Jackson Free Press

McGowan Questions Levee Board's ‘Backbone'

Would-be Two Lakes developer John McGowan reacted strongly this week to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers statement that it was not taking seriously his or any other plan to …

Howard Exec Pleads Guilty

Jose Humberto Gonzalez, 45, former personnel director at Howard Industries in Laurel, Miss., pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy related to the company's hiring of undocumented immigrants. On August 25, 2008, …

Watkins Unveils Master Plan for Metrocenter

Read the master plan Powerpoint. (PDF, 1.6 MB)

Bills That Ain't About Money

All eyes at the state Legislature are on how politicians will handle the state's nearly $400 million revenue deficit, but other bills outside of money issues are creeping their way …

Insurance-Reform Bills Big on Change

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had a lot to be proud of at the end of October when the House released a new and improved bill to reform health care and …

‘Black Power', According To Dr. King

In January, many of us make efforts to remember a visionary and his dream. If only briefly, we try to imagine the utopian society Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. described …

The Death of Grass Roots?

The Web site http://www.grassroots.com isn't exactly what one would expect. There aren't any passionate people promising to stand up for issues, no local communities to join, no petitions to sign. …

[Gregory] Thank God I'm White

The other day I was reading the letters to the editor of The Clarion-Ledger. This isn't a new activity. I will admit, I usually boot up the computer in the …

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 …

Melton: Taxpayers Should Pay My Fine

Photo Graphic by Darren Schwindaman

Attorneys for Jackson Mayor Frank Melton argued in a Meridian court on Oct. 20, over whether Melton can be sued as a private individual or if the state has to …

Ode To Ms. Wilson

I had my first encounter with jazz—real jazz, the kind that washes over your body like a cool, gentle caress—when I was a high-school sophomore at Murrah High School. One …

GOP Presidential Candidates to Court Mississippians

Newt Gingrich

From now until the Tuesday, March 13 Mississippi statewide primary, expect to see a lot of the Republican presidential candidates in Jackson and other cities around the state. The Mississippi …

No ‘Unnamed Sources,' Ledger? You sure?

Cledger-Ledger honchos have been known to declare that the paper does not use "unnamed sources." We already know that's not true due to mucked-up stories like the one by Ledger …

A Mortgage Crisis of Bush's Making

The New York Times had the must-read story of the month Sunday, dissecting how the policies of Bush and friends created the deep mortgage crisis we're facing today:

Malik Rahim: ‘This Is Criminal'

The following report by Malik Raham was e-mailed to us by Jan Hillegas, a Jackson-based veteran of the Civil Rights Movement. Rahim, a veteran of the Black Panther Party in …

[Green Day] Turning Green From Fear

I have one recurring nightmare that makes the film "Soylent Green" look like a kid's show: I'm in a nursing home, and the care-givers hate me. They torture me with …

The Undecideds: Tough for Obama, Romney

Undecided voters in swing states hold the key to the presidential election, but neither Mitt Romney nor Barack Obama has an easy recipe for winning them over.

AP Factchecks Romney-Ryan's First-Day Claims

Not all the rhetoric fit neatly with reality or with the record when Romney introduced his Republican vice presidential choice to the nation Saturday.

With A Machete and a Smile: Inside Paul Ryan's Budget Proposals

Paul Ryan traveled a perilous route to political stardom. While other lawmakers nervously whistled past trillion-dollar deficits, fearing to cut popular programs, he waded in with a machete and a …

Home-Grown Talent

The Crossroads Film Festival, a four-day event beginning Thursday night, April 12, shines the spotlight on producers, screenwriters, directors, cinematographers, actors and musicians from Mississippi.