16 Sep Poverty rates down, but still higher than at recession’s depths

Posted at September 16, 2014 in In the News by Mississippi Center for Justice

Washington Post Reid Wilson The nation’s poverty rate dropped over the last year for the first time since 2006, according to Census Bureau figures released Tuesday. But the number of Americans living at or below the poverty line remains at record levels, and in most states the...

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15 Sep Southern states create a new face of AIDS

Posted at September 15, 2014 in In the News by Mississippi Center for Justice

National Memo Teresa Wiltz, Stateline.org New Yorker Deadra Malloy was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, but she remained healthy for so long she wasn’t completely convinced she was positive. When she finally started getting sick in 2006, she decided to embrace her “ancestral roots” and accepted a...

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01 Sep How for-profit colleges rip off students

Posted at September 01, 2014 in In the News by Mississippi Center for Justice

CNN.com Whitney Barkley Editor's note: Whitney Barkley serves as staff attorney at the Mississippi Center for Justice, where her work focuses on monitoring for-profit colleges. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer. (CNN) -- There are promising signs that the Department of Education...

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18 Aug No welfare cut for kids if parent tests for drugs

Posted at August 18, 2014 in In the News by Mississippi Center for Justice

Washington Times Emily Wagster Pettus JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi children would not lose welfare if a parent’s benefits are cut off because of positive tests for illegal drugs, according to rules set by the state Department of Human Services. The state’s welfare drug-testing law was supposed to...

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11 Aug Lawmakers await feds’ move to repair payday lending flaws

Posted at August 11, 2014 in In the News by Mississippi Center for Justice

Mississippi Business Journal Ted Carter The chairs of Mississippi’s legislative committees with jurisdiction over payday loans concede the state’s 2012 Check Cashing Act may need some repairs. But with the federal government set to take control of payday lending rules, doing the fixes now could be a...

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04 Aug Mississippi doesn’t have to remain a national punch line

Posted at August 04, 2014 in In the News by Mississippi Center for Justice

Huffington Post Politics Reilly Morse On July 22, Mississippi found itself ranked last in the nation in yet another national report when the Annie E. Casey Foundation released its annual KIDS COUNT survey, which ranks how all 50 states measure on child well-being. Our last place ranking on...

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31 Jul Civil rights groups gain hearing vs. Mississippi on drug testing

Posted at July 31, 2014 in In the News by Mississippi Center for Justice

Education News Grace Smith A new law, House Bill 49, which would require recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) payments to fill out new questionnaires, and possibly followed by drug testing, was scheduled to take effect July 1 in Mississippi. A hearing on Tuesday morning, however,...

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24 Jul Under state probe, All American Check Cashing gets ‘F’ rating from Better Business Bureau

Posted at July 24, 2014 in In the News by Mississippi Center for Justice

Mississippi Business Journal Ted Carter All American Check Cashing’s refusal to answer complaints has led the Better Business Bureaus in Mississippi and Alabama to give grades of “F” to the Madison payday lender that the Mississippi Department of Banking & Finance says did loan rollovers that violated...

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21 Jul Public hearing on welfare drug testing law being held Tuesday

Posted at July 21, 2014 in In the News by Mississippi Center for Justice

Clarion Ledger Jimmie E. Gates Citizens are urged to share their opinion Tuesday at a public hearing dealing with the new state law that could lead to drug testing for some welfare applicants. A public hearing dealing with the new state law that could lead to drug testing...

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17 Jul When poverty makes you sick, a lawyer can be the cure

Posted at July 17, 2014 in In the News by Mississippi Center for Justice

New York Times Tina Rosenberg Fixes Fixes looks at solutions to social problems and why they work. By early summer 2010, the temperature had already reached 100 degrees in Cincinnati. At Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, doctors were urging the families of children with asthma to use air-conditioning. One...

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