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 57th Jackson Police Department Recruit Class graduated on Dec. 21, 2018. These 29 officers will begin work in a city with a 30-percent homicide increase from 2017 to 2018.
2. Nearly half of Mississippi businesses provide no incentives to their employees at all, a December survey conducted by the Mississippi Secretary of State's Office revealed.
3. Tate Reeves, Mississippi's second-term Republican lieutenant governor, is on track to enter the race for governor after filing qualifying papers Thursday at the state Republican Party headquarters.
4. During an eventful 2018 in the United States, and Mississippi, the Jackson Free Press news team presented hard-hitting, enterprising and contextual journalism not available from any other news outlet in the state.
5. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant cheered on President Trump’s threats to shut down the border between the U.S. and Mexico, even though such a move would threaten $2.5 billion in trade with his state’s third largest export market.
6. Eleanor Faye Peterson and Adrienne Wooten will join Tomie Green and Winston Kidd on the circuit-court bench, cementing the first ever entirely African American bench in the Hinds County Circuit Court and with the most women.
7. U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., refused to return about $50,000 in donations to companies that requested refunds after her "public hanging" comments surfaced last month, new FEC filings show.
8. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., took aim at the Trump administration after a second child died on Christmas Day while in the custody of U.S. Border Patrol agents.
9. The City of Jackson’s tourism arm, Visit Jackson, formally known as the Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau, remains on de facto probation after the Legislature found issues with finances and staff.
10. The National Weather Service issued weekend flood warnings for Tallahala Creek at Laurel in Jones County and for the Pearl River in Madison and Rankin counties.

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