News

City's Parking Meters May Double Cost, Revenue Under New Partnership

The Jackson City Council wants to make sure it gets the best deal for the City's lucrative parking-meter contract, including a requirement doubling the current rates for the meters with no indication that fines would change.

Mississippians Give $12.3 Million to GoFundMe Campaigns

Scrolling through Facebook, it's almost impossible not to see a GoFundMe campaign these days. The Internet age has made generosity simple: the click of a button and a few online forms later, you can help a family pay for a child's surgery, a friend go on a service trip or a teacher buy school supplies.

Jackson State Responds to Cash Reserve Questions

Jackson State University released the following statement to the media on Oct. 21 following reports of the university's cash drain.

Minor Sex Trafficking Sting Nets 28 Arrests, But No Children

In a national sting operation aimed at recovering children exploited into sex trafficking, the Jackson division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation made 28 arrests—but found no children.

JPD Seeking Kidnapper; No Homicides; Low Crime for State Fair, JSU Game

The Jackson Police Department is on the lookout for a man accused of kidnapping and holding a 19-year-old woman hostage for two days.

Benardrick McKinney

A native son of our state and a former Mississippi State University player, Houston Texans linebacker Benardrick McKinney is blossoming into a star on the defensive side of the ball.

Judge Blocks Planned Parenthood Medicaid Reimbursements Law

A federal judge has enjoined a Mississippi state law that prevented the Division of Medicaid from reimbursing the state’s Planned Parenthood clinic and the only abortion clinic for offering birth control and cancer screenings for women in the state.

Frankye Adams-Johnson

As October marks the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, Jacksonians are celebrating one of their own, former Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement Chairperson Frankye "Malika" Adams-Johnson, who served with the party in New York City, helping to educate and feed young people, and make a difference in the areas of human and civil rights.

State Accountability Ratings Gloomy for Jackson Schools

For the first time in several years, Jackson Public Schools has joined the Mississippi Department of Education's list of failing districts in the state, with 17 JPS elementary and middle schools drawing an F in numbers the State made public today.

Fondren Residents Push Back on Neighborhood Gates, City Backtracks

Walter "Dick" Dickerson and his wife have lived on Ridge Drive the Woodland Hills subdivision in Fondren for the last 21 years. It's not a gated community, and he does not want to be excluded from any plans made by neighborhood organizations to build one on his street.

Caller to Black JFP Writer: 'I want to offer her a plane ticket back to Africa' (LISTEN)

"I want to offer her a plane ticket back to Africa if she thinks America is so bad. Um, I would love to pay for her ticket. Also tell her she’s got to leave her iPhone here, her computer, her closet full of clothes, her high-heel shoes and her lovely, lovely hair."

In Search of the Wheel’s Hub

What exactly was Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith looking for when he subpoenaed a circuit-court judge in January?

How State Agencies Dance with Privatization

Mississippi children living in poverty may be among the neediest in America, but last year the State of Mississippi did not allocate $35 million earmarked to help poor families in the state. That money sat on the table even as many children are on a long waiting list for services.

UPDATED: Would a New Formula Fund Public Schools Better?

After a litany of lawsuits, public outcry and legislative drama, Mississippi's GOP leaders have joined forces with a New Jersey-based nonprofit to see if the state's public-school funding formula should change.

Justin Bruce

Justin Bruce, 28, is passionate about helping the capital city succeed, and as director of innovation and performance for the City of Jackson, he gets to do just that.

Mississippi’s Silenced Voters

Thanks in part to Mississippi's antiquated and disenfranchising voting-rights laws, Robert Banks still cannot vote, even though he has been off probation for over a decade.

'One Lake’ Plan Moving Forward

Finding a way to prevent the kind of flooding that left downtown Jackson underwater in the Great Easter Flood of 1979—while still getting the most use out of the river with development and recreational use—is the stated goal of the Pearl River Vision Foundation.

Showing Up: Mayoral Hopeful Graham Pledges to Manage Crisis

Robert Graham traces his 35 years with the Jackson Police Department with a sense of resolve. Starting at JPD as a civilian who mopped the floors, he says it was persistence, or "showing up," that led him to where he is today—behind his desk in the Hinds County Chancery Court building.

Derek Emerson at Boudin, Bourbon & Beer, Moe's Opening, The First Tee and Growing Black Businesses Forum

Chef Derek Emerson of Walker's Drive-In and Meredith Pittman of CAET Wine Bar will both participate in the Emeril Lagasse Foundation's sixth annual Boudin, Bourbon & Beer event at Champions Square in New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 4.

New Washer and Dryer A Big Deal for Jackson Elementary School

Third-graders at Jackson Public Schools' North Jackson Elementary School received a lesson beyond reading, writing and arithmetic today: separating, loading and folding.

Gwen Bouie-Haynes

Gwen Bouie-Haynes, the division director of adult services for Catholic Charities Diocese of Jackson's Domestic Violence Services Center, has spent nearly 30 years helping victims of domestic violence in Jackson.

LaShonda Katrice Barnett

For her first historical-fiction novel, African American playwright, professor and author LaShonda Katrice Barnett decided to take a different path than many of her predecessors and tell a new story in the era of Jim Crow.

Mississippi First Lady, Justice Launch Drug Abuse Program

Mississippi's first lady, Deborah Bryant, and Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Dawn Beam launched a program Friday to help parents struggling with drug addiction who have children in state custody.

Hinds County Funds Girl's Home After State Money Dries Up

The Hinds County Board of Supervisors this morning allocated funding for the fifth year in a row to support an alternative to detention for young girls.

Marco Moran

Marco Moran has been an entrepreneur since childhood. He grew up in Columbia, La., a small town south of Monroe. As a child, his family was poor and on welfare, which he says was common in Columbia.

Mississippi Democrats Clap Back on Tax Policy, Wage Gaps

The Mississippi Democratic Caucus held a meeting Wednesday to discuss key policy issues about the state's economy, tax structure, and how certain policies mostly impact women and African Americans in the state.

Governor Owes Apology for 'Racial Reconciliation Month,' Protesters Say

Gov. Phil Bryant should apologize for declaring October "Racial Reconciliation Celebration Month" without acknowledging the dark past of racism in Mississippi or how the state flag plays into that history, protesters said at a press conference at the Capitol on Thursday.

Ellington