Jackson Free Press

Melton: Who, Me?

"I don't know anything about that. I can't imagine what I've done," Melton said.

The Jackson rumor mill is on overdrive today about federal indictments of Mayor Frank Melton coming down in the wake of an FBI investigation that pulled several members of his …

Oxford Cop Killer Pleads Down to Manslaughter

The Clarion-Ledger is reporting:

Libertarian Magazine Probes State Medical Examiner

Over the last week, an investigative story in Reason magazine by Radley Balko probing Mississippi medical examiner Steven Hayne has attracted national attention, even drawing an editorial in the Wall …

Mychal Bell back in jail

He has to spend 18 months in a juvenile facility for violating his probation. However, the charges are old and weren't brought up until now, so Sharpton and others see …

Doris Shavers' Family: Melton Lied

Shalandria Shavers, the 21-year-old daughter of domestic-violence victim Doris Shavers, and James Hopkins, Shavers' brother, served notice today to the city of Jackson and Mayor Frank Melton of a wrongful-death …

Learn Something New

Every so often, I come across something really useful on the Internet that isn't trying to sell me anything. If you're like me, it's even better if it tells me …

Federal Grand Jury Probing Frank Melton?

The Jackson Free Press has gotten reports over the last week that people high up in the Melton administration are appearing before a federal grand jury this week to testify …

Good Times with Recio & the Gang

Michael Recio was big and hulking and provided decent cover for a reporter who wasn't used to walking up to people's homes unannounced in the middle of the night. I …

'Blue Dot in a Red Sea'

Democracy for America Chairman Jim Dean endorsed Democratic candidate Gary Anderson for Mississippi Insurance Commissioner last week during a visit to Anderson's campaign headquarters.

ACLU Worker Arrested For Observing Police

Police arrested ACLU Field Coordinator Brent Cox for surveying a police interdiction last month, though Cox said he was fulfilling his constitutional duty in observing the activity.

Eaves' Health-Care Plan Touches Nerve

Photos by Kate Medley, Roy Adkins, & Adam Lynch

Brookhaven resident Washuma Murphy faces more than $3,500 in medical bills every year, without the benefit of medical insurance. Doctors diagnosed her 12-year-old son, Devon Murphy, with Sturge-Weber Syndrome at …

Chicken Little & My Sauconys' Marathon

Last January, I snuggled under a warm velour throw on my plump sunroom sofa, with junk food and remote within arm's reach. Dozing off, I congratulated myself on excellent "no-moving-except-to-switch-TV-channels" …

Noose Found on Door of Black Columbia Professor

Well, if anything, the Jena 6 situation is going to expose the racism and bigotry in our midst—all of our midst. And that is a damn good thing. We've got …

Feds Might Buy Gulf Coast Homes

Did you guys see this? (AP) The federal government is considering buying out as many as 17,000 homes along the Mississippi coast and remaking the land into a vast hurricane …

Barbour Attacks Eaves for Suing the Military; Eaves Responds

In recent TV ads, Gov. Haley Barbour feigns outrage at his opponent for suing the military as a trial attorney. Eaves responds in an e-mail and TV spot that indicates …

Eco-Campus

On cold Virginia evenings at the College of William and Mary, mittened passers-by on the sidewalk below my second-story dorm room window could see me wearing my favorite lightweight striped …

Crossing Gallatin

So the JFP celebrated its fifth birthday a couple of weeks ago. I have long exercised the privilege of celebrating my birthweek and birthmonth, rather than just a flimsy day, …

[Hightower] Inescapable TV Ads

I yearn for the good ol' days when a TV was a device under my control. It sat quietly in my home, doing nothing until I beckoned it to perform. …

[Dickerson] Can You Handle the Truth?

For a long time, I wanted to ask President Bush why, if the Dixie Chicks knew there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, he couldn't figure it out …

Beat It? The JFP Interview With Michael Jackson Chaney

Photos by Roy Adkins

Michael Jackson wants to be your insurance commissioner. Yes, Sen. Michael Jackson "Mike" Chaney is running for Mississippi Commissioner of Insurance on the Republican ticket, and facing Democrat Gary Anderson, …