Jackson Free Press

This is a full, verbatim statement from the City of Jackson:

City of Jackson crews are patching potholes across the city.

• Crews are repairing potholes on areas of Woodburn Drive, Ellis Avenue, McFadden Road, Bellmont Street, N. State Street, Keele Street, E. Northside Drive.

• Crews repairing sidewalk/curb & gutter Mill Street.

• Crews repairing utility cut on St. Andrews Street.

The twists and strange turns of the 2015 Jackson State football season continued today as the Clarion-Ledgers announced it was going to halt beat coverage of the team. This decision was made after JSU stopped making players and assistant coaches available to the media on Tuesdays and Wednesdays before practice.

Since Harold Jackson was fired on October 6, the Clarion-Ledger says that JSU has violated its own media police by only making interim head coach Derrick McCall available to the media. The only time since Jackson was fired that players and assistant coaches were allowed to speak to the media was after the Tigers 28-22 loss to Alabama A&M this past Saturday.

JSU stated that mid-term exams as the reason players weren't made available and this week announced it was a coaches decision not to let them speak to the media. Due to only one person's view point, coach McCall, the C-L decided not to have a beat reporter cover Jackson State until the matter is resolved.

While it is unusual for local media to not cover a team, it is not unheard of even in this age of mass media. Last August, the Miami Herald stopped covering Florida International football after their beat reporter was denied credentials to the beat reporter.

The Clarion-Ledger says their beat reporter spot for JSU will remain vacant until the matter with the university is resolved. Reporter Antonio Morales will move to different sports coverage including other SWAC schools.

Earlier this month, the 42 for Better Schools campaign asked the Mississippi secretary of state's office to review ballots across all 82 counties in Mississippi after finding errors on ballots in Hinds County.

A Mississippi voter in Hinds County found the errors when the voter went to complete an absentee ballot, 42 for Better Schools spokeswoman Patsy Brumfield said at the time.

The same errors on the absentee ballot had been visible on the Hinds County sample ballot. The letter "A" was removed from the Initiative 42-A choice, so voters can vote "FOR Initiative Measure No. 42" or "FOR Alternative Measure No. 42." Without the letter "A" to designate the alternative, voters might vote for the wrong initiative Brumfield said.

Now, Hinds County officials want to reach out to people who voted absentee and ask them to submit a corrected ballot. Pieter Teeuwissen, the attorney for the Hinds County Board of Supervisors, said the county otherwise could be open to litigation.

At today's board meeting, supervisors, attorneys and election commissioners braced for mass confusion over the ballot initiative, which requires the Legislature to adequately fund public schools or be compelled to do so by the courts.

Connie Cochran, the District 4 representative to and chairwoman of the Hinds County Election Commission, called the initiative "confusing."

"I think what we're going to have is a lot of people who just don't vote" on Initiative 42, Cochran told supervisors today.

Board President Tony Greer, the only Republican member of the board, said even though he believes Initiative 42 to be a "perilous slope to changing the constitution," he does believes voters need proper information when going to the polls.

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