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Owens, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and City Council member Aaron Banks were indicted last month on conspiracy and bribery charges. Barbara Gauntt / Clarion Ledger / USA Today via ImagnA City Council member, Angelique Lee, resigned in August and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery. “People are tired; they just want some good stuff done,” said Vernon Hartley, a City Council member for one of the city’s poorest wards. Aaron Banks is the second Jackson City Council member to be charged in the federal bribery case. Angelique Lee, a former City Council member, resigned and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery.

Persons: JACKSON, —, Virgi Lindsay, ” Lindsay, Jody Owens, Lauren Witte, “, ”, Owens, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Aaron Banks, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Barbara Gauntt, Angelique Lee, Sherik Marve Smith, Smith, Jackson, Vernon Hartley, ” Owens, Banks, Lumumba, They’re, Lee, Rogelio V . Solis, The United States ”, Hartley, Lindsay, Ashby Foote, Hannah Mattix, Foote, ” Foote, ” Hartley Organizations: Miss, Council, Clarion Ledger, FBI, Southern District of, City Council, City, “, Department of Housing, Urban Development, U.S, Southern, Southern District of Mississippi Owens, Jackson City Council, ”, Attorney’s Office, The United, NBC News, Republican, Capital Club, USA, Solutions Locations: Jackson, Hinds, Hinds County, Southern District, Southern District of Mississippi, Imagn, Nashville, Florida, Owens, Africa, The United States, generalities, City

It faced a June 2025 deadline to complete the project, according to the federal indictment outlining grand jury charges against Lumumba, Owens and Banks. Lumumba faces five charges, including one count of federal program bribery and another count of money laundering. Banks has been charged with one conspiracy to commit federal program bribery, honest services wire fraud and money laundering, in addition to a count of federal program bribery. At least seven people have pleaded guilty in relation to the scandal. “This indictment is a horrible example of a flawed FBI investigation,” Owens told reporters after he pleaded not guilty Thursday.

Persons: JACKSON, —, “, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, ”, Lumumba, Jody Owens, Owens, Aaron Banks, Angelique Lee, Barbara Gauntt, Banks, Owens ’, Sherik Marve Smith, ” Smith, “ Banks, Jackson, ” Todd Gee, Ward, ” Owens Organizations: Miss, City, Democrat, Department of Housing, Urban, Banks, Jackson City, Clarion, Ledger, USA, Democratic, NBC, Authorities, Federal, Justice Department, FBI, Courthouse, “, Southern, Southern District of, ” Locations: Mississippi’s, Jackson, Hinds, Nashville , Tennessee, Fort Lauderdale , Florida, Owens, U.S, Southern District, Southern District of Mississippi, Africa

(AP) — The manager of the long-troubled water system in Mississippi's capital city proposed a slight rate increase for most residents Friday alongside what he said is a first-in-the-nation proposal to reduce water rates for low-income people who get government help with grocery bills. If enacted, it would be the latest in a series of changes after infrastructure breakdowns in 2022 caused many Jackson residents to go days and weeks without safe running water. “We think this is a great opportunity to really change the dialogue around water and sewer in the city of Jackson,” Henifin said at a news conference. The proposal also marks the first rate increase since a federal judge appointed Henifin to manage Jackson's water system last November. JXN Water will start shutting off water for people who don't pay their bills sometime after Jan. 1st, Henifin said.

Persons: JACKSON, Ted Henifin, ” Henifin, Henifin, Delbert Hosemann, Jan ., Chokwe Antar Lumumba, ___ Michael Goldberg Organizations: Nutrition Assistance, SNAP, Mississippi Legislature, Gov, Jackson, Associated Press, America Statehouse News Initiative, America Locations: Miss, Jackson, Mississippi, @mikergoldberg

☆ Calls mount for federal investigation of Mississippi police in Dexter Wade's death
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Al Sharpton are asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Wade's death and the Jackson police's handling of it, saying the police failed to notify the family. The last time Wade's mother saw her son was on March 5, when he left her home in the evening, NBC News reported last week. NBC cited interviews with Wade's family members and documents obtained via public records requests, including a crash report, incident reports and coroner’s office records. The investigator said he called Wade's mother and could not get through, and then passed the information to the Jackson Police Department so it could notify Wade's next of kin of his death, NBC reported. Wade's mother filed a missing person report on March 14 and said she nagged the department and begged for help finding her son on Facebook for months, NBC reported.

Persons: Ben Crump, Eduardo Munoz, Dexter Wade, Benjamin Crump, Al Sharpton, Jackson, Wade's, Wade, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Rev, Gabriella Borter, Aurora Ellis Organizations: REUTERS, U.S . Department of Justice, NBC News, NBC, Jackson Police Department, The Jackson Police Department, Jackson Mayor, Department, National Action Network, Thomson Locations: New York, U.S, Mississippi, Jackson, Hinds County, Hinds, Wade

☆ Mississippi House OKs new court system — to be appointed by white state officials — for second-Blackest U.S. city, stoking racial tension
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The Mississippi state flag (bottom) waves in front of the city skyline in Jackson, Mississippi on June 28, 2020. The change would break with the rest of the state, where judges and prosecutors are elected by voters. If approved by the state Senate and governor, the system and its judges would preside over a so-called improvement district spanning Jackson's downtown and shopping and entertainment areas. If the new Jackson system is approved by the Senate and governor, its judges and clerk would be appointed by the state Supreme Court's chief justice, who is white. And prosecutors would be named by the state attorney general, who also is white.

☆ DOJ appointee releases new plan for ‘tenuous’ Jackson water
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The plan would relieve the water system of its debt and introduce a new billing model that would become effective in the budget year that begins on Oct. 1. Jackson is struggling with access to safe drinking water after a disruption at the water processing facility. The plan would change the way Jackson issues fees for water use. The new rate structure would reduce the system’s dependence on city water meters, which have been mired in problems, Henifin said. The metering bill isn’t the only legislation advancing in the state legislature that would impact Jackson’s water system.

☆ Running water scarce in Jackson, Mississippi, after frigid weather
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Jonathan Allen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Other Southern cities unaccustomed to freezing weather were grappling with similar water issues, including Atlanta; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Selma, Alabama. Homes in some parts of the city had no water at all, and officials have set up distribution points for bottled drinking water each day. The U.S. Justice Department in November reached an agreement with Mississippi and the city of Jackson to appoint an interim third-party manager to stabilize the city's drinking water supply. The mayor says fixing the water system will take billions of dollars. The U.S. Congress included $600 million to repair Jackson's water system in a spending bill signed into law last week.

[1/5] An aerial view of buildings during a blizzard in Buffalo, New York, U.S. December 26, 2022, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. "It's still snowing" in Western New York, said NWS meteorologist Bob Oravec, predicting two more inches. "This is probably the last of the snow," added Oravec, who is with the NWS Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. Buffalo, New York state's second largest city, was ground zero for the blizzard that took shape on Friday. Poloncarz, speaking at a press briefing Tuesday, urged residents to stay home and the curious to stay away.

☆ U.S. seeks to appoint manager of water supply in Jackson, Mississippi
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Daniel Trotta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has reached an agreement with the state of Mississippi and the city of Jackson to appoint an interim third-party manager to stabilize the city's drinking water supply after a catastrophic failure over the summer. The Justice Department also a filed a complaint against the city on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, alleging the city failed to provide reliable drinking water. City and state leaders blamed each other for the crisis, and in October the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency opened an investigation into Mississippi state agencies to determine if they violated civil rights in Jackson. The troubles revealed tension between the state government of Governor Tate Reeves, a Republican who accused the city of mismanaging the water plant, and the city government of Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, a Democrat. Reeves in a statement on Tuesday praised the agreement as "excellent news ... that the mayor will no longer be overseeing the city's water system."

☆ Arson suspect arrested after 7 fires set across Mississippi's capital city
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

— Authorities have arrested a suspect in connection with seven fires set across Mississippi’s capital city early Tuesday. At least two of the buildings set ablaze in Jackson were churches; one was burned to the ground. Another fire broke out on fences surrounding the baseball practice field at Jackson State University, a historically Black public university. We have about a third of our department on sites.”A fireman observes the remains of a burned Epiphany Lutheran Church in Jackson, Mississippi, on Nov. 8, 2022. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba addressed the fires at a Tuesday city council meeting.

☆ U.S. EPA opens civil rights probe into Mississippi capital's water crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Daniel Trotta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday opened an investigation into Mississippi state agencies to determine if they violated civil rights in the majority Black city of Jackson in the course of funding of the city's water infrastructure. Representatives of those two departments and the office of Governor Tate Reeves did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Even before that crisis, the city had been under a boil water notice due to "elevated turbidity levels," meaning the water appear cloudy. That followed a string of disruptions to the city's water supply in recent years caused by high lead levels, bacterial contamination and storm damage. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

A group of Jackson, Mississippi, residents filed a class action lawsuit on Friday over the water crisis that left over 150,000 people in the city without access to clean running water. As a result of water crisis, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege they weren't able to "readily go about normal daily activities like using the bathroom, brushing [their] teeth, and cooking." Late last month, Lumumba told reporters the city had been dealing with the water crisis "for the better part of two years." Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency late August, saying the water crisis in Jackson threatened “critical needs” after rain and flooding pushed the Pearl River to dangerous levels, according to officials. A team from the Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general’s office is conducting a top-to-bottom review of what caused Jackson's water crisis.

One of two state agencies responsible for pushing out millions of dollars in federal infrastructure funds said it could be at least mid-to-late 2023 before any allocations roll out. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, a Democrat, has said the price tag to overhaul the city’s water infrastructure could balloon into the billions. This year, the Mississippi Legislature created a $450 million water infrastructure funding program with money the state received through the Congressional Covid relief package that passed in 2021. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality is administering the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program. Sam Mozee, director of the Mississippi Urban Research Center at Jackson State University, says his team is tracking what happens with funding going forward.

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