Jackson Free Press

Why Foreign Businesses Dig Mississippi

The state of Mississippi currently has 30,231 businesses that count as foreign-owned, or are owned by corporations, LLCs, unlimited liability partners or other business organizations. The list includes companies such …

Ramsey Cartoon Shades of Schwindaman

We appreciate the compliment, Marshall, but a note of appreciation would have sufficed.

Well, I guess this is a compliment to the JFP's editorial cartoonist, Darren Schwindaman. Today's Marshall Ramsey cartoon copies Darren's cartoon of two weeks ago almost directly, except using Joe …

Pat Fordice has died.

I'm waiting for more info, but I just saw the announcement on WJTV. I'll get back to you.

UPDATE: WJTV Link

Lunacy: Tea Party Wants to Scrub Slavery History from Textbooks

It was bad enough when Gov. Haley Barbour tried to pretend the Citizens Council were the good guys. It's bad enough when people go around saying that the Civil War …

Horse Race Politics—Whose Fault?

OK, here's a riddle: Why would political candidates talk about issues when the medium reporting them (the media) won't report them in any detail? The Clarion-Ledger today had a report …

Calling Out the Guard

Note: The print edition erroneously lists Donna Ladd as the author of this piece.

Sheriff: Rankin County Work-Release Program Is Not ‘Convict Leasing,’ A Vestige of Slavery

ACLU-MS Deputy Director Alicia N. Netterville said that the first iteration of House Bill 747 effectively functioned as convict-leasing by another name.

Bold New Party?

<b>New Dem Head Wayne Dowdy on Faux Elephants and Young Voters

It's hard to get past Wayne Dowdy's name. Through no fault of his own, the new head of the Mississippi Democratic Party—a Millsaps grad, a grandfather and a U.S. congressman …

‘Confederacy of Dunces'

Salon's Joan Walsh reports that Howard Dean's critics have it wrong: "Does anyone really believe that former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was borrowing a playbook from the GOP and telegraphing …

Higher Ground

Amid all the bellowing anger and finger-pointing and insults and threats to shove tennis balls you-know-where, last week I was fortunate enough to participate in something remarkable in downtown Jackson.

Dems Lick Wounds, Prep for Battle

Mississippi Republicans are still painting the state red in celebration of the party's recent electoral successes. The GOP is maintaining control of the governor's mansion, the lieutenant governorship, the state …

Self Defense or Murder?

Edna Mae Sanders first met former Navy Seal Sherman Sanders at a Baton Rouge party in March 2005. She gave him her phone number, and it wasn't long before he …

No Laughing Matter

Fat is funny, right? John Candy, John Belushi, Rodney Dangerfield, John Goodman—all funny fat guys.

[Mott] The Cost of Executions

Quitman County, Miss., population 10,500, raised taxes for three years and borrowed $150,000 to provide legal counsel to Robert Simon and Anthony Carr, sentenced to death for the 1990 murders …

Copy-Cat Immigrant Law Costly

Jackson City Attorney Pieter Teeuwissen said he was confident that the city could be exposed to considerable legal liability if legislators pass a bill mimicking a controversial Arizona law, which …

No Favoritism Here

Mayor Frank Melton's home street of Riverwood Drive, in north Jackson, is getting repaved this week, just a few weeks after a reporter pointed out a pothole to the mayor …

Hood Says Power Companies Forced PSC Shutdown

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and power industry watchdogs suspect power companies shut down a state regulating agency expressly to remove a new means of regulation from the table.

Childers on GOP Hit List

The National Republican Congressional Committee is campaigning early this season. The NRCC identified 70 Democrats to target for the 2010 election, according to an email obtained by Washington political periodical …

Republicans Choose Sides In Bailout

The Jackson NAACP, the Mississippi AFL-CIO and supporting organizations protested Mississippi Republican senators' opposition to a bailout bill for General Motors and Chrysler at the State Capitol on Tuesday.

Feds to Slash School Funding?

Federal mandates connected to the "No Child Left Behind Act," signed by President George Bush in 2002, demand that Mississippi improve its school test scores or face losing federal money …