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Thursday's Starting Five: Let The Hype Begin
Rebels rising … Will Brett unretire again? … Texas prep sports are sick … M-Braves headed home … Will the Dogs' Eraser return?
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Stuart Irby Found Dead
Jackson businessman Stuart M. Irby, 58, died last night of an apparent suicide.
WLBT reports that Irby's caretaker found him hanging in his home at about 8 p.m. Police do not suspect foul play.
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Another Brand Of Football (Or Should We Blame This On ESPN?)
Remember Australian Rules Football? That was a staple on ESPN back in the early 1980s before the network got rich enough to show college football, college basketball, NFL, NBA, NHL, …
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MSNBC's Extended Shout-out to JFP
By Todd StaufferThe Rachel Maddow show did a long segment last night tying the inaction in Congress (yet another meaningless vote on "Obamacare") to action in Mississippi -- a court case to determine whether Mississippi legislators overstepped in trying to close down the state's only remaining clinic where abortions are performed.
The court case, which was Tweeted, live-blogged and throughly photographed by JFP team coverage on Wednesday, got the attention the Maddow show, which quoted extensively from our piece. Enjoy!
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Props to the whole team!
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Jackson One of 11 Cities for Pelicans’ D-League Team
By bryanflynnFinding ways to develop talent is one of the most important aspects of running a winning team. The teams that are better at discovering and building up young players are normally the best in their leagues.
Major league baseball uses the minor league to do that through the farm system, which gives players a place to get game experience as they hone their craft.
In basketball, the NBA began the D-League, or Developmental League, in the 2001-2002 season. It will be called the NBA Gatorade League, or NBA G-League, starting next season.
The D-League currently has 22 teams, all of which are affiliated with a single NBA team. That pro team either fully owns and operates its D-League outfit, or the developing team has a hybrid ownership in which the an NBA team funds and manages it, but local ownership controls business and manages community relations.
The Memphis Grizzlies purchased an expansion franchise in January that is set to begin play next season in Southaven, Miss. Memphis is one of five teams that has launched an expansion team or bought an existing D-League team.
On Friday, March 31, the New Orleans Pelicans announced their intentions to start an expansion team, as well. Pelicans owner Tom Benson, who also owns the New Orleans Saints, will own and operate the D-League team, which will begin play in the 2018-2019 season.
New Orleans sent a Request for Proposal, or RFP, to 11 Gulf Coast-region cities, which the Pelicans and the NBA selected based on market research.
Of those 11 cities, seven are based in Louisiana (Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, Shreveport and St. Tammany Parish), two are in Mississippi (Biloxi and Jackson), one is in Alabama (Mobile), and one is in Florida (Pensacola).
New Orleans starting a D-League team means it can call up players from that team and get them players on the same day. Players will learn the same plays that the Pelicans use, as well, meaning that they won’t have to learn a new playbook when they are called up.
The Pelicans can use its D-League affiliate to develop draft picks that need more playing time before joining the NBA team. It also allows the team to expand its fan base outside of New Orleans.
Jackson makes perfect sense for a team looking to widen its reach. New Orleans Saints fans are numerous around the capital city, but there doesn’t seem to be one NBA team that a majority of Jacksonians root for each season.
New Orleans can build a fan base in Jackson that will be as loyal to the Pelicans as it is to the Saints. Fans in Central Mississippi never stopped loving the Saints no matter how terrible the team happened to be during the season. These same fans could be just as loyal to the Pelicans.
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City & County
Sessions-Backed Anti-Violence Grant Draws City Council Approval
Without discussion, the Jackson City Council gave Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba and the Jackson Police Department permission at the July 17 meeting to apply for a grant through Project Safe …
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Three Could Face June Execution
Mississippi death-penalty opponents expect that three men will lose key appeals today, and expect each to receive a June execution date.
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Enviros Challenge MDA on Drilling
Environmental groups want more time to study the effects of opening the Mississippi Sound to oil and gas drilling.
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Christine ‘Chrissy' Wilson
Mississippi has no bigger cheerleader when discussing the art, history and culture of Mississippi than Christine "Chrissy" Wilson. She has edited many of the markers on the Mississippi Freedom Trail …
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[Your Turn] Bring Net Metering to Mississippi
Mississippi is on the verge of being the last state in the union to adopt a net-metering policy. I have tried for about two years to bring the topic of …
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NAACP Joins Redistricting Fray
The Mississippi NAACP today asked a federal court to stop state legislators from running in their current districts in August because they are not representative of black voters.
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Entergy to Research Future of Electric Car
Entergy is installing three electric vehicle-charging stations in the metro area to prepare for an expected increase in energy-efficient vehicles.
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Vic Sexton
Vic Sexton bridges the gap between small businesses and city government. A senior planner for the city of Jackson, Sexton handles the city's outreach to small businesses. He provides some …
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Bring Net Metering to Mississippi
Mississippi is on the verge of being the last state in the union to adopt a net-metering policy. I have tried for about two years to bring the topic of …
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Competing Forces
I imagine different people have their own meaning of what the term "patriotic" really means. I believe it means "one who strongly supports and serves his or her country." Implicit …
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Spokoino
In 1996 I studied for a year in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, a city of about 400,000 people. Though politically a democracy, true capitalism had not yet set in, and I treasured …
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[Stiggers] Cussin'-N-Fussin-N-The House
Hey beautiful peoples! Bone Qweesha Jones, your on-the-scene reporter, here with the socio-political/celebrity scoop! And it's all 'bout music! Coming to you live, rough, rugged and raw! D.G.I. (Darned Good …
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SEIU: Stand Up for Main Street
[verbatim] WASHINGTON, DC – With Congress continuing to debate a bailout of Wall Street banks, Senators will hear from voters this week calling for action on the economic priorities of …
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Winter Wednesdays in February
Here and Now: the Missississippi Improv Alliance
I wanted to bring your attention to something cool going on in the month of February, brought to you by the Jackson Arts Collective. Here is the press release I …
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Reeves: No Significant Increase in FY13 Revenue
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves today said state revenue in Fiscal Year 2013 will not increase significantly, reflecting the financial difficulties Mississippi's economy may experience in the next several fiscal years."Economic …
