"Robert Shuler Smith" | Search | Jackson Free Press | Jackson, MS

All results / Stories

Tease photo Cover

Beating Weight Loss With the Blues

Everyone wants to lose weight, but few are willing to put in the work like Kiwana Thomas Gayden, who lost and kept off 40 pounds since 2013.

Tease photo Politics

Another Do-Nothing Legislature?

For the past four years, I have read almost every bill presented to the House and Senate, and most of them are complete and utter nonsense.

Tease photo Business

Enabling Employers to Help Disabled People

A Mississippi advocacy group wants some state agencies to give closer consideration to people with disabilities when it comes to hiring decisions.

Tease photo Editor's Note

More to Lose If I Don’t

On the no-frills DASH diet, I have given up nothing that matters to me; cutting back sodium has been the hardest, because it's in so much more than just the …

Tease photo LGBT

Running the Marriage-Equality Gauntlet

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' hearing on same-sex marriage included three cases from three different states—Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

Tease photo Crime

Supreme Court Gives Ex-Death Row Inmate Parole Chance

The Mississippi Supreme Court, in a decision Dec. 8, changed Frederick Bell's sentence for his 1993 conviction for capital murder to life in prison.

Tease photo Music

Ju Ju Swag Shawty

Every rapper wants fans to know how skilled he is, but few can back it up as confidently as Ju Ju Swag Shawty of Vicksburg.

LGBT

Miss. Same-Sex Marriage Fate Now With 5th Circuit

Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas are three very different places, arguments for throwing out each state's same-sex marriage bans—the subject of cases heard in a federal appeals court in New Orleans …

Tease photo LGBT

Analysis: 5th Circuit Could Surprise on Marriage Equality

Supporters of ending Mississippi's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage are understandably nervous about the future.

Tease photo Civil Rights

2 Men Plead Guilty in 2011 Racial Beatings in Mississippi

A multiyear federal investigation of the racially-motivated murder of 47-year-old auto plant worker James Craig Anderson ended Wednesday after a ninth and tenth person pleaded guilty to felony charges.

Tease photo State

Runnin’ the Blues Through the Veins of Jackson

It was only six years ago, in 2008, when John Sewell began working with others to put together a marathon that would celebrate the unique blues culture in Mississippi. This …

Tease photo Environment

Mississippi Knocks Federal Clean Air Regs

The Mississippi agency responsible for protecting the state's natural resources is pushing back against a proposed federal clean-power plan designed to reduce climate changing carbon pollution and improve citizens' health.

Tease photo Jacksonian

Sen. Hillman Frazier

Today, Sen. Hillman Frazier's office on the first floor of the Capitol is a shrine to his more than three decades in public service.

Tease photo City & County

Boosting Downtown’s Curb Appeal

In downtown Jackson, utility crews whacked off the tops of Bradford pear trees to prevent them from growing into power lines. Iron grates on Congress Street choke the growth of …

Tease photo Art

Comedy, Race and ‘Oh, Everything!’ Else

Poking fun at racial prejudice isn't the most obvious career choice, but comic W. Kamau Bell continues to do just that in his new tour, "Oh, Everything!", which makes a …

LGBT

Gay Marriage Ban Ends as Couples Wed Throughout Florida

Florida's ban on same-sex marriage ended statewide at the stroke of midnight Monday, and court clerks in some counties wasted no time, issuing marriage licenses and performing weddings for same-sex …

Civil Rights

Hearing Set for Men to Change Pleas in Miss. Racial Beatings

A change-of-plea hearing is scheduled for two men charged in a series of 2011 racial beatings that culminated in the death of a Jackson man.

National

More Women, Minorities in New Congress

The 114th Congress that convenes Tuesday will count more minorities and women than ever, although lawmakers remain overwhelmingly white and male in the Republican-controlled House and Senate.

Health Care

Report Prompts Mixed View of Health Care Sign-Ups

The first 50-state report on the latest sign-up season under President Barack Obama's health care law shows that more than 4 million people selected plans for the first time or …

Tease photo Music

Stepping off the ‘Front Porch’

Country music is a difficult genre of music to appraise. Most songs sound startlingly common, with similar or identical subjects and not much difference in how they're discussed.