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Belhaven Seeks National Historic Status

Belhaven community leaders are asking the city of Jackson to apply for grant money to help the neighborhood earn a designation on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sushi, Tattoos and Redevelopment

The Fondren neighborhood will get a long-awaited sushi restaurant in April, developer Mike Peters says. Peters told the Jackson Free Press that Fatsumo Sushi, an American-style sushi restaurant in Gulfport, will open a location on Duling Avenue April 1. The Fondren location, between Fischer Galleries and the redeveloped Duling School, was originally set to house a different franchise, Fuze Sushi. A number of hiccups, including the death of the restaurant's original chef, delayed the opening indefinitely, however.

Melvin Johnson

If you have seen an exhibit at the Mississippi Museum of Art over the last two decades, you've witnessed the hard work of assistant preparator Melvin Johnson.

Senate Passes Open Meetings Act

The Mississippi Senate passed a bill yesterday that would increase fines to public officials who violate the state's open meetings law.

Council Confirms 2 More JPS Board Members

The City Council voted today to confirm Mayor Harvey Johnson's two additional nominees to the Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees. After delaying the vote for weeks due to in-fighting, council members voted 5-0 to add Linda Rush and 4-1 to appoint Timothy Collins to the seven-member board.

And the Oscar Goes To ...

Hollywood rolls out the red carpet Sunday, Feb. 27, to celebrate the achievements of the motion picture industry during the past year. Despite promises of something new and better, devoted Oscar fans know and expect a rather dull, drawn-out ceremony. We have lowered our expectations and fortified ourselves for a long night, as we patiently wait for the unscripted moments that make the show worthwhile. Cue Sally Fields and her misremembered "You like me" speech." Her unrestrained happiness made that year's show.

Animal Cruelty Bill Clears Major Hurdle

Cruelty to cats and dogs would become a felony in Mississippi under Senate Bill 2821, which the House Agriculture Committee voted unanimously today to approve. The bill to make "aggravated cruelty to a dog or cat" a felony on the second offense now goes to the House Judiciary B Committee for consideration.

Funk Philosophy

If you didn't know better, you might have thought you'd stepped into evening service at an annual church convention rather than a program to hear an American theorist speak at Jackson State University. The designated seating areas were packed last night, and some people stood in the Lee E. Williams Athletic and Assembly Center to hear acclaimed professor and author Cornel West speak. Speak he did.

It's The Weekend: Celebrate Spring

Ditch the office this afternoon and enjoy the early spring-like weather. Then, at 5 p.m., head to Lemuria (4465 Interstate 55 N.) at 5 p.m. where Joseph O'Conner signs copies of his book "Ghost Light" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011, $25) with a reading at 5:30 p.m., or grab the kids when John Bemelmans Marciano signs copies of "Madeline at the Whitehouse" (Viking Juvenile, 2011, $17.99) at what time?. If you need to let go and laugh after a long week, see The Cowboy Comedian, where Skip Guidry and Dane Faucheux perform at the Black Rose Community Theater (101 Black Street, Brandon). Show times are 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. and tickets are $20. To purchase tickets, call 601-825-1293. Check out the JFP's Best Bets page to begin your search of things to do.

Charles Barbour

Mississippi Public Service Commission candidate Charles Barbour said his run against the Republican incumbent in the August primary isn't any of his uncle's business.

Vera Johnson

"I'm pretty much a glorified driver," Vera Johnson says, referring to the time she spends chauffeuring her two children, Elisabeth, 9, and William, 5, to activities like dance classes or basketball practices.

Barbour Proposes to End MPB Funding

Gov. Haley Barbour has proposed to end all state funding for Mississippi Public Broadcasting by 2016.

Lawmakers Battle Barbour Over K-12 Budget

Mississippi Parent's Campaign Executive Director Nancy Loome praised a school funding bill the House passed yesterday, which she says adequately funds the state's K-12 education system.

Civil Rights Museum Funding Advances In House

A proposed national civil-rights museum in downtown Jackson could receive $30 million in state funds, under a bill up for consideration by the state House of Representatives. The House Ways & Means Committee voted today to approve HB 1463, which allots $55 million total to the civil-rights museum and a museum of Mississippi history, both to be located near the William Winter state archives building. The bill now goes to the House floor for a vote by the full chamber.

Cornel West

If you ever need pointers on being a rock star academian, Cornel West is the only man you want to ask. He is Lauded in academic circles as one of the foremost authorities on race, class and gender in this post-1960s Civil Rights Movement. The professor, who earned his doctorate from Princeton University, now teaches at his alma mater in the departments of African American studies and religious studies.

Hood Warns of Netflix Scam

[verbatim from the attorney general's office]

Attorney General Jim Hood is warning consumers today of a recent e-mail scam targeting Netflix subscribers.

Schools and Cigs

Charters-school advocates are looking to change the state's current law to allow charter schools to use lottery enrollment. The Mississippi Legislature passed SB 2293 last year, creating a process for transforming some failing public schools into "New Start Schools" and "Conversion Charter Schools."

Health for All

Alvin Poussaint's career reads like a hopscotch game across the touchstones of post-World War II African American history. Born in 1934, Poussaint earned a medical degree at Cornell University and studied psychiatry at UCLA before joining the Civil Rights Movement.

Tease photo

No Small Feat

The students in John Bennetts' second-grade class are being perfect sponges. Bennetts, a teacher at KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy, a charter school in Helena, Ark., is drilling the class on the difference between "explicit information" and "implicit information."

Civil Rights Museum Funding Advances In House

A proposed national civil-rights museum in downtown Jackson could receive $30 million in state funds, under a bill up for consideration by the state House of Representatives. The House Ways & Means Committee voted today to approve HB 1463, which allots $55 million total to the civil-rights museum and a museum of Mississippi history, both to be located near the William Winter state archives building. The bill now goes to the House floor for a vote by the full chamber.

Health Reform Moves Ahead

The Mississippi Legislature is debating laws that conform to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, even as legal challenges to the act continue.

Bills to Protect Domestic Abuse Victims

After her husband physically and mentally abused her for nearly a decade, Joy Jones* realized her situation was only going to get worse. She gathered up enough courage to seek a divorce and secretly obtained a lawyer, who encouraged her to close her and her spouse's joint checking account. Jones says earning the majority of the family's income gave her a financial advantage in being able to afford the proceedings.

Paul DeBoy

Paul DeBoy's first stage was the backyard of his Baltimore, Md., home. His older brother wrote plays that DeBoy would star in, and the two would charge admission when DeBoy was just 5 years old.

Whitwell Wins Ward 1 Council Seat

Quentin Whitwell will take his seat as Ward 1 Jackson city councilman after winning the majority of votes in yesterday's special election.

NAACP Asks Barbour to Condemn Klan Plate

Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson is asking Gov. Haley Barbour to condemn the Mississippi Sons of Confederate Veterans' push to create a commemorative license plate for Confederate General and the Ku Klux Klan's first Grand Wizard, Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Stadiums, Hackers and Oil

A bill the Mississippi Senate is considering could transfer control of Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium to Jackson State University. House Bill 1158, which the House of Representatives passed Feb. 10, would give JSU control of the stadium itself while transferring the property surrounding the stadium to the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Carla Palmer-Allen

Carla Palmer-Allen knows that perseverance eventually pays off. Last month, the Jackson native became the first African American to serve as president of the Jackson Association of Realtors, a 1,500–member organization that advocates and provides information for area realtors.

Ward 1 Special Election Today

Ward 1 voters will decide today whether L. Patricia Ice or Quentin Whitwell will fill the Ward 1 City Council seat, which has been empty since Jeff Weill left in January to serve as a Hinds Circuit Court judge.

Cost of Flood Study Could Jump

A study examining flood control along the Pearl River could cost taxpayers twice as much, due to post- Katrina requirements, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told the Levee Board today.

Barbour Repeats Budget, Medicaid Myths at CPAC

Continuing his hints at a 2012 presidential run, Gov. Haley Barbour addressed the Conservative Political Action Committee's annual conference Saturday in Washington, D.C., with his argument for electing a Republican president. Barbour touted his own record in Mississippi, trotting out a list of accomplishments that requires some closer scrutiny. Here's a partial list of some of Barbour's statements and the facts behind them.

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