by Sophia Paffenroth, Mississippi Today
March 18, 2025

Dozens of advocates, doctors and spiritual leaders gathered outside the Capitol Tuesday to call for the “defense and expansion of Medicaid.” 

“Medicaid is not just an insurance program – it is a lifeline for 707,000 Mississippians,” said Sonya Williams Barnes, the state policy director for Southern Poverty Law Center. “Medicaid ensures that 315,000 children receive the health care they need … Make no mistakes: A cut to Medicaid directly harms our most vulnerable.”

Despite having some of the strictest eligibility requirements for the program, Mississippi has one of the largest Medicaid populations in the country as a result of the state’s poverty. 

With federal changes threatening already-existing health care programs, defending Medicaid for vulnerable groups such as those who are pregnant, elderly or disabled has become the new goal  for Mississippi advocates. Expanding Medicaid – arguably the biggest issue of the historic 2024 legislative session – has taken a backseat. 

But some urge it’s as important as ever. 

“In this moment we cannot shift gears, after all these years, and only beg our elected officials to save Medicaid,” the Rev. Jason Coker said. “We can’t give up that ground at a moment when we need to be gaining ground. We’ve got to keep pushing for Medicaid expansion, while we demand and pray for Medicaid to continue uncut.” 

Key lawmakers have said expanding Medicaid in Mississippi is all but dead this year – though a vehicle for expansion is still alive in the Legislature. 

“In a most practical sense, I’d say we probably won’t be doing anything this year,” Senate Medicaid Chairman Kevin Blackwell told Mississippi Today.

Mississippi is one of 10 states not to expand Medicaid, which would give health insurance to hundreds of thousands of low-income working Mississippians who can’t afford private health insurance and don’t qualify for subsidies that make marketplace insurance affordable.

“What kind of society are we to compound suffering with catastrophic costs to those in our congregations and so many across our state who fall within that coverage gap?” Coker asked. 

Dr. Randy Easterling, former president of the Mississippi State Medical Association, recounted a story of an uninsured patient who was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a kind of cancer, around the same time that Easterling’s insured relative was also diagnosed with the disease. The uninsured patient, Jimmy, died, while Easterling’s relative is now in remission. 

“Is this what we boil down to?” Easterling asked. “If you have insurance, you live, if you don’t, you die? Let me tell you something, folks: That’s not what I signed up for when I went to medical school.”

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

A Mississippi State University staff physician who had an inappropriate relationship with a graduate student who was also his patient remained employed at the student health center for a year after a nurse reported concerns to the Title IX office. 

That physician, Cliff Story, had served as executive director of university health services since 2013. Story would go on to have his medical license suspended last year for his sexual misconduct toward the graduate student. 

In January 2021, the student was contacted by the Title IX office about an anonymous report regarding her relationship with Story, according to public records obtained by Mississippi Today and reported here for the first time. 

But after the student said Story instructed her to keep their relationship a secret, she did not tell the Title IX office about his treatment of her. 

“He told me not to discuss anything that could indicate he engaged in sexual misconduct, or I was ‘special’ to him because he would lose his job and financial support for his [redacted],” the victim told the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure. 

Story remained at the university’s Longest Student Health Center as a staff physician for another year and continued to initiate sex with the student, public records show. He left in January 2022 of his own volition and joined North Mississippi Health Services.

In a statement, the university’s spokesperson, Sid Salter, wrote that while “the university does not discuss the contents of sexual misconduct investigations,” no Title IX complaint or criminal charge was filed against Story during his employment at Mississippi State. 

Story continued to treat patients at the student health center.

“But MSU Title IX officials did interview the woman and Dr. Story after hearing rumors and having a Health Center colleague nurse report concerns to the Title IX office,” Salter wrote. “Both individuals denied that any improper relationship had occurred or was ongoing. Without a Title IX complaint or criminal charges, such allegations are very difficult to substantiate.”

In 2021, the Title IX office received 21 complaints that were usually resolved within 60 days, Salter wrote. 

At a hearing before the medical board in November, Story said that he had never taken a break or been suspended from the practice of medicine during his relationship with the victim, which began in mid-2020 and ended in 2023. He also denied that he instructed the victim to lie or conceal their relationship.

Story’s victim filed a complaint in March 2024 with the State Board of Medical Licensure, which opened an investigation and ultimately found Story guilty of unprofessional conduct, including sexual misconduct, after that November hearing. His license was suspended for a year. 

Despite multiple attempts, neither Story nor his attorney, Matthew Thompson, could be reached before press time. 

During the board hearing, Thompson argued that his client was aware he had committed an ethical violation but thought he had a “mutual” relationship with the victim, to whom he also believed he provided adequate care. 

Thompson further noted a professional acumen test found that Story’s conduct could be improved through an intensive treatment program focused on medical ethics. The test also concluded that Story did groom the victim, whom he first met when she was a freshman in 2013, but that it was likely he had not had sexual contact with any other current or former patients. 

“Dr. Story is a good doctor,” Thompson told the medical board. 

But some of Story’s testimony raised more questions than answers about evidence the board obtained in its investigation. 

The victim testified to the board’s investigator that Story had told her in January 2021 he was involved with human resources and someone from Title IX might contact her. Her therapist submitted a timeline to the board that stated Story was contacted by the Title IX office in December 2020.  Salter also said Title IX contacted Story.

When the board’s attorney, Paul Barnes, asked Story if anyone from MSU had asked him about his relationship with the victim, Story responded “yes” before Thompson objected, forcing Barnes to change tack. 

Barnes then asked if Story knew of any complaints that were made to MSU about him and his relationship to the victim, in an apparent attempt to put more information about Title IX onto the record.

Story responded with confusion. 

“I don’t know of anybody complaining to me, to them,” Story said. “I don’t know what anybody — nobody tells me that ‘John’ has complained about this. I don’t know what people have complained about.”

“So, no one ever contacted you and said ‘there’s been a complaint about you’?” Barnes asked. 

“Well, again, not about any complaint,” Story said. “People might say something about rumors, but, I mean.” He trailed off.  

Barnes was not permitted to ask Story what he meant by “rumors” after the board sustained another objection from Thompson.  

In another instance, a board member asked Story about a screenshot the victim saved of a text on Signal, a messaging app that allows users to automatically delete messages. This was important because the victim told the board that Story used the app to communicate with her “very secretly.” 

The screenshot shows that “Doc MSU set disappearing message time to 1 day.”

“Do you remember when that might’ve been?” the board member asked. The screenshot is undated but appears, based on the phrasing of Story’s text to the victim, to be from near the end of their relationship.

Story seemed to respond with more confusion. 

“I would think she put that, I don’t know, because even now I don’t have disappearing texts, and I don’t know how to do it on my phone, so if that was done,” Story said before pausing. “First, I don’t recall it. Second, I don’t even do it now, and I don’t know that I could fumble through it and guess — I don’t know why that was done. That’s not something even I would do.” 

There were more reasons the victim thought Story was working to keep their relationship under wraps, according to evidence submitted to the medical board. 

Story had worked as a physician at MSU since 2008, and the student first met him in 2013, the same year he was promoted to executive director. Through medical records, the board determined that Story treated the student until January 2021. 

In late 2019 or early 2020, Story began frequently texting the victim, according to a timeline the victim’s therapist constructed. During office visits, Story would compliment and hug her. Then in the summer of 2020, “the first sexual abuse incident” occurred at the student health center, according to the therapist. 

In one text message, the date of which is unclear, the victim wondered if people would think her presence at the health center was “weird,” so Story offered to meet her in the stairwell or talk by the cars. 

In September 2020, the victim had a medical incident that resulted in Story giving her a ride from the health center, bringing her medication and having sex with her in her home over the course of multiple visits, according to the therapist’s timeline. 

“He later told her she couldn’t come to the clinic any longer because people didn’t understand their connection and made her feel like he was the only person she could trust to help her,” the therapist wrote. “He frequently talked to her about their ‘special connection’ because of how long he’s helped her, all they have been through, and that no one else but himself had witnessed all she had been through.” 

By early 2021, the university’s Title IX office started asking questions. The victim said Story told her “to keep everything they had been through a secret because he believed others were out to get him,” the therapist wrote. 

On Jan. 19, the victim said she was approached by a Title IX coordinator, who requested to meet with her virtually. 

“At the time, she was afraid and said, ‘No,’” when the coordinator asked if Story had mistreated her, the victim’s therapist wrote. “They continued talking and sexual assault continued to occur.”

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

by Alex Rozier, Mississippi Today
March 18, 2025

County officials are continuing to tally damages throughout Mississippi, hopeful that the aftermath will qualify the areas for federal disaster assistance.

Gov. Tate Reeves said during a press conference Monday afternoon that the state will apply for aid through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but that more assessments are needed first.

The governor added that, based on previous experiences, there is a “high likelihood” the state will qualify for FEMA’s Individual Assistance, which provides resources directly to disaster victims. Reeves said he’s “hopeful” the state will also receive Public Assistance, which funds recovery for public buildings and infrastructure.

A dozen tornadoes landed in the state between Friday and Saturday, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. In total, 23 counties took damage, Reeves said during a press conference at the Tylertown Baptist Church in Walthall County. Six people died in Walthall, Covington and Jefferson Davis counties, and 29 were injured in those places as well as Pike County. Reeves said on Sunday that 217 people were displaced from their homes. The governor also confirmed that three people who were initially missing have been found alive.

One of the two tornadoes that hit Walthall County traveled across the Louisiana state line, Reeves said, staying on the ground for over 70 miles.

“That is not usual,” said the governor, who signed a State of Emergency declaration on Saturday.

Walthall County Board President Doug Popwell said that while the county’s assessment on Monday morning estimated 35 to 40 homes damaged, the total will likely reach over 100. Popwell added that “a lot of” chicken farms were hit as well. He said the Salem Attendance Center, a K through 12 public school in Tylertown, and some churches were also damaged.

“It’ll make you sick to your stomach when you go around and see people you know without homes,” he said. “It’s by far the worst thing I’ve ever seen.”

Popwell said this was as bad of a storm as he could remember in the county.

“We took a hard hit from (Hurricane) Katrina, and then in 2020 we had several bad tornadoes, but this is probably worse than either as far as the amount of lost homes,” he said.

He said Walthall County doesn’t have a long-term recovery committee, which the state recommends to help counties expedite the rebuilding process after a disaster. Popwell said they’ve received an “overwhelming” amount of food and water.

“More than anything, what we need right now is this (federal disaster) declaration from FEMA,” he said.

In Jefferson Davis County, emergency director Jocelyn Ragsdale emphasized that assessments were ongoing, so her estimates could change, but said as of now: 6o to 70 homes received damage, about 30 of which were destroyed; some chicken farms were total losses, and some county buildings also received damage.

Ragsdale said her area received similar damage from the Easter tornadoes of 2020.

“Total devastation,” she described. “We need as much help as we can get.”

President Trump has threatened to scrap FEMA altogether, something that would require congressional action. Last month, he approved making federal funds available to Kentucky and West Virginia, while threatening to attach strings to any money to help California recover from the deadly wildfires there. FEMA is also demanding the names of immigrants served by El Paso charities and local governments before reimbursing them for expenses.

When asked about potential changes to FEMA on Monday, Reeves said he wasn’t worried, emphasizing that disaster recoveries, as designed by the 1988 Stafford Act, are “state managed, locally executed, and federally supported.”

Both Popwell and Ragsdale said their respective counties did not have public safe rooms for residents to take shelter in prior to storms. Ragsdale said Jefferson Davis County is looking for funding to build a safe room.

In addition to the tornadoes, MEMA said that north Mississippi — in Prentiss and Tishomingo counties — received some flooding over the weekend (Tishomingo County emergency director Peyton Berklite said Monday no homes were damaged or trapped, though), and that there was a 3.0-magnitude earthquake in Magee on Saturday that hasn’t had any reported impacts. Reeves said on Sunday that power outages dropped from a high of 36,000 to below 8,000, with many of those being in Grenada and Walthall counties.

So far in 2025, Mississippi has already seen 57 tornadoes, according to preliminary data from the National Weather Service, by far the most of any state this year. Last week’s tornadoes came about a week and a half before the two-year anniversary of the 2023 tornado storm that devastated Rolling Fork, Amory and other parts of the state.

MEMA shared this link for information on where to find shelters as well as to make a donation. The agency advised anyone looking to help not to self-deploy to impacted areas, but instead to connect with volunteer groups.

Below are more images of the damages caused by the March 14 and 15 storms:

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