Mississippi Today
Mississippi officials focus on red meat, presidential race in Neshoba County Fair stump speeches
Most of the Neshoba County Fair crowd stood Thursday and chanted “fight, fight, fight” at the behest of Republican Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson who vowed to battle the “liberal, woke agenda that has America in its jaws.”
Fight was the cry of former President Donald Trump as he was helped up by Secret Service agents after barely escaping an assassination attempt at a recent Pennsylvania rally. Fight also is what Trump urged his followers to do in 2021 before they attacked the U.S. Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
The animated crowd was an example of how the second day of political speaking at the red dirt Founder’s Square at the Neshoba County Fair on Thursday was mostly highlighted by red-meat statements stressing the importance of electing Donald Trump as president and less on state policy positions.
But the statewide officeholders, led by Gov. Tate Reeves, did promote what he called “core conservative policies” that he and other speakers said have led to progress in Mississippi.
As is always the case at the fair during the fair’s political stumping, there was lots of speculation about what politicians will be jockeying for offices in Mississippi’s 2027 statewide elections.
One fair visitor making the rounds at cabins and glad-handing was the source of much talk Thursday: billionaire businessman Thomas Duff, a potential Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2027.
Duff, the co-wealthiest Mississippian along with his brother, has helped fund numerous other politicians’ campaigns over the years and could self-fund a serious one for himself.
Asked about any plans to run for governor as he met with movers and shakers at the fair, Duff said: “I’m very much considering it, and I’m very much interested in it.”
Gipson told reporters he is not ruling out a run for governor in 2027.
“I am praying about that,” Gipson said. “I … have not made a decision,” though he said he has started fund-raising efforts.
READ MORE: Hosemann, White trade jabs, hint at gubernatorial aspirations at Neshoba Fair
Second term Secretary of State Michael Watson, who also spoke Thursday, has reportedly been considering a run either for governor or lieutenant governor, though he did not tip his hand to his future political plans.
Watson, the chief administrator of Mississippi’s elections, used part of his speech to advocate for Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who did not speak at the fair because of a scheduling conflict, to prosecute election fraud crimes.
“I’m not here to attack, but I am here to ask people to do their jobs,” Watson said, who added that he would like to see an attorney with the Attorney General’s Office specifically assigned to prosecute election-related crimes.
Speaking at the fair for the first time on Thursday, House Speaker Jason White, a Republican from West, said health care would again be a priority during the 2025 session. He said the House would maintain “an open mind” on expanding Medicaid to the working poor and wants to reach a compromise with the governor and the Senate.
But Reeves, who said in his speech that he had spoken at the annual political speaking more than any governor in the history of the state, told reporters he still opposes Medicaid expansion, though he thanked the speaker for advancing conservative policy in other areas.
When a reporter pointed out the many bad health care outcomes in the state, such as the nation’s highest infant mortality rate, Reeves said, “We want to work on these things, There are plenty of items we need to work on when it comes to health care.”
He added some of those poor outcomes are not the fault of government.
This past session both chambers passed legislation to expand Medicaid, but that effort proved unsuccessful when the House and Senate could not agree on a final proposal.
Reeves said many of the policies he has espoused during his 20-year tenure as treasurer, lieutenant governor and governor were first unveiled at the fair.
“As Donald Trump would say, we are winning like never before,” Reeves said of Mississippi.
He added, “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have steered the national economy into the ditch.”
None acknowledged that inflation is coming down and that employment has dramatically increased nationwide, though, they cited strong employment numbers in Mississippi. None cited legislation supported by Biden that has helped spur the state economy, such as improving infrastructure and expanding broadband internet access.
Repeating the refrain from his successful 2023 reelect campaign, Reeves said, “Mississippi has momentum. This is Mississippi’s time.”
He added, “I don’t want to be just Mississippi good. I want to set the national standard. I want to beat Georgia’s ass.”
After his speech, Reeves declined to respond when asked about comments Trump made Wednesday that Vice President Harris only identified as Black recently as she ran for president.
Reeves said he wants to instead focus on Harris’ record.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Podcast: Ray Higgins: PERS needs both extra cash and benefit changes for future employees
Mississippi Today’s Bobby Harrison talks with Ray Higgins, executive director of the Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System, about proposed changes in pension benefits for future employees and what is needed to protect the system for current employees and retirees. Higgins also stresses the importance of the massive system to the Mississippi economy.
READ MORE: As lawmakers look to cut taxes, Mississippi mayors and county leaders outline infrastructure needs
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
‘Bringing mental health into the spaces where moms already are’: UMMC program takes off
A program aimed at increasing access to mental health services for mothers has taken off at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
The program, called CHAMP4Moms, is an extension of an existing program called CHAMP – which stands for Child Access to Mental Health and Psychiatry. The goal is to make it easier for moms to reach mental health resources during a phase when some may need it the most and have the least time.
CHAMP4Moms offers a direct phone line that health providers can call if they are caring for a pregnant woman or new mother they believe may have unaddressed mental health issues. On the line, health providers can speak directly to a reproductive psychiatrist who can guide them on how to screen, diagnose and treat mothers. That means that moms don’t have to go out of their way to find a psychiatrist, and health care providers who don’t have extensive training in psychiatry can still help these women.
“Basically, we’re trying to bring mental health into the spaces where moms already are,” explained Calandrea Taylor, the program manager. “Because of the low workforce that we have in the state, it’s a lot to try to fill the state with mental health providers. But what we do is bring the mental health practice to you and where mothers are. And we’re hoping that that reduces stigma.”
Launched in 2023, the program has had a slow lift off, Taylor said. But the phone line is up and running, as the team continues to make additions to the program – including a website with resources that Taylor expects will go live next year.
To fill the role of medical director, UMMC brought in a California-based reproductive psychiatrist, Dr. Emily Dossett. Dossett, who grew up in Mississippi and still has family in the state, says it has been rewarding to come full circle and serve her home state – which suffers a dearth of mental health providers and has no reproductive psychiatrists.
“I love it. It’s really satisfying to take the experience I’ve been able to pull together over the past 20 years practicing medicine and then apply it to a place I love,” Dossett said. “I feel like I understand the people I work with, I relate to them, I like hearing where they’re from and being able to picture it … That piece of it has really been very much a joy.”
As medical director, Dossett is able to educate maternal health providers on mental health issues. But she’s also an affiliate professor at UMMC, which she says allows her to train up the next generation of psychiatrists on the importance of maternal and reproductive psychiatry – an often-overlooked aspect in the field.
If people think of reproductive mental health at all, they likely think of postpartum depression, Dossett said. But reproductive psychiatry is far more encompassing than just the postpartum time period – and includes many more conditions than just depression.
“Most reproductive psychiatrists work with pregnant and postpartum people, but there’s also work to be done around people who have issues connected to their menstrual cycle or perimenopause,” she explained. “… There’s depression, certainly. But we actually see more anxiety, which comes in lots of different forms – it can be panic disorder, general anxiety, OCD.”
Tackling mental health in this population doesn’t just improve people’s quality of life. It can be lifesaving – and has the potential to mitigate some of the state’s worst health metrics.
Mental health disorders are the leading cause of pregnancy-related death, which is defined by the Centers for Disease Control as any death up to a year postpartum that is caused by or worsened by pregnancy.
In Mississippi, 80% of pregnancy-related deaths between 2016 and 2020 were deemed preventable, according to the latest Mississippi Maternal Mortality Report.
Mississippi is not alone in this, Dossett said. Historically, mental health has not been taken seriously in the western world, for a number of reasons – including stigma and a somewhat arbitrary division between mind and body, Dossett explained.
“You see commercials on TV of happy pregnant ladies. You see magazines of celebrities and their baby bumps, and everybody is super happy. And so, if you don’t feel that way, there’s this tremendous amount of shame … But another part of it is medicine and the way that our health system is set up, it’s just classically divided between physical and mental health.”
Dossett encourages women to tell their doctor about any challenges they’re facing – even if they seem normal.
“There are a lot of people who have significant symptoms, but they think it’s normal,” Dossett said. “They don’t know that there’s a difference between the sort of normal adjustment that people have after having a baby – and it is a huge adjustment – and symptoms that get in the way of their ability to connect or bond with the baby, or their ability to eat or sleep, or take care of their other children or eventually go to work.”
She also encourages health care providers to develop a basic understanding of mental health issues and to ask patients questions about their mood, thoughts and feelings.
CHAMP4Moms is a resource Dossett hopes providers will take advantage of – but she also hopes they will shape and inform the program in its inaugural year.
“We’re available, we’re open for calls, we’re open for feedback and suggestions, we’re open for collaboration,” she said. “We want this to be something that can hopefully really move the needle on perinatal mental health and substance use in the state – and I think it can.”
Providers can call the CHAMP main line at 601-984-2080 for resources and referral options throughout the state.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1997
Dec. 22, 1997
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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