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City & County
Jackson Unveils 'Data Portal' to Increase Transparency
Jackson residents can now use an online data portal to see how the city is spending their money and planning to change Jackson.
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National
Trump Doesn't Set Age for Guns, Defers on Arming Teachers
President Donald Trump said Monday that he is "watching court cases and rulings" before taking action on raising age limits for purchasing some firearms, arguing that there is "not much …
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Immigration
Deadline to Reunite Immigrant Families Rapidly Approaching
A June 26 court order by a federal judge set a hard deadline to reunite families separated at the U.S. border with Mexico, and that deadline is fast approaching.
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Biz Roundup
Table 100 Wins Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, Aplos at Highland Village and Fuse.Cloud at Landmark Center
Table 100 received a 2018 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence in July. Wine Spectator is a food and drink culture magazine that recognizes restaurants worldwide for their wine programs each …
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National
White House Scrambles to Explain Trump's Response to Clashes
The White House scrambled Sunday to elaborate on President Donald Trump's response to deadly, race-fueled clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, as he came under bipartisan scolding for not clearly condemning white …
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Biz Roundup
Jackson Restaurants Closing and Opening, Sombra's New Menu and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month at Newk's
Jackson lost one restaurant last week and will lose another this week.
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World
Manhunt on After Homemade Bomb Wounds 22 on London Subway
Hundreds of London police embarked on a massive manhunt Friday, racing to find out who placed a homemade bomb on a packed London subway train during the morning rush hour. …
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Health Care
Ryan: More Help for Older People Needed in GOP Health Bill
Days before a pivotal vote, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Sunday he will seek changes to a GOP health care bill to provide more help to older people.
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Environment
Trump Puts Anti-Global Warming Projects on Chopping Block
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order Tuesday aimed at moving forward on his campaign pledge to unravel former President Barack Obama's plan to curb global warming.
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NSA Contractor Accused of Taking Classified Information
A contractor for the National Security Agency has been arrested on charges that he illegally removed highly classified information and stored the material in his home and car, federal prosecutors …
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Trump Election Puts Pressure on Merkel to Take Liberal Lead
Can Germany, the country that once unleashed Nazism, lead the free world?
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City & County
City Council Braces for More Lawsuits
Jackson City Council members are left wondering how many more lawsuits they will have to deal with in the coming months, and how those could affect the City's woeful budgetary …
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West Seeks to Isolate Russia Over Ukraine Dispute
Seeking to isolate Russia, the U.S. and Western allies declared Monday they are indefinitely cutting Moscow out of a major international coalition and warned they stand ready to order tougher …
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Fort Hood Gunman Sought Mental Health Treatment
An Iraq War veteran being treated for mental illness was the gunman who opened fire at Fort Hood, killing three people and wounding 16 others before committing suicide, in an …
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Black Friday Gun Buys Test Background Check System
Black Friday isn't just when shoppers rush to stores for holiday sales. It's also one of the busiest days of the year for gun purchases.
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Ukraine to Sign EU Deal that Sparked Revolution
On Friday, Ukraine will sign a sweeping economic and trade agreement with the European Union, a 1,200-page telephone book of a document crammed with rules on everything from turkeys to …
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Six Reasons NFL TV Ratings Are Down
By bryanflynnThere has been plenty of talk this week about the state of TV ratings for NFL games. Currently, the league is experiencing a dip of 10 to 11 percent in the ratings from the previous season.
Everyone is speculating what is causing the ratings to drop, but there is no magical answer to the decline in viewership.
But here are my reasons, from smallest to biggest.
6. Scandals
It seems like the scandals never end in the NFL—Bountygate, Conclusions, Deflategate, domestic violence by players, and so on and so forth.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see fans stop tuning in because they are tired of hearing about a different scandal each week. After a while, everyone gets fed up with the constant, never-ending negative news coming out of the league.
These fans will probably return around the playoffs as long as another giant scandal doesn’t grip the league for the rest of the season. If the scandals keep up, these fans could find something else to watch.
5. Anthem Protest
Just look on Facebook or other social media sites, and you will see articles on folks protesting the protesters in the NFL.
Since players started kneeling during the national anthem, fans have supported and criticized the players involved. Those who dislike the protest have decided not to watch.
Casual fans and those who don’t follow a team regularly are probably the ones more likely to not watch because of the anthem protests. Hardcore Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers and other national-team fans are going to tune in each week.
These fans will come back at some point, but they will probably not watch while they are mad at the players. Few people are that upset over the players to not watch at all, so in reality, this could make up a small number of viewer loss.
4. MLB Playoffs
The ratings for the MLB playoffs are up this year. Why? Because fans have strong interest in the teams still alive this postseason.
They want to see if the Chicago Cubs can break their curse and win their first World Series since 1908. They want to see if the Cleveland Indians can win their first World Series since 1948.
With the playoff games on TBS, MLB Network and FS1, fans are finding channels they don’t normally tune into and watching this postseason.
MLB’s postseason is going to steal more casual fans from NFL games. Everyone wants to see something they have never seen before, and a ton of people have never seen a Cubs or Indians team win the World Series.
These fans will return to football once the World Series is over in late October or early November, depending how long the series lasts. This is one of the few times in recent years that the MLB playoffs have been more compelling than the NFL regular season.
3. Too Much NFL
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Fort Hood Army Base Site of Another Deadly Shooting; 3 Killed, 16 Wounded
A soldier opened fire Wednesday on fellow service members at the Fort Hood military base, killing three people and wounding 16 before committing suicide at the same post where more …
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The Death of Conservatism (As We Know It)?
Conservative columnist David Brooks rethinks today's Republican Party in the cover story of this week's New York Times Magazine: "Democrats may imagine that the G.O.P. is an amalgam of fat …
