Investigative Reporter,
May 2014-March 2015
Recent Stories

Dr. Omar Abdul-Rahman
Dr. Omar Abdul-Rahman, a pediatrics professor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, recognizes that medicine is not one size fits all. That's why he is studying the role that ...

Kill Bill Vol. 3: Education, Entertainment, Elections
On the Feb. 3 bill deadline in the Mississippi Legislature, committee chairmen—like the katana-wielding Uma Thurman—swiftly killed several bills aimed at helping educate Mississippi children, creating a music industry in ...

Are Schools Still Pushing Kids Out?
Krystal Polk's 13-year-old daughter, Krystin, has been arrested twice this school year. The first time, the eighth-grader spent the night in a juvenile detention center.

Excerpts from Judge Carlton Reeves’ Ruling
Even an abbreviated history shows that millions of Americans were once deemed ineligible for full Fourteenth Amendment protection.

‘Justice, Justice, Thou Shalt Pursue’: The JFP Interview with Roberta Kaplan
Like many LGBTQ couples, New York attorney Roberta Kaplan and her wife, Rachel Lavine, have enjoyed federal marriage rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal restrictions against same-sex marriage ...

Funking Up Jackson, Targeting Crime
Fred McAfee was on a study committee that the Mississippi Legislature created last year to determine the feasibility of creating incentives to facilitate an entertainment industry for the state.

Building LGBT Teen, Business Alliances
When a Magnolia Junior High School teacher conducted a math exercise by dividing the classroom into two teams based on gender, Destin Holmes was forced to sit in the middle ...

Middle-Class Families Could Get Special-Needs Help
When the parents of 10-year-old Flannery Smith noticed their daughter's learning difficulty, they took immediate action. Through legal help from the Mississippi Center for Justice, the family compelled the school ...

LGBT Leader, Other Democratic Women Running for Office
The civil engineer and businesswoman helping to spearhead the fight for marriage equality in Mississippi is running for state auditor and hopes to bring transparency to the office that holds ...
Uncertainty Looms for Wages, Schools, Health Care in Tax Cut Plan
Despite a controversial $1.5 billion tax cut prompting fierce debate on education funding, state employee salaries, grocery taxes and lottery tickets, the Republican-led tax plan passed the Mississippi House of ...