STARKVILLE — There has been more than a little media tut-tutting over the decision by Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves to hire controversial former Louisiana corrections official Burl Cain, 77, to lead the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
If you’re like most people, you don’t recognize the name Gina Raimondo. George Will, a conservative columnist for The Washington Post, thinks that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden should recognize her most of all.
Sunday’s charity golf match in the Florida rain, featuring the teams of Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning vs. Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady, was more entertaining than expected.
JACKSON — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson in early April questioned the effectiveness of a shelter-in-place order. He said, “The question is, ‘Are you accomplishing anything by doing that order?’”
When people are desperate, they are more inclined to do dumb things. To Mississippi’s credit, it avoided that trap when it went shopping for personal protective equipment in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Although Mississippi appears to have done well procuring medical supplies during the pandemic, another critical aspect of dealing with the crisis has not gone so well: processing unemployment claims.
When Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves inherited a prison system in meltdown, one of the most important decisions he faced was selecting a commissioner to try to turn it around.
From the moment the Pilgrims stood atop Plymouth Rock in 1620, a fitting motto for the dream that they held and which has continued through the centuries in the land they settled can be found in Galatians 5:1: “For freedom did Christ set us free: Stand fast, therefore, and be not entangled a…
Annie Glenn never minded that her husband always got the spotlight. It was unavoidable, as she was married to fighter pilot, space program pioneer and U.S. Sen. John Glenn.
Amtrak has been reprimanded for years by the U.S. Justice Department for operating facilities that allegedly were not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
After President Trump dismissed the State Department’s inspector general last week, word was that it was punishment for investigating complaints that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was using staffers for personal tasks, such as walking a dog and picking up dry cleaning.
JACKSON — I suspect, when this is all over, one lasting effect of COVID-19 will be loss of trust. Loss of trust in experts and other nannies, in governors, in mayors, in local police, in the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration — and in…
JACKSON — As our worlds collide over the coronavirus, the 1933 novel of that name by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer comes to mind. “When Worlds Collide” portrayed the surreal phenomenon of another world crashing into earth. Old earth did not survive, but a new earth did.
Looking ahead to the presidential election, the conventional wisdom is that Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin will decide whether President Trump begins his second term in January 2021 or Joe Biden begins his first.
STARKVILLE — Mississippi’s current leadership is taking a page from the state’s not-so-distant past by making the state’s gaming industry one of the first enterprises to be allowed to reopen as the state tries to come out from under the COVID-19 quarantine.
The $1.25 billion Mississippi has received in coronavirus relief is a chunk of money. To put it in perspective, that’s about one-fifth of the state’s annual general fund budget.
Donald Trump is now guinea pig in chief. The president, against the advice of most of the medical community, has decided to take a malaria drug to try to ward off COVID-19.
Editor, Commonwealth:
OXFORD — If Donald Trump puts the U.S. Postal Service out of business, I wonder how I’ll get all those letters asking me to send money to help reelect him.
Michael Watson, Mississippi’s new secretary of state, sent out an e-mail this week detailing precautions his office is taking to make sure the coronavirus keeps no one from voting in this year’s elections.
DHS embezzlement
Dr. Carey Wright, the state superintendent of education, calls her plan to gear up for continued distance learning in the fall a “life-changing opportunity for the children of Mississippi.”
Mississippi’s State Department of Health says its been too busy dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic to comply with the state’s Public Records Act.
Coronavirus
MERIDIAN — Following a weeklong hormonal brawl and a legal shootout over who would control $1.25 billion in federal coronavirus funding, Mississippi’s top leaders got together last Thursday, saying, “Aw shucks, we didn’t mean it, we’re best buds.”
There have been plenty of heartwarming stories about the kindness of ordinary people in the face of the coronavirus and subsequent economic shutdown. Few of these stories transcend centuries, but here’s one that does.
Social media can be a great conduit for reconnecting old friends and keeping new ones in contact. But it can also be a cesspool of gossip, cruelty and depravity.
Vitamin D
JACKSON — COVID-19 has killed tens of thousands, but the economic hardship caused by a prolonged panic will kill hundreds of thousands.
The recent bickering in Washington about the future of the U.S. Postal Service is curious. What’s the ultimate goal of those who are hesitant about providing money to a federal agency whose revenue stream has been hit hard by the coronavirus?
Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives have no problem detailing how they want to spend $3 trillion in additional relief from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Editor, Commonwealth:
STARKVILLE — So a Mississippi governor and the state’s Legislature disagree over constitutional powers and responsibilities when it comes to how the state utilizes and expends the $1.25 billion in funds from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. For those fa…
RIDGELAND — My favorite streaming video program during the COVID-19 virus stay-at-home lockdown has not been about tigers and their crazy trainer, Joe Exotic, from the wildly popular Netflix docuseries. Nor has it been about Scottie Pippin and the other guy who played professional basketball…
The Leflore County Board of Supervisors is trying to circumvent Mississippi’s purchasing laws by treating the purchase of new pickup trucks for three board members as three separate transactions, rather than one.
You can tell the country is making progress against the novel coronavirus when people start talking about a surplus of ventilators, which are used to help the most seriously ill patients breathe.
County pickups
OXFORD — Reports of meat shortages due to the coronavirus pandemic bring to mind the Mississippi beef plant scandal of nearly two decades ago.
The COVID-19 pandemic is going to alter the way society operates for a long time, and in some areas possibly permanently.
To many, comedian Jerry Stiller, who died Monday at age 92, is best remembered as the irascible father of George Costanza on “Seinfeld.” His trademark shout, “Serenity Now,” still gets a laugh from anyone who enjoyed the show.
Editor, Commonwealth:
Mother of the Year
The question that has been bothering me about the welfare embezzlement scandal in Mississippi is what motivated the alleged perpetrators.
A Texas hair salon owner spent some time in jail this past week for defying the governor’s order to close businesses like hers during the coronavirus shutdown. Though she told a judge she was standing up for herself because she was unable to feed her family, the publicity her stunt received …
Katy Murphey, at the age of 89, still works as a substitute teacher. That’s a remarkable woman.
Editor, Commonwealth:
COLUMBIA — The new phenomenon of drive-by birthday parties, where friends and family honk and wave from their cars while maintaining social distancing, always brings a smile to my face.
America should come up with a Miranda warning for politicians, one that advises them they have the right to remain silent and not say something that could be held against them the next time they run for office.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has essentially acknowledged its error in allowing bogus COVID-19 blood tests to proliferate. This week, the agency announced that test makers will have to prove their tests work or risk having them pulled.
Mask mandate
JACKSON — OK. We gave it the old college try. Now it’s time to get back to work and move on. Restaurants need to open. Functions need to resume. We need our normal social lives to return.
While Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves squabbles with his own party leaders in the Legislature over who should control the spending of $1.25 billion in COVID-19 stimulus money, an Associated Press analysis shows that some states received more of the federal money than justified.
Regarding the split between Tate Reeves and the Legislature over control of the federal stimulus money, the first-term governor doesn’t understand why lawmakers are behaving this way, other than the possibility that they might hold a grudge from his time as lieutenant governor.
DHS scandal
STARKVILLE — In 2019, Corona was a popular beach beer rather than a deadly respiratory virus, and no Mississippian had really ever seriously contemplated a development in which public schools, community colleges and universities would be closed, and academic content would be delivered throug…
News earlier this year about spending practices at the Mississippi Department of Human Services made the agency a shameful example of corruption. But further revelations this week are almost turning it into a punchline for humor.
Editor, Commonwealth:
OXFORD — The law of unintended consequences can come into play from a gasoline can to a hospital emergency room.
For many years now, a lot of smart people have been saying that the United States needs to get its health care costs under control. It’s finally happening, but the results are not pretty.
Emmerich column
Dr. Thomas Dobbs is a smart and earnest public servant. When I have heard Mississippi’s chief health officer speak about the COVID-19 pandemic or read what he has to say, I have found him reasonable and mostly persuasive.
Greenwood and many cities like it in Mississippi will soon be facing the difficult decisions with which private businesses in their communities have already grappled.
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