2012 Legislative Session Ends
The mood in the Mississippi House chamber after Rep. Mark Formby made the motion to adjourn sine die was similar to the last day of school before summer vacation.
Rev. Jesse Jackson an Honorary Hinds Deputy
There's a new sheriff in town. Well, technically there's a new Honorary Deputy Sheriff Chaplain in town -- and his name is the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. The Hinds County ...
Delbert Hosemann
Because of Mississippi's sordid history of trying to stop black people from voting, the U.S. Justice Department has to OK changes to voting laws in the state, including a recently ...
Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.
Pity the Callaway High School basketball team. Speaking at Callaway this morning, the Rev. Jesse Jackson asked members of the championship squad to stand as he asked a series of ...
Development
One Lake a ‘Game Changer'?
Turtles like the proposed "One Lake" flood-control plan. Now developers just have to convince the U.S. Corps of Engineers and Jackson area residents who'll be affected.
Few Fireworks Over Budget
Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. Spent Monday, April 30, lobbying lawmakers to pass a bill to let the city to levy a small sales tax increase for infrastructure improvements. At ...
AG Lambastes Sunshine Bill
Here's the statement from Hood's office on the House's adoption of the bill's conference report:
The Mississippi House again debated a bill aimed at rolling back the powers of the state attorney general. And again, it passed. Dubbed the Sunshine Act, HB 211 lets state ...
Person of the Day
Kenneth Wayne Jones
During a heated debate in early April over a bill to implement the voter-identification law voters said they wanted last fall, Sen. Kenneth Wayne Jones, a Democrat from Canton, warned ...
Lawmakers Work Weekend to Craft Budget
The seersucker was on full display this weekend as state lawmakers completed most of the heavy lifting on a $5.6-billion state budget for the next fiscal year starting in July ...
Kemper Plant Again Gets Approval
Plans for a multi-billion dollar coal-fired power plant are back on. This week, the Public Service Commission, which oversees electric utility companies in the state, voted 2-1 along party lines, ...
House Unveils Voting Maps
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 ...
At Capitol, Jackson a Winner and Loser
You know that old expression about the calm before the storm? Such has been the mood at the state Capitol for the past couple weeks. The relatively tranquil period follows ...
Herb Frierson
Herb Frierson doesn't draw large crowds. For example, the audience Frierson addressed at the John C. Stennis Institute's press luncheon yesterday was only about half its normal size. In introducing ...
Another Charter Schools Bill Killed
The latest attempt to pass legislation establishing charter schools met defeat in the Mississippi House moments ago. House members voted to send HB 1152, which had been modified to include ...
New Redistricting Map on the Way
New legislative district maps are coming, which means some Democratic lawmakers could be on their way out.
No More Regs, Except ...
During his 2011 campaign for governor, Phil Bryant promised that, if elected, his administration would closely scrutinize state regulations on small companies.
Changing ‘The Perceivers' of Black Males
As a young student entering the University of Connecticut in the mid-1960s, James Lyons received all the parental advice one would expect about being respectful and not hanging around the ...
GOP Touts Biz Moves
What essentially became a pep rally for Mississippi's economic future last Thursday began with a parade.
AG Settles Meat Plant Beef
Mississippi taxpayers will receive the meaty sum of $4 million from a settlement in a case against the owners of a failed beef plant built with state-backed loans, Attorney General ...
Hinds Co. to Jackson: Get Your Own Jail
Hinds County wants the city of Jackson to have its own detention center to house misdemeanor offenders.
Jackson Zoo in Full Swing
Juno and Rosie, the 31- and 39-year-old African elephants the Jackson Zoo gave up in 2010, are doing well in Nashville, the zoo's executive director Beth Poff reports.
Arts, IDs and ALEC
Malcom White, executive director of the Mississippi Arts Commission, constantly battles the perception that his and the state's other "cultural agencies" are not core government functions.
How the Charter School Bill Died
Rep. Chuck Espy's voice cracked as he jabbed his left index finger into the podium so forcefully that it's a miracle he didn't break the appendage. "I have watched this ...
Workers' Rights Under Fire
Imagine you're a Sumerian servant in 2050 B.C., carving tiny jewels for King Ur-Nammu's scepter and--oops--you accidentally slice off your finger. Under the king's law, written on stone tablets, you ...
After Fiery Debate, Voter ID Passes
Following one of the hottest Senate debates of recent weeks, Mississippi's constitutional amendment to require would-be voters to prove their identities at the polls, inched closer to realization this morning.
Gov. Bryant Signs Craft Beer Bill
Beer lovers in Mississippi can finally raise their glasses and pour out some liquor for the state's antiquated beer laws. This morning, Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill that could ...
Workers' Rights Again in Focus
Mississippi workers got a mix of good and bad news in the past couple of days.
Lawmakers Laser in on Finances
Legislatively speaking, it was a bad week for Mississippi conservatives and the state's top Republican leadership, all of whom were ardent supporters of measures to toughen state immigration laws, limit ...
‘Internalized Racism'
Damien Henderson scrawled the words "Rest in Paradise" on a vent outside his brother Ryan's dorm room at Jackson State University last week before leading approximately 200 college students dressed ...
State Segregating Mentally Ill
One night last fall, Watson Dollar became angry when his mother would not let him drink from her water bottle. At the time, Pam Dollar was fighting a cold and ...
Abortion, Immigration Bills Die in Committee
Two of the most contentious bills of the current legislative session--an anti-abortion "heartbeat" bill and an anti-undocumented immigration measure--won't become law in Mississippi after all.
Business
Opponents Denounce ‘Greed Bill'
Anyone with a television has seen the ads common this time of year inviting people to apply their income-tax refunds toward everything from bedroom furniture to big-screen TVs. The businesses ...
In 2-1 Vote, PSC Lets Kemper Move Forward
Voting 2-1 this morning, the Mississippi Public Service Commission agreed to let Mississippi Power Co. continue building a lignite coal plant in Kemper County -- at least for the time ...
Business
House Flips on Workers' Comp
If employees are like the cartoon sailor man Popeye and companies are like Popeye's brutish nemesis, Bluto, then workers' compensation is spinach--an equalizer between big guy and little guy.
New Details Emerge in JSU Student's Death
Jackson police released more details this morning about yesterday's arrest of Jarrod Emerson, a cousin of Jackson State University freshman Nolan Ryan Henderson who was shot and killed at a ...
Arrest Made in JSU Student's Murder
Statement from Jackson City Hall on the arrest made in the shooting death of Jackson State University student Nolan Ryan Henderson at an off-campus party over the weekend:
Immigration Bill's Fate Rests with Senate Dem
Here's Reeves' statement:
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves' office just sent out a statement on the controversial anti-undocumented immigrant HB 488. In the release, Reeves states that he's heard the concerns about the bill's ...
Business
Promised Land: Are Mississippi's Anti-Immigrant Efforts Bad for Business?
'Reasonable suspicion usually goes to a crime, something you can measure. Reasonable suspicion that you are unlawfully present is not something you can observe.'
Family Rallies: ‘Ryan's Life Mattered'
Around 200 college students dressed in red gathered in front of Alexander Residence Hall at Jackson State University to remember Nolan Ryan Henderson, a freshman shot and killed after attending ...
The Legislature, Week 12: Budgets, Taxes and Loopholes
The Mississippi House and Senate started working through spending bills this week as lawmakers face a couple of important deadlines in the coming weeks. By Thursday, March 29, legislators must ...
Cassandra Wilson Brings Music to Town
Starting any new business venture in the current economic climate is risky. The fact that Cassandra Wilson, an internationally renowned two-time Grammy award winner, would stick her neck out and ...
Michael Brown
Michael Brown is coming back from California. A Clinton native and former captain of the Stanford University soccer team, Brown has signed with Mississippi Brilla FC.
Justice
State Executes William Mitchell
William Mitchell was already affixed to the metal table with thick, heavy, tan leather straps when prison guards escorted witnesses into the execution viewing rooms at Mississippi State Penitentiary at ...
Business Good at ‘The Strip'
Go west, Jackson—specifically to the west side of State Street between East Mitchell and Duling avenues.
Despite More Revenue, Budget Fight Looms
Even though no legislative budget exists yet, that hasn't stopped Democratic and Republican legislators from staking out positions on key areas.
Prosecutor Recounts James Anderson's Murder
The following is Hinds County Assistant District Attorney Scott Rogillio's verbatim account of the events that transpired when Deryl Dedmon and his friends encountered James Craig Anderson in June 2011. ...
Rebuilding His Party
Brandon Jones says the Mississippi Democratic Trust, a new political action committee he helped start in 2011 and now heads as executive director, grew from "humble recognition" of his party's ...
Dedmon Pleads Guilty to Murder
Deryl Dedmon stood by silently, his face expressionless as Hinds County Assistant District Attorney Scott Rogillio read aloud an account of the murder prosecutors say Dedmon committed last year when ...
Suppressed GOP, Frustrated Dems
Philip Gunn didn't fully realize what was in store for him when colleagues elected him as speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives. Gunn, a Clinton Republican, told attendees at ...
Budget Battlelines Forming
The state may have more money to work with for the next budget year, but early talks about spending priorities suggest that negotiations will be as contentious as ever.
