National Roundup

Mississippi
Judge orders utility to turn over customer information
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has ordered Mississippi’s largest electric utility to turn over information on customers in and around the capital city who might be using water without paying for it.

In a Monday court filing, U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate granted a motion by Ted Henifin — the federally appointed interim manager of Jackson’s water and sewer systems — that compels Entergy Mississippi to turn over names, addresses and contact information for customers in over 30 zip codes in the area.

The order comes months after Henifin said Jackson is collecting only a little more than half of the money it bills for water use, far below the rate at which most American cities obtain such fees.

JXN Water, the corporation Henifin formed to manage water infrastructure projects, will cross reference the Entergy customer records with city records to see what homes might be using water without a utility account.

“This is essential to updating and correcting the information contained in the City of Jackson’s records of active and inactive water and sewer accounts,” Wingate wrote.

Henifin was appointed in November to help improve Jackson’s water system after repeated breakdowns caused many in the city of about 150,000 residents to go days and weeks at a time without safe running water. The city’s water troubles accelerated last August and September after a backup at the city’s main treatment plant forced people to wait in lines for water to drink, bathe, cook and flush toilets.

In June, Henifin said there were over 7,000 properties in Jackson using water without paying for it. As a result, the city loses millions of dollars in annual revenue, hampering its ability to pay down what was then about $280 million in outstanding debt on the water system.

“We need to get our financial house in order for the water system,” Henifin told reporters in June. “In order to do that, we have to get the debt off the books.”

Wingate’s order compels Entergy to provide JXN Water with customer information in no more than 30 days.

Florida
State agencies accused in lawsuit of ­sending confusing ­Medicaid ­termination notices
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Three Florida residents filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday, alleging that state agencies aren’t adequately notifying low-income and disabled people that their public health insurance is ending.

The class-action lawsuit was filed in Jacksonville federal court by the Florida Health Justice Project and the National Health Law Program on behalf of the three Floridians, according to court records. The defendants are the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Department of Children and Families Deputy Chief of Staff Mallory McManus said in an email that the agency’s letters to recipients are legally sufficient. McManus added that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, approved DCF’s redetermination plan based on the federal agency’s regulations.

“There are multiple steps in the eligibility determination process and the final letter is just one of multiple communications from the Department,” McManus said.

More than 182,000 Floridians have been issued termination notices since April, when a coronavirus policy that banned states from dropping people from Medicaid ended, while hundreds of thousands more are expected to lose coverage over the next year, the residents say in the lawsuit.

Many of the low-income people who are losing coverage have no idea whether the state is making the right decision or how to challenge their loss of coverage, they argue. The residents are asking for an end to the current notification process and for coverage to be reinstated to people who previously received the faulty termination notices.

The state agencies have known since 2018 that the notices were confusing but have continued to use them, leaving many without coverage for critical care, prescriptions, vaccinations and postpartum care, Sarah Grusin, an attorney for the National Health Law Program, said in a statement.

“Fundamental due process requires the State to ensure that people receive adequate, meaningful notice of the State’s decision and the opportunity to challenge it before coverage is terminated,” Grusin said. “This is not happening.”
The National Health Law Program said this is the first lawsuit amid the nationwide Medicaid unwinding, with nearly 4 million people across the U.S. being cut from Medicaid since this spring.

Amanda Avery, another attorney for the National Health Law Program, said in a statement that the scope of Florida’s terminations is particularly egregious but that similar patterns are seen in many other states.

“For months, advocates have been warning state and federal agencies that the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency and the Medicaid unwinding process would lead to massive coverage losses for people who are still eligible for Medicaid,” Aver said. “We are seeing that play out in real time.”

Indiana
Woman charged with neglect in son’s accidental shooting death
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The mother of a 6-year-old Indianapolis boy who died last spring after accidentally shooting himself has been charged with neglect in connection with his death.

Monick Mack, 27, faces one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death. She is scheduled for a Thursday initial hearing. Online court records did not list an attorney for Mack.

Her son, Billy Ray Mack II, shot himself on April 16 at an Indianapolis apartment complex. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. A probable cause affidavit detailing his mother’s arrest does not indicate where the gun came from or how the boy got the weapon, The Indianapolis Star reported.

Indianapolis police said in court records that Monick Mack and her son’s aunt were in a car outside the apartment when officers arrived, and an investigator noted blood stains on Mack’s clothing.

Billy Ray Mack’s death is one of several cases of accidental shootings in Indianapolis so far this year, prompting police to urge gun owners to safely store their firearms.

By early July, a quarter of nonfatal accidental shootings in Indianapolis involved juveniles.