Jackson has a new police chief, Dr. RaShall Brackney. The Jackson city council approved Mayor John Horhn’s selection with one dissenting vote, the Northside’s city council member Ashby Foote.
I can understand Foote’s vote. Brackney is a criminologist scholar, professor and book writer. She’s an intellectual. Jackson needs a drill sergeant police chief who can face down the gang leaders and tell them they have 24 hours to leave town.
Brackney was fired from her last job in Charlottesville, Virgina, a city one-third the size of Jackson with a much lower crime rate and gang infiltration. She was fired and then sued the city and lost. Not exactly an ideal resume for what Jackson needs.
Mayor Horhn presented Brackney as a fait accompli, hosting a reception for her at the convention center before the city council ever approved her nomination.
Rather than a social justice warrior, we need someone who will prosecute squatters who destroy vacant buildings to the point that neither the owners nor the banks want them back. Then the city is left with a $250,000 demolition bill.
The OYO Hotel and the Virginia College building are two good examples. Homelessness is not a crime but squatting and destroying property is a crime that has caused millions of dollars in damage.
I wish the new chief success. Let’s pray she succeeds. She certainly has the smarts and academic experience. But I certainly understand Ashby Foote’s “no” vote. Her particular style and approach seems ill suited to Jackson’s current crime situation.
The big news this past week is the ransomware attack at University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC). Industry experts estimate 1,400 ransomware events a year in the U. S. with $734 million paid out.
Can there be anything much lower than interfering with a hospital trying to help sick and dying patients? Talk about kicking someone when they’re down. All for money. This is a good example of the total depravity of man.
I believe that paying ransom to these cyber thugs should be a federal crime with stiff penalities. In turn, the federal government should set up a fund to help reimburse ransomware victims for damages, especially as this new law gets going.
If paying out ransoms was a severely punished crime, then the ransoms would stop because there would be no chance of the crooks getting any money. Eventually, the ransomware activity would grind to a halt.
This would require some political will. There would be some initial casualties as the plan was implemented. These victims would be reimbursed.
The rise of ransomware illustrates that all technological advances have downsides. It’s always been that way. Computerizing health care creates great efficiencies and better health care, but such centralization of data in a computer system creats a vulnerable target.
It’s like the arms race. They build a bigger bomb. We build a better laser shield. The escalation never ends. That’s why the best approach would be to neutralize the incentives for ransomware.
Federal laws already on the books make it illegal to pay ransomware to known terrorist groups such as North Korea or ISIS hackers.
Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina have passed bans on public entities paying ransoms. Victims are required to notify the authorities within a few hours.
Not every victim pays the ransom. The Port of Seattle refused to pay and its operations were crippled for weeks. Cleveland city government and MGM Resorts also refused to pay. The cost to MGM is estimated at $100 million.
Rumors have been swirling around the amount of the UMMC ransom. I wouldn’t trust any of these rumors. Most ransomware villains are practical about getting paid and set an amount based on what they perceive the victim can afford. I would guess the UMMC ransom is probably around the $10 million range. Let’s hope they have ransomware insurance.
Meanwhile, the UMMC says they are making progress in restoring systems and neutralizing the effects of the attack. It would be great to see UMMC recover without having to succumb to extortion.
House speaker Jason White addressed the Stennis Press Forum at Hal & Mal's in downtown Jackson this week, laying out his plans for the legislative session and how the House of Representatives will work with the Senate over the next few weeks.
White addressed school choice, PERS, sports betting, teacher pay raises, Pharmacy Benefits Manager legislation and a host of other issues.
You can listen to the whole talk, read a summary and the entire transcript at https://www.northsidesun.com/house-speaker-jason-white-gives-update-leg…
White defended the House’s priorities on teacher pay, the state retirement system and school choice, while criticizing the Senate for killing his signature education bill without what he called a “real” debate.
The frustration and sarcasm was evident when he described the Senate killing the House school choice bill in committee with little or no debate.
White defended his sports betting bill, saying it’s already here through out-of-state apps. There’s no way to stop it and the state might as well make money off it.
White praised the House bill on Pharmacy Benefits Managers (PBM) who are the drug middlemen often blamed for skyrocketing U. S. medical drugs prices. Local pharmacists have been screaming bloody murder and blaming PBMs rules for driving them out of business.
White said the House PBM bill has a three year repealer because the issue has been “so hot and folks are passionate on both sides.” White said he hesitates to interfere with the free market but then, during a question, acknowledged that the PMB industry has monopoly characteristics that are interfering with the free market.
