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. Interim Police Chief James Davis announced the start of a Violent Crime Task Force on Aug 14 to "saturate" the streets, looking for people who have committed armed robberies following two on Aug 13.
2. The City of Jackson announced on Tuesday, Aug. 14, that it entered into an interlocal agreement with the Hinds County Board of Supervisors to repair 59 streets within city limits.
3. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant confirms that he will call legislators into special session next week to deal with transportation funding. However, Bryant did not immediately release details about proposals he wants lawmakers to consider.
4. The artwork of Frances Fortner, who died in May after her car hit an unsecured manhole cover, is at Cups Espresso Cafe in Fondren until Aug. 31.
5. The race in Mississippi for the seat that U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran vacated in April is functionally tied between Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy, a leaked GOP poll from Hyde-Smith's campaign found.
6. After over an hour of deliberation, the Jackson City Council voted to hand over seven of eight parcels Oxford-based developer Clarence Chapman after years of hold-up.
7. The Metrocenter Mall, along with the Mississippi Highway Patrol Driver Services office housed inside it, closed down on Wednesday, Aug. 15.
8. At an Aug. 13 press conference dedicated to the Jackson Zoo, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba spoke about plans to bring in a new management company to run the facility.
9. Over the last few years, one developer, Clarence Chapman, has been the catalyst for stark change in the Farish Street Historic District, and his company could continue developing houses in the area with the Jackson City Council's help.
10. The people of Mississippi have "a duty to acknowledge that hatred and racism remain alive and well in America today," Mississippi State Rep. David Baria, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, wrote in a Facebook post last Sunday.

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