Jackson Free Press

Truth to Power

I spent last weekend in New Orleans at the Association of Alternative Newsmedia convention. It was held in the posh Ritz Carlton in the heart of the city's business district, …

Council Confirms Three Melton Appointments

Jackson City Council voted to confirm three mayoral picks for top city positions this morning. Council members Frank Bluntson, Charles Tillman, Kennneth Stokes, Margaret Barrett-Simon and Marshand Crisler voted to …

Qi Channel-Surfing

As Dennis Holmes leads me through the dimly lit hall of the Spa at St. Dominic to his treatment room, I am vaguely aware that I am transitioning from a …

Ring a Bell

At the end of September, I took my vacation in Batesville. Unbeknownst to many--including the majority of Mississippians, I imagine--Batesville is the home to the Magnolia Grove Buddhist Monastery and …

Washing Our Souls

On a balmy night last month, I was walking along Frenchmen Street in New Orleans with heavy thoughts. Life suddenly seemed like a game show with so many different paths …

Fair Funds for Kids?

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., increasingly seems like a holdover from another, kinder era of national politics. Cochran has largely removed himself from the hyper-partisanship of recent years.

Council Concerned over JPS Superintendent

Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes made a rare visit to the Monday work session yesterday to throw his support behind Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Lonnie Edwards, who is up for …

Get Smart

Yes, Mississippi is the most obese state. We're too sedate, and our diets suck. No news there.

JRA Rejects Two Bids for Convention Hotel

An Austin, Texas, developer publicly threw its hat into the convention-center hotel ring this morning with a presentation to the Jackson Development Authority. TCI, a Dallas-based company that currently owns …

Our Poverty and Thanksgiving

My parents filed bankruptcy when I was in the fifth grade. My father filed a second time with his second wife years later.

Council Re-Elects Bluntson; Holds off on Finances

Jackson City Council President Frank Bluntson considered putting off the council's required election for president at this morning's meeting but reluctantly went ahead with the vote after the city's legal …

[Balko] Ruining Kids in Order to Save Them

That the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals would even need to hear oral arguments in the case of Miller, et al. v. Skumanick last week is a pretty good …

[Kamikaze] Grammy Rehab

Amy Winehouse is a train wreck. She is rumored to use a variety of illegal substances. However, I've found that the music industry's tolerance level of addicts is directly proportionate …

You Get What You Pay For

The confluence of two events brought home hard truths about the values that some Mississippians seem to hold dear: The first was Gov. Haley Barbour's budget recommendations for fiscal year …

DeLaughter Pleads Guilty

Former Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Bobby DeLaughter, 55, resigned his job and pleaded guilty to misleading authorities this week. The former judge had five counts against him, all representing …

Hood Settlement Under Suspicion

Attorney General Jim Hood offered no guess as to what media outlets are looking for in a sealed February 2008 settlement between his office and State Farm and Fire and …

CityBuzz [10.4.06]

'Allen and His Loony Squad'

Former JFD Assistant Chief Tony Davis got free rein at the Jackson Advocate two weeks ago in a vitriolic column describing Council President Ben Allen's "hidden agenda for the city …

Law on Call

Last summer, Jackson attorneys Tim Porter and Rocky Wilkins came up with the idea for "Law Call," a live call-in show that premiered on WLBT Feb. 7.

Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em

Graphic courtesy of The Mellman Group

The Mississippi Legislature made a second attempt at tax reform this year, with the House's approval of Senate Bill 3084 on a 79 to 41 vote. The bill is an …

Straitjacket of Straight Thinking?

The Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees may be holding back its superintendent, but depending on whom you ask, that may not be a bad thing.