Elizabeth Waibel

Religion Without Holes

In the center of a dimly lit room in the National Archives sits a small book that Thomas Jefferson made by meticulously cutting out sentences and gluing them onto pages. It's a Bible, but not the whole Bible. Only certain sentences were worthy, in Jefferson's eyes, to be included in his Bible. He included nothing about miracles or the resurrection of Jesus or the Old Testament, resulting in a book of nice, familiar, vaguely religious advice.

Abortion Clinic Stays Open, For Now

A law that some Mississippi lawmakers hope will close the state's only abortion clinic goes into effect in less than two weeks, but that doesn't mean the clinic will close its doors July 1.

Abortion Clinic's Fate Unknown

Betty Thompson doesn't know what will happen to her employer, the Jackson Women's Health Organization, on July 1.

Rally Protests Contraceptive Rule

American and Christian flags stood on equal footing in front of the U.S. Courthouse in Jackson Friday as about 60 people gathered to protest a rule that requires health-insurance plans to cover contraceptives.

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.

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.

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.

Last-Minute Decisions on Sex Ed

School districts across the state have only a few weeks left to decide on sex-education policies and curricula for next year, but many have yet to make their decisions, including Jackson Public Schools.

Kristen Dupard

Years of learning how to bring poems to life for an audience paid off for Kristen Dupard this spring, as she took home a national trophy for her poetry-recitation skills.

School Board Meeting Tonight

The JPS school board meets tonight at 5:30. Although there isn't anything on the schedule about selecting a sex-related education policy, there are only two scheduled board meetings before the deadline to pick either an abstinence-only or abstinence-plus policy to teach next year. It looks like the board will vote on the matter June 19.

Traffic Signal Boxes Become Artists' Canvases

Some of downtown Jackson's traffic signal boxes got a fresh coat of colorful paint recently thanks to a group of local artists.

Eric Stringfellow

Eric Stringfellow has his work cut out for him. As a Jackson Public Schools public-affairs consultant, the district has given him the task of selling an unpopular rezoning plan that will close one school and require students at several other schools to transition to different locations next year.

It's Campaign Season (Again)

Yes, I know, it seems like it's always campaign season, which means that those flyers will soon be filling your mailboxes and emails will be filling your inboxes and ads will be filling your Facebooks (if they aren't already).

Jackson Tourism Weathers a Tough Economy

Last year, an estimated 3 million people visited Jackson's tourist spots, events, festivals and conventions, spending more than $294 million.

Dr. Carl Reddix Talks About Political Realities

Dr. Carl Reddix wasn't looking for national media attention when he agreed to serve on the Mississippi Board of Health, but if it has people talking about public-health policy in Mississippi, he'll take it.

Events to Benefit CARA

McAlister's Deli plans to use the grand reopening of its Maywood Mart location next week as a fundraising opportunity for a local charity. Everyone who visits the restaurant June 5 and donates a bag of dry dog food to Community Animal Rescue and Adoption will receive a voucher for a free meal on their next visit to the Maywood location.

Biz Roundup: CARA

McAlister's Deli plans to use the grand reopening of its Maywood Mart location next week as a fundraising opportunity for a local charity. Everyone who visits the restaurant June 5 and donates a bag of dry dog food to Community Animal Rescue and Adoption will receive a voucher for a free meal on their next visit to the Maywood location.

Persons of the Day: Batson Hospital's Congenital Heart Surgery Team

Treating children's heart defects can be a harrowing experience. The most serious conditions require long hospital stays and multiple surgeries. One local surgeon says his team is achieving good results in treating the most complex heart defects, even in patients that statistically do worse than others.

JPS to Keep Accreditation for Now

Jackson Public Schools officially hired a new superintendent May 21 and got some good news on its accreditation status.

Persons of the Day: Mayor's Youth Council

A group of Jackson high-school students recently traveled to the nation's capital to learn about government and safe-driving policies.

JPS Accreditation Hearing Underway

Less than an hour after signing the contract to become Jackson Public Schools' next superintendent, Cedrick Gray was sitting in a hearing to determine whether or not the district will lose its accreditation.

Gray Signs Contract with JPS

Jackson Public Schools finally has a new superintendent. Dr. Cedrick Gray signed a contract this morning to take over as superintendent effective July 1.

Biz Roundup: Doing Good

Mary Amelia McRee had been renovating houses in the Belhaven area for several years when a house in Fondren, which had been for sale for a while, caught her eye. Instead of just buying the house and flipping it, she decided to keep it and turn it into a place that would benefit animals in the Jackson area.

National Bicycle Month Events

May is National Bicycle Month, and local organizations are planning a series of events to raise awareness of the need to make Mississippi more bicycle friendly.

Biz Roundup: Farmers Market Boost

A new Mississippi law this year allows cities and counties to now donate money to local farmers markets.

Mississippi an ‘Arts State'

As far as literature and music are concerned, on a per-capita basis, Mississippi may be the most important state in the nation, said National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman.

Make Lemonade

How many people knew that tomorrow is Lemonade Day in Jackson? Children around the capital city will have lemonade stands set up as a way to learn about business and entrepreneurship. (Temperatures are expected to hit 90 degrees tomorrow, so hopefully the demand for lemonade will be high.)

Bailey Students Walk out of Class over Rezoning

About 30 students walked out of class this morning at Bailey Magnet High School to protest a rezoning plan that will divide and send them to different schools next year.

JPS Tries to Present Rationale for Rezoning

After voting last week to close one school and reorganize others, the Jackson Public Schools district is trying to explain the rationale for its decision.

Women ‘Unite' for Rights

Mississippi's Unite Women march last Saturday felt more like a community picnic than a politically charged demonstration, as participants spread blankets under shade trees in front of the state Capitol's south steps and interspersed motivational speeches with musical interludes.

JPS Accreditation Still Uncertain

Jackson Public Schools will have to wait a bit longer to find out whether it will lose or retain its accreditation status.

Board Picks Gray for JPS Superintendent

The Jackson Public Schools board announced last night that it had selected Dr. Cedrick Gray to lead the district as its next superintendent.

JPS to Close School Under Rezoning Plan

Jackson Public Schools plans to close one school next fall and reorganize others under a rezoning plan intended to account for population shifts in the city.

Rally Part of National Effort

People around the nation are watching Mississippi to see how its politicians and voting public treat reproductive issues, protesters said at the Capitol Saturday.

JPS Under Fire for Special-Ed Violations

The Jackson Public Schools district may lose its accreditation due to how it has disciplined students with disabilities, tracking them into lower-quality education at alternative schools rather than helping them stay in their schools and improve.

Biz Roundup: Go Green

Fondren will see the benefits of a $2-million grant to make the area friendlier for bicyclists and pedestrians, as well as for landscape reforms. The city of Jackson recently received a transportation enhancement grant through the Mississippi Department of Transportation, and held a public meeting to ask Fondren residents and business owners how it should spend the money.

Farm-to-Fork Project Launched

A new program kicks off today in Jackson to get healthy, affordable produce to families in Mississippi.

Freedom Riders Tell Students: ‘Take the Lead'

Delores Williams remembers going to school as a child, seeing white children ride by in a bus while she and the other black students walked, carrying their books. She also remembers having to step off the sidewalk when a white person passed.

Monica Cannon

When Monica Cannon sees things in schools that could be better, she doesn't sit around and complain. Instead, she brainstorms solutions, speaks up and gets people to work together to make changes.

Anti-Abortion ‘TRAP' Law Part of Nationwide Trend

The governor signed the first major piece of anti-abortion legislation into law this year—a measure designed to close the state's only abortion clinic.

State No. 1 for Teen Pregnancy

The deadline for Mississippi's school districts to select a sex-education policy is this summer, and several groups are hoping to influence what Jackson Public Schools students learn next year.

Governor Signs Anti-Abortion ‘TRAP' Bill

A bill intended to close the state's only abortion clinic is now law and is set to go into effect in July.

Parents to Ask JPS to Reconsider Supt. Picks

The Jackson Public Schools board has narrowed down its field of possible superintendents to two, but some parents say the district should search again for a candidate with more experience helping high-poverty, low-performing school districts become successful.

Stories by Elizabeth