Jackson Free Press

Janet Barreto, who once on the U.S. Marshals’ list of most wanted fugitives, died at Central Mississippi Medical Center. She had been incarcerated at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections said Barreto, 43, died shortly after 9 a.m. today of natural causes.

Barreto's death follows that of Kenneth Davis, who was on death row at Mississippi State Penitentiary, convicted of killing an off-duty Jackson police officer in 1989.

Davis died Dec. 15.

MDOC information shows Davis was sentenced to death in March 1991 for fatally shooting Bobby Joe Biggert, who walked into a south Jackson pawn shop when Davis was robbing it. The Mississippi Supreme Court denied an ineffective assistance of counsel challenge from Davis in July 2004.

According to MDOC, Barreto pleaded guilty to six counts of child endangerment, three counts of child abuse, and one count of manslaughter and was sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier this year. Barreto had spent five years on the lam with her husband before marshals caught up with the couple in Oregon in August.

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See, the way Thalia Mara Hall is set up....

Kevin Hart will perform in Jackson on Jan. 25.

Tickets went on sale today for the show, slated for Thalia Mara at 7 p.m.

One of the biggest-name stand-up comedians and actors in the business, Hart will appear in a film called "Top Five" directed by Chris Rock. Fellow professional funny people Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld and Whoopi Goldberg will also appear in the film. Hart will appear in three other comedies in 2015, including The Wedding Ringer, Get Hard, opposite Will Farrell and Ride Along 2, a sequel.

Other film credits include Little Fockers with Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller, Death at a Funeral, Fool’s Gold and The 40 Year Old Virgin.

A press release also states that Hart’s other television credits include, hosting BET’s classic stand-up comedy series Comic View: One Mic Stand, ABC’s The Big House, which he also executive produced and wrote, and recurring roles on Love, Inc, Barbershop, and Undeclared.

Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.

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A Human Rights Campaign press release acknowledges the efforts from the Holly Springs Mayor and Board of Alderman to welcome its LGBT community. The release reads:

Jackson—Last night, the Holly Springs, Mississippi Mayor and Board of Aldermen passed a resolution recognizing the dignity and worth of all city residents - including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT). The city joins eight other communities in the Magnolia State whose leaders have acknowledged and valued its LGBT residents.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Mississippi Director Rob Hill released the following statement in response to the city’s actions:

“We applaud the Mayor and Board of Aldermen for taking an active step to create a welcoming space for LGBT Mississippians who call Holly Springs home. Leadership requires courage and the board’s decision represents the true values of Mississippi. This is a clear example of elected officials putting the Golden Rule into action.”

During last night’s meeting, Alderman at Large Timothy Liddy stated the following:

“For the City of Holly Springs to attract good citizens, home owners, students, businesses, and employees, we need to stay competitive with other communities in Mississippi and throughout the nation. A Resolution Affirming the City of Holly Springs Commitment to Diversity is one step in achieving this goal.”

Announced in April 2014, HRC Mississippi is part of HRC’s Project One America, a lasting investment concentrated in the Deep South by making progress on three fronts--changing hearts and minds, advancing enduring legal protections, and building more inclusive institutions for LGBT people from the church pew to the workplace.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. HRC envisions a world where LGBT people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

Mississippi U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, joined fellow black lawmakers in calling for in-depth hearings on the deaths of several African American men killed by police this year.

Reps. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., and John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., ranking members of the House Committees on Oversight and Government Reform and Judiciary, respectively, joined Thompson in asking for congressional hearings on the killings of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y.

In both those cases, local grand juries recently declined to indict the police officers who killed the men despite the presence of muddled evidence that a trial could illuminate. The non-indictments also sparked new waves of demonstrations across the country, including in Jackson.

“We firmly believe that events in Staten Island, New York, Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere have fractured the trust of Americans in the integrity of the criminal justice system,” the Congressmen wrote in a letter to the Republican chairmen of their respective committees.

“The federal government has a critical role to play in ensuring that all Americans are treated equally before the law, especially by their local police, and it is our responsibility to exercise oversight of the funding and resources that the Federal government allocates to these local jurisdictions. Hearings into these topics will be important early steps on the long road of healing across the country.”

Gov. Phil Bryant declared Dec. 5 to be Dr. Aaron Shirley Day in Mississippi in honor of the medical pioneer who passed away last week.

Shirley was born in Gluckstadt, but moved to Jackson at an early age. Shirley attended Lanier High School and graduated from Tougaloo College in 1955 and Meharry Medical School in Nashville, Tenn., in 1959. He completed his residency in pediatric medicine at the University of Mississippi in 1965.

In 1970, Shirley founded the Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center and, in 1997, the Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center. Aaron also served as president of the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation. The Jackson Medical Mall was set up in an abandoned shopping center; the facility is a valuable asset in helping revitalize a disadvantaged area of Jackson. Shirley, in 2010, also launched a program to dispatch physicians to rural areas.

In addition to the proclamation, state Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, had also asked Gov. Bryant to order flags around the state lowered to half-mast in remembrance of Shirley but was told the custom is to lower flags only to honor fallen law enforcement and military personnel and elected officials.

Horhn called the denial disappointing and said the state's policy on when flags can be placed at half-mast may need to be clarified.

"I think he deserves that distinction," Horhn said of Dr. Shirley. " Aaron Shirley was one of the finest Mississippians this state ever produced."

Funeral services for Dr. Shirley take place Saturday Dec. 6 at the UMMC Conference Center at the Jackson Medical Mall at 11a.m.

At Stennis Press Forum at the Capital Club Monday, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves called Common Core an example of government overreach and pledged to work to scrap the standards during the upcoming legislative session.

He cited the situation in Oklahoma, in which he said the U.S. government stripped the state of its ability to set its own education standards after dropping Common Core. This, he said, constituted a "hijacking" of state education standards by the Obama administration.

That was incorrect, however.

In reality, the federal government stripped Oklahoma of its waiver because when it decided not to use Common Core, it had no educational standards in place, which violates the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

A joint statement from State Board of Education Chairman Dr. John Kelly and State Superintendent of Education Dr. Carey Wright stated that Common Core has been "attached to an unprecedented level of misinformation."

"For example, Oklahoma had its U.S. Department of Education flexibility waiver revoked because it did not have standards in place when it dropped the Common Core State Standards. Having rigorous standards is a requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Mississippi remains in charge of its education policies and must remain committed to higher standards," the statement reads.

At the Dec. 1 Stennis Press Forum, Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves spoke about upcoming efforts for education reform, touted school choice alongside greater funding and announced plans to move away from Common Core standards.

Mississippi Department of Education leaders responded with this statement:

Joint statement from State Board of Education Chairman Dr. John Kelly and State Superintendent of Education Dr. Carey Wright on Lieutenant Governor’s remarks on education

While we fully support the Lieutenant Governor’s desire to set the highest possible standards for the students of Mississippi, we have grave reservations about changing the playbook in the middle of the game. The Mississippi Board of Education adopted the state’s College- and Career-Ready Standards in 2010, which set a new baseline expectation for what students should learn and achieve. The need for higher standards was made evident by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which evaluated education standards in every state. The institute deemed Mississippi’s math standards “mediocre,” and described our English standards as among “the worst in the country.”

Mississippi’s College- and Career-Ready Standards are by far the highest academic standards we have ever had in the state or the nation. Mississippi is one of 46 states that voluntarily adopted these rigorous standards to prepare students for the demands of 21st century careers. Both Gov. Phil Bryant and former Gov. Haley Barbour endorsed the standards when they each signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that denoted the State of Mississippi as a Governing State in the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) consortium.

Though we now have our highest academic standards in history, the standards have always been viewed as the floor, or minimum, of what to expect from our students. The state Board of Education and Department of Education will continue to aim high by always raising the bar for academic achievement. We welcome the opportunity to partner with lawmakers and stakeholders in this effort.

We understand that the term “Common Core” has become a lightning rod in some political circles, and as a result, has become attached to an unprecedented level of misinformation. For example, Oklahoma had its U.S. Department of Education flexibility waiver revoked because it did not have standards in place when it dropped the Common Core State Standards. Having rigorous standards is a requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Mississippi remains in charge of its education policies and must remain committed to higher standards.

The Lieutenant Governor’s proposal to drop Mississippi’s College- and Career-Ready Standards and write new ones is not as simple as it may appear. Developing new standards is a multiyear, and very expensive, process. Implementing new standards also takes several years. Just ask the thousands of educators and school leaders around the state who have invested a tremendous amount of time, work, training, and resources to implement our College- and Career-Ready Standards. These costs include millions of dollars invested by local school districts for textbooks, curriculum materials, and professional development. Changing course after our …