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Trump Chooses SC Gov Nikki Haley to be Ambassador to UN
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the first woman tapped for a top-level administration post during his White House …
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Jacksonian
Warren Coile
Warren Coile was sitting in a pew during an evening service at Crawford Street Methodist Church in Vicksburg when he got the call. A lay member had just talked about …
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Editor's Note
We Can Be Scared Together
With the current political turmoil, I'm glad I got to attend TEDxJacksonWomen. It was a bright spot in the midst of a hairy election cycle, and now it can be …
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State
Fighting Homelessness, Helping Parents
Bilal Qizilbash spends most of his hours working for other people. Some of the 43,000 miles on his car come from traveling across Mississippi lecturing on his cancer research.
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Food
Jamaica By Way of Jackson
A vibrant palm tree stands on an East Capitol Street business' sign, sticking out among the gray office buildings and collection of mile-high windows. As soon as people see the …
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Music
Blues in Black and White
Mississippi bluesman Robert Johnson may have only lived to be 27 years old, but his legacy has grown exponentially since his death in 1938, inspiring many generations of artists. Of …
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City & County
Digging Up the Roots of Jackson’s ‘Numbing’ Crime with Mayor Tony Yarber
Tony Tarzel Yarber, 16, waved at his best friend, Lakenya Bolden, as he drove past him in Jackson's Subdivision 2 on Aug. 4, 1994. Bolden was driving into the "Sub" …
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Politics
Mississippi Voter Turnout Down Over Last Presidential Election
Mississippi's presidential turnout numbers dropped almost 75,000 over 2012 this year, in one of first elections in recent memory without any federal oversight of polls in the state.
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Person of the Day
Steven Cooper
Steven Cooper, the first African American elected to serve as student body president at Mississippi State University, died of cancer around midnight on Nov. 1. He was living in Houston, …
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Biz Roundup
Jax-Zen Float, Aladdin R U Hungry? Event, Canopy Children's Solutions and The Ramey Agency
Aladdin Mediterranean Grill is hosting a one-day charity event benefitting R U Hungry?, a local group that gathers food and items such as blankets to give to homeless individuals in …
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Trump's Pick for Justice Dept Could Influence Immigration
As a senator, Jeff Sessions became Congress' leading advocate not only for a cracking down on illegal immigration, but also for slowing all immigration, increasing mass deportations and scrutinizing more …
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Americans Who Live Near Border say Trump's Wall is Unwelcome
All along the winding Rio Grande, the people who live in this bustling, fertile region where the U.S. border meets the Gulf of Mexico never quite understood how Donald Trump's …
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1.2M Voted in Mississippi, 560 Lacked Photo ID at Polls
Only a small percentage of Mississippi voters did not take photo identification to the polls for the presidential election, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said Monday.
Entry
Updated: AG Hood: Legislature Has to Make EdBuild Contract Public
By adreherAttorney General Jim Hood sent a letter to legislative leaders today reminding them that they must release the EdBuild contract to the Transparency Mississippi website, despite their own House Management Committee rules.
Last week, several news organizations attempted to get access to the contract between the Mississippi Legislature and the nonprofit EdBuild that the state is contracting with to examine the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. The contract with EdBuild is paid in part by the state and in part by private donors. The state is paying $125,000 of the cost, while undisclosed private donors are paying another $125,000, the AP reported.
The House Management Committee changed their rules last week, allegedly keeping all contracts private and not accessible via the state's Public Records Act.
Hood's letter says that while lawmakers do have the power under the Public Records Act to limit access to legislative records, they are not exempt from the Mississippi Accountability and Transparency Act, which requires all agencies to let the Department of Finance and Administration access their data and post the contracts on the Transparency Mississippi website. Hood told legislative leaders that they have two weeks to give DFA access to that information, as is prescribed in the Mississippi Accountability and Transparency Act.
The Senate has not changed their management rules yet to come into compliance with the House's new rule, but the Senate Rules Committee is scheduled to meet this week.
Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Greg Snowden and Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Terry Burton released a statement after Hood's letter was sent.
“When the agreement was approved in October, the terms of the Legislature’s contract with EdBuild to review school funding was shared with the public,” the joint statement says. “Over the last four days as House and Senate leadership continued to study the issue, Legislative legal staff concluded the contract should be posted to the Transparency Mississippi website. The contract has been released to the Department of Finance and Administration to be posted on the Transparency Mississippi website.”
The contract is up and available on the Transparency Mississippi's website this morning or you can read it here.
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Education
Helping Mississippians Get Degrees Goal of New Initiative
Almost 300,000 Mississippians have received some college credit and finished courses from a public university or college without earning a degree in the last 15 years. Mississippi Public Universities is …
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Business
Protesters March On Wendy's for Workers' Rights
Wendy's on High Street got traffic from more than just the lunch crowd this week.
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Person of the Day
Morgan William
Mississippi State stars Victoria Vivians and Morgan William were at their best during the 10th-ranked Bulldogs' 79-68 victory over No. 8 Texas on Sunday.
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Officers Douse Pipeline Protesters in Subfreezing Weather
Authorities on Monday defended their decision to douse protesters with water during a skirmish in subfreezing weather near the Dakota Access oil pipeline, and organizers said at least 17 protesters …
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Analysis: School Funding Debate Bumpy, but Direction Unclear
Despite an eventful couple of days in discussions about rewriting the state education funding formula, the public is no closer to knowing what changes lawmakers will consider to the current …
