Mississippi Today (https://mississippitoday.org/author/awolfe/)
Anna Wolfe, a native of Tacoma, Wa., is an investigative reporter specifically reporting on poverty and economic justice and the intersection between beats. Before joining the staff at Mississippi Today September 2018, Anna worked for three years at Clarion Ledger. She also worked as an investigative reporter for the Center for Public Integrity and Jackson Free Press. Anna has received numerous awards and recognition, including the Bill Minor Prize for Investigative Journalism 2018 and 2019 and first place for in-depth investigative reporting from the Mississippi Press Association 2018 and 2019.
To pay off fines and other debts, inmates in Mississippi’s little-known restitution centers must work grueling low-wage jobs, pay rent and endure strip searches. In this world between prison and freedom, they often don’t know when they’ll get to go home.
Burger joints, meat processors and even private citizens look to the state’s restitution centers as reliable source of cheap labor
Our investigation revealed that the state fails to keep accurate records on who is in the program at any given time, how many people judges send there each year or how long inmates stay
The tip we got seemed a little unlikely: a woman in state prison was also working at McDonald’s — and not voluntarily. Soon we uncovered how Mississippi was running a modern-day debtors prison
Nearly half a million people in Mississippi were food insecure between 2016 and 2018
Several low-income housing projects are now underway in so-called opportunity zones across the state. However, those developments were the result of rule changes by the state’s housing agency, not the president’s signature tax cuts plan
Mississippians won’t be forced off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program under new work requirements set to take effect in April because the state already imposed the restriction in 2016
Anthony Burkett, 53, lives in a musty trailer with sinking floors, soft walls and leaky windows off a gravel road in rural Covington County. Between his savings and monthly disability checks, he can afford a new home. Why won’t a local judge overseeing his finances let him buy one?
After years of controversy over millions of dollars in state tax incentives the German company received and a historic cemetery at the site, Continental Tire’s manufacturing facility in western Hinds County is officially open. Mississippi leaders hope the 2,500 jobs the company promises to provide in the next decade will spur economic growth in the region
Mississippi Today analyzed and provided context for several of the lieutenant governor’s statements about the strength of the state economy, using federal labor data and interviews with state economist Darrin Webb
Mississippi officials have widely touted a study from Georgetown University researchers they argue proves that Mississippi is a national leader in growing blue-collar jobs. However, the report’s authors and an independent analysis find some of those statements are inaccurate
Several poultry processing facilities targeted in recent immigration raids as well as one of Mississippi largest companies are named as defendants
A bond hearing for immigrants detained in Mississippi raids revealed a flawed screening system resulting in error-filled paperwork
Una audiencia para inmigrantes detenidos en las redadas de Mississippi revela un proceso de reviso defectuoso resultando en papeleo lleno de errores.