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City & County
Natural Gas: The Natural Choice?
The purchase of three new squad cars for the Jackson Police Department breezed through approval last month, but some city leaders are calling for the city to take a new …
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Politics
Model for Drug-Testing Bill Controversial
Gov. Phil Bryant has mined Florida for many of his bigger ideas, and his recent the drug-testing bill is no exception.
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City & County
Jackson Hospitals Expanding
The University of Mississippi Medical Center will soon have a downtown presence. The only question is how long it will take and how big of an impact it will have.
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Jacksonian
Lee King
When legendary performer James Brown called to offer Lee King a job, King hung up on him. Twice.
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Editor's Note
Lean In to Greatness, Jackson
Jackson is judged unfairly, it is called names and, when we stand up for ourselves to people who want us to shut up and comply (ahem, Legislature), the pushback gets …
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Bryan's Rant
Recent Coaching Hires
If you haven't noticed, three recent coaching hires are shaking up area colleges and universities. Mississippi College, Belhaven and Jackson State have all made coaching changes.
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Syrian Peace Talks Stuck Over Assad's Future
Peace talks intended to carve a path out of Syria's civil war got off to a rocky start Wednesday as a bitter clash over President Bashar Assad's future threatened to …
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Violence Across Syria as Peace Conference Begins
Syrian forces and opposition fighters clashed Wednesday in different parts of Syria as a peace conference to end its nearly three-year conflict began in Switzerland, activists and state media said.
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Legislature Quiet on Immigration, Abortion
By R.L. NaveThe legislative session has not been without drama. But with the deadline to introduce general bills passing earlier this week, it seems like there have been relatively few bills related to traditional red-meat issues.
Only one bill title mentions abortion and it was put forth by Rep. Nick Bain, D-Corinth. Bain's bill, HB 513, says that "any discussion of abortion must be presented from the medical perspective of the potential long-term and short-term hazards presented to patients as the result of having the procedure performed."
Sen. Michael Watson, a R-Pascagoula, has a bill that would make it a felony if exposing a fetus or a child to a controlled substance or chemical substance causes serious physical injury to the child or fetus. Watson's bill carves out exceptions for legally administered prescription drugs.
Attempts at regulating immigration are also non-existent thus far. Besides a bill from Rep. Reecy Dickson, D-Macon, that authorizes a task force to study the role of immigrant communities in alleviating poverty, we haven't seen renewed attempts to impose strict show-your-papers kinds of immigration bills (at least not yet).
That said, there are a handful of gun bills.
U.S. Senate hopeful Chris McDaniel would prohibit state cooperation with any federal effort to ban firearms. Rep. Mark Formby, R-Picayune, has a similar bill in the House. Another proposal, from Rep. Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, makes certain exceptions to concealed-carry permits for gun and ammo-related companies.
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Syria Peace Talks: Hyped as Crucial, Downplayed
In nearly the same breath, the world's most powerful diplomats have talked about the importance of this week's peace conference on Syria and downplayed expectations for a breakthrough.
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State Victories Create Dilemma for Abortion Foes
Opponents who have chipped away at abortion with state-level restrictions are facing a dilemma in some of the places where they have been most successful: Do they continue with that …
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Biz Roundup
Monroe's, Brain Drain, Amada and Community Development
On Friday, Jan. 17, Monroe Jackson, owner of Monroe's Donuts and Bakery, officially opened a new location on the ground floor of downtown's Capital Towers.
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Halliburton Manager Gets Probation in Gulf Spill
A former Halliburton manager was sentenced Tuesday to one year of probation for destroying evidence in the aftermath of BP's massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Russia, Iran Criticize Tehran Snub for Syria Talks
Russia and Iran on Tuesday criticized the U.N. chief's decision to withdraw Tehran's invitation to join this week's peace conference on Syria, as diplomats said a new report on Syrian …
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State
Wives Resist Conjugal Visit Ban
Wives and family members of incarcerated men serving time in Mississippi prisons are urging state corrections officials to rethink the recent elimination of conjugal visits.
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National
Lawmakers Move to Restore Voting Rights Act
Four states—Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas—would again have to get approval from the Justice Department before making any changes in the way they hold elections under a bipartisan bill introduced …
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Breaking Down the Referendum Vote
By Tyler ClevelandThe numbers are in, and it looks like the soon-to-be-law, one-percent local option sales tax won in every precinct last Tuesday.
The results, which you can view here, show that the vote received the highest support in north Jackson, but enjoyed widespread support throughout the city's seven wards.
The four wards with the highest turnout went overwhelmingly for the measure. To wit:
- Ward 35, which votes at Spann Elementary School in Ward 1, voted 475-34 in favor of the tax.
- Ward 45, which votes at St. Philips Episcopal Church in Ward 1, voted 463-48 in favor of the tax.
- Ward 46, which votes at Christ United Methodist Church in Ward 1, voted 689-90 in favor of the tax.
- Ward 83, which votes at New Hope Baptist Church in Ward 2, voted 648-38 in favor of the tax.
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U.S. Officials: Iran Not Eligible for Syria Meet
Iran has still not met the criteria to participate in an upcoming international conference on Syria hosted by the United Nations, and its invitation to attend must be withdrawn unless …
