News

[Lott] Look at the Numbers

The economy is growing, and jobs are being created. But don't take my word for it. Just look at the latest numbers by the Department of Commerce. Virtually every economic indicator is up, and the U.S. Senate has moved decisively to keep the momentum going, passing a jobs bill to stimulate even more economic growth, specifically in the manufacturing and energy sectors.

Barbour Calls Special Session for Tort Reform, Voter ID

[Verbatim statement] Governor Haley Barbour is standing by his pledge to call lawmakers back to the Capitol since the House of Representatives failed to address lawsuit abuse during their Regular Session. Today he called a Special Session to address tort reform, which will convene at 1:00 p.m., Wednesday, May 19, 2004. Governor Barbour is also including the voter identification issue in the Special Session agenda. "I would have preferred for comprehensive tort reform to have been achieved during the Regular Session," Governor Barbour said. "Since it was not, this Special Session became necessary." While the Senate has been strongly supportive of tort reform, the House has not been allowed to vote on it.

Bush Approval Ratings at All-Time Low

CBS News is reporting: "President Bush's overall approval rating has fallen to the lowest level of his presidency, 44 percent, in the latest CBS News poll, reflecting the weight of instability in Iraq on public opinion, despite signs of improvement in the economy. Two weeks ago, 46 percent of Americans approved of the job President Bush was doing. On April 9, his approval rating was 51 percent. American's opinion of Mr. Bush's handling of the economy is also at an all-time low, 34 percent, while 60 percent disapprove, also a high of the Bush presidency. Increasing employment is seemingly not affecting Americans' view of Mr. Bush's economic policy.

Black Monday: Mississippi's Ugly Response to 'Brown v. Board' Decision

It was the late spring 1953, and Gov. Hugh White had called a crucial special session of the Mississippi Legislature. He needed to mobilize a group of moderate lawmakers. If he could get the numbers right, White would ask them to do something that would make them hated throughout the state.

Margie Thompson

Margie Thompson's second-grade classroom blooms. Dancing bears proclaim the longness and shortness of vowels. Colors swirl, and pep-talk art tells children that they can excel in math, in literature, in social studies. This space at McWillie Elementary School is all about learning and is one of the reasons Thompson was selected Jackson Public Schools' Teacher of the Year for 2004.

‘Thurgood's Coming:' Tale of a Hero Lawyer

When Thurgood Marshall hung out his shingle in 1933 as an attorney in his hometown of Baltimore, he immediately became a very popular attorney among fellow African Americans. One problem, though: His clients couldn't afford to pay the young man who received his law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

JPS, Then and Now

The 1957 Murrah High School yearbook is filled with happy white faces, and names like Hederman, Copeland and Mize. One photo shows the yearbook staffers cutting up and having a good time; one young man's grinning face is painted black. The 1958 yearbook shows another boy in blackface, that year clearly ridiculing Little Richard. That was four years after the U.S. Supreme Court had declared school segregation illegal. But there were still no black children in Murrah High School; they would not cross the school's threshold for years to come.

GOP Blames Soldiers, Dems, Media for Scandal

In an editorial, The New York Times exposes the strategy to protect the White House from prisoner-abuse fall-out: "The administration and its Republican allies appear to have settled on a way to deflect attention from the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib: accuse Democrats and the news media of overreacting, then pile all of the remaining responsibility onto officers in the battlefield, far away from President Bush and his political team. That cynical approach was on display yesterday morning in the second Abu Ghraib hearing in the Senate, a body that finally seemed to be assuming its responsibility for overseeing the executive branch after a year of silently watching the bungled Iraq occupation." [...]

‘We Owe It to Emmett Till'

AP is reporting: "The Justice Department said Monday it is reopening the investigation into the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, a black teenager whose death while visiting Mississippi was an early catalyst for the civil rights movement. Till was abducted from his uncle's home in Money, Miss., on Aug. 28, 1955. The mutilated body of the 14-year-old from Chicago was found by fishermen three days later in the Tallahatchie River. Pictures of the slaying shocked the world. Two white men charged with murder - Roy Bryant and his half brother, J.W. Milam - were acquitted by an all-white jury. Both men have since died."

Wendy Eddleman

As I listened to Wendy Eddleman at Flashbacks Espresso Café in Byram, I couldn't help thinking of those serene beauties often seen in Renaissance paintings. Not only is the 29-year-old Jackson native outwardly lovely, but an evident inner strength and capability makes her glow.

Tuck readmitted

Julie Goodman of C-L writes"Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, who has walking pneumonia, has been admitted to the hospital again, this time to the intensive care unit. Tuck was in stable condition at St. Dominic-Jackson Memorial Hospital on Monday and is not expected to be discharged for a few days. 'Ms. Tuck was readmitted to the hospital for further medical treatment and testing,' her doctor said in a statement Senate President Pro Tempore Travis Little, R-Corinth, read on the Senate floor.Tuck, who was initially treated at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, switched hospitals because her pulmonary specialist, James Jones, has his practice near St. Dominic's, Tuck's office said."

Special session likely due to stalled bills

C-L reports today: "Lawmakers left the Capitol late Monday night with no agreement on the how to fund the state's public schools, how to cover Medicaid recipients or how to pay other expenditures. Failure to agree on the budget on the last day to adopt money bills for the session makes a special session a likely scenario. Rep. Charlie Capps, D-Cleveland, a former appropriations chairman and 32-year legislative veteran, said he had never seen an impasse like the one lawmakers face. 'I've never seen this happen before, where we just break down and we don't have any revenue bills, appropriations, or other bills,' he said. The House moved late in the day to extend the session to buy lawmakers time, but the Senate did not take up the resolution"

House debates dipping in trust fund

Andy Kanengiser of the C-L reports: "Using money from Mississippi's tobacco trust fund to avoid slashing school budgets was one of the proposals discussed Sunday at the Capitol. But the suggestion from Senate negotiators to help break a budget impasse was quickly shot down by House counterparts. Taking tobacco trust fund dollars for education needs "is just not going to happen," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Johnny Stringer, D-Montrose, during a break in stalled budget talks shortly before 8:30 p.m. on Sunday. 'There is over $600 million in the bank,' Stringer said. And it helps Mississippi's bond rating to keep the tobacco money there, he said."

Macon, Miss., Contractor Escapes; 11 More Troops Killed

AP is reporting: "In a daring escape, American hostage Thomas Hamill pried open the doors of the house where he was being held late Sunday morning and ran a half-mile to a military convoy that was passing by, officials and his wife said. Insurgents attacked U.S. forces across Iraq, killing 11 Americans.

Just Another Church

Methodist minister Ed King worked and lived Freedom Summer in Mississippi in 1964. The Vicksburg native ran for lieutenant governor on the Freedom Vote mock election ballot while Aaron Henry was the gubernatorial candidate. The two were pitted against actual candidates. The Freedom Vote's two main goals—to show whites in Mississippi and America that African Americans wanted to vote; and to give African Americans, many of whom had never voted, a chance to practice casting a ballot—were met when 93,000 voted on mock Election Day in November and Freedom Party candidates won. Mr. King vividly remembers how journalists of the day covered the atmosphere in Mississippi that eventful summer. The following is a chapter in an as-yet-unpublished manuscript on Freedom Summer that King hopes to publish.

Lawmakers face budget decisions

Andy Kanengiser of C-L reports: "State House and Senate negotiators will try to reach compromises on a slew of budgets for agencies, public schools, community colleges and universities as lawmakers enter the final two weeks of their four-month session at the Capitol. In conference committees, they also hope to find more money for prisons, Medicaid, mental health and other needs in the state's $3.7 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Lawmakers have until Saturday to file conference reports."

Mississippi's lieutenant governor released from hospital

AP reports: Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck was released from a hospital Wednesday night after doctors determined she had pneumonia but could recover at home. 'She's under strict orders to rest as much as possible,' said Tuck's chief of staff, Ben Thompson. He said she was feeling 'a little tired and weak.' Tuck, 41, was admitted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center on Saturday complaining of nausea and severe headaches. Thompson said he didn't know when Tuck would return to the Capitol, where lawmakers are holding budget talks that usually include her. The House and Senate must agree on budget bills by May 1.

House considers tort reform

The AP reports: The House voted 110 to 8 to allow a new bill to be filed. The bill will address several issues, including limits on where product-liability lawsuits can be filed. It will not include proposals to limit pain and suffering damages that can be awarded in civil suits. The Mississippi Senate has to agree before a new bill can be filed.

[Lott] Young Mississippians Choosing to Lead

Web exclusive

Mississippi has produced some of the world's most significant artists, writers, politicians, business leaders and humanitarians. Though materially poor, our state has always been rich in human resources, and too much of that potential has left our state upon maturity. I believe that's changing, and the University of Mississippi's new leadership institute is just one example of how Mississippians are choosing to lead—not necessarily for someone somewhere else, but for Mississippi.

Cyrus Webb

Read about Cyrus Webb's more recent activities and controversies here

Not Too Hip to Vote

Christopher Hayes writes for Alternet: "[T]his crowd, which formed a line that snaked around Astor place onto Lafayette, was garbed in American Apparel t-shirts, thrift store blazers, and the hyper pointy-toed shoes that are currently standard issue for women south of 14th Street. ...

Are We Losing the Peace in Iraq?

Fables of Reconstruction: A Coalition memo reveals that even true believers see the seeds of civil war in the occupation of Iraq

The Kill Zone

Moving wounded and dodging American bullets in Fallujah

Entering the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah was difficult, but not impossible. We came in along the backroads, following the Euphrates River past beautiful date groves, villages of clay houses, and herds of goats. The air is marvelously dry, clean, and bright, the polar opposite of Baghdad's choking, fume-ridden skies. It is a fantastic and timeless landscape.

Jesse Jackson Seeking Macon Man's Release

AP is reporting: "The Rev. Jesse Jackson will contact religious leaders in Iraq to seek the release of Thomas Hamill, the American civilian truck driver abducted in Iraq, Hamill's wife said Saturday. Kellie Hamill, who has been pleading in the media for her husband's release, said Jackson made the offer last week and she asked him to intervene. 'We talked with him several days ago,' she said in a telephone interview from the couple's home in Macon. U.S. Sen. Trent Lott said Friday at a news conference in Tupelo he had talked with Jackson and helped the longtime civil rights advocate contact the Hamill family.

NAFTA Tribunals Stir U.S., Mississippi Worries

More NAFTA woes ... New York Times reports today: "Any Canadian or Mexican business that contends it has been treated unjustly by the American judicial system can file a similar claim. American businesses with similar complaints about Canadian or Mexican court judgments can do the same. Under the Nafta agreement the government whose court system is challenged is responsible for awards by the tribunals. 'This is the biggest threat to United States judicial independence that no one has heard of and even fewer people understand,' said John D. Echeverria, a law professor at Georgetown University.

State GOP Twists Kerry Out of Context

Linked to the top of the conservative Magnolia Report right now is a press release the Mississippi GOP put out April 15 to explain "why John Kerry is wrong for Mississippi." Beyond focusing on emotional wedge issues (that "reflect the values and ideals of folks down here") that don't actually affect most Mississippians' everyday lives ("partial-birth" abortion, death penalty for drug-related murders) rather than issues that do (jobs, public education), the GOP twisted John Kerry right out of context to apparently prove that he's some Yankee who doesn't give a damn about southerners.

Who's Scaring Whom?

April 14, 2004 -- This is a weird press release from Gov. Barbour's folks, blaming school administrators, who are facing funding cuts thanks to the governor and the Senate, for "scaring" teachers. Who's scaring whom here?

[Cohen] The Enemy Within

Our new NOISE section will highlight the JFP's breaking online stories, hot blog discussions and exclusive online op-eds. Starting this week, the JFP is asking a number of opinionated souls to regularly contribute pieces on the fly about issues of the day to our Web site. If you are interested in joining the NOISE team, please e-mail [e-mail missing], and we'll provide you the guidelines. And if you're a reader, check back throughout the day; you never know what will pop up next!

[Lott] Keeping Up Our Recovery

Web Exclusive

Twice as many jobs were created in March than expected, more than 300,000 nationally. That shows the U.S. economy is indeed rebounding with a total of 750,000 jobs added since September, thanks to tax cuts which are spawning economic activity. Yet Congress could do more. From a legislative standpoint, energy and transportation should be the top priorities of U.S. Senators right now. Perhaps no two issues can propel our economy more than having good roads and affordable fuel prices. Without passage of highway and energy bills, our economic recovery is at risk.

Bush: Drop ‘Political Posture'

The New York Times editorializes today: "No reasonable American blames Mr. Bush for the terrorist attacks, but that's a long way from thinking there was no other conceivable action he could have taken to prevent them. He could, for instance, have left his vacation in Texas after receiving that briefing memo entitled 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.' and rushed back to the White House, assembled all his top advisers and demanded to know what, in particular, was being done to screen airline passengers to make sure people who fit the airlines' threat profiles were being prevented from boarding American planes. Even that sort of prescient response would probably have been too little to head off the disaster. But those what-if questions should haunt the president as they haunt the nation. In all probability, they do and it is only the demands of his re-election campaign that are guiding Mr. Bush's public stance of utter, uncomplicated self-righteousness.

Ellington