Jackson Free Press

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is spending a lot of time in the media over the last week. Neither the Saints nor Brees have been able to stay out of the media this off-season.

Brees found himself in a firestorm last week (Tuesday, June 19) after comparing the Saints bounty scandal to weapons of mass destruction.

Brees tweeted: “If NFL fans were told there were "weapons of mass destruction" enough times, they'd believe it. But what happens when you don't find any????”

It didn’t take long for the media to jump on Brees comment and it went viral. Brees quickly apologized for his comments later the same day on Twitter.

Again from Brees’ twitter account: “My WMD comment has nothing to do with politics or our brave military. Merely an analogy to show how media influences public perception” “I apologize if the WMD comment offended anyone. Especially our military. There is no one I respect more than our service men and women”

This week (Monday, June 25) Brees partnered Dick’s Sporting Goods supporting PACE (Protecting Athletes though Concussion Education). PACE is the nation’s largest baseline testing program with the goal to test 1 million kids.

Brees made the rounds this morning (Tuesday, June 26) on Mike & Mike in the morning on ESPN Radio and the Dan Patrick Show a syndicated radio show. On both programs, Brees touched on several topics from the PACE program, his sons playing football, his contract and bounties.

Brees stated he felt like further punishment was being held over coaches heads if they didn’t cooperate with the investigation. “I’ve been informed a lot of those coaches feel there are further sanctions being held over their head if they don’t cooperate with the investigation,” Brees said on the Dan Patrick Show. “If they were to speak out on behalf of the players, maybe that’s the fear they have.”

The quarterback also says the NFL has confused, “Pay-for-performance has been lumped in with pay-for-injure.” Brees also said he hasn’t seen evidence of a pay-for-injure program.

One bit of good news, Brees stated he thought the Saints and him would get a long-term contract done before the July 16 deadline. "I've always said, you would think this process should be a lot simpler than it is," Brees said. "It just always seems to be complicated. But I'm still very confident that we'll get a long-term deal done, and hopefully that will happen sooner than later."

"When it comes down to certain provisions of the contract, there are little things here and there that take time to resolve," Brees said. "But in the end, the organization typically starts off at one place, the player starts off at another and you find a way to a compromise and meet in the middle and do what's fair and just."

It was an exciting start to the NFL season last week. The first week of the season started with Dallas upsetting the New York Giants and ended the Raiders special teams handing a win to San Diego.

Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. introduced two new pieces of technology designed to make the Jackson Police Department more efficient, transparent and accountable.

The first demonstration was technology that will allow the city to track city vehicles in real-time on an online map of the city. Johnson said they have already outfitted 50 city vehicles - including work trucks, police cars and heavy equipment - with trackers and are working out the bugs before they put the technology into all the vehicles.

The Mayor said that technology will make the vehicle operators more accountable, make the police department more efficient in their coverage and reduce the carbon footprint from vehicles in the city by helping them map out the most direct route to their destinations. That project has a $55,000 price tag.

The second piece of technology is an e-ticketing system that will allow traffic stops to easier and more efficient. The handheld devices, already issued to 37 officers, allow them to scan a drivers license using a card-swiper, and enter the information for the citation digitally. If he/she issues a ticket, it will be printed instead of hand-written, and the information will insert itself directly in the county or municipal clerk's office instead of having to be filed manually.

Those devices cost $3,300 per unit.

Mayor Johnson also gave out the COMSTAT trophy for the most-improved precinct to Precinct 1 (Jackson's south side), where crime has dropped nearly 30 percent in the past three months.

The JFP received this release from the mayor's office Wednesday afternoon:

South Jackson has dramatic decrease in property crimes

Recent Jackson Police Department statistics reveal that South Jackson’s Precinct 1 led the entire city in crime reduction for the first Quarter of 2013. The Precinct saw a 28.9% drop in overall crime. Property crime decreased by 28.2% and violent crime decreased by 32.5%.

Each quarter the Jackson Police Department recognizes the precinct with the greatest drop in overall crime. That precinct is then awarded the traveling COMSTAT Trophy.

For Precinct One to win the COMSTAT Trophy represents a “remarkable turnaround” said, Police Chief Rebecca Coleman.

She further stated, “This is a tribute to the hard work, dedication and perseverance of the police officers that are assigned to Precinct One. Working in conjunction with the citizens of South Jackson, and implementing several crime fighting strategies, we have seen great success. Commander Wallace of Precinct 1 and her staff are very deserving of this recognition.”

In recent years, Precinct 1 has routinely led the city in the number of House Burglaries committed. They have averaged as many as fifty a week. Beginning in 2009, Chief Coleman implemented strategies aimed towards reducing these numbers. These included the following:

• Increasing the number of beats from 8 – 10
• Re-assigning support personnel to patrol duty in areas most affected
• Using the D.A.R.T. Unit in these areas as much as possible

“The biggest impact we have seen has been in the individual beat officer’s response time, …

Like a proud mother watching her child's first foray into the spotlight to glowing reviews, we at the JFP love to send links around the office of national stories realizing what we already know (that Jackson is pretty cool). Here are a couple stories circling our in-boxes this week:

The Atlantic Cities website published a story this morning called "Where Millenials Can Make it Now." The author, Nona Willis Aronowitz, traveled the country looking for the best cities for twentysomethings. She writes that she avoided "cities already deemed magnets for young, creative people—place like New Orleans, Austin, or Detroit." In the end she, chose nine cities, including Jackson. She puts Jackson into the category "Small Ponds for Big Fish" (Omaha, Neb., also makes this category), and describes our city thus:

"These are cities where creativity and entrepreneurship are on the rise, even as the rents remain reasonable. Chances are, small ponds have DIY art scenes: Omaha boasts a thriving start-up economy and the still-relevant force of Conor Oberst’s Saddle Creek Records while Jackson’s Fondren and Midtown neighborhoods have sparked a local art community. Yet even in the gentrified corners of town, the price points remain low by necessity, since most people aren’t making much money. And since there isn’t a shortage of space, local politicos are practically begging young people to take abandoned buildings and empty lots off their hands. Many of the twentysomethings I spoke with in these towns were on a first-name basis with the mayor or city council. One Jackson native was even running for office. These cities have a growing population of young people who would rather start something from the ground up and live cheaply than scramble anonymously in huge cities."

Aronowitz will be elaborating on her travels and the cities she chose over the next two weeks, so check back for more on Jackson.

Read her introductory story here: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/11/where-millennials-can-make-it-now/7454/

And keep an eye on the landing page for "Where Millenials Can Make It" for Jackson's full feature: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/special-report/where-millennials-can-make-it/

Another publication, the website Credit Donkey, recently named Jackson the fifth-best small city for starting over. The story comes from a study that took into account factors of population growth, income growth, unemployment rate and percentage of single adults. The idea is that these cities are great for mostly young, single folks looking for a new job and a new life. Here's how they described Jackson:

"If you’re single and hoping to start over in a new city, Jackson is one of our top locations for you, especially if you want some authentic Southern charm. With a strong music scene, particularly gospel and blues, Jackson is aptly nicknamed the "City with Soul." Literature lovers will want to visit the Eudora Welty House to explore the home and gardens of the Pulitzer Prize winner who wrote The Optimist’s Daughter. You can also visit the Medgar Evers Home Museum to learn about the civil rights activist’s contributions to our nation’s history."

See that story here: …