Jackson Free Press

Today, Sept. 3 is gearing up to be quite a day for the Jackson arts community. Fondren's First Thursday begins at 11 a.m., and other artist and businesses will have cool events tonight. Here's some of what to look for.

Power & Light Press Pop-up Shop at Thimblepress While this isn't in Fondren, it's still a pretty cool event. Kyle Durrie, who owns Power and Light Press in Silver City, N.M., combines her craft with pop culture and humor. From 5 to 8 p.m., she will be at Thimblepress (113 N. State St.). Deep South Pops will sell popsicles outside on the business' vintage truck, and other refreshments and drinks will be available. For more information, visit powerandlightpress.com or thimblepress.com, find the event on Facebook.

The Fourth Annual Cedars Juried Art Show Along with Jan and Lawrence Snow and Butler Snow, the Fondren Renaissance Foundation hosts the fourth annual The Cedars Juried Art Show. This year's guest juror is Myrna Colley-Lee. The 80 selected works represent 64 artists from 20 cities in Mississippi. Some of the Jackson artists include Jonathan Berry, Theresa Haygood, Elizabeth Robinson, Jasmine Cole and William Patterson. The event is from 5 to 8 p.m., at The Cedars in Fondren (4145 Old Canton Road). The exhibit will hang through Sept. 30. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. For more information, find the event on Facebook or visit fondren.org.

The Wonder Lab open house Fondren creative incubator The Wonder Lab has its open house tonight at Fondren's First Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. For more information, find The Wonder Lab (2906 N. State St., Suite B-8) on Facebook. To see a gallery of The Wonder Lab during its renovations, see the Jackson Free Press' gallery.

Fondren's First Thursday after party at Soul Wired Cafe After the fun on Fondren's First Thursday, Soul Wired Cafe in midtown (111 Millsaps Ave.) will have an after party beginning at 10 p.m. The event is $1. For more information, find the event on Facebook.

For more information on Fondren's First Thursday, find the event on Facebook or visit fft.city.

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The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board unanimously approved an application for two new charter schools to open in Jackson. RePublic Schools Inc. will run both schools: Joel D. Smilow Collegiate and Joel D. Smilow Prep. RePublic Schools Inc. is the charter management organization that opened one of the first charter schools in Mississippi this year, Reimagine Prep.

Smilow Collegiate will be serve grades K-8, and Smilow Prep will serve grades 5-8. The schools will grow by a grade level each year until they reach 8th grade. The two charter schools will be located on the same campus at Northside Drive on the old campus of Wesley Biblical Seminary. By 2023, both schools could have an enrollment of 1600 students.

The two charters will have to pass all of the requirements and inspections as prescribed by Mississippi's charter school law of the board before officially opening. Any student within the Jackson Public Schools district will be welcome to apply, and applications will go into a lottery only if the number of applications received exceeds the number of slots available.

Dan Aykroyd, best known for his work as a ghostbuster, Canadian vodka mogul, and supporter of outgoing Sheriff Tyrone Lewis, still wants to help end gun violence in Hinds County.

Aykroyd, whom Lewis deputized into the reserves last year and hit the campaign trail for Lewis earlier this year, made a plea on his Facebook page yesterday:

"Congratulations to the new Sheriff Elect for Hinds County Mississippi. When he persuades enough Supervisors to alter the by-laws so that 'Gas for Guns' can proceed then I'll free up my $10,000 but not until it's perfectly legal as per stipulations pointed out by state Representative Gibson (sic). I believe this initiative and more like it are essential in a state where gun violence exceeds most of that in the entire Western world. I believe in the future of Hinds County."

As a point of clarification, Victor Mason, who defeated Lewis in August still has to get by Les Tannehill to be the sheriff for real for real.

But the stipulations Aykroyd is referring to came a few months ago when Rep. Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, and chairman of a House judiciary committee, put the kibosh on a plan for Aykroyd to provide $10,000 in gasoline gift cards in exchange for guns. Gipson intervened, issuing a statement saying that gun buyback programs are illegal. In 2014, after a few years of trying, the Legislature passed a bill outlawing gun buyback programs.

"I think it's a dangerous thing," Gipson, who sponsored the 2014 bill, told WLBT last year. "As we have seen in other states, it has the potential for corruption, the potential to increase crimes with stolen guns to be brought in. That's the reason we have the law."

It was a bill that legislators like Gipson and Rep. Gary Chism, R-Columbus, chairman on the House Insurance Committee, filed that the National Rifle Association has pushed for years. The JFP reported when the bill was going through the legislative process:

Doug Bowser, president of the Mississippi chapter of the NRA, told the JFP in 2012 that such programs are a "swindle" and "a feel-good thing" that do little to deter violent crime.

"I think the worst part is that people bring in unserviceable guns, and they get money for them," Bowser said. Bowser said he believes local governments should put more resources on imposing harsher penalties on criminals.

The 2010 report "Trace the Guns: The Link Between Gun Laws and Interstate Trafficking" determined that Mississippi supplied 50 out-of-state "crime guns" per 100,000 residents--triple the national average of 14.1.

In 2011, the NRA has also weighed in against a proposal for a pilot gun buyback program in Delaware in a statement at the time: "This legislation is nothing more then an expensive solution in search of a problem.

"While proponents of this bill claim it will reduce crime in Delaware, it will only serve as another drain on taxpayer money that could be better used by police to …