Ellington

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. In a meeting of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee Thursday, the 14-member bipartisan panel voted to raise the state's revenue forecast by about $97 million. for the coming fiscal year, which commences July 1.
2. The state College Board approved plans Thursday for Ole Miss to spend $6 million for architects to design a 10,000-seat venue, a parking garage and other facilities.
3. The Greenwood School District will spend a $25,000 dropout prevention grant for iPads for the classrooms at Greenwood Middle School.
4. Vann Joines, with The Landmark Group—A North Carolina-based real estate development group—announced that his organization is proposing a $9.75 million renovation of three buildings in downtown Hattiesburg, formerly used as a jail and county offices.
5. Gov. Phil Bryant confronted members of the state College Board Thursday over their opposition to increasing requirements for teaching candidates. The governor wanted to require college students entering preparation programs to score 21 or higher on the ACT college test and to have a 3.0 GPA on pre-major coursework.
6. Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield has been indicted on a federal bribery charge. Prosecutors say an informant paid Winfield $5,000 in cash in July and agreed to pay more when the contract was awarded.
7. One of the worst hail storms to hit Mississippi in years fell Monday, raining down hailstones as big as baseballs, damaging hundreds of structures and even more cars.
8. Gov. Phil Bryant signed Senate Bill 2183 into law. The bill will allow people over 21 to make their own beer, as long as they don't sell it and they live in an area where possession of beer is legal.
9. Gov. Bryant vetoed Senate Bill 2141, which called for a 13-member task force to study how Mississippi's local school boards are selected.
10. Mississippi House Democratic leader Bobby Moak said the state could hurt its own financial standing if it rejects Medicaid expansion, pointing out that hospitals' loss nationwide will be $17 billion a year by 2019 and that states that choose not to expand Medicaid may face large uninsured populations while federal payments to hospitals are declining.

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