Mississippi physicians’ group lobbies for options to expand Medicaid

The largest physician group in Mississippi will pursue options to expand Medicaid in the state despite opposition from two statewide top political leaders.

He’s Served 20 Years in Two Notorious Mississippi Prisons. Did This Murder Suspect Receive A Fair Trial?

GREENWOOD — Imagine a murder trial in which there is no body, no murder weapon, and the prosecution’s star witness is suffering from such severe mental illness that the trial has to be postponed repeatedly.

News, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellSeptember 29, 2021Greenwood, Bildrick Jackson, murder, Natalia Little, Isakina Little, Tweety, Appeal, Love

Diabetes cases exploding among adolescents across the U.S., risks highest in Deep South

The number of diabetes cases among adolescents has nearly doubled since 2001, according to a new study by the American Medical Society. Those numbers are expected to quadruple by 2050.

Camp targets factors spurring Type 2 diabetes among young

Amid alarming increases in Type 2 diabetes among children, evidence suggests pre-diabetic kids are falling through the cracks when it comes to prevention efforts.

News, DiabetesKatherine MitchellSeptember 28, 2021Diabetes, blood sugar, adolescents, children, type 2 diabetes, black children, hispanic children, Mississippi pediatric, adult-onset diabetes, Diabetes belt, Strong 4 Life, Children’s Hospital of Atlanta, diabetes prevention

MCIR Reader Pays Debt of St. Dominic Cancer Patient Sued by Collections Agency

A Mississippi woman had her medical debt paid off following a project published by the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting.

Mississippi News, News, Price for HealthcareKatherine MitchellSeptember 24, 2021St Dominic, The Painful Price for Healthcare, Debt collection, cancer, medical debt, low-wage industries, garnished wages, Linda Burks, Jackson Mississippi, breast cancer, cancer treatments, chemo, suing patients, lawsuit, debt collection

Congress considers Medicaid expansion workaround to provide health care to poor Mississippians

Democrats in the U.S. Congress are considering a way to offer health care insurance for low-income Mississippians who have been denied coverage because of the refusal of the state’s political leadership to expand Medicaid.

Mississippi News, News, Mississippi SpotlightKatherine MitchellSeptember 21, 2021Mississippi Medicaid, federal money, expand coverage, medicaid expansion, Mississippi Spotlight, Unsteady Pulse, medicaid coverage, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, U.S. Congress, Democrats, health insurance, low-income, American Rescue Plan Act

The ‘Most Diabetic Place in America’ grapples with the devastating disease that affects nearly 1 in 3 residents

NEWPORT, Arkansas – This is the most diabetic place in America.

None of those interviewed knew that. Not even the mayor. “I didn’t know it until you told me,” Mayor David Stewart said.

State economist refutes politicians’ claim that Mississippi cannot afford Medicaid expansion

The most common refrain of prominent Mississippi elected officials who have long rejected the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act — that the state cannot afford the costs of the program — was refuted this week by the state’s leading economic expert.

Mississippi News, News, Mississippi SpotlightKatherine MitchellSeptember 15, 2021Mississippi Medicaid, federal money, expand coverage, medicaid expansion, Mississippi Spotlight, Unsteady Pulse, medicaid coverage, investigation, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, Gov. Tate Reeves, Philip Gunn

Mississippi must fix ‘foul-tasting, smelly’ water at Parchman, groups say. Corrections head responds: Water is ‘absent’ of bacteria.

Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman inmates drink foul-tasting, smelly, and potentially contaminated water, say the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Resources Defense Council.

Mississippi News, News, Prison Reform, PrisonJerry MitchellSeptember 10, 2021Mississippi inmates, Burl Cain, Parchman, Mississippi Corrections Commissioner, drinking water, Parchman water, Southern Poverty Law Center, National Resources Defense Council, MDOC, SPLC

Over the past 3 years, diabetes has killed more Americans than all the wars over the past century. Mississippi is ‘ground zero’ in that fight.

Bombs are exploding across the nation, with injuries and casualties reaching the millions, but few recognize the war that is taking place, experts say.

That war is diabetes, and Mississippi is ground zero, the only state in the nation where every county is in what researchers call the diabetes belt.

News, Civil RIghts, DiabetesKatherine MitchellSeptember 8, 2021Diabetes, healthy food, food access, obesity, Diabetes belt, Stephen Farrow, Dan Hurley, poverty, processed foods, Mississippi Delta

A case that ‘flips justice on its head’: Victim, not shooter, convicted in 1960 bloodbath

More than six decades ago a grand jury assembled to hear a grisly case. Four Black men had been shot to death and a fifth seriously wounded in a hail of gunfire on Ticheli Road near Monroe, Louisiana.

News, Civil RIghtsKatherine MitchellSeptember 7, 2021LSU Manship School News Service, LSU Cold Case Project, Patricia Sherman, Robert Fuller, Civil rights killing, KKK, Murder 4 men, shot 5 men, Killings on Ticheli Road, 1960s

‘The WORD’: A step of faith in preventing diabetes in underserved communities

Dr. Karen Yeary brought The WORD to churches in the Arkansas Delta.

The former professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences decided to introduce a lifestyle intervention plan through places of worship — The Wholeness, Oneness, Righteousness, Deliverance, a faith-based weight loss intervention to stem the ravages of diabetes.