Gov. Tate Reeves inspired welfare payment targeted in civil suit, texts show

Mississippi’s former welfare director said he was acting on behalf of then-Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, text messages indicate, when he funneled $1.3 million into a fitness program that the state is now targeting in its civil lawsuit to recoup millions in misspent federal dollars.

News, Mississippi NewsJerry MitchellAugust 13, 2022Phil Bryant, Gov Bryant, welfare funds, TANF, Nancy New, embezzlement, poverty, Tate Reeves, fitness program, Paul Lacoste, welfare

Lead found in water samples

Nearly nine months to the day after a winter storm froze Jackson’s water system, James Brooks is boiling his tap water. Again.

News, Mississippi NewsJerry MitchellDecember 8, 2021Tate Reeves, Tainted, Jackson's water system, Jackson Mississippi, water outage, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, lead, drinking water, tap water, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, infrastructure, racism, Jackson water crisis

Mississippi insurers agree to commissioner’s plea to continue telemedicine coverage when state of emergency ends

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney has secured crucial support from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, the largest health insurer in the state, to continue covering telehealth visits at the same rate as in-person visits.

Mississippi has already kissed $7B goodbye, thanks to its failure to expand Medicaid. Will the state make that $20B?

KOSCIUSKO — Dr. Tim Alford knew that Mississippians were struggling to get health care before he began working in the emergency room in this small town five years ago.

Mississippi News, News, coronavirus, Coronavirus Pandemic, Mississippi SpotlightKatherine MitchellFebruary 3, 2021COVID-1 9, covid, Mississippi Medicaid, federal money, expand coverage, medicaid expansion, pandemic, Republican, Tate Reeves, Delbert Hosemann, Mississippi Spotlight, Unsteady Pulse

Two months after mask mandate ends, Mississippi sees record ‘uncontrolled spread’ of COVID-19

Since Gov. Tate Reeves lifted a statewide mask mandate two months ago, COVID-19 cases have skyrocketed to record levels in Mississippi, where there is now an “uncontrolled spread” of the disease.

No mask mandate at Mississippi polls. ‘This is absolute insanity,’ public health expert says

In Mississippi, those entering a school, a Wendy’s or a Walmart must wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but those entering packed polling places don’t have to don one.

‘They basically starved him to death’

Former Army National Guard officer Edward Stafford Knight went away for life in prison in August 2001.

His widow and others believe it turned into a death sentence.

News, Prison, Prison Reform, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellJuly 13, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative ReportingTate Reeves, Veto, prison crisis, Department of justice, criminal justice reform, Mississippi Governor, parole, Mississippi prisons, Edward Stafford Knight, mississippi department of corrections, MDOC

Reeves prison reform bill veto invites federal intervention, advocate says

Without offering any meaningful explanation, Gov. Tate Reeves recently vetoed thoughtful, bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation that would have gone a long way toward addressing Mississippi’s current prison crisis.

Perspective, Civil RIghts, Prison, Prison ReformKatherine MitchellJuly 12, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative ReportingTate Reeves, Veto, prison crisis, Department of justice, bipartisan, criminal justice reform, Mississippi Governor, parole, Mississippi prisons, MDOC, mississippi department of corrections, J. Cliff Johnson

Confederate battle flag comes down in Mississippi; Myrlie Evers weeps. ‘Medgar’s wings must be clapping.’

Myrlie Evers began to weep when she heard the Mississippi Legislature vote to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag.

News, Civil RIghts, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellJune 28, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative ReportingMyrlie Evers, Medgar Evers, Civil Rights, Mississippi Flag, Mississippi legislature, confederate flag, Mississippi House, Mississippi Senate, Tate Reeves, In God We Trust, Mississippi state flag

State law: No experience required for Miss. prisons chief

Mississippi’s new corrections commissioner will inherit the state’s worst prison crisis in half a century history, but, thanks to state law, no corrections experience is required.

Prison, Prison Reform, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellMarch 2, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative Reportingmississippi prisons, prison reform, mississippi department of corrections, mississippi news, Parchman, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Mississippi Governor, Tate Reeves, Walnut Grove Correctional Facility, George Flaggs Jr., Corrections commissioner

Justice Department launches probe into deadly conditions at four Mississippi prisons

A month after deadly riots, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division had announced it is launching an investigation into four Mississippi prisons.

Prison, Prison Reform, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellFebruary 5, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative Reportingmississippi prisons, prison reform, mississippi department of corrections, mississippi news, Parchman, Prison gangs, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Mississippi Governor, Tate Reeves, Prison Riot

Anatomy of a Disaster

State leaders and lawmakers oversaw the gutting of the Mississippi Department of Corrections’ budget by $215 million over the past six years.

And now they must oversee the future of funding Mississippi’s prisons, one of which is imploding.

Prison, Prison Reform, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellFebruary 3, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative Reportingmississippi prisons, prison reform, mississippi department of corrections, mississippi news, Parchman, Prison gangs, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Mississippi Governor, Tate Reeves, Walnut Grove Correctional Facility, Prison Riot