Jackson Free Press

There's never a slow news week in Jackson, Miss., and last week was no exception. Here are the local stories JFP reporters brought you in case you missed them:

1. Ineva May-Pittman spoke out at a Nov. 20 public hearing at City Hall on a proposal from Ward 3 Councilwoman LaRita Cooper-Stokes to reinstate a teen curfew. Read more here.
2. A Southern Poverty Law Center lawsuit filed on behalf of children housed at the Forrest County Juvenile Detention Center resulted in a settlement to end what the SPLC calls "dangerous conditions" at the jail. A full year after the settlement was reached, however, an independent monitor assigned to keep track of the county's progress concludes Forrest County is behind schedule or backsliding in implementing reforms.
3. California-based solar technology firm Twin Creeks is liquidating and a company that bought its assets won't take over its agreement with Mississippi. Twin Creeks had agreed to invest at least $132 million and create at least 500 jobs in exchange for loans, tax breaks and other aid.
4. Civil-rights leader and Mississippi native Lawrence Guyot died in his home in Mount Rainier, Md. on Thursday, Nov. 22, at age 73. Read the full story here.
5. After 15 years, federal officials finally caught up to Clarence Mumford Sr., the Memphis-based head of a crime ring that enabled would-be public school teachers in three states, including Arkansas and Mississippi, to get jobs with local public school districts using false credentials.
6. William Bright spent the last 13 years as an officer in the Jackson Police Department. Now he's left the force and is running for mayor. Read the JFP's interview with Bright here.
7. Last school year one Jackson student was suspended from school 19 times, Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Cedrick Gray said this morning at Koinonia Coffee House's Friday Forum. He said students are struggling with mental-health issues including depression and hypertension, which can be related to high stress levels.
8. According to a declaration from Jackson Women's Health Organization administrator Shannon Brewer, filed in federal court Nov. 28, the clinic has applied for admitting privileges to seven central-Mississippi hospitals and all seven have rejected them.
9. The 2012 Mississippi Black Leadership Summit began Wednesday at the Jackson Convention Complex. Day One of the three-day event kicked off with the Partnership for Progress Luncheon, followed by three lecture and Q and A sessions with community leaders who are working to transform impoverished neighborhoods in Boston and in the Bronx, N.Y., and the CEO of Evergreen Cooperatives, a nationwide group of locally owned co-ops.
10. Gov. Phil Bryant said this week that he believes most teenagers know how to obtain and use contraception, but too many are failing to do so. He was one of several elected officials and health professionals who discussed ways to reduce Mississippi's teenage pregnancy rate, which has long been among the highest in the nation.

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