Arielle Dreher

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.

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.

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 plan.

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 to get married. They adopted their first son in 2007 before they were married, but after their marriage in 2009, they wanted to have a child of their own.

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 state in order to improve academic programs and facilities at the state's three public HBCUs.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 due to the melee of restrictions people encounter to even sign up for programs.

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 State Lottery

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 county attorney election.

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 Thinking for a Change.

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 came too late for adequate consideration.

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.

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 school. Everyone involved got suspended.

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 who already serve Mississippians with mental illness.

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.

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 filled to standing-room only.

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 Assistant Attorney General Alan Hanson asked the City of Jackson to review its "sanctuary city" ordinance in order to receive federal funds from the Office of Justice Programs going forward.

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.

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 decision in 1954, which struck down school segregation by race.

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.

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 Hosemann recovered $414,265 from sales of tax-forfeited properties in the city and county since July 1, 2017.

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, to commemorate Veterans Day, which is on Saturday this year.

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 address the status of the second-largest school district.

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 a difficult stage in its history.

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.

'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, grant custody to different guardians or give a child to adoptive parents.

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.

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 known as House Bill 1523.

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.

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.

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 Jackson.

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 the Mississippi Coliseum last week.

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.

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 of Mississippi to recognize same-sex marriages and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

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 that hinder their opportunities later in life, the new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation found.

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.

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 a prominent Republican saying that changing the flag is about much more than what is good for business in the state.

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 second-largest school district beyond leaving it under Jackson Public Schools' control or allowing the State to run it.

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 Office Against Personal Violence shows.

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 one of two options for the Mississippi Board of Education—and the state—to take over the district.

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 from 2010 to 2015.

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 flag caused discrimination in order for a court to declare it unconstitutional.

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" grade or higher. Nine districts received an "F" grade, including Jackson Public Schools.

Stories by Arielle