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JFP Interviews
Bailey: Energy Security and Diversity Vital
When listening to Brent Bailey extol the virtues of alternative energy, biofuels and improved efficiency standards, it's easy to forget that he's a Republican running for the Mississippi Public Service …
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Theater
Do the Time Warp
For the Oct. 1 Fondren's First Thursday, you may have noticed Fondren Theatre Workshop players dressed in black 50s-style clothes, singing and dancing on Salsa Mississippi's portable dance floor.
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Diy Guides
Happy DIY Halloween
In recent weeks, it's occurred to me that since I now live on my own, I can decorate for every holiday I want. For me, that means Halloween.
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Civil Rights
Remembering the Ladies, Black and White
"Wherever there is a racial issue, there's a gender issue," said Anita Hill, keynote speaker at the Mississippi Women's Economic Security Policy Summit, held Oct. 10.
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Humanist Group Says Rankin County School District Violated Establishment Clause (Again)
By adreherThe Rankin County School District is under fire for one teacher's disparaging comments against atheism. The American Humanist Association's legal center sent the district a letter on Tuesday detailing a complaint from a student and her parent that said the student's history teacher, who is also a pastor at a Baptist Church, has made several jabs at atheism in comments made in class throughout the year.
Northwest Rankin High School, where this history teacher teaches, has had trouble with the First Amendment before. A few months ago, the district came to a settlement with a former student who sued and won after she was forced to attend a blatantly Christian assembly during school hours.
The letter is not a lawsuit, but it asks the district to comply with the Establishment Clause and provide written notices to all faculty reminding them to not make remarks "promoting religion and disparaging atheism." The American Humanist Association has asked for a response from the district within a week. The seven-page letter details parts of the Constitution and legal history that could be argued to prove the teacher's comments unconstitutional.
Monica Miller, an attorney at the association's legal center wrote, "Good faith is not a defense to contempt and you are court-ordered to ensure that your employees are complying with the Consent Decree and Establishment Clause."
The American Humanist Association provided counsel to Magdalene Bedi, the Northwest Rankin High School student who sued and won after being forced to attend a Christian assembly in 2013. The district must pay damages to Bedi for additional violations since they violated two consent decrees after she filed her original lawsuit.
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Business
Downtown Y Dropping Basketball, Raising Funds to Stay Alive
Jackson's downtown YMCA is undertaking a life-saving effort involving major renovations, reinvestment, and downsizing of the facility's financially draining programs and activities.
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Biz Roundup
Hello Fondren Fro-Yo, Tom Ramsey's Next Move and School of Music
La Finestra's lease recently ran out, and owner Tom Ramsey has chosen not to renew it. The restaurant will serve its final meal on Sunday, Oct. 18.
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Hillary Clinton Slams Trump in Front of His Casino
Hillary Rodham Clinton went to Donald Trump's doorstep Monday to mock the Republican presidential front-runner on the eve of the first Democratic presidential debate.
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Iran's Parliament Approves on Nuclear Deal with World Powers
Iran's parliament voted on Tuesday to support implementing the nuclear deal it struck with world powers, sending the measure to a council of senior clerics for who will review the …
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Planned Parenthood to Forgo Payment in Fetal Tissue Programs
Responding to a furor over undercover videos, Planned Parenthood says it will maintain programs at some of its clinics that make fetal tissue available for research, but will no longer …
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City & County
Hundreds Rally Against Confederate Sign on Mississippi Flag
Civil-rights leader Myrlie Evers-Williams, Mississippi-born rapper David Banner and a prominent South Carolina lawmaker are calling on Mississippi to remove the Confederate battle emblem from its state flag.
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Art
Richard Grant
In his latest work, "Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta", Richard Grant delves into a region that's foreign but not at all far away.
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Monument to Honor King Planned for Georgia's Stone Mountain
Planning is underway to place a Liberty Bell replica atop Stone Mountain near Atlanta as a memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that recalls a famous line from …
Photo gallery
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Initiative 42 Supporters Outraising Opponents
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The most expensive ballot initiative campaign in Mississippi history got costlier in September, as supporters of the Initiative 42 education funding measure continued to outraise opponents.
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Education
Web of National, State PACs and PICs Fight Initiative 42
As the November election draws near, large political advocacy groups and Republican donor’s dollars are pouring into anti-Initiative 42 Political Initiative Committees (PICs), mainly the KidsFirst and Improve Mississippi committees. …
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Proposal Could Make Evers Home Part of National Park Service
Republican senators Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker said Friday they've filed a bill that would authorize a study on the national significance of the Evers home, as a step toward …
