Mississippi
Without clean water, parents in Jackson, Mississippi, struggle to provide
![Without clean water, parents in Jackson, Mississippi, struggle to provide Without clean water, parents in Jackson, Mississippi, struggle to provide](https://19thnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/jackson-water-crisis-1.jpg)
On August twenty ninth, working water stopped flowing in Jackson, Mississippi’s state capital. After flooding knocked out an already decrepit water therapy facility, lots of the metropolis’s 160,000 residents had been left scrambling to search out bottled water, whereas public services like colleges had been shut down. Water has returned – however what does come out is commonly brown. Town stays underneath a boil advisory.
That is simply the newest in a decades-long battle for Jackson residents, who’ve handled a water system that has failed or intermittently been contaminated. A 2021 winter storm led to a month-long outage, and town faces two lawsuits claiming that youngsters had been uncovered to steer through the years. Over 80 p.c of Jackson’s inhabitants is Black, and lots of advocates are citing the water disaster as a textbook case of environmental racism.
The impact on households is very extreme, and their wants are sometimes missed in catastrophe planning, mentioned Sarah DeYoung, an assistant professor on the College of Delaware and catastrophe researcher. With out entry to scrub water, dad and mom whose infants depend on method must buy bottled water or observe it down at a distribution heart. And with an ongoing toddler method scarcity, that’s solely a part of the battle. Water that’s boiled can nonetheless include contaminants harmful to toddler well being, in keeping with the Mississippi State Division of Well being, so it additionally can’t be used to scrub something that goes in a baby’s mouth, together with toys and pacifiers.
The nineteenth spoke to DeYoung, in regards to the water disaster in Mississippi and the way it impacts not simply infants however the individuals who now face extra struggles caring for them.
This dialog has been edited for size and readability.
Jessica Kutz: First, may you briefly describe what your analysis focuses on?
Sarah DeYoung: I examine weak populations in disasters and group resilience and decision-making, significantly with hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires.
For over a decade now, I’ve been learning how pure hazards have an effect on social interactions and conduct, and — together with this — the general public well being implications and issues that work or don’t work so properly by way of organizational interventions and communities earlier than, throughout and after disasters.
Infants are one of many populations which are missed in disasters, together with maternal and parental care. People who find themselves birthing, lactating and pregnant positively are missed, they usually have very particular wants.
(MARK FELIX/AFP/Getty Pictures)
How is group well being impacted by conditions just like the water disaster that’s unfolding in Jackson?
When folks don’t have entry to scrub water, as we noticed with Flint, Michigan, and the Pink Hill catastrophe in Hawaii, the tragic factor is it’s not at all times obvious, and other people have used water for cooking, cleansing, consuming or making ready toddler method not figuring out that it was contaminated.
That’s the worst-case situation {that a} group could be uncovered to, as a result of then they don’t even know. They’re not even empowered with that data. There actually must be a long-term investigative effort to know if and the way typically folks could have been uncovered to those contaminants even earlier than the flood.
When folks can’t reside with clear water, not solely is there a public well being implication, it additionally actually stresses households out. Households which have infants which are two years or youthful, this can be a very vital time for his or her improvement and well-being. And when a household doesn’t have a way that they will even depend on this day by day want — that they must entry clear, dependable working water — it may well trigger long-term psychological misery.
What are the well being implications for infants specifically?
Within the Flint water disaster, there have been infants that had been fed toddler method with contaminated water. Occupied with the long-term well being impacts if one thing like this occurs in different communities, which undoubtedly it’s, what are the reparations? The place is the justice for these infants and people youngsters if they’ve long-term developmental issues that widens the hole of their training and their means to thrive due to potential contamination publicity?
Within the brief time period, contaminated water may cause gastrointestinal sicknesses, diarrhea, malnutrition and dehydration. As a result of even when somebody thinks that the water appears to be like clear, however there’s micro organism within the water, once they’re attempting to sterilize feeding provides — just like the nipples on the newborn bottles — they’re utilizing contaminated water to scrub these bottles after which leaving it out to dry. And in the event that they haven’t correctly sterilized them then they may not know that there’s micro organism on the bottles or the feeding gear. So that will be a specific concern for bottle-fed infants.
Are you able to communicate to the financial burdens of a catastrophe like this on households, or for folks who don’t have entry to scrub water?
Water is pricey for those who’re shopping for it bottled. There are aid businesses distributing this water, however proper now [families] are reliant on buying bottled water till the water is clear once more. And that’s costly for households, whether or not or not there’s a younger toddler within the family. There’s a further burden on low-income households, as a result of then a portion of their paycheck that they might be spending on meals, hire and different important wants goes to be spent on water and utilizing the gasoline cash to go purchase the water that they want. It creates an amazing burden on households that want clear working water of their family, for bathing and cooking and every part else {that a} household would possibly do each day. Once more highlighting the vulnerabilities of infants, for those who’re washing child toys, or pacifiers or something {that a} child would possibly put in its mouth, we use water to scrub these provides. Utilizing contaminated water to scrub these child provides could possibly be actually harmful with out dad and mom realizing it.
(Joshua Lott/The Washington Put up/Getty Pictures)
There has additionally been an toddler method disaster this yr too.
That is what we’d view as a compounding catastrophe, or some of us would possibly say a cascading catastrophe the place you may have a number of points which are making life a lot more durable, particularly for marginalized of us or individuals who have been intentionally denied entry to assets.
It’s structural violence. Completely. If you concentrate on the implications for historic housing discrimination, and why folks reside in flood zones within the first place, it’s due to ongoing racial discrimination within the housing system. After which that impacts these households that reside there. Once more, it’s form of a cascading circulate of occasions and conditions. And for those who take a look at it, once more, from a system degree, households find yourself being denied assets that they should thrive.
Are you able to present some extra structural context in regards to the Mississippi water disaster?
I’d wish to level out the way it’s not a sudden occasion, and the way the injustices and the problems with fairness have been unfolding in Mississippi for many years, if no more.
What disasters are inclined to do is spotlight a few of these social justice and disparity points that the communities have been dealing with for a lot of, a few years. Even after I began learning toddler feeding a number of years in the past I bear in mind trying on the map and mapping out and toddler mortality, and maternal mortality within the nation and the place these places are. And Mississippi for a few years in a row has had very excessive numbers for maternal and toddler mortality. It was the best within the nation in 2020 [for infant mortality] and that disparity is much more true for Black infants. The loss of life fee for Black infants is double what it’s of White infants. Maternal mortality can be a lot increased for Black moms and moms of shade.
On this area, we’ve got to consider this decades-long publicity to housing discrimination, well being care, entry and racial discrimination that has actually arrange this root explanation for this catastrophe.
What position ought to the federal authorities or FEMA be taking part in proper now?
The dearth of urgency is alarming. And that’s one other side of injustice: Ready is violence. These households shouldn’t have to attend for clear water.
And that may be a failure on the a part of FEMA to focus extra money on long-term mitigation efforts prior to those pure hazard occasions. I imply catastrophe students now acknowledge that Hurricane Katrina was made worse due to the funneling of cash after 9/11 to give attention to cyber and counterterrorism, cybersecurity and all these different efforts, as a substitute of specializing in reinforcing the levees or inexperienced mitigation of the wetlands. When all that cash is funneled away from pure hazard mitigation, the communities are those that endure.
[In Jackson,] a flood broken a few of the infrastructure. However the pipes had been already broken and overworked, and there have been some inspections and issues that had been recognized years earlier than the flood.
This was documented. It wasn’t even a secret. Individuals knew that there have been issues with the pipes and the infrastructure. And sadly, I see this downside changing into increasingly frequent all through the USA if there’s not a way of urgency to overtake the infrastructure system.
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Mississippi
Mississippi High School Football Rankings: Top 25 Teams – September 2
![Mississippi High School Football Rankings: Top 25 Teams – September 2 Mississippi High School Football Rankings: Top 25 Teams – September 2](https://on3static.com/uploads/dev/assets/cms/2024/09/02194523/HS-AFI-MS.png)
The Mississippi high school football rankings saw some drastic changes after an opening week which saw multiple ranked matchups in the Magnolia State.
Brandon, Madison Central and Louisville each won top-10 games while Oak Grove, West Jones, Clinton and Germantown also picked up ranked wins.
Below is the updated Mississippi On3 Massey Ratings top 25, as of Sept. 2.
The On3 Massey Ratings — which were officially used during the BCS era and have generated college high school sports team rankings since 1995 — rank sports teams by analyzing game outcomes, strength of schedule and margin of victory.
CLICK HERE to watch high school games on NFHS Network now!
Previous Ranking: No. 4 (+3)
Madison Central opened the season in style with a 27-20 top-10 win over Ocean Springs. Ocean Springs shut out Madison Central for nearly the entire first half — until Madison Central running back Glen Singleton rattled off four consecutive rushing touchdowns. The Jaguars are on the road again Friday in the Mississippi game of the week as they travel to face No. 2 Brandon.
Previous Ranking: No. 3 (+1)
Brandon featured in another Mississippi top-10 game in week one, thrashing then-No. 7 Picayune Memorial 60-34. Star junior defensive back Preston Ashley recorded a 45-yard scoop-and-score touchdown, Logan Drummond returned a punt 61 yards to the house and Trey McQueen returned an interception 38 yards for a score in a night filled with unconventional scoring for the Bulldogs. Brandon will host No. 1 Madison Central on Friday.
Previous Ranking: No. 2 (-1)
Starkville took down Noxubee County 43-22 in week one. Tyson Knox picked off Mississippi State commit KaMario Taylor on Starkville’s own 1-yard line to keep the Yellowjackets’ 14-point lead in the second half. Two plays later, quarterback Jaylen Ruffin hit Jaheim Deanes for a 97-yard touchdown. Starkville now gets to look forward to hosting No. 20 West Point this week.
Previous Ranking: No. 1 (-3)
Oak Grove fell in the rankings this week simply by virtue of other teams’ impressive performances — as the Warriors won their game over No. 15 Grenada 38-24. Oak Grove quarterback Kellon Hall was 19-of-27 passing for 306 yards with a touchdown. Next up is No. 11 Ocean Springs at home.
Previous Ranking: No. 5
Tupelo escaped upset-minded Whitehaven last week with a 26-19 opening win. Quarterback Noah Gillon and running back J.J. Hill each accounted for two touchdowns as the Golden Wave came away with an ugly win in ugly conditions following a 90-minute weather delay. Tupelo will play Southaven on the road next.
Previous Ranking: No. 9 (+3)
Yet another top-10 matchup on opening night in Mississippi. Louisville took down then-No. 10 West Point 15-14 in a nailbiter. Louisville scored the only points of the second half — a 21-yard field goal to put the Wildcats on top. Louisville will hit the road again this week at Neshoba Central.
Previous Ranking: No. 8 (+1)
West Jones knocked Laurel out of the Mississippi top 25 with a dominant 34-6 win on Friday. Senior running back Elijah Jones was unstoppable on the ground with 226 yards and four touchdowns on 24 carries. West Jones will play Northeast Jones on the road this Friday.
Previous Ranking: No. 21 (+13)
Clinton pulled off the upset in week one with a 26-20 win over then-No. 11 Warren Central in the ‘Red Carpet Bowl’. Jakobe Williams rushed for two touchdowns while the Clinton special teams and defense scored on a blocked punt and recovered three fumbles. A road game against Northwest Rankin is on deck.
Previous Ranking: No. 16 (+7)
Oxford owned one of the few week one blowouts on this list, beating Lafayette 45-0 in the ‘Crosstown Classic.’ All six of the Chargers’ touchdowns came on the ground. Oxford will play No. 22 South Panola at home this Friday.
Previous Ranking: No. 12 (+2)
Madison-Ridgeland moved to 3-0 on the season after a 50-6 win over Oak Forest Academy that was never in question. Pulaski Academy — The No. 9 team in Arkansas — is on deck for the Patriots.
11. Ocean Springs (-5)
12. Gulfport (+2)
13. Pearl (+4)
14. Germantown (+10)
15. Hartfield Academy (+3)
16. Grenada (-1)
17. Picayune Memorial (-10)
18. Hattiesburg (NR)
19. Jackson Prep (+3)
20. West Point (-10)
21. D’Iberville (NR)
22. South Panola (-9)
23. Poplarville (NR)
24. Warren Central (-13)
25. Gautier (NR)
Dropped from rankings: Northwest Rankin, Meridian, Columbia, Laurel
Mississippi
MPCA testing the entirety of the Mississippi River within Minnesota
![MPCA testing the entirety of the Mississippi River within Minnesota MPCA testing the entirety of the Mississippi River within Minnesota](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/09/02/0564de83-90fa-4d81-9619-84022c30819e/thumbnail/1200x630/e98078edb78f4dec2ccc9e494c22c33c/4p-pkg-river-testing-wcco61yp.jpg?v=25685eaa472b1a5dbb5bd46ae506d232)
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. —It winds 650 miles, rushing past the cities, industries and landscapes that make up Minnesota.
However, the Mississippi River has never gotten this type of attention from water quality professionals.
For the first time ever, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is testing the entirety of the river, from Itasca to Iowa, in a single year.
The governor’s office wants the river to be swimmable and fishable, but right now, parts of the river are polluted.
The MPCA says the upper Mississippi is largely healthy up north, but quality drops south of St. Cloud where metro development and tributaries from agriculture muddy the waters. The National Park Service says stretches of the river exceed water quality standards for things like mercury, bacteria and sediment.
Think of the testing like a checkup for one of our state’s most valuable and powerful resources. Researchers will check temperature, transparency and levels of pollutants like phosphorus, nitrogen and ammonia.
Crews also check fish for those contaminants and collect insects to test in a lab to identify any concerning trends.
“If we find the fish community is suffering — maybe the water is too warm and maybe there’s a thermal pollution source upstream or maybe it’s too much runoff — that sort of stuff. Temperature is an important indicator especially for sensitive species,” Isaac Martin with the MPCA said.
Also for the first time, the agency is looking for PFAS contamination with money from an Environmental Protection Agency grant to identify and stop the forever chemicals from streaming into the Mississippi.
PFAS are a group of manufactured chemicals for industry and consumer products that don’t break down in the environment. While research is ongoing, the EPA says exposure to the chemicals can cause human health issues. It’s why the federal agency just lowered the amount allowed in drinking water.
“They go to parts per trillion, which is incredibly sensitive. You get that low, you’re talking drops in an Olympic swimming pool,” Martin said. “Part of the reason why it was chosen is because it’s a primary drinking source or potentially could be a primary drinking source. We’re just finding them in places we never expected to find them. We’re finding them almost everywhere and being that it is new, there’s just a lot of ‘I don’t know’ that goes with it.”
It’s too early to know what this complete snapshot will reveal, but we know this powerful river is part of our community, economy and health.
“Maybe you don’t use the resource yourself, but maybe you know someone who does or future generations of your own will,” Martin said. “In Minnesota, we’re just trying to be the best stewards we can be.”
The data from this testing will be available early next year. Researchers will use that data and compare it to 10-year pollution averages to determine which parts of the river are improved or impaired.
A full report will be released in 2026.
Mississippi
Who should be SBLive’s Mississippi high school player of the week? (Aug. 25-31)
![Who should be SBLive’s Mississippi high school player of the week? (Aug. 25-31) Who should be SBLive’s Mississippi high school player of the week? (Aug. 25-31)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_1280,h_720,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/high_school/01j5m63arexrvt6r9tmr.jpg)
Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Mississippi high school Athlete of the Week for August25-31. Read through the nominees and cast your vote. The poll will close Sunday at 11:59 p.m. If you would like to make a nomination in a future week, email Tyler@scorebooklive.com. For questions/issues with he poll, email athleteoftheweek@scorebooklive.com.
Editor’s note: Our Athlete of the Week feature and corresponding poll is intended to be fun, and we do not set limits on how many times a fan can vote during the competition. However, we do not allow votes that are generated by script, macro or other automated means. Athletes that receive votes generated by script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified.
Kohl Bradley, DB, George County: Racked up 17 tackles and returned an interception 80 yards for a touchdown in a 33-7 win over East Central.
DaJuan Colbert, DB, Natchez: Recorded 15 tackles, forced one fumble and returned another one 75 yards for a touchdown in a 58-50 win over Hancock.
Garrison Davis, QB, Holmes County Central: Completed 14 of his 21 pass attempts for 375 yards and three touchdowns in a 20-6 win over Vicksburg.
Xzavion Gainwell, DB, Yazoo County: Recorded nine tackles, an interception and an 80-yard interception return for a touchdown in the Panthers’ 20-16 win over South Delta.
Elijah Jones, RB, West Jones: Had 24 carries 226 yards and four touchdowns in a 34-6 win over Laurel.
Kingi McNair, WR, Pearl: Caught four passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns in a 26-20 win over Neshoba Central.
Ashton Nichols, DB, Clinton: Recorded six tackles to go with two big pass breakups, a blocked punt and a return for a touchdown in a 26-20 win over Warren Central.
Ethan Prater, RB, Pisgah: Rushed for 132 yards on 27 carries with three scores and caught a 60-yard touchdown pass in a 33-32 win over North Forrest.
Glen Singleton, RB, Madison Central: Rushed for 174 yards on 18 carries with all four touchdowns in a 27-20 win over Ocean Springs.
Damarius Yates, RB, Kemper County: Rushed for 193 yards on 17 carries and returned a kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown in a 38-15 win over Kosciusko.
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