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Ko Bragg

Stories by Ko

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Five Important Things To Know About DA Smith’s Rankin County Trial

Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith's most recent trial for aggravated stalking and robbery charges spanned two days in a Rankin County courtroom.

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Family of Woman Killed by JPD Sues for $10 Million

Eight months after two Jackson Police Department officers fired fatal shots at 21-year-old Crystalline Barnes following a traffic stop, her family filed a $10 million federal lawsuit today against three JPD officers and the City of Jackson in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

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City Settles Yarber-Era Sexual Harassment, Pay-to-Play Lawsuit

The Jackson City Council voted unanimously (5-0) at the Sept. 11 meeting to settle a longstanding sexual harassment lawsuit against former Mayor Tony Yarber and several other unnamed "John Does" for up to $35,000 without any admission of liability.

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DA Smith Not Guilty, Refers to Case as 'Modern-Day Emmett Till'

A Rankin County jury deliberated for nearly four hours before announcing its final decision for Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith's most recent trial, this one for charges of aggravated stalking and robbery.

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UPDATED: Jury Deliberates in Hinds DA Trial, After Smith Takes Stand on Second Day

The jury went behind closed doors in a Rankin County courthouse to decide whether or not Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith is guilty of an aggravated stalking charge and a robbery charge stemming from a 2015 incident with ex-girlfriend Christie Edwards.

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DA Smith Trial: Tales of Affairs, Fighting, Hiding in the Closet

An all-white jury of eight women and six men settled in to listen to the state's case against Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith on Tuesday, Sept. 11, in Rankin County.

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JPD Targets Morale; Unveils $1.3-Million Fleet of New, Bold Police Vehicles

The Jackson Police Department unveiled a new fleet of 46 vehicles for the patrol division, each donned with a distinctive orange stripe across the rear doors.

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UPDATED: Hinds DA Smith's Aggravated Stalking, Robbery Trial Resumes After Delays

Jury selection began today in Rankin County for Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith's latest trial for an aggravated stalking charge and a robbery charge for allegedly attacking ex-girlfriend Christie Edwards.

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Release JPD Officers' Names in 72 Hours, Task Force Recommends

The rise in officer-involved shootings under Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba, now at nine, and the lack of transparency thereafter posed an issue for the self-proclaimed most radical mayor in America.

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Lumumba Has Mixed Reaction to Special Session's Funding to Jackson

Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba had a mixed reaction to the recent special legislative session during which Jackson received $50,000 from the BP settlement to repair a bridge on Sherwood Drive and Robin Drive in Fondren.

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Making ‘Black Voters Matter’ in the Deep South

LaTosha Brown, who co-founded Black Voters Matter, stopped in Jackson on Aug. 24, 2018 to network with black women as part of her organization’s “The South is Rising Tour.”

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Black Mississippi Mayors Endorse Espy at Civil Rights Museum

Nearly a dozen black mayors from cities and towns throughout Mississippi took the stage Thursday afternoon at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum to endorse Mike Espy in his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat Thad Cochran vacated in March.

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'Run, Jim, Run': AG Hood on Race for Governor, Women Empowerment

Women for Progress of Mississippi hosted a women's issues forum called "She is Running," where Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood offered remarks about the role of women in his prosecutorial career.

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Activists Delay Officer-Involved-Shooting Task Force's Final Report

Members of Jackson's officer-involved-shooting task force started showing up at the Porter Building across from City Hall on Monday, Aug. 27, prepared for what was supposed to be their final meeting before handing policy recommendations to the mayor.

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JPD Seeks Body Cams from Axon on 30-Day Free Trial

The Jackson Police Department will seek Jackson City Council's approval for body cameras through a month-long trial with Axon, the company formerly known as TASER International.

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Protesters Interrupt Piper Kerman's Talk on Incarceration, Education

Piper Kerman spent several hours in the Old Capitol Inn Thursday first talking her life and her bestselling memoir about her year in a federal women's prison, "Orange is the New Black."

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Johnnie McDaniels: ‘I Pray, I Plant, and I Plow’

Johnnie McDaniels and his sons spent three days taping 1,411 bumper stickers all across his pickup truck. They have not yet thought about how they will get them off in November, because he is too busy campaigning to become Hinds County's new youth-court judge.

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JPD to 'Saturate' Streets Following Two Armed Business Robberies

Following two armed business robberies in the City of Jackson on Aug. 13, Interim Police Chief James Davis announced that members of the Jackson Police Department and the Jackson-Hinds S.W.A.T. Team would "saturate the city" to bring those individuals to justice through a Violent Crime Task Force.

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City Enters Interlocal Agreement With Hinds County for Street Repairs

At a press conference in July, the mayor defended himself and his administration against claims that he had a stack of interlocal agreements on his desk he had been refusing to sign.

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Developer Secures More Farish Properties; Area Blight Worries Council

After over an hour of deliberation, the Jackson City Council voted to hand over seven of eight parcels Oxford-based developer Clarence Chapman after years of hold-up.

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Lumumba 'Eager' for New Zoo Management Company to Take Over

Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba hinted that the Jackson Zoological Society's time as the managing entity of the Jackson Zoo could be coming to a close.

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Developer Seeks More Farish Street Properties Pending Council Vote

Farish Street, the once vibrant African American neighborhood in Jackson, has since become a barrage of empty lots, fallen-in homes and abandoned storefronts, with a few active businesses mixed in.

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Jackson Zoo's Future: A Bailout, A Resignation and Closed Doors?

The Jackson Zoo's future is the latest victim of Murphy's Law: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. And in the last week, it has.

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Jackson to Hire 'Returning Citizens' to Develop City's 100GB Broadband

The City of Jackson will employ "returning citizens" re-entering the community after serving time to establish the Jackson's forthcoming 100GB high-speed broadband network.

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Virgi Lindsay’s Rookie Year and Cautious Optimism

During an interview in her living room on July 2, Virgi Lindsay reflected on her first year as councilwoman for Ward 7, and what she hopes for the City in the future.

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Sessions-Backed Anti-Violence Grant Draws City Council Approval

Without discussion, the Jackson City Council gave Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba and the Jackson Police Department permission at the July 17 meeting to apply for a grant through Project Safe Neighborhoods—the Jeff Sessions-backed umbrella over a federal-state-local Project EJECT policing strategy already in place.

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JSU to Analyze Gun, Gang Crimes in Jackson

The Jackson City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday, July 17, to approve a memorandum of understanding between Jackson State University and the Jackson Police Department so JSU can do research and analysis on crime data with the intention of reducing gun-related crimes.

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Domino's Filling Potholes in Jackson Through $5,000 'Paving for Pizza' Grant

The Jackson City Council is expected to vote tonight to accept a $5,000 donation from Domino's for road repairs.

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Frontier Airlines Coming to Jackson, Direct Flights to Denver, Orlando

Frontier, the budget airline that promises to bring its customers "Low Fares Done Right," descended upon Jackson today to announce direct flights to Denver and Orlando. It will begin in October but tickets are available for purchase right away.

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Lumumba Disputes Interlocal Claims, Vows to Speed Process

In efforts to put an end to rumors that Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba had been slowing down interlocal agreements between the City and the Hinds County Board of Supervisors, the mayor's office hosted a press conference at City Hall on Wednesday, July 11, where it announced a new committee to iron out this process moving forward.

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The Antar Era: 365 Days of Building a ‘Radical’ Foundation

Jackson's youngest mayor, now 35, assumed his official duties on July 3, 2017, and since then, he has been on a determined-but-rocky mission, as the world looks on.

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Reimagining 9 Acres Downtown

If downtown Jackson were a person, she would be an upstanding woman with a lot of scars, living in the shadows of painful memories.

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Mississippi Moves Up to 48th for Child Well-being, But Highest Poverty Rate

For the first time since 1991, Mississippi ranked higher than 49th or 50th in the Annie E. Casey Foundation's annual Kids Count report that measures child well-being across economics, education, health, and family and community.

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Project EJECT 'Prevention Piece' Begins at Local Boys and Girls Clubs

Assistant U.S. Attorney Candace Mayberry delivered a presentation to middle and high schoolers at the Boys and Girls Club on Raymond Road on June 27 and had them take a pledge against gun violence.

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Interim JPD Chief James Davis Starts Job, Permanent Search Underway

James Davis' first words as Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba's second interim chief of police were "Glory be to God." He uttered them yesterday in Jackson City Hall's ceremonial office, just dozens of feet away from where a dead body had been found hours before.

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DA Smith on Police Shootings, Being a Victim

For the better part of last week's officer-identification task-force meeting at the Jackson Municipal Art Gallery, some of the members didn't know they had a prominent guest.

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City's Financial Consultant, Michelle Thomas, Hints at Plans for Jackson

At its June 19, 2018, meeting, the Jackson City Council officially confirmed Michelle L. Thomas as the city's temporary financial consultant. She also offered suggestions for how to get the city's finances back on track.

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MDOC Re-Entry Symposium Addresses Hurdles, Solutions for Returning Citizens

The parking lot of Christ United Methodist Church in northeast Jackson looked like the rear of any prison in the state this morning—lined with white Mississippi Department of Corrections vehicles and vans.

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UPDATED: Public Works Eyeing Private Contractors

In Public Works Director Bob Miller's short time as the highest-paid city official in Jackson, he has had to sway the city council on a growing number of occasions to give him emergency funding. The June 18 work session was no different.

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City's Budget in Hands of Woman Who Overhauled Newark, N.J., Budget

The woman who helped lead a budget turnaround in Newark, N.J., under then-Mayor Cory Booker will manage the City of Jackson's budget overhaul.

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Jackson Even Less Transparent with Officer-Involved Shootings?

Just one month after Mississippi Bureau of Investigations officially began handling officer-involved shootings in Jackson, it has been harder to get information previously available to citizens and reporters following these incidents.

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JPS: $65 Million Bond 'The Only Option' for District After State Funding Cuts

The Jackson Public School District is moving forward with a $65-million bond referendum on Aug. 7 for Jacksonians to approve or strike down.

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JATRAN Getting New Small Buses and Vans, But Problems Linger

Officials in the City of Jackson are taking steps to revive a crumbling bus system with a series of new purchases and a multi-million-dollar grant application.

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'Stranded' Water Bills Out to 15% of City Backlog, 17,000 More to Go

For the last month and a half, City of Jackson officials have been trying to fix the Siemens, Inc. billing system that left 20,000 customers "stranded" in the system, many getting water without paying for it.

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Body Cams, Community Policing, Mental Health Funds on JPD's DOJ Wish List

The Jackson Police Department hopes to equip its officers with body cameras and increase its "community policing" capacity with funds from U.S. Department of Justice.

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Rankin’s First Black Mayor Faces Setbacks

Pelahatchie Mayor Ryshonda Harper Beechem became Rankin County's first black mayor in July 2017. A couple of months into her tenure, she raised questions about checks that seemed off to her and reached out to the state auditor's office for clarity.

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City Blowing Through Its Fund Balance?

The Jackson City Council meetings are falling into a chaotic pattern—the later it gets into the meeting, the more likely you are to see a show-stopping argument between members of the council.

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Jackson Gets Pill Drop Boxes for Prescription Medication

The Jackson Police Department will get five prescription drop boxes for people to dispose of unused, unwanted or old medications rather than keeping them in their homes.

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Kingston Frazier, One Year Later

On a sweltering Friday evening, orange cones blocked off Meadow Lane as the neighborhood came together on May 18 for a commemorative graduation and block party for Kingston Frazier, the 6-year-old boy who was kidnapped and murdered precisely a year from the date of that gathering.

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What Lumumba’s ‘A-Team’ Earns

As we get nearer to annual budget hearings in the City of Jackson, you can almost feel the tension mounting around money issues.