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Ghostly Tales
"The Haunting of Mississippi" by Barbara Sillery sucked me right in to Mississippi's rich, haunted history. Sillery eloquently describes the settings of her stories, so I could easily visualize each of the places she writes about.
Engaging Dialogue
For more than 20 years, local nonprofit Jackson 2000 has worked to improve the social, political and economic climate of the city of Jackson through dialogue about race. A group of concerned citizens, including former Mayor Russell C. Davis and then-president of Alcorn State University, Dr. Walter Washington, founded Jackson 2000 in 1989.
Jazz of Juneteenth
If Belzoni native Dr. Ron Myers had his way, every state in the nation would celebrate Juneteenth this month.
Guys We Love
Every year at this time, people reflect on their dads, their granddads, their uncles—all the men in their lives. We at the JFP want to shine a spotlight on a few men who make Jackson a little cleaner, brighter, smarter or a little more delicious.
WJXN: Pirate Radio?
Jacksonians have been talking about the radio station with no DJs, no commercials and a music lineup like none they've ever heard.
As If We Lost the Saints
A tornado touched down in the New Orleans suburb of Arabi the evening of May 23. It was a busy Wednesday night in The Times-Picayune newsroom. The paper's website, NOLA.com, posted reports of heavy wind damage in Arabi, then later the news of a possible tornado striking. Staffers were busy collecting the information and reporting it promptly. But the tornado is not the only thing that kept New Orleans' journalists up all that night.
DeSean Dyson
DeSean Dyson planned on being a lawyer. Less than a year before he graduated from college, however, Hurricane Katrina struck. His TV screen filled with negative images of young black men in New Orleans.
A Condemned Man's Last Day…in a Press Release
June 12, 2012 Scheduled Execution of Jan Michael Brawner
In about two hours, Jan Michael Brawner will be executed for the murders of his 3-year-old daughter, ex-wife and former in-laws. The Mississippi Department of Corrections issued the following news release detailing Brawner's final day:
Condemned Man Seeks Reprieve
Gary Carl Simmons Jr., scheduled to be the third person Mississippi puts to death this month, wants the State Supreme Court to grant him a stay of execution. Monday evening, Simmons' attorney filed a motion asking for 14 days to have a forensic psychologist perform a mental-health assessment, which Simmons never received in the course of his defense.
Another Condemned Man Seeks Reprieve
Gary Carl Simmons Jr., scheduled to be the third person Mississippi puts to death this month, wants the State Supreme Court to grant him a stay of execution. Monday evening, Simmons' attorney filed a motion asking for 14 days to have a forensic psychologist perform a mental-health assessment, which Simmons never received in the course of his defense.
Irby, Sameerah's, Mangia Bene
The Stuart C. Irby Company and Sonepar USA's new 8,500-square-foot Jackson facility is open for business. The retail space and distribution center, located at the corner of Silas Brown and President Street, represents $6 million in investment to the area. Irby bought international electrical equipment Sonepar USA in 2005.
Amphibian of the Day: Endangered Mississippi Gopher Frog
The Mississippi gopher frog is an eccentric little creature. The nocturnal amphibian is secretive and quite particular about where it lives: It only breeds in one pond in the world.
Anti-Abortion Groups Protest Contraceptive Rule
About 60 people in Jackson took part in a rally Friday to protest a rule that requires health insurance for most employees to cover contraceptives.
Legal Question Could Delay Execution
On Sunday, Jan Michael Brawner turned 35. Tomorrow, the state could put him to death if he doesn't receive a reprieve. Brawner has asked the Mississippi Supreme Court for a stay of execution on the grounds that a majority of the court doesn't support executing him for the 2002 slayings of his ex-wife, in-laws and 3-year-old daughter.
Joyce Jackson
On Feb. 14, Joyce Jackson finished with enough votes in the Ward 3 special election to get her name on the ballot with frontrunner LaRita Cooper-Stokes for a Feb. 28 runoff election.
Community Events and Public Meetings
Eighth Annual JFP Chick Ball July 28, 6 p.m., at Hal & Mal's (200 S. Commerce St.). The fundraising event benefits the Center for Violence Prevention, and this year's goal is to start a rape crisis center. For ages 18 and up. Seeking sponsors, auction donations and volunteers now. More details: jfpchickball.com and follow on Twitter @jfpchickball. Get involved, volunteer, and donate art, money and gifts. $5 cover; call 601-362-6121, ext. 16.
Utah Firm to Manage Three State Prisons
A Utah private-prison firm will take over running the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility and two other Mississippi prisons from The GEO Group. Management & Training Corporation, based in Ogden, Utah, will also assume management of East Mississippi Correctional Facility in Meridian and the Marshall County Correctional Facility in Holly Springs.
CJ Rhodes
When the Rev. CJ Rhodes told his professor he wanted to study philosophy, he was met with surprise. His professor assumed that someone with Rhodes' Baptist and Pentecostal background wouldn't be interested in thinking deeply and philosophically about religion--that only aspiring Catholic or Anglican theologians did that.
It's the Weekend!
Today, the artist reception for Rod Moorhead and Betty Press is at 5 p.m. at Fischer Galleries (3100 N. State St.). Press also signs copies of "I Am Because We Are: African Wisdom in Images and Proverb." The event is free; $39.95 per book; call 601-291-9115. The Medgar Evers Homecoming continues with a banquet at 7 p.m. at Hilton Jackson (1001 E. County Line Road); actor Danny Glover is the guest speaker. Tickets are $50; call 601-948-5835. The Detectives Mystery Dinner Theatre presents the play "Marvelous Murder" at 6 p.m. at Parker House. RSVP. Tickets are $48; call 601-937-1752. Art Remix is at 7 p.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). Lisa Mills and Latinismo perform. Free admission, food $5 and up; call 601-960-1515. The play "Not As I Do" is at 7 p.m. at Belhaven University Center for the Arts. Encore show June 9 at 6 p.m. $15, $12 children under 12 in advance; $20, $15 at the door; call 601-506-7377. Yellow Scarf hosts "Honoring the Masters Series, Part 4" at 8 p.m. Joe Jennings, Alvin Fielder, Dr. London Branch and Charlie Robinson perform. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door; call 347-754-0668. Snazz is at Reed Pierce's. Need more options? See our Best Bets.
City Calls on Companies to Offer ‘Fresh Start'
Jackson is making an effort to stop the revolving door in the state's prison system. One of the biggest keys, according to the Fresh Start Task Force, is helping formerly incarcerated people learn skills and find jobs.