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Person of the Day
Bobby Moak
The Mississippi Democratic Party elected new leaders to head the organization for the next four years, including former House minority leader Bobby Moak as party chair, the organization said in …
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Mississippi Gov Sets Special Session to Patch Current Budget
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is calling legislators into special session Tuesday to patch a hole in the budget before the fiscal year ends at midnight Thursday.
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Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Abortion Clinic Regulations
The Supreme Court struck down Texas' widely replicated regulation of abortion clinics Monday in the court's biggest abortion case in nearly a quarter century.
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City & County
10 Local Stories of the Week
There's never a slow news week in Jackson, Miss., and last week was no exception. Here are the local stories JFP reporters brought you in case you missed them.
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JPS Amended Complaint Against BOTEC
Amended Complaint by JPS against BOTEC
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Capitol City Crime Prevention Study: School Discipline and Youth Violence Reduction in Jackson
One of the BOTEC studies commissioned by the Attorney General's office. This one focuses on Jackson Public Schools.
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Emails between Dr. Cedrick Gray and BOTEC President Brad Rowe
Email exchange between JPS Superintendent Dr. Cedrick Gray and BOTEC President Brad Rowe.
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Lowry Heussler’s letter to JPS counsel Dorian Turner
A copy of Lowry Heussler’s letter of June 3 to School Board counsel Dorian Turner
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Plenty of Underdogs to Root for in Euro’s Knockout stage
By bryanflynnIt is a tale of two vastly different brackets in the UEFA Euro 2016 knockout stage. One side is stacked with historic European soccer powers, and the other side has a mix of powers who haven’t broken through and upstart teams.
The bottom half of the bracket features teams that have won 21 major titles. It features nations with 11 World Cups and 10 European Championships. The other half of the bracket features teams with zero major titles.
That would be like the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots being on one side of the playoffs and the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans being on the other side.
If you are a neutral fan, there are plenty of underdogs to root for left in the tournament.
The biggest underdog will be Iceland against England. The smallest nation to ever qualify for this tournament is the feel-good story.
Iceland’s last-second goal against Austria has thus far been one of memorable moments of the tournament. About 8 percent of the 330,000 population of Iceland has bought tickets for this event.
Just making the second round is a major accomplishment, but beating England would be even bigger. While England will be rooting for the Three Lions, the rest of them will be backing the Ice Men.
Host nation France also plays an underdog as it takes on Ireland in the next round. The Irish beat Italy on a late goal, sending them into the second round.
Italy also sat several important players, having advanced to the next stage. Ireland’s win over Italy reminded fans of their upset win over the Azzurri in the 1994 World Cup.
Last time these two teams played in a non-friendly saw France advance to the World Cup after a handball goal in Dublin from Thierry Henry gave Les Bleus a 2-1 in a playoff. Ireland would love revenge on French soil.
Slovakia was the top third-place team to advance, and for their accomplishment, they get Germany. It would be a great win for Slovakia to beat World Champion Germany. Both teams have struggled at times, but the Germans are the stronger side.
The last matchup in the bottom of the bracket is between two soccer heavyweights. Italy against Spain will be like getting a championship game-caliber match in the second round. These two teams have met 34 previous times with both sides earning 10 wins and 14 draws. One team will get the upper hand after this match.
One underdog is going to advance. That is because Northern Ireland plays Wales in the second round.
Gareth Bale provides Wales with the star power, but Northern Ireland has defended well and advanced as a third-place team with 1-0 losses to Poland and Germany. Wales won a group that also included England, Russia and Slovakia.
Croatia against Portugal is an interesting match in the second round. Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo has …
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Bryant Could Call Tuesday Session to Deal with Budget Gap
Gov. Phil Bryant says he's considering calling a special legislative session Tuesday to deal with a shortfall as Mississippi's 2016 budget year comes to a close.
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State
Mississippi's Children Make Gains But Still Land in Last Place
Child well-being in Mississippi is improving, but largely due to poverty, the state finished 50th in the Annie E. Casey Foundation's 2016 Kids Count data.
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Person of the Day
Ernie Hudson
After a successful move to a two-day festival in 2015, Mississippi Comic Con (formerly known as the SOPOCU Con) is returning for its third year this Saturday, June 25, and …
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Sanders Says He'll Vote for Clinton, But No Endorsement Yet
Bernie Sanders said Friday he will vote for Hillary Clinton for president, stopping short of a full endorsement of his Democratic presidential rival more than a week after the final …
