The Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) voted today to temporarily adjust the statewide accountability system so A-F grades for districts and schools and federally required school improvement designations can be determined for the 2021-22 school year. On March 17, 2022, the SBE invited public comment on its initial proposal to temporarily adjust the accountability system for 2021-22. After reviewing public feedback, the MDE revised the proposal and presented it on April 12, 2022, to the Commission on School Accreditation (CSA), which approved the revised proposal. Mississippi’s A-F accountability system and school improvement identification system consider several indicators, including how well students perform on state tests, students’ growth on tests from year to year and whether students are graduating within four years. Federal law requires all states to assess students annually in English Language Arts and mathematics in grades 3-8 and once during high school. Adjustments are needed for the 2021-22 school year because the cancellation of assessments in spring 2020 resulted in some students lacking scores to calculate growth. The SBE’s action today will adjust the accountability system for 2021-22 as follows: Growth will be measured on high school-level assessments from the most recent year students were previously tested. For example, current 10th graders who take Algebra I and English II assessments this year will have their scores compared to their 7th grade assessment in 2018-19 to measure progress. 2021-22 high school end-of-course assessment results will be included, regardless of the student’s grade level. Typically, scores for students in grades 7-9 who take high school level assessments are not included in the current accountability year and are “banked” for accountability until they reach 10th grade. Any banked scores from previous years that would have been included in the current year’s accountability calculation will be excluded. Scores for students in grades 7-9 who take high school-level assessments this year will also be banked, in accordance with existing accountability rules. The U.S. Department of Education (USED) granted waivers to states from federal accountability requirements for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years because the pandemic disrupted schooling and state assessments. The USED now requires all states to resume their accountability systems and identification of schools for support and improvement for the 2021-22 school year but is allowing states to request a one-year addendum plan to adjust for missing data. “Our goal for resuming accountability is to get the most complete and accurate measure of student learning during the pandemic,” said Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education. “The temporary adjustments will enable educators, families, communities and policymakers to understand and evaluate how schools and districts have performed since the onset of COVID-19.” Mississippi resumed statewide testing in the 2020-21 school year, with a 97% participation rate. The high participation rate provided MDE with a valid measure of student performance in 2020-21 and a way to measure student growth for most students between 2020-21 and 2021-22. To address federally required school improvement classifications, the MDE’s addendum request will propose to change the frequency for identifying schools in need of improvement and the timelines and criteria for schools to exit school improvement status. The MDE worked closely with the state’s Accountability Task Force, Technical Advisory Committee and the Center for Assessment to review and analyze assessment data to ensure the addendum proposal is technically sound and presents an accurate picture of the academic performance of Mississippi students. The SBE invites public comment on today’s vote to establish the temporary rule to implement the accountability adjustment. For more information on the temporary rule and instructions for submitting comments, visit mdek12.org/PN/APA. The deadline to submit comments is May 17, 2022. Find all MDE news releases at mdek12.org/news.

By Bob Arnold Love yourself, plan and draw on God's power to achieve your potential and life's purpose, Rev. Jamerson Jackson told his audience of mostly Wesson Attendance Center students last month at WAC's fifteenth annual celebration of Black History Month. Jackson, a pastor and social/political advocate who is a native of Fayette, Mississippi, and bases a ministry to Louisiana and Mississippi churches at Baton Rouge, spoke at the special evening event of song, dance and poetry readings to inspirationally frame its theme -- "The Power of Community" -- as it applied to individual African Americans particularly. "The past is important to understand, but it does not dictate where you are going," he declared. "You can be what people say you can't. Move forward and do not stand still. Challenge yourself. Create a path with a plan and a passion. Persevere with God's help." Wesson High School English and drama instructor Albert Brown and librarian Kendra Armistad orchestrated the celebration of the national focus on the contributions of African Americans to society and culture. Gage Smith, Wesson High School Senior Beta Club president and a 2022 WAC Hall of Fame inductee, discussed "What Is Black History" to introduce the event and Paris Dickerson and soloist Sydney Thomas dedicated the program to the life and impact WAC staffer Bessie M. Smith who died in January. The event, held in the Old Gymnasium at WAC, also featured: The Wesson Gospel Ensemble, assembled and conducted by Brown, which interspersed Shirley Caesar's It's Alright. It's Okay and Harvey Watkins' It's in My Heart to punctuate dance and readings. Soloists included Tyler Fuller and Walter Butler. Poetry readings -- Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Hilary Kiser's His Dream Live On -- by Jamera Black and Ja'Cionne Hilliard. A step performance based on the African tradition of rhythmic foot movements, hand clapping and voice by Wesson High School students who call themselves The Cobra Steppers. A band from St. Peter Rock M.B. Church. The program took place in a setting and ambiance created by hundreds of posters on the walls of the Old Gymnasium that celebrated people and events in African American history. They are the contributions of students in Brown's English classes assigned to research the people and events and report on them with posters and other visuals. Each year Brown hangs posters from past classes as well as from ones he currently teaches to provide an appropriate backdrop for the annual WAC celebration.

Wesson Attendance Center, as part of the Copiah County School District, will be among the beneficiaries of new high-dosage tutoring services in math and English Language Arts available to students in grades 3-12, their educators and parents across the state, and a new health and safety platform. The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) is using $10.7 million of its American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) III funds to purchase the tutoring services from PAPER, a company that provides on-demand educational support, and another $14 million in ESSER III funds to purchase the web-based nSide health and school safety platform along with required cameras for its use. PAPER was selected through a Request for Proposals (RFP) process. One hundred twenty one school districts and charter schools, including Copiah and Lincoln County school systems, opted to receive the tutoring services at no cost. Online training and support sessions for teachers, administrators, parents and students in participating districts will start in the coming weeks. All districts will begin receiving personalized training. In the coming weeks as well, 135 districts, which opted in, will be on-boarded to the nSide platform with drills, trainings and a review of best safety practices. ESSER III funds cover costs of the tutoring services and the safety platform and cameras until Sept. 30, 2024. The tutoring services will be live, online and available 24/7. Teachers and administrators will have access to real-time data through a data dashboard to assign activities, monitor student progress and schedule one-on-one or small group tutoring sessions during the school day. Parents may also schedule tutorial services for their children after school hours and on the weekend. These services will also be available for English learners and students with special needs. MDE sought high-dosage tutoring services, which is a strategy to close achievement gaps, to mitigate any impact COVID-19 and school closures had on learning and instruction and as a way to accelerate student learning. “Besides giving educators more tools to manage instruction and gauge students’ needs and progress, these tutoring services allow parents and students to get help with homework from a tutor any time of the day,” says Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education. “Whether it’s writing an essay or solving math problems, students can get immediate assistance to complete and better understand assignments.” Features of health and safety platform which will aid school districts include: One surveillance camera for each district central office and up to five school-based surveillance cameras with the ability to detect and provide notifications of crowd congestion. Access to a 360-degree live, virtual walkthrough of a school to provide situational awareness in emergencies. A system to create detailed campus maps and building floor plans with geo-referenced images that give first responder precise locations of individuals. A portal to upload emergency operation plans. A mobile app for notification of emergencies to staff and emergency responders. Assistance with creating and managing emergency operations plans that meet state and federal requirements. "With nearly every school district in the state choosing to use the health and safety platform, Mississippi schools will now have a more uniform approach to keeping students, teachers and staff safe," says Wright. "MDE is confident this platform will be beneficial to districts by helping them prevent and mitigate crises." The School Safety Act of 2019 requires school boards of each district, with assistance from MDE's Office of Safe and Orderly Schools, to adopt comprehensive local school safety plans and annually provide plan updates. By offering the nSide platform to districts, MDE anticipates a more consistent development and implementation of safety plans

By Guest Columnist Stephanie Duguid April -- National Donate Life Month started by Donate Life America and its partnering organizations in 2003 -- celebrates of one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of medicine as it raises awareness about organ donations and transplants. Donations and transplants demonstrate amazing medical developments, give hope to thousands of people with organ failure and provide many others with active, renewed lives. Yet, even with continuing advances in medicine and technology, the need for organs and tissue is vastly greater than the number available for transplants. Seventeen people die every day waiting for a transplant. Six things you can do: Register to be an organ, eye, or tissue donor. Volunteer. Raise awareness by joining the MORA Facebook page and follow MORA on Twitter. Share your own story. Have a conversation about tissue and organ donation. Give to MORA through a tax-deductible donation or by purchasing a car tag to enhance public education and donor awareness. Despite continuing public education efforts, misconceptions and inaccuracies about donations persist. To address the misunderstandings, Donate Life America points out: Anyone can be a potential donor regardless of age, race, or medical history. All major religions in the United States support organ, eye and tissue donation and see it as the final act of love and generosity toward others. If you are sick or injured and admitted to the hospital, the number one priority is to save your life. Organ, eye and tissue donation can only be considered after you are deceased. When you are on the waiting list for an organ, what counts is the severity of your illness, time spent waiting, blood type, and other important medical data, not your financial status or celebrity status. An open casket funeral is possible for organ, eye and tissue donors. Through the entire donation process the body is treated with care, respect and dignity. There is no cost to the donor or their family for organ or tissue donation. Information about an organ donor is only released to the recipient if the family of the donor requests or agrees to it. MORA/Donate Life Mississippi, a not-for-profit organization with a sole mission to inspire all Mississippians to save and enhance life through organ, eye, and tissue donation, underscores: More than 106,774 Americans (men, women, and children) are on the waiting for a lifesaving transplant and almost 1,300 of those are Mississippians. Every 10 minutes a new name is added to the National Transplant Waiting List. One organ donor can save up to 8 lives, restore sight to 2 people, and enhance more than 75 people’s lives through tissue donation. As of January, 2022, Mississippi had more than one million registered organ donors. If you have ever considered registering, there are three ways to enroll in Mississippi’s Donor Registry. Register online at msora.org/register. Register when you obtain or renew your Mississippi driver’s license at a Mississippi Department of Public Safety. Register at a MORA table at community events. MORA staff is committed to educating the public about the process of donation and to dispelling the common myths that surround donation. Members of the MORA staff are available to speak on the importance of organ donation at most any time. Mississippi residents who are at least 18 years old can enroll in the Mississippi Donor Registry. Be sure you do not eliminate yourself as a donor for fear you will not qualify or be able to help. Each potential organ, eye, and tissue donor is evaluated on an individual basis for suitability. The organs that can be donated include the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, pancreas, and small intestine. Tissue donations include corneas, eyes, skin, bone, tendons, ligaments, vessels, and heart valves. Your wish to be a donor will not interfere with your medical care. The number one priority of medical personnel is to save YOUR life. Registering as an organ, eye and tissue donor is granting first person authorization that this is your final wish. Tell your family you've made this decision. Contact www.registerme.org, msora.org/education or call 601-933-1000. EDITOR'S NOTE: Stephanie Duguid is Dean of Academic Instruction at Co-Lin. She is also an athletic trainer and nutrition specialist and has been teaching courses related to those two areas as well as practicing what she preaches for more than twenty years.

By Kara Kimbrough Elvis has been on my mind this week. But not for the normal reasons, like hearing one of his songs or seeing footage online of a press conference or concert at which the Mississippi native displayed his enduring charisma and talent. No, I thought about his penchant for consuming a pound of fried bacon each day. I was reminded of this after reading bacon prices have risen nearly 19 percent, higher than almost any other supermarket item. Tupelo’s favorite son was wealthy, but I wonder if Elvis would have changed his diet as prices of his favorite food group soar. Here's how I gained the inside scoop on Elvis’ penchant for bacon. An interview several years ago with his long-time cook, Mary Jenkins, revealed lots of unknown tidbits. For starters, he started his day with fried (not baked) biscuits, four scrambled eggs, freshly squeezed orange juice and a pile of bacon. Any leftover bacon was used to make one of his favorite sandwiches, a thick BLT. Since his death in 1977, the strangeness of Presley’s palate has become legendary. Only Jenkins, someone he considered a dear friend, knew the truth. ''It's not true that Elvis liked burnt bacon sandwiches,” she said. “He just liked his bacon very crisp. And he didn’t eat at much as everyone said. But he did like his food fried and real rich.” While Presley stuck to simple fare, it hit me that so many delicious dishes contain bacon. I dearly love the thin (and thick cut) slices of pork. Besides Elvis’ BLT, some of my favorites made with bacon include: • Baked beans topped with plenty of bacon slices • Bacon-wrapped Little Smokies rolled in brown sugar and cooked to a crispy goodness • Wedge salad highlighted with thick chunks of bacon • Plain burgers transformed with crispy bacon I could go on, but you get the point. Almost everything is better with bacon. And, many favorite dishes are taken to another level with the addition of bacon grease. In fact, a dish I made for Easter dinner last Sunday, deluxe hash brown bake, contains a quarter-cup of the not-so-healthy ingredient. Bacon grease is essential to moistening the dish loaded with several meats, cheeses and potatoes. Plus, the taste is other-worldly; yes, it’s that good. So there you have it. I won’t be giving up bacon any time soon. Bacon freezes well, so I’m stocking up now and placing several packs in the freezer in anticipation of even higher prices. I saved one package from the freezer to make a New Orleans-inspired dish given to me by a Gulf Coast friend. Grillades (pronounced “gree-odds) and grits is filled with “everything good,” including a half cup of bacon grease. It looks like a complicated recipe but comes together quickly. However, it needs to simmer at least two hours before serving. Bacon grease may not be the healthiest ingredient, but as my Coast friend says, “You only live once; might as well enjoy great food while we’re here.” I agree. Gulf Coast Grillades and Grits Ingredients for grillades: 4 pounds beef top round steak, cut into 3-inch strips, ½ inch wide 1-1/2 teaspoon Tony Chachere’s seasoning (more to taste) 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup bacon grease 1-1/2 cup onion, chopped 3 ribs celery chopped 1-1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 3 cups beef stock (I use low sodium) 14.5-ounce can chopped tomatoes 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped Salt (to taste) 1/2 cup green onions, chopped Ingredients for grits: 4 cups water 2 teaspoons salt 1 cup old-fashioned grits 4 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon ground mustard 1-1/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1/4 cup heavy cream Salt and pepper (to taste) To make grillades: Put the creole seasoning and flour in a large plastic bag. Add the strips of meat into the bag and shake, making sure to coat every piece with the flour mixture. In a large Dutch oven on low heat, add the bacon grease. Working in batches, brown the meat. Do not crowd the pan. Set the browned meat aside. Add onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic to the Dutch oven. Sauté until tender, about four minutes. Next, add the beef stock, tomatoes, beef stock, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Bring everything to a boil and then turn it down to a simmer. Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add the thyme and taste to adjust the seasonings. Simmer another 15 minutes, take it off the heat and then stir in the parsley. Garnish with a sprinkle of green onions. Salt and pepper to taste. To make cheese grits: Bring the water to a boil. Add the salt. Stir in the grits. Reduce heat to low and let the grits simmer for 20 minutes or until they are soft. Add the butter and ground mustard. Stir in the cheese. When it is fully incorporated, add the Worcestershire sauce and heavy cream. Taste and adjust the seasonings, adding more salt and black pepper if desired. To serve: add a serving of grits to each plate and top with grillades. Kara Kimbrough is a food and travel writer from Mississippi. Email her at kkprco@yahoo.com.

The leading causes of early death for Mississippians are heart disease, cancer and diabetes. They take away valuable years of active, healthy life — yet all of these chronic diseases are highly preventable. Staying in good overall health makes you less likely to become severely ill from COVID-19 and from other diseases. Keeping in shape has never never been more important. Starting small, setting goals and being informed can all help you become the healthy person you deserve to be, and stay that way. Staying active is one of the greatest drivers of good health. Make an effort to move vigorously every day, whether it's walking, running, dancing, or simple exercises. Start with a few minutes and build up to half an hour or more. Ways to get moving. Choosing foods that build health is the second key to getting healthy and staying that way. When you focus on more fruits, grains and vegetables, lighter meats, and eliminate snack food, you can lower your risk of major chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease, and feel better at the same time. Simple ways to eat better Regular checkups to watch your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar give you advance warning of serious problems, and keep you on track to health. Heart disease kills more Mississippians than any other cause, yet it's easy to avoid. The numbers you need to know Keep a healthy weight to make life longer and more enjoyable. When you eat right and stay active, you're already on your way to your best weight. Help with a healthy weight

Mississippi Boychoir will present its annual spring concert Saturday, May 21 at 6:00 p.m. at St. Columb’s Episcopal Church, 550 Sunnybrook Road, Ridgeland, MS 39157. The concert is free and open to the public. Donations are appreciated! Mississippi Boychoir is funded in part by the Mississippi Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Mississippi-born Sarah Anderson experienced the first signs of oral cancer while still in high school. When she was older, a doctor's checkup found advanced cancer that had consumed most of her jaw and spread to areas of her head. Sarah was pregnant at the time, and received surgery and extensive treatment as soon as her child was born. After a long and difficult recovery with mental and emotional challenges, Sarah is now a head and neck cancer survivor. Detecting signs of cancer early is essential to preventing serious illness. That's why regular medical checkups with your doctor and dentist are so important. More about oral cancer and ways to prevent it Hear Sarah's story

Institute for Learning in Retirement (ILR) is gearing up for travel opportunities, continuing education workshops, movie days, luncheons and social events after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic under a new program director. On April 19, existing members of the organization will come together at Co-Lin's Thames Center for a social event in which they will renew acquaintances, discuss their ideas and expectations for the group moving forward and install officers they elected to lead them before the pandemic put the ILR program on hold. ILR, a Co-Lin-sponsored membership organization, provides continuing education experiences for retired and semi-retired older adults. In ILR, participants define their own informal educational goals and pursue them at their own pace, based on their own choices and talents. Members, who design the group's program, come from wide ranging backgrounds and bring varied experiences to the organization. Co-Lin staff administers ILR and the college provides facilities for the organization, which is fully funded by member dues. Co-Lin's Erin Johnson is ILR's new program director, assuming the role as part of her new position as Events Coordinator for the college in which she replaced Tricia Russell who retired last year. As Events Coordinator at Co-Lin, Russell took over responsibilities for part-time ILR programming positions held previously by Marilyn Britt Brown and Julie Wright. "I will be primarily a facilitator, helping to implement what the ILR board and planning committees want to do and helping the organization to function -- arranging travel, assisting committees at their meetings, booking classrooms, managing finances," Johnson says. ILR, she stresses, is member-driven, and through the summer it will chart its course for 2022-23 year. "In August, we will host a second social to reach out to new members, collect dues and introduce activities for the fall term and holiday season," Johnson notes. Last month, Johnson started working with ILR board members Diane Summers, publicity secretary Joy Wesbrooks, past president Bettie Bullard, president Tommy Sasser, Kim Whittington and George Huffman to begin the planning process that will culminate with the group's program announcement in August. Johnson, who grew up in Ruth, Mississippi, outside Enterprise, on a farm that raised Angus and Hereford cattle with two brothers and two sisters, joined Co-Lin this year following her education and a subsequent business career. A 2005 Enterprise High School graduate, Johnson earned an Associate's degree in business administration at Co-Lin in 2007 and a BA in business administration with an emphasis in marketing at Mississippi College in 2009. She served as Executive Assistant to the President at Brookhaven-based Reed's Metals for seven years, and then started Erin & Company as a Brookhaven store in 2015 where she sold clothing and jewelry, and then operated it solely as an online venue from 2020-22 after the COVID-19 pandemic sharply reduced her retail traffic. In 2020 and 2021, she also went to back to work for her former Reed's Metals boss Bernie Reed at Reed Capital Investors in Brookhaven. Johnson continues to reside in Ruth, where her brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews also live as part of a tightly-knit family community. She is an active member of Topisaw Baptist Church where she teaches fifth and sixth grade Sunday school classes, sings in the choir and enjoys participating in mission trips to a Navajo reservation in New Mexico and helping with special projects like back-to-school clothing collections for the native Americans who live in poverty.

By Bob Garver Unlike the 8-movie “Harry Potter” series, the “Fantastic Beasts” sector of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World has never been able to quite get off the ground. Maybe it’s because audiences find it hard to get behind skittish protagonist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) as a hero. Maybe it’s because of all the bad press surrounding actors Ezra Miller and Johnny Depp (here replaced by Mads Mikkelsen) and even Rowling herself. But I think the real reason is that audiences see “Fantastic Beasts” as a transparent cash-grab; Rowling was under pressure to add to the Wizarding World, so she came up with this 1920’s prequel series strictly for the sake of getting in more movies. There will always be viewers that want to see what happens next in the Wizarding World, but audiences both dedicated and casual can sense a lack of passion. The new movie sees evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Mikkelsen) try to steal the election to become President of the International Confederation of Wizards so he can wage a war against non-magical Muggles. It’s up to former lover (now officially acknowledged as such) Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to stop him. But Albus can’t act against Grindelwald personally, lest he break a magical pact he made when he was younger. He can, however, coach a team led by “magizoologist” (magic animal expert) Scamander, himself a valuable asset since a key part of Grindelwald’s plan is to exploit a Fantastic Beast called a Qilin that can see into people’s souls and greatly influence the election. The team also consists of Newt’s assistant Bunty Broadacre (Victoria Yeates), his Ministry-connected brother Theseus (Callum Turner), questionably loyal French wizard Yusef Kama (William Nadylam), American Charms professor Lally Hicks (Jessica Williams), Albus’s estranged brother Aberforth (Richard Coyle), and No-Maj (don’t call him a “Muggle”) baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler). Jacob is low-key probably the best character in the series, since he comes into the Wizarding World as a blank slate, yet he doesn’t lack personality like so many other audience-surrogate characters, including, arguably, Harry Potter himself. Grindelwald has his own team that consists of the powerful-but-manipulable Creedence Barebone (Miller), mind reader and former lover of Jacob’s Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol), and… a bunch of henchmen that don’t matter. Honestly, it’s a wonder I care about as many characters as much as I do, because these movies are overly-ambitious with their casts, and they keep introducing new characters without properly developing major ones like Newt. That said, I liked the new character of Professor Hicks, who nicely fills this movie’s need for a heroic female presence following Queenie’s heel turn in the last movie and sister Tina (Katherine Waterston)’s conspicuous absence from most of this one. People are sure to say that the patch-job of Mads Mikkelson is the shrewdest casting decision in the movie, but I say it's Jessica Williams. The best thing I can say for “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” is that it’s mostly a pleasant movie. The Qilin is adorable and Newt makes allies out of supposedly ugly creatures. Grindelwald spends much of the movie in the public eye, so after some grim early actions he can’t afford to be the violent psycho he was in the last installment. The climax takes place in daylight in a tranquil setting. The finale ends things on an upbeat note. It’s so nice, in fact, that I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Warner Bros. is planning to scrap the rest of the series and end things here. Nah, evil has to be punished more in future installments. Still, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the magic is long gone from the Wizarding World. Grade: C “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” is rated PG-13 for some fantasy action/violence. Its running time is 142 minutes. Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.

Starting Monday, appointments for second COVID-19 booster shots will be available through county health departments. Appointments can be made after 5 p.m. today through https://covidvaccine.umc.edu or by calling the COVID-19 hotline at 877-978-6453. Individuals are eligible for a second booster shot of Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine at MSDH county health department clinics if they are: · 50 years of age or older and it has been at least four months since their first booster shot of any COVID-19 vaccine, · Age 12-17 years with a weakened immune system and it has been at least four months since their first booster shot (Pfizer only for this age group), · Age 18 years or older with a weakened immune system, and it has been at least four months since their first booster shot, or · Age 18 years or older and they received Johnson and Johnson vaccine as both a first shot and a booster shot, and it has been at least four months since their first booster shot. First, second, third or additional shots (for people with weakened immune systems), and first booster shots for adults and children are also available at county health department clinics. For information about eligibility and to make an appointment for COVID-19 vaccinations or boosters, visit https://covidvaccine.umc.edu. Please note: COVID-19 vaccinations are available at numerous other providers statewide, including pharmacies and clinics. Visit https://www.vaccines.gov/search/ to find locations near you where you can receive first and second COVID-19 vaccinations as well as boosters and additional COVID-19 doses for weakened immune systems and boosters. Please remember to bring your COVID-19 vaccination card to your appointment, if available, if you have received prior shots of COVID-19 vaccine.

The Mississippi Lottery Corporation completed its March transfer of $11,543,588.24 to the Lottery Proceeds Fund in the Mississippi State Treasury. This brings the total transfer for Fiscal Year 2022 to $95,345,892.21. Of the FY22 transfer total so far, the Lottery has sent $80 million to the state to assist with road and bridge needs and $15,345,892.21 to benefit the Education Enhancement Fund. The March transfer marks the first monthly transfer fully directed to fund education. Per the Alyce G. Clarke Mississippi Lottery Law, the first $80 million in net proceeds goes to road and bridge needs around the state for 10 years. Net proceeds over $80 million go to the Education Enhancement Fund.