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 Jackson Police Department made history Thursday by inducting the first female member of to its SWAT team since its inception in 1971.
2. The Eudora Welty Library in downtown Jackson will re-open on Monday, after state and city officials inspected the building today. State Fire Marshal Mike Chaney said the first floor of the building can re-open to the public.
3. HB 1523 is state law in Mississippi, after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the request of plaintiffs in the Barber v. Bryant lawsuit to block it while they appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
4. Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall did not mince words at the Stennis Capitol Press Forum Monday, calling out Mississippi lawmakers' inaction on funding the state's infrastructure.
5. In the wake of the Las Vegas massacre, the Jackson Free Press assembled details on the gun-related legislation that Mississippi lawmakers in Washington have supported or co-sponsored, as well as how much gun-rights groups have donated to them.
6. A State of Mississippi takeover of Jackson Public Schools could be devastating to young people, a group of JPS students told reporters outside City Hall Monday.
7. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts joined hundreds of lawyers and judges in Jackson for the bicentennial of the state’s judicial system.
8. Three Mississippians sued Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann over the state’s list of disenfranchising crimes that prevent some from voting again.
9. Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith was nearly seven hours late Monday to his pre-trial court date for two domestic-violence charges, an aggravated stalking charge, and a robbery charge he faces in Rankin County for allegedly attacking Christie Edwards.
10. Attorney General Jim Hood announced a new mental-health taskforce made up of both state agencies and advocacy organizations to recommend improvements to the state's mental-care system and potential changes to state law.

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