Bill would clarify search warrant regulations

Bill would clarify search warrant regulations

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas lawmakers are working to pin down what police in the state can search without a warrant.

A bill that makes it more clear is now on its way to the governor’s desk.

Law enforcement officers are currently allowed to search areas where offenders on parole or probation live, even if the house isn’t theirs.

Some people say the law left room for interpretation when it came to what else could be included in that search.

“A lot of times those under supervision who don’t want to follow the rules and want to continue to break the law won’t hide their bad things inside the house,” Dina Tyler, Deputy Director of Arkansas Community Corrections says.

House Bill 1239 clarifies that law enforcement officers are also allowed to search detached buildings such as garages, sheds and old vehicles on the property.

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Problems plaguing Tennessee prison

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Since it opened in early 2016, Tennessee’s largest prison, Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, has been plagued by a number of issues, including staffing shortages and mismanagement at the facility, and family members with loved ones on the inside have consistently raised concerns about the conditions there. Reports of rampant gang activity at the prison, which is located about 50 miles northwest of Nashville, have been nearly constant. For years, Core-Civic, the Nashville-based private prison corporation that manages several Tennessee prisons, has faced similar claims of poor management at facilities around the Trousdale prison tell the Scene that not much has changed. One lawyer who represents multiple Trousdale prisoners says inmates report that they face weeks-long lockdowns, which they see as largely driven by staffing issues.

Last year, a group of family members expressed concerns over violence and a lack of medical care at the facility. One woman claimed her fiancé had received needed mental health medication so inconsistently that he has stopped trusting what he is getting and often doesn’t take any medicine at all.

The situation remains essentially unchanged. As prisoners and people close to them continue to report the same set of problems at Tennessee’s largest prison — with a listed capacity of a little more than 2,500 prisoners — officials at the for-profit corporation that manages the facility continue to say the facility only gets better by the year.

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Case of tuberculosis confirmed in Mississippi high school

JACKSON, Miss. — A case of tuberculosis has been confirmed at a Mississippi high school.

News outlets reported the Mississippi Department of Health has been working to notify students and staff members at Provine High School in Jackson who may have been exposed.

Health department officials say they will test about 200 students and faculty in the next few weeks.

Tuberculosis is a respiratory infection that spreads when a person inhales airborne germs over an extended period of time in a confined area with someone who has the disease.

Symptoms include persistent coughing, coughing up blood, night sweats and weight loss.

State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers says school officials have taken all necessary safety precautions. A meeting is set at the school Thursday to discuss the case.

country.

Now three years after it came online, and less than two months after state lawmakers heard testimony about violence at the facility, people close to the