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. The head of an area labor union called a furlough plan and proposed property-tax increase a double whammy for Jackson employees.
2. Stacey Pickering, the incumbent Republican candidate for state auditor, denied any involvement with automated calls that called his Democrat challenger, Joce Pritchett, an "LGBT candidate."
3. Education funding, job creation and fighting corruption are at the top of many Mississippi statewide candidates' lists heading into the November election.
4. It was not until 7:36 on the morning of Aug. 5 that anyone found out what Robert Gray looked like, much less how he wound up being the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee for Mississippi governor.
5. Empower Mississippi, a nonprofit dedicated to school choice, used its political arm, the Empower PAC, to unseat four incumbent Republican candidates for the Mississippi House of Representatives in the DeSoto County primary elections on Aug. 4.
6. This year's Jackson City Council budget hearings started more than a week earlier than last year and dealt heavily with issues concerning the Department of Public Works.
7. Most 4-year-olds are learning more basic skills before entering kindergarten due to Early Learning Collaboratives, the Mississippi Department of Education is reporting.
8. The City of Jackson has approved an operations contract for JATRAN, the city's transit authority, with U.K.-based National Express Transit Services for approximately $4.5 million.
9. The Jackson Medical Mall hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for a new mixed-use retail site called Woodrow Wilson Place Thursday, Aug. 13.
10. Mayor Tony Yarber's budget projects $494.6 million in revenue for the coming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, a decrease from last year's adopted budget of $511.4 million.

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