Blog Archive

A collection of articles published by Rethink Mississippi from 2013 through 2021.

2021

• How So Many Ignore Their Bleeding Neighbors — July 28
• What the expanded Child Tax Credit means for Mississippians — July 19
• First impressions of Mississippi’s 2020 Census results — May 13
• Capitol Dispatch: Weed, bigotry, tax cuts, and water — March 12
• Capitol Dispatch: Taxation fixation — March 1
• Capitol Dispatch: Medicaid extraction — February 15

2020

• Honoring Fannie Lou Hamer — October 6
• Are you registered to vote? Today’s the day to do it — September 22
• Listen: a conversation with Bracey Harris about school segregation and reopening in COVID — September 2
• A visual primer on Mississippi’s brain drain (2020 update) — August 18
• COVID is also a mental health epidemic — July 23
• Podcast: our thoughts on Mississippi’s historic flag change — June 30
• Commentary: Changing the flag is just the start — June 24
• Preparing for the Next Big One — May 1
• Let Mississippians vote by mail in November — April 17
• Keeping Mississippians at Home — April 3
• Coronavirus and the Digital Divide? — March 27
• The recession has begun: How bad will it?get? — March 19
• Coronavirus arrives in Mississippi — March 12
• Flood control in Jackson: two birds, ‘One Lake’? — March 5
• Happy birthday, Governor Winter — February 21

2019

• Weekly roundup: Yes, we can read… and do math — November 1
• Mississippi’s brain drain crisis in 12 slides — October 12

2017

• New Census data, same old story: People keep leaving Mississippi — December 21
• If my son?s going to be from Mississippi: One mother?s reflection on the bicentennial — December 14

2016

• My Mississippi: The state flag is racist ? and unoriginal — September 29
• Commentary: A call for a more careful use of rhetoric — September 23
• My Mississippi: On being black and ready to die — September 23
• My Mississippi: Delta Dojo — September 14
• My Mississippi: Reading Ms. Welty after HB 1523 — July 15
• My Mississippi: Home at the China-King Buffet — May 19
• My Mississippi: Delta students take flight — April 29
• My Mississippi: A setback and a sigh — April 8
• Love it or leave it? — March 18
• Commentary: Mississippi does not have a state lottery. Let’s keep it that way. — January 25
• Why doesn’t Mississippi have a lottery? — January 14

2015

• Mississippi’s SNAP Trap — December 23
• A conversation with William Winter — December 17
• Commentary: Why I joined the nationwide fast food strike — November 20
• To rebuild after a storm, focus on building assets before it hits — October 22
• Pre-K study shows that Mississippi kids succeed when given a chance — September 22
• Read the fine print on special education vouchers — September 18
• Commentary: How to make $60,000 when schools are underfunded — September 8
• Mississippi leads south in black student suspensions — September 1
• Four policies that would close the wage gap for Mississippi women — August 14
• Healthy food, healthy children, healthy future — August 14
• Primary Colors: How Robert Gray’s upset was more than a century in the making — August 14
• Watch Jon Stewart’s best segments about Mississippi — August 7
• Mississippi’s unfilled prescription — August 4
• What Works in Mississippi: A Q&A with the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi — May 22
• Supporting working moms is smart economic policy — May 14
• Mississippi’s leaders thought welfare recipients were on drugs. They were wrong. — May 12
• College degrees are out of reach for most Mississippians — May 2
• Closing the book on fiscally-irresponsible tax cuts — April 16
• Commentary: The College Board?s dismissal of Dan Jones sets a dangerous precedent — March 29
• Letter from recent ASB presidents: Why Chancellor Jones won?t be easy to replace — March 24
• If you want to stand with Dan Jones, here’s what you can do — March 21
• Updated Senate plan would cut $550 million in corporate and income taxes — March 17
• Ten things you should know about Mississippi’s tax cut plans — March 17
• Why 3 percent growth won?t really ‘cover’ the costs of eliminating the income tax — March 12
• House and Senate tax plans do little for struggling working families — March 5
• Income tax elimination could tank Mississippi’s already-poor economy — March 4
• Mississippi cannot afford House or Senate tax cut plans — March 4
• Wealthy Mississippians would benefit most from income tax elimination — February 25
• Eliminating the state income tax in Mississippi: Is it a tax cut or a tax shift? — February 25
• Op-Ed: Toasting the demise of SB 2767 — February 24
• ‘My Mississippi, Your Mississippi, and Our Mississippi’ — February 20
• Large corporate tax cuts are not the answer for Mississippi’s working families — February 12
• To reduce unplanned pregnancies, focus on older teens and young adults — February 10
• Many working Mississippians struggle to escape the poverty trap — February 2
• For most Mississippi families, ‘middle class’ does not imply economic security — January 30
• Mississippi has the most elected superintendents in the country. Here’s what it means for students. — January 26
• Report: In Mississippi, lower income means higher state and local taxes — January 14
• What does the Legislature’s alternative mean for Initiative 42? — January 13
• These are the countries with lower infant mortality rates than Mississippi — January 8
• Commentary: Will Gov. Bryant’s poverty plans ever go beyond ‘welfare junkies’ and ‘dice-shooting deadbeats’? — January 5
• Universal meal program is ending hunger in high-poverty schools (as long as they sign up) — January 5

2014

• Stephen Colbert’s best Mississippi-themed segments — December 18
• Budget recommendation shortchanges schools and Medicaid — December 18
• Principal predicts ‘chaos’ if Mississippi drops Common Core — December 15
• Legislative Budget Committee recommends sweeping budget cuts despite revenue growth and full reserves — December 10
• Old beer laws are stifling new economic growth. Here’s how Mississippi can adapt. — December 10
• The Banking Divide: Nearly half of Mississippians lack the proper financial tools to save — December 8
• Report: To lift kids out of poverty, help their parents, too — November 12
• Tackling persistent poverty in Mississippi: Ideas from the Mississippi Economic Policy Center’s policy conference — October 30
• Mississippi narrows the opportunity gap, but key deficiencies remain — October 24
• Report: Mississippi spends $623 less per student than in 2008 — October 23
• The myth that allows Mississippi to ignore a third of its children — October 21
• Egg Bowl ticket or rent? Which would you pick? — October 13
• History says Mississippi can’t have two good SEC football teams at the same time. Has that changed? — October 5
• Starting with quality data, Mississippi KIDS COUNT works to improve child well-being — September 25
• Mississippi’s businesses demand investment, not tax cuts — September 24
• Mississippi produces the most ‘geniuses’ in the South — September 18
• Mississippi’s jobs problem is also an income problem — September 16
• Despite moderate recovery, Mississippi’s job market remains the weakest in the nation — September 11
• Mississippi’s black males are twice as likely to drop out as their peers. This is no time to cut back on education funding. — September 2
• To prevent a ‘license to discriminate,’ don’t let anti-LGBT judges run unopposed — August 15
• Sound, fury, and the burden of Mississippi history — August 14
• Commentary: Dr. Jones knows if Ole Miss leads, others will pay attention — August 4
• Medicaid expansion is a prescription that Mississippi needs to fill — July 29
• If you watch only one online video today, make sure it’s this one — July 24
• ‘The Rule of Law’: An immigration attorney?s response to Gov. Bryant?s comments on unaccompanied minors — July 21
• Rethinking the Month: The ‘get caught up so you can enjoy the summer’ edition — July 19
• LeBron is going home. Mississippians should, too. — July 17
• An open letter to Gov. Phil Bryant, re: Common Core — July 11
• The Common Core difference, from a teacher’s perspective — July 10
• You’ve probably benefited from Gov. William Winter’s education reforms. Now’s your chance to see how they happened. — July 9
• Is Mississippi providing financial aid for traditional and non-traditional students alike? — July 1
• How the Common Core literacy standards could have improved this anti-Common Core Facebook post — June 27
• Fifty years after Freedom Summer, Mississippi education remains separate and unequal — June 23
• Mississippi has changed since Freedom Summer. The struggle for justice and equality has not. — June 19
• We all love Mississippi, so why don’t we like living here? — June 6
• Rethinking the Week, May 3rd ? May 9th — May 9
• Mississippi’s Tomorrow: New approaches to entrepreneurship, STEM education are key — May 7
• Report: Mississippi children continue to lack needed resources — May 2
• Four thoughts about disaster and recovery in Mississippi — May 1
• Rethinking the Week, April 19th ? April 25th — April 25
• 41 percent of Mississippians cannot see this blog post — April 24
• Rethinking the Week, April 12th ? April 18th — April 21
• A thank you note to the taxpayers of America — April 17
• Rethinking the Week, April 5th ? April 11th — April 11
• Women make $9,800 less than men in Mississippi. In other news, Mississippi is one of five states without a pay equity law. — April 8
• Breaking the Cycle: Education must become Mississippi’s top economic development priority — April 7
• Rethinking the Week, March 29 ? April 4 — April 4
• State of Stagnation: Mississippians born at the bottom are likely to stay at the bottom — April 2
• Slicing the Pie: Mississippi’s economy puts the few ahead of the many — April 1
• The Healthy Students Act has reduced obesity among white children. Why not anyone else? — March 31
• Rethinking the Week, March 22 ? March 28 — March 28
• The ACA offers working Mississippians a long-overdue raise. State leaders should embrace it. — March 26
• Rethinking the Week, March 15 ? March 21 — March 21
• Supporting Mississippi’s young men of color: A conversation with William Buster of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation — March 20
• Only 6% of uninsured Mississippians have gotten covered through healthcare reform. What gives? — March 14
• Here’s (pretty much) everything you need to know about SB 2681 — March 6
• Op-Ed: My “Sincerely Held Religious Belief” — March 5
• Gov. Bryant’s embrace of telemedicine ignores the bigger picture — February 24
• Life and irony at Ole Miss — February 21
• Announcing two Mississippi initiatives promoting LGBTQ rights and dignity — February 20
• Commentary: The University of Mississippi’s latest ‘incident’ brings both pain and illumination — February 18
• Reducing racial disparities in our prisons: What can Mississippi learn from other states? — February 13
• Why Mississippians need national health insurance (and no, that doesn’t mean Obamacare) — February 7
• Mississippi has the worst hunger rate in the country. Why do we make it so hard to get food assistance? — February 5
• To give children opportunity, help single working moms — February 4
• Commentary: Don’t change the seal. Change the flag. — February 3
• Commentary: Politico, Phil Bryant, and the Positive Mississippi reflex — January 29
• Op-Ed: Creating a truly “fair” workers’ compensation system — January 21
• Mississippi must develop educated cities to achieve sustainable growth — January 20
• Should Mississippians hunt deer or rabbits? What game theory can tell us about brain drain — January 15
• Why are so many Mississippians moving to Sunflower County? — January 13
• LBJ launched the War on Poverty 50 years ago today. These maps show how poverty in Mississippi has changed since then. — January 8
• Three New Year’s resolutions for Mississippi — January 2

2013

• Four numbers to remember from 2013 — December 31
• Commentary: Gov. Bryant’s education decree is both meaningless and irresponsible — December 17
• Which part of Mississippi produces the most NFL players? This map will show you — December 16
• Every state got its annual health checkup yesterday. How did Mississippi do? — December 11
• Mississippi’s child poverty rate is twice as high as Lithuania’s. Why are we OK with that? — December 9
• To succeed, Mississippi’s school leaders need the flexibility to fail (and try again) — December 6
• “We?re tired of you saying that you don?t have money for our public schools”: Talking education with MAE President Joyce Helmick and NEA Secretary-Treasurer Becky Pringle — December 2
• Looking for opportunity in Mississippi? Check out this map — November 25
• Survey: Mississippi kids unprepared for kindergarten — November 19
• Conversing About Community: Jackson’s problems demand honesty, not platitudes — November 18
• This one map illustrates Mississippi’s greatest challenge — November 11
• Of Baptists, bootleggers, and brewmasters: Mississippi’s entry into the craft beer movement — November 1
• Stop blaming poverty! — October 22
• How did Mississippi smoke up billions from the tobacco settlement? — October 14
• The Nissan Trap: For better or worse, Mississippi’s investment creates dilemmas — October 10
• Four thoughts about hatred, honesty, and Ole Miss (UPDATE) — October 4
• Can Mississippians afford the Affordable Care Act? — October 3
• Teen pregnancy is a big enough problem in Mississippi. Let’s not invent another one. — October 1
• Racial disparities in incarceration are getting worse. It’s time Mississippi took notice. — September 27
• Teach for America just got some great news. Mississippi should build on their success. — September 22
• Mississippi should nuke its economic development strategy — September 15
• Haley Barbour on Mississippi’s race relations: mission accomplished — August 26
• Inside Mississippi’s 15 years of employment stagnation — August 5
• Welcome to Rethink Mississippi — August 1
• ‘Only Honest Mississippi Spoken Here’ — August 1