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Hello, my name is David Olds and I am your co-host for Mississippi Happenings.

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Joining me

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week is my friend and cohort, Mr.

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Jim Newman.

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Jim, how are you buddy?

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Well, we're finally digging out from the ice, but Oxford's still buried under it, oh we're
doing better.

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Good, and you were in, so how are things in Tupelo?

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I the roads are all cleared and I think everybody's got power.

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The rural parts of Lee County, I think still have some outages, but not anything near like
what oh Lafayette County's got.

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Yeah, up in DeSoto County, we've had our struggles, but overall, I think that we've been
lucky as well.

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I know I have.

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So, and most of the people that know of, but you're absolutely right.

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Our thoughts and prayers are with the people in Oxford.

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There's talkin' to some friends down there.

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It's gonna be weeks before a few of the people in the rural areas get their power back.

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So, our thoughts and prayers are with them.

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Joining me this week is our Senator from DeSoto County, Senator Theresa.

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Gillespie Isom, Senator, it's a pleasure to have you with us.

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Thank you so much for inviting me.

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Yes ma'am.

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Theresa, excuse me, Senator Gillespie, ISOM, was elected recently at the special election.

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She won her primary by 68 % and she won the general election.

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against her Republican opponent at 63%.

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Senator, have, you've done a tremendous job in getting elected and I'm confident you're
also doing, will do a tremendous job as Senator for DeSoto County.

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Senator Gillespie is a,

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a nurse, number one.

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She's a nurse administrator and she is a, and Senator, make sure I get this right, you are
a certified.

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certified legal nurse consultant.

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Legal Nurse Consultant.

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Good, thank you.

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wanted to get that right.

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So thank you for your service.

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Thank you for what you're doing for DeSoto County and what you're doing for all
Mississippians.

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Tell us a little bit about your first weeks in office.

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I mean, it must be exciting.

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It also must be challenging.

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So how has your first weeks been?

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My first weeks have been awesome.

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I've had such a great opportunity to meet so many people and all of our, well I say a lot
of constituents have been coming down to the Capitol.

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We had the mayors from all of DeSoto down and I had an opportunity to meet with them and
their aldermen.

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So it's been just awesome.

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We've been reviewing bills and meeting in committees.

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And I had a great opportunity to meet the legendary Grammy winner, Bobby Rush.

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Oh wow, that's, I would have loved to have there for that because he's such a, he's...

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did a press conference with us.

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Oh good.

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Yes, and I can tell you a little bit about that press conference as well.

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Yes, that one was in regards to people trying to steal with AI the entertainers' voices
and their images.

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And so a bill has been written.

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And so it's waiting to be approved.

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But that is something that

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He wanted to come and talk about, so we did a press conference with him and a couple of
other entertainers there in Jackson.

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Fantastic.

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It's so important that we protect our, as individuals and citizens, that we protect our
identity.

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I can imagine what it does for entertainers, and especially...

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ah

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is being written for everyone because like they mentioned and just like you said for
everyone because some of the high school students, some of the young kids, their images

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are being used by pedophiles and different things.

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So it's so important to get this new bill out there so that that can be stopped and there
will be a lot of punitive.

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type of, you know, replications from using that.

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Gotcha, gotcha, all righty.

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Jim, you wanna talk about, you wanna start the conversation about schools and school
choice, Jim?

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Sure.

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um One of my favorite subjects.

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years ago when we integration.

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in our educational system.

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All of a sudden in the Delta and maybe in other parts of the state as well, but
particularly in the Delta, uh academies propped up, cropped up very quickly, which were

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nothing more than uh schools for the white population.

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Mm-hmm.

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And it seems to me that what we are doing today is repetition of that same attitude that
we had back when integration occurred.

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And at the same time, I have not read, which is my fault, but I do understand that the
state constitution says that taxpayer money cannot be spent on private individuals or

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private companies or private educational facilities, oh which

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makes me think that spending any taxpayer money on voucher systems or supporting ah
private schools or school choice ah where the taxpayer money flows with the child is not

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legal.

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And I don't understand, quite honestly, I don't understand how nobody in the legislature,
oh Democrat or Republican, seems to believe in the state constitution and needs that it

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needs to be enforced.

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Can you help me understand that?

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Well, I will say that we have a legislative caucus and with the caucus we have met and we
have talked about school choice and in doing so we do not want public funding going over

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to the private schools.

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When the bill came on the floor in the Senate it was a no.

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When the bill went on the representative side, they have a different bill that's dealing
with school funding.

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They included in their bill the funding going to the private schools, but the Democrats
said they did not vote for that.

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So it was not something that the Democrats voted for.

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It is something that the Republicans are strongly wanting I brought up on the bill when it
came in the Senate dealing with school choice because my platform that I ran on, that was

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one of my concerns, making sure that public schools were fully funded.

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And so when the bill came, I talked about

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there was a item number in the bill and it said that the transferor would be notified by
the transferee at a reasonable amount of time when they would be allowed to transfer.

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And I'm like, so what is a reasonable amount of time?

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The response was whatever the district

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that's wanting to look at what that student wants to go to decides.

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So I said, so that could be six weeks, six months, whatever the district decides.

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So they passed that bill with the Republican votes on the Senate side.

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We have like a 32.

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you know, ah Republicans that are on the Senate side.

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So the Democrats still do not have a majority vote.

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So no matter what we do, unless it's one of the bills that requires a three-fifths vote,
then we still cannot make that change unless some other Republicans come over and say, we

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agree with you.

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Doesn't that three-fifths bill ah apply to all tax money being spent?

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That's what I'm saying.

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Did they have a three-fifths majority vote on that bill?

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It passed.

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on the Senate side and the one on the House side passed and that's the one that had the
money.

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We did not have money in our bill.

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We were only talking about the process on the Senate side.

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So on the Republican side, I mean, I'm sorry, on the House representative side, they did
put in the vouchers.

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It has not come to the Senate yet, that bill that has the money in it.

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So once it comes then we would vote at that point.

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That would require a three-fifths vote.

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So the House Bill HB2, so that's a House Bill and so that's the one that passed.

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And make sure I'm right on this.

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So that's the one that was passed.

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That's the one we know that Empower Mississippi was pushing as well as the oh Speaker of
the House.

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So on the Senate Bill,

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What is that?

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what is that?

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20, and I had the name here, 2020, or House Bill 2002.

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that, that's the correct, I think that's the correct bill, House Bill, Senate Bill, I'm
sorry.

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Thank you.

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Senate Bill SB 2002.

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Okay, and so.

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about funding.

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Got it.

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But now has that bill been passed or is it still up in the air?

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The Senate bill passed on our side that had no funding.

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The House bill is in the Senate committee now for review.

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And it has not come out of committee to come to us.

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Gotcha.

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We had the opportunity to talk to, or we know.

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Nancy Loome with Mississippi Parents Campaign.

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We've also had a chance to talk to representatives of MAE, Mississippi Association of
Educators.

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And we reached out to Empower Mississippi, but have not gotten a response from them as far
as what they.

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their thoughts on it, but we know that they're for it.

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But there's so many question marks and it's frightening what, in my opinion, it's
frightening what Mississippi and what oh our nation is trying to do with public education.

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just with the country and period.

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Yes.

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It's the old saying of follow the money.

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In Mississippi, all you gotta do is follow the money and see who's promoting it and its
private interest groups and most all of them are from out of state and there's money to be

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made.

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There's not any money to be made in public education.

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They have rules and regulations that they have to follow.

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private schools that would get our tax money don't.

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And that's the long and short of it.

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You're correct.

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So we're hoping that once it comes over to the Senate side, that that bill will fail or be
amended so that it will not include that money in there.

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Gotcha.

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Good.

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we appreciate hearing about that.

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Let's talk a little bit about um Teacher Pay.

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What happened at the session about that?

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What's going on with now Teacher Pay?

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We approved teacher pay and it's for the teachers and for the teacher assistants and
they're wanting to you know make sure that they get an increase.

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Also in the House Bill 2 I was told which I have not had an opportunity to read that bill.

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They told me it's half as large as a Webster dictionary.

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But inside that bill, they have put teacher pay in it as well, along with the public
school funding.

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So that bill has a lot.

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But we are just elated over on the Senate side to increase the salaries of the teachers
and the teacher assistants.

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That bill did not have any problems going through.

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Gotcha.

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I understand that the teacher's assistants got a $1,700 pay increase on the teacher's
assistant, but I don't remember what it was for the teachers themselves.

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But the assistants got a 17.

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Was it five or seven?

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I think it was.

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right off that map.

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yeah, Jimmy may be right.

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It may be five, but I was thinking maybe they asked for seven and got five.

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I'm not sure, but yeah, any pay that they get is richly deserved.

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That's for sure.

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Senator, I want to ask you what may be a personal question.

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particularly in rural Mississippi, where the tax base is not sufficient for a county to
supplement the teacher pay salaries.

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The base pay for a person who spent four years in college gets a bachelor's degree and
goes into teaching, the starting salary is $41,000.

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Drug dealers make more than that standing on street corners.

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I truly understand.

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I was a director of a nursing school.

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And you know a nurse can make any amount of money that they want because they can work 16
hours and you know get your salary plus time and a half.

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I had one administrator that

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wanted to bring teachers in at $38,000 and then when they leave he'd ask me, I said what's
wrong?

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Why these teachers want to leave?

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And I told him you're not paying them anything, you know.

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They can go and make that and don't have to take the work home and do any kind of lesson
plans or anything.

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They go to work, they leave, and they come home.

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But for a teacher, you are on that clock even after you leave your job.

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Because you have to do plans for your next day and make sure that your students have
adequate, you know, material to meet the curriculum and to meet the schools and the state,

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you know, testing standards.

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So people that aren't educators, because I have a master's degree in education, so people
don't understand what it is to be a teacher.

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My son is a principal and his wife is a principal.

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And when they were talking about this bill, I said, well, the teachers have to have
someone to direct them still, but they don't want to give any administrators any type of

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raise.

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They only wanted it to go to the teachers and to the teacher assistant.

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But the administrator also has to deal with all of that and to make sure that everything
happens.

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Because many times, if you don't have someone that's a leader or you have a failed leader,
we want the success.

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The success is not there.

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So it's just real important that, you know, I asked to be on the education committee, but
I was not assigned to that committee because I was told that freshmen are not placed on

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that.

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But we need to have people that have those specialties on these committees.

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So when we make these bills that someone can say,

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This is an experience.

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This is what I know from fact and not just from hearing it from someone else.

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uh

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You

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Gotcha, appreciate that.

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Well, well, well.

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Jim, you got a comment?

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I hear you little dog.

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Yeah.

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yes.

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Not in my office, so I can't.

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I'm stuck in the house.

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ah I think anybody that spends four years, but what why we have never well, I guess on one
or two occasions we might have come close to fully funding education.

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But why is it that?

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legislators do not understand that an educated workforce is going to benefit the entire
state of Mississippi.

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And an educated workforce depends on a well-educated and well-paid education system, that
is the teachers.

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Despite what the federal board of education ah thinks that

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Teachers are not professionals.

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A single mom that's a teacher with one or two children is eligible for food stamps at
$41,000- $42,000 a year.

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I don't particularly like and want my teachers on food stamps.

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I don't want them to have to worry about where their next meal is coming from.

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And it seems that I just don't have that kind of thinking going on.

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legislature.

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least not in the Republican side.

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I am, go ahead.

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Like I say, we just have to get people on the committees that have the same level of
understanding as the people that are working in the various professions.

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They do the same thing in the nursing, you know, areas or in the health committees because
you have to have that understanding.

223
00:20:11,350 --> 00:20:14,403
They're wanting to bring out bills that say

224
00:20:14,403 --> 00:20:20,110
Nursing needs to have CEUs in different areas.

225
00:20:20,110 --> 00:20:21,360
But you're not a nurse.

226
00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:26,086
You don't even know that the nurses already get that level of education.

227
00:20:26,086 --> 00:20:30,261
They're working on the floor whenever someone comes in with a new product.

228
00:20:30,261 --> 00:20:31,472
We are in service.

229
00:20:31,472 --> 00:20:32,534
We are trained.

230
00:20:32,534 --> 00:20:36,900
I had to explain that to one of the committee members, but I'm not on the committee.

231
00:20:36,900 --> 00:20:42,221
But if I was on the committee, I would have a voice to sit there at that table and be able
to vote.

232
00:20:42,221 --> 00:20:45,658
So it's just different.

233
00:20:45,658 --> 00:20:54,978
I have a respect for the nursing, well, healthcare in general, but also for nursing.

234
00:20:54,978 --> 00:21:01,049
My wife, and I won't say was, because once you're a nurse, you're always a nurse.

235
00:21:01,216 --> 00:21:09,627
She has retired and she was a nurse for 40 some odd years.

236
00:21:09,627 --> 00:21:12,378
so it's...

237
00:21:12,378 --> 00:21:21,315
You know, it's a unique profession and it really takes someone with a servant heart to be
able to do that.

238
00:21:21,315 --> 00:21:32,468
Right, and for the educators, that is a gift that you are given to be able to share with
someone else and to teach.

239
00:21:32,728 --> 00:21:35,409
Everyone cannot teach.

240
00:21:35,749 --> 00:21:45,032
I have run into people that were professionals that came into my nursing program that
wanted to be a teacher.

241
00:21:45,972 --> 00:21:48,684
Every student failed the test.

242
00:21:48,684 --> 00:21:51,675
because they could not teach or share the material.

243
00:21:51,675 --> 00:21:58,608
But I could go back in and teach that material and they'd make A's or B's.

244
00:21:58,608 --> 00:22:02,189
So you have to have that gift in order to share.

245
00:22:02,369 --> 00:22:05,150
And that's what people have to understand.

246
00:22:05,150 --> 00:22:13,993
And that's why even when we're looking at the classroom teachers, if you don't prepare,

247
00:22:14,104 --> 00:22:19,547
then they can't go in and teach and get the levels that's required.

248
00:22:20,188 --> 00:22:25,690
I've been an accreditor for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

249
00:22:25,731 --> 00:22:28,542
So I've sat in on those classes.

250
00:22:28,542 --> 00:22:33,185
I've sat in and gone through and looked at the modules.

251
00:22:33,185 --> 00:22:35,296
I've created curriculums.

252
00:22:35,487 --> 00:22:44,114
So that's why it takes also not just a teacher, not just a teacher assistant, but it takes
the administrator as well.

253
00:22:44,311 --> 00:22:45,769
Good, thank you for that.

254
00:22:45,769 --> 00:22:50,681
You brought up an interesting question in my mind with your educational background.

255
00:22:50,681 --> 00:22:52,984
How is it you're not on that committee?

256
00:22:55,016 --> 00:23:08,121
Well, when I requested or submitted in my request that I would like to have been on that
committee, the lieutenant governor says he normally does not put freshmen on that

257
00:23:08,121 --> 00:23:08,701
committee.

258
00:23:08,701 --> 00:23:11,962
So I was not, you know, placed on it.

259
00:23:12,053 --> 00:23:14,549
That's the weakest excuse I've ever heard.

260
00:23:14,608 --> 00:23:15,496
Thank

261
00:23:15,974 --> 00:23:22,353
Especially with your years of experience in healthcare and in nursing profession.

262
00:23:24,433 --> 00:23:31,155
Yes, I was a director of a school for 24 years, so I have written curriculums.

263
00:23:31,155 --> 00:23:37,777
I was a creditor for 16 years, so I know.

264
00:23:37,777 --> 00:23:39,148
But it's okay.

265
00:23:39,148 --> 00:23:40,868
I won't be a freshman long.

266
00:23:40,868 --> 00:23:44,639
I'll move up, so hopefully I'll get a chance to sit in that seat.

267
00:23:44,639 --> 00:23:49,392
Let me ask you something, because I really was impressed with the election results.

268
00:23:49,832 --> 00:24:00,070
And as you know, we've got elections coming up this year for the Senate and the first CD
House.

269
00:24:00,070 --> 00:24:04,654
How did you win by such a nice margin?

270
00:24:04,654 --> 00:24:07,119
What was the key to your success?

271
00:24:07,312 --> 00:24:10,533
Well, David can tell you I'm a people person.

272
00:24:11,173 --> 00:24:14,654
I am in the community all the time.

273
00:24:15,054 --> 00:24:20,887
I have never been someone that just popped up because the election came.

274
00:24:21,267 --> 00:24:26,108
I have been serving on committees in the area.

275
00:24:26,408 --> 00:24:32,870
President, first vice president, committee member, just a helper.

276
00:24:32,970 --> 00:24:35,751
So people knew that.

277
00:24:35,822 --> 00:24:41,808
I wasn't getting paid, but I was still out there doing what I could do to help make a
difference.

278
00:24:42,169 --> 00:24:47,065
So they felt good about me as a person, I believe.

279
00:24:47,065 --> 00:24:54,037
And she spent a lot of hours walking uh door to door and asking for the votes.

280
00:24:54,037 --> 00:24:57,479
I did, I took it as serious as a job.

281
00:24:57,500 --> 00:25:06,447
I would get up at eight in the morning, put my t-shirt on, my tennis shoes, and I would
hit the neighborhood.

282
00:25:07,608 --> 00:25:08,709
Yes.

283
00:25:08,743 --> 00:25:18,300
I think that says a lot about your character and says a lot about, and also I think says a
lot about your success.

284
00:25:19,372 --> 00:25:20,252
Jim?

285
00:25:20,673 --> 00:25:24,962
is on your mind for the rest of the year?

286
00:25:24,962 --> 00:25:26,989
there still a budget?

287
00:25:27,341 --> 00:25:32,915
Yeah, one of the things that we did on Friday, I had an opportunity.

288
00:25:32,915 --> 00:25:36,197
I'm on the Municipalities Committee.

289
00:25:36,558 --> 00:25:41,001
And in that committee, we brought up about zoning.

290
00:25:41,802 --> 00:25:49,647
And here in DeSoto County, we have a lot of zoning or rezoning going on.

291
00:25:49,988 --> 00:25:54,651
And so one of the things that they wanted was to expand

292
00:25:54,782 --> 00:26:03,314
the time frame as far as putting it on Facebook and having it out on the websites and
things like that.

293
00:26:03,556 --> 00:26:05,217
And I brought up

294
00:26:05,349 --> 00:26:11,611
the point that the signs that are put out, they're only out there for seven days.

295
00:26:11,652 --> 00:26:14,393
Some people don't get the newspaper.

296
00:26:14,393 --> 00:26:17,154
Some people aren't on social media.

297
00:26:17,154 --> 00:26:22,907
But if they're writing through their community, then they would be able to see the sign.

298
00:26:22,907 --> 00:26:29,292
So I asked that the bill be amended to 30 days to keep that sign out.

299
00:26:29,292 --> 00:26:31,964
And that did pass in the committee.

300
00:26:31,964 --> 00:26:35,908
but it still has to go to the floor and be passed there.

301
00:26:35,908 --> 00:26:47,326
So that was something that I felt like was needed because here where I live, they are
constantly trying to put, you know, different or smaller homes.

302
00:26:47,326 --> 00:26:57,823
They did build a subdivision and put 35 rental homes there, but I stay like within a block
from that area.

303
00:26:57,823 --> 00:27:03,934
But what they decided, because I'm not in 500 feet of it, I didn't get the notice.

304
00:27:03,934 --> 00:27:18,425
So, you know, the rezoning, they need to make sure that people are able to know so that
they can come to the meetings and be able to voice their approval or their concerns that

305
00:27:18,425 --> 00:27:20,636
they have in regards to that.

306
00:27:20,636 --> 00:27:38,127
That's interesting that you brought that zoning issue up because I used to be chairman of
the planning committee for Tupelo and that notification of anybody within 500 feet, you

307
00:27:38,127 --> 00:27:47,158
can send it out, but not all of the people that get the notice even live in the same city.

308
00:27:47,158 --> 00:27:48,509
They're absentee owners.

309
00:27:48,509 --> 00:27:51,080
It's a building that they own and they lease.

310
00:27:51,375 --> 00:28:04,242
And if the notification goes to whoever's occupying that address in the city, the person
that owns the building living in Cincinnati, Ohio, doesn't know anything about it.

311
00:28:04,242 --> 00:28:08,032
oh

312
00:28:08,032 --> 00:28:10,955
distance, but I don't get the notice.

313
00:28:11,757 --> 00:28:14,491
So it's just not a good thing.

314
00:28:14,491 --> 00:28:17,666
It needs to be looked at and expanded.

315
00:28:17,666 --> 00:28:18,417
Gotcha.

316
00:28:18,417 --> 00:28:19,399
Let me ask you this.

317
00:28:19,399 --> 00:28:26,704
Let's talk, you know, we've had some interesting winter weather here for the past week.

318
00:28:26,944 --> 00:28:36,483
And there's, you know, and on social media, you kind of take, you know, you take what you
got and you kind of take it with a grain of salt.

319
00:28:36,483 --> 00:28:39,635
But it seems that...

320
00:28:41,303 --> 00:28:49,667
and I'm not, you know, number one, the people that work, the linemen, the people that take
care of the power lines do a tremendous job.

321
00:28:49,667 --> 00:29:02,815
We appreciate everything that they're doing and also with, and I gotta say, Branch, I
think the city of Olive Branch did a great job taking care of our streets.

322
00:29:02,815 --> 00:29:09,304
First time I've seen a snowplow in Olive Branch, Mississippi, but that was good.

323
00:29:09,304 --> 00:29:10,290
Yeah.

324
00:29:10,290 --> 00:29:21,706
What's your thoughts concerning MDOT and what's going on as far as with the transportation
end of it during this winter weather?

325
00:29:22,118 --> 00:29:30,062
Well, I did talk to the commissioner for uh the areas three and four.

326
00:29:30,882 --> 00:29:43,408
And he was telling me, because I talked, shared with him, that I left here in DeSoto
County Monday at one o'clock.

327
00:29:44,029 --> 00:29:46,451
It took me until eight o'clock.

328
00:29:46,451 --> 00:29:49,262
to get to Jackson, Mississippi.

329
00:29:49,262 --> 00:29:53,083
And it only normally takes me three hours.

330
00:29:53,323 --> 00:29:59,184
The streets were so bad, I only could drive seven miles an hour.

331
00:29:59,372 --> 00:30:07,525
And so in doing so, I asked him, what did he think, you know, they could have done
differently?

332
00:30:07,525 --> 00:30:13,847
And he told me that they did put the sand out and they had salted the areas.

333
00:30:13,968 --> 00:30:23,493
But what happened, he said it, soon as they had put that out, we did not get the snow, we
got ice.

334
00:30:24,374 --> 00:30:30,496
And so the ice just froze on top of what they had put down.

335
00:30:31,257 --> 00:30:42,463
And so he said that the plows that they have are snow plows and they're not ice plows, so
they could not dig up all of the ice.

336
00:30:42,614 --> 00:30:44,686
And that was what the problem was.

337
00:30:44,686 --> 00:30:48,829
And I asked then, said, well, what happened with 55?

338
00:30:48,829 --> 00:30:51,631
Why was it shut down for so long?

339
00:30:51,631 --> 00:30:53,652
He said, we had to do that.

340
00:30:53,833 --> 00:30:58,456
That was the only way that they could clear that ice out.

341
00:30:58,670 --> 00:31:16,588
He said they had to bring people from CD, well from the county districts, three, four,
five and six all the way up to pass Grenada to clear out 55 so that the traffic could get

342
00:31:16,588 --> 00:31:18,049
moving again.

343
00:31:18,349 --> 00:31:28,464
Then I asked, well, what do you think we need more equipment or do we need more money from
the legislations to

344
00:31:28,464 --> 00:31:29,815
have that.

345
00:31:30,195 --> 00:31:35,990
And his reply was, we don't usually get this type of weather.

346
00:31:36,150 --> 00:31:43,805
So he told me it cost over a million dollars to get one of those ice breaking type
machines.

347
00:31:43,805 --> 00:31:49,470
And he just didn't feel like it was a need to do that because it's not something that's
common.

348
00:31:49,470 --> 00:31:52,538
Gotcha, gotcha a little.

349
00:31:52,538 --> 00:31:57,842
It was unusual weather, so we can understand that.

350
00:31:57,842 --> 00:31:58,676
Right.

351
00:31:58,676 --> 00:32:00,429
Okay.

352
00:32:00,429 --> 00:32:09,003
oh Well, hopefully the weather will be getting better and I'll just be over.

353
00:32:09,045 --> 00:32:09,945
Jim?

354
00:32:09,991 --> 00:32:15,613
Other than education, Senator, what are some of your other priorities that you would like
to see?

355
00:32:16,667 --> 00:32:33,947
health care and I did write a bill in regards to maternal mortality because one of the
problems is that in the rural areas, you know, they don't have a lot of hospitals, they

356
00:32:33,947 --> 00:32:40,118
don't have the transportation and different things.

357
00:32:40,118 --> 00:32:42,249
And since I have been

358
00:32:42,249 --> 00:32:55,459
in this seat since January the 6th when I was sworn in, I have heard of three mothers
already that have died trying to get to the hospital or trying to deliver their baby.

359
00:32:55,459 --> 00:32:59,260
So that to me is so devastating.

360
00:33:00,141 --> 00:33:07,357
I was 23 when my mom passed, but for a child, you know,

361
00:33:07,528 --> 00:33:10,880
to grow up without their parent.

362
00:33:11,041 --> 00:33:25,434
it's something that transportation, they need to have some means to get to those mothers,
something that they can do to help them if they're in those areas and not let them die

363
00:33:25,434 --> 00:33:30,669
trying to get there because they don't have the proper care or the transportation.

364
00:33:30,669 --> 00:33:31,360
uh

365
00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:47,147
So like I say, I did write a bill asking for funding to try to get transportation for the
mothers to get to hospitals that an ambulance service or something would be available to

366
00:33:47,147 --> 00:33:47,978
them.

367
00:33:48,489 --> 00:33:56,750
Is there any concern for the possibility that a number of hospitals may close?

368
00:33:56,782 --> 00:34:03,841
Well, there's one of the new senators that came in with me.

369
00:34:03,841 --> 00:34:07,796
He's the CEO of one of the hospitals.

370
00:34:09,249 --> 00:34:15,983
They changed their hospital from a regular hospital to an emergency care hospital.

371
00:34:16,363 --> 00:34:20,805
The funding, you know, it needs to be there.

372
00:34:21,806 --> 00:34:26,809
And we just got to start helping in some form of a way.

373
00:34:26,829 --> 00:34:37,086
Even in Memphis, the labor and delivery at the South Hospital in Whitehaven, they closed
that one.

374
00:34:37,086 --> 00:34:40,640
with the Labor Department, Labor and Delivery.

375
00:34:40,641 --> 00:34:50,143
So I don't know what we can do to help these mothers because it's just a travesty.

376
00:34:50,143 --> 00:34:56,231
afraid to ask you but is the CEO that you mentioned is he on the health care committee?

377
00:34:56,231 --> 00:34:59,643
No, I mean...

378
00:35:00,136 --> 00:35:09,633
And I'm assuming that he was given the same answer as you were given because he was a
first term.

379
00:35:11,085 --> 00:35:21,148
But you know, it's a concern and he's still, you know, he is a CEO still of, he says three
rural hospitals.

380
00:35:21,208 --> 00:35:31,131
And so with all of this snow and ice, he's had to run out of the meetings and things, you
know, to take the calls and make decisions and things like that.

381
00:35:31,611 --> 00:35:33,612
So I understand.

382
00:35:33,823 --> 00:35:35,439
read recently...

383
00:35:35,439 --> 00:35:38,195
open back up some of those rural hospitals.

384
00:35:38,195 --> 00:35:38,875
Amen.

385
00:35:38,875 --> 00:35:55,947
We know that Mississippi has, or is at the bottom, we're at the bottom of a lot of things,
but we know that Mississippi has the highest, or one of the highest infant mortality rate.

386
00:35:57,396 --> 00:36:00,057
That's absurd.

387
00:36:00,057 --> 00:36:03,839
like you said, it's mostly in the rural areas.

388
00:36:04,279 --> 00:36:07,231
And it's it's horrifying.

389
00:36:07,231 --> 00:36:09,771
In 2026, we have that.

390
00:36:10,272 --> 00:36:19,136
read, and I don't want to put you on the spot, but I read somewhere about a bill about uh
midwives.

391
00:36:19,616 --> 00:36:23,216
And I'm not really familiar with that, but I didn't know if you were.

392
00:36:23,216 --> 00:36:41,393
heard anything on that one, but one of the other new senators, she's also wrote a bill
about the infant mortality because I'm on the, I'm in an organization, the Lynx, which is

393
00:36:41,393 --> 00:36:43,565
an international organization.

394
00:36:43,565 --> 00:36:46,837
and she is also a part of that organization.

395
00:36:46,837 --> 00:36:54,580
And infant mortality is one of our concerns with so many babies dying.

396
00:36:54,581 --> 00:37:07,327
So she did write a bill to try to see what could be done as far as post-care and all of
that once the children are the babies are born.

397
00:37:07,778 --> 00:37:08,603
Okay.

398
00:37:08,603 --> 00:37:22,409
that we've talked a lot, you know, in our first season ah is, you know, expanding ah
Medicaid ah in Mississippi.

399
00:37:22,409 --> 00:37:30,851
ah And we know that as long as Governor Reeves is in office, it will not happen.

400
00:37:31,111 --> 00:37:33,644
Although every year we...

401
00:37:33,644 --> 00:37:34,623
ah

402
00:37:34,623 --> 00:37:44,165
As one House of Representatives member told me last year, we don't take that money.

403
00:37:44,165 --> 00:37:56,856
And so we allow that money to be sent to other states that want it, which we need it most
and more than they did.

404
00:37:56,856 --> 00:37:58,278
It's a shame.

405
00:37:58,278 --> 00:38:01,801
with a lot of ills that we have.

406
00:38:02,443 --> 00:38:06,249
Food and everything else, it would help with.

407
00:38:06,249 --> 00:38:07,156
Absolutely.

408
00:38:07,156 --> 00:38:08,336
Yes.

409
00:38:08,914 --> 00:38:16,204
And Senator, it seems from what I hear and have read in various articles that

410
00:38:16,204 --> 00:38:27,991
the pregnant women that have these issues in losing babies or oh after care.

411
00:38:28,743 --> 00:38:32,205
they see a doctor when they get pregnant.

412
00:38:33,066 --> 00:38:39,412
And then the next time they see a doctor is when it's time for delivery.

413
00:38:39,412 --> 00:38:43,392
and that's not good for the baby or for the mother.

414
00:38:43,392 --> 00:38:44,407
Exactly.

415
00:38:44,407 --> 00:38:59,702
So I don't know how you deal with that other than making ah the case for, it seems to me
it's gotta be a financial situation that they don't go.

416
00:38:59,702 --> 00:39:03,487
what my thoughts are when you were addressing that.

417
00:39:03,487 --> 00:39:10,699
Because for many other mothers, it's not just their only child, they may have other
children.

418
00:39:11,079 --> 00:39:15,451
And with them trying to go to the doctor, you've got to pay for that visit.

419
00:39:15,451 --> 00:39:22,944
You've got to find childcare to keep your other children while you go to the doctor for
those visits.

420
00:39:22,944 --> 00:39:32,228
And they also need funding for their medications or their vitamins that the doctors may
prescribe for them.

421
00:39:32,508 --> 00:39:34,669
So it's a lot.

422
00:39:35,330 --> 00:39:47,695
And I have had, you know, when I was working in the hospital, several doctors that gave up
their obstetric practice.

423
00:39:47,861 --> 00:39:55,195
Because of like you say, the mother comes at that time, the next time they may see him is
at the delivery time.

424
00:39:55,195 --> 00:40:03,239
But as soon as that doctor places his hand on that baby, that's 21 years of liability.

425
00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:13,605
So if anything happens to that baby, they have 21 years that they may be sued or whatever
for that.

426
00:40:13,865 --> 00:40:16,967
So some of them have given up their practice.

427
00:40:17,138 --> 00:40:20,920
Many hospitals aren't doing that practice anymore.

428
00:40:20,961 --> 00:40:28,332
So like David, like you say, maybe the midwives will come back in, but that's a strong
liability there too.

429
00:40:28,332 --> 00:40:29,169
Yeah.

430
00:40:29,558 --> 00:40:41,440
I had no idea that a doctor delivers a baby had 21 years of uh possible liability on that.

431
00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:43,181
That's interesting.

432
00:40:44,011 --> 00:40:59,520
If something happened while they were in that delivery room or once that baby, you know,
came out and baby wasn't right, then the mom sometimes goes back and sue and said they had

433
00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:04,102
poor care or the doctor didn't do, you know, something correctly.

434
00:41:05,683 --> 00:41:15,799
We here lately in the past few years, we also have a tendency to blame the victim.

435
00:41:15,799 --> 00:41:18,443
We want to blame the mother.

436
00:41:18,443 --> 00:41:21,094
Well, the mother should have gotten her prenatal care.

437
00:41:21,094 --> 00:41:24,785
The mother should have followed up on her appointments.

438
00:41:24,785 --> 00:41:27,213
The mother should have gotten vitamins.

439
00:41:27,213 --> 00:41:28,512
have the funds.

440
00:41:28,512 --> 00:41:35,098
Yeah, and we do have a tendency to blame the victims and that is oh

441
00:41:35,098 --> 00:41:39,751
they need to give them that Medicaid help.

442
00:41:40,452 --> 00:41:46,176
Don't be selfish just because you have, but the other person don't.

443
00:41:46,176 --> 00:41:53,221
And it's not sometimes, you know, even their fault that they don't have the money.

444
00:41:53,221 --> 00:41:59,966
They may not be mentally able to go to work or do some of the requirements.

445
00:42:00,137 --> 00:42:09,271
And just like they're placing over an arc and saw those different requirements in order
for people to get the Medicaid benefits.

446
00:42:09,653 --> 00:42:14,660
So I'm quite sure it's gonna be in Mississippi, it's gonna follow as well.

447
00:42:15,009 --> 00:42:22,612
Do you, have you heard anything or do you think oh expanding Medicaid will come up this
session?

448
00:42:22,612 --> 00:42:24,370
I haven't heard anything yet.

449
00:42:24,370 --> 00:42:27,311
Okay, that's kind of sad.

450
00:42:27,311 --> 00:42:29,078
oh Jim?

451
00:42:29,078 --> 00:42:29,531
uh

452
00:42:29,531 --> 00:42:34,293
It's almost like that boat sailed until we get a new governor.

453
00:42:34,326 --> 00:42:35,258
True.

454
00:42:35,704 --> 00:42:36,679
True.

455
00:42:36,679 --> 00:42:53,593
Yes, but there's just a lot of things that, you know, people are concerned about and
they're even looking at fines for littering, trying to increase those fines because even

456
00:42:53,593 --> 00:43:05,214
where I live here in Olive Branch, I've seen, you know, bathroom items on the side of the
road.

457
00:43:05,214 --> 00:43:07,091
Yeah.

458
00:43:07,532 --> 00:43:13,580
they just need to, people need to respect where we live and take care of our property.

459
00:43:13,580 --> 00:43:14,091
Amen.

460
00:43:14,091 --> 00:43:16,863
Okay, we're winding down.

461
00:43:16,863 --> 00:43:25,628
Is there anything else Senator Gillespie, Isom, that you would like to share with us?

462
00:43:25,719 --> 00:43:42,030
Just that I am so pleased to be in the seat as a Senator for District 2 and that I look
forward to working for the people and doing all of the things that I personally can do to

463
00:43:42,030 --> 00:43:45,823
make DeSoto County and Tunica County better.

464
00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:47,281
Fantastic.

465
00:43:47,342 --> 00:43:49,295
Jim, any last things?

466
00:43:49,295 --> 00:43:50,447
Any last words?

467
00:43:50,447 --> 00:43:51,628
Of wisdom?

468
00:43:52,477 --> 00:43:53,697
Of wisdom?

469
00:43:53,817 --> 00:43:56,728
I don't know if I've got any words of wisdom.

470
00:43:56,728 --> 00:44:03,150
ah I do have a few words that these broadcasts are not inexpensive.

471
00:44:03,150 --> 00:44:15,925
So if you like what you heard, you like some of the broadcasts that we've done in the
past, people that we've interviewed trying to bring you information from the source and

472
00:44:15,925 --> 00:44:17,296
not just our opinion.

473
00:44:17,296 --> 00:44:29,301
ah I would hope that you might consider making a donation to Mississippi Happenings so
that we can continue this ah information.

474
00:44:29,381 --> 00:44:32,282
As uh Senator Isom said,

475
00:44:32,333 --> 00:44:36,863
There are very few newspapers around so people don't get information to read.

476
00:44:36,863 --> 00:44:41,174
They get a lot of information on social media, which is...

477
00:44:41,174 --> 00:44:41,822
Correct.

478
00:44:41,822 --> 00:44:44,024
It's mostly people's opinion.

479
00:44:44,205 --> 00:44:47,550
But what we're talking about is not our opinion.

480
00:44:47,550 --> 00:44:49,432
We're talking to the senators.

481
00:44:49,432 --> 00:44:51,225
We're talking to the legislators.

482
00:44:51,225 --> 00:44:58,852
actually make things happen and bring about change hopefully for the betterment of
Mississippi.

483
00:44:58,933 --> 00:45:06,692
So if you think we're doing a good job or you'd like to hear more please consider a
donation and David will be more than happy to tell you how to

484
00:45:06,692 --> 00:45:08,364
yes, thank you Jim, thank you.

485
00:45:08,364 --> 00:45:10,813
Because you do a much better job of it than I do.

486
00:45:10,813 --> 00:45:12,366
I'm not good at asking for money.

487
00:45:12,366 --> 00:45:22,388
Yes, to donate, ah we do have a cash app, is the Dollar Sign MS Happenings.

488
00:45:22,669 --> 00:45:24,309
That's a cash app.

489
00:45:24,309 --> 00:45:27,670
PayPal is the at sign.

490
00:45:27,701 --> 00:45:28,762
MS happening.

491
00:45:28,762 --> 00:45:32,223
So yes, and also we do want to hear from you.

492
00:45:32,223 --> 00:45:47,752
We do want to know how we're doing We want to know that what you like what you don't like,
you know who you would like us to talk to And if you want to be a guest On our podcast,

493
00:45:47,752 --> 00:45:49,154
we'd love to hear from you.

494
00:45:49,154 --> 00:45:55,548
And yes, please subscribe Yes, we're on YouTube Spotify Apple and all of

495
00:45:55,549 --> 00:46:00,501
Our email address is mshappeningsofone.com.

496
00:46:00,501 --> 00:46:06,562
That's mshappenings1@gmail.com.

497
00:46:06,562 --> 00:46:12,794
And Senator Theresa Isom Gillespie, it's been great talking to you.

498
00:46:12,794 --> 00:46:16,895
We look forward to talking to you again and getting an update.

499
00:46:16,895 --> 00:46:20,047
And thank you for your work and thank you for.

500
00:46:20,397 --> 00:46:22,030
Taking care of Mississippi.

501
00:46:22,030 --> 00:46:24,513
Thank you for taking care of DeSoto County.

502
00:46:24,643 --> 00:46:25,678
Thank you so much.

503
00:46:25,678 --> 00:46:27,455
Appreciate you having me.

504
00:46:27,532 --> 00:46:33,350
Have a good week everybody and stay safe and stay uh warm.

505
00:46:33,350 --> 00:46:34,295
Yes.

506
00:46:34,295 --> 00:46:35,378
you too.