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. Yvette Mason-Sherman filed a civil lawsuit against Wayne Parish, the man indicted in the killing of her 17-year-old son, Charles McDonald Jr., at Performance Oil Equipment in Jackson last fall, saying he acted with a "pre-meditated mind."
2. The "Back the Badge Act of 2017" headed to Gov. Phil Bryant for his signature to become law after the Mississippi House concurred on the Senate's changes on Thursday.
3. Cassandra Welchlin, director of the Mississippi Women's Economic Security Initiative, said her organization will be back next year to introduce legislation aimed at ensuring equal pay and raising wages for women.
4. Students, parents and advocates gathered at the Mississippi State Capitol on Thursday, March 16, calling on lawmakers to slow down the process of rewriting Mississippi's education funding formula and hold public hearings with parents, teachers and students before dramatically changing the way schools are funded in the state.
5. Dr. Freddrick Murray, superintendent of Jackson Public Schools, said it was proactive and necessary to consolidate some schools in light of a decreasing student population and decreased funding—helped along by charter schools.
6. Previous plans to dramatically remake the portion of the Pearl River that flows through the Jackson metropolitan area ran aground, but legislation is sailing toward the governor's desk that would pay for the project by taxing selected property in the new "One Lake" footprint.
7. The case against Gov. Phil Bryant for continuing to fly the current Mississippi flag could be the first in which judges consider an Equal Protection Clause claim based on government speech, if a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel rules that Grenada attorney Carlos Moore has standing to make his case.
8. The Casey Foundation has sponsored a contract for former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Maura Corrigan to come to Mississippi and share her knowledge on fixing the state's foster care system.
9. The University of Mississippi Medical Center is reducing faculty compensation, cutting 195 jobs and eliminating 85 vacant positions to deal with a budget shortfall.
10. After a tubing leak in part of its Kemper County power plant, Mississippi Power Co. now says it's unsure when the $7 billion plant will be finished.

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