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. Speaker Philip Gunn authored the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act" which the House of Representatives passed and then held on a motion to reconsider on Friday.
2. The Jackson City Council wants to ensure that minority subcontractors have the ability to take part in major construction projects in the city, get paid on time and be held accountable for their work.
3. In the Senate committee meeting, Chairman Sen. Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, presented SB 2161, which would allow the establishment of charter schools in C districts without the permission of that district's school board.
4. Sen. Sally Doty, R-Brookhaven, authored a bill that would add domestic violence as grounds for divorce in Mississippi; the bill passed through the Senate Judiciary-A Committee and is on the Senate Calendar.
5. Ward 4 Councilman De’Keither Stamps walked out of Wednesday night’s special Jackson City Council meeting after failing to get support for a state of emergency over lead pipes in Jackson homes.
6. Ward 6 Councilman Tyrone Hendrix floated an ordinance to the public that would require inspections before new tenants could move in to rental units.
7. Sen. Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, authored seven involuntary school-consolidation bills this session despite failed attempts at passing some of those same bills in the last two legislative sessions.
8. Children have died and suffered mistreatment in the state's foster-care system, and the Mississippi Department of Human Services is requesting $34.4 million to change conditions that lead to the abuse.
9. The map of food deserts in Mississippi is staggering. At least a third of the state has regions considered "low-income census tracts" where a significant number of the residents are more than a mile (in urban settings) or 10 miles (in rural settings) from the nearest supermarket.
10. The City allocated just over $2 million to streets in the recent budget in the recent budget, but sinkholes, utility cuts, cracks, ruts, and potholes come in every shape, size and depth imaginable.

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