Jackson Free Press

2016 Legislative Session a Bust

The new Republican supermajority succeeded in making the 2016 Mississippi Legislative Session one of the least productive and most contentious on record. Aside from those accomplishments, the 2016 Session was …

New Senate GOP Health Care Bill Teeters on the Brink

Republican leaders unveiled a new health care bill Thursday in their increasingly desperate effort to deliver on seven years of promises to repeal and replace "Obamacare." They immediately lost two …

Navigating Mississippi’s Opioid Epidemic

Marsha Stone made it out of college, but not without a drug and alcohol addiction she could not shake. She found herself at the age of 24 with three children …

Foster Care Legislation: ‘The Beginning to an End of Madness’

The state's foster-care system, now housed under MDHS as the Division of Family and Children's Services, must comply with a court order in the Olivia Y lawsuit to avoid federal …

SUNSHINE WEEK: Amid Push for Transparency, Few Colleges Reveal Investments

Colleges and universities are under growing pressure from Congress and campus activists to reveal financial investments made through their endowments, but most institutions are standing firm against the idea.

Embrace Immigrants, Pope Francis Urges Congress

Standing before a rapt Congress, Pope Francis issued a ringing call to action on behalf of immigrants Thursday, urging lawmakers to embrace "the stranger in our midst" as he became …

Drew Mellon

For Clinton native Drew Mellon, the U.S. director for international nonprofit The Hard Places Community, his connection to Cambodia isn't a question of geography, but of compassion and calling.

Senate Report: Harsh CIA Tactics Didn't Work

Senate investigators delivered a damning indictment of CIA practices Tuesday, accusing the spy agency of inflicting pain and suffering on prisoners beyond legal limits and deceiving the nation with stories …

Failed Launches Cast Shadow Over Russian Space Program

Back-to-back rocket launch failures have dealt Russia one of the heaviest blows to its space industry since the Soviet collapse—with national pride and billions of dollars at stake.

Iraq Sunni Militant Group Vows to March on Baghdad

The al-Qaida-inspired group that captured two key Sunni-dominated cities in Iraq this week vowed on Thursday to march on to Baghdad, raising fears about the Shiite-led government's ability to slow …

Jackson Woman Joins Dem Race for Governor; State Rep Exploring GOP Race

Next week, Velesha P. Williams plans to officially join the race to become the Democratic Party's gubernatorial nominee, she announced in a Nov. 29 press release.

Community Events and Public Meetings

Sports League Registrations, at Jackson Medical Mall (350 W. Woodrow Wilson Ave.). The Department of Parks and Recreation is conducting registration for the upcoming season from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. …

Itawamba Lesbian Teen: ‘It Was Pretty Bad'

Itawamba County Agricultural High School student Constance McMillen says she is relieved by the Itawamba County School District's offer of $35,000 for damages plus court costs, and adoption of an …

Sheriff: Rankin County Work-Release Program Is Not ‘Convict Leasing,’ A Vestige of Slavery

ACLU-MS Deputy Director Alicia N. Netterville said that the first iteration of House Bill 747 effectively functioned as convict-leasing by another name.

I Felt the Earth Move

It was like old home day in Neshoba County Sunday … with a few twists. The usual suspects—the people I've gotten to know in the struggle for justice and racial …

Coretta, Betty and Me

It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the twentieth century in the United States.

[Israel] No Check Required

This weekend, law-abiding citizens will attend the Mississippi Gun Show and undergo a background check to purchase a firearm from a federally licensed firearm dealer.

For Noella

When Kimberly Griffin told me that the Fondren Theatre Workshop had agreed to direct "The Vagina Monologues" in Jackson, I was happily stunned. Nearly seven years ago when we started …

Parlor Market Owner Dies

Parlor Market owner Craig Noone was killed early this morning in a car accident.

Noone, who opened Parlor Market on Capitol Street a little over a year ago, was driving his Chevy Tahoe when he collided with a Ford Taurus at the intersection of …

Pity Would Be No More

In a few hours, I would be leaving Africa. After two weeks traveling through Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and the Central African Republic with New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Nick …