Author: Troy Russell

It’s the day before spring graduation, and every seat in Clarksdale Baby University’s classroom is full. Pregnant women and young moms and their children gather at folding tables for a family-style dinner. Chelesa Presley stands at the head of the table, holding up a small whiteboard, and she’s focused as she draws a diagram of a uterus. “No person should know your body better than you,” Presley told the class. They all nod in agreement. Most of Presley’s lessons center on having and caring for a baby, but for the final session of Baby U, she emphasized self-care and resilience —…

Read More

JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi has removed more than 29,000 people from Medicaid as the program starts reviewing who is eligible to keep coverage now that the federal government has ended a pandemic public health emergency. That is just over 3% of people who were enrolled in the state’s program in June. The Mississippi Division of Medicaid said in a statement Monday that it expects enrollment to further decrease in the coming months as officials continue reviewing eligibility. Medicaid provides health insurance for low-income people, with costs covered by federal and state tax dollars. Federal law prohibited states from removing people…

Read More

Spurred on by the city’s recent water and trash crises, a new group is hoping to increase voter participation in Jackson. Jacksonians 4 Jackson held its first “Picnic in the Park” Saturday, where they encouraged people to register to vote, and treated them to free meals and live music. Organizer Julie Wyatt says the group is non-partisan, with only one goal in mind: making Jackson a better place for everyone. “But it demands all of Jackson to get involved,” she said. “It’s really hard to complain if you don’t participate in the voting of our elected officials.” Seven people signed…

Read More

In an election that reflected strong global opposition to Russia’s war against Ukraine, NATO and European Union member Slovenia soundly defeated Moscow’s close ally Belarus on Tuesday for a seat on the U.N. Security Council starting in January. The race between the two members of the U.N.’s East European group was the only contested election for five seats on the U.N.’s most powerful body, and was closely watched because of their opposing views on Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine. In the secret ballot election in the 193-member General Assembly, Slovenia received 153 votes while Belarus got 38 votes. “U.N.…

Read More

Three new businesses have opened in Jackson’s Highland Village. RockBox Fitness opened its first Mississippi location; Underground Social, a locally-owned unisex barber shop, opened its doors in June; and Family Social Club held its grand opening last week. “We are thrilled to welcome all three of these exciting new businesses to Highland Village,” said Alexandra Clark, WS Development Senior Vice President, Asset Strategy and Experience. “They each bring unique experiences to our property that we know our guests and people in our community will enjoy. Adding a fitness studio, a barber shop, and an indoor play place to Highland Village…

Read More

Bulgaria will extradite Ivan Dimov, a former member of the Bulgarian Supreme Judicial Council, to Austria as he is wanted there on alleged money laundering of €170,000, the Plovdiv Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday. In January, prosecutors in Wels, Austria, issued a European Arrest Warrant against Dimov for allegedly transferring €170,800 from Austrian bank accounts to various Bulgarian accounts between March 14 and May 10, 2022. In its decision, the Court of Appeal found that the European Arrest Warrant issued by Austria was in accordance with the law and that criminal proceedings against Dimov for the same offense had…

Read More

The largest pro-Kurdish party has refrained from nominating its own presidential candidate, thereby strengthening Erdogan’s opponents. Meanwhile, the President is having trouble finding allies. The success of the Turkish opposition in the local elections four years ago would not have been possible without Kurdish support . The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the most important pro-Kurdish party in Turkey, did not run with its own candidates in the big cities at the time. Instead, she called on her estimated six million supporters to vote for the opposition alliance. Source: NZZ

Read More

As a water shortage ballooned into a crisis in Jackson, Miss., the leak grew bigger and bigger, gouging out a swimming pool-size crater in the earth. On an abandoned golf course, overgrown with shrubs and saw grass, you can hear the rushing water from 100 yards away. Near Hole 4, past the little bridge and crumbling cart paths, what looks to be a waterfall comes into view, pouring down through the brush and into the creek below. Except the torrent of water gushing up through the mud isn’t from a spring-fed stream or a bubbling brook. It is spewing from…

Read More

The State of Mississippi is leaving millions of dollars on the table that could directly benefit families in deep poverty, witnesses emphasized repeatedly during a public hearing Thursday before the Mississippi House and Senate Democratic caucuses. LaDonna Pavetti, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, noted that the accumulated unspent Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF) funds could be used to assist low-income families with children in any given year. “The important takeaway here is that Mississippi has TANF funds available to provide extra cash,” Pavetti said. “The last report, which was for 2020, (showed) that Mississippi…

Read More