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.

Mayor Simmons: Greenville aims to be city of hope and opportunity

by Errick Simmons, Mississippi Today
March 18, 2025

Editor’s note: Errick Simmons is the third-term mayor of Greenville. This article is part of an ongoing Mississippi Today Ideas series showcasing perspectives of mayors across the state.

As mayor of Greenville, it’s my honor to share our city’s journey of growth and transformation. Greenville isn’t just a point on a map — it’s a vibrant community with a rich history, culture and shared vision for the future.

With billions of dollars in investments flowing into Greenville, including the recent $1.2 billion Entergy project, we’re witnessing the dawn of a new era. These milestones are creating opportunities across education, healthcare, infrastructure and economic development, fueling a Greenville that’s resilient, inclusive and built to last.

Historic investments reshaping Greenville

Greenville is seeing an unprecedented wave of investment that touches every corner of our community. In addition to a new federal courthouse positioning Greenville as a judicial hub, we’ve launched the Greenville Kearns Aerospace Maintenance (GKAM) program. In partnership with Mississippi Delta Community College, this initiative provides local students with hands-on aviation training, opening pathways to high-paying, skilled careers right here at home.

Through Mississippi’s first formalized college network — the Greenville College Access and Attainment Network (GCAAN) — we’re helping students move from high school to college with the support, resources and mentorship they need.

This past fall, we celebrated the groundbreaking $1.2 billion Entergy investment, which will transform Greenville, Washington County and the greater Delta region. Entergy’s new combined-cycle combustion turbine facility will use dual-fuel technology, primarily natural gas with hydrogen blending capability, enhancing energy reliability while moving toward cleaner power. Scheduled for completion in 2028, this plant will be Entergy’s first newly built natural gas station in 50 years and is expected to bring valuable jobs to our residents.

To add another billion-dollar icing on the cake, the Kinder Morgan Mississippi Crossing Project, a $1.4 billion natural gas project, is designed to transport 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from Greenville to Butler, Alabama, with a planned operation date of November 2028. This project will create 700 temporary construction jobs.

Health and food access for a thriving community

Beyond economic development, we’re prioritizing health and food security, recognizing that wellness is foundational to a thriving community. Through partnerships with Mars Food, Molina Healthcare and Kroger, we’re expanding access to nutritious foods, addressing food deserts, and ensuring every Greenville resident has healthy options.

In healthcare, Delta Health System’s Mississippi Delta Family Residency Program and Delta Health Center’s new clinic are not only providing much-needed medical services but also training future medical providers who are passionate about serving right here in the Delta. This work is about more than access; it’s about building equity in the health of our community.

A resilient infrastructure for Greenville’s future

Our infrastructure investments are reshaping Greenville. With $260 million invested in the Greenville Freight Corridor, we’re creating new efficiencies for local businesses and industries. We’ve committed $92 million for essential road, bridge and wastewater repairs, and an additional $50 million in funding is supporting flood recovery and building resilience against future disasters. These projects go beyond routine repairs; they’re about Greenville’s long-term sustainability and strength.

Delta culture shines in the “City of Festivals”

Greenville’s heritage is a source of pride, celebrated through an array of festivals that showcase the best of Delta culture. Newly dubbed the “City of Festivals,” Greenville is home to the Delta Hot Tamale Festival, (2024 USA Today No. 1 Specialty Food Festival); the Mississippi Delta Blues & Heritage Festival (world’s longest running blues festival), and a host of newer festivals and events. These gatherings draw thousands of national and international visitors and embody the unique community spirit that makes Greenville special. Our partnership with Viking River Cruises is another significant achievement, bringing tourists annually to experience our history, music and culinary traditions.

Business boom and community recognition

Our city’s economic resurgence extends to our business community. Greenville has seen record-breaking business openings, including national brands like NuFarm, Hobby Lobby, Chick-fil-A and Tru by Hilton, along with a boom in small, women-owned and minority-owned businesses. This growth reflects Greenville’s welcoming climate for entrepreneurs and business leaders who are breathing new life into our local economy.

Greenville’s commitment to creating a livable, family-friendly city has gained national recognition. We were honored with the City Livability Achievement Award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors for our “Worship on the Water” initiative, which fosters community connections, and the National Child Well-Being Champion Award from FoodCorps, highlighting our commitment to food education in schools. As chair of the Southern Municipal Conference, I am privileged to help lead conversations around solutions to shared challenges across Southern cities, driving positive change for the Delta and beyond.

Greenville’s global advocacy for the Mississippi River

As mayor of Greenville, I have the privilege of placing our city on the global stage, advocating for the Mississippi River’s significance to global food security, trade and climate resilience. Recently, I delivered a “TED Talk” style presentation at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce during the Building Resilience Conference in Washington, D.C. I addressed executives from Fortune 500 companies and federal agency representatives about the resilience-at-scale work cities are undertaking along the Mississippi River.

Together with 104 bipartisan mayors, we are collaborating with Ducks Unlimited to deploy 100,000 acres of nature-based infrastructure. This advocacy continues at international forums, such as COP26 in Glasgow, COP27 in Egypt and COP28 in Dubai, where I represented Greenville alongside mayors from around the globe, urging global investment in the Mississippi River Basin, which spans 10 states.

This collaborative work with local and international partners is essential for both food security and water quality. By highlighting the importance of the Mississippi River, we are not only advocating for our community but also positioning Greenville as a key player in the global conversation around sustainable development and climate resilience.

Greenville: A community that moves forward together

I invite you to see the progress happening in Greenville — a city bridging its rich past with a promising future. From our investments in cleaner energy and resilient infrastructure to the growth of new businesses and cultural festivals, Greenville embodies the spirit that is our Delta heritage. This is a community where opportunity meets ambition, and where every project, partnership and celebration is part of a larger story — a story of a Delta city with a legacy as rich as its future is bright.

Our journey is ongoing, but every day, I see Greenville becoming a place of hope and opportunity. We’re not just building for today; we’re building for generations to come, with Greenville as a model of what a city can achieve with vision, determination and the strength of its people.

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.