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Biz Roundup
South Jackson Kroger Closure Causes Alarm
Residents in south Jackson are working feverishly to make sure their neighborhood doesn't become a food desert when the Kroger on Terry Road closes later this month.
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S&P Paying $1.38B to Settle Charges Over Crisis-Era Ratings
Standard & Poor's is paying about $1.38 billion to settle government allegations that it knowingly inflated its ratings of risky mortgage investments that helped trigger the financial crisis, the Justice …
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UK House of Commons OKs Making Babies from DNA of 3 People
British lawmakers in the House of Commons voted Tuesday to allow scientists to create babies from the DNA of three people—a move that could prevent some children from inheriting potentially …
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Education
Vouchers May be Ticket Out of Public Schools for Kids with Disabilities—But is that a Good Thing?
Some students with disabilities may get a chance to leave the public school system here—but advocates and parents aren't sure it will improve their education.
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EU to Extend Existing Russia Sanctions Over Ukraine
The European Union extended by six months an existing set of sanctions against Russian and pro-Russia separatist officials because of the continued fighting in eastern Ukraine and was planning further …
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Person of the Day
Andrea Patterson
Andrea Patterson, marketing director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, knew she wanted to work in sports after she graduated from the University of Mississippi with a …
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Politics
McDaniel's New PAC: The Next Generation
With hopes of bringing together multiple factions throughout the state in the wake of a divisive Senate race, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, recently announced his new political action committee, …
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ACLU Challenges Debt Collection Practices That Target the Poor
By AnnaWolfeThe following is a verbatim press release from the American Civil Liberties Union.
ATLANTA – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal lawsuit challenging debt collection practices that have resulted in the jailing of people simply because they are poor. The case was brought on behalf of Kevin Thompson, a black teenager in DeKalb County, Georgia, who was jailed because he could not afford to pay court fines and probation company fees stemming from a traffic ticket.
"Being poor is not a crime. Yet across the county, the freedom of too many people unfairly rests on their ability to pay traffic fines and fees they cannot afford," said Nusrat Choudhury, an attorney with the ACLU's Racial Justice Program. "We seek to dismantle this two-tiered system of justice that punishes the poorest among us, disproportionately people of color, more harshly than those with means."
The ACLU charges that DeKalb County and for-profit Judicial Correction Services Inc. (JCS) teamed up to engage in a coercive debt collection scheme that focuses on revenue generation at the expense of protecting poor people's rights.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled more than 30 years ago that locking people up merely because they cannot afford to pay court fines is contrary to American values of fairness and equality embedded in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The court made clear that judges cannot jail someone for failure to pay without first considering their ability to pay, efforts to acquire money, and alternatives to incarceration.
No such consideration was given to Thompson, who was locked up for five days because he could not afford to pay $838 in fines and fees to the county and JCS – despite the fact that he tried his best to make payments. The lawsuit charges that Thompson's constitutional rights to an indigency hearing and to counsel were violated by DeKalb County, JCS, and the chief judge of the local court that sentenced him to jail.
"What happened to me, and others like me who try their best to pay fines and fees but fall short, is unfair and wrong," said Thompson. "I hope this lawsuit will help prevent other people from being jailed just because they are poor."
These debt collection practices have had a devastating impact on people of color in the Atlanta metropolitan area. While blacks make up 54 percent of the DeKalb County population, nearly all probationers jailed by the DeKalb County Recorders Court for failure to pay are black – a pattern replicated by other Georgia courts.
"In a country where the racial wealth gap remains stark, the link between driving while black and jailed for being poor has a devastating impact on communities of color," said Choudhury.
The case, Thompson v. DeKalb County, was filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. It names DeKalb County, Chief Judge Nelly Withers of the DeKalb County Recorders Court, and Judicial Correction Services Inc. as defendants. Rogers & Hardin LLP, the ACLU of Georgia, and Southern Center for …
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North Korea May be Restarting Nuke Plant: US Institute
North Korea may be attempting to restart its main nuclear bomb fuel reactor after a five-month shutdown, a U.S. research institute said Thursday.
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Mobile Provider TracFone to Pay $40M in Federal Settlement
The nation's largest prepaid mobile provider, TracFone Wireless, will pay $40 million to settle government claims that it misled millions of smartphone customers with promises of unlimited data service.
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Jordan Offers Swap to Islamic State Group to Save Pilot
Jordan offered a precedent-setting prisoner swap to the Islamic State group Wednesday in a desperate attempt to save a Jordanian air force pilot the militants purportedly threatened to kill, along …
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Cover
Why Few Mississippi Mothers Nurse Their Babies
As she stared through the nursery window at her four-day-old twins, 22-year-old Francesca Maxwell ticked off her reasons for wanting to breast-feed: Her obstetrician advised it. Her mother thought it …
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Food
Be a Guest at Your Brunch
Let's face it, waking up and having to entertain after a long night of festivities can be draining. To simplify brunch, I came up with five suggestions that always help …
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Politics
Target: Abortion Rights, Public Ed, LGBT Custody
Women's rights and public education topped the Mississippi legislative agenda as it rolled past the Jan. 19 deadline for filing bills and into the fourth week of the session, while …
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Editor's Note
Every Single Life Matters
We're living through one of those difficult times in Jackson when fear and distrust of "the other" reach a fevered pitch due to a high-profile crime.
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Obama Floats Offering First-Ever Drilling Lease in Atlantic
The Obama administration floated a plan Tuesday that for the first time would open up a broad swath of the Atlantic Coast to drilling, even as it moved to restrict …
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Ukraine: Phone Calls Prove Rebels Attacked City, Killed 30
Ukraine's president said Sunday that intercepted radio and telephone conversations prove that Russia-backed separatists were responsible for firing the rockets that pounded the southeastern city of Mariupol and killed at …
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Russia Defiant After More Threats from West Over Ukraine
Russian officials struck a defiant note Monday after Western leaders threatened to further punish Moscow for escalated fighting in eastern Ukraine over the weekend.
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'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' Bill Passes House, Affirms Existing Education Law
The House Speaker's education bill would stop the “dirty rotten scoundrels in Washington from imposing their communist agenda on our school curricula?” Rep. David Baria asked.
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Measles Outbreak Casts Spotlight on Anti-Vaccine Movement
A major measles outbreak traced to Disneyland has brought criticism down on the small but vocal movement among parents to opt out of vaccinations for their children.
