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 Department leaders praised each other Thursday afternoon, June 15, for decreasing major crime percentages by 14.6-percent from 2016 to 2017, despite recent acts of violence in Mississippi.
2. Rental housing in Mississippi is not very affordable, the new "Out of Reach 2017" report report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition shows.
3. McComb, a Mississippi city with a history of racial strife, became the latest local government to stop flying the state flag, which features a Confederate emblem that critics see as racist.
4. The Jackson Police Department is offering witnesses in the case of Jeremy Jerome Jackson, whose body was found burned and separated this past Saturday, a $20,000 reward if they step forward with information.
5. The Jackson Public School District will be down three Board of Trustees members by the end of June, meaning Mayor-elect Chokwe Antar Lumumba will be responsible for filling the board once he takes office July 3.
6. Gov. Phil Bryant tried to smooth out the state's economic appearance and patch up additional budget holes in the June 5 special session, but Democrats were not too pleased with the way he went about it.
7. The School of Social Work at the University of Southern Mississippi runs what is now called the Wraparound Institute in coordination with the Department of Mental Health and Medicaid, which provide funds to offer the services to the state's most vulnerable young people.
8. The City's Public Works Department is seeking to pay outside companies for assistance due to its lack of a qualified staff and potential damages to antennae's and water towers.
9. Mississippi still sits in last place in the Annie E. Casey Foundation annual Kids Count report, which ranks economic and family well-being as well as education and health in each state.
10. The Jackson Police Department called on the FBI, DEA, and ATF in hope of a speedy discovery regarding the decapitated head and burned torso of a black male over the weekend.

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