Mississippi
The United States Department of Justice and the Mississippi Attorney General move to prevent needed water rate relief to 40,000 residents of Jackson, Mississippi
Actions by the US Department of Justice will delay or potentially eliminate the ability to provide water rate relief to the estimated 15,000 households served by JXN Water which currently receive SNAP benefits.
JACKSON, Miss., June 15, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — The US Department of Justice (US DOJ) and the Mississippi Attorney General filed notices of appeal from the order issued by US Federal District Judge Henry T. Wingate’s on April 16, 2024, directing the United States and the State of Mississippi to confidentially disclose Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) information to the Interim Third-Party Manager (ITPM).
The SNAP data is needed by the ITPM to identify customers that are eligible to be included in the new SNAP Customer Classification implemented with the new rate structure effective on February 1, 2024. The rate for customers in the SNAP Customer Classification includes a reduced availability fee, ensuring water and sewer bills can be paid by all. It will also allow the ITPM to avoid spending significant amounts of ratepayer money seeking to collect bills which these customers are simply unable to pay.
Judge Wingate’s order found the rate structure associated with the ITPM’s SNAP Customer Classification satisfied the criteria under federal statute for the confidential release of the SNAP recipients’ names and addresses so that they could be categorically placed in the SNAP Customer Classification without the need for extensive administrative efforts on the part of the ITPM and without requiring customers endure an additional burdensome application process to be appropriately included in the SNAP Customer Classification.
For reasons we simply don’t understand, the US Department of Justice disagrees that the ITPM’s rate schedule constitutes a federal assistance program under the SNAP statute and, accordingly, object to the State of Mississippi giving the ITPM the list (to be used in strict confidence).
The US Department of Justice has doubled down by threatening to withdraw SNAP benefits for the entire state if the State complies with Judge Wingate’s order. That threat has forced the Mississippi Attorney General to also appeal Judge Wingate’s order. The ITPM is an officer of Judge Wingate’s court, and his January 2024 rate schedule (including the SNAP Customer Classification rate schedule) easily qualifies as a federal assistance program. There is no good reason that DOJ can’t acquiesce and allow the State to share the list with the ITPM.
“While we would have preferred that Mississippi’s Attorney General not appeal Judge Wingate’s order, we recognize that the US DOJ has put them between a rock and a hard place given their threat to punish all SNAP recipients in Mississippi if the State gives the ITPM the Jackson area SNAP list,” said ITPM Ted Henifin.
These actions by the US Department of Justice will delay or potentially eliminate the ability to provide water rate relief to the estimated 15,000 households served by JXN Water which currently receive SNAP benefits. Under the ITPM’s rate structure, SNAP recipients would save $30 per month and save the ITPM untold collection costs.
The DOJ’s misguided opposition to the confidential use of SNAP recipient’s names and addresses to provide significant water rate assistance is inexplicable and disheartening given the economic challenges the beneficiaries face (Mississippi has the lowest per capita income in the nation and this rate relief is for residents of the City of Jackson, a community with a minority population of over 80 percent).
DOJ’s ill-advised and unnecessary opposition is particularly troubling given the water-related suffering these residents have endured for years.
ABOUT JXN WATER
Committed to providing safe, reliable drinking water and collecting and cleaning wastewater before it returns to our local waterways, JXN Water is the Mississippi corporation led by an Interim Third-Party Manager to achieve the objectives of the federal stipulated orders that re-establish the entire water system.
Media Contact
Ameerah Palacios, JXN Water, 1 5022435803, [email protected], www.JXNwater.com
SOURCE JXN Water
This week on Behind the Lens: “Paraquat and Parkinson’s.” Wayne County, Mississippi is the largest emitter of paraquat in the world, an herbicide linked to the fastest-growing neurodegenerative disease. Environmental reporter Delaney Nolan explains the safety concerns and what they could mean for affected communities.
Theme music by Podington Bear. Additional music includes “Rumor” by Podington Bear (soundofpicture.com) and “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell.
This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri, in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation.
Music Credits:
Theme music by Podington Bear
Additional music “Rumor” by Podington Bear from soundofpicture.com and “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchel
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Powerball jackpots are about to be much larger. Reporter explains.
USA TODAY’s Fernando Cervantes explains the historic agreement with the UK National Lottery.
Check your Powerball tickets. One sold in Mississippi is worth at least $2 million.
Across the U.S., at least 91 lottery tickets won $1 million in the Wednesday, April 29 drawing, according to the Powerball website.
That includes two tickets that won the jackpot. They were sold in Indiana and Kansas.
The estimated jackpot was $143.4 million ($65.2 million cash prize).
The winning numbers were 3, 19, 35, 51, 67 and Powerball 15. The multiplier was 2x.
Here’s what we know about where the winning ticket was bought, how many tickets are worth at least $1 million and how to file for lottery winnings in Mississippi.
Where was the $2 million Powerball ticket sold in Mississippi?
One ticket in Mississippi matched all five white balls and had the Power Play option. The odds of matching the five white balls is 1 in 11,688,053.52, according to the Powerball website.
The Mississippi Lottery Corporation said the multi-million-dollar-winning ticket was sold at Doc’s Quick Stop Exxon in Byhalia.
27 tickets win $2 million in latest drawing
Just because you didn’t get the Powerball doesn’t mean you didn’t win big.
Twenty-seven tickets matched the five white balls and had the Power Play option to win $2 million each. They were sold in:
- Arkansas: 1
- Illinois: 1
- Indiana: 5
- Kansas: 1
- Louisiana: 5
- Mississippi: 1
- New Jersey: 4
- Oregon: 3
- Pennsylvania : 2
- Rhode Island: 1
- South Carolina: 1
- Wisconsin: 2
How many Powerball tickets are worth $1 million?
Sixty-two tickets matched the five white balls to win $1 million each. They were sold in:
- Arkansas: 1
- Arizona: 1
- California: 1
- Georgia: 1
- Illinois: 3
- Indiana: 14
- Kansas: 5
- Kentucky: 1
- Louisiana: 6
- Michigan: 1
- Minnesota: 1
- Missouri: 1
- Nebraska: 2
- New Jersey: 14
- Oregon: 1
- Pennsylvania: 5
- Wisconsin: 4
Some are calling Wednesday’s Powerball drawing the luckiest ever.
A news release announcing where jackpot-winning tickets were sold is usually posted to the Powerball website the morning after a drawing. However, a news release related to the Wednesday drawing winners had not been posted as of 1 p.m. Thursday, April 30.
Can you claim a lottery jackpot anonymously in Mississippi? How?
Yes, Mississippi lets lottery winners claim a jackpot of any size anonymously.
Mississippi Lottery won’t disclose your identity without written permission.
I won the lottery in Mississippi! How do I get my money?
The Mississippi Lottery advises people to sign the back of their winning ticket immediately.
If your prize is less than $600, you can claim that at any place that sells Mississippi Lottery tickets.
If you win $600-$99,999, you can claim by mail or by going to the Mississippi Lottery Headquarters in Flowood.
All prizes more than $100,000 must be claimed at the Mississippi Lottery Headquarters.
What are the rules to claim a Powerball prize?
Powerball prizes must be claimed within one year from the date of the drawing.
Powerball jackpot winners may choose to receive their prize as an annuity, paid in 30 graduated payments over 29 years, or a lump-sum payment. Both advertised prize options are prior to federal and jurisdictional taxes, according to the Powerball website.
A Mississippi man is charged with killing his mother after authorities allegedly found him trying to flush pieces of her flesh down a toilet in what a local sheriff called one of “the most heinous crimes that I’ve ever witnessed in my entire life.”
Zachary Lavel Jackson Jr., 29, faces charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, mayhem and tampering with evidence in connection with the death of his mother, Lana Brown Bradley, 62, a retired teacher.
The Adams County Sheriff’s Office said deputies initially responded April 4 to Bradley’s home in Natchez, after her relatives reported her missing.
Jackson was initially identified as a family member of Bradley before investigators confirmed he was her son.
“This is by far the most heinous crime that I’ve ever witnessed in my entire life. We weren’t out there that day; this was one of those things when we walked up. This was one of those cases that you will never, ever forget in your life. This is the type of case that follows you home,” Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten told WJTV.
Deputies were called to Bradley’s home after her oldest son could not reach her the previous day. Two of Bradley’s other sons lived with her.
“As soon as they walked in the house, they could just see where somebody had been cleaning up, and they could smell chemicals all throughout the house. Floor was extremely slippery. And the older son said that this is just unusual for the youngest son to be cleaning up the house like that,” Patten explained.
Jackson, the youngest son, was found in a bathroom where deputies allegedly saw a black substance in the toilet.
“I can say what was in the toilet, and it was her flesh. He chopped her up in pieces and dismembered her in a way that whoever came looking for her would have to do their due diligence to find her, and that’s just what we did,” the sheriff said.
Authorities stated that Jackson had allegedly placed his mother’s body parts in a suitcase and flushed the rest down the toilet after dismembering her.
Bradley had threatened to evict her son from the home, according to the sheriff, who cited interviews with family members stating that Jackson was mentally unstable.
However, Patten noted that Jackson was “very calculating” when he allegedly committed the crime.
“He had threatened her the day before because she was looking to have him evicted from the home. She was in the process of doing so and had just gone to court the day before to have him removed from the home,” Patten explained.
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