Jackson Free Press

Charles King

Charles King is the president and a co-founder of Housing Works Inc., a non-profit organization that provides a full range of services for homeless men, women and children living with …

‘Destroyed' By The Curfew

Mayor Frank Melton announced Sept. 9 that the emergency curfew issued for the city of Jackson—a curfew that some city officials called "unenforceable"—in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina had been …

The City vs. The Cops

Last week, the Jackson City Council voted to pay a $34,487 settlement in a suit against a Jackson police officer accused of handcuffing a man before banging and grinding his …

When Love Hurts

A woman comes home after work, her stomach in knots. She is afraid her husband has been drinking and may be in a bad mood. "I hope I don't say …

Allstate v. Melton

On Aug. 22, Jackson Mayor Frank Melton admitted to Lauderdale County Circuit Court Judge Robert Bailey that he had lied for more than two years about sending a debunked Mississippi …

The New Well

Graphic courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy

The U.S. Department of Energy is considering Richton, Miss., as a location for the newest expansion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The reserve, established in 1975 to protect the …

Mary Grace Brown of Mardi Gras

Jackson has set big goals to renovate downtown. Lots of private business people have been getting in on the ground floor of some very exciting downtown developments. Mary Grace Brown, …

‘It Is A New Day'

Under the hottest sun of the week, hundreds of college students from all over the state united as one entity for the sake of principle, on Oct. 6, the first …

Dancing Like It's 1984

Developers say the city may have put a project to fund renovations at the dilapidated King Edward Hotel at risk by lingering too long on an application for a HUD …

Priest Victims Win Victory

The Mississippi Supreme Court last week struck down an argument by the Catholic Diocese of Jackson that the First Amendment protected it from being sued for the cover-up of sexual …

A ‘Livable' Retreat

On Monday, April 12, the JFP revealed on our Web site the fact that Jackson had been named one of the "most livable places" by Partners for Livable Communities (http://www.livable.com). …

[State Report] Coast Park Open to Drilling?

Tempers are rising in the concerted efforts to open the Mississippi Barrier Islands to gas drilling. An emergency military spending and tsunami relief bill recently signed by the Bush administration …

Unions: Watch Your Politicians

In 1948, America stepped out of a world war with an economy still glowing from the explosive heat and an emerging middle class that promised great things for the world. …

Sound and Fury

With all the talk about boycotts and protests against Richard Barrett's white-supremacist booth at the Mississippi State Fair, it was his own guest Edgar Ray Killen who stopped the plan …

Dealing With The Bad Guys

Precinct 4 COPS meetings have proved a reliable format for city figures to meet with concerned residents and discuss problems facing the community, particularly infrastructure and crime issues. The Aug. …

Justice Overdue

In 1964, three civil rights workers—James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman—were murdered in Neshoba County by a mob of Klansmen and buried 15 feet underground. Their bodies were found …

Three Houses Divided

It was as if State Rep. Charles Young, D-Meridian, had conjured it all up: this meeting, for the first time, of Mississippi's three houses of education: K-12, Community and Junior …

Score (Another) One for Big Business

The only bill to survive the Labor Committee, chaired by Rep. Harvey Moss, D-Alcorn, is one that benefits big business rather than workers. The lone bill, SB 2480, would lower …

Leave My Kids Alone

Early the morning of Sept. 2, a mother stood at the intersection of Highway 80 and Highway 18 with her two children, protesting the new Jackson Public Schools mandatory uniform …

House, Senate Switch Roles

The Mississippi Legislature ended the $330,000 special session this week around 10 p.m. Friday night with a final package of bills intended to help rebuild the Coast. Lawmakers managed to …