Claim OwnershipThe Other Side: Mississippi Today's Political Podcast
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Host Adam Ganucheau and the Mississippi Today political team bring you intimate access to the most connected players and observers in Mississippi politics. This podcast is a continuation of the mission that Mississippi Today serves: To present facts, perspectives and appropriate context on all sides of a political debate. With no focus on one side of the aisle or the other, we'll also provide you the other side of a story, giving our award-winning journalists a platform to share their insights as they cover some of the most contentious elections in the state's history
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Sen. Jeremy England, chairman of the Senate Elections Committee, says he plans to again introduce legislation for Mississippi to join most other states and allow in-person, no-excuse early voting. He also talks about the U.S. Supreme Court agreeing to hear a Mississippi case challenging the counting of mail-in ballots after Election Day, and about major issues he foresees in the 2026 legislative session.
Mississippi Today's Michael Goldberg, Geoff Pender and Taylor Vance break down last week's special legislative elections, where Democrats gained three seats. Goldberg complains of a dearth of election-night pizza.
Republican House Corrections Chairwoman Becky Currie of Brookhaven began touring state prisons when she got her committee chair assignment a couple of years ago, and found a disturbing dearth of medical care for inmates. 'We're paying $124 million to a company for health care and they are not going it and they are keeping the money," said Currie, who is pushing for reform and been a centerpiece of Mississippi Today's investigative series on prison health care, "Behind Bars, Beyond Care.
Ricky Neaves, director of the Mississippi High School Activities Association said that the push for expanded "school choice" by Mississippi lawmakers could have a drastic impact on athletics and other programs in the state's public education system. He said improper "recruitment" of athletes already happens, even with his agency's oversight, but that universal school choice would exacerbate competition to lure athletes with ill effect on public schools, especially small, rural ones. Neaves said he hopes lawmakers leave MHSAA's eligibility authority intact if they expand school choice.
Rep. Robert Johnson III of Natchez, leader of Mississippi House Democrats, says the GOP leadership's push for "school choice" is out of touch with rank-and-file Mississippians, many Republican lawmakers and educators. He also makes an announcement about his plans for his own political future, often the subject of much speculation.
Nancy Loome, executive director of The Parents' Campaign public education advocacy group counters many points proponents are making in their push for more school choice in Mississippi. Loome says siphoning public money for private schools would provide no benefit to Mississippi students or taxpayers and that state leaders should instead focus on sustaining and expanding education gains made in recent years. She said opposition to school choice from parents on both sides of the political aisle in Mississippi is growing.
Ben Bush, a former U.S. Army Ranger combat veteran from Brandon, shares with Mississippi Today his personal story of his struggle with PTSD after returning home from overseas combat, and how the psychedelic plant-derived drug ibogaine helped him regain his life. But he had to travel to Mexico for the treatment. It's illegal in the United States. House Public Health Chairman Sam Creekmore wants to change that, and he wants Mississippi to invest in testing the drug and help push for federal approval.
Description: Mississippi Today reporter Alex Rozier gives an update on the city of Jackson's third-party water utility system, how the organization's request to raise the water rates on customers in the capital city is playing out in federal court and if the water system can sustain natural disasters in the future.
Mississippi Today reporters Michael Goldberg and Taylor Vance recount their recent trip to Washington, D.C., and meetings with the state's congressional delegation, covering topics including the use of National Guard troops in U.S. cities — potentially even in Jackson — disaster relief policies and the debate over the release of the Epstein files.
Mississippi has been received tens of millions of dollars in opioid settlements each year since 2022, and the use of those dollars has been mostly a mystery. But a Mississippi Today investigation this summer found that of over $124 million the state has received, less than $1 million has been used by public officials to address addiction. Managing editor Kate Royals and mental health reporter Allen Siegler speak with Tricia Christensen, a nationally recognized leader in overdose prevention and opioid settlement spending from Tennessee, about how this compares to other states and what it means for Mississippians harmed by the overdose epidemic.
Sen. Scott DeLano, a Republican from Biloxi, says Mississippi has done little to help protect South Mississippians from storm damages and residents statewide from rising insurance costs in the 20 years since Hurricane Katrina. He says Mississippi lags behind other Gulf states, in part, because the state insurance commissioner has not pushed for a robust mitigation program. DeLano also addresses his recent social media post blasting a state Republican think tank leader's comments that many viewed as racist.
House Education Chairman Rob Roberson, on the heels of a first select committee hearing on school choice and other education policy, tells Mississippi Today that lawmakers should be open to discussions on school choice, consolidation or any other measures that might move the state's education system forward. "The only people who don't have school choice now are poor kids," Roberson said. He said such issues need to be detached from partisan politics and viewed with open minds.
Veteran editors Bobby Harrison, Geoff Pender and Emily Wagster Pettus recall the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and a monumental special legislative session to address storm recovery 20 years ago. They are joined by multimedia and video editors Michael Guidry and Richard Lake for a preview of "The Bulletin," a Mississippi Today video documentary that will premiere Aug. 29th, the anniversary of the destructive, killer storm. View a trailer of the documentary here.
Nora Miller, the president of the Mississippi University for Women, is pushing back on a recommendation from the state Board of Education to relocate the Mississippi School for Math and Science off the campus of MUW to another of the state universities. MSMS, a gifted program for high school juniors and seniors, has been located on the Mississippi University for Women's campus since its inception. Miller tells Mississippi Today's Taylor Vance and Candice Wilder why the program is crucial to the city of Columbus and why taxpayers across the state should be concerned with the estimated $80 million cost for relocating the school.
Mississippi Today's politics and government team breaks down the week's news, including the special legislative primaries held across the state and the Magnolia State's exposure to any slump in EV sales and production. Also, Ole Miss has a new study out about college students' online gambling habits as lawmakers consider making "mo-bile" sports betting legal.
Mississippi Today's politics team recaps the 2025 Neshoba County Fair. This year's political speaking lacked some of the fire and brimstone of big election years, but state leaders laid out some major policy plans sure to dominate debate in the next legislative session.
Mississippi Today editor-in-chief Adam Ganucheau sits down with Jake McGraw, a policy analyst and researcher who runs Working Together Mississippi's Rethink Mississippi initiative, to discuss the state's brain drain crisis. Together with the University of Mississippi Center for Population Studies, the organizations launched the state's first-ever scientific survey to better understand the brain drain problem and develop solutions. Ganucheau and McGraw discuss what the data shows about the problem, the economic and political implications of it, and what more could be done to solve it.
Rep. Price Wallace, a Republican from Mendenhall, is co-chair of a House select committee Speaker Jason White created to tackle restoration of voting rights to former felons, reinstituting voters' right to put issues directly on a ballot and allowing early voting before Election Day. Wallace tells Mississippi Today's Geoff Pender and Taylor Vance that the work of several special committees over the summer and fall will provide more transparency for the public on legislative work and allows more input on important issues.
Republican Andy Gipson, the first candidate to publicly announce a run for Mississippi governor in 2027, outlines his five-plank platform. No. 1 is fighting crime, which Gipson says is rising in what were once quiet rural areas, because "If people don't feel safe, nothing else matters." He also offers a brief sampling of his baritone crooning from his just-released two studio albums.
Mississippi Today's Geoff Pender, Taylor Vance and Michael Goldberg discuss political news of the week, including House Speaker Jason White announcing "school choice" issues as his top priority for 2026 and perennial U.S. Senate candidate Ty Pinkins departing the Democratic Party.
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