FOCUS: Medicaid Expansion • Pauper’s Field Burials • State Legislature • National News • Fact Checks • #MSWelfare/TANF Scandal • Jackson Water • Race & Racism
The widely respected Jackson Heart Study began in 2000 with the recruitment of more than 5,000 African Americans from the Jackson metro area who have since undergone comprehensive health screenings at intervals to generate data for research purposes.
Inside the Heritage building in downtown Jackson stands a miniature Christmas tree. Teddy bears line the tree’s bottom as if they were its protectors. White lights match the nine pairs of angel wings that decorate the tree, each pair of wings representing one of the nine children who have passed away from COVID-19 in Mississippi.
City of Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba elected to close down City Hall from Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021, to Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
In two lawsuits New York-based attorney Corey Stern filed in October 2021 at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, plaintiffs seek $3 billion in damages due to claims about effects of lead in the water in Jackson, Miss., and public officials’ negligence about doing anything about it.
Hours after the worst report of new COVID-19 cases in the pandemic thus far, Gov. Tate Reeves gave Mississippi a full-throated endorsement of vaccinations—but offered inconsistent and hostile messaging on the subject of masks.Â
On a special edition of MFP Live, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs talked to Kimberly Griffin and Donna Ladd about the exploding delta variant in Mississippi, sharing unblinking safety advice; talked about what is most dangerous about flying now; explained why masks are essential in schools and what activities shouldn’t happen there. He also praised Black leaders for vaccine efforts even as the virus shifted into “predominantly a white disease in Mississippi.” Here’s full transcript and links to the MFP Live episode and podcast.
Today, the Mississippi State Department of Health reported 2,326 new cases of COVID-19, a three-day total including cases reported on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Â
Jackson residents have safe water again this week, after the city announced today that it was lifting the boil-water notice put in place after a control-panel fire at O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant.
In 2020, Mississippi recorded the highest mortality rate since 1918—when the Great Influenza swept the state, killing thousands.
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