Jackson Free Press

Just in case Mississippi starts to get too cozy thinking it's Voter ID law is going to get past the Feds, Attorney General Eric Holder had this to say in Houston yesterday: "we will not allow political pretext to disenfranchise American citizens of their most precious right."

Holder's money quote, as quoted by the Houston Chronicle, might at least suggest how the Department of Justice would view Mississippi's law as well: "Many of those without IDs would have to travel great distances to get them, and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them. We call those poll taxes."

Job seekers and students will receive a helping hand as Mayor Chokwe Lumumba and the city of Jackson host the Third Annual Jobs for Jacksonians Job Fair: Graduation Matters on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at Metrocenter Mall.

Jacksonians who are seeking employment are urged to attend to discuss employment opportunities with business participants and to register with the city's Jobs for Jacksonians Coordinator for future opportunities.

More than 75 vendors, including local, national and international companies, are expected to have booths.

Other service providers will also be on hand to conduct interviews and resume writing seminars, and to share best practice tips to improve college preparedness. Local colleges and junior colleges will be represented to discuss educational opportunities as well.

The job fair is sponsored by the City of Jackson, the Governor's Job Fair Network of Mississippi, Millsaps College, the Department of Veteran's Affairs and Metrocenter Mall.

Dear Magnolia State Meth Dealers:

Do not interpret this as a challenge.

But Mississippi is one of the least methy states in the nation, a new Huffington Post infographic shows.

Citing something called the Nationa(l) Security System, or NSS, HuffPost said that Mississippi had five meth-lab-related accidents in 2012.

Given Mississippi's ruralness and high rate of poverty -- both of which are key for optimal methy conditions -- you'd think the incidents would be much higher.

So what's our secret?

The report notes: "Oregon and Mississippi have figured out how to curb these accidents by making the key meth ingredient pseudoephedrine prescription-only."

The nation's most methy state was Missouri, with 1,825 meth incidents.

This year's Stray at Home is at Smith Park on May 13. This morning, organizers announced the 2017 makers. Here they are:

Alena G Vinet Designs

Blackjack Wax Co.

Bean & Bailey Ceramics

Lo Lady Fashion

Dot Products

Samara Thomas

Sam Clark Art

Thimblepress

Ellen Langford

Mermaid's Purse

d+p Design Build

Bridgman Pottery

Wild and Free Designs

Platypusfile

Wascome Woodworks

The Lovely Bee

PreSUDence

Moxie Floral

SwingLab

Homegrown Studio

Melody & Shaun Thortis

Elizabeth Fowler

DCZ Designs

Moonflower Photography

LCJ Jewelry

Cristina Leis Calligraphy

Blending by Betty

Bailey Armstrong

Phelan Harris

CJC

For more information, visit strayathome.com.

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Social media is buzzing today about a New York Times article that features a lot of amazing personalities and locally owned businesses that make our city great—many of which started in the city's last decade of progress. This is the kind of media we need to see more of about the city—not the whole metro, but the city itself—and it's up to all of us to create the kind of place that national media want to cover. Cheers to all of you, especially the folks we love who ended up in the article. Nice going, Jackson!

My only regret about it is that the reporter didn't look around more parts of our city for cultural points and businesses to include. One that I believe should be in any article about Jackson's progress is Koinonia Coffee House, which is not only an excellent restaurant, but has become a gathering place for diverse Jacksonians. I like to think of it as our own tiny Busboys & Poets. And now that city election season is nearly over and emotions running less high, it's going to be even more fun to hang out in again. In fact, I just got off the phone with a St. Louis organization that brings a diverse group of black and Jewish students to Mississippi every summer, and they just assume that is where they will gather at least one time during the trip. Go there if you haven't!

Any other spots y'all think they missed? Feel free to add them below.

Religious organizations are generally not allowed to donate to politicians, but often find clever ways to skirt the Internal Revenue Service prohibitions.

One way is just for the pastor and key church officials to personally make big contributions, and encourage their flock to do the same, to support candidates who share their values. Another is to allow candidates to speak to congregants directly, which lets the politician associate himself or herself with that particular house of worship.

Both are gray areas.

It's quite another thing, though, for a church to give directly to a political candidate. That's what appears to be happening in the case of Hinds County Democratic hopeful Willie Earl Robinson. Campaign finance reports show that Hill of Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Bolton made a donation of $500 to Robinson's campaign.

Robinson's challenger in the Hinds County District 2 race, Darrel McQuirter, is a pastor. The name of his church -- Pleasant Green Baptist Church -- does not appear on his finance reports, but McQuirter and his wife personally contributed more than $7,000 to the campaign coffers.

Under the Federal Election Campaign Act, charitable organizations (in fact, all corporations) are prohibited from making contributions in connection with federal elections. This is not a federal election. However, the IRS code, which applies to all organizations that have tax-exempt status, states: "(A)ll section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office."

A Guidestar.com search of 501c3 nonprofits as well as a search of charities through the Mississippi Secretary of State yielded no results for a Hill of Zion M.B. Church in Bolton.

An attempt to reach the church by phone this morning was not successful.

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After the Fondren "C Spire Summer Music Series" concert originally scheduled for Thursday was rained out, organizers have decided to move the concert to Monday, July 23. The event is free to the public and picnics are encouraged, although coolers are not. (Soft drinks and beer available onsite.) The concert features local bluegrass group the Vernon Brothers on the front porch of the historic Cedars House, located on Old Canton Road just south of Meadowbrook Road in Jackson.

Verbatim release:

Thursday nights' concert at The Cedars has been rescheduled for Monday, July 23

Join us this coming Monday night, July 23, for the C Spire Summer Music Series at The Cedars featuring the Vernon Brothers. Rain might have delayed our original date but there is no reason to cancel some summer fun!

Get together with your family and friends over the weekend and make your plans to attend this incredible night of music and fun. If you have never heard the Vernon Brothers, you are in for a real treat. They are a fantastic mix of country, bluegrass and hillbilly - just perfect for the "front porch" stage at The Cedars! Mother nature is showing she is all clear on Monday, so bring a blanket or lawnchair and a picnic supper - no beverage coolers please. Brown Bottling will be on hand with a variety of Pepsi product offerings as well as Aquafina Water. Southern Beverage will be offering a selection of craft beers as well as two popular regular varieties. Beer will be $4.00 in bottles - craft beers available will be Covington Strawberry, Shock Top Lemon Shandy, Tallgrass 8-Bit Pale, Diamond Bear Pale Ale, Steven's Point Belgian White, Back Forty Truck Stop Honey and Back Forty Naked Pig - new 8% craft beers we will have available are Steven's Point Raspberry Saison and Steven's Point Whole Hog 6 - Hop IPA - we will also offer Bud Light and Michelob Ultra.

Worried about the mosquitoes? No need, we will spray again Monday after the rain from the weekend! The Cedars is located at 4145 Old Canton Road and as always, convenient parking is available across the street at St. Andrew's Lower School.

So, join us in Fondren this coming Monday night for this great night offamily fun and entertainment starting at 6:00 p.m. - and remember, it's FREE! See you there!

A special thanks to all of our sponsors. This Fondren Renaissance Event is presented by C Spire in cooperation with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi, Pepsi, Southern Beverage and Trustmark. Mark your calendars now for the last concert in this series on August 16, "Delta Honky Tonk Night" featuring Pryor and The Tombstones.

State Sen. Chris McDaniel, a Republican from Ellisville, is making an announcement this weekend about his political future, the blog Mississippi PEP reports.

McDaniel, a self-styled fiscal and values Tea Party conservative, has been rumored for some time to have his eyes on senior U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's seat. Anyone looking for proof of that needn't look any further an McDaniel's Wikipedia page, which was updated more than 50 times in April alone -- way more than a Mississippi state senator needs to (see below).

Cochran, whose conservative street cred is solid, but he has been criticized for being insufficiently right wing. Cochran has held the seat since the late 1970s and even at age 75 can probably hold on to the position until he gets good and damn ready to step aside.

"We are in difficult times. Our state and country are suffering from a lack of confidence in our current leaders. Our Republican Party is in the process of reinvesting in the principles that made us who we are, and that has not been an easy time," said McDaniel, who wasn't even a year old when Cochran first went to Congress in 1973, said through a press statement posted on the PEP blog.

“I hope my decision will aid in bringing us back to agreement on the values we all support and hold dear, and give Mississippians the ability to move forward into the future with a purpose of reclaiming those values for our children.”

I don't know McDaniel well, so it's hard to tell what his end game is. It's possible that McDaniel is positioning himself to the first to declare his intentions in case Cochran retires. In doing so, McDaniel also gets first crack at deep-pocketed Tea Party Mississippians who'll no doubt be getting hit up by several Republicans in case a Cochran departure yields a packed GOP primary.

Or, he's positioning himself for a primary run at Cochran because someone has convinced him (erroneously) that with the right people behind him, he could take down a wounded Cochran.

McDaniel might also just be displaying a bit of bravado to run for a statewide office in 2015 as the kid who had the cahones to lock horns with Thad.

We'll know for sure when he makes the announcement in Ellisville on Thursday, Oct. 17.

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Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood defended his decision to defend Mississippi in a lawsuit against the state's same-sex adoption ban today, calling it a procedural issue.

The Campaign for Southern Equality recently sued the Mississippi Department of Human Services to challenge the constitutionality of the ban, the last law in the nation that still has an absolute ban preventing same-sex couples from adopting regardless of the couples' qualifications.

In a motion filed Sept. 11, Hood stated that Mississippi is not required to allow same-sex couples to adopt, maintaining that the state should continue to encourage adoption by opposite sex couples.

In an interview with the Jackson Free Press this afternoon, Hood said the plaintiffs should have gone through a chancery court and initiated an adoption proceeding. He added that it's his responsibility to defend the state in the case.

"That's who applies that law, not the attorney general not the Department of Human Services," Hood said, referring to chancery court. "There's a difference between gay marriage and gay adoption and they need to be in the proper forum, in state court."

Hood's motion states: “While the Supreme Court’s decisions in Obergefell v. Hodges and United States v. Windsor recently established that the federal and state governments must recognize valid same sex marriages, and states must license them, over-extending those decisions to purportedly invalidate Section 93-17-3(5) through a preliminary injunction would be entirely inappropriate."

Hood leans on a decade-old decision from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court, Lofton v. Secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services, in which the court upheld a Florida ban on adoption by same-sex couples because LGBT couldn't marry at the time.

“Governor Bryant and Attorney General Hood continue to demonstrate that they’d rather continue legal discrimination against LGBT families than give children in need the best chance of finding a loving home,” said Rob Hill, state director of the Human Rights Campaign Mississippi in a statement. “Despite this discriminatory ban, Mississippi has one of the highest numbers of LGBT people raising children than anywhere in the country. Every major child welfare organization agrees that same-sex couples are just as capable of raising loved and well-adjusted children and their hetereosexual counterparts. Shame on the governor and attorney general for asserting otherwise, shame on them for not working in the best interests of children, and shame on them for continuing to keep the Magnolia State tethered to a discriminatory past.”

Attorney General Jim Hood sent a letter to legislative leaders today reminding them that they must release the EdBuild contract to the Transparency Mississippi website, despite their own House Management Committee rules.

Last week, several news organizations attempted to get access to the contract between the Mississippi Legislature and the nonprofit EdBuild that the state is contracting with to examine the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. The contract with EdBuild is paid in part by the state and in part by private donors. The state is paying $125,000 of the cost, while undisclosed private donors are paying another $125,000, the AP reported.

The House Management Committee changed their rules last week, allegedly keeping all contracts private and not accessible via the state's Public Records Act.

Hood's letter says that while lawmakers do have the power under the Public Records Act to limit access to legislative records, they are not exempt from the Mississippi Accountability and Transparency Act, which requires all agencies to let the Department of Finance and Administration access their data and post the contracts on the Transparency Mississippi website. Hood told legislative leaders that they have two weeks to give DFA access to that information, as is prescribed in the Mississippi Accountability and Transparency Act.

The Senate has not changed their management rules yet to come into compliance with the House's new rule, but the Senate Rules Committee is scheduled to meet this week.

Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Greg Snowden and Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Terry Burton released a statement after Hood's letter was sent.

“When the agreement was approved in October, the terms of the Legislature’s contract with EdBuild to review school funding was shared with the public,” the joint statement says. “Over the last four days as House and Senate leadership continued to study the issue, Legislative legal staff concluded the contract should be posted to the Transparency Mississippi website. The contract has been released to the Department of Finance and Administration to be posted on the Transparency Mississippi website.”

The contract is up and available on the Transparency Mississippi's website this morning or you can read it here.

On Sept. 24, Republican nominee for Mississippi state attorney general alleged that incumbent Democrat Jim Hood interfered with an investigation into a Mendenhall police chief. Hood's campaign characterized Hurst's allegations as desperate and "a complete lie." Today, Hood's camp slammed Hurst again, releasing the following statement, published here verbatim:

JACKSON, Miss (Friday, Sept. 25, 2015) – The Mississippi State Auditor’s retired supervising investigator over the case of former Mendenhall Police Chief Bruce Barlow today refuted the lies told by candidate Mike Hurst in his failed effort to save his campaign for attorney general.

Denver Smith, retired Mississippi State Audit, Senior Special Agent with Investigations from 1992 to 2015, issued the following statement through the Jim Hood for Attorney General Campaign:

"In all the time that I worked on the Barlow case, we never heard anything about the Attorney General's office doing anything illegal or improper. I've never heard anything like this until today (Thursday). I knew that the AG's office had closed the case because we were already involved in it with the FBI.”

Smith, who served as the state auditor’s supervising investigator in the Barlow case, continued:

“I checked with other agents who worked the case and asked them if anyone ever said that the AG's office did anything illegal or checked to see if they (the Attorney’s General’s Office) might have tipped Barlow off. These other agents all said they'd never heard of this and knew nothing about it."

Smith’s statement confirms Attorney General Jim Hood’s earlier statement that his office had been investigating the Barlow case in 2010 and then coordinated with the FBI after learning they were conducting their own investigation. The FBI stated they planned to bring federal charges and, based on that information, the Attorney General’s Office transferred its case file to the FBI and closed its state case. Barlow was ultimately convicted,

“First, Mr. Hurst owes an apology to the dedicated investigators and staff in the Attorney General’s Office who he shamefully and falsely accused of wrongdoing,” said Jonathan Compretta, campaign manager for the Jim Hood for Attorney General Campaign. “Second, we call on him to cease airing his fabricated television ads and stop the lies.”

The true testament to Hood’s integrity and character is reflected in the 41 Mississippi sheriff’s and district attorneys who endorsed him on Thursday, the most of any candidate in this year’s statewide elections. Hurst, who used an outgoing sheriff defeated in a primary campaign to concoct the Barlow story, has prosecuted and convicted three times fewer public officials for corruption than Jim Hood, yet touts his undersized record as a reason voters should elect him.

"Jim Hood’s record and his support from law enforcement officers speak volumes about why Mississippians trust him to protect their families,” Compretta said. “Hurst has a record of untruths and ambitious lies that Mississippians from Houston to Hickory can spot in a minute. We hope he will do the right thing and take down his ads.”

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The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Comes to a Close

This regular season of college basketball turned out to be wild and unpredictable, so fans hoped that the NCAA Tournament would be the same.

The first weekend of the tournament played out just like the regular season, with upsets and potential Cinderellas. Reality came crashing down during the second weekend as most of the upstarts went home, and the major conferences or basketball powers from non-football conferences were the only programs still standing.

Slowly, the tournament turned into the Atlantic Coast Conference invitational. Seven teams from the ACC got into the tournament, and six went to the Sweet Sixteen. Four ACC teams reached the Elite Eight and two reached the Final Four.

The ACC was so dominant in this tournament that three out of the six of the conference's losses have come at the hands of other ACC teams. University of Wisconsin's win over University of Pittsburgh, University of Oregon's win over Duke University and Villanova University's win over University of Miami (Fla.) were the only non-ACC on ACC losses.

So what began as wild and unpredictable became a question of whether anyone could stop the conference's march to end up as the eventual champion. The uncertainty became full-on blowouts in the Final Four as the University of North Carolina and Villanova rolled Syracuse and the University of Oklahoma, respectively.

Tonight, either the Tar Heels or the Wildcats will win a national championship.

This run in the tournament is something positive for North Carolina after an academic scandal rocked the school. UNC is still waiting for the NCAA to decide what will happen after former athletes and students were found to be taking no-show classes, where students signed up to take a class but didn’t ever see the inside of a classroom even though they earned high grades.

Villanova on the other hand, is living life like it is 1985. The eighth-seeded Wildcats were the last team to win a title with no shot clock.

On its way to the title in 1985, Villanova beat North Carolina, but the Tar Heels won titles in 1993, 2005 and 2009. The Wildcats are looking for their second title in program history.

This game should feature two great defenses and two solid coaches. Villanova reached the final without a possible NBA player on the roster. North Carolina looks for its sixth title and is seemingly always loaded with top talent.

The Wildcats are a team where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. UNC is athletic and long and can control the paint area.

This matchup is the best overall team against the best conference. North Carolina is a three-point favorite in Las Vegas, but Ken Polmeroy’s model favorites Villanova.

Coverage starts at 8 p.m. on TBS for the national broadcast, TNT will provide the homer call for North Carolina, and Tru TV will give the Villanova homer call.

Governing Magazine has an interesting tidbit for folks who are partial to Jacktown... according to their estimates, Jackson actually grew in 2011 for the first time... in a long time.

According to Governing, this is part of a larger trend -- the population of urban centers saw a spike in 2011, beating out the national average for growth. Large cities -- and the state of Texas -- saw significant growth.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2012/jul/05/3457/

Jackson didn't fare that well, but considering the population of the city has shrunk every census since 1970, it's interesting to see an actual uptick in population in the 2011 estimates. According to their map, Jackson's population grew by a little over 2,000 people in 2011, or roughly 1.18 percent. Surprised?

(h/t Dominic Deleo)

The Rev. Jesse Jackson doesn't think too highly of Hinds County Supervisor Kenny Stokes' proposal to fine kids 10 bucks for wearing their pants a certain way.

Rev. Jackson spoke at this morning's convocation for returning Jackson Public Schools Employees, who reported today for their first day of work in the new school year. School starts on Friday.

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If local leaders don't focus on what's important in children's lives,"People will be arguing about sagging pants and not sagging (access to) computers. Sagging pants not sagging salaries."

The line drew applause from the crowd of 4,000 JPS workers. A Hinds County supervisors' meeting yesterday drew public comments from both sides of the sagging pants controversial issue.

Every 20 minutes or so, someone says something like "We've got to do something about this outta-control spending!" It occurs to me that these people generally aren't talking about the defense and security budgets, which take up about 2/3 of discretionary spending. Most of the time they seem to want to cut someone else's Social Security or someone else's health care.

Why is this so important? The outta-control-totally-irresponsible Obama Deficit, of course.

But did you know We've Already Done $2.4 Trillion in Deficit Reduction?

Says Matt Yglesias of Slate.com: But don't let anyone convince you that nothing's being done. The economic recovery is reducing the deficit, and measures already enacted are bringing further deficit reductions.

According to a press release from the desks of U.S. Attorney Greg Davis and Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis, a police impersonator is contacting metro area residents claiming to be a Hinds County Sheriff's Deputy.

The release says the impersonator is demanding social security and drivers license numbers, and telling people if they do not turn over the information, they will face immediate arrest. Davis and Lewis warn that these types of calls are not being made by law enforcement agencies, and advising that you should never give out any identification information over the telephone to someone you do not know and trust, even if they claim to be a police officer.

The case is being investigated by the Hinds County Sheriff's office and the U.S. Secret Service. If you have been contacted by someone you believe to be an identity thief, or if you have any information about the scam, you are encouraged to call the sheriff's office at (601) 974-2900 or the U.S. Secret Service at (601) 965-4436.

Go in any direction this weekend and you're likely to find some live music to get you in the back-to-school spirits.

There are a couple of festivals worth mentioning. The first is Secret Stages in downtown Birmingham. This is the festival's third year and it describes itself as a "music discovery festival." It sounds like a mini SXSW and could be making a mark as a closer alternative to that festival. The festival lasts from 8/2-8/3.

The other festival is at the Old U.S. Mint in New Orleans. It's the Satchmo Summerfest and will feature New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint. This festival is also 8/2-8/3.

The Goo Goo Dolls and matchbox twenty will rock Oak Mountain Ampitheatre in Pelham, AL on 8/2.

Regional favorite Cowboy Mouth plays the IP Casino in Biloxi on 8/2.

The House of Blues in New Orleans will feature The Plain White T's on 8/1 and Kevin Costner & Modern West on 8/3.

Safe traveling, TB

Barely a full two months after taking over as chairman of the Mississippi Parole Board, Doug Davis is leaving for a new job as Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann's chief-of-staff.

Davis was appointed to the parole board earlier this year and ascended to the chairmanship on Aug. 1. He replaced Malcolm McMillin -- Hinds County's former sheriff -- who spent about 15 months as head of the parole board before retiring.

Through a news release, Hosemann said: “Doug has long served the citizens of the State of Mississippi ... No doubt his legislative experience, extensive background in policy, and commitment to our State will be an asset to our Agency."

Davis, a former state senator from DeSoto County, was getting paid $70,000 per year to run the parole board.

Gov. Phil Bryant appointed current board member Steven Pickett as the new chairman. Filling Pickett's slot will be Pearl police officer Butch Townsend.

Jackson State is off to a hot start again this season, and is the only remaining unbeaten team in SWAC play. This weekend's matchup with Grambling State, which has lost 13-straight SWAC games and 17-straight overall, shouldn't do anything to derail that.

But this game just got interesting, with news surfacing yesterday that Grambling's players boycotted practice a day after they walked out of a team meeting with the school's administration on Tuesday.

Among the gripes players have for administration is mistrust between the team and the coaching staff, and the fact that the team had to bus from Grambling to Indianapolis to receive a 48-0 beat-down from Alcorn State, while the Braves flew in and out for the contest.

Grambling fired coach Doug Williams last month after the team lost their first two games this season by a combined score of 71-19.

For the longest time, even though the alcohol content of New Belgium Brewing Co.'s flagship beer, Fat Tire Amber Ale, was low enough to be sold under Mississippi's draconian limits for beer, the company chose not to offer Fat Tire in the Magnolia State.

If they couldn't sell all their beers, they wouldn't sell any of them, the thinking went.

Two years ago, though, the Mississippi Legislature raised the limit on beer, resulting in a flood of flavorful new varieties to taps and supermarket aisles. Now, Fort Collins, Colo.-based New Belgium is expanding into central Mississippi, Capital City Beverages Inc. recently announced.

True to the brewers' wish, Cap City posted on Facebook, that they are bringing New Belgium's entire portfolio of beers, which includes Fat Tire, Ranger IPA, Abbey and Trippel, starting in early March.