Bill Chandler
Bill Chandler, executive director and founder of Jackson-based Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, does not let being 68 stop him from doing good. He is an advocate for immigrant rights throughout the state of Mississippi. For this work, he was named a 2009 Purpose Prize Fellow, an award for entrepreneurs over 60 who use their experience to tackle society's biggest challenges in second careers started in the second half of life.
Going Rogue
On his county-provided laptop, Phil Fisher has replaced the standard mouse icon with a sword. A former Marine and a current brigadier general in the Mississippi Army National Guard, Fisher has a bit of the warrior in him, and his stint on the Hinds County Board of Supervisors has been marked by vocal opposition to many of the board's actions.
Leona Bishop
Leona Bishop, 37, will be the first to tell you: Where she started is nowhere near where she is today. However, where she is today is exactly where she needs to be.
Andrew Chaikin
Award-winning science journalist and space historian Andrew Chaikin is touching down in Jackson, Miss. today. Chaikin, who has been writing books and articles about space exploration and astronomy for a quarter of a century, will visit the city planetarium and speak at Millsaps College tonight. Chaikin is best known as the author of "A Man on The Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts," the book that was the basis of Tom Hanks' exhaustive 12-part HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon," which added a whole new dimension to the words "Houston, we have a problem."
Laurence C. Jones
A hundred years ago, Laurence Clifton Jones established The Piney Woods School in rural Rankin County with $2 and three students. Jones, born Nov. 21, 1884, in St. Joseph Mo., graduated from the University of Iowa in 1908. He turned down a job at Tuskeegee Institute in Alabama, opting instead for the Utica Institute in Mississippi.
Robby Channell
Robby Channell, media manager at Baptist Health Systems, received the Senior Practitioner award from the Southern Public Relations Federation (SPRF), Oct. 8 at the Gold Strike Casino Resort In Tunica.
Otis "Obeyjah" White
Sitting in a lounge chair in his living room, dressed in jeans, a T-shirt and wearing a red, green and yellow Rastafarian crown, Otis "ObeyJah" White beats conga drums in a melodic fashion.
Servia Fortenberry
If anyone is more American than apple pie, it would have to be Servia Fortenberry. Fortenberry, 39, is a native of Magnolia, Miss., and mother to two sons, Malcolm Williams, 18, and Edward Howard, 10. She became a Jackson transplant in 1997 when a truck lost control on a rainy day and hit her eldest son, putting him into a coma and a body cast for more than six weeks at a Jackson-area hospital. The accident forced her to move to the city where she became a temporary office worker at the mayor's office, and eventually worked her way into a permanent position. She decided to stay in Jackson permanently.
Lukisha Cork
Lukisha Cork, 35, knows an opportunity worth grabbing when she sees it. The Greenville mother of four boys, aged 12 to 17, will be receiving her certified nursing assistant certificate on Friday, along with four of her family members. The family can credit Lukisha for their newly acquired skills.
Laura Dees
Soon after Laura Dees gave birth to a baby girl named Ella Cate on May 1, 2008, Dees' daughter was diagnosed with a heart condition that thickened the valves of her heart and decreased blood flow. After several tests, cardiologists determined Ella Cate's heart function was decreasing and that she needed a heart catheterization. On the morning of July 10, 2008, while doctors were preparing Ella Cate for surgery, she passed away.
Kathryn Stockett
The Mississippi Library Association's Authors Award Committee will honor author Kathryn Stockett tonight at a banquet held in the University of Southern Mississippi's Thad Cochran Center.
Julieta Mendez
The poster on Julieta Mendez's office wall at Catholic Charities reads "Communication: Build bridges, not walls." By working and communicating with immigrants, Mendez is building bridges for people in the community.
Karen Parker
Before Byron Knight opened Sneaky Beans coffee shop on North State Street in Fondren, just about a year ago, the little house was home to Karen Parker's store, New Vibrations, for more than four years. The aroma of coffee has now replaced the scent of incense, but for the former denizens of Parker's store, the space will always have a slightly purple tint to it.
Dr. James Bowley
"I love my job!" proclaims Dr. James E. Bowley on his Web site. Bowley, an associate professor in the Millsaps College department of religious studies, teaches courses on the Bible and related religious traditions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. "What's not to like about spending the day with great colleagues and students thinking and conversing and researching about religious traditions, reading beautiful or even shocking texts, and investigating intriguing religious practices?" he writes.
Linda Francomb
When Linda Francomb's daughter, Heather Spencer, was brutally murdered by her boyfriend Sept. 11, 2007, Francomb could have chosen to spend her days wallowing in grief; no one could have blamed her. Instead, the tragedy galvanized her to get busy, doing what she could to save other women from her daughter's fate.