Jackson Free Press

House Delays $1 Cigarette Tax Until Next Week

The Mississippi House of Representatives will not consider passing a tobacco tax increase until the House reconvenes 4 p.m. Monday. Yesterday, the House Ways and Means Committee approved House Bill …

Health-Care Lawsuit Moves Forward

United States District Judge Roger Vinson ruled yesterday that a multi-state lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the health-care reform law passed by the U.S. Congress earlier this year can move …

C-L Endorses Blackmon, Tuck for Lt. Guv

The Clarion-Ledger pointed to Blackmon's experience in the Senate to choose her over Democratic challenger Jim Roberts for the Dem nod, and to take on Tuck in November. Sid Salter …

Freedom Riders Recognized

Freedom Rider Jesse James Davis said his historic ride on a Greyhound bus to protest Jackson's segregated bus station was not a planned event.

Barbour Declares State of Emergency

[verbatim from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency]

Governor Haley Barbour declared a State of Emergency today for the severe weather system that affected parts of the state late Wednesday afternoon and today, and for the threat of …

Council to Vote on Sales-Tax Request

At tomorrow's meeting, the Jackson City Council will decide whether to ask the state Legislature to remove a controversial state commission that must now approve how the city spends sales-tax …

‘Disparity' Study Call Disrupts Session

Percy Watson knew that getting the Mississippi Legislature to fund a disparity study was a long shot, but he had hoped it would somehow make it through the Republican-majority Senate …

Strangulation, Security and Suffrage

Both chambers of the state Legislature spent the past week considering bills from the opposite chamber. The House amended Senate Bill 2923—a bill that expands domestic assault to include strangulation …

A Broken System Expands

Hinds County Supervisors surprised some onlookers at the Aug. 7 supervisors' meeting by producing more money for the Raymond Detention Center. Supervisors voted 4-to-1 to approve $481,000 to expand the …

Barbour's ‘State of the State' Monday 6 p.m.

Gov. Haley Barbour's "State of the State" address will be tonight at 6 p.m., broadcast live on MPB. Read his verbatim prepared address on StateDesk.com.

Wiseman Predicts Less Republican Unity in 2011

The state's Republican unity may breakdown in 2011, as Gov. Haley Barbour's term comes to an end, predicts Dr. Marty Wiseman the director of the John C. Stennis Institute of …

Legislative Update: Week 6—Ailing Bills and PR

Legislators were pounding away like never before this week to meet the Tuesday deadline to pass general bills out of committees.

Here Are Your Mississippi Braves

Remember, you heard it here first earlier this week: The Atlanta Braves Class AA team will move to Pearl for the 2005 season. They will play in a new state-of-the-art …

Last of the Letter Writers

Sandy Margolis, the last of the letter writers, died at age 74 two years ago this September.

[Barbour] The Governor's Primer on Mississippi Medicaid

March 21, 2005 If you or someone you love depends on Medicaid, you should read this. And if you are not on Medicaid, you are paying for its services with …

GOP Primary #Overnotover, McDaniel Vows Challenge

The Republican primary for U.S. Senate is officially over—except it's not quite over.

• 1 comment

Obamacare: Five Years and Counting

With Bryant's vow to undermine the ACA, the feds concluded that a state-run exchange was untenable. In January 2013, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius turned down Mississippi's …

Tougaloo President Responds to Civil Rights Museum

<i>Verbatim Statement from Tougaloo President Beverly Wade Hogan</i>:

Tougaloo College has received a number of calls from the media regarding the proposed National Civil Rights Museum in Mississippi. The media seek our reaction to remarks made by Governor …

Honoring Dr. King: Toward Justice in Mississippi

Jacksonian Martha Bergmark, who runs the Mississippi Center for Justice here, has an inspiring call to action (especially for social-justice attorneys) printed at MSNBC.com/Newsweek today, in honor of Dr. King's …

How to Beat the House

On July 15, the Mississippi Legislature finished up a 90-minute special session in record time and with plenty of smiles. Both the Senate and the House passed similar bills providing …