The Mississippi Association of Educators, one of the state’s teachers unions, has made various endorsements of statewide and legislative candidates.

They endorsed Jim Hood, Jay Hughes, Johnny Dupree, and Jennifer Riley-Collins; the Democratic nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and attorney general.

They made numerous legislative endorsements earlier this year. Here is a review of endorsements among those who have general election opponents. 

MAE is relatively small in Mississippi, with less than 5,000 members and no collective bargaining rights. But they are part of the larger National Education Association, who is no stranger to delving into virtually every left-wing political issue.

At their recent convention, NAE affirmed a new business item that reads:

“The NEA will include an assertion of our defense of a person’s right to control their own body, especially for women, youth, and sexually marginalized people. The NEA vigorously opposes all attacks on the right to choose and stands on the fundamental right to abortion under Roe v. Wade.”

This is a sharp change from prior years when they attempted to walk more of a middle ground on abotion, saying they support “reproduction freedom,” not abortion, while bragging about not spending money in regards to pro-abortion legal services.

As we have seen with the left, abortion has moved from “safe, legal, and rare,” to legal until the moment of birth and funded by taxpayers. And if you disagree with that you are evil, anti-woman, and essentially support violence against women. 

But the bigger question is, is it necessary for the NEA, or its affiliates, to take a position on abortion? NEA is certainly a left-wing organization, that has never been in doubt. But, what does abortion have to do with education or teachers? 

One might presume a rejected item that calls for a renewed emphasis on quality education would be more in line with the NEA. That read:

“The National Education Association will re-dedicate itself to the pursuit of increased student learning in every public school in America by putting a renewed emphasis on quality education. NEA will make student learning the priority of the Association. NEA will not waiver in its commitment to student learning by adopting the following lens through which we will assess every NEA program and initiative: How does the proposed action promote the development of students as lifelong reflective learners?”

But, alas, the union rejected those ideas. 

All 52 seats in the state Senate are on the ballot in November, though there will be very few seats that are actually competitive. Republicans currently hold a 32-20 majority in the chamber. 

The fact that so little attention has been given to the Senate, or the House, is probably a good indication that Democrats will be hard-pressed to make any gains and may actually lose a couple seats if things break in the GOP’s favor on election day. 

Here is what we know

Democrats have 13 seats where they are running without a Republican opponent. Republicans have 23 seats where there is not a Democratic candidate. So that’s our base. 

Here are the remaining races with both an R and a D:

What seats are competitive?

Republicans are defending open seats in Districts 3, 9, 22, and 31. Districts 3 and 31 are overwhelmingly Republican and would constitute a major upset if Democrats were to pick up either. District 9 is a Republican leaning district, though anything around Oxford might make you nervous if you are a Republican. 

But the other open seat Republicans are defending is the newly redrawn District 22, courtesy of a federal lawsuit. Lawmakers adopted a new district, which increased the black voting-age population from 51 to 58 percent, giving Democrats a much greater chance of picking up this seat. (And their best chance overall.) The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the implementation of the district. 

In District 10, Sen. Neil Whaley will have his first general election battle with an R next to his name. He won a non-partisan special election in 2017 in a district that is slight lean for Republicans, at best. It was previously held by a Democrat. 

Democrats are defending open seats in Districts 5, 8, 37, and 48. District 48 is open because Gary Fredericks defeated longtime incumbent Deborah Dawkins by almost 20 points in the primary. Dawkins had never won more than 53 percent of the vote and the opening gives Republicans a clear path in a seat they have long targeted, only to come up short. And while it doesn’t always translate, the district had about 4,500 votes in the GOP primary compared to 3,600 voting in the Democratic primary. It’s the most Democratic Senate seat on the Coast, but still leans Republican. 

District 5 is an overwhelmingly Republican seat that is historically Democrat, a once-common trend that is now almost extinct. The difference is that this year many of the local officials switched to the Republican Party. While not quite as Republican, Districts 8 and 37 also lean GOP. 

Best case scenario?

For Republicans, District 22 may be lost, but all other open seats and all incumbents hold. You then pick up the four Democrat-held open seats, giving Republicans a gain of three seats for the night and a 35-17 advantage, which is a two-thirds majority. 

Republicans are teetering on the edge of capacity in the Senate. That would likely do it.

For Democrats, you split the four Democrat-held open seats and pick up Districts 9, 10 and 22 from Republicans. That would give the Democrats a gain of one seat on the night, though they’d still be deep in the minority. 

Many Americans around the country will not attend school or work today, and that is because, upon that day, we celebrate the life and accomplishments of Christopher Columbus, founder of the New World. 

Unfortunately, many in our society, have now chosen not to recognize the name of this important holiday. In fact, many now claim this day in the name of Indigenous People. Such moral grandstanding dismisses the important historical and cultural significance of Columbus Day to millions of Catholics and Italians around the nation.

Rejection of Columbus Day is a disgrace and highlights modern progressives’ weak-willed insistence on placating the voices of mobs.

Much has been said about Columbus himself, but in this piece, I would like to discuss the origins of this day which we celebrate and its meaning for so many Americans. Columbus Day was unofficially celebrated in many cities and states as early as the 18th century but took on larger importance for many immigrant communities later on. 

In 1792, New York commemorated the 300th anniversary of Columbus’ landing. Many Italians and Catholics organized annual religious events to honor the explorer. On the 400th anniversary of the landing, President Benjamin Harrison encouraged people to “so far as possible, cease from toil and devote themselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer and their appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries of American life.” 

Ultimately, it was in 1937, due to lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, that President Franklin Roosevelt declared Columbus Day a Federal Holiday.

Today, some oppose the legacy of Columbus and thus reject this holiday. Interestingly, those who stand against the day actually rest on a long tradition of opposition. Almost immediately from its founding, the day was opposed by many due to deeply ingrained biases against the Catholic faith and its followers. 

For many decades in our nation, much of the country felt that one could not be Catholic and be a true American. Catholics were seen as Papists who held the Church as having greater authority than the president and American institutions, and thus many believed that Catholics could not be productive members of society. In public life, Catholics were demonized and belittled. 

This deep-seated disgust for Catholics reared its ugly head consistently in public life. It can be seen in the vitriolic attacks against Al Smith, the first Catholic presidential candidate. Yet, it can also be traced all the way through John F. Kennedy’s presidential run, as he was frequently questioned and distrusted by many on account of his Catholic faith.

Furthermore, biases against Catholics served to further promote deep racism and resentment against Irish and Italian immigrants. For those who came to the United States seeking a better life, many found that they were not entirely welcomed by their new home both due to their faith and race.

Columbus Day became a central rallying point for Catholics. Christopher Columbus was viewed by many Americans as an initial founder of the nation, whose brave exploits ultimately led to the capacity for our great American nation to be established. Catholics seized upon this appreciation for the man and held up Columbus as a shining example that one could in fact be both Catholic, and a proud American. 

Furthermore, Italians especially revered the great explorer as a testament to how their people had contributed richly to American life, and that they ought to be accepted fully into society.

Columbus Day represents what is best about America. The day symbolizes that ultimate goal of immigrants for integration into society, and our constant historical challenge to better meet the full definition of the rights promised to Americans in the Constitution, and the ideas promoted by our traditions. 

Celebrating Columbus Day does not mean white-washing history. One can recognize the ills of Columbus’ actions, however, it is necessary to place his work within the context of the moment and the moral structures of the time.

It should never be forgotten how the day has empowered millions of Catholics and immigrants to make the claim that they, too, are proud Americans. Those who have done so should be ashamed of themselves for striking this day from their calendars. Rather than attempting to intellectually challenge our communities with a proper historical analysis of Columbus’ work as well as the origins of the day which celebrates him, they took the easy path and simply cast the day aside. 

Well, as an individual with family origins in both the Italian and Native American communities, and as a proud Catholic, I am deeply disheartened to see so many willing to dismiss history and tradition in order to appease the mobs of trending opinion who readily decry that which they oppose, without the slightest bit of contextual understanding for history.

A new analysis from the Office of the State Auditor found that many government entities in Mississippi do not have proper cybersecurity measures in place. 

The Auditor’s Office conducted a survey of 125 state agencies, boards, commissions, and universities to track compliance with the state’s new Enterprise Security Program, which is designed to “provide coordinated oversight of the cybersecurity efforts across all state agencies, including cybersecurity systems, services, and development of policies, standards, and guidelines.”

The program was created in 2017 and compliance is required by law. Despite that, 54 of the 125 government entities surveyed did not respond. 

The findings among those that completed the survey showed:

- 53 agencies reporting having proper cyber security measures in place;

- 43 agencies reported having conducted a third-party security risk assessment in the last three years;

- 36 agencies reported having encrypted sensitive information; and

- 49 percent of responding agencies reported being more than 75 percent compliant with the Enterprise Security Program. 

“The results of the survey described above show that Mississippians’ personal data may be at risk,” Auditor Shad White said. “Many state agencies are operating as if they are not required to comply with cyber security laws, and many refused to respond to auditors’ questions about their compliance. State government cyber security is a serious issue for Mississippi taxpayers and citizens. Mississippians deserve to know their tax, income, health, or student information that resides on state government servers will not be hacked.” 

The Auditor’s Office is authorized to verify compliance with the Enterprise Security Program.

The Mississippi Hemp Cultivation Task Force met for the second time Wednesday, with subcommittees offering their reports on what the ramifications of hemp cultivation would be for Mississippi.

Agricultural experts said that markets for hemp — which is derived from strains of the cannabis sativa plant with low amounts of the psychoactive substance in marijuana known as THC — are new in the United States and that cultivation would present lots of unknowns for farmers. Legal hemp would have a THC content of 3 percent or less.

Law enforcement officials complain that they can’t tell the difference between hemp and marijuana and would need more funds. 

Mississippi is one of only three states where hemp cultivation is illegal. The other 47 states have legalized it for commercial, research, or pilot programs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will present regulations governing hemp cultivation nationally within the next couple of months after the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill authorized the growing and sale of hemp.

Hemp can be cultivated for its fiber, which can be used in insulation, rope, textiles, and other products. The seeds are also a good source of protein and can be eaten by humans or used for animal feed. The flowers of the plant can be used for cannabidiol, or CBD oil production that has benefits still being studied by scientists, including those at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Larry Walker is the director of the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi. He pointed to Kentucky, which was one of the early adopters of a pilot hemp cultivation program, as having advantages since hemp cultivation is very similar to a cash crop already grown in the Bluegrass State, tobacco. 

Kentucky has issued about 110 processor licenses in 2019 and the industry is expected to create about 900 full-time jobs. 

“Tobacco growers can do a lot of things as far as planting and processing that are very similar with hemp,” Walker said. “They’ve had great success, but some of the numbers there are quite inflated.”

Wes Burger is the associate director of the Forest and Wildlife Research Center at Mississippi State University. He said hemp has the potential to be a competitive crop in the state’s agricultural mix, but that isn’t a silver bullet or a path to prosperity. 

He also said there will need to be markets set up for hemp and seed testing to find varieties that would grow best in Mississippi’s climate and soils. He also said there are no legal herbicides or pesticides for hemp cultivation, which could make it problematic. Also, the thick fibrous nature of the stems that makes for strong products also can damage agricultural equipment such as combines.

According to Burger, there are three types of cultivation. Many farmers grow hemp for the seeds and those type of farms will favor plants with some spacing between them. Fiber farmers will want their plants to grow closely together and be taller with fewer stems to maximize the amount of fiber harvested. Those wanting to grow plants for CBD production would grow them like vegetables such as cucumbers and the plants would be short and bushy.

John Dowdy, who is the director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, said that hemp cultivation would add problems for law enforcement since it requires a laboratory to determine whether the THC content crosses the 3 percent threshold. 

He said that those costs could add up to $500,000 per year for the Department of Public Safety and that the DPS is already overwhelmed trying to stop Mexican heroin and methamphetamines and Chinese fentanyl.

The final meeting of the Hemp Cultivation Task Force is November 20 and the group will finalize their recommendations to the legislature, which is due in December.

All three of Mississippi’s charter schools improved their grades in the Mississippi Department of Education’s annual accountability grades released Tuesday.

The grades evaluate how school districts and individual schools are performing from year to year and 70 percent of districts were rated as a C or higher.

Reimagine Prep has gone up a letter grade in the last three accountability scores, going from a C last year to this year’s B. Smilow Prep improved from a D to a C and Midtown Public Charter School went from an F to a D.

There were other improvements with public schools. The number of schools that are considered failing (with a D or F grade) dropped from 37.6 percent in 2016 to 26.2 percent in the latest batch. The number of failing districts fell from 50 last year to 42 in this year’s scores.

The state Board of Education has to approve the accountability scores at its meeting today.

Last year, 28 districts improved their grades. This year, the numbers were even better, as 46 districts bumped up a letter grade. At the individual school level, 258 of the state’s 877 public schools improved by a letter grade from last year.

Petal was the highest scoring school district statewide, with Ocean Springs, Clinton, Oxford and Madison County rounding out the top five. 

Thirty one districts received the top grade of A, up from 18 in last year’s grades, and nine of those earned an A rating for the first time. There were 35 districts that earned B grades and 35 more with grades of C. Last year, 42 districts earned B grades and 37 finished with C grades.

After three years of F grades that almost resulted in a state takeover, the Jackson Public School district improved to a D. All of the JPS high schools received a failing grade and only 22 out of the district’s 56 schools received a passing score. 

Since 2011, when the MDE switched to a letter grade system for accountability scores, the JPS has scored no better than a D.

The accountability grades are partially based on the performance of students and the annual progress made on the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program tests for English language arts and mathematics, which are administered annually to students in the third through eighth grades and in high school.

Also figured into the accountability grades are the four-year graduation rate, student performance on biology, U.S. history and ACT tests, and student participation and performance in advanced coursework such as Advanced Placement.

Republican Brent Bailey and Democrat De’Keither Stamps recently shared their vision for the public service commission on Monday. 

And despite party labels, it wasn’t terribly different. Both candidates support increased renewable energy, such as wind and solar, and both promise to keep utility rates low while promoting maximum energy efficiency.

They are running to replace Democrat Cecil Brown in the Public Service Commission’s Central District. Brown is retiring after serving one term on the three-person commission. 

The PSC regulates rates with the state’s two investor-owned utilities (Mississippi Power and Entergy) and also regulates telecommunications, natural gas, water and sewer utilities. 

Politically, the central district is split pretty evenly, both racially and electorally, with a slight edge for Democrats. It includes the Democratic strongholds of Jackson and Hinds county, along with the Delta, while also taking in the Republican suburbs of Rankin and Madison counties, along with Lauderdale county as the only other population center in the district.

In August, 108,000 voters chose the Democrat primary and just under 100,000 selected the GOP ticket. That contrasts with statewide numbers where for the first time in state history more voters chose the Republican primary – about 330,000 – than the Democratic primary – about 300,000. Four years ago, the district supported a Republican for transportation commissioner and a Democrat for public service commissioner. But in 2011, a Republican took both the positions. 

Primary voters by party in the Central and Southern District

The central district is not the only district that will see a change. 

The southern district will have a new public service commissioner as voters will choose between Dane Maxwell, the Republican mayor of Pascagoula and former Ocean Springs Mayor Connie Moran, a Democrat.

In August, Republican voters nearly tripled Democrat voters in the first round of the party primaries, illuminating the Republican strength in the district. By every measure, Maxwell is the odds-on favorite to win a four-year term.

Sam Britton, who served one term, passed on a re-election bid and ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nominee for secretary of state.

In the northern district, Democrat Brandon Presley will be the sole returning member as he is unopposed in his bid for a fourth term.

The two candidates for the Mississippi Public Service Commission’s Central District commissioner position made their pitches to voters Monday and the pair agree on issues far more often than not.

Republican Brent Bailey and Jackson City Councilman De’Keither Stamps, a Democrat who represents Jackson’s Ward 4, will battle in November to replace retiring Central District Commissioner Cecil Brown.

Both candidates support increased renewable energy, such as wind and solar, and both promise to keep utility rates low while promoting maximum energy efficiency. Both also touted their ability to work across party lines.

The Mississippi Public Service Commission regulates rates with the state’s two investor-owned utilities (Mississippi Power and Entergy) and also regulates telecommunications, natural gas, water and sewer utilities.  

Stamps, a former U.S. Marine and Army veteran who owns a farm in Learned, proposed an energy efficiency audit of every state-owned building to provide savings for taxpayers. 

“The actual government of the state of Mississippi, from state government to county governments to city governments to school districts, we spend too much money on utilities,” Stamps said. “The biggest savings we have for our budgets is to make all of our buildings be more energy efficient. We need to reduce those costs across the state.”

He also wants municipalities to partner with cellular providers to erect more cellular towers and improve services as an expansion of public/private partnerships which Stamps said he wants to encourage as part of the PSC.

“When it comes to the utilities, we’re going to be the most aggressive Public Service Commission you’ve ever seen,” Stamps said. “We’re going to be focused on making sure the interests of our ratepayers and our utilities are taken care of. Utilities are very important and provide great service in economic development and providing quality of life.” 

Bailey, a Mississippi State University graduate and engineer in the energy sector, is running on a platform of energy efficiency, ending robocalls and providing cost-effective broadband to rural communities.

Bailey has been an intervenor in many matters before the PSC, including net metering (which allows homeowners with solar systems to sell some of their excess generation back to the grid) and the controversial Kemper Project. 

Bailey was a strong critic against Mississippi Power’s Kemper Project, an integrated coal gasification power plant that was later converted to a natural gas-fueled plant at a massive savings for ratepayers. 

Taxpayers could’ve been on the hook in the form of rate hikes for more than $6.5 billion, later reduced to slightly more than a $1 billion. 

Mississippi Power has yet to decide what it will do with the mothballed gasifer units at what is now called Plant Ratcliffe, a 30-minute drive north of Meridian.

“I’d like to think I’m the candidate with the most experience, the qualifications, the know-how and the independence to really be the voice of the consumer at the Public Service Commission,” Bailey said. “I, and others, sounded the alarm on Kemper. Questioning its justification and the viability of its technology and certainly its impact on rates for consumers. 

“We certainly believe that with simple transparency and an unyielding commitment to due diligence, we could’ve avoided the magnitude of that project that lies in the political lore with the beef plant and the KiOR facility.”

A ballot initiative that could authorize medical marijuana is a step closer to appearing on the ballot in the November 2020 election.

Mississippians for Compassionate Care submitted 105,686 certified signatures from registered voters to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office this week. The secretary of state’s office will have 90 days to determine if the initiative will qualify for the ballot. The signatures were required to be certified by county circuit clerks before being filed with the secretary of state’s office.

The group exceeded the minimum by more than 20,000 signatures statewide.

“We’re above the minimum in each of the old, five congressional districts because if a batch (of signatures) gets kicked out because it doesn’t have a signature or it doesn’t meet any of the requirements, we wanted to have a buffer there in each one that we indeed qualify,” said Jamie Grantham, who is the communications director for Mississippians for Compassionate Care.

If the ballot initiative is approved by voters in November, marijuana would be legal for those with a debilitating medical condition and would have to be authorized by a physician and receive it from a licensed treatment center.

Some of these conditions include:

• Cancer
• Epilepsy and other seizure-related ailments
• Huntington’s disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• HIV
• AIDS
• Chronic pain
• ALS
• Glaucoma
• Chrohn’s disease
• Sickle cell anemia
• Autism with aggressive or self-harming behavior
• Spinal cord injuries.

The Mississippi Department of Health would regulate the cultivation of marijuana, processing and being made available to patients. There would also be limits on how much marijuana a patient could obtain.

As of now, there are 33 states, including Arkansas and Louisiana, that have approved the use of medical marijuana and 2.8 million nationally are using medical marijuana to relieve pain and treat their symptoms.

“Patients in Mississippi are the same as anywhere else,” Grantham said. “We want them to have that option and it helps so many people. It’s polling at about 77 percent. What we’ve found talking to groups of people that most Mississippians are educated on this and understand that it helps people with severe conditions like epilepsy, cancer and Parkinson’s. They’re in favor of a strictly regulated medical program that’ll provide relief to patients.” 

This initiative wouldn’t affect recreational use of marijuana, which would require a new ballot initiative.

Speaking of that process, the way it works is organizers apply with the secretary of state’s office to start gathering signatures. The ballot initiative language and petition also has to be approved by the state Attorney General’s Office. 

Organizers of a ballot initiative need 17,237 signatures apiece for a total of 86,185 from the five old congressional districts — as they existed in 2000 —for a ballot initiative to meet the standard. 

Organizers have a year to get the required number of signatures and MFCC started on September 6, 2018.

For the measure to go into effect, the number of votes in favor of the initiative need to equal or exceed 40 percent of the total votes cast in the election.

Grantham said the MFCC used an outside vendor to obtain the signatures and the group did a lot of events statewide in addition to going door to door, important since Mississippi is a very rural state.