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Assault Rifles: Only at Walmart
Thanks to the economic downturn, it's a buyer's market for a lot of products: houses are cheap, food is relatively inexpensive (although experts are predicting a bacon shortage of apocalyptic proportions) and now, at Jackson-area Walmart stores, you can even get a pretty good deal on a weapon that shoots …
Black and Brown Vote Suppression in Scott County?
Bill Chandler, the director of the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, is reporting that the Scott County Circuit Clerk's office may have mishandled the voter registration forms of approximately 200 people, mostly Latinos and African Americans. Chandler said MIRA, a which advocates from immigrants in Mississippi, registered 320 new voters in …
Doug Anderson Resigns Hinds Board
Hinds County District 2 Supervisor Doug Anderson has resigned from the board. Anderson, who has been in poor health since suffering two small strokes over the summer, often missed board meetings and rarely spoke when he did attend. A former state lawmaker in the Mississippi House and Senate, Anderson joined …
Don't Mess With Miss.
Obviously, people weren't paying attention when, right after the reelection of Barack Obama to a second term, Mississippi asked for permission to secede from the Union. (Again.) Or whenever Gov. Phil Bryant says he doesn't want anything to do with the Obamacare -- which extends to a state health-care exchange …
Why Did Johnny Lee Butts Die?
Johnny Lee Butts went out for his regular morning walk on July 22, 2012 and never came home. That morning, a car struck and killed Butts; later police arrested a couple of teenagers for the crime. In a recent report, CNN shed new light on what happened that morning . …
Dems: GOP Tries 'Brinkmanship on Medicaid'
The following is a verbatim statement from the Mississippi Democratic Trust: Jackson, MS- This afternoon, the House Rules Committee killed S.B. 2207, a measure that would extend the repealers on various provisions of Mississippi’s Medicaid program and allow for the consideration of Medicaid expansion. Proponents of Medicaid expansion say that …
Stewart Mans Up, Apologizes to Molpus
It takes a big man to admit he was wrong. Last night, that big man was five-foot funnyman and Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who had a little fun at Mississippi's expense last week when the news broke the state never officially ratified the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. In …
Bryant Sits Down With Hospitals on Funding
Gov. Phil Bryant is still against Medicaid expansion, but says he's now willing to sit down with hospitals about other ways to cushion the blow from massive funding cuts when certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act go into effect. In a statement issued jointly with the Mississippi Hospital Association, …
Musgrove Declares Himself a LGBT Ally
First there was Bill Clinton. Then there was Barack Obama. Then came Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Now there's former Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove. OK, maybe not in that exact order, but all of these elected officials eventually evolved to become–for lack of a …
DOR Not Coming to Downtown Jackson
The Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration, which oversees the operation of state buildings, has recommended the former Worldcom Building in Clinton as the permanent home for the Department of Revenue, now housed in what's practically a shed, also in Clinton. Downtown Jackson had been a front-runner for agency HQ, …
Bryant Ed-Reform Bill Pwned by House
Gov. Phil Bryant's Education Works bill is going to a conference committee after all. Yesterday, the House delivered a crushing defeat to Gov. Phil Bryant's Education Works agenda, the governor's everything-but-the-kitchen sink education-reform bill that includes charter schools, a third-grade reading improvement program, teacher merit pay and many other provisions. …
Hello? Is it Me(dicaid) You're Looking for?
Health-justice advocates are still calling on state lawmakers to expand Medicaid, and state lawmakers still aren't answering. The latest rally-cum-presser was this morning when hundreds of representatives of non-profits and social service agencies gathered at the Capitol to call on legislators to consider expanding the state health program for the …
More Fallout from Tenn. Audit of JPS' Gray?
Jackson School Board of Trustees President Monica Gilmore Love released a statement this afternoon about the controversy over JPS schools chief Dr. Cedrick Gray's handling of finances at his former district in Tennessee. "The Board of Trustees is aware of the recent news items involving Dr. Cedrick Gray and the …
Fourth Time's A Charm for Death of Medicaid
Democrats may not have the votes to expand Medicaid to cover 330,000 more people. Republicans don't have the votes to pass Medicaid without at least talking about expansion first. That has been painfully evident every time Medicaid has come up for a vote on the House floor. Today, for the …
Charter School Bill Passes. What Took So Long?
Since last year's surprising defeat of charter-school legislation in the Mississippi House Education Committee, proponents of the public-private schools seemed to want passing a charter school law priority No. 1. In the offseason, Speaker Philip Gunn even stacked the committee to clear the way for charter schools to pass and …
Ole Miss Dumps 'Col. Reb'; Students Predictably Outraged
A University of Mississippi student-body panel ruled this week that the male winner of a campus popularity contest would not longer have the title "Colonel Reb." The Daily Mississippian, Ole Miss' school newspaper, reported that the Associated Student Body Judicial Council ruled the title of “Colonel Reb” was unconstitutional per …
On Final Day of Session, a Million Statements
The 2013 legislative session temporarily drew to close today. Because lawmakers failed to renew the state Medicaid program, Gov. Phil Bryant will have to call a special session sometime before July 1. Anyhow, a lot of people had stuff to say, mostly through emailed press statements. Here's a flavor from …
Some Dumbo Shot an Elephant in Tupelo
In the immortal words of Ice Cube's Doughboy: Either they don't know, don't show or don't care about what's going on with circus elephants in the Tupelo, Miss. 'hood. The Associated Press reports that a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus elephant was hit by a bullet in an …
Only Mississippian Convicted of Voter Fraud in Recent Memory Dies
The Mississippi Department of Corrections announced the death of Lessadolla Sowers at Mississippi State Penitentiary. Sowers, formerly of Tunica County, was convicted of 10 counts of voter fraud in April 2011. She was sentenced to five years at Parchman for submitting fraudulent ballots in the August 2007 Democratic primary election. …
Miss. GOP Applauds Obama Medicaid Action
It's unclear whether North Korea has gone ahead with its plan to launch a nuke, but it does appear that the universe has imploded. Today, the Obama Administration announced it would hold off on cutting a program that partially reimburses hospitals for caring for the poor -- and Mississippi's Republican …