Morning Brief: Jun 15 — Airport Takeover Trial Opens; Supervisor Vows Appeal
The decade-long legal fight over who controls Jackson's airport goes to trial today before U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves.
Airport takeover trial opens
Jackson's decade-long airport fight reaches a federal courtroom today, with a bench trial set to begin before U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves. Court records show Magistrate Judge Andrew Harris scheduled the trial for June 15, and filings indicate it could run as long as two weeks. At issue is a 2016 state law that would dissolve the city-appointed Jackson Municipal Airport Authority and hand Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International to a state-dominated regional board. The city and JMAA argue lawmakers acted with racially motivated intent to seize the airport from a majority-Black city, WLBT and Mississippi Today have reported, while the state is asking the court to bar the phrase 'airport takeover' from trial. The case opens just weeks after Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed a state funding match for the authority.
Smith vows to appeal District 2 ouster
Hinds County Supervisor Tony Smith plans to appeal the order that voids his 2023 win and forces a new District 2 election, even as he prepares to run in it, WJTV reported. Circuit Judge Barry Ford set the do-over for July 14 and limited the ballot to Smith and challenger David Archie, with 26 precincts open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mississippi Today reported that Ford found no evidence of fraud but ruled that errors in the safekeeping of voter materials had compromised the chain of custody. Archie says Smith should accept the result and let voters decide again. Smith's attorney, Warren Martin, has called the ruling an invalidation of Black votes. An appeal could scramble the tight July timeline election commissioners are already racing to meet.
Data center reckoning in nine days
Two meetings in the next nine days will shape whether a large data center rises in Jackson. The Planning Commission is set to take up Saxum Investment Company's rezoning request on June 24 at the Warren A. Hood building, while a public hearing on data centers and a possible six-month moratorium is scheduled for June 22 in City Council chambers, Mississippi Today and the Mississippi Free Press reported. Saxum wants to rezone roughly 230 acres now split among residential, commercial and light-industrial districts to make the site data-center-ready. Mississippi Today reported that residents left the city's June forum with questions still unanswered about the project's water and power demands. Opponents who packed earlier planning meetings have promised to come back.
Brackney lays out prevention strategy
Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney laid out more of her crime-fighting approach in a televised interview this week, WJTV reported, the second part of an on-camera sit-down on her strategy. Brackney, who took over the department April 1, has framed her plan around prevention and community partnerships rather than enforcement alone, telling reporters she wants residents to help co-produce public safety. WLBT reported earlier that she also wants to fight the fear of crime by giving residents ways to engage with police without being identified. The push follows a violent stretch in the capital, including a deadly June shooting at Grant's Field in northwest Jackson. How quickly the new approach shows measurable results is the question residents will be watching.
Juneteenth weekend lands in a busy week
Jackson heads into a Juneteenth weekend with city offices set to close Thursday, June 18, for the holiday observance, according to a City Council agenda. Downtown Jackson Partners lists a cluster of events running June 19 through 21 across the Mississippi Street and Farish Street corridors, and an Eventbrite calendar shows a 'Faith and Freedom' gospel celebration among the gatherings. The weekend also overlaps with United in Song, a Mississippi America250 celebration booked for June 20 at the Mississippi Coliseum. Residents should plan for closed government offices and busier downtown streets. It is a fuller civic calendar than usual heading into a week that will also bring the city's data center reckoning.