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Cover
Good Ideas: Girl Power
If we continue to tell girls that it's not acceptable to be bossy, we are setting them up for failure. We are telling them it is not their place to …
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Stop the Execution of Michelle Byrom
Michelle Byrom is clearly not guilty of the crime for which the state plans to execute her next week.
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Crime
An Innocent Woman? Michelle Byrom vs. Mississippi
If Mississippi executes Michelle Byrom, now 57, she will be the first woman the state has put to death in 70 years. It may also be a horrible injustice.
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Editor's Note
Proud to Be the Boss
As a woman who became my own boss in no small part due to the sexism I encountered while working for other people, I know what lies ahead for many …
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Jim Hood Orders 2 Executions then Defends U.S. Human Rights in Geneva
By R.L. NaveLast week, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood was in Geneva, Switzerland representing the U.S. before the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
Hood, the only Democrat holding statewide office in Mississippi, serves as president-elect of the National Association of Attorneys General, and "responded to the committee’s questions concerning the death penalty, domestic violence, human trafficking, corporal punishment, zero tolerance in schools, life without parole for juvenile offenders, and reinstatement of voting rights for felons."
It would be interesting to know exactly what those questions, and Hood's responses, were. Especially considering that just a few weeks ago, Hood requested execution dates for two condemned Mississippi prisoners.
At Hood's request, Charles Ray Crawford and Michelle Byrom are scheduled to be put to death on March 26 and March 27, respectively.
Crawford was convicted of the 1993 killing of a college student named Kristy Ray in Tippah County.
Byrom was convicted of murder-for-hire in 1999 in connection with the death of her husband, Edward Byrom Sr. Even though big questions hang over Byrom's case, whose son wrote several letters confessing to the crime and that his mother did not participate in it, Hood moved ahead with planning her execution anyway.
Through a news statement, Hood said of his trip to human-rights mission to Geneva:
“It was indeed an honor to be one of the attorneys to defend America’s human rights record. ...It was rewarding to clarify many international misconceptions about Mississippi’s civil rights record and that of other states and our federal government.”
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Putin Signs Treaty, Adds Crimea to Map of Russia
With a sweep of his pen, President Vladimir Putin added Crimea to the map of Russia on Tuesday, describing the move as correcting past injustice and responding to what he …
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Crime
Heroin on the Rise in South Mississippi
Heroin, a deadly drug that plagues other areas of the nation, is on the rise in South Mississippi.
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Politics
'Religious Freedom,' School Voucher, Drug Testing Bills Pass on Big Deadline Day
Despite their best efforts to whip up enough votes for passage, supporters of the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA, proposal had to change course late Wednesday, just before …
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Does He Love Me?
Just as mental illness is a serious disease, so is alcoholism. The National Institutes of Health says most people who seek treatment are able to fight alcoholism.
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Judge's Order Preserves NSA Surveillance Records
A federal judge in San Francisco stopped the destruction of millions of telephone records collected by the National Security Agency more than five years ago.
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Senator: CIA Improperly Searched Computer Network
The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Tuesday the CIA improperly searched a stand-alone computer network established for Congress in its investigation of allegations of CIA abuse in a …
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In China, Brutality Yields Confessions of Graft
China's government is under strong pressure to fight rampant corruption in its ranks, faced with the anger of an increasingly prosperous, well-educated and Internet-savvy public. However, the party's methods for …
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U.S. Network to Scan Workers with Secret Clearances
U.S. intelligence officials are planning a sweeping system of electronic monitoring that would tap into government, financial and other databases to scan the behavior of many of the 5 million …
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U.S. Announces Visa Restrictions on Some Russians
The Obama administration slapped new visa restrictions Thursday on pro-Russian opponents of the new Ukraine government in Kiev and cleared the way for financial sanctions as the West began punishing …
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City & County
At Youth Jail, a Question of Progress
Two years after a federal consent decree and a lawsuit against the Hinds County Board of Supervisors over abuse that D.I. and other children say they suffered at the Hinds …
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City & County
The Lumumba Legacy: What Happens Now?
Chokwe Lumumba was the first to admit that he was a radical. He was never satisfied with the status quo. He became a lawyer for the express purpose of defending …
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Events
Community Meetings and Events
Sip & Shop Jackson: Fashion Show Edition is Saturday, March 8, from 1 p.m.-6 p.m. at Arts Center of Mississippi.
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Obama, Netanyahu to Meet on Iran, Mideast Peace
Seeking to keep a pair of delicate diplomatic efforts afloat, President Barack Obama will personally appeal for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move forward on peace talks with the …
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Justice
County, SPLC Disagree on Youth Jail Fixes
Hinds County officials and attorneys for children detained at the county's Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center are again at odds over how much improvement has taken place at the youth jail …
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Film
Oscarology 101
It's that time of year again, so let the parties begin! Yes, Mardi Gras is raging on, but I am specifically referring to the 86th Academy Awards. The Oscars, as …
