Jackson Free Press

There's never a slow news week in Jackson, Miss., and last week was no exception. Here are the local stories JFP reporters brought you in case you missed them:

1. By now, the stories of Mississippi's three record-breaking alligators have traveled around the world. Lesser known or discussed, however, is how federal and state conservation programs rescued alligators from near-extinction in Mississippi and the southeast and made the historic catches possible.
2. Budget talks heated Sept. 5 as Mayor Chokwe Lumumba began distributing some of the funds from his $503 million budget, starting with re-allocating $6.5 million from the public schools. The funds should help Jackson address nagging problems across the city.
3. Leon Jones, a 48-year-old former Jackson police officer and day-care center owner, knows the importance of having an advocate on the Hinds County Board of Supervisors.
4. Ted Williams says the key to unlocking Utica's economic-development potential just might start with a lunchtime eatery.
5. Jackson Councilman Tony Yarber, Ward 6, doesn't split hairs on state truancy laws at Jackson Public Schools: He doesn't believe they are being enforced.
6. Paul Rankin, owner of Great Harvest Bread Co., closed his Ridgeland location Aug. 31 to focus his efforts on his recently renovated Jackson store at 5006 Parkway Drive.
7. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba convinced the Jackson City Council to pass his proposed $502.5 million budget after holding two town-hall meetings and two public hearings.
8. Wednesday night, the city of Jackson and Mayor Chokwe Lumumba hosted a second town-hall meeting to address the proposed water-and-sewer rate increases, this time in the heart of Ward 3 at Progressive Missionary Baptist Church.
9. Dallas Quinn, spokesman for the Pearl River Vision Foundation, said St. Tammany Parish, La., officials failed to get input from his group before passing a resolution against the flood-control plan PRVF is developing with the loval Levee Board.
10. Hinds County's juvenile detention center is getting a new director. Brenda Frelix is taking over as executive director of the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center, replacing Dale Knight.

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