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First Witness Testifies in Gulf Oil Spill Trial
BP failed to implement a new safety plan on the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon drilling rig even though the company realized a blowout in the Gulf of Mexico was its greatest …
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Court Appears Conflicted Over DNA Sampling Issue
The Supreme Court on Tuesday struggled with what one of the justices called its most important criminal procedure case in decades, whether to let police take DNA without a warrant …
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Benedict to Be Called 'Emeritus Pope,' Wear White
Two pontiffs, both wearing white, both called "pope" and living a few yards from one another, with the same key aide serving them.
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Bipartisan Agreement on Need for More Farm Workers
Republicans and Democrats said Tuesday that farmers should be allowed to hire foreign workers more easily as Congress reworks U.S. immigration laws. But there was some disagreement on how it …
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Fiery Balloon Accident Kills 19 Tourists in Egypt
Nineteen people were killed Tuesday in what appeared to be the deadliest hot air ballooning accident on record. A British tourist and the Egyptian pilot, who was badly burned, were …
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City & County
Council Rejects Street-Repair Proposal
Mayor Harvey Johnson's biggest election-year project hit a dead end Monday when an overwhelming majority of the Jackson City Council's Budget Committee voted against a $10-million bond issue for street …
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Biz Roundup
Nissan, SBA Video Contest and New Legislation
Nissan and employees at the company's vehicle assembly plant in Canton pledged to contribute $354,400 to the United Way in 2013, beginning with a $25,000 donation to United Way of …
Entry
Stewart Mans Up, Apologizes to Molpus
By R.L. NaveIt takes a big man to admit he was wrong.
Last night, that big man was five-foot funnyman and Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who had a little fun at Mississippi's expense last week when the news broke the state never officially ratified the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.
In the bit, Stewart does what people who've never stepped a toe in Mississippi tend to do when talking about Mississippi, and lampooned the entire lot of state officials who were in charge when the Legislature ratified the amendment in 1995 -- I know, I know; we probably deserve that one -- as slavery-loving racists.
Among those officials was then-Secretary of State Dick Molpus, whose office was to oversee the handling of the official ratification paperwork. For reasons that remain unknown, the paperwork never made it to the federal archivist in Washington, D.C.
Stewart (or, more precisely, his comedy writers) implied that Molpus likely destroyed the documents -- you know, being the scheming white xenophobe that too many folks ignorantly presume every Mississippi politician to be.
But after getting a flurry of pushback from people who know Molpus, Stewart admitted last night that the show erred in using "Dick Molpus...as an avatar for racial bigotry, forgetting, perhaps that Dick Molpus is a real person with a real record on civil rights."
That record, as Stewart notes, includes apologizing in 1989 to the families of the murdered civil-rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. Despite the threats he received against his life, Molpus counts the apology as among his proudest moments.
In doing so, Stewart proved himself to be a class act (it was, after all, a bad week for satirists. See: The Onion debacle). And if any good came out of the whole thing, it's that the rest of America learned a little bit about the classy Dick Molpus and about Mississippi.
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Kerry Pushes Trans-Atlantic Free Trade in Germany
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pushed Tuesday for a free-trade agreement between the United States and Europe, saying it is a priority for President Barack Obama's second term that …
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New Talks On Iran Nuclear Program Offer Slim Hope
World powers began a new round of high-level talks with Iranian officials Tuesday, trying to find a way out of a yearslong tussle over Tehran's nuclear program and its feared …
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Email, Voicemail, Text, No Response. What Gives?
Technology is supposed to make us easier to reach, and often does. But the same modes of communication that have hooked us on the instant reply also can leave us …
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Koop, Who Transformed Surgeon General Post, Dies
With his striking beard and starched uniform, former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop became one of the most recognizable figures of the Reagan era—and one of the most unexpectedly …
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Jobless, Cities Could Be First to Feel Budget Pain
Jobless Americans who have been out of work for a long time and local governments that are paying off loans to fix roads and schools are in tough spots when …
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House Approves $6.9M Factory and Farm Tax Break
Factory operators, farmers and fishermen could stop paying sales taxes on electricity and fuel, under a state House proposal.
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In Budget Fight, Sky is Falling Again
An occasional look behind the rhetoric of political figures.
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High-Stakes Trial Begins Over 2010 Gulf Oil Spill
BP put profits ahead of safety and bears most of the blame for the disastrous 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a U.S. Justice Department attorney charged Monday at …
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Person of the Day
Roy Coleman
In 1976, Roy Coleman became the first black high-school quarterback to receive a scholarship at the University of Mississippi.
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Politics
Crisler, Norwood Vie for Senate Tomorrow
Because of Sen. Alice Harden's untimely death in December, the people of Mississippi's Senate District 28 have been without representation for two-thirds of the legislative session.
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Person of the Day
Lecrae Moore
Gospel artist Lecrae Moore, known for the song "Background," is coming to Jackson Tuesday night to perform at Jackson State University's Rose E. McCoy Auditorium.
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Events
Community Events and Public Meetings
The Jackson State University v. Alabama State University Basketball Games are Feb. 28, in the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Center.
