Education
EdBuild: Mississippi Should 'Divorce' Education Policy from Spending
After a few quick months of touring around Mississippi, speaking with lawmakers, administrators, teachers and students, EdBuild released its 80-page recommendations report to Mississippi lawmakers, suggesting the state move to …
National
Governor Picks Legislators to Represent #msleg at Inauguration
Gov. Phil Bryant selected Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, and Rep. Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, to represent the Mississippi Senate and House of Representatives at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday in …
Education
AG Hood: State Must Fund Mental Health Care, Not Ignore Lawsuit
Attorney General Jim Hood is calling on the Legislature to increase funding for the Mississippi Department of Mental Health as a part of his legislative priorities this session.
City & County
UPDATED: JPS Audit Will Take Time; Board Votes for National Supe Search
The way out of an investigative audit and into compliance for Jackson Public Schools will not be easy—or quick.
Politics
Politics Cripple Superintendents Group
The Mississippi Association of School Superintendents is running out of funding, largely due to a last-minute change a few lawmakers made last session to the State's education budget bill, cutting …
Development
Infrastructure: Can the State Afford to Wait on Trump?
Some Mississippi Republican leaders invoked President-elect Donald Trump's expensive infrastructure plan last week when discussing Mississippi's crumbling roads and bridges, seeming to believe it will solve the state's urgent issues …
Education
Lt. Gov. Reeves: EdBuild Recommendations Coming, Even If No Media Access
EdBuild's recommendations to change the state's school-funding formula will be ready before the deadline to introduce legislation, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves told the Stennis Capitol Press Forum on Monday.
Education
Early Learning, Third-Grade Gate and Vouchers: A Legislative Education Update
Carey Wright, the state superintendent of education, addressed House Education Committee members last week at the Capitol about progress on education initiatives as well as room for growth and improvement.
State
Mississippi Must Help Neediest Families Now, Advocates Demand
The neediest families families in Mississippi must have access to assistance when they need it, a group of community advocates, nonprofit organizations and lawmakers gathered at the Capitol Thursday argued.
City & County
Jackson School Board Off to Slow Start on Supe Search, Seeks Public Input
With Dr. Cedrick Gray leaving the top position early last November, Jackson Public Schools needs a new superintendent and invited public comment regarding the search at its Jan. 3 work …
Politics
No Apologies: Confederate State Flag Likely to Fly Over Bicentennial Bonanza
State leaders kicked off Mississippi's bicentennial celebration at the Capitol on Tuesday, announcing several events around Mississippi as well as grants for communities to apply for in order to host …
Health Care
Mississippi Still Faces Merged Mental-health Lawsuits
Medicaid-eligible children are entitled to services under the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment Services (called EPSDT) provisions of the Medicaid Act.
Personhood
‘Unborn Child Protection’ Law Prohibits Rare Procedure
Mississippi lawmakers' ban on Medicaid reimbursements for the state's only Planned Parenthood clinic stalled in federal court last year, but another anti-abortion bill did become state law last summer despite …
Business
Continental Tire Spends More Than $200,000 in Mississippi
Continental Tire spent $228,300 in November, a spending report from the German-based corporation shows. The tire plant, opening just off Interstate 20 in Hinds County outside Clinton, will eventually hire …
Business
Obama Appoints Jackson Airport CEO to National Council
President Barack Obama will appoint Carl Newman, the CEO of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority, to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council.
Business
Sanderson Farms, IBM: HB 1523 Hurts Businesses, Economic Growth
Mississippi business leaders, corporations, lawyers and locals denounced House Bill 1523 in eight legal briefs filed just before Christmas, supporting plaintiffs that want the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals …
Cover
Making Ends Meet: Lawmakers Wrestle with Education, Infrastructure and Shrinking Revenue
Education funding dominated headlines throughout 2016, as lawmakers worked to level-fund and not cut the amount of funding that went to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program in previous budget years, …
State
Settlement: State Has One Year to Improve Foster Care After Maltreatment
Mississippi's newly formed Department of Child Protection Services will have a year to revamp the state's foster-care system, due to the long-running "Olivia Y" lawsuit over maltreatment of children in …
Politics
Campaign Finance, BP Money Bills Await Legislators
Thanks to BP, Mississippi has additional income to spend in the 2017 legislative session. The state received its first payment from BP from the 2010 oil-spill settlement last summer.
Crime
Saving Tax Dollars with Re-entry and Rehabilitation
Former inmates could leave Mississippi prisons with dignity and be able to find jobs, U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett told the Mississippi House Corrections Committee last week. The advocate of …
National
Mississippi Electors Choose Trump
Mississippi's six presidential electors cast their votes for Donald Trump for president and Mike Pence for vice president this morning at the Capitol.
LGBT
HB 1523 Opponents Fight Back, Say Law Gives 'Special Rights'
LGBT rights proponents are pushing back on Gov. Phil Bryant's effect to bring House Bill 1523 back to life today, saying that it endorses and gives special treatment "to certain …
National
Certified: Trump Wins Mississippi with 58 Percent, Electors Ready to Vote
Donald Trump officially won Mississippi with 58 percent of the vote this week when Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann certified the election results this week.
Cover
‘Not a Dungeon’: The Evolving Approach to Juvenile Detention
Across the pod, from inside the darkness of a cell, two shining circles stared out: the still and steady eyes of a black boy, locked up before he is even …
Business
Fighting for Women: Workplace Rights, Paid Leave and Pay Gap
Child care, wages, domestic violence, pay equity and paid family and sick leave are at the top of the Mississippi Women's Economic Security Initiative's agenda for the upcoming legislative session.
Immigration
Protecting Refugee Children
The Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program that Catholic Charities runs in the state is one of 19 programs nationally that resettle refugee minors in the U.S. The federal Office of Refugee …
LGBT
Mississippians Rally Against Hate, HB 1523: 'We Cannot Be Silent'
More than 200 Mississippians staged a "Rally Against Hate" Sunday, demonstrating against Gov. Phil Bryant's determination that a law allowing individuals, businesses and government workers to discriminate against LGBT citizens …
Politics
Legislative FY18 Budget Plan: Agencies Prepare to Operate at 'Leanest Levels'
Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn, who chairs the Legislative Budget Committee, said on Thursday that state agencies should be prepared to operate "efficiently and with potentially [fewer] dollars" in the …
Crime
Task Force: Invest in Criminal Justice Reforms
Judges in Mississippi can assign non-violent offenders, usually those who commit petty crimes while under the influence of drugs or who are arrested for possession of illegal drugs. The two- …
City & County
JSU Students Raise Awareness About National Debt
A group of Jackson State University students is working to educate its peers about the nation's growing national debt and how it affects their financial futures in the U.S.
National
U.S. Rep. Harper Slams Election Recounts, Calls Pence His 'Bellcap' on Votes
U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper, who just learned that he will help oversee federal elections, says the Hillary Clinton and Jill Stein campaigns are using vote recounts to portray the presidential …
City & County
Lawmakers Address Blight, Praise God
The capital city's blight, mainly visible in hundreds of abandoned properties, was a priority for concerned citizens who met with the Hinds County delegation to plan legislation that will address …
LGBT
What’s Up with House Bill 1523?
In the language of people who refuse to fight in wars like Vietnam, Mississippians should have "conscientious objector" status if they do not want to recognize LGBT citizens' right to …
Crime
Mississippi's Child Human Trafficking Laws Receive "B" Grade
A Shared Hope International study of states' child human-trafficking laws gives Mississippi a "B" grade for its state laws.
State
Early Years Network Set to Close by Year’s End
Meghan Gallagher, a mother of four who lives in Oxford, was disappointed to hear the news that a statewide network of early learning resource centers will close at the end …
Economy
Jobs, Budgets and Preparing for 2017
If the Mississippi state budget is a "moral document" or at least one that reveals priorities, the fiscal-year 2018 budget likely faces dramatic tampering in the upcoming legislative session.
Education
Helping Mississippians Get Degrees Goal of New Initiative
Almost 300,000 Mississippians have received some college credit and finished courses from a public university or college without earning a degree in the last 15 years. Mississippi Public Universities is …
Education
Faith Leaders, Black Caucus Members Talk Education, Infrastructure, Health Care
Members of several Mississippi Baptist conventions along with members of the Legislative Black Caucus hosted a public hearing at the Capitol on Nov. 17 to discuss education, infrastructure and health …
Health Care
How Trump’s Health Reform Could Affect Mississippi
Lower- and middle-class Mississippians could have the most to lose from Trump's proposed health-care reforms, including those who benefit from insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act marketplace as well …
Politics
Buying Justice: ‘Dark Money’ in Judicial Elections
The "dark money" that poured into the state in order to defeat incumbent Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens did not pay off this election cycle, as he defeated his …
National
Trump Protesters in Mississippi: 'Protect One Another Right Now'
Mississippi native Marisa Green was scheduled to come home for Thanksgiving from New York where she lives and works as a photographer and an artist. But in the wake of …
State
Saluting Those Who Serve on Veterans Day
Veterans, their family members, men and women in the military, and state leaders gathered at the Mississippi War Memorial Building today to honor the veterans from Mississippi and the country …
National
Gov. Phil Bryant: Unite Behind Trump 'in Civility and in Trust'
Leaders from the Mississippi Republican Party called on the state's citizens to unite as Donald Trump won enough states Tuesday night to be the next president of the United States, …
City & County
Teaching Teens Financial Literacy
Students at Provine High School will soon be able to open up accounts with Hope Credit Union right in their own hallway.
Health Care
Confronting the Realities of Autism
For Angela Douglas, the realities of autism are all around her at work and at home. As an advocate at Disability Rights Mississippi in Gulfport, Douglas works with parents whose …
Politics
Hear Online Sales Tax Case, AG Hood Asks
Attorney General Jim Hood has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a 1992 decision, Quill v. North Dakota, which prohibited states from implementing online sales taxes on businesses not …
Politics
Mississippi Can Go Blue, or Purple, if Turnout High, Black Caucus Says
Members of the Legislative Black Caucus are encouraging Mississippians to vote on Nov. 8, not only in the presidential contest but for the sake of other races on the ballot.
Development
Continental Tire Breaks Ground, Promises 2,500 Jobs Over a Decade
Lawmakers, business executives and almost everyone involved with bringing Continental Tire to Hinds County gathered at the almost 1,000-acre site outside of Clinton on Thursday morning to ceremoniously break ground …
Politics
Repealing Tax Cut Will Yield $6 Billion for Infrastructure, Senate Dems Say
Repealing the "Taxpayer Pay Raise Act of 2016" is the first step to funding the state's infrastructure needs, our Mississippi state senators, all Democrats, say.
City & County
JPS Superintendent Officially Resigns, Board Names Interim
Dr. Cedrick Gray formally submitted his letter of resignation Tuesday, Nov. 1, which was effective immediately. After two consecutive executive sessions, the Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees announced that …
