Jackson Free Press

Hip-Hop on ‘The Help'

The film 'The Help' has 99 problems but garnering critical acclaim ain't one. Armfuls of awards and nominations haven't immunized the film based on Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel about African …

Boil Water Notice; JSU Suspends Activities

A water main break is causing low water pressure at Jackson State University, leading the school to suspend classes and activities this weekend.

Personhood Mississippi: We Are Listening to Voters

Personhood Mississippi founder Les Riley sent out a statement this morning praising Personhood legislation in the Oklahoma Senate and promising further efforts in Mississippi that will address voters' concerns about …

APAC Celebrates 30 years

The Power Academic and Performing Arts Complex is celebrating its 30th anniversary today.

The magnet school opened in January 1982 and serves students in grades 4-12 who want extra instruction in the arts. Last fall, the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts

Getting (a Little) Past Politics on Keystone Pipeline

This morning I got to the office with an e-mail in my inbox, apparently forwarded to me, from the office of Scott Brown, famously the GOP senator from Massachusetts who …

Runaway, Prostitute or Victim?

Not too long ago in another state, a high-school boy offered a high-school girl a ride home. He drugged her drink, took nude photos of her and used the pictures …

City: Spending Down, Overtime Up

When Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. and the city of Jackson set the budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year, they didn't plan to do as well as the first-quarter numbers now …

Rep. Brown: Irby Clemency File Missing

Here is the statement, verbatim:

House Democrats have just released a statement from Rep. Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, on former Gov. Haley Barbour's pardons. In it, he says files are missing for several pardon recipients, including …

Tupac Shakur: 15 Years Later

I have often written in these pages about the cool opportunities that find their way to me based on my position as a music columnist. One of the coolest things …

Strong and Natural

In April 2010, I had my last chemical hair relaxer. "I have had it," I thought as I decided to go natural once and for all, and I made the …

[Girl About Town] Jackson at its Best

My love for Jackson is pretty unbridled all the time, but certain things send it into overdrive. Top among those are the quintessentially Jacksonian events—the times when a diverse group …

Spring Casserole

Au gratin potatoes are a family-revered dish of decadence. A common au gratin preparation uses potatoes, but, really, you can use any combination of vegetables. Traditionally, layers of potato and …

[The Slate] The Best In Sports In 7 Days

Whitney Houston sang one of the best national anthem renditions, ever, at Super Bowl XXV. She is gone, but her anthem will live on forever.

Wii Be Movin'

I am hot, sweaty and getting tired. I am moving as best I can, but I keep getting popped in the face. Next to me, Lacey has a determined look …

Where's the SWAC?

The NFL has become so big that they can televise guys running 40-yard dashes with drills, and people watch. Feb. 22 to Feb. 28, that's exactly what will happen when …

Bring the Noise

Legislative Republicans are setting 'em and knockin' 'em down. After a clumsy first month when the House didn't even have committee assignments, bills are starting to soar through the committee …

Personhood Redux

Just three months after voters turned down a Personhood Initiative, at least one legislator is trying to get it back on the ballot.

More than Factories

A member of the Screen Actors' Guild, state Sen. John Horhn has some ideas on keeping the state's economy from sagging.

Truth Troops

Some people—including some journalists I've worked with over the years—assume Stars and Stripes is a propaganda arm of the Department of Defense. It's not. It's an all-American institution that is …

No Miracle Cure

'The business of education is not a business, so you can't run it like a business.'