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 former Koinonia Coffee House was full on the morning of Friday, May 25, as community members attended the weekly Friday Forum where Jordan Butler, project leader for Refill Cafe, presented about the initiative.
2. At a press conference on Tuesday, May 22, Mayor Chowke Antar Lumumba announced programs to try to help decrease youth crime, including summer programs and new policing methods.
3. Mississippi county election commissions will be able to apply to the secretary of state's office for federal grant funds to secure elections this year. Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann announced that Mississippi will receive $4.5 million in federal Help America Vote Act funds, likely this summer.
4. On a sweltering Friday evening, orange cones blocked off Meadow Lane as the neighborhood came together on May 18 for a commemorative graduation and block party for Kingston Frazier, the 6-year-old boy who was kidnapped and murdered precisely a year from the date of that gathering.
5. Teachers nationwide have made national headlines as they strike for better wages, policy matters and other various reasons, but in states like Mississippi where funding challenges are an "uphill battle," paths to change can seem impossible.
6. Examining the salaries of department heads in the City of Jackson under Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba and former Mayor Tony Yarber shows that Lumumba’s executive staff gets paid between 3.4 and 8 percent more than the previous mayor’s did—but the women don’t fare as well as the men.
7. Baltimore attorney Jason Downs filed a civil-action petition against the City of Jackson demanding release of the names of officers involved in the shooting death of 21-year-old Crystalline Barnes in January 2018.
8. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba held a press conference on May 21, where he acknowledged the City of Jackson failed to respond appropriately to a road hazard which caused a fatal crash on May 17.
9. The costs of tuition, room and board, and meal plans at Mississippi's public universities are rising in the 2019-2020 academic year.
10. Dozens of Mississippians gathered at the state Capitol on Monday, May 14, to call for a moral revival as a part of the Poor People's Campaign kickoff of a 40-day campaign.

Remember: Check the JFP Events planner for everything to do in the Jackson metro area. You can also add your own events (or send them to [email protected])! See JFPEvents.com