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. Working Together Jackson pledged to bring at least 2,000 "yes" votes to Jackson Public School's bond referendum on Aug. 7. The district is seeking the $65-million bond to provide renovations and repairs to its 56 school buildings.
2. The Center for Violence Prevention, based in Pearl, recognized the Mississippi Federation of Republican Women's work on trafficking at a press conference July 25.
3. One Lake project members were prepared for the possibility for pushback against their plan to create redevelop a section of the Pearl River through Jackson, while promising flood-control benefits.
4. Foster care in Mississippi is facing a financial crisis. The budget for the 2019 fiscal year is $23 million short, stretching an already-thin budget even further. There is also a chance the foster-care system will enter into receivership.
5. Teachers, students and Jackson Public Schools board members filled the community center in Jackson on July 17 for a people's assembly in support of an upcoming $65-million bond referendum.
6. Federal funds cannot pay for abortions, but anti-abortion rights advocates and lawmakers object to funding Planned Parenthood at all with federal and state dollars due to the fact that they still offer abortions.
7. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba is going back to school this summer to study leadership and management practices, as one of 40 mayors chosen for an intensive education program with the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.
8. The Officer ID Task Force met Monday night to discuss a draft of a policy to identify Jackson police officers who shoot people. The draft policy says the City will release the names the officers who discharge their guns within 48 hours.
9. A grant from nonprofit AARP will help transform a stretch of Congress Street into a more pedestrian-friendly area. Jackson is one of 129 organizations nationwide to receive money through the 2018 AARP Community Challenge grant program.
10. No U.S. Senate race in the country could be more of a game changer in 2018 than the one Democrat Mike Espy is running for the seat vacated by former Sen. Thad Cochran, U.S. Sen Cory Booker, D-N.J., said in Jackson late on a Friday afternoon.

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