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Folk Tale
Folk songs have existed about as long as music has been around. Some are about everyday issues; some tell a story. One type of folk song, which deals with crime, …
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A Perfect Shelter
In 1950s suburbia, a family faces threats from at home and across the globe.
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Joe LaNier: Survivor
Iwo Jima is a small volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean. Its name is seared into the psyche of anyone even remotely familiar with American history in World War II.
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Jones' 'Beautiful Jim'
"Beautiful Jim" is an intimate documentary portrait of bisexual singer-songwriter and raconteur Jimbeau Hinson.
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Show Us the Campaign Money—On Time
On Tuesday, April 1, candidates seeking the office of Jackson mayor are required to submit their campaign-finance reports.
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Stinker Quote of the Week: 'Holy Ghost Handshakes'
How can the public know be sure that Yarber won't award contracts and conduct other city business on the strength of the Holy Ghost handshake?
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Politics
Piling on the Poor
Before the session started, fiscally conservative budget writers vowed to keep state spending to a minimum unless the economy improved and projected revenues went up.
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City & County
A #JXNMayor Confessional
The three members of the Jackson City Council who are running for mayor got ahead of the rumor-mill in interviews with the Jackson Free Press last week.
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Education
State Takeovers: A Fix for Failing School Districts?
When the state took control of the Hazlehurst City school district in 2008, the small rural district was in chaos and suffering from abysmal academic performance.
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Crime
Will Byrom Be Tortured to Death?
Mississippi's pending executions of Michelle Byrom and Charles Crawford—which are not yet scheduled—have mired the state in a controversy over what constitutes "cruel and unusual" in executions.
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Editor's Note
Protect the Innocent: End the Death Penalty
Michelle Byrom is a textbook case of what is wrong with the state executions in Mississippi and the rest of the nation.
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Music
For Lou’s Sake
The late New York rocker Lou Reed and his street-wise songs might seem worlds away from music made in Mississippi, but many Jackson musicians cite the musician as an important …
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Satellite Spots 122 Objects in Malaysia Jet Search
A French satellite scanning the Indian Ocean for remnants of a missing jetliner found a possible plane debris field containing 122 objects, a top Malaysian official said Wednesday, calling it …
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Officials: Senate Considered Phone Company Option
The Senate Intelligence Committee three years ago secretly considered — but ultimately rejected — alternate ways for the National Security Agency to collect and store massive amounts of Americans' phone …
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Crime
Diaz: Michelle Byrom Did Not Get a Fair Trial
Former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver E. Diaz jr. explains why Michelle Byrom did not get a fair trial and does not deserve to be executed. And he wants to …
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ACLU Responds to Drug-Testing-the-Poor Bill Signing
By R.L. NaveJennifer Riley-Collins, executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi, made the following statement about Gov. Phil Bryant's signature of HB 49, which would require drug testing for some people receiving federal-state assistance:
Today is a sad day as Governor Bryant signed into law HB 49, thereby subjecting Mississippi's most vulnerable to unnecessary and costly drug testing.
Most recipients of TANF are children. The Mississippi Department of Human Services website states “monthly TANF benefits are made for eligible children and their needy caretaker relatives who do not have enough income or resources to meet their everyday needs.” We should not subject the most vulnerable among us to the false assumption that they (or their caregivers) are drug users. It’s unfair and untrue. The small amount of public assistance goes to provide limited funds to cover basic necessities such as food and shelter for families.
Such a law would cost the state of Mississippi considerably more to implement than it would save. A comprehensive report put out by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2011 reviewed the estimated costs of implementing various proposed welfare drug testing programs in twelve different states. Not a single one of the legislative cost estimates showed net savings to the state as a result of a proposed drug testing program.
Governor Bryant has stated that he is concerned that “single mothers are not abusing drugs or other substances and try[ing] to maintain a family”. He goes on to justify why “single mothers” are singled out by saying “when someone is taking tax dollars I think we have the right to determine whether or not that individual is abusing a substance”. Almost all of us receive government assistance in one form or another, yet we don’t treat preschoolers, veterans, seniors, or the disabled, to name but a few, as suspected drug users and force them to prove their innocence. We don’t ask anyone else to sacrifice their Fourth Amendment Rights to receive government benefits, public benefit recipients should be treated no differently.
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LGBT
Same-Sex Couples Apply For Marriage Licenses in Hinds County
Same-Sex Couples applied for marriage licenses this morning at the Hinds County courthouse in Jackson.
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Person of the Day
Giacomo Puccini
The Mississippi Opera Guild will perform Giacomo Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi" along with "Pagliacci," written by Italian composer Ruggero Leoncavallo, March 29 at First Baptist Church of Ridgeland.
