News

Business Students Shifting Focus

"Corporate responsibility" is becoming the mantra at many business schools, AP reports: "As the stereotype goes, business students are supposed to be single-minded in their career goals: making money, more money and still more money. But don't tell that to Daron Horwitz, who spent his spring break in Iraq - visiting schools that will be helped by a nonprofit group he and a small group of students formed at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Sex and the Single Voter

"Single women are the hot, must-have demo for the 2004 presidential race. But will they put out this November?" Rebecca Traister explores this burning question in Salon.

AP Poll: Bush 45%, Kerry 44%, Nader 6%

AP reports today: "Bush was backed by 45 percent of voters and Kerry by 44 percent in the poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs. Independent candidate Ralph Nader had 6 percent support. The numbers are essentially unchanged from AP-Ipsos polls taken in early and mid-March."

Susan Haltom

Can you even imagine your first job right out of the University of Mississippi being curator of exhibits at the Old Capitol? And then, almost 20 years later, when you're back with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History—part time—being asked to go check on Miss Welty's yard? And having that turn into a 10-year-long odyssey of cohesive research and tireless effort that culminated this past weekend with the opening of the garden at Eudora Welty's Belhaven home?

Clarion-Ledger Acknowledges Crime Drop

C-L editorial today: "Jackson's 30 percent drop in overall crime the first quarter of this year is an encouraging sign that with persistence by the police and public the decline could turn into a trend. All but aggravated assault (up 14 percent), among major crimes, showed a decrease from the same first three months last year, Jackson Police Department figures show. Could this be a trend? Police figures show 17,144 major crimes were reported in 2003, a 3 percent drop from 2002 and the lowest since before 1988. So, if the rest of 2004 continues at this rate, it will show substantial progress."

Black-White Disparities Still Severe

AP reports: "Black Americans are less likely than white Americans to own homes, don't earn as much as whites, don't live as long, and don't do as well in school, according to a report by the National Urban League. The report, released on March 24, is a collection of survey data and essays by experts in race, social justice, health, psychology and civil rights. The most conspicuous differences it found were in the areas of home ownership and economic parity, with black earning power about 73 percent that of whites. 'The wealth gap is significant,' Urban League President Marc Morial said in an interview."

$141M bond bill for universities passes House committee

Andy Kanengiser of the CL reports: "A House committee today approved a $141 million bond bill for building projects at Mississippi universities, two-year colleges and state agencies. 'The needs are out there,' said House Speaker Pro Tempore J.P. Compretta, D-Bay St. Louis after the panel's voice vote. Compretta said the goal is to keep the building wish list below $200 million for 2004. 'This is the beginning of the process.' House Bill 1793 now goes to the full 122-member House Wednesday. The Senate is expected to consider its own higher education bond bill this afternoon."

Packin' Crime Stories for the C-L

Misused DHS funds investigated

Julie Goodman of the Clarion Ledger reports: "The state Department of Human Services is investigating whether millions of dollars in welfare money was used for such things as a down payment on a Jaguar and a trip to a Mediterranean country. The agency is looking into allegations contractors, such as day care providers, have improperly used funds, officials said. Investigators also are questioning whether portions of $89 million in 'rainy day' funds were mishandled between fiscal 2000 and 2002, DHS Executive Director Don Taylor said Wednesday. He could not say how much money might be involved."

The Un-Tuskegee Experiment

African Americans had every reason to join the Jackson Heart Study, and every reason not to participate. A landmark study of African Americans and heart disease, it is no ordinary research project. "The Jackson Heart Study is not business as usual," said Dr. Herman Taylor, director of the study. "We have the core research component, but then we have the educational component, and there is the community outreach component."

House bill added $184M to school funding

The Sun Herald reports: "The House's $2 billion K-12 spending bill, which passed by a 103-18 vote Tuesday, would fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, a formula established in 1997 to ensure equity in spending for students in poorer school districts, and fund the fourth year of a five-year teacher pay raise plan. The House plan spends $184 million more on K-12 education than the joint Legislative Budget Committee recommendation. But the House plan faces a long, hard fight with the Senate and Gov. Haley Barbour, who have called some of the figures House leaders use to fund education "funny money.'"

Nina Parikh

Nina Flaminiano Parikh isn't the sort of name you'd expect for the associate manager of the Mississippi Film Office, but that's what the 30-year-old answers to (even after April 10 when she says will also be honored to be called Mrs. Jerel Levanway). That exotic name fits her to a T. Her looks—her dad is Indian, and her mom is Filipino—might convince you she belongs in front of the camera, though.

That Old-Time ‘Southern Strategy'

Jack Bass writes for Salon: "The recent recess appointments by President George W. Bush of two controversial Deep South Republicans to federal courts of appeals indicates that the Republican 'Southern strategy' remains alive and well. Much of the Democratic opposition in the Senate to confirming Charles W. Pickering of Mississippi and William H. Pryor of Alabama focused on matters suggesting insensitivity to civil rights issues. Opponents cited the records of both men that included criticism of or efforts to limit important remedies or provisions of the Voting Rights Act."

Medicare In Trouble, Thanks to Health Costs and New Medicare Law

Let me guess: federal tort reform is the cure-all? NY Times reports: "Medicare's financial condition has significantly deteriorated, partly because of exploding health costs and partly because of the new Medicare law, the government reported on Tuesday. In its annual report to Congress, the Medicare board of trustees said the program's hospital insurance trust fund could run out of money before the end of the next decade. The trustees have made such projections in the past, but this one was much bleaker than the outlook reported just last year.

Bush Facing Dreary Jobs Data in Michigan

AP reports: "Allies of Democrat John Kerry in this down-on-its-luck industrial state are armed with depressing statistics on unemployment and poverty, hoping to persuade voters to blame President Bush for the hit on their pocketbooks. In Michigan, 6.6 percent of workers are unemployed, with the strain sharpest in communities that have suffered plant closings and manufacturing cutbacks as jobs moved overseas. There is widespread anger, spreading into conservative areas, that Bush is not doing enough to keep those jobs at home or help the poor."

NY Times Examines Barbour Role in Energy Policy

In a long piece Sunday, The New York Times examined Haley Barbour's role in Bush energy/environmental policies: "Just six weeks into the Bush administration, Haley Barbour, a former Republican party chairman who was a lobbyist for electric power companies, sent a memorandum to Vice President Dick Cheney laying down a challenge. 'The question is whether environmental policy still prevails over energy policy with Bush-Cheney, as it did with Clinton-Gore,' Mr. Barbour wrote, and called for measures to show that environmental concerns would no longer 'trump good energy policy.'"

Why Young Blacks Should Vote

Black America Web reports: "With the 2004 presidential election just eight months away and important political issues at stake, many are wondering why young blacks between the ages of 18 and 24 are less likely to get out and vote. Most of these young voters, political experts said, feel disconnected to the candidates and the issues surrounding this election. But a recent study conducted by Northeastern University Center for Labor Market Studies reported extremely high unemployment among young black men. That and higher tuition costs are two good reasons for this group to get out and vote in the upcoming election, observers said. The report stated that 'one out of every four African-American youth and one out of every five Latino youth between the ages of 16 and 24 are out-of-school, jobless and on the streets.'"

House clears bills to limit abortions

Emily Wagster Pettus of the AP reports today:"Abortion-rights supporters say opponents tried in roundabout ways to limit women's access to a legal medical procedure with three bills that cleared the Mississippi House Monday. Rep. Ed Blackmon, D-Canton, said mandating the reporting of complications is intended to discourage doctors from performing abortions and women from having the procedures. 'Women find themselves in this position. Men do not. And most of the people voting on this are men," Blackmon said. "We can stand up and ... shout to the top of the Capitol about how righteous we are, and not one of us as men is ever going to have to make that decision.'"

Kerry, Dems to Campaign in Mississippi

I'm happy to see the national Democratic Party taking Mississippi seriously. It's so insulting when national media, politicos or anyone else assume that all of our minds are already made up, or that we all think and vote alike (Barbour won just 52 percent of the vote in November, after all, and in an election where many people thought the candidates were near just alike; imagine the possibilities if voters believe they have a real choice). And those assumptions are self-perpetuating. The Clarion-Ledger reports: "With Mississippi's primary over, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's campaign is mobilizing in the state. The senator does not necessarily need the South to win, however. Nor is it likely he will see any of Mississippi's six electoral votes from a state that has not voted for a Democratic president since Jimmy Carter in 1976. But Democrats here say Kerry's campaign, if nothing else, will be an opportunity to strengthen their party in the state and promote their philosophies in the months leading to Election Day on Nov. 2."

E-mail from Howard Dean

This went to his mailing list just now: "John Kerry and I had a very good meeting yesterday. During the campaign we often focused on what divided us, but the truth is we have much more in common beginning with our fervent desire to send George Bush back to Crawford, Texas in November. The future of our country depends on this.

Jill Conner Browne

Mississippians are so used to being on the bottom that, without provocation, we'll take aim at our own feet and fire at will just to prove we can blow a damned toe off. That's my thought whenever I hear someone whine about how Mal's St. Paddy's Parade has gotten "too big," or balk at joining the thousands of tiara-ed and sequined "wannabes" who drive, fly and hitchhike into Jackson every March to eat, drink and be friggin' merry enough to last another 11 months or so. It is unfathomable to me that a single Jacksonian would take for granted what Jill Conner Browne has done for this city and its residents.

Bill Minor: Barbour's Nephew Lobbyist Raising Ire

Mr Minor writes: "Henry Barbour, the nephew who managed Gov. Haley Barbour's recent gubernatorial campaign, and his brother, Austin, have hooked up with Capitol Resources — an influential legislative lobbying group with a number of big corporate, gaming and oil clients. Capitol Resources, headed by two top lobbyists, Clare Hester and John Lundy, lists among its clients Kerr-McGee Corp., Lorillard Tobacco, Northrup Grumman Ship Systems and even the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. What especially got the effusive Holland's attention were quotes from one of the Barbour nephews that 'we're going to assist ... Republican candidates in raising money both nationally and at the state level.'"

Conservative LeSueur wins Primary

Clarion-Ledger reports:Clinton LeSueur trounced his opponents Tuesday in the 2nd Congressional District Republican primary, leaving him now to decide what campaign strategy to use against Democratic incumbent Bennie Thompson in the fall. ... LeSueur, of Greenville, will face Thompson in November for a second time. He won 44 percent of the vote against the congressman two years ago. He says he will hit the campaign trail promoting his conservative beliefs, including his objection to gay marriage. 'The people haven't seen anything yet. You're going to see a real campaign this round and we're definitely going to do double, if not more than what we did in 2002,' said LeSueur, 35, who has worked to put more male teachers in the classroom."

DHS shuts down centers

Pamela Berry of the Clarion Ledger writes: "By month's end, 34 family resource centers will close and more than 100 Mississippi families will be stripped of their child-care assistance in an effort to balance the state's Department of Human Services' budget."

Will Goldwater Followers Vote Against Bush?

Sidney Blumenthal writes in Salon about the father of modern-day conservative, and why he turned on the right of today: "It was Goldwater, the genuine article, who established the image of conservative as Western hero. His persona was indistinguishable from his ideology. He was the imperial individual, the free spirit embodying the free market. He seemed a natural force in Arizona, a state on the economic frontier. With less than a million inhabitants before World War II, it exploded afterward. In his time, Goldwater appeared as new and startling as the booming suburbs in the desert."

Jobie Martin

In the library at Morrison Academic Advancement Center, where he substitute-teaches, Jobie Martin's delivery is as graceful, his timing as sharp, his voice as mellifluous as when he was hosting James Brown, Joe Louis and Mahalia Jackson in the 1970s, back when he was the first African American in Mississippi to host a commercial TV program.

McCoy releases budget

AP reports: "McCoy said the House plan would inject $673 million into the anemic state budget. He says the money would come from several sources, including increasing costs for licenses and similar fees, using the annual payment from a tobacco lawsuit settlement and raising the revenue estimate, a technical move based on optimism that the economy will perk up."

Tort reform raises rally

Byrd of the AP reports :" 'We're saying that we know better than the citizens of this state as to what value a life might be, and that's wrong,' Tollison said. The Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association opposes the bill. 'The object of the exercise is to close the courthouse door to the average citizen. If you would notice, none of this legislation affects corporations,' said John Christopher, president of the trial lawyers' group. Christopher also said it would be difficult to find doctors to sit on a medical review panel and admit one of their colleagues is at fault."

Wyatt Emmerich: Raise Cigarette Taxes

Emmerich writes: "For Pete's sake, let's raise the taxes on cigarettes. Mississippi currently has one of the lowest cigarette tax rates in the nation. Just a quarter-a-pack increase could raise $100 million or so. We all want to reduce smoking. Raising the price not only puts money in state coffers but discourages smoking as well."

House, McCoy Budget Puts Education First

Clarion-Ledger online today: "Mississippi's Adequate Education Plan that funds K-12 public schools and the state health insurance program would be fully funded under a House budget plan unveiled today at the Capitol. As hundreds of cheering teachers and state workers looked on, House Speaker Bill McCoy, D-Rienzi, presented details, with the massive bill expected to face a floor vote Thursday. The proposal would increase licenses and similar fees by $17.6 million. Gov. Haley Barbour has said he considers fee increases a tax increase, and that he would veto such legislation. As copies of the plan began to circulate around crowded Capitol hallways, McCoy noted: 'We've got much work to do.'"

Ellington