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. Jackson police expect no more than one to two arrests to follow the firing of up to seven public-works department employees Dec. 18.
2. Sixty percent of Mississippi's third to eighth graders scored at or above the average level on the latest round of math and English assessments.
3. Fifty years later, the idealistic Pell Grant system has dissipated with rising tuition costs and higher-ed institutions hiking prices on virtually everything.
4. All fourth graders at Eastside Elementary in Clinton got their first introduction to coding as as a part of Computer Science Education Week from Dec. 7 through 13.
5. The Up in Farms Food Hub was one of seven Mississippi improvement projects that received more than $1 million in federal funding through the Delta Regional Authority.
6. Bilal Qizilbash, leader of R U Hungry?, pulls together a group of volunteers to provide hot meals to homeless people every Friday at Smith Park.
7. Recent active-shooter events have prompted the Jackson Police Department to seek training on how to respond to a gunman on the loose.
8. The Join Legislative Budget Committee recommended slashing the state's budget by nearly $40 million for the 2017 fiscal year.
9. Northpark Mall recently added three new stores to its tenant lineup: Comfort Zone, Korset and SubZero Cream.
10. Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote asked the council to award a contract to haul 305,000 tons of wet biosolids from a wastewater-treatment facility to a joint venture of Baltimore-based Synagro-WWT Inc., and Fisher Construction and Transportation.

Remember: Check the JFP Events planner for everything to do in the Jackson metro area. You can also add your own events (or send them to [email protected])! See JFPEvents.com

Read staff and reader blog posts at jfp.ms/weblogs (yes, you can register on the site and start your own blog!)