Feb. 20, 2017

On “Good Morning America,” the actresses from the 2016 film “Hidden Figures” honored another hidden figure — trailblazing engineer Raye Montague. 

When she was 7 and visited a captured Nazi mini-submarine in Little Rock, Arkansas, she saw the dials and was mesmerized. In 1956, she began working for the U.S. Navy as a clerk typist and quickly became more, learning engineering skills at work and computer programming at night school. 

Montague became the first female programmer of ships there and a computer systems analyst at the Naval Ship Engineering Center, creating the first computer generated rough draft of a Navy ship, the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate. She also served as program director at Naval Seas System Command and was honored with the Meritorious Civilian Service Award in 1972. 

During her career, she not only taught at the U.S. Naval Academy, she also briefed the Joint Chiefs of Staff each month. Many of her ship designs continue to be used. 

In 2017, the Naval Surface Warfare Center honored her. “I didn’t realize that I was breaking glass ceilings back then,” she told those gathered. “I was just doing what had to be done.” 

She died in 2018 at the age of 83.

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

State Auditor Shad White, a Republican who has criticized wasteful spending in state government, is using a taxpayer-funded attorney to defend himself in a personal defamation lawsuit brought by NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre.

Court records show that James Bobo, an Office of the State Auditor attorney, has filed numerous legal briefs on behalf of White in the litigation where Favre is suing the statewide official in his individual capacity — not in his official capacity as Mississippi’s state auditor.

Favre alleges that White defamed him in media appearances, which he claims are duties outside the scope of White’s official duties. Specifically, the athlete is suing the statewide official for accusing Favre of “stealing taxpayer funds” and knowingly misusing funds “designed to serve poor folks.”

White has denied the accusations, unsuccessfully asked a judge to dismiss the complaint and said his remarks about Favre to the media were truthful. 

In response to questions from Mississippi Today, Jacob Walters, a spokesperson for White, defended the auditor’s use of the agency attorney in the litigation. Walters said the comments Favre alleges were defamatory concern the state’s sprawling welfare scandal, which White helped uncover as auditor. 

“Brett Favre’s lawyers do not get to unilaterally say that his lawsuit is not related to the office,” Walters said. “They do not have that power. Auditor White is being sued over statements he made in his official capacity about an audit the office conducted.”

However, Hinds County Circuit Judge Debra Gibbs, who is overseeing the case, determined in June that Favre is not suing White in his official capacity. 

In his official capacity as auditor, White attempted to countersue Favre in the defamation suit and recoup unpaid interest connected to welfare money, which he claims the athlete should be forced to repay. But Gibbs ruled the countersuit improper because neither the state agency nor White, in his official capacity as auditor, was an original party to the litigation. 

“Favre did not sue the State of Mississippi and has not alleged that the State of Mississippi defamed him,” Gibbs wrote. “The discovery pleadings allege that White has written a book about his investigation, which is set to be released in August of 2024.”

Despite Gibbs’ ruling that the state was not a party to the lawsuit, White has continued to use an agency attorney in the litigation, even over matters related to his book, “Mississippi Swindle,” which sparked outcry and debate among some state officials.  

Favre’s legal team in February 2024 filed motions to obtain unpublished book portions. Bobo in March 2024 filed a motion to quash Favre’s efforts. 

White has also listed the book’s proceeds as income on his ethics form, meaning a taxpayer-funded attorney performed legal work related to a book that White personally profited from. 

But White previously told the Magnolia Tribune that lawsuits related to the welfare scandal have cost far more than he’s profited from writing his book, though it’s unclear how much money White has earned from the book sales.

Favre’s legal team has also filed an amended complaint alleging portions of White’s book defamed him, and White’s team, including Bobo, continue to defend him against those claims.

State Sen. John Polk, a Republican from Hattiesburg who has recently sparred with the auditor, criticized White’s use of an agency attorney in the lawsuit and said it was improper for him to do so.

Polk also previously criticized White for not getting legislative approval before signing a $2 million contract with Massachusets-based Boston Consulting Group to determine how state leaders could save money in state government.

“If that can be proven, then he should resign,” Polk said of White using an agency attorney in the lawsuit. 

White’s spokesman responded to Polk’s call for resignation by saying he was unconcerned with what Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s “lackey” thinks. Hosemann and White have both said they’re considering running for governor in 2027. 

It’s customary for the Attorney General’s Office to defend state agencies and elected officials in their official roles, and they have the discretion to defend them in their personal capacity when it’s relevant to state business. 

Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office initially defended White in the lawsuit but withdrew after the office learned that White was planning to publish his book, Mississippi Swindle, chronicling the state’s sprawling welfare scandal. 

In a January 2024 letter to the auditor, Fitch stated that because the book’s publication fell outside the scope of White’s official duties, her office was precluded from representing him in the lawsuit and advised him to retain “separate counsel.” 

In July, White retained Alysson Mills as private counsel to defend him in the lawsuit, but Bobo has continued to represent the auditor alongside Mills.

Attorneys for Favre have also questioned the statewide official’s use of state and private attorneys in the lawsuit, calling it an “unheard-of circumstance.” 

“And White has not explained how in-house lawyers from the Auditor’s Office may lawfully represent him in this action, in light of the AGO’s determination that it cannot lawfully represent him given that the book’s publication falls outside the scope of his official duties,” Favre’s lawyer wrote. 

As recently as Feb. 12, Bobo filed a subpoena on behalf of White seeking documents. The subpoena asked for documents to be delivered to the State Auditor’s Office in downtown Jackson’s Woolfolk Building and to deliver documents to the attorney’s state government email address. 

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

Mississippi’s largest hospital quietly left the Mississippi Healthcare Collaborative less than four months after it joined the group as a founding member. 

The University of Mississippi Medical Center no longer appears on the collaborative’s website. 

It is unclear if other hospital members will follow suit as they did in 2023 when UMMC terminated its membership with the Mississippi Hospital Association. 

UMMC and the Mississippi Healthcare Collaborative both declined to comment for this story. 

The change comes on the heels of the departure of Drew Snyder, the collaborative’s chief health policy officer, for a position as deputy administrator of the federal Medicaid program. 

The Mississippi Healthcare Collaborative has not announced a replacement. 

The new health care group was announced in November and united the hospitals that left the Mississippi Hospital Association, along with the state’s community health centers and several other hospital systems. 

The trade association splintered after the UMMC left in May 2023, with seven other hospitals following soon after. Four additional hospitals, all led by Gregg Gibbes, left the association in 2024.

UMMC cited concerns about transparency and communication in a letter to Mississippi Hospital Association announcing the medical center would be leaving. But many saw the exodus of hospitals as a rebuke of the association’s support for Medicaid expansion. 

The departure came just days after Mississippi’s hospital association’s political action committee made its largest-ever donation to then-gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley, a strong supporter of Medicaid expansion. 

Two UMMC locations – Grenada and Holmes County – remain members of the Mississippi Hospital Association. 

The Mississippi Health Collaborative’s advocacy agenda for this year’s legislative session includes closing Mississippi’s health care coverage gap as a legislative priority, according to a document obtained by Mississippi Today.

“Like most healthcare providers, Collaborative members support pathways to close the healthcare coverage gap, from traditional Medicaid expansion to other hybrid models,” it reads.  

Its agenda also includes increased trauma care system funding, certificate of need reforms and changes to health care provider taxes. 

The collaborative contracts with Jackson-based lobbying firm Capitol Resources’ health policy wing, Health Resources for lobbying and consulting services. 

Capitol Resources is a strong supporter of Republican Gov. Tate Reeves. The firm’s political action committee has contributed over $70,000 to Reeves since 2018.

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