 15 to 20 roads underwater in the area.

A truck sits in high water after the owner parked, then boated to his residence on Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg as a rising Mississippi River causes backwater flooding, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“We’re about half a foot (on the river gauge) from a major flood,” he said. “But we don’t think it’s going to be like in 2011, so we can kind of manage this.”

The National Weather projects the river to crest at 49.5 feet on Monday, making it the highest peak at the Vicksburg gauge since 2020. Elfer said some residents in north Vicksburg — including at the Ford Subdivision as well as near Chickasaw Road and Hutson Street — are having to take boats to get home, adding that those who live on the unprotected side of the levee are generally prepared for flooding.

A rising Mississippi River causing backwater flooding near Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.
Old tires aligned a backyard as a deterrent to rising water north of Vicksburg along U.S. 61, Friday, April 25, 2025.
As the Mississippi River rises, backwater flooding creeps towards a home located on Falk Steel Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“There are a few (inundated homes), but we’ve mitigated a lot of them,” he said. “Some of the structures have been torn down or raised. There are a few people that still live on the wet side of the levee, but they kind of know what to expect. So we’re not too concerned with that.”

The river first reached flood stage in the city — 43 feet — on April 14. State officials closed Highway 465, which connects the Eagle Lake community just north of Vicksburg to Highway 61, last Friday.

Flood waters along Kings Point Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

Elfer said the areas impacted are mostly residential and he didn’t believe any businesses have been affected, emphasizing that downtown Vicksburg is still safe for visitors. He said Warren County has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to secure pumps and barriers.

“Everybody thus far has been very cooperative,” he said. “We continue to tell people stay out of the flood areas, don’t drive around barricades and don’t drive around road close signs. Not only is it illegal, it’s dangerous.”

NWS projects the river to stay at flood stage in Vicksburg until May 6. The river reached its record crest of 57.1 feet in 2011.

The boat launch area is closed and shored up on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The boat launch area (right) is closed and under water on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
City of Vicksburg workers shore up the bank along Levee Street as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The old pedestrian bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Mississippi Today

With domestic violence law, victims ‘will be a number with a purpose,’ mother says

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2 days ago

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April 25, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-25 15:07:00

by Mina Corpuz, Mississippi Today
April 25, 2025

Joslin Napier. Carlos Collins. Bailey Mae Reed. 

They are among Mississippi domestic violence homicide victims whose family members carried their photos as the governor signed a bill that will establish a board to study such deaths and how to prevent them. 

Tara Gandy, who lost her daughter Napier in Waynesboro in 2022, said it’s a moment she plans to tell her 5-year-old grandson about when he is old enough. Napier’s presence, in spirit, at the bill signing can be another way for her grandson to feel proud of his mother. 

“(The board) will allow for my daughter and those who have already lost their lives to domestic violence … to no longer be just a number,” Gandy said. “They will be a number with a purpose.” 

Family members at the April 15 private bill signing included Ashla Hudson, whose son Collins, died last year in Jackson. Grandparents Mary and Charles Reed and brother Colby Kernell attended the event in honor of Bailey Mae Reed, who died in Oxford in 2023. 

Joining them were staff and board members from the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the statewide group that supports shelters and advocated for the passage of Senate Bill 2886 to form a Domestic Violence Facility Review Board. 

The law will go into effect July 1, and the coalition hopes to partner with elected officials who will make recommendations for members to serve on the board. The coalition wants to see appointees who have frontline experience with domestic violence survivors, said Luis Montgomery, public policy specialist for the coalition. 

A spokesperson from Gov. Tate Reeves’ office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Establishment of the board would make Mississippi the 45th state to review domestic violence fatalities. 

Montgomery has worked on passing a review board bill since December 2023. After an unsuccessful effort in 2024, the coalition worked to build support and educate people about the need for such a board. 

In the recent legislative session, there were House and Senate versions of the bill that unanimously passed their respective chambers. Authors of the bills are from both political parties. 

The review board is tasked with reviewing a variety of documents to learn about the lead up and circumstances in which people died in domestic violence-related fatalities, near fatalities and suicides – records that can include police records, court documents, medical records and more. 

From each review, trends will emerge and that information can be used for the board to make recommendations to lawmakers about how to prevent domestic violence deaths. 

“This is coming at a really great time because we can really get proactive,” Montgomery said. 

Without a board and data collection, advocates say it is difficult to know how many people have died or been injured in domestic-violence related incidents.

A Mississippi Today analysis found at least 300 people, including victims, abusers and collateral victims, died from domestic violence between 2020 and 2024. That analysis came from reviewing local news stories, the Gun Violence Archive, the National Gun Violence Memorial, law enforcement reports and court documents. 

Some recent cases the board could review are the deaths of Collins, Napier and Reed. 

In court records, prosecutors wrote that Napier, 24, faced increased violence after ending a relationship with Chance Fabian Jones. She took action, including purchasing a firearm and filing for a protective order against Jones.

Jones’s trial is set for May 12 in Wayne County. His indictment for capital murder came on the first anniversary of her death, according to court records. 

Collins, 25, worked as a nurse and was from Yazoo City. His ex-boyfriend Marcus Johnson has been indicted for capital murder and shooting into Collins’ apartment. Family members say Collins had filed several restraining orders against Johnson. 

Johnson was denied bond and remains in jail. His trial is scheduled for July 28 in Hinds County.  

He was a Jackson police officer for eight months in 2013. Johnson was separated from the department pending disciplinary action leading up to immediate termination, but he resigned before he was fired, Jackson police confirmed to local media. 

Reed, 21, was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Water Valley to live with her grandparents and help care for her cousin, according to her obituary. 

Kylan Jacques Phillips was charged with first degree murder for beating Reed, according to court records. In February, the court ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial, according to court documents. 

At the bill signing, Gandy said it was bittersweet and an honor to meet the families of other domestic violence homicide victims.

“We were there knowing we are not alone, we can travel this road together and hopefully find ways to prevent and bring more awareness about domestic violence,” she said.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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