News

Change Where It Matters

In an age when television airwaves and opinion pages burst with outraged faces and voices on both sides of the political spectrum, one group of Mississippi youth is conducting public discourse in a more level-headed light. What's more, these high schoolers are learning how to enact social change where it matters most: the community.

Fact-Checking the Speeches

The political speeches at the Neshoba County Fair are a time when politicians and candidates get on the stump to tout their achievements, take a few jabs at their opponents and occasionally forget to the tell the truth.

State Slow to Spend STEPS Hiring Funds

Philadelphia, Miss., business owner William Hegman says the Workforce Investment Network of Mississippi is not properly monitoring its spending of $52 million in federal job placement money.

Dionne Woody

Dionne Woody's office is filled with red: Red coffee mugs, red delicious apples inscribed with "No. 1 Teacher," and red elephants, symbols for Woody's college sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, splay across her cherry wood desk. She has saved the most prominent display, however, for the photos of her large family.

Improving the System

Trent Walker has worked most angles of Hinds County's judicial system. The candidate for county court judge has served as a special appointee to Hinds County Circuit Court, an assistant county prosecutor and a youth court referee.

Obesity Rates Continue To Rise

Nine states, including Mississippi, now have an obesity rate of 30 percent or more, according to a Centers For Disease Control report released yesterday.

Tea Party Says AG Soft on ‘Illegals'

At an immigration forum in Madison last night, state Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven, attacked Attorney General Jim Hood for what she considers his unwillingness to enforce new state legislation that makes it illegal to employ undocumented residents.

Business Training, Health Care and Fine Art

Current and aspiring business owners have a number of training opportunities in the next week. On Thursday, Aug. 5, the Small Business Development Center at Jackson State University hosts a seminar on small business grants and loans. The workshop, at the Mississippi e-Center, runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. For more information and to reserve a spot, call 601-979-2795.

Tonight is National Night Out

Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. will join the community for tonight's National Night Out, an annual event designed to heighten drug- and crime-prevention awareness and strengthen communities.

Lawmakers to Mirror Arizona Immigration Law

Slow Progress on Hinds Emergency Sirens

Read the county's siren report

Lorenda Cheeks

Lorenda Cheeks' work to improve educational opportunities for Jackson Public Schools students is receiving national attention.

Community Events and Public Meetings

6 p.m., We Are Africa 2010 Road Tour at Afrika Book Cafe (404 Mitchell Ave.). African Ancestry will do a special seminar on tracing your roots with a DNA test. Free admission, $225 DNA test kit; visit We are Africa's website.

Gulf Crews Prepare to Permanently Seal Well

BP Engineers are preparing to perform a "static kill" operation to permanently seal the blown-out Deepwater Horizon well, The Sun Herald reported today.

Civil Rights Memorial Corridor Moving Forward

Jackson State University is moving ahead with a project to transform a section of Lynch Street near the university into a memorial to the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi, Interim JSU President Leslie Burl McLemore said today.

Mississippi Worst in the Nation for Child Well-Being

Mississippi ranks last in the nation for overall child wellness, according to findings from an Annie E. Casey Foundation study released earlier this week.

Cathy Baker

As head server and bartender at the Fairview Inn's restaurant, Sophia's, Cathy Baker is responsible for more than just food and drink. She is an unofficial ambassador for the city.

Weekend Events

Start your weekend off right with a little back-to-school shopping. The Mississippi Sales Tax Holiday started at 12:01 a.m. today and ends Saturday at midnight. Buy shoes and clothes that retail for less than $100, and you pay no sales tax. Head to the Department of Revenue website for complete information.

Hood Seeks Transparent Claims Process

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and other Gulf states attorneys general will meet today with Ken Feinberg, BP claims administrator for the Obama administration, to present a protocol for residents filing claims against the oil giant for damages due to the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.

JFP Wins Shining Example Award

Verbatim Statement: Jackson, Mississippi - The "best of the best" of Jackson's tourism industry were honored today at the Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau's 2010 Hometown Hero and SUMITT Awards ceremony at the Jackson Convention Complex.

Mental Health Claims From Oil Spill Probably Won't Be Paid

BP's $20 billion fund to compensate those hurt by the Gulf oil spill will probably turn down one controversial class of claims: those for mental-health problems.

Jackson Pushes Brownfield Grants

The city of Jackson has two months to spend the remainder of a federal grant aimed at spurring the redevelopment of underused industrial or commercial sites. At a meeting this morning, city officials encouraged property owners and developers to apply for the city's Brownfields Redevelopment Grant Program, which pays for environmental assessments on properties that may be contaminated with hazardous substances or chemicals.

Jay Dean

Jay Dean saw his first opera more than three decades ago, and his passion for the art has grown since then.

Barbour Downplays Oil to Lt. Governors

Speaking to a group of about 20 of the nation's lieutenant governors in Biloxi yesterday, Gov. Haley Barbour used his pulpit to minimize the damage of the destroyed BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, reports The Miami Herald.

JPS Board Mulling Metrocenter Move

Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. said at last week's Jackson Public Schools board meeting that he supports developer David Watkins' vision to relocate the entirety of JPS administration to the Metrocenter Mall, but said it was not his place to influence the decision.

Constitution Man

Bill Marcy is a history buff and cites articles of the Constitution when making his case for the role of government. The Chicago native will challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi's second congressional district this November.

Keeping Kids In School

Inside the Medical Mall's Thad Cochran Center, a group of students and teachers hover around a circular table.

Slow Progress On Pre-K

Early-childhood education in Mississippi is the big engine that couldn't: Despite reams of documentation showing its economic and educational benefits, pre-kindergarten has not attracted the political support—and public funding—in Mississippi it has in many neighboring states.

Tough Times Await Bigger JPS Board

Jackson Public Schools will enter the coming school year with a lean budget and a growing Board of Trustees. The five-member school board, which already boasts four members with less than a year of experience each, is set to add two new members this fall.

Whitney Barkley

Growing up, Whitney Barkley never dreamed she would be a lawyer.

Ellington