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. Mississippi House Minority Leader David Baria, a Bay St. Louis Democrat, announced Friday he will not seek re-election to his District 122 seat.
2. Though the City of Jackson recently started getting tough on large, unpaid water bills that resulted from its and its contractors' own errors, some citizens are still dealing with outrageous bills or not getting bills at all.
3. Businesses no longer would have to "take reasonable steps" to prevent violence on their premises after Republicans defeated a proposed amendment to a "tort-reform" bill working through the Mississippi Legislature, also called the Landowners Protection Act.
4. House Bill 1067 calls for increased accountability for youth courts, where judges sometimes make decisions that do not follow current evidence-based practices on juvenile detention and treatment, warehousing young people in youth detention rather than helping them.
5. Gov. Phil Bryant says he pushed a reluctant Trump to embrace the First Step Act, a modest law the president eventually agreed to and signed into law in December that eases highly punitive sentences for federal crimes.
6. Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann expounded Monday on a lawsuit against the federal government over flooding along the Mississippi River, but said his office would not "wade into" issues concerning Jackson's water quality.
7. U.S. Senate nominee Mike Espy visited Hattiesburg, Miss., on Feb. 22 to offer his support and resources from his campaign to Brandon Rue, a Democratic state House candidate for District 102.
8. The Mississippi House Public Health Committee on Wednesday amended and passed Senate Bill 2116, which would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, about six weeks into pregnancy. The bill moves to the full House for debate another day.
9. Robert Shuler Smith, the third-term district attorney for Hinds County, recently announced that he has filed with the state Democratic party to run for governor.
10. Eight University of Mississippi players kneeled during the national anthem in response to a Confederacy rally near the arena before the Rebels' 72-71 victory over Georgia on Saturday, Feb. 23.

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