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World

10 Things to Know for Wednesday

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and stories that will be talked about on Wednesday.

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National

Airports and Stock Exchange Reopen; NJ Devastated

Two major airports reopened and the floor of the New York Stock Exchange came back to life Wednesday, while across the river in New Jersey, National Guardsmen rushed to rescue …

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National

Obama to Visit Storm Victims as Campaign Rolls On

President Barack Obama put campaign battleground travel on hold to tour the ravaged New Jersey coast Wednesday, while down-to-the-wire campaigning resumed in swing state Florida that is critical to Republican …

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City & County

In Reversal, Jackson School Board Takes State Pact

Agreement gives the state Department of Education substantial control over Jackson's special-education programs.

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Business

Stocks Open Higher After Historic 2-Day Close

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has rung Wall Street back to business.

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National

Congressional Contest Roundup—Mississippi

In addition to the President election, there are several candidates campaigning for the Senate.

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October 30, 2012 | 2 comments

Of Jeep Lies and FEMA Dodges: Is Romney Losing Cohesion?

By Donna Ladd

OK, we all know that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have taken presidential campaign dishonesty to a place we've seldom, if ever, seen. They don't just twist the truth as is common in politics, but they just make bald-faced statements over and over again, including in TV ads, that are easy to factcheck as outright lies.

For example: Both of them saying repeatedly before their convention that President Obama had weakened the welfare work rules; wasn't true. Ryan swearing up and down that he did not vote for the sequester when his signature is on the bill. Romney telling the nation in the first debate that his health-care plan covers pre-existing conditions, forcing his adviser to tell media right afterward that it doesn't. Or in the same debate, telling the nation that his plan did not include cutting everyone's taxes 20 percent (including the wealthy) even though he has said it for months in primary debates and TV interviews.

But this week, both media and car industry executives are in near shock that his Ohios ads keep claiming that Jeep is moving production to China (and blaming Obama for it). It is as bald-faced of a lie as one can tell and is causing panic among Chrysler employees and residents of states where jobs would be lost. And it's a lie that touches, and scares, real hard-working people.

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne wrote an email to employees assuring them the accusation is "inaccurate." He wrote:

“I feel obliged to unambiguously restate our position: Jeep production will not be moved from the United States to China. It is inaccurate to suggest anything different.”

He added that Jeep is growing in the U.S.:

North American production is critical to achieving our goal of selling 800,000 Jeep vehicles by 2014. In fact, U.S. production of our Jeep models has nearly tripled (it is expected to be up 185%) since 2009 in order to keep up with global demand. [...]

Jeep is one of our truly global brands with uniquely American roots. This will never change. So much so that we committed that the iconic Wrangler nameplate, currently produced in our Toledo, Ohio plant, will never see full production outside the United States.

Jeep assembly lines will remain in operation in the United States and will constitute the backbone of the brand.

It is inaccurate to suggest anything different.

Read whole email reprinted here. Great stuff

Now, GM is refuting the lie as well:

We've clearly entered some parallel universe during these last few days,” GM spokesman Greg Martin said. “No amount of campaign politics at its cynical worst will diminish our record of creating jobs in the U.S. and repatriating profits back to this country.”

But even under this intense scrutiny about the Jeep lie, Romney keeps telling it. Here's a radio ad his campaign released this afternoon:

What is going on here? Is he a pathological …

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City Moving into Metrocenter

The city will begin moving employees into Metrocenter Mall this week.

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World

French Government Gets Anti-Sexism Lessons

French government ministers will be given anti-sexism lessons, in the wake of one minister's comments suggesting women couldn't handle technical work.

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National

Candidates Look for Right Time to Resume Campaign

The presidential candidates searched for the right moment to get back to politicking after superstorm Sandy's destructive interruption, with President Barack Obama monitoring relief efforts and Republican Mitt Romney struggling …

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Politics

Sandy Disrupts Presidential Campaign; Candidates Look For Right Tone For Final Week

Suddenly, after drifting through months of confusing finger-pointing and iffy economic theory, the presidential candidates are getting walloped by an all-too-tangible October surprise. Superstorm Sandy is a real-world, gut-level test.

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Hurricane

The East Coast Wakes Up, Surveys Damage From Hurricane Sandy As Storm Continues Inland

Millions of people from Maine to the Carolinas awoke Tuesday without power, and an eerily quiet New York City was all but closed off by car, train and air as …

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Tease photo Hurricane

Mammoth Storm Shutters NYC, Sends Crane Dangling

The threat of an 11-foot wall of water prompted officials to close the mass transit system and consider cutting power to Wall Street and all of lower Manhattan to avoid …

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City & County

Jackson Issues Precautionary Water Conservation Notice for South of I-20

This is only for those residents who are served by the surface water system. Those customers on the well water system are not affected.

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October 29, 2012

Halloween Company Uses Sexual Ads for Children's Costumes

By Jacob Fuller

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2012/oct/29/9091/

Spirit Halloween, owned by ACON Investments, is running ads for costumes the company labels for teens and tweens with sexual references and innuendo.

The Mississippi State Chapter of the National Organization for Women, a liberal feminist group, and Concerned Women for America, a conservative group, are two organizations that rarely see eye-to-eye. Spirit Halloween's advertisements, which blatantly market sex to underage girls, have given the groups a common enemy to fight.

One advertisement for a "Rag Doll Teen Costume" finished with the lines: "you are all grown up now, so why not find out if big boys like to play with dolls!"

Spirit Halloween responded to a campaign on Twitter and Change.org by removing most of the sexual references in their teen and preteen costume descriptions. Many parents are still boycotting the company, though, because they still sell many costumes for minors which feature short skirts, low-cut tops and long stockings, which the women at NOW think are too sexual for young girls.

“Although Spirit changed the shocking sexual content in many of their kids’ costume ads in response to a Twitter campaign by outraged parents and consumers, the issue still remains that Spirit Halloween and its owner, ACON Investments have refused to pull their totally inappropriate sexualized children’s costumes off the market. They are marketing extremely revealing, short, tight-fitting dresses and skirts to our children – many of their kids costumes look like adult fantasy sex costumes. This is not about adult women's choices to wear sexy costumes, this is about Spirit Halloween and ACON marketing sexualized costumes to girls as young as 9 and 13 years old – they are offering sickening and horrible costume choices for children that parents don’t want,” Miss. Now president Laurie Roberts stated in a press release.

You can see the advertisements with the sexual innuendo here: Spirit Halloween

You can also sign the petition to boycott Spirit Halloween here: Change.org

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Tease photo Politics

Brad Morris: Poised for a Dem Upset?

Of Mississippi's three congressional districts represented by Republicans, Democrats' best hope of wresting away one seat might lie with Brad Morris in the 1st Congressional District.

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Tease photo Civil Rights

Living Apart: How the Government Betrayed a Landmark Civil Rights Law

A few months after Congress passed a landmark law directing the federal government to dismantle segregation in the nation's housing, President Nixon's housing chief began plotting a stealth campaign.

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Group of the Day: The Women's Fund of Mississippi

With women's issues taking center stage in much of this election season and the rhetoric surrounding them enough to make a female sick, it is nice to see women celebrating …

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Tease photo Events

Community Events and Public Meetings

Crisis Prevention Community Informational meets this evening from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at Eudora Welty Library. Topics include domestic violence and victimization.