The Empower Podcast

In this episode host Grant Callen sits down with Dallis Ketchum, a real estate broker, co-founder of NeighborHouse, and a dedicated community leader in Jackson. Dallis recounts how entrepreneurship became his defining path, from an unforeseen shift into real estate following his paramedic career to launching a business amid the 2008 housing crisis. Together, they explore the spirit of Mississippi'...

Dead or alive? That's the key question this week as another big deadline has come and gone. With yet another key deadline on the horizon, we'll highlight some of the bills that are still moving forward this session – at least for now.

Taxes, taxes, taxes. That and other news from the Capitol this week, including a new entry on "how a bill  really becomes law – or doesn't."   Empower Mississippi's Tax Calculator: https://empowerms.org/2025-tax-calculator/

Halfway through the legislative session, we're covering tax cuts, direct wine shipment, critical deadlines, and a scary situation in the Senate. Tune in to learn more on this week's episode of Capitol Chat.

Roses are red, violets are blue, lawmakers are busy, and we break it down for you on this week's episode of Capitol Chat! Tune in to hear about the latest happenings from week 6 of the 2025 legislative session.

When Mississippians think about consequential leaders who have significantly impacted the Magnolia State over the last half century, it's hard to name anyone who looms larger than Mississippi's 63rd governor, The Honorable Haley Barbour. In this episode, host Grant Callen sits down with Governor Barbour to hear his perspective on leadership, the early days of the Trump Administration, some of the...

With a big deadline on Tuesday, floor action on DEI and school choice, and the death of a high-profile bill to limit the power of the State Auditor, Week 5 of the 2025 session was action-packed! Tune in to this week's episode of Capitol Chat to hear about all this and more.

What do a critical deadline, State of the State address, and Presidential Executive Order all have in common? They're all a part of this week's episode of Capitol Chat! Be sure to tune in for the latest on all this and more from Week 4 of the legislative session.

Conservative activist, businessman, and Texas donor Doug Deason was our guest this week for an in-depth conversation about Doug's work on criminal justice reform. Host Grant Callen asked him about his relationship with President Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and how that relationship resulted in the passage of the landmark federal criminal justice reform package known as the "First Step Act"...

Things got crazy in a subcommittee hearing, some new and interesting bills were introduced, and the House passed PBM reform. Hear about all this and more as host Wil Ervin breaks down what happened in Week 3 of the legislative session.

Empower Senior Vice President Wil Ervin highlights what happened at the Capitol during week 2 of the legislative session, including the latest on tax reform, key legislative deadlines, and Empower's new labor force participation report. Don't miss it! Empower's Labor Force Participation Report: https://empowerms.org/labor-force-participation-in-ms/

This week, host Grant Callen went to the Mississippi State Capitol to sit down with Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, State Representative Trey Lamar. Chairman Lamar is the lead author of newly introduced House Bill 1, the "Build Up Mississippi Act", which would eliminate the state's income tax over ten years, reduce the sales tax on groceries, increase the general sales tax and fuel...

Capitol Chat returns as the 2025 session is underway! Check out what happened at the Mississippi state Capitol during the first week of the legislative session. Empower Mississippi's 2025 Legislative Session Guide: https://empowerms.org/session-guide/  

Happy New Year! The start of the 2025 Legislative Session is only six days away, so host Grant Callen sat down with Wil Ervin, Empower's own Tim Russert, to break down what we can expect from the coming session. Tax reform, Medicaid expansion, ballot initiative, and school choice are all poised to dominate the conversation under the dome this year. Additionally, Wil shared about a new show we are...

On Mississippi's 207 th  birthday, Empower Mississippi hosted its 4 th  annual Solution Summit at the Sheraton Hotel in Flowood. At the Summit, host Grant Callen sat down with Mississippi's 62 nd  Speaker of the House, Jason White, to discuss his vision for policy change and his 2025 legislative priorities. They talked about the new education funding formula, school choice, tax reform, healthcare,...

On November 6, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, and Jackson Councilman Aaron Banks were indicted on federal bribery charges. A few months earlier, Jackson City Councilwoman Angelique Lee resigned from office and pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery.  In this episode host Grant Callen sat down with Jackson resident and attorney Spencer Ritchie to...

This week, host Grant Callen sat down with Alesha Judkins, Mississippi State Director at FWD.us to discuss Mississippi's criminal justice system and our high imprisonment rate – the highest in the nation. Alesha has over 16 years of criminal justice advocacy in Mississippi and Alabama. Alesha and Grant discussed Alesha's journey into advocacy, why she is passionate about criminal justice reform, a...

This week, Empower's Senior Vice President, Wil Ervin, took over the Empower Podcast and sat down with Lucien Smith to talk all things politics – from the 2024 national election to the Mississippi governor's race and everything in between. Smith is certainly no stranger to Mississippi politics – he has served as a senior advisor for two governors, served as Chairman of the Mississippi Republican P...

This week, host Grant Callen sat down with columnist Bill Crawford to discuss his recently published book "A Republican's Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives."  Callen and Crawford talked about why Crawford got involved in Mississippi politics in the 1970s and the profound influence that G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery and Gil Carmichael had on Crawford's political worldview. Crawford...

This week, we took the podcast on the road, recording in the beautiful Mississippi State Capitol. Host Grant Callen sat down with Mississippi's 33 rd Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann to discuss all things related to work and the Magnolia State's economy. Historic low employment, record private capital investment, billions paid off in debt, and a fully-funded rainy day fund are all worthy of ce...

The topic of "work" has been in the news a lot lately since Mississippi has record low unemployment and the lowest labor force participation rate in the nation. So, this week host, Grant Callen sat down with author, David Bahnsen, to discuss his most recent book "Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life." David makes the case that America is in a crisis of despair and much of that malaise is rooted...

For this episode of the Empower Podcast, host Grant Callen sat down with State Rep. Fred Shanks, Chairman of the Rules Committee, to discuss nearly a dozen legislative topics including: the ballot initiative, suffrage bills, the new education funding formula, police officer safety and training, the "Goon Squad" assaults, replacing the Mississippi statues in the U.S. Capitol, school choice, and tax...

Bay Springs, Mississippi is like a lot of communities around the state, it has desirable schools and less desirable schools, but no meaningful avenue for parents to exercise school choice. According to Jamie Holder, President and CEO of Hol-Mac Corporation, that employs over 900 people in Bay Springs, this reality has led to population decline within the city and made recruiting talent by the busi...

It's been a crazy few weeks in politics: an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate, Biden announced he is not running again, Trump picked his running mate, the RNC Convention occurred, and last week was Mississippi's Giant House Party, the Neshoba County Fair, with all the accompanying political speeches. So, who better to break all this down and give us an analysis than the Founder & C...

This week, host Grant Callen sat down with Dr. Kymyona Burk, formerly the State Literacy Director at the Mississippi Department of Education, who oversaw implementation of the Literacy-Based Promotion Act of 2013, a bill championed by then Governor Phil Bryant. Often when great policy gets enacted, the implementation of the law leaves a lot to be desired. But in this case, the implementation of th...