All results / Stories / Arielle Dreher
Civil Rights
Indigent Defendants Denied Counsel, Speedy Trials in 10 Counties
Mississippians accused of felonies who cannot afford their own representation have the right to counsel and a speedy trial under the 6th Amendment, but a new report found that access …
Immigration
GOP Senators Praise Tax Cuts, Say Immigration Deal Unlikely This Year
Republican U.S. senators are concerned about the makeup of their chamber, which currently gives their party a slight edge in Congress by a one-vote margin. The stakes on Mississippi's Senate …
City & County
Charter School Decision Over Diversion of Public Funds Should Drop Soon
Parents with children in Jackson Public Schools are waiting for Hinds County Chancery Court Judge J. Dewayne Thomas to decide if the state's charter-school law violates the Mississippi Constitution, which …
Civil Rights
Civil Rights Photographer Doris Derby Unveils Work at JSU Tonight
Doris Derby, a civil-rights veteran who worked in Jackson in the 1960s, walked into a basement room of the not-yet-opened Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and saw her black and yellow …
Education
Ed Formula Bills Dead ... For Now at #MSLeg
Both dummy bills that Mississippi legislators could have used to change the state's education funding formula died in the House and the Senate on Feb. 9, but attempts to implement …
Politics
Treasurer Fitch Pushes Gender Pay, Financial Literacy Despite Bills Dying
State Treasurer Lynn Fitch is disappointed that legislation addressing the state's gender-pay gap and requiring financial literacy education for students did not see the light of day in the Mississippi …
Immigration
UPDATED: DACA Immigrant Detained in Jackson After Speaking Out, ICE Responds
Minutes after leaving a press conference, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained Daniela Vargas, a 22-year-old undocumented immigrant in the process of applying for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) …
Domestic Violence
Abusers Get Another Divorce Pass from #MSLeg, But Senator Pushes Back
Sen. Sally Doty, R-Brookhaven, is not giving up on making domestic abuse grounds for divorce in Mississippi. Rep. Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, killed Doby's bill on Feb. 28, in committee, not …
Business
Workers, Advocates and Politicians March for Unionization at Nissan
Auto industry workers, advocates and politicians marched on the Nissan Plant in Canton on Saturday to show support for a union and to urge workers there to unionize.
Politics
Special Session Could Consider Road, Bridge Funding, If Speaker Gunn Gets His Way
House Speaker Philip Gunn's staff revealed proposals to get more funding to roads and bridges—which they hope to be included in a special session Gov. Phil Bryant called for June.
Politics
'Mississippi's Elections Are Not Rigged,' Secretary of State Promises
Mississippians will head to the polls in a week at more than 1,800 precincts around the state. Each polling precinct will have some of an estimated 10,000 trained poll workers …
Health Care
AG Office Needs $1.72 Million to Pay for Mental-Health Litigation Next Year
Attorney General Jim Hood asked Gov. Phil Bryant to address his budget bill in the special session, so far scheduled for June 5 with no specifics set, as well as …
City & County
JPS School Board Approves Tight Budget
The Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees approved a slim budget for the 2017-2018 school year on Monday night. The budget, which is about a 4.5 percent reduction from last …
Civil Rights
5th Circuit Must Rule on Petitions, Issue Mandate Before HB 1523 Becomes Law
The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will have to decide whether to hear plaintiffs' petition to re-hear their case against House Bill 1523; the law does not go into …
Person of the Day
Dee Smith-Smathers
Although Dee Smith-Smathers did not get to celebrate her 74th birthday, she did live to see her marriage to her partner of 29 years, Charlene Smith-Smathers, recognized in her home …
Cover
The Demise of Initiative 42
As soon as the Mississippi Legislature proposed an alternative measure to Initiative 42, a citizens' initiative to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, its advocates cried foul, saying the …
Politics
UPDATED: School Choice Bills Die, Sanctuary Cities Bills Still Alive
Never mind changing the state's education-funding formula; both the House and Senate education committees have passed several bills that would affect student funding, school-board autonomy and a school's responsibility to …
Politics
Mississippi, Your ALEC is Showing
From laws that allow tax breaks for out-of-state businesses to the state's special-education voucher program, the Mississippi state Legislature has picked up and written into law model policy language from …
City & County
State Board Sends JPS Takeover to Governor for Stamp of Approval
The fate of Jackson Public Schools is now in the hands of Republican Gov. Phil Bryant after the Mississippi Board of Education declared an “extreme emergency situation” in the district …
Politics
Proposed Budgets Slashed Even Without 42’s Passage
Currently proposed budget cuts are even greater than those that Rep. Herb Frierson, a key Republican budget writer from Poplarville, warned would be necessary if the school-funding amendment Initiative 42 …
