Legislative Summer School: All About Performance
The Mississippi Department of Corrections is ending a paramilitary inmate program due to a state law and legislative efforts to enforce performance-based budgeting for all state agencies.
Living the Dream in Post-1523 Mississippi
Progressive thinkers here are working to leave hate-drenched politics behind, to get enough people motivated to vote to use our purple demographics to send a strong message at the polls that we're not playing that old-time religion of hate any longer.
Videonauts Have Landed
Steven Pergande is the founder and CEO of Videonauts, a video projection-mapping company that transforms concert venue stages into 3-D psychedelic light shows.
Battle for the Airport: The Next Steps
Medgar Wiley Evers looked down from the wall of the memorial pavilion in the airport named after him upon the chairwoman of the soon-to-be-replaced governing commission as she lamented the governor's signing of SB 2162 into law.
Infant Mortality Prevention, Social Service Jobs on Budget Chop Block
Efforts to reduce the state's infant mortality rate—the highest in the country—will go on the chopping block if Gov. Phil Bryant signs the Legislature's version of the state budget into law, the state's top health officer told the Jackson Free Press last week.
Bill Aims to Bring Out-of-State Physicians to Mississippi
A bill on Gov. Phil Bryant's desk could shorten the time it takes physicians licensed in other states to get licensed in Mississippi.
Robert Rushton
Experience and a passion for cooking has helped Robert Rushton get an executive position in his field. Beginning with a summer job, he ascended the restaurant kitchen ladder and is currently the executive chef at Local 463 Urban Kitchen.
Snacking Downtown
If people are at a show at downtown venues such as Big Sleepy's or headed to the King Edward Hotel, they may notice Downtown Snack Shop's blue neon sign glowing among the street lights.
City Reserves Dip, Mayor Dodges Budget Inquiries
Documents, including emails, released to the Jackson Free Press indicate that despite protestation from Mayor Tony Yarber and his administration, the City has been dipping into the ordinance-protected reserve fund to fill in shortfalls from last year's budget.
Legislators Find $56.8M Mistake in FY17 Mississippi Budget
Mississippi legislative leaders say they overestimated how much money the state could collect during the coming budget year.
Mississippi Spay and Neuter, Shayna's Boutique and Sweat Sauna Studio
The Big Fix Clinic, a high-volume pet sterilization program that Mississippi Spay and Neuter operates, is offering free spay-and-neuter surgeries to cats in zip code 39213, the northeast Jackson area, for as long as funding is available.
Schools, Guns, Family, Bad Policing: Chief Vance Discusses Crime-Fighting with JFP Editor
In the wake of fears raised after a parent pulled a gun at Forest Hill High School last week, the capital city's top police officer said Monday night that Jackson Public Schools polices itself.
Kathryn Merrell Simmons
Kathryn Merrell Simmons, vice president of wealth management for Trustmark Bank in Jackson, is the co-chairperson of Habitat for Humanity's 19th Women Build in Jackson, which will see woman volunteers construct a new home for mother of two Natasha Thomas on Greenview Drive.
Due to HB 1523, Plaintiffs, Kaplan Seek to Reopen Same-Sex Marriage Lawsuit
The Campaign for Southern Equality and Roberta Kaplan, the New York-based attorney who won same-sex marriage and adoption cases in Mississippi, have filed a motion to reopen the Campaign for Southern Equality v. Bryant lawsuit, saying that House Bill 1523 violates the constitutional right that plaintiffs won in the case, allowing same-sex marriage couples the right to wed in the state.
Justices Mull if Judiciary Has Role in Legislative Dispute
The Mississippi Supreme Court said Monday that it wants to hear arguments about a lawsuit a Democratic lawmaker filed earlier this year against the Republican House speaker.
3 Contested Races Set for Supreme Court, 2 for Appeals Court
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi has three contested races for Supreme Court and two for the Court of Appeals this year.
Needed: Public Engagement in Policing
It takes more than policing to "cut down on crime" and create safer neighborhoods. It takes a village, quite literally. Community engagement is crucial to keeping neighborhoods and cities safe.
Genesis Be
A rapper draped herself in a Confederate battle flag and hung a noose around her neck during a performance to protest Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant's proclamation of April as Confederate Heritage Month.
ACLU Files First Lawsuit Against HB 1523: 'Separate But Unequal'
The ACLU has filed the first federal lawsuit contesting House Bill 1523. The lawsuit names the Mississippi State Registrar of Vital Records as the defendant because that state office would have to collect a list of clerks who are recusing themselves from issuing same-sex marriage licenses as allowed in House Bill 1523.
North Carolina Governor Files Lawsuit Over LGBT Rights Law
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory's administration sued the federal government Monday in a fight for a state law that requires transgender people to use the public restroom matching the sex on their birth certificate.