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Legislative leaders approve budget plan, leaving at least $1 billion for consideration in 2023 session

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State adds USM volleyball project to effort to recoup misspent welfare funds

After months of national coverage about how former NFL quarterback Brett Favre solicited welfare money to build a volleyball stadium at his alma mater, the state of Mississippi has filed civil charges attempting to recoup the money.

The lawsuit alleges that Favre “understood that grant funds provided by MDHS could not be used for brick-and-mortar construction” — the first time Favre has officially faced this charge.

The new allegation comes just one week after Favre filed a punchy motion to dismiss the welfare department’s civil charges against him.

Mississippi Department of Human Services filed its initial civil suit, the agency’s response to a multi-million dollar fraud and embezzlement scandal, in May. The initial complaint targeted Favre for $1.1 million he received under a “vague, illusory promise that Favre make appearances or record PSAs” and $2.1 million the athlete helped secure for a pharmaceutical venture.

But the complaint did not initially include the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation, which took $5 million in welfare money to build a volleyball stadium — billed as a “wellness center” — on its campus.

The amended complaint, filed Monday, adds the athletic foundation and sheds more light on the roles of Favre and other state officials in the scheme, including university officials who are not included as defendants. Former welfare director John Davis and nonprofit founder Nancy New have both pleaded guilty to several fraud and bribery charges in connection with the welfare scandal.

“Despite the Foundation’s expressing worries about ‘rais[ing] negative concerns’ and being ‘scared to death,’ Brett Favre urged Nancy New that it was necessary for the Foundation to ‘utilize you guys [John Davis and Nancy New] in every way,'” the filing reads.

While the new complaint increases Favre’s potential liability by $5 million, it removed the $1.1 million claim against Favre in the initial complaint because he repaid that amount to the state in 2020 and 2021.

The new filing also adds a lobbyist, two former MDHS attorneys and a virtual reality company as defendants in the lawsuit.

It does not mention former Gov. Phil Bryant or the discussions the governor had with Favre about finding funding for the volleyball stadium or Prevacus, the company purportedly developing a drug to treat concussions.

“Governor Bryant was both aware of and supported MCEC’s payments to Prevacus at issue in this lawsuit, as well as its $5 million payment to Southern Miss in connection with the construction of a wellness center,” Favre alleged in his most recent motion.

The lawsuit still names fitness trainer Paul Lacoste and his organization Victory Sports Foundation, which received $1.3 million under what former MDHS leader Davis described as “the Lt. Gov’s fitness issue,” referring to then-Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves. Now governor and in control of the suit, Reeves is also not mentioned in the amended complaint.

In the new complaint, MDHS added the following new defendants:

  • USM Athletic Foundation.
  • N3 Holdings, the company that Nancy New and her sons Zach and Jess New owned and allegedly used to personally invest in Favre’s pharmaceutical start-up companies called Prevacus and PreSolMD.
  • Lobaki, Inc. and Lobaki Foundation, a virtual reality company that received welfare funding to prop up a VR training academy.
  • JTS Enterprises, the company formed by Brian Jeff Smith, John Davis’ brother-in-law, through which he received welfare funds.
  • William Longwitz, former lawmaker and lobbyist who received nearly $320,000 in welfare funds to lobby on behalf of New’s organization.
  • Inside Capitol, LLC, Will Longwitz’s lobbying firm.
  • Jacob Black, former MDHS attorney.
  • Garrig Shields, former MDHS attorney who left the agency to work for New’s nonprofit.
  • William, Weiss, Hester and Co., PLLC, the accounting firm that conducted regular audits of the New nonprofit.

The initial complaint sought to claw back a total of about $24 million. The new complaint asserts that the two nonprofits through which most of the money was misspent — Mississippi Community Education Center and Family Resource of North Mississippi — breached their agreements with MDHS and should have to return their entire awarded amounts, $39.3 million for MCEC and $38 million for FRC. Neither nonprofit has assets totaling anywhere near those amounts.

Former U.S. Attorney Brad Pigott, the private attorney MDHS first hired to bring the suit, planned to include the volleyball project in the complaint, but Reeves’ office instructed him to remove it before filing. In July, after Pigott subpoenaed the athletic foundation for its communication with former Gov. Bryant, among other individuals, Reeves’ appointed welfare director Bob Anderson fired the attorney. At that time, Reeves said the agency was still considering more potential defendants to add to the suit, including the athletic foundation.

“Governor Tate Reeves tasked me with correcting the path of MDHS,” Anderson said in a statement Monday. “As part of that process, MDHS has been working hard to restore trust and put in place numerous internal controls to ensure that misspending is not repeated in the future. The rest of the task involves recovering and returning to the taxpayers the millions of dollars in misspent funds which were intended to benefit Mississippi’s needy families. We continue that task with this motion to file an amended civil complaint.”

The amended complaint alleges that in April of 2017, Favre made a “handshake agreement” with USM, where his daughter played volleyball, to personally guarantee the funds to construct a new facility for the team. He then contributed $150,000 worth of autographed merchandise and began soliciting donations from various people and companies, including the Kohler family.

“Favre, however, was unable to convince his friends and connections to donate enough money to meet his obligation to fund the construction of the volleyball facility, and he did not want to pay the costs out of his own pocket,” the complaint reads.

Favre’s attorney Eric Herschmann rejected the assertion that the athlete personally committed funds to the project, pointing to emails from USM’s athletic director at the time, Jon Gilbert, that say Favre agreed to fundraise for the project.

In July of 2017, Gilbert introduced Favre to nonprofit founder Nancy New, Favre said in his recent filing.

New, who sat on the athletic foundation board alongside Favre, and another nonprofit operator Christi Webb had just become the recipients of a massive cash flow from the welfare department. At the time, New’s nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center already had existing leases with USM, including for a large suite at the football stadium, where the nonprofit could invite guests to watch the games.

Shortly after connecting with New, Favre met at USM with her, Gilbert, Davis, MDHS attorney Garrig Shields and former WWE wrestler Teddy DiBiase to discuss using MDHS funds on the volleyball construction.

“John Davis discussed his plan to ‘do good things for USM’ and ‘give them 4 mil’ with Christi Webb and Nancy New, both of whom enthusiastically agreed. John Davis suggested that Nancy New tell Jon Gilbert that the facility should be named after Favre,” the complaint reads. “The Foundation told Brett Favre that they were ‘very leary [sic] of accepting such a large grant,’ and suggested ‘trying to find a way for John [Davis] to allocate money to an entity that could then give to us that would pay for brick and mortar.’ Brett Favre also told Nancy New he ‘passed [this] same info[rmation] to John [Davis] and of course he [John Davis] sent back we will find a way to make it work.'”

The lawsuit alleges attorneys Shields and Black were instrumental in crafting the sham lease agreement, as well as facilitating several other allegedly fraudulent purchases.

Black was one of the employees who gathered and brought information about Davis’ alleged fraud to Gov. Bryant in June of 2019.

Favre denies any wrongdoing in the volleyball project. Longwitz, Black, Shields and a spokesperson for USM did not return calls to Mississippi Today on Monday.

“While he had helped raise funds for the facility and thereby met Davis and New, Favre, as with the transfers complained of in the Complaint, did absolutely nothing wrong in connection with the Wellness Center,” Favre’s Nov. 28 motion reads. “During Favre’s fundraising efforts, in July 2017, the Southern Miss athletic director introduced Favre to New, a Southern Miss Athletic Foundation board member, as someone who could assist Favre with the fundraising. New was well connected with numerous Mississippi officials, including Davis and then-Governor Bryant, and close friends with Governor Bryant’s wife Deborah Bryant.”

Tom Duff, current president of the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees and one of the board members who signed off on the $5 million MDHS grant to build the volleyball stadium in 2017, told Mississippi Today last month that he believed USM should return the funds.

“MDHS’s proposed amended complaint, in which MDHS has dropped its original $1.1 million claim against Brett Favre, while adding new groundless allegations about him, is as frivolous as its original complaint,” Herschmann said in a statement Monday after the state’s latest filing. “Again, MDHS omits facts key to these new allegations—including that the Mississippi Attorney General signed off on the transfers of funds from MDHS to another state entity, the University of Southern Mississippi, all with the full knowledge and consent of the Governor and other State officials.  That a private citizen, like non-lawyer Brett Favre, could have any liability under these circumstances is baseless.  Accordingly, we will oppose, on Brett’s behalf, MDHS’s motion to amend the complaint to the extent it adds these new groundless allegations. “

Editor’s note: Mississippi Today Editor-in-Chief Adam Ganucheau’s mother signed off on the language of a lease agreement to construct a University of Southern Mississippi volleyball stadium. Read more about that here.

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

Mississippi Today

1964: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was formed

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

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 River flooding Vicksburg, expected to crest on Monday

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

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

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

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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