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Is Mississippi Rushing Executions?

The state of Mississippi is set to execute Joseph Daniel Burns on July 21, making Burns the third inmate executed this year. Attorney General Jim Hood asked the Mississippi Supreme …

Business

Plans for Tunica Hybrid Plant Move Forward

A start-up company that is seeking to build hybrid cars in Tunica County is moving forward after settling a lawsuit with a former business partner. According to court documents, Southaven-based …

Advocates Urge Canceling of Youth Prison Contract

Mississippi should cancel its contract with private prison company GEO Group, juvenile justice advocates said today. GEO Group, which operates the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility, is the subject of …

Tease photo Frank Melton

A-1 Pallet Files Suit

A little more than a year after Jackson Mayor Frank Melton began publicly calling for the demolition of the A-1 Pallet recycling plant on Mill Street, the company's owners are …

Tease photo Politics

Hosemann Distributes Disputed Sample Ballot, Hood Advises Against Its Use

The Associated Press is reporting that Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann distributed controversial sample ballots for November's general election to county election commissioners late Wednesday night. Three Mississippi Supreme Court …

Crime

Bodyguard's Attorney Wants DOJ Meeting

Also see: Full JFP Melton Blog/Archive/Trial

An attorney for former mayoral bodyguard Michael Recio has asked the Department of Justice to reconsider its prosecution of the Jackson police officer. In May, federal prosecutors will try for …

Education

Youth Justice Project Sues Hinds County Schools

The Mississippi Youth Justice Project filed a lawsuit today against the Hinds County School District, alleging that the district unlawfully targeted a student for expulsion. The student, identified in the …

Justice

School Board Violated Lesbian Student's Rights, Judge Says

A federal judge ruled today that the Itawamba County school board violated Constance McMillen's free speech rights when it canceled a prom after she asked permission to bring her girlfriend …

Crime

Out of Time

Once the drugs started to flow, it took only a minute for Benny Joe Stevens' lips to stop moving. He slipped out of consciousness, and soon his heart stopped.

Frank Melton

Melton and Recio to be Tried Together

A federal judge has denied the latest attempt to separate the civil rights trial of Mayor Frank Melton and his former bodyguard Michael Recio. In an order (PDF) filed today, …

Airing Abuse

When does sunshine become an invasion of privacy? Television station WDAM, an NBC affiliate in Hattiesburg, has what it says is video evidence of abuse at the Forrest County Juvenile …

Coal Plant Cost Painful

The Mississippi Public Service Commission is taking its time approving rate increases funding a $2.88 billion coal-burning plant already under construction in Kemper County.

Melton Objects To Gulf Coast Jury

Following a federal judge's decision yesterday to hold Mayor Frank Melton's retrial in Jackson, with a jury from the Gulf Coast, Melton has filed a motion to reconsider the ruling. …

Tease photo Politics

A ‘Brazen' Ballot Battle

Gov. Haley Barbour took the fight over a sample election ballot to the Mississippi Supreme Court on Friday.

Home & Garden

Death Row Prisoners Sue State

Read the complaint and supporting materials

Domestic Violence

Guilty Verdict in JSU Murder Trial

A Hinds County jury found Stanley Cole guilty of the murder of Latasha Norman this afternoon. Cole, 26, faces life in prison for killing Norman, his ex-girlfriend.

Candidate

‘Where the Glitch Is'

Bill Gowan wants to make his temporary post on the Hinds County Circuit Court more permanent. Currently serving as a special circuit judge, Gowan hears serious drug and violent-crime cases …

Candidate

Henry Clay

Henry C. Clay III has been a part-time judge for a long time. Clay, 52, has served as a Jackson municipal court judge for the past 16 years, while simultaneously …

Talk

Former Pathologist Sues Innocence Project

Former Mississippi medical examiner Steven Hayne is suing the Innocence Project for defamation. In a suit filed Oct. 28 with the Rankin County Circuit Court, Hayne claimed that the New …

Person of the Day

Johnny DuPree

Johnny DuPree wants to take Mississippi from last to first place in national rankings. DuPree, 57, the mayor of Hattiesburg, was the guest speaker today at the Jackson Chamber of …