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John Horhn
News

Legislative Assistance For Jackson Water Crisis Rests On Single State Bill and Federal Aid

The Mississippi Legislature’s effort to assist in the Jackson water crisis has been pared down to a single bill on water-payment flexibility and $2 million from the capital expense fund, a far cry from the ambitious plans that emerged at the peak of the outages. But legislators involved in the ongoing deliberations over the crisis say the federal government is expected to provide significant support for the City of Jackson and Hinds County, between the disaster declaration and the American Rescue Plan. 

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drop of water hanging from faucet
MFP Voices

Crisis Reporting: Covering a Systemic Water Failure and a Blame Game In Our Home State

Pipes froze and burst all over the city starting Feb. 15. We got hit with another set of freezing temps on Feb. 17. The crisis escalated quickly. Most of Jackson either lost water pressure or had no water at all for days. The City issued a boil-water notice on Feb. 18. That notice lasted until March 10. Jackson had no drinkable water for 24 days. Read that again. The capital city in a first-world country had no drinking water for 24 days.  

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Overhead view of OB Curtis Water Plant
In-Depth

Under The Surface, Part 2: After Jackson Freeze, the Fog of War

It was Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, when it all went wrong at the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant. Dr. Charles Williams, public works director for the City of Jackson, could see the writing on the wall. “We started losing system pressure. Everything bottomed out. We had to figure out why,” he says now. A war, of sorts, lay ahead.

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Tamiko Smith sitting with dialysis bag
In-Depth

Under the Surface, Part 1: Jackson Residents Struggle from Neglected Water System

What does it mean to be without water? It is innumerable small humiliations: the splash of a toilet flushed with a bucket, days on end without a shower, no clean clothes. It is weeks without a cooked meal, a sink full of unclean dishes, brushing one’s teeth with water from a bottle, if a bottle can be found. For Tamiko and Otis Smith and many others, it is something far more dangerous. 

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News

‘Deeply Bleak Situation’: People with Disabilities Face Dire Conditions Inside Mississippi’s Prisons, Monitor Reports

Disability Rights Mississippi—a private, nonprofit, federally mandated protection and advocacy  organization, just released a report, “Cruel and Unusual Punishment in Mississippi Prisons: A Tale of Abuse, Discrimination and Undue Death Sentences,” to describe realities for people with disabilities on the inside. Disability Rights Mississippi is accusing the Mississippi Department of Corrections of “subjecting offenders to cruel and unusual punishments” such as the denial of medical care and the refusal to make required accommodations for inmates with disabilities.

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News

Mississippi Voters Elect Three New Republicans, One Democrat to Legislature

Four new lawmakers are joining the Mississippi Legislature after voters in two House districts and two Senate districts voted in special elections to fill the vacant seats on Thursday. Though the candidates appeared on the ballot with no party identification because state special elections are non-partisan, they did share their party allegiance on the campaign trail. 

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