Story
Silver Lining
Torch in hand, Lil McKinnon-Hicks bends thin silver cords into earring wires. She drips metal until it forms a small ball. She hammers out bracelets and solders two metals to …
Story
Health Care
With Three Weeks Left, Consumers Fear They May End Up Without Health Coverage on New Year’s Day
The next three weeks are critical for consumers keen on getting health coverage as soon as the health law allows it on Jan. 1.
Story
Wink, Wink: The ShopLocal Scam
When the Jackson Free Press launched our Web site and published our first print edition in September 2002, we immediately started urging our readers to "Think Global, Shop Local." The …
Story
Health Care
Are Federal Call Centers Up to the Task of Enrolling Millions in Health Plans?
An administration spokeswoman said that as of Wednesday, federal call centers have received more than 1.3 million calls and they are enrolling people in plans, although she did not offer …
Story
Health Care
Deciphering The Health Law's Subsidies For Premiums
Tax credits to help low- and moderate-income Americans buy health insurance will become available in January under the health law, when for the first time, most people will be required …
Story
Get Out of Town! Going Camping with Kids
In the midst of a seemingly endless swirl of meetings and errands and doctor's appointments and laundry to be put in drawers, there is nothing quite like a weekend escape …
Story
Arkansas GOP Eyes Planned Parenthood Funds Next
Not content with enacting the most restrictive abortion law in the country, Arkansas Republicans plan to press the legislative advantage their party hasn't enjoyed since Reconstruction by making it even …
Story
Theater
‘Cirque Dreams Holidaze’ Promises Holiday Splendor
"Cirque Dreams Holidaze," a multimillion-dollar circus-like show that centers around the sense of wonder surrounding the holiday season, is coming to Thalia Mara Hall on Dec. 9.
Story
Person of the Day
Beth Herzig
Beth Herzig, owner of Discount Trophy in Ridgeland, traveled the world before eventually settling down in Mississippi and raising her two daughters, ages 16 and 11, in a quieter life …
Story
Health Care
Mississippi Declares Hepatitis A Outbreak, Urges Vaccination
Mississippi health officials said the state, like others nationwide, is seeing an outbreak of contagious liver disease Hepatitis A and urging people to get vaccinated.
Story
Builders of Obama's Health Website Saw Red Flags
Crammed into conference rooms with pizza for dinner, some programmers building the Obama administration's showcase health insurance website were growing increasingly stressed.
Story
City & County
How Local Businesses are Handling COVID-19
The COVID-19 outbreak is causing mass temporary closures of local businesses across the spectrum. Fortunately, plenty of those businesses have stepped up to help their employees and their communities in …
Entry
Personhood is Back
By AnnaWolfeA previously failed proposal that aims to abolish abortion has resurfaced this legislative session.
State Rep. Randy Boyd, R-Mantachie, introduced a so-called Personhood bill in the form House Bill 1309, which would amend the state constitution to define a person as beginning at the moment of conception.
Boyd's bill number is reminiscent of a bill passed in 2012, House Bill 1390, which required physicians at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges to nearby hospitals.
Critics of Boyd's bill point to the failure to achieve a Personhood law through a statewide ballot initiative in 2011. During that drive, a proposed Personhood amendment to the state constitution failed to garner enough votes to become law. Later, in 2013, a group attempted to get the measure back on the ballot but missed a key deadline. Subsequent Personhood bills in the Legislature have also failed to gain traction.
Personhood has gained national attention not only because it would outlaw abortion in violation of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, but because of the law's unintended consequences. Because such a law would also define a fertilized egg as a person, it could bring to question the legality of birth control pills, Plan B, and some methods of in-vitro fertilization, reproductive-justice advocates say.
The 2012 Mississippi admitting privileges law would have closed the last abortion clinic in the state, Jackson Women's Health Organization, because nearby hospitals refused to grant privileges to them. But the clinic fought the law, which resulted in a U.S. District Court striking it down. A federal appeals court upheld the decision and Mississippi's attorneys have not announced whether the state would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Marchers Protest 'War on Women'
About 50 people gathered this morning to march around the Capitol and oppose state legislators' attempts to pass anti-abortion bills and personhood legislation during the current session.
Story
JFP Person the Day: Diana Howell
When more than 40 women showed up to try out for "The Vagina Monologues" last year, director Diana Howell knew Jackson was ready for a production of strong women sharing …
Story
Person of the Day
Tyrone Hendrix
Ward 6 Councilman Tyrone Hendrix has his sights set on a service that would let citizens get a real-time snapshot of Jackson's finances.
Story
Keeping Bees
Here's a term that has gained popularity in the past couple of years: urban homesteading. It means making your property, or "homestead," as self-sufficient as possible, regarding food and supplies, …
Story
APNewsBreak: Feds Funnel Millions into Gulf Coast
Days before a newly formed council focuses on long-term Gulf of Mexico cleanup, a report released to The Associated Press shows that one federal agency has committed more than a …
Story
Mystery Ballots
Leading up to Election day, we've heard a lot of semi-hysteria regarding voter fraud in Mississippi. Certain politicians have latched onto this chimera as the wedge issue for 2007, while …
Story
Gunmen Fire on L.A. Police Car
Two men opened fire on a police car patrolling a tough part of Los Angeles, but the two officers inside were not injured and one was able to shoot back, …
