News

Mississippi Special Education Bill Passes that Opponents Say Will Create 'Puppy Mills for Children'

A controversial bill that would use taxpayer funds to send students with disabilities to private schools advanced in the Mississippi legislature Wednesday.

Mississippi Legislature Creates a New Hurdle for Common Core Standards

Mississippi became the latest state that could replace the controversial Common Core State Standards after the Mississippi House passed a bill Wednesday that will assemble a commission to examine the standards.

Troubled Water, Part I: Explaining Jackson's $91 Million Siemens Contract

It's almost impossible to turn on the nightly local television news without coming across a story of a Jackson resident who was shocked to open an astronomically high City of Jackson water bill after receiving a new meter.

Kill Bill Vol. 3: Education, Entertainment, Elections

On the Feb. 3 bill deadline in the Mississippi Legislature, committee chairmen—like the katana-wielding Uma Thurman—swiftly killed several bills aimed at helping educate Mississippi children, creating a music industry in the state and clearing up election law.

Olivia Coté

Olivia Coté, a 9th grade English teacher at Murrah High School, grew up watching her mother, Anne Karges, hard at work at her craft.

Are Schools Still Pushing Kids Out?

Krystal Polk's 13-year-old daughter, Krystin, has been arrested twice this school year. The first time, the eighth-grader spent the night in a juvenile detention center.

‘Little Birds’: Families Sex Trafficking Own Kids

Most reported child sex trafficking in central Mississippi happens within families. In a report filled with difficult realities, this was the most shocking finding for researcher Wendy Bradford.

Rolling Records, Master Gardeners and Tulane Workshops

Like the man himself, Jack White's Nashville-based label and record store, Third Man Records, has become an institution.

Adria Walker

I am writing to enthusiastically support Adria Walker for the honor of MSPA Journalist of the Year. I have never worked with a high-school journalist who deserves such an honor more than Adria.

Judge: State Must Produce Execution Drug Records

On Friday, watchdogs of the state's execution procedures got a victory from a local judge who ordered the Mississippi Department of Corrections to produce unredacted documents about lethal injection drugs that are or have been in the state's possession.

Willenham Castilla

Jackson State University's longtime director of choral activities, Willenham Cortez Castilla, died Feb. 28. His funeral took place Friday, March 6, at Christ Temple Church of Christ Holiness (845 N. Lamar St.).

Solar Lights a Healthy—and Empowering—Path in Disasters.

When disaster strikes, survivors have a few basic needs: food, water, shelter, blankets. But energy quickly becomes just as fundamental a need—and that is often lacking, or very dirty.

City Launching Investigation of Water Dept. Finances

"The largest municipal investigation, maybe in the history of the state" is how Jackson City Council President De'Keither Stamps described the announcement he and other city officials plan to make later this afternoon.

Tobias Singleton

One of the more interesting names that should be at the Jackson State Pro Day is former Madison Central High School star Tobias Singleton.

City Invites Input on 1% Sales Tax Plan

Starting Friday, March 6, members of the public will be able to offer input on the 1 percent sales tax master plan.

Excerpts from Judge Carlton Reeves’ Ruling

Even an abbreviated history shows that millions of Americans were once deemed ineligible for full Fourteenth Amendment protection.

‘Justice, Justice, Thou Shalt Pursue’: The JFP Interview with Roberta Kaplan

Like many LGBTQ couples, New York attorney Roberta Kaplan and her wife, Rachel Lavine, have enjoyed federal marriage rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal restrictions against same-sex marriage in 2013.

Funking Up Jackson, Targeting Crime

Fred McAfee was on a study committee that the Mississippi Legislature created last year to determine the feasibility of creating incentives to facilitate an entertainment industry for the state.

Building LGBT Teen, Business Alliances

When a Magnolia Junior High School teacher conducted a math exercise by dividing the classroom into two teams based on gender, Destin Holmes was forced to sit in the middle of the room. This, according to the teacher, was because the teenage girl was "an in-between it."

The Challenge of Paying for ‘One Lake’

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will give its final "yay" or "nay" on a long-awaited and long-overdue plan to ease flooding along the Pearl River.

City Roundup: Health Care Zones, Land Trusts

Not a whole lot has happened in Jackson in the two years since the Legislature passed Gov. Phil Bryant's health-care zone law in 2012.

Jaden Wesley Nixon

Jaden Wesley Nixon isn't your typical 13 year old. For one, he has sickle cell disease, an illness where a person's red blood cells are sickle-shaped, which can block blood flow to the limbs and organs.

Middle-Class Families Could Get Special-Needs Help

When the parents of 10-year-old Flannery Smith noticed their daughter's learning difficulty, they took immediate action. Through legal help from the Mississippi Center for Justice, the family compelled the school district to provide services including diagnoses and a special computer program.

Bubble Tea, Telehealth Center and NAMI MS Coming to the Metro

Karen Gordon, owner of High Biscuits (7048 Old Canton Road, Ridgeland, 769-300-4948), a British-style tearoom that also has a contemporary southern atmosphere, wants to do something different for Jackson's neighborhood cafe scene.

Sizing Up Jackson Races

The filing deadline for state and county offices has passed, and we have our first glimpse of the battle lines for the Aug. 4 party primaries and the November general election.

Yolanda Williams

Yolanda Williams is in her third year as a professor of directing and a production manager at Jackson State University.

LGBT Leader, Other Democratic Women Running for Office

The civil engineer and businesswoman helping to spearhead the fight for marriage equality in Mississippi is running for state auditor and hopes to bring transparency to the office that holds the state accountable for its spending.

Dr. Sunny Fridge

Dr. Sunny Fridge is a former producer, reporter and anchor who has taught in the mass communications department at Jackson State University for 14 years.

House Clears Way for Short-Term Homeland Security Bill

The House has cleared the way for passage of a short-term bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security and avert a partial agency shutdown.

Uncertainty Looms for Wages, Schools, Health Care in Tax Cut Plan

Despite a controversial $1.5 billion tax cut prompting fierce debate on education funding, state employee salaries, grocery taxes and lottery tickets, the Republican-led tax plan passed the Mississippi House of Representatives with no mechanism to keep vital state services intact.

Ellington