Politics
An (Almost) Full House at Mississippi Legislature, Must Still Replace Moore
The House of Representatives is one member shy of a full house, after a series of retirements and resignations in the off-season.
Civil Rights
Guns Part of 'Non-violent' Movement in Mississippi Due to White Resistance
The formation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Civil Rights veteran Charles Cobb Jr. said, was one of the pivotal ways the state has changed the country.
City & County
New JPS Board Inspects Contracts, Demands Data and Accountability
The atmosphere got tense in the Jackson Public Schools boardroom on Tuesday night as board members drilled question after question at contractors helping the school district with its corrective action …
Civil Rights
A Legal Battle for Same-Sex Parental Rights
Christina and Kimberly could not get married in Mississippi in 2009. Same-sex marriage was illegal at the time and would be legal until 2015, so the couple went to Massachusetts …
Civil Rights
UPDATED: The Fallout of the Ayers Settlement
Three of Mississippi's historically black colleges and universities—Alcorn State, Jackson State and Mississippi Valley State—had a lot to gain back in 1975 when Jake Ayers filed a lawsuit against the …
City & County
Silent Protesters Will Greet Trump at Opening of Mississippi Museums
The Mississippi chapter of the NAACP and a Hinds County Democratic committee are calling for Trump's surprise plans to visit to Jackson this weekend to be cancelled.
City & County
UPDATED: Trump May Be in Jackson for Civil Rights, History Museums' Opening
This weekend, the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum will open their doors—and President Donald Trump might make an appearance.
City & County
JPS Better Together Commission Will Secure Contractor This Month
The Better Together Commission will issue a request for proposal today in its search for an independent contractor to study Jackson Public Schools for about 10 months in 2018.
Civil Rights
Non-Partisan Group: Fly Stennis Flag Instead of Official State Version
A new grassroots group of Mississippians is advocating for replacing the controversial Mississippi flag for urging residents to fly a different one themselves.
City & County
Revamped JPS School Board Gets to Work
If Tuesday night was any indication of how the new Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees will operate, Jacksonians are in good hands.
State
Exploding the Myth of the ‘Welfare Queen’
High poverty means that Mississippi gets a lot of federal assistance—but the "Becoming Visible" report shows that those in poverty often do not use the programs intended to help them …
Politics
The Pros and Cons of a State Lottery
On a map of states that have no lottery, the hold-outs stand strong in pairs: Alaska and Hawaii, Nevada and Utah, and Mississippi and Alabama.The Pros and Cons of a …
Politics
Run-Off Elections Today Will Decide Hinds County Attorney, #MSLEG Seats
Hinds County voters will choose a new county attorney today at the polls. After the three-way election earlier this month, Gerald Mumford and Malcolm Harrison face off today in the …
Crime
State Corrections Agency Replacing Military Strategy to Stop Repeat Offenders
Since learning that its traditional, military-style crime-fighting strategy actually increased repeat offenses, the Mississippi Department of Corrections plans to expand a recidivism-reduction program that focuses on cognitive behavioral change, called …
City & County
At Last Hour, Two School Board Members Approved for New JPS Panel
The Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees is now just one member shy from full for the first time in months, but some council members are concerned that the nominations …
Health Care
Fondren Pregnancy Center Denied Sign Request
The Center for Pregnancy Choices takes up the basement of the Kolb's Cleaners building in Fondren, with a waiting room, two counseling rooms, a back office and one medical room.
Education
Changing the Culture of Suspension
Juan Cloy remembers being suspended when he was at Provine High School in the 1980s. He and several friends got in a fight with some kids from the neighborhood at …
Health Care
Task Force Meeting in Secret in Wake of Mental Health Litigation
Under legal pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice to repair Mississippi's system of mental-health care, Attorney General Jim Hood last month announced a mental-health task force of state practitioners …
Education
Grant to Help 7,000 Mississippians Finish College Degrees
Mississippians looking to finish their college degrees may receive a $500 one-time tuition assistance grant after the W.K. Kellogg Foundation donated $3.5 million to the Complete 2 Compete initiative.
City & County
JPS Commission Pushes Work Forward, Sets Deadline
The "Better Together" commission to analyze the needs of Jackson's public schools held its second meeting in the Lincoln Gardens community center, off Medgar Evers Drive in northwest Jackson, which …
City & County
UPDATED: Feds Threaten Jackson Funds Over Immigration 'Sanctuary' Policy
The U.S. Department of Justice does not know the City of Jackson has a new mayor. In a letter addressed to Mayor Tony Yarber but dated Nov. 15, 2017, Acting …
Education
Governor Calls for Free Community College, New Ed Formula, Reduced Medicaid
Gov. Phil Bryant released his budget recommendations this week, with an emphasis on education funding, particularly as it relates to workforce development.
Civil Rights
How Integration Failed in Jackson’s Public Schools from 1969 to 2017
Jackson's public schools, like the majority in the state, remained solidly separate and unequal in the 1950s and 1960s despite the ruling in the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education …
City & County
JPS Commission Gets to Work
More than 50 Jacksonians filled the Mississippi Museum of Art lobby on Nov. 8, eager to hear what the newly formed "Better Together" commission would do for Jackson Public Schools.
City & County
Tax Sales Bring $414,265 into Jackson, JPS and Hinds County Coffers
The City of Jackson along with Jackson Public Schools and the other school districts and cities in Hinds County will receive an influx of funds after Secretary of State Delbert …
Politics
Staying Vigilant as Veterans' Scars Heal
Soldiers and military personnel from almost every U.S. conflict in the last 70 years packed into a small auditorium in the G.V. Sonny Montgomery Medical Center on Thursday, Nov. 9, …
City & County
State Ed Chairwoman Clears Air: 'There is No Fight' over Jackson Schools
Jackson Public Schools was not a part of the Mississippi Board of Education's monthly meeting agenda Thursday morning, but board Chairwoman Rosemary Aultman took a point of personal privilege to …
City & County
Four New JPS Board Members to Lead Next Chapter for Beleaguered District
The Jackson City Council restored a quorum to the Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees on Wednesday, unanimously confirming four new members who are charged with leading the district through …
Education
Pushing for Pre-K in the Midst of Poverty
Public pre-K is a part of the state's push for early learning statewide in order to increase literacy for students in public schools.
Crime
'Judicial Kidnapping’ in Pearl Youth Court?
Youth-court judges in Mississippi preside over all matters involving delinquent juveniles in addition to abused, neglected or abandoned children. Youth-court judges have the power to send children to foster care, …
Civil Rights
U.S. Supreme Court Could Decide to Hear State Flag Case This Month
The nine U.S. Supreme Court justices could decide the fate of the case against the Mississippi state flag this month when they meet for conference on Nov. 21.
LGBT
Second HB 1523 Petition Filed with U.S. Supreme Court
The Campaign for Southern Equality and Rev. Susan Hrostowski are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case against the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act," also …
City & County
Commissioners Named to Lead Jackson Public Schools Coalition
Gov. Phil Bryant and Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba, in coordination with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, announced who would sit on the 15-member Better Together Commission today.
Health Care
Hinds County Has Worst Preterm Birth Rate in Mississippi
More babies are born prematurely in Hinds County than anywhere else in the state, a new report from the March of Dimes shows.
City & County
The ‘Radical’ Mayor, 120 Days Later
Hundreds of Jacksonians sat in mostly silence as Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba delivered his "State of the City" address on a late Monday afternoon in Thalia Maria Hall in downtown …
Politics
Looking Ahead to 2018 in #MSLeg
With an American flag backdrop the size of a mid-sized swimming pool, Mississippi's top lawmakers took turns running through their track records and outlining where state policy is headed at …
City & County
A Different Kind of Takeover for JPS
The Jackson Public School District is now in the hands of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Gov. Phil Bryant's office and the City of Jackson.
Civil Rights
Mississippi Same-Sex Marriage Case Moving Ahead with HB 1523 Now Law
Legal challenges to the anti-LGBT House Bill 1523 will continue, as U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves has lifted the stay on the 2014 lawsuit that sought to force the State …
Education
Report: Mississippi's Black Children Face More Barriers Than White Kids
Mississippi is one of the worst states for black children, despite having the highest population of them in the country. Black children in Mississippi face health, educational and poverty-related barriers …
City & County
UPDATED: Lumumba, Bryant Unveil JPS Commission with W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba today confirmed and expounded on the rumor that people and organizations have worked behind the scenes to develop a "third option" for Jackson Public Schools.
Politics
Gov. Bryant Wants Vote on State Flag; Taggart Says It Must Change
New messages about the Mississippi flag flowed out of the annual Hobnob Mississippi event this year with the governor revealing that he wants citizens to vote on it again and …
City & County
Gov. Phil Bryant Confirms Third Option for Jackson Public Schools
Gov. Phil Bryant confirmed this morning that he is working with several organizations as well as the Mississippi Department of Education to find a third option to revitalize the state's …
Cover
Saved for a Reason: The Fight to End Domestic Violence
The Mississippi Department of Health tracks interpersonal violence in the state, and in fiscal-year 2015, law-enforcement officers responded to 10,411 calls related to domestic violence, the annual report from the …
City & County
Two Ways to Take Over a School District
If Gov. Phil Bryant does not agree to a rumored-but-still-quiet deal with the Jackson mayor and a large philanthropic foundation to provide a third option, Jackson Public Schools will face …
Education
Mississippi High Court Undercuts MAEP: School Formula Is Not a Mandate
The state's highest court says the Legislature does not have to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, ruling against 21 public-school districts that sued the state for underfunding MAEP …
Civil Rights
Governor to Court: State Flag Doesn't Violate Rights as Marriage Bans Did
Offending black citizens is not enough to block the Mississippi flag, attorneys for Gov. Phil Bryant argued to the U.S. Supreme Court this week; they must instead show that the …
City & County
UPDATED: JPS Draws Expected 'F' in MDE District, School Grades Released Today
The Mississippi Department of Education released the 2017 accountability rankings of all schools and districts in the state this morning. Seventy percent of the state's schools are performing at "C" …
City & County
From Jefferson Davis to Barack Obama: Jackson Elementary School Gets a New Name
One of Mississippi's top-performing elementary schools, Davis Magnet IB Elementary School, has changed its name to Barack Obama Magnet IB Elementary School.
State
A Teenager, a Gun and a Chance for Innocence
The Remington 700 Model is the subject of several class-action lawsuits against the firearms manufacturer due to a faulty trigger, which can discharge on its own.
City & County
The Edison Walthall Rises Again
The Edison Walthall Hotel is the place of legends, bar fights between powerful men and lots of stories its walls could tell, but it has sat empty now since it …
