Jackson Free Press

2011 Mississippi Legislative Preview

The Mississippi Legislature returned Jan. 4, and many legislators are not looking forward to the kind of cuts facing state departments. The Mississippi Department of Mental Health is looking at …

[Balko] How to Record the Cops

This summer the issue of recording on-duty police officers has received a great deal of media attention.

[Balko] Absolute Immunity on Trial

Bush's former solicitor general tries to roll back prosecutorial abuse.

Feds Backing Down

An allegedly unjust house of cards built by the Bush administration and the U.S. Department of Justice, detailed in a Jackson Free Press cover story last week, seems to be …

Did State Mismanage Stimulus Funds?

A Jackson company is alleging in Hinds County Chancery Court that the state mismanaged $3.75 million in federal stimulus funds by passing over the lowest and best bidder for a …

BREAKING: Mississippi Minority Contractors Sue Toyota

[Verbatim statement tonight:] Jackson, MS (March 31, 2009). Jackie Williams and Renna Fisher, African American principals of Fish & Fisher, a ten-year old construction company, have filed a civil racial …

Community Events and Public Meetings

8:30 a.m., MINCAP Business Session, at Jackson Medical Mall (350 W. Woodrow Wilson Ave.). The group will meet in the Community Meeting Room. Open to the public. Call 601-982-8467.

A Walk In The Sunshine

In Mississippi, two laws govern public records and meetings—the Public Records Act and the Public Meetings Act. These acts make clear the obligation of all levels of government, whether state, …

Is State Executing a Mentally Ill Man?

Hart Turner's mind seems to have broken Dec. 12, 1995. After two failed suicide attempts, a half-dozen stays in mental institutions and years of mental and physical abuse, Turner shot …

Clarion-Ledger Lifts Ladd Out of Context

It's remarkable, really, to see how other journalists (or editors) work. Chris Joyner and I had a good talk about public records yesterday—and I made it clear to him repeatedly …

SOS Announces ‘Voter-Verified Paper Trail'

It seems the secretary of state's office is trying to respond to concerns about the new voting machines such as the JFP reported more than a month ago:

Is UMMC Mississippi Products' Unnamed Contractor?

Records indicate that the University of Mississippi Medical Center may be the mystery contractor Jonathan Lee won't name.

U.S. Spy Programs Raise Ire Both Home and Abroad

The Obama administration faced fresh anger Monday at home and abroad over U.S. spy programs that track phone and Internet messages around the world in the hope of thwarting terrorist …

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Proposed Settlement Between Goliath and Jackson

City Makes Letter to Ledger Public

Letters to the Editor

This (so-far-unpublished) letter to the editor of The Clarion-Ledger about an Eric Stringfellow column came around this week in the mayor's weekly newsletter: [verbatim from here]The letter below is from …

Teacher Pay, Prison Reform, Horn Lake Dem Tentative Winners So Far

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann began the process of raising teacher pay on Thursday, Jan. 30. Senate Bill 2001 proposes a $1,000 raise for all public-school teachers in the state. The …

Trump Has Taken Few Steps to Disentangle from Private Empire

President-elect Donald Trump pledged to step away from his family-owned international real estate development, property management and licensing business before taking office Jan. 20. With less than two weeks until …

Enough Teeth in the Campaign-finance Bill?

Lawmakers would no longer be able to use campaign finances to pay for personal cars, new suits, health clubs or slush funds once they leave office if House Speaker Philip …

Mississippi’s Mid-Term Exam: Grading the Neshoba County Fair

The Neshoba County Fair is a lot like a mid-term exam: a time for students, or in our case politicians, to show how much they learned about the content of …

The Right to Pre-Trial Justice for All?

Scott County law enforcement officers arrested Joshua Bassett on Jan. 3, 2014, under a warrant for grand larceny and possession of meth. Bassett could not know then that he would …