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City Plan Short On Details, Costs
Fifteen months after Frank Melton took the mayoral oath, Jackson Human and Cultural Services Department consultant Jayne Sargent submitted a city plan to council members last week that read more like a day-in-day-out to-do list than a comprehensive plan for progress.
Casey Amendment Targets Poor Children's Care
Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey is pushing an amendment to keep children in the national Child Health Insurance Program from getting rolled into an insurance exchange.
MDOT Mulls Fortification Project
The Mississippi Department of Transportation will vote on whether or not to approve the city of Jackson's proposal to narrow Fortification Street and widen its sidewalks to make the road more pedestrian-friendly.
New Crime Lab, Please
Attorney General Jim Hood recommended more money for the state crime lab and the Mississippi Medical Examiner's office at a Monday meeting with the House Judiciary Committee.
An Enduring Insurance Exchange
News regarding health-care reform hovers incessantly around either defending or attacking of the so-called public insurance option, a section of H.R. 3200 that provides a government-funded insurance option for customers who choose not to buy insurance from the private sector.
‘Fair and Even-Handed'
Jackson Municipal Judge Ali ShamsidDeen is not trying to be a politically divisive figure, but his background as a editor of the Jackson Advocate in the 1990s and an associate of the law firm Lumumba and Freelon, suggests a controversial bent.
ON THE ISSUES: What's In A Health-Care Plan?
For many Mississippians, the issue of health-care costs are central to the question of health-care availabilityor, more specifically, the lack of it.
Levee Board Hopeful on Lake 255
Members of the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District are hopeful that Mississippi's congressional delegation will strong-arm top officials at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers into reconsidering a Corps-rejected Lake 255 on the Pearl River.
Hurricane-Hit Hancock Losing Out
Only a fraction of federal money reserved for re-construction in Hurricane Katrina-damaged areas actually went to the county with some of the most egregious damage, a Government Accountability Office report revealed.
Enforce the Ordinance
A community rights organization is accusing the city of ignoring a city ordinance approved last year. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as ACORN, devised and lobbied for the ordinance, which outlines new fines and fees against homeowners who do not register and maintain vacant property.
AG: Bodyguard Changed Story
After Mayor Frank Melton copped to three pleas in his gun cases, The Clarion-Ledger's Eric Stringfellow criticized the attorney general's office for not interviewing the mayor's two bodyguards. Det. Michael Recio came forward at the last minute saying he would testify under oath that Melton left his gun in the car outside the Mississippi College School of Law.
Chasing Mimsy
Chris Mims, 34, has returned to city government, this time as director of the city's communications department. He worked as a staff member in the department in Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr.'s last administration under former department director Dorothy Triplett, who now manages CONTACT The Crisis Line, a suicide hotline.
"Kings of Tort": A Royal Hit Job?
The authors of the recent book "Kings of Tort: The True Story of Dickie Scruggs, Paul Minor and Two Decades of Political and Legal Manipulation in Mississippi" don't mince words when trying to convey a white-trash tale of former attorney Paul Minor, who was convicted on federal bribery and honest services fraud charges in 2007.
Healthy Kids, Healthy Codgers
The Capitol legislated a healthier lifestyle for public school students, creating SB 2369, which demands schools offer at least 150 minutes of physical education for students each week, along with 45 minutes of health education. The Senate bill is a partial replacement of a House bill that mandated similar exercise requirements, but which also ordered trans fats out of school lunchrooms. The Senate gave a pass to trans fats, which the National Institutes of Health has found increases the risk of heart disease.
Strangulation, Security and Suffrage
Both chambers of the state Legislature spent the past week considering bills from the opposite chamber. The House amended Senate Bill 2923—a bill that expands domestic assault to include strangulation and requires a "cooling off" period between parties—to create the offense of attempted murder.
Clock Ticking On Commerce Street
John Lawrence, president of Downtown Jackson Partners, said developers have big plans for a section of Entergy-owned territory along Commerce Street, in downtown Jackson, and urged council members to work with them before time runs out.
No Fuel Theft Revealed, Yet; McMillin Blasts Council
A city auditor says she has discovered no employee theft of fuel so far, while the chief-sheriff blasts Council for publicly questioning fuel reporting.
Dongles Back in Action?
One of the most conservative U.S. appeals courts in the nation outlawed Texas' ban on sex toys last week, and local retailers could use the decision to overturn a local municipal ban. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Texas law making it illegal to sell or promote obscene devices, punishable by jail time, violated the right to privacy guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.
Dodging Bullets
Shorter SessionOne of the first moves the Legislature made this year was to cut its hours.
Lobbying Plan A Joke?
For more than two weeks, city lobbyist Marcus Ward effectively ducked council members seeking to question him on his plan to attain $29 million from Washington.