Jackson Free Press

Calm the 'Runaway' Rhetoric; Do the Homework

As we go to press, it seems likely that Gov. Haley Barbour will call a special session this year to try and push through more "tort reform" measures after failing …

Guide to Driving the Right Way

I suppose I was a late bloomer by most standards: I started dating at age 16, drinking coffee at 18 and got my driver's license at 19. I wasn't one …

Family Values

Our history as a state and a nation is filled with atrocious efforts to destroy the self-esteem of black men. During the entire arc of slavery and then Jim Crow …

[Collier] The Sweetest Taboo

This past Valentine's Day I got two things: a single white rose–which every woman older than 18 received at church that day–and a card from my mother. That's it. No …

[McLaughlin] A Woman's Role

Over the weekend, I ended up at the last place I would have thought I'd spend a Sunday afternoon: the Premier Bridal Show at Jackson Convention Center. I filled in …

[Hutchinson] The Real Reasons New Orleans Is So Poor

A year ago Total Community Action, an anti-poverty activist group in New Orleans, issued a devastating whitepaper that warned that poverty in the city had reached epidemic proportions. This was …

My Kind of Tea Party

Recently, I was asked to appear on a local cable talk show to talk about issues of the day. I didn't think much about it; it sounded easy and innocent …

Sun-Herald: MISSISSIPPI NEEDS HELP NOW

<i><b>South Mississippi needs your help</b>

The Sun-Herald published a desperate editorial Thursday on its Web site.

[Kamikaze] The Key Ingredient to Growth

Every growing city has major problems. Jackson is no different. It is a blossoming metropolis, but is not without its issues: crumbling infrastructure; old water pipes; bad roads; understaffed police …

[Balko] 'I Find that Inexcusable'

At a stoplight just a few miles from his home, Nicholas Beltrante, 82, puts on his flashers, opens the driver's side door to his car, gets out, and approaches my …

[Mott] Fake It 'til You Make It

"A governor, a senator and then me. I think I may be the comic relief," I quipped before my brief statement at the Fourth Annual Interfaith Dinner on Oct. 4. …

[Balko] Lessons From the Death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones

On the morning of May 16, a Detroit police officer fatally shot 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones in the throat during a police raid on her home. The police were looking for …

[Balko] Confirmation Theater

My task this week is to write a column on how criminal-justice issues are likely to play out at the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings, and how her expected confirmation will …

Tune Up, Mississippi

For a long time, I've lived uneasily with the disturbing assumption that most of the people I know who love music (and I know a lot of them) either don't …

[Balko] Watching the Detectives

George Orwell famously said, "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face–forever." He may still be right.

[Stiggers] Law And Order In An S.U.V.

Cootie McBride uses his S.U.V. to help Ghetto Science Team Counter-Intelligence agents conduct a drive-by investigation regarding a CIA leak. They stop at a prestigious Washington, D.C., hotel to take …

[Balko] Conservatives Rethink 'Tough on Crime'

Last week I received an e-mail press release directing me to a new public-policy website. On that website, a quote from Reagan administration Attorney General Ed Meese says it's time …

Vol. 6, No. 29

Shoes, Shoes and More Shoes - There is no better way to burn some time than to count shoes in the spring afternoon on my front porch, knowing it's worth …

[Hutchinson] Hillary's X Factor

Chelsea Clinton is incredibly naïve, incredibly sheltered, incredibly in denial or maybe a bit of all three. In late March, Hillary Clinton's daughter told a North Carolina Young Democrats audience …

'Yes, I Said Shoe Closet'

I can't tell you how many intense business meetings I've been in with a group of dynamic women, negotiating or planning this or that, and suddenly one of us pauses …