Jackson Free Press

Taylor and the Law: Together Again

Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson has told the Jackson Free Press that a 17-year-old companion of Mayor Frank Melton needs to post a $250,000 bond in order to avoid …

Cyrus Webb Back in Business

Brandon resident Cyrus Webb has a knack for botching public events. In 2006, Webb—president of Conversations Book Club and the Rankin County Arts Alliance—promised many Jackson metro residents an elegant …

Jackson Singled Out for Bond ‘Lobbying'

The Mississippi Legislature singled out Jackson as the only municipality that needed to submit an application to and lobby the state Bond Commission in order to receive a loan that …

Voter ID: Partisan Posturing?

Mississippi Democratic Party Executive Director Sam Hall is accusing Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant of pushing for voter identification for political reasons. "We have to ask if this is nothing …

Chief Alleges, Then Backpedals

After the Jackson Free Press broke news about an April 17 ComStat report last Tuesday, May 9, Police Chief Shirlene Anderson and Mayor Frank Melton went into damage-control mode.

Answers to Election Day Questions

Do you have questions about voting? You're probably not alone. The Jackson Free Press has put together a list of frequently asked questions that might help you out, including who …

Melton: ‘We Tore That Shit Up'; Prosecution Rests

FEDERAL COURTHOUSE—The prosecution in U.S. v. Melton started Day 4 of testimony in downtown Jackson today by calling Joe Lewis, who is with the city's Community Improvement Division and is …

Happy Mother's Day

Arise, then, women of this day!

Here is the original, pre-Hallmark, Mother's Day Proclamation, penned in Boston by Julia Ward Howe in 1870:

Jackson 7th Most Improved in Morgan Quitno

Jackson was among the most improved cities in the new edition of the Morgan Quitno Annual Safest/Most Dangerous City ratings. Jackson, which ranked 42nd most dangerous overall, was the 7th …

Ledger Outsources Customer Service to South Carolina

Clarion-Ledger Publisher Larry Whitaker sent the following letter to employees this week, talking about the challenges and changes the paper faced in 2007:

How Mississippi Voted

Pollsters predicated all along that Mississippi would not break its 32-year Republican voting streak on Election Day, but hours after the polls closed, pundits would not (or could not) accurately …

UPDATE: Mayor Melton Released from Hospital

Goldia Revies just released a statement saying that Mayor Frank Melton has been discharged from St. Dominic Hospital, and that he expects to spend the next few days resting. "I'm …

Green Protests Danks Hearing

Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Tomie Green filed a motion (PDF, 211 KB) with the Mississippi Supreme Court objecting to the court's decision on her call for sanctions against former …

BREAKING: Melton Asked Allen to be Mayor

Mayor Frank Melton chose Council President Ben Allen to head up the executive branch if the mayor was incapacitated by his heart surgery last month.

NPR Interviews Ladd About Melton Indictment

National Public Radio's "Bryant Park Project" interviewed JFP editor Donna Ladd this morning about the federal indictments of Frank Melton and his bodyguards and her past ride-alongs with him. Listen …

Clarion-Ledger Publisher Explains 20 Layoffs

Following a directive from its corporate owner, Gannett, The Clarion-Ledger laid off 20 people Thursday—7 percent off its already-depleted staff—in addition to freezing the positions open from recent resignations. Three …

City Council Interrogates Police Chief

The Jackson City Council criticized Police Chief Shirlene Anderson's crime plan and demanded action on unconfirmed department heads at a March 6 special council meeting. The council spent the first …

Barbour Targeting Dem Governors

It's political deja vu all over again. In his new role as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, Gov. Haley Barbour is playing a key role nationally again—strategizing about how …

Downtown Development Features ‘Green' Garage

An automated parking garage with robot valets is one of the features of a $27 million proposed parking structure and communal air-conditioning unit to accommodate the $1.3 billion Old Capitol …

The GOP's Obsession with Tort Reform

As the health-insurance reform debate swirls, Gov. Haley Barbour is claiming that most Americans are actually looking for tort reform, not a government-guaranteed insurance option, to lower their health-care costs.