Jackson Free Press

Campaign Shenanigans

Candidates are pulling out all the stops to attract votes, often, as many citizens are learning, with questionable if not unsavory tactics. One might expect it in the days leading …

Barbour: Legislature Better Place to Decide Personhood

Gov. Haley Barbour yesterday reiterated concerns he expressed earlier this week on MSNBC and Fox News about Mississippi's ballot Initiative 26, the proposed Personhood amendment.

Personhood: A Pandora's Box

Atlee Breland picked her three young children up from preschool and drove home to Brandon. A self-employed computer programmer, Breland is able to adjust her day around her children. Her …

Inside Yes on 26

Yes on 26 Campaign Director Brad Prewitt is an unassuming man. The 36-year-old with boyish features looked a bit uncomfortable wearing a suit and tie during the campaign's "Festival of …

[Queen] It's About Women's Rights

I find it laughable that the state of Mississippi is even considering asking us to vote yes on Initiative 26. Really? We are being asked to make a law to …

Groups Make Final Pleas for Votes

A little more than a week before Election Day, various political and advocacy groups are lobbying voters in hopes of swaying their votes on three ballot initiatives.

DuPree Campaigns Against the Tide

A decade ago, Johnny DuPree, while running for re-election to the Forrest County Board of Supervisors, answered a phone call from then-Lt. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove asking for help with his …

Garrad's Political Playlist

Politics is on the minds and tongues of everyone these days. We have elections coming up Nov. 8, when Mississippians will vote on two hot-button topics: personhood and voter ID. …

[Spiehler] Where Is the Line?

"What about life-saving abortions?"

The JFP Interview with Jim Hood

Attorney General Jim Hood appears to be a natural prosecutor, although it was a career path he initially resisted. His father was a Chickasaw County attorney and prosecutor. In 2003, …

The Down There Blues

The waiting room at the Hinds Comprehensive Health Center's women's clinic was full. Women of all ages and races sat, some silent and some on the phone, anxious to go …

Yes on 26 Launches Fake Website

The campaign working in support of the Personhood Amendment has launched a fake website to attack the Political Action Committee working against the ballot measure that would redefine the word …

Voters, Choose Wisely

Politicians are good at distracting voters. They seem to be getting better at it all the time. With the majority of them lawyers, it may just be a matter of …

[Lee] My Health Is At Stake

In 2008, I was living in Colorado and facing a ballot initiative known as Amendment 48 to the state Constitution. It aims to define personhood as beginning at the moment …

Odyssey of Discovery

Back in July 2006, I found myself on the edge of a new life. Four months earlier, I'd been laid off from a job after nine years. I was at …

Preparing for Battle

Twenty years ago, when Cristen Hemmins was a student at Millsaps College, two teenagers pulled out a gun and abducted her in the campus parking lot. The young men raped …

Advocates Gear up For Personhood Battle

Anti-abortion advocates celebrated a Mississippi Supreme Court ruling last week that OK'd a Nov. 8 ballot initiative asking voters whether the state Constitution should define when life begins, but the …

Not for Lack of Inititative

While some voters worry about abortion, voter ID and eminent domain, others are passionate about gambling, federal meddling in health care and--that hallowed Mississippi tradition--football.

Chairman Bryant

Will Mississippi Elect a Radical-Right Governor?

Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant 56, took his place on the far right of his Republican opponents on stage and thanked his wife, mother-in-law and voters for making his campaign possible. …

Yancey Looks Toward Treasurer's Office

Lee Yancey, District 20 state senator, is running for state treasurer. He will be in a runoff election Aug. 23 against Lynn Fitch for the Republican nomination. As treasurer, Yancey …