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Politics
Ag Commissioner's Father Dies in 'Officer Involved Shooting'
The father of Mississippi's agriculture commissioner has died, and authorities are investigating whether he was shot by a sheriff's deputy.
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Judge Merges 2 Mississippi Mental Health Care Suits
A federal judge is ordering that two lawsuits over Mississippi's mental health system be combined.
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First Lady Talks Hospitality on Mississippi's 199th Birthday
Mississippi turned over the calendar to begin its bicentennial year as a state on Friday with the state's first lady, Deborah Bryant, embodying the spirit of the Hospitality State.
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Business
Mississippi Zoo Faces Money Woes, Idea of Temporary Closure
The city council in Mississippi's capital city has approved $200,000 to cover the Jackson Zoo's "depleted" budget.
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National
House Intel Committee Chair Steps Away from Russia Probe
The chairman of the House intelligence committee announced Thursday he is temporarily stepping aside from the panel's probe into Russian meddling in last year's presidential election.
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Russian Inquiry Finds Cheating Went Beyond Sochi Olympics
An investigator looking into Russian doping found the country's state-directed cheating program resulted in at least 312 falsified results and lasted from 2011 through at least last year's world swimming …
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The Bill Collector at the Door
BoneQweesha Jones: "You are watching the Ghetto Science Team Public Television spring fund-raising marathon. The federal government's budget cuts are kicking our butts at G.S.T. Public Television."
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The Cost of Living in the Ghetto
Miss Doodle Mae: "Jojo surprised the staff today. During the monthly staff-appreciation morning meeting, he announced that all part-time and full-time staff of Jojo's Discount Dollar Store would receive a …
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A Simple Battle Strategy
Mr. Announcement: "It's time for the award-winning daytime soap opera, 'All God's Churn Got Shoes.' Today's story takes place at the meeting room of Operation Corporate Backlash. Chief Executive Officer …
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Person of the Day
Edward Villella
The ballet world knows dancer and choreographer Edward Villella, who served as the chairman of the international jury for the 2014 USA International Ballet Competition, as a legend and a …
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Cover
Barnett's Greatest Hits
The music-promoting crew at Ardenland has delivered some tremendous musical talent to Mississippi in its three years of business.
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Steve Earle Weighs in on Flag
By micah_smithAcclaimed singer-songwriter Steve Earle is the latest voice to join the flag debate, though his voice comes in the form of a good-old-fashioned protest song. On the track, titled "Mississippi, It's Time," the Virginia-born musician denounces the Confederate battle emblem's position on the Mississippi state flag, which has been a point of contention yet again following a white-supremacist gunman's slaying of nine African Americans at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, S.C., on June 17.
“I grew up in the South and lived there until I was 50, and I know that I’m not the only southerner who never believed for one second that the Confederate battle flag is symbolic of anything but racism in anything like a modern context,” Steve Earle said in a press release. “This is about giving those southerners a voice.”
Earle and his band, the Dukes, release the song for download on iTunes this Friday, Sept. 11, with all proceeds going to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The lyrics feature a number of powerful and to-the-point phrases, such as, Mississippi, don't you reckon it's time that the flag came down because the world turned 'round? We can't move ahead if we're looking behind," and "I wish I was in a land that never held a soul in bondage ever. I wouldn't have to drag these chains behind. Mississippi, it's time."
Near the track's close, though, Earle trades any semblance of metaphor for blunt outrage: "What the hell, Mississippi? Mississippi, you're out of your mind. Mississippi, God d***, even Alabama and South Carolina (have) come across the line."
As people from without and within the state push for the removal of the Confederate flag—and the dark ideals it represents—the decision ultimately rests with state lawmakers who can't seem to come to an agreement.
Earle, a pupil of famed songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, has had countless hits on the country music charts, both from his own releases, such as his debut record, 1986's "Guitar Town," and from hits for legends like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Emmylou Harris.
Visit Southern Poverty Law Center's website to listen to "Mississippi, It's Time."
http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2015/sep/10/22928/
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Sex Education is Not a Partisan issue
For so long, Mississippi's public officials, and its community and school district leaders have shied away from talking about sex to avoid the potential political consequences. Last week however, the …
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Court Prefers Democrat-endorsed House Redistricting
A U.S. Circuit Court three-judge panel declared Friday that the Mississippi House redistricting map--rejected three times by the state Senate--is the redistricting plan to beat for state's new House districts, …
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Gasoline Tax Hike Proposed
The Mississippi Department of Transportation is considering requesting a possible increase of 5-cent per gallon to the state's gasoline tax to bolster the department's budget for new roads and existing …
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(Film/Performance) So Bad, It's Good
Scattered across the desolate solar system exist the bleary-eyed mining men of Jupiter who know nothing of women, and the sexually frustrated, all-female (Southern Belle no less) population of Venus. …
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Hal White
When Hal White was a child, the kitchen served as a gathering place for his family. After watching his aunt cook large pots of red beans and rice or gumbo, …
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Dems React to Pardongate
Haley Barbour's granting clemency to more than 200 people precipitated so much fallout that there's now fallout to the fallout.
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Girl About Town
Spring Forward
Mal’s St. Paddy’s Parade feels like the kickoff to spring in Jackson.
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Legislature Slows Its Roll
The Mississippi Legislature got off to a productive start last week, with the passage of an economic incentive package and an extension of workforce training funds, two measures that Gov. …
