Jackson Free Press

Council Confirms 2 More JPS Board Members

The City Council voted today to confirm Mayor Harvey Johnson's two additional nominees to the Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees. After delaying the vote for weeks due to in-fighting, …

Animal Cruelty Bill Clears Major Hurdle

Cruelty to cats and dogs would become a felony in Mississippi under Senate Bill 2821, which the House Agriculture Committee voted unanimously today to approve. The bill to make "aggravated …

Charles Barbour

Mississippi Public Service Commission candidate Charles Barbour said his run against the Republican incumbent in the August primary isn't any of his uncle's business.

Vera Johnson

"I'm pretty much a glorified driver," Vera Johnson says, referring to the time she spends chauffeuring her two children, Elisabeth, 9, and William, 5, to activities like dance classes or …

Lawmakers Battle Barbour Over K-12 Budget

Mississippi Parent's Campaign Executive Director Nancy Loome praised a school funding bill the House passed yesterday, which she says adequately funds the state's K-12 education system.

You Never Forget

Until he was old enough to drive, a bicycle was practically Todd Hall's only mode of transportation, but he stopped riding as he got older.

The Best In Sports In 7 Days

<b>Thursday, Feb. 17</b>

Doctor S sez: Are we seeing Rick Stansbury's final days as Mississippi State basketball coach?

Health for All

Alvin Poussaint's career reads like a hopscotch game across the touchstones of post-World War II African American history. Born in 1934, Poussaint earned a medical degree at Cornell University and …

Of Contracts, Broken

Over the past few weeks, the Mississippi Legislature has bandied about a few anemic attempts at strengthening laws protecting victims of domestic violence. Among them is an addition to the …

[Kamikaze] A Jackson Reality Check

It's time for some hard truth. Some Jackson detractors may have taken my ProJack stance as blind love for our fair city. Some have accused me of selling hype over …

No Small Feat

The students in John Bennetts' second-grade class are being perfect sponges. Bennetts, a teacher at KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy, a charter school in Helena, Ark., is drilling the class …

Rip the Cypher: Phase One

Before stepping foot inside the North Midtown Arts Center on Millsaps Avenue, it was obvious that something was going on. More than the cars parked along the sides of the …

Bridging the Gaps

Book selling was a profitable enterprise in the oft-mythicized but very real city of Timbuktu. In the late 15th century, after the emperor Aska Mohammed's reign, the city was at …

Maintaining Focus

When I first saw the cover of "Ghost Light: A Novel" by Joseph O'Connor (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011, $25), I didn't know quite what to expect from the woman …

‘Bodies, Bodies'

"The Swimming Pool" by Holly LeCraw (Doubleday, 2010, $25.95) starts with this uninviting, ethereal opening line: "Bodies, bodies."

[Natalie's Note] Come Aboard the Mothership

Some radio stations only play what the big corporations want them to play, but that won't last much longer. With Pandora, Sirius and a number of other musical resources popping …

Health Reform Moves Ahead

The Mississippi Legislature is debating laws that conform to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, even as legal challenges to the act continue.

Paul DeBoy

Paul DeBoy's first stage was the backyard of his Baltimore, Md., home. His older brother wrote plays that DeBoy would star in, and the two would charge admission when DeBoy …

NAACP Asks Barbour to Condemn Klan Plate

Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson is asking Gov. Haley Barbour to condemn the Mississippi Sons of Confederate Veterans' push to create a commemorative license plate for Confederate General and the …

Stadiums, Hackers and Oil

A bill the Mississippi Senate is considering could transfer control of Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium to Jackson State University. House Bill 1158, which the House of Representatives passed Feb. 10, …