Miss. Income Down, Poverty Up
The Magnolia State has the lowest household median income, $36,919, according to the data released yesterday.
Help for Isaac Recovery Available
In the wake of Hurricane Isaac, counties in the Jackson metro area--Hinds, Rankin and Madison--are among the many areas under a federal-disaster declaration.
Climate Change: Real or Not?
In 2008—back when President Barack Obama was a candidate—then-Sen. Obama promised to take on global warming.
"Wilderness" Book Signing at Lemuria
Lance Weller signs and reads from "Wilderness" Sept. 5 at Lemuria Books beginning at 5 p.m.
Where Voter ID Stands in Mississippi
After years of unsuccessfully trying to get the Mississippi Legislature to pass a voter ID law, last November, state conservatives put the issue of voter ID to the state's voters.
Is 'Forcible' Better than 'Legitimate'?
Unless you've been hiding from everything electronic this week, you've heard about Rep. Todd Akin, a six-term Republican from Missouri, making comments about rape last weekend.
Brutal and Poetic
Author of numerous non-fiction books, award-winning author Peter Heller's first foray into fiction gives readers an unusual look at one possible future.
Defending Voter ID
Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann vehemently defended the state's ability to provide free Ids for its as-yet approved Voter ID law, issuing a scathing retort July 26 to "The Challenge of Obtaining Voter Identification," a report issued July 17 by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.
'Quagmire' of Voter ID
After Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann's scathing retort yesterday to "The Challenge of Obtaining Voter Identification," the Brennan Center for Justice is standing by its conclusions.
UPDATED: Hosemann: Brennan Center 'Deceptive'
Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann barely stopped short of calling the Brennan Center for Justice a pack of liars.
Hero of the Year: Shalotta Sharp
Shalotta Sharp brings 16 years of experience as a nurse and a passion for helping and healing to every aspect of her job with the Mississippi Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
The Real Roots of Evil
"When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak." —Audre Lorde
Medicaid: A Job Creator?
Mississippi hospitals worry about the rising cost of uncompensated care if the state declines to expand Medicaid to individuals who currently lack insurance.
Bryant Signs New 'Olivia Y' Agreement
This morning, Gov. Phil Bryant signed a modified settlement agreement recommitting to the state's previous commitment to protect Mississippi's foster children.
Obamacare Ruling 'Imperfect'
Mississippians might not want to celebrate this morning's U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirming President Barack Obama's health-care law just yet.
Mississippi Folks
This morning's historic decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the majority of President Barack Obama's 2010 Affordable Care Act means that millions of Mississippians will continue to enjoy the benefits of the law.
Lowest Gas Prices in Jackson
Summer driving vacations may be a little more affordable now than they were a couple of weeks ago.
Ending the Silence
Bringing Rape and Sexual Assault out of Shame's Closet
Anthony Sowell had been out of prison about three years after serving 15 for attempted rape when he ran into Gladys Wade outside a neighborhood store in Cleveland, Ohio, on Dec. 8, 2008. When she said she wouldn't go to his house to drink beer with him, Sowell became emphatic.
Intent to Ravish
Like so much of Mississippi culture, its laws concerning sex crimes harken back to a hypothetically more genteel time when ladies swooned and men did not use curse words in their presence. The states' rape statutes use vague, anachronistic words such as "ravish," "chaste" and "buggery" instead of rape, virgin and anal intercourse.
Does Jackson Need Another Rape-Crisis Center?
As the Jackson Free Press has done since 2004, on July 28, we will host our eighth annual Chick Ball to benefit the Center for Violence Prevention in Pearl.
Hopes and Dreams
Last Friday was the first of the weekly Jackson Free Press summer intern workshops. With more than a dozen people stuffed into our classroom around the long stretch of tables, Editor-in-Chief Donna Ladd led a spirited discussion centered around the hopes and dreams of a talented group of young people.
A Heart for Survivors
In 2007, she began to feel unwell, she said. She was inexplicably losing weight, was feeling nauseous and had developed what she called a shiny, itchy spot on her left breast. She brushed it off as sadness despite the protestations of her family and friends. Then, in December of that year, an old friend, Leroy Walker, who hadn't seen her in months, told her, "Stephanie, you're sick."
Mayor Refutes Business Challenges
In announcing their candidacies for mayor of Jackson, Ward 2 Councilman Chokwe Lumumba and Ward 4 Councilman Frank Bluntson made changing the city's business practices front and center in their campaigns.
Deep as My Bones
Mama froze. She was holding something, a towel I think it was, and her hand stopped in mid air. Her incessant motion on pause for a moment, she looked at me in disbelief, her brown eyes sad and soft.
‘Where I Am, You May Not Harm'
Joan Chittister's voice fairly resonates with passion. Her broad smile belies a fierce intelligence and a barely disguised rage at injustice of any sort, especially over systemic injustices of poverty and the state of the world's women and children.
The Lies We Tell
Last Friday's email brought this little gem to my inbox: Super PACs spent $23 million on deceptive or misleading advertising in GOP primary races, more than half of all advertising they purchased through April 3. Now, you might think that the SPACs aimed their big buckets of money at President Barack Obama, but no. Almost all of it was directed at fellow Republicans--Mitt Romney's PAC lying about Rick Santorum, Santorum's PAC misrepresenting Newt Gingrich's record, Gingrich spinning about Romney.
Empowering and Strengthening Kids
Operation Shoestring provides a safe place for children and parents in its west Jackson neighborhood, empowering them and strengthening the bonds of family and community.
Ballet's ‘Collage'
On Saturday, April 28, Ballet Mississippi presents "Collage" at the Jackson Academy Performing Arts Center. The performance is a compilation of ballet and music with works from eight composers and seven choreographers.
The Wonder of it All
In the early 1960s, Mama and Papa leased an old, rundown gas station in Liberty, N.Y., in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, and spent every weekend of one winter and spring converting the property into our summer "retreat." We lived in Brooklyn at the time, but my parents were determined to get my sisters and me out of the city as much as possible, especially during the summer.
Support Arts in School
Ask for More Arts brings artists into classrooms to integrate arts with other subjects. In four years, AFMA has exposed thousands of students to creative writing, theater, song writing and visual arts, expanding horizons and improving academics.
Two Faces of Opera
Jackson hosts diverse operas from two different continents Saturday, April 21.
Family-Friendly Fest
Celebrate arts, music and community April 21, when St. Andrew's Episcopal School presents Arts on the Green.
Who Gets Hurt in Budget Cuts?
Poor children are much more likely to experience hunger than those who aren't poor (23 percent vs. 4 percent).
Come Together
Musician and Jackson State University student Andrew Dillon felt a hole in his heart growing during the induction ceremony for the university's new president, Carolyn Meyers, last Friday. That hole was because of Nolan Ryan Henderson III, who was murdered March 24 allegedly at the hands of his cousin.
Raise Your Voice
Imam Ali Siddiqui is intimately familiar with the destructive nature of religious fundamentalism and the problems of immigration in the modern world. Born in 1944, his family fled their native India in 1950, in the wake of that country's liberation from the British Empire and India's partition into Hindu and Muslim countries. That division created majority-Muslim Pakistan, and the Siddiqui's family settled there.
The Magic of Jade
When I met Gerard Helferich last fall, he handed me a piece of jade. The dark green disk, carved in the shape of an ear, was about an inch and a half high. As we spoke about his book, "Stone of Kings: In Search of the Lost Jade of the Maya" (Lyons Press, 2011, $24.95), I held the stone, methodically rubbing my thumb over its smooth surface.
Grace and Humor
In my over-50 yoga class, I frequently see people frustrated by their inability to get a pose "right." I gently remind them that they're not 20-somethings any more and, usually, they laugh at themselves for trying so hard and relax a bit. After 50, bodies just don't respond like they used to.
A Woman's Power
Last week, I was part of a panel that explored the question of why more women don't run for public office, sponsored by She Should Run. The Washington, D.C.-based organization is at the vanguard of researching the current landscape (women hold only 17 percent of congressional seats, for example) and dispelling the myths of women taking leadership positions.
Evolve My Mind
I have always measured the quality of my education against what my father taught me. School bored me mostly, but having a conversation with Papa rarely did. He was a natural teacher of philosophy, political science and history. He peppered his lectures with anthropology, science and economics.
Mississippi Executed Hart Turner
Attorney General Jim Hood this morning argued successfully in a federal appeals court in New Orleans to lift a stay of execution for Edwin Hart Turner. At this point, without further intervention by either the U.S. Supreme Court or Gov. Phil Bryant, Mississippi will move forward to execute Turner this evening at 6 p.m.
Court Orders Stay of Execution for Hart Turner
Press Release of James Craig (verbatim).
Read Is State Executing a Mentally Ill Man?
Is State Executing a Mentally Ill Man?
Hart Turner's mind seems to have broken Dec. 12, 1995. After two failed suicide attempts, a half-dozen stays in mental institutions and years of mental and physical abuse, Turner shot and killed Eddie Brooks and Everett Curry in two separate robberies about four miles apart on U.S. Highway 82 in Greenwood. Until that early morning, Edwin Hart Turner had no criminal record.
Questions for the Doc
When you go for a physical, be prepared to let your doctor know about any physical or emotional problems (like depression or anxiety) you may be having.
An Ill-Fitting Life
Jackson native Barrett Hathcock has given readers a small gem with his short-story collection, "The Portable Son". The stories read like a novel. Instead of unrelated snippets, protagonist Peter Gallatin's struggle toward adulthood links the tales together
Rape Victim: Fix the System
A rape victim asked Gov. Haley Barbour why he was allowing her rapist out on furlough. His answer may surprise you. Or maybe not.
Stalking: It's No Joke
The night I finished the story of Adrienne Klasky's murder, I felt as if my safe, stable life had disappeared. Klasky's killer, Michael Graham, had stalked Adrienne for about three years prior to murdering her in cold blood. Haley Barbour suspended Graham's sentence in 2008. He was out. Would he come gunning for me?
Green Stops Pardons; Barbour Explains, Sort of
Also see: JFP investigation of Barbour's 2008 Pardons of Domestic Killers
AG: Barbour ‘Abused' Office With Pardons
Update 8:26 p.m.: Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green has granted Attorney General Hood's injunction, saying, "There is a substantial likelihood of success ..." in the case of Hood's challenges to the constitutionality of some of former Governor Barbour's pardons. Download the fax from the AG's office (PDF, 37k).
Why Did He Do It?
This morning, in the wake of Haley Barbour's Pardongate, an old joke popped into my head.
Why does a dog lick his balls?