Jackson Free Press

Is Political Change Afoot?

"Bullet proof." "Political invulnerability." "Going to win." "Sure loser." The problem with conventional wisdom is that it is usually more self-fulfilling than wise, especially when promulgated by folks who just …

Wal-Mart's Welfare: How The Taxpayers Subsidize Goliath

Wal-Mart, the Alpha Dog of discount stores, has also become the Alpha Hog at the public trough. In many states, taxpayers are supporting the phenomenal growth of the world's largest …

Melton's Honeymoon, Part III: Crime and Punishment, Melton Style

Frank Melton carried the May 2 mayoral primary in part because of a surly, take-no-prisoners attitude on crime. Melton used his 14-month tenure as head of the Mississippi Bureau of …

Melton's Honeymoon, Part V: Seven Degrees of Separation

Like any governmental body that has to share power, the Jackson City Council is a forum of individuals who can rarely accomplish goals without forming some kind of alliance on …

Briarcliff Circle: A Small Town in a Bigger City

Briarcliff Circle, tucked away in South Jackson near Jackson Memorial Gardens and Candlestick Park, is not like other neighborhoods in Jackson. While it is common in many areas for neighbors …

Fixin' the Burbs

We hear and read a lot about the hidden costs of sprawl, for example that the average American now spends 443 hours behind the wheel every year, the equivalent of …

Paying The Price: As Soldiers Are Buried, America Tunes Out

Thunder rumbles over Fort Carson as Pamela Knott weeps inside the Army base's chapel. Minutes later, she tells television and newspaper reporters that the pouring rain soothed her during the …

Best of Jackson 2005: Food & Drink

Best New Restaurant: Pan Asia (862 Avery Blvd. N., Ridgeland, 956-2686)

Two-Party Bickering

State lawmakers have a little more than a month left in this legislative session, and they are getting down to business on the most important item on their agenda: Passing …

A Bad Rap? A Collision of Politics And Music

Scene A: In April 2004, young black women at Spelman College in Atlanta protested the rapper Nelly's planned appearance there because his videos are offensive and misogynistic to women. The …

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 …

The Un-Tuskegee Experiment

African Americans had every reason to join the Jackson Heart Study, and every reason not to participate. A landmark study of African Americans and heart disease, it is no ordinary …

Love Me, Hate Me: The JFP Interview with Kenneth Stokes

Councilman Kenneth Stokes slapped me the other day. His large hand hit my sweat-beaded skin in one swift swoop to kill the mosquito getting ready to bite. He did not …

Hustler: Craig Brewer Makes Hollywood Look South

The time: Aug. 7, 2000. The setting: a Los Angeles hotel room strewn with the debris of an ongoing celebration. "The Poor & Hungry," a $20,000 movie shot in Memphis, …

Objets D'Espoir: Artists Put It Back Together Again

Every day after Hurricane Katrina decimated her studio and ripped her home off its foundation, Bay St. Louis artist Lori Gordon picked her way through piles of debris to the …

Berwood: Left Behind and Unified

As you drive down Northside Drive on the north end of town, you pass a recently renovated McDonald's, a Taco Bell that has been remodeled to add a Long John …

Heart of ‘The Creative Class': Belhaven, Fondren Residents Build A City To Love

When new residents move to Madison Street, Pattye Dunlap makes sure that she takes time to greet the new neighbors and give them information packets about the neighborhood. Dunlap, president …

Melton's Honeymoon, Part VI: The Mayor and The Police

Mayor Frank Melton swept into the city's mayor office July 4 with a badge and a side arm, determined to take a bite out of crime. During that time, he's …

Twin Failures

Film Review: "The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till"

We live in a culture so driven by visual images that our eyes can't take them all in. From pop-up Internet ads to quick-cut TV commercials to high-tech billboards, we …

Turnabout: Melton Changes Story About Leak

When he was head of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, Jackson Mayor Frank Melton leaked a memo containing accusations that would later be disproved about agency personnel to The Clarion-Ledger. …