Jackson Free Press

10 Local Stories of the Week

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. With testing for the so-called 3rd grade reading gate—which requires students to pass a literacy test before moving to the next grade—now under way around the state, some public school leaders say they're frustrated because they haven't been told what a passing grade is for the test.
2. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush attended Senate Bill 2695's signing at the Capitol. The Mississippi program is based on one created in Florida under Gov. Bush, a Republican preparing to run for president.
3. The City of Jackson asked state regulators for a formal evidentiary hearing to contest the approval of a wastewater treatment plant in west Rankin County.
4. State Democratic lawmakers said this year’s session crystallized their priorities in opposition to the Republican leadership, especially when it came to education of children.
5. Dr. Cedrick Gray, the superintendent of Jackson Public Schools, seems to be proving tight-fisted Mississippi lawmakers right when they say it doesn't necessarily take throwing money at schools to improve education.
6. The list of cases Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Jeff Weill has taken from the county public defender's office and assigned to private attorneys has swelled to more than 60 and keeps growing.
7. The Mississippi Home Corporation awarded New Orleans-based HRI Properties housing tax credits for the proposed Capitol Art Lofts project, the company said today. With the credits in hand, HRI plans to start construction later this year and finish in late 2016.
8. A new report out Tuesday from financial-information website WalletHub shows that Mississippi taxpayers, the nation's poorest, don't get very much for what they do spend on taxes.
9. Anjou Restaurant proprietor Anne Amelot-Holmes recently brought a familiar face into her restaurant's kitchen: her father, Christian Amelot.
10. Last week, the Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees granted a one-year contract extension to Superintendent Dr. Cedrick Gray, citing high academic performance and progress in a number of other areas.

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