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. R.L. Nave reports on Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann's office finally placing alerts on the department's official website telling voters that photo ID isn't required for the Nov. 6 election.
2. The Levee Board and nonprofit Pearl River Vision Foundation are drafting a plan to reduce flooding along the Pearl River, and are attempting to locate funds for the project. R.L. Nave reports.
3. The FBI arrested four men, including two former metro police officers and one acting Hinds County Sheriff's deputy, Oct. 2 on charges of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and theft of government property. Read more in Jacob Fuller's report.
4. Under the plan District 3 Supervisor Peggy Hobson-Calhoun proposed in an Oct. 15 Hinds County Board of Supervisors meeting, the county will cover part of employees' premium increases, approximately $44 per month.
5. R.L. Nave writes about the challenges facing residents of Jackson's Washington Addition neighborhood, which has some of the highest rates of poverty, crime and homicide in the city.
6. The Mississippi Board of Education voted to grant Jackson Public Schools an extension until June 30, 2013 to come into full compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act before the withdrawal of accreditation if the district agrees to criteria outlined in a proposed agreement. Read the full story here.
7. The Jackson City Council approved a $90 million water and sewer project worth one-fourth of the city's total budget, banking on a contractor's guarantee that the work will pay for itself within 15 years.
8. Because they have performed poorly for three years in a row, 35 schools across Mississippi are eligible to be converted into public charter schools.
9. A federal judge denied a request by Hinds County Supervisor Phil Fisher and the Republican Party to bar the county from using its new redistricting plan in November elections.
10. Victoria Sherwood reports on Jackson State University's unveiling of its second Freedom Trail marker at the corner of John R. Lynch and Prentiss streets in remembrance of Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two young men who were shot and killed by police officers during a 1970 campus protest of the Kent State shootings.

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