Jackson Free Press

It is JFP Chick Ball season in Jackson, and we need your help to fight domestic abuse—this year to start a rape crisis center and raise awareness about sexual assault in our city and state! Here are 10 easy ways you can help.

The JFP got more great news Friday night when we learned that we are winning two first-place and one second-place award from the Society of Professional Journalists' southeastern division. Valerie Wells takes first place for feature writing, the Personhood team (this time, including R.L. Nave and Adam Lynch) takes second place for public service, and I won first place for serious commentary. Here is the full press release. Cheers to the team, congratulations to all the winners. We're honored to be in your company:

Football recruiting is as competitive as the game played on the field. Recruiting has become bigger and bigger in the digital age with sports sites building pages to follow top prospects.

The oldest and largest youth football organization Pop Warner has decided to limit contact during practices. In an effort to make youth football safer the organization will only allow contact drills to one-third of practice time.

In about two hours, Jan Michael Brawner will be executed for the murders of his 3-year-old daughter, ex-wife and former in-laws. The Mississippi Department of Corrections issued the following news release detailing Brawner's final day:

Management & Training Corporation will take over management of the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility and two other Mississippi prisons, the Associated Press is reporting. MTC will also assume management of East Mississippi Correctional Facility in Meridian and the Marshall County Correctional Facility in Holly Springs.

Join the JFP, the Center for Violence Prevention and the Chick Ball Committee for a free JFP Chick Ball happy hour Thursday, May 31, at Hal & Mal's downtown (200 S. Commerce St.).

Yesterday was a very good day for the JFP staff, and especially our writers and designers.

Let's say a meteorite crashed to Earth and landed on the Jackson Free Press' offices, resulting in a broken pinky toe on my left foot. According to a new state law, it would be up to me to prove to my bosses that I wasn't high as a kite when said celestial projectile descended on Fondren.

State Rep. Earle Banks, D-Jackson, just sent out a press release announcing his intention to run for Mississippi Supreme Court Justice in District 1, which Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. now represents.

The wait is over, kids. Mississippi House members finally have a new legislative district map to vote on. The maps, which add two districts in rapidly growing DeSoto County, were unveiled at the Capitol today. Under the plan, several Democrats could lose their seats either by hasquaring off with fellow Democrats or by having to compete in mostly GOP districts.

In about two months of working the city beat for the Jackson Free Press, the thing I have run into and reported on more than any other is proposed development. And development is something Jackson needs, desperately.

The word legacy is thrown around the sports world like the word love is thrown around for everything in everyday life. It seems that everyone has some sort of legacy to protect before they have even made a play at the professional level.

Last time the Giants and the Patriots met in the Super Bowl, the game was decided on two plays. First was the helmet catch by David Tyree off a scramble by Eli Manning, in which he was nearly sacked a couple of times, for a first down.

The NFL Playoffs gave fans three out of four great games last weekend. Throw out New England’s blowout win over Denver and the other three games were close till the end or late into the fourth quarter.

Before the NFL shifted teams around in the 2002 realignment, the New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers were in the same division. Many Saints fans remember the old NFC West that featured the Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams with Saints and 49ers.

NFL Wild Card Weekend proved just how big the NFL is in America. The ratings for last weekend were huge for the NFL and showed how much we love football in this country.

The road to Indianapolis for the New Orleans Saints begins this weekend. New Orleans would love to get last year’s playoff loss out of their mouth.

Seventeen weeks of the regular season has reduced the NFL down to 12 teams. Only two of those 12 will play in the Super Bowl.