The Truthniks
When it comes to political memoirs, most are either too safe to be interesting or too salacious to be taken seriously. With political thrillers, the plots are often either too thin to be enthralling or too complicated to be enjoyable.
Of Love and Pardons: How They Met
On the night of Dec. 7, 1992, Joseph Ozment and three friends arrived to rob J & R's Old Store in Hernando and found Ricky A. Montgomery there, working alone. During the robbery, one of Ozment's accomplices shot Montgomery three times, though not fatally. Ozment, fearing Montgomery would be able to identify him, delivered two more bullets to the head of the 40-year-old clerk, who was begging for help.
Drilling the Front Lines
Captain Louis Skrmetta is on the front lines. So far, Skrmetta, whose family has operated tour boats between the mainland and Mississippi's barrier islands in the Gulf of Mexico since 1926, is fighting a winning battle to rebuild his business to pre-Hurricane Katrina levels.
Christine ‘Chrissy' Wilson
Mississippi has no bigger cheerleader when discussing the art, history and culture of Mississippi than Christine "Chrissy" Wilson. She has edited many of the markers on the Mississippi Freedom Trail commemorating the state's civil-rights heritage as well as the Mississippi Blues Trail and the Country Music Trail markers.
City Wants State to Take Back Roads
The Jackson City Council will have a special meeting at 11 a.m. this morning to discuss their recommendations to the state Legislature.
Ward 3 Race to End in Runoff
Although LaRita Cooper-Stokes gained 42 percent of the votes in a special election yesterday, it wasn't enough to give her the Ward 3 City Council seat outright. She and Joyce Jackson, who received 22.6 percent of the votes, will meet up again in a runoff election Feb. 28.
Sunshine Act Still Clouds Legislature
Debate over the Sunshine Act, which Speaker Philip Gunn introduced last week and failed on a technicality later in the week, continued to rain down on the Legislature as a House committee returned the issue on Monday.
Record Store Coming to Fondren
In an age of iPods and MP3s, Fondren is about to get a dose of good-ol' vinyl LPs and their younger, shinier CD brothers.
Sen. Joey Fillingane
Personhood supporters and detractors are still trying to sort out the ramifications and nuances of an anti-abortion resolution introduced yesterday. Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution 555, seeking to amend the state Constitution to "protect the life of every unborn child from conception to birth."
Ward 3 Election Today
The Jackson City Council will fill the empty seat left by recently elected Hinds County Supervisor Kenneth Stokes today after voters in Ward 3 select their new council member.
JFP Endorses Beneta Burt for Ward 3 Council Seat
At a Ward 3 candidate forum last week at the Medical Mall, several themes emerged: First, most of the plethora of candidates who are running for Kenneth Stokes' vacated seat had few specific, new ideas to share. Second, Stokes' wife, Larita, must think she has a lock on the seat because she didn't show up to answer questions (although someone scattered her campaign material around). And third, about every candidate talked repeatedly about how getting government grants can help save Ward 3 and solve its problems.
City Needs Transportation Funds
The Jackson City Council discussed bills the city is supporting in the Legislature at a morning committee meeting.
Community Events and Public Meetings
AARP Tax Aide Volunteer Service. The service is available to low- and moderate-income taxpayers with special attention to those ages 60 and older. Bring all necessary documents. No appointment required. Free.
Fillingane Introduces Anti-Abortion Resolution
Within the last couple of hours, Sen. Joey Fillingane introduced a resolution to amend the state constitution "to protect the life of every unborn child from conception to birth."
City Supports Several Bills
The city of Jackson will support several bills in the Legislature this session. Roosevelt Daniels, city policy director, is expected to present the following items this morning at a City Council Legislative Committee meeting.
Metrocenter Moving Forward
A city councilman who used to be a lawyer and lobbyist for David Watkins and some of his firms made a motion Tuesday to allow the mayor to negotiate payments with the Watkins' firm Retro Metro for needed computer cabling in new city offices at Metrocenter Mall. Councilman Quentin Whitwell, Ward 1, says he no longer represents Watkins and denied that he had any conflict of interest in the Metrocenter project.
Memorializing Medgar
It's unlikely that Medgar Evers will be forgotten for a very long time.
Stuart Kellogg
At 10 p.m. in Jackson, about 80 percent of the people who are watching TV have their sets tuned to one of the top-three local news stations.
Holland's Gulf of America Bill Sweeping the Nation
To understand his bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in state waters off the Mississippi coast, you have to understand that Holland is one of the most progressive and most eccentric members of the House. He's also one of the longest serving and most knowledgeable about the inner-workings of the Legislature. He's not exactly hid his disdain for the fact that Speaker Philip Gunn not only didn't give him a committee chairmanship but left him off the committees he's served on for two decades. In fact, Holland quipped to me yesterday that every member of the Legislature should be arrested for loitering on public property because they aren't doing \"####."
Supreme Court Hears Pardongate
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