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Fantasy Island Swamped
The LeFleur Lakes Plan might be on the ropes, project head John McGowan said in a recent Northside Sun article. Plans for a new overpass might make the project unviable, he said.
Melton Trial Delayed, 'Evil Intent' Issue Back
A federal judge has postponed the mayor and his bodyguard's trial for two months. What issues are on the table?
‘Always a Coach'
It's not hard to tell that Brent Southern is a coach. Peppering his conversation with phrases like "when the whistle blows" and "read all the angles," the attorney describes the Hinds County Court position he is seeking as a coaching job—rewarding but with long hours.
Jackson's Next Mayor?
Photo montage by JFP Staff
The city is already thick with speculation over who is jockeying to be Jackson's next mayor, even though the current mayor has vowed he will not resign.
State Farm Pulling Policies
State Farm Insurance and Casualty Company said that it plans to pull home-insurance policies from part of the Gulf Coast. The decision leaves many current and potential homeowners, who live between the coastal waters and I-10, without insurance.
The JFP Interview with Eddie Fair: Numbers Man
Tax collector Eddie Fair says he runs a tight ship at the Hinds County Tax Collector's office. He boasts he's increased production and efficiency and can bring the same kind of high standard to the Jackson mayor's office.
Jackson's Crime Rate
Jackson's crime rate put Mississippi's capital city at the No. 23 spot of 385 U.S. cities, according to "City Crime Rankings, 2008-2009," released by the CQ Press earlier this month. The city's ranking puts it in a better light than New Orleans, which had the highest crime rate, followed by Camden, N.J., Detroit, St. Louis, Oakland, Calif., and 17 other U.S. cities.
JUST IN: McAllister, Watkins Snag Standard Life
Developer David Watkins has just informed the Jackson Free Press that the Jackson Redevelopment Authority has chosen a proposal presented by him, Deuce McAllister and Historic Restoration Inc. to restore the Standard Life Building. JRA chose their proposal from three, including one from TCI of Dallas, with close connections to controversial businessman Gene Phillips, a friend of Jackson Mayor Frank Melton. (See post below.) Earlier today, TCI won their bid to develop the $180 million Convention Center hotel.
Columbia Training School Removes Last Girls
After years of documented abuse and consequent lawsuits, Columbia Training School is finally closing its doors to troubled girls.
Creating Synergy
As Wes Holsapple II walks through the soon-to-be filled offices on the second floor of the Regions Plaza building on Thanksgiving eve, his mind is far from turkey and stuffing. As the executive director of the Venture Incubator, he is focused on creating a hub to help small business owners flourish.
Young Gun: Toby Barker
At 28, Toby Barker first-term representative, looks closer in age to the blue-blazered pages ferrying bills across the House floor than he to some of the more grizzled legislators around him.
Mayor Having Negative Influence on Troubled Teens?
Two of Mayor Melton's young housemates are back in jail. Last week, Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Swan Yerger revoked the bond of 17-year-old Michael Taylor for a 2005 armed robbery after the teen allegedly stole a woman's car at gunpoint on Nov. 16, 2006, a story first reported by the Jackson Free Press. This week, WAPT broke the story that a Copiah-Lincoln Junior College student who lives at Melton's house when he's not at college, Jeremy Bibbs, 19, is sitting in a Copiah County jail after allegedly getting caught with a gun on campus.
Wink, Wink: The ShopLocal Scam
When the Jackson Free Press launched our Web site and published our first print edition in September 2002, we immediately started urging our readers to "Think Global, Shop Local." The phrasewhich to us means to be concerned about the whole world but take care of your home city by supporting locally owned businesseswas even the headline on the cover of one of our earliest issues.
National HIV/AIDS Town Hall Comes to Jackson
The White House Office of National AIDS Policy selected 14 cities for community discussions to develop and implement a national HIV/AIDS strategy. Among the stops is Jackson on Monday, Nov. 16.
Sunday In The Parking Lot With Bullets
A night of cruising went wrong Sunday night for two 21-year-old identical twins from Flora, when a bit of boisterous gun play left one of them dead and the other covered in blood driving around the city with Mayor Frank Melton looking for the people who killed his brother and perhaps wounded two other people.
Week 8: Fire, Coal and Taxes
The House passed HB 1712 last week, an act authorizing the issuance of $300 million in general obligation bonds for highway and bridge rehabilitation. Legislators say more than 200 bridges are deficient, with almost half of those posing a safety hazard.
Landlords On The Hot Seat
A meeting over a proposed landlord ordinance (PDF, 92K) got testy when supporters of tenants' rights butted heads with a coalition of landlords in council chambers last Thursday.
[CollegeTalk] Tuition Up, Grants Down
There's no getting around it: Tuition costs keep climbing. The State College Board voted in May to raise tuition costs at state universities by 5.5 percent—the eighth tuition hike in 10 years. The increase will add an extra $250 or more to tuition fees at universities. Out-of-state students face an even bigger hit at universities, with $710 or more in higher tuition.
Oversee This, But Not That
The governor's office put the lockdown on money going to the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi last week after the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the agency can no longer access $20 million a year from the state's tobacco fund. The decision, coming out of the state's Supreme Court, cannot be appealed to a higher court, and thus must stand unchallenged.
JPS: Secrecy, Please
On Friday, the U.S. District Court will rule on a Jackson Public Schools motion for a protective order that will allow virtually any document, file or record connected to the termination of former Chastain Middle School principal, Michael Ellis to be marked "confidential," without the court's review.