Will Stribling

1 week ago | mpbonline.org | Will Stribling

The Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health policy research organization, has released its 2025 scorecards on health system performance. In the report, Mississippi ranks last or near the bottom across many of the 50 performance indicators tracked, like premature death and hospital mortality. Infant mortality is one of the indicators Mississippi is most behind for, even when compared to its southeastern peers, both in the rate of infant deaths and racial disparities within that category.

2 weeks ago | mpbonline.org | Will Stribling

The complaint filed Monday in the Southern District Federal Court argues that House Bill 1193, which is set to go into effect in July, violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution by imposing the state government's views on matters like race and gender identity on educators and students. The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU of Mississippi alongside several legal partners on behalf of concerned teachers and parents.

2 weeks ago | mpbonline.org | Will Stribling

Mississippi's strength in education remains especially notable, as it remains at or near the bottom for the other domains covered in the report. The 2025 KIDS COUNT Data Book, published annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, ranked Mississippi 47th in economic well-being, 48th for overall child well-being, 48th in family and community and 50th in health.

1 month ago | mpbonline.org | Will Stribling

. While reviewing the budget for the state health department passed by the House, Senate leaders realized a $1.9 million appropriation to Methodist Rehabilitation Center in the bill violated federal rules and put over $1 billion in Medicaid funding at risk. Fixing that mistake and addressing concerns Senators had with other bills would’ve been possible had the House not ended its special session shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday morning.

1 month ago | mpbonline.org | Will Stribling

House Speaker Jason White responded to the forced delays by deciding not to allow questions about the bills to be asked before voting, further aggravating tensions between the two sides. “We’ll read bills or debate them,” White said. “We’re not going to do both.”At one point, White threatened to have Democratic Rep. Zakiya Summers of Jackson removed from the House chamber over her attempts to ask questions despite not being recognized by the chairmen presenting bills before a vote.