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American and Southwest Cancel All Jackson Flights Today

American and Southwest Airlines have cancelled all flights in and out of Jackson-Evers International Airport for the rest of today, Sept. 1., and at least until 9 a.m. Tuesday. Delta is cancelling at least some flights. Be sure to call the airline to check on status of flights. WAPT is discussing the fact now that any passengers stranded at the airport cannot check into local hotels because they are all full.

MEMA Belatedly Reveals More Shelter Options

The morning after shelters were turning away frustrated evacuees in the Jackson Metro, MEMA put out a release telling people where space was still available. Verbatim:

Gustav Hits Houma; Levees Holding; Tornado Watches Multiply

The Associated Press is reporting:

Cat 2 Gustav Approaches; Pushing Levees; Hwy. 90 Under Water

Also see: Jackpedia: Hurricane Gustav to get/post vital information.

MARL Needs Supplies to Help with Evacuee Pets

Also see: Jackpedia: Hurricane Gustav to get/post vital information.

More Housing Needed in Jackson Metro for Gustav Evacuees

Also see: Jackpedia: Hurricane Gustav to get/post vital information.

Evacuees Saying Contraflow in Mississippi ‘a Joke'

On the Gambit Weekly blog, New Orleans evacuees are complaining that the contraflow plan fell apart in Mississippi today. "Huck" wrote:

Barbour: ‘We're Geared Up for a Major Storm'

Also see: Jackpedia: Hurricane Gustav to get/post vital information.

MEMA Sends 100 School Buses to Coast to Pick Up Residents

(Verbatim) PEARL – The Mississippi Department of Education has deployed more than 100 school buses for people who need to evacuate the Gulf Coast today. People living in FEMA travel trailers and mobile homes, Mississippi Cottages and others in flood hazard areas have been ordered to evacuate Jackson, Hancock and Harrison counties today. Also Hancock County, including the cities of Bay St. Louis and Waveland, has issued a mandatory evacuation for all areas south of Interstate 10 and areas north of Interstate 10 that flooded during Hurricane Katrina. This includes all residents living on rivers, river inlets, bayous, creeks, in travel trailers, modular homes, mobile homes, homes that are under construction and or partially constructed homes.

MDOT: Traffic Contraflow to End Sunday Night

(Verbatim from MDOT) JACKSON, MISS., --- The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) announces the following traffic information. Officially LA/MS Hurricane Gustav Contraflow operations for Interstates 55 and 59 will terminate at 4:45 p.m., Sunday August 31, 2008. Louisiana is in the process of handing off Contraflow to Mississippi. MDOT anticipates it taking around four (4) hours to clear traffic in order to place the southbound contraflowed interstate back to normal southbound flow.

McCain Announces Scaled-Back Convention Due to Gustav

John McCain campaign manager Rick Davis is announcing now that the Republican Naitonal Convention will officially begin at 3 p.m. Monday for "business of the day," but no politics. He expects the session to end by 5 or 5:30 p.m. Beyond that, the convention is uncertain. He also said that McCain has asked for politics to be put aside and for Republicans to rally with the affected states, including Louisiana, which Republican leaders (such as Haley Barbour of Mississippi) pitted against the more Republican Mississippi during Katrina three years ago. In a sign that the GOP plans to treat Louisiana very differently this time around, McCain has offered campaign planes to take Louisiana delegates back home and to bring them back as needed, Davis said, and the campaign is calling for delegates to help raise money for the areas affected by Gustav.

Where Is Emergency Housing for Gustav Evacuees?

Are you fleeing Gustav and looking for housing? You can find a list of emergency shelters in Mississippi here. Print a Red Cross evacuation plan here. Here's a checklist of the supplies you need.

How to Volunteer to Help Gustav Victims

If you want to volunteer to help victims of Hurricane Gustav, please see this Jackpedia page, where you can also start posting about needs for specific volunteers. If you're available to volunteer, you can post contact info for yourself here. You can also go VolunteerMississippi.org to both volunteer and donate money or goods, as detailed in the following statement today, verbatim:

Deadly Storm Surges Likely for Louisiana and Mississippi

As you're tracking the storm, don't just focus on where the eye of Gustav will make landfall. As we all learned during Katrina, the storm surge is one of the most dangerous components of a massive hurricane. You can track projections of the Gustav storm surge here (scroll down for map).

McCain, Palin Coming to Jackson Sunday for Gustav Face Time

The Associated Press is reporting that the McCain-Palin campaign is coming down to Gustav territory:

Governor: Contraflow Traffic Begins 4 a.m. Sunday in State

[Verbatim] August 30, 2008—The State of Mississippi is assisting Louisiana with contraflow operations for Interstate 59 and Interstate 55. This means all lanes will be dedicated to northbound traffic beginning Sunday at 4:00 a.m.

Barbour Declares State of Emergency Due to Gustav

[Verbatim from Office of Governor] (JACKSON, Mississippi)--Today Governor Haley Barbour issued a State of Emergency for the State of Mississippi due to the threat posed by Hurricane Gustav, which has demonstrated potential to severely impact the entire state according to current predictions by the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center.

JFP Opens Hurricane Gustav Info Wiki on Jackpedia

As we did for Katrina in 2005, the Jackson Free Press will provide staff- and user-generated communications for resources needed in the wake of Hurricane Gustav to help connect people who want to help with those who need it. This time around, we are using a dedicated section of Jackpedia, the Jackson, Miss., wiki powered by the JFP. Please help us load up Gustav resources before the storm hits, and as you have access, we invite you to use Jackpedia as a way to communicate about needs for resources, housing, volunteers and information during the storm and its aftermath. See a long list of categories and links already posted to see what you can add to the Gustav wiki. Or e-mail us information at [e-mail missing], so we can post it for you. In the event that the JFP loses power, people outside the area will help us access e-mails and update the site.

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Obama's Explosive Acceptance Speech: The Transcript

Even as the country spent a minute saying "who the hell is Sarah Palin," Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is basking in the glow (and poll numbers) of a remarkable night, on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Here is the transcript of his speech Thursday night in Denver:

W-P: GOP Considers Postponing Convention

Faced with the prospect that Hurricane Gustav would make landfall on or shortly the GOP convention begins, the Washington Post is reporting that the GOP is considering a delay for the start of the convention:

The Katrina Effect: National and State Politics After the Storm

Read Adam Lynch's in-depth analysis of how the inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina on Mississippi's Gulf Coast and in New Orleans—and the fact that so many people still leave in trailers as another massive storm looms—has dramatically changed the face of politics in the U.S. and in the South.

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Kaarlon Mann

If you have never seen a stray cat in Belhaven Heights, there's a pretty good chance Kaarlon Mann has something to do with it. She says her neighborhood has been "kitten-free for three years."

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Hood Drops Barbour's Defense

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says he will not defend Gov. Haley Barbour in a Hinds County Chancery Court case, saying his defense would conflict with other branches of government.

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Ban the Paddle?

Minority and special education students are more likely than their peers to receive a paddling, according to a recent report by the Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. Nationally, African Americans made up 35.6 percent of students paddled in the 2006-2007 school year, but only 17.1 percent of the student population.

Barbour and Hospitals Battle Before Judge

Attorneys for Gov. Haley Barbour and the Mississippi Hospital Association swapped arguments today before Hinds County Chancery Court Judge William Singletary. The Mississippi Hospital Association and a group of about 43 Mississippi hospitals are asking Singletary to enforce his July order that Barbour could not raise taxes on hospitals without legislative approval.

U.S. Attorney: 595 ‘Illegal Aliens' Arrested

[verbatim from U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton] LAUREL, Miss.— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents executed a federal criminal search warrant yesterday at Howard Industries, Inc., an electric transformer manufacturing facility, for evidence relating to aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers and other crimes, as well as a civil search warrant for individuals illegally in the United States. The announcement was made by ICE Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Investigations in New Orleans, Michael A. Holt, and Stan Harris, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi.

BREAKING: Mississippi Supreme Court Censors Dissenting Opinion

The Mississippi Supreme Court censored the dissenting opinion (PDF, 456 KB) of Justice Oliver Diaz yesterday, a possibly "unprecedented" move "in the history of American jurisprudence," according to Diaz.

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Melton's ‘State': ‘A Bit Of Hyperbole'?

Mayor Frank Melton praised Jackson's economic progress and outlined some of the city's persistent problems in his State of the City address this morning at the TelCom Center.

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Juan Joseph

Juan Joseph, 20, did not plan on being a starting quarterback for a college football team. In fact, he did not even plan on playing football in college. But plans changed.

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Recycling Crime

U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate has put the clamps on an effort to change a new state law regulating the metal-recycling industry. The law specifically demands scrap buyers keep all scrap purchases on their property for three days, so authorities can check it as potentially stolen merchandise.

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