Jackson Free Press

UPDATED: International Leaders Express Sympathy in Connecticut Shooting, Question Gun Access in U.S.

LONDON (AP) — As the world joined Americans in mourning the school massacre in Connecticut, many urged U.S. politicians to honor the 28 victims, especially the children, by pushing for …

AP Interview: Bryant Says Education Is Top Issue

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said education dominates his 2013 legislative agenda, from merit pay for teachers to charter schools that will receive public funding but be free of some state …

Transcript of Melton Interview About Firefighters

Verbatim interview with Frank Melton conducted by JFP Managing Editor Brian Johnson on Tuesday, Aug. 15. Any use of of quotes from this interview without express attribution to the Jackson …

Frank Melton to Keynote Belhaven Journalism Conference

[verbatim] Jackson, MS (BlackNews.com) - Frank E. Melton, mayor of Jackson, Miss., and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the TV-3 Foundation in Jackson, will deliver the keynote address at …

Jeff Weill Apparent Winner of Ward 1 Seat

The Clarion-Ledger is reporting that candidate Jeff Weill took just over 50 percent of the vote to replace Ward 1 Councilman Ben Allen Tuesday night. Weill ran on a platform …

Melton Joins Other Mayors in Effort to Curb Guns

The New York Times is reporting on the meeting of 15 mayors, including Jackson Mayor Frank Melton, in New York to figure out how to curb the flow of guns …

Daily Newspaper Revenue, Readership Declining

No surprise here, but daily newspapers are in trouble. Gannett, which owns The Clarion-Ledger, is showing a dramatic drop in revenue and readership, for instance. The New York Times reports …

BREAKING: Leslie McLemore Elected Council President

JFP reporter Adam Lynch called in from the City Council meeting tonight to report that new Ward 1 Councilman Jeff Weill provided the swing vote to elect Leslie McLemore Council …

Hood Says Reeves Blocked Vaping Bills After E-Cig Donations; Lt. Gov. Denies

Democratic Mississippi governor candidate Jim Hood claims his opponent, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, has blocked bills to regulate vaping after receiving campaign donations from vaping companies; Reeves denies it.

Ronnie Crudup Jr. Wins Special Election for South Jackson House Seat

Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn called Ronnie Crudup, Jr. Tuesday evening to congratulate him on his victory after voters in south Jackson elected the local activist to fill a vacated …

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 …

Mississippi Schools' Money Gap Grows to $1.5B

In a state with a long history of lousy education, and a bad habit of not paying for it, nowhere is the problem as profound as in Durant, a tiny …

Kill Bill Vol. 3: Education, Entertainment, Elections

On the Feb. 3 bill deadline in the Mississippi Legislature, committee chairmen—like the katana-wielding Uma Thurman—swiftly killed several bills aimed at helping educate Mississippi children, creating a music industry in …

GOP Mega-Donor Implicated in Russia Probe Gives McDaniel $500,000 Boost

Mississippi State Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, received a $500,000 donation for his campaign for U.S. Senate thanks to GOP mega-donor Robert Mercer, the investor behind a firm that harvested the …

What Follows Confederate Statues? One Mississippi City's Fight

For more than a century, one of Mississippi's largest and most elaborate Confederate monuments has looked out over the lawn at the courthouse in the center of Greenwood, a Black-majority …

MoveOn, Bush, Hitler and the RNC

If you've heard anything about the recent flap over MoveOn's reported advertisements, comparing Bush to Hitler, you need to read this Salon article, which gives the rest of the story. …

The Scruggs Saga Comes Home To Hinds County

Photos by Jaro Vacek

On June 11, 2005, Jackson Police Officer Jeffrey Middleton ran a red light on Highway 18 while coming back from Raymond. Middleton had no siren or police lights on at …

Obama, Huckabee Win Iowa

And they're off. The Associated Press reports:

[Kamikaze] Hello, Mayor Jones

I was reading The Clarion-Ledger recently, and I came across something that made me laugh. Some parents in Florence are up in arms over their kids allegedly being harassed by …

First, Do No Harm: State Struggles With Record of Juvenile Injustice

At 17 years old, Tommy Croft has grown up faster than most youth his age in Mississippi. Croft conveys the pain and genuineness in his story about his dark past …