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. Rep. John Moore's House Bill 49, if passed, would penalize "school board members, superintendents, administrators, officers or employees" for a gamut of political activity, including disseminating political information in support or opposition of political activities or parties.
2. JPD Police Chief Vance said at a press conference Thursday that working with neighboring police departments and an anonymous tip led to the arrests of two teens linked to armed robberies across Jackson.
3. Dana Larkin, executive director of the Mississippi Campaign for Teen Pregnancy Prevention, said middle-school aged children are the best age to intercede with sex education.
4. "No data" back the idea that appointing school superintendents rather than electing them will actually raise test scores or improve achievement in the state's 144 school districts, Sen. Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, said Thursday in the Mississippi Senate.
5. Democratic lawmakers chanted their endorsement for Hillary Clinton in the Mississippi Capitol after a brief press conference Wednesday when legislators from the House and the Senate endorsed her as the Democratic presidential primary candidate.
6. Sen. Charles Younger, R-Columbus, recently introduced a bill that would "clarify that religious leaders are not required to perform same-sex marriages."
7. Hillman Frazier, D-Jackson, has introduced a bill this session that would require employers to provide spaces for nursing employees to breastfeed.
8. Tommie Mabry, who was kicked out of Whitten Preparatory Middle School more than a decade ago, told young men there to let music like that of Lil Boosie be the “passion of your ear, not your lifestyle.”
9. Gov. Phil Bryant would get to appoint five commissioners of the new airport authority if the “takeover” bill authored by Sen. Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, becomes law.
10. Low-income, single parents could more easily access affordable child care under two bills Mississippi child-care providers and advocates are asking the Legislature to pass.

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