Recent editorials from Mississippi newspapers:
Feb. 17
The Greenwood (Miss.) Commonwealth on demand rising on drug courts:
The Mississippi Legislature appears to be making progress on new, less harsh prison sentencing guidelines for non-violent offenders. The idea is to get a handle on corrections costs that have risen too rapidly over the past decade.
If this criminal justice reform becomes law, it means many people who get sent to prison will spend less time there. It also may mean that more offenders will have the option to enter an alternative program, such as the drug court system.
Assuming that happens, the Legislature needs to be mindful of a decision last year that has limited the effectiveness of drug courts.
The Mississippi drug court system has proven to be so successful that a few years ago, the Legislature passed a bill requiring the program in each county.
That was fine, except that it turned into one of those dreaded unfunded mandates because lawmakers, in ordering the expansion, did not provide any extra money for it.
A $10 fee on every criminal court case goes into a state drug fund. That produced $4 million a year, which paid for drug courts in the counties that had them and built up a surplus. But since the program has gone statewide, it costs twice as much to operate.
In 2013, the Legislature did not give drug courts any extra money. So the advisory committee that oversees the allocation of drug court funds made deep cuts - 25 percent for adult courts that are run by circuit judges, and 58 percent for youth drug courts.
A drug court run poorly because of low funding is asking for failure. Mississippi needs its drug courts to be the exact opposite: effective and successful. That will cost some money.
Online:
https://www.gwcommonwealth.com
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Feb. 18
Northeast Mississippi Journal, Tupelo, Miss., on Toyota endowment opens another path:
Toyota’s arrival in Northeast Mississippi seven years ago this month brought with it the promise of a $50 million endowment for education in the public schools of Pontotoc, Union and Lee counties, the members of the PUL Alliance whose partnership helped bring the world-leading car manufacturer and its assembly plant to Blue Springs.
The Toyota Wellspring Education Fund remains a promise in process of fulfillment, but its impact and investment continue opening academic opportunities that otherwise would not be possible.
On Monday, the Wellspring fund, Northeast Mississippi Community College and North Mississippi Medical Center activated a partnership that this fall will allow 20 students (juniors and seniors) in Lee, Union and Pontotoc counties to enroll in a health career survey course, combining online classes and shadowing professionals at the hospital.
Importantly, the course will teach students how the American health care system works and about the pressures shaping it.
The course is focused on the reality of education, work and expectations in the health professions.
Seven organizations have worked together for more than six months to shape the program, an indication of the rigor involved.
The Wellspring fund has just begun to spin off its potential for the schools in the PUL Alliance counties.
Expectations are great. Planning and implementation are understandably meticulous and conservative; programs will grow with success.
Online:
https://djournal.com
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Feb. 15
Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss., on state Department of Marine Resources again shows signs of complacency:
Soon after becoming executive director of the state Department of Marine Resources, Jamie Miller engaged a private firm to do an assessment of the troubled agency.
Horne CPAs & Business Advisors took two months to deliver their report.
When its findings were released in June, Miller said, “Clearly there is an environment and culture at MDMR that is susceptible to fraud, waste and abuse, which must be changed.”
Sad to say, the staff of the DMR and the commissioners who oversee them still seem susceptible to operating in the same old way. They appear insensitive to public concerns and expectations that business will be conducted in an open and inclusive manner.
Last week, the Commission on Marine Resources informed the public it was going to hold a meeting by posting a notice on the door of the Bolton Building in Biloxi four hours before the session was to begin at noon. Normally, the DMR sends an agenda to a mailing list of media a couple of days before its meetings.
The note on the door may have met the letter of the state’s Open Meeting Act, but it is a far cry from the transparency Miller promised when he took over the DMR.
Miller described the meeting as a “workshop” to update commission members on activity at the agency.
So why not update the public at the same time?
“I don’t mind the public being here,” he said when asked. “We don’t have a public comments section . but certainly we don’t mind the public being here.”
Miller also said he was comfortable with doing as little as the law required to inform the public of the meeting because “no actions are taken” at “workshops.”
By no action, Miller presumably means no formal votes.
But the process of sharing information is itself an action, as is the discussion of that information.
Sen. Brice Wiggins, author of the Marine Resources Accountability and Reorganization Act now under consideration in the Legislature, said he would hope the DMR would not only follow the Open Meetings law but also would give the public as much notice as possible.
What happened should not happen again. The DMR must be made to operate entirely out of the shadows.
Online:
https://www.sunherald.com
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