Jackson Free Press

Update Re: Woman Who Protested Medicaid Cuts From Bed

After struggling to get my Medicaid coverage back (for now anyway), I wondered what was going on with Dorothy Bishop's situation.

Supreme Court to consider Cheney's secret task force

CBS Marketwatch is reporting: "The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the White House must reveal the energy-industry contacts that helped a task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney …

FEMA Expands Disaster Area in Mississippi

[Statement from Chip Pickering/verbatim] PEARL, MISS -- Congressman Chip Pickering announced today that FEMA has added 31 counties to the individual assistance disaster designation and 29 counties have been added …

Mississippi Development Authority Chief Gets Job Permanently

The Mississippi Development Authority is giving its interim director the job permanently. John Rounsaville earned his promotion by buoying Mississippi’s economy during the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Tate Reeves said Tuesday.

Melton Responds to Convention Center Picks

Sen. Roger Wicker

Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker will serve as presiding office of the U.S. Senate during the first day of the 114th Congress, which convenes Tuesday.

City Agrees to Stop Interfering with Anti-abortion Protesters in Fondren

The City of Jackson recently entered into its second consent decree with a group of these protesters over interactions with the Jackson Police Department, alleging that police officers have consistently …

Wouldn't It Be Nice?

Winter was at its nastiest since 1989 this past week in Jackson, according to Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. The freezing cold attacked water pipes, causing more than 100 water …

Politics Plaguing Entergy Audit

Republicans in the Mississippi Senate could kill a House bill that would merge the Public Service Commission, which elected officials run, and the Public Utilities Staff, which is operated by …

Lawmakers Pass Another Tobacco Tax

After years of not raising taxes on cigarettes, yesterday Mississippi lawmakers approved the second cigarette tax hike this year. Even more surprising, Gov. Haley Barbour, a former tobacco lobbyist who …

Facing ‘Generation Debt'

About two and a half years ago--a few months before I graduated college--my grandmother said something I'll never forget: "Just wait; after college, that's when your standard of living really …

PERS Commission Recommends Three-year Freeze on COLA

Verbatim from Gov. Haley Barbour's office:

Verbatim: PERS Study Commission Releases Recommendations for Strengthening Pension Fund

Laws That Need to Change

Mississippi's voting laws make the citizenship harder work than it needs. State law currently allows early, in-person voting only for those voters who will be out of their voting district …

Judge Blocks New Mississippi Anti-Abortion Law

Clarion-Ledger is reporting: "Mississippi's new abortion law infringes on a woman's 14th Amendment right to have an abortion early in the second trimester, a federal judge has ruled. In a …

Bryant Budget Steadfast in Health Care Opposition

Sen. Hillman Frazier said the state would miss out on millions of dollars in economic activity if it declines to expand Medicaid under the federal health-care reform law.

Salter Takes on Taxation Myths; Barbour Responds

Update: Pasted below (in the comments) is a statement from Barbour, in minutes ago, about his take on the state's "budget myths." Enjoy.

First Lady to Visit Jackson

Earlier this month, first lady Michelle Obama announced a campaign to solve childhood obesity in America. It only makes sense, then, that she would visit the capitol of Mississippi—the most …

Fillingane Introduces Anti-Abortion Resolution

Within the last couple of hours, Sen. Joey Fillingane introduced a resolution to amend the state constitution "to protect the life of every unborn child from conception to birth."

The Circus is in Town: 2013 Legislative Preview

Gov. Phil Bryant has big plans for the 2013 legislative session. For the past few months, he’s been busy selling his agenda.

The Reality Of Tort Reform

Photos by Darren Schwindaman and Roy Adkins

On Aug. 31, 1999, 73-year-old McComb obstetrician Edsel Stewart signed a pack of Prudential Life Insurance papers that he believed gave him a million dollars worth of life insurance for …