Story
Russia Cuts Gas Supply to Ukraine as Tensions Soar
Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine on Monday after negotiators failed to reach a deal on Ukraine's unpaid gas bills and future gas prices amid deep tensions between the two …
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Ballet Competition Opens Saturday in Jackson
Young dancers from six continents were rehearsing at sites across Mississippi's capital city Friday, running through performances that they've been preparing for months or even years to display at the …
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City & County
Ward 6 Candidates Reveal Plans for City Council Seat
The Swan Lake Homeowners Association sponsored a forum for the nine candidates running in the Ward 6 City Council election, which took place at Emmanuel Baptist Church.
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GM Recalling Camaros for Ignition Switch Problem
Ignition switches once again are causing problems for General Motors.
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Obama: U.S. Will Send Fresh Help to Beleaguered Iraq
Less than three years after pulling American forces out of Iraq, President Barack Obama is weighing a range of short-term military options, including airstrikes, to quell an al-Qaida inspired insurgency …
Entry
MS Supremes Tell Hood 'No' on Byrom, Throw Out Man's Death Sentence
By R.L. NaveThe Mississippi State Supreme Court has denied Attorney General Jim Hood's request for an explanation of their March decision in the case of Michelle Byrom, Tom Freeland of the North Mississippi Commenter reports.
Byrom had been on a death row for participating in the murder of her abusive husband. However, evidence came to light that raised strong doubts about the extent of Byrom's participation in the crime and the state's high court declined to schedule her execution and ordered a new trial with a new judge.
Hood, a former prosecutor and the state's only statewide Democratic official, blew a gasket and demanded that justices explain their rationale.
Not only did justices not bend to Hood's request on the Byrom case, just for good measure they also threw out the death sentence of a man named Roger Lee Gillett and ordered him re-sentenced.
The Associated Press reports: "Gillett was convicted in 2007 in Forrest County on two counts of capital murder for his role in the deaths of a Hattiesburg couple and the transporting of their bodies to Kansas in a freezer. While in custody in Kansas, he attempted to escape. That crime was one of the aggravating factors prosecutors presented jurors to support the death penalty.
"The Supreme Court, in its 6-3 decision Thursday, says not every escape is considered a crime of violence under Kansas law. Therefore, wrote Justice Ann Lamar, the Kansas crime cannot be used to support a death sentence in Mississippi."
Story
Ruby Dee's Legacy of Activism, Acting Mourned
For Ruby Dee, acting and activism were not contradictory things. They were inseparable and they were intertwined.
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Lawmakers Push to Approve Unified Veterans' Bill
After two overwhelming votes in two days, members of Congress say they are confident they can agree on a bill to improve veterans' health care and send it to the …
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Sports
Will Brazil's Cup Spotlight Burn Too Bright?
Nearly half the world's population, well over 3 billion spectators, is expected to watch soccer's premier event and get a glimpse of the country that in two years will host …
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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 …
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Oregon High School Shooter Was Heavily Armed
TROUTDALE, Ore. (AP) — A 15-year-old boy accused of killing a fellow freshman in a high school locker room was heavily armed with an assault rifle, nine magazines of ammunition, …
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Tyrone Hendrix
In the time you’ve lived in Ward 6, how has it changed—for better and for worse?
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The Slate
It's finally here; the 2014 World Cup begins this week in Brazil as 32 countries battle for soccer's top prize and a place in soccer immortality.
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Style
A Lifelong Reader
As a little girl, I loved the library. My mother read to me from birth, and we frequented the Meridian Public Library so much that it almost felt like a …
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Cover
Dudes We Dig
Jackson Free Press' 2014 Dudes We Dig consist of men who help their communities, including a veteran who is an veterans' advocate, a conservative baker who is fighting against the …
Story
The Difference a Father Makes
To my fellow fathers, understand that our children need us, want us and expect for us to be there. They know the difference that a father makes.
Story
Put Sideshows Aside in GOP Primary Runoff
Once again, public officials in Mississippi have thrust our state into the national spotlight. And once again, it's not for anything positive.
Story
Politics
Cochran, McDaniel: Is One Better for Jackson?
That puts Jackson in a precarious position—do Democratic-leaning voters in Jackson support Cochran in his bid to retain his seat or focus on sending the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Rep. …
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City & County
Eight Vie for Ward 6 Seat
When Mayor Tony Yarber was elected back in April, his previous position as south Jackson's Ward 6 councilman became available and several people came forward to take on the challenges …
Entry
Study: Miss., the South Most Corrupt in Nation
By R.L. NaveMississippi may be in the midst of the nation's slimiest political contest, the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.
Now, a new study purports that Mississippi is indeed the crookedest state in the union. Researchers at Indiana University and University of Hong Kong "studied more than 25,000 convictions of public officials for violation of federal corruption laws between 1976 and 2008 as well as patterns in state spending to develop a corruption index that estimates the most and least corrupt states in the union."
The full article is not publicly available, but based on the study's methods, Mississippi tops of the corruption list—surpassing even Illinois where two of the last three governors served time in federal prison on corruption charges—whose Top 10 is full of other southern state:
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Tennessee
- Illinois
- Pennsylvania
- Alabama
- Alaska
- South Dakota
- Kentucky
- Florida
It should be noted that by some other measures, Mississippi has one of the nation's lowest "corruption risks," thanks to a strong state auditor and insurance commissioner, both of whom are elected in Mississippi, unlike in some other states.
