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[Head] Legislation Promotes Dangerous Abortions
Last Wednesday, the Mississippi State Senate passed SB 2795. Promoted as a simple ban on abortion, the legislation actually takes a far more novel and dangerous approach. The right of …
Keep Up the Reform Momentum
Former Gov. Haley Barbour's unprecedented spate of last-minute pardons brought numerous issues regarding some of Mississippi's antiquated customs into the glaring light of national media attention.
Spreading False Fears
Women are stupid. At least that's what the National Independent Women's Forum seems to believe. This week the Republican-leaning non-profit advocacy group aired a television ad with inaccurate information about …
[Balko] The Case for Bifurcated Trials
In July, the Texas Forensic Science Commission found that arson investigators used flawed science in the trial of Cameron Todd Willingham. Willingham was convicted of setting a 1999 fire that …
Listen Up, Hospitals
Mary Jo went to the hospital recently and received a bill for more than $15,000. She was uninsured and unable to pay more than about $20 per week. It would …
Stop the City Council Game-Playing
Here we go again. When the Jackson Free Press started 10 years ago, the City Council members from Ward 1 (Ben Allen) and Ward 3 (Kenneth Stokes) were constantly at …
Only the Best Will Do
I grew up thinking I lived in the worst state in the country. I wasn't alone: I was surrounded by people with a collective inferiority complex—especially the ones who protested …
[Balko] Ignorance of the Law is No Excuse
"Ignorance of the law is no excuse." That's the standard line motorists hear when they say they weren't aware of the speed limit, or gun owners hear when they say …
A Long, Long Road
"Donna, you know what? I run Jackson," declared Mayor Frank Melton, scrunching his face up into one of his trademark snickers that are cute and creepy at the same time. …
[Balko] The Police Blackout
Last November along the roadside of Richmond Highway, a major thoroughfare in Fairfax County, Va., a police officer shot and killed David Masters, an unarmed motorist, as he sat in …
[Chick] Hands Off My ‘You Know'
As Eve Ensler, author of "The Vagina Monologues," would say, I come from "down there" people. Actually, I come from "you know" people. That was our whispered code for vagina, …
[Fleming] Told You Lott Would Quit
I hate to say I told you so … but I did.
Dating the Candyman
After exploring Beijing's Chaoyang district for much of the afternoon, my boyfriend JP and I escaped the heat of the July sun, ducking into a Starbucks. The three stories of …
[Stiggers] Black Gold
Mr. Announcement: "In the ghetto criminal justice system, the people are represented by two members of the McBride family: police officer and part-time security guard at the Funky Ghetto Mall, …
[Hendry] Crash
At first all I heard was a crash. I looked up and saw a young woman carrying a child. I saw the Kroger grocery buggy's contents going in her direction, …
[Balko] Justice Stevens' Mixed Record on Civil Liberties
Many hail retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens as a champion of the accused. Stevens, The New York Times editorial board opined, has a "record of being on the …
Crossing Gallatin
So the JFP celebrated its fifth birthday a couple of weeks ago. I have long exercised the privilege of celebrating my birthweek and birthmonth, rather than just a flimsy day, …
[Hightower] Inescapable TV Ads
I yearn for the good ol' days when a TV was a device under my control. It sat quietly in my home, doing nothing until I beckoned it to perform. …
[Queen] A Woman's Worth
My mother and I have been extremely close since my father passed, but it took some time to obtain the relationship we have today. The first couple of years after …
Hello, Neighbor
On a recent visit to Oktoc, Miss., my aunt showed me a relic from my family's past. If this archaic machine could talk, it would tell stories about a community …
