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Jackson School Board Off to Slow Start on Supe Search, Seeks Public Input

With Dr. Cedrick Gray leaving the top position early last November, Jackson Public Schools needs a new superintendent and invited public comment regarding the search at its Jan. 3 work session.

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Mississippi Must Help Neediest Families Now, Advocates Demand

The neediest families families in Mississippi must have access to assistance when they need it, a group of community advocates, nonprofit organizations and lawmakers gathered at the Capitol Thursday argued.

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Early Learning, Third-Grade Gate and Vouchers: A Legislative Education Update

Carey Wright, the state superintendent of education, addressed House Education Committee members last week at the Capitol about progress on education initiatives as well as room for growth and improvement.

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Lt. Gov. Reeves: EdBuild Recommendations Coming, Even If No Media Access

EdBuild's recommendations to change the state's school-funding formula will be ready before the deadline to introduce legislation, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves told the Stennis Capitol Press Forum on Monday.

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Infrastructure: Can the State Afford to Wait on Trump?

Some Mississippi Republican leaders invoked President-elect Donald Trump's expensive infrastructure plan last week when discussing Mississippi's crumbling roads and bridges, seeming to believe it will solve the state's urgent issues with roads and bridges.

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Politics Cripple Superintendents Group

The Mississippi Association of School Superintendents is running out of funding, largely due to a last-minute change a few lawmakers made last session to the State's education budget bill, cutting off all funding to the group.

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UPDATED: JPS Audit Will Take Time; Board Votes for National Supe Search

The way out of an investigative audit and into compliance for Jackson Public Schools will not be easy—or quick.

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AG Hood: State Must Fund Mental Health Care, Not Ignore Lawsuit

Attorney General Jim Hood is calling on the Legislature to increase funding for the Mississippi Department of Mental Health as a part of his legislative priorities this session.

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Governor Picks Legislators to Represent #msleg at Inauguration

Gov. Phil Bryant selected Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, and Rep. Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, to represent the Mississippi Senate and House of Representatives at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday in Washington, D.C.

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EdBuild: Mississippi Should 'Divorce' Education Policy from Spending

After a few quick months of touring around Mississippi, speaking with lawmakers, administrators, teachers and students, EdBuild released its 80-page recommendations report to Mississippi lawmakers, suggesting the state move to a weighted, student-centered school-funding formula.

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More Budget Cuts Hitting State Services

The "efficiencies" buzzword rang across the Mississippi Capitol last summer as lawmakers met the people who provide services from maintaining the state's roads to administering the state's federal child-care funds to look for extra dollars to help stabilize the State of Mississippi's budget and supplement its slowing revenue growth.

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Enough Teeth in the Campaign-finance Bill?

Lawmakers would no longer be able to use campaign finances to pay for personal cars, new suits, health clubs or slush funds once they leave office if House Speaker Philip Gunn's House Bill 479 survives the Senate and becomes law.

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Gov. Bryant: 'Blue Lives Matter' and 'Sacred Cows' Need to Go

"Blue Lives Matter," Gov. Phil Bryant stated emphatically when he spoke from the Mississippi House of Representatives on Tuesday night, reiterating his legislative priorities in front of the state's elected officials, Supreme Court justices, various agency heads and lawmakers.

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House Again Tries to Curb Dem Attorney General's Powers

The Mississippi attorney general, who is elected, could be subject to oversight from the governor, lieutenant governor and the secretary of state if Rep. Mark Baker, R-Brandon, gets his way.

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Hundreds Protest for Women's Rights in Jackson in Sister March to D.C.

Hundreds of women, men and children protested in downtown Jackson on Saturday in a sister event to the Women's March on Washington, D.C., in support of women's rights.

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EdBuild Plan A Path to Expanding ‘School Choice’?

Mississippi isn't EdBuild's first state rodeo. Back in early 2015, EdBuild met with officials in Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's office, who campaigned for re-election on the idea of re-evaluating school funding in his state.

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'Blue, Red and Med Lives Matter' Act Passes Mississippi Senate

Sen. Sean Tindell, R-Gulfport, brought up legislation to extend Mississippi's hate-crimes law to cover law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians who are targeted because of their jobs.

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Early Voting, Online Registration, Felon Voting Back on Table in Legislature

Mississippians would be able to vote before Election Day and register online if legislation the House Apportionment and Elections Committee passed this week stays alive long enough to become law.

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Arts Commission Facing Drastic Overhaul, With Gov. Bryant's Support

The Mississippi Legislature could abolish the state's art commission this year, with two bills still alive in both the House of Representatives and the Senate that would roll it under the purview of the Mississippi Development Authority.

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Ways the State Can ‘Back the Badge’

It is clear that lawmakers in both houses of the Mississippi Legislature intend to implement some sort of "Back the Badge" or "Blue Lives Matter" bill this session, but how such a law is written could be up for debate.