Jackson Free Press

Roadmap to Longevity

Collective Soul makes a fairly straightforward promise to its fans: to deliver loud, catchy rock 'n' roll music. The hard guitar riffs and charging vocals are a perfect fit for …

Crawfish Boil Encore Predictions

The tradition of playing your "last song" and retreating backstage while the audience chants, "One more song!"—only to emerge again triumphantly—is de rigueur in rock. While they may not have …

Council Questions High Pay

The city council questioned an extra $35,000 that City Attorney Sarah O'Reilly stands to make on two Tax Increment Financing deals the council approved last week. The council also discussed …

Analysis: Passion Ruled In Melton Trial

Photos by Jaro Vacek

On April 26, a Hinds County jury acquitted Mayor Frank Melton and Dets. Michael Recio and Marcus Wright of all 11 charges they collectively faced for demolishing a duplex at …

Fight or Fight

It's an odd world where Councilman Kenny Stokes is standing with FOX News celebrities who care more about profiling young blacks than protecting citizens' rights. But in the aftermath of …

[Kamikaze] The Real World, Jackson

This probably isn't the best time for "I told ya so's." But … I told ya so.

City Web Site Needs Help

I've tried to stay off the "city's website sux" bandwagon for as long as possible because (a.) I know firsthand that it's a pain in the arse to design and …

‘Citizen Bloggers' Get Busy at the Ledge

I need some room to rant. Have you seen this crap?

I am just now discovering the CL's "Citizen Bloggers"

The Abstinence-Only Delusion

The New York Times is calling for Congress to either drop ill-fated abstinence-only education funding, or expand it to include safe-sex messages, which studies are showing do actually help lower …

"Wake Up Jackson" Campaign

Go here and help us let our local government know that no one is above the law.

Where Will Willis Go In Draft?

The NFL will hold its 2007 draft on Saturday at high noon in New York (11 a.m. in Jacktown). ESPN and the NFL Network will televise the proceedings. Ole Miss …

The Folks Are Coming

A JFP reader commented on our Web site Tuesday that it is a very different world in which citizens can watch live feeds of a trial on WAPT's Web site …

Day 4: Not Guilty On All Counts

Mayor Frank Melton and his police bodyguards, Marcus Wright and Michael Recio, were found not guilty on all counts. When court was recessed, it exploded in applause, with members of …

AG says Barbour's Veto 'Unconstitutional'

Gov. Haley Barbour cannot legally make a line-item veto on million of dollars in spending on at-risk youth programs, Attorney General Jim Hood said today. "Barbour's misguided and illegal attempt …

Day 4: Melton Trial Goes to Jury

Reporting by Brian Johnson

Today's proceedings in the trial of Mayor Frank Melton and police officers Marcus Wright and Michael Recio began at 8:30 a.m., with the judge and attorneys for both side discussing …

Not an Easy Subject

Her mother and three sisters died of breast cancer, yet Nancy Lewis of Canton refused for years to have a mammogram. "I really wouldn't want to know," said Lewis, when …

Day 4: Dr. Ellen Melton in Front Row

Photo: Dr. Ellen Melton leaves the courtroom after closing arguments today with city employee Stephanie Parker-Weaver (left). Melton, the wife of the mayor, lives in Texas. Photo by Jaro Vacek. …

[Greenstyle] Sympathetic Activism

Mary Jane Butters, owner of Mary Janes Farm Inc., recently visited Jackson to promote her line of organic bedding at Belk. Butters' company produces organic food, organic textiles, books, magazines, …

‘Major Extortion'?

Photos by Brian Johnson & Darren Schwindaman

Council members Marshand Crisler, Ben Allen and Margaret Barrett-Simon told the Jackson Free Press Monday that city Chief of Staff Marcus Ward threatened Jackson School Board member Jonathan Larkin's re-appointment …

Tearin' Up Virden: The Melton Trial

It began while they were watching the newest version of "Walking Tall" starring the Rock, witness Lawrence Cooper Jr. said during the first day of testimony in the felony trial …