Jackson Free Press

'The Grand Ole White Party Confronts Obama'

In his current New York Times column, Frank Rich dives into the racial fray that Republicans are facing in trying to campaign against Barack Obama:

Ledger Suddenly Questioning ‘Expert' Testimony

After many years of extolling the virtues of the death penalty and cheering on the state with gleeful editorials about prisoners about to "ride the needle," The Clarion-Ledger is suddenly …

Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

A new book, by Susan Jacoby, asks this question, especially about why so many Americans are so little interested in actual facts before forming (and spewing) opinions. Read more, as …

Legislative Update—Week 5: Medicaid, Jobs, Land

Legislative committees worked furiously this week during the run-up to the Feb. 19 deadline for House and Senate committees to act on general bills and constitutional amendments originating in their …

Enact Campaign Finance Reform Now

The recent scandals surrounding political donors like Dickie Scruggs and Joey Langston, former elected officials like Ed Peters and judges like Bobby DeLaughter has brought a chronic problem in Mississippi …

Hood Renews Call for Campaign Finance Reform

[verbatim statement] JACKSON, Miss. - Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood—as he has done since 2004—is again calling on state lawmakers to reform campaign finance laws.

Ledger Needs Help Finding Positive Stories

Clarion-Ledger Perspectives Editor David Hampton ends his navel-gazing (and defensive) column this week about why his paper is so bad, and so negative, this way:

State Farm Suit Against AG Hood Dismissed

As Attorney General Jim Hood predicted yesterday, The Sun Herald is reporting that a State Farm lawsuit against him has been dismissed, allowing the civil investigation of State Farm's actions …

Legislative Update—Week 4: IDs and Immigrants

The Senate followed up on the whack-a-Pedro rhetoric of conservative talk radio this month by passing a bill refusing state contract work to businesses that do not screen employees for …

Surprise, Surprise: Supreme Court Backs Barbour

Gov. Haley Barbour told us all that the Mississippi Supreme Court would overturn the lower court decision requiring him to follow statute in scheduling the special election to replace Sen. …

Super Tuesday Thread

What's your take? Already some suprises with West Virginia going to Huckabee and Ron Paul actually pulling a few delegates. (Are you supposed to say something after typing "Ron Paul" …

Times Columnist on the New Evangelicals

Regardless, this evangelical shift should be noticed ... and applauded, I would add.

In a way, it was great to see the New York Times' Nick Kristof write about the changes that have hit the evangelical movement in this country—specifically the move away …

Folo Exposes Shocking Hinds County Case

The Folo folks are still doing a great job digging out documents related to Dickie Scruggs controversy, and most compelling and relevant to us here in Hinds County, cases related …

Week 3: Cigs and Cells

Now that House Speaker Billy McCoy has named committee chairs, the House is going into overdrive regarding bill production.

Bill to Hamstring AG Office?

Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant and the Mississippi Senate are pressing for a new law that would force a competitive bidding process on plaintiff lawyers looking to contract with the Mississippi …

Corn Hath No Fury: The JFP Interview With Billy McCoy

Photos by Mac Gordon

House Speaker Billy McCoy speaks in a halting stutter at times. A stroke shook his frame in 2004. He has recovered to a point, though the scars are still plain. …

Barbour Pledges to Fund Education

Gov. Haley Barbour named K-12 education as a high priority in his state-of-the-state address Monday night, addressing budget shortfalls and upgrading the state's roads, but his overall message this year …

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.

Other Cards in the Deck

Much has been made about whether Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama played "the race card" in a series of press-filtered exchanges that included an]http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/us/politics/15dems.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=clinton+king&oref=slogin]an analogy to Martin Luther King, Jr. …

No Money To Fund Partisan Radio, Democrats Say

The Mississippi House of Representatives may consider a bill forcing more oversight on how the state pays for advertising in 2009. The state spent more than $14 million on newspaper, …