All results / Stories / Ward Schaefer
Bodyguard's Attorney Wants DOJ Meeting
Also see: Full JFP Melton Blog/Archive/Trial
An attorney for former mayoral bodyguard Michael Recio has asked the Department of Justice to reconsider its prosecution of the Jackson police officer. In May, federal prosecutors will try for the second time to convict Recio and Mayor Frank Melton on civil rights charges related to the 2006 destruction of a private house on Ridgeway Street. Recio and Melton were acquitted on state charges for the incident in 2007. Their first federal trial for the demolition ended in a hung jury last month.
Jackson Crime Down Again
Major crimes in Jackson decreased slightly last week, according to statistics (PDF) released yesterday at the Jackson Police Department's weekly COMSTAT meeting. For the year to date, violent crime is down roughly 10 percent compared to last year, while property crime is up less than 1 percent. Last week, officers reported 23 violent crimes, compared to 29 the previous week, and 209 property crimes, down from 211 the week before.
Jackson Crime Stats for July 20-26
Jackson police reported 252 major crimes last week, an increase of 5 percent over the previous week, according to statistics (PDF) released at a Jackson Police Department meeting this morning. Property crime totals increased from 204 to 227, an 11 percent jump, while violent crime decreased from 36 to 25, a 30 percent drop.
MEMA Gustav Update
Verbatim from a MEMA news release, 9 a.m. Tuesday:
Power outages:84,173 households without power. Entergy has 20,034; Electric Power Associations ofMississippi have 14,936 and MS Power has 49,203.Pearl River has 10,230 outages. Hancock has 16,401. Harrison has 15,610. Jackson has 1,096.These counties make up 43,327 of the outages statewide.Wind gusts in some areas are delaying the process of fixing some outages.
Green Stimulus Funds Come to Jackson and State
A Jackson-based company will receive $3.75 million in federal stimulus funds to improve energy efficiency in public buildings around the state. The company, SmartSynch, provides smart grid infrastructure, in the form of energy meters, software and wireless networks. SmartSynch's metering system allows users to track their energy consumption in real time and identify energy "leaks." The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that energy consumption drops by as much as 15 percent when consumers can track their usage.
Jackson Crime Stats for Mar. 23-29
Data for this week will be available Wednesday, Apr. 8.
Major crimes in Jackson declined at the end of March for the second week in a row, according to data released by the Jackson Police Department yesterday. JPD's weekly crime report (PDF) shows a 4.7 percent decrease in major crimes, as the number of total property crimes dropped slightly and violent crimes stayed roughly even with the week of Mar. 16-22. Precinct 1 in South Jackson and Precinct 3 in Northwest Jackson reported increases in property crimes of 57 percent and 39 percent, respectively. Northeast Jackson's Precinct 4, the poorest performing precinct in the previous week, showed a dramatic decrease in property crime, mostly due to a sharp drop in auto burglaries, from 38 to 17.
Jackson Restaurants Under New Ownership
Two Jackson-area restaurants, Char (4500 Interstate 55 N., Suite 142) and Amerigo (6592 Old Canton Road, Ridgeland), are under new ownership, following a half year in court-appointed receivership. David Joseph, Doug Hogrefe and Paul Schramkowski finalized their purchase of the Amerigo restaurant chain for $6 million on July 23. The chain includes three branches of the high-end Italian restaurant in Tennessee, along with the Ridgeland location and Char, a Chicago-style steakhouse in Highland Village.
JPS Employee Raised Overbilling Concerns in 2008
Over a year ago, a Jackson Public Schools employee warned supervisors that a private tutoring company may have overbilled the district by $400,000 or more. To date, JPS has not sought repayment, however, despite receiving citations from the state for lax oversight of tutoring companies.
MDOT Officials Traveling Abroad On Taxpayers' Dime
An investigation in today's Sun Herald reveals a years-long trend of Mississippi Department of Transportation officials using taxpayer money for trips of dubious value. Over four years, Michael Newsom reports, MDOT officials have spent $207,000 on travel, with two officials,, Executive Director Butch Brown and Southern District Commissioner Wayne Brown (no relation), responsible for the bulk of those expenses.
House Delays $1 Cigarette Tax Until Next Week
The Mississippi House of Representatives will not consider passing a tobacco tax increase until the House reconvenes 4 p.m. Monday. Yesterday, the House Ways and Means Committee approved House Bill 364, which would raise the excise tax on cigarettes from 18 cents per pack to $1 per pack. The tax hike does not apply to cigars or other tobacco products. The House a adjourned Friday morning without considering HB 364.
Green Rules Against Ballot ‘Ball of Confusion'
Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Tomie Green heard arguments Thursday on a preliminary injunction against the distribution of a November ballot that would place the U.S. Senate race between Roger Wicker and Ronnie Musgrove near the bottom. Green denied a last-minute motion to dismiss by Gov. Haley Barbour and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. Green will likely rule later today.
Wright Sentencing in September
Marcus Wright, former bodyguard for the late Mayor Frank Melton, is set to face sentencing Sept. 4 for his role in the 2006 demolition of a private home. Wright pled guilty in Oct. 2008 to misdemeanor conspiracy, ending a lengthy reckoning process.
UPDATE: House Rebukes Barbour on Tuition Funds
The Mississippi House of Representatives struck a combative pose Thursday, restoring $17.2 million to higher education that Gov. Haley Barbour had ordered cut in November. By a vote of 87-34 in the afternoon, the House passed House Bill 290, which directs money from the state's rainy-day fund to institutions of higher learning, community colleges and junior colleges.
Crisler Leads In Funds On Election Eve
Councilman Marshand Crisler has a substantial edge in fundraising over former Mayor Harvey Johnson going into tomorrow's mayoral run-off election. Crisler raised $140,470 from April 26 through May 9, according to his latest campaign finance report, while Johnson raised $28,814.
U.S. Supreme Court Asked To Hear Seale Case
A federal appeals court has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case of James Ford Seale, who was convicted in 2007 for kidnapping and conspiracy for his role in a 1964 civil-rights murder. In a request issued today, a majority of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals asked the high court to decide whether the statute of limitations had expired when prosecutors tried Seale on charges of kidnapping two African-American teenagers, Henry Dee and Charles Moore.
Insurance Information
Mississippi Insurance Department phone numbers:
The Mississippi Insurance Department has a page explaining how to file a claim after a hurricane. Homeowners should document all damage with photos and/or video and file any claims as soon as possible. The MID Coast office will be available to assist in filing claims.
Recio Subpoenas City Attorney
Cynthia Stewart, attorney for Michael Recio, has subpoenaed Jackson City Attorney Sarah O'Reilly-Evans in the civil rights trial of Recio and mayor Frank Melton.
Utilities Battle Raging Today in Special Session
The opening salvo in Mississippi's legislative special session goes to the Democratic-majority House of Representatives, with the House Appropriations Committee approving funding for the Public Service Commission this morning. The bill, which the full House voted to approve, would grant the Public Service Commission an additional three staff members and allow the PSC to reallocate money to fill three more vacant positions. All told, the bill would give the PSC three staff lawyers for $292,000 and three rate analysts. That appropriation is a more modest offer than the 11 additional staff members that the PSC originally requested during the regular legislative session.
$20 Million Loan Approved for Old Capitol Green
UPDATED
Gov. Haley Barbour approved a $20 million loan for the Old Capitol Green infrastructure improvements Monday, in a move that the development's supporters consider a critical early step.
Jackson Crime Down In Late February
Jackson enjoyed a slight decrease in major crimes at the end of February, according to Jackson Police Department data released last week. The JPD report (PDF) on major crimes for the week of Feb. 23 through Mar. 1 shows a 23 percent decrease in major crimes from the previous week and a 16 percent drop from the same period last year. Violent crimes increased 50 percent from the previous week, from 14 to 21 incidents, due to a spike in armed robberies in Precincts 2 and 3, but the overall rate was still a decrease from this time last year.