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Steph Quinn joins Mississippi Today as Roy Howard Fellow

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mississippitoday.org – Mississippi – 2024-09-04 15:04:37

Steph Quinn joins Mississippi Today as Roy Howard Fellow

Mississippi Today is pleased to announce that Steph Quinn has joined the newsroom as a Roy Fellow focusing on investigative journalism. 

In this role, Quinn will work directly with the investigative reporting team at Mississippi Today with a specific focus on criminal justice. 

“I’m so pleased to have Steph Quinn join our team,” said senior investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell, who oversees the criminal investigative reporting team at Mississippi Today. “She’s a talented young investigative reporter who is already helping us expose law enforcement abuses by the Rankin County ‘Goon Squad’ and others as well as examine the state’s criminal justice system.”

Quinn graduated in May 2024 with a master’s degree from the of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. She reported on juvenile justice for Capital Service and was chosen as a student leader on two projects at UMD’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, including a partnership with the Associated Press on use of force. Quinn also reported on Minnesota’s fragmented system of oversight of animal rescue as an intern at the Minnesota Star Tribune.

With a Ph.D. in history, Quinn brings to her reporting years of experience researching how Black migrant laborers and women shaped urban in Namibia during apartheid. After earning her doctorate in 2019, she held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of the in South Africa.

“I’m honored to join the talented journalists reporting on criminal justice at Mississippi Today,” Quinn said. “There’s a sign in the newsroom that says, ‘We ain’t done yet.’ The team’s track record and determination to continue pursuing accountability and justice make me really to get to work.”

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

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1750

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-11-04 07:00:00

Nov. 4, 1750

A painting of Jean Baptiste Point DuSable by Blackshear II. Credit: National Postal

Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, the “Father of Chicago,” was born. 

A man of African descent, he became the first known settler in the area that became the of Chicago. He married a Potawatomi woman, Kitiwaha (Catherine), and they had two

According to , the property included a log cabin with two barns, a horse-drawn mill, a bakehouse, a poultry house, a dairy, a smokehouse, a fenced garden and an orchard. At his trading post, DuSable served Native Americans, British and French explorers and spoke a number of languages. 

“He was actually by the British for being thought of as an American Patriot sympathizer,” Julius Jones, curator at the Chicago History Museum told WLS, but DuSable beat those charges. 

In Chicago , a school, street, museum, harbor, park and bridge bear his name. The place where he settled near the mouth of the Chicago is now a National Historic Landmark, part of the city’s Pioneer Court.

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

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Mississippi Today

Podcast: Mississippi’s top election official discusses Tuesday’s election

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mississippitoday.org – Geoff Pender, Bobby Harrison and Taylor Vance – 2024-11-04 06:30:00

Secretary of Michael Watson talks with Mississippi Today’s Geoff Pender, Bobby Harrison and Taylor Vance ahead of Tuesday’s election. He urges voters to remember sacrifices many have made to protect Americans’ rights and get to the polls, and he weighs in on whether a recent court ruling on absentee vote counting will impact this year’s elections.

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.

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Mississippi Today

Insurance chief willing to sue feds if Gov. Reeves doesn’t support state health exchange 

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mississippitoday.org – Taylor Vance – 2024-11-04 04:00:00

Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney is willing to sue the federal Centers for Medicare and Services if it does not allow Mississippi to create a state-based insurance exchange because of Republican Gov. Tate Reeves’ potential opposition.

Federal , who must approve of a state implementing its own health insurance exchange, want a letter of approval from a state’s governor before they allow a state to implement the program, according to Chaney.  

“I don’t know what the governor’s going to do,” Chaney told Mississippi . “I think he’ll probably wait until after the election to make a . But I’m willing to sue CMS if that’s what it takes.” 

The five-term commissioner, a Republican, said his requests to Reeves, also a Republican, to discuss the policy have gone unanswered. The governor’s office did not respond to a request to comment on this story. 

Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a authorizing Chaney’s agency to create a Mississippi-based exchange to replace the federal exchange that currently is used by to obtain health insurance. The bill became law without the governor’s signature.

States that operate their own exchanges can typically attract more companies to write health insurance policies and offer people policies at lower costs, and it would likely save the state millions of dollars in payments to the federal .

Chaney also said he’s been consulting with former Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, who also supported some version of a state-based exchange while in office, about implementing a state-based program. 

Currently, 21 states plus the District of Columbia have state-based exchanges, though three still operate from the federal platform. Should he follow through and sue the federal government, Chaney said he would use outside counsel and several other states told him they would join the .

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

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