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. 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.
2. 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 Friday.
3. Strapped with a new lead defense attorney, Robert Shuler Smith will face a trial in Rankin County for charges of two counts of domestic violence, and aggravated stalking and robbery.
4. Hinds County has the highest preterm birth rate at 16.8 percent of all the counties in the state, a new March of Dimes report card shows, and the state as a whole received an "F" grade.
5. Attorney General Jim Hood spoke out against the Legislature's inaction on transportation funding at the MEC annual Hobnob Mississippi event last week.
6. Malcolm Harrison is running for the Hinds County attorney position left empty by his long-time law partner, Sherri Flowers-Billups, who passed away from cancer last October.
7. Sandy Middleton, executive director of The Center for Violence Prevention in Pearl, wants to see a paradigm shift from criminalizing prostitutes to prosecuting “pimps” who sell sex workers and the “johns” who purchase their services.
8. Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba announced the formation of a commission with the governor’s office, City of Jackson, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Jackson Public Schools to work toward solutions in the school district.
9. An "overwhelmed" Rankin County judge delayed Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith's trial for charges of two counts of domestic violence and aggravated stalking and robbery until Jan. 29, 2018.
10. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves re-opened a 2014 same-sex marriage case in light of House Bill 1523 becoming state law this month.

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