FOCUS: #MSWelfare/TANF Scandal • Jackson Water • Abortion • Race & Racism • Policing • Incarceration • Housing & Evictions
The City of Jackson is receiving an initial $115 million investment to repair its crisis-prone water system, the White House announced and The Grio first reported Tuesday.
Mississippi election officials will be able to purge names from voter rolls more easily if Gov. Tate Reeves signs House Bill 1310 into law.
“Without a free press, you won’t know about the continued attempts to disempower everyday Mississippians,” Kimberly Griffin writes.
Both federal manager Ted Henifin and the Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba are warning that state politicians are attempting to take over Jackson’s water system, along with hundreds of millions in federal funds meant for repairing it.
Jackson’s troubled water system has suffered multiple system-wide failures since 2021, including in late December 2022 that continued into this month amid a winter freeze.
Jackson Ward 6 Councilman Aaron Banks organized a town hall for the federally appointed Jackson water system administrator Ted Henifin to speak with some of the people the repeated water crisis hit hardest.
The City of Jackson is working to improve water availability after identifying “approximately 20 to 25 active leaks,” with crews “searching and repairing leaks,” Mayor
Ted Henifin’s years of public utilities expertise made him the U.S. DOJ’s pick for leadership as Jackson’s new “interim third party manager,” a role with unique autonomy from both the City of Jackson and the State of Mississippi. He spoke to the Mississippi Free Press just ahead of a windfall of federal funds-and a dangerous winter storm.
Jackson’s newly established interim third-party management team will soon enjoy a massive war chest to fund their revitalization of the water system, a project previously estimated to have a total cost of $1 billion dollars.
Mississippi Journalism and Education Group is a a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media organization (EIN 85-1403937) for the state, devoted to going beyond partisanship and publishing solutions journalism for the Magnolia State and all of its people.
125 S. Congress Street #1324
Jackson, MS 39201
[email protected]
[email protected]
601-362-6121
The Mississippi Free Press is a project of the Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit journalism organization (EIN 85-1403937).