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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
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Nash Nunnery, the city’s new public info guy, just explained to me how the curfews are working. Other than the youth curfews, they are basically “unenforceable,” both for businesses and individuals, he said. “There is an unforceable business curfew between 12 midnight and 6 a.m. He said they request and encourage businesses to close so police can be doing other things. But, he acknowledged, there are workers who have to travel after midnight. “It’s more of a request than an enforceable curfew. I seriously doubt somebody going to get arrested because business open past midnight.” Likewise, the curfew against individuals out after midnight is “unenforceable” as well, he said. “Like I said, nobody is going to be picked up because they’re out and about. How can you distinguish between emergency workers and other people?”

Also, I will give Mr. Nunnery credit for trying to be responsive to us today. This is the first time we’ve really had this experience from the new administration’s public information office. He said he would continue e-mailing info so that we can post it on the blog in its entirety. Cheers on that point. More soon.

Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.