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Sen. Wicker Gets Toxic Letter

Congressional mail authorities have confirmed that a letter sent to Mississippi's junior U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker contained ricin, a bean-based poison, POLITICO reports. POLITICO reports that U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri indicated the letter came from someone who frequently writes to lawmakers, but McCaskill would not name the person. …

Politics Blog

The Big-Money GOP Donors at Gunn's Private Party

There were some high-dollar contributors at a private meeting Speaker Philip Gunn had in his office last night. An unusual amount of activity at the Capitol yesterday evening led a TV news crew and a print reporter to investigate, but the journalists were turned away by Capitol security, wrote Clarion-Ledger …

Jackblog

I'm Tired of These Mothaflippin Snakes (and Exorbitant Copy Fees) in This Mothaflippin Clerk's Office!!!

I was just at the Hinds County Circuit Clerk's doing research for a story , and a couple of employees were talking about a mini-plague of serpents in the basement office. This week, employees have stumbled across five earth snakes in the file room, Circuit Clerk Barbara Dunn said. Earth …

Jackblog

Mississippi Denies Manning's Death Appeal

The state of Mississippi is moving closer to carrying out the first execution of 2013. The Mississippi State Supreme Court denied today Willie Jerome Manning's requests for a rehearing and a stay of execution. Manning wants DNA tests that were not available at the time of his conviction in the …

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Is Miss. About to 'Lynch' an Innocent Man?

Willie Jerome Manning, convicted of the 1992 murders of two Mississippi State students, is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday May 7. Manning has always said he did not commit the crime; in fact, he says he was at a club on the night of the murders. For years, he's …

Politics Blog

Procedure Set for Hinds Dist. 2 Special Election

The Hinds County Board of Supervisors established the procedure for replacing District 2 Supervisor Doug Anderson, who died recently. To replace Anderson on a temporary basis, board President Robert Graham said the board would accept resumes through County Administrator Carmen Davis' office until the end of May or early June. …

Jackblog

Death Row Prisoner Manning Gets a Stay

The Mississippi State Supreme Court has granted a stay of execution for death row inmate Willie Jerome Manning. Manning was scheduled to be put to death this evening at 6 p.m. at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. Manning, accused of killing two people in Oktibbeha County in 1992, has maintained …

Politics Blog

Who's Giving to Lumumba?

A week after the deadline for submitting campaign-finance reports, and on the morning of Jackson city elections, Councilman and veteran attorney Chokwe Lumumba filed his campaign-finance report. The report, dated May 6, shows that Lumumba raised $68,753 since the beginning of the year and spent $59,292, leaving the campaign fund …

Politics Blog

Where the Election Night Parties At?

Here's the list of election night watch parties we've cobbled together. We'll update it as we get more information: Harvey Johnson Campaign Headquarters, 4436 North State Street Jonathan Lee The Penguin, 1100 J.R. Lynch Street Chokwe Lumumba Clarion Hotel, 5075 Interstate 55 Regina Quinn Regency Hotel, 400 Greymont Ave.

Politics Blog

Lessons from Last Night's Mayoral Whatever That Was

Last night's mayoral forum/debate/"job interview" seemed to have been born of a desire to shake things up, to breathe new life into the stodgy, old question-and-answer-from-a-fixed-podium-style debates of yore. For that effort in thinking out of the box, the organizers at Leadership Jackson probably deserve a cookie. A small cookie, …

Politics Blog

More About Lumumba's Top Donors

Here's a list of Chokwe Lumumba's top campaign donors* this year, over the past two reporting cycles: Barry W. Howard ($10,000) - Madison, Miss. Howard has given to at least one Democratic candidate for Mississippi statewide office, Gary Anderson, who ran for insurance commissioner in 2007. Chokwe Lumumba ($6,000) - …

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Lumumba's Close Call with Disbarment

"Look, Judge, if we've got to pay for justice around here, I will pay for justice. I've paid other judges to try to get justice, pay you, too, if that's what is necessary." That statement, made by attorney Chokwe Lumumba to Leake County Circuit Judge Marcus D. Gordon on October …

Jackblog

Gulf Biz Smacked with $1m Fine for Mucking Wetlands

Verbatim statement from the US DOJ: MISSISSIPPI CORPORATION PLEADS GUILTY AND AGREES TO $ 1 MILLION FINE FOR ILLEGALLY FILLING PROTECTED WETLANDS WASHINGTON – Mississippi-based Hancock County Land LLC (HCL) pleaded guilty today to the unpermitted filling of wetlands near Bay St. Louis, Miss., and agreed to pay a $1 …

Politics Blog

Bennie Thompson Backs Lumumba, Links Lee to GOP

Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson is wading into the Jackson mayor's race, and endorsing Councilman Chokwe Lumumba over political upstart and businessman Jonathan Lee. In the R-and-B-laced radio ad, Thompson refrains from naming Lee but says: "When I see Republicans from Rankin and Madison counties endorsing the other so-called Democrat, …

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Quentin Whitwell Running for Mayor 'On the Low'?

An email is circulating Jackson asking voters to write in the name of Ward 1 Councilman and lobbyist Quentin Whitwell, a Republican, for mayor in the June 4 general election. The email implores supporters to back Whitwell but to keep it on the low, meaning not to spread the news …

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Mississippi Dems Hang on to Mayor Seats, Turn Others Blue

Mississippi Democrats are basking in the post-electoral bliss of having held on to or picked up a number of mayor's seats yesterday. A shock to no one, Democrat Chokwe Lumumba coasted to a W in Jackson (lesson here for future secret campaign engineers: being on the down-low never helped anyone). …

Politics Blog

MSGOP Issues Anti-Obamacare Resolution

In a unanimous and completely unsurprising move, the Mississippi Republican Central Committee rejected the federal Affordable Care Act, which Congress passed three years ago. The state GOP said it was supporting the positions of the state's Three Tops--Gov. Phil Bryant, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and Speaker Philip Gunn--in resisting the …

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It's Official: Flaggs is Outta Here

Veteran state Rep. George Flaggs will officially retire from the Mississippi House of Representatives on June 30. Flaggs, a Democrat, recently survived a gauntlet of a race for Vicksburg in which the incumbent became the focus of a federal corruption probe and another contender became a victim of her own …

Jackblog

Troubled Miss. Prison Gets New Warden

The East Mississippi Correction Facility, which recently became the subject of a class-action lawsuit, is getting a new warden. Management and Training Corporation, the Utah-based private company that operates the prison for the Mississippi Department of Corrections, released the following statement: EAST MISSISSIPPI CORRECTIONAL FACILITY WELCOMES NEW WARDEN Jerry Buscher …

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Local Person Charged in 2nd Buttocks Injection Death

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood's office sent out the following news release this afternoon: Jackson, MS—A Hinds County resident has been arrested a second time for depraved heart murder, announced Attorney General Jim Hood today. Tracey Lynn Garner (formerly known as Morris Garner), age 52, of Jackson was arrested Thursday …