Jackson Free Press

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees gained leverage in his contract battle with the team by way of today's ruling by arbitrator Stephen Burbank. The ruling clarified vague language of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) on the franchise tag. At the heart of the matter is the wording:

Article 10, Section 2(b) — “Any Club that designates a player as a Franchise Player for the third time”

The NFL Players Association and Brees argued that the wording means a player can't be franchised three times in his career regardless of team. The NFL argued that the franchise tag was club related and the same team could franchise a player three times in his career.

Brees was franchised by the San Diego Chargers in 2005 counts as the first time he was franchised. This means the Saints franchising Brees this year counts as the second time and if the two sides don't reach a deal, next year would be the third time Brees was franchised in his career.

This gives leverage to Brees for salary cap reasons because his salary would would be 144 percent of this year’s number. That number would put the Saints over the cap next season causing the team to have to cut salary just to keep Brees.

By no means am I a salary cap expert but there are ways for the Saints to pay Brees and make the cap hit lower. I have heard on ESPN and NFL Network people more familiar (without going into great details) say the lower cap hit is possible (it's not great TV to bore the audience with accounting).

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, wrote a detailed article on the franchise argument that might be more helpful than my limited understanding of the CBA and salary cap issues. Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports also writes a detailed article on the subject as well.

Still, a potential mess can be avoided if the Saints and Brees can come up with a long term deal before July 16.

The Jackson Showboats have found their man and they didn't have to look very far to find him. Grant Worsley, Showboats General Manager, announced today at Two Sisters restaurant in Jackson that Wright Busching will be the first head coach in franchise history.

Busching is a Jackson native who graduated from Jackson Academy. He went to college at Ole Miss, where he earned a degree in history with minors in business and English, and has been an assistant and Jackson State for the last three seasons.

Worsley, Busching and several players, including former Mississippi State player Dietric Slater, were on hand for the announcement. The Showboats are still evaluating their roster before the season begins later this fall.

Full story to come soon in full blog post or as person of the day.

So, this morning we had a team of a reporter, an intern and photographer out at Mississippi's only abortion clinic. It's the morning after federal Judge Dan Jordan issued an injunction keeping the clinic open until at least July 11 because, in part, the folks who pushed it made it clear that their goal was to eliminate abortion in Mississippi -- which they focused on far more than on women's health and safety.

What was funny this morning, to us, is how Roy McMillan (the man who sits in front of the clinic every morning with big fetus posters and other signs) yelled at my folks to tell me that "shoes are optional!" along with various other criticisms of the JFP's coverage. He was clearly referring to this recent JFP editorial, which I wrote a few weeks ago criticizing McMillan and his wife, Dr. Beverly McMillan, for trying to make any form of hormonal birth control, including the pill and the morning-after pill, illegal.

I ended the editorial: "Dr. McMillan is as welcome to those views as her husband is to sit in front of a clinic when he could be out helping children that are already born, hungry and unwanted. But it is not her place to tell hard-working American women that their health insurance should not pay for their health-care needs because she'd prefer that they get pregnant. Whether Dr. McMillan also prefers them barefoot is still an open question."

It's good to know where they stand on that question.

What was funny is that I drove by not long afterward, not knowing about McMillan's messages for me, and snapped some photos from my iPhone. An anti-abortion couple sitting next to the gate told me that they appreciate the JFP's coverage of the controversy because we report all sides and include comments from everyone. So, I suppose, the anti-abortion movement isn't filled with people who all think alike, just like the pro-abortion rights movement isn't. And I rather suspect there are a good number of folks out there against abortion who know that easy access to birth control will actually lower the number of abortions in our state and America. Unlike the McMillins, who don't seem to care about that point.

Meantime, I encourage everyone to read former JFP assistant editor Casey Parks' indepth feature on the Pro-life movement in Mississippi. It includes very interesting reading about the McMillans (they liked this story then, they told us) and other people inside the movement, including lobbyist Terri Herring.

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Beer lovers: Our readers need your help! As you find and taste new craft beers previously unavailable in Mississippi, please take a minute and post them here (or tweet with hashtag #beermonth and we'll add them!).

Meantime, see the JFP's special Beer Month archive here, including a JFP v. RYP taste.

Cheers! (And drive safely, or don't drive!).

Here's a look at the Flaming Lips kicking off their 8th show in 24 hours at the House of Blues in New Orleans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc_2zjhRFyM

Check back for more videos:

Interviews with Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips and Chris Pontius of Jackass

Watch Chris Pontius lead the parade down Decatur Street in New Orleans to the House of Blues

See behind the scenes of the O Music Awards and the Flaming Lips world-record tour

And many, many photos to come...

The Miami Heat stopped celebrating their NBA Championship to join the rest of the league in New Jersey for the NBA Draft. Miami used their 27th pick to draft Mississippi State forward Arnett Moultrie.

Before the night was done, the Heat trade Moultrie to the Philadelphia 76ers for a second round pick (45th) this year and a future first round pick. That 45th pick turned out to be center Justin Hamilton out of LSU, the Heat's only selection of the night.

Other MSU players who were were looking to hear their name called were Renardo Sidney and Dee Bost. Neither Sidney nor Bost got drafted and will have to try to make a NBA roster as a free agent.

All, I just learned that, on Tuesday, newish Clarion-Ledger Executive Editor Brian Tolley, brought in from Louisiana or somewhere, asked the staff to help "folks who are writing ads for our new subscription model ..." (presumably the dumb charge-for-web stories idea). Apparently those "folks" are probably far from Jackson in some corporatey cubicle, and Tolley doesn't know enough about Jackson to tell them the following, as reported by Gannett Blog ( http://bit.ly/MEDdRU). Tolley's verbatim list:

1. What is your town famous for?
2. What are the local sayings unique to your community?
3. Is there a famous landmark not for tourists, but for locals?
4. Who are the personalities known by everyone in town?
5. Who are your local heroes -- and why?
6. Who are your local villains?
7. What events only happen in your community? (charity events, yearly runs/walks not associated with national programs)

My suggestion is that we help him out. Post below and answer the questions for him. We might even run them in the paper sometime soon.

Enjoy. Meanwhile here's your moment of Zen.

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I learned today that on Monday (July 2nd) the Jackson Showboats will formally announce the first head coach of the new franchise. The announcement will be made at Two Sisters Kitchen in Jackson at 11a.m. this Monday.

I have been told that the new coach has ties not only to Mississippi but to Jackson as well.

Several players will be in attendance at the announcement along with team owner Grant Worsley. The Jackson Showboats are a new American Basketball Association franchise and will begin their inaugural later this year.

Alright, I am about to leave the office and hop on I-55 to Memphis, where I'll join up with MTV, VH1 and the Flaming Lips as the band tries perform a world-record 8 concerts in 24 hours. All the while, they will be hosting the O Music Awards, which will be broadcast for the entire 24 hours on OMusicAwards.com. I'll be taking the entire trip, hopefully. I'm definitely going to be there from Memphis to Jackson, including shows in Clarksdale and Oxford. Whether I continue on to Hattiesburg, Biloxi, Baton Rouge and New Orleans is largely up to the glorious Donna Ladd. I will be updating the blog with words and photos whenever I get the chance from the road. So as you watch the live online stream, go to the shows or do whatever life has in store for you over the next 28 hours or so, check in here for all the Flaming Lips world-record tour info you can handle.

Also, if you attend any of the shows, see the caravan pass by or run the Flaming Lips at a gas station, tell us about your experience here!

Update 5:54 p.m.: I called my contact with MTV on my way to Memphis to ask where I need to meet the media caravan. He told me that the bus was full, and I was not on the list, as Gayle from Text100 told me I was June 19. He is still going to give me passes to all of the shows, but I don't have a ride.

Gayle was extremely apologetic, and said there was something lost between her and the folks at MTV. She thought I was on the list.

Since I would have been stuck in Memphis with no ride, I came to Oxford, where I have friends going to the show. I'll be going to the show here, starting at 9 p.m. and following the band to Jackson (if my ride doesn't fall through, again).

My plan is to follow them on to Hattiesburg, and probably call it quits after that, as I don't think I'll be awake enough to drive after that. I'm pretty bummed that I didn't get on the media bus, especially after I was told that I had a spot on it. Not going to let it ruin my night, though. I'll still give you all updates from the road. I think Virginia Schreiber will take the photos in Jackson. I'm sure she'll share those as well. Check back for more updates from road, from Oxford to Hattiesburg...

Update 7:49 p.m.: I'm sitting at Ajax in Oxford. Just got a call from MTV, they said there is room on the bus after all. I already have a ride from Oxford to Jackson, and we can get to Jackson faster than caravan. So I'll get on media bus after Jackson show and follow the rest of the tour. Great to know someone got on the list and didn't care …

So tonight I got a text that WAPT had done my story from a couple weeks ago about Robert Henderson, the pardoned felon who is now working for Council President (and mayoral candidate) Frank Bluntson. But when I watched the report, I realized that WAPT actually completely cribbed my enterprise reporting, including the pardon and other details, with no attribution to me or anyone else. Not to mention, they talked about "some taxpayers" supposedly being upset about it without actually talking to any of them.

Then, they have District Attorney Robert S. Smith on camera at the end saying that everyone deserves a second chance, including Henderson. Let's just say this is a very different story than the DA told me a few years back when speaking about Mr. Henderson.

But back to WAPT: This piece was shoddy journalism at its worst. I expect better out of y'all and, at the least, credit where it's due.

The Jackson City Council tonight set a new election for Ward 3, in which LaRita Stokes' election to succeed her husband Kenneth Stokes was recently overturned for voting irregularities. What do you think will happen?

Hey y’all, welcome to the new JFP music section. Poke around, and you’ll see plenty of new features.

We now have a page that lists local bands. As we continue updating it, it will have info about the artists’ influences, members, history, etc. Email me at [email protected] if you would like your musical act’s information on the website. I can also upload your songs for readers to download, listen to or make playlists from.

What’s also exciting is this new music blog! It’s just one of many cool music features that come with the new website. We’ll update it regularly with news and thoughts on music. The blog is not just a staff thing, though. If you’re interested in music blogging, you can either start blogging on your own (because every JFP-site user can blog on our site), and we’ll pick up on it and add you to the music, or email me (at [email protected]).

Have fun with the new site!

The BCS Presidential Oversight Committee approved a four team playoff for college football. The deal will start in 2014 and will last for 12-years starting in 2014 and ending in 2025.

Teams will be seed and the games will be rotated over six sites hosting. Those sites are the Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and Rose Bowl with two other bowls joining "the big four" most likely the Cotton Bowl will be one of the six.

The coveted sixth spot will be contested between some of the higher tiered bowls. In the mix should the the Chick-Fil-A-Bowl, Outback Bowl, or Capital One Bowl. One long-shot bowl game for the sixth spot could be the Liberty Bowl.

Even though the 11 conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick presented their plan and it was agreed too, no details were released today on how teams will be selected for the playoffs or how the revenue will be shared by all of college football.

The proposed playoffs formats talked about publicly have been the top four teams or top four conference champions. Teams will be seed one through four with one playing four and two playing three and winners meeting for the national championship.

If the top four team format was used last year the seeding would have been:

(1) LSU vs. (4) Stanford

(2) Alabama vs. (3) Oklahoma State

If the top four conference champions format was used last year:

(1) LSU vs. (4) Wisconsin

(2) Oklahoma State (3) Oregon

New playoff deal could be worth as much as $50 billion according to early reports.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is spending a lot of time in the media over the last week. Neither the Saints nor Brees have been able to stay out of the media this off-season.

Brees found himself in a firestorm last week (Tuesday, June 19) after comparing the Saints bounty scandal to weapons of mass destruction.

Brees tweeted: “If NFL fans were told there were "weapons of mass destruction" enough times, they'd believe it. But what happens when you don't find any????”

It didn’t take long for the media to jump on Brees comment and it went viral. Brees quickly apologized for his comments later the same day on Twitter.

Again from Brees’ twitter account: “My WMD comment has nothing to do with politics or our brave military. Merely an analogy to show how media influences public perception” “I apologize if the WMD comment offended anyone. Especially our military. There is no one I respect more than our service men and women”

This week (Monday, June 25) Brees partnered Dick’s Sporting Goods supporting PACE (Protecting Athletes though Concussion Education). PACE is the nation’s largest baseline testing program with the goal to test 1 million kids.

Brees made the rounds this morning (Tuesday, June 26) on Mike & Mike in the morning on ESPN Radio and the Dan Patrick Show a syndicated radio show. On both programs, Brees touched on several topics from the PACE program, his sons playing football, his contract and bounties.

Brees stated he felt like further punishment was being held over coaches heads if they didn’t cooperate with the investigation. “I’ve been informed a lot of those coaches feel there are further sanctions being held over their head if they don’t cooperate with the investigation,” Brees said on the Dan Patrick Show. “If they were to speak out on behalf of the players, maybe that’s the fear they have.”

The quarterback also says the NFL has confused, “Pay-for-performance has been lumped in with pay-for-injure.” Brees also said he hasn’t seen evidence of a pay-for-injure program.

One bit of good news, Brees stated he thought the Saints and him would get a long-term contract done before the July 16 deadline. "I've always said, you would think this process should be a lot simpler than it is," Brees said. "It just always seems to be complicated. But I'm still very confident that we'll get a long-term deal done, and hopefully that will happen sooner than later."

"When it comes down to certain provisions of the contract, there are little things here and there that take time to resolve," Brees said. "But in the end, the organization typically starts off at one place, the player starts off at another and you find a way to a compromise and meet in the middle and do what's fair and just."

After months of development and trials, we went live with this new website late Thursday. Cheers to developer Matt Heindl (also the JFP distribution manager) for all his hard work. In addition, Kristin Brenemen and her design team worked really hard to get the look right, and Latasha Willis and Dustin Cardon knocked themselves out to get the JFP events and restaurant listings on the site.

If you see any problems on the site, please let us know ([email protected]). We are still working out bugs and turning on new features. By the end of this week, all old JFP stories and comments from the last 10 years should be moved to this site, so if you can't find something in our archive, be patient; it's coming! Meantime, play with our new Search box (top of page to the right); it's so much better than before!

Also, note that a new JFP mobile app replaces the old JFP app, which is no longer updating!

An important thing to know: You will have to re-register to post on this new site. If you have trouble getting your old user name, let's know, and we'll work it out for you. Note that you can also post photos and video now to your comments.

The general public can now blog as well, even though new posts will go through moderation (and must comply with the User Agreement) before they're opened. Click here to get started! And be sure to set your profile page up with your photo and other info!

Have fun on this site, and try out the new tools. Cheers, all.

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:

The Mississippi Supreme Court has denied a stay of execution to a man set to become the third man in as many weeks the state puts to death. Gary Carl Simmons had asked the court for an additional 14 days to have a mental exam conducted, but justices rejected his request this morning. If his scheduled June 20 death by lethal injection is carried out, Simmons will be the third man Mississippi executes in June.

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.