JackBlog

Innovate Mississippi Receives Grant for Coding

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On Tuesday, Dec. 12, Innovate Mississippi announced that the W.K. Kellogg Foundation awarded the organization with a three-year, $1-million grant to help Innovate grow its Mississippi Coding Academies in Jackson. Here is a press release verbatim from Innovate Mississippi:

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has awarded Innovate Mississippi a three-year, $1-million grant to help the newly formed Mississippi Coding Academies grow their current program in the city of Jackson from one academy to four academies over the next three years. The goal is to dramatically increase the number of Jackson-based computer coders trained by the innovative, high-tech workforce-development program. The Mississippi Coding Academies is a private/public initiative that launched as a joint effort between Innovate Mississippi and the Mississippi Development Authority, with support from the Mississippi Community College Board, Hinds Community College, East Mississippi Community College and the Mississippi Works initiative. Continue Reading

JackBlog

Sarah Sanders Addresses Planned Protests of Trump Attending Civil Rights Museum Opening

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On Tuesday, Dec. 5, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that President Donald Trump “will participate” in the grand openings of the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum on Saturday, Dec. 9. White House correspondent April Ryan asked Sanders for a response to the boycotts and likely protests planned for Saturday in response to the news of Trump’s possible attendance. The transcript of their exchange (via C-SPAN) is below:

April Ryan: There are comments from the NAACP, (and) from black ministers that are planning on protesting and boycotting the President’s visit to the (Mississippi) Civil Rights Museum. Continue Reading

Art Blog

CAPE Opening, ‘Picturing Mississippi’

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On Thursday, Nov. 30, the Mississippi Museum of Art announced the opening of its community-centered initiative, the Center for Art and Public Exchange. The initiative will use art, exhibitions, programs and artist engagements to “increase understanding and inspire new narratives in contemporary Mississippi,” a press release says. “We at the Mississippi Museum of Art believe that when great, profound art and human beings come together, when they intersect, there’s something magical about that place,” MMA Director Betsy Bradley said in the release. “We think that personal transformation can happen in that circumstance. Continue Reading

Music Blog

Warped Tour Winds Down in 2018

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Kevin Lyman, founder of alternative music festival Vans Warped Tour, announced on Nov. 15 that the 2018 installment of the long-running national event will be its last. “I have been a very lucky person to have traveled across the country and sometimes around the world as one of the founders and producers of the Vans Warped Tour,” Lyman wrote in a press release on the tour’s website. “Today, with many mixed feelings, I am here to announce that next year will be the final, full cross-country run of the Vans Warped Tour.” While the tour itself will not continue into 2019, the release does promise a special celebration for the event’s 25th anniversary, and it does not rule out shorter tour runs or one-off events. Continue Reading

Art Blog

Jesmyn Ward Wins National Book Award

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On Wednesday, Nov. 15, Jesmyn Ward received a National Book Award for “Sing, Unburied, Sing.” The book centers around 13-year-old Jojo, whose mother, Leonie, takes he and his toddler sister Kayla on a trip to Parchman to pick up their white father. Ward is now a two-time winner of the National Book Award, as she won one in 2011 for her novel, “Salvage the Bones.” Click here to read a New York Times story about her award. Continue Reading

JackBlog

Jackson Schools ‘Better Together’ Commission Meets This Afternoon

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The “Better Together” Commission, a coalition of school, city, nonprofit and business leaders, will meet tonight at 4:30 p.m. at the Lincoln Gardens Community Center located at 4125 Sunset Drive, Jackson, MS.

The Commission is tasked with two roles in helping the Jackson Public School District. First, the group must issue a request-for-proposal soon to hire a company to conduct a gap analysis of the district. Secondly, the commission must collect a large amount of community input through listening sessions, surveys and other engagement strategies. Gov. Phil Bryant opted to form the commission instead of allowing the Mississippi Department of Education to take over the district this fall. Continue Reading

JackBlog

DOJ to Jackson: Review ‘Sanctuary’ Policy

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The U.S. Department of Justice doesn’t know the city of Jackson has a new mayor. In a letter addressed to Mayor Tony Yarber but dated Nov. 15, 2017, Alan Hanson, acting assistant attorney general, asked the city of Jackson to review its “sanctuary city” ordinance. Jackson has an ordinance that prohibits police officers in the city from asking about a person’s immigration status unless it is “relevant to the investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense, or when processing an arrested person.” The ordinance, often referred to as a “sanctuary policy,” has been on the books since in 2010. Continue Reading