City Receives Grant for Senior Low-Income Job Creation
Older low-income adults in the Jackson-metro area looking for jobs will have access to employment opportunities after Senior Service America Inc. awarded the City of Jackson a $553,698 grant.
JPS Audit Released: District at Risk for 'Emergency' Declaration
The fate of Jackson Public Schools is in the hands of a few statewide commission and board members.
First Lady Ebony Lumumba Urges Provine Students to Bring 'Serious Change'
Jackson first lady Ebony Lumumba spoke to Provine seniors on Wednesday morning, encouraging them to pursue their further education and prepare to be the change agents in the world.
Infrastructure Funding Could Include Tax Increases
Mississippi senators met in Jackson last week to explore ways to raise more money for the state's deteriorating infrastructure, The move seemed to contradict their leader, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, and his insistence that he will not raise taxes.
Davis IB Program Helps Kindergartners Shine on Exam
Principal Kathleen Grigsby has a reason to be proud: Kindergarteners at Davis IB Elementary in downtown Jackson scored in the top 10 of all schools in the state on the kindergarten readiness assessment for the second year in a row.
State Recovers $11 Million in Audit by Medicaid Division, Attorney General
Auditors working in the Mississippi Division of Medicaid and the attorney general's office recovered more than $11 million in improper payments and claims for fiscal-year 2017 after analyzing medical claims paid out to health-care providers across the state.
Emmett Till
Sixty-two years ago, white men in the Mississippi Delta brutally murdered Emmett Till in a horrific lynching that is often cited as a catalyst for launching the Civil Rights Movement in the South.
JPS Enrollment Numbers Down as Registration Deadline Approaches
Jackson Public Schools has 25,135 students registered or in process of registering, but the district has 27,707 students eligible to register for the 2017-2018 school year, interim Superintendent Freddrick Murray told the JPS Board of Trustees last night.
Mayor, Police Chief Address Poverty-Crime Connection, Solutions Going Forward
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and Jackson Police Department Chief Lee Vance are working to increase the number of JPD police officers as well as implementing additional solutions to crime in the capital city.
Some Parents Left Behind on Child Care
Deloris Suel knows and works with employed parents who can no longer receive financial support for child care due to clerical reasons like not having the same address on their driver's license as where they currently live.
State School Districts Get ‘Baseline’ Reprieve, for Now
The Mississippi Board of Education approved a new baseline for state test scores last week that will affect what grade the schools and districts earn in the school's accountability ranking system.
Talking Back to Gov. Bryant: Flag Needs to Change with White Support
Actor and activist Aunjanue Ellis talked back to Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant today to denounce his refusal to back changing the state flag to one without a symbol of the Confederacy.
Report: LGBT Men Need Quality Sexual Health Standards in Jackson, Beyond
LGBT men have limited access to quality sexual health care, a new report finds. In the capital city, it is an especially serious problem: The Jackson metro has the fourth-highest rate of HIV diagnosis per 100,000 residents among the nation's metropolitan areas, with about 40 percent of LGBT men infected with HIV here in 2014.
Dak Prescott to Young People: Believe in Yourself Through It All
Dak Prescott chooses not to worry about things he can't control. He stays focused on the task in front of him, he says, controlling only what he can. When the 24-year-old is not studying film or on the field, he likes to get lost in NCAA football on PlayStation 3 to take his mind off the game.
Mississippi, Jackson Students Make Gains on State Tests in Most Areas
On the whole, Mississippi students improved on their state testing this year in both mathematics and English language arts, newly released results from the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program, or MAAP, show.
State’s Longest-Sitting Death Row Inmate Challenges Death Penalty Drug
The Mississippi Supreme Court has sentenced Richard Jordan to death four times, but with the help of his lawyers, he continues to challenge the state's death penalty method.
Moving Beyond Suspension: Changing the Discipline Climate in Jackson Schools
JPS administrators recognize that out-of-school suspension is not the way to change school climates district-wide, and Margrit Wallace, the JPS chief academic officer in the student academic and behavioral support department, is working to move the district towards restorative justice practices, which could eventually include dialogue circles in the classroom.
AG Hood Settles $2.5 Million Epps Scandal Claim
Attorney General Jim Hood settled his office's claims against Global Tel*Link Corp. for $2.5 million today. The corporation is one of 12 that Hood has pursued legally in connection to the former Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections Christopher Epps' scandal.
Mars or Bust: Stennis Center Testing Rockets for Mission to Red Planet
Mississippi is integral in getting NASA spacecrafts—and eventually astronauts—to Mars. NASA engineers and scientists at the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County on the Gulf Coast completed their fourth test of the RS-25 engine, which they plan to use on the Space Launch System deep-space rocket.
Hinds County School Bond Measure Draws Lawmakers' Support
Mississippians who live in the Hinds County School District lines, including Bolton, Byram, Edwards, Raymond, Terry and Utica, will vote to approve or disapprove a bond issue for their public schools on Tuesday, Aug. 15.
Democrats, Republicans Honor Robert Clark's 'Striving and Working' Legacy
In the midst of Mississippi's turbulent reckoning with the Civil Rights Movement, Holmes County residents elected Robert G. Clark to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1967. He was the first African American to serve in the Legislature since Reconstruction.
Stuck Behind Bars, Waiting for Mental Care
Judges in Mississippi have few options when sentencing men and women who need mental-health care but have also committed a crime.
Jackson Airport Lawsuit Weakened, But Still On
The legal fight over who controls the Jackson airport continues outside the courtroom for now after U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves dismissed three of the city of Jackson's initial claims this July.
Report: Mississippi Moms Need More Workforce Training and Child Care
A new policy report from the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative shows that single, working mothers in Mississippi make far less than other types of families and still have to pay for child care.
Black Lawmakers Ask U.S. Supreme Court to Hear State Flag Case
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including civil-rights leader Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Mississippi attorney Carlos Moore's state flag case.
Westin Hotel Opens in Downtown Jackson
The Westin Hotel in downtown Jackson officially opened on Thursday, Aug. 3, when city, county and state leaders gathered to cut the ribbon to the entrance of the new 203-room property located on South Congress Street across from the federal court building.
Opioid Task Force Releases Recommendations
The Governor's Opioid and Heroin Study Task Force released its recommendations Wednesday, Aug. 3, to help Mississippi curb the number of overdoses and death that the opioid epidemic is causing.
Keeping Insurance Rates Stable, Despite Congressional Interference
Even with the Affordable Care Act intact, Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney is still concerned for Mississippians with certain plans that would see rate increases in 2018, despite the ACA's fate.
Council Unanimously Approves Lumumba’s First JPS Appointee, Returning a Quorum to the Board
The Jackson City Council unanimously approved Letitia Simmons Johnson to serve as the Ward 2 member of the Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees at its meeting Tuesday morning.
Medicaid Fraud Solutions: Two Ways
State Auditor Stacey Pickering is driving a bi-partisan approach to Medicaid fraud that stands in stark contrast to legislation the Republican supermajority in the Mississippi Legislature passed this past session.
Jackson Airport Lands $5 Million Federal Grant
The Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers Airport received a federal grant this week to complete necessary improvements to the airport's runway.
As DA's Trial Begins, Key Player Sentenced 30 Years for Pot Found in MBN Raid
As the second trial against Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith begins today, Christopher Butler, 40, is headed to prison for 30 years without parole after a Hinds County Circuit Court jury convicted him of possession of a large amount of marijuana on July 27.
Gov. Bryant Decries Nissan Union, Promotes Training for Daycare Workers
Gov. Phil Bryant praised incentives that Mississippi has used to bring large corporations like Nissan, Toyota and most recently Continental Tire to the state in his 21st Neshoba County Fair speech Thursday.
Politicking Over Mental-Health Care at Neshoba County Fair
The words "mental health" may never been used more in a handful of minutes than they were Wednesday at the Neshoba County Fair.
What’s Ahead for the Capitol Complex?
Jackson stands to gain additional tax revenue for infrastructure projects located inside the Capitol Complex Improvement District but likely not until next year, even as it will bring immediate changes on the law-enforcement front.
The Henley-Young ‘Emergency Room’ Shows Progress, Houses Fewer Youth
The Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center has come a long way since a federal judge issued a consent decree and settlement agreement back in 2012, which required the county to cut back on the number of incarcerated kids and increase mental, health and rehabilitative services for youth.
Forest Hill Students Get APAC Program
Forest Hill High School students have an opportunity to be a part of the Academic and Performing Arts Complex, known as APAC, this year.
UPDATED: Most Black Lawmakers to Boycott Legislative Conference Over Mississippi Flag
The majority of African American lawmakers in the Mississippi Legislature plan to boycott the annual meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference in Biloxi this weekend.
UPDATED: JPS Board Forced to Halt Work After Fourth Member Leaves Board
The Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees needs new members, and quickly. Richard Lind, the newly elected president of the school board, resigned yesterday, meaning only three members remain.
JSU Students Will Keep Scholarships for Current School Year
“To honor our promise to returning and continuing students, scholarships and out-of-state fee waivers shall remain in effect for the 2017-2018 academic year if you have met the previous renewal requirements."
Mississippi House Shake-Up Ahead
With four open seats and four special elections ahead, the Mississippi House of Representatives can expect a shake-up in the coming months, ahead of the 2018 legislative session.
Navigating Mississippi’s Opioid Epidemic
Marsha Stone made it out of college, but not without a drug and alcohol addiction she could not shake. She found herself at the age of 24 with three children and a husband who succumbed to his addiction and died.
The Right to Pre-Trial Justice for All?
Scott County law enforcement officers arrested Joshua Bassett on Jan. 3, 2014, under a warrant for grand larceny and possession of meth. Bassett could not know then that he would sit in jail without legal representation for almost a year before standing trial due to a muddled and slow judicial process.
Three Charter Schools Advance to Final Evaluation Step
Three charter schools advanced to the final stage of the application process this month, and now an independent four-person evaluation team will review the full proposals from three groups looking to open charter schools in Canton, Drew and Clarksdale.
Jackson State Faces 'Belt-Tightening' Year
Jackson State University's 11th president, Dr. William Bynum Jr., took the reins this month and told reporters this morning that the university is facing a few years of belt-tightening in its budget, but he maintained that the fourth-largest historically black college or university, or HBCU, in the nation will be just fine.
Alcorn County Prison on Lockdown after Largest Contraband Bust This Year
Mississippi Department of Corrections officials found more than 100 cellphones at the Alcorn County Regional Correctional Facility on Wednesday, July 12, along with bags of tobacco and shanks. MDOC put the facility on lockdown immediately.
5th Circuit Must Rule on Petitions, Issue Mandate Before HB 1523 Becomes Law
The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will have to decide whether to hear plaintiffs' petition to re-hear their case against House Bill 1523; the law does not go into affect until the 5th Circuit issues a mandate.
Returning ‘Dignity’ to Public Schools
Positive rather than punitive school climates are the best way to keep young people in schools, a group of community leaders and students are arguing in their Dignity in Schools campaign.
To Avoid Funerals, Mississippi Drug Summit Targets Opioid, Heroin Addiction
Attorney General Jim Hood believes he has been to several funerals of people this year who have died from opioid overdoses, but said today that no one talked about the cause.
Plaintiffs Fighting House Bill 1523 Ask Full 5th Circuit to Re-Hear Case
Twelve Mississippians have asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to re-hear their case against House Bill 1523, now law, in front of all the judges.