Business
Hinds Supervisors Want Consortium for Continental Tire Hiring
The Hinds County Board of Supervisors wants a business consortium to help prepare and promote local contractors for Continental Tire projects, but passed the work of clarifying the organization's details ...
City & County
Land Auction Underway in Georgetown Area
Out of the more than 3,000 tax-forfeiture properties the State of Mississippi holds in Jackson, 375 are up for grabs in two active online auctions.
City & County
Where Did the City Tax Revenue Go?
Deborah Williams, a 911 dispatcher with the City of Jackson, spoke before the Jackson City Council on Sept. 2, admonishing the administration for freezing 11 vacant positions in her department.
City & County
Analysis: The DA’s Role in Freeing Defendants
Last week, a Hinds County grand jury indicted District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith, along with one of his assistant district attorneys, for felony charges for hindering the prosecution of Christopher ...
City & County
UPDATE: Despite Mayor's Protests, Council Cuts Yarber's Office Budget, Travel
The Jackson City Council today approved cuts to travel for all departments, as well as cuts to the mayor's office and the chief administrator's office, to push back against the ...
City & County
Judge Unseals All Documents Related to District Attorney Saga
Special Judge Larry Roberts ordered all the documents related to the case against Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith unsealed, and set hearing dates to settle motions with a ...
State
Judge Argues Against Unsealing Mystery Case Without Redactions
By the end of today, the public might regain access to sealed court documents concerning the recent charges against Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith, although one of the ...
City & County
DA’s ‘Adversarial’ Relationship with Judge Weill, Turner Details Surface in Motion
District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith showed up in the chambers of Hinds County Circuit Judge Jeff Weill on May 11 of this year to get a cell phone back, then ...
City & County
Eastover Line Project Comes Under Scrutiny
The Eastover Drive water-line replacement project is drawing attention to the methods engineers have used while overseeing the project, causing some in City government to take notice.
City & County
UPDATED: Indictment Snares Attorney Previously Used to Defend DA Smith
Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith was the high-profile name listed in a three-count felony indictment today. But the other is an assistant district attorney who Smith’s attorney claims ...
City & County
City Cuts to Meet Falling Tax Revenue
The Jackson City Council is dealing with another cut to the proposed budget since the administration announced it must strip away another $500,000 in expenditures for fiscal-year 2017.
City & County
City Council Braces for More Lawsuits
Jackson City Council members are left wondering how many more lawsuits they will have to deal with in the coming months, and how those could affect the City's woeful budgetary ...
City & County
DA Smith’s Charges Go to Grand Jury
A Hinds County grand jury will decide whether Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith should be charged with assisting defendants.
City & County
City Announces Water Bill Payment Plan
The City of Jackson is offering a payment plan to those that wish to chip away at water bills that Mayor Tony Yarber referred to as “monstrous.”
City & County
Few Law Firms Pitch to Defend Lawsuits Against the City of Jackson
The Jackson City Council heard short, three-minute presentations from local law firms for the contract to represent Jackson in the recently filed discrimination lawsuits.
City & County
Mayor, City Asks for Patience on Sales-Tax Projects Like Potholes
Mayor Tony Yarber kept his comments uncharacteristically short during the Thursday-night public-information session about the 1-percent sales-tax projects, telling a small crowd in Thalia Mara Hall to be patient as ...
Civil Rights
Two Racial Discrimination Lawsuits Filed Against Metro Police
Two lawsuits pending in the Jackson metro area involve racial discrimination, one by a black Madison County officer and another by a white officer against the Jackson Police Department.
Cover
DA Files: What the Heck is ‘Ex Parte’?
A common denominator in the myriad of charges Attorney General Jim Hood has leveled against Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith is his alleged use of “ex parte communications.”
Cover
DA Files: The Legacy of Williams v. State
During his objections to Attorney General Jim Hood's prosecution of Christopher Butler at a hearing in Hinds County Judge Melvin Priester Sr.'s courtroom on March 3, 2016, Hinds County District ...
Cover
DA Files: What Is Case No. 16-120?
This Hinds County Circuit Court case, 16-120, serves as the central mystery to the ongoing legal morass surrounding District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith.
Cover
DA Files: The Curious Case of Mr. Smith, Mr. Butler and Mr. Hood
Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith walked into the courtroom on March 3, 2016, with a clear goal—to help get Christopher Butler, then 38, out of the Raymond jail.
City & County
Council President: City Will Not Pay to Defend Mayor Tony Yarber in Lawsuit
The Jackson City Council decided today to hire outside counsel to represent its interests in the sexual and race harassment lawsuits filed last week, citing conflicts of interest within the ...
City & County
UPDATED: Council Drills City Staffers Over Lawsuits, Gets Few Responses
The Jackson City Council entered into an executive session during a special meeting this morning to discuss sex and race discrimination lawsuits filed against the mayor and the City of ...
Crime
DA Smith Says MBN Framed Jackson Man; Agency Says Evidence Not 'Credible'
Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith is hanging his defense to state charges and a bar complaint around what he alleges is a set-up of Christopher Butler, the man ...
City & County
UPDATED: Woman Sues Mayor Yarber for Sex Discrimination, Mayor Calls Her 'Disgruntled'
Mayor Tony Yarber's former executive assistant today filed a complaint in federal court accusing him of sex discrimination, sexual harassment and a hostile workplace within City Hall, and of having ...
City & County
City Needs Siemens Until Problems Resolved
As the City of Jackson continues to mull over the next year's budget and its myriad cuts, the talk from recent city-council meetings about possible legal action against Siemens for ...
Business
Mayor Presents Proposed 2017 Budget, Cuts Revealed
Last week, Mayor Tony Yarber presented his proposed 403-page budget to the Jackson City Council for review, which the members did through a four-day gauntlet of meetings with the various ...
City & County
Zoo Backs Out of National Accreditation to Focus on Raising Funds
The Jackson City Zoo has dropped its affiliation with a national accreditation agency in the wake of news last week that its yearly contribution from the City of Jackson is ...
Business
Southern Airways Comes to Jackson, Stallworth Pushed Out of Lawsuit
Gov. Phil Bryant joined local leaders Monday to mark the addition of a new air service to the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport.
Education
Ole Miss Quietly Mothballs ‘Dixie’
The University of Mississippi shed one more vestige of its Confederate past today, announcing that it is doing away with the song “Dixie” starting with this season’s football festivities. But ...
City & County
JPD Cuts Budget by $2 Million, But Keeps All Current Officers
The Jackson Police Department is cutting a little over $2 million from its proposed budget, but without eliminating any existing officer positions.
City & County
DA’s Attorney Looking for Tapes, Informant; Says AG Hiding Him
Defense counsel James Waide III may have revealed the name of the confidential informant who taped Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith and then provided tapes to the Mississippi ...
State
Youth Judge Now Adhering to Fed Regs
For the last two years, the Hinds County Youth Court handcuffed children while they waited their turn to appear before Judge William Skinner II in direct violation of a federal ...
City & County
Water Billing Problems Source of City Budget Issues, Layoffs Ahead
Taylor Jones received a $1,600 water bill to his Belhaven home, and the 23-year-old college graduate doesn't know where to turn. "This was the first bill I had received from ...
Business
Despite Racist 'Redlining,' BancorpSouth Pledges to Support Under-Served Jackson
BancorpSouth CEO James Rollins III appeared before the Jackson City Council Tuesday night to address members' concerns in light of the Mississippi bank's recent settlement over "redlining" in the Memphis ...
Crime
DA Files: ‘Too Sweet’ Reverend, Old Faces Back in News
Names of men who were involved in the late and controversial Mayor Frank Melton's universe keep popping up in the convoluted accusations encircling Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith.
City & County
The City’s State: Yarber’s ‘Momentum’
Mayor Tony Yarber's promise for the City of Jackson centers around the one word he repeated during his "State of the City" address Tuesday night, Aug. 2: momentum.
Business
Stokes to Propose Siemens Lawsuit, 1-Percent Appointees Head to Council
Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes has placed an order "authorizing legal action against Siemens Industry Inc. (Building Technologies Division) for violations of its performance contractual agreement with the City of ...
Civil Rights
FBI Agent: Police Abuse, Modern Slavery, Corruption Still Priorities
Jeffery Artis, special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, spoke to a small gathering at the former Koinonia Coffee House today about the role the department played in the ...
City & County
Cops, Community Separation Still Tangible
Members of the community, including law-enforcement leaders, met July 28 at Murrah High School to participate in Mayor Tony Yarber's "Us and Them" forum focusing on the relationship between the ...
State
No Permits Yet Under Church-Carry Law in Hinds County
In the spring, the Mississippi Legislature passed a bill allowing registered church-going folk to form security teams of permitted individuals with concealed weapons, including immunity for the teams' use of ...
City & County
New Water-Bill Portal Launches Today
The City of Jackson launched a new water-bill payment portal today, which reads directly from the automatic meters installed as a part of the Siemens contract.
Business
Mayoral Hopeful Graham: Continental Tire Plant Saving Grace of Jackson
Hinds County Supervisor Robert Graham holds up the Continental Tire plant as the saving grace of Jackson. "We are at the forefront of something very big," Graham said this morning.
State
Bar Files Complaint Against DA, Includes Letter About His Mother
The air of secrecy continues around the case against Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith Wednesday, as Hinds County Judge Larita Cooper-Stokes recused herself during a closed meeting with ...
City & County
Bar Files Complaint Against DA, Includes Letter About His Mother
The air of secrecy continues around the case against Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith Wednesday, as Hinds County Judge Larita Cooper-Stokes recused herself during a closed meeting with ...
City & County
Uber, ADA Accessibility and Jackson
In the wake of state legislation cementing transportation network companies like Uber into the market, the Jackson City Council is in the middle of an overhaul of the ordinances governing ...
Business
MAC Construction Wants Siemens Lawsuit to Stay in Hinds County
MAC and Associates, LLC., wants a Jackson jury to decide whether Siemens Industry Inc. violated the terms of the contract to install new digital water meters as a part of ...
City & County
Expert on Death of 17-Year-Old: 'Castle Doctrine' Needs Danger Threat
Yesterday, outside a business near the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center, a white employee shot a young black man who was allegedly breaking into a vehicle in the parking lot.
City & County
White Male Shoots Black Minor for Breaking into Car Near Juvenile Detention Center
A white employee of Performance Oil Equipment shot and killed a black minor during an attempted car theft around noon Thursday, police say.
Crime
Attorney: Reddix Alleged Bribery a 'Shakedown'
On July 19, Dr. Carl Reddix pleaded not guilty to seven counts of bribery, appearing in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Ball for the first time in the latest ...
