Jackson Free Press

As you can see from this story by R.L. Nave, Hal White is an institution in the Jackson area. He is half the team that created Hal & Mal's three decades ago—the site of so many good times, so many new and old connections, and so much activism for great causes. Jackson would not be Jackson without the efforts of Hal White, and his brother, Malcolm. (This newspaper was even planned sitting at their bar.) And so many are grateful for his wonderful culinary creations, including his popular gumbo. (I, as a vegetarian, just appreciate him allowing me to order my special onion ring po-boys over the years.)

Over the weekend, Hal suffered a brain aneurysm and has endured three surgeries since at St. Dominic's. He is surrounded by loving friends and family, and his larger friend and support base is essentially holding a social media vigil, sending prayers up for his swift recovery.

The Jackson Free Press sends love and prayers to the White family, along with thanks for everything they've done for us and the city over the years. You got this, Hal.

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The progressive group Women For Progress held their bi-annual meeting at the Old Capitol Inn Friday, and the guest list looked like a who's who of women running for municipal office in Jackson. Most notably, mayoral candidate Regina Quinn and city council candidates June Hardwick (Ward 7) and Fran Bridges (Ward 5) were in attendance.

What stole the show, however, were the startling numbers that the group is trying to combat. Among other problems highlighted, women hold just 17 percent of seats in the U.S. Congress, 23 percent of seats in state legislatures in the U.S. are held by females, and just six out of 50 states have female governors.

Add all that up, and the United States ranks 87th in the world when it comes to the number of women serving in its national legislative body.

The answer, according to the group, is to encourage more women to run for office. Thus the title of Friday's meeting: "She Should Run."

To learn more about Women For Progress, check out their web site here.

First there was Bill Clinton. Then there was Barack Obama. Then came Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Now there's former Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove.

OK, maybe not in that exact order, but all of these elected officials eventually evolved to become–for lack of a better and less condescending word–accepting of same-sex-loving people.

The latest, Musgrove, penned about his change-of-heart today at the Huffington Post.

He writes: "My evolution on LGBT adoption came from intensely personal reflections on my own life. What is sad to me is that my understanding of this issue did not come until after I had left office and no longer had the power to right this wrong. This reality weighs heavily on me to this day."

Portman, who had been a foe of marriage equality, has a gay son and publicly reversed his position last week. Musgrove also said he agrees with Portman's new stance on gay marriage.

The current Mississippi Legislature, under the watchful eye of a radical-right governor, Phil Bryant, is attempting a number of disturbing pieces of legislation this session. But few, if any, are more disturbing in a heart-of-being-an-American way than their recent legislation to protect the identifies of the residents who apply for the privilege of carrying a concealed weapon.

Regardless of your views on guns, this legislation is textbook overreach by the government. They passed legislation to protect from public view the list of people who are allowed to concealed a weapon on their person. That is, Mississippi is walking all over the First Amendment in its over-zealous attempt to convince voters that they are for the Second Amendment.

Meantime, this means there is no accountability to the state's concealed-carry laws. Watchdog media (or what there is left) will not be able to get in there and determine whether the law is being enforced equally and in a non-discriminatory way. I personally have no interest in publishing the list of concealed-carry permit holders, but that is beside the point. Because the NRA freaked out because media in other states requested the names of the concealed weapon carriers—a First Amendment right—the Mississippi Legislature decided to pass a law that clearly violates both transparency ideals and the First Amendment.

This means that a parent who believes their child is at higher risk around a person with a concealed weapon, for instance, cannot know who in their family and friends circle carries one. Knowing that information gives everyone in the conversation the right to make their own decisions about whether to associate with people who secretly carry weapons. The state government is making this kind of parental and personal decision-making impossible. It is a vast over-reach, but entirely predictable from state lawmakers who are sold out lock, stock and barrel to the gun industry.

Very sad. We hope that the law will not stand up in court.

The Mississippi Insurance Department has arranged for insurance companies to use the Mississippi State Fairgrounds as damage inspection stations.

The campaign to elect Regina Quinn mayor of Jackson has sent over a copy of the campaign finance report it plans to file for 2012. You can read it here.

Quinn's biggest supporter is her husband John May Jr., who gave $25,966 over a six month period.

The report does not have the seal of Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, meaning the copy we received had not been filed when it was scanned and sent to us, but this is the first glimpse into the finances of the Quinn campaign to date.

Mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr. and Department of Public Works Dan Gaillet gave an update on the status of construction on the JATRAN facility at Highway 80 and Valley Street at Tuesday night's city council meeting.

The status: there has been no change in status.

Gaillet laid out the timeline for the stalled project, which you can read about here, and said the city is still waiting on a waiver from the Federal Transit Administration before the project can move forward. If the city does not receive the waiver, the HVAC units in the building will have to be stripped from the existing structure, and replacement parts will have to be purchased and installed.

If that happens, Johnson told the council the city will likely pursue a legal route to insure the city is not solely responsible for the added expenses.

The expected date of completion was originally set for December of this year, and Gaillet said if the city receives the waiver, it can still hit that mark. If not, the project could still be finished by late spring.

As we noted in Tuesday's story on campaign finance reform, mayoral candidate Regina Quinn did not file a campaign finance report by the Jan. 31, 2013 deadline. This means one of two things -- either she is either in violation of Mississippi sunshine laws regarding campaign finance transparency, or she didn't raise or spend over $200 in 2012 on her campaign.

This morning, another campaign told the JFP that a non-profit organization was founded under the name "Jackson United" to Elect Regina Quinn, Mayor. It was incorporated on June 18, 2012.

This afternoon, we discovered the incorporation document that shows that the non-profit was formed by Jackson attorney John Richard May, Jr. for the purposes of "Political Advocacy and Public Education."

Mississippi code prohibits incorporated committees and associations and incorporated companies and corporations from contributing more than $1,000 per year, directly or indirectly, to a candidate or the candidate's committee. They are also prohibited from contributing more than $1,000 annually to any political party.

The penalty for such action is a fine no less than $1,000 or more than $5,000 against the corporation.

It is unclear what, if any, contributions the non-profit organization has made at this time. May could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

A link to a copy of the filing for incorporation for "Jackson United" follows below.

Jackson United's incorporation documentation

Update: After a Tuesday afternoon request from the JFP for clarification on the law pertaining to incorporated entities and political campaigns, the office of Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann has attorneys looking into the legality of a campaign being set up as a non-profit organization. As of 3:45 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, there was still no consensus. Stay tuned for more updates.

Here at the JFP, we are going into the final push of the city election season before the primaries on May 7. We are still finishing mayoral candidates' JFP interviews (with the goal of doing one for each of them!) and we will be doing additional endorsement interviews with the candidates we deem to be the most competitive in upcoming weeks (starting this week).

We want your help, though. Tell us the questions below that you would ask either all of the candidates or a particular one--include the name(s) if so.

Meantime, read our candidate interviews to date here: Mayor's Race 2013 Jackson City Council Races 2013

We need your input so please take time to weigh in!

On March 15, the Maryland House of Delegates decisively passed (82-56) a bill that would replace the death penalty with life without parole.

Many people don't have the photo IDs required under the new laws.

As for the debate, with all due respect to the candidates, it had the feel of a spring training baseball game, the established veterans just looking to getting in shape for opening day, the long-shots looking to do something spectacular to stand out so that they don’t get cut, and the high draft choices doing just enough, trying to gauge where they stood in the race to make the final cut.

It takes a big man to admit he was wrong.

Last night, that big man was five-foot funnyman and Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who had a little fun at Mississippi's expense last week when the news broke the state never officially ratified the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.

In the bit, Stewart does what people who've never stepped a toe in Mississippi tend to do when talking about Mississippi, and lampooned the entire lot of state officials who were in charge when the Legislature ratified the amendment in 1995 -- I know, I know; we probably deserve that one -- as slavery-loving racists.

Among those officials was then-Secretary of State Dick Molpus, whose office was to oversee the handling of the official ratification paperwork. For reasons that remain unknown, the paperwork never made it to the federal archivist in Washington, D.C.

Stewart (or, more precisely, his comedy writers) implied that Molpus likely destroyed the documents -- you know, being the scheming white xenophobe that too many folks ignorantly presume every Mississippi politician to be.

But after getting a flurry of pushback from people who know Molpus, Stewart admitted last night that the show erred in using "Dick Molpus...as an avatar for racial bigotry, forgetting, perhaps that Dick Molpus is a real person with a real record on civil rights."

That record, as Stewart notes, includes apologizing in 1989 to the families of the murdered civil-rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. Despite the threats he received against his life, Molpus counts the apology as among his proudest moments.

In doing so, Stewart proved himself to be a class act (it was, after all, a bad week for satirists. See: The Onion debacle). And if any good came out of the whole thing, it's that the rest of America learned a little bit about the classy Dick Molpus and about Mississippi.

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Thursday, Feb. 14, I attended Jackson State student Corinthian Sanders' city council candidacy announcement on the JSU campus.

Sanders, a 20-year-old Jackson native, received permission to host his announcement from school administrators several days earlier. The fact that a students needs permission to hold such an announcement is a troubling indicator of where our Constitutional rights stand here in the United States. Apparently, the leaders at our institutions of higher learning believe they have the right to grant or deny students their 1st Amendment rights to free speech and free assembly.

Just for review the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution read as follows: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Now, the 1st Amendment doesn't expressly prohibit university officials from creating policies that abridges the freedom of speech or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, but administrators at public universities are agents of the government. Do these agents have rights to abridge freedoms that even our own Congress doesn't?

I'm not picking on Jackson State here. When I attended Ole Miss, and I assume it is still the case, there were designated "free speech zones" where students could assemble and speak as freely as they pleased. The reasoning for these designations, the university said, was to prevent free speech where it might infringe on the educational process taking place in classrooms around campus.

Again, I must have overlooked the part of the 1st Amendment that states: "unless there's a good reason to abridge such rights, such as public education taking place nearby." Besides, isn't free speech a vital part of the educational process?

Unfortunately for Corinthian Sanders, the questionable treatment of his 1st Amendment rights didn't stop with needing permission.

Sanders had a podium and speakers set up in front of Ayers Hall when I arrived about noon Thursday. Shortly after, he began playing music through the speakers. The music continued for about 30 minutes, after which another City Council candidate, mayoral candidate Chokwe Lumumba and Sander's aunt spoke briefly.

Sanders took the podium about 12:45 for his announcement. Moments after he began to speak to the crowd of 15 to 20 people, three campus police officers stopped him. Campus patrolman Troy Nix, decked out in uniform and Dolce Gabbana sunglasses, pulled Sanders to the side, in the middle of his speech, and asked if he had permission to hold his announcement there.

Not only did Sanders have to get permission to express the most basic of human rights protected by our Constitution, he had to prove that he had that permission to a police officer, because the police officer was apparently unable to confirm the permission himself. Though campus police had more than 40 minutes to check on the status …

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The U.S. Men’s Natoinal Team begins the final round of World Cup Qualifying Wednesday at 3 p.m. against Honduras in the city of San Pedro Sula. Here’s what to watch for in 2013 as The Yanks try to earn a spot in Brazil in 2014.

If/When Landon Donovan will join the team. The 30-year-old forward has been the face of U.S. soccer since being named “Best Young Player” at the 2002 World Cup. Donovan told the media he needed a break in October 2012, due to physical and mental exhaustion.

I've never been a fan of Donovan's on-the-field attitude. In recent years, he's clearly not been enjoying the game the way he should. USMNT needs him to get his head straight, though, because there's no American who can match his combination of speed, vision, passing efficiency, timing and shot and set-piece accuracy.

He won’t play in Honduras Wednesday. Just when the U.S.’s all-time assists and goals leader will join the team is even more pressing considering the team faces rival Mexico in Mexico City on March 26, where the U.S. won for the first time Aug. 15, 2012.

Subquestion: Can he be the leader the U.S. needs him to be if/when he returns to the pitch?

Will outside backs emerge? Injuries to Steve Cherundolo and Fabian Johnson have left the U.S. team with little international experience at outside back, and head coach Jurgen Klinsmann is searching for answers. Outside backs Tony Beltran and Justin Morrow, and center back Matt Besler made their U.S. soccer debuts against Canada Jan. 29, all in starting roles. They played well, allowing Canada just one shot on target in the 0-0 match.

Whoever Klinsmann puts on the back line against Honduras will face a better team with a lot more on the line, though. Goalkeeper Tim Howard may have a heavy shot load to take on Wednesday.

Will Jozy Altidore take the next step? The 23-year-old striker has scored 13 goals in 51 appearances for the U.S. since 2007. His 2010 World Cup performances were riddled with missed chances and squandered opportunities, though.

Altidore has 15 goals in 19 Dutch Eredivisie league appearances for AZ Alkmaar this season, despite facing racist taunts from opposing fans. If he can carry that composure over into international competition, the U.S. could have the star striker it so desperately needs.

How good is Dempsey? After finishing tied for fourth in the English Premier League last season with 17 goals while playing for Fulham, Dempsey has just five goals in 19 league matches for Tottenham Hotspur this season.

With two double-digit goal scorers on the team, Tottenham doesn’t rely on Dempsey to score as much as Fulham did. There is one thing for certain, though. For the U.S. to go very far in next year’s World Cup, or to even qualify this year, Dempsey will have to create chances on goal, and capitalize when he does.

Can The Yanks find …